A Vision for 2022
A Director's Note from Raphaela Platow
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Dear Friends,
Happy New Year! I hope you had a joyous and peaceful Holiday Season with family and friends and are entering 2022 in good spirits.
While there is plenty to celebrate, we are still navigating our way through an ever-evolving pandemic that continues to throw new challenges our way. At the Speed we remain committed to providing one of the safest museum experiences in the region and have put additional safety measures in place such as vaccination/negative test requirements and mask mandates for all visitors to keep everyone healthy now and in the future.
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Constantin Brancusi, Romanian, 1876 ‑ 1957, Mademoiselle Pogany I, 1913
Polished bronze with black patina, Bequest of Mrs. Mabel Hussey Degen 1954.16
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January 9, 2022, marked the closing of a stunning exhibition in Vienna’s illustrious Albertina Museum celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passing of Amadeo Modigliani, one of Italy’s most revered modern masters. Not only did this exhibition celebrate Modigliani’s unparalleled oeuvre up to his tragic, premature death at the age of 35, it also included iconic works of artists who had a profound influence on this young genius, one of which was the Speed’s exemplary sculpture, Mademoiselle Pogany, by influential Hungarian artist Constantin Brancusi.
Our celebrated bronze sculpture is an abstracted portrait of Brancusi’s friend, Margit Pogany, a fellow artist, who sat for Brancusi several times in 1910 and 11. This invaluable work highlights, in reduced lines, the young woman’s large eyes, delicate features, and introspective pose.
The plaster version of Mademoiselle Pogany was on view at the 1913 Amory Show in New York City and became one of the most infamous works of the exhibition—not because it was the most celebrated, but because it was the most ridiculed by visitors. In their eyes, Mademoiselle Pogany was not the portrait of a young woman but more closely resembled the shape of an egg. Her hair was not voluminously sculpted as in traditional sculpture but a continuation of the oval shape of her face and simply delineated with a blackened patina. For viewers at the time, she appeared bald, and her facial expressions only insinuated with slight lines were nonsensical. In short, the masterpiece we know today was mocked when first exhibited in the U.S.
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Photographer Bill Nichols during a 1973 opening of a new wing of the Speed.
Photo by Michael Coers, The Courier-Journal
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As a maverick artist of his time, Brancusi was one of the first to embrace abstraction and reduce natural forms to strongly simplified shapes. Today, we look at Brancusi’s work and immediately recognize the essential forms of a female head tenderly resting her face in her folded hands. However, for the first viewers of Mademoiselle Pogany 100 years ago it was incomprehensible for an artist to depict a human face in such an abstracted way. Nevertheless, Brancusi persevered on his path of abstraction synthesizing natural forms into their essence.
Artists have often been trailblazers for how we view the world and have courageously introduced new ways of seeing and understanding. My hope is for all of us to enter the new year brimming with gratitude, hope, and a new vision for our world. A type of gratitude, hope, and vision that does not ignore the challenges we face or the losses we have experienced, but rather a vision informed by the best we can learn from art and artists: a vision that is courageous, resilient, full hearted, clear-eyed, and maverick.
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We are hiring our first colleague focused on Equity and Inclusion. The Speed is committed to invite everyone to celebrate art forever and we continue this urgent call to action with the creation of this new role. The job posting can be found here.
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While we currently have limited hours, the Speed is exploring new ways to open our doors as we navigate the pandemic and accommodate our guests. We are open "late ‘til 8" every Friday evening and open at 10 am on Sundays, 2 hours earlier than our previous schedule. We also open our doors to school tours during the week upon request!
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Art Sparks is now open after an extended closure due to the pandemic, and we're excited to welcome you and your family back to that interactive gallery space! We continue to support and serve children during the pandemic, through virtual tours, Art Detectives, and the popular video series, “I See, I Think, I Make."
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Last month, we opened our first-ever exhibition by a Community Connections Artist-in-Residence, with support from a NEA Our Town grant. The residency elevated the voices of those living in the Russell neighborhood, specifically children and caregivers, through public exhibitions and performances. Something in the Water by Shauntrice Martin is on view in the Cinema Lobby through February 20.
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Celebrate Art
Come see Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s The Unforeseen Wilderness on view through February 13 and learn about an important role that photography played in environmental conservation and the decades-long effort to preserve Red River Gorge.
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Sanford Biggers, American, b. 1970, Transition, 2018, Antique quilt, assorted textiles, acrylic, oil stick, sequins.
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Mark Your calendar to see our next exhibition, Sanford Biggers: Codeswitch, at the Speed March 18 – June 26, 2022. This is the first survey of quilt-based works—inspired, in part, by the rich creative legacies of African American quilters—produced by the American interdisciplinary artist Sanford Biggers.
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Upcoming at the Speed Cinema
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The Velvet Queen (La panthère des neiges) is a quiet reflection on patience, the unpredictability of nature, and the hunt for the perfect opportunity to capture a striking photograph. Screens February 4, 5,& 6 at the Speed Cinema.
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Flee is a gripping animated documentary that tells the true story about a man's need to confront his past as an Afghan child refugee in order to truly have a future in his adopted home of Denmark. Screens February 11, 12, & 13 at the Speed Cinema.
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Forever
Make a tax-deductible donation to our annual fund and help the Speed fulfill its mission to Invite Everyone to Celebrate Art, Forever! To help, simply click the button below.
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Selections from Collecting – A Love Story: Glass from the Adele and Leonard Leight Collection. Pieces from the Leight Collection are always on view in the North Building.
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The curatorial team is preparing to welcome art from the collections of important Speed supporters whose generous gift of art will shape the Speed for years to come.
Finally, we are continuing to assess our DEAI (Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion) work and will have an update to share in the coming weeks.
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Thank you for your ongoing support of the Speed! I look forward to seeing you at the Museum soon.
I appreciate you all,
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Raphaela Platow
Director
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