Oskar Schlemmer and the Triadic Ballet

 I fell down the most satisfying internet rabbit hole I think I have ever experienced.  It was a pure spiral, I was looking up a painter when I happened upon the image below, left.  I clicked and clicked and ended up watching a remake of Oskar Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet with my mouth wide open.

Schlemmer was a Bauhaus teacher in the 20s who did painting and theatre and much experimental work.  He debuted his Triadic Ballet in 1922(pictured above) with its emphasis on form, structure and movement through space.  The figure below, right just got me immediately.  The aesthetics of this thing!  All contemporary MFAs in performance art and all children's TV show producers should be required to watch (I'm looking at you Fresh Beat Band, you god awful thing, my nephew will never get that hour of his life back...)

Below is a 1968 reconstruction by Margarete Hasting, Franz Schömbs, and Georg Verden which allows an understanding of the color.  And here is an article with some further info.

                            

 Schlemmer's biography doesn't end well.  As a progressive German artist his work was deemed degenerate by the Nazis and he was pushed out.  Apparently his work stopped in this troubled time and he died in 1943 after 10 years of little work and illness.  What a mind ahead of its time, playful and precise.  To not find curiosity and beauty but fear in the bizarre and challenging is a terrible thing I hope this country can remember.

Shows from NYC to PHL

This post is a mash-up of things I have seen in the last month and a half.  I was in New York twice and did a bunch of popping around in Philly and never got organized enough to do a proper post but here are some images anyway.

Albert York @ Matthew Marks

Albert York

The Albert York show was a solid gem in a sea of mediocre shows I want to forget about when I was up in NY in early December.  It was really nice to see a painter who quietly pursued his interests over years and years.  In stark contrast was the Hockney show across the street -- what the hell was that??  I was also not as excited about Neo Rauch as many other people seemed to be.  Why does everything have to be so in excess when artists get to a certain level of success?  What happened to restraint?  More on that in a minute...

Ridley Howard at Koenig & Clinton

Ridley Howard

But first, Ridley Howard's solo show at Koenig & Clinton was another excellent show of restraint and continued investigation.  The formal concerns for color along with the figurative imagery was very nice.  (link above has installation shots)  

Another really nice show that I regretfully don't have any photos from was Matt Bollinger at Zurcher Studio.  Beautiful use of collage.

Schofield @ Woodmere

Installation Shot at Schofield Show

 Although this show felt a bit repetitive at times, the survey of Walter Elmer Schofield at Woodmere Art Museum was worth the trip.  I particularly loved the room pictured above.  The greens and blues in those pictures was knockout.  The larger room had some really solid painting in it, just maybe too many.  I felt as though some of the later, weaker paintings could have been edited out.  The show is up for a couple more days...

Amy Sillman @ MOMA

Against my better judgment I went back up to NY last week because there were a few things I wanted to see, especially at MOMA.  It was that 9 degree day so that on top of the fact that I had been disappointed the month before meant I was feeling extremely critical.  Like, "this better be worth it", not "I have an open mind to take in and digest whatever I stumble upon."

I started at the Matisse cut outs show which was very good, actually quite like what I expected.  So in a strange way I didn't take a lot from it for myself but I enjoyed the visual experience of it.  Then I dropped into the Forever Now show about contemporary painting including painters like Amy Sillman, Julie Mehretu, Laura Owens (big names but a nice number of women painters).  I felt somehow underwhelmed even though every single thing was over-sized.  I liked the painting above by Sillman best.  Somehow making still life that size was the only thing that felt necessary and full of spirit, it was funny.  A lot of the other paintings felt like they were big just because that meant they were important.   I think this nicely written article says a lot of what I thought.  

Jean Dubuffet 

The Dubuffet show was the most surprising for me.  I was really engaged by it.  It felt so right to look at right now.  It was raw but the restraint of material and color kept it poetic somehow.  I also saw the Gober show which is now closed and was worth seeing but the rest of those shows are still going and worth the trip.

So I left MOMA feeling pretty satisfied but not completely.  If it was 65 degrees that would have been one thing, but on a 9 degree day I needed to see something really, really stunning.

Anne Tabachnick @ Lori Bookstein

 So it was a good thing when I got to Lori Bookstein, because both shows were just that.  I have a catalog of Tabachnick's work but had never seen it in person. 

And on top of that show, the back show was really nice by Eric Holzman.  These are up until mid February.

Eric Holzman

I also liked Sarah Gamble's work at Edward Thorp which is now over. (sorry no photos).

Mamma Andersson

The final thing I saw was Mamma Andersson at Zwirner.  I loved her work when I was in grad school.  And I still like it.  I thought this show was not quite as strong as the last I saw and I hated the project space.  I think she is teetering right on the edge that this whole post seems to be about -- continuing to make work that has a struggle and a personal investigation vs. making work too fast because it is in demand.  I understand that it might take going over that line to know it but I really hope she sticks to moments like the one pictured above vs. this.

A Fine Arrangement Exhibition @ PAFA Museum

Below are some images from the A Fine Arrangement exhibition currently on view at PAFA.  Curated by Jan Baltzell and Michael Gallagher, it is a large show with a great variety of paintings in scale, time period, style and imagery, highlighting the versatility of the genre.  I keep going back to the show and finding new things.  It's been a really engaging show for me and I love that it is up for a few months (opened in October, ends April 12th)

There is a free, public opening on Tuesday, January 27th from 4:30 - 6:30 and a panel discussion Wednesday March 4th from 5:30 - 7:30.  

Jimmy Bellew, Palette, 2012

left: Laura Adams, Jade Bracelet, 2013(?),  right: George Cope, Spectacles, 1900 

Jane Piper, Still Life with Two Compotes, 1968

Raymond Saunders, La Chambre, 1961

left: my painting Black Curtain, 2014, right: Richard Diebenkorn Interior with Doorway, 1961 (one of my favorite paintings ever, looked at it all the time while in school)

Humbert Howard, The Yellow Cup, 1949-50

Unidentified Artist, Still Life with Pumpkin, 19th Century

Jane Wilson, Some of Willa's Things, 1971 (a favorite of my from PAFA's collection, almost always in the vault) 

Claire Kincade, At the Foot of the Table, 2013

Michael Rossman, Leaves, 1969

left: Horace Pippin, The Warped Table, 1940, right: my painting Pink Flower with Clock, 2014

Michael Ciervo, Untitled(Power, Corruption, Lies/Fantin-Latour), 2008 (excuse the glare)

from left: Ken Kewley, Jimmy Leuders, Bill Scott

Abraham Rattner, The Round Table, 1945
 

left: Catherine Mulligan, Still Life, 2008, right: my painting Late Night Light, 2014 

Joshua Marsh, Not, 2013

Elizabeth Godshalk Burger, Still Life, 1940 

Jan Baltzell, Begonia, 1971-72

These installation shots show how big the gallery is with a lot of work to digest.  I probably only posted a quarter of the work, if that.  It continues into the stairwell gallery and back gallery as well.

  As a still life painter I always feel like there are not enough shows of good, radical still life paintings to sink my teeth into.  This is a really satisfying experience and worth a visit and a return visit for sure.

Sunday Pick: Jean Brusselmans

Dilbeek Sous La Neige, 1938

Winter, 1925

Jardin Sous La Neige, 1942 

Seringen, 1934

I've been enjoying the paintings of Belgian artist Jean Brusselmans (1884-1953).  His use of white, black and chromatic grays is really strong.  I also think the stylized mark making, although typical of the time feel somehow specific enough to be fresh today.  I am most drawn to his landscape works, particularly snow scenes, but think the vase of flowers above is beautiful in its play with flatness and pattern.  

Friend Paintings #3

This 'friend paintings' business has apparently become a thing I am doing.  There's no attempt at finding them, I just keep seeing paintings that beg to be looked at side by side (or one on top of another).  But the ultimate curator in this realm is Kyle Staver.  If you haven't seen her painting comparisons on facebook, you must.  I'm wondering whether seeing those has made me have a keener eye for it.

Philip Guston, 1976, Hat, Oil on Canvas

Raoul Dufy, 1935, Field of Wheat in Normandy, Oil on Canvas

Friend Paintings #2

Emmanuel Seitz

Milton Avery

Painting Coincidences

You know that thing that happens when you say a word at the exact same time it is said by someone on the TV?  Or you learn about something completely new to you and its casually mentioned in the fiction book you are reading that night?  Everyone tells me this is called coincidence but sometimes it really feels more personal than that.  Like the world could sense what was on your mind and brought it up to the surface to let you know it was listening.

This happens occasionally when looking at paintings.  I notice something in one painting for the first time and it pops up in another.  Happened yesterday.  I have been looking a bit at Manet and stumbled upon this painting in a book at the library which I have never seen before:

Manet, Luncheon in the Studio, 1868, Oil on Canvas

It really struck me.  The way Manet uses black in such a flat, graphic way is something I really love.  In this piece it is especially beautiful, in contrast to the delicate stripes of the shirt which frame the man's face.  I looked at it for a while and then went on with my day.

Fairfield Porter, Young Man, 1968, Oil on Masonite

Then later at night, I was browsing images as I do on my computer.  I was thinking about Porter and put his name into google images and the painting above came up after a few scrolls down.  

I figured by now I have seen every Porter painting, yes he is incredibly prolific but so are my searches for his work, but I have never seen this one before.  In fact, it is very hard to find online, only a thumbnail and a flickr link to a picture that looks like it was a camera sneak while a guard wasn't watching (I took that image and cropped it up nicely)

So when I saw this painting made exactly 100 years after Manet's of a man in a flat black coat with delicate yellow stripes leading up to the face I had to feel as if the universe was involved.  It makes me happy to find these relationships among painters and even happier to wonder whether Porter had seen the same painting by Manet and went on to make his own.

Au Revoir France

Back from the land of all things exquisite.  (wahhhhhh)  

Everything I can say about France has probably been said.  So I'll simply say that it is a true feast for the senses.  Of course visually it blew me away and I was expecting that -- in more interesting ways than I thought which I'll elaborate on below.  

But also in smell, sound and taste.  Of course taste -- we ate our way out.  Such delicious fruits, breads, wines, pistachio icecream.  But driving through areas in Provence we could smell each thing -- lavender to wildflowers to honey to salt flats.  It was a strange feeling, like I suddenly had the nose of a dog.  I rarely ever turn to Alex and say "Do you smell that?" unless its Nugget, but in France everything smelled great.  And at night there were many unfamiliar sounds of birds and who knows what other animals.

First the colors.

An apricot -- best single fruit I have ever eaten.  That orange...no editing here.

The blue at night in Nice was nothing we had ever seen.  The camera pulls out the difference but with natural vision the line between ocean and sky was invisible and created this odd flatness -- we knew there was depth but couldn't sense it.

This happens to be Van Gogh's Night Cafe in Arles but each and every restaurant seemed to use color in meaningful ways from the awning to seats to placemats in an effort to bring people into the space and create a unique visual.

Macaroons!!

Then the shapes, many different shapes and points of view than I am used to

In Gordes, a hilltop town you could walk by the roofs of houses on the hill below.  And the shadow!

So many interesting plants

Everywhere shapes for interesting painting compositions

The arrangement of things.  

There was a different consciousness for how things should be presented.  I'm not sure I prefer it but I was highly aware of it.  From jewelry to baked goods to lavender in the field to umbrellas on the beach, everything was in its place.

 

In terms of seeing artwork, it was a mixed bag.  

First stop was the Orangerie.  This is was fantastic little museum.  Not too long of a wait, probably because it is on the outskirts of the Louvre's gardens concealed by trees.  No pictures allowed in the upper gallery but click to get the smallest inkling of understanding.  

There are two oval shaped rooms where Monet has created enormous paintings of the water and trees, lilypads of his garden.  They are so radical in person.  Not just for that time, not just to debunk the nice little image of impressionism we have in our contemporary mind's eye but as paintings right now.  The darks sing and the sense of space is constantly shifting on the viewer.  It reminds me of how it felt to look out on the ocean above.  Fantastic paintings.

In the lower galleries there were a few little gems from artists working around his time.  It was a nice collection and the crowds allowed for some concentrated looking.  Here's a picture I snapped secretly of a favorite Andre Derain:

I think Guston must have seen this painting

 The next place we went was the Musee d'Orsay.  I have been there before and knew I needed to see a few paintings again.  What a (excuse my french) shit show that was.  Even with a pre-bought ticket you wait at least 45 - 1 hour to get in.  Fine, let people have time with the work, regulate the number of viewers.  Just kidding.  You get in and you can not stop to look or you will be stampeded.  I'm not sure why so many people chose to wait in that line to then literally run through the museum, maybe their legs had cramped from standing still for so long that they needed to break into a full on sprint but for whatever reason it was insanity.  

Sorry.  But with that as the preface, I really only got to do a cursory look at much of the collection.  Where I did put my foot down and just stand obnoxiously in front of everyone was with Manet.  Which I didn't expect.  I walked by the Bonnards and Vuillards that I fully thought I would need to be pulled away from without much feeling.  They were earlier works that really were not strong.  But I got to Manet and felt the power of the strangeness of these paintings.  The clarity in shape and flatness -- wow.  The polarization of the lights and darks. I always knew academically that Manet was good and important and understood why.  But seeing these it felt personal, like I need to own these and look at them and wonder about them.  To see them in person is such a better experience than reproduction.  More so for these Manet's than of any artist I can think of.  I was in love.

Edouard Manet, Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe, 1863

 We were only in Paris for 3 days so after the Petit Palais was closed that was all we got to see there.  While down in Provence we went to Aix where Cezanne spent much of his life painting.  We went into his last studio in life up on a hill with a small courtyard.  

Grinning like an idiot...about to go in

Dappled light was everywhere in France, but nowhere more than Cezanne's garden

It felt instantly like walking onto his palette, walking into the space

The vases were like celebrities to me -- I recognized many from different paintings

The big excitement for me for the last destination of the trip, Nice, was to visit the Bonnard Museum in his home town Le Cannet.  I had researched it a bunch before leaving and did a quick double check of everything the night before going. I had that secret feeling that this was going to be the best day of my life. CLOSED for 3 weeks.  Major sadness. AHHH.  

Next to Alex's wedding ring being left in the Mediterranean Sea for eternity, that was the only thing to go wrong.  Oh well. Can't dwell on things like these on vacation of a lifetime.  Plus, I have a really quality husband who instead of high fiving himself for this lucky break in another beach day, insisted we go up to the Matisse Museum in Nice.  

I'm not going to lie.  It wasn't a good museum.  There were a few really nice paper cutouts.  But the majority was early drawings that were really actually dreadful.  I feel awkward saying that about such a force, such an artist whose work I love but it was true.

The main thing I came away with in terms of the all the work I saw was; its absolutely essential to continue to look and look without preconceived judgments.  As I did this, I started to realize it is okay to kill my idols a little.  They are still great painters that I admire.  But as my own work changes, the things I look at and take away change.  I always know this but it was so apparent on this trip.  All of these new approaches to color, shape, composition in the work and also in the physical place have me very renewed about the studio.