Director's Letter

In his April 16 review of our exhibition Through African Eyes, New York Times art critic Holland Cotter concluded that "if you get a thrill from seeing things you've never seen and thinking thoughts you've never thought, Detroit is a good place to be these days."

This is a remarkable exhibition, encompassing five centuries and several continents, and full of wit but permeated with tragedy. I urge you, if you haven't already done so, to visit the exhibition before it comes down in early August. But Cotter's remark also touches on the deeper, enduring value of this museum as a place where you will find surprise and pleasure as you learn more about yourself in a world full of amazing cultural diversity and moral similarities. Much the same can be said of our recently reopened Islamic gallery, where diverse cultures are unified by an overriding concept, but beauty is found in many forms.

Our next large special exhibition could hardly be more different than our current one (though it, too, features aspects of villainy, among other things). Fakes, Forgeries, and Other Mysteries is drawn almost entirely from works of art in our collection. Whether it's an institution doing the collecting or an individual, there's a good chance that, over the years, mistakes occur. I cherish the memory of one truly great collector, whose works can now be found in several public institutions, taking me (we'd both had a couple of Scotches) to see his "other collection," consisting of works that turned out not to have lasting power, works bought for charitable purposes, and a handful of objects that weren't what they first appeared to be. It was, indeed a memorable hour or so as we went about the house rummaging through closets and under beds!

The DIA has been active--aggressive even--in collecting for 125 years and, inevitably, errors were made. A few objects were forgeries that successfully fooled the experts, but, more often, the works were thought to be something else when they were acquired. These changes are the result of ongoing art historical and conservation research, and our knowledge about artists and their times increasingly allows us to make more precise attributions. A few years ago, I took Pierre Rosenberg, then recently retired as director of the Louvre, into our conservation department. On an easel was the lovely portrait Italian Poet, Giambattista Marino being prepared and reframed for the upcoming gallery reinstallation. Since it came into the collection in 1889, the painting had been attributed to several artists. "Oh," Rosenberg said, "I didn't know you had a Frans Pourbus." "Neither did I," I replied. Subsequent scholarship bore out that attribution and you can see it in Gallery S231, alongside other seventeenth-century European paintings.

Exhibitions

Through African Eyes: The European in African Art, 1500 to Present

Special Exhibition Galleries: South
Through August 8

Across five hundred years of contact, African depictions of Europeans took on many forms and a variety of meanings, depending on the time period and which of the many African cultures was involved. Often European motifs were blended with existing African traditions to take on new meanings.

Interaction began in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Portuguese explorers and merchants, followed by missionaries and settlers. The citizens of Benin Kingdom, in what is now modern Nigeria, were the first to establish trading and diplomatic ties with Europeans. Clothing, implements, and figures of the foreigners became symbols of wealth and power when incorporated into traditional sculpture and dress. In what is now southeastern Ghana, the British and the French competed for territory. To African supporters of the British, the striding lion, borrowed from the British royal coat of arms, became a symbol of allegiance. But, in another context, the lion was used as a means of subtle mockery of colonial power: a human holding the animal's tail suggested a tamed lion rather than the majestic, dominant British one.

The blending of cultures is clearly evident in the use of Christian imagery. This door, by well-known Yoruba artist George Bandele, was likely made for either a native Yoruba Christian patron or a European-funded missionary chapel. Bandele was among a group of Yoruba carvers who were encouraged by resident Catholic missionaries, through their patronage, to create works inspired by biblical stories. In this work focusing on the birth of Jesus, Bandele chose to arrange the narratives in three distinct registers, typical of traditional Yoruba doors. His human figures--three Magi, Christ child, Mary, and Joseph--display characteristic Yoruba sculptural attributes, such as oversized heads, bulging eyes, and pointy ears. The artist also gave the story a distinctly Yoruba flavor, replacing one of the Magi's gifts with a sacrificial chicken, an important part of Yoruba celebrations. A missionary may have commissioned the door, but its meaning rested entirely with Bandele's personal reinterpretation of the Christian story.

The exhibition is free for members, although timed-tickets are necessary. For the general public, tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for youth, ages six to seventeen, and $10 for groups of fifteen or more. Price includes museum admission and a multimedia tour. Reserve and purchase tickets at the DIA Box Office, at dia.org, or by calling 1.866.DIA.TIXS (1.866.342.8497). A $3.50 handling charge applies to all nonmember tickets, except those sold at the DIA.

Above: George Bandele, Nigerian, Yoruba; Carved Door, early 20th century; wood. The Carr Collection, Los Angeles.

This exhibition has been organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Generous support has been provided by the Friends of African and African American Art, the DTE Energy Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support has been provided by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the City of Detroit.

Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Detroit Experiences: Robert Frank Photographs, 1955

Special Exhibition Galleries: Central
Through July 3

"When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice." Robert Frank, Life Magazine (November 26, 1951)

Robert Frank, American (born Switzerland); Drug store-Detroit, 1955; gelatin silver print. Founders Society Purchase, with funds from the Founders Junior Council. © Robert Frank, from The Americans

Robert Frank was not alone in linking his photographs to poetry. Beat writer Jack Kerouac, in his introduction to Frank's seminal book The Americans, said of the photographer, "with that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world."

Kerouac introduced Frank to Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, and the two became life-long friends. Frank said he hadn't known any people in Europe who lived like Ginsberg and others in the photographer's circle of friends, including painters Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning. "They were free, and that impressed me. They paid no attention to how you dressed or where you lived. They made their own rules. They didn't belong to bourgeois society which I come from in Europe," he told writer Philip Gefter in a 2008 interview published in the New York Times.

Gefter, who worked at the Times as a picture editor for more than fifteen years and now writes about photography for The Daily Beast, comes to the DIA Friday, June 4, to discuss Frank's relationship with members of the Beat generation. The 7:30 p.m. lecture is free with museum admission. Gefter will be on hand after the talk to sign copies of his recently published book Photography after Frank.

To learn about Frank's relationship with the rock-and-roll generation, see Associate Curator Nancy Barr's photography blog. See below for information on An American Journey, a film that revisits many of the places shown in Frank's groundbreaking book.

Detroit Film Theatre

Metropolis poster, UFA Studios (1927)

The Detroit Film Theatre's summer season kicks off Friday, June 11, with the most complete restoration to date of German director Fritz Lang's 1927 science-fiction classic, Metropolis. Critic Roger Ebert called this version "one of the most important film archival discoveries in history." Also on tap for this summer is the return of the popular DFT Docs and DFT 101 series.

Lang's visionary work, called "positively overwhelming" by Variety after its premiere, was only previously seen as the director conceived it by the very earliest Berlin audiences. Then the cutting began, followed by decades of attempts at reconstruction. A 1984 version ran only 87 minutes, while the then "definitive" 2002 version edged up the running time to 124 minutes. Finally, in 2008, the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires came across a print that had been in an Argentinean private collection since 1928. With the addition of more than one thousand shots previously thought to be lost, the running time now comes to 153 minutes, making this version a virtual match to the original shooting script and musical cues. Presented with the original 1927 orchestral score and projected in a high-definition format, audiences can, at long last, experience Lang's original Metropolis as he intended it to be seen.

DFT Docs, the series of new, independent documentaries, gets under way Saturday, June 12, with An American Journey, which revisits many of the sites Swiss photographer Robert Frank depicted in his ground-breaking 1958 book The Americans. Artist Edward Ruscha, publisher Barney Rosset, photographers John Cohen and Raymond Depardon, and curators/critics Vicki Goldberg, Sara Greenough, and Peter Galassi explore the feelings of anger and alienation that fueled Frank's American journey. The film, free with museum admission, is shown in conjunction with the exhibition Detroit Experiences: Robert Frank Photographs, 1955. DFT Docs alternates with DFT 101, a series of classic films, Saturday afternoons at 4 p.m. DFT 101 films are free for members.

For the complete DFT schedule, click here.

LOVE AT THE DIA

Love grows at the DIA, and since it's spring, when a young man's (or woman's) fancy turns to love and June is a big month for weddings, we decided to share some love stories from the galleries of the museum.

Finding True Love

Mort and Diane met at the DIA in 1988 at a dinner and lecture on contemporary furniture sponsored by the Friends of Modern Art. He was late and came rushing in with his tie askew. He sat at Diane's table under one of the trees then in the court, and they chatted. They sat next to each during the lecture, and afterward he invited her for coffee in Greektown and a tour of the art work in the People Mover stations. They said they felt like they had known each other in an alternative universe. Even though they grew up in different parts of the country, they read the same books, listened to the same songs, and were thinking similar thoughts.

The couple would love the museum even if it hadn't brought them together. When a call went out for volunteers after a major loss of state funding, they joined the gallery service committee, figuring that they owed the DIA. They've been volunteering ever since. When the old trees where being removed from Kresge Court during the recent renovation, they took a cutting from one and tried to get the branch to take root at home for a tree of their own. Unlike their marriage (they recently celebrated their twentieth anniversary), the branch didn't take.

First Date

Fay has been a devoted fan of the DIA since 1981, when her future husband took her to the museum for their first date. In a recent post on our Facebook page, she wrote, "I am originally from Florida and had never seen anything so exquisite as the DIA! And to this day I feel the same. It's a Detroit landmark, so full of history, beauty, and knowledge. I'm proud to be a part of it."

Engaged at the DIA

Frederic Edwin Church, American, Cotopaxi, 1862; oil on canvas. Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, Gibbs-Williams Fund, Dexter M. Ferry, Jr., Fund, Merrill Fund, Beatrice W. Rogers Fund, and Richard A. Manoogian Fund

In another Facebook posting, Erin writes that her husband proposed to her more than two years ago in front of their favorite painting, Cotopaxi by Frederic Edwin Church. They're members and visit all the time, she went on to say. She thinks Cotopaxi, hanging in the American galleries, "inspires such adventure! We are planning to visit the real Cotopaxi in Ecuador in the next few years. When we visit the DIA, we always save that one for last...still makes me all warm and fuzzy!"

Met your true love and became engaged someplace else? You can still include the DIA in your romantic plans by holding your wedding reception here. Call 313.833.1925 or check the Web site for more information.

Summer Soirées 2010

Robert Frank, American (born Switzerland); Belle Isle-Detroit, 1955; gelatin silver print. Museum Purchase, Forum for Prints, Drawings and Photographs Purchase Fund. © Robert Frank, from The Americans

The Forum for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs launches its Summer Soirées series this month with three events to raise funds toward the purchase of a work on paper for the DIA collection. Robert Frank's iconic image of an afternoon car ride in Detroit, Belle Isle--Detroit, is this year's target acquisition. One hundred percent of the ticket sales for each of six events held across metro Detroit through September goes toward adding this rare photograph to the museum's holdings.

Summer Soirées, begun by the forum in 1996, owes its success over the years to the generosity of local collectors and artists who open their homes and studios for a series of parties, ranging from brunches, teas, and afternoon cocktails to all types of dinners and buffets. Lovers of art, tasty food, and engaging company have the opportunity to see all forms of art--not just the graphic arts--from collections of paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and design, to magnificent gardens and inspiring architecture.

Belle Isle--Detroit is on view at the DIA until July 3 in the exhibition Detroit Experiences: Robert Frank Photographs, 1955.

The first Soirée is June 20 with others scheduled for June 25 and 30. For more information, or to receive the booklet describing all the Soirées, contact the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at 313.833.9830 or e-mail ewheeler@dia.org.

Summer Fun at the DIA

Kids and adults can let their imaginations run wild at the DIA's summer camps. There are two week-long camps for kids: Camp Art 'n Action for five- to eight-year olds and Camp Art Exploration for nine- to twelve-year olds. Both provide art-filled adventures through the world of sculpture, clay, and paint. New this year are six, half-day, one session camps for adults, featuring book arts, clay sculpture, painting, and printmaking.

Also this summer are adult classes on using a potter's wheel and a Summer Institute for Non-Art Teachers: Imaginative Classrooms.

For information on camp times and prices or to register, click here.

To get the most out of your summer visits with the kids or grandkids, make the Family Fitting Room your first stop, where staff will size up your interests and build a visit that's tailor made for you and your family. The Fitting Room is located at the table in Prentis Court on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays in July and August from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Photo by Antonia McLemore

First Lady Michelle Obama included a stop at the DIA during her first visit to Detroit on Wednesday, May 26. She spoke with 250 students at a luncheon in the Great Hall. She challenged the students to seek mentors to make a difference in their lives and called for more adult mentors.

Military Families Get in Free

The DIA, along with six hundred other museums across the country, is participating in the Blue Star Museum Program that offers free admission this summer to active-duty military and their immediate family members. The program is a joint venture of the American Association of Museums, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Blue Star Families, a nonprofit organization that works to support America's military families. Free admission for members of the military and their families (up to six visitors total) is available with an active military or military spouse I.D. The program runs through Labor Day.

Gallery Update

The perimeter heating system is getting an upgrade this summer, resulting in the closing of some second-floor galleries in the original Cret building. Galleries along exterior walls will be closed to allow for construction, beginning in mid-June with the European wing and ending with the closing of American art galleries in September. All galleries should be reopened by the end of September. For information about specific gallery closings, check the DIA Web site.

Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48202
www.dia.org
313.833.7900

Comments or questions about the newsletter? Please contact us: comments@dia.org

ADMISSION
$8 adults, $6 seniors, $4 children
The museum is free for members
Contact the Membership HelpLine at
313.833.7971 or membership@dia.org

For group sales (15 or more) contact 313.833.1292 or dia.org/grouptours

CATERING & RENTALS
Call 313.833.1925

HOURS
Museum
Mon, Tue CLOSED
Wed, Thur 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Fri 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sat, Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

PARKING
Valet parking is available at the Farnsworth entrance on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, during regular museum hours. The price per car is $8.

Lighted, secure self-parking is available in the Cultural Center parking lot, off John R across the street from the DIA.

CaféDIA
313.833.7966
Wed, Thur 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Fri 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9 p.m.
Sat, Sun 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Kresge Court Coffee Stop
Wed, Thur 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Fri-Sun 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Museum Shop
313.833.7944
Open during museum hours

Connect with us!

Keep up-to-date with text messages about upcoming DIA events! Sign-up here.

Become a Member

Make a Donation