The Baboon Congress

Three Cheers for Russian Artists Whose Names Just Will Not Stick in My Head

45 Comments

Today’s guest post comes from Clyde.

Sandy and I went to the Museum of Russian Art recently, We went not only for the art itself, but so she can feel good about the Russian half of her heritage despite the recent behavior of Vladamir Putin. (I call this the MoRA half of her roots.) The museum is the perfect size for two old limp-alongs like Sandy and I.

TMORA

The MoRA has two fine exhibits right now. As one who works in dry media, like graphite, charcoal, and pastel, I throughly enjoyed the secondary one in the basement. And Eva Levina-Rozengolts’ story is compelling.

But the primary exhibit, which just opened, is spectacular.

It is the story of Raymond and Susan Johnson’s collecting of Russian art. The exhibit displays only a fraction of their large collection, which focuses primarily on late 20th Century Russian art. For this part of the museum Sandy has her Nordic Lutheran heritage covered because she has a strong connection to Susan Johnson’s family. (I call this the Mora half of her roots.)

facility

The placards for the art pieces explain Raymond Johnson’s collection process. He has made 81 trips to Russian and visited many of the artists in their homes. I find his taste in art stunning, but then I have long favored Russian arts of all sorts, even before Sandy and I married 49 years ago. Not only for his sake, but for the prestige of this under-appreciated museum, I hope his heavy investment proves to be rewarding in the same way that the Art of Institute of Chicago’s early investment in Impressionism paid off.

However, in any case, what an adventure he has had! I do not often envy the wealthy their lives, but I am jealous of and very grateful for what they have done.

If you had the money to built an impressive collection, what would be on your museum?

45 thoughts on “Three Cheers for Russian Artists Whose Names Just Will Not Stick in My Head”

  1. Rise and Shine Baboons!

    We are in Bergen, Norway today–report will come later. But the weather here is spectacular. All the locals are so pleased with 2 weeks of 60 degrees and sunshine. And we are pleased, too.

    Re: the museum question–I think I would build an open air, experiential museum about urban and suburban organic gardening. With lessons, of course.

    But really, maybe I should just volunteer at the Arboretum, and give them my fantasy money because they are doing this already!

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  2. Thanks for this post, Clyde. The MoRA is a wonderful little museum. I love Russian art, and will have to go see the current exhibit.

    I’m drawn to primitive art, and own a small collection of tupilaqs and soapstone sculptures from Greenland. Also, on my two most recent trips to Mexico, I purchased several small baskets woven by the Seri indians. A small museum of primitive folk art would be lots of fun.

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  4. Good morning. How about a museum devoted to invertebrate animals. I visited an exhibit in New Orleans devoted to insects that I liked for the most part. That was probably one of a very small number of museums devoted to insects. I don’t know if there are any museums devoted to all of the invertebrates. There are many zoos that are completely or almost completely devoted to vertebrates. It would be good to have a few devoted in invertebrates.

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  5. abstract impressionists would be the center witht he where they came form and where their influences led as the wings. i could spend my whole life in the midst of these pieces where the art is the focus of the piece. not the still life. not the model posing not the landscape just the paint on the canvas the steel in the sculpture the feel of it. pollock de kooning, rothko. johns, hoffman, gorky, kline, de Kooning, motherwell, , riopelle .i love it.

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  6. Thanks for the interesting post, Clyde. I should get to this place before I leave town.

    I have no pretensions about appreciating fine art, so I’ll have fun with my art museum by filling it with the work of a friend. The most creative artist I’ve met is my dear friend, Sue, who lives on Long Island in New York. Sue’s creativity is boundless. She currently is making sand sculptures, carving pumpkins and creating fantastic creatures from parts of old pocket watches. While this isn’t high art, it is fun to see the goofy grins on a kid’s face when she beholds one of Sue’s pocket watch bunnies. If you want to see some of her stuff, just Google Sue Beatrice.

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      1. No, that’s an older (92 yrs) woman who lives in Spring Lake, on Minnetonka. This woman is the one I’ve been talking to for years about life and its possibilities. She’s my most intimate friend.

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  7. I’m reading a sociology book on media fans and fandom right now, so I think I’d create a museum for outstanding pieces of fan art–costumes, fanvids, dolls, props, drawings, etc., with a fanzine/fanfic library. There are some very talented people out there, but because the subjects of their work are copyrighted by corporations, they exist in a sort of legal limbo. It’d be interesting trying to get rights to exhibit the pieces, that’s for sure.

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  8. As an art collector, I would be a collector of the work of young artist that are at the beginning of their careers. That would include the work of my daughter and other young artist that are know to her. I would pay in advance for the art work I would ask these artists to create for my collection.

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  10. Mine would probably be a History of Clothing Museum, and it could turn out to be just a history of SHOES museum. I’m pretty fascinated by what we’ve always worn, how this has changed. I love opportunities to dress in costume, but can’t always find the right thing if it’s a historically based event. Maybe this museum could also have a rental aspect.

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    1. This sounds lovely, Barb. I love costume/clothing too. I would dearly love to work in restoration, but those jobs are few and far between, and the qualifications to apply get ever more stringent. Talked at length to the woman working on the historic flags at the History Museum. Just the sort of tedium I love.

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  11. Excellent post, start to finish, Clyde!

    As I mentioned in the rely to BiR above, I’ve always thought about working in a museum, but never about assembling one.

    I think I should like to assemble the tools, household arts and artifacts of American Immigrant Women through the history of the country.

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      1. I do love the Vesterheim. I also loved the recreation of a Hmong home they used to have at the Science Museum.

        I can aways tell when a post has really grabbed me, as I keep chewing on it all day.

        I think my museum would have a small permanent exhibition and lots of temporary themed exhibits.

        I’m mentally constructing the one on childbirth at the moment. St Paul has such a rich history of immigration, it would be interesting to compare and contrast the domestic life of the various cultures and the waves of incoming cultures over time.

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  12. I like the idea of a clothing museum – there are a number of vintage shops that more closely resemble curated collections than profit-making enterprises.

    I think, though, that mosaic art would be my choice. It’s a recycling operation as well as an opportunity for artistic expression.

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    1. A puppy museum? Puppies through history and across cultures? The Art of Puppies? Puppies in Space? VS, you are a genius and any city that would spend the money to finance the American Museum of Puppyhood would see it’s investment returned many times over.

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      1. You’d have to have stuffed puppies like the bears Lynn Rogers got in trouble for otherwise you’d have a dog museum which was bigger out back

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  14. Two choices for me
    A pastel and other dry media art museum. Including from the past and current. A few excellent pastelists out there now. Would cost me some money to buy some Whistlers, Monets, Degases, and some from Mary Cassatt.
    A multimedia museum of creative women, composers, artists, writers, poets, essayists. Asking the question, is there a difference in how women create and what they create.

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    1. Oops. hands are so bad.
      OT:1: Congratulations, Steve. Was there ever a doubt that house would pass quickly off the market.
      OT 2: my son in Seattle has a very good job prospect, back in Silicon Valley, the most expensive place to rent in the USA. He had a very good Skype interview Thursday. They said they were very interested and wanted to move fast; would he mind flying out Easter for an Interview today. He agreed. But the latest flight on which they could place him was at 1:30 pm. It was awkward and left his wife (with their son) alone for most of the day, but knew the need. BUT, they got a call in the very early morning Saturday that his wife’s mother in San Diego found her father not breathing in the middle of the night. He died. So Hannah flew out with the son Saturday. he had to find a place for the dog, which worked out very well. So Nate is in a day-long interview process right now and he flies on to San Diego this evening.

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      1. Keeping my fingers crossed that this works our for Nate. Too much upheaval for him and family the last couple of years.

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      3. Talk about a memorable interview……
        You know programmers and developers are on such high demand around here they can name their eom freelance price. It’s crazy how they do job changes soooooo often and always land on their feet
        Good luck to him and condolences to dil
        There’s that bumpy side of the circle again

        Renee how’s it going ? how’s your dad?
        Get him over to a high school or legion baseball game .

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