Exciting news! We have just opened up the second floor Permanent Collection galleries with Camera Work: Photography from the Permanent Collection. This is a re-installation of the permanent collection which includes 150 works from the beginnings of photography in the late 1800s up until the current day.

The Museum does not generally put out a lot of marketing material on installations of Permanent Collection exhibits so you will not see any advertisements. Regardless, we are quite proud of the breadth of our photography collection and we invite you to come upstairs and take a look.

Even if you only have a passing knowledge of the history of photography, you will see names that you know like: Eugène Atget, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Alfred Stieglitz, Brassaï, Man Ray, Andreas Feininger (a personal favorite), Sebastião Salgado, Robert Frank and John Waters. Besides these celebrities you will find a multitude of lesser-known genre-changing photographers. The new discoveries that you will make are extraordinary. Our photography collection is one of our strongest disciplines in terms of collecting. In just one gallery you will see all of these revolutionary photographers and many more.

I would like to focus on one photographer in particular, Helen Levitt. We have only one Helen Levitt photograph, New York, but it is indicative of the style which brought her great renown. Helen Levitt practiced street photography in the late 1930s and early 1940s in New York City, capturing the lives of the children that spent their days playing outside in the neighborhoods, most notably Spanish Harlem.

Helen Levitt utilized a non-intrusive style, allowing the children to scamper about without any interference on her part besides the occasional snap of her Leica's shutter. Although not an outspoken proponent of either Communism or Socialism, she took these photos as a type of social commentary about the poverty which surrounded her in the city.

New York shows a baby toddling across a wet city street towards a smiling woman standing with her arm outstretched to receive the small child. In the background one sees a group of children jostling each other on the steps of a neighboring building while a fire hydrant spews water into the street.

As one of the earliest female photographers to obtain a one-person show (Helen Levitt: Photographs of Children at the Museum of Modern Art, curated by Edward Steichen) it was saddening to read of her passing.

But it also reminds us of how much progress has been made in terms of both women artists and photography, which can be read as a kind of photo-diary on the walls of the gallery.

By: Kelli Bodle, Curatorial Assitant, Boca Raton Museum of Art

The Boca Raton Museum of Art takes its role as a cultural institution quite seriously. We believe we provide an important service to the community and wish to uphold the values and traditions that the Museum has held since the first seeds for the BRMA were planted in the late 1940s.

But we also understand the importance of adapting to change. The Internet is clearly the dominant force in communication and the Museum has embraced new developments in online resources.

The talk of the day concerns the proliferation of social networking sites, like Twitter and Facebook. When used as a communications tool, these sites enable people and institutions to interact in new and meaningful ways. Nonprofits are discovering - in droves - the advantages of being a part of the online community.

The Museum recently joined Twitter and has increased its presence on Facebook. The two resources allow us to give quick, informative updates to our Membership and to the local (and global) community. It also helps us to keep up on current events at other cultural institutions, arts funding news and significant changes in the art world.

Perspectives pushes this evolution in communication one step further. An active blog, with frequent posts and a lively comments section is a conduit for two-way information. It opens up the dialogue between the institution (The Museum) and art lovers from throughout the world, allowing the two to interact in a way that might not be possible in the "real" world.

As such, we strongly encourage you to read this blog and comment on what you see. If you come across a news story that you think would be an interesting topic to explore, please send it to: twoolfenden@bocamuseum.org.

Though we wholeheartedly encourage open discussion, we have the utmost respect for our audience and intend to keep the blog as focused on meaningful communication. As such, profanity, "spamming" and personal attacks will have no place at Perspectives.

We look forward to telling you more about the Museum and hearing what you have to say.

By Tricia Woolfenden, Communications Coordinator

The Boca Raton Museum of Art is excited to join the blogosphere. This blog will allow the museum to give a more personalized and timely view into our collections, exhibits, programming, people and events. We are very interested in visitor feedback, so please don't be shy about commenting on posts.

We would love to talk with you! We hope to promote discussion and generate awareness of both the permanent collection and the traveling temporary exhibitions. Besides discussing what we have to offer, we hope to reflect our interest and response to events and ideas that impact the global art world.

For those of you unfamiliar with the BRMA, I would like to give you a little insight into our institution. We are a small collecting museum located in Boca Raton, Florida.

Our primary focus is Modern Masters of European art, such as Pablo Picasso, the Fauves, Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, and Jules Pascin, among others. In addition to these greats we have a modest contemporary art collection with pieces by John Waters, Robert Rauschenberg, Joan Mitchell, Nancy Graves, and Julio Larraz.

On the second floor, you'll find two galleries full of African and Pre-Columbian artworks dating as far back as 5 B.C. The Museum also houses art from all major art-producing areas of Sub-Saharan Africa as well as pottery vessels, finely modeled clay tomb figures, animal and human effigies, and utilitarian and ritual objects representing cultural and artistic production throughout Mesoamerica, west Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Yucatan and Honduras.

Almost all of our great collection was made possible by the generosity of donors. It's wonderful that so many people think it important to donate their family treasures to the BRMA so that everyone in our community may learn about our shared past. We are quite proud to act as custodians of culture here, and hope to later post some information about how, exactly, we go about caring for our collection.

The museum hosts multiple programs, both for Members as well as non-Members. For example, like many museums, we have openings for each new exhibition where Members can preview the new artwork, enjoy some cocktails and hors d'ouevres and mingle with one another.

Oftentimes, the artist whose work is showing will attend the reception or possibly someone intimately linked to the artist may visit in their stead. For our most recent opening, Cleve Gray: Man and Nature and Andrew Stevovich: The Truth about Lola, Mr. Stevovich visited the Members opening with his wife, his muse and inspiration for many of his paintings.

Mr.Stevovich and Cleve Gray's widow, Francine du Plessix-Gray both attended the opening receptions. We are always so pleased to be able to act as a bridge between our audience and the artists that we show.

Besides these opportunities offered to our Members and Patrons, we also afforded the general public a chance to view a new installation with our recent exhibition, Rabarama in the Park. Down the center of Mizner Park (right outside the Museum's door) we installed four large outdoor sculptures by the Italian artist Rabarama for the public to enjoy. They were intriguing androgynous figures with constellations of symbols sculpted all over their bodies, some reminiscent of DNA double helixes and puzzle pieces, creating thoughts about the interconnectedness of humankind. The installation of the sculptures was quite fascinating to watch as well!

Images from the installation and exhibition of Rabarama In the Park. 

Our Education Department offers a comprehensive roster of programming for local schools and tour groups as well and we are planning on addressing some of those exciting events in future blog posts.

We've seen how other blogs act as a conduit for useful discourse and information between institutions and individuals, and we are excited to join the local - and global - discussion. There is so much more we would like to share with you, so please check back often to see what else is in store. We hope you feel inclined to participate in our discussions too, because your input can only help us to grow as a community resource and non-profit institution. In the meantime, here are other blogs that have found ways to include their internet and local communities in all manner of arts happenings:

ARTLURKER: A Miami based Contemporary Art Newsletter/Blog

BLOGGERS @ BROOKLYN MUSEUM

MAeX Artblog

EYE LEVEL (Smithsonian American Art Museum)

By Kelli Bodle, Boca Raton Museum of Art Curatorial Assistant