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Picture This: CMA Photographic History
- January 2009
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| The CMA archives houses the documentary history of the museum.
Much of this history consists of the written word. However, it also includes
documentary evidence in the form of images. Pictures provide unique information
that cannot be found in other types of documents. They are created to serve
a number of purposes including augmenting the written record. In some instances,
however, the only evidence of an historical event is photographic. Much
can be deduced from images of people, places, and events. These are but
a few examples of images that convey stories of the museum over time. |
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Art Hutchins retrieving stranded swan
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The museum's front yard is the Fine Arts Garden,
designed by the firm of legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
For a number of years the lagoon was home to a pair of nesting swans named
Philip and Elizabeth. The swan family was a favorite of museum visitors
and were looked after with great care by the staff and residents of the
University Circle area. For their own protection they wintered on a farm
in Mentor. Occasionally the lagoon froze over before the swans could be
transferred, necessitating their rescue. |
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Swans nesting
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Philip and Elizabeth and their cygnets |
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Click on an image for a larger view
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| The museum's second director, William Milliken, was a well
known connoisseur in the art world. Thomas Munro, curator of education,
was also a nationally recognized innovator in arts education. Their public
portraits show men of taste and distinction. People who knew them saw men
who were fun loving and not afraid to let their hair down. Milliken was
a very emotional man who was known to cry in order to sway the board of
trustees to his point of view regarding acquisitions. |
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William Mathewson Milliken |
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Milliken in costume for an Italian play |
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Thomas Munro |
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Bon voyage party for Munro |
| It was with great excitement that the museum prepared for
the 1933 exhibition of works by James McNeill Whistler. The highlight of
the show was his "Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Arrangement in Gray
and Black" which came to us from the Louvre. This picture was considered
so important a police escort was arranged. A local art critic was invited
along for the ride and described the scene: |
Police escort for Whistler's "Mother"
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"It was proud I was Wednesday night,
or rather Thursday morning, when I formed part of the procession that escorted
Whistler's Mother from the express train to the museum of art. She is such
a meek, kindly, old lady as you see her there in gallery VIII, but it took
two police squad cars, eight motorcycle police and three museum cars to
chaperone her safely to her present home.. It was a grand spectacle as we
sailed majestically out St. Clair Avenue to East 40th, across to Euclid
Avenue and finally into port at the superintendent's entrance of the museum.
First came a squad car with a lovely siren that led the baying of the hounds.
Next came the big American Express Company's truck in which rode Whistler's
famous portrait of his mother, standing on her head we discovered later.
Poor lady! On either side of her were ranged the eight motorcycle cops,
each equipped with a thoroughly effective siren. Back of the truck was the
second squad car full of police officers. Finally came the car of director
William M. Milliken, with myself and I.T. Frary serving as rear guards.
What a ride!...We didn't bother speed limits, but how we did crash lights…Twelve
of them we counted, and we sailed full speed ahead with sirens braying..."
(The Works of James McNeill Whistler, Exhibition Compendium, box four, Cleveland
Museum of Art Archives)
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Whiting with class in Armor Court, 1916
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From the outset our first director, Frederick
Whiting, insisted that the museum be an educational institution. The education
department was established two years before the museum opened in 1916, offering
programs in the public schools. Opening day saw the director escorting his
son and his classmates through the armor court. Children have been in the
museum ever since. CMA was the first art museum to allow children to draw
in the galleries.
School children arriving by bus
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Registration for Saturday classes |
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Sketching class in the Fine Arts Garden
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| Over time the manner in which the galleries have
been styled has varied according to taste and changes in professional understanding
of how art is best exhibited. The inaugural exhibition featured paintings
hung in salon style, that is, close together and from the wainscoting nearly
to the ceiling. Today art is arranged with much more space surrounding each
piece to enhance the experience of individual works. |
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Gallery 220, 1916
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Gallery 220, 2008 |
| The galleries of the 1916 building were originally
designed to be simple, plain rooms in which the artwork would take center
stage. The one exception to this plan was gallery number six, known as the
Holden Gallery which was designed specifically to lure a collection of Italian
paintings from museum benefactress Mrs. Liberty Holden. Ornately styled,
the gallery cost an exorbitant amount for the time but served its purpose
as seen here with the Holden collection on exhibit. Museum renovations beginning
in 1956 have altered the room which now houses American art. Read
more about the Holden gallery. |
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Gallery 215 (Holden Gallery), 1916
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Gallery 215, 2008
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May Show gallery installation
Howard Kottler's "Cat" in multiples
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The annual May Show, a juried exhibition, featured works
by local artists which were offered for sale. For many years the creation
of duplicates was encouraged as a means of supporting these local artists
and providing relatively inexpensive works to the public. May Show objects
can be found today in many area homes. Because non prize winning entries
were not photographed individually, gallery views are often the only evidence
that a piece was exhibited in the show. Artists were required to retrieve
rejected works or risk the museum disposing of them.
Staff destroying an unretrieved May Show object, per museum policy.
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| As you can see from the few examples in this Collection in
Focus, the archives houses photographs that tell stories and illustrate
the lighter-side of the museum and its staff, in addition to providing visual
documentary evidence of museum history.
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