Picasso Sculpture @ MoMA

When the “New” Whitney opened earlier this year in Lower Manhattan (NYC) it became the most talked about museum among the many celebrated museums in the city. It was dimming the luster in particular of one of the New York greats; MoMA. I had wondered what the folks at MoMA would do to return the talk and the buzz as the leader in Modern and Contemporary Art. “Picasso Sculpture” featuring 100 pieces opens there Monday. It seems to be their response to the Whitney and promises to be a Block Buster.

The exhibition will feature many of the 20^th Century master’s best efforts. Picasso is noted as quite possibly the most innovative and prolific genius of all time. His sculpture attests extravagantly to his fame and ability. Picasso’s choices of materials range from bronze to plaster to cardboard. Found objects and assemblage rate highly among his sculptural works. The hand and mind of Picasso, always exciting, always exuberant on full display here should charm and delight every eye to behold each brilliant object.  The man is as strong a sculptural presence as any of his sculptor contemporaries, including Moore, Brancusi, Calder and Duchamp.

We are edging further into the 21^st century and there are no shortages of new artists on the contemporary scene. At every level Picasso continues to rank highly. There is a definitive, ageless quality to his works. I am including an extensive portfolio of the Picasso Sculptures and yes; I hope to visit them and MoMA soon.

Marc Chagall: The Colorful The Creative The Considerable...

The 20^th was the century of the Modernist. The established art world was flipped, turned, reinvented and remodeled in distinctive, brilliant and remarkable ways. Works produced by Picasso (Woman Weeping) and Munch (The Shriek) became symbols of their times and sparked a certain ethos. Dali’s Premonition of Civil War is one of the most disturbing paintings ever put to canvas while yet, strangely beautiful and alluring. It’s depiction of a creature wreathing in pain as it pulls and tears away at itself is fascinating. Fancis Bacon’s Study after Velasquez: Portrait of Pope Innocent X spoke to the fears and hopelessness embraced by many. The original serene baroque vision of a pope as produced by Velasquez became something of a nightmare when re-imagined by the mind and hand of Bacon. The practitioners of modern art; Picasso, Munch, Dali and Bacon addressed the dark dystopia hysteria of their times. But not so much did their peer, Chagall.  

Marc Chagall was a Jewish/Russian born artist that sought freedom from his home country’s oppressive ideology, first in France and later in the United States. In spite of his objections to communism he remained true in spirit to his humble origins and his beliefs. This was within itself a radical thing. He loved his life and his people as he loved the whole of humanity. Chagall works to this day remain colorful, fanciful, unfailingly life affirming and intoxicating. The characters in his robust works; really poetic sagas, float, soar and entertain with joy. Canvas painting, stained glass and murals were all master by Chagall. Romantic love, the circus, village life and “The Crucifixion” were interestingly enough among his favorite subjects. He even and rightly so included Jewish symbols within many of his crucifixion paintings. He remains very much cherished and admired as well as an inspiration to lovers of art, religion and freedom. 

As we look at the world today there are those living in the regions of Chagall’s birth; especially in Ukraine and in Russia that long for the same freedoms of life and creativity sought out by Marc Chagall. Chagall was able to realize his dreams in the West. There are the many that hope, long for and are willing to fight for those same realizations within their home-land. There is no reason that they shouldn’t. Some rights are inalienable but there are those that disagree and fight for the opposite. For those who believe in something better than oppression we give our support in every way we can. The works and life of Chagall are proof of the realization of freedom and the fulfillment of dreams. We celebrate Chagall, those like him and hope for their present and future. We hope for their best and better days. 

"The Greedy Child"

Mrs. Wonderley was everything her name suggested. She was joyful, energetic, vibrant…she taught with a passion and love of the thing; Art. Her knowledge of the subject ran deep. Art’s history, movements and techniques were all introduced to her students. Her classes ranged from pottery to macramé and from mixed-medium to painting, drawing and graphics. Mrs. Wonderley taught from her head but she taught mostly from her heart and love. Her gift to us was a richer understanding and meaning to what art was and could be. She inspired and was wonderful!

The methods of teaching she choose were tried and true and from the respected scientific laws of seeing. Drawings from plaster models and life were done in her art room as we learned the importance of symmetry, perspective, form and composition. There was little she missed but one of the simplest and yet most extraordinary things she did was after instruction and background on our assignments she would jump in and do her own version of the topic. There was no competition in this but she knew as did Leonardo that working with a superior more experienced artist would only make us better. The reality is that she truly enjoyed expressing herself as she continued her own learning and artistic growth. At these times she would most often create originals but copies would sometimes be her choice of expression, depending on her whim. 

On one occasion as we students worked on assignment Mrs. Wonderley chose to copy something from Picasso’s Blue Period, “The Greedy Child.” To see her copying as a drawing this master piece of 20^th century painting, this modernist marvel from a master’s hand was a thing of beauty onto itself.  She worked with a relaxed diligence that showcased her talent and ability to see and reproduce both the detail, depth of feeling and nuance of the original. It was impossible to discern any real difference between the graphic structure of the image she copied from and the image we saw unfold on Mrs. Wonderley’s paper. Her choice to copy “The Greedy Child” would increase my admiration for my teacher as well as for the masterful, Pablo Picasso.

Forty years later while walking, relaxing, passing through the National Gallery in Washington, DC my grandchildren and I would stop to sit before a work from the museum’s permanent collection. This was an opportunity to study and further enjoy a painting of beauty, worthy of deeper reflection. It was a gift of sort from me to them. I felt something wholly unique and special as we look at the miraculous, this original work of art “The Greedy Child.” I thought about Mrs. Wonderley and as we looked; the wheel turned. Within this rarest of moments I somehow knew the essence and meaning of art.

Cubism

Imagine shattering the wall of reality and then putting it back together based on the relationship of light to shadow, random juxtaposition of geometric forms and color guided only by the particular artist’s own whims and fancy. Picasso takes the world our vision senses as reality, steps away from it, bludgeons it with a sledge hammer and reassembles it with the care of a madman. This was his genius.

Dali Drawings

 Sigmund Freud, Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney; all varied and names to be associated with Salvador Dali. Dali’s showmanship and his works intrigued enlivened and enriched the lives of his viewers and admirers for decades. He still touches millions even though he is not currently en vogue in anything close to the same manner he was just a few years prior. Dali dazzled and confused with his paintings, films, prints and sculptures. His drawings were equally impressive and mysterious. They are the features of this blog.

The lines of Dali are elegant and masterful. The drawings range from the subtle to the beautifully extravagant. The many dream images, the surreal works he playfully produced in his lifetime are statements to his unusual and marvelous mind. 

He could be both baroque and modern in ways that few were able to equal. Perhaps the fact that he outdistanced his surrealist peers is the reason he was denounced by those fellows. To call Dali a genius is almost redundant but if such a thing exists he is certainly among those elite. It has been said that and there is a thin line between genius and madness.

 

 

Dali walked that line for the entirety of his public life with his wife and muse Gala by his side. We can only guess at the meanings and symbols he conjuring’s provided his public; but that is part of the pleasures of his work. He mastered many forms and illuminated many lives.

 

                   “The only difference between a madman and myself is that I am not insane.”

                                                                                                                             Salvador Dali