The good, the bad, and the ugly

My first visit to Musée d’Orsay was simply unforgettable.  This is a top-notch museum, situated in a stunning building that was once an old train station, where I had the pleasure of viewing “The Angel of the Odd: Dark Romanticism from Goya to Max Ernst.”  

The good- this exhibition was an excellent contrast from the fifth floor galleries that are full of flowery Monets.  I especially enjoyed the thematic combination of plastic arts, movie scenes, text and literature.

The bad- from a purely visual standpoint, I think that it was slightly heavy on the Ernst.  However, it is an interesting way to incorporate modern art into the show and encourage the audience to think a bit beyond the immediate form of the objects before them.

The ugly- just about every character from Goya’s ghosts to Delacroix’s demons were rather hideous, although wonderfully animated.  The figures and landscapes of these works are undeniably ugly and they also lead our imaginations towards countless other dark spaces and places.

For more on “The Angel of the Odd: Dark Romanticism from Goya to Max Ernst” -

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-musee-dorsay/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay/article/lange-du-bizarre-35087.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=254&cHash=d1990e571c

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323550604578410380557842980.html

Weeping Woman

My eleven and twelve-year-old students recently completed a wonderful team project.  I cut a copy of Picasso’s Weeping Woman into small squares and asked the students to create larger collages that imitate the original composition of their piece.  They did not know what the final image would be; they simply had to work with the square they were assigned.  When I finally put together all their collages in the hallway, my sixth graders were amazed at what they had created together!  I am very proud of them.

ARCO 2013

The Catalan Peasant Coincidence

I was slightly nervous as I handed my history professor an essay titled “Miró and his Catalan Peasants” because the assignment concerned the book War, Agriculture and Food: Rural Europe from the 1930s to the 1950s.  Although I assumed that my professor would not be particularly amused, I somehow managed to find a way to talk about the book and art.  To my great surprise, when I told him about my paper his mouth dropped.  He hurried into his office and quickly returned carrying something close to his chest.  When he showed me the small painting of his six-year-old son, I could not believe my eyes.  This precious painting that hangs in my professor’s office is an imitation of Miró’s 1925 Head of a Catalan Peasant, the primary focus of my paper.  I was elated to see this adorable painting and eager to show my professor the original, which he admitted he had never seen before.  What an unexpected coincidence that made my day!

Cirque du Soleil

A song from Cirque du Soleil provided the rhythm for the Canadian synchronized swimming team to compete at the Olympics this year.  The talented musical artists of Cirque du Soleil typically perform live during their spectacular shows and I have been fortunate enough to see (and hear) two acts.   I went to see La Nouba many years ago in Orlando and caught Corteo in Barcelona last winter.  Both were simply spectacular!  Words cannot describe the sheer amount of creativity, coordination, and vision it must take to construct a Cirque du Soleil show. 

I recently read an article in El País that explains the origin of the Jean Rabasse’s initial inspiration for Corteo’s set design: an art exhibition at Canada’s National Gallery titled “The Great Parade: Portrait of the Artist as Clown.”  The way that many artists are able to recapitulate, spark, and refashion previous works of art is wonderful.  Whether it is providing a familiar beat for Olympic athletes or igniting an innovative idea in an individual, art has the ability to stimulate and engender our creative capacities.  For this reason, art is a tremendously valuable commodity that has the ability to impact our daily lives and the communities in which we live.

For a preview of Corteo-

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/corteo/default.aspx

Ruth Abrams

Today, Yeshiva University Museum in New York will celebrate the opening of their Ruth Abrams retrospective "Microcosms."  When the female artist passed away in the late eighties, The New York Times pronounced Abrams as an artist and “woman unfairly neglected in a macho era.”  Working in the shadows of iconic Abstract Expressionists like Pollock, The Huffington Post describes the woman’s work as “largely overlooked in her own time, and nearly forgotten after.”  Now through January 6, 2013, Abrams’ first solo exhibition will shed light on this often-overshadowed female painter and demonstrate her work as worldly and worthy of recognition.

Yeshiva University Museum Opening Information-

http://yumuseum.tumblr.com/RuthAbrams

The Huffington Post Article on Abrams-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/09/ruth-abrams-overlooked-je_n_1760689.html?1344537956&utm_hp_ref=arts&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000008#slide=1354875

A Sunday Afternoon

My boss recently told me that his favorite work of art is A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.  This epitomic pointillist painting is a highlight of The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection.  As an undergraduate student, my professor explained that Seurat appropriated contemporary scientific knowledge about color and perception.  The artist learned that the observation and sensitivity of color depends on the surrounding environment.  As a painter, this idea provoked Seurat to explore the possibility to create the effect of certain colors, without actually using that particular color.  For example, if you stare at the red circle then quickly hold a white piece of paper over your computer screen, you will see red’s complimentary color in the form of a green circle.  A Sunday Afternoon exemplifies Seurat’s experimentation with color perception in his application of adjacent complimentary colors, ultimately creating his characteristically bright figures.

The Art Institute of Chicago-

http://www.artic.edu/

Visual Art at the Olympics

Did you know that the Olympics used to award medals to artists?  Walter Winans’ An American Trotter won gold in the sculpture category at the 1912 games in Stockholm.  Artists involving athletics in their work were invited to compete for the first four decades of the Modern Olympics.  Today, the fine arts continue to play a less competitive role at the games as part of the Cultural Olympiad.  For example, visitors can see many of the faces that made the London games possible at the National Portrait Gallery.  I think the visual arts are an important component of the games because they can communicate to a vast audience, regardless of their nation, ethnicity, or religion.

Thanks to Ally Walton for sending me this interesting article-

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-the-Olympics-Gave-Out-Medals-for-Art-163705106.html

Cultural Olympiad-

http://www.london2012.com/about-us/cultural-olympiad/

Pollock and Kandinsky

In a previous post, I wrote about Kandinsky’s emphasis on the “inner necessity” to construct excellent compositions.  He articulated that this force is the most important component that propels the creation of artistic forms.  The American Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock discussed a similar sentiment nearly forty years later.  “The method of painting is the natural growth out of a need.  I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them.”  The legendary American artist unquestionably shares Kandinsky’s opinion on the nature of good art, although Picasso and Miró were the artists that Pollock admired the most! 

For the trailer of the 2000 Sony production Pollock-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0xiovbDML0

Famous Fauns

A faun is a mythological creature with an extensive history in visual culture.  Half-human and half-deer, fauns embody the spirit of the forest and the animals that inhabit it.   In art, representation of this hybrid mammal is manifold.  For example, the most extravagant ancient home discovered in Pompeii exhibited a bronze statue of a dancing faun in the atrium.  Appropriately, archeologist now referred to the site as Casa del Fauno.  The home also included many more impressive works of art like the Alexander Mosaic, a remarkable rendition of the Greek battle of Issus in 333 BCE. 

Another famous faun is named after its first documented owner, Cardinal Francesco Barberini.  The antique original is on display at the Glyptothek Museum in Germany (above) and often attracts much attention for its erotic aesthetic.  The Louvre in Paris has an 18^th century replication of the Barberini Faun.

Thousands of years after the Greeks first depicted their fascination with fauns, we continue to imagine and re-imagine these mythological beings.  C.S. Lewis created The Chronicles of Narnia including the beloved faun character, Mr. Tumnus.  Guillermno del Toro also employed the faun in his film El Laberinto del Fauno.  This magical movie intertwines history and fantasy, where the faun entices the young Ophelia into an alternate reality.

A scene from El Laberinto del Fauno-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVLZz0Sj-ko&feature=related

Glyptothek Museum-

http://www.antike-am-koenigsplatz.mwn.de/glyptothek/