Girard Collection in El Palacio - Fall 2007
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Transcript of Girard Collection in El Palacio - Fall 2007
E l P a l a c i o 4948 E l P a l a c i o
Alexander Girard was not your typical collector, selecting a kente cloth here and
a clay figure there. He bought in quantity—large quantities. Where another folk-art collector might
purchase one item, Girard, while on buying trips with his wife, Susan, would scoop up fifty or more of
the same thing. Even on their honeymoon in Mexico they filled the car with folk art.
No surprise. Alexander Girard’s fascination with collecting began as a boy, when he was given a Nativity
scene. It was the first of oh so many. Over the years he added to the collection in both number and
elaboration. Friends and relatives returning from travels to other countries would bring the young Girard
miniatures, and soon a collector was born.
A native of New York who was raised in Florence, Italy, Girard developed an eye for design early and
pursued an education in architecture, studying in Rome at the Royal School of Architecture and at the
Royal Institute of British Architects in London. In 1936 he moved back to New York and then to Detroit,
where he broadened the scope of his practice, designing the interiors of offices (the Ford Motor Company
headquarters among them), stores, and homes. Along the way he developed a reputation for designing
By Steve Cantrell
CollectionTheGirard It is entirely possible to be both delighted and overwhelmed by the Alexander
Girard’s one-of-a-kind exhibition—even after twenty-five years. The vastness of
the exhibit space, the complexity of the design, the sheer quantity of objects on
display—the immensity and intensity can be overpowering. And compelling.
That’s why Multiple Visions: A Common Bond has been the destination for well
over a million first-time and repeat visitors to the Museum of International Folk Art.
First, second, third, or countless times around, we find our gaze drawn by different
objects, different scenes. Even after more than a decade here at the museum, I
always “discover” a new piece, one that I’ve passed by but not focused on before.
I expect that the more than 10,000 objects to see will continue to enchant
museum staff and patrons. With his singular vision and intuitive understanding of
the multiplicity of cultures and artistic genres, perhaps Girard himself felt the same
unflagging delight when he was designing the exhibit.
Girard rewards those who look carefully with touches of wit and whimsy,
amazing us with his command of detail and sense of perspective. He appeals to
children and adults alike who peer into the sets from different angles, to glimpse
people and animals, puppets, dolls, and small figures of clay, wood, paper, cloth,
and, yes, even plastics. Some look familiar, clearly identifiable as the products of
specific cultures and places. Others take us to places we can only imagine.
Who can ever tire of going back to these places of enjoyment and creativity?
—Joyce Ice, Director
Museum of International Folk Art
“
”
“ Christening,” the
Aguilar family,
Ocotlán de Morelos,
Oaxaca. Mexico.
Museum of
International Folk Art
(DCA), Santa Fe,
New Mexico. Photo
by Blair Clark.
50 E l P a l a c i o50 E l P a l a c i o E l P a l a c i o 51
and well being. Amulets also safeguard the wearer
during critical periods of life passage and
transformation …
In acquiring his collection of ex-votos and
amulets, Girard privileged the visual and the
intuitive. It was his immediate encounter with the
visual aesthetic and decorative appeal of the object,
not its background or the ethnographic purity, that
motivated him. Girard did not intellectualize this
pursuit, and so he left no “word trail,” no
documentations about the individual objects or his
collection habits. It seems safe to assume, however,
that on early folk-art collecting trips to Mexico,
Girard was struck by the similarities between the
miniature representations of body parts for sale
outside cathedrals and those he knew from growing
up in Florence, Italy. Their decorative appeal and
likenesses in shape, religious significance, form,
and function, despite differences in cultural context,
might have served as Girard’s criteria for selecting
ex-votos to purchase.
Girard seems to have understood intuitively that
such objects encapsulated ritual practices related to
the sacred—to what he termed “the magic and
mysteries of life”… ■
Excerpted from Faith and Transformation: Votive
Offerings and Amulets from the Alexander Girard
Collection, edited by Doris Francis, with
photographs by Paul Smutko, and published by
the Museum of New Mexico Press on the
centennial of Alexander H. Girard’s birth and the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of the
Girard Wing of the Museum of International Folk
Art, in Santa Fe. This book and others are available
from the Museum of New Mexico Press by
telephone order, (800) 249-7737, and at Museum
of New Mexico Shops in Santa Fe and select
bookstores everywhere.
Doris Francis, Ph.D., a research associate at the
Museum of International Folk Art, is an
anthropologist and social gerontologist. Her
publications include Will You Still Need Me, Will
You Still Feed Me, When I’m 84? (1984) and The
Secret Cemetery (2005).
This case in Multiple Visions: A Common Bond holds a range of objects from different parts of Morocco
and other North and Sub-Saharan African countries. All of the amulets are intended to hold pieces of paper
written in Qur’anic verses or other magic formulas.
everything for his projects—carpet, drapery, furniture, even
the placement of objects in a room—a “control issue” that
would become a Girard hallmark, and one that would make
Multiple Visions the exhibition that it is today.
Girard became head of the textile design division for Herman
Miller, in 1952, at a time when fabrics were purely functional
and devoid of decoration. That changed in the twenty years he
headed the division. As renowned designer Jack Lenor Larson
said in Folk Art from the Global Village: The Girard Collection
at the Museum of International Folk Art: “Girard’s career can be
summed up as a long, single-handed campaign to inject the
lively human qualities of joy and spontaneity into what was
probably one of the driest, sensually impoverished chapters in
the history of design.”
Girard felt that fabrics needed color, and Herman Miller
gave him the freedom to express himself. Girard did that by
bringing his passion for ethnic motifs and extravagantly
bright colors to the clean, streamlined aesthetic that
dominated mid-century design. It was not long before
American interiors, both commercial and residential, were
influenced by his bold designs.
His love of theatricality—drama, color and large-scale—
came from his post college days in Europe designing stage sets
and showrooms. This talent was realized to its fullest in New
York City in 1961 with the Herman Miller Textiles & Objects
store in midtown Manhattan. Patrons were amazed at the
juxtaposition of his bold fabrics, the modernist Herman Miller
furniture, and the inclusion of folk art—all of it for sale. It was
the first time New Yorkers had really been introduced to folk
art in a store that was so precisely designed that it was a work
of art in itself.
When Braniff Airlines commissioned him to create a new look
for the company, Girard took design to new heights, replacing
even the “plain plane.” He painted them inside and out with
W henever I visited a close friend in Santa Fe in
the mid-1980s, we always went to the
Museum of International Folk Art. I was particularly
attracted to its collection of objects assembled by
Alexander Girard that related to the human body—
small, shiny metal representations of the body and
its many different parts; amulets worn close to the
person; packets of powders to be sprinkled over
the body; and tablets to be ingested into the body.
My friend and I would go from case to case,
fascinated by the resonance of images of eyes and
hands and by the similarities and dissimilarities
among pieces from many cultures. Although these
artifacts came from societies different from our
own, all of them were accessible and immediately
recognizable, intimate and familiar. They were
about our shared human bodies, and we perceived
them as our embodied selves.
Still, I wondered, what made the objects so
affecting, so compelling? We sensed that these
were not ordinary objects but were endowed with
the qualities that transcended the everyday. Yet the
labels for the display cases gave only the objects’
geographical place of origin or the place where
Girard had collected them. Ironically, ours was
exactly the response Alexander Girard, the
internationally famous designer and folk art
collector, hoped to evoke in museum visitors. “I’ve
watched people in museums,” he said. “Most of
them walk glazedly by, not really seeing what’s
there. They already know all about the things, only
they don’t know anything because they haven’t
been given a chance to see them… [The goal is] to
shock as much as possible, not to be boring, and to
make everyone want to come back.”
In presenting his exhibition of ex-votos and
amulets, Girard wished to create “a purely visual
experience… allowing viewers to reach their own
personal and unconditioned conclusions.” Although
his display encouraged visitors to grasp the
“similarity of the objects from dissimilar places,” it
offered no explanatory labels, no “crutches on
which to hang assumptions.” The human body was
the shared visual experience, the “common
denominator” of communication. That common
denominator enabled museum visitors, despite
their varied backgrounds and subjective
experiences, to respond to the pieces without
simply dismissing them as “strange.”
The ex-votos, or votive offerings (milagros, in
Spanish; tamata, in Greek), in the Girard collection
are small metal objects, often in the shapes of
human figures or specific parts of the body, such
as legs, arms, hands, hearts, and feet. These votive
effigies are presented as gifts to supernatural
beings in thankful reciprocation for favors received,
or they might accompany propitiatory prayers for
consolation and assistance …
Amulets, also part of the Girard collection, are
similarly used in interaction with the supernatural
yet are seen to function in different ways. Believed
to carry supernormal potency and efficacy and to
have lifelike powers, they are worn to drive away
evil and provide spiritual and physical protection
against danger and illness. On the positive side,
people wear them to promote life—affirming
blessings such as fertility, success in business,
physical strength, and general good fortune, health,
In the Eye of the BeholderBY DORIS FRANCIS
“ Italian Villa with Boats,” Museum of
International Folk Art (DCA), Santa Fe,
New Mexico. Photo by Blair Clark.
52 E l P a l a c i o
ON EXHIBIT
E l P a l a c i o 53
different hues and then used variations on a multicolored
rainbow for flight attendants’ uniforms, the company stationery,
the matchbooks, and even the sugar packets.
Though Girard was a social animal during his days with
Herman Miller and working with designers George Nelson,
Charles Eames and Ray Eames, he and his wife wanted a
quieter life and more sun than they enjoyed in either New York
or Grosse Pointe, Michigan. In 1953, the couple moved their
family to Santa Fe, and with them came the folk art collections
that had never stopped growing. Girard’s numerous trips
abroad for clients had allowed him the opportunity to continue
collecting, sometimes for them, always for himself. Once in
Santa Fe, the ever-growing collection was boxed, catalogued,
and stored in two old houses.
Girard’s son, Marshall, who lives in Santa Fe, recalled how his
father collected everywhere he went, sometimes on his own,
sometimes with family in tow. He noted that
finely made furniture and antiques have been
passions for Girard patriarchs through the
ages: his paternal great-grandfather, a furniture
maker in Europe, had an antique store, as did
his paternal grandfather. Another Girard
tradition: sons worked for fathers, including
Alexander for his father. Perhaps it was from
that generational progression and love of fine
craftsmanship that Girard’s appreciation for
the handmade came about. He had a
woodworking shop at his home and made the
storage boxes for his collection and
architectural models with his own hands.
At times Alexander Girard pressed family
members into service to help add to his
collection. One time Marshall met his father
in Rome and was asked to carry a large
collection of Ethiopian bark paintings to
New York. At Idlewild Airport in New York,
customs officials detained him, doubting that
an eighteen-year-old could be interested in
these objects and convinced that he had
stolen them. It took phone calls to his mother
and to the family lawyer to persuade the
officials that indeed these bark paintings
belonged to the Girard family and that young Marshall was
merely transporting them home for his father.
Had he only been carrying some of his personal favorites—
boats—perhaps the questions would have been fewer and the
hassle worth his while.
Marshall said that though other museums expressed great
interest in having Girard’s collection, his father loved New
Mexico and wanted the collection to stay in Santa Fe. Legend
has it that because of the Girard Collection at the Museum
of International Folk Art, the Smithsonian Institution invited
the museum to become part of its system.
The offer was declined but, with a touch
of hubris, was extended in return to the
Smithsonian. Whether or not the story
is accurate, the state legislature realized
the importance of the collection and
appropriated most of the money to construct the Girard
Wing—a bold move on its part. Folk art was not widely
understood or appreciated at that time, and most collecting
in Santa Fe was restricted to Indian artifacts.
Girard insisted on installing the collection himself, because
only he knew how each piece properly related to others. Not
only did he have the perfect eye for collecting high-quality
objects (he was known to say that there was good folk art and
there was folk art that lacked any aesthetic quality), by designing
the installation itself, he also made the entire wing “a singular
artifact, a Girard work of art,” said Joyce Ice, director of the
Museum of International Folk Art. As Girard put it in Folk Art
from the Global Village, “Part of my passion has always been to
see objects in context. As a collector who was often able to visit
the workshop of the artist and see the actual environment in
which a piece was made, I’ve often felt that objects lose half their
lives when they are taken out of their national settings…
I believe that if you put objects into a world which is ostensibly
their own, the whole thing begins to breathe.”
Finding a FavoriteLongtime docent Elisabeth Alley said that the installation is
proof of Girard’s genius and that visitors continue to prove
that. She has seen reluctant visitors wander in and then stay for
a surprising amount of time, dazzled by what she calls Girard’s
“jewel in the crown of the museum.” For her it is a jewel with
BELOW: “Metal-cutouts/Replicas of Early American Weather Vanes,”
by Ivan Barnett, United States, 1981. Museum of International Folk
Art (DCA), Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Photo by Blair Clark.
“ Plaza de Torres,” State of Jalisco, Mexico, ca.
1965. Museum of International Folk Art (DCA),
Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photo by Blair Clark.
“ Harbor Scene,” Museum of
International Folk Art (DCA), Santa Fe,
New Mexico. Photo by Blair Clark.
E l P a l a c i o 5554 E l P a l a c i o
many facets, because Alley has more than one favorite piece:
Heaven and Hell, the cockfighting scene, the christening, and
depictions of people dining.
Why dining scenes? For Girard, a meal was a ritual.
According to Jean Seth, who frequently socialized with the
Girards, the dining table he designed for their home was
suspended from the ceiling. This sense of ritual and theatricality
carried over to the table settings he once designed for Georg
Jensen in New York. Among the six table settings he designed
were the Hostess set and the Husband and Wife set.
Artist and designer Ivan Barnett recalled visiting the Museum
of International Folk Art in the early 1980s, long before he and
his wife, Allison, opened Patina Gallery in Santa Fe, only to
discover his own work on exhibit. At the time, Barnett was
constructing contemporary weather vanes in his studio in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and they were being sold at the
American Museum of Folk Art in New York—several of them
to Alexander Girard.
Girard’s reputation for collecting in mass quantities made
him a well-known figure to artists and artisans around the
world. Jean Seth, whose favorite piece is the Plaza de Toros,
recalled that when she visited Machu Picchu in Peru and told
the vendors she was from Santa Fe, they all wanted to know if
she was a friend of Girard’s.
Not only was Jean Seth a friend: her father, J.O. Seth,was a
Museum of New Mexico regent from the 1930s to the 1950s and
also the attorney who advised founder Florence Dibell Bartlett
on how to establish the folk art museum; her husband, Judge
Oliver Seth, set up the International Folk Art Foundation (IFAF);
and her daughter, Laurel, is executive direcor to IFAF on whose
board Alexander Girard once sat.
Laurel Seth grew up with folk art and knew Girard as a
frequent guest in her home. At fourteen, she volunteered to
work in the collection and knows it intimately, perhaps too
intimately to single out a favorite. So many collectors, she says,
confine themselves to one country or to certain items. She
noted Alexander Girard was the
exception, collecting from 100
countries and selecting on
aesthetics and quality. For Laurel,
the breadth of Multiple Visions: A
Common Bond sets it apart from
other folk-art collections. That,
and Girard’s skill at creating
vignettes, rather than lining up
like items next to wall text, made
folk art accessible.
Girard’s design resonates with
John and Marilyn Newhart, who
worked with Girard and the Eameses at Herman Miller. They
remembered that Girard ran a meticulous workshop there.
Everything had its place, and at night, everything went into
the drawers. Their mutual friendship with Girard grew, and
soon they went on what Girard called “junking trips,” daylong
forays to New York’s countless antique stores. Marilyn said
that Girard had such a good and swift eye that he would
immediately spot the best of the objects. He moved through
the store so quickly, taking items to the sales counter, that it
was nearly impossible to shop with him. He got all the best
things first.
Marilyn used the word “massive” to describe Girard’s method
of collecting: not only would he purchase in huge quantities, he
would place orders for several whole village scenes. And why
not? Girard himself said in Folk Art from the Global Village,
which was published after his death in 1993, that his collecting
philosophy was uncomplicated: “What concerns me is an
object’s intrinsic value. And, collecting for that reason is very
different from acquiring things as if they were currency....With
me, it was really pretty simple: love of the objects came first, and
there was absolutely no other criterion for collecting.” ■
Steve Cantrell is the public relations manager at Museum Resources Division, Department of Cultural Affairs.
“ Pueblo Feast Day,” the Vigil family,
Tesuque Pueblo, New Mexico, ca.
1960. Museum of International Folk
Art (DCA), Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Photo by Blair Clark.
This year the Museum of International Folk Art marks the Girard
Collection’s twenty-fifth anniversary and Alexander Girard’s
100th birthday with ¡Celebrate Girard! with events to rival those
when the Girard Wing opened in 1982. Since then more than a
million visitors have seen Multiple Visions: A Common Bond.
Anniversary Gala and Birthday Commemoration SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2007
Lavish food from Santa Fe’s finest chefs and complimentary
beverages in the Braniff lounge. Live music and dancing
in the La Fonda del Sol Ballroom. Auction of art by noted
Santa Fe and international artists, holiday gift baskets, Girard
collectibles. Sixties fashions, bouffant coiffures and leisure
suits encouraged but optional. Proceeds benefit the museum’s
Celebrate Girard! Project to improve the Multiple Visions
exhibition and storage for the Girard Collection. Tickets are
$150; (505) 982-6366, ext. 112.
Anniversary WeekendSATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2007, 7 P.M.–10 P.M.
Celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of Multiple
Visions: A Common Bond with live music and dancing, hands–
on art activities, artists in costume and stilt walkers. Costumes
encouraged but not required. Complimentary appetizers; cash
bar. Admission is free.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2007, 1 P.M.– 4 P.M.
The twenty-fifth anniversary celebration continues with
myriad activities. Among them are a book signing for Faith
and Transformation: Votive Offerings and Amulets from the
Alexander Girard Collection, edited by Doris Francis; artists
in costume; stilt walkers; hands-on art activities for all ages;
complimentary refreshments; and music by Steve Chavez’s
New Mexican Marimba Band. By museum admission; New
Mexico residents with I.D. are free on Sundays; youth 16 and
under and foundation members are always free.
Additional special events are planned in 2008.
Alexander Girard, 1988, Girard Collection. Museum of International Folk
Art (DCA), Santa Fe, New Mexico. Photograph by Michel Monteaux.
¡Celebrate Girard!