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Researching Memory Politics in Memorial Museums: the National September 11th Site

Amanda Lesnikowski is a graduate student in Master of Arts in Art History program. Amanda received a Department of Art History Travel Grant to complete research for her Qualifying Paper, which she will present in May 2018.

The National September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York

Thanks to the University of St. Thomas’ art history department student travel grant, I was able to spend part of January at the National September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York. I am planning to graduate with my M.A. in art history this coming May. My qualifying paper will focus on the role of memory politics in two memorial museums: The National September 11th Memorial and Museum and the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, Poland. By looking at different aspects of the National September 11th Memorial and Museum, I will be able to better understand how its spaces have incorporated the many emotions and opinions that surround the 2001 terrorist attacks. In the end, I hope to discover how memorial museums that began as single monologues have become inclusive spaces with community-based dialogues. When a museum, such as the Museum of the Second World War, has a historical agenda, it is left to exhibit history with a particular point of view—one that the museum has chosen as being representative of whatever history it has put on display. The power this decision-making gives to a museum can sometimes lead to it having a conflicting relationship with its government. State voices wish to recall memories that will serve a national interest, but those memories do not always align with what the museum has chosen to display.

I applied for the grant with the intention of spending one day outside at Michael Arad’s memorial pools, Reflecting Absence, and a second day inside at the museum, designed by SNØHETTA and David Brody Bond. I wanted to use this travel opportunity as a chance to walk through the spaces firsthand, read wall labels, listen to tour guides, and observe visitors. While travel websites like Yelp! and TripAdvisor are useful, nothing compares to an in-person experience. When I went online to purchase my tickets, I was disappointed to see that they were not touring the outdoor memorial. I knew that the memorial was open to the public starting at 7:30 a.m., so I thought I would get my bearings outside using their mobile app before going into the museum. After exploring a bit on my own, I took my mobile ticket to the K-9 unit at the museum’s entrance before walking through a security set-up that reminded me a lot of an airport.

An example of merchandise available for purchase in the gift shop.

I have read a lot about the commodification of tragedies so I made a beeline to the gift shop. I was dying to know if there were really coffee mugs commemorating the September 11th terrorist attacks. I walked around the store snapping photos of all of the things that made me shake my head. All of the walking and snapping did not fill the time until my 11:30 a.m. tour, so I went to the tour desk to see if I could sneak on the next tour and the reissued me a new ticket.

The memorial museum is built underneath where the World Trade Center’s north and south towers once stood. You begin the experience on the ground level where security is, and the first sub-level is where you find the gift shop, membership desk, and tour desk. According to our tour guide, the memorial museum has a dual mission: to memorialize those who were killed and to educate on the events of the day and days that followed. He also told us that the tour would have four themes: violence, heroism, solidarity, and remembrance.

These panels are where we began our tour.

Our group began to walk down a shallow ramp where a large map of the United States showed where the planes originated and where they ended. Large, vertical panels showed an outline of the United States and played images of people reacting to the towers. Overhead audio played of people sharing where they were when it all happened. Our tour guide met us at the end of this area and told us that our group was about to explore Foundation Hall followed by Memorial Hall. The tour would not include the in memoriam or historical exhibitions. I was really surprised by this! None of my previous research acknowledged that the tour was only of large artifacts and the foundation walls.

Overlooking Foundation Hall, you can see only a fraction of the exhibition space.

The tour began overlooking Foundation Hall where the iconic last column was standing. We continued down a ramp which led us to the survivors’ stairs. This important set of stairs is what saved so many people that Tuesday morning. We broke from talking about Foundation Hall to learn about Memorial Hall. This is where the unidentified remains are housed. Behind a large blue wall is the office of the city’s medical examiner. Within that private space is also a reflection room for families of victims. Next, we turned our focus back to Foundation Hall. Our tour guide took us to a twenty foot antenna fragment, an elevator motor, Ladder Co. 3’s fire truck, and a piece of steel from the north tower that had an outline from the plane’s impact. Our tour guide left us at the end of our hour at the base of the last column. I asked why the tour did not include the in memoriam or historical exhibitions and our guide said that given the content the decision to explore these two exhibitions needed to be a personal one.

The survivors’ stairs were the first artifacts to come to the museum.

Underneath the north tower is both a temporary exhibition space and the historical exhibition. These areas, along with the in memoriam, did not allow for photography. The historical exhibition is divided into three sections: the day of, pre-September 11th, and the days that followed. These three areas were very emotional, so much so that I actually appreciated the ban on photography. The south tower sat atop the in memoriam exhibition. A large square room was full of photographs of the deceased. Wrapping around the room in alphabetical order, the photos where accompanied by a recording of the reading of their names. In the center of the space was a small room with benches where you could sit to listen and read the stories being played out loud. It took me an hour to move through, but I do not regret the time I spent inside.

This blue wall is an iconic representation of the memorial museum.

This experience was incredibly important to my qualifying paper research. I want to thank the University of St. Thomas’ art history department for their generosity and support!

The last column is another popular image from both Ground Zero and the memorial museum.

April 10, 2018 by Amanda Lesnikowski

Research, Research Travel, Senior Paper, Undergraduate Student

Researching Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, Italy

Annie Vitale in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Annie will present her senior research paper on Friday, May 4, 2018.

Annie Vitale is an undergraduate Art History major and is currently working on her senior paper. She was awarded the Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant to help make travel for this project possible.

This March I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Venice, Italy after receiving grants from both the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. The purpose of my trip was to research and experience first hand the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, information which will sustain my senior research paper and will also be used to supplement the research used for my Summa Exam, which will allow me to graduate summa cum laude.

The exterior of Santa Maria della Salute

The focus of my senior thesis is the investigation of Santa Maria della Salute, a Baroque-style plague church designed by Baldassare Longhena, as not only a church but as a memorial to the Virgin Mary. Consecrated in 1632 in response to a plague epidemic that attacked Venice in 1630, the Venetians dedicated Salute to the Virgin Mary who they believed delivered their city from the plague. In my research I consider the church, its site, plan, interior and exterior elements, and function both contemporarily and historically, within the framework of memorial to the Virgin.

I had extensively researched Salute prior to my travel, however I believe a site cannot be completely understood without experiencing it in real life. The grants I received allowed me fully immerse myself in the architecture and ambiance of Salute.

The facade of Il Redentore

While in Venice I spent a great deal of time on site at Salute, taking extensive notes and countless photos (luckily Salute allows photography!) as well as sketching architectural elements of the space and its surroundings. Although I had visited Salute once before in 2012, I was able to experience it in a whole new light after researching it for the past several months. As I approached Salute I stood in awe of the theatrical facade covered in marble statues of Mary and the saints. Once I entered I continued to be amazed by the six chapels surrounding the rotunda, each housing a stunning altar decorated with a painting of scenes from the life of the Virgin. But what captivated me the most was the dramatic altarpiece, a sculpture of Mary dispelling the plague, which holds the Panagia Messopanditissa, a Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child. I was overwhelmed by all of the Marian symbolism, Longhena even designed Salute in the form of a rotunda to symbolize Mary’s womb. Observing all of these elements first hand allowed me to better comprehend how they connect both visually and symbolically to strengthen the presence of the Virgin Mary in the space.

The facade of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute

I was able to attend a Sunday morning mass at Salute, as well as an evening organ concert. It was helpful to attend these events as they provided me with the opportunity to observe the how Longhena’s design fits the function of the space. I also visited the church’s Sacristy Museum which is home to gorgeous paintings and frescoes, some by Venetian painters Titian and Tintoretto (unfortunately the museum prohibits photography).

Visiting Venice allowed me to position Salute within the broader context of the city as I analyzed several other churches and important architectural works while I was there. I visited Il Redentore, a plague church dedicated to Christ the Redeemer, situated across the canal from Salute. I also visited Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which houses some of the most impressive paintings sculptural works I have ever seen. It was helpful for me to visit these churches, among many others, as I compared them to Salute in an effort to determine exactly what aspects of Salute allow the church to function as a memorial.

The interior rotunda of Salute

I was able to take a boat ride up the Grand Canal where I saw the impressive facades of Ca’ Pesaro and Ca’ Rezzonico, two Venetian palaces designed by Longhena. It was really neat to see these facades in person and compare them to Longhena’s facade design of Salute.

The sanctuary of Salute with the high altar of Mary dispelling the Plague

I was also able to spend a few days in Florence, experiencing the art, architecture, and culture there as well (not to mention some of the best pasta and pizza I have ever had). There I visited several churches including Santa Maria del Fiore, Orsanmichele, San Minito al Monte and Santa Maria Novella. It was interesting to observe how churches other than Salute portray the Virgin Mary and encourage devotion to her. I was particularly fascinated by Orsanmichele, which was originally built as a grain market and later converted into a church. Orsanmichele houses Bernardo Daddi’s Madonna and Child which is said to have miraculous powers, healing many during the outbreaks of the plague.

The tomb of Canova inside of Santa Maria Gloriosa

My trip to Italy was nothing less than remarkable and, in a way, makes me feel like I have come full circle, back to the place the peaked my interest in art history nearly seven years ago. In 2012 as a sophomore in high school I traveled to Venice on a school trip and Salute was the first church I visited. I distinctly remember being captivated by the theatrical facade and stunning interior. It was after this trip to Italy that I became passionately interested in pursuing art history. Returning to Salute now, as I am writing my senior paper, not only provided me with incredible material to incorporate into my research, but also reminded me why I pursued a major in art history in the first place. I am confident that my time spent in Venice will contribute greatly to the success of my projects and I am beyond grateful for the generosity from the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program for making it a reality.

April 4, 2018 by Annie Vitale

Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Interning at the Shanghai Museum

Jayne Cole is a graduate student in the Department of Art History. This past spring, she was awarded a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Consortium for the Study of the Asias, to travel and do research in China during the summer. During her time in China Jayne interned at the Shanghai Museum.

This past summer, I traveled to China with Professor Elizabeth Kindall and classmate Floris Lafontant after receiving a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Consortium for the Study of the Asias. It was my first attempt at grant writing, and the process tested my patience and writing abilities. I was grateful for Elizabeth’s help editing multiple drafts.

When the news came in the spring, I was ecstatic! The days slowly crept by until I left on June 21. I spent a total of 5 weeks in China: 2 with Elizabeth and Floris, and the last 3 by myself interning at the Shanghai Museum.

My summer research questions centered on understanding and experiencing Chinese museums. I used my internship at the Shanghai Museum to not only gain work experience, but also to better understand the Chinese museum world from behind the scenes.

Exterior of the Shanghai Museum

The first two weeks with Elizabeth and Floris flew by! We spent our time visiting exciting new sites, traveling to seven different cities, experiencing a plethora of museums, and eating wonderful food. I learned so many things during those first two weeks: what questions to answer when visiting a museum, how to conduct research, how to properly photograph a building, and how to ask new questions when something does not go as planned.

I was nervous when Elizabeth and Floris said goodbye to me in Shanghai after the first two weeks. My Chinese language skills are marginal at best, and I was in one of the biggest cities in the world! The only character I could read on a street sign was the one that said “road.” Not helpful. However, as soon as my internship started, I felt comfortable and at home.

My internship was in the Education Department of the Shanghai Museum. I was tasked with editing documents in English, and conducting a survey to foreign guests. I worked three days a week.

Inside the Chinese Ethnic Minorities’ Art and Crafts Gallery

The Shanghai Museum is huge! It has many different permanent exhibitions and has one of the largest museum collections in China. As a result, it is an extremely popular tourist location for both Chinese and international tourists. Many guests waited in line for over two hours to enter the museum.

The Education Department is located in the basement of the Shanghai Museum, and spread between many different offices. I often got lost trying to find the bathroom. I was the only international intern in the office, although they had about ten other college students volunteering. Many of the interns spoke English and attended school in the United States. I made friends quite easily, and still chat with many of them over WeChat, a communications app popular in China that is a combination of texting and Facebook.

Jayne and Venus

My boss paired me with a partner, a high school volunteer named Venus. She translated for me in the office, and also assisted me in my work assignments. We were fast friends, and I was grateful for her help. She often helped me order lunch.

Editing was harder than I expected it to be, but I enjoyed it. I primarily helped edit materials for the exhibition 100 Objects from the British Museum. It was really rewarding to work on something that will be used in the near future. A highlight was editing an official document used by the museum to negotiate future visiting exhibitions and cultural exchange.

Surveying was another interesting challenge. Using skills from a previous job I held at the Walker Art Center, I compiled a list of visitor-experience based questions (in English) with the help of Venus. We centered our questions around a specific exhibit focused on the different cultural groups in China. Venus and I administered the survey for four days and surveyed 48 people. After our surveying concluded, we analyzed the results and summarized them in a report for our boss, which Venus wrote in Chinese. It was a really fascinating project, and I learned a lot about Shanghai Museum’s international audience, the museum’s strengths, and areas of improvement.

Jayne surveying in the Chinese Ethnic Minorities’ Art and Crafts Gallery

In my spare time, I visited a lot of museums. My surprising favorite was the Propaganda Poster Museum. The museum was hidden in the basement of an apartment complex and challenging to find, but luckily I had a friend with me who had been there before. I was excited to find a poster I wrote about last semester in Heather Shirey’s class!

Jayne at the Propaganda Poster Museum

I left Shangahi the last week in July. I was sad to leave, but am excited to go back in the future! I left with a much better understanding of Chinese museums, and am excited to continue developing my research this upcoming semester.

October 4, 2017 by Jayne Cole

Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Research in China on Museums and Collecting

Floris Lafontant is a graduate student in the Masters of Art History program and the Museum Studies graduate certificate program.

Over the end of June and beginning of July, I traveled to China with fellow graduate student Jayne Cole and Dr. Elizabeth Kindall. The seventeen-day trip was arranged around important sites for each of our research projects. I had never been to Asia before and I was excited for the chance to continue the research I began in Dr. Kindall’s Fall 2016 Contemporary Chinese Art course.

Jayne (right) and I visited the Forbidden City first. This established our baseline for historic site visit experiences.

Jayne and I arrived in Beijing, where we met Dr. Kindall. Over the next seventeen days we traversed China to five other cities: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Shanghai. We visited a range of historic sites from tourist staples like the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square to traditional gardens, history museums, and contemporary art museums. We visited sites that were swarming with fellow tourists as well as museums where we were the only visitors in the expansive halls. My research specifically pertained to two art museums in Shanghai, but I think the knowledge acquired by visiting the gamut of historic sites was crucial for forming a well-rounded and informed argument.

We traveled by plane, train, high-speed train, cab, subway, bus, and foot. I constantly wished I had packed lighter.

I was incredibly grateful to travel with Dr. Kindall. This was my first research trip abroad and my first time in a country where I did not speak the language at all. What could have been a stressful time was instead a deeply informative and enlightening experience with Dr. Kindall’s guidance, experience, and language skills.

Teamwork was essential to keep from feeling too overwhelmed.

Jayne and I acted as each other’s research assistants throughout the trip. After traveling so far and with only so much time at each site, I found having a partner invaluable. Our goal was to gather as much information as possible to use upon our return to Minnesota. We traded off on taking notes, took countless photos, and bounced ideas and questions off each other. It helped having a friend and colleague to talk through all the new information we acquired throughout our days.

Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai.

Surrounding this research trip, I did an independent study with Dr. Jayme Yahr to develop my research into a Museum Studies focused paper. In my original paper for Dr. Kindall’s seminar, I researched Chinese art collector couple Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian. I argued for a connection between Wang Wei’s gender identity and the art collection she shares with her husband. My goal with the research trip abroad was to see if this idea was manifested in her private museums in Shanghai.

Jayne and I stand between the Chinese characters for “Art Street” in Hangzhou.

The two private museums we visited in Shanghai were the Long Museum West Bund and the Long Museum Pudong, both owned by Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian. Following the visits, I felt that the museums did not provide substantial evidence to support or refute my original claims. At the time, it was frustrating to feel as though more than a semester’s worth of research had come to a dead end. With Dr. Yahr’s guidance, I shifted focus and reevaluated my research. Rather than investigate identity and gender studies, I found my research supported an analysis of identity and the tenuous line between collector and consumer. Building off my observations of the Long Museum West Bund and my study of Wang Wei’s interviews since 2009, I completed a paper titled “Now on Display: Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian.” The final result is not what I had expected to achieve at the start of my independent study. It would never have taken the direction it did without my research trip to experience the museums in China first-hand.

Jayne helps me by taking notes while I process my thoughts and observations in the Zhan Wang exhibition at the Long Museum West Bund.

September 5, 2017 by Floris Lafontant

Graduate Student, Research Travel

Identity, Harassment, and Calvin and Hobbes

Keith Pille is a graduate student currently completing research supported by a Graduate Student Fellowship for Research on Topics Related to Women and/or Gender Issues from the Luann Dummer Center for Women. Keith also was the recipient of a Department of Art History Student Research Grant.

At the end of June, with the assistance of the Department of Art History Student Research Grant, I travelled to Brooklyn to talk to the cartoonist Ariel Schrag.

The author, with a panel of Ariel Schrag’s drawing of herself.

I wanted to ask her some questions about her work, and about the choices she made while drawing her autobiographical comics. I also wanted to ask her about what she has experienced having very revealing, personal comics out in the world. What was it like having intimate parts of her life on view for strangers, especially when said strangers had a very low barrier to getting hostile feedback back to her?

Ariel Schrag

This interview was part of an independent study project I’ve undertaken with Dr. Shirey, in which I’m examining the work of three women who draw autobiographical comics. Aside from Ariel Schrag, I’m talking to Julia Wertz, a California-based cartoonist whose work is widely praised and has appeared in the New Yorker; and to Deena Mohamed, a woman living in Cairo who uses superhero comics to examine her experiences in a coded fashion. I’m particularly interested in whether the spectacularly toxic misogyny that infects the internet—and you can’t make comics in the 21st century, or at least can’t have anyone read the comics you make, without a hefty internet presence—affects their work.

Ariel Schrag very nicely agreed to meet me in a cafe in Brooklyn. She was very friendly, funny, and easygoing; she was a great interview. One of the things I most wanted to ask her about was a technique she uses in her comics: when depicting her normal, day-to-day life, her style is simplistic and minimalist, often described as “cartoony.”

Schrag’s standard “cartoony” normal style

Periodically, though, when a character is fantasizing or dreaming, she shifts into a detailed, more realistic style with more natural proportions and perspective.

Schrag’s “dream realism” style

When I asked her what her thought process behind this was, she surprised me by describing the move entirely in terms of influences, saying that she was borrowing the idea from Bill Watterson’s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, specifically some strips where Calvin and his friend Suzy are playing house (against Calvin’s will) and Waterson renders the panels in a photorealistic style.

Calvin and Hobbes panels showing Watterson’s “realistic” and “cartoony” styles

She also cited a section in Art Spiegelman’s Maus where Spiegelman similarly styles for a section to draw emphasis.

“Realistic” and “cartoony” styles in Spiegelman’s Maus

I was struck by her focus on influences—that isn’t a line of inquiry that I’ve heard artists talk about as a student of art history. But it is a line of inquiry that I’ve heard a lot before in music writing. I spent several years as a music journalist, and during that time had approximately 6,000 conversations with Twin Cities bands that included some variation of “so who are your influences?” It’s a topic that seems to emerge in all music writing (well, rock music writing; nobody ever seems to talk about Mozart’s influences). And the thing is: influences came up right away in my other interviews, too.

Which leads me to a theory: I think there’s a really interesting parallel between self-produced indie autobio comics and low-stakes music scenes. Both are artistically democratic situations where pretty much anyone with something to say can participate; formal training is rare in both cases (and none of the three very talented and accomplished cartoonists I’m talking to have any formal training), with people instead getting enthused and largely teaching themselves. I don’t think it’s much of a reach to say that self-taught artists are naturally going to lean heavily on influences from the material that got them excited to begin with.

We talked about several other interesting comics-technique things, but they’ll have to wait for the paper. I’d like to use my remaining space here to talk about the other side of our conversation: the part about reception, harassment, and misogyny.

My initial theory for this project was that the women I’m studying may have received toxic, misogynistic feedback from men (especially online), and that this may have been affected their artistic choices. To my surprise, Schrag said that this wasn’t really the case with her, that she hadn’t gotten much of what she would describe as misogynistic reactions. Rather, she said, when she’s received negative feedback, it was often from within the LGBTQ community and took the form of intracommunity discussions (which she said was great and welcome). She, knowing the focus of my project, said at one point, “I’m sorry I haven’t been harassed more! But I’m also glad.” (Like I said, she’s very funny).

Later, though, she described a phenomenon that she didn’t want to call misogynistic harassment, but which definitely sounded to me like bad behavior centered around gender: that of men (including, in at least once case, a man in prison) reading her comics and getting creepily over-familiar and lecherous (although she wanted to point out that she’s also gotten a lot of wonderful, thoughtful feedback from men as well, even a different man in prison). Schrag’s comics focus heavily on her experience in high school as she discovered that she was a lesbian; as such, there’s a lot of sex in them. Most people understand this is part of the story she’s telling, she says, but it does lead to some creepy emails. “When I wrote the comics, I never had a goal for them to be titillating; I don’t think it ever even occurred to me that they would be. And I think that was naïve. And now as an adult, the idea that an adult man might read my comics with a prurient interest does disturb me to some extent. But there’s nothing I can do about it,” she said.

I asked her if it felt strange to have so many details of her life out in the open; for instance, when we sat down, I knew all sorts of intimate details about her life, even though we’d only exchanged a couple of emails. She said it didn’t feel strange at all, since her comics add up to a story that she has complete control over. “I guess it’s a little weird, but it’s such a controlled version of a story of my life, and it’s something that I know anybody could read,” she said. “I don’t feel exposed per se, because it’s something I chose to put out. It’s not the same if someone were to read my diary.”

Panel from Schrag’s more recent comics work

We talk a lot in art history about artists using their work to create and assert their identity; Schrag’s statement about her comics being a controlled version of her life strike me as a perfect example of this.

If you want to hear more about Ariel Schrag, Julia Wertz, Deena Mohamed, and my general thoughts on autobio comics, come to the grad symposium in September!

August 21, 2017 by Keith Pille

Research Travel, Senior Paper, Students, Undergraduate Student

Cultural Heritage Protection at the Aga Khan Museum

Justine Lloyd is an undergraduate Art History major and is currently working on her senior paper. She was awarded the Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant to help make travel for this project possible.

This January, I had the opportunity to travel to Toronto with the Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant. The focus of my trip was to gather information for my senior research paper—a testament to all that I have learned as an Art History student here at the University of St. Thomas. The focus of my project is on the widespread, systematic destruction and looting of the ancient Syrian city, Dura-Europos. Because the protection of the artifacts within the city is important for both the art history field and the millions of people that have called Syria a home, I am also investigating possible solutions to the existing damage and ways to prevent further destruction. Certain information about Dura-Europos has been difficult to find, as the site is located in a conflict-stricken area and the destruction and looting has been a fairly recent occurrence. As so, the Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant allowed me to gather material in a way that was otherwise inaccessible to me.

Tomb Relief
Palmyra, Syria, 123 CE
Limestone, carved
With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum © ROM.

I spent two nights in Toronto, giving me a full day to explore the Aga Khan Museum, which is dedicated to Islamic art and Muslim culture. Its current exhibit, Syria: A Living History, contains several works of art and cultural artifacts that are similar to those being destroyed in Dura-Europos, including floor mosaics, temple reliefs, eye idol figurines, and stele. For the first time, I was able to see Syrian art outside of a textbook or journal article. I took part in a guided tour of the exhibit and spent some time browsing on my own, and can say without a doubt that it was one of the most striking exhibition layouts I have ever seen. The high ceilings, dim lighting and dark-colored walls were both dramatic and intriguing. This exhibit has been so popular that the Aga Khan decided to extend its showing from February to March.

Stele with Depiction of a Prayer
Tell Halaf, Syria, 10th–9th centuries BCE
Basalt, carved
© Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Vorderasiatisches Museum,
Photo: Olaf M. Teßmer.

Eye Idol
Syria, ca. 3200 BCE
Gypsum, carved
With permission of the Royal Ontario Museum © ROM.

The most valuable part of my time in Toronto was meeting with a curator of the Aga Khan, ‪Dr. Filiz Cakir Phillip. As someone who was involved closely with the exhibition, Dr. Phillip was able to further my knowledge in Syrian art and aid in forming my case study of Dura-Europos. We discussed the transitional process of artifacts from archaeological sites to museums, which is relevant in discourse related to cultural preservation of at-risk sites. Dr. Phillip was also well versed in Syrian Antiquity Law, which was information I was having difficulty finding in English.

I am confidant that the information and resources I gained in Toronto will contribute to my development of a strong senior paper. I am so grateful to have received the Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant which made this entire experience possible.

April 4, 2017 by Marria Thompson

Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel, Students

An Exploration of the Irish Holy Wells of St. Brigid

Clare Monardo is an art history graduate student currently completing her qualifying paper on the Irish Holy Wells of St. Brigid. She was awarded the Art History Department Graduate Research Grant to help make this project possible. Clare will present her paper at the Fall 2016 Graduate Student Forum on Dec. 16th.

This summer I was fortunate to be able to travel around Ireland for three weeks researching the holy wells of St. Brigid in Ireland, which is the topic of my qualifying paper for this program. I have been exploring the St. Brigid’s holy wells for two years now and had hit a wall due to a lack of photographs and site-specific records, prompting this trip.

A sign marks St. Brigid’s Well, Killare, County Westmeath. In order to access the holy well, which is located in a copse of trees, visitors must walk through a field of grazing sheep. Photograph taken by author on June 4, 2016.

Holy wells are noteworthy settings because, in addition to being semi-man-made places of prayer and contemplation out in nature, many of them are believed to cure physical ailments in addition to spiritual ones. Almost every town in Ireland has at least one holy well, with some counties having upwards of one hundred, for a total of approximately three thousand wells in the country as a whole. The landscape in which holy wells reside shows an amalgamation of pre-Christian and Christian practice and have been enhanced by man-made additions such as signs, well-houses, paved paths, shrines, and the Stations of the Cross.

Stations of the Cross at St. Brigid’s Well in Cullion, County Westmeath. A path allows visitors to circumambulate the well while praying the Stations of the Cross. Photograph taken by author on June 4, 2016.

Throughout the course of my research I have come across one hundred holy wells dedicated to St. Brigid in Ireland, not all of which are still in use today. I was able to visit ten of these holy wells while in Ireland, along with local libraries, historical sites, and the Solas Bhríde center in Kildare run by Brigidine nuns. My qualifying paper focuses on four sites, located throughout the country: two wells in Tully, County Kildare; one in Ballysteen, County Clare; one in Faughart, County Louth. These four holy wells were chosen because of their popularity, the fact that they are still venerated today, and because the greatest amount of information regarding the Irish holy wells of St. Brigid focuses on these particular sites. Some of the holy wells that I visited were clearly marked and had road signs pointing the way, making them easy to find. Others, however, were not so obvious, leading to lots of extra driving around (which was already somewhat stressful as it’s on the opposite side of the road from what we’re used to!) and eventually having to ask for directions from locals. These included the St. Brigid’s Well in the Faughart graveyard and another located down the road from Raffony Graveyard.

A stone beehive hut encloses St. Brigid’s Well in Faughart, County Louth, and there are steep steps going down to the water. To the left of the well are clootie trees. Photograph taken by author on June 12, 2016.

Tucked into a hillside down the road from Raffony Graveyard is St. Brigid’s Well, Raffony, County Cavan. Photograph taken by author on June 10, 2016.

Two holy wells associated with St. Brigid, known as St. Brigid’s Well and St. Brigid’s Wayside Well are located in Tully, County Kildare. Both of these sites are still visited today, but the popularity of the Wayside Well has diminished in recent decades with the renovations of the nearby St. Brigid’s Well.

St. Brigid’s Wayside Well in Tully, County Kildare. Stone steps lead down to the murky and stagnant water, and a small amount of clooties and other items point to this well still being a place of veneration. Photograph taken by author on May 30, 2016.

Ritual is an integral part of the holy well experience and it can involve not just the holy well, but also sacred trees and stones. Oftentimes trees nearby holy wells have pieces of cloth, called clooties, tied to their branches, marking them as being venerated. When visiting a holy well the afflicted takes a piece of his or her clothing and ties it to the tree with the belief that the disease which is plaguing them will be transferred from their body to the tree.

Located at the back of the axial site is St. Brigid’s Well. To the left of the well is a clootie tree with colorful ribbons and pieces of cloth tied to its branches. Tully, County Kildare. Photograph taken by author on June 1, 2016.

A small bridge passes over the stream at St. Brigid’s Well in Tully, allowing visitors to access the clootie bush on the right and the statue of St. Brigid on the left. Photograph taken by author on May 30, 2016.

In addition to clooties, it has become quite common for visitors to leave a variety of other objects at holy wells. St. Bridget’s Well in Ballysteen, County Clare had the largest accumulation and assortment of items that I came across during my trip. Not only were there prayer and memorial cards, but also religious statues and images, rosaries, photographs, flowers, religious medals, an empty vodka bottle, a pair of children’s shoes, and a sparkly hula-hoop.

At St. Bridget’s Well, Ballysteen, County Clare, access to the holy water is gained by entering a whitewashed well-house that surrounds the well and proceeding down a dark and narrow passage. Multiple layers of votive offerings have built up inside the well-house. Photograph taken by author on June 8, 2016.

By going on this research trip I not only was able to access local sources that had been unavailable to me previously, but I also gained a better sense of how one is supposed to move through and use the space of holy well sites. Information from both types of visits will help me understand how ritual and space affect and inform one another at the holy wells of St. Brigid in Ireland as I continue to move forward with my qualifying paper.

November 2, 2016 by Marria Thompson

Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Pictish Stones

Sandy Tomney is an art history graduate student completing her qualifying paper research on the Pictish Stones found within Scotland. She was awarded the Art History Department Graduate Research Grant to help make this project possible.

Hundreds of carved stones and stone fragments have been found within Scotland’s landscape. Many of these sculptures are attributed to the peoples known as the Picts who lived in northern Britain during the early historic period. Art historians and archeologists have been studying these monuments for several hundred years and are still working towards better understanding Pictish art and society. Recently, on a trip to Scotland, I had the opportunity to examine some of the monuments and their find sites first hand.

St Orland’s Stone is an example of an early historic Pictish monument. (photos by author, 2016)

Due to the large number of Pictish stones that have been found, I decided to use iconographical similarities to limit my investigation of the stones. The ten monuments that were to be examined are carved with quadrupeds that have clawed feet, long legs, long tails, long duck-like noses, large eyes, and profiled bodies. It just so happened that each of these monuments was originally found near Scotland’s east coast. Each was discovered south of the Cairngorms and slightly inland from the coastline among agricultural land. With the exception of the Forteviot Church Stone, each of the other monuments was originally found north of the River Tay.

Example of quadrupeds with clawed feet, long legs, long tails, long duck-like noses, large eyes, and profiled bodies found on Meigle No. 4. (Photo by author, 2016)

Aberlemno No. 2 still stands in the local kirkyard. During the winter months it is covered with a protective box. (Photos by author, 2016)

The monuments have similar iconography, but visiting their find sites revealed a topographical connection between the stones as well. Seven of the find sites visited were near rolling fields of barley and other grains. This landscape differs greatly from the more mountainous regions to the west and north. The eighth and most northerly Dunfallandy Stone’s find spot was near Killiecrankie along the floodplain of the River Gary. The River Gary cuts through the southwestern tip of Cairngorm National Park. Although the area’s landscape is in transition from rolling hills to mountains, similar to the other find spots, much of the land is dedicated to agriculture. Of the stones that were visited, only St. Orland’s Stone found in a field near Forfar and the Aberlemno stones situated along the local road and in the local kirkyard potentially remain in their original find spots. Most of the monuments have been moved into museums or churches to avoid further deterioration that may be caused by the elements.

The village of Meigle is surrounded by productive agricultural land such as this barley field. (Photo by author, 2016)

The River Gary near the Dunfallandy Stone’s find site. (Photo by author, 2016)

The trail to the remote St. Orland’s Stone in Angus. ((Photo by author, 2016)

Visiting the small museums not only allowed me to view the stones in the study, but also provided a chance to see other Pictish stones. Seeing Strathmartine No. 3 on display at The Meffan Museum and Gallery in Forfar allowed me to better discern details on the stone that photographs just could not capture. In addition to Strathmartine No. 3, the museum was exhibiting the stones found nearby at Kirriemuir. About twelve miles from Forfar is the Meigle collection of twenty-six monuments that is housed in an old school house. The Meigle Museum had on exhibit three of the monuments that were on the list of those to see. Viewing the monuments allowed for a better understanding of the scale of the stones and how they might function within their original cultural landscape. Although their collections did not include any of the monuments on my list, I also visited the St. Vigeans Stones and Museum as well as the Museum of Perth. Both museums are located within the region and the monuments they exhibit may be useful as comparisons.

Strathmartine No. 3 on display at the Meffan Museum and Gallery in Forfar. (Phots by author, 2016)

Strathmartine No. 3 on display at the Meffan Museum and Gallery in Forfar. (Photo by author, 2016)

Originally found just outside of Aberlemno, the Woodrae Castle Stone was one of the stones on the list that was a “must see.” It is now on display at the National Museum of Scotland, and a trip to the Edinburgh museum provided an opportunity to personally observe the details on the amazing stone. The museum trip also permitted me to view an array of other Pictish stones, as well as, Celts a major joint exhibition between the National Museums of Britain and Scotland. Although the museum in the busy city felt like another world after exploring the country side, it was well worth the detour.

The Woodrae Castle Stone at the Scottish National Museum, Edinburgh. (Photo by Robin Tomney, 2016)

Overall the trip allowed me to visit the find sites of all ten monuments and actually see eight of the ten stones. In addition, it was helpful to see other Pictish stones that did not have the same iconography as those in the study. The field information that was collected was helpful and greatly added to the research I am currently conducting.

October 26, 2016 by Marria Thompson

Research, Research Travel, Senior Paper, Students, Undergraduate Student

Hanover, MA: A Little Portion of Saint Francis

Solena Cavalli-Singer is an undergraduate Art History major and recently presented her senior paper, ‘Intent vs. Function: Portiuncula Replications and their Departure from Assisi.’ She was awarded the Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant to help make this project possible.

I had no idea what to expect as I headed to Hanover, Massachusetts. All I knew was that I was there to see a chapel, one that had been carefully constructed to match its original counterpart in Assisi, Italy. The chapel, called the Portiuncula (Latin for “portion of land,”) was inspired by the Portiuncula restored by Saint Francis in 1209, which currently resides inside the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Saint Francis’ chapel has also become the inspiration for several other replications throughout the United States. I was fortunate enough to receive a grant so that I would be able to visit the replica in Hanover and use my research to aid in my Senior Paper.

: Portiuncula Chapel, Hanover, MA

: Interior of Portiuncula Chapel, Hanover, MA

The Portiuncula in Hanover resides on the Cardinal Cushing Centers campus, a school for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It is a prominent fixture on the campus, and in the town, because it is also the site of Cardinal Cushing’s resting place. The building is small, yet impressive, and one cannot help but be in awe when looking at it. In fact, the day I visited the sun was shining so brilliantly, illuminating the fresco above the entrance, that it was as if Saint Francis himself was overjoyed that I had come to see this piece of him.

: Cardinal Cushing

: Chapel Observance, nearly 10,000 people attended

After viewing the chapel, I was given free rein of the archives, located in an old dorm room that was in desperate need of organization. Newspaper clippings, photo albums, and old brochures filled up more than half of the room, but there was no true order to anything. Of several things I was sure: first, although I have never been in an archive before, I was certain that most people are not able to mill about and view what they please as I was able to do. Second, given the disorder of the room, I had no clue where to begin, and third, the most important thing was that I needed to leave with a floor plan of the Portiuncula. I spent well over an hour digging through various filing cabinets. The things I came across! Financial plans, newspapers detailing crimes associated with the Center, even a drawer full of relics with their original certificates – I felt as if I were reading someone’s diary, digging into their dark and complicated past.

Letter from architect, Frank Tarzia, during construction

I gathered all the information I could, but still had no luck with the floor plan. This was particularly concerning because I did not know how else I would obtain the dimensions of the chapel. After giving up and deciding that I would have to just contact various sources associated with the building to get the measurements, I began to pack up and head out. Then something happened that could only be considered a miracle. Three steps from the exit, I felt the urge to turn around. As I turned, I noticed a paper bag full of rolled up pieces of paper in the back corner of the room. I don’t know if it was pure coincidence, or perhaps Cardinal Cushing and Saint Francis really want me to write this paper, because those rolls of paper ended up being the original blue prints of the chapel – a gold mine! I almost cried tears of joy. Thirty minutes later, with all of the necessary information in my possession, I left Hanover with a smile on my face and excitement to piece together all of my research.

Original blueprint of the Portiuncula

May 17, 2016 by Marria Thompson

Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel, Students

Uncovering Joshua Johnson’s Baltimore

Alex Kermes is an art history graduate student completing his qualifying paper on the 19th century painter, Joshua Johnson. He was awarded the Art History Department Graduate Research Grant to help make this project possible. Alex will be presenting his qualifying paper research at the Art History Graduate Forum on December 18.

Joshua Johnson, the topic of study for my Qualifying Paper, is an enigmatic figure since so much of his life is unknown. Few details have trickled down from decades of scholarship on Johnson, who is considered the first African American portraitist in the U.S. I experienced this enigma firsthand while conducting research on him, and felt the department’s travel grant would help me uncover a great deal more.

Johnson lived and worked in Baltimore, actively painting portraits of middle and upper class clientele from the late-1790s to mid-1820s. Although he owed much to the influence of painters around him, he devised a style all his own. His paintings are characterized by thin layering of oil paint, minimal shading on his subjects (often children), and frequent use of props.

The third largest city in the U.S. during this period, Baltimore had an active African American population, both slave and free. Citizens interacted with a diverse population, and my research has focused on how Johnson responded to such diversity – in spite of the limited sources. The travel grant helped me understand Johnson as a person, living and working as an artisan in a time defined by slave and free status.

The reality of slavery sunk in while I dug deep into the sources in the Maryland Historical Society’s (MHS) library archives. While there, I read a manifest from the 1780s containing all sorts of transactions in Baltimore, including the legal documentation that set Johnson free from slavery. On one hand, it was an important record to look at closely as it assigned the conditions for which Johnson would become free, while on the other hand, these same pages contained transactions for horses, livestock, and ships in the harbor. This provided a disheartening reminder about a significant segment of America’s history.

Still, the MHS provided me with a wealth of details that helped me piece together a personal history of Johnson’s life. I looked at newspaper advertisements of other artisans and city directories that listed Johnson’s various residences throughout his life in the 1800s.

As an art historian, it was important that I see his work in person and up close, and there are far more of his paintings in Baltimore than the St. Paul-Minneapolis area. The Maryland Historical Society is home to a few, though they have a strict photography policy, and other can be found at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I spent time at both to examine Johnson’s works, and simply because both are quite fabulous museums.

While drafting the prospectus for my qualifying paper, one of the major comments I received stressed the importance of bringing his works forward in my discussion. My focus had drifted too far into Johnson’s context that his actual paintings took on a seemingly secondary role. Studying his works in person changed that remarkably. The subtle ways he handled his paint differ throughout the periods of his career, making it possible to identify a Johnson work from 1804 versus one from 1814. This spoke a great deal to me about the work he received during this period and how he was able to hone his craft.

Joshua Johnson, James McCormick Family, 1804-5, 50 x 69 in., Maryland Historical Society, oil on canvas (left); Joshua Johnson, Rebecca Myring Everette and her children, 1818, 55 x 58 in., Maryland Historical Society, oil on canvas (right)

Of course, Baltimore is culturally and historically significant, which meant on my free evenings (the MHS is open only until 5:00), I saw the U.S.S. Constellation parked in the harbor, poked my head in the Walters Art Museum which was located next to the MHS, and wandered the Baltimore Museum of Art’s galleries.

I certainly could have completed my Qualifying Paper without this research travel grant. Yet, studying Joshua Johnson’s Baltimore in person has given me tremendous insight into his life and what his career in painting was all about. Walking along High Street, close to the harbor, I could almost sense where Johnson might have lived and worked in the first decade of the 19th century. I truly built a personal connection to Johnson and his work by studying him on my Baltimore trip, and it increased my quality of research. My Qualifying Paper has already greatly benefited from every additional page of notes I took while in the archives and viewing his paintings and digging through the Maryland Historical Society’s archives – progress that I could not have made without the travel grant. Visiting Baltimore has made him much less the enigma he was when I began my research.

October 6, 2015 by Marria Thompson

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