SCMA Then\Now\Next

Although portraiture is often used to honor the sitter and present a physical likeness, it can also represent the fleeting visual quality of emotional states. This is one of the strengths of representational art—its ability to suspend time and make the ephemeral permanent. These two portraits, done in different media and more than 70 years apart, appear to depict women experiencing grief with stoic grace. Finely painted in hyper-real style against a textured wood background embellished with gold, Saldamando’s May is described as “post break-up.” May’s slumped posture and somber expression underscore the subdued mood of the portrait. The famed author and aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh is the subject of Despiau’s sculpture. Lindbergh’s son, Charles, was killed during a kidnapping in 1932. The tragedy was widely publicized and would have been known to contemporary viewers of the sculpture. Lindbergh is rendered unsmiling, head turned slightly sideways, and with her gaze seemingly turned inward, as if lost in thought. These background details, as well as the renderings themselves, might contribute to viewers’ interpreting the sitters’ expressions as sorrowful.

Left: Shizu Saldamando. American, born 1978. May, Post Break-Up. 2011. Oil, gold leaf and collage on wood panel. 48 x 36 x 1 7/8 inches. Purchased in honor of Linda D. Muehlig, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Smith College Museum of Art, on her retirement in June 2017. SC 2017.19. right: Charles Despiau. French, 1874–1946. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, class of 1928. 1939. Bronze. 14 x 8 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches. Gift of A. Conger Goodyear. SC 1940.22.1

The visual subtleties of a specific moment and location fascinated Katsushika Hokusai and Claude Monet. Both artists are known for exploring this concept in series depicting highly visible and physically unchanging monuments. Part of the popular series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji designed by Hokusai between 1831 and 1833, Southern Breeze, Clear Weather (also known as “Pink Fuji”) captures the delicate pink cast of dawn light on the famed Japanese peak during late summer. Some 60 years later, Monet similarly sought to capture the transient effects of light. Inspired by the work of Hokusai and other Japanese printmakers, Monet created a series of 30 paintings of Rouen Cathedral between 1892 and 1894. Unlike many other paintings in the series, Cathedral at Rouen (La Cour d'Albane) focuses on the Albane courtyard on the northern flank of the building rather than on the better-known western façade. Also notable are the different media and conditions of making these two artworks. Hokusai was the designer of Southern Breeze, Clear Weather and developed the composition and coloration, while other artisans cut the block and printed the work. By contrast, Monet painted on site and was able to record his impressions directly.

Left: Katsushika Hokusai. Japanese, 1760–1849. Southern Breeze, Clear Weather, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. 1831. Woodblock print, ink and color on paper. 10 1/4 x 15 1/4 inches. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Barker (Margaret Clark Rankin, class of 1908). SC 1968.245. Right: Claude Monet. French, 1840–1926. Cathedral at Rouen (La Cour d'Albane). 1892–1894. Oil on canvas. 36 1/2 x 29 1/16 inches. Gift of Adeline Flint Wing, class of 1898, and Caroline Roberta Wing, class of 1896. SC 1956.24

Separated by nearly four centuries, these two paintings have a subject in common: meat. Both paintings are carefully composed displays of objects arranged around a central slab of meat. As did other Dutch still-life painters of the time, Oosterwyck imbues each object in the composition with symbolic meaning. Specifically, the ham and grapes refer to Christ’s sacrifice as well as to the Christian rite of Communion, when worshippers consume bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. Similarly, Sharrer evokes these same Christian themes by juxtaposing objects beneath a small image of Christ, hanging at upper left. The artist here both revives the tradition of western still-life painting and gives it a decisively modern spin.

Left: Maria van Oosterwyck. Dutch, 1630–1693. Still Life with Fruit, Meat, Pipe, and Goblets. c. 1660-1690. Oil on canvas. 20 1/4 x 28 7/8 inches. Gift of Anna E. Roelker. SC 1961.12. Right: Honoré Sharrer. American, 1920–2009. Meat. 1975–78. Oil on canvas. 57 1/2 x 63 1/2 inches. Purchased with a gift from Judith Plesser Targan, class of 1953, and the Dorothy C. Miller, class of 1925, Fund. SC 2019.55

Both of these highly decorated objects originally served as reliquaries, or holders of relics. The African Mbulu Ngulu, or guardian figure, would have been placed on top of a basket containing sacred remains of deceased family members. When Gabonese people were forced to convert to Christianity during the colonial period (1890s–1960), they stopped making these figures because they conflicted with the Christian use of reliquaries. In the French example, the enamel box probably once held the remains or possessions of the 3rd-century saint Valerie, a local patron saint of Limoges, where other such reliquaries were created. The scene on the front of the reliquary shows her martyrdom by beheading.

Left: Unrecorded Kota artist. Gabon. Reliquary Figure (Mbulu Ngulu). Late 19th–early 20th century. Wood with brass skeeting and copper pieces. 25 x 12 x 1 7/8 inches. Gift of Cecilia (Cecilia Sahlman, class of 1950) and Irwin Smiley. SC 2000.12.4. Right: Unknown artist. French. Reliquary with the Martyrdom of Saint Valerie, patron saint of Limoges. c. 1200–1210. Champlevé enamel on copper. 8 3/8 x 4 15/16 x 2 3/8 inches. Purchased with the gift of Louise Ines Doyle, class of 1934. SC 2006.50.

These two artworks focus on the self-representation of women who might otherwise not be seen. SueZie is shown seated on a motorcycle embracing her wife, Cheryl. This image is from the project To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults by photographer Jess T. Dugan and professor of social work Vanessa Fabbre. The portrait is accompanied by an excerpt from an interview in which the couple talk of their experience of SuZie’s transition and their life together. The resultant work presents a nuanced picture of the subjects’ lives through juxtaposing a photographic image with the subjects’ own words. Painter Amile-Ursule Guillebaud has chosen to depict herself at her easel, either copying from a work of art or painting her portrait from a mirror. In either case, the painting remains within the subjects seen as appropriate for women to paint in 19th-century Europe. At the time, women artists, unlike their male counterparts, were not allowed access to live nude models and had to rely on other means of learning to paint figures. The position of Guillebaud, literally backed into a dark corner of a dim studio, underscores the challenges of female painters trying to establish themselves as artists.

Left: Jess T. Dugan. American, born 1986, and Vanessa Fabbre. American, born 1978. SueZie, 51, and Cheryl, 55, Valrico, FL, 2015, from To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults. 2018. Pigment print on Hahnemühle FineArt Photo Rag Pearl paper. 20 x 16 inches. Purchased with the Josephine A. Stein, class of 1927, Fund, in honor of the class of 1927. SC 2018.16.2. Right: Amile-Ursule Guillebaud. Swiss, 1800–after 1880. Portrait of the Artist, Seated at Her Easel. c. 1820–45. Oil on canvas. 26 3/4 x 22 inches. Purchased with a gift from Peter Soriano and Nina Munk, class of 1988, and the Museum Acquisitions Fund. SC 2019.5

Centuries apart in age, these two works are united by their circular shape, called a tondo. Why would the shape of a painting matter at all? Convention leads us to see the rectangular frame as a window onto the world, while a circular form draws attention to its shape. Tondi pose compelling questions about how the perception of this particular shape influences the experience of the artwork within its framing. The rectangle, necessary to achieve the perfect one point linear perspective, does not offer the same intimate self-sustaining space a circle does. The round shape poses challenges for a naturalist artist, but, in the case of this painting by Lorenzo di Credi, it carries symbolic connotations of the divine alongside concepts of regeneration and the circle of life. Contemporary artists are equally attracted to the tondo because of its spatial and conceptual challenges. For Torkwase Dyson, the circular canvas evokes the physical shape of an oil pipeline and provides a formal anchor for her expansive research into the infrastructure of resource extraction in the Gulf of Mexico. Dyson proposes a different experience of the circle than does di Credi. While the abstract forms are informed by their circular container, the absence of a focal point destabilizes the viewer by creating an intangible spatial plane. 

Left: Lorenzo di Credi. Italian, c. 1456–1536. The Virgin Adoring the Christ Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (“The Portinari Tondo”). c. 1485–90. Tempera on panel. 36 inches (diameter). Beatrice Oenslager Chace, class of 1928, Fund. SC 2020.10 Right: Torkwase Dyson. American, born 1973. Scalar Scalar (#3 Gulf of Mexico-Extraction-Black). 2018. Acrylic on canvas. 60 inches (diameter). Purchased with the Kathleen Compton Sherrerd, class of 1954, Acquisition Fund for American Art. SC 2018.80.

In both the digital print and the hanging scroll, a woman poses with poise and assurance. In Motherland, she is Mother India, often visualized as a sari-clad woman accompanied by a lion. An Indian map behind her creates a sense of national unity. The notion of this territorial deity first appeared in the late 19th century, and her image has become a popular icon conflating the nation with Hindu divinity. This specific pictorial embodiment of the motherland is after a 1992 calendar painting. The artist Pushpamala N recreated it as a photograph, acting out the goddess herself. Noh Dance, a 1939 Japanese painting, is after another image, too—a 10-foot-high painting made three years earlier. The original composition was also conceived by a woman artist, Uemura Shōen, most known for her paintings of beautiful women in the early 20th century. It features a dancer who performs a prelude in the classical Japanese theatre of Noh. Ohara Koson, a contemporary of Shōen, closely copied her painting, capturing the elegance of the body with his brush. The majestic figures in both works demand the viewer’s attention, and the highly saturated colors make them even more impressive.

Left: Pushpamala N. Indian, born 1956. Motherland. 2004–08. Archival inkjet print. 41 x 32 1/4 inches. Purchased with the Carroll and Nolen Asian Art Acquisition Fund. SC 2019.40.2. Right: Ohara Koson (Shōson). Japanese, 1877–1945. Noh Dance. 1939. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk. Image: 55 1/8 x 27 inches; overall with mounting: 94 x 36 inches. Gift of John C. Weber in honor of Yao Wu. SC 2018.70.7

Fired at high temperatures, porcelain is a type of hard, vitrified ceramic that is usually translucent. The smooth white surface serves as a desirable ground for painting, and cobalt blue is commonly used to decorate porcelain, as seen in both objects here. Durable under the glaze, this color would survive the high firing temperature. Both vessels are also decorated with a glaze of pale green, often referred to as celadon—a much prized ceramic color in East Asia. The ornamentation of each object is culturally significant. The Chinese brush pot bears the design of a landscape ideal for a scholar’s retreat, with a boatman fishing on the river and thatched huts amongst pine trees. The Japanese dish, on the other hand, boasts floral and fruit motifs inspired by the natural world. Although the Japanese did not begin producing porcelain until the early 17th century, several centuries after the Chinese, Japanese porcelain manufacture advanced quickly. This exquisite dish is an example of Nabeshima ware, a refined type commissioned by the Nabeshima clan and reserved for the exclusive use of the ruling class in the Tokugawa feudal society.

Left: Unknown. Chinese. Brush Pot with Design of Pines, Thatched Huts and Fisherman. Late 17th and early 18th century. Porcelain carved and decorated with blue and red underglaze and celadon glaze. 5 7/8 x 6 1/8 inches. Gift of Patricia Ross Pratt, class of 1951. SC 2015.34.2. Right: Unknown. Japanese. Dish with Design of Peaches and Bellflowers. 18th century. Porcelain with blue underglaze and celadon glaze; Nabeshima ware. Diameter: 8 inches. Gift of John C. Weber in honor of Julia Meech, class of 1963. SC 2018.70.2