68 MUSEUM news THE COLLECTOR AND THE DEALER Los Angeles—A museum’s collection is always in a state of change and transformation. New objects are regularly added to the permanent collection through gifts and purchases, and both donors and art dealers are key players in this process. The Collector and the Dealer: Gifts of African Art from Jay T. Last and Merton D. Simpson, on view at the Fowler Museum at UCLA until August 7, 2016, explores how the decades-long friendship of two individuals—the late New York–based African art dealer and artist Merton D. Simpson and the collector, physicist, and Fowler Museum patron Jay T. Last—created a lasting impact on the growth and development of the Fowler’s African art collection. Last fi rst met Simpson in the 1960s. At that time, Last had just embarked upon what would become a lifelong passion for collecting African art. With similar aesthetic preferences, the two men quickly established a close rapport, and over the following decades, Last purchased many fi ne works of African art from Simpson. It was not uncommon for Simpson to approach Last immediately upon receiving new pieces that he thought would appeal to the collector’s specifi c tastes. All but two of the objects in this exhibition were donated by Last after he purchased them from Simpson, and because of the former’s role as a major Fowler donor, Simpson’s family offered the Fowler the two rare and exceptional objects in the center of the gallery: a Lobala drum and an unusual Yaka fi ber headdress. These works are accompanied by stunning works of Lega, Zulu, and other art that Last has donated to the Fowler over the years. Last’s support for the Fowler is ongoing. In addition to the art donations that are the subject of this exhibition, in late April the Fowler announced that the museum has received a $1 million gift from Last and his wife, Deborah, as well as a pledge to match up to an additional $14 million in donations. Married woman’s shoulder cloth, lawon. Sumatra, Palembang, Indonesia. 19th century. Silk; stitch-resist dyeing (tritik). 208.3 x 78.7 cm. FAMSF, inv. 2000.118.10, The Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Collection, gift of Caroline McCoy-Jones. ON THE GRID: TEXTILES AND MINIMALISM San Francisco—On the Grid: Textiles and Minimalism presents a broad range of textile traditions from around the world that share many of the same aesthetic choices ascribed to Minimalist artworks. This exploration, curated by textile department head Jill D’Alessandro, underscores the universality of the movement’s underlying design principles, which include regular, symmetrical, or gridded arrangements; repetition of modular elements; direct use and presentation of materials; and an absence of ornamentation. It is based upon pre-existing systems that conceive of the artwork in advance of its actual execution. These systems, often mathematical, rely on the repetition of simple forms. Textiles, by their very nature, comply with these core elements, and textile artists, like the Minimal artists, predetermine the fi nished work through their selection and processing of materials and in the warping, or preparing, of the loom. On the Grid, on view at the de Young Museum July 23, 2016–April 2, 2017, examines these processes and further explores both the preeminence of weaving in the textile design vocabulary and its infl uences on the design of painted and dyed pieces that also conform to Minimalism’s repetition of forms and the grid as patterning devices. Together, more than two dozen textiles from the museums’ permanent collection examine various aspects of the Minimalist art aesthetic that address abstraction, precision, geometry, materiality, and process. These objects refl ect the core principle that there is a beauty in simplicity that is both universal and timeless. ABOVE: Sculpture with twelve heads and four legs. Lega, DR Congo. Ex Jef van der Straete (d. 1984), Brussels; Jean Cambier, Brussels; Dr. Michel Gaud, Saint-Tropez. Wood, pigment, feathers, fi ber. H: 32.3 cm. Fowler Museum at UCLA, inv. X2004.17.7, gift of Jay T. Last. Image © courtesy Fowler Museum at UCLA. Photo: Don Cole, 2000. BELOW: Drum. Lobala, DR Congo. Ex Merton Simpson Gallery, New York. Wood. Fowler Museum at UCLA, inv. X2015.6.1, gift of the Merton Simpson Estate. Image © courtesy of Fowler Museum at UCLA.
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