News Release

Evergreen Museum & Library's first student-curated focus show Exhibiting Alice opens Friday, Sept. 28, at 5:30 p.m. with a gallery talk by exhibition curator Margaret Deli, a rising senior.

The exhibition remains on view through Jan. 22, 2008, as part of regular museum tours, offered on the hour 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday (last tour is at 3 p.m.). Museum admission is free for members, as well as Johns Hopkins faculty, staff, and students; $6 adults; $5 seniors; $3 students and children 6 and over; and $3 for Johns Hopkins alumni and retirees (valid ID required).

Evergreen Museum and Library's student curator internship provides a rare educational opportunity for university undergraduate students 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.

Senior Margaret Deli is the museum's first student curator. A double major in History history of art and English with a double minor in Writing Seminars and French literature, Deli 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 knew as soon as she heard of the student curator opportunity, while studying abroad in France, what, or rather who, 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 works by French colorist Raoul Dufy acquired by Alice Garrett during the 1930s — Deli decided to research the modern art gallery that Alice Warder Garrett opened in Paris during the summer of 1934, when it's likely that Garrett and Dufy were first introduced. This "patron's gallery," Deli discovered, was an opportunity for Alice Warder Garrett to demonstrate her novel theories about art patronage.

Exhibiting Alice "is a focus show about Alice Warder Garrett's modern art exhibitions," said Deli. "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 made sure that their home and collections would always remain open to the public."

The exhibition includes paintings by Roger Chastel, André Denoyer de Segonzac, André Planson and Maurice Brianchon, all artists who participated in Alice Warder Garrett's 1934 exhibitions, in addition to paintings that Garrett herself purchased from the Paris gallery. Items drawn from Evergreen's archives, including photographs, contemporary newspaper excerpts, exhibition pamphlets, and Alice Warder Garrett's writings on art patronage, also will be on display.

Note to editors: High resolution photos of Margaret Deli are available by contacting Heather Egan Stalfort.