In honor of International Clown Week we are celebrating employees of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, past and present, who have also been a part of the clown community!
Guest written by The Ringling Archives intern Joy Feagan, this post asks what role historians should play in art museums, and looks at how history impacts every aspect of The Ringling today.
A remarkable relationship between two talented artists is on view in the Museum of Art. Guercino, the leading Bolognese painter of the Baroque period, painted this portrait of the Franciscan friar Bonaventura Bisi.
Curators and staff couldn't help but notice that performance, programs, and visual arts are organically centering around womanhood this spring at The Ringling, with the opening of "Natasha Mazurka: Order Systems" and the premiere of "girlwoman" by Moving Ethos Dance Company.
Of this photograuve, artist Lorna Simpson said: "My work over the past few months is about looking: looking, but not being close enough to know exactly what you're seeing, but piecing together what it is that you see."
The Ringling Archives preserves copies of all of the printed material the museum creates, including brochures, gallery guides, maps, invitations, and much more. However, the Archive’s records of these materials from 1946 to 1995 are incomplete.
Ringling Conservation staff and contracted conservators have been hard at work treating the "Watermelon Regatta" allegorical painting. In this latest step, an isolating varnish was applied to the entire canvas.
