Mar

Carl Milles, Just Like Us

Today I was preparing some materials for an upcoming visit from the staff of Millesgarden – the Swedish home of sculptor Carl Milles. As I gathered supplies for the visit, I was reminded of a fun picture I saw recently of Milles who served as Cranbrook’s sculptor in residence from 1931 to 1951.

Carl and Olga Milles at Carl’s 70th birthday celebration, Jun 1945. Photographer, Harvey Croze.

The picture is from Milles’ 70^th birthday party, held in the Kingswood School Dining Hall. Milles seems to have been telling a joke and the photographer captured him mid-laugh. US Weekly, a bit of a “rag” magazine, has a section where they picture celebrities living “Just like Us.” Pictures of George Clooney buying batteries at the hardware store or Octavia Spencer waiting in line at Starbucks, living just like real people do. I thought of this Milles photo in much the same way; Carl Milles makes jokes at dinner, just like us!

– Leslie Mio, Assistant Registrar

7 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

Cranbrook Academy of Art/Kingswood School/sculpture

Author: Leslie Mio/Carl Milles/Millesgarden/Olga Milles

Mar

Photo Friday: Documenting Exhibitions Across Campus

As many of you know, Cranbrook Archives is located in the lower level of Cranbrook Art Museum (CAM). At various times throughout the year, museum registrars and preparators install and de-install the exhibitions presented in the galleries at CAM. Over the past few weeks this process of de-installing exhibitions in the lower galleries started, in preparation for new exhibitions to take over these spaces.

The first exhibition held at Kingswood School in what is now the weaving studio. Primarily designs for Kingswood School, but includes costume designs by Pipsan Saarinen Swanson. Photographer, George W. Hance, 1932

I am always in awe of the work that goes into changing these spaces to support new ideas and work – from the vision and physical work of the preparator and staff to the tracking, un-packing, and condition reporting that is completed by the registrars – it is impressive! In our collections at the Archives, we have correspondence, exhibition files, posters, publications, and photographs to document more than 85 years of exhibitions not only from CAM, but also from Cranbrook Kingswood Schools, the Institute of Science, and exhibitions that faculty and students have participated in across the country.

– Gina Tecos, Archivist

7 years ago Short URL 2 Comments

Archives/collections/Cranbrook Academy of Art/Cranbrook Art Museum/Cranbrook Institute of Science/Cranbrook School/Exhibitions/Kingswood School/Objects/Schools

Author: Gina Tecos/Cranbrook Institute of Science/Preparator/registrar

Mar

Going Green: LED Lightbulbs at our Historic Houses

Since it’s St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I’d talk about one way the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research is going green.In January 2014, there was a crisis among fans of incandescent light bulbs when the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 went into effect, banning the manufacture of incandescent 40- and 60- watt light bulbs. Some house museums were in a tizzy, and many purchased large stocks of incandescent bulbs to use in their historic fixtures with exposed bulbs—no one wants to see a distracting, spiraling fluorescent light bulb in a period room!

The feared depletion of our national stock of pretty light bulbs didn’t happen (there were lots of loopholes and legal challenges), but one intent of the ban—to force the lighting industry to make more efficient bulbs—was realized. Impossible just a few years ago, today there are energy efficient LED light bulbs that are completely satisfactory for use in exposed-bulb situations. After decades of using incandescent lighting, the Center has switched Saarinen House and parts of Cranbrook House over to LED.

LED, or light-emitting diode, bulbs are most praised for their energy savings, but being such an aesthetically minded place as Cranbrook, we have a few more concerns than the utility bill for our lighting:

Cranbrook_SaarinenHouse_9-9-15-0173-dc1_cropped

Maintaining the visual warmth of Saarinen House was vital; we wouldn’t have gone LED if it altered the aesthetic. Jim Haefner, photographer.

First is the color. When I told a coworker I was about to change the lightbulbs in George Booth’s Office in Cranbrook House to LED light bulbs, she was crestfallen. “They’re so blue and cold!” she lamented, something a lot of people fear with LED. It’s true, early LEDs were very blue and a far cry from the incandescent bulbs most people are used to (and prefer). But technology has changed, and now we have a range of light warmth to choose from. The spectrum of warmth is measured in kelvins, and incandescent bulbs are around 2400 K, while fluorescent tubes are 5000 K, and sunlight is 7000 K and up. We’ve chosen 2550 K bulbs for Cranbrook. As far as wattage goes, the lighting industry labels LEDs with their watt equivalents to incandescent, as that’s what we know. I used 25-watt incandescent equivalent bulbs in the office that actually use just 4 watts of power (and last, supposedly, 13+ years).

From left: Incandescent bulb removed from Saarinen House fixtures; clear-style LED bulb used in exposed fixtures; LED bulb used in covered fixtures.

The next concern revolved around the look of the bulbs. You may be familiar with the energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb (CFLs) that have a spiral-type bulb—I don’t think anyone would want those in a chandelier. Even earlier LEDs were bulkier than standard incandescent bulbs because of the need for large conductors within the bulb to reduce heat gain—usually in the form a large white base between the glass and the screw threads. Today, you can buy a LED bulb in practically any shape or style with an internal conductor. The main difference between the LEDs we chose and the incandescent bulbs: when the bulb is off, the LED is a visible golden strip instead of a tiny metal filament, so you see a small yellow marking in the center of the bulb.

Beyond aesthetics and energy savings, there is the cost of the bulb itself. LEDs are getting constantly cheaper, but there’s a fairly big difference between the cheapest LEDs and the prettiest ones. Here at Cranbrook, when a bulb is not visible (for example, hidden by a solid lampshade), we’ve used cheaper LEDs in the same temperature and wattage as the fully clear bulbs we put in chandeliers and exposed fixtures. Either way, the energy savings should offset the costs within just a few years!

Saarinen House aglow with LED bulbs inside and out, February 2017. Jim Haefner, photographer.

By switching to LED, we’re doing our part to help realize Cranbrook’s dedication to the environment laid out in the Cranbrook Educational Community’s most recent Strategic Plan; it states that “we commit to the well-being of future generations through our actions and behaviors.” Energy conservation is one simple way we’ve done this!

– Kevin Adkisson, Center Collections Fellow

Special thanks to Assistant Registrar Leslie S. Mio for leading the LED Lightbulb conversion.

7 years ago Short URL 4 Comments

Architecture/Cranbrook House/Cultural Properties/Historic Properties/preservation

Author: Kevin Adkisson/Cranbrook House/energy savings/fixtures/LED/lightbulbs/lighting/Saarinen House

Mar

Illuminating a Craftswoman

The work of British arts and craftswoman Jessie Bayes (1876-1970) has been described as ethereal, magical, and an “expression of things felt and seen.” Cranbrook has in its collection three of Bayes’s works, acquired by George Booth between 1920 and 1929. The illuminated manuscript “Hymns to the Elements” is one of her most stunning works.

Bayes was known for her work in woodcarving, painting, calligraphy, gesso and gilding, and stained glass, but is best known for her ethereal illuminated manuscripts inspired by Scandinavian, Celtic, and French poetry. She often wrote the texts which were dominated by themes of romance and mysticism and strove to beautify everyday life and “wed the physical and spiritual.” The art of illumination requires patience and laborious attention to detail, which is clearly evident in “Hymns to the Elements.” Bayes, who combined tempera with watercolor and gold gilt, developed her own sense of jewel-like color, often in blues and golds. She felt that the “idea of colour symbolizing love should be above all precious to an illuminator, since, in illuminating, colour can reach its intensest [sic] height of purity and radiance.”

Hymns to the Elements, ca 1923. One of Bayes’ largest and most elaborate illuminated manuscripts. Close-up of Athena, Mistress of the Air.

Jessie Bayes was raised in an artistic family where the four children were taught by their father Alfred, an etcher and book illustrator, to appreciate beauty at an early age. Her brother Gilbert became a sculptor, her brother Walter was a painter who also designed theatrical scenery, illustrated books, and lectured about art, and her sister Emmeline worked in enamel.

Bayes received art education from evening classes at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts, which grew directly out of the Arts and Crafts Movement of William Morris and John Ruskin. There, Bayes learned to gild on wood and discovered a love for writing and illumination which she deemed among the strongest of the curriculum. She was also heavily influenced by her employment with Sydney Cockerell, an engraver and former librarian for William Morris. In this role, he had been responsible for completing the Kelmscott Press publications after Morris’s death.

Close-up view of Hephaistos, the Fire King.

Bayes exhibited widely with the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society, and at the Royal Academy and the Baillie Gallery in London, alongside artists like Walter Crane, Arthur Nevill Kirk, and Omar Ramsden. In 1922, Bayes exhibited some of her illuminated books, as well as paintings on vellum, fans, and panels, at the Art Center in New York. Bayes gradually expanded her repertoire to include painted and gilded decoration on furniture as well as interior design and stained glass work. Jessie Bayes died in Paddington, Central London in 1970.

For Jessie’s personal views on family, life, and art, read The Bayes Saga (1970).

– Leslie S. Edwards, Head Archivist

Mar

Stay Tuned…

Apologies for our tardiness! Due to the widespread power outage in Southeast Michigan, the blog will be delayed by a few days.

Postcard of the Mannleinlaufen (a mechanical clock that commemorates the Golden Bull of 1356) at the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) in Nuremberg, 1921. Courtesy, Cranbrook Archives, The Virginia Kingswood Booth Vogel Papers.

7 years ago Short URL Comments

Architecture/Archives/collections/Images

clocks/germany/Nuremberg/travel postcards/Virginia Kingswood Booth Vogel

Mar

Selfie (/ˈsɛlfi/) – A photographic self-portrait

Most people think that selfies are a new phenomenon, but they have been around since the beginnings of photography. American photographer Robert Cornelius took a daguerreotype of himself in 1839.

As technology advanced, photographers, both professional and amateur, figured out new ways to take self-portraits. The mirror was a popular medium for the selfie. Even the ill-fated Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia took her own photo in a mirror in 1914.

Therefore, it was not surprising that the prolific Booth family photographer Henry Scripps Booth sought a way to take self-portraits. When using something like a Folding Kodak camera, Henry would have “tied a long string to the shutter release so that some member of the group could pull the string and thus make the exposure while remaining in the picture.” (Kodakery: A Journal for Amateur Photographers.)

Here are two examples of Henry’s technique in action: