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 YALE
OFFICE OF
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
March 3, 2009 "Jock Reynolds,
Henry J. Heinz II Director, Yale University Art Gallery,
today announced the creation of a new curatorial department
devoted to Indo-Pacific art, enabled by the generosity of
Yale alumnus Thomas Jaffe, Class
of `71. Mr. Jaffe has provided not only his extraordinary
collection of more than 500 examples of tribal sculpture
from Southeast Asia, augmented by a same-sized collection
of Indonesian textiles, but also the funds to fully endow
a curatorial position and to create a gallery of Indo-Pacific
art. This commitment firmly establishes the Yale University
Art Gallery as one of the country’s leaders in the
field.
The new curatorial position will be
filled by internationally recognized scholar Ruth
Barnes, currently textile curator in the Department
of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum, in Oxford, England.
Dr. Barnes will begin planning the Department’s direction
on a consulting basis in April 2009 and will commence her
post full-time in January 2010.
The gallery is to be named in honor
of Professor Robert Farris Thompson and the late Professor
George Kubler, pioneering Yale art historians. Mr. Jaffe
comments, “Kubler’s lectures on Mesoamerica and
Thompson’s on Africa have opened the eyes of generations
of Yale students to the beauty and meaning of art from beyond
the traditional seats of culture in the West and Asia. This
new department would not exist without them.”
The Jaffe collection consists of exceptional
sculpture primarily from maritime Southeast Asia, augmented
by Indonesian textiles mainly gathered by Jeff Holmgren
and Anita Spertus, renowned experts and collectors in that
field. In addition, Hunter and Valerie Thompson have donated
their own outstanding and comprehensive collection of ancient
Javanese gold jewelry and sculpture, which makes a welcome
complement to the Department’s founding collection........."
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Link to complete press release and additional information
>>
Links to related articles and press releases:
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"Ruth Barnes... to be First Thomas Jaffe Curator of
Indo-Pacific Art" -Yale Art Gallery
•
"New Gifts Enhance Yale University Art Gallery Collections"
-Yale Office of Development
•
"Gallery forms Indo-Pacific dept." -Yale Daily
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