Cranbrook Fundamentals

October 11, 2003 - March 20, 2004

Works on Loan from:
Cranbrook Art Museum
Cranbrook Cultural Properties Collection, Kingswood School
Robert Kidd Gallery

Co-Curated by:
Mark Coir, Director, Cranbrook Archives
Ray Frost Fleming, Director, Robert Kidd Gallery

In 1988, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum opened to the public on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University with a permanent collection devoted exclusively to the work of one artist. Michigan's foremost public sculptor, Marshall M. Fredericks, donated over 200 of his original plaster sculptural models, creating a unique museum installation.

A 2000 ground breaking launched a 2.5 million capital campaign to fund a Phase II Expansion, nearly doubling the size of the Museum. Opening October 11, 2003, the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum presented the premier exhibition, Cranbrook Fundamentals. This exhibition marked the completion of the Phase II Expansion and the inauguration of temporary exhibition galleries at the Museum.

The Cranbrook Fundamentals exhibition presented a variety of works by many of the Art Academy's departments, showcasing the range of talents by important artists and historical figures who worked or studied with Marshall Fredericks during his tenure at Cranbrook. The exhibition examined the experience of time and place upon Fredericks and his contemporaries (1932-1943) at the Cranbrook Academy of Art by exploring three major themes that even today form the fundamental core experience: the power of place, the artist's responses to competition during the Academy years, and the influences of his Cranbrook experience in later works.

Work in the exhibition included pieces by Harry Bertoia, designer/sculptor (1915 - 1978), Bryce Brothers, glass makers, Rogers Brothers, silverware makers, Charles Eames, designer (1907 - 1978), Ray Eames, designer (1915 - 1988), Marshall M. Fredericks, (1908 - 1998), Maija Grotell, potter (1899 - 1973), Walter Hickey, designer, International Silver Company, Carl Milles, sculptor (1875 - 1955), Wallace Mitchell, painter (1911 - 1977), Nessen Studios, Inc., Bernard (Tony) Rosenthal, sculptor (1914 - ), Eero Saarinen, designer (1910 - 1961), Eliel Saarinen, designer (1873 - 1950), Lilian Swann Saarinen, (1912 - 1995), Berthold Tex Schiwetz (1909 - 1971), Loja Saarinen, designe/weaver (1879 - 1968), Zoltan Sepeshy, painter (1898 - 1974), Marianne Strengell, textile designer (1909 - 1998), Eva Lisa (Pipsan) Saarinen Swanson, costume designer, (1905-1979), J. Robert F. Swanson, designer (1900 - 1981), and Maja Andersson-Wirde, designer.

Website: www.cranbrookart.edu/museum