Museums Bet on Super Bowl XLIX
Seattle Art Museum vs. Clark Art Institute
By: Charles Giuliano - Jan 29, 2015
Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and New England’s Clark Art Institute are wagering temporary loans of major paintings based on the outcome of Super Bowl XLIX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. The masterpieces that have been anted up showcase the beautiful landscapes of the Northwest and the Northeast respectively.
The Stakes:
The majestic Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast from 1870 by Albert Bierstadt from SAM’s American art collection is wagered by Kimerly Rorschach, SAM’s Illsley Ball Nordstrom Director and CEO.
Winslow Homer’s masterpiece, West Point, Prout's Neck (1900), one of the greatest works in the Clark’s noted Homer collection, is wagered by Michael Conforti, director of the Clark Art Institute.
The winning museum will receive a three-month loan of the prized artwork. All shipping and expenses will be paid by the losing museum.
“I am sure that this beautiful Homer painting will be coming to Seattle after our Seahawks defeat the Patriots for another Super Bowl win. We are already making plans to host this incredible work of American art in our galleries so that the 12s can enjoy it,” said Rorschach.
“The way we see it, nobody loses with this wager,” said Conforti. “Albert Bierstadt was raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, so we will be very happy to welcome the work of a native son back to New England following the Patriots’ win on game day. Having just opened our new building, we’ve got just the right spot to show this remarkable Bierstadt and know our visitors will love the chance to see it.”
SAM’s Wager:
Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast, 1870 by Albert Bierstadt
In 1870, Albert Bierstadt painted one of the most novel subjects of his career: Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast. This spectacular, eight-foot-wide view of Puget Sound resulted from newly reawakened interest in a region the artist had visited only briefly seven years before. This painting is more than just a landscape painting. It is also a historical work, a narrative of an ancient maritime people, and a rumination on the ages-old mountains, basaltic rocks, dense woods, glacial rivers, and surf-pounded shores that have given the Northwest its look and also shaped its culture.
Clark Art Institute’s Wager:
West Point, Prout’s Neck, 1900 by Winslow Homer
Homer considered West Point, Prout’s Neck one of his greatest seascapes, the culmination of his intense study of the coast of Maine where he spent his last years as an artist. Waves crash against massive rocks as bands of brilliant color stretch across the horizon, casting a rosy glow over the ocean. “The picture is painted fifteen minutes after sunset—not one minute before,” wrote Homer, who went on to explain that recording such a fleeting moment took “many days of careful observation.” The brilliance of Homer's color and brushwork expresses brilliantly the power of nature.
ABOUT SEATTLE ART MUSEUM
Seattle Art Museum (SAM) is one museum with three locations: the Olympic Sculpture Park, the Seattle Art Museum and the Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park.
SAM connects art to life.
Through art, the Seattle Art Museum enriches lives and engages diverse communities. As the leading visual art institution in the Pacific Northwest, SAM draws on its global collections, powerful exhibitions, and dynamic programs to provide unique educational resources benefiting the Seattle region, the Pacific Northwest, and beyond.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, open to the public with more than 240,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark opened its expanded facilities on July 4, 2014, unveiling new and enhanced spaces that accommodate the continued growth of the Institute’s programs. Included in this final stage of the project are the new 42,600-square-foot Clark Center designed by Tadao Ando Architect & Associates, expansion and renovation of the original Museum Building and the ongoing renovation of the Manton Research Center by Selldorf Architects, and a sweeping redesign of the grounds by Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architecture. The first phase of the campus expansion project was completed in 2008 with the opening of the Lunder Center at Stone Hill, a striking conservation and exhibitions facility also designed by Tadao Ando.
The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.