January 29, 1942
The Brooklyn Museum will open the second of the seasons exhibitions of its recent accessions on Thursday, January 29, in the Entrance Gallery, first floor. The exhibition will remain on view through March 22. The objects to be exhibited will be selections from the gifts received and purchases made since the opening of the previous Recent Accessions Exhibition last October.
Two important acquisitions in the Department of Ancient Art will be shown. One is a section of an architectural relief, showing running animals in a conventionalized grapevine pattern. This example of Coptic sculpture dates from the 5th Century A.D., and measures 55 inches in length. It is an outstanding specimen of its type, and was acquired by exchange from the University Museum of Philadelphia, which institution loaned the piece to the Museum’s exhibition, “Paganism and Christianity in Egypt,” last winter. The second piece, also Coptic, is a relief of soft limestone from the top of a niche, dating from the 5th or 6th Century, A.D. It represents a Nereid (daughter of an ancient sea god) riding on a crocodile. Extensive traces of color are to be seen on the stone. This specimen is of particular interest as an example of Coptic figural sculpture, which type is conspicuously absent in American collections. The piece measures approximately 20 inches high by 30 inches long.
Recent items acquired by the Department of Painting and Sculpture include two oils by George Inness, “Sunrise” and “June,” bequest of the late Mrs. Wm. A Putman; four oils by Gustave Courbet, “The Silent River,” “Le Rocher Isole,” “La Vague,” and “Chasseur,” and one oil by Monet, “Maree Mantante a Pourville” – all gifts of Mrs. Horace Havemeyer. Paintings acquired by purchase include, “Field Flowers” by Waldo Peirce, and “The Awakening” by Bernard Karfiol.
Additions to the collections of the Department of American Indian Arts and Primitive Cultures include pre-Columbian painted pottery from Nasca in southern Peru, Esmeraldas in Ecuador, and the Argentine; and a pre-Spanish scale balance beam of carved bone from Peru. The Department will also exhibit a wool-decorated Inca poncho of the late 16th Century. From the collection made this summer in South America by Dr. Herbert A. Spinden for the Museum’s recent exhibition, “America South of U.S.,” the Department will show two Colonial Latin-American pieces which were not included in the exhibition: a gilded toy bed from Peru, 18th Century; and a 17th Century embroidered wig worn by a judge at the Inquisition in Peru.
From its recent accessions the Department of Prints and Drawings has selected for the exhibition, “Market with Mountains in Background,” drawing, and “Scene in Mexico,” lithograph, by Ira Moskowitz; “To the Train,” lithograph, by John Steuart Curry; "Windmill Crew," lithograph, by Peter Hurd; “The Gossips,” drawing, and the “The Gossips,” lithograph, by Laurence Beall Smith.
The Department of Textiles will show a three-piece cloth suit with embroidered blouse, made by Callot Soeurs, London, 1920, gift of Mrs. Frank R. Babbott; and a camel’s hair coat with broadtail top, made by Lanvin in 1929, also the gift of Mrs. Babbott. An afternoon dress of salmon and maroon moire, made by Worth, Paris, 1880, will be shown together with an evening dress of black lace trimmed with Alencon lace and black sequins, made Rouff, Paris, 1900. Both these dresses are the gift of Mrs. E. S. Griswold. The Textile Department will also exhibit a case containing a pearl collar, headdresses of sequins and feathers, and buttons and buckles of cut steel and rhinestones.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1942 - 1946. 01-03/1942, 034-5. View Original
