There’s a common denominator among the multitude of different artworks on view in NSU Art Museum’s latest show, on view through Tuesday, Sept. 30 — they all come from the museum’s collection.
Spanning a wide range of various genres, movements, and national origins, “The Riddle of the Sphinx and Other Mysteries” offers a snapshot of the artworks held by the Fort Lauderdale institution, with a handful of new acquisitions on display.
Front and center in the show is a series of works by Miami-based artist Onajide Shabaka. Centered around the totem pillar “Long Journey Home,” a collection of ceramics and gourd vessels by the artist reflect on ecology and African heritage, with many of the works derived from material reclaimed by the artist. Nearby is a sculpture by Vanessa German, “The Blue Boys Blues,” that also considers African themes in its use of masks and beadwork; it was acquired after being featured in the museum’s show of the artist’s work last year.
Similar connections are found in the section focusing on pop art and neo-figuration. Adjacent to works by Warhol and Jeff Koons are a neon-hued color block painting by Peter Halley titled “Persuasion,” as well as a piece by Miami-based, Chinese-American artist Cici McMonigle. Her painting of a cowboy, titled” I’ll Hold You in My Heart, complements Warhol’s silkscreens of Mao Zedong – one artist born in America, one in China, both riffing on iconography from the opposing nations.
All of the works in the latest show are part of NSU’s collection; none of them were borrowed from other museums or collections. How does a museum like NSU collect art, what do they look for, and how are specific artworks chosen to become part of a museum’s collection? According to Bonnie Clearwater, director of NSU Art Museum, the main consideration when acquiring new artworks is how they might harmonize with the existing collection.
“We have some key areas where we have significant depth,” she says. “(This) gives us a real good focus and a way to develop.”
Though the museum collects a wide range of artwork, a few specific genres and periods serve as a foundation. They own the largest collection of art from the postwar CoBrA movement in North America, as well as a large tranche of work from 19th-century American realist painter William Glackens. Art from Latin America and the Caribbean is a focus, as is work from South Florida artists, while modern photography also has a significant presence.
Finding connections with these genres and others in the collection is a key consideration when sourcing artwork to potentially acquire. If a work fits, the curators will present it to the museum’s acquisitions committee, made up of members of the museum’s board.
“I’ll identify works, and also with Ariella (Wolens, curator), she’ll recommend works,” says Clearwater. “We discuss them. How does it fit in? Is it the very best quality or the best work to represent this artist? Whether it’s a gift or a purchase, we want to make sure that, is this the work that’s going to be borrowed for a retrospective? Is this the work that gets reproduced all the time? And that’s how we set the level, then we present it.”
Sources For Funding
Four primary sources of funding are used for most of their acquisitions. The oldest is the museum’s endowment, which tends to cover purchases of pricier artworks from famous and/or deceased artists. The fund is used less often than in the past due to the presence of other options and to allow this source to continue to grow in value.
The Susan S. Miller Acquisitions Fund, meanwhile, focuses on art from living artists, particularly those who are underrecognized or early in their careers. It’s named after the artist who volunteered as a docent for the museum and provided the money to set up the fund. Acquisitions from the Miller Fund have helped to expand the museum’s holdings of contemporary and ultracontemporary art, especially from emerging artists and particularly from South Florida artists. The sculpture by German in the current show was purchased with money from this fund.
Another way the museum acquires works is through the Curator Circle. Launched in 2021, the membership group offers new collectors the chance to participate in exclusive museum activities, meet artists, and select artworks to go into the collection. McMonigle’s paintings, as well as the works by Shabaka, were selected by the Curator’s Circle. Participation in the group costs $2,525 annually and is capped at 50 people. As for the prices of works that are purchased, the museum does not disclose any financial information related to purchases of art, according to Clearwater.
Reggie Zachariah, a lawyer and art collector who is on the museum’s board, has been a part of the Curator Circle for three years. He considers the group one of the highlights of supporting the museum.
“You get to meet different emerging artists and see different collections and things like that in a way that’s probably not as intimidating as it would be on the full board,” he says. “We have the opportunity to vote on using curator circle funds to buy works for the permanent collection. That whole process, the vote and then the unveiling, is probably my favorite thing that I enjoy with the museum.”
Zachariah describes the process of selecting a Curator Circle donation as being semi-democratic. The museum’s actual curators select a handful of works from their list of acquisition targets and present them to the group. They then vote anonymously to select one work from the list. The winner is presented at a special unveiling ceremony.
Finally, the museum also works with private collectors to secure coveted artworks. One example is the recent donation of 88 Latin American modernist artworks from Fort Lauderdale art collectors Stanley and Pearl Goodman. The couple assembled an impressive collection of art from masters like Frida Kahlo, Fernando Botero, and Remedios Varo, and a handful are on display in “Riddle of the Sphinx” ahead of a more focused exhibition this fall that celebrates the bequest.
Occasionally, collectors affiliated with the museum will put up the money to purchase an artwork for the collection or donate an artwork outright from their collections. Members of the Curator’s Circle have sometimes purchased nominated works that were not selected by the group to give to the collection. Zachariah has occasionally purchased artworks for the museum in this manner, such as a painting by local figurative artist Zoe Schweiger titled “Itchy Skin and Sunburns.”
“There was another piece that I thought was just unbelievable,” he says of the artwork. “I said (to myself), the museum has to have it. And so I helped, provided some funds so we could also get that piece, because I just felt so strongly about it.”
The Collection
Where NSU has an edge in this process is in its utilization of the existing collection. Works are frequently displayed in new and different ways, assuring collectors that their donations will be taken care of and, crucially, viewed by the public.
“For the collectors I work with, this is their passion. They’re so knowledgeable. It’s so important that these works are going to be well-used, well-loved, well-contextualized, well-seen. So it’s that kind of relationship,” says Clearwater.
One example the director cites is a series of paintings by Cuban artist José Bédia held by Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz, who founded one of Miami’s first private exhibition spaces. Clearwater had known them since her time as director and chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, and she inquired with them about Bédia’s “Ogun” series, depicting an Afro-Cuban deity, which they owned.
Carlos balked at the request, initially. “‘You mean the works hanging in my bedroom? I don’t think so,’” Clearwater recalls him saying. It wasn’t until he saw another Bédia work he had donated hanging in an exhibition of ceramics by Pablo Picasso that he changed his mind. They donated the full series, and the museum debuted it last year in another collection show. The works are making a second public appearance as part of “Riddle of the Sphinx” this year, proving that the gift has not been made in vain.
“We use the collection. It’s not sitting in storage. It’s constantly being used and recontextualized. There’s confidence from the collectors that they know we know what to do with them,” says Clearwater.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: “The Riddle of the Sphinx and Other Mysteries”
WHERE: NSU Art Museum, 1 E. Las Olas Blvd, Fort Lauderdale
WHEN: Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, closed Monday. Through Sunday, Sept. 28.
TICKETS: $16 for adults, $10 for seniors, $8 for military, $5 for students 13 and older with ID, free for NSU students, faculty and staff, Broward College students, and children 12 and under.
INFORMATION: (954) 525-5500 and nsuartmuseum.org.
