The Art of Looking: Vassar's Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
by Laura Austrian

Imagine being able to observe Rembrandt's masterpiece The Three Trees so intimately you could see each tiny line used by the artist to evoke a windswept Dutch landscape. That was my privilege at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, where the Center's prints and drawings curator had arranged for me to view four Rembrandt etchings in the print room one morning. At such close range, the works seemed to come to life before my eyes.

The four Rembrandts are part of a collection of nearly 18,000 works of art described as "very high in quality and very broad in scope" by James Mundy, the Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Mundy, who became the Center's director in 1991, is a Vassar alumnus who was introduced to the collection through his undergraduate art history studies. Though some colleges and universities established art collections or museums early in their histories, Mundy pointed out that Vassar, founded in 1864, was the first to open with an art museum as a fundamental part of its academic program.

The permanent collection grew from a few hundred American and Hudson River School paintings and 3,000 English drawings and prints that were purchased by founder Matthew Vassar from a college trustee. Though the collection is known for its concentrations of Hudson River and English art, significant gifts—such as those of Italian baroque paintings, Old Master Prints, and modern works—have enriched the collection. The Center, whose collection is related to the curriculum across a wide range of subjects, provides students the opportunity to study original works of art. Art history professor Karen Lucic often gives students assignments to work with the collection and has organized seminars in which students gain curatorial experience by learning to research, label, and display works from the Center's collection. "It's a wonderful resource," Lucic said. "It is a first-class museum which should be better known in the region."

Becoming better known in the region and serving the surrounding community are goals of Mundy and his colleagues. The Center offers free admission and is open six days a week. On Thursday nights the museum is open till nine o'clock and offers free programs that attract Vassar students, Vassar faculty and staff, and members of the wider community. "It's turned out to be a shot in the arm, a way of reaching out to the community." said Mundy of the Center's Thursday night programs, pointing out that "many people don't have schedules that suit a nine-to-five or weekend experience."

Another resource available to the public is the Center's print room, which is where I was able to view the Rembrandt etchings so closely. Those interested in seeing a work that may not be on display may contact Patti Phagan, the prints and drawings curator, or Mary-Kay Lombino, the contemporary art and photography curator, to set up a viewing. All of the items in the Center's collection are listed in the database contained on its Web site, and one-third of the pieces on the site have images to accompany their listings.

The collection features works ranging from antiquity to the present. It's possible to observe in one gallery an elaborate earthenware tower created in the second century for the tomb of a wealthy Chinese landowner and then walk around the corner to see one of Alexander Calder's earliest mobiles. Hudson River School paintings hang in another gallery, not far from European Renaissance paintings. Because of its variety and quality, Mundy describes the Center as a "mini-Met." Attesting to its breadth and depth is the guide devoted entirely to the collection published in 2007 by noted museum guide publisher Prestel. Vassar is the first U.S. art museum and only U.S. college or university museum to boast its own Prestel Guide.

Recently the Center has begun to broaden its contemporary offerings. Curator Mary-Kay Lombino joined its staff three years ago and intends to increase its contemporary art collection. EXCERPT, one of the current exhibitions she has curated, features artwork from the collection of contemporary art consultant and Vassar alumna Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn. Many of the works explore and critique issues related to the female body, race, and perceptions of people in society. Among these are the collages of artist Wangechi Mutu such as The Mare, which depicts a heavily ornamented woman with the head and hoofs of a horse; and Hair Relaxer, created in 2001 by artist David Hammons, using a long lock of thick black hair to follow the contours of a Victorian chaise lounge. The exhibition runs until January 4.

Running concurrently now with EXCERPT, through January, is Revealed Anew: Selections from the Collection, for which the Center's staff has selected from the storage vault a sampling of works that have not been shown recently. Many of these are drawings or prints that are light-sensitive and cannot be displayed for long periods of time.

After EXCERPT closes, 86 of the permanent collection's premier modern works, which have been on loan to five Japanese museums since March 2008, will be reinstalled. These works include Mark Rothko's No. 1 (No. 18, 1948) and a Jackson Pollock drip painting entitled Number 10, 1950, among others. According to Center director Mundy, the traveling exhibition has raised Japanese consciousness about Vassar's art collection, in particular, and about American college and university collections, in general. At the same time, it has allowed the Center's curators to display works that are seen less frequently.

Other upcoming exhibitions include Faith and Fantasy in Outsider Art and Catching Light: European and American Watercolors from the Permanent Collection. The Center is also planning a major exhibition featuring the work of British painter Thomas Rowlandson.

To encourage the appreciation of its collection, the Lehman Loeb Art Center offers tours with Vassar student docents that can be arranged by contacting public education and information coordinator Nicole Roylance. The docents, who are trained to speak in an informed and engaging way about the artwork, encourage people to look at it closely and objectively. "What we've found," said curator Lombino, "is that the more people are comfortable talking about artwork, [the more] they feel comfortable looking at it." And then she summed up both the experience of touring the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center and the essence of museum-going: "It really is about looking."