My daughter and I were in Greensboro, North Carolina last week for a surprise family reunion for my mother (it turned out splendidly, by the way). Having landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, I decided to spend a few extra days getting to know the city of Raleigh. Now, being the art museum nerd that I am, the first thing I looked for was just that, an art museum. I came across the North Carolina Museum of Art (more on that in a future post) and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, about a 30 minute drive from downtown Raleigh where I was staying.
The Nasher Museum of Art is named after Raymond Nasher, a Duke University alumnus (1943) who went on to become a successful real estate developer in Texas. Nasher was also an avid art collector and together with his wife Patsy, he amassed a substantial number of the world’s most renowned sculptures (including works by Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Harry Bertoia, Henri Matisse and Henry Moore).
Nasher’s vision for a new art museum can be traced to his senior year at Duke. “Our university should enfold culture of every nature,” he wrote in “Time to Think,” his column in The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper. “Art and music are basic cultural entities which must not be lost in the shuffle of ‘bread and butter’ seekers.” Nasher put his money where his mouth was and in 1998, made the dream of a new art museum real with his gift of $7.5 million.
The 65,000-square-foot building opened in 2005 and was designed by the highly influential and critically acclaimed Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly (who was once quoted as saying, “I’m very interested in unglamorousness!”). Since its opening, the museum has organized and presented leading-edge exhibitions that travel worldwide and has been dedicated to building a groundbreaking collection of contemporary art. The museum’s collection strategy emphasizes works by diverse artists who have been historically underrepresented, or even excluded, by mainstream arts institutions, and maintains a particular focus on artists of African descent.
So yeah, we paid the museum a visit – and we were not disappointed. It houses quite an impressive collection of art, from contemporary to European medievel art to ancient American art. It was an excellent way to spend a few hours outside of Raleigh. And as I am wont to do, I snapped a few photographs (a few with my Sony A7RIII but most of them with my iPhone 13 Pro) and highlighted a few of my favorite pieces. Enjoy…
“Roy Lichtenstein: History in the Making, 1948 – 1960”
“Roy Lichtenstein: History in the Making, 1948 – 1960” is the first major museum exhibition to investigate the early work of one of the most celebrated American artists of the 20th century…
“Man on a Lion”, c. 1950 (left) and “Self-Portrait at an Easel”, c. 1951–1952 (right)
“The Death of the General”, c. 1951 {Now, is it me or does the guy holding the dying general look rather pleased? And does the guy(?) at the far left of the painting seem to be looking at the guy next to him and saying, “Now you’ll be the general!”}
“Emigrant Train After William Ranney”, c. 1951
“Untitled”, c. 1959
Beyond the Surface: Collage, Mixed Media and Textile Works
Jeff Sonhouse, “Decompositioning”, (2010) Mixed media on canvas, 82 x 76 1/4 inches
“…shortly after 8- beyond the bladez” (2014) by Jamaican artist Ebony G. Patterson, Mixed media on paper, 92 × 111 inches
Stunning collage with Japanese paper and watercolor on canvas titled “Syzygy” (2017) by Colombian artist María Berrío, 80 x 96 inches
A museum visitor observing Deborah Grant’s “In the Land of the Blind the Blue Eye Man is King” (2007), Oil, archival ink, paper, Flashe paint, and enamel on five birch panels; 72 × 180 inches
“Soundsuit” by American artist Nick Cave (not the one we all know and love of the Bad Seeds) Mixed media including wire and bugle beads, buttons, sequined appliqués, fabric, metal, and mannequin (2015)
A few select pieces from Dario Robleto’s “Lamb of Man / Atom and Eve / Americana Materia Medica” installation made up of three panels of colored paper, cardboard, ribbon, foamcore, glue, willow, acid-free archival paper, and UV Plexiglas. This mixed-media collage is part of a project by the artist in which he imagines his own musical groups and creates their fictive LP album covers
The Power of Portraiture: Recent Acquisitions
Genesis Tramaine’s “Saint with Bethel Vision” (2021) Acrylic, spray paint, Hurricane Ida Rain (2021 storm water), Holy Spirit and oil sticks; 72 × 72 inches (top left) and Kenyan artist Wangari Mathenge’s “The Ascendants XIV (She is Here)” (2021) Oil on canvas, 85 × 64 inches (top right)
Brooklyn born artist Clarence Heyward’s “PTSD” (2020) Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 60 x 48 inches
The European Art Gallery (c. 1400–1900)
Bonifacio de’ Pitati, “Virgin and Child with Saints Elizabeth, Lucy, the Child Baptist, Peter and Catherine” c. 1545, oil on canvas, 44 x 68 inches
Polychrome on wood sculpture of Saint John which dates back to the 15th century (top left) and Head of a bearded male votary with diadem, 6th-5th century BCE (top right)
“The Bad Thief” Stained glass and lead, Flemish, German, c. 1525
“Saint John the Baptist II” by African-American portrait painter Kehinde Wiley (2006) Oil on canvas, 96 x 72 inches. If you remember, Kehinde was commissioned in 2017 to paint a portrait of former President Barack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Group tour of the “Arts of Africa” exhibit
Art of the United States
“Lady Knitting” (1949) by Eldzier Cortor, Oil on canvas, 43 3⁄4 x 31 inches
David Davidovich Burliuk’s unsettling “Shame to All but to the Dead” (1933) Oil on canvas, 66 x 144 inches
Archibald J. Motley, Jr., “Hot Rhythm” (1961) Oil on canvas, 39 7/8 × 48 1/4 × 7/8 inches
Three years in the making and fifteen feet long with a wingspan of 12 feet, the monumental bronze sculpture “MamaRay” by Kenyan-born American visual artist Wangechi Mutu anchors the museum’s 13,000-square-foot Great Hall
The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University is well worth a visit for art lovers. It’s open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM, Thursday: 10 AM to 9 PM and Sunday: Noon to 5 PM (closed on Monday). Photography is (obviously) allowed and the museum also features a café with full lunch menu. Oh, and admission is FREE. The website also offers an online collection but as we all know, art is far more enjoyable when we’re standing in front of it. So should you find yourself in the Raleigh-Durham area, give the Nasher Museum of Art a visit. You won’t be sorry…
You can view high-resolution images from this gallery on my Smugmug
