The Meaning of Peonies

An exclusive look into the
Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Artist in Residence program, and what it
can teach us about the conservation and evolution of
art.

An Article from our in-house magazine, The
Collection, Fall 2017(p.18)

It is
morning, and her eyes open to see the sun warming the tapestries
hung in her room. She doesnt rise from her bed but rather watches
the light slowly illuminate each one of the treasures she has
amassed paintings, sculptures, altar pieces, and furniture. One by
one, each illuminated piece recalls a story of its past; some were
bestowed as gifts to far away dignitaries, and some were
commissioned for churches or castles.

And, yet, some of the paintings are new; commissioned
by her and created by the illuminating lights of her generation:
artists. One of whom, John Singer Sargent, is surely still sleeping
in the apartment downstairs. She has invited him to spend time
within the walls of this new building; a building built at her
behest; a building inspired by the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice. As
she rises, she remembers the sun illuminating the Italianate
architecture in a creeping blush of morning light.

Isabella Stewart Gardner likely didnt know it, but
she had begun a program that would inspire generations of artists
for decades after her death. Sargent would be the first artist in
residence, decades before the program was formalized. Gardner gave
visual artists, writers and dancers the gift of time, as one keeper
of her mission would say.

THE HISTORY

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museums Artist in
Residence program was, in a way, born out of tragedy. During one
night in 1990, 13 of the Museums most treasured works were stolen
in what has become the worlds most infamous art heist. In the
aftermath, a French conceptual artist by the name of Sophie Calle
felt the need to create a visual remembrance of what was lost.
Calle was granted intimate access to the museum where she took
photographs and interviewed curators, conservators, guards, and
visitors. One of the more compelling images she created, Last Seen,
captures a visitor gazing upon the empty frame that once contained
a Rembrandt. This series would eventually be exhibited in museums
and galleries around the world and inspired the Museums director to
ignite a movement.

The Museums collection is fixed, as was stipulated in
Gardners will: nothing is to be removed from or added to it. This
presents its own challenge: how do you keep a fixed collection
fresh and relevant? In 1992, the Museums director, Anne Hawley,
created the Artist in Residence program as a call to artists to
help reinvigorate theMuseum. Since its inception, three directors
have shepherded the program and 94 artists have participated. I
spoke to Pieranna Cavalchini, who has run the program since
2001.

The program is custom-made and its never a one-shot
deal. Artists come back again and again, said Cavalchini. Each
artist enters this labyrinth and finds his or her own thread within
it. Some works happen immediately and some take time. The program
also provides artists with access to other great minds of Greater
Boston. Some have asked to be introduced to scientists studying at
MIT. What Cavalchini described sounds like a brilliant
collaboration between the artist and theGardner Museum.

PEONIES

One example is Jean-Michel Othoniel. He described his
lifelong journaling about flowers, their histories and meanings, in
his 2015 book, The Secret Language of Flowers: Notes on the hidden
meanings of flowers in art, published by the Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum:

Since my adolescence, I have amassed a stock of notes
on the history of plants and photographed the flowers and trees
that I have loved. The flowers listed there are fragile and simple.
Humanity has seen in them the illustrations of popular stories;
they are our primary images.

In 2012, Othoniel was invited by Cavalchini to
explore the garden and collection at the Museum. The garden and
flowers are recurrent motifs in the Museums collections:
tapestries, ironware, laces, architectural elements, furniture,
paintings almost everything contains references to plants, he said.
He stayed in one of the two apartments built on the museums
premises in 2012. He traced flowers in the collection. In addition
to his book, Othoniel created a sculpture of a peony called Knot of
Shame, which hung in one of the Museums lower galleries.
Coincidentally, the galleries are the rooms where Sargent and
others once slept.

The meaning of peonies has changed over time, though
the flower itself has remained the same. During the Middle Ages, it
was attributed with healing virtues that were particularly
powerful, notably to treat mental sickness and to counter
misfortune cast by magic. Since the 19th century, it has also been
a symbol of shame, wrote Othoniel in his book. Printed next to the
entry is a detail from The Virgin and Child in a Rose Arbor by
Martin Schongauer. That painting hangs in the Museums Dutch Room.
collaboration between the artist and theGardner Museum.

JUXTAPOSITION

In 2012, the Museum christened a new wing. In perfect
contrast with the original Italianate design, Renzo Pianos addition
was made of steel and glass. This inspired Artist Luisa Lambri to
explore the letters between Gardner and her architect, Willard T.
Sears, and then photograph the spaces within the Museum. Lambri,
herself, is a minimalist, noted Cavalchini. The Museums adornment
took her out of her element. Lambri published a book of the
photographs in conjunction with the opening of the new wing. In it
she published extended excerpts of the letters between Gardner and
the architect.

There is something exciting about a minimalist
interpreting an Italianate building. It was clearly a modern take
on a historic structure. The photos are playful, graphic
explorations of ornate surfaces. She interprets them as light and
shadow; flat and curved shapes. It makes one think that both
Gardner and Sears would approve.

In many ways, the building itself is a work of art
yet, another commissioned by Gardner. She worked closely with Sears
in 1899 to create an inside-out version of the Palazzo Barbaro in
Venice, where she had stayed. The facade that faces the canal in
Venice is replicted as the interior facade of the Gardner,
surrounding the courtyard.

As I spoke with Cavalchini, I ased a terribly naive
question: What drew Mrs. Gardner to the arts? Why spend so much
time, money and effort in support of artists? I mean, as far as I
can see, she wasnt an artist in her own right. Oh, I disagree! she
said. Look at the collection, the building, the works she
commissioned; I think of her as a film director. And, with that
simple statement, I imagined the movement of the light, and the
cinematic elements of the building. I imagined the works curated by
Gardner and the works she commissioned. Her lifes work was art.
That small shift in my perception changed my view of Mrs. Gardner
from benefactor to creator. In my mind, her Museum became a dream
realized.

MAINTAINING A DREAM

As one might expect, the collection is in a perpetual
state of conservation. Many of the items within it are centuries
old. Cavalchini remarked that the conservators are maintaining a
dream. In at least one case, it was the conservation that sparked
the inspiration of an artist. Mexican-born Laura Anderson Barbata
was the Artist in Residence as the conservators were rebuilding
300-year old textiles for the walls of the Rafael Room. After
researching the conservators processes and delving into the damask
patterns, she created a piece called Intervention Rafael Red. Her
costumes were a blend of the centuries-old design at the Gardner
and elements of Mexican patterns. They were worn by stilt-walkers
for an outdoor festival hosted by the Gardner in August.

It is wonderful to see the Museums program stretching
beyond the confines of its walls. By bringing stilt-walkers into
the streets, they are inviting visitors to come inside. In a way,
Anderson Barbatas piece is an analogy for the Artist in Residence
program: it gives the Museum legs. Artists are invited to create a
new interpretation of the fixed collection. That interpretation
travels the world, as does the artist. And new visitors discover
the Gardner Museum through the new work. Like the stilts, these
artists take big leaps from Gardners original collection but not
beyond her dream. I believe this was very much part of it.

The Artist in Residence program allows the
interpretation of the collection to change over time, while the
collection remains untouched. Like Othoniels peonies, the meaning
changes while the flower remains the same. And both are blooming
beautifully.

---

Written by Colleen Barry, CEO of Gibson Sotheby’s
International Realty

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to read this article of the Fall 2017 Collections Magazine, via
publication layout.

Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s website
to learn more at http://www.gardnermuseum.org