Seattle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum sometimes seems to be schizophrenic, attempting to be guardian of the art establishment, hipster after-hours venue, boutique-restaurant-cinema, and launching ground for blockbuster exhibitions such as the recent Roman Art from the Louvre or the current underwhelming "Michelangelo: Public and Private" show.

In fact, the Museum has under-appreciated smaller gems in its own collection. In the small but exquisite corridor devoted to Gothic art is a sublimely beautiful altarpiece by the celebrated trecento Sienese painter Pietro Lorenzetti, "Madonna with Saints Paul and Peter."

Lorenzetti and his brother Ambrogio* were, in fact, two of the foremost painters of the Sienese school of the late Gothic period, which was a rival to the--now much better known--Florentine school (Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo, etc.). Siena was the Milan or Paris of its day, say some.

The beatific expression on the face of the Madonna is so radiantly suffused--albeit coolly--with ethereal gentleness and spiritual grace. In fact, it is easily overlooked, though it is in marked contrast to both (1) the earlier Byzantine-Gothic representations of the Madonna with their severity and angularity and (2) the more earthly, but frankly more insipid features of Renaissance counterparts--more like Vogue magazine models (compare this altar-piece with the tondos at the end of the gallery).

Since Chiyo Ishikawa, the deputy director of SAM, received her training in Medieval Art, one might wonder why greater spotlight is not focused on a work such as this, although several years ago a Renaissance altarpiece by Neri de Bicci from St. James Cathedral was restored and exhibited at SAM .

Actually she does talk about this altarpiece--in a 90-second spot on SAM's website:
(http://www.seattleartm...).

* Timothy Hyman, in his Sienese Painting (Thamses & Hudson, 2003) devotes two individual chapters, respectively, to Pietro and Ambrosio Lorenzetti.
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5/11/2009
"Someone out to tell them [Americans] how to behave in a museum. They talk as if they were at home..."

Charles Dantzig quoted in "Objectif Lune," in Harper's magazine, May 2009.
from Encyclopédie capricieuse du tout et du rien.

http://www.amazon...

Just a suggestion.

* * * * *

His words would have fallen on deaf ears at SAM, as mine did.

Public behavior--of museum visitors--is one matter. (The last few times I have been to SAM, not SAAM, the public has been pretty respectful).

Museum guards are another. They are employees, after all.

Strolling through the galleries, a number of them shoot at a glance hither and thither and then continue talking with a colleague about the meal they had at such-and-such restaurant, the last movie they saw, and some person they know but don't like, and here's why.

All within earshot of museum visitors two galleries away.

Unapologetically unconcerned...about letting their mouths flap open at the drop of a hat, whistling, boisterously laughing their heads off, and clapping their hands. Shouting from one gallery to the next.

Well, as long as they don't burn the museum down, I guess.

Art often requires us to listen, to SEE, to pay attention. If we fidget, are distracted, cannot pay attention, we might as well be doing something else at that moment: having cup at Starbuck's, for instance.

I recently wrote to SAM about this recurrent annoyance.

And no surprise, no response. Too busy counting tickets...

And new acquisitions/bequest s, such as a Monet, a striking reddish orange-suffused interior by the post-Impressionist Edouard Vuillard, and a large insolently intransigent portrait by the die Brucke Emil Nolde, all three now hanging in the modern art galleries.

Just avoid those rooms when the guards are shooting the breeze, which can be often.

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7/8/2007
With the new addition on Union Street of the Washington Mutual Tower, the Seattle Art Museum adds two floors of galleries to the original (ca. 1994) post-modernist building by architect Robert Venturi.

And the surprise is that what used to be a fairly limited collection now has covers most areas of world art, including first and foremost American modern and contemporary art.

Unfortunately, when I went Edward Hopper's "Chop Suey" had not been installed. But there was a representative Georgia O'Keefe as well as paintings by other major names (Jasper Johns, Motherwell, Rothko, Pollock, deKoening). And a "Bird in Motion" by Brancusi, that I believe I saw 30 years ago at the Seattle Center annex.

In view towards the $1 billlion in artworks promised to the Museum on the eve of its 75th anniversary, there are various "stations" where one can see a continuous closed circuit of videos with some of the major donors/collectors.

And in a nod to American colonial art, a Samuel Singleton Copley (this is not even Boston or Philadelphia!) painting hung pride of place at the entrance to one of the rooms devoted to American art.

What was pleasantly surprising to find were two medium-to-large Italian Renaissance tondos, one by Botticelli, "Madonna of the Magnificat" (a version on loan from the Paul Allen collection, the more famous version is in the Uffizi in Florence), with superlative bright deep cerulean blues and crimson reds and jewel-like clarity of design.

The significance of--the iconography of--this painting is not explained in the label.
http://www.wga.hu...

Nice, too, to have small but fascinating collections of Egyptian, Roman and Islamic art. I'm not whether the famous Japanese "Deer Scroll" or the Black Crows (on a gold background) folding screen are on "short-term loan" from the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

And what ever happened to the Grand Staircase (with Chinese Ming dynasty rams and warriors) in the Venturi building?

In keeping with SAM's emphasis on "blockbuster shows," early 2008 will bring two exhibitions I'm looking forward to seeing: a collection of Roman sculpture from the Louvre as well as three panels of famed Renaissance sculptor Ghiberti's bronze "Gates of Paradise."

In contrast to the ubiquitous traveling blockbuster exhibitions of French 19th century impressionist painting, the Roman art exhibition SAM was not only beautifully installed but also monumental (sculpture), informative (Roman history), and fascinating (glimpses into everyday life).

And the Ghiberti panels, about 500 years old, were beautiful beyond expectations, sheer craftsmanship and consummate artistry. Nlothing you see in an art history textbook can compare to seeing the real panels, not copies, a foot away. They had never been out of Italy before, so it was quite a fortuitous "coup" that SAM got to display them for three months.

One criticism is that the organization of the two floors is confusing. As the museum does not have separate wings to house the different "departments," one wanders from room to room without a sense of connection or flow.

The price of admission is rather steep for a museum with a collection no where near the equal that of Boston, Philadelphia, D.C., etc. (no Old Masters, 19th century French art, etc.) But I believe you can also visit the Seattle Asian Art Museum the same day with the same admission ticket.

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