ACROSS
1 Pet adoption agcy.
5 West Indies tribe
for which a sea is
named
10 “Rhyme Pays”
rapper
14 Boxers Laila and
Muhammad
15 Carne __: burrito
filling
16 Benelux country:
Abbr.
17 Legendary terror
of the deep
19 __ blocker
20 Action hero
Jason in three
Ludlum novels
21 Swedish vodka
brand
23 Material
25 Prefix with space
26 “__ the Sheriff”:
Clapton hit
28 Under threat
32 Like most people
33 Comic’s perch
34 Label for Elvis
35 “Supervixens”
director Meyer
36 Honor roll
student’s
disappointment
37 Fashion line
38 Author’s ending?
39 Celebrated chef
Ducasse
40 Copycats
41 Lovers of
wordplay
43 Get big on Twitter
44 Gumbo pod
45 Sierra Nevada
lake
47 Ginger’s “Gilligan’s
Island” hutmate
50 Repaired, as a
fence
53 Awesome,
nowadays
54 “Doesn’t matter
to me”
57 Old film dog
58 “Family Matters”
misfit
59 Mirror shape
60 Quantum
movement?
61 Body of verse
62 Sunday benches

DOWN
1 Airline to Oslo
2 Working-class
Roman

3 Padua parting
4 Even though
5 Lacks what it
takes to
6 Equipment, in a
ledger
7 Lab rodent
8 Brainstorm
9 Rihanna’s home
country
10 Congenital
11 “Forget You”
singer who was a
coach on “The
Voice”
12 Caesar’s last
question
13 The one over
there
18 Lightweight
synthetic
22 Elite Navy fighter
24 Names given to
an assassin
26 Rodeo
automaker
27 “Aye, lass,” in
Acapulco
29 Sentence
subject, usually
30 Birthday greeting
opened with a
click
31 Ewes’ guys

32 Give it __: swing
hard
33 Prep for fight night
36 Tidies
37 Radar gun user
39 Big name in
razors
40 Rice-__
42 Airport porter
43 1986 horror film
in which a man
becomes an
insect

46 Female French
friends
47 Repast
48 Church area
behind an 
altar
49 Detective 
Wolfe
51 Roof overhang
52 Sketch
55 Just get (by)
56 Golf Hall of
Famer Ernie

By Samuel A. Donaldson
©2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
10/10/17

10/10/17

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:

RELEASE DATE– Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis

xwordeditor@aol.com

6 — Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

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COMMUNITY CULTURE
UMMA exhibition shows 
diverse alumni collection

FILE PHOTO/DAILY

With 
intriguing 
works 

by titans of the modern art 
world — from Jasper Johns 
to Pablo Picasso — on display, 
the 
University 

of 
Michigan 

Museum of Art 
has 
continued 

its 
yearlong 

focus on works 
from 
alumni 

collectors. 
“Victors 
for 

Art,” 
which 

serves 
as 
the 

museum’s 
remarkable 
contribution to 
the University’s Bicentennial, 
has 
brought 
together 
an 

extraordinary 
array 
of 

abstract art, all of it borrowed 

or donated by prolific alumni 
art collectors.

At first glance, it seems 

like a strange idea: borrowing 
dozens 
of 
vaguely 
similar 

works of art from collectors, 

then trying to form a cohesive 
whole from the hodgepodge of 
artistic styles and traditions. 
The curators had their work 
cut out for them, basically 
working backwards — rather 
than 
coming 
up 
with 
an 

exhibition theme and then 
selecting art to fit the theme, 

they had to take 
the alumni pieces 
and 
somehow 

make 
sense 
of 

them as a body of 
work.

Yet, 
to 
the 

curators’ 
credit, 

the 
exhibition 

is 
surprisingly 

cohesive, with a 
clear arrangement 
of 
artwork 

that 
provokes 

reflection 
and 
comparison. 

This was no small feat, as 
the 
abstract 
pieces 
range 

from big name contemporary 
to 
midcentury 
monocolors, 

casual sketches to disturbing 
collages.

Even abstraction itself is 

only broadly referenced in 
the 
display, 
which 
places 

modern pieces side by side 
with 
works 
not 
usually 

considered abstract, let alone 
art: Ancient Chinese scrolls 
and an Amish quilt make 
appearances 
as 
“abstract” 

art. While some might take 
offense to this extremely loose 
interpretation, it’s a bold move 
that expands our definition of 
“real” art and questions the 
legitimacy of clear-cut artistic 
definitions.

This 
boundary-pushing 

attitude 
undoubtedly 

reflects the diverse group 
of curators involved in the 
exhibition: 
Joseph 
Rosa, 

the former UMMA director, 
guest-curated the exhibition 
alongside 
specialists 
in 

African 
art, 
photography, 

Asian art and Western art. 
Employing 
such 
a 
varied 

group 
of 
curators 
was 
a 

smart move, ensuring that 
global 
artistic 
traditions 

were respected and placed 
on 
equal 
footing. 
Luckily, 

the curatorial team had an 
exceptionally 
cosmopolitan 

collection to work with — the 
University alumni lent a far-
ranging assortment of art, 
from 
European 
Modernist 

sculpture 
to 
Colombian 

canvases.

Rather than throwing a few 

“token diversity” artists in for 
good measure, the exhibition 
makes 
diverse 
artwork 
a 

main focus and often seems 
to challenge the status quo by 
placing works by established 
white male artists in direct 
conversation 
with 
lesser 

known pieces.

On one thin white wall, 

a 
Picasso 
sketch 
called 

“Weeping Woman” sits next 
to Grace Hartigan’s painting 
“Untitled (The Second Mrs. 
Nash).” The pieces, one by a 

man famous for painting his 
mistresses nude, the other by 
a woman whose work often 
focused 
on 
gender 
issues, 

depict a woman’s emotional 

inner 
world 
in 
starkly 

contrasting ways. “Weeping 
Woman” is a brash, beautiful 
sketch of a woman in torment, 
her childlike anguish and dark 
sexuality rendered in violent 
strokes. It’s striking, and yet 
placed 
next 
to 
Hartigan’s 

work, a murky watercolor in 
shades of orange, a woman’s 
dreamlike 
figure 
scattered 

around the canvas as if divided 
internally, the Picasso piece 
seems oversimplified.

The Picasso is a lovely 

sketch of an unhappy woman, 
drawn by a man who loved but 
did not really understand the 
women in his life. It seems 
to ask: Why is she crying? 
Hartigan 
tells 
a 
different 

story, at once more complex 
and more heartbreaking — 
it shows us a woman whose 
torment 
is 
internal, 
not 

written on her face and body; a 
woman with an interior world 
as labyrinthine as Hartigan 
herself. Picasso’s woman is 
sad, so she cries, a fantasy 
woman 
enchanting 
in 
her 

simplicity. Hartigan’s “Mrs. 
Nash” is harder to read, her 
cloudy 
emotions 
rendering 

her as unfathomable as, well, 
a real woman. This intriguing 
juxtaposition, 
just 
one 
of 

many in the exhibition, shows 
the profound thoughtfulness 
the UMMA curators put into 

artistic arrangement.

Somehow, 
despite 
the 

overwhelming 
diversity 
of 

artworks and genres, it all 
just works. More than that, 

“Victors for Art” offers a 
refreshing alternative to the 
ubiquity of Old White Dudes in 
abstract art. You’ll see plenty 

of big name artists scattered 
around the exhibition, but 
even then, they’re rarely the 
expected or familiar pieces. 
There’s a Jasper Johns, of 
course, but rather than one 
of his over-used flags, the 
curators selected a wonderful 
sober 
painting 
in 
gray 

tones, a prescient selection 
considering the current art 
world fervor over his later-life 
work.

Beyond 
these 
familiar 

faces, the exhibition really 
shines, 
with 
a 
superb 

selection of abstract work 
by women artists and global 
artists. This should come as 
no surprise considering the 
diversity of curators involved 
in the project, but it’s still 
depressingly 
rare 
to 
find 

such variety and respect for 
women and artists of color, 
with compelling works by 
Louise 
Nevelson, 
Seikichi 

Takara, Betty Woodman, and 
Jordan 
Eagles 
prominently 

displayed. 
Whether 
you’re 

a fan of abstraction or not, 
nearly every art lover will find 
something to admire in this 
sprawling exhibition — it may 
well be one of UMMA’s most 
ambitious efforts in recent 
years. “Victors for Art” will 
remain on display through 
October 29 in the A. Alfred 
Taubman Gallery.

MERIN MCDIVITT

Daily Arts Writer

With intriguing 
works by titans 
of the modern art 
world on display, 

the University 
of Michigan 

Museum of Art 
has continued its 
yearlong focus 
on works from 

alumni collectors

To the curators’ 

credit, the 
exhibition is 
surprisingly 

cohesive, with a 

clear arrangement 

of artwork 

that provokes 
reflection and 
comparison

At first glance, 
it seems like a 
strange idea: 

borrowing dozens 
of vaguely similar 
works of art from 
collectors, then 
trying to form a 
cohesive whole

Victors for 
Art (Part II): 

Abstraction

11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

July 1 - October 29

UMMA

Free

