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Written by Kat Murrell, Contributing writer
Jan 13, 2011
This page from a choir book, dating to about 1440, is on view in “Hidden Treasures: Illuminated Manuscripts from Midwestern Collections.” – Photo: Courtesy Chazen Art Museum
The Chazen Art Museum is tucked away on the University of Wisconsin - Madison campus, currently obscured by the construction of its new incarnation – a large addition scheduled to open in October. The extra space is welcome, as the Chazen has a collection that reads like a concise encyclopedia of about 3,000 years of art.
Currently on view as a temporary show is “Hidden Treasures: Illuminated Manuscripts from Midwestern Collections,” which brings together about 40 examples from 16 universities, libraries, museums and private collections.
The hush of the exhibition space, with dimmed lights to minimize damage to fragile documents, cultivates a meditative atmosphere in which close viewing of detail reigns supreme. Under these conditions, the flicker of gold leaf adds to the sumptuous quietude. Pages from various Bibles, breviaries, books of hours and other types of medieval tomes are displayed in frames and vitrines.
The works have an almost archaeological quality, as they’re mostly separated from their original context. The archaic language of Latin, and even the old forms of Dutch and French, are impenetrable to most casual viewers. But our eyes glide over the words, admiring the exquisite lines and drawings.
Illuminated manuscripts, termed as such for their embellishments and decorations, combine visuals with text in a variety of ways. The drawings in the margins of a manuscript from the Sistine Chapel offer a parody of a skirmish, pitting a knight against an armed lady. At the top, a bishop gazes with longing at a psaltery-strumming woman who perches on the edge of a paragraph.
Human experiences of sense and sensuality are often combined with representations of an otherworldly realm. In one example, the letter “C” forms the frame in which a monk, engaged in self-flagellation, looks up with an enraptured expression as the figure of God floats above. This picturing of the mystical as literal is by no means uncommon to the medieval mind.
Concrete realities of life were not unknown in these images, however. A particularly interesting one appears in a Dutch-produced book of hours from about 1470, depicting a funeral scene. Rendered in somber grays with exceptional clarity, a cloth-draped casket is attended to by clergy. Mourners sit in church pews. Unexpected and interesting, however, is the figure of a diminutive beggar with a peg leg, leaning on a crutch and holding out an empty cup for alms. The stark realities of life, death and destitution are condensed in this small, poignant image.
“Hidden Treasures” remains on view through Feb. 27, but the permanent collection offers many additional works of interest. Artifacts from ancient Greece and Rome are prominently displayed, and temporarily adding to the Chazen’s holdings are additional medieval artworks on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
One of the most provocative works in the contemporary galleries at the Chazen is Beth Cavener Stichter’s “A Rush of Blood to the Head.” This large sculpture shows two pale goats rearing up on hind legs, locked in a tight embrace and a passionately deep kiss; their prominent erections underscore the overtly sexual nature of the work.
As recorded in Madison’s The Capitol Times last spring when the sculpture went on view, artist Stichter said, “What I try to do in my more recent work is take subjects that are already uncomfortable and try to soften them somehow, try to make them beautiful and ... more poignant and sensitive.”
Going off campus and onto State Street, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art hosts other current exhibitions of note. A work by Iranian-born Shirin Neshat is on view through March 6, loaned by the Art Institute of Chicago. The 13-minute piece titled “Rapture” is stark and poetic, dealing with dualities on a number of levels. It is a room-sized installation with large screens at two ends of the gallery space; the viewer sits between while both screens vie for attention. It is impossible to see both simultaneously.
The stark landscape of Morocco sets the background. On one screen, a crowd of men in black pants and white shirts act en masse. They parade through the narrow streets and arches of an old citadel, praying, fighting and watching together. Their attention is seemingly directed toward the opposite screen, where a crowd of women dressed in the traditional Iranian chador form a similar collective. The push and pull of the two groups speaks to a sense of the polarity so rife in the world today. Shall never the twain meet? It is a question explored, but unanswered.
The MMoCA opens a new exhibition on Jan. 22 with the work of Brooklyn-based artist Shinique Smith. The exhibition, called “Menagerie,” draws on the art history realm with references to mid-century aesthetic approaches such as abstract expressionism and minimalism – but with a post-modern twist. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, the exhibition includes an illustrated catalog.
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