Sheldon finds 'identity' in new show

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BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT/Lincoln Journal Star

Today, the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery will open “American Art, 19th Century to Present,” the latest rehanging of its permanent collection galleries.

The reinstallation by Sheldon director Janice Driesbach and curator Daniel Siedell returns the upstairs galleries to a chronological presentation of works from the Sheldon collection that date from the 1800s to 21st century pieces. But “American Art, 19th Century to Present” is more than just a “greatest hits” presentation.

Many of the museum’s best- known holdings are on view in the exhibition. Some, like Mark Rothko’s “Yellow Band,” haven’t been seen for a couple of years. Others, such as Edward Hopper’s “Room in New York” and Georgia O’Keeffe’s “New York, Night,” rarely leave the Sheldon’s walls.

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"Composition with Ritual Scene," a 1938-41 painting by Jackson Pollock that reflects the influence of Mexican muralists on his work, now hangs in the permanent collection galleries of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. (Journal Star file photo)

"Composition with Ritual Scene," a 1938-41 painting by Jackson Pollock that reflects the influence of Mexican muralists on his work, now hangs in the permanent collection galleries of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery. (Journal Star file photo)

But all the pieces in the show, whether always on display or among the rarely exhibited works making an appearance, also fit into themes that buttress the initiative that underlies the installation.

Called "Forming American Identities,” the initiative will use Sheldon’s collection, programs and events to “explore art’s role in developing identity, both personal and national,” Siedell said.

“The shift in focus is from thematic shows to taking chronological periods and looking at them as to how identities are structured through art.”

For example, the first gallery looks at the construction of 19th century American identity through landscape, and features paintings by Albert Bierstadt, who joined in explorations of the West, returning to paint romantic, dramatic pictures of the landscape, and Theodore H. Robinson, whose “Port Ben, Delaware and Hudson Canal” is a view of one of the primary early American transportation systems.

There are smaller elements in the rehanging that illustrate important events in American art history. In the second room, which contains work from 1900 to 1929, is a pair of small pieces by Morton Schamberg, one produced before the 1913 Armory Show and one after. That, then, opens up a discussion of modernism and its effect on culture and identity.

Because of production deadlines, my tour through “American Art, 19th Century to Present” took place before the exhibition was fully installed. So I can’t report on the labels, lighting and other details that combine to give the show its final look and emphasize its theme.

But visually, the rehanging works both as a showcase for some of Sheldon’s best work and some of its newest purchases, including paintings by Lincoln artists Dan Howard and Marjorie Mikasen, and as an illustration of the connection between art and identity.

For those who don’t often visit Sheldon, there is an opportunity to see many of the museum’s best-known and most important works, including Elie Nadelman’s sculpture “Man in Open Air,” which because of vandalism is no longer in the museum’s sculpture garden, Jackson Pollock’s “Composition with Ritual Scene” and Richard Diebenkorn’s “Ocean Park No. 89.5”

For Sheldon regulars, there are plenty of rarely, if ever, seen pieces in the rehanging, including a group of California abstract paintings in the 1970-89 room. And some pieces, such as Milton Avery’s “Offshore Island,” are returning to the walls after years in storage.

The rehanging also includes some relatively recent Sheldon purchases that fit both in terms of quality and theme. Those include Robert Arneson’s ceramic sculpture “Born to Raise Hell,” a giant “mask” of the face of Pollock and “Le Cannibale Moderniste,” a biting commentary on the encroachment of modern art on native culture by Enrique Chagoya.

Plans are to rotate objects in the exhibition throughout its yearlong run, Driesbach said.

So, for example, when Sean Scully’s “Barcelona White Bar,” a new Sheldon purchase, finishes its run in a Scully touring show that wraps up early next year at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, it will make its Lincoln debut in the final gallery of the rehanging that features contemporary art.

Other paintings, sculpture, drawings and photographs from the collection that are now in storage also will be rotated into the galleries in upcoming months.

Siedell and Driesbach will lead tours through “American Art, 19th Century to Present” at a Friday afternoon opening. The opening will run from 5 to 7 p.m. with free appetizers and a cash bar. The exhibition will be on view in the permanent collection galleries through July 1, 2007.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.