A few blocks back from busy Grand River Avenue in East Lansing lies one of mid-Michigan's true treasures of culture-- the Kresge Art Museum. This collection, which houses thousands of objects from across space and time, can hold its own with much larger groupings of fine art in the world's greatest cities. And while some collections can take days to see properly, Kresge can be done in a couple of hours. Although the individual pieces and the overall display are not terribly large, some singular items are the best of their kind. The tour may begin even before one enters the building, in the sculpture garden outside, with some striking bronze pieces designed to resist weathering in Michigan's four season climate. Inside, the tour may be broken down into the contributions of the Occident and the Orient.
The Occident
The collection may be thought to begin with ancient Egypt, and its many representative pieces. One particularly fine piece that caught the author's eye was a polychrome head from the Coptic (early Christian) days of approximately the third to fifth centuries A.D. The Greeks are well represented with several pieces, including a kylix and an amphora. The Romans have an oil lamp once used in households as indicative of domestic life. While Kresge is not a numismatistic collection per se, there is even a small display of Greek and Roman coinage featuring the Athenian owl silver tetradrachm and a coin honoring Heracles (Hercules). The Christian world offers seated and standing popes and bishops, a Rhenish Virgin and Child and a stunning painting of St. Anthony of Padua from 1630. The old Dutch masters are included, and a recent acquisition of a van Goyen landscape demonstrates the Museum's commitment to ongoing value. One finally comes to the American rural landscapes of the 1800's before coming across such recent examples as "Soundpiece" from 1978 and contemporaries as Gladys Nilsson, active in this decade. An interesting Perspectives Gallery rounds out the Occident with a display of photography by North American artists, some with social agendas to pursue.
The Orient
The East is also overflowing with choice objects to savor. China, for example, offers a pair of guardian lions rich with allegorical references. Many fine Chinese examples abound from the Han, Tang and Ming dynastic eras. Excellent pottery with religious connections is displayed, contrasting with the Western pieces shown elsewhere but along the same material lines (see this author's article on the MSU museum on this at Examiner.com). Indian, Japanese, Tibetan and Siamese (Thai) objects are also amply featured in this fluid, always fascinating experience. In short, one cannot do better for an hour or two than invest his or her time at this comprehensive collection. To learn more, visit www.artmuseum.msu.edu.
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