A blog post by Senior Collections Manager Jobi Zink.
One of the “selling” points of the CAJM conference inDetroitwas the many museums that we would go to. Rather than just attending sessions in one hotel or conference center, we toured a number of museums. Several of the sessions were then related to the exhibitions we just saw.We began Tuesday morning at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (www.thewright.org)While I remember Chris Webber for calling a time out for University of Michigan during the 1993 NCAA Championship game when his team did not have any time outs remaining, I learned that he began to collect African American artifacts in 1994. His collection,including slave records and costumes worn by James Brown, was donated to the Wright in 2007.Our final conference sessions were held at the Detroit Institute of art (www.dia.org). As an art history major specializing in American Art, I felt like I was in heaven!We ate lunch in the Rivera courtyard, surrounded by “Detroit Industry” murals by Diego Rivera. Rivera was a Marxist who believed that art belonged on public walls rather than in private galleries; he also gave the worker and the manager equal stature in art and in life.For more details about the 27 panels that Rivera completed in just 11 months click on this link: http:///www.dia.org/art/rivera-court.aspxI had a flashback to our February 10th field trip to the National Gallery of Art when we came to “Watson and the Shark” by John Singleton Copley. This is the third and smallest version of this painting. The second painting is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Encountering “First State Election in Detroit, Michigan, 1837” by Thomas Mickell Burnham was very timely as Tuesday was theMichigan primary!Rabbi Sprinzen would be proud that I can still read “Sampson” and “Delilah” in Hebrew. I love the frames on the Elihu Vedder paintings, too!This piece reminded me a little bit of the Hutzler Cabinet. Must be all of that dark wood and intricate design.I’ve always found the triptych “Classical Figures” by Thomas Dewing to have a calming effect on me.
I had no idea that all of this amazing art and history was hidden in Detroit. Thank you, Deborah, Josh, Terri & Stephen and the rest of CAJM, for the opportunity to see it all!
A blog post by Senior Collections Manager Jobi Zink.
