About the Cover

Café Wepler
c. 1908–10, reworked in 1912

Edouard Vuillard

(French, 1868–1940)

France, late 19th-early 20th Century

Oil on fabric

Framed: Framed: 91.8 x 132.7 x 13 cm (36 1/8 x 52 1/4 x 5 1/8 in.)

Unframed: 62.2 x 103.2 cm (24 1/2 x 40 5/8 in.)

Gift of the Hanna Fund 1950.90

Image Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art

DESCRIPTION

In this oil on fabric painting, artist Edouard Vuillard depicts a large brasserie restaurant on Place Clichy in the Montmartre district of Paris. It is composed of several rooms on different levels.

Vuillard’s initial work was strongly influenced by Japanese wood block prints, which revealed bright colors and vivid patterns. Also influenced by several post-impressionist painters, he became a prominent member of a group called the Nabis, whose artwork often featured bold patterns and bright colors on textured surfaces. Vuillard lived near Café Wepler, which was the Paris hangout for the group, frequented by artists like Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani. Today, the Wepler is still in business.

Over time, Vuillard’s colors became more subdued, reflecting a desire to mimic the lighting effects in symbolist theater as he developed his decorative art, creating a variety of decorative projects, including theater sets, wallpaper, textiles, ceramics, and stained glass. 

Later in his career, he moved into interior decoration with his first major commissions, which included nine panels for the dining room of Alexandre Natanson and four decorative panels for the library of Dr. Henri Vaquez.

Sources:

Café Wepler. Edouard Vuillard 1908-1910, rewored in 1912. Cleveland Museum of Art. https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.90

Café Wepler. (c. 1908–10). About the Artist. https://artvee.com/dl/cafe-wepler/

Auricchio L. The Nabis and Decorative Painting. The MET. Published October 2004. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/dcpt/hd_dcpt.htm

Stamberg S. Vuillard: A Parisian Painter And His Jewish Patrons. NPR. Pulished June 19, 2012. https://www.wnyc.org/story/217353-vuillard-a-parisian-painter-and-his-jewish-patrons/

About the Cover

Portrait of a Woman, possibly Elizabeth Boothby
1619

Cornelis Jonson (called Jonson van Ceulen)
(British, 1593-1661)
England, 17th century

Oil on wood

Framed: 93.5 x 78 x 5 cm

Unframed: 65.7 x 56 cm

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, 1973.185

Location: 213 Dutch Painting

Image Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art

DESCRIPTION

In this oil on wood painting, artist Cornelis Jonson displays the stunning portrait of Elizabeth Boothby, the daughter of a 16^th century prominent London merchant. Although painted in England, Jonson’s work reflects the traditions of Dutch portraiture. The period’s richness and detailed realism is reflected in the faux marble oval surrounding the portrait, the expensive lace that adorns the subject’s silk gown, the jewels in her hair, and the silver thread that hangs down from her neck. All of which are symbols of wealth and status.  Note the exquisite detail of the lace and consider the attention and delicacy needed to make it so.

Cornelis Jonson received his art training in Amsterdam before returning to England where his style developed under the influence of the Flemish portraitist Daniel Mytens the Elder. He spent a decade as a portraitist for the English aristocracy. In 1632, he was appointed one of the official court painters for Charles I, becoming “his Majesty’s servant in the quality of Picture drawer.” He spent the last 20 years of his career in the Dutch Republic.

Sources:

Portrait of a Woman, possibly Elizabeth Boothby. Cornelis Jonson (called Jonson van Ceulen) 1619. Cleveland Museum of Art. https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.185

Cornelis Jonson van Ceulen. National Gallery of Art. https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.26319.html

Discover the works of the Dutch Golden Age Painters. Google Arts and Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/discover-the-work-of-the-dutch-golden-age-painters/HgURuPe2Fz5CIw?hl=en

About the Cover

Statuette of a Woman: "The Stargazer"

3000 BC

Early Bronze Age, Western Anatolia?, 3rd Millennium BC

Marble

Overall: 17.2 x 6.5 x 6.3 cm (6 3/4 x 2 9/16 x 2 1/2 in.)

Weight: 453.592 g (16 oz.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund; John L. Severance Fund 1993.165

Image Credit: Cleveland Museum of Art

DESCRIPTION

"The Stargazer" is a small marble statue carved more than 5,000 years ago. It is one of only about 30 known to exist and is one of the earliest sculptures of the human figure in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection.

Stargazer is pure and simple in form with an oval-shaped head that looks up toward the heavens. Details carved into the stone are visible; however, painted features have been lost to time. The sculpture has no mouth, her nose is an elongated ridge, and her small, circular eyes are done in the slightest of relief. The figure can be identified as female by the incised triangular lines below the pelvic area. These same lines define the legs and stop at the feet, which appear to be held tightly together and are her narrowest point.

Thought to be from Western Anatolia, she is carved from a translucent marble that emulates a soft flesh when polished, which adds to the figure’s mystical quality. The Stargazer cannot stand on her own, suggesting that she may have been meant to be held or to lay down. The female form may be associated with fertility and abundance.

While it is not known how this object was used, her mysterious nature invites speculation. Her modernist form gives her a sense of timelessness as her upturned head draws attention away from herself to what is above and outside.

Sources:

Mikolic A. Statuette of a Woman: The Stargazer is a ‘must see’ at the CMA. Cleveland Museum of Art. Published February 1, 2019. https://medium.com/cma-thinker/statuette-of-a-woman-the-stargazer-is-a-must-see-at-the-cma-3d2d64115c7d

Statuette of a Woman: “The Stargazer” c. 3000 BC. Cleveland Museum of Art. Accessed January 26, 2022. https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.165

About the Cover

Untitled

By Phyllis Sloane

Silkscreen on paper, 19.5 x 25”, 1979

Collection of the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve

Phyllis Sloane (1921-2009) was Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, maintained a studio on Mayfield Road in Cleveland’s Little Italy for many years, and finally ended up in Santa Fe, New Mexico where a studio still stands preserved by her children. She was a prolific artist, and for more than 60 years, she explored a variety of mediums, print-making techniques and subject matters, producing thousands of works of art. Beginning with abstract painting in the 1950s and 60s, she moved to more representational works, including still life, city and landscapes, as well as the human figure during the last several decades of her career. She received many awards, including the 1982 Cleveland Arts Prize. Her work has been displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art and across the United States in various private, corporate, and public museum collections, including the regional archival museum Artists Archives of the Western Reserve, which she co-founded in 1996.

“Art is a method of communication. … There has never been anything else I find as interesting or as fulfilling,” she wrote in a comment for the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.

About Artists Archives of the Western Reserve

Founded in 1996 by Cleveland sculptor David E. Davis and eight additional prominent Ohio artists, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve (AAWR) is an archival facility and regional museum located in University Circle, Cleveland, Ohio’s premiere cultural district.

The founding artists believed in the importance of preserving Ohio’s unique visual artistic heritage. So, AAWR preserves representative bodies of work created by Ohio visual artists and, through ongoing research, exhibition, and educational programs, actively documents and promotes this region’s cultural heritage for the benefit of the public.

AAWR maintains a representative body of each archived artist’s work as well as documentation of their lives and careers as Ohio-based artists. Accordingly, the AAWR records oral histories, catalogs exhibition materials, and collects related documents on Ohio artists.

For more information, visit www.artistsarchives.org

Cover Article: Defining HIV and SIV reservoirs in lymphoid tissues