Chief Curator at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Joseph Becherer, takes us through a typical art history book to point out all of the prominent artists that are displayed or have displayed at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.
Transcript:
Joseph Becherer: My name is Joseph Becherer and I'm the Chief Curator and Vice President for collections and exhibitions here at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. This is the standard text book that you see across American, it's the History of Modern Art and all these little sticky notes that you see across the top and coming down the side are related to artist that we've had in the galleries, as a part of exhibitions, or artist that are represented as a part of the collection. For example, in one of the opening pages here is related to Rodin and to the age of the impressionist in which he was apart. That's the foundation of our collection is Auguste Rodin.
We really needed to say what's going to be important and we decided to in a sense drive the stake in the ground. This collection was going to be devoted to modern and contemporary sculpture and considering where it ends Rodin is the father of modern sculpture and the stake is right there with him. You know when I open this up and I go through the section on pop art, probably one of the most beloved chapters in the history of contemporary art, most of these artists are represented in the collection. Claes Oldenburg is here, Jim Dine is here in abundance, George Segal is here in abundance, and then you look at what an important role pop art plays in the history of art. Lichtenstein is here, it's really great to have that here at Meijer Gardens, have it here for West Michigan, have it here for the world.
One of the most astonishing things, even going back a little further, is to look at the section on Cubism. You know Cubism was one of the most significant chapters in the history of art. We have most of the major Cubist sculptors here. We have Lipchitz, we have Laurent, we have Zatkin, you know it's amazing to me to think that in 15 years we have that kind of representation here. It's a reminder of where we are, it's a reminder of who's make this possible, and it's also, for me anyway, an important tool to think about and evaluate maybe what we can do in the future.
Whether people are coming here for the gardens, or an exhibition, or the permanent collection, I would like them to feel as if they were participating and being rewarded and something bigger than themselves. This place is full of ideas, it's full of incredible things to see. We take a lot of energy and put a lot of effort into finding quality and sharing it with the world.
29 сен 2024
