Nancy Blomberg 1946–2018
I FIRST MET NANCY BLOMBERG in 2006 while developing
an article about a major expansion at the Denver Art Museum.
She met me at the door of the new Daniel Libeskind–designed
buliding and showed me the recent installation of African art, a
modest collection overshadowed by a masterpiece Fang mask.
She then asked if I’d like to see some Native American art. Of
course I would. We crossed the street to the older Gio Ponti
building, went up an elevator, and entered her realm—nearly a
full fl oor of the museum with a vast and extraordinary collection
of American Indian material, both historic and contemporary. I
don’t recall how long we spent looking at treasure after treasure,
but I do know I missed subsequent appointments. She spoke of
the material casually but sensitively, always emphasizing that any
given object was art rather than artifact. The article we ran could
not have been completed without her patient help, and she was
always prompt and generous in providing information in the
years since.
Nancy was born Nancy Jean Bastian in Aurora, Illinois. Her
fi rst museum job was at the Anchorage Museum of History and
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Art. She had moved to Alaska with her husband, Art, who had
been transferred there by the Air Force, and began as a volunteer.
It wasn’t long before she was hired as a curator. She worked at
museums in Los Angeles before joining the Denver Art Museum
in 1974 as an associate curator. In her twenty-eight years there she
rose to become the museum’s chief curator.
Nancy’s emphasis was not only the “art” aspect of a given object,
but also on the contribution of the artist who created it, and
this was a focal point of her reinstallation of the Native American
gallery in 2011, as well as the many exhibitions she produced. A
woman working in a predominantly male fi eld, her achievements
had considerable visibility, and she served as an inspiration for
many, though she likely never intended to. She will be missed.
Jonathan Fogel
IN TRIBUTE
RONALD NOORMAN and his companion, Rijkje Dekker,
have been familiar faces to the tribal art scene for decades
now, frequently visiting shows and events in Brussels, Paris,
and, of course, Amsterdam, where I visited their large and
varied collection of tribal art. The sophisticated collection of
fi ne combs, spoons, small charm fi gures, and a host of other
treasures, all carefully arranged in tidy and aesthetically
pleasing groups, was a real testimony to a passionate and
ever-curious eye. Aside from being a talented collector,
Ronald’s artistic talent was best known to all for his being
an accomplished and strong-willed artist. After an education
at the Rietveld Academie, where he learned to paint, he
devoted himself exclusively to drawing throughout a long
and accomplished career.
In the words of Suzanna Héman, assistant conservator at
the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: “The intimacy of the art of
drawing, in which the thought, through the hand, immediately
touches the paper and which hardly leaves space for
corrections, was Noorman’s ‘metier pur sang.’ His drawings are
characterized by simple forms and move between abstraction
and fi guration. In some drawings, elements of landscapes can
be recognized, others are completely abstract. With charcoal,
crayon, pastel, and gouache, Noorman searches for a balance
between powerful and tender movements.”
About the rather small format of most of his works, he
himself wrote: “As an artist I am not easily impressed by big
works. I prefer to stick to the human format. On small format
I have to concentrate on power, monumentality, tension,
spaciousness, and fl ow”—words that ring true and resounded
in all his choices.
Ronald Noorman passed away in March last year and is
survived by his partner, Rijkje Dekker, and daughter, Romee.
Alex Arthur
RIGHT: Rijkje and Romee
with Ronald Noorman.
Photo courtesy of the Noorman
family.
Ronald Noorman 1951–2018
RIGHT: Nancy Blomberg.
Photo courtesy of the Denver Art
Museum.