Florida Tomorrow is a day...
when art is the key to understanding our world’s diverse peoples and cultures.
Glimpses of the World
In the town of Morovis in Puerto Rico, collector Hector Puig met with Ceferino Calderón, an artist who had carved a statue of the Virgin of Mount Carmel. Calderón — his body and voice shaking — thanked his beloved image for years of guidance and handed it to Puig.
How, Puig wondered, would UF’s Harn Museum of Art express in an exhibition the emotions, respect and beliefs that surrounded the small statue?
“The audience coming to the show at the Harn won’t be able to share the experience I have had in acquiring these pieces,” Puig said prior to the 2003 debut of the exhibition of his collection of Puerto Rican santos, small carvings of saints from the Catholic pantheon. “Hopefully, the show will succeed in bringing forth and uniting the same sense of spiritual and aesthetic appreciation that I have for the work.”
That challenge fell on Harn Curator of Modern Art Dulce Román, who conducted field research in Puerto Rico, produced a publication and planned the installation of Puig’s collection.
Curators by definition are the caretakers and interpreters of precious objects. “Since the early 20th century, curators have had a role as arbitrators of taste and quality. Now the situation has shifted so that some curators also act as cultural brokers, working among different constituencies — dealers, collectors, artists, institutions and the public,” says Harn Curator of Contemporary Art Kerry Oliver-Smith.
Oliver-Smith’s 2007 exhibition Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection, for instance, was developed in partnership with collector Howard Farber and in collaboration with other scholars of contemporary Cuban art who contributed to the accompanying publication. Educational programming for the show was developed in consultation with UF’s Center for Latin American Studies, and Cuba Avant-Garde reached a wider audience after leaving the Harn through its travel schedule, beginning with the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota.
One of the Harn’s goals is to offer new ideas and perspectives, thereby promoting understanding and appreciation for global art and cultures. The museum’s collections of Photography, Modern and Contemporary art are international in scope. The Harn’s African and Asian collections are among the best in the Southeast. In fact, the museum is adding a wing to showcase its holdings of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Southeast Asian art.
Curators are always mindful of the museum’s mission to collect, preserve, research and interpret works of art while respecting the interests and priorities of diverse audiences, artists, collectors and patrons.
“I find [the santos collection] such a personal exhibit, I want to be as involved as possible,” Puig said of the 2003 show. “But at the same time, I am very respectful of the Harn and its professional reputation and high standards.”
