Dale Chihuly (American, born 1941), Confetti Chandelier, 2000. Colored lead glass. Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio), Gift of Sara Jane DeHoff, 2018.23
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) has several recent acquisitions now on view, including a Dale Chihuly (American, 1941) chandelier that was donated to the Museum by a generous benefactor.
Confetti Chandelier is on view in the Director’s Conference Room, located off of Libbey Court, and was installed as part of an update to the space, which is used for both internal and public meetings.
“The colorful chandelier is visible even when the frosted glass door is closed, but we would welcome visitors to take a closer look at it and the paintings in the room when it is not in use and the door is open,” said Diane Wright, TMA’s interim director of curatorial affairs and senior curator of glass and decorative arts. “We are grateful for Sara Jane DeHoff, vice chair of TMA’s board of trustees, who donated this magnificent work to the Toledo Museum of Art.”
Ed Paschke (American, 1939-2004), Parkway, 1983. Oil on canvas. Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio), Gift of Arnie and Carol Gottlieb, 2007.100
Also installed in the Director’s Conference Room is Parkway by Ed Paschke (American, 1939-2004). The painting was acquired in 2007 and was on view only briefly in 2009.
In Gallery 33, The Shepherd’s Prayer by Jozef Israëls is reinstalled after being returned from The Hague where it was on view in The Mesdag Collection. Prior to the loan, it had not been on view since 2013.
Jozef Israëls (Dutch, 1824-1911), The Shepherd’s Prayer, 1864. Oil on canvas. Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio), Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1914.116
“One of the benefits of having such an immense collection is the ability to rotate the art while maintaining the quality of the galleries,” Wright said. “We hope visitors will return often to see how the galleries rotate over time with new works and works that have been on loan or in storage.”
In the Wolfe Gallery, a new acquisition, Oh God/Martina 59/9 by Deborah Czeresko (American, 1961) is now on view. The neon work incorporates found objects, an outdoor barbecue and a vintage women’s trophy with blown glass briquettes piled beneath the grill. The work was created as part of a call for artists, organized by the Brooklyn-based neon signage company FagSigns, to design neon projects for the exhibition Collaborations with Queer Voices, which was on view at Heller Gallery in New York City in 2019. This neon collaborative uses words, symbols and the flashiness of color created with noble gasses, glass and electricity to share messages and meaning from the marginalized LGBTQ+ community.
Katsuyo Aoki (Japanese, born 1972), Trolldom Teku Maku Maya Kon, 2017-2018. Glazed porcelain with cobalt underglaze. Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, Ohio), Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, by exchange, PC2019.22.1
In Gallery 23, the new acquisition, Trolldom Teku Maku Maya Kon by Katsuyo Aoki (Japanese, 1972) is on view. The wall-mounted, hand-painted blue and white porcelain in the shape of a large medallion with a large skull at the top and numerous butterflies and flowers draws the viewer's attention at 11 feet tall and 7 feet wide.
Aoki is known for her elaborately carved and painted porcelain objects that often focus on the vanitas theme and bear her signature skulls, which she says “express the sacred and vulgar atmosphere of the present age.”
With its installation in the Museum’s 17th-century European gallery, Trolldom Teku Maku Maya Kon creates new conversations about how the work of a 20th-century Japanese female artist interacts with a Chinese blue and white ceramic bowl, Delft ceramic vases, the Allegory of Vanity by Jan Miense Molenaer and other Dutch paintings.
