When Exhibiting Alice opens on Friday afternoon at Evergreen
Museum & Library, the gallery
show and its related talk will be marking a milestone: The
show was conceived and planned by senior
Margaret Deli, the first student to have curated a show for
the museum.
Deli's talk begins at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed
by a reception that also celebrates the
university's Program in Museums and Society. Johns Hopkins
students, faculty and staff are invited to
mingle with museum staff over light refreshments and
conversation about Museums and Society and
student opportunities at the Johns Hopkins University
Museums.
Evergreen's student curator internship provides a rare
educational opportunity for
undergraduates who are preparing for professional and
scholarly careers, particularly at museums.
Interns obtain hands-on experience in the curatorial
profession by producing a small exhibition
exploring an Evergreen-related topic or theme. The
exhibition is showcased in the museum's second-
floor gallery cases.
Deli, a double major in history of art and
English with a
double minor in Writing
Seminars and
French literature, was selected from a highly competitive
pool of applicants. "Her recommendations
and writing sample were of such a high standard," said
Jackie O'Regan, curator of Evergreen Museum
& Library. "Her undeniable enthusiasm and passion for
Evergreen, which resonated throughout her
application letter, were also very impressive."
Having served as a volunteer docent at the museum
since her freshman year, Deli was well-
informed about Evergreen's history and collections, and she
says she knew as soon as she heard of the
curator opportunity while she was studying in France, what
— or rather whom — she wanted to focus on
if chosen: Alice Warder Garrett, Evergreen's last resident.
To complement the museum's fall exhibition, Dufy: The
Evergreen Collection — featuring
expressive works by French colorist Raoul Dufy acquired by
Garrett during the 1930s — Deli decided to
research the modern art gallery that Garrett opened in
Paris during the summer of 1934, when it's
likely that she and Dufy were introduced. She discovered
that this "patron's gallery," as its owner
called it, was an opportunity for Garrett to demonstrate
her novel theories about art patronage.
Exhibiting Alice, Deli said, "is a focus show about
Alice Warder Garrett's modern art
exhibitions, but it's also about Alice herself and the
ideas she formulated about what constitutes a
responsible art patron. It wasn't about buying art for your
own enjoyment; she wanted people to buy
art and display it so that others, particularly those less
fortunate than her, could see it as well. It's
why she was one of the first trustees of the Baltimore
Museum of Art, and why she and her husband
[John Work Garrett] made sure that their home and
collections would always remain open to the
public."
In 1942, when John Work Garrett — a career
member of the diplomatic corps, former
ambassador to Italy and a Johns Hopkins trustee from 1937
to 1942 — died, he left Evergreen, along
with his extensive collections of art, coins, rare books
and stamps, to the university. Prior to her
death in 1952, his widow established the Evergreen House
Foundation and bequeathed to it her
important collection of early 20th-century paintings and an
endowment, the income from which helps
to maintain the museum and its programs. Evergreen was
restored in the late 1980s and opened to the
public in 1990 for tours and special cultural and
educational programs. The house's John Work Garrett
Library is part of the university's Sheridan Libraries.
The exhibition mounted by Deli includes paintings by
Roger Chastel, Andre Denoyer de
Segonzac, Andre Planson and Maurice Brianchon, all of whom
participated in Garrett's 1934 exhibitions
in Paris. Items drawn from Evergreen's archives, including
exhibition pamphlets, photographs,
newspaper excerpts and Garrett's writings on art patronage,
also will be on display.
Exhibiting Alice remains on view through Jan. 22 as
part of regular museum tours, which are
offered on the hour, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Friday,
and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (last
tour is at 3 p.m.). Museum admission is free to Johns
Hopkins faculty, staff and students; $3 for
alumni and retirees (valid ID required).
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