Telling Tales
Friday, July 30, 2010–Sunday, April 17, 2011
Installation view of Telling Tales. Photograph by Tom Loonan.
Gallery for Small Sculpture
Telling Tales featured a selection of small sculpture and other works that tell stories. Some of the stories were about spiritual beliefs, including those of Tahiti, Russia, and ancient Egypt. Other works reflect on politics and society—for example, Jirí Kolár's evocation of Greece in Cycladic Heads, 1976, Honoré-Victorin Daumier’s satiricial figure Ratapoil, ca. 1850–51, and Ernst Barlach’s moving World War I work The Avenger, 1914 (cast executed after World War II). Stories about people and families included Janine Antoni’s unusual sculpture Umbilical, 2000, featuring the family silver, and Medardo Rosso’s enigmatic Eta d’oro (The Golden Age), 1886. One section of the exhibition included sculpture of various animals, including horses, dogs, and deer. Still other works told stories about process and artistic materials, including Arman’s Paintbox, 1970, which has rarely been on view. Finally, imaginary stories were inspired by several of Joseph Cornell’s fantastic boxes and Charles Frederick Simonds’s compelling sculpture Number II (Ritual Furnace), 1978.
This exhibition was organized by Curator of Education Mariann Smith.
