While the galleries are temporarily closed we’re using a variety of online means to share Loeb resources with you, revisiting highlights from the past, making new material available, and directing your attention to some of the staff’s favorite online resources from beyond the Art Center. We hope you’ll enjoy and take inspiration from these videos, podcasts, blog posts, and a new feature we’re calling “Loeb Letters”—short video missives from our staff. We’ll add more each week, so keep an eye on this spot!

VIDEOS

In this Art Talk video from 2011, Patricia Wallace (Dept. of English) bring’s her poet’s eye and evocative language to explore balance in David Smith’s sculpture Ten Arcs, One Ring.

Student docent Naima Nader ’23 is currently in Berlin, whence she has sent us two delightful Loeb Letters responding to favorite works in the permanent collection, one by Hans Hofmann from 1955 and one by Pieter Claesz from 1641. 

VIRTUAL TOUR & MORE

Student docent Bella Dalton-Fenkl ’20 offers us a “virtual tour” of four works in the collection by Meiji-era artist Kobayashi Kiyochika, posing questions for us along the way. If you would like to respond to her questions you can do so on our Off the Wall blog.

Also on the blog: During self-quarantine, many of us are now experiencing a new and different relationship with time. Here at the Loeb we encourage the practice of “slow looking,” finding that looking long at a work of art yields rich rewards. Student docent Magdalena Ramos Mullane ’22 explores unfolding revelations about the art of Raquel Rabinovich in this blog post. 

STAFF PICKS

From Margaret Vetare, Curator of Public Education: “I have two picks I’d like to share. First, for families with young children or just for the young at heart, I like the five make-a-museum activities suggested by the folks at Luci Creative for “Future Exhibit Designers.” I also recommend a podcast from the Getty Museum called “Recording Artists,” which uses interviews with women artists recorded in the 1960s and 70s to explore what it was like to be a woman making art during the feminist and civil rights movements. Includes interviews with Betye Saar, Lee Krasner, and Yoko Ono, among others. 

From Elizabeth Nogrady, Curator of Academic Programs: “Not surprisingly, my pick is the very popular Instagram account started by Anneloes Officier, @tussenkunstenquarantaine (Between Art and Quarantine). It consists of photos of people recreating famous works of art in their own homes. I love these photographs for a few reasons—they show the irresistible creativity and desire for community that we share even when stuck at home, and the solace found in art even during difficult days. Also in these images are seemingly endless innovative uses for toilet paper, and from the captions I’ve learned some great Dutch turns of phrase. Vassar students from Art 105/106 will recognize among others some fabulous Netherlandish paintings—and not just the greatest hits. Enjoy!” 

22,000 OBJECTS TO EXPLORE

As always, we encourage you to find inspiration in the Loeb’s collection online at emuseum.vassar.edu. About 80% of the collection has been digitally imaged so your search will lead you to high-quality photographs that can be enlarged for close inspection of details.