Grants

Grant Recipients in 2005

alston $10,000

Charles H. Alston1907-1977

Note
Harlem Hospital Center
Location
New York, NY

$10,000 toward the restoration and relocation of the 1940 murals Magic in Medicine and Modern Medicine, overseen by HHC chief of staff Sylvia L. White and staff member Deborah Thornhill. In 1935, Alston established the WPA-funded “306” group, which served as a supportive network for artists such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Norman Lewis. Through a rich vocabulary of abstraction and realism, Alston’s paintings, murals, and sculpture explore themes of both everyday life in Harlem and the American landscape.

bonney $10,000

Thérèse Bonney1894-1978

Note
Museum of Photographic Arts
Location
San Diego, CA

$10,000 toward Breaking the Frame: Thérèse Bonney and Other Pioneering Women Photojournalists, an exhibition with accompanying catalogue and educational programs, organized by museum curator Carol McCusker. Originally from Syracuse, NY, Bonney traveled to France after WWI and was involved in re-building war-torn Europe through the National Catholic War Council. During the 1920s, she developed artistically, ultimately choosing photography as her field. Her photographs reflect her heroism and devotion to revealing the truth about war and social consciousness.

bubley $15,000

Esther Bubley1921-1998

Note
Aperture Foundation
Location
New York, NY

$15,000 toward Esther Bubley: On Assignment, a monograph on the photographer written by photo historian Bonnie Yochelson with estate archivist Tracy A. Schmid. Bubley was a leading photojournalist between the 1940s and the 1960s and worked for the United States government, Standard Oil, and magazines such as Life, Ladies Home Journal, and Look. Bubley captured many poignant and private moments of children, city life, and hospital environments as well as hauntingly striking photographs of oil rigs.

crimi $10,000

Alfred D. Crimi1900-1994

Note
Harlem Hospital Center
Location
New York, NY

$10,000 toward the restoration and relocation of the 1936 mural Modern Surgery and Anesthesia, overseen by HHC chief of staff Sylvia L. White and staff member Deborah Thornhill. Born in San Fratello, Italy, Crimi studied fresco painting in Rome, and was a member of the New York National Academy of Design. Having observed surgery, Crimi was fascinated by the “constant interaction of eyes and hands” between surgeons and explores this theme in the mural by accentuating the surgeons’ black gloves and shifting gaze.

ericson $15,000

Kate Ericson1955-1995

Note
MIT List Visual Arts CenterFrances Young Tang Museum - Skidmore College
Location
Cambridge, Saratoga Springs, NY, MA

$15,000 toward Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler: America Starts Here, 1985-1995, a traveling exhibition with accompanying catalogue and related public programs, organized by List curator Bill Arning and Tang curator Ian Berry. From the late 1970s until her death, Ericson and Ziegler created witty and stimulating installations and outdoor environments using everyday objects. These included Camouflaged History, 1991, an entire Charleston, S.C. house painted in a U.S. military camouflage pattern with 72 commercial paint colors designated as historic by the local preservation group.

gutmann $20,000

John Gutmann1905-1998

Note
Center for Creative Photography - University of Arizona
Location
Tucson, AZ

$20,000 toward an exhibition on the photographer with accompanying catalogue and related public programs, organized by museum director Douglas Nickel. Gutmann immigrated from Germany to the United States during the rise of the Nazi regime before ultimately settling in San Francisco in 1933. His photographs explore his fascination with various American oddities such as the proliferation of cars, oversized advertisements, and graffitti, and reflect his sensitivity to groups that stood on the periphery of American society.

howard $15,000

Jesse Howard 1885-1983Roger Brown1941-1997

Note
UMKC Center for Creative Studies
Location
Kansas City, MO

$15,000 toward the symposium associated with Jesse Howard & Roger Brown: NOW READ ON, a traveling exhibition on the artists with accompanying catalogue, guest curated by Lisa Stone and Raechell Smith. Although both artists lived in very different cultures – Howard in his country home and studio in Fulton, MI and Brown in the urban mainstream of Chicago, IL – both were from the South, shared populist points of view, and freely addressed polarized issues in Amercia’s social, political, and religious culture.

huebler $10,000

Douglas Huebler1924-1997

Note
Walker Art Center
Location
Minneapolis, MN

$10,000 toward the acquisition of the 1974 photographic work Location #66 for the museum’s permanent collection, overseen by museum curator Douglas Fogle. Huebler was an important figure in post-war American art and was involved in a variety of movements, including abstract expressionism, minimalism, and most notably conceptually-inspired photography. Many of his photographs document people participating in various activities. One of his most ambitious projects was the attempt to photograph everyone alive on the planet.

jensen $10,000

Alfred Jensen1903-1981

Note
Montclair Art Museum
Location
Montclair, NJ

$10,000 toward the acquisition of The Substance out of Which the Universe is Made, 1978, by the painter for the museum’s permanent collection, overseen by museum director Patterson Sims and curator Gail Stavitsky. Born and raised in Guatemala, Jensen traveled abroad at a young age before arriving in New York in the 1940s. Initially a participant in abstract expressionism, Jensen went on to create densely packed checkerboard-like compositions that mapped complex number, symbol, and word systems inspired by early civilizations.

kilgallen $15,000

Margaret Kilgallen1967-2001

Note
Gallery at REDCAT
Location
Los Angeles, CA

$15,000 toward a survey exhibition on the painter with accompanying catalogue, organized by gallery director and curator Eungie Joo and assistant curator Clara Kim. Born in Washington, DC Kilgallen grew up in Kensington, MD before receiving her MFA from Stanford University. Through their simple forms, flat color and line, Kilgallen’s paintings and wall installations explore the culture of immigrants, railway workers and everyday people and bring to light the personal tales and letterforms of American folk traditions buried beneath official history.

purifoy $15,000

Noah Purifoy1917-2004

Note
Noah Purifoy Foundation
Location
Joshua Tree, CA

$15,000 toward the conservation and preservation of the artist’s work as well as for the archival treatment of his papers, overseen by foundation president Joseph S. Lewis, III. Originally from rural Alabama, Purifoy served as both a founding member of the Watts Towers Arts Center and the California Arts Council before moving to Joshua Tree, CA, to create an outdoor sculpture site. His interest in the relationship between art, self, and community are reflected in his large assemblage sculptures that include such everyday objects as toilet bowls, bicycle wheels, and old refrigerators.

sandback $25,000

Fred Sandback1943-2003

Note
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
Location
La Jolla, CA

$5,000 toward the acquisition of the 1974 yarn sculpture Untitled for the museum’s permanent collection, overseen by museum curator Stephanie Hanor. Born in Bronxville, NY, Sandback studied sculpture at Yale University School of Art and Architecture and had his first solo shows in Germany in 1968. By tacking yarn to points on the wall, ceiling and floor, Sandback created subtle site-specific sculptures that describe geometric planes in space and command a significant presence despite their nearly immaterial nature.

Fred Sandback1943-2003

Note
Dia Art Foundation
Location
New York, NY

$20,000 to document and catalogue the work of the sculptor as well as to create a related installation manual, organized by Dia director Michael Govan, curator Lynne Cooke, and estate director Amy Baker Sandback. A long time supporter of Sandback’s work, Dia mounted two exhibitions during the 1980s and 1990s and permanently displays his signature work at Dia:Beacon. In addition to his yarn pieces, Sandback also created metal sculptures and works on paper.

smith $15,000

Jack Smith1932-1989

Note
Millennium Film Workshop
Location
New York, NY

$15,000 toward the post-production costs associated with the documentary film Jack Smith & the Destruction of Atlantis, sponsored by Millennium Film Workshop, directed by Mary Jordan and produced by Kenneth Wayne of Tongue Press. An influential force in the history of film, contemporary art, and performance in New York, Smith’s photographs from the late 1950s and early 1960s often depict narrative tableaux populated by the eccentric figures of underground bohemia.

swope $15,000

John Swope1908-1979

Note
Armand Hammer Museum of Art
Location
Los Angeles, CA

$15,000 toward an exhibition on the photographer with accompanying catalogue and related public programs, organized by museum curator Carolyn Peter. Swope was a free-lance photograher for Life magazine in addition to being a prominent figure in Los Angeles’ art scene from the 1930s through the 1960s. Perhaps better known for his behind-the-scenes photography of 1930s Hollywood, Swope also created a body of work on location in Japan at the end of WWII, which poignantly documents the devastations of war with great sensitivity and humanity.

taylor $10,000

Prentiss Taylor1907-1991

Note
Archives of American Art - Smithsonian Institution
Location
New York, NY

$10,000 for the microfilming of the papers of the lithographer, organized by archivists Barbara D. Aikens and Amy Morgan. Although initially a painter, Taylor turned to lithography in the 1930s while in New York and created a number of prints and illustrations for Harlem Renaissance publications. From 1942-76 he served as President of the Society of Washington Printmakers. Taylor’s finely detailed prints, which deal primarily with realistic scenes and narratives, were influenced by his personal interests in music, architecture, religion and social justice.

westermann $15,000

H.C. Westermann1922-1981

Note
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Location
Philadelphia, PA

$15,000 toward the acquisition of the 1977 sculpture The Second Shotgun, for the museum’s permanent collection, overseen by museum curator Alex Baker. Trained as an artist in Chicago, Westermann ultimately settled in Connecticut and produced sculptural constructions and assemblages. His work interpretes social and historical events of the 1950s through the 1970s, combining woodworking and craftsmanship with a surrealist/pop sense of humor.

white $5,000

Charles White1918-1979

Note
Whitechapel Gallery
Location
London, England

$5,000 for the costs associated with including work by the artist in Back to Black: Art, Cinema and the Racial Imaginary, a group exhibition with accompanying catalogue and related public programs, guest curated by David A. Bailey, Richard J. Powell and Petrine Archer Straw. A painter, lithographer, and teacher, White executed several murals in various cities throughout the U.S. under the sponsorship of the WPA. His work frequently features strong, stylized African-American figures, set against faceted and fragmentary urban backgrounds.

wilke $12,500

Hannah Wilke1940-1993

Note
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Location
Los Angeles, CA

$12,500 toward the acquisition of the 1974 photograph S.O.S. – Starification Object Series (guns) for the museum’s permanent collection, overseen by museum curator Carol S. Eliel. A New York-based artist, Wilke created highly personal photographic self-portraits that explore issues of feminism, voyeurism and the ramifications of disease. Touching on these issues, the images in S.O.S.-Starification Object Series depict Wilke in stereotypical female poses, “scarred” by vaginally-shaped pieces of masticated chewing gum.

woodman $8,000

Francesca Woodman1958-1981

Note
American Academy in Rome
Location
Rome, Italy

$8,000 toward an exhibition on the photographer with accompanying brochure, guest curated by Elizabeth Janus. While a BFA student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Woodman studied in Rome during 1977 and 1978. Using her own body, often posed naked with mirrors, shells, masks, and other props, Woodman incorporated highly personal raw images in timeless, spare interiors.

yamin $5,000

Alice Yamin1905-2002

Location
New York, NY

$5,000 toward the scholarly research and costs associated with preparing a biography on the artist, written by art historian Ellen Russotto and given before publication to the Archives of American Art. Born in Paris, Yamin and her family moved to New York City when she was a child. Initially a writer, Yamin developed as a visual artist during the 1930s and 1940s and was a member of the 8th Street Artists Club. She created rhythmical abstractions through a personal mark-making process involving carbon paper.

z_group_p $5,000

Group Publication

Location
New York, NY

$5,000 toward the rights, reproduction, and translation costs associated with New Art City, a publication written by Jed Perl, art critic of The New Republic and published by Knopf. The publication will serve as an encyclopedic study of art and culture in New York during the mid-twentieth century from a variety of perspectives and with a wide range of artists, many of whom are lesser-known and recently deceased.

Total: $260,500