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AcquisitionsBohlen Wood Art Collection
Ray Allen In 1997, Brighton, Michigan resident Robert M. Bohlen visited a gallery in San Francisco where he became captivated by a carved wooden box. Inspired, he began to learn more about the medium of wood, bringing to the task the same energy and intensity that have marked his successful business and civic endeavors. Within a few short years he had amassed what has become one of the country’s most important collections of wood art, known among experts as particularly discerning and adventurous. In 2002, Robert and Lillian Montalto Bohlen very generously gave the Museum of Art sixty-eight of these remarkable wood objects. “We are absolutely delighted with this gift,” said Sean Ulmer, University Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. “With a few important exceptions, fine wood art has been largely overlooked in museum settings, and we share Bob’s enthusiasm for seeing wood in a new way. His gift provides a foundation on which to build a contemporary collection where outstanding examples of glass, ceramic, metalwork, fiber art, and other media would be represented alongside wood art.” These works demonstrate the wide-ranging interests of contemporary wood turners, Ulmer notes. “Bob’s approach as a collector is to seek out both new and experimental approaches as well as to savor the best of traditional forms and practices. So we can find in this collection delightful and engaging examples of classic container forms, forms referencing the human body, and purely abstract, sculptural approaches to the medium.” Like sculptors working in stone, wood artists liberate the forms that they envision within the material, taking into consideration the characteristics of wood grain, tone, color, and texture. Some pieces embrace and celebrate the color and texture of the wood, while others use it as a point of departure, with the artists applying pigment, inlay, gilding, and other materials and techniques that achieve effects that are at times difficult to reconcile with our expectations about the look and feel of wood. “The more you look, the more you are impressed by the range of decisions made by these artists in their effort to take advantage of the possibilities presented by this amazing material,” says Ulmer. In 2004, the Bohlen gift of wood art was featured in the Museum’s hugely popular exhibition, Nature Transformed: Wood Art from the Bohlen Collection. The exhibition—which was accompanied by a major catalogue—is currently on tour nationally. A selection of works from the Bohlen gift will appear in future installations of twentieth-century art from the Museum’s collections. |
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