Arts & Entertainment

Modern
Masterpieces

E

The bequest of a 20th-century
decorative art and design
collector takes center stage at
Cranbrook Art Museum.

Walter Von

Nessen: Nessen

Table Lamp,

manufactured by

Pattyn Products

Company of

Detroit, circa

1935.

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

F

riends of the late John Bloom, executive director
of the Fanclub Arts Foundation and a collector
known in the local arts community, recall stories
about how he acquired an original Albert Kahn architec-
tural rendering.
The drawing, completed as the Ford plant in Highland
Park was being planned, actually came into his posses-
sion as portions of the building were being torn down.
Bloom went to the site and asked if he could have struc-
tural fragments. Instead, he was allowed to take the draw-
ing.
That piece of Detroit history, displayed in Bloom's
Franklin home for many years, has become the property
of the Cranbrook Art Museum, where there is an exhibit
honoring Bloom and showcasing his posthumous gifts.
"From Frank Lloyd Wright to George Nakashima:
Uncovering the John Bloom Bequest to Cranbrook Art
Museum" runs through March 22.
Visitors will see 60 works spanning the 20th century.
They include stained glass windows from major buildings
designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, a Luc Lanel-designed
Art Deco vase for the French manufacturer Christofle and
furniture by Mies van der Rohe, Nakashima, Charles and
Ray Eames, Finn Juhl and Vladimir Kagan, a second-gen-
eration and still active furniture maker who escaped Nazi
Germany as a child of 10 when he came to America with
his family in 1938.
"Bloom primarily collected in three major areas —
American arts and crafts, American and French Art Deco
metal works and Art Deco graphic design;' says Emily
Zilber, Cranbrook collections fellow who has researched
contextual information about the objects.
"Although there were 180 pieces in the collection, the
Bloom bequest allowed us to sell the pieces that didn't fit
into Cranbrook's goals and receive the funds they raised.
Because we're particularly interested in modern decora-
tive arts and design, we sold items such as ancient works
from Egypt." Proceeds will go toward establishing the
John Bloom Decorative Arts and Design Fund to support

The late John Bloom:
Passionate collector.

the care and development of the museum's collection.
Two lectures exploring the exhibit are scheduled.
Zilber will cover "The Cranbrook Connection:
Uncovering the John Bloom Bequest to Cranbrook
Art Museum" at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17, in the deSalle
Auditorium, and she will take attendees on a narrated
tour.
James Zemaitis, director of 20th-century design at
Sotheby's in New York and an adviser for some of Bloom's
purchases, will trace the development of the contem-
porary design market, including major stylistic and
economic trends from the 1950s to the present, and offer
insight on emerging trends in collecting 20th-century
decorative arts and design in the John Bloom Memorial
Lecture, "Twentieth-Century Design: Looking to the
Twenty-First Century:' at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, also in
the deSalle Auditorium.
"While I was researching the collection, it was excit-
ing to find items that had direct connections to the
Cranbrook community," Zilber says. "Bloom commis-
sioned work from students here, and he had a drawing by
Myron Barlow, an artist who instructed a member of the
Booth family, who founded Cranbrook."
Bloom, age 71 when he died of cancer in 2006, is sur-
vived by a brother, Douglas Bloom. The late collector is
remembered as a friend by Rabbi Daniel Syme of Temple
Beth El, where Bloom was a member.
"John contributed his time and expertise as chairman
of our Art Committee says the rabbi, who always could
count on hearing Bloom's reactions to his sermons.
"He was able to find and secure mosaic tiles from an
ancient synagogue for our lobby, and he helped with the
arrangements for stained glass windows outside the sanc-
tuary"
David Grossman had known Bloom for 20 years and
carries on his commitment to the Fanclub Foundation,
which supports art education.
"John had worked in sales before his retirement, but his
passion involved the arts and people Grossman says. "He
headed up fundraising events for our organization and
knew how to get people involved."
Gregory Wittkopp, director of the Cranbrook Art

Museum, met Bloom at a fundraiser in the 1980s, and
they became friends.
"John would call me about once a month and tell me
about his dream of having his collection come to the
museum;' Wittkopp recalls. "He'd tell me about each new
item he acquired and what fun he had living with each
one. I saw that he had a couple of menorahs, but they
were not part of the holdings that came to Cranbrook."
Zilber, who knows Bloom only through her research,
says the bequest helped fill holes in the Cranbrook hold-
ings.
"It's been wonderful to learn about somebody with
such a strong interest in making an arts institution the
best that it can be she says. "It's been quite exciting to
have the objects get a second life in the museum, and they
will be used in the context of other exhibitions as they're
developed."

"From Frank Lloyd Wright to George Nakashima:
Uncovering the John Bloom Bequest to Cranbrook
Art Museum" runs through March 22 at the
museum, 39221 Woodward, in Bloomfield Hills.
Hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays and
11 a.m.-9 p.m. the fourth Friday of every month.
$10 adults, $5 teens and full-time students with ID,
free for children 12 and younger with adult admis-
sion.
Lectures include "The Cranbrook Connection:
Uncovering the John Bloom Bequest to Cranbrook
Art Museum" at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb.17, and
"Twentieth-Century Design: Looking to the Twenty-
First Century" at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, both in
the deSalle Auditorium. (877) 462-7262 or www.
cranbrookart.edu .
The Fanclub Arts Foundation holds it annual
fundraiser, ArtRageous 2008, 7:30-11 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 9, at the Detroit Historical Museum,
5401 Woodward, in Detroit. $100 per person in
advance; $125 at the door; $50 college students
with ID. Call (248) 584-4150 or e-mail
www.fanclubartsfoundation.org .

January 31 • 2008

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