Here’s a sneak peek. Take a look at Guido Reni’s Madonna and Child…and while you look, click on the audio player below.

A fresh perspective, perhaps, and an invitation to look again in a new way: it’s a new approach to go along with the new building.

Modeled in 1880, greatly enlarged and installed outside Paris’s Panthéon in 1904, The Thinker was already used in an advertisement by 1908. The visual cliché has been around so long that, unless we see the sculpture in person, it’s hard for us to fully appreciate the one work Rodin deemed so vital he asked that it be put over his grave in Meudon, France. In April visitors to the NCMA will have the unique opportunity to see both the original and the enlarged versions of this most familiar of sculptures.

Before visiting, it might help to clear away some of the commercial cobwebs by considering what Rodin originally called the sculpture: not The Thinker but The Poet, according to Curator of European Art David Steel.

In his new book Rodin: The Cantor Foundation Gift to the North Carolina Museum of Art, Steel says The Poet was likely the first sculpture Rodin created for his famous The Gates of Hell. It sits high atop these bronze doors initially inspired by scenes in Dante’s Inferno. Steel tells us Rodin first imagined the poet to be Dante himself, “thinking of the plan of his poem.”

As an editor it touched me that this famous thinker was initially a writer, a poet facing the blank page. Rodin’s poet thinks so hard about his work of art that his toes grip the rock he sits on. Hardly cerebral, the poet is visceral, grounded, and heavy: the monumental cast installed in front of the NCMA’s new West Building, a loan from the Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford, weighs nearly 1,500 pounds.

I was curious what a true poet would have to say about Rodin’s original title for the sculpture, so I cold called a fine translator of Dante’s Inferno, former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky, who remarked on the deceptive ease of creating a poem, or any work of art. Pinsky likes Rodin’s original title “as a corrective to 19th-century and older notions of Orpheus or Dionysus or wild-eyed Highlands bards with their beards sideways in the Scottish wind.”

“It’s interesting,” Pinsky said, “to think about [Rodin’s] image of [The Poet]: hunched, not dancing or lyre-strumming, muscular, not epicene, and working hard. An image of composition and inner work, not of performance.”

Rodin labored on The Gates of Hell for more than 20 years. Gradually the work strayed from the Inferno, and Rodin included stories from the Bible and Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil. Slowly the Poet became the Thinker. “Guided by my first inspiration,” Rodin wrote, “I conceived another thinker, a naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him, his fist against his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself within his brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator.”

In April you can learn more about The Thinker and other figures on The Gates of Hell by visiting the NCMA’s new Rodin court and garden. After seeing these magnificent sculptures in person, pick up a copy of Steel’s book in the new Museum Store or online. Rodin: The Cantor Foundation Gift to the North Carolina Museum of Art also includes a DVD documentary on the collection, created by Emmy Award–winning producer-director Art Howard and coproducer Julie Dixon.

Pablo Picasso, Seated Woman, Red and Yellow Background, 1952

Alfred Sisley, The Bridge at Moret on an April Morning, 1888

Maurice de Vlaminck, The Bridge at Poissy (Le Pont de Poissy), 1905

Emil Nolde, Fishing Boat (Red Sky), 1916

The Museum will be the recipient of a major donation of paintings from the collection of Julian and Josie Robertson of New York City. The paintings are four works by late 19th- and 20th-century European masters. In 2001 and again in 2008 we presented an exhibition of works from the Robertson’s collection. The star of both exhibitions was a striking portrait of a nude, pensive woman by Pablo Picasso (Seated Woman, Red and Yellow Background, 1952). That portrait of the artist’s soon-to-be ex-mistress Françoise Gilot will be coming to Raleigh, first as a loan for the Grand Opening of the new gallery building, and later as a gift.

Two other paintings in this promised donation feature similar river towns and an arching bridge, but they could not be more different. One by the Anglo-French Impressionist Alfred Sisley (The Bridge at Moret on an April Morning, 1888) is all sunny tranquility. In contrast, The Bridge at Poissy (1905) by Maurice de Vlaminck is stridently colored and agitated as though the artist had drunk five too many espressos. The fourth painting is a Wagnerian seascape by the German expressionist Emil Nolde (Fishing Boat [Red Sky]), painted in 1916 in the midst of World War I.

The Sisley joins our two Monets (The Seine at Giverny, Morning Mists and  The Cliff, Etretat, Sunset) and one Pissarro in giving us a strong core collection of French Impressionists. The Nolde contributes a bold new subject to our group of German expressionist paintings. The Vlaminck leaps beyond Impressionism into the wilder territory of the Fauves where things are as strongly felt as they are seen. And the Picasso gives us our first Picasso. Enough said.

Together, these four paintings constitute one of the most significant gifts of art in our history. So, sound the trumpets!

Our newest friend, Kiefer, is a most amusing soul
Sour dour and yet so young
He reminds us of ourselves
As we were centuries ago
But he is so very cynical, believing in so little
Our many parts find levels of amusement and sadness

For excitement we have heard
Kiefer is a good listener
That our new place is ready
That we will be moving soon, very soon
We tingle with the fervor of change
Soon we will be separate again
Our smaller sides exposed to the world
(fear not shy friends, it will not be for long)
And then together again, in our fresh place of honor

There remains, as always
Many stories
To tell

This post is part of the series Follow Our Journey. Follow The Mosaic and six other works of art on the Big Move to the Museum’s new building.

An exciting new project is coming to the NCMA in the Museum Park this spring. Fun for kids and adults alike, Trailmarkers are 12 metal plaques located along the trails through the Park, each with a unique illustration featuring animals and plants native to North Carolina. These illustrations were designed as reliefs so that visitors may create a rubbing of the image by running a crayon across a piece of paper situated over the plaque. What a fun way to create your own work of art while exercising and enjoying the natural world around you!

The NCMA commissioned graphic designer Tim Purus to create all 12 Trailmarker designs. I spoke with Tim regarding the details of this still-in-the-works project.

JD: The Trailmarkers are a fun and different project that gets our visitors involved in making their own art—a rubbing of your designs, as inspired by the natural world. What drew you most to working on this project?

TP: When I visited the park, I really enjoyed the Cloud Chamber and Whisper Bench’s interactivity. The opportunity to create pieces that involve the viewer beyond simply looking was intriguing and sounded like fun.

JD: Explain your artistic process for the creation of the Trailmarkers.

TP: Initially, I sketch whatever pops into my head. I pour out pages and pages, then sift through the sketches for the ones that have potential. At that point, I begin doing research on the subjects I’ve chosen. I collect lots of pictures so I know my subject like a sculptor might. I am compelled to understand their forms. Next, I composite the elements and refine the compositions. Then, surrounded by all my reference material, I ink the drawing with my favorite Japanese fountain brush pen. Finally, I scan the illustrations and do a little tweaking in Photoshop.

JD: How did you determine which types of animals and plants you would represent on the Trailmarker plaques?

TP: Early in the project, we discussed using the flora and fauna indigenous to the area. That led to some very specific choices, like the Carolina lily and honey bee, which are the official state wildflower and insect. The lilies (ilium michauxii) look like flying jellyfish! The Eastern Box Turtle (terrapene carolina) which is the official state reptile. It is also quite interesting to draw; the shell is striking, a clash of repetitious geometry and painterly organic marks.

Texture was another criterion for choosing the elements within the designs. Originally, I conceived of drawings as abstract textures. Then I visited the site with my friend’s children and I realized it needed to be fun as well, so I put a character in each piece. We found a “cherry” scented centipede on that visit, and in honor of that moment a centipede is represented.

Nature is infinitely inspirational to me. I am reminded of a quote by Karl Blossfeldt, whom I admire a lot: ”The best constructions for industrial design had already been anticipated in nature.”

JD: What is your favorite design, and why?

TP: Honestly I don’t have one. I enjoyed doing all of them.

JD: What was the most difficult part of this project?

TP: The most difficult part of the project was keeping it to 12 images. There are so many great things to draw that are indigenous to North Carolina. The easiest part was working with everyone at NCMA. It has been a great experience!

JD: You are currently involved in creating the prototype of a rubbing kit that will be sold in our Museum Store. What has that process been like?

TP: We are trying to anticipate what will work for children and adults. We’ve experimented with different papers and crayons. Simple and sensible is the goal.

JD: What do you hope that visitors would do/take away from your work, besides the rubbing process?

TP: Mostly I hope it’s a fun activity on a nice afternoon walk through the museum park. In addition, I hope that the drawings inspire people to draw, that the images of nature get people to take a closer look at what’s around them, and that the process of rubbing inspires them to think about creating images in different ways.

Follow us as we update you on the progress of the Trailmarkers—and be sure to join us in the Museum Park later this spring to experience the Trailmarkers for yourself!

This project is part of the Active Community and Neighborhood grant program funded by the John Rex Endowment through the Physical Activity and Nutrition Branch of the N.C. Division of Public Health. Illustrations by Tim Purus.

This April Emmett McNeill will likely be reminiscing about an April nearly 30 years ago when he witnessed the NCMA’s transformative move  from a cramped government office building downtown to brand-new galleries on what was then the outskirts of town. It was the biggest transition the Museum had ever undergone—until now.

As the Museum’s longest-employed staff member (35 years!), Emmett has worked in nearly every corner of the NCMA. Sit down with the Raleigh native for a few minutes, and you’re privileged to hear the history of the Museum unfold before you from a different perspective.

Emmett’s tenure at the Museum began with an interview with Director Charles Stanford in spring 1974. “Seems like 100 years ago, but I guess it was just 35,” he says. Emmett worked as a security guard at the front entrance of the Museum for 10 years.

He rattles off names of staff members that many can’t recall or never worked with. “We have a good team here—a museum family,” he said.

Emmett remembers making trips through the Morgan Street building every morning to inspect the lights. At the time, security guards were in charge of lighting in the galleries. When a bulb needed changing, a guard took to the ladder. “Now the lighting crew—part of the Design team—takes care of that,” he explained.

Ask Emmett about the “attempted break-in by deer.”  Upon arrival at work one Saturday morning, Emmett was startled to find the front entrance blanketed with shattered glass. He later discovered the wily perpetrator was a distressed deer.

He has seen the Museum’s 50^th Anniversary Gala, blockbuster shows including the Rodin exhibition and Monet in Normandy, the opening of the Museum Park and Amphitheater, and among other things, an almost-heist by a four-legged mammal. And come April 2010, Emmett will add perhaps the most exciting chapter yet to his own personal history of life at the North Carolina Museum of Art.

Photo by kyoungdb9

What says “North Carolina” to you?

Contribute your picture, and you could be part of a large-scale photo installation that reflects the people and places of North Carolina for the Grand Opening of our new gallery building April 24–25.

Send us a digital photo of yourself, or a group shot with family or friends, taken somewhere in the state—whatever says North Carolina to you—and we might just select your photograph for our commemorative display.

Show us your hometown, annual N.C. vacation spot, or favorite local grub! Be creative! Keep in mind we’re looking for photos of faces—and places.

You only have until Friday, February 26, to submit your photos via our Flickr group! Don’t delay—we want to capture as many people and places from across the state as we can for this historic occasion!

(Oh, and be sure to read all the instructions and requirements before uploading your photos.)

When things settle down a bit, we’ll tell you what it was like to see our home in the new building for the first time. That’s where we met our maker, Ledelle Moe, once again. That will have to wait for another day.

Instead, we want to share some amazing news: You know we’ve actually been on loan for a long time–visitors and volunteers alike love us–but it’s meant that we haven’t always felt like we were part of the family around here. That’s all changed. The Museum docents (we love you!) have generously decided to purchase us so that we may be part of the permanent collection. We’re thrilled. We’ve come a long way on our journey to North Carolina, and soon we will be able to call it home, forever!

This post is part of the series Follow Our Journey. Follow Congregation and six other works of art on the Big Move to the Museum’s new building.

We always have a story to tell
All around us changes occur
We hear much

Our friends tell us the new viewing place is filling
Many of our friends have gained their new places of honor
More than that we are told
Many are joining who are friends of old

We miss all the company, miss the people
But we do not have long to wait
For we can even hear to the highest level of our building
Can hear the plans people make

Our marble parts shiver with anticipation
So many coming to see us
So many faces to see, so many eyes
And onward it comes

Some of our younger friends say it is too long
Too far away in time
But we remind ourselves, yes we do
They are so young, never seeing a century

We remember, we are patient
A few months is not much time
For all around us changes occur
We still have a story to tell

This post is part of the series Follow Our Journey. Follow The Mosaic and six other works of art on the Big Move to the Museum’s new building.