Wardwell, Anne E. (1942-)
Dates
- Existence: 1942-
Parallel Names
- English, Anne Whitall
Biography
Anne E. Wardwell was Curator of the Textile Department from 1982 to 1997, following the retirement of curator Dorothy Shepherd. Prior to that, from 1967 to 1982, Wardwell was the Assistant-Associate Curator. She came to the Museum the year she completed an M.A. from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University in 1966. She earned her B.A. in Art History from Sweet Briar College. Throughout her education, medieval art was her greatest interest.
Wardwell also served in a curatorial capacity for the unofficial department of Islamic Art. In the 1980s she was instrumental in building a collection of rare central Asian and Chinese textiles formerly possessed by monasteries in Tibet threatened with destruction by the Chinese government. They were the subject of “When Silk was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles from the Cleveland and Metropolitan Museums of Art,” a major exhibition with accompanying catalogue in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1997, the year of her retirement. Wardwell worked on the show for ten years and considered the exhibition’s opening the culmination of her career.
Wardwell described for Shaker Magazine what she considered the highlight of her career, her identification in 1992 of the “Winged Lion” silk brocade as the work of a Persian artisan forcibly removed to Mongolia during the campaigns of Genghis Khan and his sons. The “Winged Lion” silk had an overall design which was purely Persian, but incorporated Chinese motifs not used in a Chinese fashion. This work was a centerpiece of the “When Silk Was Gold” exhibition.
Wardwell also planned, organized and oversaw the bi-annual adjudicated “Focus: Fiber” exhibition, on which she worked with Cleveland’s Textile Art Alliance. Her scholarship extended beyond the Museum’s Bulletin, CMA Members Magazine, and major exhibition catalogues. Her articles were published in Hali Forum, the Dictionary of Art, the Bulletin de Liaison du Centre International d’Étude des Textiles Anciens, Ars Orientalis, Oriental Art, Textile History, Studies in Conservation, Islamic Art III, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Bulletin, and Aachener Kunstblätter.
-Biography by Anne Cuyler Salsich, 2024
Occupations
Topics
Found in 4 Collections and/or Records:
Anne Wardwell, 2000-02-01
This small collection consists of audio cassette recordings and transcripts of oral history interviews with museum employees and others associated with the museum. Most of the oral histories were conducted by the museum archivist specifically for the oral history program. Interviews conducted by other museum employees are noted in the box list.
Cleveland Museum of Art oral histories
This small collection consists of audio cassette recordings and transcripts of oral history interviews with museum employees and others associated with the museum. Most of the oral histories were conducted by the museum archivist specifically for the oral history program. Interviews conducted by other museum employees are noted in the box list.
Installation: Carpet deinstallation (including Anne Wardwell, Tom Catalioti, Bill Root) (5 slides)
Slides from various offices depicting exhibitions, events, and views of the museum and museum construction. Included are a large number of exhibition installation slides from former museum designer, William Ward. Slides are stored in slide boxes in cool storage. Folder titles refer to the subject heading of a particular group of slides. Subject headings can include any number of slides.