When it comes to culture, the city of Detroit frequently gets overlooked. While art patrons are lured westward by nearby Chicago or eastward by not-so-nearby New York, few are willing to admit that Detroit has just as much to offer as those other cities. Detroit is not without its problems, but it's not without its gems, either.
The Detroit Institute of Arts, the fifth-largest art museum in the country, redeems Detroit the way aspirin remedies a hangover in time for a 9 a.m. exam. Those who brave the hour-long journey from Ann Arbor into the city will find themselves vastly rewarded.
The DIA boasts a permanent collection of about 60,000 works of all media, including paintings, sculpture, and graphic and decorative arts. Only about two percent of the museum's collection is on display at any given time.
The museum's more than 100 individual galleries are organized into eight general areas: African art, Oceanic and New World art, American art, ancient art, Asian art, European paintings, European sculpture and decorative arts, graphic arts, and 20th-Century arts.
Each gallery contains its share of fascinating and unusual works. For example, the 20th-Century galleries are renowned for their series of murals by Mexican artist Diego Rivera. These murals, which occupy all four walls in a large gallery known as the Rivera Court, were commissioned by the industrial giant Edsel Ford. Portraying automotive workers and historical figures, they depict the industrial spirit of the city of Detroit in the 1930s.
The 20th-Century galleries are also known for their strong pop art and minimalist art collections. Works abound by such instantly recognizable artists as Donald Judd, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenberg and Andy Warhol.
Numerous other works by lesser-known artists illustrate the vastly differing artistic styles of the 20th Century.
If asked about museumgoers' favorite DIA painting, any museum gift shop worker would tell you that it is William Adolphe Bouguereau's 1882 work, "The Nutgatherers," which hangs in the European Paintings galleries. This painting, which shows two young peasant girls sitting in a meadow, exemplifies the French Academie des Beaux-Arts style. It is the most-visited painting in the museum and shoppers buy more postcards of it than of any other work on display at the DIA.
But despite the nearly universal appeal of Bouguereau's painting, museum visitors should not neglect brilliant pieces in this and neighboring galleries by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Georges Seurat and Vincent Van Gogh.
Other galleries have equally fascinating displays. In the Asian archives, museum visitors will find themselves in rooms full of nothing but oversized statues. The American Galleries include a replica of an entire 19th-Century house, complete with contemporary furniture and paintings.
In addition to the standard DIA fare, the museum frequently hosts special exhibits, such as the recent, critically acclaimed "Splendors of Ancient Egypt." The show left Detroit after attracting an astounding record number of museum patrons.
Several special exhibitions are on display until Feb. 28. "Changing Spaces," a compilation of twelve installation art projects, is the result of a collaboration between artists working in non-textile media.
"Contemporary Masterpieces: Selections From the Permanent Collection," was created to spotlight some of the museum's newest and most controversial works from the latter half of the 20th Century.
A third special exhibition, "Early Modern Masterpieces: Selections From the Permanent Collection," features more works from the gallery collection which were made prior to 1948. Pieces in this exhibition highlight works from the School of Paris, German Expressionism and early European and American Modernism.
Finally, "A Celebration of Lithography: Nineteenth-Century Invention and Innovation" opened just days ago and marks the 200th anniversary of the invention of lithography, a printmaking technique. Among the pieces on display are works by Honoré Daumier, Eugene Delacroix, Edouard Manet and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
It takes just as long to get to the DIA as it does to get to Michigan State, and the trip to Detroit is much more intellectually inspiring. For the bargain price of $1 (student admission), the history and art of the world is yours to see. And you can even eat in Greektown when you're done.
01-29-98
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