More From Storage

 Here is more from the Cleveland Museum of Art's current special exhibit "Stories from Storage".

This painting of "Haverstraw Bay" was done by the American artist Sanford R. Gifford in 1968.  Gifford was noted for his talent for portraying light and atmosphere.  Haverstraw Bay is located forty miles north of New York City and is the widest part of the Hudson River.

The museum acquired the painting ten years ago, but this is the first time it has been shown.  Its intimate scale makes it a challenge to display to best effect in a large gallery with other paintings.  For this exhibition it is by itself in a darkened space with spotlights on the picture.

Some works are kept in storage because the museum does not have a gallery devoted to that particular type of art.  For example, there is no gallery devoted to Polynesian art.  This 19th century wooden door lintel is from the Maori people of New Zealand.

Likewise there is no logical place in the galleries to display these 19th century sarapes woven in the Mexican city of Saltillo.

This man's tunic comes from the Shipibo tribe of the Amazon region of Peru.

Also from the Shipibo tribe is this ceramic jar for storing beer made from the manioc, yucca or cassava plants.

For this era of pandemic in which travel is limited, the curators of the photography department presented a pictorial tour of the world.

The famed American photographer Ansel Adams took this photo of Mt. McKinley (now known as Denali) in 1947.

In 1932 Laura Gilpin took this picture of the Pyramid of Kukulkán at the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá in Mexico.

For many years the museum displayed the head of the Roman emperor Vespasian (in the foreground) atop the toga-clad body (in the background) even though the two obviously did not go together.  In fact they to chisel out the statue a bit so that the neck would fit in.  Obviously that is no longer considered appropriate.

Perhaps you have seen pictures in history books of this famous, gold death mask.  It is from the Mycenae culture of Greece and dates from the 16th century B.C.  It is often referred to as the "Mask of Agamemnon" although it is unlikely that it really is of the legendary Greek king who fought the Trojan War.  However this is just a reproduction that was done in the early 1900s.  The original is in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Art historians are divided as to whether this torso of a woman is from ancient Rome or if it is a modern forgery.

The Belgian surrealist René Magritte did this work in which the painting on the easel blends seamlessly with the background.

The French Impressionist, Camile Pissaro did this painting, "The Lock at Pontoise" in 1872.  I am sure that in the past I have seen this hanging in the Impressionist gallery.  I can't understand why they would have put this into storage.

This landscape by the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian was done in 1907, before he started doing the abstract, geometric paintings for which he became famous.

This is just a sampling of the works in the exhibit.  It was a very interesting and eclectic show, and I hope that in the future they do more shows drawing on the trove of objects that the museum has in storage.