In honour of the marriage celebration of William, Prince of Wales, and Miss Catherine Middleton, the Museum has placed on view our portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. Rumored at one time to be the sole portrait of the Queen on United States soil, the painting will be on view for a very limited time.

Commissioned to paint a life portrait of Elizabeth II, Winston-Salem artist Joe King sought to convey the “warm and charming personality” of the British monarch—quite a contrast to the imperious boy king Louis XV on the opposite wall. However, when the painting was unveiled in London, the critics pounced, dismissing it as a “Hollywood version of aristocracy.” The British public was generally kinder to the artist’s romantic idea of royalty, though at least one viewer remarked on the queen’s uncanny resemblance to Ingrid Bergman.

Joseph Wallace King, Queen Elizabeth II, 1971, oil on canvas, gift to the State of North Carolina from the Burroughs-Wellcome Foundation, 1972

As staff members of the NCMA, we have seen West Building go from a mass of red piedmont clay to a concrete slab to golden oak floors and luminous glass walls. We stood witness to cart after cart rolling by with precious cargo as the collection moved to her new home. And with all hands on deck the walls were touched up, floors scrubbed, cases polished, and plans finalized for the Grand Opening celebration.

And what a remarkable celebration it was. Over the three day weekend, members and visitors by the thousands strolled through the new galleries, enjoyed the Museum campus, and basked in the glow of returning to their beloved museum.

But visitors have the opportunity to experience one thing that the NCMA staff will never know–walking into the new gallery building for the first time, seeing the completed space filled with art all at once, and having that overwhelming moment of wonder and excitement over the glorious light, the stunning expanse, the sheer beauty of it all.

We know it happens because we’ve been watching you take it in for a few weeks now and we are just as happy that you have returned to the galleries as you are to be here.

By the numbers:

22,006 Visitors toured the new building during the opening weekend

690 artists, dancers, vocalists, and musicians participated in the Opening Festival

1,014 NCMA branded items sold over opening weekend

14,479 NCMA membership as of opening weekend

Visitors came from all over North Carolina, the US, and even from around the world including California, Alaska, Colorado, South Dakota, Vermont, Venezuela, Norway, Australia, India, and China.

This April Emmett McNeill will likely be reminiscing about an April nearly 30 years ago when he witnessed the NCMA’s transformative move  from a cramped government office building downtown to brand-new galleries on what was then the outskirts of town. It was the biggest transition the Museum had ever undergone—until now.

As the Museum’s longest-employed staff member (35 years!), Emmett has worked in nearly every corner of the NCMA. Sit down with the Raleigh native for a few minutes, and you’re privileged to hear the history of the Museum unfold before you from a different perspective.

Emmett’s tenure at the Museum began with an interview with Director Charles Stanford in spring 1974. “Seems like 100 years ago, but I guess it was just 35,” he says. Emmett worked as a security guard at the front entrance of the Museum for 10 years.

He rattles off names of staff members that many can’t recall or never worked with. “We have a good team here—a museum family,” he said.

Emmett remembers making trips through the Morgan Street building every morning to inspect the lights. At the time, security guards were in charge of lighting in the galleries. When a bulb needed changing, a guard took to the ladder. “Now the lighting crew—part of the Design team—takes care of that,” he explained.

Ask Emmett about the “attempted break-in by deer.”  Upon arrival at work one Saturday morning, Emmett was startled to find the front entrance blanketed with shattered glass. He later discovered the wily perpetrator was a distressed deer.

He has seen the Museum’s 50^th Anniversary Gala, blockbuster shows including the Rodin exhibition and Monet in Normandy, the opening of the Museum Park and Amphitheater, and among other things, an almost-heist by a four-legged mammal. And come April 2010, Emmett will add perhaps the most exciting chapter yet to his own personal history of life at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

There are works of art that have been in our collection from the very beginning and recent acquisitions that had only been on view a short time. There are paintings that have never been off-view. There are sculptures affixed to the floor and the ceiling. There are works so light a small child could carry them in one hand and works so heavy they must be disassembled to be moved. Pieces that are thousands of years old and ones marked ‘2008’ add to the remarkable diversity that fills the galleries.

But this new quiet makes us ask “If these walls could talk what would they tell us?” Each work of art has its own story. And in the coming months a new series here on the blog will give an imaginative look at what the art might say if given the chance. Follow Our Journey will trace the steps of seven works of art in our collection as they leave their old home behind and embark on the journey to a new home, a new interpretation, and a new and growing generation of visitors.

Written in the voice of each work of art, these stories will share the history, describe the journey, and reflect on the future of the art and its place here at the Museum. Stay tuned for the first post as Jan Lievens’ The Feast of Esther makes its way across the pond to return home.

Frederick Carl Frieseke, The Garden Parasol, 1910, Oil on canvas, Purchased with funds from the State of North Carolina, 73.1.4

So it is interesting that I could not tell in the Frieseke picture whether not only the painter but also the scene was American or French. It was open air, and Americans like that, a sense of freedom. It was sunlit, and we like that too. In addition, everything-from the gorgeous parasol spread wide to the open book, the relaxed posture of the seated lady who holds it, the tea set on the little garden table-speaks of generosity. “Come on out,” she seems about to say. “Join us.” There are two empty chairs. The flowering border behind might well be in New England, the thick foliage a shady backdrop for a delightful summer day. But let it then join the French and their kind of pleinairist painting, beckoning to us on happy afternoons: “Bienvenue! Vous aussi pouvez venir!”

–From Elizabeth Spencer’s essay “The Garden Parasol” in The Store of Joys (available in the Museum’s Art Reference Library and the Museum Store). Frieseke’s The Garden Parasol is currently on view in the exhibition Highlights from the American Collection.

Our Henry Moore sculpture, Large Spindle Piece, currently sits on the roof of the Museum just below my office window. Odd place to display art, huh? It’s actually being stored there during the expansion project.

The Museum conservators recently gave the sculpture it’s twice yearly wash and wax using a non-ionic soap and plain tap water. The nature of this soap allows a more thorough rinsing which minimizes unwanted deposits on the bronze patina.

The bath was a long time coming–our bronze pieces went unbathed in 2007 as the conservators felt there was little consequence to the condition of the pieces if they skipped washing in favor of civic responsibility to the regional drought.

Originally located on the front lawn of the Museum, the sculpture was lifted by crane to the roof in August 2006 to make way for construction. When the new gallery building opens, it will find a new home in the South Garden.

Large Spindle Piece is currently on view via satellite.