How do YOU say…El Anatsui from the North Carolina Museum of Art on Vimeo.

NCMA staff members show off the many variations of “El Anatsui.”

ncartmuseum.org/elanatsui

Installing Stressed World from The North Carolina Museum of Art on Vimeo.

The installation of the largest wall sculpture in the exhibition is a delicate affair. The process was captured over three days.

ncartmuseum.org/elanatsui

“The North Carolina Museum of Art” at the top, in a modern sans-serif? Now, that’s new. The new Museum just opened in April of 1956 in downtown Raleigh, and this is its first exhibition—and what a way to start! Back in ’47 the state legislature appropriated $1 million to purchase art for the people of North Carolina (an amazing, audacious initiative), and in the years after lured Dr. William Valentiner—former director of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Los Angeles County Museum, and J. Paul Getty Museum, and the world’s preeminent Rembrandt scholar—out of retirement to buy paintings and begin a museum. In the fall of 1956, Valentiner draws upon his decades of experience (and calls in years of favors) to bring Rembrandts from across the globe to North Carolina’s quiet capital town. And the people of North Carolina embrace the exhibition.

What I see in this old photo is still true today—and it’s why I love North Carolina. Around here culture means an afternoon with the world’s finest paintings … followed by a raucous evening of college basketball; new gourmet restaurants alongside North Carolina barbecue mainstays; letterpress designers working around the corner from cutting-edge Web development firms. Here you get your music from the symphony and the old general store in Bynum. Pick the right weekend, and you can enjoy a cappuccino from locally roasted beans, with a deep-fried Snickers on the side, while enjoying a mesmerizing video projection by a contemporary artist. (And that Snickers will still be warm.) Old, new, high, low, rural, urban, digital, analogue … we not only embrace them, we love to see them collide and mix and make something new. I can’t wait to see what we make now, having seen Rembrandt, our Old Master, in a new way.

Thanks again to David Mueller for the soundtrack (from the Heads on Sticks EP, Oak City Version.)

Installing Ogromna from The North Carolina Museum of Art on Vimeo.

NCMA: New Home from The North Carolina Museum of Art on Vimeo.

Helen Rowe writes:

Udney Maria Blakely is a sort of distant relative of my husband’s. She married Joseph von Bretton, but she then died in childbirth or shortly afterwards the year after the marriage. Her baby daughter also died. However, some years later Joseph remarried, and he named his first born after his first wife (Udney Maria Blakely von Bretton). In researching the family history I had come across her story, and was therefore quite amazed to think that her portrait and the tea/coffee set have survived.

To which curator John Coffey responds:

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for dear Udney Maria. She never knew her naval hero father, but a grateful North Carolina made sure that the girl was brought up genteelly with funds provided by the public treasury. Thomas Sully’s adoring portrait, painted when the girl was fifteen, testifies to Udney Maria’s beauty and charm which would soon capture the heart of a Danish aristocrat. I love the story of the origins of the Blakely silver: in honor of her father’s gallantry, the State of North Carolina wished to present the Udney Maria with a ceremonial sword.  However, her sensible mother convinced the State that a coffee and tea service was more appropriate. And you have to marvel at the equanimity of the second Baroness von Bretton in acquiescing to the naming of her first child for her deceased predecessor. Udney Maria must have been an extraordinary young woman.

In the new American gallery, John has set the stage for this amazing story to be told again and again. Udney Maria’s tea service now sits just a step away from her lovely portrait. (It’s just one instance of where an interesting juxtaposition in the galleries sparks a whole new thought.)

Thomas Sully's portrait of Udney Maria and her tea service, at left

Special thanks to David Mueller, who kindly gave permission to use a track from the Heads on Sticks EP, Oak City Version. (Hat tip, New Raleigh.)

Note: That the name of the band fits the subject matter perfectly is just lovely serendipity.

(Here’s a direct link to the video.)

• Capturing the Essence: Barbara Wiedemann introduces the Museum’s new visual identity with a provocative and playful post.
• Cleaning Sargent: An unplanned visit to the Conservation Lab + a casual chat with a conservator + a couple snaps + a video = a really popular post. (This was a bit of an experiment in how quickly a post can come together, and it worked. I’m thinking we might need more of these in 2010.)
• Andrew Wyeth, 1917-2009: Personal stories make art and artists come alive in new ways. John’s remembrance of Andrew Wyeth did just that.
• The Thing in the Window: Curators have long-term relationships with objects in the permanent collection. Some works of art take you through mazes of hidden stories, enigmatic histories, shifting interpretation and attribution–mysteries abound. In this post, John points out a curious detail in a painting that continues to haunt him.
• The Bain Project:  In this post, I spoke with two artists on staff about their involvement in an innovative art installation/exhibition in Raleigh. We discuss the profound effect that architecture and artists’ spaces can have on the perception of art–a hot topic around here with the opening of our new building this spring.