Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917). "Pierre de Wiessant," circa 1886-87, cast 1979. Bronze Brooklyn Museum of Art, Gift of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor

The Brooklyn Museum's holdings of the sculpture of Auguste Rodin return to their home in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery in the rotunda on the fifth floor after a yearlong tour of Japan, Korea, and the United States. Comprising approximately fifty works—many of which came to the Museum through the generosity of the Cantors—the installation provides insight into the conceptual and formal evolution of some of Rodin's most important projects, such as The Burghers of Calais, The Gates of Hell, and Monument to Balzac.

A major reinstallation of some 230 works from the Brooklyn Museum of Art's exceptional holdings of African art is now on view in the African galleries. This presentation includes more than 20 important objects previously not on display. While a wide selection from the hundreds of African cultures is represented, this reinstallation is especially strong in works from Central Africa, particularly those from the Kongo, Luba, and Kuba peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A majority of the items on display were created for religious or political ceremonial life, but furniture, textiles, architectural fragments, household items, and objects of personal adornment are also featured.

Fashion designer Patrick Kelly with model.

African American fashion designer Patrick Kelly, a native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the subject of this first retrospective of his work. Although he produced collections from only 1985 until his death from AIDS in 1990 at the age of 35, Kelly's exuberant and witty garments continue to be potent and original contributions to the field of fashion. Based in Paris, he was the first American to become a member of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter, the governing body of the prestigious French ready-to-wear industry. Some of the most memorable of Kelly's themes included the use of humble materials such as masses of multicolored buttons or grosgrain ribbons clustered together. Other motifs, like the use of flamboyant hats and splashy accessories, celebrated his rural southern roots. Kelly also created works that played with controversial “Black” images, bringing the issues of racial stereotyping to the forefront.

"Baleen Whale Mask" Kwakwaka'wakw artist. 19th century, Knight Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. Cedar wood, hide, cotton cord, nails, pigment. 08.491.8901, Museum Expedition 1908, Museum Collection Fund

Living Legacies: The Arts of the Americas, includes selections from the Museum's world-renowned collections of indigenous art from North, Central, and South America, dating from about 900 B.C. to the present. This thematic installation, the first of two phases, presents approximately one hundred objects in three discrete exhibitions: “Threads of Time: Woven Histories of the Andes,” featuring the Museum's world-renowned textile collection; “Enduring Heritage: Arts of the Northwest Coast,” recontextualizing sculptural objects; and “Stories Revealed: Writing Without Words,” emphasizing the universality of the indigenous pictorial tradition. Each section includes examples of contemporary works, demonstrating the continuity of these artistic traditions over thousands of years and underscoring their role as living legacies for the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Thematic text panels and labels in English and Spanish accompany the objects. The entire reinstallation, when completed in 2006, will present over four hundred objects of remarkable beauty, some of which have never before been shown.

"Female Figure" Egypt, from Ma'mariya Predynastic Period, Naqada IIa (circa 3500-3400 B.C.) Terracotta, painted Brooklyn Museum of Art, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund

Completing the final phase of the reinstallation of the Egyptian Galleries, nearly 600 objects, including some of the most important works of ancient Egyptian art in the world, will go on view in four newly designed galleries on the Museum's third floor. These works, some not on view since the early 20th century, date from the Predynastic Period (circa 4400 B.C.) to the 18th-Dynasty reign of Amenhotep III (circa 1353 B.C.).

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CONTACT INFO

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For more information on SOFA NEW YORK 2004, June 3-6 at the Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Ave. and 67th, call 800.563.SOFA (7632) or e-mail: info@sofaexpo.com. For editorial support, contact Barbara Smythe-Jones at 800.357.SOFA (7632) or e-mail barbara@sofaexpo.com. For assistance downloading hi-res images of artwork for sale at SOFA NEW YORK in the Press Images/e-press kit section of www.sofaexpo.com and for press credentials, contact Jen Haybach at 866.870.SOFA (7632) or jen@sofaexpo.com.