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Were You Looking for Abstract Modern Art?
Or was that Modern Abstract Art? Or was it something else entirely? Let me explain my confusion.
You see, "Modern Abstract Art" is sort of an umbrella term ... a very large umbrella term. Abstract Art is Modern by definition, and there are a number of movements that deal with abstraction. In fact, the brilliant Beth Gersh-Nesic, Contributing Writer for Modern Art, has written articles and definitions about most of them. Our cup runneth over with Abstract Art, even.
However! People aren't looking for these individual terms as much as they are looking for "Abstract Modern Art" or "Modern Abstract Art." So Beth (and did I mention that she is brilliant?) gathered up the various articles, definitions, reviews and image galleries we have that fall under the big umbrella and made everyone a handy Abstract Modern Art list.
Thanks a million, Beth--and here's hoping you just helped about a million people out with their individual web searches.
Image Credit:
Franz Kline (American, 1910-1962)
Chief, 1950
Oil on canvas. 58 3/8 x 73 1/2 in. (148.3 x 186.7 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David M. Solinger
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
© 2010 The Franz Kline Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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So Who Owns David, Anyway?
I just read an interesting article in The Guardian about a recent dispute over ownership of Michelangelo's David. The statue, initially commissioned by the Office of Works of the Duomo (in Florence), was completed by Michelangelo (a Florentine) in 1504, installed after consulting a committee of local artists including Leonardo (also Florentine) and Botticelli (ditto), and has been installed in Florence for the past 506 years. It is a singular point of pride for Florence, a city certainly not lacking for numerous points of pride.
According to the article, though, two lawyers in the Berlusconi administration have produced a nine-page document "proving" that David belongs to the Italian state and not Florence. All I can say is, "Well, then. Why stop there? Let's just "prove" that David belongs to the entire world, shall we?" (In other words, I'm firmly in the Florentine camp on this.)
Your thoughts?
Image Caption:
Restoration work on Michelangelo's masterpiece David is completed May 24, 2004 at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, Italy. The work has taken a painstaking two years to complete with the statue going on show to the public May 25. Photo © Franco Origlia/Getty Images
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Playing Degas, Probing Picasso
Earlier this summer, Beth Gersh-Nesic, Contributing Writer for Modern Art, spent a very happy Study Day at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It wasn't just the beautiful Berkshire campus setting, or the gorgeous public galleries, or even the Clark's research building (which has a library to die for). It was the fact that Beth was in the company of, on this particular Study Day, a roomful of Modernism experts who specialize in Pablo Picasso and Edgar Degas. The topic under discussion: the myriad ways in which Picasso connected his art to that of Degas, as explored in the exhibition Picasso Looks at Degas.
After an entire day of scholarly bliss, Beth mentioned that she barely noticed the hours' long drive home. She was floating on a cloud of Picasso, and scanning her mental database for quotes from Pablo's Parisian poet pal, André Salmon (about whom Beth has written a book), supporting the Degas connection. Her review, she said, practically wrote itself. The exhibition was so sublime that she just returned to the Clark leading a tour group from the Greater NYC area. For your full consideration then, please have a look at her thought-provoking review "Playing Degas, Probing Picasso," and its accompanying image gallery.
Image Credit:
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
The Blue Room (The Tub), 1901
Oil on canvas
50.5 x 61.6 cm
Acquired 1927 (1554)
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Abstract Expressionist New York
Abstract Expressionist New York will open on October 3, 2010 at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and I can't wait. Seriously, unless it's hung haphazardly--and it most assuredly won't be--there is no possible way to make this exhibition a dud. Think: Birthplace of Abstract Expressionism/New York School, combined with a huge collection of AbEx works, topped with documentary materials out of the ginormous MoMA archives. (And maybe some whipped cream, chopped nuts and a cherry flourish.)
You know? The harder I look at Abstract Expressionism, the closer I get to actually understanding it. Currently, it seems like primal scream therapy to me, in that the artists just wanted to "let it all hang out;" inner demons, emotional baggage and, not least, responses to the worst acts of violence, death and mass destruction ever known to humankind, WWII.
Take, for example, Willem de Kooning's Woman I (1950-52), pictured here. Of the many women from his Woman series, she terrifies me the most. She looks fully capable of eating small Dutch boys for brunch, developing the atomic bomb over her afternoon, piloting the Enola Gay in the evening, and wrapping up her day by mating and killing the hapless sperm donor. This woman is fierce, and not in a good way. AbEx is full of interpretations, but the artists never make it easy for the rest of us. In fact, they often seem to go out of their respective ways to make us think ... and perhaps that was the whole point?
In any case, please try to catch this show if you can. To whet your appetite, we have a fraction of the +/- 300 works from Abstract Expressionist New York in this image gallery, courtesy of MoMA.
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Wordless Wednesday - Gertrude Stein
© 2010 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
We're catching Picasso here between his Rose Period and the advent of Cubism, painting one of his very first patrons and his first formal sitter since art school. Gertrude Stein had never before had her portrait done. It was a learning experience for both and, when the young artist was told--after some 90 sittings--that Stein did not look like her portrait, Picasso summoned his (1) innate self confidence and (2) propensity for awesome sound bites with the pithy reply, "She will."
See more Wordless Wednesdays on About
Wordless Wednesday - Gertrude Stein originally appeared on About.com Art History on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 00:20:45. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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London's Leonardo Restored from Maize to Blue
I invite you to look at the image above and compare it to this view of The Virgin of the Rocks. Notice anything different? Say, a touch of RBG color adjustment?
You can trust your eyes. The Virgin just finished undergoing an 18-month restoration in which a top layer of cracking, yellowing, dust-gathering varnish (applied in 1948) was almost completely removed. Behold! Far less yellow and much more blue. Naturally, this being a priceless Leonardo canvas, the whole idea of restoration met with controversy that necessitated conclaves of consulting experts before anyone so much as looked cross-ways at the actual painting. Still, we're all the richer for this particular effort which, thankfully, went ahead. Permit me to say, "Job well done, National Gallery, London conservators." (Oh, and, "Go Blue!")
Image Credit:
Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452-1519)
The Virgin of the Rocks, 1495-1508
Oil on panel
189.5 × 120 cm (74 5/8 × 47 1/4 in.)
National Gallery, London
London's Leonardo Restored from Maize to Blue originally appeared on About.com Art History on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 23:07:00. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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Berthe Morisot
As one of countless millions of other multi-tasking women, I've been thinking about Berthe Morisot a lot lately. She wanted to be an artist and worked hard at it. Unfortunately, she did so during an era when women artists weren't the norm. Besides the timing, her social and marital status were considered more important than anything she might have accomplished by sheer dint of talent and effort.
Now, I do envy her the ability to hire servants. That said, as I struggle to juggle my servant-less 24/7 existence as a writer, teacher, mother, spouse, daughter, sister, friend, cook, dishwasher, laundress, nurse, referee, farmer and hostess who longs for longer days with which to create art, I admire Berthe's determination to crank out a painting here and there. Beth Gersh-Nesic (writer, teacher, mother, spouse, daughter, sister, friend, cook, dishwasher, laundress, nurse and hostess [currently in Europe] herself) agrees. Please enjoy her profile of Berthe Morisot, to whom we both bow. (It's still not easy, Berthe.)
Image Credit:
Edouard Manet (French, 1832-1883)
Le Repos, ca. 1870-71
Oil on canvas
59 1/8 x 44 7/8 in. (150.2 x 114 cm)
Bequest of Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt Gerry
59.027
Image © Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
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Taking of Christ Taken Back
Good news, everyone! Reuters (and a dozen other sources) is reporting that German and Ukrainian police have recovered The Taking of Christ which was, itself, taken from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine nearly two years ago. I'm sure art lovers in Odessa are overjoyed. Health and happiness to them, and many kudos to the joint law enforcement effort that has apparently uncovered an art theft ring.
Can you hear the "but" in my voice, though? The headlines are all trumpeting the return of this priceless Caravaggio canvas, even while the artist attribution remains under considerable doubt. The only "definitive" attribution came during the 1950s, from a Soviet art expert. Now, you tell me: you're an art expert, living in the USSR, during the height of the Cold War. Are you really going to tell your superiors that this might NOT be a Caravaggio, knowing that they expect you to say otherwise? Really?
Facts are, once the Iron Curtain came down and experts from other places could see the Odessa version of The Taking of Christ, it hasn't stood up well to close scrutiny. It's certainly old, and it's certainly a very good copy (there are at least 12 versions of this painting), but no one has said, "That's definitely of Caravaggio's hand." Except for that guy or gal back in the 1950s, of course...
So, let's celebrate the welcome return of a painting, but cool it a little on the Caravaggio connection. It's tenuous at best.
Image credit:
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (Italian, 1571-1610)
The Taking of Christ, 1602
Oil on canvas
135.5 x 169.5 cm
Society of Jesus of Ireland, on loan to
the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
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Impressionism 101
Those of you who subscribe to the weekly About.com Art History newsletter (and if you don't, why not?) are already aware that "school's out" equals "housecleaning" on an educational website. Time to fling open all of the windows, launder the coverlets, carry the rugs outside and beat them like rented mules, and stock up on firewood for next September-May ... metaphorically speaking. To this end, Beth Gersh-Nesic and I have been very busy meeting-in-the-middle with Impressionism, the definitive start of Modern Art.
Our Brilliant Plan: Fill in everything anyone could possibly need to know about Impressionism. I've written quite a few things over the years, but Beth has truly stepped up to the plate lately with Impressionism 101 and The First Eight Impressionist Exhibitions. We high five each other on each and every accomplishment: "Go Team Art History! We are veritable sages!"
However.
Reality: We are, honestly, more like Ethel and Lucy in hair nets, frantically stuffing candies into our respective bodices as the conveyor belt speeds up. Each new thing requires further housecleaning and leads to the need for more firewood. Example:
Beth: "Where is Berthe Morisot's biography?"
Me: "Oh. Didn't I write that one, already?"
Beth: "Well, if you did, I can't find it."
Me: "Ha! ha!"
Me: "Um, it must be a Zen thing."
Me: "Soooo ... what are you doing next week?"
We are right on track to become Art-Historic Co-Empresses of the Internet by 2075 at this pace. And so it goes. In the meantime, please enjoy Impressionism - Art History 101 Basics. (You'll thank Beth when exams roll around again.)Impressionism 101 originally appeared on About.com Art History on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 21:46:39. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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Tell Us About Your Art History Blog
There are eight million stories in the Naked City sphere of art history and, increasingly, more writers blogging about them. This is wonderful news for art history students, professionals and enthusiasts everywhere because all of these stories deserve to be told. However, it's difficult ... nay, impossible ... to keep up with who is blogging about which topics and for whom. So.
Here is your chance to share (and shamelessly promote yourselves, your AH classes, and/or your institutions), art history bloggers! Tell us about you and your art history blog: who you are, why you do this and how you got started. The good, the bad, the ugly--the more the merrier. Fire away!
There are but two simple guidelines. First, your blog must somehow be pertinent to art history. You've got huge latitude here, including exhibition reviews, scholarly texts, research, conservation, Art World op/ed pieces, museum news, comparing and contrasting Aztec v. Celtic gold works, and so on, infinity. Sadly, unless your name is Pablo Picasso, blogs about personal experiences in creating art are an off-topic no-no.
Second, please promote yourself and your original writing, but don't try to sell us anything. There are quite a few "art history" blogs online that are comprised of short, largely plagiarized works serving as excuses to peddle Old Master knock-offs. You know who you are, and we know you don't bring anything worthwhile to the party.
That being said, we're avidly awaiting hearing from the dozens of private, academic, professional and museum bloggers who are passionate about sharing their knowledge of art history. Please fill in the form and tell us about you. Read Full Post Tell Us About Your Art History Blog originally appeared on About.com Art History on Saturday, June 12th, 2010 at 12:34:38. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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