Fleming Museum of Art

Posts

Absence

By Staff

September 14, 2021- December 2, 2022

In 2020 and 2021, we began to take down artworks and deinstall galleries that have been on view for decades and whose subject matter or background is hurtful to members of our community. Instead of filling these spaces with new artworks immediately, we have left them as intentional signs of the Museum’s commitments to transparency and holding itself accountable as part of The Fleming Reimagined.

Markers of these absences will be on view as large labels throughout the Museum, as staff and students reflect on the problematic histories behind the collections, and begin the collaborative process of rethinking what we collect, how we display it, and the words that accompany it.

In the coming weeks there will be further changes and additional Absence labels in our collection galleries, addressing unethical, racist, and colonialist collecting and display practices throughout the Museum’s history–practices that were rampant and accepted in American and European museums with global collections for far too long. Some labels will respond to the absences left by artworks removed or galleries closed; others will address artworks or galleries still on view, but speak to past gaps in understanding on the part of predominantly white staff to the impact our choices have had on Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

These absence labels are part of a larger reckoning, a frank examination of how white supremacy has informed every space in the Museum. Building trust by acknowledging those past failures, and making space for true collaboration with new voices, is the first building block to a reimagined Fleming Museum.

Across the Atlantic

By Staff

March 9 – December 10, 2021

The Atlantic Ocean did not separate Britain and the colonies: it connected them. From forks to flax, the everyday objects in this exhibit showcase the deep connections of empire and the vital importance of transatlantic trade. London held a large sway upon Colonial American society. London fashions traveled across the Atlantic through newspaper articles, letters, and the cloth ordered by merchants, labeled as “superior” English and European goods for sale. Portrait artists celebrated an idealized fashionability to consumers, while English illustrators exposed poverty and imbalances of power through satire and artistic representation.

Considering these museum objects in their transatlantic context complicates the idea of an independent American identity. Exchange, the lifeblood of the imperial relationship, kept the colonies tethered to the British Atlantic world. In the years leading up to the Revolution, however, colonists increasingly manifested their frustrations toward Britain by defiantly manufacturing some of their own products. Yet many still clamored for the latest London trends and the status, luxury, and quality of British manufactures. These objects reveal how transatlantic exchange and the consumer revolution were daily woven into the lives of colonists.

This installation was conceived and developed by Fall 2020’s History Seminar 275A, Early American History, taught by Professor Jacqueline Carr and including Louis Augeri, Annie Bedell, Dan Borbely, Barbara Bosworth, Morgan Brown, Sarah Chute, Collin Fiske, Carmen Harris, Bill Heath, Sawyer Loftus, Keegan Mosely, Bridget O’Keefe, Kaden Perrault, Andrew Pieper, Marie Russ, Sophia Trigg, Eleanor Webster, Nicolai Werner, Colleen Wilson.

Miniature portrait of Pres. George Washington, 1789

Miniature painting of George Washington

John Ramage (American, 1748-1802), Miniature portrait of Pres. George Washington, 1789. Oil paint on ivory. Hall Park McCullough Estate 1970.4.42

18th century Octant

18th century Octant

British, Browning and Spencer, London, England. Octant, 18th century. Wood, brass, ivory, glass. Gift of F.R. Bolster 1946.24.2

George Washington seal in frame, ca. 1780

George Washington Seal

American, George Washington seal in frame, ca. 1780. Sealing wax on paper. Gift of the Bellinger Sisters 1938.25.4

INTERVENTION: toward an anti-racist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist African and Ancient Egyptian Gallery

By Staff

September 15, 2020

The Fleming Museum’s African and Ancient Egyptian Gallery was installed almost thirty years ago. Outdated maps and labels reflect legacies of colonial collecting and scholarship, in which African art and cultural belongings are decontextualized and framed as curiosities or trophies. Throughout the Fall 2020 semester, we will be rolling out a series of new labels and quotes that acknowledge and share these critiques with our visitors. This intervention is a first step toward being transparent about the racist and imperialist foundations of the Fleming Museum and actively facilitating input from multiple perspectives. “Toward” is a key part of the title of this intervention; much work remains to be done in advance of an ambitious reinstallation of these collections in a new anti-racist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist gallery.

Western museums, including the Fleming, have been bearers of racist, imperialist, and colonialist attitudes, reinforced and communicated to the public in the ways that objects are collected and displayed. The circumstances in which objects were originally acquired by donors is often unknown; in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, many objects were acquired through the violent and coercive forces of colonialism. Present-day communities of African-descended peoples are rarely consulted in telling their own stories about their material heritage. Museums have often presented global material culture as ethnographic, rather than as fine artistic production on par with that of Western cultures. 

What you will see on the walls of this gallery are critiques drawn from the Fleming staff’s own examination of our history, as well as the work of students in Professor Vicki Brennan’s Spring 2020 course “African Gods/Western Museums.” Their pointed comments and questions reflect the key role our UVM community plays in pushing us to change. Visitors will be able to add their own questions, responses, and ideas about this critical intervention, which will inform our planned reinstallation of the gallery.

A part of the “2020 Vision” statewide exhibition:

2020 Vision Logo

Fleming Museum of Art is pleased to present the Intervention Exhibition as part of 2020 Vision: Reflecting on a World-Changing Year, a statewide exhibition initiative of the Vermont Curators Group, in-person and online.

Reckonings: Fleming staff reflect on the collection and our current moment

By Staff

This exhibition video features each staff member reading their own label while featuring the artwork that inspired them.

 

Fall 2020 – Spring 2021

Reckonings is an opportunity for the Museum’s staff and student interns to reflect on the past months of 2020 by engaging with objects from the collection. Staff members have written and signed their own labels about the artworks they’ve selected, with responses that are by turns thoughtful, vulnerable, creative, angry, sad, and hopeful—echoing the range of reactions we have all felt in these past months. Sometimes these objects take on new meanings as staff members draw inspired connections to other historic moments of disrupture. In other instances, the artworks are beacons for the kind of attention to care and racial justice that this moment demands of us. Through this process, the staff participated in the work we do with students and faculty when we bring them in conversation with the Fleming’s collection: how we use art to communicate to others what feels urgent to us.

A part of the “2020 Vision” statewide exhibition:

2020 Vision Logo

Fleming Museum of Art is pleased to present the Reckonings Exhibition as part of 2020 Vision: Reflecting on a World-Changing Year, a statewide exhibition initiative of the Vermont Curators Group, in-person and online.

Warp: War Rugs of Afghanistan

By Staff

February 7 – May 8, 2020

Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and continuing today, traditional Afghan rug weavers have incorporated stylized representations of political figures, Kalashnikovs, flags, maps, architectural landmarks, tanks, drones, and ammunition amid colorful floral and geometric patterns—designs reflecting a reality familiar to multiple generations in this war-torn region. In 1971, the Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti (1940-1994) began commissioning Afghan weavers to produce his now-famous series of map textiles originally inspired by his collected newspaper illustrations of the 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War. Years later, during the Soviet invasion and rise of the US-backed Mujahideen, numerous war rug artists began to reuse Boetti’s visual mode in order to portray political maps of Afghanistan and neighboring regions overlain with representations of munitions, soldiers, fighter jets, and historical people and events. Designs from the 2000s feature the collapsing World Trade Center Towers behind peace doves and conjoined US and Afghan national flags. Still other rugs situate orderly rows and columns of identical tanks or guns enclosed within floral borders and encircled by decorative bands of bullets. Obama-era rugs began to include images of a new weapon: the drone. These and other iconographies are lifted from Western propaganda materials, sourced from major media outlets, and culled from personal experience. This exhibition presents a selection of rugs that simultaneously document the history of a region while standing as a complicated testament to a still viable expressive and contemporary artistic tradition impacted by unusually diverse economic and political pressures.

Warp: War Rugs of Afghanistan is organized for tour by the Gund Gallery at Kenyon College and made possible, in part, by contributions from the Gund Gallery Board of Directors and the Ohio Arts Council.

“Tank and Helicopter Pattern with Smaller Munitions Motifs on Blue Abrash Ground” Rug, 1996

Detail of an Afghanistan War Rug

Tank and Helicopter Pattern with Smaller Munitions Motifs on Blue Abrash Ground, 1996. Wool rug. Collection of Kevin Sudeith. Courtesy of the Gund Gallery.

“Reaper and Predator Drone Imagery on Blue Abrash Ground” Rug, 2016

Detail of an Afghanistan War Rug

Reaper and Predator Drone Imagery on Blue Abrash Ground, 2016. Wool rug. Collection of Kevin Sudeith. Courtesy of the Gund Gallery.

“F16s, Tanks and Helicopters amid Hand Grenade, Floral, and Geometric Imagery” Rug, early to mid 1990s

Detail of an Afghanistan War Rug

F16s, Tanks and Helicopters amid Hand Grenade, Floral, and Geometric Imagery, early to mid 1990s. Wool rug. Collection of Kevin Sudeith. Courtesy of the Gund Gallery.

Let’s Have a Ball! Wood Gaylor and the New York Art Scene, 1913–1936

By Staff

February 7 – May 8, 2020

In a grand hall bedecked with flags and murals, costumed revelers perform a choreographed skit around a giant papier-mâché bird. Pioneering modern artists ride hobbyhorses, practice silly dances, wear clown makeup, party on the deck of a ship, and lounge together by a Maine lake. They draw and paint together, and they buy and sell one another’s art at festive auctions. This spirited social scene was an important but often-forgotten feature of the New York art world of the 1910s, ’20s, and ’30s. In the Fleming Museum exhibition, Let’s Have a Ball! Wood Gaylor and the New York Art Scene, 1913–1936, viewers can discover these events as they were lovingly documented in the vibrant paintings of Wood Gaylor (1883–1957).

Gaylor was a prime mover in the modern art world from the teens to the thirties, but has not received the attention either his role or his work merits. Curated by Fleming curator Andrea Rosen in consultation with independent art historian Dr. Christine Isabelle Oaklander, this exhibition and accompanying catalog spotlight Gaylor’s social and artistic contributions to American modernism in the early twentieth century. Gaylor’s paintings, teeming with color and action, depict the spirited gatherings of modern artists and arts promoters. Gaylor was a member of an irreverent group called The Penguin, led by painter Walt Kuhn, which mounted elaborate costume balls and parties complete with comic performances that were the subjects of Gaylor’s most extravagant paintings. Gaylor also captured behind-the-scenes moments in rehearsals and dressing rooms, as well as artistic camaradie, as his artist-friends gathered to sketch together in the backroom of the Penguin headquarters or in rural retreat at the art colony in Ogunquit, Maine.

Gaylor painted in a seemingly naïve style partially indebted to American folk art—setting up a room or landscape like a stage set, and populating it with outlined figures in bright colors with little shading. He also experimented with alternative media and styles, including painted carved wood panels and frames, abstracted watercolors, and figure drawings and prints. Finding active group scenes to be the subject that most interested him, Gaylor landed on an approach that best expressed the mood of such proceedings: flattened oil paintings in which figures dance, prance, and cavort in spaces both grand and intimate. As Gaylor’s images document important events in the art world of the 1910s, ’20s, and ’30s, so too does his technique provide insight into the factors impacting the evolution of a distinctly American modern style.

This exhibition will be accompanied by the catalogue Wood Gaylor and American Modernism, 1913-1936, which will feature essays by Rosen and Oaklander, as well as an interview with the artist’s son Wynn Gaylor. The exhibition will travel to the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine, July 31–October 31, 2020, and the Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York, February 20–May 20, 2021.

The Fleming Museum is deeply grateful to Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, LLC, for the generous support of the Wood Gaylor exhibition and the accompanying catalogue. Additional support for this exhibition is provided by the Kalkin Family Exhibitions Fund; the Walter Cerf Exhibitions Fund; and Mary Jane Dickerson, Peter and Isabella Martin, and Caroline Wadhams Bennett in memory of J. Brooks Buxton.

Video Series: Wood Gaylor and American Modernism, 1913-1936

Experience the Wood Gaylor exhibition, Let’s Have a Ball, from the comfort of your own home in this new video series created in response to the Museum’s temporary closure during the COVID-19 crisis. Join exhibition curator Andrea Rosen and Curator of Education Alice Boone as they discuss the work of the artist set against the backdrop of the New York art scene, 1913-1936. In this five-part series, the curators explore the training and inspiration that led Gaylor to his own unique style and subject matter.

Wood Gaylor’s “Arts Ball, 1921”

Detail of Wood Gaylor's Art Ball, 1921

Samuel Wood Gaylor (American, 1883-1957), Arts Ball, 1921, 1925. Oil on canvas. Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine. Gift of Adelaide L. Gaylor, 1958.22

Wood Gaylor’s “K.H.M.’s Birthday Party”

Detail of Wood Gaylor's "K.H.M.’s Birthday Party"

Samuel Wood Gaylor (American, 1883-1957), K.H.M.’s Birthday Party, 1933. Oil on canvas. Collection Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Gift from the Estate of Roy R. Neuberger

Wood Gaylor’s “Penguin”

Detail of Wood Gaylor's "Penguin"

Samuel Wood Gaylor (American, 1883-1957), Penguin, 1917. Watercolor on paper. Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, Burlington. Gift of Dr. David Pitman, 1958.16.4

Wood Gaylor’s “Potato Race”

Detail of Wood Gaylor's "Potato Race"

Samuel Wood Gaylor (American, 1883-1957), Potato Race, 1931. Oil on fabric relined on linen with wax. Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, Burlington. Gift of Dr. David B. Pitman and Mrs. Adelaide L. Gaylor, 1964.38

Animal Transformations

By Staff

January 21 – May 8, 2020

Animal Transformations displays an array of animal-related objects from the Fleming’s extensive collections. Led by Professor Jennifer Dickinson and Manager of Collections & Exhibitions Margaret Tamulonis, UVM’s Spring 2019 Museum Anthropology class (ANTH 250) took on the topic of human/animal relations while working with the Museum’s collections. The students worked closely with objects from the Fleming’s collections, deciding which would best represent the spectrum of ways cultural meanings come alive through animal objects. Throughout the process of creating the exhibition, students wrestled with overarching themes they found in the objects while also learning from museum staff what is required behind the scenes to bring an exhibition together.. Animal Transformations reflects the many roles the animal kingdom plays in human-made objects. The pieces in this collection were made to fulfill a variety of purposes, from the utilitarian to symbolic, everyday to extraordinary. Through this exhibition, the curators hope to give visitors a window into the many ways humans have transformed animal materials and imagery, from the installation itself to new labels in some of the Museum’s galleries that invite visitors to find animal transformations around them.

Feather “Headdress” from Papua New Guinea

Image of a "Headdress" from Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea, Headdress, ca. 1940. Cassowary feathers, fiber Gift of Dr. David Nalin 2006.2.73.

Ivory “Rats” sculpture from Japan

Japan, Rats, early 20th century. Ivory. Gift of Katherine Wolcott 1939.1.21

Wooden “Mask” from Mexico

Image of a mask of a monkey

Mexico, Mask, early 1900s. Wood, teeth, leather, paint. Gift of  1935.5.1

RESIST! INSIST! PERSIST!

By Staff

September 27 – December 13, 2019

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”— Elie Wiesel

RESIST! INSIST! PERSIST! explores the intersection of art and activism. Drawn primarily from the Fleming Museum’s collection, the exhibition features the work of historical and contemporary artists who have countered adversity and hardship with empowerment and expression. This show was curated by UVM students in the Fall 2018 class Art History 282: Museum Studies, taught by Kelley Helmstutler Di Dio, Professor of Art History and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Art has always had the power to evoke a strong emotional response from viewers. As it became easier and cheaper to produce and circulate art in prints and photographs, artists seized the opportunity to spread imagery that gives voice to marginalized groups and brings injustices to light.

Artists in the exhibition include Francisco de Goya, William Hogarth, Pablo Picasso, Lewis Hine, Diego Rivera, the Guerrilla Girls, Kara Walker, Alison Saar, Glenn Ligon, Sabra Field, and Mildred Beltré, among others. Their subjects range from racial violence, to state oppression, to the underrepresentation of women in the art world, and more.

The show’s student curators write: “In investigating these issues, we will encounter some controversial and distressing images and ideas, but we must not shrink from them. As citizens of this messy world, we have a duty to address our past, ugly as it might be, and use what we learn to shape a better future for ourselves and those who succeed us.”

Alison Saar’s “Blue Plate Special,” 1993

Detail of Alison Saar's "Blue Plate Special," 1993

Alison Saar (American, born 1956), Blue Plate Special, 1993. Woodcut, chine collé and three-dimensional collage on paper. Museum Purchase, Way Fund  1997.7.1

Francisco De Goya’s What a Golden Beak! (Que Pico De Oro!), No. 53 from Caprices (Los Caprichos), 1797-1799

Detail of Francisco De Goya's "What a Golden Beak!," 1797-1799

Francisco De Goya (Spanish, 1746-1828), What a Golden Beak! (Que Pico De Oro!), No. 53 from Caprices (Los Caprichos), 1797-1799. Etching and burnished aquatint on laid paper. Gift of Henry Schnakenberg  1945.2.42

Jerry Kearns’ “American Noir,” from “10: Artist as Catalyst,” 1992

Detail of Jerry Kearns' "American Noir," 1992

Jerry Kearns (American, born 1943), American Noir, from 10: Artist as Catalyst, 1992. Screen print on paper. Museum Purchase, Way Fund  1993.11.6

Kara Walker’s “Testimony,” 2005

Kara Walker (American, born 1969), Testimony, 2005. Photogravure on paper. Museum Purchase, Way Fund  2006.7.1

Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul

By Staff

September 27 – December 13, 2019

The Fleming Museum of Art is pleased to announce the exhibition Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul: Selections from the Light Work Collection, originally organized by Light Work, a nonprofit organization in Syracuse, New York, that provides direct support to artists working in the media of photography and digital imaging.

The show was guest-curated by For Freedoms, a platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the United States, co-founded in 2016 by former Light Work artists-in-residence Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas. Since then, For Freedoms has produced exhibitions, town hall meetings, and public art to spur greater participation in civic life. On their motivation for starting For Freedoms, Gottesman states: “Our hope was to spark dialogue about our collective civic responsibility to push for freedom and justice today, as those before us pushed for freedom and justice in their time through peaceful protest and political participation.”

Borrowing its title from the Charles Biasiny-Rivera piece of the same name, Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul features photographs from the Light Work collection that explore topics of politics, social justice, identity, and visibility. These subjects have remained significant for Light Work and many of the artists they have supported over their forty-five year history.

The list of artists includes: Laura Aguilar, George Awde, Karl Baden, Lois Barden and Harry Littell, Claire Beckett, Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Samantha Box, Chan Chao, Albert Chong, Renee Cox, Rose Marie Cromwell, Jen Davis, Jess Dugan, John Edmonds, Amy Elkins, Nereyda Garcia Ferraz, Jennifer Garza-Cuen, Antony Gleaton, Jim Goldberg, Eric Gottesman, David Graham, Mahtab Hussain, Tommy Kha, Deana Lawson, Mary Mattingly, Osamu James Nakagawa, Pipo Nguyen-Duy, Jackie Nickerson, Shelley Niro, Suzanne Opton, Kristine Potter, Ernesto Pujol, Irina Rozovsky, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Kanako Sasaki, Pacifico Silano, Clarissa Sligh, Beuford Smith, Amy Stein, Mila Teshaieva, Brian Ulrich, Ted Wathen, Carrie Mae Weems, Carla Williams, Hank Willis Thomas, Pixy Yijun Liao.

These forty-seven artists use the medium of photography to express their own humanity and that of their subjects; to subtly comment on the social, economic, and historical forces that oppress us all, but especially women, queer people, and people of color; and above all to create images that are by turns startling, meditative, and thought-provoking.

Antony Gleaton’s “Un hijo de Yemayá (A Child of Yemaya), Hopkins, Belize,” from the series ‘Africa’s Legacy in Central America,’ 1990

Detail of Antony Gleaton's Un hijo de Yemayá (A Child of Yemaya), Hopkins, Beliz

Antony Gleaton, Un hijo de Yemayá (A Child of Yemaya), Hopkins, Belize, from the series ‘Africa’s Legacy in Central America (detail),’ 1990. 14 x 14 inches. Gelatin Silver Print. Courtesy of Light Work

Chan Chao’s “Karen Rebel,” 1996

Detail of Chan Chao's Karen Rebel, 1996

Chan Chao, Karen Rebel (detail), 1996. Chromogenic Color Print. 21 x 17 inches. Courtesy of Light Work

John Edmonds’ “Jordan Raising His Hand (Encounter), 2015

Detail of John Edmonds' "Jordan Raising His Hand (Encounter)," 2015

John Edmonds, Jordan Raising His Hand (Encounter) (detail), 2015. Inkjet Print. 40 x 26.6 inches. Courtesy of Light Work

Amy Elkins’ “168 Months Out of a Life Sentence,” 2009

Detail of Amy Elkins' "168 Months Out of a Life Sentence," 2009

Amy Elkins, 168 Months Out of a Life Sentence (detail), 2009. Inkjet Print. 20 x 16 inches. Courtesy of Light Work

Behind the Schemes: When Helen of Troy came to UVM

By Staff

March 5 – May 10, 2019

In the spring of 2018, the UVM Classics Department produced the Greek tragedy Helen by classical Athenian playwright Euripides. Seven Days praised the effort, saying the production was “an unusually inventive rendition.” The play entailed extensive collaboration, involving UVM students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community artists and actors.

The exhibition Behind the Schemes: When Helen of Troy came to UVM features visual artifacts from the production, documenting the interdisciplinary scholarship and artistry that made it both unique and noteworthy. On display are musical scores by John Franklin, Professor and Chair of the UVM Classics Department; set drawings and sketches by cartoonist and archaeological illustrator Glynnis Fawkes; script notes from the numerous classical scholars who contributed to the translation; a 3D-printed mask mold; and an electric lyre built by local guitar-maker Creston Lea and used by Franklin to perform the original score of “New Ancient Music” he composed for Helen. The artifacts chosen for this exhibition share distinct aesthetics of mapping—the organization of space—and scoring—the organization of time.

Behind the Schemes celebrates an inspired collaboration and its potential to serve as a model for interdisciplinary scholarship and artistry on a university campus. The exhibition is curated by Jenn Karson, Director of Communications for UVM’s College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, who has been recognized for her work with interdisciplinary research through Vermont Makers programming and the UVM FabLab.

Creston Lea’s Electric Lyre

John Franklin plays a custom-made electric lyre

UVM classics professor John Franklin plays “New Ancient Music” on the one-of-a-kind electric lyre crafted by local guitar-maker Creston Lea.

Roaring Ocean

Detail from Glynnis Fawkes' "Roaring Ocean."

Glynnis Fawkes, Roaring Ocean (detail). Ink on paper, photoshop color. Courtesy of the artist.

Costume Sketch

Detail from Glynnis Fawkes' "Costume Sketch."

Glynnis Fawkes, Costume Sketch (detail). Pencil and colored pencil on paper. Courtesy of the artist.

Skip to toolbar