On a recent trip to visit friends in Raleigh, NC, I was completely floored by the North Carolina Museum of Art.
First, there’s the building itself. It’s a sprawling, contemporary rambler that manages to do two completely different things at all times: communicates its vastness through wide open spaces, long views, and giant swaths of natural light AND encourages an intimate viewing experience in every gallery.
Beyond the comely design of a structure that respects artwork and patrons equally, the NCMA possesses an enviable contemporary collection, as well as significant amassings of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Painting, Egyptian Funerary Art, Ancient Greek and Roman Sculpture and Pottery, Judaica, African Art, Pre-Columbian Sculpture, American Art from the 18th to 20th Centuries (which was expected), and several dozen Rodin bronzes.
In addition to their permanent collection, they host rotating national exhibits in a separate building which included photos by Alex Soth, a group exhibition examining the experience of time in contemporary art, Project 35, a contemporary video exhibition curated by 35 international curators, and MORE. I simply ran out of time to see it all in an afternoon, but not for lack of trying.
Jaume Plensa’s resin and light figures, the three symbolic doors to Jerusalam.
Patrick Dougherty’s ‘Out of the Box,’ Made of Red Maple Saplings in the museum restaurant
Upon entering the FREE permanent collection portion of the museum, you are greeted by Jaume Plensa’s glowing figures with text from the Biblical Song of Solomon, an imposing permanent wall piece in the restaurant by Patrick Dougherty, and several long views through the museum, presenting delectable options all at once. Do I head towards the Nick Cave Sound Suit? The giant Mickaline Thomas mixed media wall piece? Or, do I meander towards voluptuous, lifesized Greek gods in white marble? For me, the contemporary work always beckons first, but the terrific thing about this museum is that you don’t always have to choose one or the other.
Kehinde Wiley in the 18th and 19th Century Portrait Gallery is dramatic and hilarious at the same time.
Although bodies of work are generally grouped by homogeneous, time-based categories, there were a number of surprising curatorial juxtapositions throughout the museum, which reinvigorated and contextualized works which might have been appreciated mainly for historical value. For example, there’s a giant Kehinde Wilde amongst a group of luscious 18th and 19th Century portraits, and it made visual sense there and also generated a sense of humor about all the works in the gallery. Another example is the use of Nick Cave, an African-American artist and Ledelle Moe, born in South Africa, as beginning and ending accents to the museum’s African collection. These two unusual choices highlighted connections between the materials, methods, and content between works viewed traditionally as African or Contemporary and broke down the usual barriers between genres.
There were many similar examples of curatorial contrasts throughout the permanent collection at NCMA and it kept me interested and even slightly shocked at times, and also wondering – why don’t more museums do this? There’s a sense that the curators at the institution enjoy working together and also a humility towards each separate genre of art – this made the entire experience of the museum cohesive and fun in a way that most museums are not. Bravo!
Many more photos and comments below.
A Nick Cave Sound Suit serves as an elegant transition between the contemporary gallery and the African collection.
A ceramic installation by Ledelle Moe (b. South Africa) neatly bookends the African collection back into the Contemporary one. Throughout the museum, thoughtful and unexpected pairings of contemporary and historical work creates intriguing relationships between seemingly disparate elements and strengthens individual works.
Moving into the official Contemporary Collection, you’ll find a surprising amount of international diversity, and a solid mix of artists under 40 as well as all the heavy hitters you would expect at ‘Museum of Art.’
Guillermo Kuitca’s People on Fire
Ed Ruscha’s Scratches on the Film, 1993
Mickalene Thomas’ Three Graces
Caetano de Almieda’s Untitled on the left, detail below and Angel Otero’s Laughing Clouds
Big Macho Paintings: George Baselitz annoying upside down, Sean Sculley, and Gerhard Richter
El Anatsui’s Lines that Link Humanity was overwhelming and breathtaking.
Michael Richard’s Tar Baby vs. St. Sebastian, 1999, pays homage to Tuskegee Airmen and features the artist’s own likeness.
I loved seeing these giant pieces across from a monumental Alex Katz. It was almost like a pixellated, mirror image, with similar size and colors radiating back and forth.
This Alex Katz is so freakily big, it transforms plasticity into high drama. Six Women, 1975.
An elegant Aaron Douglas. Anyone with an eye can see where Kara Walker got her inspiration.
Robert Motherwell is swell in orange.
An unusually solid Helen Frankenthaller
A luminous Diebenkorn Ocean Park
A striking Noland – Tide, 1958
A Gallery of Rodins. I loved the starkness of the black figures and their unusual crowding into one dramatic space.
From the Rodins, a segue into ancient Greece.
Obviously, I love these vases. Such a treat to see so many all grouped together.
Roman vessels, 1st Century
Aztec King
He looks familiar…
Ben Franklin by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, 1799
Dr. Albert Getchell by Thomas Eakins
Roger Brown’s American Landscape with Revolutionary Heroes, 1983, pairs techniques from ‘high’ and ‘low’ art. It resonates in a room full of historical portraits of US presidents and founders, contrasting the way these figures were viewed then with the way they are often remembered – as amorphous caricatures.
Jacob Lawrence’s ‘Forward’ from the Harriet Tubman Series
Frederick Carl Frieseke’s The Garden Parasol, 1910
A very awkward Milton Avery
The requisite Weyeths. People like them.
Diana the huntress
I have always loved Cezanne’s apples and ginger jars.
Making chocolate is hard work.
Title: A Man Scraping Chocolate. circa 1680-1780
Theodorr Rombouts’ The Backgammon Players, 1634
Kehinde Wiley’s Judith and Holofernes, 2012. What’s relatively new about this work is the female figure, rarely seen in Wiley’s oevre when typically features men.
William Merritt Chase’s daughter, Alice
Eastern Galician Hanukkah Lamp circa 1753
Donald Sultan’s Venice Without Water, June 12, 1990 and Canaletto’s Rialto Bridge, 1750 – another meaningful and rather odd stylistic juxtaposition.
If you want to find out more about this terrific museum, they even have their own BLOG, titled (appropriately) Untitled, with a number of different contributing writers: http://ncartmuseum.org/untitled/.
