Varahi has a crowned boar’s head on a woman’s body. She sits with her ankles crosses and originally had four arms, the back two have broken away as has the front right hand which had probably been held up in a reassuring gesture. Her left from hand is held down at her left knee with the palm held facing out in a gesture of giving. Her body is softly modeled with a narrow waist and full breasts. She wears jewelry that is in sharp but low relief and includes a series of necklaces forming a collar of decoration and a longer one that falls between her breasts which suggests the sacred thread extending down to her waist at her right. She is naked from the waist up and the lower garment is merely suggested by the heavier folds at the waist. Her head is tilted and her chin/snout had jutted out to the left, but the lower snout is broken away. She wears a conical crown that accents the long diagonal of her face. Originally there was an arch behind the image which would have supported her back arms, so the image would have appeared denser, with only the cut away empty space to the sides of her waist.
Subject Matter
This image was discovered in 1926 by the French archaeologist Gabriel Jouveau-Debreuil in Kancipuram, an area about 70 km southwest of Chennai (Madras), along with a large group of other sculptures of goddesses and one image of Siva. Varahi is one of the Saptamâtrikâ, or "seven mothers"—mothers of the principal gods of the Hindu pantheon. Several other, larger images goddesses at the site have been identified as Yoginis, or tantric goddesses. Companion images from the series are now distributed among major museums of the world, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Musee Guimet, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
One of the set of goddesses often grouped into the Saptamatrika, the Seven Mothers, Varahi is the female counterpart to Varaha, the boar-headed incarnation of Vishnu. In Hindu mythology, the Seven Mothers are extremely powerful and as a group represent the power of all of the gods. The female principal is the active one in Hinduism and the Mothers as a group can destroy demons and protect against diseases.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Indian deities are complex: the forms they take are many and, at times, seemingly contradictory. On one level, the gods are believed to be beyond human comprehension. Yet images draw the varied aspects of a divine power into a coherent whole—a single physical body composed of human, animal, and superhuman features. Varahi, one of the Hindu pantheon’s Seven Mothers, was created from the shakti, or embodied energy of Varaha, in order to subdue demons. Like Varaha, she is boar headed, and her rear hands would have held his signature weapons. However, protective powers are expressed in purely maternal terms here. She has taut, youthful flesh and full breasts, signifying fecundity, while the gentle tilt of her head suggests motherly affection. Her crossed legs form a cradle, offering a tender sanctuary.
(Label for UMMA South and Southeast Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Varahi has a crowned boar’s head on a woman’s body. She sits with her ankles crosses and originally had four arms, the back two have broken away as has the front right hand which had probably been held up in a reassuring gesture. Her left from hand is held down at her left knee with the palm held facing out in a gesture of giving. Her body is softly modeled with a narrow waist and full breasts. She wears jewelry that is in sharp but low relief and includes a series of necklaces forming a collar of decoration and a longer one that falls between her breasts which suggests the sacred thread extending down to her waist at her right. She is naked from the waist up and the lower garment is merely suggested by the heavier folds at the waist. Her head is tilted and her chin/snout had jutted out to the left, but the lower snout is broken away. She wears a conical crown that accents the long diagonal of her face. Originally there was an arch behind the image which would have supported her back arms, so the image would have appeared denser, with only the cut away empty space to the sides of her waist.
Subject Matter
This image was discovered in 1926 by the French archaeologist Gabriel Jouveau-Debreuil in Kancipuram, an area about 70 km southwest of Chennai (Madras), along with a large group of other sculptures of goddesses and one image of Siva. Varahi is one of the Saptamâtrikâ, or "seven mothers"—mothers of the principal gods of the Hindu pantheon. Several other, larger images goddesses at the site have been identified as Yoginis, or tantric goddesses. Companion images from the series are now distributed among major museums of the world, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Musee Guimet, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
One of the set of goddesses often grouped into the Saptamatrika, the Seven Mothers, Varahi is the female counterpart to Varaha, the boar-headed incarnation of Vishnu. In Hindu mythology, the Seven Mothers are extremely powerful and as a group represent the power of all of the gods. The female principal is the active one in Hinduism and the Mothers as a group can destroy demons and protect against diseases.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Indian deities are complex: the forms they take are many and, at times, seemingly contradictory. On one level, the gods are believed to be beyond human comprehension. Yet images draw the varied aspects of a divine power into a coherent whole—a single physical body composed of human, animal, and superhuman features. Varahi, one of the Hindu pantheon’s Seven Mothers, was created from the shakti, or embodied energy of Varaha, in order to subdue demons. Like Varaha, she is boar headed, and her rear hands would have held his signature weapons. However, protective powers are expressed in purely maternal terms here. She has taut, youthful flesh and full breasts, signifying fecundity, while the gentle tilt of her head suggests motherly affection. Her crossed legs form a cradle, offering a tender sanctuary.
(Label for UMMA South and Southeast Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Heavily worked and reworked pencil drawing on large square of grid paper. Form is an ovoid shape with longitudinal and lateral lines, thinner than it is tall, fit into a rectangular box that represents the block of stone to be carved. At the bottom right of the sketched image, Highstein has noted the dimensions (7’ x 7’ x 2’) x 7. Seven blocks of granite at 2’ x 2’ x 7’ were meant to be stacked and carved into the proposed shape.
Subject Matter
In this early-stage proposal for a commission for General Mills Collection, Highstein works in his characteristic fusion of Minimalist and organic form, scoring an ovoid, egg-like shape with a grid. The original plan as shown here was to stack and carve seven blocks of Canadian black granite each at 2’ x 2’ x 7’ into the proposed shape. The company, however, delivered blocks from different sections of the quarry, which resulted in the blocks behaving erratically when carved. The design of the sculpture had to be improvised as it went along, and so the drawing doesn’t resemble the completed work very closely.
Label Copy
Jene Hightstein
United States, born 1942
Early Stage of Proposal for General Mills Collection
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This sculpture represents an angel bending slightly toward the left with his head tilted downward. Carved slots in his back would have held his wings, and the figure has lost his forearms and hands as well as his legs below the knees.
Subject Matter
This figure can be identified as an angel through the two slots carved in its back that would have held wings. The angel would have appeared alongside other similar sculptures in the interior of a church in the Paris region, where it might have been paired with a figure of the Virgin to form an Annunciation group or perhaps accompanied other angels as part of an ensemble around an altar.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
This graceful but battered figure can be identified as an angel by the two slots in its back, for the attachment of wings. The angel probably belonged to a figural group in a church interior, perched on a column around an altar with other angels or paired with a statue of the Virgin Mary in an Annunciation scene. Sadly, the sculpture has lost its lower legs, forearms, and hands, which held an object such as a trumpet or candle. Although the origins of the work are unknown, the style of the figure indicates that it was produced in the Paris region, a hypothesis confirmed by a chemical analysis of the limestone from which it is carved.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Born near Stuart, Virginia, Raymond Coins moved to an area near Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the age of ten. Working as a farmer most of his life, Coins retired in 1970 and began carving stone figures. Creating art for twenty years, Coins stopped carving in 1990 because of his advanced age. His statuettes and tableaux have been included in numerous art exhibitions.
Perhaps most famous for creating his statuettes or "doll babies," Coins created images of animals, dreams, and some Christian images. Crucifixion depicts the figure of Christ on a cross guarded by an angel on either side. The rendering of Christ’s body is unusual, because his legs are not together and one can not see the post of the cross behind him. The cross also appears to be glowing, perhaps pointing to Christ’s divine nature.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Born 16 September 1837 in Campertogno, died at Bergosesia 4 October 1905. Gilardi began his artistic career following in the footsteps of his father, an engraver. In 1860 he settled in Turin and began to study painting at the Accademia Albertina, under Andrea Gastaldi. His first efforts were of historical subjects: his first exhibited work depicted the death of Andrea del Sarto. Gilardi became convinced, however, that history painting was not congenial to him and he is, in fact, known for humorous genre scenes and competent portraiture instead. He was popular with critics and the public, alike, and exhibited his work both nationally and internationally. He was an admirer of Fortuny and Meissonier and his costume pictures reflect that interest.
In 1870 Gilardi was awarded the chair of design and sculpture in the professional schools of Biella. In 1873 he is known to be at the Accademia Albertina, working under his former teacher Gastaldi, whom he succeeded in the position of master of painting (maestro) in 1889. Gilardi's many students include P. Azzi, Federico Boccardo, L. Bolongaro, Demetrio Cosola, C. L. Gallo, E. Morelli, and others.
His works are in private collections, in Italy and abroad, and in public galleries, including galleries at Turin, Rome and Mannheim.
Sources:
Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs. Paris: Gründ, 1976, vol. 4; Comanducci, A. M. "Dizionario illustrato dei pittori, disegnatori e incisori italiani moderni e contemporanei." 4th ed. Milan: Luigi Pattuzi Editore, 1972, vol. 3; Dizionario enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani, dall’XI al XX secolo. Torino: Bolaffi, 1972-1976, vol. 5; Thieme, Ulrich and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler. Leipzig: Seeman, 1907-1950, vol. 14.
Two women on a settee dressed in elegant 19th century attire, one holding a fan and the other a parasol, while another richly clad woman leans in close beside them, in a lavishly decorated interior setting with ornately carved gilded walls, a large mirror above the settee, inlaid marble floor, and large vases to either side of the settee. In the center of the room is a sculpture of the Medici Venus on a pedestal with her back to the viewer, her reflection evident in the mirror. Between the base of the sculpture and the viewer is an elaborately carved gilt stool covered with rich red fabric. Beside the sculpture, another woman holding a book walks towards the cluster of women.
Subject Matter
Elegantly dressed women in 19th century attire whisper and titter about the sculpture of Venus de’Medici in the center of the room, depicting the goddess in a fleeting pose as she unsuccessfully attempts to cover her nude body with her arms in a gesture of modesty. Gilardi, who places Venus’s back to the viewer, cleverly reveals her front side reflected in a mirror above a settee upon which the women are seated, enabling the viewer to see both the expressions of the women and what it is they are whispering about, creating a witty commentary on the prudish social mores of 19th century puritanical society.
Label Copy
March 28 2009
In A Visit to the Gallery we observe three elegantly dressed museum goers as they sit on a couch observing, in turn, and with apparent delight, the famous classical sculpture of Venus de Medici attempting to cover her nudity. Gilardi brilliantly incorporates a large mirror into the scene, which shows the viewer something of what the women can see but also wittily serves as a prop that instigates Venus’s gesture. Another visual witticism is the juxtaposition of Venus and the heavily clad woman standing to her right in a similar pose: the naked Venus is a forceful reminder of the body hidden under all those layers of dress. The setting of the scene is possibly the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, which has housed the Venus de Medici since 1647, when it was removed from Rome by a Pope who felt it was inciting lewd behavior in the citizenry. The sculpture quickly became an icon of the Grand Tour and of feminine beauty.
The subject of art viewing may have been particularly interesting to the painting’s owner, Henry C. Lewis, an avid Michigan art collector who established a gallery in Coldwater, Michigan, to which he welcomed visitors. Lewis’s vast collection was eventually donated to the University of Michigan, where it formed the core of one of the earliest art museums in the United States.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Inscribed on block: J JUNGTOW sc AR Inscribed in margin below: Der Tod als Freund / Herausgegeben aus der Akademie der Holzschneidekunst von H. Burkner in Dresden / Druck von Breitkopf und Hartel in Leipzig / Erschienen bei Hermann Michels, Buch und Kunstverlag in Dusseldorf
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Signed in pencil in margin below l.r. corner of image: Keith Shaw Williams. In pencil at l.l. corner of sheet: a18002 [....] 14; in pencil on a circular tab (now ripped) pasted on u.r. corner of sheet: 164; In pencil in l.l. corner of mat: JMK 134; in pencil at l.c. of mat: KEITH SHAW WILLIAMS (1906-1951)/ PORTRAIT OF STOW WEGENROTH DRAWING/ ON A LITHOGRAPHIC STONE. Reproduced as/ fronticespiece in The Lithographs of stow Wegenroth [underlined]. 1974
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To make an etching a copper plate is covered with a waxy ground through which a design is drawn with a steel etching needle. The plate is then placed in a mordant, or acid, bath, which bites, or eats into, the exposed metal. After the ground has been removed, any parts of the plate that the etcher wants to stay faint can be stopped out, or protected with varnish. Repeated immersions in the acid bath made deeper lines that print darker. When the ground is removed and the plate inked and wiped to leave ink only in the etched lines, a dampened sheet of paper is placed on the plate and both are pulled through a roller press.
Inscription
Signed and dated, in plate, u.l.: K DVJARDIN.f. Numbered in plate, l.r.: 10 On back, in pencil: BI 169-10 / a 53000 / a 61717 [crossed out]
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
