Saturday, March 25, 2017

A Woman Ahead of Her Time: Luisa Roldán


Portrait of Luisa Roldán, escultora de Carlos II, 
Antonio Rotondò y Tabasco (1808 - 1879), Spanish, 1862,
engraving in Histoire descriptive, artistique et pittoresque du monastère royal de St. Laurent vulgairement dit de l'Escurial... (Descriptive, Artistic, and Picturesque History of the Royal Monastery), Madrid, 1863*
Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, 88-B6694
Photograph:  The J. Paul Getty Museum Web site 

March 2017 is Women's History Month.  This is the month women all over the world celebrate female achievements.  What better time to focus on Luisa Ignacio Roldán (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), the first recorded female sculptor in Spain. Although relatively unknown today, she was famous in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.  

Luisa Roldán (1652 - 1704), called La Roldana, is the only female artist mentioned by her contemporary, the painter and art historian Antonio Palomino (1656 - 1726) in his An Account of the Lives and Works of the Most Eminent Spanish Painters, Sculptors and Architects. Palomino's book, first published in Spain in 1724, was Spain's equivalent to Giorgio Vasari's (1511 - 1574) Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects  (1550) which had initiated the genre of artists' biographies.  During the eighteenth century, Palomino's work was translated into English, French and German. Luisa Roldán's inclusion was significant.

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Polychromer: Tomás de Los Arcos (Spanish, born 1661),
Saint Ginés de la Jara, about 1692, 
polychromed wood (pine and cedar) with glass eyes, 
69 1/4 x 36 3/16 x 29 1/8 in.  (175.9 x 91.9 x 74 cm)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Photograph:  The J. Paul Getty Museum Web site 

La Roldana had her own workshop, first producing life-size or larger than life-size wooden sculptures and later small polychrome terracotta compositions for private devotion.  The latter became her speciality and she was the first artist in seventeenth-century Spain to make them. 

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)
Photograph:  The Metropolitan Museum of Art Web site

She was appointed court sculptor to two Spanish kings:   Charles II and his successor Philip V.  The appointments were another first for a female sculptor.  A look at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2016 acquisition of the artist's The Entombment of Christ makes clear her talent.  Pain, suffering and grief are intensely rendered in a tableau vivant format evoking emotional response from viewers.  The work was probably given by La Roldana to Philip V as a gift prior to her court appointment. How did this female artist come to such proficiency at a time when women were normally prohibited from study at art academies or schools or apprentice to a master artist?  

 In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, female artists commonly received their training from their artist father or close family member.**  Lavinia Fontana (1552 - 1614), Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 - 1656), Elisabetta Sirani (1638 - 1665) and Josefa de Óbidos (1630 - 1684) are examples of painters who were taught by their painter fathers.***  Luisa was no different. Her father, the successful Sevillian sculptor Pedro Roldán (1624 - 1699), provided instruction.  She probably entered his studio at the age of 12 or 13.

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)
Photograph:  Artstor Web site

Unlike other female artists, Luisa achieved an accomplished command of the human anatomy.  Her figures were astoundingly realistic which implied a familiarity with the naked body.  Female artists were generally barred from the study of nudes.  Luisa had an advantage of training in a sculptor's studio where nude models were more likely in use than a painter's workshop. Thus, exposed to live models which included male nudes, her education would have included something normally reserved for male apprentices.  
Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)
Photograph:  Artstor Web site

Her mastery of the human anatomy is apparant everywhere even from viewpoints not meant to be seen.  

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)
Photograph:  Artstor Web site

These small works were made to be looked at from the front.  Yet,  from the rear or sides, her figures denote a robust sense of form.  They maintain a perception of reality.
Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)
Photograph:  Artstor Web site

Seville was a center of art production since the sixteenth century when the city flourished by holding the monopoly of trade with new world goods from the Americas.  By the seventeenth century, Spain's empire was declining along with its economic power.  Nevertheless, the arts in Seville continued to thrive due to a Catholic revival.  

The metropolis was filled with churches, monasteries and convents.  These required religious art and kept artists, especially sculptors, busy.  Statues were in demand for the many saint days and Holy Week when wooden figures and groups were carried on platforms in processionals throughout the city streets.  Unlike Italy where marble and bronze were the preferred sculpture medium, Sevillian sculptors worked primarily in wood.  Labor was divided. Sculptors carved heads, hands and limbs. Polychromers painted the pieces.  Gilders embellished the work.****  

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Polychromer: Tomás de los Arcos (Spanish, born 1661),
Detail of Saint Ginés de la Jara, about 1692, 
polychromed wood (pine and cedar) with glass eyes, 
69 1/4 x 36 3/16 x 29 1/8 in.  (175.9 x 91.9 x 74 cm)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Photograph:  The J. Paul Getty Museum Web site

The naturalistic  imagery was intended to elicit a strong response in worshippers - a call to piety, prayer and devotion as mandated by the Council of Trent (1545 - 1563).  
Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Polychromer: Tomás de Los Arcos (Spanish, born 1661),
Detail of Saint Ginés de la Jara, about 1692, 
polychromed wood (pine and cedar) with glass eyes, 
69 1/4 x 36 3/16 x 29 1/8 in.  (175.9 x 91.9 x 74 cm)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California
Photograph:  The J. Paul Getty Museum Web site

The seventeenth-century artists of Seville may be categorized as Counter-Reformation artists in that their art adhered to the Catholic Church's response to the Protestant Reformation.  

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)
Photograph:  Artstor Web site

Art was to engage viewers in a personal religious manner that was based on the bible.  It should encourage an emotional reaction in the beholder who on viewing would empathize with the suffering of Christ, saints and martyrs - those who suffered for the sake of human salvation.    
Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)

It was in this atmosphere that Luisa developed her art. She must have been a feisty lady judging from what is known of her life.  At 19 years of age, against her father's wishes, she ran off and married one of his apprentices, Luis Antonio Navarro de los Arcos.  Antonio was said to have been a mediocre sculptor.  He never completed the required years of apprenticeship necessary to set up an independent workshop.  His economic prospects were dim.  

 The couple initially lived with Antonio's family.  They had children right away.  Four died at an early age; a son and daughter lived till adulthood.  She had her own workshop where Antonio assisted with sculpting as well as marketing Luisa and her work. Antonio's brother, Tomás de los Arcos, a painter, worked as a polychromer.  There is some indication that later in life Antonio engaged in commercial trade but he does not seem to have ever been an independent "breadwinner."  

 In 1687, Luisa and her family left Seville for the port city of Cádiz. A commission from a convent for a statue of the Ecco Homo initiated the move.  Seville had fallen on hard times and Cádiz, which was prospering, offered more work possibilities. In Cádiz, Luisa had some success.  Yet, a year later, she went to Madrid in the hope of securing a court appointment.  This she obtained in 1692 but it did not bring a secure income.  

 The king, Charles II, was late in paying Luisa's salary. Petitions survive which document her pleas for payment. In 1697 she began to receive rumuneration but the king died three years later. She had to begin again to position herself for another court appointment with the new king, Philip V.  Although she succeeded in 1701, her money problems continued.  By this time, she was known for polychrome terracotta sculptures.  

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
The Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene, c. 1690,
polychrome terra-cotta,
overall: 13 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 9 13/16 in. (30.5 x 44.5 x 25 cm)
The Hispanic Society of America, New York
currently on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Photograph:  David St.-Lescaux Web site

Luisa began to make her terracotta pieces when she arrived in Madrid.  Perhaps she developed her work in clay since there was not much demand for carved wooden figures.  Madrid's religious processionals were not a dominant activity for the city.
Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)

Her terracottas were probably made freehand since each piece is quite individualized.  If she did use molds, she personalized each one which would have taken just as long as working only by hand. 
Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Entombment of Christ, 1700 -1701, 
polychrome terracotta, 
overall: 19 1/2 x 26 x 17 in. (49.5 x 66 x 43.2 cm)

 These works were in demand by private patrons but the nature of this output could not bring in much money. Terracottas, clay objects, along with wooden statues, were not ranked high in the hierarchy of artwork mediums.  Be that as it may, Luisa produced highly affecting work that was and is greatly admired.  

Luisa Roldán, called La Roldana (Seville 1652 - 1704 Madrid), 
Detail of The Ecstasy of Saint Mary Magdalene****, c. 1690,
polychrome terra-cotta,
overall: 13 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 9 13/16 in. (30.5 x 44.5 x 25 cm)
currently on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Photograph:  Pinterest Web site from DeBeer on Flickr

La Roldana struggled financially most of her life. Time and time again, she was on the verge of extreme poverty.   In her last few years, her workshop was busy.  She may have finally achieved some monetary security.  Yet, when she died in Madrid in 1706, she was buried in a pauper's grave. This may have been the consequence of women's inability to have ownership at this time.  The reason for such a final resting place is still unanswered.  Sadly, she received a special award in recognition of her talents from a prominent art academy in Rome just when she passed away.*****  

 Her legacy is not only of an artistic nature, but also of a woman determined to work and succeed in a male dominated world.  As a woman, her impediments were many.  Alas, women today still struggle.

You can see Luisa Roldán's terracotta The Entombment of Christ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gallery 550, along with two other terracotta groups by the artist, The Ecstasy of Mary Magdalene and The Repose in Egypt, on loan from the Hispanic Society of America.  

*This is a presumed portrait of the artist.  The engraving is from Antonio Rotondo's Histoire, descriptive, artistique et pittoresque, du Monastère Royal de St.-Laurent, vulgairement dit de l'escorial.  Nine editions of the Histoire, descriptive, artistique et picturesque... were published between 1862 and 1863 in French and Spanish (Historia descriptiva, artística y pintoresca del Real Monasterio de S. Lorenzo, conmunmente llamado del Escorial).  The author was not only a writer and historian but also a painter, playwright and dentist.  For those whose language skills are weak, the book's title in English is Descriptive, artistic and picturesque history of the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo commonly called the Escorial.  There is a facsimile reproduction (ISBN: 84-7120-070-8) of the Madrid, Imp. de Eusebio Aguado, 1862 edition.

**A renowned exception to this was the Italian painter Sofonisba Anguissola (c. 1535 - 1625).  Born in Cremona in north central Italy to a minor aristocratic family, Sofonisba studied art with local artists.  Her talent and fame led to an invitation to work for the Spanish court in Madrid.  She became art tutor and lady-in-waiting to the Spanish queen and painter to the king.  Sofonisba is praised by Giorgio Vasari (1511 - 1574) in his Lives of the Most Eminent Architects, Painters and Sculptors (1550).  

***The artists mentioned are all Italian with the exception of Josefa de Óbidos (1630 - 1684), a Seville born Portuguese painter.  Her father, Baltazar Gomes Figueira, a painter from Óbidos, Portugal, is said to have gone to Seville, Spain in the 1620s to improve his painting technique.  Seville was a famous center of artistic production. There he met and married a Spanish woman. Josefa was the result of this union. Josefa's godfather was the Sevillian painter Francisco de Herrera the Elder.  By 1634, Figueira and family were back in Óbidos. 

****For an excellent video on the making of a Spanish polychrome sculpture, see Making a Spanish Polychrome Sculpture, produced by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

*****I am indebted to Stephanie A. McClure for her help in clarifying some points in my text and for her "The Terracottas of Luisa Roldán in The Hispanic Society of America," Masters of Arts Thesis, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 2008.

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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

China's Six Dynasties Period

Good Things From Chaotic Times
Head of a Bodhisattva, Northern Qi dynasty (550–577), 
sandstone; H. 12 1/2 ins. (31.75 cm),
unearthed in 1954 from Huata Temple in Taiyuan, Shanxi 
Collection of the Shanxi Museum

Sometimes good things come out of chaos.  Such is the case for the Chinese period known as the Six Dynasties.  From the 3rd through the 6th century, China was disunited.  Dynasties vied for control in the North and other regimes fought it out in the South.  The dividing line was the Yangtze river.  The Han - ethnically Chinese - controlled the South while the North saw a succession of mainly non-Han rulers, invaders from Central Asia.  War and instability reigned.  Many foreigners entered China bringing new influences.  Yet, out of the mayhem came some astounding achievements.  This is made clear in the China Institute Gallery's latest exhibition, Art in a Time of Chaos: Masterworks From Six Dynasties China, 3rd - 6th Centuries. 

 This is the first exhibit in the United States devoted to the art of China's Six Dynasties and the first exhibit in the China Institute's new location on Washington Street. The Institute, celebrating its ninetieth anniversary, moved this year from an upper Eastside townhouse to a high-rise in the Financial District. Its new home provides much needed modernized space for the Institute's many worthwhile activities.  This includes the China Institute Gallery which has consistently shown exhibitions of historical and artistic importance during its fifty years of existence.   Like its old Gallery space, the new venue has maintained its sense of intimacy.  

The current show consists of over 100 objects.  Four major Chinese art forms are represented: ceramics, sculpture, calligraphy and painting. Many pieces have been unearthed in the last twenty years and have never been on public view in the United States.  Some have not even been displayed in China.  
Celadon Double-Rim, Lidded Jar with Underglaze Decoration,
Three Kingdoms period, Wu kingdom (222–280),
glazed porcelain; H. (total) 11 7/8 ins. (30.1625 cm), 
D. (at mouth) 5 7/8 ins. (14.9225 cm),
D. (at belly) 13 ins.  (33.2 cm), D. (at base) 7 5/8 ins. (20.0025 cm),
unearthed in 2004 from the construction site 
of Huangce Jiayuan on Xianhe Street in Nanjing 
Collection of the Nanjing Municipal Museum

The first two rooms are devoted to the famed, typically grayish-green, celadon porcelain which was developed during this period.  Glass vitrines are filled with items unearthed from tombs.  They are called mingqi, spirit objects, made for deceased use in the afterlife. Everyday wares such as jugs and bowls as well as figurines of attendants and music makers were produced. Spittoons, incense burners, chamber pots, models of a chicken coop and a dog kennel complete with a dog, all from tombs, communicate life in the Six Dynasties.
Group of Celadon Figurines. Three Kingdoms period, Wu kingdom (222–280), 
glazed porcelain; various dimensions, from 5 3/8 to 7 5/8 in. (13.65 to 19.37 cm),
unearthed in 2006 from the Wu tomb at Shangfang in Jiangning, Jiangsu
Collection of the Nanjing Municipal Museum

Highlights include a Wu kingdom underglaze jar covered with decorations among which are bird-shaped handles, auspicious beasts, a lotus petal design and cross and scroll motifs; a set of ten figures each differentiated, one easily identified as a non-Han with his pointed cap, high-bridged nose and deep set eyes; and, three celadon urns, called "soul urns," with birds, figures and buildings, thought  to hold the soul of the deceased. 
Female Attendant. From a tomb dated to the Northern Qi dynasty, 
first year of Wuping (570),
earthenware with pigments; H. 11 1/8 in. (28.2575 cm),
unearthed in 1979 from the tomb of Lou Rui at Wangguo village in Taiyuan, Shanxi 
Collection of the Shanxi Museum
  
The array of sculptures  comprise some delightful representations.  The many recognizable animals include a pig, lion, hen, camel, sheep and horse.  Two models of an ox pulling its oxcart one from the South and one from the North allow comparison of styles.  

 The many figures of female and male attendants, some mounted on horseback, are individualized.  Clothing and hairstyles would indicate a figure's role in society.  The double coils of hair making up the top knot of one Northern Qi female attendant may indicate that she was close to the deceased.   

Mounted Drummer. From a tomb dated to the Northern Qi dynasty, 
second year of Wuping (571), earthenware with pigments; 
H. (total) 11 7/8 ins. (30.1625 cm), 
H. (horse) 10 1/4 in., (26.035 cm) L. 9 1/8 ins. (23.1775 cm),
unearthed in 2000 from the tomb of Xu Xianxiu at Wangjiafeng village in Taiyuan, Shanxi 
Collection of the Shanxi Museum


Not to be overlooked are the Buddhist works which evince the strong impact of Buddhism. One of the most beautiful objects is an exquisitely carved sixth-century sandstone head of a Bodhisattva, a person who is able to reach the highest state of enlightenment but holds back in order to help others.

Calligraphy came into its own as a separate art form at this time. In China, it is the highest valued art.  Different scripts evolved for specific occasions.  Master calligraphers developed their own eloquent, distinguishable style.  Many examples survive because calligraphy was not restricted to paper.  Writings were incised on stone or incorporated on buildings' bricks or engraved on wooden slips used like business cards. The exhibit's offerings make an excellent introduction to this, for most, unfamiliar but fascinating artistry.  Please don't miss the six-inch grey earthenware dog in this gallery.  Its name, translated as Black Dragon, is incised on its back.  
Sarcophagus Platform Panel. From a tomb dated to the Sui dynasty, 
twelfth year of Kaihuang (592), unearthed in 1999 from the tomb of Yu Hong
 at Wangguo village in Taiyuan, Shanxi,
marble with ink and pigments, 
H. 21 3/8 in. (54.2925 cm), W. (exterior) 97 1/4 in. (247.015 cm) , 
W. (interior) 81 1/8 in. (206.0575 cm) , D. 8 1/4 in. (20.955 cm)
Collection of the Shanxi Museum

Very few, if any, original Six Dynasties paintings have survived the more than a thousand years between their creation and the present. Tomb murals and coffins with their carved reliefs and paintings provide insight into what paintings were like. Parts of the sixth-century sarcophagus of Yu Hong is a case in point.


Carved Tomb Panel from Sarcophagus.  From a tomb dated to the Sui dynasty, 
twelfth year of Kaihuang (592),
unearthed in 1999 from the tomb of Yu Hong
 at Wangguo village in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province,
West slab of the rear wall, marble, 
H. 37 7/8 ins. (96.2025 cm), W. 19 3/8 in., (49.2125 cm) D. 4 3/4 ins. (12.065 cm) 
Collection of the Shanxi Museum

Yu Hong was a high official during three dynasties.  His tomb is enlivened with scenes of wine drinking, musical entertainment, dancing and hunting.  In one, a hunter holding a massive sword and riding an elephant twists around to attack a lion assaulting from the rear.  At the elephant's feet, a hound chases another lion.  The whole composition is energized with movement.  It appears as if the action continues beyond the relief's frame.   

I urge you to visit this exhibition.  Take it from me, you won't be disappointed.
Art In A Time Of Chaos:
Masterworks From Six Dynasties China, 3rd - 6th Centuries
September 30, 2016 - March 19, 2017

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Closed: October 10; November 8, 24, 25; 
December 24, 25, 26, 31; January 1, 2, 16; February 20
Closing at 1 p.m. November 23; December 23, 30
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Tuesday, January 31, 2017

How The Twains Have Met

De Kooning and Zao
Portrait of Willem de Kooning in his Long Island studio, New York, December 17, 1978. 
Photograph by Arnold Newman. 
© Arnold Newman / Getty Images
Courtesy of  Lévy Gorvy Gallery

Zao Wou-Ki in his studio, 1982. 
Photograph by Martine Franck. 
© Martine Franck/Magnum Photos
Courtesy of  Lévy Gorvy Gallery

William de Kooning (1904 - 1997) and Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013) never met during their lifetimes.  One, Dutch born, made his home in New York; the other, Chinese born, made Paris his home. They meet now in an exhibition at the Lévy Gorvy Gallery.*  This is the first exhibit for the newly formed gallery and the first presentation of paintings by these artists in one show.  The paintings invite contemplation not only about different formulations of abstract art but also about what abstract art can convey.
Willem de Kooning (1904 - 1997), Sail Cloth, 1949, 
oil, enamel, charcoal, and graphite on board,
27 x 32 in. (68.6 x 81.2 cm)
Private collection
Photograph by Elisabeth Bernstein
Courtesy of  Lévy Gorvy Gallery

Twenty paintings, including five museum loans, are handsomely installed on three floors of the gallery's building.  Two early works, de Kooning's Sail Cloth from 1949 and Zao's Untitled  from the same year, set the stage for the Dutch-American and Chinese-French dialogue.   Both artists creating their own expression of landscape art.

Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013), Untitled, 1949, oil on cardboard, 
17 7/8 x 21 1/2 in. (45.5 x 54.5 cm),
Private collection
Photograph by Patrick Goetelen
Courtesy of  Lévy Gorvy Gallery  

De Kooning's heritage is European, specifically Western figurative representation.  Although influenced by modern art in general, his contemporary Arshile Gorky impacted him the most.  Sail Cloth's biomorphic forms and inherent suggestions of nature attest to Gorky's significance.  


Zao came out of a tradition of Chinese painting and Eastern calligraphy but was highly  affected by modern masters such as Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso.  He owes much to Paul Klee's inventive pictorial language with its emphasis on drawing and color relations.  



Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013),  Montagne déchirée (shattered mountain), 1955-1956,
 oil on canvas, 51 3/16 x 79 3/4 in. (130 x 202.6 cm),
Collection Walker Art Center,
Minneapolis.  Gift of T.B. Walker Foundation, 1956
Photograph: Artwell Guide website 

In works like Montagne déchirée (shattered mountain), Zao transports viewers to distant landscapes of mists and mountains not unlike the landscapes of the great Song period paintings.  Calligraphic surface strokes evoke Chinese characters as well as small figures and vessels in the distant haze.  

 Zao once said, "I like people to be able to stroll in my works as I do when creating them."  His canvases do evoke a sense of such depth that strolling in them may be possible.  Moreover, they impart a feeling of swimming in shimmering or turbulent waters.  Zao's good friend the poet, writer and painter Henri Michaux made the sea/water/waves an important aspect of his poetry.  In his 1935 collection La nuit remue (The night is stirring) swimming is likened to freedom.  In Laziness Michaux writes about the soul loving to swim - leaving the body to swim as an act of liberation.  He speaks about the waters rising and falling - losing the self as the ground "seems to fall away under your feet."  Take a look at Zao's 1956 La nuit remue (the night is stirring), named, no doubt, with his friend's poems in mind. Sensations of being lost in a watery abyss fluctuate with impressions of a dizzying foreign landscape while black, linear text-like marks return the visitor to the surface. 
Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013), La nuit remue (the night is stirring), 1956, 
oil on canvas, 76 x 51 3/16 in. (193 x 130 cm),
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Kootz
Courtesy The Art Institute of Chicago

Paintings like these connect Zao to Peter Paul Rubens' rich oils such as Rubens' Hero and Leander paintings.**  When Zao uses a sunnier palate, such as his 1976 05-03-76***, links to the seascapes of J. M. W. Turner predominate.

De Kooning's oils also look back to Rubens taking more of the seventeenth-century artist's action-packed nature along with his painterly tactility and sensuality. 
Willem de Kooning (1904 - 1997), Door to the River, 1960, 
oil on linen, 80 1/8 x 70 1/8 in. (203.5 x 178.1 cm)
Purchase, with funds from the Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art 60.63
Digital Image © Whitney Museum, N.Y
Courtesy of  Lévy Gorvy Gallery

The artist's Dutch heritage is evidenced in works like the Whitney Museum of American Art's Door to the River or the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden's Untitled.  A door,  house, tree, grey sky or river may be discerned as the scene brings to mind landscapes of the seventeenth-century  Golden Age of Dutch painting. 
Willem de Kooning (1904 - 1997), Untitled XVI, 1976, 
oil on canvas, 60 3/8 x 54 1/8 in. (153.4 x 137.5 cm),
PrivateCollection
Photograph by Tom Powel Imaging
Courtesy of  Lévy Gorvy Gallery

 For de Kooning, however, landscape mostly evolved from his paintings of women.  He said, "The landscape is in the Woman and there is Woman in the landscape."  The fleshy quality to the artist's paint - color and texture - conjures imagery of the female nude.  As his abstract landscapes developed, its ties to the female body become less and less clear.  Movement and the sense of touch is never lost.

 Form and formless, figurative and abstraction, always play out in de Kooning's work.   As such, Zao may be considered the more abstract of the two painters.  Wait.  This conclusion is perhaps the result of a Western sensibility.  An Eastener's response may find the de Koonings' work more abstract.  

 Allow this writer to digress and address those readers who question abstract painting's ability to mean or convey anything.  Think of music, which is probably the most abstract of art, non-narrative dance or architecture.  Without words or palpable representation, these art forms are capable of communicating a variety of feelings and experiences.  Musical notes, melodies, harmonies and tempos can elicit from listeners at times sadness or happiness or triumph or excitement. Music may cause a recall of an event not formerly thought of and/or induce a sense of well-being or discord.  Non-narrative dance, or dance without a story line, is also able to bring forth many emotions.  Joy, sorrow and even humor can be expressed by various footwork, body bends, gestures, patterns and repetitions.  In a similar way, a building's configuration of verticals, horizontals, volumes, colors and apertures can communicate cheerfulness, comfort, unease or power.  Such is also the case for abstract painting.  It is expressive even in its renouncing the depiction of reality.  People can and do respond.  With lines, colors, textures and compositional variation, these paintings make a bond with the beholder, transmitting visually what music can do through the ear. As for its value?

 This brings up the classic study of abstract and representational art by the German art historian Wilheim Worringer (1881 - 1965).  His book Abstraction and Empathy, first published in Germany in 1908 and issued in English in the United States of America in 1953, had an enormous impact on art and criticism.  Worringer saw the beauty both in art that produced realistic depictions of the world and art that suppressed illusionism - did not depict the "real" but created abstractions.  Empathy, the life-like portrayals of the observable, and abstraction, the repression of real-life representation or the expression of the essences of things - are, according to Worringer, two forms of the human artistic experience. He suggested that empathy comes to the fore when there is harmony between mankind and the world - man has confidence in his surroundings.   Abstraction comes about during social upheavals, unrest when man is in conflict with outside world and is unsure.  At such times, reducing the observable to their fundamentals is man's aim and the result is abstraction.  Throughout the course of art, the pendulum swings between these two tendencies. Worringer's words are worth considering.  

 Visit the Willem De Kooning Zao Wou-Ki at Lévy Gorvy Gallery and delve into abstraction at its finest.  

*In December, 2016 Brett Gorvy, former auction house Christie's Chairman and International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, joined the Dominique Lévy Gallery in an equal partnership with the dealer Dominique Lévy to form the Lévy Gorvy (ĹG) Gallery.   The Lévy Gorvy Gallery occupies the entire landmark 1930s former bank building which previously housed the Dominique Lévy Gallery and Galerie Perrotin.  The Galerie Perrotin's new New York space at 130 Orchard Street opens this spring.

 **See the versions at the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut and the Gemaldegalerie, Dresden.

 ***For an excellent digital image of Zao's painting 05-03-76, see Christie's Auction House Asian Contemporary Art & Chinese 20th Century Art (Evening Sale), 29 November 2009, Hong Kong, Lot 1005.

 Willem De Kooning
Zao Wou-Ki
January 19, 2017 - March 11, 2017
909 Madison Avenue, Manhattan
Hours:
Tuesday - Saturday,
10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Mondays by Appointment

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