Artist: Gustave Courbet, French, 1819-1877
Date: 19th century, 1868
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 51 1/2 x 38 1/2 in. (130.81 x 97.79 cm) (canvas)
Gift of James J. Hill, 14.76

Any survey of celebrated 19th-century collectors inevitably places the name of St. Paul native James J. Hill near the top of the roster for the breadth of his interests and the acuity of his vision.  His tremendous wealth, amassed largely through his enterprising railroad ventures, allowed him to purchased during the 1890s over 280 paintings, of which 83 remained in his estate at his death in 1916.  Gustave Courbet was an artist Hill greatly admired, and the magnificent Deer in the Forest of 1868 was the first oil painting from Hill's collection to enter the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, donated shortly before the building opened in 1915.  Over the decades, through the generosity of his descendants, 29 of Hill's paintings have found their way into the museum's permanent collection. 

Gustave Coubet, the paragon of French Realism, was an inveterate hunter.  During the 1860s he devoted considerable attention to a series of deer-hunting scenes and other categories of animal painting.  What I find most compelling about this serene representation of a stag and doe in a forest is the manner in which it combines the realism of nature sharply observed by an experienced stalker and a tenderness that is unsentimental but nonetheless genuinely moving.  I also admire the artist's refined technique in rendering the atmosphere and translucency of his grotto-like setting and the solidity of his unperturbed models. 

Patrick Noon, Curator and Chair                                           Paintings and Modern Sculpture

Artist: Artist Unknown (Cook Islands)
Date: 1800-1825
Medium: Wood
Size: 6 1/8 x 19 1/8 x 9 7/8in. (15.6 x 48.6 x 25.1cm)
The Frances M. Norbeck Fund, 2001.2.3

In my years at the MIA, I have come to love the simple elegance of this object.  Technically flawless and quietly beautiful, the chief's stool holds its own among much showier and more elaborate sculptures.  Outsiders' appreciation of art from the Pacific Islands has varied greatly over time, reflecting cultural attitudes.  The pattern can be traced through objects such as this stool from the Cook Islands.  Made in the early 19th century as a high-status object for use by chiefs and treated as an heirloom, at some point it left the islands--either as a valuable gift meant to show esteem or as an item bartered or sold for its immediate worth.  Removed from its place of origin, it no longer commanded the same respect.  Oceanic objects from the 19th century were often collected as curiosities or souvenirs by travelers who lacked an understanding of their significance in the culture that produced them.  The artistry of these items was seldom appreciated, and many were placed in museums of natural history, if saved at all. 

It is only recently, as a global perspective has become more common, that works like this stool have been rediscovered as art.  Their inherent quality has reemerged, in keeping with the intent of their creators and first owners.  Now the grace and sophistication of these sculptures can be appreciated anew. 

Molly Huber, Assistant Curator                                          African, Oceanic, and Native American Art

Artist: Artist Unknown, Eastern Chou dynasty, China
Date: Warring States Period, 500-400 B.C.
Medium: Bronze
Size: 8 7/8 x 17 1/4 x 17 1/4 in. (22.54 x 43.82 x 43.82 cm)
Bequest of Alfred Pillsbury, 50.46.103

In their technical refinement and artistry, the great ceremonial vessels of China's Bronze Age (1766-221 B.C.) are among the most sophisticated metal objects ever made.  They were cast from finely carved ceramic piece molds decorated with enigmatic sacred motifs and often inscribed. Used in rituals honoring the ancestors and on formal state occasions, they became clan heirlooms that were often interred with the deceased for use in the afterlife. 

While these ancient vessels may be unfamiliar to Westerners, the criteria for judging their quality are not.  In terms of artistic excellence, rarity, condition, technical refinement, and historical importance, this magnificent water basin clearly ranks as a masterpiece.  It was made in the new "overlap" style seen in much late Bronze Age casting and remains in nearly original condition, with no breaks, repairs, missing parts, or heavy corrosion.  Only two such vessels are known. 

Robert Jacobson, Chair                                                         Asian Art

The six-character inscription "chien made [for use] by nobleman Chih" gives this vessel great historical value.  Ancient dictionaries and books on ritual refer to a chien used to "receive bright water" but provide ambiguous descriptions and lack illustrations.  That this vessel is called a chien in its own inscription clarifies what a chien looks like. 

The mention of "nobleman Chih" tells us who the original owner likely was and helps date the piece to the early 5th century B.C.  Ancient texts suggest Chih was a patriarch of the Chih family, a powerful clan in the ancient state of Chin (Shansi Province).  In 453, the Chih family was overthrown and the leader Chih Po killed.  Therefore this chien probably would not have been made after 453 B.C.  The Hou-ma foundry, where it may have been cast, was in the ancient state of Chin. 

Robert Jacobsen, Chair of Asian Art. 

The technical refinement of this chien's decoration is astounding: intricate dragon motifs separated by plaited bands of thin threads; tiny cowries along the rim; delicate spirals, volutes, triangles, and mock granulation over the entire surface.  None of this is carved into surface; all of it was cast.  The extraordinary clarity of these minute designs was achieved with the use of exquisite hand-carved ceramic molds. 

Between 1957 and 1965, Chinese archaeologist excavated an ancient bronze foundry at Hou-ma in Shansi Province and discovered thousands of fragmentary clay molds.  The fragment pictured here is remarkably similar to designs on our chien, suggesting the chien could have been made at Hou-ma. 

Robert Jacobsen, Chair of Asian Art

Artist: Artist Unknown, Southern Sung dynasty, China
Date: 12th-13th century
Medium: Lung-ch'uan ware, stoneware, with celadon glaze
Size: 3 x 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. (7.62 x 9.53 x 9.53 cm)
The John R. Van Derlip Fund, 80.39

Inspired by the shape of an ancient ritual bronze li, this type of incense burner dates from the Southern Sung and Yuan dynasties (12th--14th century).  It is the product of an elite ceramic tradition esteemed by the Chinese court and the literati class.  While this piece is genuine and in sound condition, its glaze is too gray and lacking in depth and luster to rank with the best Lung-ch'uan glazes.  I consider it a good, representative work--but far from the best. 

Robert Jacobsen, Chair of Asian Art 

Artist: Artist Unknown, Sung dynasty, China
Date: 12th-13th century
Medium: Porcelaneous stoneware with celadon glaze
Size: H.2-1/4 x Dia.8-5/8 in.
The John r. Van Derlip Fund, 43.1

Of the Southern Sung ceramics given court patronage, few equal the finest Lung-ch'uan celadons with their elegant shapes and thick, lustrous, blue-green glaze.  I admire the pure, vibrant aquamarine color and even tonality of this bowl and the beautiful way the glaze has thinned along the edges, exposing the whitish body at the rim and the raised details of the fish ornament.  Along with its large size and fine condition, its glaze places this celadon vessel at the top of its class: a masterpiece.

Robert Jacobsen, Chair of Asian Art

Artist: Artist Unknown (China)
Date: 12th-13th century
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 3-11/16 x 5-5/8 x 5-5/8 in. (9.4 x 14.3 x 14.3 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2001.155.1

During the Sung dynasty, the essentials of ceramic art-vessel shape, potting techniques, glaze, decoration, firing processes, and aesthetic theory--were united in a high standard of excellence.  Sung glazes tend to be monochromatic and subtle, integral to the vessel and inviting both touch and contemplation.  Simple and sedate, with a uniform, unblemished glaze, this rare incense burner has all the characteristics desired in the best Lung-ch'uan ware.  Beautiful as it is, however, its glaze has slightly less depth and vibrancy than that of the double-fish bowl.  I consider it a near masterpiece. 

Robert Jacobsen, Chair of Asian Art

Artist: Charles Eames ; Ray Eames ; Herman Miller Furniture Company
Date: c.1950–1955
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Furniture
Size: 27 1/4 x 21 7/8 x 25 1/4 in. (69.22 x 55.56 x 64.14 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 87.33.1.1

How does one apply "masterpiece' criteria to a mass-produced object?  This is the discussion I hoped to start by choosing a famous modern chair by the husband-and-wife team Charles and Ray Eames. 

An overarching philosophy of the Eameses was that good design should be available at affordable prices, especially given the needs of young families after World War II.  In 1941, the couple had developed plywood-molding technology that resulted in a wartime leg-splint contract with the U.S. Navy.  Their process consisted of gluing together layers of plywood veneer which they then pressed into a mold, by means of heat and pressure.  They continued to perfect this technology to create biomorphic, sculptural chairs such as the LCW, perhaps the most celebrated example.  The ergonomic seat and back were set at an angle, to follow the contours of the body, and are joined to the tapering supports by black rubber shock-mounts. 

The Museum of Modern Art introduced the LCW with other new Eames furniture designs in 1946; the Walker Art Center featured it in Idea House II the following year.  The Eameses created what can be considered a mass-produced masterpiece--a functional and affordable chair that was also sensuously sculptural and unabashedly modern.  Consumers continue to be captivated by it, and its popularity for over fifty years has secured its status as a design icon. 

Jennifer Komar Olivarez, Associate Curator                 Decorative Arts, Textiles, and Sculpture

Artist: Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes
Date: 1820
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 45 1/8 x 30 1/8 in. (114.62 x 76.52 cm) (canvas)54 x 39 1/8 x 3 3/4 in. (137.16 x 99.38 x 9.53 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 52.14

Whenever possible, I travel the galleries via different routes.  But I always visit this self-portrait by Goya with Dr. Arrieta.  I find this painting profoundly enchanting and decided it would be the "director's masterpiece pick" for this exhibition.  

Goya painted this work in 1820 for his doctor.  The inscription at the bottom reads, "Goya gives thanks to his friend Arrieta for the expert care with which he saved his life from an acute and dangerous illness which he suffered at the close of the year 1819 when he was seventy-three years old."  The work is thus a sort of ex-voto, a gift in gratitude for delivery from calamity. 

In the painting Goya wears a nightshirt and dressing gown and clutches at the sheet as his head lolls back.  Arrieta clasps him firmly, offering a beaker of medicine.  I admire this painting's soft focus and earthy colors, the gentle light falling across the men's expressive faces, and the intriguing figures hovering in the darkness.  Most of all, I am astonished by its intensely personal nature.  How rare for an artist of this period to depict himself wearing a robe, with a deathly pallor, and completely helpless. 

Goya has never dropped out of favor, and this painting has long been considered a masterpiece.  For me, what really sets it apart is the sentiment that Dr. Arrieta cured the artist not through medicine but through love and compassion.  What better example of a masterpiece's ability to express what it means to be human? 

Kaywin Feldman, Director and President

Artist: Artist Unknown (Bella Coola (Nuxalk))
Date: c. 1850
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Mask
Size: 19 7/8 x 10 1/2 x 10 in. (50.48 x 26.67 x 25.4 cm) (without ties)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 2008.61

Tribes from the Northwest Coast region created frontlets in a carving style that had been established for generations.  The Bella Coola man who made this one followed his tribe's rules of form and composition.  Bella Coola frontlets usually have multiple figures, the largest placed in the center.  Here, the top figure wears headgear in the form of an abstracted bird head.  The lower one, with its arms and hands extending out from the surface, may represent a spirit being.  In the center is a transforming figure, its upturned beak complemented by the angles of the ovoid eyes, eye sockets, and eyebrows.  

This mask would have been worn for important occasions such as potlatches or welcoming notable guests.  Placed on top of the wearer's head, it moved with him as he danced, its abalone shells shining and the sea lion whiskers (now missing) swaying to the music's beat.  It would truly have been a sight to see. 

To our eyes, this frontlet is a masterpiece.  The complex composition of Bella Coola frontlets was greatly admired by neighboring tribes, and Bella Coola work in general inspired many other tribal styles, including the Kwakiutl. 

Joe D. Horse Capture, Associate Curator                         African, Oceanic, and Native American Art

Artist: Artist Unknown (Maya)
Date: 20th century
Medium: Fakes and Forgeries
Size: 26 1/2 x 14 x 39 1/2 in. (67.3 x 35.6 x 100.3 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 47.2.48

Purchased by the museum from a well-respected dealer in 1947, this chac mool was believed to be a masterpiece of ancient mesoamerican sculpture.  As such, it was prominently displayed at the MIA for decades and gained international attention as well, traveling throughout Europe in an exhibition that visited seven prominent cities including Munich, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Rome in the late 1950s.  Its true nature was only revealed in the mid-1970s, when research by the first curator of what was then called the primitive art department showed it to be a 20th-century fake, created with intent to deceive and likely modeled loosely after a chac mool from the Chichen Itza in the collection of Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology. 

Why did this information not come to light earlier?  The biggest factor was the lack of a pre-Columbian expert on staff, someone who would have known not only that the style and materials are wrong, but also that, compared to authentic examples, the carving is clumsy and awkward.  When I first saw this sculpture in storage many years ago, it seemed almost laughably bad, and now it's hard to believe so many were taken in by it for so long.  The sculpture remains valuable, however, as an example of the importance of ongoing research to determine the authenticity of even well-respected artworks. 

Molly Huber, Assistant Curator                                          African, Oceanic, and Native American Art

Artist: Artist Unknown (Veracruz)
Date: 600-900
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 16 3/8 x 13 5/8 in. (41.6 x 34.6 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 41.72

In contrast to the chac mool displayed nearby, this brilliantly executed stone ballgame yoke is a true masterpiece of pre-Columbian art, one whose authenticity has held up through repeated scholarly examinations.  The Mesoamerican ballgame seems to have been particularly significant to the cultures of Veracruz, given the quantity and excellence of ballgame-related art found in that area.  This yoke--an outstanding example--depicts a participant in the game, wearing an elaborate jaguar headdress.  A ceremonial sash emerges from the headdress and is grasped in the two hands of the ballplayer, appearing along the yoke's sides.  Other details represent aspects of his playing equipment.  The ends terminate in two carved faces, likely portraying severed heads, a reminder of the game's sometimes lethal outcome. 

Stone yokes such as this one probably were not worn to play the ballgame but instead were used as part of the ceremonies relating to it, perhaps as a trophy.  They are symbolic of the padded fiber yokes players wore to help deflect the ball using their hips, hands not being permitted to touch it during play.  To my mind, this yoke is more than a compelling work of art; it provides an entry to another world of information and experience. 

Molly Huber, Assistant Curator                                          African, Oceanic, and Native American Art

Artist: Vincenzo Coaci
Date: 1792
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Metalwork
Size: 28 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 14 3/4 in. (72.39 x 52.07 x 37.47 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 69.80.1a,b

I selected this inkstand as a masterpiece because Coaci's design propels a utilitarian inkstand to a stratospheric level--it is the epitome of excellence in a decorative arts object.  Possibly commissioned for Pope Pius VI, the inkstand is based on the Quirinal Monument in Rome.  But silversmith Coaci's version is cast in precious silver and gold on a lapis lazuli stone base with a red marble writing desk.  The entire work is embellished with fantastic architectural and sculptural details throughout.  Egyptian sphinxes with floral headdresses guard a fountain filled with mythical creatures.  Hidden mechanisms move various figures, revealing the inkstand accessories.  A drawer for paper and pens is also filled with playful engraved silver "documents."  What might have been a simple inkstand becomes a superb sculpture in silver, gold, and semiprecious stone.  Coaci clearly took pride in his masterpiece, both signing and dating his work and leaving his silver "calling card" in a hidden drawer.  

I chose to include the leather traveling case for th Coaci inkstand because it reinforces the inkstand's status as a masterpiece.  Objects made of precious materials are often accompanied by custom-made cases, but surviving cases of this size and level of detail are quite rare.  The leather-covered inkstand case takes the form of a fortified medieval city, a direct reference to its role as a protector of precious contents.  The towers, domes, battlements, and walls are highlighted with gilt paint and decorated with trophies of arms and armor.  These symbols of military might were perhaps a reference to the pope's ability to protect his domain. 

Corine Wegener, Associate Curator                              Decorative Arts, Textiles, and Sculpture

Artist: Sesson Shu_kei
Date: 16th century
Medium: Paintings, Painting-Folding Screen
Size: 69 1/4 x 24 in. (175.9 x 60.96 cm) (each fold)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 65.7.1

I'm persistently struck by the mysterious quality of these folding screens in which gnarled trees partially emerge from thick mists and the ghostly plumage of egrets shimmers in the moonlight.  The artist, seeson Shnkei, wrote a painting manual for his students and attracted the patronage of high-ranking warlords and Zen abbots while he was still a young man. 

The seemingly casual touch of Sesson's brush produced softly modeled forms reminiscent of the great masters of ink painting in China.  However, unlike his Chinese models, Sesson did not attempt to create pictorial depth for the viewer.  Instead, he rendered his motifs in the foreground and middle ground and sealed off the deep distance with pervasive mists.  This resulted in works of great immediacy and high decorative impact-characteristics that became hallmarks of Japanese pictorial design.  Sesson's unique artistic vision-well represented by this pair of screens--thus helped change the course of Japanese painting. 

Matthew Welch                                                                          Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Japanese and Korean Art

Artist: William Blake
Date: 1795
Medium: Prints, Print
Size: 16 15/16 x 23 3/4 in. (43.02 x 60.33 cm) (sheet)23 3/4 x 29 3/4 x 1 1/8 in. (60.33 x 75.57 x 2.86 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: P.12,581

I favor works of art that sear impressions on my memory.  Poet/painter William Blake's lumious portrayal of depravity does the job.  But for me, masterpieces are not just about an initial impact; they also cause me to seek greater understanding of stories, personalities, creative processes, and other aspects of life well beyond the image.  

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had been warned by the prophet Daniel to mend his sinful ways or lose his kingdom and his humanity.  When the king persisted in boasting of his might, "there fell a voice from heaven, saying,...The kingdom is departed from thee....And he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, til his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. 

Blake explored the Sublime, the irrational realm of visceral, overwhelming emotion--the flip side of the Enlightenment.  Constantly at odds with authority, he rejected the lessons of his teachers at the Royal Academy of Art.  Though decidedly Christian, he was an ardent dissenter against the Church of England.  Could Nebuchadnezzar be a veiled critique of the Crown and the Church of England? 

Never satisfied with the ordinary, Blake invented his own ways of making prints, here combining drawing, painting, and printing. 

Tom Rassieur                                                                          John E. Andrus III, Curator of Prints and Drawings

Artist: Bertel Thorvaldsen
Date: 1817–1829
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 34 3/4 x 18 1/2 x 46 3/8 in. (88.27 x 46.99 x 117.79 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 66.9

Thorvaldsen's Ganymede and the Eagle was immediately recognized as a masterpiece by its original owner, the Earl Gower, later second Duke of Sutherland.  In his letter of thanks to the sculptor, the earl called it a "chef-d'oeuvre de vos mains" (masterpiece by your hands). 

In my view the sculpture's status as a masterpiece is evident from both a technical and conceptual standpoint.  One detail that displays an exceptional mastery of carving is the eagle's beak--deeply hollowed out, with the tip hovering just a fraction of an inch above the heavenly nectar in the bowl. 

Conceptually, Thorvaldsen broke with the tradition of showing the god Jupiter, disguised as an eagle, abducting Ganymede by grasping the boy's body with his talons, in a scene full of violence.  Thorvaldsen's Ganymede and the Eagle is about contemplation rather than action.  There is no active perpetrator or passive victim.  In this intimate, symbolic, and meditative scene, defined by the figures' gazes, the boy and the bird are placed on the same level and given equal importance. 

As a model for renewing contemporary art by carefully studying the remains of classical antiquity, and for freezing a scene into calm and meditative balance, Thorvaldsen's Ganymede and the Eagle is emblematic of Neoclassical art at large. 

Eike D. Schmidt                                                                     James Ford Bell Curator of Decorative Arts, Textiles, and Sculpture

Artist: Artist Unknown (England)
Date: c.1400-1450
Medium: Textiles, Textile-Surface Ornamentation
Size: 12 3/4 x 7 3/8 in. (32.39 x 18.73 cm) (image)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 96.89

Historically, masterpieces were created at the behest of a great patron of the arts.  During the late Middle Ages, when this embroidery was made, the Catholic Church was a major benefactor of aesthetic endeavors.  The church considered it important to inspire worshippers with a glorious reflection of heaven and the rewards that awaited the faithful.  This motivation informed many aspects of church activity, from the grand architecture of the Gothic cathedral to the paraments and vestments used in the services. 

Throughout much of the Middle Ages, English master embroiderers were acknowledged to be among the great artists of the time.  Using fine silk thread instead of pigment, they created detailed imagery that was admired for its refinement and emotional effect. 

Many commissions were ordered by the pope, as well as royalty and nobles, as gifts to the church.  Centuries after their creation, even the fragments of these master embroideries are still highly valued objects in church treasuries and international museums.  This image of Saint John the Baptist is a section of an orphrey that undoubtedly was part of an awe-inspiring set of religious vestments. 

Lotus Stack                                                                             Textile Curator Emeritus

Artist: Artist Unknown (Korea)
Date: 18th century
Medium: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects, Ceramic
Size: 16 1/4 in. (41.28 cm)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 81.113.6

Because of Korea's proximity to China, its vast and powerful neighbor to the east, Chinese art and culture have exerted tremendous influence on the relatively small peninsula.  An aspect of Korean culture that I greatly admire is how Koreans have held onto their sense of national identity and their own artistic proclivities. 

In China, the dragon symbolized heaven, the emperor, and lfe-giving rain, and Koreans adopted that iconography.  Korean dragons, however, are far more playful than their Chinese counterparts.  The maker of this porcelain jar depicted the dragon with an excessively long snout, bushy eyebrows, and large baleful eyes.  Long whiskers trail from his snout, and spiky hair stands up on his head.  With little concern for detail, the artist applied quick dabs of iron oxide to suggest scales and bumpy skin. 

Western collectors were slow to appreciate the casual, unconventional Korean approach, preferring finely painted Chinese examples.  The architect Frank Lloyd Wright intuitively understood it and purchased this jar for his suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York.  Later, the vase was purchased at auction by MIA patron Louis W. Hill, Jr., who marveled that something so old and beautiful could be so inexpensive. 

Matthew Welch                                                                   Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Japanese and Korean Art

Artist: Francis Bacon
Date: 1953
Medium: Paintings, Painting
Size: 59 5/8 x 45 3/4 in. (151.45 x 116.21 cm) (canvas)61 1/4 x 47 3/8 x 1 5/8 in. (155.58 x 120.33 x 4.13 cm) (outer frame)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 58.35

The human figure, usually in a state of extreme anxiety, was Francis Bacon's principal object of study throughout his career.  This picture belongs to a series of paintings that began as a portrait of Bacon's friend and biographer David Sylvester but became, in the final project, either separate studies that reinvented Diego Velasquez's iconic 17th-century Portrait of Pope Innocent X.  Inspired also by Eadweard Muybridge's sequential photos of the human body in movement, Bacon made his constricted figures more and more agitated until, in the final painting, the Pope collapses in convulsive hysteria.  Aside from its gripping illustration of postwar existential malaise, the genius of Bacon's series was his melding of the monumentality of great historical art with the modernity of the film strip. 

Study for Portrait VI received its first public showing at an exhibition at the Walker Art Center in 1954.  It next figured in the exhibition "Francis Bacon: 12 Paintings, 1947-1958" (1959), at Richard L. Feigen's Chicago gallery.  Despite the intense interest in Bacon's work among Chicago artists, Study for Portrait VI was the only picture that Feigen sold.  It was purchased by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and remains, without exception, one of the most audacious and prescient acquisitions of contemporary art in the museum's history, which is why I have elected to highlight it in this masterworks exhibition. 

Patrick Noon, Chair                                                                        Paintings Department

Artist: Egon Schiele
Date: c. 1908–1909
Medium: Drawings and Watercolors, Drawing
Size: 61 3/8 x 28 5/8 x 3/4 in. (155.89 x 72.71 x 1.91 cm) (outer frame; black)51 1/2 x 19 1/4 in. (130.81 x 48.9 cm) (sight; image)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 69.7

To me, she is the MIA's Mona Lisa--an ineffable beauty, anonymous and unforgettable. 

In this monumental drawing, Egon Schiele casts a young woman, said to be his sster, but perhaps not, in the role of innocent temptress.  He strikes a calculated balance between corruption and purity, between her clawlike hands and her virginal downcast eyes.  The drawing epitomizes the decadent eroticism and decorative patterning characteristic of early 20th-century Viennese art. 

Standing Girl attests to Schiele's confident mastery of line and his unflinching examination of psychological complexities.  He traced precise contours, created momentary confusion between bodily mass and empty space, and contrasted elegant grace and tense awkwardness--laying before us the mysterious relationship between inward and outward realities. 

Given Schiele's current fame, it is surprising how completely his art was neglected in America and still is in some other art collecting centers.  Not until 1954, when the McMillan Land Company gave his portrait of Paris von Gutersloh to the MIA, did the first Schiele painting enter an American museum collection.  Even today, one is hard put to think of a major Schiele in any French or English museum. 

Our Mona Lisa may not be Schiele's sister, but she is close kin to Salome and Circe.  How fortunate we are that forty years ago she came to Minnesota to cast her spell on us. 

Tom Rassieur                                                                          John E. Andrus III Curator of Prints and Drawings

Artist: William Eggleston
Date: c. 1970
Medium: Photographs, Photograph
Size: 12 1/16 x 17 3/16 in. (30.64 x 43.66 cm) (image)15 7/8 x 20 1/16 in. (40.32 x 50.96 cm) (sheet)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 79.34.1

I cannot help but smirk when looking at William Eggleston's Memphis with its giant tricycle, centrally framed as though it were some type of monument, perhaps to childhood.  The tricycle's well-used handlebars, curvilinear frame, big black tires, and red, white, and blue American-flag colors all suggest pleasure.  At the same time, the image is ominous and intimidating as Eggleston makes us all child-sized once again with a simple upward tilt of the camera. 

Not many critics smirked some thirty years ago when Memphis was one of seventy-five color photographs exhibited in Eggleston's one-person retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and was featured on the cover of the exhibition catalogue, William Eggleston's Guiebook (1976).  In fact, the picture and exhibition sparked a controversy, partly because Eggleston used color film and focused on scenes from everyday life.  MoMA curator John Szarkowski celebrated this aesthetic as "perfect."  Hilton Kramer, art critic for the New York Times, responded: "Perfect? Perfectly banal, perhaps.  Perfectly boring, certainly."   

Today, the aesthetics of photography have been transformed, with Memphis as one of the landmarks in this evolution.  Eggleston is now commonly cited as "the father of color photography," who inspired a whole new generation of young photographers.  Memphis is a reminder that history is often a slowly evolving process, whose direction can be anticipated or changed by the makers of masterpieces. 

David Little, Curator                                                      Photography and New Media

Artist: Artist Unknown (Djenne)
Date: c.945-1245
Medium: Sculpture
Size: 28 1/4 x 6 3/4 x 10 1/4in. (71.8 x 17.1 x 26cm) (overall)3 x 6 x 7 1/2in. (7.6 x 15.2 x 19.1cm) (base)
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Accession #: 83.168

This sculpture fuses human dignity with animal strength.  It comes from the Inner Niger Delta in Mali, a region where several kingdoms succeeded each other between the 9th and 16th centuries.  Horses were introduced to West Africa from north of the Sahara around A.D. 1000 and soon became prestigious possessions, associated with political power and wealth.  Representations of horse riders from ancient Mali have been made in clay and wood.  Yet this one, in both style and age, is unlike any other, which is one reason I have chosen it. 

Its uniqueness, however, has made this horseman subject to controversy, and therefore it has not always been recognized as the masterpiece that it is.  Initially, some specialists questioned its authenticity.  In 1980 X-ray testing and radiocarbon dating revealed that it was carved from a single piece of wood dating between 1250 and 1450, make it one of the oldest sub-Saharan sculptures known.  What group the sculptor belonged to is not entirely clear, since in the past, several large-scale migrations took place in the Inner Niger Delta.  In general, art historians and curators like to attach an ethnic label to an African work of art, but in this case, we identify the sculpture by the region's historical city of Djenne. 

Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers, Curator                                       African, Oceanic, and Native American Art