If these walls could talk
AS BRUCE MUSEUM MOVES FORWARD, ITS PAST IS REVEALED — LAYER BY LAYER
While the Bruce Museum is undergoing $45 million expansion project that will more than double its size, it is also undergoing something of an archaeological excavation, as well.
Workers have been tearing down sheetrock in the exhibition galleries at the Greenwichbased museum, revealing its past, and dozens of old paint layers from previous shows.
To Anne von Stuelpnagel and her staff of technicians who arrange the installation of art at the Bruce, and paint its exhibit space, it’s been like a walk down memory lane.
Von Stuelpnagel has chosen the paint colors for hundreds of show at the Bruce since the1980s, and serves as the director of exhibitions. Now, as the sheet rock comes down, she can see the handiwork that she and her colleagues have devised through the years to create an inviting atmosphere for visitors to enjoy the artwork. The layers of paint looking like the rings of old trees after they’ve been cut down.
That deep red in one sliver of sheet rock — could that be the “Love Letters” exhibit in 2003 that featured the first time a painting by Johannes Vermeer was exhibited in Connecticut? It can be hard to recall each color she’s chosen; there have been more than 300.
Von Stuelpnagel looks back with pride and a bit of nostalgia on the work she’s done at the Bruce. She’s an artist herself, and matching the paint color of the gallery rooms to the art on display is another kind of artistic work. It requires a lot of concentration and attention to detail, attributes she has honed as a print maker. She looks closely at the art work itself — or the best reproductions she can find if she can’t see the work firsthand —and thinks deeply about the emotional setting and mood that certain colors project. How they play with the colors on display in the artwork is another factor to take into account.
“It’s really important that it supports what’s being shown. It’s almost like a stage set. The paint color in the room is the first thing you perceive, it’s a subconscious thing, and it puts you in the mood,” says von Stuelpnagel.
With an artistic specialty in woodcuts, and a native of Germany, von Stuelpnagel came to the
job as the exhibitions director in a somewhat circuitous fashion. As a member of the Greenwich Art Society, she volunteered to help install the annual holiday show at the Bruce. That led to a volunteer commitment, which eventually led to a staff position. While there are academic programs that now offer training in museum exhibition, she taught herself the trade and sought out other museum pros for additional instruction.
All of the museum exhibit staff are good with their hands and offer an eclectic range of skills, besides being artists themselves. The staff has a diorama painter who used to work at the Natural History Museum in New York City. Another staffer is a “superrealstic” painter who is also a skilled carpenter. They also call on a freelancer art handler. Exhibit Designer Daniel Buckley also alternates with von Stuelpnagel in selecting paint colors.
The staff has high standards.
Greg Beise, the exhibition preparator, who does much of the galley painting, says he often goes to other museums and galleries, paying particular attention to the paint work. “Some of the paint jobs are pretty poor. I know it’s not the focus of the exhibit but it’s still important. The best paint jobs should look like the walls just changed color on their own – there should be no trace of someone’s handiwork,” he says.
Some of the shows are more difficult than others to mount. The ToulouseLautrec show in 2017 had an enormous amount of material to display — “it was a very dense installation, a lot of work.” An artsandscience exhibit geared for young people, with a carousel and a miniature circus, was another tough one. The paint colors for the science exhibits are a bit more straightforward, the museum director says, they just have to resemble the look of the ocean, like a recent exhibit on sharks.
There are perks of the job — such as a trip to Ireland to see a traveling Vermeer exhibit. And when the Vermeer finally arrived in Greenwich, she recalled, it was a career milestone. “Getting to unpack the Vermeer, I was a little nervous about it,” she recalled, but it was a magical moment in a long museum career.
The work behind installation is also demanding physical labor, aside from the mental work.
Von Stuelpnagel’s father worked in construction. He wanted to ensure her daughter could handle tools as well as any man, and he achieved his objective. “I’m good with my hands, we all are,” the exhibit director says modestly.
There are certain habits she has picked up on the job, as well. Whenever she visits a museum or gallery, the first thing she does is take a mental inventory of the paint and the lighting, then she looks at the art.
THE PAINT COLOR IN THE ROOM IS THE FIRST THING YOU PERCEIVE, IT’S A SUBCONSCIOUS THING, AND IT PUTS YOU IN THE MOOD.”