CLEVELAND.- The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) brings a successful year of acquiring art to a close by adding several key works to its collection, including Edgar Degas’ Mlle B�cat at the Caf� des Ambassadeurs, Paul Klee’s Ghost Rider Late in the Evening, and a 17th-century man’s robe from Tibet.

“This museum has made many fine additions to its collection during 2007,” CMA Director Timothy Rub said. “This spring, we acquired a rare Indian temple sculpture depicting Shiva as Brahma, this summer a superb collection of surrealist photography, and this fall exceptional works of art from Africa and Meso-America. And as the museum wraps up a busy and prosperous 2007, we welcome several additional works that will strengthen our holdings in several different areas.”

Degas lithograph one of only 15 known to exist - Edgar Degas (French, 1834-1917) was among the most talented draftsman and printmakers of his generation. In the late 1870s he became captivated -- as did many Parisians -- by the caf�-concert, a popular outdoor entertainment that featured dance and music performed by popular entertainers of the day. He depicted these performances in a number of important etchings, lithographs, and monotypes. Mlle B�cat at the Caf� des Ambassadeurs (lithograph, 1877-78), which portrays the star of the establishment Emelie B�cat, is among the most fully realized of these compositions. It is a rarity as well: only 15 impressions are known to exist.

Degas was interested in the dramatic potential of light, and his deft treatment of this theme imparts a visual richness to his black and white lithographs. In Mlle B�cat many forms of natural and artificial illumination are represented: in the light emanating from a large gas lamppost, a cluster of gas globes, a string of lights, and a prominent hanging chandelier. In addition, the moon shines in the dark sky, fireworks send down streamers of light, a patch of light is glimpsed in the orchestra, and footlights illuminate the singer from below. Degas renders these diverse lighting effects by exploiting the lithographic technique’s potential to obtain rich blacks and a broad range of grays.

Klee watercolor strengthens CMA’s early modern European collection - Paul Klee (German, born Switzerland, 1879-1940) was a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, teacher and writer whose is considered one of the most significant figures in the history of modern art. Some of his most magical images made while teaching at the Bauhaus, an innovative art and design school in Germany, were achieved with a spraying technique he devised, of which Ghost Rider Late in the Evening (watercolor and gouache, 1929) is a marvelous example. Made with watercolor and partial spattering of pigment atop a black underdrawing, this work is distinguished by a wonderful variety of textures and colors, the latter of which range from a brilliant blue to the deepest blacks. In the center of the composition is the figure of a horse and rider with a staff; the figure is drawn with a thin line that undulates between white and red. Although Klee creates the illusion that the design has been scratched through the dark layer, in fact it has been drawn on top. This watercolor joins three drawings by Klee that are already in the CMA’s collection, thus strengthening its holdings by this important modern artist. Its acquisition was made possible through a generous partial gift.

17th-century Tibetan Chuba - The finest examples of Tibetan men’s robes, called chubas, are hallmarks of fine tailoring and the innovative use of materials. The CMA’s newly acquired chuba, a symbol of high status created for an aristocrat or a high-ranking Buddhist monk, is made with an astonishingly luxurious Chinese silk originally woven for the imperial court in Beijing and sent to Tibet in trade or as a gift. Splendidly large phoenixes fashioned in gold thread adorn the front and back of the robe and are complemented by two smaller but equally resplendent phoenixes below. The fabric was skillfully cut to form the wide sleeves, and angled overlap at the front, and a long skirt. The robe would have been secured by a belt or sash at the waist. This chuba is in excellent condition with no apparent indication of wear.

Wari container joins growing collection - Container in the Form of a Sacrificer, from the Wari people (Peru, 600-1000 A.D.), is made of a hard wood with traces of red pigment. The container, carved in the form of a feline-headed Sacrificer – one of the most important supernatural creatures in the art of the Wari Empire – leers with a toothy grin as it thrusts a blade into the throat of its human victim displaying the peak ritual action of passage from quick to dead, releasing vitality in the service of cosmic forces.

Wood containers carved as Sacrificers were sent out to provinces far from the Wari capital in the Peruvian sierra. It is usually assumed the containers held the powdered lime (made from burned seashells) that was chewed with coca leaves, an important social and ritual activity in the Andes. It could also be that the containers were meant for psychotropic snuffs that might have been an integral part of Wari religious observance.

Scully’s Stay joins Wall of Light Rose at CMA - After immigrating to New York in 1975, the painter Sean Scully (American, born Ireland, 1945) immediately began to move away from the style of his previous work, which was defined by a grid system of crossing lines and bands of intense colors. Influenced by Conceptualism and Minimalism, he drastically simplified his composition and palette to alternating stripes of light and dark values of gray with the occasional use of color. During 1978 to 1980, Scully created a remarkable series of black paintings of which Stay (oil on canvas, 1979) is one of the very best.

This superb early example of his work joins the artist’s 2003 painting, Wall of Light Rose, already in the CMA collection. About The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of America’s leading comprehensive museums. Its permanent collection is world renowned for its quality and breadth, spanning 6,000 years. The Museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship and art acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art receives operating support from the Ohio Arts Council through state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. For more information on the museum, its holdings, programs, services and events, call 1-888-CMA-0033 or visit www.ClevelandArt.org.