
Amy Krzanik reports from North Adams. Artists, art lovers, and art historians gathered on Thursday, September 26, as MASS MoCA held an opening reception for its new Anselm Kiefer exhibit in its refurbished Building 15. The new/old building contains three separate Kiefer works: Étroits sont les Vaisseaux (Narrow are the Vessels), an undulating concrete sculpture inspired by the Saint-John Perse poem of the same name; Velimir Chlebnikov, a series of 30 nautical-themed paintings named for the Russian Futurist poet and housed in its own metal pavilion inside Building 15; and Les Femmes de la Revolution (The Women of the Revolution), a room of lead beds with hollowed-out centers containing water and/or assorted solids, and honoring woman heroines of the French Revolution. The entire exhibit is on a 15-year loan from the Hall Art Foundation, and everything from the reclamation of the building to the maintenance and security costs is being covered by the Foundation. (Pictured: Hall Art Foundation's Maryse Brand and Director of MASS MoCA Joseph C. Thompson.) See related RI article by Nichole Dupont: A Palace of Memory: Anselm Kiefer Invades MASS MoCA.


Mark Hall with Dathel and Tommy Coleman; Julie and David Tobey with Emma Hall.


Sir Norman Rosenthal with art historians Margaret Koster Koerner and Joseph Koerner; North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright and MASS MoCA's Director of Performing Arts Sue Killam.


Ted Fondulas and Lou Manzone; MASS MoCA Trustee Susan Gold, Darby English, and Lisa Dorin.

Partial view of Kiefer's Velimir Chlebnikov, on long-term loan to MASS MoCA from the Hall Art Foundation.


Kate Morse, MASS MoCA's Director of Development Bill Belcher, and MASS MoCA Trustee George Ahl; Carolyn Laib and Wolfgang Laib.


Linda Cross and John Cross; Hall Art Foundation's Terry Flatley, Hall Art Foundation Board Member Bonnie Clearwater, and Rhona Hoffman.


Mark Taylor, Director of Hunan Provincial Museum Chen Jianming, and Klara Zhang; Anne Estelle and Linda Fondulas.

View of Kiefer's Les Femmes de la Revolution (The Women of the Revolution), on long-term loan to MASS MoCA from the Hall Art Foundation.


Charles and Georgette Mallory; Larry Rosenthal, MASS MoCA Trustee Joyce Bernstein, and MASS MoCA's Deputy Director Larry Smallwood.


Gregory Volk, Philipp Haverkampf, and MASS MoCA curator Denise Markonish; Sarah Wollschlager and Andrew Bernero.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo