Director's Letter

The announcement that we were going to sell one of the two surviving flags from "Custer's Last Stand" caused, dare I say so, something of a flap. We received--as expected--a number of letters, most civil and "against," with many of these suggesting we not sell the flag but give it to another museum. The flag was acquired by the museum in a previous incarnation when, in spite of being named the Detroit Museum of Art (DMA), we also collected objects significant in history, natural history, and science. The museum paid $54: four of it coming from a public subscription campaign, $50 from a single check written by a DMA board member. Although there was considerable (ghoulish) press, it seemed, even then, that the flag did not engender material support from the general public. The flag hung in the old building on Jefferson but was never put on view at our current location.

Sometime in the 1950s, the flag was lent to the National Park Service (NPS) for display at the Little Big Horn Battle Monument, but when, in 1982, we asked where it was, we were told it had been in the NPS's storage facility at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, for well over a decade. Efforts back then to negotiate a sale came to naught for lack of funds. Back in Detroit, DIA's skilled conservators and technicians devised a case for the fragile textile whereby the various fragments rest in a shallow depression exactly the same size as the flag and are held in place by the pressure of the Plexiglas alone. This allowed the flag to be shown without further deterioration of the delicate silk fabric. Except for two brief expeditions to exhibitions elsewhere in the 1980s and '90s, the flag in its case rested in museum storage. A few specialists have visited specifically to see it.

We're selling it and not giving it away because it is the DIA's legal property, and we are not in the business of giving away valuable items. It would, in fact, be something of a fiduciary failure not to sell it, using the proceeds to enhance the DIA's art collection. It is true that the flag's high price makes it likely that a private collector will acquire it, but history demonstrates that such objects are very often either loaned or given to a suitable institution. Sometimes, as happened recently with the Gilbert Stuart painting of a standing George Washington, known as the "Lansdowne" portrait, a consortium of patrons buys it for the nation. Yes, it's too bad that something indirectly associated with Monroe, Michigan, which treats Custer like a native son, is leaving the region but, to me, it's ironic that something hardly anyone knew was here caused such a stir. A few suggested reasonably that we exhibit the flag here "one more time" before it leaves forever. Like many things that sound simple, putting it up on an easel without interpretation in, say Prentis Court, is not the way we do things. And, at the time the recent newspaper stories appeared, the flag was already being prepared for shipping to Sotheby's in New York, where it will be offered for sale in October.

By selling the flag, the DIA is furthering its own mission to collect, care for, and interpret great art. We are also releasing a historically significant object that has long been out of place and unseen to find a more appropriate home.

Akan culture, Ghana; Chief's Ceremonial Eyeglasses

Exhibitions

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

Special Exhibition Galleries: South
Through August 8


Wee culture, Côte d'Ivoire; Face Mask, mid-20th century;. wood, paint, shotgun cases, metal. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Emil Arnold 65-8-9

Only one week remains to see the exhibition hailed by critics and visitors from coast to coast as "powerful," "groundbreaking," and "a must see." Through African Eyes explores five hundred years of interactions between African cultures and European outsiders, from the former's point of view.

"Through African Eyes is one of the best exhibits I've ever seen...I learned an immense amount and found the objects' installation and labels beautifully considered. The individual objects are moving, provocative works of art. Bravo!" enthused a viewer from Ann Arbor.

"A stunning, moving show. Wish I had more time," lamented a visitor from South Carolina. "The special exhibition is fabulous. I would love it if my students could see it-in Wisconsin," said a teacher from Janesville, Wisconsin. Several people, including individuals from New York and Chicago, hoped the exhibition would travel to other cities, because, as one Detroiter said "People everywhere need to see it!"

Through African Eyes does travel, heading for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City after it closes here on August 8. The last days of an exhibition can be crowded, so don't wait to order timed tickets for the show. Otherwise, you'll have to travel to Kansas City too.

Members see it free, but must have timed tickets. 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: Akan culture, Ghana; Chief's Ceremonial Eyeglasses, early to mid-20th century; gold alloy. Museum of the Gulf of Guinea, Togo

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 Film Theatre

The month of August features films from France and Germany, in addition to a documentary that follows the last modern-day cowboys as they lead their sheep up into Montana's mountains for summer pasture.


The Beaches of Agnes

From France comes Wild Grass, Alain Resnais's romp about the fate-altering ripples triggered by a seemingly ordinary purse snatching, released on the fiftieth anniversary of both the French New Wave and his groundbreaking debut, Hiroshima Mon Amour. Also from France is The Beaches of Agnes, a personal reflection on art, life, and the movies. Winner of the César (France's Oscar) for Best Documentary, the film is a cinematic self-portrait of Agnès Varda, director of The Gleaners and I, Vagabond, and Cleo from 5 to 7.

The Father of My Children, a moving portrait of a family in tumult, is a joint French and German venture. The film was inspired by the true story of a legendary French film producer--here called Grégoire--who was known not only for the quality of his work, but for his behind-the-scenes ability to juggle the demands of artistic egos, lawyers, bankers, and the needs of his wife, daughters, and surrogate cinema family. Harlan--In the Shadow of "Jew Süss," a German documentary, features rare archival footage, film clips, and interviews in a searing portrait of Veit Harlan, one of Nazi Germany's most notorious filmmakers. Millions across occupied Europe saw his perfidious, anti-Semitic propaganda film, largely forgotten today, although descendants of the Harlan family, especially the youngest generation, continue to struggle with the dark myth of his artistic immorality.


Sweetgrass

The documentary Sweetgrass captures the spectacular journey of some twenty-first century cowboys, who call their mothers on cell phones and complain about rainy weather, ornery sheep, and exhausted horses, as they wrangle thousands of animals across Montana's mountains.

For the complete DFT schedule, click here.

DIA: Inside/Out

The DIA is taking its collection to the streets, after a fashion. Full-size, all-weather digital reproductions of forty well-known works of art will be hung on the sides of buildings and placed in parks or near familiar landmarks as part of the DIA's 125th anniversary celebration. Bruegel's The Wedding Dance, Fuseli's The Nightmare, Copley's Watson and the Shark, Van Gogh's Postman Roulin, and other favorites will begin to appear throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties later this month.


Edwin Henry Landseer, English; Chevy, ("Weel, Sir, if the deer got the ball, sure's death Chevy will no leave him."), 1868; oil on canvas. Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Alvan Macauley, Jr. Fund

Efforts were made to match a painting's subject to the location where it was to be displayed: the seventeenth-century The Fruit Vendor at Detroit's Eastern Market, a seascape at Macomb County's Metro Beach Metropark, and a depiction of a loyal dog at the Orion Oaks Dog Park in Oakland County.

The reproductions will stay up until mid-November. Check the DIA's Web site soon for an interactive map of the locations of participating establishments and works of art. By reinventing metro Detroit as a grand, open air gallery, the DIA aims to connect with new audiences outside of traditional museum walls.

DSO at the DIA

The Concert of Colors came to the DIA for the first time this year and included two performances by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The symphony (they're the ones in the red T-shirts) filled the Great Hall. The standing- and sitting-on-the-floor-only crowd spilled into adjacent galleries.

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