Juxtapositions-Notes - Milwaukee Art Museum

JUXTAPOSITIONS: DOCENT WORKSHOP NOTES
APRIL 5, 2012
African Mask and The Store Window by George Segal
Gloria Rozmus
The initial draw for me was the mask, a symbol which appears throughout time and place in--as you can
see-- so many variations, all reminding us of the essential mysteries of this life-- the unknown and
unknowable. We enter this world not knowing where this life will take us, how long we have here, or
what happens when we die. And we experience, as we go along, many unknowables, large and small,
that remind us of how tenuous a hold we have on our small world. When my son was 17 and still crazy
about driving a car, he offered to take me downtown to a meeting. I was glad to have his company--of
course, I had known him for every nano-second of his existence and he had lived all of those 17 years
under our roof. He was always easy to talk to, had nice friends who would come over and spend time
talking to us, so as we got into the car, I was feeling very comfortable and pleased with myself. Then he
took out one of his favorite CD's and played it. The music was horrible and the lyrics were utterly
depressing and I stared at him and thought "Who are you" I've had to ask that question about myself
from time to time too. In the novel, "A Separate Peace", the author writes about the Maginot Line, a
trench that the French believed would protect them from the advancing German army--but it didn't. He
says that everyone creates a Maginot Line to protect themselves from whomever might break through
and discover those things that make us most vulnerable. It is a mask we all know. Then add to the
masks darkness. Even though it has happened a number of times, I am stunned by people who are
pillars of the community and Boy Scout leaders by day and serial killers at night. The world feels
different at night-- a little scarier, a little more mysterious.
Let's return to the creators of the masks. The inspiration for these artists comes from very different
beliefs about art. The adenla or conical crown from the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria was created by someone
who, most likely followed a tradition begun by his ancestors which was passed along from generation to
generation like the Kente cloth weavers. His art was an expression of the permanence and continuity of
the Yoruba culture throughout time. His motivation was to replicate as closely as he was able the work
of previous masters. The Yoruba are an indigenous tribe which makes up about 20 % of the Nigerian
population today, and their religious beliefs are tied into the creation of the mask and its use. The beads
are intricately strung and carefully assembled to create images easily recognizable by the tribal audience
and meaningful to them. The creative power of women in giving birth and life held great significance
and must appear on the adenla at its very top in the form of a bird. The face staring out at everyone
reminds them of the watchful eyes of the ancestors and is in deference to the ancestral worship of the
tribe. The unnamed artist would not be satisfied until he had achieved a likeness to those masks of the
past which represent perfection to him.
When we look at George Segal's sculpture, we see innovation. He does not use marble, brass, clay, or
wood, some of the more traditional sculptural media. He does not use liquid plastic, as did his
contemporary, Duane Hansen in making the "Janitor". Instead, he sees his artistic role as a constantly
evolving one in which he presents his work to the community but expects each viewer to respond
individually to whatever he or she experiences. It is not shared. Some people describe his work as
reverse sculpture, wrapping plaster and bandages around a model--something of a modern
mummification and a near death experience!--and then cutting them open once the surface hardens.
The interior is representational and intimate, smooth and contoured to the human model, but it remains

inside and unseen, a full body mask. Structural buildings are also a part of his innovation, and the "Store
Front" tells us that it is night since the display window is empty, closed off from the store, and the
darkened doorway where the woman stands surrounds her protectively so that you can't approach her
from the back or sides but only directly from the front.
That brings us to the gaze. Haven't you ever thought of ripping off that plaster to find out who belongs
to those piercing cold eyes that stare directly at you from the "Store Front" The eyes are the first thing
people notice and the first thing they want to talk about when they see her. They are almost like
weapons that make people want to back away. While the Yoruba tribe gathers around a night time fire
awaiting a ritual ceremony, the world of the "Store Front" and its urban tribal community have much
scarier rituals, and I'm sure all of the women here keenly understand the danger of standing alone in a
darkened doorway. The gaze is small protection.
On the other hand, it is said that the Nigerian mask or adenla originally had more strands of beads that
hung over the face in order to protect the tribal audience from the powerful gaze of the ruler. Not only
did he wear the supernatural powers of women and the watchful face of his royal ancestors but he may
also have had some mind-enhancing drugs in this mask! Imagine how invincible that would make him
feel as he came before his people. His mask was not for the purpose of hiding his identity but for
establishing a heightened identity, adding powers no other human could have. This strong, muscular
warrior king faces his tribe as they wait in the darkness lit by a crackling fire. Perhaps there are
drumbeats, chants, dance accompanying the ceremony, and everyone understands and recognizes the
meaning and purpose of this event. They are unified in their homage to the warrior king.
"The Store Front" always reminds me of the mother of a high school friend of mine. My friend's name is
Gloria too and we are only a day apart in age, but that is where similarities end. I always remember her
mother at the door when I'd stop there after school. She wore a house dress, an apron, and sturdy
sensible shoes, and she had thinning mousy brown hair but a very placid face. Gloria told me that her
parents never argued or raised their voices, so I thought they were a perfect family and that she lived on
the set of "Father Knows Best" or something. Her mom didn't drive, and when we turned 16, she sat
down with her daughter and said to her "I have spent my whole life waiting". Waiting for her husband
to come home so that she could serve dinner, waiting until he could find time to take her to the store or
run errands, occasionally finding friends who offered to take her places or waiting for a bus. She was
always on someone else's schedule. when I heard that, I thought that I had been given the chance to
peer behind her mask for a moment . When I see the folded arms of this woman, it is almost a snapshot
of a time frozen in the 50's and 60's when the passive role of so many mothers I met was the norm. And
then along came the third Gloria, Gloria Steinem, and feminism started to make war with that norm. Of
course, it was too late and too radical for Gloria's mom to consider turning her comfortable and
unobtrusive world upside down. But the "Store Front" captures something of that era.
Although these two selections have in common a mask, a solitary figure set in darkness, and a powerful
gaze, the differences are profound: male vs. female
powerful vs. vulnerable
active vs. static
tribal vs. urban
community vs. disunity
tradition vs. innovation
And the list goes on. For me, the wildly different expressions of this powerful symbol, the mask, drew
me in.

Barbara Hepworth Sculptures Juxtaposed with Lake Michigan
Robert Mitchell
The positioning of the three Barbara Hepworth sculptures, “Single Form: Ikon, (or Eikon)”, “Single Form:
Antiphon,” and “Two Piece Marble: Rangatira,” reinforces Hepworth’s aesthetic. With some
imagination (more like a willing suspension of disbelief) the alcove that faces east over Lake Michigan is
like Trewyn Studios in St. Ives, Cornwall, England, where Barbara Hepworth spent the last 35 years of
her life enjoying the moods of the Atlantic Ocean, facing east. In a 1966 interview, Hepworth recounted
that “ . . . what was lacking in Yorkshire [her birthplace] I only discovered when I went to Italy, and that
was light. In my work I’ve always used light a great deal. I test everything I do by sunlight, and by
moonlight, and in rain and greyness.”
I wrote to Dr. Sophie Bowness of the Hepworth Estate about the titles of Hepworth pieces. (Dr. Bowness
is a granddaughter of Barbara Hepworth.) She replied via her assistant, stating that Hepworth started
using Greek titles and subtitles in the mid-1940s, although she didn’t travel to Greece until the summer
of 1954. Icon, meaning image, appears repeatedly as a title or subtitle. The shape of our piece dates
back to the 1937 plaster “Single Form,” and the subtitle was added when the bronze was cast in 1963.
Hepworth professed a Romantic attitude of emotional affinity with nature. She spoke of the vitality of
the material, “essential stone shapes and essential wood shapes which are impossible for me to
disregard.” Note, for example, how the five planes of the surface of “Ikon” subtly merge, while the
upright form with its rich patina is reminiscent of the irresistible green shoot. However, the top plane is
a “cut-off” which not only provides interest but distances the form from a representational figure.
(Hepworth referred to her pieces of sculpture as “forms,” not “figures.”)
“Antiphon”(originally a 1953 boxwood carving, bronze casting 1969) recalls a sung response to an
invocation in a liturgy, and thus advances the notion of a relationship between the “Single Form” and
another entity. It is pierced in two different orientations, thus reinforcing the notion of conversation.
The holes are angled so as to draw the viewer’s gaze in and out. Hepworth: “I felt the most intense
pleasures in piercing the stone in order to make an abstract form and space; quite a different sensation
from doing it for the purpose of realism.”
In regard to “Two Piece Marble,” Dr. Bowness says, “Rangatira is a Maori word for a chief or person of
noble birth. Barbara Hepworth owned two Maori dictionaries given to her by a New Zealand friend. . . .
She also used it for two screenprints—“Rangatira I and Rangatira II, from the series Opposing Forms,
1970.” The form does remind me of a stout Maori chief looking out over his domain. In any event, we
can peer through the holes to our inland sea.
The biographical details of Dame Barbara Hepworth’s life are widely available from an internet search.
A good site is www.tate.org.uk/stives/hepworth/ which includes views of her sculpture garden. Video
clips of Hepworth talking about her work are worth watching.

Suzie Hanks
Marino Marini, Italian 1901 – 1980, Horse with Head Looking Up, 1956, Bronze
Marino Marini, Italian 1901 – 1980, Battle, 1952, Oil on Canvas
Etruscan (Faliscan), Oinochoe (pitcher) 325B.C., Red figure Terracotta
Greek Attic, Horse Pyxis (circular box), ca. 760 – 735 B.C., Terracotta
Marino Marini
Marini is considered one of the great artists of the 20 th century by virtue of his sculpture and is ranked
with Moore, Lipchitz, Calder and Picasso. He was born in Pistoia, Tuscany in 1901 and was very strongly
influenced by the art of the ancient Etruscans who’s culture flourished in that part if Italy from
approximately 700 -250B.C. At the beginning of his career, he rented a studio at a riding school. During
WWII, his apartment and studio in Milan were destroyed in an air raid. His work was introduced to the
U.S. in 1950 by Curt Valentin and has always been widely exhibited in Europe. He won many prizes and
honors during his life and there are now three museums in Italy: Pistoia, Milan and Florence entirely
devoted to his work. His themes are limited to four subjects, the horse and rider, Pomona and the
juggler. After WWII, his work became more abstract, reflecting the trauma he experienced during the
war and expressing his anxiety for the future of mankind. Marini’s work shows the Etruscan influence by
also having a delicate sense of humor which is often subtle and disguised. He uses bright color to
express emotion. His forms have an archaic simplicity of shape. His works have nobility; are rhythmic
and dynamic. The horse symbolizes man’s animal nature, his virile creative capacity. But the rider has
lost his connection to the horse – is reeling and will fall.
Marini speaks for himself:
“You consider one of my equestrian statues of these past twelve years. You will notice each time the
horseman is incapable of managing his mount and that the animal in its restlessness ever more riderless
comes more and more to a rigid standstill instead of rearing. I believe in the most serious way that we
are headed toward the end of the world.”
Etruscan Oinochoe 325 B.C.
Here is an example of Etruscan art - a wine pitcher reflecting man’s animal nature as seen in the horse
and man’s loss control over it. This comes from the culture that had such an enormous influence on
Marino Marini.
“I see myself as a descendant of the Etruscans … what interests me is the primitive, the elemental. The
Etruscans move me so profoundly just because their nature is absolutely original. A nature that …
contains so much of the warmth of life that it can live on its own accord developing continually down
the centuries. This is why I have always sought roots of human endeavor such as these.”
Who were the Etruscans They lived in western Italy in self-governing cities from about 700B.C. –
250B.C. All that we know of them come from their tombs, which were filled with frescoes, pottery,

onze statuettes, sarcophagi, cinerary urns and canopic jars. Their tomb entrances are often marked
with a phallic pillar said to symbolize the regenerative nature of life, death and rebirth. Although, one
must keep in mind that this was said by D. H. Lawrence, one of their most romantic chroniclers. Ever
since they were conquered by the Roman’s in the 2 nd century B.C., men have been writing about them
and collecting their antiquities. But we are no closer to knowing where they came from or who they
really were. D.H. Lawrence wrote a series of travelogues about Etruria and his visits to their tombs in the
late 1920s. He seems to have the same sensibility and emotional response to them as Marino Marini.
Consequently, he is a wonderful source in spite of his romantic hyperbole.
Greek Horse Pyxis 760 – 735 B.C.
This is a cosmetic box from the archaic period (700 – 480B.C.). The horse is standing serenely on all four
legs on the lid of the box. He has no foreknowledge of the subversion that will come to the geometric
design beneath him around the belly of the box. The Etruscans also used this symbol on their terra
cottas. The swastika is a universal symbol, at least 5,000 years old and in most cultures has had positive
associations such as wellbeing, the power of the life force and cyclic regeneration. Now, sadly it will
forever be associated with the terrible destruction of Nazi fascism which contributed to Marino Marini ‘s
visions of the apocalypse.

THE CHAIR (outline), presentation for MAM Juxtaposition Workshop, April 5, 2012, by Irene Morgan
Definition: chair , n 1) a piece of furniture consisting of a seat, three or four legs, a seat and a back, often
with arms, sometimes with rockers at the end of the legs, designed to hold one person. 2) a seat of
office, authority, dignity, power, prestige, honor, such as the Chair of the Senate Ways and Means
Committee, a university department Chair, an endowed Chair (professorship), the first Chair of an
orchestra section. As v, to install in a position of authority; to provide over: to chair a meeting.
Forerunner of the chair is the stool. n, a simple seat with three or four legs and no back or
arms, sometimes with no legs but supported on a central pedestal.
Pieces to be considered in this presentation: The Asante/Ashanti Leopard Stool (Osebo Dwa); Portrait of
William Adams, Frank Duvenek; Found Object – Rocking Chair
Leopard Stool, (Osebo Dwa),early 20 th C., probably 1920s, carver unknown. 22x22x12 inches. Gift of
African American Art Alliance, (M.2000.l65).
Out of context. A single object of many that symbolize and honor an individual entity – that of the oba.
It was never meant to be in a museum. The whole package that symbolizes the oba in addition to the
stool, includes kente cloth, gold jewelry, ritual vessels of various kinds, the umbrella, the horse. Even
one of these exudes power, wealth and status. Taken together, they are a powerhouse of prestige.
The stool is a symbolic representation of the original Golden Stool of the santehene (Asante King) Oseitutu
who unified the people in the 17C. POSSIBLY THE MOST POWERFUL OBJECT IN OUR ENTIRE
COLLECTION, a potent symbol of a potent individual, imbued with power, status, strength, leadership, in
addition to containing the very soul of the Asante people.
Significance of leopard as symbol. The Asante revere and respect the leopard, noted for its strength,
fierceness, power, and independence. As a symbol, it belonged to the oba, no one else was allowed to
use it.
Portrait of William Adams, 1874. Frank Duvenek. American, 1840-1919. Oil on canvas, 60 ¼” x 48 ¼”.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lyron Laskin, Mr. and Mrs. George G. Schneider and Dr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Patek,
Jr., in Memory of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Patek. M1965.30
Here we have a man, sitting in what is described as “…a sort of Shaker chair…”. A painting that combines
the attributes of such a chair with a psychologically penetrating portrait of the sitter – they belong to
each other.
A word about the Shakers, a monastic, religious, communal society called The United Society of
Believers in Christ’s Second Appearance. Theirs is a powerful legacy. Their austere way of living
reflected their austere religious belief. Shaker furniture design was inspired by their religious beliefs, as
well - austere, simple, plain, durable, honest, up-right. No decoration of elaborate details. (“An object
well-made is ‘an act of prayer’”)

Looking at the subject of Duvenek’s portrait, consider adjectives to describe him: austere, up-right,
simply dressed, no decoration or elaborate detail., a man of integrity, no nonsense, straightforward.
The sitter reflects the attributes of the chair.
American Realist painter, Frank Duvenek, (b. Covington, KY 1848, d. Cincinnati ,1919) migrated across
the Ohio River as a teen-ager to Cincinnati, with its strong German community. At 21, he went to
Germany to study at the Munich Academy, noted for its dark, realistic style of direct painting,
reminiscent of the work of Rembrandtr, Franz Hals and Rubens, with their dark backgrounds, light and
dark contrasts, slashing brushstrokes and heavy paint application, which later influenced Robert Henri’s
circle. Duvenek mastered the technique and developed a preference for picturesque characters as
models , as he did in this portrait, which he painted in 1874 when he returned to Cincinnati. It was
exhibited together with five Munich portraits at the Boston Arts Club in 1875, creating a sensation.
Why Because it was a radical departure from the academic style the public was accustomed to from
the then very poplar Hudson River School. The painting was so admired by aspiring artist Elizabeth
Boott, she persuaded her father to buy it for her. She became Duvenek’s pupil and later his wife. They
returned to Munich and lived in Italy and as well headed up a group called “Duvenek’s Boys” which
included William Merrit Chase and John Thwachtman. Upon his wife’s early death, Devenek returned to
Cincinnati in 1888 where he continued to paint and teach until his death in 1919 at the age of 70.
Compare William Adams and The Grandfather. Whose lap would you prefer to climb up into For
Touring – Portraiture, of course. Painting Techniques. American History Through Art. The arm chair at
the head of the table for the host/father/distinquished guest. Historically, men were seared and served
first, then the women, then the kids. In Colonial times, the kids would be eating standing. It was a rite
of passage to be granted a place at the table. Many times tables for large groups were formed by
putting boards on sawhorses – hence, the term “chairman of the board.”
Found Object – Rocking Chair, c. 1950. Michael and Julie Hall Collection of American Folk Art. M1989,
part gift, part purchse. Unidentified artist, W. WA. Welded and painted steel farm implements.
Acquired near Cooper Union, NY, 1985
MOST CREATIVE OF THE THREE PIECES PRESENTED – to take “throw- aways, junk, and put the pieces
together imaginatively to create a useful object. Using objects relating to mid-20C farm, the metal seat
comes from a riding machine, mowing sickle knives decorate the base, and a mule shoe fastens to a
hinge on the front. Welded to the sides are shovels, a faucet handle, half a pair of tin snips, a fitting
from a single-tree harness, a small pitch fork, a round cheek piece and half a pair of a snaffle horse bit, a
pulley and hook, half a pair of scissors, a pig ringer, railroad spikes, and a handle for lifting wood burning
stove lid. The chair’s runners are lease springs, and the front braces are railroad springs, and the front
braces are railroad spikes. The back of the chair consists of fancifully bent wire rods, and an electrical
conduit forms the body. Completing the decoration, chain link surrounds the back and seat. Two items
which help to date this vernacular equivalent to “high modern” found art and assemblage are the
WALSCO long shank bicycle lock welded to its side, and the slant front scale that serves as the seat’s
balancing spring. WALSCO made locks until the second World War and the slant front scale was
patented in October 29, 1912.