The Romanovs Collect: European Art from the Hermitage (exhibition)

Last updated

The Romanovs Collect: European Art from the Hermitage was an art exhibition at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), on display from September 21 to November 23, 2003. [1] [2] [3] It was part of the festival "Celebrating St. Petersburg: 300 Years of Cultural Brilliance." [1] [4] [5]

Contents

Background

The traveling exhibition included 142 objects from the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. [5] UMMA was the only North American venue to host it, and a team of curators from the Hermitage traveled to Ann Arbor for the duration of the show. [1] [6] [7] [8] It was the first large-scale partnership between the Hermitage and a North American university museum, and negotiations took about three years to complete. [1] The exhibition was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. [1] James Christen Steward (a professor of art history) was UMMA's director at the time. [1] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Description

The exhibition was organized chronologically by the Romanov tsars who collected the pieces, all the way from the founding of St. Petersburg in 1703 through the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. [1] [9] [5] A large percentage of pieces were collected by Catherine the Great. It also included seven pieces collected by Nicholas II, the last Romanov tsar. [1]

Steward said of the exhibition, "The uneasy tension within the royal family grew out of a desire to be of their time and acknowledgment of democratic values amidst a fundamental distrust of the people. Nonetheless, this exhibit seeks to humanize a complex and tragic family history." [12]

Art and objects on display

The show included 142 objects, by approximately 80 different European (including French, English, Dutch, and German) artists and artisans. [9] [1] [12] It include paintings, sculptures, ceramics, porcelain, tapestry, and furniture. [12]

Each piece included was accompanied by a label explaining the lineage of the piece, including information about who acquired it and often some context about his or her reign. [13]

Notable pieces included:

Decorative art

Paintings

Sculptures

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermitage Museum</span> Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the second largest art museum in the world by gallery space. It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day. It has been open to the public since 1852. The Art Newspaper ranked the museum 6th in their list of the most visited art museums, with 1,649,443 visitors in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Cottet</span> French painter (1863–1925)

Charles Cottet was a French painter, born at Le Puy-en-Velay and died in Paris. A famed post-impressionist, Cottet is known for his dark, evocative painting of rural Brittany and seascapes. He led a school of painters known as the Bande noire or "Nubians" group, and was friends with such artists as Auguste Rodin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Michigan Museum of Art</span> Art museum in Michigan, United States

The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with 94,000 sq ft (8,700 m2) is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall originally housed U-M's Alumni office along with the university's growing art collection. Its first director was Jean Paul Slusser, who served from 1946 to his retirement in 1957.

Toshiko Takaezu was an American ceramic artist, painter, sculptor, and educator who was known for her rounded, closed forms that viewed ceramics as a fine art and more than a functional vessel. She is of Japanese descent and from Pepeeko, Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg</span>

The Imperial Porcelain Factory, also known as the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, is a producer of hand-painted ceramics in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was established by Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov in 1744 and was supported by the Russian tsars since Empress Elizabeth. Many still refer to the factory by its well-known former name, the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter Palace</span> Former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The Winter Palace is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the House of Romanov from 1732 to 1917, and previous emperors. The palace and its precincts now house the Hermitage Museum. Situated between Palace Embankment and Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and altered almost continuously between the late 1730s and 1837, when it was severely damaged by fire and immediately rebuilt. The storming of the palace in 1917, as depicted in Soviet art and in Sergei Eisenstein's 1928 film October, became an iconic symbol of the Russian Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceramics museum</span>

A ceramics museum is a museum wholly or largely devoted to ceramics, usually ceramic art. Its collections may also include glass and enamel, but typically concentrate on pottery, including porcelain. Most national collections are in a more general museum covering all of the arts, or just the decorative arts. However, there are a number of specialized ceramics museums, with some focusing on the ceramics of just one country, region or manufacturer. Others have international collections, which may be centered on ceramics from Europe or East Asia or have a more global emphasis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marton Museum</span> Museum in Croatia

The Marton Museum is Croatia's first private museum and specializes in 18th and 19th century European applied art. The Marton Museum derives its name from its original founder, Veljko Marton, whose collection is featured within its walls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frog Service</span> Dinner service by Wedgwood

The Frog Service or Green Frog Service is a large dinner and dessert service made by the English pottery company Wedgwood for Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, and completed in 1774. The service had fifty settings, and 944 pieces were ordered, 680 for the dinner service and 264 for the dessert. At Catherine's request the hand-painted decoration showed British scenes, copied from prints, with a total of 1,222 views. In addition each piece had a green frog within a shield, a reference to the name of the palace it was intended for.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orion (sculpture)</span> 2006 Mark di Suvero sculpture

Orion is a public art work by artist Mark di Suvero located at the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The sculpture is an abstract form; it is installed on the lawn in front of the museum, at 525 South State Street.

Cullen Washington, Jr. is an African-American contemporary abstract painter. Washington lives and works in New York.

Jean Paul Slusser was a painter, designer, art critic, professor, and director of the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Two Girls Reading is a 1934 painting by Pablo Picasso. Since 1994, it has been at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Sunset Corner is a 1969 acrylic painting by American artist Helen Frankenthaler. The University of Michigan Museum of Art purchased it in 1973.

Daedalus is a public art work by artist Charles Ginnever, located at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is installed on the lawn in next to the museum, at 525 South State Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shang (sculpture)</span> American kinetic sculpture

Shang is a public art work by artist Mark di Suvero located at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The kinetic sculpture is an abstract form; it was installed on the sidewalk by the Maxine and Stuart Frankel and The Frankel Family Wing of the museum, at 525 South State Street. In October 2020, it was deinstalled since it was a long-term loan that had been bought by a private collector.

For the British journalist, see David Osler.

Courtney McClellan is an American interdisciplinary artist.

Women Who Ruled: Queens, Goddesses, Amazons, 1500–1650 was a 2002 traveling exhibition that was developed by the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "News | Museum of Art (UMMA) | U-M". umma.umich.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  2. ↑ Mather, Frank Jewett; Sherman, Frederic Fairchild (July 2003). Art in America. Brandt Art Publications.
  3. ↑ The Michigan Alumnus. UM Libraries. 2002.
  4. ↑ Michigan Ensian. Senior literary, law, and engineering classes.
  5. 1 2 3 Kennedy, Michael D. (2014-12-10). Globalizing Knowledge: Intellectuals, Universities, and Publics in Transformation. Stanford University Press. ISBN   978-0-8047-9344-5.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Moonan, Wendy (2003-09-19). "ANTIQUES; Opulence Is Power, For a Romanov". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  7. ↑ "Spirit of St. Petersburg". The Michigan Daily. 17 September 2003. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Steward, James Christen, ed. (2003). The collections of the Romanovs : European art from the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Sergey Androsov. London: Merrell. ISBN   1858942217 . Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 "UMMA scores exclusive exhibition of Romanov art". ur.umich.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  10. ↑ "Steward named director of Princeton University Art Museum - 2/2/2009 - Princeton Weekly Bulletin". pr.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  11. ↑ "September 26, 2003 (vol. 114, iss. 19) - Image 3". Michigan Daily Digital Archives. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  12. 1 2 3 "September 26, 2003 (vol. 114, iss. 19) - Image 5". Michigan Daily Digital Archives. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Peter and Catherine were Great, but their taste in art was greater". old.post-gazette.com. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  14. ↑ "Entrée du port de Palerme au clair de lune", Wikipédia (in French), 2020-01-31, retrieved 2020-09-25
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.