Story by Joanna Dean

Photography by Sam Silvey

ABOUT WORKS YOU MUST SEE
A Conversation with
Daniel Stetson
1 8 F E B / M A R 2 0 1 2
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P
erched atop a prominentory
overlooking the river sits the
Hunter Museum of
American Artits three distinct
architectural styles somehow
joined in a surprisingly unified
ensemble. Its exterior alone is a
telling narrative about American
style, but to regard the Hunter as a
mere ornament in Chattanoogas
cityscape would be a mistake. Inside, the exciting story of American life is woven
in illustrative detail through the Hunters rich collection. Chattanooga Magazine
introduces the museums new Executive Director, Daniel Stetson, and asks him to tell
us about a few of his must-see pieces.
A winter night at the Hunter
A SYMBOL
Asher B. Durand, 1856
CM: So what do we see in this painting?
DS: We have an incredible Asher B. Durand
right here. Classic. You have to think about
the 19th century and the sublime. Its a word
we dont use much anymore, but youve prob-
ably felt the sublime yourselflooking at a
vast natural wonder, or looking at the stars at
nightits really powerful. The only sign of
man is the lone steeple of a church,
but nowhere else do you see a
farmhouse or a path. Youre in the
wild and it is grand and powerful,
and to experience it through a
painting like this is amazing.
Notice the luminosity that
happens in the trees and the
mountains because of the way that
the artist has handled the paint. It
took a lot of academic skill to
render a scene like this and in this
country it was the beginning of
Americas rise in terms of interna-
tional skill and talent in visual art.
And its where we start to see real
training, often European-based
training, but applied to our land-
scape.
CM: What relation do these paintings
have to European romanticism?
DS: Directa little later, obviously.
That sense of romanticism and
elevating nature instead of
historywas part of a change. In
Europe at the time, history paint-
ing was important. Genre painting
wasnt really valued. These still
have European antecedents, and
they still look a little European, but
the fact that its the American land-
scape raised to this level, without
being a history painting that is
significant. This work represents
Americans sayingour space is
worth looking at and its as grand
as Europes. That was a bold statement, espe-
cially coming from a young nation.
CM: and its a very specific landscape, too.
DS: Yes, lots of these were done in the Rockies.
When you see something like this you really
understand the idea of manifest destiny, and
you can see the influence of paintings like
this in Ansel Adams photography. You might
say that this is part of why weve preserved so
much of our landscape out there.
CM: How did you come to know Chattanooga and
the Hunter Museum?
DS: I came to see this first in 2009. I was on a
family trip with my wife and I just loved this
place. This museum inspires me, the art
collection inspires me; we talk about it telling
the story of America through pictures, and it
really does. You can walk through starting
from the 1730s to contemporary art.
Ive been doing museum work now for about
30 years, beginning my career
at universities. I started at
Colgate University, but I also
taught museum studies, art
history and ran the art gallery
at the University of Northern
Iowa for six years and then
went on to work at municipal
museums and private institu-
tions like this. My graduate
work is from Syracuse.
Ttheres a great museum stud-
ies program there, which was
actually called museology at
the time.
CM: So, what are the not-to-be-
missed works in the Hunter
collection? I have strong memo-
ries of The Albert Paley fence
from childhood visits to the
Hunter and its become an icon
hasnt it?
DS: Yes, it starts out here in
what is the Paley terrace with
this great lasso of steel.
Having it enter through the
window into our building
and then continue on, joining
two buildings on the other
end, it creates a great line all
the way through the museum.
I think its one of the defining
pieces of the institution. But,
I think we should start with
the oldest piece first, so lets
go to the Mansion.
YOUNG HUSBAND:
FIRST MARKETING
Lily Martin Spencer, 1854
CM: What do you like about this painting by Lily
Martin Spencer?
DS: The thing I love about this is that this is
a painting from around 1854 and heres this
man coming home with the shopping, spill-
ing his eggs, the chickens falling out of the
basket, the guy behind him is snickering at
himwell, this is a feminist painting from
before there was a word for it. From that
period its very rareunheard of in some
ways to see a painting of a scene like this.
CM: So we think that this is important because it
is a genre painting of American life?
DS: Yes, and during the 1850s by a woman
artist of the period. I remember studying art
history in college when the art history books
did not have women artists or artists of color
in them; there were two major texts back
then, but Gardners Art Through the Ages was
the one that I used. The only works in there,
no doubt by women, were anonymous.
Most authored pieces were by men, even
though there were women who made livings
as painters, there were women at the acade-
mies in Europe at this time. Its great for this
collection to, not just include male artists of
the 19th century, but artists of great skill and
Spencer is one of them.
F E B / M A R 2 0 1 2 1 9
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continued on page 20
Daniel Stetson discusses American landscape painting in the Mansion.
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THE WRECK OF THE OLE 97
Thomas Hart Benton, 1943
CM: How about the next one, The Wreck of the
Ole 97?
DS: My favorite part about the Wreck of the
Ole97 is the levitating hatmost people
dont see itBenton was one of
the great American regionalists.
His sense of color is almost
cartoon-like. Its explosive in a way.
CM: It somehow reminds me of a
surrealist painting.
DS: I think there is a surreal quality
partly because his compositions
give you stories, sometimes about
industry or some other theme
but in such a way that the story
becomes dreamlike in a sense. His
line, too, creates these curves that
are very baroque, and using satu-
rated colors to create a hyperreality
in a way. In a moment like this, the
world is more than real. The train
is coming off the tracks there and
can you hear the screeching of the
breaks and the horse making noise and all of
this is going on at once?
CM: It seems like a lot of American art is very
much about telling a storythis imparts a story
and some of the other things weve looked at do.
Can you say that that is typical of American art?
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DS: Its one of the features of American art.
We are a storytelling people. Artists use that
narrative as a way to engage viewers and to
also record something. The steam engine is
gone, but Benton has left something behind
that is of myth and of song, which is really
kind of wonderful.
OPAL REUNION
Robert Rauschenberg, 1976
CM: Now we have Robert Rauschenberg.
DS: I was very fortunate to meet Robert
Rauschenberg. Hes another one that changed
history. He did combinesother artists were
doing collages, but the level and consistency
which he brought to the world in his pieces,
whether it was through oars and bridges or
newspaper copy, made it transformative visu-
ally. I think its part of his strength that he
challenges, confounds and frustrates some-
timesbut you want to see the pieces again
because they stay with you.
AROUND THE CLOCK
WITH RED
Helen Frankenthaler, 1983
CM: Who is Helen Frankenthaler?
DS: Shes a color field painter, a second-
generation abstract expressionist, color
field painter. To me this is one of the
most important pieces that we have in
our collection because its her and
because of the quality of it. It can become
kind of a landscape when you look at it;
shes playing with light and air. Shes not
being referential to anything; theres no
place, its something more than a place
in a way. It becomes spiritual; it becomes
about light. She calls it Around the Clock
With Red. When you look at the title you
might start to think about time and wonder,
is that the sun and the moon traveling? Is this
a record of something? Its easier to get a
connection to something that has a figure or
something that has a story. Artists like
Frankenthaler let go of that to try something
new, think of how radical that was.
continued from page19
Stetson examines a visitor favorite by Thomas Hart Benton.
F E B / M A R 2 0 1 2 2 1
IN THE RETURNAL
Radcliffe Bailey, 2007
DS: Getting people all the way into the contem-
porary wing can sometimes be a challenge,
and these pieces arent easy. Look at this piece
by Radcliffe Bailey; its a full installation. He
just had a major one-person show at the High
Museum in Atlanta, actually. This is a great and
very complicated piece. Radcliffe is from
Atlanta, Georgia. He does many works that
deal with the Middle Passage. A major feature
of this piece is the earth here. Is that the earth
of Africa, or the earth of the cotton fields? It
could even be a primordial earth in some ways.
Objects are covered in black sequins, there are
jazz instruments and images that deal with
African religions and voodoo; you start to get
a sense of African-American history playing
into the installation.
CM: I have never seen an installation of this scale
at the Hunter Museum, is this a new interest?
DS: In the last several years weve gotten more
interested in collecting and expanding our
collection of contemporary art for a lot of
reasons. Dealing with living artists is exciting
and its important to do that. Were trying to
continue the story of American art, and the
story is about now, too.
Visit www.huntermuseum.org for more
information.
Stetson and a muaeum visitor discuss Around the Clock With Red
IF YOU GO
The contemporary wing will be rein-
stalled soon, so be sure to see the
current works on view before they
come down.
Current Exhibitions: dorothea Langes
America on view until April 22
CM recommends the upcoming herman
Miller exhibitgood design, Stories
From herman Miller, January 14-March 4
what are your favorite pieces in the
hunter Museum of American Art?
write to Chattanooga Magazine,
debbie@chattmag.com or to the
museum, katrina.b.craven@gmail.com
Green Design
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