American Art Web Collections Interpretation & Access project

Recipient: Fleming, Jenna (Boston, MA 02115 USA) in affiliation with Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Goal: Development of a new online interpretation and search framework for the Americas collection that will serve as an extensible model for all collection areas of the museum.

Description: The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) requests a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in support of its Collections Interpretation & Access project which, in its first phase, will focus on creating a new interpretive online resource for the Museum???s American Art collection. In the fall of 2010, the MFA will open a new wing for its unparalleled Art of the Americas collection. This resource will illuminate key themes of the collection; deepen visitors??? engagement with the artworks by providing rich learning and discovery materials; and will offer more dynamic interpretation of the collection for virtual visitors. The MFA???s collection of American art is a rich resource through which to examine the evolution of art in the Americas and to explore the multi-faceted nature of the American story. The online resource will draw out central themes of the collection for the public to provide them with new perspectives on American art, history, and experience.

Grant: 197893 / GE-50183-10,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical and Cultural Organizations Planning,   Year Awarded: 2010

Comprehensive Conservation Assessment of the Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection

Recipient: Low, William (Lewiston, ME 04240 USA) in affiliation with Bates College

Goal: Hiring three conservators with experience in books and bound materials, works on paper, and objects to assess the work and collections of American modernist painter and writer Marsden Hartley.

Description: The Bates College Museum of Art proposes to contract three conservators to conduct a comprehensive assessment of its Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection. This unique collection of Maine's most renowned artist comprises drawings, oil sketches, manuscripts, letters, poetry, photographs, studio objects, and Hartley's personal collection of art, photographs, jewelry, textiles, and ceramics. The collected works and effects of this leading American modernist have become increasingly important to the fields of art history and American studies and the collection's variety is part of what makes it interesting to a range of scholars. The proposed assessment will assist in ongoing efforts to preserve the collection, help to improve access to the collection and is one of the early steps necessary to prepare for the first comprehensive exhibition and publication of the Hartley collection.

Grant: 199477 / PG-50733-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Outdoor Sculpture Preservation Assessment Project

Recipient: Mikulay, Jennifer Geigel (Indianapolis, IN 46202 USA) in affiliation with Indiana University, Indianapolis

Goal: Hiring a consultant to conduct a preservation assessment of 25 outdoor sculptures. The sculptures are a part of the Herron School of Art and Design at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. The collection includes works in stainless steel, bronze, aluminum, wood, glass, composite materials, and other sculptural media created by internationally recognized, as well as regional and local, artists. Items from the collection are used in educational and public programming focused on public art.

Description: The project will engage a professional objects conservator to identify the preservation needs of the IUPUI outdoor sculpture collection and recommend a long-range plan for the care of the collection, including a monitoring program and necessary supplies.

Grant: 199586 / PG-50842-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Preserving the History of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and its Contributions to Art History Scholarship

Recipient: Lurie, Janice Lea (Minneapolis, MN 55404-3596 USA) in affiliation with Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts (Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA)

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of archival rehousing supplies to preserve the society's administrative records and manuscript collections, dating from 1883 to the present, including documentation of Plains Indian art and American printmaking.

Description: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) seeks support from the National Endowment for the Humanities in the amount of $6,000 for archival supplies to ensure long-term preservation of the museum's archival collections. Approximately 4,723 linear inches of important archival collections will be preserved for the long-term as a direct result of this grant. Founded in 1883 as the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, the MIA is the upper Midwest's premier encyclopedic art museum; the records related to its history and scholarship--and benefitting from the proposed grant--tell a unique and important story about the development of American art museums during the late 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. By preserving these archival collections, the MIA is also safeguarding a part of the world's cultural history.

Grant: 199593 / PG-50849-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Climate Monitoring and Climate Improvement for Short-term and Long-term Preservation Needs

Recipient: Risser, Julia Allison (St. Paul, MN 55105-1096 USA) in affiliation with American Museum of Asmat Art (St. Paul, MN 55105 USA)

Goal: The purchase of equipment to document light levels and environmental conditions in the exhibition and storage areas of the museum, based upon a recommendation following a 2008 NEH Preservation Assistance Grant. Located at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, the museum's ethnographic collections include 1,415 utilitarian, religious, and other objects fabricated by the Asmat people of Papua, Indonesia (formerly New Guinea) since 1950. The recipient will also purchase and install ultraviolet film and filters on windows, five dataloggers and environmental software, one hygrothermograph, and one light meter. The museum director will also attend courses in environmental monitoring, emergency preparedness, and storage of complex objects at the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation.

Description: This grant will support items needed to reach short and long-term planning recommendations the American Museum of Asmat Art at the University of St. Thomas(AMAA@UST)received in a 2008 General Preservation Assessment Survey. Elisa L. Redman, Assistant Director of Preservation Services and Melinda M. Markell, Preservation Services Coordinator at the Midwest Art Conservation Center conducted the survey. The National Endowment for the Humanities and the Travelers Foundation funded it. Funds will purchase light meter readers, dataloggers, and a hygrothermograph to record light levels and climate conditions in exhibit areas and storage. Funds will purchase light filters and acid-free boards for improving climate conditions. Two homes function as storage. Built in 1938, 2140 Summit Avenue has 969 finished square feet. 2150 Summit Avenue, built in 1918, has 1,988 finished square feet. The AMAA@UST collection has fragile organic objects. In 2011 it will have a new 1,500 square foot gallery.

Grant: 199718 / PG-50974-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Improving Costume Collection Storage at the Museum of Art of the Savannah College of Art and Design

Recipient: Burke, Suzanne Maureen (Savannah, GA 31401-3141 USA) in affiliation with Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA 31401 USA)

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of storage furniture and preservation supplies to house a 20th-century costume collection of haute couture, including gowns by major fashion designers. The collection is used by students interested in the design of the gowns, the fibers that are used in the clothing, and in courses on art history. The collection is also featured in exhibitions at the college's Museum of Art.

Description: The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) seeks a Preservation Assistance Grant from the NEH to purchase two museum storage cabinets and related preservation materials to partially house core pieces of a recently donated costume collection at the SCAD Museum of Art. The collection of approximately 550 objects, which includes the C. Z. Guest Collection and other gifts, comprises haute couture and other significant fashion examples from the 1920s to 2008. Designers represented in the collections include Fortuny, Chanel, Mainbocher, Oscar de la Renta, Lanvin, Adolfo, Lagerfeld, Balmain, Bill Blass, Givenchy, and other major figures. In addition to public programs and exhibitions, the museum costume and textile collections support the college's degree programs such as fashion, fibers, film, and art history. The museum's selection of appropriate storage furniture and materials was based on recommendations from a textile conservator with prior experience of the costume collection.

Grant: 199818 / PG-51074-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

General Conservation Assessment

Recipient: Mayberry, Martha Tonissen (Charlotte, NC 28207-2031 USA) in affiliation with Mint Museum of Art (Charlotte, NC 28207 USA)

Goal: Hiring a conservator to conduct a conservation assessment of the collections of the Mint Museum. The more than 33,000 objects of the museum are used in scholarly research and publications and in educational and public programming to explore the history of art, craft, and design around the world.

Description: With the requested $4,978 Preservation Assistance Grant from the NEH, The Mint Museum will contract with conservator Katherine Singley to conduct a two-day conservation assessment of its entire collection. This wide-ranging collection contains more than 33,000 objects in two museum facilities. The Mint focuses its collection activities in six areas: American art, ancient American art, ceramics, contemporary art, contemporary craft, and historic costume. The overall goal of the assessment is to review current collection storage vaults and gallery installations with the purpose of improving the Museum's preservation and conservation conditions. The assessment will address all aspects of collection care, including museum environment, collections storage, exhibition techniques and conditions, policies, staffing dedicated to the preservation of the collection, and emergency planning/response. The conservator will develop a long-range preservation plan and prioritize the recommendations.

Grant: 199774 / PG-51030-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Purchase Preservation Supplies and Furniture

Recipient: Contreras, Gina (San Francisco, CA 94110 USA) in affiliation with Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts

Goal: Funding supports the purchase of archival supplies and storage furniture to preserve a collection of 3,400 posters and prints on paper spanning 31 years of printmaking from Mission Grafica and La Raza Graphics and make it accessible for research. The prints document the social, political, and community history of Latinos in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and California; they were created using a method of silkscreen employed by artists with little formal training or access to more expensive methods of creating art.

Description: Begun in 2004 with funding from the SF Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the arts, MCCLA began the process of sorting 3,400 posters and prints created at Mission Grafica and La Raza. This collection represents over thirty years of documentation of life in the Mission, and of the events and organizations which shaped the Latino community of San Francisco and the Bay Area. We are seeking funds to purchase more equipment and supplies, so that we may complete this process, and begin making the collection available to researchers.

Grant: 199810 / PG-51066-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

Assessment of WPA Mural Collection in Gloucester City Hall

Recipient: Brown, Dale T (Gloucester, MA 01930 USA) in affiliation with City of Gloucester

Goal: The hiring of a conservator to assess the condition of 11 Works Progress Administration (WPA) murals installed in Gloucester City Hall in the late 1930s. Part of over 2,500 murals created nationwide, these murals by leading WPA artists Frederick Mulhaupt, Charles Allen Winter, Oscar Anderson, and Frederick Stoddard both record and form a part of the city's cultural and civic history.

Description: This proposal would fund a preservation assessment of eleven WPA murals installed in the City Hall of Gloucester, MA. This important collection includes murals painted by Frederick Mulhaupt, Charles Allen Winter, Oscar Anderson, and Frederick Stoddard (attributed). The artwork reflects Gloucester's significant heritage as a center for artists in the early 20th century. The murals depict scenes of Gloucester's history, community life, industry and culture, as well as government pursuits and ideals. The murals and the WPA program are the subject of ongoing research and are the focus of tours and lectures. The proposal is submitted by the Gloucester Committee for the Arts, stewards of the City's art collection. The murals are in clear need of cleaning and conservation 80 years after their original installation in City Hall and in various City schools. If these murals were to deteriorate, Gloucester and the nation would lose a valuable cultural and historical resource.

Grant: 199628 / PG-50884-10,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Preservation Assistance Grants,   Year Awarded: 2010

The Buddha and Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art

Recipient: Proser, Adriana (New York, NY 10021 USA) in affiliation with Asia Society

Goal: Implementation of a traveling exhibition, a website, a symposium, a catalog, and educational and public programs, together with production of a complementary two-hour documentary film; the film concerns the sites of major events of the life of the Buddha, and the traveling exhibition concerns the art of Buddhist pilgrimages to those sites.

Description: Asia Society, the preeminent multi-disciplinary institution dedicated to understanding Asia, and David Grubin, the distinguished documentary film producer, come together for a joint project examining the life of the Buddha and Buddhist pilgrimage. Through a two-hour documentary film biography of the Buddha, a dynamic, multi-venue international loan exhibition on Buddhist pilgrimage practice, PILGRIMAGE AND BUDDHIST ART, with more than 100 objects, an accompanying scholarly catalogue, interactive web site, symposium, and related humanities programs, this unprecedented project will explore the life of the Buddha and Buddhist pilgrimage practice across all of Asia. Since the Buddha???s life experiences are integral to places and practice of pilgrimage, the exhibition and documentary are designed to enhance one another. The PBS nationwide premier of the documentary, THE BUDDHA, will coincide with the exhibition opening in February 2010.

Grant: 194641 / GI-50066-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical & Cultural Organizations Implementation,   Year Awarded: 2009

Butterfly: The Art and Life of James McNeill Whistler

Recipient: Thomas, Karen (Washington, DC 20009 USA) in affiliation with Film Odyssey, Inc. (Washington, DC 20037 USA)

Goal: Production of a one-hour critical biography on the art and life of American artist James McNeill Whistler.

Description: A painter, an etcher, and designer who brought attention to his work with his brilliant wit, contretemps with the press, showmanship and talent, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American-born artist whose contributions to art include landscape paintings that nudged 19th century art towards abstraction, portraits (such as the iconic "Whistler's Mother")that are known for their color harmony and restraint, and etchings which are to the 19th and 20th centuries as Rembrandt's were to the 17th. A serious reformer of contemporary art, Whistler was an independent artist whose focus on the aesthetic quality of art ("art for art's sake"), rather than any social, moral or ethical purpose, was contrary to the thinking of many in his day. We are requesting production support for a one-hour critical biography on the art and life of James McNeill Whistler.

Grant: 197096 / TR-50068-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Media Makers Production,   Year Awarded: 2009

Fiery Pool: Maya and the Mythic Sea

Recipient: Finamore, Daniel (Salem, MA 01970-3783 USA) in affiliation with Peabody Essex Museum

Goal: Implementation of a traveling exhibition, a catalog, a website, and educational and public programs that will offer new perspectives on the centrality of water in ancient Maya art and culture.

Description: The Peabody Essex Museum requests $400,000 toward the costs of Fiery Pool: Maya and the Mythic Sea, a ground-breaking traveling exhibition, publication, interactive website and suite of school and intergenerational public programs that will present recent scholarship, newly excavated material, and recent advances in epigraphy to a broad general public. This first truly themed exhibition on Maya art and culture will investigate the centrality of water, primarily the sea, to Maya daily life and spiritual beliefs and practices through 90 objects from 10 countries but primarily from those in the Yucatan region of Central America. Objects range in size from small, finely incised precious materials to large-scale stone stela and carved architectural elements up to 11 feet tall. Multi-media interpretive elements will allow visitors to better "read" Maya symbolism, particularly relating to water and water rituals as well as to understand Maya hieroglyphic writing and origin stories.

Grant: 194637 / GI-50062-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical & Cultural Organizations Implementation,   Year Awarded: 2009

The Amazing Circus Poster/Strobridge Lithography Company: 1879-1939

Recipient: Spangenberg, Kristin (Cincinnati, OH 45202 USA) in affiliation with Cincinnati Art Museum

Goal: Implementation of a traveling exhibition, a catalog, a website, educational materials, and public programs that explore the cultural significance of the circus poster during its golden age in America.

Description: Funding is requested to organize the first major exhibition and catalogue devoted to the American circus poster. The exhibition will include 104 circus posters, along with related photographs, films, and circus ephemera. These will show the artistic significance of the American circus poster as well as its impact on the nation as it moved into the 20th century. In addition to traditional text interpretation, the exhibit will include a cell phone audio tour, a printed family guide, and interactive learning stations. The exhibition will travel to the Cincinnati Art Museum, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, and one other venue. The 350-page catalogue will provide full-page color reproductions of all posters in the exhibit alongside historical analysis by scholars. Other project components include K-12 lesson plans, an exhibition website, and educational programs at the Cincinnati Art Museum and Ringling Museum of Art.

Grant: 197013 / GI-50141-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical & Cultural Organizations Implementation,   Year Awarded: 2009

Digitization of Deteriorating Photographs of American Paintings

Recipient: Reist, Inge (New York, NY 10021 USA) in affiliation with Frick Collection

Goal: The digitization of 15,000 images of works of art, primarily early American portraits photographed 1922-67 in homes and public institutions throughout the United States.

Description: The Frick Collection's Frick Art Reference Library is proposing a two-year project to digitize, and make available to an international community of students and researchers, images and documentation that describe 15,000 works of art from its negative collection. Most of these unique large-format black and white glass plate and acetate negatives, made between 1922 and 1967, document works of art in private homes and small public collections throughout the United States. They record paintings that are generally not well-known and in some instances are the only extant images of works that have been subsequently lost, stolen, or destroyed. These negatives, and study photographs printed from them, together with the extensive firsthand information about the works of art, constitute an irreplaceable resource for humanities research, particularly for the history of art and art collecting, American history, social history, material culture, and genealogy.

Grant: 194403 / PW-50310-09,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2009

Tipi of the Great Plains Exhibition

Recipient: Morrow, Nancy Rosoff (Brooklyn, NY 11238 USA) in affiliation with Brooklyn Museum of Art (Brooklyn, NY 11238-6052 USA)

Goal: Implementation of a traveling exhibition and a catalog on the Plains Indian tipi, highlighting its historical role in Plains cultures and its continued importance as a symbol of identity.

Description: The Brooklyn Museum seeks $400,000 to support the exhibition, The Tipi of the Great Plains, a touring project that will premiere at the Brooklyn Museum in September 2010. The project received planning support from the Endowment and draws on input from a wide range of Native American and non-Native scholars. The exhibition will offer new and informative perspectives on this icon of the American cultural landscape by examining this complex cultural tradition that underlies Plains tribal identity. The exhibition will draw from Brooklyn Museum???s significant holdings of Plains material, supplemented by loans and four specially-commissioned full-scale tipis, one of which may be entered by all visitors. The exhibition catalogue will be the first major contribution to the general literature of tipis in more than four decades.

Grant: 194666 / GI-50091-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical & Cultural Organizations Implementation,   Year Awarded: 2009

Endowing the Position of Head of Museum Interpretation

Recipient: Rodewald, Patricia (Atlanta, GA 30309 USA) in affiliation with High Museum of Art

Goal: Endowment for the position of Head of Museum Interpretation.

Description: The High Museum of Art is requesting a Challenge Grant in the amount of $300,000 to endow the position of Head of Museum Interpretation. The 2005 expansion more than doubles the Museum's size to 312,000 square feet. With the expansion, the Museum reinstalled its collections and incorporated a variety of interpretive strategies. The Head of Museum Interpretation position, inaugurated December 2004, plays a seminal role in exhibition planning from concept development for exhibition storylines to the execution of interpretive plans. For the High to fulfill its responsibility to the Southeast as a source of quality humanities activities and to become a more appealing destination for a growing audience, staff must continue to work collaboratively to develop innovative interpretive tools for visitors. The Head of Museum Interpretation partners with curators and designers to enhance the High's ability to share its rich humanities themes through its collections and exhibitions.

Grant: 187508 / CH-50491-09,   Division: Challenge Grants,   Program: Challenge Grants,   Year Awarded: 2009

The Unfinished: Indian Stone Carvers at Work

Recipient: Dehejia, Vidya J (New York, NY 10027 USA) in affiliation with Columbia University

Goal: A study of unfinished rock-cut and constructed stone monuments in India. (24 months)

Description: Just about every rock-cut site in India and every constructed stone monument yields something incomplete, and in this collaborative project, Dehejia and Rockwell suggest that the very concept of the "unfinished" in pre-modern India requires rethinking. Our preliminary study has begun to generate evidence to resolve a variety of art historical issues; one such, pertaining to rock-cut shrines, is that once the sanctum was complete and ready for worship, the finish of surrounding areas became irrelevant. We plan a volume of essays that will begin the process of integrating an appreciation of the issues related to stone-working techniques, the tools used, the processes of carvers, and the extent to which the final carvings are influenced by the nature of the stone used--into the history of South Asian art. "The Unfinished: Indian Stone Carvers at Work" is a significant start in an untouched field.

Grant: 196415 / RZ-50997-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

Critical Documents of 20th-Century Latin American and Latino Art Book Series

Recipient: Ramirez, Mari Carmen (Houston, TX 77005-1803 USA) in affiliation with Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (Houston, TX 77265 USA)

Goal: Preparation for publication of the first four volumes of a 13-volume anthology titled Critical Documents of 20th-Century Latin American and Latino Art; and development of the accompanying online Documents Project critical archive.

Description: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston respectfully requests a three-year grant (July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2012) of $300,000 to publish three volumes of Critical Documents of 20th-Century Latin American and Latino Art, a planned 13-volume anthology series dedicated to providing access to and scholarly interpretation of essential resources related to 20th-century Latin American and Latino art and culture. Translation into English from primarily Spanish and Portuguese will permit many readers to access materials that are exceedingly difficult to access in repositories in Latin America and the United States. The Book Series is part of a ten- to fifteen-year project that brings together geographically dispersed scholars in a collaborative research effort and is dedicated to the recovery and publication of critical primary source documents, written or dictated by authoritative sources from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and the United States.

Grant: 196502 / RZ-51084-09,   Division: Research Programs,   Program: Collaborative Research,   Year Awarded: 2009

Prints for the Parlor: A Catalog of Engravings and Gift Book Illustrations, 1821-1876

Recipient: Hewes, Lauren B (Worcester, MA 01609 USA) in affiliation with American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, MA 01609-1634 USA)

Goal: The cataloging and digitization of 600 separately published engravings and 2,700 engravings in gift books and literary annuals published from the 1820s through the 1870s.

Description: This proposal seeks funding for cataloging and digitizing separately published American engravings published between 1820 and 1877 and engraved illustrations and related text in gift books issued in the same period. This body of materials is relatively inaccessible to historians of art, literature, publishing, culture, and society; yet it was this visual material that helped inform Americans about many aspects of their lives, including American history, religious iconography, European and American landscape and cities. Engravings gave physical presence to political, religious, and military leaders as well as providing visual information about social reforms. Likewise, gift book illustrations were purveyors of visual information on many topics. The volumes containing them were kept at hand for casual viewing on parlour tables and so had significant impact on their viewers. Scholars in many disciplines will find these records and digitized images helpful.

Grant: 194446 / PW-50353-09,   Division: Preservation and Access,   Program: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources,   Year Awarded: 2009

Face to Face: The African Presence in Renaissance Europe

Recipient: Spicer, Joaneath A (Baltimore, MD 21201 USA) in affiliation with Walters Art Museum

Goal: Planning for a traveling exhibition, a website, lecture series, a catalog, and educational and public programs examining the presence of Africans in the art of Renaissance Europe.

Description: The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland requests support from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the planning of the international loan exhibition provisionally titled Face to Face: The African Presence in Renaissance Europe. NEH Grant funds are requested to fund focus groups, exhibition advisory committee meeting travel, curatorial travel related to loans and contributions, and an exhibition research assistant position. To reveal the African presence in Renaissance Europe, the exhibition will examine the geographical, historical and social conditions affecting Africans in Europe. It will then offer face to face encounters with the actual individuals affected by these factors ??? from slaves to rulers - through the medium of great Renaissance portraiture.

Grant: 194610 / GE-50097-09,   Division: Public Programs,   Program: America's Historical and Cultural Organizations Planning,   Year Awarded: 2009