Arrival
Cranbrook Museum of Art
Among the reasons that I decided to move to Cranbrook was the Art Museum. As I had served for five years as director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, I wished to remain involved with museums. As director of the Corcoran, I had been elected to membership in the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD). I intended to continue with AAMD as an active member.
Moreover, I defined an art school as “a private place concerned with process” whereas the art museum was “a public place committed to product”; both were educational institutions. I realized the museum had the potential to bring national attention, public recognition and greater support to Cranbrook.
The museum has had various names and, when I was director, was called Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum. In 1995, the name became Cranbrook Art Museum; I prefer and use that today.
Impressions
As I have written, my first visit to Cranbrook was in October 1975 at the time of the annual meeting of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. My initial impressions were not favorable; particularly of the museum. The galleries were closed as an installation was in progress. The opportunity to show off Cranbrook to Presidents and Deans of art schools from throughout the country was squandered. I was not impressed.
Later, when I was considering taking the position at Cranbrook, I made visits as part of the interview process, meeting with students, faculty and staff. Among those meetings were talks with the museum director, curators and staff. I began to realize that not only opportunity but money was being squandered. Again, I was not impressed.
Change
At that time, the museum director reported to the President of the Academy. The museum was regarded, like the library, as a department. However, the museum was open to the public and was more visible; with real potential for bringing in recognition and support. I made my views clear and stated that if I came to Cranbrook that I would assume greater control of the museum.
Indeed, the day that I arrived to take up residence in Saarinen House, a furniture van was on Academy Way; the director and family were moving out. In that summer of 1977, I assumed the title of Director of the Museum in addition to be President of the Academy. In effect, I reported to myself, an amicable arrangement without arguments!
I had to cut back on costs at the museum, particularly in reduction of staff. Art classes for children were conducted through the museum in a space beneath the library and, to me, were not worthy of continuing. The education effort would be directed to art appreciation through lectures and tours. A docent program staffed by volunteers existed and was sustained, enriching the museum education for children and adults.
As I reviewed the activities of the museum, I felt the commitment should be towards contemporary art. The museum was an invaluable resource and learning tool for the graduate students of the Academy. At the same time, the museum could enrich the Cranbrook community and surrounding area. The art museum had considerable promise, in many ways, for furthering an understanding and appreciation of art; in doing so greater support could come to Cranbrook.
As I reviewed and reduced museum staff, I asked Linda Dunne to take over the museum administration on a dad to day basis. With the dual responsibility of Academy President and Museum Director, I needed someone who was experienced, knowledgeable and reliable; I found that person in Linda. She was young and personable, good with people; most important she had worked at the museum as receptionist and secretary. Linda knew the museum as well as anyone and was well liked, particularly by the volunteers. Her pleasant personality and sense of humor were assets when dealing with s visitors, faculty, students, artists, trustees and the museum constituency. I was more than impressed and, within months, gave her the title Museum Administrator.
Linda did far more than administration for she worked in helping in curatorial issues and exhibition organization. Her responsibilities were considerable and she more than fulfilled them and my belief in her. Through her efforts and support, I was able to develop exhibitions and programs; the museum flourished.
(Later, Linda left Cranbrook to go to New York; she became Deputy Director at the Cooper Hewitt. Now, she is Deputy Director/ Chief Administrative Officer at the American Folk Art Museum. She remained a dear friend and trusted colleague. Ironically, in early 2001, Agnes and I visited her and her husband John Egner in Clearwater. John, a respected painter, had inherited a condo there on the Gulf. We ended up, by sheer luck, in buying the condo next to them! We are now neighbors; although presently they only visited a few weeks of the year.)
At the Corcoran, I had limited funds but had learnt how to put together low budget exhibitions of excellence with the help of artists; dealers; and collectors. Again, at Cranbrook, I had limited funds but great resources and contacts. The artists of the Academy were the best asset: faculty, students and alumni offered endless opportunities for exhibitions and programs. The Academy had a fine reputation in the visual arts; crafts; architecture; and design. These needed to de brought forward and presented to a broader public through exhibitions, catalogs and programs.
Founders
I have always realized how fortunate and privileged I was to head two great American art institutions. The Corcoran is the oldest art museum in the nation’s capitol and the third oldest in the nation. Cranbrook is the most influential graduate art academy in the country; particularly in the crafts, design and architecture. Corcoran has a national reputation and Cranbrook is of international repute and influence. I feel blessed that I led both institutions; helping to restore their stature and bring back respect and recognition. How ironic that both the Corcoran and Cranbrook had ignored their past; whether the American Collection or Saarinen House, both institutions were guilty of neglect.
With the support of staff and trustees, I did help bring back their glorious pasts and cultural wealth. Here I was a Welsh born American leading these great institutions; although my commitment is to the contemporary, I have deep respect for the past. Cultural institutions, particularly museums, have a tendency to ignore their own histories and traditions. To study that institutional history is important; even more critical is reading the words of the founders. Each American institution is different; that was true for the Corcoran, founded 1859, and for Cranbrook, founded in 1925. The words of William Wilson Corcoran were visionary and relevant to this day. His wish “to promote and encourage the American Genius” became our mission; most relevant at the time of the Bicentennial.
The writings and sayings of George Gough Booth are equally worth reading and remain pertinent today. He and his wife, Ellen Scripps Booth, founded the Cranbrook community with a commitment to education and to the arts and crafts. He wrote, in 1917, that “Art is not a thing apart, an ornament added to life. It is the outward expression of man’s struggle toward the ideal”. More farsighted and my favorite statement by Booth is that “There is a spirit of fertility, which through imaginative treatment and prophetic experiment will bring art forth to interpret itself and seed again. It will be further invigorated by the conviction that there is something for this day to create as its record, monument and inspiration to another generation.” How admirable that Booth knew that art would change and be of its day.
The founders, the Booths, are said to have wanted a museum for their collection across from a library. Their intent was for students to read about art history and then cross a peristyle to look at original works of art in the museum. How wonderful to gain an appreciation of art by looking at actual objects rather than viewing slides or, even worse, postcards.
Art History
In my early years in Michigan, on a visit a nearby institution of higher education, I visited galleries that were filled wall to wall with postcards. On closer scrutiny, I realized that these were postcards of reproductions of art throughout the ages; obviously culled from museum gift stores. My first impression was that few rooms were some sort of conceptual art project; may be a humorous parody of art? Nothing could have been further from the truth for these rooms were indeed the history of art. I found some students taking notes and intensely studying these postcards. I questioned them and found that they were studying ‘Art History 101’ and later would take an exam in which they would have to identify the art and artists represented in these reproductions! For them, art had been reduced to the size and scale of a postcard?
How ludicrous a way to study art for, when I questioned them further, most admitted that they had never studied an original work of art; never been to a museum. Although there are fine art museums in Michigan, the students had never been given that opportunity, nor been encouraged, to visit art museums and look at original art; how dreadful. Then I began to think how art history was studied, normally through slides; not much better than postcards or any reproduction. In this way the student has no sense of the size, texture and surface of a painting or of the scale, patina and dimensions of a sculpture. The study of art must begin with the original work of art; in this regard, the art museum plays an invaluable and indispensable role.
National Museum of Wales
I was fortunate in having a great museum within walking distance of my childhood home in Cardiff. I could walk to the National Museum of Wales and, for five years, did so daily on my way to art school. As a high school student, I was taken there occasionally on a school tour but went far more regularly by myself; the museum was so close to home. What better place than this for an adolescent boy to meet girls? I have described Wales as “the only place in the world where it rains indoors”! Over the weekends, in the dismal drizzle, the museum offered a dry and free place to roam. Inevitably, I got drawn to the art galleries, fascinated by the portraits and landscapes. I have always said that art museums are the best place to study art and meet beautiful women; many of whom work there!
The National Museum of Wales is a museum and art gallery; part of the Civic Center. The museum opened in 1927; some parts being completed in 1932. A new wing is still being considered; as a youngster, I cycled and played around that place. Recently, as part of a master plan study, I was asked my opinion on whether the proposed extension should be completed in Cardiff or built elsewhere in Wales. I replied that as a child that I had expected the wing to built adjacent to the original edifice and, 70 years later, I hope that would occur at last?! In the galleries, there were works from the Renaissance to the contemporary. Artists such as Botticelli and Poussin were on view; along with portraits by Reynolds and Romney. Four large tapestries were attributed to Rubens. Paintings in ornate frames and sculptures on pedestals adorned the large and elegant galleries.
The collection of French Art assembled by Margaret and Gwendoline Davies was bequeathed in the 1950s and 1960s; a gift that brought instant international recognition to the museum. The collection included the largest group of paintings by Daumier in the world; paintings by Monet of Venice, Rouen Cathedral and Water lilies; Van Gogh’s “Rain at Auvers”; and the famed portrait “La Parisienne” by Renoir. Another famous work was a bronze version of “The Kiss” by Rodin. For me, as a young art student and struggling artist, these works were overwhelming and inspiring. Of particular importance was “Midday L’Estaque” by Paul Cezanne; initially, I had real problems with this painting. I thought the work was awkward and crude; but I persisted in my study of this masterpiece. Today, I agree that Cezanne is indeed ‘the father of modern art’; among all painters, he is my favorite. I learnt much thanks to this generous gift that enriched the museum and those, like me, who could study the magnificent works of art. The Davies Bequest had a profound impact on me as did the museum. One summer, while a student, I worked at the National Museum of Wales; I even remember, from a lifetime ago, the director and his name, Rollo Charles. Looking back, at those years visiting the museum and that summer working there, I realize that this may have been the beginning of my museum career.
Slides
The greatest benefit of that nearby museum was the opportunity to view original works of art. However, slides of art became the accepted way to teach art history or to talk about art. If I remember correctly, my art school classes on art history were initially from books and reproductions; then lectures, given with slides projected on to the screen. How many lectures have I been to? How many have I given?
Over the years, I have given endless lectures throughout the world; always using slides. I think I may have become known as ‘Roy Slide’?! By the late 1950’s, as I started teaching and painting, I began to use the camera more and more. Photography has always fascinated me; when a young teenager, I made a pin hole camera and visited a camera obscura on Clifton Downs in Bristol. As a painting student, I photographed the nearby beaches, shorelines and rock polls; the Welsh coast is varied and dramatic. The abstraction of nature fascinated me and I would project images as inspiration.
Before I first came to America, in 1967, I visited famed British artists from Barbara Hepworth to Patrick Heron and photographed them and their work in their studios. I recorded the work of students at Leeds College of Art; these images were invaluable when lecturing throughout the States. At the same time, throughout my travels from coast to coast, I took photographs of cities, deserts, mountains, museums, skyscrapers, seascapes, neon lights, signs, skies and the contrasting continent that is America. I used those images in later lectures; now I wish I had printed those slides as photographs, works of art in their own right.
The Primary Experience
Over the years, I became committed to the idea of studying original art and nature. One day, I was lecturing at the Corcoran in the magnificent hemicycle that was the auditorium. I was talking on the Washington Color School; on the screen was projected a slide of a painting by Morris Louis. To my chagrin, I realized that the original painting was hanging in the gallery, on the wall the other side of the auditorium screen! I stopped the lecture and took the students out into the gallery to look at the original work of art.
From that day on, when lecturing with slides, I stressed that the images were points of reference and gave no indication of size, scale, surface, sensuality or soul that was evident in the original. Increasingly, I tried to include original works of art within my talks; for a sculpture and a painting next to the podium can be a constant reminder of art itself. To have audiences go into an exhibition or a collection, following a lecture, is most beneficial. Of course, in teaching art history, the lecturer can not take the audience around the world or back in time. Nevertheless, the emphasis must be on the fact that slides are mere indicators and points of reference; about art but not art.
Years ago, in England, I was in a flower shop when some fresh flowers arrived. Two dear old ladies looked, with admiration, at the colorful and fresh blooms. One matron said to the other, “these flowers are so beautiful that they could be plastic!” At that time, plastic was relatively new to these ladies but had already warped their sense of what was real? More recently, I told that story to a meeting of art museum directors; the discussion was on technology and art. Talk was taking place on interactive computers; holograms; electronics and cyberspace. I warned my colleagues not to overlook or neglect the original work of art.
Eliel Saarinen talked often of the growth of the seed, relating this phenomenon to design and the creative process, the balance of inward energy and outward forces. He felt that, “In order to understand both art and life, one must go down to the source of all things; to nature.”
Each year, for incoming students, I gave a talk on Cranbrook. I did so in the first week and attendance was mandatory; I felt students must understand and appreciate the history and architecture of Cranbrook. Although using slides, I emphasized the primary experience of architecture and nature that surrounded them daily. I talked of Saarinen’s commitment to the totality of design from the grand concept to the finite detail. I took students visually on the walk they took to the cafeteria in the basement of the boys’ school. They passed through arches with decorative embellishment and the words of the founder. The courtyard and the dining room of the boys’ school were masterpieces of art, architecture and design; Saarinen was a genius. I shared my awe and wonderment for our surroundings through my slides of his architecture; of decorative details; of asymmetrical design; of changing seasons; of nature that encompasses and enriches us. I was unabashed in my enthusiasm and appreciation of Cranbrook; the place, its history and influence. I took students outside to show them around Cranbrook; an original work of art. I preached of my passion for the primary experience of art and nature. Later, students came to me, sharing my enthusiasm and talking of, a phrase to be used often by my graduates, “the primary experience”.
Museum and Library
The art museum was the last of Eliel Saarinen’s buildings at Cranbrook and is regarded as his most formal and monumental. The design has been attributed to Eliel but son Eero Saarinen is acknowledged as the building is described in publications as by “Eliel and Eero Saarinen: Cranbrook Museum and Library 1938-42”. Planning began in 1938 and the original drawing for the museum and library is by Eliel Saarinen, dated 1940.
The publication “Design in American: The Cranbrook Vision 1925-50” deals in detail with the architecture of Eliel and Eero Saarinen. In his chapter “Interior Design and Architecture”, Craig Miller describes the museum and library, writing that, “The composition is a tripartite arrangement of two rectangular blocks separated by a propylaeum. The Museum is by necessity a closed volume and reflects the now familiar subtle palette preferred by Eliel Saarinen; in this instance, travertine floors and fabric covered walls and plaster ceiling originally finished in shades of warm grey. The most interesting features were the sculpted plaster coffers in the ceiling. The library, on the other hand, is a sunny reading room, and the light blond wood bookcases and furniture lend a sense of added warmth.”
The library was invaluable in fulfilling our educational role. There were rare folios; priceless volumes, originally owned by the Booths; reference books; art books; catalogs; magazines; periodicals. The collection contains over 25,000 volumes on art and related fields. In addition, there are slides; audio visual equipment; and tapes of Academy lectures. This resource was staffed by a librarian, Judy Dyki, and her assistants. Judy was most helpful, supportive and pleasant; a delight to work with and one of my appointments. I appreciated her professional commitment and dedication.
The library was used by staff, students and scholars. Most fascinating were the bound theses of graduates; essays on art or their work or interests. These volumes were insights in to past students, now distinguished artists, architects and designers.
The Museum and Library are distinguishing features of Cranbrook; an architectural masterwork by Eliel Saarinen, enhanced by the sculptures of Carl Milles. The formal gardens with the “Triton Pool” and “Europa and the Bull” form an axis for one approach; the other is past the famed “Orpheus Fountain”. These sculptures by Milles are illustrated in the book “Design in America”; on the cover is the fountain with the grand façade and propylaeum. The museum and library doors are large and bronze with decorative designs by Eliel Saarinen.
In my Cranbrook Lecture, on this website, are slides of the Museum and Library: an aerial view; the Triton Pool; and the interior of the museum. As ever, one picture is worth a thousand words.
Earlier, I stated that I felt blessed to have headed the Corcoran and Cranbrook; even more of a blessing was the magnificent interior space of both buildings. The enormous atrium and galleries of the Corcoran, a beaux arts building designed by Ernest Flagg in the 1890s, were unequalled, particularly for exhibiting the vast canvases and huge sculptures of contemporary art. When I arrived at the Corcoran in 1967, the sculptures "Smoke" by Tony Smith and "X" by Ronald Bladen were being built. These huge wooden works, built in situ, towered above the viewer, filling both the north and south atriums and reaching up two floors high to the skylights; indeed, memorable. Later, I used these spaces and the huge galleries to full advantage to present contemporary art. The Corcoran had seven of these huge galleries, on the first and second floors, for exhibitions plus the two atriums, rotunda and over twenty other galleries for the collections.
At Cranbrook, the museum space was far less with four galleries on the main floor and smaller spaces below. However, the galleries were large and impressive, again ideal for showing contemporary art. Again, I was fortunate; although, when I arrived the south gallery was being used as a lecture hall and the north gallery was blocked off with a huge false wall. The only access was through a small door. When I asked why, I was told that there had been an exhibition of jewelry with precious gems; for security reasons the wall had been built and never taken down. I had that removed to open up the beautiful north gallery. The main gallery was 79’ long x 36’ wide x 20’ high; wonderful proportion and size. The center gallery was 36 ’wide x 29’; the north gallery was 31’ x 34’. These three galleries provided fine spaces for exhibitions.
Originally, the museum had been designed to house the collections of the founders. The Booth Collection had been eclectic and diverse; rich in textiles, ceramics, tapestries, sculpture, metalwork, paintings from different countries and periods; many objects reflected their passion and patronage of the Arts & Crafts. I have only heard and read of their collection which was sold at auction before my arrival at Cranbrook. The sale appears to have been controversial and caused concern in the community and among the museum profession.
Again, I repeat that the founders’ wish and intent was admirable: to have students read about art and then cross over to the adjoining museum to see original works from throughout the ages within the Booth Collection. Initially, my concern was with exhibitions.