Beginner Tour: Sheldon History

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Beginner TourSheldon History
www.ganzelgroup.com/ph10.html
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Who oversees the Sheldon Programs?
Curator of Education Karen Janovy
Sharon Kennedy Curator
Jorge Daniel Veneciano became the new director of
the Sheldon Museum of Art in July of 2008
Security Facilities Supervisor Lynn Doser
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Hi! Im Karen! My job at the Sheldon is Curator
Of Education. The best part of my job is watching
the faces of visitors as they see how much fun
they can have Looking at the art at Sheldon!
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The Sheldon is among the top university museums
for 20th-Century American Art collections
particularly in the areas of Realism, American
Impressionism, Cubism, Modernism, Pop,
Minimalism, Geometric Abstraction, and Abstract
Expressionism.
The Building
The Sheldon Museum of Art collects, studies, and
presents American art in its historical diversity
and transnational origins. Housing one of the
countrys premier collections of American art,
Sheldon is committed to being a national leader
in developing multidisciplinary approaches to the
visual arts. Our programs and activities explore
manifold relationships among the arts, from music
to architecture, philosophy to film, and
performance to literature. We invite inquiry and
imagination by fostering creative and critical
thinking. Located on the campus of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sheldon supports
the Universitys objectives in academic research
and teaching. In the public service tradition of
land-grant institutions, our activities and
outreach programs foster collaborations within
the University and among our constituents in the
community, Nebraska and the nation.
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The Sheldon is open to the public! Everyone is
Welcome!
Hours The Sheldon's new hours as of June 1, 2009
are Tuesday, 10 am to 8 pm Wednesday through
Saturday 10 am to 5 pm. Sunday noon to 5 pm.
The Sheldon is closed on Monday. The outdoor
Sculpture garden is open 24 hours a day 7 days a
week.
The Basics!
Admission is free! Donations are encouraged.
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How is Sheldon supported?
Sheldon receives support from UNL for staff,
supplies and services endowments at the
University Foundation, and also from the Sheldon
Art Association, our dedicated support
group. The Sheldon building and all of the
artwork in its collections are the result of the
generosity of private donors.
The Basics!
So, how do they get art?
The Sheldon Art Association and people like you
help buy the art. Many folks care about sharing
their love of art with the community, in fact
that is how our museum got here, with the help of
what we call our patrons.
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Storage Areas
Picture of storage here!
What the Sheldon staff does with the art we cant
see!
Picture of storage here!
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The Sheldon sculpture garden, dedicated in 1970,
contains 30 major examples of 20th-Century
sculpture.
The Sculpture Garden!
The garden is about a five-block area on the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus and extends
itself and the impact of its contemporary
sculpture into the downtown Lincoln area.
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The Ethel S. Abbott Auditorium is used for
public talks, concerts and slide shows, and
other activities. It seats 299 people. And
look around itits an artwork itself!
The Ethel S. Abbott Auditorium
Do you know that your group can rent the
auditorium? How cool would that be!
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The building is a work of art. So dont forget
to just look around at it! If this building were
your house, where would your room be?
How the Building came to be!
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Notice that the graceful arches, and the symmetry
of the overall plan are reminiscent of the
classic temples of ancient Greece. http//www.crys
talinks.com/greekarchitecture.html
The building is concrete covered in the same
Italian travertine that Johnson used inside of
the Great Hall. The travertine, limestone
rather than marble, was cut so precisely that
each piece is held by metal clips. It was
quarried and cut near Rome, flown to Lincoln and
put together like a big puzzle. An Italian
foreman, who spoke no English, oversaw the
placing of the travertine here in Lincoln.
Large disks around the lights in the ceiling of
the Great Hall are covered with gold leaf to
reinforce the elegance of the space, and provide
textural contrast to the porous surface of the
travertine. At the time of construction, the
Sheldon was considered to be the most expensive
public building per square foot West of the
Mississippi. When the gallery opened in 1963,
more than 3 million had been spent, and there
was still money to add a sculpture garden and
four large pieces of sculpture for it.
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• The Sheldons

The Sheldon was the gift of Mary Frances Sheldon
and her brother Adams Bromley Sheldon to the
University of Nebraska for the purpose of
constructing and equipping a gallery. The
Sheldon familys bequests (1950 and 1957) stated
that the museum be designed by a famous architect
known around the world. A university committee
reviewed entries from several leading architects
and chose noted New York architect Philip
Johnson.
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Mary Frances Sheldon (1892 -1950)
After attending Lincoln Public Schools, Abbott
Academy, a girls school in Massachusetts, and the
University of Nebraska, Frances became interested
in art and art collecting. Frances loved art and
antiques. She and her sister-in-law, Olga
Sheldon, came to the Spring Exhibitions of the
Nebraska Art Association at Morrill Hall. Frances
thought it was a miserable place to show
artwork. She wanted a gallery where the art
belonging to the Nebraska Art Association could
be properly exhibited. Frances was a shy person
and lived in the family home at 2525 N Street
in Lincoln where she helped her father with his
investments and banking work, managing the
business after his death in 1936. Frances never
married. When she died in 1950, it was learned
that she had left her entire collection, and
funds, for an art museum to adequately exhibit
the growing collections. Her brother Bromley was
the trustee of her estate. Frances had left the
sum of 921,660.00, and all of the art in her
home as a future gift to the Sheldon. Bromley
decided to add half of his estate (675,000) to
Frances trust. He died in 1957, and plans for
the gallery began. Together, their gifts totaled
around 1.5 million.
Taken from Kop Ramsey article, Omaha,
Nebraska Nebraskalands Weekly Magazine, Focus,
January 18, 1970. Lincoln Journal and Star,
Lincoln, Nebraska Karen Janovy, kjanovy1_at_unl.edu,
email to Jonathan Busky, November, 30,
2001 Gladys Thompson article, December 1999
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Olga Nielsen Sheldon (1897-1990)
At age 17, Olga Nielsen graduated from Lexington
High School, and the next year taught in a
one-room country school near Elwood, Nebraska.
Olga was petite, soft spoken, quick to smile,
and had a distinctive twinkle in her blue-gray
eyes. She loved giving gifts that she brought
home from trips. She was very active in the
community, and was a very creative person. She
cooked and sewed, and was also a great reader and
entertainer Olgas father, Hans, managed a feed
store and grain elevator in Lexington and also
served as mayor and postmaster. It was Hans who
introduced Olga to Adams Bromley Sheldon.
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Adams Bromley Sheldon (1887-1957)
Bromley and his sister Frances were born in
Vermont, then later moved to Lincoln where their
father, George Sheldon, invested in stocks and
real estate. George also owned a bank in Weeping
Water, and had lumberyards in Cozad and
Lexington. Bromley attended Lincoln High
School, and attended the University of Nebraska
for a short time after that. Bromley then moved
to Lexington to manage the Sheldon farms and
lumberyard, and to make his fortune. Bromley
was tall and quite thin. He had deep-set eyes,
prominent cheek bones, and a devilish grin. He
usually dressed in tweeds and a sweater.
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Olga and Bromley had no children. However, Olga
helped many of her nieces and nephews with their
education.. Together Olga and Bromley loved to
play bridge, enjoyed the theater and traveling to
New York City, Maine and Vermont. In 1957,
after a long illness, Bromley died. Olga was 60
years old.
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Olga served on the committee to choose the
architect, Philip Johnson, for the construction
of Sheldon. She had a great hand in the planning
and dedication of the building, and traveled to
Italy to help in the selection of the
travertine. Olga, and then director of the
Sheldon, Norman Geske, frequently visited art
galleries in New York City together to look at
possible acquisitions for the Gallery. Olga
enjoyed a wide variety of art and was receptive
to the work of artists of all kinds. Her most
important purchase, as a memorial to her husband,
was Princess X by Constantin Brancusi. Not only
did Olga Sheldon buy art for the museum, but she
also made many important contributions to other
activities of the Gallery. She paid for travel
grants, training courses for staff members, and
an annual award of a gallery assistantship to a
graduate student in the Universitys Department
of Art. She was always a great believer in and
supporter of education. Olga received many
awards, including the Distinguished Nebraskan
Award. She was a life trustee of the Nebraska
Art Association, and a director of the Nebraska
Arts Council. Olga set up the Olga Sheldon
Acquisition Trust Fund. She died in
1990. George Neubert, past Sheldon Director
says, Mrs. Sheldons understanding of the
intrinsic value of art in society, and her
uncommon generosity provided the foundation for
the Sheldon Gallerys commitment to excellence.
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Ground was broken on January 12, 1961 and the
Sheldon was dedicated on May 16, 1963. It stands
as a memorial to Mary Frances Sheldon and Adams
Bromley Sheldon.
Philip Johnson the amazing Architect who Designed
the Sheldon.
An Architect is a person who designs and builds
buildings.
Before designing his first building at the age of
36, Philip Johnson had been client, critic,
author, historian, museum director, but not an
architect. In 1949, after a number of years as
the Museum of Modern Art's first director of the
Architecture Department, Johnson designed a
residence for himself in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, and later his famous Glass House
in New Canaan, Connecticut. Philip Johnson was
the first recipient of the prestigious Pritzker
Architecture Prize when it was established in
1979. To read more go to http//www.arcspace.com
/camera/moran/glass_house/pages/20.htm
Philip Johnson
He built himself a house made from
glass. http//www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Joh
nson_House.html
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Connecticut, USA
Philip C. Johnsons Glass House, New Canaan,
Connecticut, USA (North America) Johnson is the
architect who designed the Sheldon.
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Mr. Johnson was known for breaking the rules
and thinking outside the box! He used his
imagination!
As an art collector himself, Johnson understood
the necessity of providing a neutral background
enabling each work of art to be seen at its best
advantage, yet at the same time creating a
graceful and elegant building that, itself,
exists as a work of art.
Johnsons design for the museum is based in the
geometric simplicity of the International Style
of architecture. http//www.davis-art.com/artimage
s/slidesets/slideset.asp?setnumber416
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THE COLLECTIONS began in 1888, in a single
room in what is now Architecture Hall. The
collection grew so big, that it had to be moved
to Morrill Hall in 1927. The galleries exhibit
art from the Sheldons permanent collection and
special traveling exhibitions that come from
other museums or art collections. The Sheldon
has 14 exhibitions each year and focuses on
American 20th-Century art in all media, including
video and installation art. Exhibitions are
taken from the permanent collection and also are
borrowed from other museums. The curatorial
staff organizes exhibitions, many of which have
been shared with other museums throughout the
United States. With more than 12,000 works of
art, only a small portion of the Sheldons
collection, is on view at any one time. So take
a look at the website or get down to the Sheldon
and bring your family.
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These are some Images from the permanent Collectio
n. What do you see in the picture?
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OKeeffe
Do you see a robot cityscape flower
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OKeeffe painted this view of the Beverly Hotel
in New York City when she was living on the 30th
floor of the Shelton Hotel nearby. She lived
here with her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, a famous
photographer and patron of modernist artists.
Both hotels are on Lexington Avenue. She once
said Lexington Avenue looked in the night, like
a very tall bottle with colored things going up
and down inside it. Does this seem to you like
an OKeeffe painting? It is very unusual as one
of fewer than 20 night scenes she painted in New
York before she moved to New Mexico to paint cow
skulls, but after her very, very large flower
paintings for which she is best known.
New York, Night Georgia OKeeffe
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Brancusi
Do you see an animal apple abstraction
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Mrs. Sheldon wanted to honor her husband with a
piece of art. She went to a New York gallery
with former director, Mr. Geske, where they saw
Princess X in a back room, beautifully lighted
against a black curtain. Buying it for Sheldon
Gallery was a major accomplishment. The artist,
Constantin Brancusi worked on the marble for many
years, chiseling it down from an earlier
sculpture now known only in a photograph called
Woman Looking Into a Mirror. The story goes that
it began as a portrait of Princess Maria
Murat-Bonaparte, who was very vain, always
looking at herself in a mirror that she held in
her handeven while she was eating! You can see
marks on the side of her neck that Brancusi
might have abstracted from the earlier
version. Princess X also exists in a bronze
version.
Princess X Artist Constantin Brancusi
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Hopper
Do you see a window ledge tree stump totem pole
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Hopper is best known for paintings about
silence, or people not talking with each other as
in Room in New York. The man is reading the
paper, and the woman is plunking away on the
piano trying to get his attention. Do you think
shell succeed? He liked to use his wife, Jo, as
a model for many of his paintings. Why do you
think they are dressed as they are? Hopper was
born in 1882 in Nyack, New York, and is
recognized as the most important realist painter
of 20th-century America. Hopper was a student
of Robert Henri, who lived as a youth in Cozad,
Nebraska!
Room in New York Hopper
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How a piece of art gets to the Sheldon

• How does the Sheldon get the art?
• Purchase
• Gift
• Bequest ( given to museum to purchase)
• Exchange
• The Director and/or Curator, the Donors the
  Museum Staff meet to decide which artwork to
  purchase. They consider
• Artist
• Community
• Collection
• Cost
• The Director and/or Curator then travel to the
  city or an art center where the artwork is, and
  purchases it from a Dealer or another museum or
  the artist.
• The work is packaged and shipped to Lincoln.
• Upon arrival the Associate Registrar or
  Collections Department oversees the unpacking of
  the artwork.
• Documenting
• Storage

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Questions Kids want to have answered!
Who decides what Sheldon buys? Sheldon has a
director and a curator, along with many other
staff members. Their job is to learn about
artists and what art the community would benefit
from. If you think of something Sheldon should
have, let them know.
What is a Docent? A docent is a person who is
your tour guide to help you see some great art
and explore the building.
Whats going on in this painting? What do you
see that tells you that?
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Is it possible to spend the night in the
Sheldon? Sorry, the Museum is closed at night. No
visitors are allowed to remain in the building.
There are a few guards who keep an eye on the
museum during the night shift!
The Sheldon has over 12,000 pieces of art and at
least 15 folks to take care of all that artsome
are volunteers.
How does the curatorial staff take care of the
paintings? Its different for all kinds of art,
but the basics are that they need to be kept in a
certain air temperature (68-72 degrees) and at a
certain level of humidity (50). Humidity refers
to the amount of moisture, or water, in the air.
This helps prevent works of art from drying out,
cracking, or becoming damp. There are people
known as art conservators, whose job is to take
care of these objects of art.
Can we draw sketches of the paintings and
sculptures?
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Things to look forIn a work of art!
Spend time looking first at the elements of art,
line, shape, color, texture, and the principles
of art repetition, balance, rhythm. Then you will
begin to see just how those components compare
among individual artists throughout the course of
history.

• Feel free to ask questions
• Sit on the floor
• Listen
• Look
• Relax
• Study
• Enjoy
• Learn

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Can you explore the Sheldon and check off at
least 10 of the questions?
Security Station and Cameras - The security team
keeps an eye on all galleries to be sure the art
stays safe. The team uses cameras to observe all
galleries.
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Philip Johnson - There is a picture of Mr.
Johnson (he is the architect who designed the
museum,) somewhere in the Sheldon. It might not
be a painting, but its there! He is known for
his big black round glasses!
Travertine, inside and out. Its really
limestone though, and its from Italy. How does
it feel? Smooth or rough? Why did Philip
Johnson choose this material for the Sheldon?
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Portrait - Before cameras were invented, artists
painted portraits of people to record how they
look. Artists today paint portraits to explore a
persons personality. Name one portrait you
see_____________________
Lights - Look for them in the Great Hall
surrounded by gold leaf. And look to see how
they are used to make the artwork pop.
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Symmetry - When you approach Sheldon before you
walk up the stairs, do you see that the building
is the same on both sides? Is it like that all
the way around? How about when you peek inside?
Windows? Stairs? Doorways?
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Still Life - A still life is art that consists of
non-moving objects such as fruit, books, flowers,
furniture. Name one still life and tell a
friend what objects are in the art and what
shapes they are. ______________
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Permanent Galleries- What is different about the
permanent galleries and the other gallery
spaces? Museums may buy art, or sometimes pieces
are given or lent to the museum. These spaces
help the curator decide where to put different
pieces of art.
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Princess X A sculpture by Constantin Brancusi
that is made of marble. It greets you when you
visit. How does it look different than the
travertine on the walls?
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Realism can often be found in art objects. This
style tries to show real and existing things as
they appear. As you look at objects at Sheldon,
see how many you think are realistic.
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Auditorium - Inside of the Sheldon there is an
auditorium. Can you find it? Why would there be
an auditorium in an art gallery? Can an
auditorium be a work of art?
Landscape - A painting of natural subjects such
as mountains, trees, sky, fields(you could have
a cityscape or seascape also) Name a landscape
you see. _______________________
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Abstraction - Artists change or simplify the
subject matter to show how they feel about the
subject. Look to find lines, colors, shapes,
value, and textures. Can you write the name of a
piece of art that is abstracted?
______________________________
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Staff - Who else do you see working at the
Sheldon? Look for Karen Janovy, she is the
Curator of Education, or Jorge Daniel Veneciano ,
he is the Director. Who else do you see at the
Sheldon?
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Hurry Back! Name one thing that you enjoyed
about the Sheldon. Its a free museum that has
many new and exciting things to explore. What
did you like best? Who could you bring back next
time?____________________