Kicking off 2015 at The Wolfsonian–Florida International University with a dynamic roster of exciting programming, from the public opening of a new exhibition of photographs by Luca Artioli to special events such as artist talks, film screenings, and art-making workshops. Two programs coinciding with our current exhibition Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture pay homage to the influence of the Great War, still felt a century after its outbreak: contemporary artist Mary Reid Kelleywill be on site for a screening of two of her First World War-inspired video artworks, followed by a Q&A; and a three-month, curated series of First World War-era silent films opens with the 1918 drama The Heart of Humanity, a masterwork of wartime propaganda cinema. On our building’s exterior, muralist Michelle Weinberg’s monumental installation Intricate Pattern Overlay—inspired by the graphic “dazzle painting” treatment designed to confused German U-boats—will continue to delight and inspire South Beach passersby throughout the winter.
Friday, January 23 // 6–9pm
Preview and Opening Reception for A Fatal Pass: Entrenchments on the Alpine Front
Join us for a special open house and preview of A Fatal Pass: Entrenchments on the Alpine Front, featuring photographs by contemporary artist Luca Artioli.
Cash bar available.
Friday, January 30 // 7pm
Film: Heart of Humanity (1918)
Calling all classic film fans, history buffs, and American culture junkies for our three-part series of First World War-era films! Curated and introduced by Frank Luca, The Wolfsonian’s Chief Librarian, this series explores the comedy, tragedy, and horror of the Great War through the actors and filmmakers who lived through it. Opening the series isThe Heart of Humanity (1918), the story of a loving family separated during the Great War staring Dorothy Phillips and Erich von Stroheim. Presented with support from the Florida Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Friday, January 30 // 7–9pm
Sketching in the Galleries
Sketch in The Wolfsonian’s stunning galleries! Experience The Wolfsonian’s collection in a new way by sketching in our galleries on select Friday nights. Whether you are a lifelong artist or an excited novice, a drawing instructor will guide you and provide insight on drawing techniques. We will provide drawing materials and gallery stools to all participants. All ages and levels of experience are welcome; youths under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. Instruction in English and Spanish.
Space is limited; RSVP by emailing hecook@thewolf.fiu.edu.
Sunday, February 1 // 2–4pm
MAH JONGG at The Wolfsonian with Ann Israel
Join Ann Israel, author of MAH JONGG The Art of the Game, for a discussion about Mahjong and its storied history, along with a presentation on vintage Mahjong tiles and sets. The presentation will conclude with game instruction and play time in The Wolfsonian Café. Ann Israel grew up in Detroit and now lives in New York City. She is an attorney search consultant and has been writing Advice for the Lawlorn, a weekly syndicated column for attorneys published by American Law Media, since 1994.
Friday, February 6 // 7–8:30pm
Book Club: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
One of the best American novels to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms (1929) is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse. Hemingway’s frank portrayal of the love between Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley, caught in the inexorable sweep of war, glows with an intensity unrivaled in modern literature.
Free for members // Join or RSVP by emailing bookclub@thewolf.fiu.edu.
Friday, February 6 // 7pm
Performance: FIU Honors College A Cappella Group
An evening of popular and patriotic songs from the World War I era will be performed by HEARTbeats, the FIU Honors College a cappella group.
Saturday, February 7 // 1–4pm
Free Family Day – Discovering Design
Join us for Discovering Design, free family days featuring local artists leading hands-on art making workshops, family-friendly gallery guides, and other fun activities. Discovering Design is generously supported by The Batchelor Foundation, Carnival Foundation, The Garner Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and Wells Fargo.
Free for children under 12 and accompanying adults.
Thursday, February 12 // 7–7:45pm
Takeover Tour with Nina Johnson
Let Nina Johnson-Milewski show you her favorite things at The Wolfsonian. Co-led by Wolfsonian curator Matthew Abess, this 45-minute tour will focus on a discussion of several objects of Nina’s choice. Nina will bring her unique point of view and expertise to the conversation in order to offer new insights and unexpected connections between The Wolfsonian collection and a variety of disciplines, world views, and aspects of contemporary culture. Nina Johnson-Milewski is the director and founder of Gallery Diet, the founder and publisher of the Miami Rail, as well as NJM Curatorial Advisory, a full service curatorial advisory company which consults on corporate, private, and civic acquisitions.
Free with museum admission // Space is limited; RSVP by emailinghecook@thewolf.fiu.edu.
Thursday, February 19 // 7pm
Dazzle Painting Talk and Workshop: Michelle Weinberg
Miami-based artist Michelle Weinberg will explain her artistic process and the art of dazzle painting during World War I, then lead a hands-on workshop for visitors to create their own dazzle designs. Presented with support from the Florida Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Free with museum admission.
Friday, February 27 // 7–9pm
Sketching in the Galleries
Sketch in The Wolfsonian’s stunning galleries! Experience The Wolfsonian’s collection in a new way by sketching in our galleries on select Friday nights. Whether you are a lifelong artist or an excited novice, a drawing instructor will guide you and provide insight on drawing techniques. We will provide drawing materials and gallery stools to all participants. All ages and levels of experience are welcome; youth under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. Instruction in English and Spanish.
Space is limited; RSVP by emailing hecook@thewolf.fiu.edu.
Friday, February 27 // 7pm
Film: Wings (1927)
The second film in our WWI film series won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1927. Chief Librarian Frank Luca will introduce this romantic action-war picture in which two young men, one rich and one middle class, both become fighter pilots and fall in love with the same woman played by Clara Bow, the original “it girl” and leading sex symbol of the roaring twenties. Presented with support from the Florida Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Weekly on Fridays // 6–6:45pm
Free Friday Evening Guided Tours
Learn more about The Wolfsonian Collection and related art and design themes during a 45-minute free guided tour of the permanent collection or temporary exhibitions.
EXHIBITIONS OPENING THIS WINTER
*All exhibitions are on view at The Wolfsonian’s main site at 1001 Washington Ave, Miami Beach, unless otherwise noted.
Opening January 23
A Fatal Pass: Entrenchments on the Alpine Front
Photographs by Milan-born artist Luca Artioli show the remains of First World War trenches in the Stelvio Pass, a significant zone of combat on the Alpine front, as they appeared in June 2014 during his visit to the region. In May 1915, Italy entered the First World War on the side of Britain, France, and Russia, with the aim of annexing the “unredeemed lands” (Trento, Trieste, Istria and Dalmatia) held by the Habsburg Empire.For three years, troops fought and died in brutal conditions all along the frontier with Austria-Hungary, from Trentino to the Adriatic Sea. In the mountains, wheretemperatures often reached below zero, Italians and their adversaries alike leveled peaks, opened roads, dug tunnels, and built trenches for shielding soldiers and positioning artillery. Beset by avalanches, snow, and frost, many of the troops who fought in this so-called White War fell as victims of the elements. This installation coincides with The Wolfsonian’s current exhibition, Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture, on view through April 5, 2015.
Opening January 28 // The Wolfsonian Teaching Gallery at Florida International University’s Frost Art Museum
Visualizing the Information Age: Data, Design, and Display
In the twentieth century, truth became statistical. Numbers and data provided a new way to understand such concepts as health, population, work, and territory, and a new language through which parties and states advanced their agendas. Technologies from typewriters and cash registers to radio, television, and stock tickers, assembled, organized, and communicated social and economic data, while methods of social surveying grouped people into “statistical communities.” In order to convey information about these statistical communities, graphic designers developed graphs and charts that represented the abstract and quantitative in visual form. They hoped that these graphic forms of information would offer an objective, scientific basis for the resolution of conflicts and the regulation of society. Visualizing the Information Age shows how the work of these designers provided a new medium for the conduct of social and political debate, even as it encoded the cultural prejudices and presumptions of the day.
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS
Through April 5
Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture
The First World War was radically unlike any earlier armed conflict. On the occasion of the centenary of the start of the war, The Wolfsonian–FIU exhibition Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture shows how artists, designers, and filmmakers responded to the unprecedented qualities of the war: new technologies, from aircraft to chemical weapons to tanks; the massive mobilization of armaments industries on the home front; the grinding everyday experiences of soldiers in trenches along stationary fronts; and the immense scale of destruction that the war entailed. The exhibition focuses on the role of myth in giving comprehensible form to the shattering realities of the war, and on the relationship between humans and machines as a key theme of wartime visual culture. Among the paintings, sculpture, posters, books, and photographs included are many rare and unique items that will offer an unfamiliar view of a conflict that changed the world.
Ongoing
Art and Design in the Modern Age: Selections from The Wolfsonian Collection
These galleries provide an overview of the museum’s holdings of American and European artifacts from the late-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Culled from The Wolfsonian collection are approximately three hundred works in a variety of formats, ranging from books, posters, and postcards to decorative arts, architectural models, paintings, and sculptures. Focal points include design reform movements, urbanism, industrial design, transportation, world’s fairs, advertising, and political propaganda. The United States, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands are most fully represented in the collection. Art and Design in the Modern Age: Selections from The Wolfsonian Collection examines the ways in which art and design have both influenced and adapted to the modern world. During this period the fine arts were characterized by unprecedented experimentation and innovation. At the same time, design became a critical issue for producers and consumers as machine-made objects replaced those crafted by hand. The works on display demonstrate designers’ responses to the profound social and technological changes stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. They reveal how people living in this tumultuous period viewed the world and their place in it, as industrialization, urbanization, mass production, and new transportation and communication systems revolutionized modern life. By interpreting these artifacts in their historical context, The Wolfsonian aims to elucidate the technological and aesthetic concerns, as well as the social, political, and economic motivations that influenced their production. Inaugurated in November 1996, this ongoing exhibition is periodically updated.
Through March 8
Boom, Bust, Boom: Downtown Miami Architecture, 1920s-1930s
The years following the First World War marked Miami’s first major period of expansion, spurred on by construction of the city’s first skyscrapers, including the Miami Daily News building, now Freedom Tower. The devastating 1926 hurricane dealt a major blow to the city’s economic growth, amplified by the onset of the Great Depression. Signs of recovery solidified with the 1939 completion of the Alfred I. DuPont building, an outstanding example of Art Deco design. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the DuPont building, The Wolfsonian reflects upon this architectural legacy and its role in transforming a seaside town into a vibrant modern metropolis. This exhibition of interwar Downtown Miami architecture includes drawings, blueprints, and ephemera from The Wolfsonian–FIU, with loans from The Historic Alfred I. DuPont Building and Tilia Companies, and the University of Miami School of Architecture Archival Collections. It was made possible through the support of THE HISTORIC ALFRED I. DUPONT BUILDING and TILIA COMPANIES.
Through March 8
Pose and Propaganda: Political Posters from the Contemporary Middle East and Afghanistan
The physical poses of individuals in images are rendered to communicate culturally specific meanings readily understood by their intended audiences. Using contemporary political posters from the collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Dexter Filkins, this installation considers a range of bodily gestures and expressions deployed to influence the values viewers bring to bear on this widely popular medium, and includes posters from The Wolfsonian’s collection to illustrate the geographic and temporal range of this graphic strategy.
Through March 15
The Children’s Crusade
During the First World War, children of all ages were targeted by propaganda designed to instill patriotism and provide them with a sense that their contributions were also important to the war effort. Education pamphlets, coloring books, nursery rhyme books, games, and juvenile literature were published to reach young audiences, while musical scores, magazines, and posters used images of children to motivate adults to action.
Through April 5
Intricate Pattern Overlay
Installed on the façade and south-facing wall of The Wolfsonian’s building is an exterior treatment that ties to Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture. Intricate Pattern Overlay, by Miami-based artist Michelle Weinberg, is a gray-and-pink patterned design inspired by the dazzle camouflage paint treatments developed for American and British warships during the First World War. Weinberg’s mural design incorporates the striping and irregular patterning that was intended to disorient German U-Boats.
WOLFSONIAN MUSEUM SHOP
Through January
DesignPOP Pop-Up Shop
Through the end of January, The Museum Shop is home to DesignPOP Pop-Up Shop, inspired by Lisa S. Roberts’s new book DesignPOP—a book surveying contemporary design with a focus on game-changing products by leading designers—and personally curated by Roberts. The Wolfsonian has gathered a selection of the featured items for sale in the Pop-Up Shop, including wares from Alessi, Rosenthal, DesignHouse Stockholm, Areaware, and Wonderworks, created by such varied designers as Michele Oka Doner, Zaha Hadid, Harry Allen, John Brauer, and Dror Benshetrit.
ABOUT THE WOLFSONIAN
The Wolfsonian is a museum, library, and research center that uses objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design, to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, historical, and technological changes that have transformed our world. The collections comprise approximately 150,000 objects from the period of 1885 to 1945—the height of the Industrial Revolution to the end of the Second World War—in a variety of media including furniture; industrial-design objects; works in glass, ceramics, and metal; rare books; periodicals; ephemera; works on paper; paintings; textiles; and medals.
The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL. Admission is $7 for adults; $5 for seniors, students, and children age 6–12; and free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, and children under six. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday from 10am–6pm; Thursday and Friday from 10am–9pm; Sunday from noon–6pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Contact us at 305.531.1001 or visit us online at wolfsonian.org for further information.