Collections Summer 2013 Volume 96 | Page 2
FROM THE EXECUTIVE
Director
Coming Soon to the CMA:
Annie Leibovitz
Karen Brosius
Executive Director
Coming in October of 2013, enjoy an
exhibition featuring one of America’s bestknown living artists.
Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage
Unlike her staged and carefully lit portraits
made on assignment for magazines and
advertising clients, these photographs were
taken simply because Leibovitz was moved
by the subject.
Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage is an evocative
and deeply personal statement by a
photographer, whose career now spans
more than 40 years, encompassing a broad
range of subject matter, history and stylistic
influences. The work shows Leibovitz at the
height of her powers and pondering how
photographs, including her own, shape a
narrative of history that informs the present.
Join or renew today
Don’t miss out on any of the exciting
opportunities this exhibition provides.
Membership benefits include free
admission, discounts on events and shop
merchandise, and invitations to exclusive
parties.
Engage your mind and enrich your spirit
with the benefits and rewards of being
a member of the Columbia Museum of
Art. Visit columbiamuseum.org or call
803.343.2198.
Above: Annie Leibovitz, Annie Oakley’s heart target,
private collection, Los Angeles, California, 2010. © Annie
Leibovitz. From “Pilgrimage” (Random House, 2011)
Front Cover: Steven Naifeh, Saida XXX: Venetian Blue,
(detail), 2012. Acrylic on 60 canvases, 120” × 120”.
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columbiamuseum.org
When we have an artist with international roots who lives in our
state, it brings to life our mission of celebrating art from around
the world and embraces an artist in our midst. The CMA is
presenting this summer the large, geometric and colorful sculptures
and paintings of Steven Naifeh in the first retrospective exhibition
of his work. Naifeh, an Aiken, South Carolina resident, has truly
been a magnanimous participant in the creation of this exhibition,
and his generosity in sharing his work with our visitors is sincerely
appreciated.
It is hardly surprising that Naifeh’s childhood in the Middle East educated his eye to the
rigorous forms of Arab and Islamic art. The art of the Islamic culture is deeply beautiful
and reflects a sensual delight in the precision of geometric formulas. Islamic culture has
been so essential to the development of mathematics worldwide that many mathematical
terms – algebra and algorithms, for example – entered English from the Arabic language.
The geometries of Islamic art, with their ornamental counterpoint, are the basis of Naifeh’s
art. This joyful, mathematical alignment of color, material, shape and line brings to light
an intricate and versatile body of work that is visually compelling and worthy of profound
contemplation.
Found in Translation is destined to inspire our community and open doors to understanding
cultures beyond our own. It shows visitors that what we share culturally is perhaps greater
than what separates us. Abstract art is capable of expressing complex ideas like unity and
continuity. We hope every visitor is inspired with a deeper understanding of the art of
the Middle East, Northern India and Northern Africa and takes the time to reflect on its
synergy with contemporary Western art.
This exhibition is representative of the CMA mission to celebrate artistic creativity as
expressed by diverse cultures both here and abroad and introduce exciting work to our
community, state and region. I am most grateful to Steve Naifeh for his commitment to
show the first U.S. retrospective of his work at our museum, and to a superb and talented
staff that worked diligently to bring this exhibition to fruition. It is surely a delight for
everyone to see this beautiful integration of cultures.