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A Class Act - Art and Its Markets adds to Art Museum collection

The Miami University Art Museum recently acquired four new prints thanks to the successful acquisition proposals presented by students in Prof. Michael Hatch’s Spring 2022 class, Art and Its Markets (ART420D), a program offered by the Department of Art.

On April 27, the MUAM staff listened to seven student presentations, each of which aimed to convince the museum to purchase  new artwork. Over the course of the semester, students applied their humanities research skills to works on loan from Thomas French Fine Art (Akron, Ohio). Students took into account the art historical value of the work while also considering the Museum’s needs, such as its teaching mission, current collection holdings, and various university courses and programs that might make use of the print. In this respect, the Museum became a laboratory for humanistic inquiry for the students as well as a space for honing pre-professional skills.

After listening to the pitches presented by students, the Museum’s Director and Chief Curator, Jack Green, its Curator of Exhibitions, Jason E. Shaiman, and its Collections Manager/Registrar, Laura Stewart, each of whom worked with the class during the semester, selected three presentations for acquisition approval.

Chloe LeRoy argued that Richard Hamilton’s screen print, Kent State (1970), ought to be part of the Museum’s collection because it dealt with complex issues of media representation and politics in relation to an infamous moment in Ohio’s history. Hamilton (1922-2011), a British artist often described as the earliest practitioner of Pop Art, printed the image from a photograph taken of his television screen as it broadcast coverage of the Kent State University shootings on May 4, 1970. The print’s monumental scale, and the questions it raises about how we receive and process difficult information through various re-mediated forms, made it a clear winner. LeRoy argued that with it the Art Museum could exhibit themes related to social justice, media studies, and local history.

Richard Hamilton (British, 1922-2011) Kent State, 1970 Color photo-screen print on paper, 26 7/16 x 34 5/16 inches  Miami University Art Museum purchase with support from the College of Creative Arts 2022.7

Richard Hamilton (British, 1922-2011); Kent State, 1970
Color photo-screen print on paper, 26 7/16 x 34 5/16 inches 
Miami University Art Museum purchase with support from the College of Creative Arts; 2022.7


Rheia Newman presented a pair of engravings by Crispijn De Passe the Elder (1564-1637), a Netherlandish printmaker active during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration. The prints, Zephyrus and Eurus, are half of a small series of the four winds that De Passe made around 1597, and are in immaculate condition considering their age. The complex neo-classical figures of these allegorical images represent global trade at the end of the 16th century, when the Dutch competed with the Spanish for dominance over the oceans. Newman unpacked the multi-layered history of the prints and successfully argued that Zephyrus and Eurus, which represent trade with Asia and America respectively, would be useful across a variety of classes that consider histories of globalization and colonialism.

Crispijn de Passe the Elder (Flemish, 1564-1637) Eurus  Engraving on paper, 7 ½ x 9 ½ inches Miami University Art Museum purchase with support from the College of Creative Arts and the John A. Weigel and Milton White Art Fund 2022.8

Crispijn de Passe the Elder (Flemish, 1564-1637); Eurus 
Engraving on paper, 7 ½ x 9 ½ inches
Miami University Art Museum purchase with support from the College of Creative Arts and the John A. Weigel and Milton White Art Fund; 2022.8

muam_col_zephyrus_2022_9.jpg

Crispijn de Passe the Elder (Flemish, 1564-1637); Zephyrus (Diana and Mercury), c. 1597
Etching on paper, 7 7/16 x 9 ⅜ inches
Miami University Art Museum purchase with support from the College of Creative Arts and the John A. Weigel and Milton White Art Fund; 2022.9


Lastly, Riley O'Donnell’s proposal for From the Bridge (1970), an aquatint and etching by Angela Bing Jansen (1929-), found traction with the Art Museum’s mission to diversify its collection. Jansen was based in New York during the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, when she was one of only a few women active as a member of Atelier 17, an experimental print-making workshop. Jansen won a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1973 and used it to create her own independent studio. Like Hamilton’s print, From the Bridge focuses on remediation from photography to print, emphasizing themes of surveillance and linear perspective.

Angela Bing Jansen (American, b. 1929)  From the Bridge, 1970  Intaglio and photo-etching on paper, 12 ⅝ x 17 ½ inches  Miami University Art Museum purchase with support from the Department of Art  2022.10

Angela Bing Jansen (American, b. 1929); From the Bridge, 1970
Intaglio and photo-etching on paper, 12 ⅝ x 17 ½ inches
Miami University Art Museum purchase with support from the Department of Art; 2022.10


This is the fourth year Prof. Hatch’s Art and Its Markets has worked with the Miami University Art Museum and Thomas French Fine Art to build the Museum’s collection while providing students with pre-professional art historical experience. This year, the College of Creative Arts, the Department of Art, and the Miami University Art Museum, through the John A. Weigel and Milton White Art Fund, provided financial support to make these acquisitions possible. In the past two years, funding has been provided by the Center for Career Exploration and Success and the Humanities Center at Miami University.