#ummamuseum

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Visit the Museum and Check out This Exhibit!

Power Contained: Figures of Power in Central and West Africa

AUGUST 19 - DECEMBER 31, 2017                                                                 The Jan and David Brandon Family Bridge

Before colonization, complex hierarchical societies flourished in Central and West Africa. At their summits were a select few—kings and chiefs whose authority was derived from their direct connection to powerful ancestors and predecessors. These rulers were wrapped in expensive textiles or costly furs, and covered in beads and precious metals, materials that not only signaled their extraordinary status, but were also intended to safely contain the great power they wielded. The famous minkisi (meaning “power figure”) sculptures of Central Africa were similarly activated through the addition of charged materials. Textiles, animal skin, metal, and beads allowed the lifeless wooden carvings to be activated by local spiritual leaders in order to communicate with the realm of the ancestors and spirits. This exhibition explores the parallels between the adornment of the king’s physical body and minkisi. Drawing on works from UMMA’s collection and several loans, the exhibition demonstrates how authority was expressed and power contained across a range of historical cultures in Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon.

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Museums Celebrate The Black Women Artists History Has Overlooked

See their work. Know their names. Learn their stories.

The “hidden figures” of the art world are finally being recognized for their triumphs but most importantly their mastery.

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March 11, 2017 - 12:00pm to 5:00pm Shapiro Undergraduate Library, Design Lab (1st Floor)

Join the U-M Library for an all day communal updating of Wikipedia entries on subjects related to art and feminism. We'll provide tutorials for the beginner Wikipedian, reference materials, and refreshments. Bring your laptop, power cord, and ideas for entries that need updating or creation. For the editing-averse, we urge you to stop by to show your support. Please RSVP

Free! Everyone welcome! No previous experience required!

Wikipedia’s gender trouble is well-documented. In a 2011 survey, the Wikimedia Foundation found that less than 10% of its contributors identify as female. While the reasons for the gender gap are up for debate, the practical effect of this disparity is not: content is skewed by the lack of female participation. This represents an alarming absence in an important repository of shared knowledge. Let’s change that.

Please create a Wikipedia account before you arrive.

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Throwback Thursday for Feb. 16

Today in history:

Apparently not too much happened, in terms of art history! However:

In 1923, in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Howard Carter, an English archaeologist and Egyptologist, opened the inner burial chamber of the famous boy king, Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Carter had discovered the antechamber in the November of the previous year, however, it wasn’t until today that he was able to enter the inner room of the tomb and find the beautiful sarcophagus of “King Tut”. It is this pharaoh's tomb that is considered to be the best preserved ever found in the Valley of the Kings, and is world renowned for its beauty and splendor. At the time it reinvigorated global interest in ancient Egypt, and much of the tomb’s items and art have toured the world. King Tut would go on to become a world famous icon/obsession: products and businesses were named after him, and his influence can easily be found in various mediums from books and comics to jewelry design. Other fields of culture influenced include music, art, fashion, film, architecture, and furniture design, especially in the 1920’s and 30’s with the Art Deco movement, which is strongly influenced by ancient Egyptian art/motifs.

King Tutankhamun's iconic golden death mask

Wall painting from the tomb

Example of Art Deco art with Egyptian inspiration on Paramount Theater in Oakland, CA (erected in 1931)

Artist Birthdays This Week:

2/17

Raphaelle Peale (1774)

2/18

Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848)

Max Klinger (1857)

Yoko Ono (1933)

2/19

Constantin Brancusi (1876)

2/20

Ansel Adams (1902)

2/22

Horace Pippin (1888)

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Style Sunday: Social Realism

Cliff Dwellers (1913) by George Bellows

Found in the forms of painting, illustration, and photography (though it later broadened to include film), Social Realism is a style of art depicting the social issues and hardships of everyday life. While much of pre-20th century art focused on the upper class and aristocratic subjects, Social Realism looks at the working class and poor for its material. Many Social Realist artists saw themselves as united with the working class, opposed to classifying themselves as elite artisans. Though the movement was worldwide, it was particularly popular during Depression-Era United States (it is also referred to as American Realism). For some, the style of social realism can occasionally hold negative connotations due to its political nature.

Tents as Home: Drought refugees from Texas encamped in California near Exeter. Seven in family. (1936) by Dorothea Lange

The work of Dorothea Lange is prominent within American Great Depression history. Though initially intended to document the conditions of rural poverty, her photographs became works of art, able to stand on their own outside of the group, capturing the intense depths of emotion and hardship displayed by her subjects. 

Bandit’s Roost (1888) by Jacob Riis

Lange’s work resembles the work of Jacob Riis, who photographed subjects within New York City’s tenements to document the living conditions of the city’s working class.

American Gothic (1930) by Grant Wood

Due to the multiple mediums associated with Social Realism, the subject matters constitute both real and fabricated situations. Grant Wood’s American Gothic, an iconic piece within American art displaying rural life, is considered under the umbrella of Social Realism yet - unlike the photographs of Lange or Riis - its fictional subjects were created by Wood.

Panel 23, “And the Migration Spread” (1940-1941) by Jacob Lawrence

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Misc. Monday: MLK and the Civil Rights Movement through UMMA’s Collection

Martin Luther King (1968) by Ben Shahn

First recognized as a federal holiday in 1986, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day serves to remember a man who stood for nonviolent activism within the Civil Rights Movement, protesting the discrimination and inequality of African American people in the United States. Today, many museums are hosting special events commemorating the holiday and King’s activism; a number of institutions, including the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, are offering free admission to the public.

We Shall Overcome (1965) by Ben Shahn

Remembering and preserving history through paintings, drawings, and photography serves to unite communities and the arts together. UMMA’s own collection features a number of works created within, inspired by, or in response to the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Tired Marchers Sleep on the Streets - “We were tired, we were tired.”, Selma, Alabama, from “Detroit Focus 2000″ (1963) by Edward (Robbi) Roberson 

Edward “Robbi” Roberson was a Detroit photographer known for capturing the icons of Motown and figures of the Civil Rights Movement. This photo was likely taken during attempts and demonstrations to register black voters, who faced discrimination and inequality with the implementation of a poll tax and literacy test by Alabama legislature. “Freedom Day”, a mass mobilization of registering voters, many of whom were denied application. “Freedom Day” ultimately led to the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, which Martin Luther King, Jr. participated in, aiding in the passing of the Voting Rights Act.

Untitled (I feel most colored...), from Four Etchings (1992) by Glenn Ligon

Glenn Ligon is a contemporary artist who works with a number of themes, including race and identity. He engages with and incorporates pieces from literature, history, and his own life into his work. Untitled utilizes a quote from Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston’s 1928 essay, “How It Feels to be Colored Me”. 

Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By (1965) by Ben Shahn

Shahn’s piece features the quote “thou shalt not stand idly by” in both Hebrew and English, depicting the diversity and need for unification among different groups of people within the Civil Rights Movement. Shahn’s work also resembles the SNCC’s emblem of a grasped black and white hand. 

March on Washington, [SNCC members and friends defiantly gather to sing freedom songs], from “Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement” (1963) by Danny Lyon

Danny Lyon served as a staff photographer for the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) while immersing himself into the environment of 1960′s social change. The March on Washington called attention to the work of the Civil Rights Movement promoting racial equality, culminating in King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

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TAIT Design Co. Feature

Simple design is not the product of a simplistic mindset. Designing eye-catching, minimal products is a process that involves a great deal of thought and complexity.

TAIT Design Co. founder Matthew Tait, an advertising professional turned self-taught industrial designer, has been making intimately crafted and sophisticated toys for the Detroit marketplace, and beyond, since 2013. You may recognize a few of their iconic pieces, such as the Kaku Dako Kite Kit, Turbo Flyer airplane, and Sling-Slang YOYO that are sold in the UMMA Store. Each product embraces a minimalist, modern design that impressively accentuates each object’s natural shape.    

“We put a lot of thought into each product, even if it seems to be a very simple object,” said Tait. “We try to have it look as simple as it possibly can be, but once you examine it more, there’s a lot of thought and detail into why certain decisions were made.”

The geometric shapes of the Kaku Dako Kite, for example, fit perfectly into the natural folds of the kite itself. Once the assembled kite is held up against sunlight, the patterns fit into the compartments created by the kite’s bamboo body shadow.

Tait, along with co-founder Audrey Elkus, have recently expanded TAIT Design Co.’s products to reach the home office, creating stylish and chic calendars and clocks with soft, pastel color palettes and bold interactive features. More information about and photographs their products can be found at taitdesignco.com.

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Love is what you want.