Jost Tells All About Allen’s Art

Stephan Jost, Curator of Academic Programs and Exhibitions, has been with Allen Memorial Art Museum for three and a half years. Previously, Jost worked for four years at Sotheby’s, the world’s leading art auction house in New York City. Jost completed his graduate work at Austin University and was an undergraduate at Hampshire College, in Amherst, Mass, which according to Jost is one of the few places that makes Oberlin look conservative.

Christina Morgan: As curator of academic programs and exhibits, what exactly does your job entail?

Stephan Jost: Primarily, I’m the person between the museum and non-art history departments. So if you’re taking African American studies, you might take a look at African-American artists. We have 11,000 works of art and less than 10 percent are on view. My goal is to make the museum relevant to College classes outside the art history department. I give about 50 classes a year.

CM: So do the College’s programs have an effect on which items are displayed or brought to Allen?

SJ: Ideally the curator will have an idea and we contact the faculty member to discuss how the exhibition can be used in their courses. For example, a North American landscape exhibit was used by eight non-art history classes ranging from geology to environmental studies. I think our primary audience are the Oberlin College faculty and students 

CM: Does the Museum still play a large role in specifically aiding Oberlin College’s art/art history programs?

SJ: Historically, that was the case, but we’re changing very rapidly. When I first came to Allen, we were giving only 10 classes a year, now we have 50. I think students in every discipline can use the works of art. It’s very different every day, that’s what makes it exciting. One day I am talking about Surrealism and the next, contemporary feminist art.

CM: AMAM offers many programs to the residents of Oberlin as well. Do you think this helps bring the College and the city together in any way?

SJ: It’s absolutely important that we reach out to the local community. Not just to school kids but families. The challenge is not just to inform, but listening to what the community needs and wants. A strong relationship is a long-sustained effort, it will not happen in just one or two years, but rather five or more.

CM: You are also the curator of the ever-popular Art Rental collection as well. Could you speak a little on how you make this possible?

SJ: As curator of the Art Rental collection, I want the quality of the rental collection to be as good as the permanent. I don’t want them to be just the dregs, but rather things that could be displayed. With the money from the $5 student rental fee, I go to New York and buy two or three new works for the rental collection.

CM: You also gave a talk yesterday on changes in body image in Western art over the last 500 years as a part of Eating Disorder Awareness Month. Is this something you were asked to do or something you had a interest in?

SJ: Someone with the council called the department and asked. I talked about how the ideal body changed over the last 500 years. It brought people who don’t usually come to the museum to Allen. This is another example of how we use art in a non-historical way by making it relevant to an important contemporary issue.

CM: A Matter of Taste: The African Collection at AMAM, opened Tuesday. How did this new exhibition come about?
SJ: Director Sharon Patton curated it. It marks the first time in decades that African art from our permanent collection is exhibited. This exhibit is really exciting for two reasons. First, it displays recent acquisitions that we’ve purchased in the last year that are stunning and important and being viewed for the first time. Second, Dr. Patton organized it to show how people collect African art. Originally it was collected only as ethnographic objects and now it is collected as objects of great art.

CM: The famous “Death of Cleopatra” sculpture by African-American sculptor Edmonia Lewis was damaged on the way to Oberlin. Can you offer any details about the status of the sculpture?

SJ: It was in a special case and broke along old lines in transit to Oberlin. Conservators at the Smithsonian are in the process of reviewing the damage. Conservation is a very slow process and we’ll really know its status in a couple of months. In place of the Edmonia Lewis sculpture, we brought a collage created by famous 20th century African-American artist Romare Bearden to the museum from a private collection.

CM: With AMAM’s many amazing works of art, do you have a favorite piece?

SJ: Probably the “St. Sebastian Attended by St. Irene” by Hendrick Ter Brugghen. The Dutch government made it into a stamp and it says Oberlin, OH on it.