Happy New Year

Henri Matisse, Dance (I), early 1909, oil on canvas,
8 6 1/2 x 12 9 1/2 in. (259.7 x 390.1 cm),
Museum of Modern Art, New York

Wishing you a joyous 2010.

A Colorful Awakening

Homo sapiens sapiens, 2005
Audio-video installation, video still

Sometimes an experience out of the ordinary awakens our senses. An example would be an amuse-bouche eaten at the onset of a meal which stimulates the palate and leads to the intensification of taste. Similarly a visual sight or sights can alert the mind to the pleasures of seeing. Such was the case for me.

It was the stimuli of works by an audio-video installation artist and the viewing of an indigenous art show that aroused my sensitivity to colors.

First, a little background. This seemed to be the year for the Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist. A major show at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, “Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)”, took place from November 2008 through February 2009. From September to December, Rist’s audio-video installations filled the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki, Finland. Then in October, exhibits of her work opened at the Palace of Arts and the Museum of Image and Sound in São Paulo, Brazil.

I have been an admirer of Rist since her exhibit at Art Basil in 1994. She is a complex artist whose work touches on many themes including gender, sensuality, and sex. Yet, it is her heightened use of color that elicits the strongest response.

In an article about Rist, The New York Times Magazine, November 15, 2009, the artist was quoted talking about the yellow of a piece of lemon on the rim of her drinking glass. She explained that if an artist wished to depict that color yellow in film or photography, it would not be the same – it would be less yellow. This is something she does not want to happen in her work – Rist does not want the yellow to appear less so.



















Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters), 2008,
Multichannel audio-video installation,
Installation view, Museum of Modern Art, New York

Thus, her multimedia installations are filled with intense color-saturated imagery. She tries to capture the “real” color of actual things such as the rich red of a ripe apple or the pure blue of a clear sky. When I emerge into light from the darkness of watching one of her videos, the natural hues of objects appear more vivid, more penetrating. The world seems to have gone from black and white to Technicolor. Her work activates my color awareness.














Featherworks, Beauty and Knowledge Exhibit,
3 October to 29 November 2009,
Caixa Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

A show of indigenous featherwork that took place at the Caixa Cultural São Paulo in São Paulo, Brazil had a similar impact. The exhibit, “Beauty and Knowledge”, was organized by the Museum of Archeology and Ethnology of the University of São Paulo as part of the museum’s 20th anniversary celebrations. This was a unique opportunity to see some ninety rarely displayed feather and fluff artifacts.


















Featherwork, Beauty and Knowledge Exhibit,
3 October to 29 November 2009,
Caixa Cultural São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

The gallery was surprisingly well lit given the light-sensitive material on view and the varied featherworks produced a dazzling spectacle of colors. Again, I was alerted to nature’s intense hues. I thought about the inability of photography, paint, video or film to capture such coloration.

When I left and walked out onto the city streets, the world seemed brighter and more vibrant. My visual palette had once again been stimulated. My responsiveness to colors awakened.

This can happen to you. Continue to look.

Worth a View - A Michelangelo Marble Boy?

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564), Young Archer, c. 1490, marble,

overall (wt confirmed): H. 37 x W. 13 1/4 x D. 14 in., 177lb. (94 x 33.7 x 35.6 cm, 80.2867kg)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York 

Lent by the French State, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs

Go look at the Young Archer, a marble boy, attributed to Michelangelo at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On loan from the French Republic, it has received much publicity but underwhelming visits according to my experience and the guard on duty this past Sunday afternoon.

New York University Professor Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt created quite a stir in 1996 when the New York Times announced her discovery of a lost early work by Michelangelo. It was located right here in New York City at the headquarters of the French Cultural Services in a mansion on Fifth Avenue. The statue, identified as a young archer or cupid, stood above a fountain in the building’s entrance hall. Many rushed to see it but the marble sculpture was in a position that made close examination difficult. Later that year, Professor Brandt published her research in the Burlington Magazine (Vol. 138, No. 1123, Oct., 1996, pp. 644-659). From the beginning, many leading scholars were dubious. Controversy continues.

The statue is now installed where it can easily be studied on the first floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Vélez Blanco Patio. I personally began my viewing by looking down from the Patio’s second floor gallery and from this level was impressed with the details of the statue’s curly hair and the elegant lines of what remains of the body. The figure's arms, lower limbs and a vase needed stability are missing. 

Downstairs, on closer inspection, I felt uncomfortable with the ungainly proportions of the figure’s narrow shoulders and long, thin thighs. I thought the youth’s head rather large relative to the small, well-developed torso. Comparisons to Michelangelo’s early work seemed stretched.

I did appreciate the remarkable modeling of the figure’s head, chest, rib cage and back. Also of note is the rendering of the slight bulge of flesh alongside the outer edges of the baldric as it crosses the figure’s chest. This indication of pressure on flesh is particularly apparent around the belt's back fragment.

In front of the work, an identifying label reads “Attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)”. Nearby, explanatory wall panels recount the piece’s history and offer cogent arguments for the attribution.

The jury is still out. For me, the authenticity as a Michelangelo piece is questionable.

Spend time with this work. You may want to form your own opinion.

Matisse and the Antique

Griffin Court, Modern Wing, 2009,
Renzo Piano, Architect
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Matisse looked at and thought about classical art. He created works based on antique precedents. The results were radical. I was particularly struck by this on a recent visit to the Art Institute of Chicago's splendid new Modern Wing.

In a third floor gallery are two Matisse bronze statuettes exhibited in a glass vitrine: Thorn Extractor and Woman Leaning on Her Hands. The Thorn Extractor depicts a figure in a startling version of the Spinario pose, a motif representing a seated youth removing a thorn from the sole of his foot. The term Spinario is from the Italian noun spina meaning thorn. I wrote about the Spinario figure in my last blog, “Andrea Riccio Lamp – New to The Metropolitan Museum of Art”, Monday, September 21, 2009.


















Henri Matisse, Thorn Extractor, 1906, bronze,
7 15/16 x 5 ½ x 6 in. (20.3 x 14 x 15.2 cm)
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Matisse’s Thorn Extractor is bent over in concentration. The balance and repose of its ancestors are gone as well as the openness of limbs. Matisse’s Extractor is crunched up and awkward. His muscular left leg is straight, flush against the back support; his right leg is drawn up so that its knee almost reaches his right shoulder. It is a strong, dynamic formation with surface facets that animate the bronze as they catch light.












Henri Matisse, Woman Leaning on Her Hands,1905, bronze,
4 ¾ x 9 ¼ x 6 ¾ in. (12.11 x 25.5 x 17.2 cm)
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Adjacent is the artist’s Woman Leaning on Her Hands. The figure rises from the floor with outstretched arms. Her horizontal extension contrasts with the Thorn Extractor’s essentially vertical axis.















Henri Matisse, The Geranium, autumn 1906, oil on canvas,
39 ½ x 32 1/8 in. (100.3 x 81. 5 cm)
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois


















Henri Matisse, Thorn Extractor,
Detail of The Geranium

On a nearby wall hangs an early Matisse still-life, The Geranium. Here the painter has included his own sculptures – specifically the two bronze statuettes on view in the glass showcase. The image bursts with light, color and life. Dated 1906, its unconventional nature astonishes.














Installation of works by Henri Matisse, Gallery 391A,
third floor, Modern Wing, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

This is a wonderful gem of museum installation. Matisse’s original sculptural figures are exhibited next to the artist’s painting in which they are portrayed. All three works were created about the same time. The Thorn Extractor is dated the same year as the painting; the Woman Leaning on Her Hands a year earlier.

The Museum acquired the painting in 1932. The statuettes arrived decades later: the Woman in 1992 and the Thorn Extractor in 2008. The Extractor came as a gift from the Ruth Stanton Family Foundation. I’d like to think that some astute person or persons from this Foundation recognized and seized the fortunate opportunity to complete this painting/bronze statuette juxtaposition – a happy circumstance.

Matisse and the Spinario also reminds us that art talks about art as it redefines and builds on the past. You will recognize more of this as your visual vocabulary increases. Continue to look. The enrichment is there for the seeing.

Andrea Riccio Lamp - New to The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Andrea Briosco, called Riccio, Oil Lamp, ca. 1515-1525,
bronze, 9 5/8 x 8 13/16 x 2 5/8 in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired an Andrea Riccio (1470-1532) bronze oil lamp that is on display in the Italian Renaissance Bronze Gallery. This is the only surviving Riccio lamp that still has both its lid and legs.

(For more on Riccio, see my blog post on Wednesday, November 26, 2008, “Andrea Riccio at the Frick Collection”.)

The Museum’s new lamp is in the shape of an unrigged sailing vessel. Across its body, cavorting infants form the main frieze which is framed by delicate shells. The lamp rests on slender curving legs whose shapes are echoed by the lid’s handles. On either side of the cover, a playful child sits holding on to the tail of a dolphin-like sea creature. Classical details animate the work as the eye moves from one design element to another. There is movement and rhythm in all manner of decoration. The technique is of the highest quality. This new acquisition joins the other Metropolitan’s Riccio holdings that include the artist’s work, those attributed to his “followers”, “in the manner of” or “workshop of”.

There is a lot more to see in this Italian Renaissance gallery whose objects may be modest in scale but offer much to enjoy. Here are depictions of mythological, secular and religious figures – Venus images as well as saints – inkwells and plaques. The bronzes are small enough to fit nicely on a studio shelf or study desk. Their compact size allows for intimate viewing, examination and comparisons with nearby objects.





















Bartolomeo Bellano, David with the Head of Goliath, ca. 1470-80, bronze

Nearby the Riccio display is a case containing a gilt-bronze statuette of David with the Head of Goliath by Bartholomeo Bellano who was a student of Donatello and Riccio’s teacher.

A bronze Spinario statuette from North Italy dated 1500-1520 can be contrasted with the approximate life-size bronze Spinario attributed to Antonello Gagni, Italy (Sicily) 1507-09, on view in the adjoining Vélez Blanco Patio.





















Attrib. to Antonello Gagini, Spinario, 1507-09, bronze

The Spinario, a depiction of a boy removing a thorn from his foot, was based on a Greek original and copied by the Romans. Very few Roman bronzes survive but a 1st century Roman bronze Spinario did and was one of the first antique sculptures to be coped by Italian Renaissance artists. I like to find representations of the Spinario motif and think about how the artist individualized the theme. Some, following the Roman antique example, show the youth’s left foot crossed over his right thigh; some depict the opposite. Some are lithe elegant youths; some are solid unpretentious boys. You may find your own favorite image to follow.

Go see the new Riccio and spend time with the Italian Renaissance bronzes. The viewing will reward the eye as well as the mind – just what an artist like Riccio intended.

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art

Jeff Koons, Michael Jackson and Bubbles, 1988

The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art should be on every art lover’s radar screen. Located in Oslo, Norway, it has a significant collection of contemporary international art and has produced lively, intelligent temporary exhibits. Although the museum’s two present exhibition floors are a delight to view art in, very few, if any, of the extensive permanent holdings can be seen when special exhibits take place. Much needed additional space will be provided by 2012 when the museum moves into two new buildings designed by Renzo Piano that will be located in a sculpture park also designed by Piano.












Damian Hirst, Mother and Child Divided, 1993

The museum’s collection includes works by such artists as Francis Bacon, Damian Hirst, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons, Bruce Nauman, Shirin Neshat, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, and Cai Guo-Qiang. Some past shows focused on Andy Warhol, Richard Price, Charles Ray, Jeff Wall, and Matthew Barney.















Subodh Gupta, Date by Date, 2008
From the exhibit, "Indian Highway"

“Indian Highway”, the current exhibition, highlights Indian contemporary art and is part of a series that the museum organized with London’s Serpentine Gallery. The sequence of shows looks at contemporary art from the twenty-first century’s emerging powers – China, India and the Middle East.

For some reason, most of my art astute friends had never heard of this museum. A pity. My one problem with the Astrup Fearnley is the limited access to its permanent holdings. This should be rectified with the opening of the new buildings.










Anselm Kiefer, Zweistormland/The High Priestess, 1986-1989

On a recent visit to the museum, I was impressed with the "Indian Highway" exhibition but I wanted to see more of the museum’s holdings. The only ones on view were three powerful Anselm Kiefers. Their installation, in one vast asymmetrical gallery, was a knock-out. Why did they remain? Kiefer’s work is too heavy to move.

Put the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art on your must see list.

Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art
Dronningensgate 4, Oslo, Norway

Opening Hours:
Tuesday - Friday 11 am – 5 pm
Thursday - 11 am – 7 pm
Saturday - Sunday 12 pm – 5 pm
Monday - closed

The Russian Court comes to Amsterdam

Hermitage Amsterdam
Main Entrance

The impressive inaugural exhibition of the expanded Hermitage Amsterdam, At the Russian Court, Palace and Protocol in the 19th Century, opened June 20th. More than 1,800 objects project the resplendent nineteenth-century Tsarist court in a tour de force of museology. Materials are presented in a meaningful way, well-lit and easy to view. Introductory notes, labels and interactive computer kiosks are comprehensible and instructive. They offer nice tidbits of information that not only educate but entertain. Riches are everywhere - oil paintings, sketches, watercolors, photographs, film cuts, dresses, costumes, uniforms, clerical vestments, furniture, porcelains, jewels, snuff boxes, decorations, fans, hats, gloves, bags, shoes, parasols, menus, ceremonial books, arms, performance programs, toiletry articles, pipes, and more. Spending a day here is quite worthwhile.

So large a show may seem daunting but consider that what is on loan to Amsterdam represents less than 1 percent of the Russian State Hermitage Museum's 3 million possessions. The Hermitage Amsterdam is one of several “satellite” venues established by the Russian Hermitage to allow the public to see more of its enormous collection. Begun five years ago in a smaller residence, the Amsterdam branch now has a home in a handsomely restored seventeenth-century building, ten times the size of its original space. It is much more than a place for temporary exhibits. Besides the usual museum café, restaurant, gift shops, study center and auditorium, it has conference rooms, an extensive secondary school program and the Hermitage for Children, located in the first Hermitage Amsterdam building, with its own gift shop, school, workshops and classes. In addition, the Hermitage Amsterdam offers a schedule of cultural and educational events that include concerts, opera and films.

The initial exhibition is divided into two themes with one focusing on official court life and the other on royal balls, dinners and amusements. The regal eighteenth-century Romanov throne of Paul I dominates the entrance of the court section’s main gallery. Facing the throne, in a long glass showcase, is a jaw-dropping procession of thirty richly dressed mannequins representing courtiers and royalty. The lighting and placement is such that all details of cloth are discernable. We see clearly that male court attire was just as elaborate as the female’s. Portraits of elaborately adorned tsars and tsarinas line this gallery’s walls. Among them the depictions is a 1795 full length portrait of the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Alexeevna by Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun. The Grand Duchess is, as expected, gorgeously gowned and jeweled. The informative label discloses that Elizaveta Alexeevna married the Tsar’s son Alexander, who became Tsar Alexander I, in 1801, when she was fourteen and he was fifteen. We also learn that the French painter became a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts after she fled France during the revolution. Nearby smaller rooms tell the story of St. Petersburg, the imperial palace, the six nineteenth-century tsars, courtly activities, protocol and the relationship between the church and state.















Lauits Tuxen, Wedding of Nicholas II and Grand Princiss Alexandra Fyodorovna at the Grand Church of the Winterpalace, 1895,
oil on canvas, 65.5 x 87.5 cm
State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg

The juxtapositions of works are well done. For example, located in one room is the oil painting, Wedding of Nicholas II and Grand Princess Alexandra Fyodorovna at the Grand Church of the Winterpalace. On an adjacent wall in the same room hangs the actual 1879 icon of Saint-Alexander Nevski, Saint-Titus the miracle worker and Saint-Policarpus the martyr that is depicted in the wedding oil on the church's rear wall. You can look back and forth between the actual icon and its representation in the painting.

Further along are rooms filled with items given to the tsars and tsarinas by foreign and local governments within the Russian Empire. Memorable presents to Tsar Nicholas II are a pair of eighteenth-century Chinese screens of cloisonné, enamel, bronze and gilding, a gift of Chinese Emperor Guangxu and a Russian small, case-enclosed, 1903 Torah presented by the Jewish Community of Libava, Latvia. As if the royals needed more!


















François Flameng, Portrait of Princis Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova, 1894,
oil on canvas, 147 x 112 cm
State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg

In the large gallery of the exhibit’s ball section, richly embellished gowns fill several centrally placed circular glass cases. About every five minutes, the round cases turn while ballroom dance music is heard. Surprisingly this presentation does not seem frivolous but rather delightful. It elicits smiles. Portraits of the aristocracy hang on the gallery walls overlooking the display cases. Of note is the eye-catching 1894 oil by François Flameng of the super beauty Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova whose son murdered Rusputin, the confident of Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna, in 1916. Two of the princess’s gowns are on view across from her portrait in the center circular case and her elaborate fan of tortoise shell, gold inlay, brilliants, chrysolite, Brussels lace, and rock crystal is exhibited in one of the adjacent smaller galleries. In nearby rooms, you can see the masquerade costume the princess wore to the court’s 1903 Jubilee Ball as well as her photograph wearing this attire.



















Nickolai Bodarevski, Portrait of Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna, 1907,
oil on canvas, 268 x 135 cm
State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg

Concerning the garments on view in the exhibition, the dresses, gowns and costumes of Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna, wife of Tsar Nicolas II are particularly appealing. Her style was obviously tasteful, elegant and understated. Did she pick them out herself or had advisors? I suspect they were her choice.

More to be seen are materials relating to the private side of imperial life. There are such items as personal accessories, playing cards, hunting garments, weapons, theatre programs and, among the children’s toys, the miniature working rifles made for Nicholas II as a child.

The show leaves you with the feeling that you have truly visited the nineteenth-century Russian Court. Although those who made the imperial opulent life possible are left out, we know that revolution is just around the corner and we can see the reason why.

In 2010 and 2011, the Hermitage Amsterdam will present the exhibitions Origins of Modern Art. Matisse and Picasso followed by Alexander the Great. The Road to the East. If the present show is any indicator of the quality of things to come, plan to go.

At the Russian Court, Palace and Protocol in the 19th Century
20 June 2009 through 31 January 2010
Hermitage Amsterdam
Amstel 51, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Open daily from 10 am to 5 pm, Wednesdays to 8 pm.
Closed on January 1st and December 25th