At the beginning of March, my wife Alex and I attended the 2023 inaugural CCS Woodward Lecture Series featuring Detroit artist Mario Moore. It was a wonderful gathering of Detroiters, where Mario shared some aspects of his artistic practice, his current projects, and his life. Some DIA team members were in the audience as well, and we loved hearing Mario’s insights about his painting The Council, which was purchased by the DIA in 2022 and is now on view in the galleries.

The day after the lecture, I did my weekly museum walk-through with my colleague Carla Tinsley-Smith, the DIA’s Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA). During these walks, we connect with DIA teams in different areas of the organization, especially with the frontline staff. As we entered the gallery where The Council is installed, Carla and I saw a group of staffers engaging with the work, talking about it, and enjoying it in a way that lifted our hearts. We were welcomed by the group and continued talking about the painting and how great it looks in its new space. It was inspiring, and Carla and I discussed the possibility of expanding that moment into a museum-wide engagement experience. Could we invite Mario to talk to the staff about The Council in the gallery? After some text messages and emails, he generously agreed to come in. Carla framed this visit within the Talent and Culture Department’s IDEA in focus: Art Talks, a program designed to increase team members’ knowledge of the DIA’s collection, enhance connections across the organization, and build a sense of belonging.

On March 29, after public hours, more than 60 staff met with Mario in front of The Council for an intimate and informative discussion. We heard about the technical and mindful choices he made, offering insight into the power dynamics and messages the work presents. Mario revealed the identities of the figures in the composition, the fascinating iconographical meaning of some of the elements, and how the work connected with the museum’s history and the reality we live in today. It was an energizing hour that helped us engage more personally with the artist and each other. I know Mario enjoyed it as well.

On April 22, we will be opening our 86th annual Detroit Public School Community District (DPSCD) Student Exhibition. As it happens, Mario is a former DPSCD student, and showed his art in this same show for the first time in 2002. Now he is a nationally and internationally recognized artist, and we are proud to say that two of his paintings are in our permanent collection.

These important interactions—from staff to visitors, from artists to students—are daily examples of the DIA’s strong connection to our home city, and are part of why the DIA was named the best museum in the US in 2023. We look forward to celebrating the opening of the DPSCD exhibition at the end of this month, and to continuing to help these young artists make history.
 

Last Saturday, we celebrated the annual Alain Locke Awards. In the time that I’ve been living in Detroit, I’ve learned so much about Locke—the educator, writer, and philosopher, who is perhaps best known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance. For the past three decades, the DIA Friends of African and African American Art (FAAAA) has presented an award named for him. This year, the Locke awards went to two important artists: Detroit-born photographer Ming Smith, and Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club artist Henry T. Heading.

Smith’s solo exhibition, Projects: Ming Smith, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York has been receiving tremendous critical acclaim; many of the articles point out that she is the first Black woman photographer to have her work acquired by MoMA. The DIA is fortunate to have Smith’s James Baldwin in setting sun over Harlem in our collection. The work conveys her unique poetic style and experimental approach to photography. In her conversation with DIA curator Valerie Mercer, Smith spoke about the creative relationship between jazz and photography. In jazz, the musicians begin with a score, then move into improvisation, allowing everyone’s imagination to fly. In photography, the artist departs from a composition and moves into an exploration of light, for example, shaping forms with different degrees of sharpness and creating an image that stimulates the viewer’s imagination.

Henry T. Heading is a longtime member of the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club, and I have witnessed how his prestige has spread throughout our local artistic community. At the awards presentation, FAAAA board member Jerome Watson led a lively conversation with Heading, who revealed many aspects of his varied technique, some of the high points of his career, and his early collaborations with celebrated Detroit muralist and DIA Board member Hubert Massey. The packed room listened devotedly to Heading, whose ambition is to continue making his art from the heart.

At the reception afterward, I drew great joy from all the warmth, happiness, and cheer I saw around the room. It is deeply rewarding to see the success of the DIA team’s hard work and its positive impact on our community. I am not the only one who sees our museum’s success and impact; the DIA has been named the country’s best museum in USA Today's 2023 10Best Reader's Choice Award for Best Art Museum. We are so grateful for your support and vote of confidence. I am especially thankful to FAAAA for its continued pursuit of excellence in creating programs that address the needs and interests of our communities and reflect their diverse backgrounds, making the DIA the best museum it can be.

At the start of the new year, I had the privilege of moderating the first Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club (DFABC) meeting of 2023. The gathering doesn’t take place at the historic Noni’s diner anymore, but in one of the magnificent buildings of Marygrove College —Detroit’s architecture and history keeps me learning! The room was packed with Detroit artists, collectors, and art lovers. My wife, Alex, and my daughter, Piper, helped me emcee the event, which included presentations by more than 80 artists from our community. In the audience and among other Detroit top figures, we were honored with the presence of Judy Bowman, a DFABC artist, who is now showing in galleries around the country and has attracted national and international attention for her work.

It was fun to spend time with Henry Harper and Harold Braggs, the leading forces behind the DFABC, and to be back with a group that exudes such positive energy. Joining me were members of the DIA team — Tony Smith, Sharon Harrell, and William Flagg — as well as DIA Board Member Marsha Philpot, aka Marsha Music. It was a heartfelt experience that lasted for more than three hours, and everyone stayed engaged and supportive. We raffled several DIA books including the Van Gogh in America exhibition catalogue, as well as many VIP passes to the show. Later that week, while I was helping the DIA Visitor Experience team on the museum floor, I ran into several DFABC VIP pass winners. We took some fun selfies and talked about the exhibition. In fact, Marsha Philpot let me know recently that some DFABC artists were very inspired by Van Gogh paintings and drawings on view.

Inspiring our visitors is an important outcome of the work the DIA team does. February kicked off Black History Month and our Detroit Film Theater screened the moving and inspiring documentary, The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks. The sold-out program was executed to perfection, and deeply engaged the more than 800 participants. Few places in the world can celebrate global icons like Rosa Parks and Vincent van Gogh the way the DIA does. I am grateful to the DIA staff for their passion and excellence in everything they do. I am, therefore, not surprised that our museum has been nominated for “Best Art Museum” in the 2023 USA TODAY 10Best Readers’ Choice travel awards, and we need your help to bring it home. Please show your support by clicking the link here and casting your vote! I know our friends from the DFABC will lend a helping hand, they always do.

As we begin a new year, I can't help but reflect on the last one. In 2022, we were able to start moving back towards pre-pandemic operations. On behalf of the DIA team, I want to express our sincere gratitude for your support and engagement as we made this transition. We are so grateful to have such a dedicated and passionate community of visitors and are constantly inspired by your enthusiasm for the arts.

The visitors are an integral part of what makes the DIA a thriving and vibrant institution, and we look forward to continuing to engage with them in the coming year. We've put together a short video highlighting some of the highlights of 2022, which you can watch below.

As we look ahead to 2023, we are excited to bring new exhibitions, events, and programs to the museum. We can't wait to see what the coming year brings.

Until then, we hope that you have a happy and healthy 2023.

Best wishes,

Salvador Salort-Pons

Every year, the DIA’s busiest day falls on the Friday following Thanksgiving, and 2022 was no exception! In fact, the museum welcomed almost 6,000 visitors on November 25. Most of our guests came to see our Van Gogh exhibition – Van Gogh in America. Over the course of the last few months, this fabulous show has attracted visitors from across the globe – from every single state in the United States to Tasmania. My parents even made a special trip from Spain to experience Van Gogh. Walking through the galleries over the weekend, I was excited to hear so many languages, meet so many new people, and feel the museum buzz with excitement. While it was very busy, the museum felt particularly welcoming, and I am very grateful to all the team members who worked during the Thanksgiving holiday. They did an outstanding job making everyone comfortable and informed with a friendly touch. It was simply excellent teamwork. Thank you!

One of the Van Gogh in America show takeaways is the fact that the DIA was the first civic museum in the US to acquire a painting by Van Gogh in 1922.Thanks to the expertise of our curatorial team, we continue to do strong art collecting and two amazing exhibitions currently at the DIA illustrate it at the highest level: Conscious Response, Photographers showing the way we see; and Printmaking in the Twenty First Century. Drawn from our collection and carefully organized by DIA curators Nancy Barr and Clare Rogan, respectively, these exhibitions are outstanding examples of a critical eye for art quality and a keen understanding of relevant artwork to our audiences.

In the museum you can both look at and create art. Over the weekends the DIA team offers art making programs in the studio (drop-in workshops) and in the galleries (drawing in the galleries). These are fun and accessible art making experiences for all ages (and all materials are provided), and our studio team often partners with a guest artist. I recently stopped by to see our program in collaboration with artist Katie Bramlage, who helped and inspired our visitors to create mini totems. In her words, “totems are a call to slow down and to give thanks to your ‘cave’ – your shelter from the ‘storm’”. The program was so popular that Alex Gilford, Studio Manager, Zak Freiling, Studio Coordinator, Toni Miller, Studio Assistant, all on duty during that weekend mentioned to me that guests were, at times, waiting in line outside the Studio.

As we head into the new year, I’d like to thank the DIA team for their amazing work and especially the Studio team and the artists who collaborate with them for providing uplifting opportunities to slow down and work creatively with our hands. Slowing down and working with my hands are two things I am adding to the top of my 2023 to-do list. I hope you will too.

We recently opened our show Van Gogh in America, and the museum has been welcoming visitors from all over the world. I often visit the galleries and ask visitors for their impressions of the show and the feedback has been very rewarding. In addition, the exhibition has received very positive testimonies in newspapers and on social media outlets. One of them especially resonated with the DIA team. A couple of weeks ago, writer/poet, Detroiter, and DIA board member, Marsha Battle Philpot aka Marsha Music, shared on Facebook a vivid account of her visit, and I asked her permission to share it with our membership in my November newsletter. Please see below and thank you Marsha for your amazing text.

Despite my affiliation with the DIA, I had little desire to see the monumental new exhibit of the works of Van Gogh. Now, being on the Board of Directors, I would have gone out of respect for the institutional effort - and maybe curiosity - but I was not a particular fan of this artist's work, and, passed up chances to see coveted pre-public viewings.

I had no desire to see a room full of quavering, squiggly lines of an artist suffering from mental issues so severe that he eventually cut off his own ear, died at his own hand; his torment was all too real. But I was invited last week to a viewing of the exhibit and decided to go. Slowly, painting by painting, I began to appreciate the work of Van Gogh.

For me, the way that this exhibit is put together made me see this artist's work as if he were alive and painting today. I could feel him as an artist - as if he were a member of the Detroit Fine Arts Breakfast Club. In fact, his work reminds me of gifted Detroit artists who paint Detroit landscapes and scenes, like Bryant Tillman, or John Bunkley; I thought of them as I walked through the exhibit. I even thought of Olayami Dabls – now Detroit’s Kresge Eminent Artist for 2022 - and his ceaseless creative drive, often alone embellishing whole buildings on Grand River. Van Gogh was not a star during his lifetime, only sold one painting – an artist’s solitary sojourn.

It is no small feat to amass 74 works from museums and private collections from afar. This is one the largest Van Gogh exhibit ever in the US - and I began to feel the immensity of the project, just going from painting to painting. To think of an artist celebrated only after his death, his works far flung in disparate places, now reunited to extraordinary acclaim, is satisfying in a full circle kind of way - but a bittersweet affirmation that Van Gogh did not live to see.

Then there's the art. Far from just squiggles that I had anticipated, there were varied ways that he put paint to canvas, so many scenes and portraits. Most fascinating, where you can see the bas relief of his strong, textured brush strokes, a man not afraid to wield that paint and brush. It is as if he had just finished painting – and he might come ‘round the corner to take get a breath of fresh air.

It occurred to me that this was a difference between his work and that of the old Masters that I love, or some of his peers with their lush, heightened realism, in the reproduction of light, darkness and imagery – breathtakingly real. Van Gogh painted in a way that was clearly painterly, with an almost otherworldly simplicity, and left the brush strokes to prove it; his existential mark, as it were.

The impression of the whole collection is hardly chaotic or anguished; it is peaceful, serene. Van Gogh, painted what was before him - a chair, workers in a field, a star-filled night - capturing a simple life of simple surroundings; the unpretentiousness a departure from the baroque, a kind of proletarian painting – it resonated with me, as a Detroiter. It would be good to see this exhibit early in the day, before crowds, so that one might appreciate the meditative feel of the exhibit. The simplicity of his subjects, inspiring to seasoned artists, is surely motivating to those just beginning to paint or draw.

Yes, he was a "trouble man," as Marvin Gaye might say, but the decision was made by curators to not dwarf the work of this artist with the strength of his demons, a good decision indeed. However, in recognition of the reality of his tormented existence, and its reflection in his art - and consequent tropes - there is a short video shown in the exhibit about the iconic film Lust For Life, starring Kirk Douglas. This movie cemented the imagery of Van Gogh as a genius, a madman, tortured by mental anguish. The video acknowledges the role of the film in both popularizing and mythologizing the artist.

I think the approach in this show - to not let his illness define him - is a compassionate treatment of an artist - any artist - like many whom I know and have known, who are much more than their challenges, whose work may emanate from but is greater than their torment. I am the widow of an artist, so I know....

Well, this is a lot more than I started out to say about the Van Gogh exhibit, but for a lauded European artist whom I expected to not particularly like - it was quite moving. It made me - someone who is always around artists - feel ever more deeply about what it means to be an artist, especially when uncelebrated in life, or unheralded until death – if then. I am blessed to be with artists who are getting flowers while they can smell them, as we say. The DIA was the first museum to purchase a painting by Van Gogh, after his death, in 1922.  Today, the DIA is recognizing artists in Detroit - while they yet live.

Even if you have seen the "immersive" Van Gogh shows, this exhibit is something else again – the subtlety of these originals, just as he painted them, may be even more powerful than Van Gogh as spectacle. I encourage all to see the exhibit, at the DIA until mid-January, and feel the still beating heart of a long-gone artist.

Marsha Battle Philpot aka Marsha Music

[I have to mention the Museum Shop curated for the Van Gogh exhibit. I’m often cynical when emerging from an exhibit and seeing an artist’s brilliance reduced to coffee cups and tchotchkes. But when I walked around the corner into the light of this shop – Wow! If anything, Van Gogh’s art applied to the “merch”- commercial as it may be - amplifies his gift as a master of colors; a grand finale of the exhibit. He clearly had “the blues” and I especially loved the textiles; I took home a Van Gogh in the form of a beautiful scarf – my own Café Terrace at Night.]

 

 

 

 

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When I started working at the Detroit Institute of Arts in February 2008, I quickly realized that the best things about this museum were both the talented DIA staff and its world-class collections. Few cities, not just in this country but around the world, can claim to have a museum like the DIA. Its history is extraordinary. A grand part of that history is what we are celebrating during the upcoming months with our new exhibition Van Gogh in America (October 2, 2022 – January 22, 2023). 

In 1922, the DIA became the first civic museum in the U.S. to acquire a painting by Van Gogh. While today he is an icon in our culture, at the time, Van Gogh was not a prominent artist in this country. With this exhibition, we are celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of this visionary acquisition and the beginning of Van Gogh’s phenomenal fame in the U.S. In 2022, we felt it was important to remember the vision of those Detroiters of 1922 who both made this city famous and made Van Gogh famous in America.  

Van Gogh in America tells the story of how Van Gogh’s image was shaped in the minds and hearts of Americans through collections, publications, and the film industry. You will find many compelling and untold stories in the show. However, in my opinion, the one that stands out the most is the story that unveils the crucial role that museums in our region played in acquiring Van Goghs in this country. Collecting and admiring Van Gogh was not a work of the East or West Coasts, it was something born in the Midwest, in Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Toledo and Chicago.  

It took six years and an entire city to put this exhibition together. The DIA staff has been outstanding, the community incredibly helpful, and the lenders and sponsors extraordinarily generous. This show is part of our Bonnie Ann Larson Modern European Artist Series, and Dr. Jill Shaw, Rebecca A. Boylan and Thomas W. Sidlik Curator of European Art, 1850–1970, has curated it to perfection. This is not just another Van Gogh show. This exhibition is both accessible and genuinely moving, and it significantly contributes to a deeper understanding of the artist. The beautifully illustrated exhibition catalogue is a crucial contribution to the field of art history, a remarkable example of scholarship and a very handsome publication. 

Over the last few days, I spoke to many of our members who visited the show, and the feedback has been extremely positive. Thank you. When one walks through the exhibition galleries, we are embraced by the sheer beauty of Van Gogh’s art, spectacularly illuminated, installed in very elegantly designed galleries which are painted with colors that enhance the talent of the most famous self-taught artist. The experience is esthetically beautiful and inspiring, and as you navigate the space there is a rhythm to it, like music encompassing this historic moment. 

In one of his letters to his brother, Theo Van Gogh, Vincent states, “It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.” In this very loving spirit, the DIA team has worked to bring to all of you a once in a lifetime experience where Detroit holds a hand with Van Gogh as the artist debuted on the American stage. I am more than grateful to the DIA staff for making this exhibition possible.