Most of the material contained within the folders of the WAM archives consists of standard 8.5x11 papers documenting correspondence, notes, plans, etc. However, many of the exhibition planning files also contain a wide assortment of intriguing miscellany - photos, slides, negatives, cardboard-mounted wall labels, fabric swatches, catalogue drafts, newspaper clippings, books, etc. Here are a few of the curious items recently discovered while processing:
Look was a popular bi-weekly magazine that ran from 1937 to 1971 and had an emphasis on photography rather than articles, a bit like Life Magazine. In the files, I found a number of photographs from an exhibition titled Look at America, but I have found no other documentation about this exhibition—I can't even tell with certainty what year it took place in the University Gallery. The introductory wall text reads:
The Go Betweens: The Lives of Immigrant Children was an exhibition developed by the University Art Museum and shown in 1986. Along with the catalogue, I found some sketches done by the designers outlining what the final catalogue would look like. I always find it interesting to peek behind the scenes and see the work that goes into creating products such as a catalogue or an exhibition...
The contents of the folders contained within the WAM files not only document the specific activities of the Weisman (and the titles that proceed it) but also of associations the museum was and continues to be involved w
The Weisman Art Museum has a wonderful art rental program that allows students, employees, and departments to rent works of art by the semester or the year. I knew of the program, but what I didn't realize is that it has been part of the Weisman/University Gallery since the very beginning. The rental program began in 1934 at the Gallery, where framed print reproductions were available for students to rent for only 25 cents per academic quarter — a cheap way to decorate drab dorm or department walls.
Although the exhibits previously held at the Gallery, such as the exhibit, "People of the Plains: 1820-1850," could never be reproduced exactly as they were first displayed, the records that were kept in planning and production can create for those who weren't able to attend, (for example, those who were not yet born...) an idea of what the exhibit might have been like.
From the UM New Service, Aug. 9, 1978 (Digital Conservancy), a news release of programming related to the exhibit was found:
A thief struck the University Gallery in June of 1967, stealing 6 prints right out of their frames. According to the theft report in the files, the prints (meaning woodcuts, lithographs, and the like) were works by very well-known artists, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Max Beckmann, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The report states:
If you've spent much time on the East Bank of the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, you've no doubt seen the large steel sculpture near Williamson Hall. I've walked by it many times without knowing the artist or the title of the work — until I found a WAM file called "Process: A Public Sculpture by Stewart Luckman". The University Gallery had an exhibition in 1981 showcasing images and plans from the making of the sculpture.
Here is a sampling of some of the catalogues we've come across from the early 1980s. All are exhibitions that were developed by the University Gallery. (Also see the previous post Looking Back for catalogues from the 1970s.)
From Charles Helsell's (curator) files associated with the exhibit titled, "Mirror of the Middle Ages," held at the Gallery from March 28-April 20, 1978, we receive a glimpse into exhibition planning through the design specifications of an exhibit case, as well as fabric swatches considered for the display:
I discovered a stack of Polaroids in the "Loans" file for the 1984 exhibition Southwestern Weaving Traditions: Past and Present. The images feature rugs and blankets being held up by their owners (I can only assume), and views of the items in the homes of the lenders. I'm not sure whether these weavings were loaned for the exhibition, but I find the casualness of the snapshots and the vivid (Polaroid-enhanced) colors of the rugs charming in and of themselves.
Exhibitions come and go quickly, so sometimes it's nice to look back and remember past accomplishments. These are a few of the catalogues we've found from exhibitions developed by the University Gallery in the latter half of the 1970s:
Animals from Legend and Life in Antique and German Porcelain, 1977
The Desert: Indian Art of the Southwest,1976
People of the Plains 1820-1850, 1978
Mimbres Painted Pottery, 1979
Once Upon a Time: Illustrations of Children's Tales from Around the World, 1979
The Mountains of Marsden Hartley, 1979
Prior to the University's current Museum Studies graduate minor, a museology program was offered through the Department of Art History. The program, as well as a discussion of the field of museum work, is described in a July 3, 1975 article in the MN Daily titled, "Art interns: learning in a crowded field" (pg. 9).
From a folder of records documenting a course in museology at the University Art Museum in Spring 1985, a chart detailing The Planning, Designing, Construction, and Installation of Exhibitions:
Seventy-seven years ago, on April 5, 1934, the experiment in fine arts, the "Little Gallery" opened at the University of Minnesota in a few rooms on the top floor of Northrop Auditorium. The front page of the MN Daily for April 5th announces the opening convocation that was held to commemorate the opening, and advertises that Mr. Russell A. Plimpton, of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, would be giving a speech titled, "Who Started Museums Anyhow?," to include a slide presentation of, in Plimpton's regard, "some of the most interesting museums in the world."