April 16, 1930
Monday, April 21st, will be one of the busiest days in many months at the Brooklyn Museum as it will embrace the opening by the Austrian Ambassador of the Exhibition of Modern Architecture and a dance recital given by Miss Ruth St. Denis which is being given to mark the first showing of additional material for the current exhibition of Dutch East Indian Art.
The architectural exhibition is another of the international events for which the Museum is well known. At four o'clock the Austrian Minister Edgar L. G. Prochnik will give a brief address in which he will formally and officially open to view the exhibition of models and plans of modern architectural projects developed by Prof. Peter Behrens and his students in his atelier known as the Master School of Architecture in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria.
Preceding this opening His Excellency the Austrian Minister will be entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Blum in their home at luncheon. Among the other guests will be Hon. George Schmidt, Austrian Acting Consul General; Mr. William Muschenheim, who formerly attended the Behrens School and is arranging the exhibition and Dr. William Henry Fox, Director of the Museum, and Mrs. Fox. After the luncheon the party will attend the dance recital by Miss Ruth St. Denis at three o'clock in the Sculpture Court. This and the opening of the architectural exhibition are private invitation affairs.
A special platform will be built for Miss St. Denis in a corner of the Sculpture Court and a setting arranged of Dutch East Indian fabrics and textiles. She will dance to a piano accompaniment and four of her girls will also be present to round out the program.
After this event the company will proceed to the exhibition galleries on the fourth floor where the architectural exhibition will be opened. During inspection of the new exhibition and the augmented exhibition of Dutch East Indian Art, tea will be served to the guests in the rotunda.
There is a distinguished committee of patrons for the architectural exhibition composed. of Mr. A. J. Drexel Biddle, Jr, Mr. Jules S. Bache, General Quincy H. Gillmore, Mrs. Edward F. Hutton, Mr. Franklyn L. Hutton, Mr. Otto H. Mahn, Mr. Frederick A. Muschenheim and Mr. Joseph Urban.
The architectural projects promise to be of exceptional interest to New Yorkers who are becoming acquainted with and interested in modern architecture. The show will consists of models, drawings, plans and photographs of about one hundred architectural projects of all descriptions from ski huts to large public utility plants worked out by Prof. Peter Behrens and his students all in the modern manner. Two of the projects are particularly interesting to New Yorkers as one is a new style of apartment building with ideally arranged rooms with porch galleries built into the corners, which the other is a model home for the sand dunes that will possibly be erected at Southampton some time within the year. In addition to these there are carefully worked-out housing projects for workmen which whould be of value to all those now interested. in similar movements in this city.
[Handwritten Note: (add dictated ¶)]
The projects shown are not purely visionary work as often manufacturers and builders apply to the school for advise, so the class work out projects that have practical application.
The work is that of students from all over the world as the school has an international reputation. The exhibition is given here to show American architects and teachers what is going on in Vienna. This is the first exhibition of the School's work in this country. After its month at the Brooklyn Museum it will go on tour throughout the United States.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 067-9. View Original
April 1, 1930
Among those invited to the luncheon given by Mr. & Mrs. Edward Charles Blum of 45 Plaza Street preceding the opening of an exhibition of Dutch East Indian art, from the collections of the Colonial Museum of Amsterdam, the Brooklyn Museum and Dutch Collectors, are the following: J. B. Royen, Minister of the Netherlands (honor guest), W. P. Montyn, Counsel of the Netherlands, Dr. and Mrs. William H. Fox, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert J. Spinden, Professor and Mrs. Adrian J. Barnouw and Mr. and Mrs. Tassilo Adam.
Those invited to act as hosts and hostesses at the reception were members and wives of members of Museum's Governing Committee and members and wives of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Institute
of Arts and Sciences. They are are follows:
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Frazier
Mr. & Mrs. Luke Vincent Lockwood
Mr. & Mrs. John Hill Morgan
Mr. & Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt
Mrs. Mary Childs Draper
Mr. Alfred W. Jenkins
Mr. & Mrs. John T. Underwood
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Good
Mrs. A. Augustus Healy
Mr. Walter H. Crittenden
Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Blum
Mr. Frank L. Babbot
Mr. & Mrs. William A. Putnam
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Bailey
Mr. & Mrs. E. LeGrand Beers
Mr. & Mrs. Henry H. Benedict
Hon & Mrs. James J. Browne
Mr. & Mrs. R. R. Bowker
Dr. & Mrs. S. Parkes Cadman
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Cary
Judge & Mrs. Frederick E. Crane
Mr. John J. Curtin
Dr. John H. Denbigh
Hon. Jacob G. Dettmer
Mr. Gates D. Fahnestock
Mr. & Mrs. Julian P. Fairchild
Mr. & Mrs. James A. Farrell
Mr. & Mrs. Lweis W. Francis
Mr. & Mrs. John W. Frothingham
Hon. & Mrs. James J Bryne
Mr. & Mrs. William T. Hunter
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Jones
Mr. Adolph Lewisohn
Miss Hilda Loines
Mr. & Mrs. William J Matheson
Mr. & Mrs. Edwin Maynard
Mr. & Mrs. George V. Mclaughlin
Mr. Horace J. Morse
Mr. & Mrs. James H. Post
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Pratt
Mr. Robert A. Shaw
Mr. & Mrs. G. Foster Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Stutzer
Mr. & Mrs. Adrian Van Sinderen
Prof. & Mrs. Edwin G. Warner
Rt. Rev. Msgr. John C. York
Among those invited as hosts and hostesses are:
Dr. & Mrs. William H. Fox
Dr. & Mrs. Frank L. Babbott, Jr.
Mrs Walter Shaw Brewster
Mrs. Glentworth Reeve Bulter
Mrs. William H. Childs
Mr. & Mrs. Harris M. Crist
Mr. & Mrs. H. Edward Dreier
Mr. & Mrs. William P. Earle, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. William F. Eastman
Mr. & Mrs. Morris Upham Ely
Mr. & Mrs. George S. Frank
Judge & Mrs. Edwin J Garvin
Mr. & Mrs. B. Meredith Langstaff
Mr. & Mrs. Frederick D. Mckay
Miss Alice Morse
Mrs. Henry F. Noyes
Mr. & Mrs. Dean C. Osborne
Miss Julia J. Pierrepont
Miss Anna J. Pierrepont
Mr. & Mrs. Winthrop M. Tuttle
Mrs. John Van Buren Thayer
Mrs. Edwin C. Ward
Miss Frances E. White
Miss Harriet H. White
Among those invited as hosts and hostesses are: (continued)
Mr. & Mrs. John H. McCooey
Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Blum
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Calder
Mr. & Mrs. Matthew S. Sloan
Mr. & Mrs. George E. Brower
Mr. & Mrs. Walter Hammitt
Hon. & Mrs. William C. Redfield
Mr. & Mrs. Hebert F. Gunnison
Mr. & Mrs. Fremont C. Peck
Mr. & Mrs. Joseph J. Early
Judge & Mrs. Charles J. McDermott
Mrs. Stutzer Taylor
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 01-03_1930, 038-39. View Original
March 8, 1930
To the Art Editor:
The first important evidence of the policy which will be pursued by the new curators of the Department of Ethnology is to be shown to the public in a large exhibition which opens at the Brooklyn Museum with a private view on March 14th, to be known as "Art of the Far East". The most important element of the show will be the cases of sculptures from the famous religious shrine, the Borobudur in Java. As there are only six of these to be seen anywhere in this country, the thirty pieces which the Museum will show constitute an unusual opportunity to appreciate the remarkable sculpture which covers the shrine.
It will be possible to see this exhibition in nearly complete form in advance beginning at noon on Tuesday, March 11th. We should be glad to have you release any comment after that date. Proof of the catalogue will be on hand at that time.
Very truly yours,
ARTHUR H. TORREY
for the Brooklyn Museum
AHT:FS
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 01-03_1930, 32. View Original
May 1, 1930
Details of the remarkable collection of textiles which has been added to the exhibition of modern and ancient Dutch East Indian Art at the Brooklyn Museum have just been made public. This addition to the show was the occasion for the dance recital by Miss St. Denis which occurred at the Museum on Monday, April 21st.
The collection was made about twenty-five years ago by Mr. A. J. C. van Kerekhoff of the Hague, Holland, who was formerly a banker in the Dutch East Indies. It includes such curious pieces as those from Bali with designs in a beautiful red which is said in some instances to have been obtained from blood. Another group is heavily woven with gold thread and still others are made from banana fibre.
According to Mr. Tassilo Adam, former Ethnologist of the Dutch East Indies and now Associate Curator of Oriental Art at the Brooklyn Museum. In the words of Mr. Adam, "The exhibition is not restricted to one island nor to one type of technique nor to pure Dutch East Indian art. There are 170 specimens of almost every kind which could be procured at the time with the exception of batik. This process is a special method of weaving and dyeing entirely different from all others.
"Textiles from the Batak lands of northern Sumatra are the purest and most typical from a technical as well as from an artistic viewpoint. This is due to the fact that this region was isolated and closed to any foreign influence until 1908 in which year the Dutch government fully took possession of the country. The primitive designs are very beautiful and the colors excellent examples of vegetables. Heavy lines mingled with the spiral motive are used and also the fine arrow motive which is the result of an unusual technical trick. The material is cotton spun from kapok.
"Another remarkable collection was obtained in Borneo from the Dyaks. The colors of these are sombre and the figures geometric. The specimens from South Celebes, which are richer is design and color than those from Borneo, are cloths that were used to cover the dead. Textiles made of banana fiber were obtained in a group of small islands south of Celebes known as Kissar Southeasten and Southwestern islands. Tie-dyed weaving in great variety from Sumba, Sumbawa, Timor and Flores is represented in beautiful colors with red and blue predominating. Interesting motives include animals, the human skull and the tree of life. The patterns have been reproduced and used for many industrial purposes in the last decade
"The island of Bali has contributed unusual textiles which contain Buddhistic and Shivastic figures. The designs and beautiful reds -- it is said that some of them are dyed in blood -- are the product of Hindu influence. Natives of this island are member of the only tribe in the entire archipelago which has maintained Buddhism as its religion.
"Textiles from central and southeastern Sumatra, the Padang highlands and the Palembang arc, for the most part, woven of heavy gold threads and are indicative of the wealth of the population as well as of foreign influence."
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 088-9. View Original
April 22, 1930
Events at the Brooklyn Museum yesterday afternoon had a strong international aspect as the Austrian Minister to the United States officially and formally opened an exhibition of modern architectural projects worked out in Vienna and Miss Ruth St. Denis, the well-known dancer, and three of her pupils presented a dance recital in connection with the exhibition of the Art of the Dutch East Indies now current at the Museum.
The dance recital occurred at three o'clock in the Sculpture Court and the architectural exhibition was opened at four after which there was a reception and tea in the rotunda, while the guests inspected the two large exhibitions which are installed in the large exhibition galleries on the fourth floor of the Museum.
Preceding this program, the Austrian Minister Edgar G. Prochnik and Mme. Prochnik were entertained at lunch at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Blum. The other guests were Dr. George Schmidt, Austrian Acting Consul General, Mr. William Muschenheim, Miss Ruth St. Denis, Dr. WIlliam Henry Fox, Mr. Walter H. Crittenden, Mr. Frank L. Babbott and Mrs. Edwin Bigelow.
The dance recital was attended by a large audience in the Sculpture Court. A platform stage had been erected in one corner of the court for the presentation of the dances. The first number was "Batik Vender" danced by Anna, Reginia and Charlotte to music by Paul Seelig, followed by "Javanese Court Dancer" by Miss St. Denis to music written by Clifford Vaughan. The third number was entitled "Burmese Pwe" by Ernestine Day to music also by Mr. Vaughan. The closing number "A Figure from Angkor Vat tl was performed Miss St. Denis to music by Irene Bergere. After the recital the entire company went to the rotunda on the fourth floor for the ceremony of opening the Viennese architecture exhibition. His Excellency the Austrian Minister made a brief and graceful address, after which he declared the architectural exhibition formally opened the cords were then removed from the door and tile assemblage followed him and the official party into the gallery. The rest of the afternoon was spent by the company inspecting both the architectural exhibition and the augmented Duth East Indian show in the gallery opposite. This latter exhibition now includes a handsom collection of textiles lent by Van Kerckhoff. which came too late for the formal opening a month ago.
The distinguished committee of patrons for the architectural exhibition is composed of Mr. Jules S. Bache, Mr. A. J. Drexel Biddle, Jr., General Quincy A. Gillmore, Mrs. Edward F. Hutton, Mr. Franklyn L. Hutton, Mr. Otto H. Kahn, Mr. Frederick A. Muschenheim and Mr. Joseph Urban.
Those invited to act as hosts and hostesses are given on the attached list.
The architectural projects promise to be of exceptional interest to New Yorkers who are becoming acquainted with and interested in modern architecture. The show consists of models, drawings, plans and photographs of about one hundred architectural projects of all descriptions from ski huts to large public utility plants worked out by Prof. Peter Behrens and his students all in the modern manner. Two of the projects are particularly interesting to New Yorkers as one is a new style of apartment building with ideally arranged rooms with porch galleries built into the cornets, while the other is a model home for the sand dunes that will possibly be erected at Southampton some time within the year. In addition to these there are carefully worked-out housing projects for workmen which should be of value to all those new interested in similar movements in this city.
Still other projects are the proposed traffic regulation for the Potzdamer Platz, Berlin, where traffic becomes more snarled up than any place in New York. This solution with its ramps and elevated roadways will make it possible to approach the square from any direction and proceed through without any interruption from any other stream of traffic. Nearly all of the problems have a direct application to conditions in America as they have had in Europe, as, for instance, the athletic stadium with a large gallery addition to the sides where the best seats are., the garage building in which cars approach their stalls from a spiral outside ramp and leave them by means of an inside spiral ramp.
There are some very furious completed buildings also shown in the exhibition in the first and last rooms which are devoted to the work of Prof. Peter Behrens who conducts the Master School of Architectural in the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna for his pupils who arc really post-graduate and practical architects. Prof. Behrens has been employed on many large and important pieces of construction in Germany, the most famous being the factory buildings of the General Electric Company in Berlin. Some of his other pieces are the German Embassy in Petrograd, the gas works in Frankfort and the administration building of the Mannesmann Pipe Works in Düsseldorf.
The Master School of Architecture has the characteristics of an atelier a great deal more than it has of a school, as there is no curriculim. Students who are admitted to it have already had considerable experience in architecture and go through for the purpose of working out new ideas that might not be allowed to come to life in an actual practising architect's office. There are no particular hours as everyone is allowed as much time as necessary to work out his project. Prof. Behrens makes three to five visits a year and spends several days each time for the purpose of criticism of the work of the thirty or more students.
Those invited to act as hosts and hostesses at the reception were members and wives of members of the Museums Governing Committee and members and wives of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. They are as follows:-
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Frazier
Mr. & Mrs. Luke Vincent Lockwood
Mr. & Mrs. John Hill Morgan
Mr. & Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt
Mrs. Mary Childs Draper
Mr. Alfred W Jenkins
Mr. & Mrs. John T. Underwood
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Good
Mrs. A. Augustus Healy
Mr. Walter H. Crittenden
Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Blum
Mr. Frank L. Babbott
Mr. & Mrs. William A. Putnam
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Bailey
Mr. & Mrs. E. LeGrand Beers
Mr. & Mrs. Henry H. Benedict
Mr. & Mrs. R. R. Bowker
Hon. & Mrs. James J. Browne
Dr. & Mrs. S. Parkes Cadman
Mr. & Mrs. William R. Cary
Judge & Mrs. Frederick E. Crane
Mr. John J. Curtin
Dr. John H. Denbigh
Jon. Jacob G. Dettmer
Mr. Gates D. Fahnestock
Mr. & Mrs. Julian P. Fairchild
Mr. & Mrs. James A. Farrell
Mr. & Mrs. Sumner Ford
Mr. & Mrs. Lewis W. Francis
Mr. & Mrs. John W. Frothingham
Hon. & Mrs. Henry Hesterberg
Mr. & Mrs. William T. Hunter
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Jonas
Mr. Adolph Lewisohn
Miss Hilda Loines
Mr. & Mrs. William J. Matheson
Mr. & Mrs. Edwin P. Maynard
Mr. & Mrs. George V. McLaughlin
Mr. Horace J. Morse
Mr. & Mrs. James H. Post
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Pratt
Mr. Robert A. Shaw ,
Mr. & Mrs. G. Foster Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Stutzer
Mr. & Mrs. Adrian Van Sinderen
Prof. & Mrs. Edwin G. Warner
Rt. Rev. Msgr. John C. York
Also invited to act as hosts and hostesses were the following:-
Dr. & Mrs. William H. Fox
Dr. & Mrs. Frank L. Babbott, Jr.
Mrs. Walter Shaw Brewster
Mrs. Glentworth Reeve Butler
Mrs. William H. Childs
Mr. & Mrs. Harris M. Crist
Mr. & Mrs. H. Edward Dreier
Mr. & Mrs. William P. Earle, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. William F. Eastman
Mrs & Mrs. Morris Upham Ely
Mr. & Mrs. George S. Frank
Judge & Mrs. Edwin J. Garvin
Mr. & Mrs. B. Meredith Langstaft
Mr. & Mrs. Frederick D. McKay
Miss Alice Morse
Mrs. Henry F. Noyes
Mr. & Mrs. Dean C. Osobrne
Miss Julia J. Pierrepont
Miss Anna J. Pierrepont
Mr. & Mrs. John Van Buren Thayer
Mr. & Mrs. Winthrop M. Tuttle
Mrs. Edwin C. Ward
Miss Frances E. White
Miss Harriet H. White
Mr. & Mrs. John H. McCooey
Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Blum
Mr. & Mrs. William M. Calder
Mr. & Mrs. Henry J. Davenport
Mr. & Mrs. Eugene A. Widman
Mr. & Mrs. Matthew S. Sloan
Mr. & Mrs. George E. Brower
Mr. & Mrs. Walter Hammitt
Hon. & Mrs. William C. Redfield
Mr. & Mrs. Herbert F. Gunnison
Mr. & Mrs. Fremont C. Peck
Mr. & Mrs. Joseph J. Early
Judge & Mrs. Charles J. McDermott
Mrs. Stutzer Taylor
Mr. & Mrs. H. V. Kaltenborn
Mrs. R. Ross Appleton
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 071-5. View Original
October 2, 1929
Announcement of the plans, as far as they have been settled for this present season at the Brooklyn Museum has just been made. The first event of importance will be a dedicatory recital on the large pipe organ which has been presented to the Museum by Mrs. Edward C. Blum, wife of the President of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. This is scheduled to occur on the afternoon of October 28th when Dr. Lynwood Farnum will give the recital and the organ will be accepted for the Museum by a City official who is a member of the Board of Trustees.
In the Department of Fine Arts the First event will occur in November. The painting galleries will be occupied by the work of New York public school children to show how the art appreciation courses in the schools are carried on. The results of the courses illustrated by examples of pupils' work. In December an event of extreme importance will be the presentation to the public of a large section of early American rooms arranged on a unique plan. At the same time the painting galleries will exhibit the most complete collection of the works of the late Walter Shirlaw ever gotten together. In conjunction with this will be shown the work of students of the summer class of the Art Department of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, of which John R. Koopman is the head.
The season has already started in the Print Department where an exhibition of recent accessions has been arranged. This will be fol,owed by a showing of modern Norwegian prints from the middle of November to the end of December. After this will come the Annual Exhibition of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers which will open on January 7th and extend to January 31st.
The next event of great importance will be the opening of the Belgian Exhibition of Fine Arts a large show sponsored by King Albert of Belgium, the Belgian Government and the Belgian Ambassador to the United States, the largest entirely Belgian show ever seen in this country, This will open January 20th and be on view through February.
Another event which depends upon the completion of installation work is, therefore, indefinite as to date, is the presentation to the public of Japanese gallery which is undergoing complete re-arrangement. The result will give the public an idea of the richness and extent of the Japanese collection which it has never had before.
Plans for the late winter and spring are not so far advanced as the above but three events have been announced. In March a splendid exhibition of art objects from Java and Bali will be arranged by Mr. Tassilo Adam, Associate Curator in charge of Oriental Art. It will consist of his collection of batiks presented to him by the sultans of Java, Javanese paintings, casts of sculpture from the temples of Borobudur, Buddhistic images, Javanese puppets, and Balinese idols. Plans are being considered for a general exhibition of textile art some time during the season and the late spring it is planned to arrange an international exhibition of both indoor and outdoor sculpture.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 10-12/1929, 086-7. View Original
March 31, 1930
An amusing exhibition demonstrating the use to which the Museum can be put by those who make a careful study of its collections will be on view on Thursday, April 3rd in the Library Gallery at a private showing and will be opened to the public on April 4th in the Brooklyn Museum. This exhibition is composed of the work done in the classes conducted by Kate Mann Franklin and its scope is art structure, design and color, applied to original designs, the inspiration for which comes from the various objects in the Museum.
At the end of the gallery there will be a special exhibit called "The Pageant of India", a large gaily-colored design dominated by gold, red and black, to which a number of the students contributed.
The private view will be on April 3rd from three to five on which occasion tea will be served. Prizes have been awarded by the judges who are: Mrs. Margaret A. Connor, 25 New York Avenue, Freeport, L. I., and Miss Fannie J. Cooke, 9 Ct. James Place, Brooklyn supervisors in the Public Schools. The prize winners are: Miss Elizabeth Broden, 1407 Dean Street, Brooklyn, Miss Ruth Goldenberg, 1111 New York Avenue, Brooklyn; Miss Hester Halstead, 360 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn and Miss Lillian D. Goodwin, 943 President Street, Brooklyn. Honorable mention; William Streib, 691 Sterling Place.
The exhibition of Pictorial Photography now on view at the Brooklyn Museum was scheduled to close at the end of March. Instead the duration of the exhibition has been-extended through the month of April.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 01-03_1930, 051. View Original
March 12, 1930
The third large exhibition of the season at the Brooklyn Museum opens with a private view on Friday, March 14th, at three o'clock. Preceding the opening Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Blum will entertain the guest of honor, Dr. J. E. Van Royen, Minister from the Netherlands at luncheon at their home. The other guests will be W.P. Montyn, Council of the Netherlands; Dr. and Mrs. William H. Fox, Dr. and Mrs. Herbert J. Spinden, Prof. and Mrs. Adriaan J. Barnouw and Mr. and Mrs. Tassilo Adam.
After the luncheon the party will proceed to the Museum. The Dutch Minister will deliver a few remarks in the Rotunda next to the exhibition gallery in which he will declare the exhibition officially open. Then the official party has passed into the galleries, the assembled guests will follow. After an inspection of the exhibition tea will be served to the guests until six o'clock. The exhibition will then be open to the public at ten o'clock tho next morning and will be on view for a period of two months.
This unusual show has brought together from many sources objects illustrating the art of the islands comprising the Dutch, East Indies, the most important of which are Java, Sumatra and Borneo. One of the most important lenders is the Colonial Museum in Amsterdam which has sent some of the largest and most valuable collections.
The ante-room which leads into the galleries begins with the aboriginal art of Sumatra as shown in objects used by the Batak tribe, who until only recently were wild cannibals. These objects show that primitive men of their part of the world were as far advanced in their native art as were the tribes of Africa which have aroused so much interest in the past few years. The objects on which they lavished their craftsmanship were textiles, jewelry, carved wooden idols, spears decorated with hammered silver and silver and gold inlay and various kinds of sorcerer's equipment including remarkable carved canes which resemble spears more than canes. This room also includes models of the elaborate and curious tall houses in which these people live.
The first large section of the galleries is given over to other objects from aboriginal tribes, such as the Dyaks of Borneo and the Papuas of New Guinea. Some of the most noteworthy objects in this section are the beautifully woven textiles made of red and gold thread.
In the center section of the long gallery has been arranged the unique collection of plaster casts of sculpture from the Borobudur, the largest religious shrine of the stupa type in the world, which is located in Central Java. The date of the beginning of its construction is unknown but it was finished in 865 A.D. It is literally covered with sculptures relating to the Hindu religion as the period of its erection was during that of the Hindu ascendancy in these islands. The Borobudur carries on its surfaces over three miles of sculpture. In the United States there are only six pieces showing this work, which are in the Boston Museum. This exhibition has thirty casts from the building. All, except the six seated figures of Budda, showing the god in different attitudes, are long panels in high relief depicting various stages of the story of the Bodhisatva which is the legend about how Guatama Buddha became a god.
At the end of the long gallery are two sections, one devoted to shadow plays and marionettes are the other to objects from the island of Bali. One of the most interesting exhibits in this section is the shadow play, which is the Javanese theatre. A small structure has been put up representing the shadow play as it is given in Java. A canvas screen is stretched across a frame and against it are arranged groups of the flat leather shadow play figures which take part in the stories. About two feet from the screen and hanging from a framework is a curious old brass lamp of a dragon-like bird which is the elaborate oil lamp used to provide the dim illumination necessary for these plays. The audience sits on both sides of the screen, the men behind the scenes and the women on the other side. The story-teller sits just in front of the screen and operates the various figures as he unfolds the tale.
The largest shadow plays involve a many as four hundred figures but for the purposes of the exhibition there are about one hundred and fifty on hand, either arranged in this theatre or hanging in patterns on the wall.
Another alcove is given over to marionette figures which are held up on a stick from below, such as Punch and Judy figures are and whose arms and head are operated by sticks, so that the figures can be made to perform in an exceedingly life-like manner. These figures are remarkable for their grotesque carving and bright coloring and their gay-colored costumes.
The section devoted to Bali contains paintings on cotton done in exceedingly bright colors involving a lavish use of gold and red, which corresponds in way to our early Christian religious paintings. There are also several stone sculptures of both gods and humans and a large collection of the gods in fierce and threatening attitudes, carved from wood and highly colored.
In addition to these there are two doorways from houses, many of the parts of which are carved and which also exhibit the native love of color. These exhibits are particularly interesting as Bali is the only place in the world, outside of parts of Asia, where the Buddhistic religion survives. From Bali there is also a large collection of beautiful weavings in red and golf thread.
The large square gallery at the end is given over to one of the most remarkable features of the exhibition namely, a superb collection of Javanese batiks. [unintelligible handwritten note] These beautiful fabrics are hung flat on the wall and extend from the floor to the molding, this giving to many a new idea of what these textiles really for. They are considered the most prized possession of the Javanese and for this reason the batiks worn by the royal families and the upper classes are remarkable examples of craftsmanship.
Mr. Tassilo Adam, Associate Curator in charge of Oriental Art, made this collection principally at the courts of the sultans of Java, so that the pieces represent the best that can be found. This making of batiks was more highly developed in Java than any place in the world, although its origins are Hindu. The pieces shown are nearly all 18th Century. Batiks were made from imported cotton of a fixed width. The usual ones are, therefore, a dyed strip corresponding to this width. However, this collection is compared almost entirely of pieces of two strips in width and even on piece of three strips. This is an indication that they were made for the royal family or only the wealthiest of the upper classes.
Probably the most important piece in this collection is that formerly owned by the third sultan of Mataram of the Empire of Central Java and is a piece ten feet by fifteen foot in dimensions. There are only two others of the same pattern in the world, but not as large, still at the court from which this one came. Mr. Adams says that this is the only piece in three parts which he has ever seen. Another extremely important piece is one on a white field, which is very rare, as it is the most difficult kind to dye. It is covered with a pattern of black and brown. The clarity of the black part of the design is remarkable as it is also an effect difficult to produce.
In Java a person can be recognized by his sarong, the name of the garment worn on the upper part of the body. This collection shows examples of patterns of several ranks, as well as a few of the common people. These batiks are remarkable examples of applied art, as the designs and the color are perfectly adapted for use in textiles and produce an effect which has never been attained by the same method in any other part of the world.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 01-03_1930, 040-5. View Original
March 4, 1930
The exhibition which will be opened at the Brooklyn Museum March 14th is unique of its kind in this country and presented in a manner peculiarly adapted to the Brooklyn Museum with its important departments of Fine Arts and Ethnology. This will allow of a tying together of the art and ethnology of the Dutch East Indies in an interesting manner which will show the relation of art in its utilitarian and fine art aspects in the islands included in these Dutch possessions, namely, Java, Sumatra and Borneo, to mention the most important.
In scope the exhibition will show primitive aboriginal art, the effects of the introduction of Buddhism, the survivals of Buddhism and the high character of modern Javanese craftsmanship.
Probably the most important section of the show will be that resulting from the introduction of Buddhism, namely thirty large plaster casts which have been lent by the Colonial Museum in Amsterdam. They are taken from sculptures on the Borobudur, the largest religious shrine in the world of the stupa type and one of the architectural wonders of the world. The date on which this monument was begun is unknown but it is known to have been finished in 865 A.D. It is so elaborately carved that there are three miles of stone sculpture covering nearly all its surfaces. The largest exhibit from this building that exists in this country are six casts in Boston. This gives an idea of the scope of the Brooklyn Museum's coming exhibition with its thirty casts.
Besides this, there will be a large collection of idols, weapons, textile from the Island of Bali, which the only place outside of Central where Buddhism survives ethnological exhibitions of decorative arts, such as sorcerer's canes, jewelry, carved wooden idols, weapons, weavings and models of houses from the wild tribes of the Bataks in Sumatra, the Dyaks of Borneo and the Papuas of New Guineas; a large collection batiks demonstrating the superb craftsmanship of the Javanese, as theses pieces were nearly all acquired at the courts of Sultans and shadow play figures and marionettes used by the Javanese in acting their religious dramas. The exhibition will be opened to the public on March 15th and will officially opened in a private view on March 14th by the Minister from Holland, who is making a special trip from Washington for the purpose.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 01-03_1930, 029-30. View Original
February 27, 1930
The next large exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum will be that of the Art and Ethnology of the Dutch East Indies, one of the most comprehensive exhibitions of this kind that has ever been shown in this country. It is being arranged under the direction of the Department of Ethnology of the Brooklyn Museum and is under the direct supervision of Mr. Tassilo Adam, Associate Curator in charge of Oriental Art. Many of the most interesting exhibits are being lent through the courtesy and generosity of the Colonial Museum in Amsterdam. One of the principal items in their loan is several plaster casts taken from sculpture on the enormous monument in stupa form in Central Java called the Barabudur which is an example of Hindu architecture as it developed in Java. The exhibition will open March 14th. Dr. J. H. Van Royan, Minister from the Netherlands, is going to make a special trip here from Washington to open the exhibition.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 01-03_1930, 025. View Original
