OCTOBER 2017 Modern Painters
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modernpainters OCTOBER 2017
CHARLOTTE SALOMON ACHING STORY OF A GIFTED ARTIST
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TOYIN OJIH ODUTOLA
BREAKING FREE OF POWERLESSNESS
MALICK SIDIBÉ
TAKING MALI BEYOND AFRICA
Gerhard Richter, Max Ernst, Irving Penn, Collector Uli Sigg’s Missionary Zeal
09.12 NOV 2017 GRAND PALAIS
With the patronage of the Ministry of Culture
MATHIEU CHERKIT
Exhibition - October 13-22, 2017
Contact : Julie Ralli +33 1 53 30 30 55 [email protected] - Espace TAJAN 37 rue des Mathurins 75008 Paris, France
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BLOUINARTINFO.COM OCTOBER 2017 MODERN PAINTERS
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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS // OCTOBER
IN A WORLD WITHOUT BORDERS Art is global. No one country has a copyright or monopoly on it. These facts form a springboard for much of our coverage from around the world. The international collector Uli Sigg is an example of how global the market has become. The Swiss former diplomat speaks about his collection (conservatively valued at $163 million) after donating much of it to Hong Kong’s M+ Museum, due to open in 2019. From Germany, we report on the artist Charlotte Salomon, who died in Auschwitz and is now compared to Chagall. Tobias Grey writes on Salomon as a new biography comes out about her talent and tragedy. Meanwhile the director of Queensland Art Gallery talks about the first major show in Australia featuring the octogenarian German painter Gerhard Richter. Elsewhere, we offer a guide to London for Frieze Week visitors, while the director of FIAC Paris, Jennifer Flay, speaks about her favorite places in the French capital. With more globetrotting, we survey the increasing interest in Contemporary African artists and get a different perspective on the story from the US-based emerging artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, who was born in Nigeria. She, like many modern painters, and indeed many the artists of the world, know that cultural dialogue can go a long way to understanding wider problems, if not to solve them. This idea was at the forefront of the recent Creative Leadership Summit by the Louise Blouin Foundation in New York attended by artists, academics and many others. Here, we interview two of the winners of the Foundation’s awards about how a knowledge of art, science, history and tolerance can help shape the future.
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MODERN PAINTERS OCTOBER 2017 BLOUINARTINFO.COM
CONTENTS
OCTO B E R 2 017
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Charlotte Salomon, who was killed in a gas chamber in Nazi Germany, lives on with her art. Here, a young Charlotte is seen with her father Albert, in 1927
116 14 modernpainters
modernpainters OCTOBER 2017
Destination
Make the most of Paris and London, the mustvisit cities this month
Introducing
Toyin Ojih Odutola dreams up Nigerian aristrocracy for her solo at The Whitney, NY by Joseph Akel
62 CHARLOTTE SALOMON ACHING STORY OF A GIFTED ARTIST
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TOYIN OJIH ODUTOLA
BREAKING FREE OF POWERLESSNESS
MALICK SIDIBÉ
TAKING MALI BEYOND AFRICA
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Q&A
MoMA’s Talia Kwartler on Max Ernst’s art beyond painting
Gerhard Richter The retrospective in Brisbane looks at how landmark historical moments shaped his art by Louisa Elderton
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The Collector
A chat with Uli Sigg, whose donation of art worth $163 million forms the core of M+ Museum opening in Hong Kong in 2019
Standpoint 28 In A Borderless World
Report from the Blouin Foundation Creative Leadership Forum held in New York last month, which emphasized on the urgent need for cultural dialogue and understanding of different cultures, to make our world less turbulent, more tolerant
by Nicholas Forrest
by Archana Khare-Ghose
Gerhard Richter, Max Ernst, Irving Penn, Collector Uli Sigg’s Missionary Zeal
ON THE COVER: Charlotte Salomon’s painting with her verse The mists do billow and swell, tinged by the sun of morn - and there’s only one who can tell why I feel so forlorn. Project: Life? Or Theater? project- "Life? Or theater?", 1958. Encaustic on canvas, 105.1 x 154.9 cm
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MODERN PAINTERS OCTOBER 2017 BLOUINARTINFO.COM
B OT H I M AG E S C O U R T E S Y T H E J E W I S H H I S TO R I C A L M U S E U M O F A M S T E R DA M
Features
Portfolio
CONTENTS
OCTO B E R 2 017
82 BELOW:
F R O M L E F T: P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N . © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017; C O L L E C T I O N F O N DAT I O N C A R T I E R P O U R L’A R T C O N T E M P O R A I N , PA R I S © M A L I C K S I D I B É ; © L AU R E N G R E E N F I E L D
Malick Sidibé I’m crazy about records, 1973. Gelatin silver print, 50.5 x 40.5 cm
48 ABOVE:
Gerhard Richter Ella (903-1), 2007. Oil on canvas, 40 X 31 cm
92 ABOVE:
Lauren Greenfield Jackie and friends with Versace handbags at a private opening at the Versace store, Beverly Hills, California, 2007
Spotlight 82
The Eye of Bamako Fondation Cartier, which first showcased Malick Sidibé’s work outside Africa, honors his memory again by Sarah Moroz
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The Painter-Lensman The retrospective at Grand Palais shows why Irving Penn’s photos were not just ‘fashion shoots’ by Cody Delistraty
Datebook Chicago artists 130 Fondazione Prada
Datebook The Year of Wonders 150 What was so special about the year 1932 in Pablo Picasso’s life?
takes a look at the city’s postwar scene
Africa 136 ADada show in Paris
160
David LaChapelle
165
Julio Le Parc
explores how Africa impacted Dadaists
Roy Lichtenstein 140 Tate Liverpool surveys the artist’s response to fast-changing times
Spirituality & belonging are the highlights of his new series of pictures
Even at 89, he hasn’t lost any of his dynamism, as his recent output shows
Modern Painters, ISSN 0953-6698, is published monthly with combined Winter (December/ January/February), March/April, and June/July issues by LTB Media (U.K.) Ltd., an affiliate of BlouinArtinfo Corp, 80 Broad Street, Suite 606/607, New York, NY 10004. Vol. XXIX, No. 1. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER, Send address changes to: Fulco, Inc., Modern Painters, PO Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834-3000.
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Dan Miller at work at Creative Growth Art Center, photo by Ryan Whelan.
Dan Miller May 13 – November 26, 2017 La Biennale di Venezia October 18 – October 22, 2017 Outsider Art Fair, Paris December 7 – December 10, 2017 NADA Miami
355 24th Street, Oakland, CA 94612 | 510.836.2340 x15 | [email protected] | creativegrowth.org
Herbert Ferber: Space in Tension October 26, 2017 – January 14, 2018
HERBERT FERBER, Rutgers #3, 1958. Oil on canvas, 67.5 x 88 inches. © The Herbert Ferber Estate. Photograph: Adam Reich.
1301 Stanford Drive Coral Gables, FL 33146 305.284.3535 | www.lowemuseum.org
CONTRIBUTORS // OCTOBER
Tobias Grey Grey is a Paris-based arts writer and critic. He writes on art, literature, cinema and current affairs for the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, American Vogue and Newsweek. His first article in Modern Painters about Charlotte Salomon was a chance to write about a German-Jewish painter who has too often been pigeonholed as an artist of the Holocaust. Salomon’s art transcends her wretched destiny. It is a gift that she made to the world: not for the few but for the many. Recent attempts to also remould Salomon as a feminist artist are not without merit but again there is a tendency these days to appropriate a creator’s work to fit an overriding agenda. If art is worth anything it is because its impressiveness awakens different feelings in different individuals. In short, it is universal and should not be blighted by an over-arching tendency for biographical reductionism.
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Louisa Elderton
Joseph Akel
Annie Godfrey Larmon
LouisaEldertonisanindependentContemporary artscurator,writerandeditorwhohascontributed to Artforum, Art Review, Frieze, Flash Art, Art Monthly,ElephantMagazine,Apollo,MetropolisM, Monopol,TheBurlingtonMagazine,VogueChina, Berlin Art Link, Artsy, House & Garden, Harpers Bazaar and The White Review. She received a First-Class Bachelor’s degree in Art History and English from The University of Sussex and a Master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she presented an exhibition about Christian iconographyinhistoricalandContemporaryart. AfterworkingfortheResearchdepartmentatTate, shewasWriterinResidenceatJerwoodVisualArts in London, and has curated solo exhibitions at public and commercial galleries for artists includingLawrenceWeiner,FrancescoClemente, WimWenders,YinkaShonibareMBE,NasanTur and Rachel Howard. A contributing author to numerous Phaidon publications including Vitamin P3: New Perspectives in Painting and Universe, she has also produced monographs on Rachel Howard, Tim Noble & Sue Webster and Francesco Clemente. She is Project Editor of Phaidon’s upcoming book Vitamin C: Clay & Ceramics in Contemporary Art (due for publication in October 2017), and is currently working on the next Vitamin book in the series.
Akel profiles artist Toyin Ojih Odutola for her forthcoming solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum. “I was immediately drawn to Ojih Odutola,” Akel notes, “when I found that we possessed the same passion and awe for the work of James Baldwin.” Akel’s writings have been published in the New York Times, the Paris Review, Vanity Fair, and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. Most recently, Akel was the editor of V and VMAN magazine. He has contributed essays to several artists’ monographs, including the 2015 exhibition catalogue for Doug Aitken’s retrospective at Frankfurt’s Schirn Kunsthalle, as well as editing Wolves Like Us (2015), a monograph accompanying the eponymous Sundance awardwining documentary. Akel presently lives in New York City where he is working on his first novel.
Annie Godfrey Larmon is a writer, editor, and curator based in New York. She is a regular contributor to Artforum, and her writing has also appeared in Bookforum, Frieze, MAY, Spike, Vdrome, and WdW Review. The recipient of a 2016 Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for short-form writing, she is the editor of publications for the inaugural Okayama Art Summit and a former international reviews editor of Artforum. She is the co-author, with Ken Okiishi and Alise Upitis, of The Very Quick of the Word (Sternberg Press, 2014), and she has penned features and catalogue essays on the work of numerous artists, including Okiishi, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Ben Thorp Brown, Alex Da Corte, Loretta Fahrenholz, Marianna Simnett, and Cally Spooner. Here, Godfrey Larmon speaks with photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, whose forthcoming retrospective, she writes “couldn’t be more timely, given the extreme political, economic, and social ramifications of America’s image obsession and rapacious materialism, which have recently come even more sharply into focus.”
Nina Siegal
Cody Delistraty
Sarah Moroz
Anya Harrison
Nina Siegal is an American author and journalist who has been based in Amsterdam for 11 years. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times, writing about European museums, art crimes, and Dutch old masters, among other topics. She also writes for The Economist, Bloomberg News, and various art and culture magazines. Here, Siegal analyzes the impact of African sculpture and masks on the Dada movement, a fact that has largely been ignored until now. While previewing an exhibition on the subject that opens at Musée de l’Orangerie this month, she explains the dichotomy of this impact — how differently it affected the modernists and the Dadaists. She takes a generous view of the global colonial attitude of the time when Dada artists were seeking inspiration from Africa, and signs off by labelling it ‘complex’.
Based in Paris, Cody Delistraty writes profiles and cultural criticism for the deadtree and digital pages of The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and Esquire, among others. He also works on art and editorial projects for Dior, and he was named one of the best young writers of 2017 by British Vogue. He holds a bachelor’s degree from N.Y.U. and a master’s in European history from Oxford. On these pages, he looks at the historical resonance of Irving Penn’s fashion photography, and the upcoming exhibits at Paris’s Musée Picasso. While reviewing the latter, he writes that the Musee Picasso, “is still, first and foremost, a rigorous, academic museum.”
Sarah Moroz is a FrancoAmerican journalist and translator; she has been based in Paris for the past decade. She writes about photography, art, fashion, and other cultural topics for The New York Times, the Guardian, New York Magazine, and i-D, amongst other publications. She is the co-author of a forthcoming illustrated guide to Paris, which will be published by Rizzoli in spring 2018. For this issue, she was lucky enough to visit the spry artist/ jester Julio LeParc in his studio, and pressed countless buttons to activate his merry whirring installations. Meanwhile, inspired by the incredibly stylish portraits of Bamako youth photographed by Malick Sidibé, she has been reassessing her fashion choices.
Anya Harrison is a writer, curator and consultant based in London who has contributed to Flash Art, The Calvert Journal, GARAGE Magazine, Performa Magazine, Moscow Art Journal and other publications, mostly covering art and film. After completing a Master’s degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art, she worked for the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, from where she originally hails, and contributed to the publication “Frozen Dreams: Contemporary Art from Russia.” She is cofounder of The New Social, a curatorial platform that organizes film screenings, talks and other projects as a way to re-think today’s “New East” (post-Soviet and post-Socialist territories), and is currently co-curating “The Return of Memory,” a major international group exhibition at Manchester’s HOME that opens in October 2017.
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The Treatment 8A Pen ink and gel ink pencil on paper, 16 1/4 X 13 1/8 X 1 5/8 in (framed), 2015. This work is from Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
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©TOY I N O J I H O D U TO L A . C O U R T E S Y O F T H E A R T I S T A N D JAC K S H A I N M A N GA L L E R Y, N E W YO R K
INTRODUCING
P H OTO BY A B I GA I L , T H E T H I R D. C O U R T E S Y O F TOY I N O J I H O D U TO L A A N D JAC K S H A I N M A N GA L L E R Y, N E W YO R K
Toyin Ojih Odutola
FULL HOUSE TOY I N OJ I H ODU TOL A IS K EEPI NG I T A LL I N T H E FA M I LY W I T H H ER W H I T N EY E X H I BI T ION, “TO WA N DER DET ER M I N ED” BY JOSEPH AKEL
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INTRODUCING
For her Whitney show, Ojih Odutola weaves a fictitious narrative about two aristocratic Nigerian families, which she calls an “invention of my choosing.” Pregnant Charcoal, pastel, and pencil on paper, 79 X 48 X 2.5 in (framed), 2017. This work is from Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
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©TOY I N O J I H O D U TO L A . C O U R T E S Y O F T H E A R T I S T A N D JAC K S H A I N M A N GA L L E R Y, N E W YO R K
“Aristocracy,” Proust observed, “is relative.” A master of double entendre, Proust’s bon mot offers more than one interpretation. Aristocracy, in a very literal sense, is a matter of whom your relatives are. However, Proust also gestures toward the conditional nature of societal station; one’s position in life is always measured against, and often by, another’s. For Toyin Ojih Odutola, an artist who has long mined familial archetypes for creative impetus, the myth of the aristocracy is a conceit through which to examine complex themes of race, privilege, and power. In her current exhibition at the Whitney Museum, “To Wander Determined” — her first solo museum show in New York — Ojih Odutola weaves together a fictitious narrative about two aristocratic Nigerian families, the House of Obafemi and the UmuEze Amara Clan, in a series of richly colored, intricately textured, life-size charcoal, pencil and pastel drawings. Noting in an interview that the respective families portrayed in the show are an “invention of my choosing,” Ojih Odutola remarked: “As someone whose personal narrative has been defined by forced
©TOY I N O J I H O D U TO L A . C O U R T E S Y O F T H E A R T I S T A N D JAC K S H A I N M A N GA L L E R Y, N E W YO R K
Lazy Sunday Charcoal, pastel, and pencil on paper, 65 5/8 X 47 3/4 X 2 1/4 in (framed), 2016. This work is from Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
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migration since childhood, what we are seeing with ‘To Wander Determined’ feels emblematic.” Born in Nigeria, Ojih Odutola and her family emigrated to America when she was five, settling in Huntsville, Alabama, where her father was a professor at Alabama A&M University. “Nigeria holds some mystery to me, there is so much I just don’t know,” she said, adding that her work often becomes an attempt to connect to it. While Nigeria’s influence on the artist and her works is, in her own words, “beyond the factual,” her experiences growing up in the South have had very tangible effects. She has spoken openly of her encounters with racism as a child and found early on that art was a means for her to confront its insidious effects, a powerful current that still exists in her work. “I hope to create works that allow for people to understand the feeling of oppression and powerlessness,” she said, “and how we can liberate ourselves and others from that stifling terrifying place.” The first signs of a more informed artistic liberation began to manifest during Ojih Odutola’s college years. While attending the California College of the Arts, where she received her Master of Fine Arts in 2012, she began creating intricate, layered portraits using pen and ink. The decision to work with the medium was two-fold. In part, the choice was economic: Pens were the supplies she could afford. On a deeper level, Ojih Odutola’s affinity for pens is connected to her passion for writing — both the physical act and the creation of stories. Indeed, Ojih Odutola notes that writers like Octavia E. Butler and James Baldwin (“his words always light the fire under my ass”) are deeply The Raven Charcoal, pastel and pencil on paper, 80 X 47 X 2 in (framed), 2016. This work is from Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
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©TOY I N O J I H O D U TO L A . C O U R T E S Y O F T H E A R T I S T A N D JAC K S H A I N M A N GA L L E R Y, N E W YO R K
INTRODUCING
The linking of skin and skin color with biography and historical narratives locates Ojih Odutola’s works — intentionally or not — within the complex discussion of race and art in America today, connecting her to a lineage of artists that includes the likes of Kara Walker and Lorna Simpson. influential to her. In early drawings, such as her selfportrait, “Whenever the Occasion Arises,” (2012) Ojih Odutola renders subjects with a density of ink and marker that pushes the blackness of the sitter’s skin to the fore, layering intricate line-work and details on top of each other. “I zeroed in on the skin as the marker, the id, and the access point,” she noted, expressing that for her, “texture is a form of language,” with various marks and formal flourishes akin to “an accent or a dialect.” The density of her compositions is, in many ways, a visual analogy for what Ojih Odutola sees as the accumulation of personal biography, the physical manifestation of the layered narratives that we construct — and that are constructed — around us. That linking of skin and skin color with biography and historical narratives locates Ojih Odutola’s works — intentionally or not — within the complex discussion of race and art in America today, connecting her to a lineage of artists that includes the likes of Kara Walker and Lorna Simpson. For Ojih Odutola, the issue underscores a long-standing double standard. “In the
present state of the art world,” she said candidly, “what I am becomes the only, overarching narrative, which leaves little room for anything else.” “Surely, what I am,” she continued, “informs my work, as it does any artist — but it is only a part of it.” When she was asked for her thoughts on the artist’s statement Kara Walker penned to accompany her most recent show at Sikkema Jenkins gallery (Walker in part remarked, “I am tired, tired of standing up, being counted, tired of ‘having a voice’), Ojih Odutola’s response was adamant: “It’s a rather peculiar experience,” she confessed, “that of being seen as exceptional despite the very nature of how you are placed and relegated by, and in, society.” Ojih Odutola’s reaction to an exceptionalism grounded in exclusion seems to have resulted, in part, with a series of works featuring the UmuEze Amara Clan, who first appeared in her 2016 exhibition “Matter of Fact,” at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. A marked departure from her earlier monochromatic works in pen and marker, the pieces in the MOAD exhibition
featured bright, vibrantly colored works incorporating charcoals, pastels and ink. As in “A Grand Inheritance” and “Newlyweds on Holiday” (both 2016), Ojih Odutola’s subjects are depicted in environments that featured luxurious surroundings and the trappings of wealth. Just as blackness had, in her earlier works, defined her subjects, Ojih Odutola was keen to examine the ways in which wealth did the same, ultimately, with the aim of “usurping archaic presentations of and notions about wealth.” In many ways, the artist views “Matter of Fact” as a primer for “To Wander Determined,” introducing a second family — the House of Obafemi — into her grander narrative of Nigerian aristocracy. That Ojih Odutola should choose the concept of aristocracy — and by default, family — as a conceit through which to question and redefine assumptions of selfhood and social status is apt. As the historian and writer Stephanie Coontz notes in “The Social Origins of Private Life,” family is the “place where we conceptualize ourselves in relation to the social structure.” In the case of Ojih Odutola, family, it would seem, is truly is what you make of it. MP
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COURTESY OF SUPER FLEX
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FUNNILY, IT’S A SERIOUS MATTER K NOW N FOR I TS T E ASE ON GLOBA L I ZAT ION, CA PI TA L ISM & COR POR AT E POW ER , DA N ISH A RT COLLEC T I V E SU PER F LE X NOW GETS TO PL AY AT TAT E MODER N’S T U R BI N E H A LL BY ANYA HARRISON Superflex challenged the current system of intellectual property law with a series that included “I Copy Therefore I Am,” 2011, an altered Barbara Kruger piece that originally said “I shop therefore I am.” Acrylic on canvas, 214 x 305 cm
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© DAV I D H O C K N E Y. P H OTO C R E D I T: J E A N - P I E R R E G O N Ç A LV E S D E L I M A
Hospital Equipment, 2014
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used by the United Nations Security Council in New York, erected in a beachfront park in the Netherlands for public use. A McDonald’s slowly flooded by gallons of water to make a muddy soup of plastic furniture, French fries and Happy Meals. A shop that reveals to its bewildered customers that all their purchases are free of charge. For nearly 25 years, the three-person Danish art collective Superflex has been making a name for itself with its provocative jibes, yet the group’s playfulness belies a serious commitment to challenging the systems of power endemic to globalization, capitalism and neoliberalism. Superflex’s work has taken it around the world, from Thailand and Japan to Poland, Norway and the Amazon. Now, as the third Hyundai Commission, the artists unveil one of their most highprofile projects to date in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London, which has been previously filled by work from the likes of Doris Salcedo, Ai Weiwei, Philippe Parreno and Olafur Eliasson, among others. Based in Copenhagen, Superflex was founded in 1993 by the art-school friends Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, Jakob Fenger and Rasmus Nielsen while studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. A short trip to Sweden proved fortuitous; the company name came from Superflex Bravo, the boat that ferried the artists back from the trip where their idea was first consolidated. For the uninitiated, a cursory online search for “Superflex” will throw up myriad service providers and products, from asphalt and polyurethane car-suspension brushes to supplements for horses. True to its name, Superflex superflexibly infiltrates the corporate and financial world’s structure by mimicking its language, look and mode of operating, while maintaining a down-toearth, grassroots feel. With its degree of nonspecificity and anonymity, the group evades attempts at categorization, invariably working across the fields of visual art, design, commerce and activism, defining its work as “tools” to be handled by a wider public. A far cry from anything simply labelled “participatory art,” Superflex’s “tools” encourage selforganization and a democratization of economic and production conditions. In one of their earliest ventures, the artists examined alternative energy production methods, collaborating with European and
FAC I N G PAG E: S U P E R F L E X A N D G R E G O R B R Ä N D L I ; T H I S PAG E: JA N S Ø N D E R GA A R D
A REPLICA OF THE TOILETS
Portrait of Superflex, 2016. From left: Bjørnstjerne Christiansen, Jakob Fenger, Rasmus Nielsen
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I WA N B A A N
Superkilen, The Black Market 2011
African engineers to construct a simple, portable gas unit that would meet the needs of families living in rural areas of the Global South and enable them to become self-sufficient. With the first pilot scheme tested in Tanzania in 1997, “Supergas” has since been installed and developed in Cambodia, Thailand, Zanzibar and Mexico. Elsewhere, Superflex has worked with a farmers’ cooperative in the Brazilian Amazon to produce “Guaraná Power,” a popular energy drink made from the seeds of the plant native to the region, to counter the negative economic impact on local farming communities caused by global brands’ monopoly on raw material. The aforementioned McDonald’s was in fact a life-size replica made in a Bangkok studio for “Flooded McDonald’s,” a film commissioned by the non-profit space South London Gallery in 2009. Easily read as a critique of consumer-driven power and influence, and the impotence of even multinationals when faced with the effects of climate change, it is saved from an onerous didacticism by the ambiguity of it being neither straight-up documentary nor an artist film. It has no high drama redolent of a disaster movie, just the gurgling of water as it subsumes the interior of this fast food joint that can be found all over the world. For another project, since the 2008 global financial crisis, Superflex has been creating hand-painted banners bearing logos of now-defunct banks — whether through bankruptcy, acquisitions or mergers — as a sort of timeline that charts the failures and irregularities of the global financial system. What Superflex will actually conceive for the mammoth interior was still anyone’s guess at press time, as details of the commission remained a heavily guarded secret until the day of the unveiling on October 3. The group’s last foray into London by no means went unnoticed, however. Over the course of this winter, a billboard on Waterloo Bridge showed a Euro coin with its value conspicuously effaced. Originally realized in response to the Greek financial crisis to highlight the disparity in the currency’s buying power across the Continent, in post-referendum UK it served as a stark reminder of the values of unity and collectivity rejected by Brexit. MP
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BLOUIN FOUNDATION CREATIVE LEADERSHIP FORUM
ART AND THE FUTURE I n his globally-know n invocation to the Supreme B eing, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore asks for a world ‘ W here the mind is without fear and the head is held high... W here the world has not been broken into narrow domestic walls...’ T he need for this centur y-old prayer is greater in today’s turbulent times than ever before. Cultural diplomacy, as Louise Blouin stated in her inaugural speech at the Blouin Foundation Creative L eadership Forum in New York in September, is the surest way for ward for resolving global issues.
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Make no mistake, however, that the rise of an “alternative facts” narrative — polarized, biased, narrow — is at odds with the fundamentals of a vibrant, open and democratic society. 30
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me and yet they know nothing about me & have zero access. #FAKE NEWS!” While the politics of Trump are undoubtedly a subject I could spend more than my allotted time speaking about, I want to pause for a moment and focus upon the “FAKE NEWS” phenomena that has become so pervasive in our culture today. To be clear, Donald Trump is not the origin of politically-motivated campaigns of disinformation. Rather, he embodies a new era we live in, one where facts are used — or more insidiously, disregarded — to stake out ideological positions, positions that, thanks to social media and globalization, are easily shared and unite once disparate and fringe groups. The Information Age has given rise to the Disinformation Era. I mention this not because the intention of this summit is to engage in partisan rhetoric, but rather because I believe that in many ways, the reason why we all are gathered here today is to foster cross-cultural and cross-
disciplinary dialogue that is rooted in facts, in the belief that, to quote that late Senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.” Make no mistake, however, that the rise of an “alternative facts” narrative — polarized, biased, narrow — is at odds with the fundamentals of a vibrant, open and democratic society. While we are far, far away from the realities of her time, we would do well to remember Hannah Arendt’s observation that the most oppressive forms of governance are found in statedirected media, that is “invariably as frank as it is mendacious.” To be sure, Arendt was referencing the propagandized state and we by no means live in one. However, when it becomes acceptable for the president to present false narratives as factual without widespread objection, we should all take note of the writing on the wall. Indeed, in recent years, the rise of
Louise Blouin, founder, Blouin Foundation, and Chairman, Blouin Artinfo Corp
A L L I M AG E S C O U R T E S Y B LO U I N F O U N DAT I O N
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We are living in a time of world turbulence. There are fears of conflict with religion and national interests at the core. The most pessimistic see it as close to another world war as terrorism escalates. There is general agreement much can be achieved by cultural dialogue and understandings of different cultures. So what we can learn from the past, science and art; how can culture make the future better? The Blouin Foundation Creative Leadership Forum in September brought together an array of thinkers to discuss the issues. First, the opening remarks from Foundation founder Louise Blouin: Using Cultural Diplomacy to Tackle Global Issues, by Louise Blouin In a recent tweet, President Trump wrote: “Fascinating to watch people writing books and major articles about
Left: Former US Cyber Command Deputy Director Lt. Gen. Robert Schmidle and Pam Schmidle Below (From left): Ruma Bose, co-author of the book “Mother Teresa CEO,” entrepreneur and co-founder of the Canadian Entrepreneur Initiative; Claudia Romo Edelman, a special adviser at Unicef, and former head of marketing at World Economic Forum at Davos, and Barbara Bulc, founder and president of Global Development
populism here in America and in Europe has, in large part, owed its growth to the digital age, connecting the misinformed, and allowing them to unite. A 2011 study by Demos found that in the EU, 67 percent of online supporters of populist parties voted for populist candidates, in part owing to the affiliation and connection with online populist platforms and outlets. “The mélange of virtual and realworld political activity,” the study goes on to note, “is the way millions of people — especially young people — relate to politics in the 21st century.” In America, the increasing partisan nature of news outlets and the politicization of “alternative facts” has had very real effects on our country and the globe, perhaps none more so than the election of Donald Trump, whom for example, in deciding to exit the Paris Climate treaty, echoed the sentiment of his populist base. According to a 2017 University of New Hampshire survey, only 25 percent of Trump supporters believe climate change is occurring now and is caused by human activity. The utilization of disinformation and erroneous facts in stoking populist sentiment has also been readily apparent in the UK, especially in the days leading up to the Brexit vote. The
Ethical Journalism Network, a Londonbased media watchdog group, found that only 28% of Britons answered correctly when asked by pollsters whether three simple statements about the EU were true or false. The EJC’s conclusion came to highlight the pervasive use of inaccurate and false statements promoting the “Leave” campaign. For example, it looked into the “Leave” camp’s controversial claim — plastered over buses and billboards — that read: “We send the EU £350 million a week.” The claim was said by the BBC and other outlets to be false:
That misinformation, tied to the ubiquity of the digital media outlets, undoubtedly assisted in pushing the Brexit referendum into the “Leave” camp. And yet today, some 48 percent of Britons believe Brexit is bad for the country. These, my friends are facts — they are not opinions, they are not “post truths” — and they speak volumes when it comes to understanding the social and cultural landscape of today. Countering the increased economic disparity, societal inequality, and political oppression we see around is of
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Above: U.S. Business Editor and New York Bureau Chief of The Economist Matthew Bishop. He is also a highly sought-after expert in philanthropy and author of books such as “Economics: An A-Z Guide” and co-author of “Philanthrocapitalism: How The Rich Can Save The World” Right: Susan N. Herman, American constitutional law scholar, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, and author of the book, “Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy.”
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vital importance to the foundation and the reason why we are all gathered here today. It is, of course, all too easy to find data that illustrates the difficulties we face today, to quote statistics that bear out hard truths and cite study after study to illustrate the state of our society. The far more difficult task we set ourselves, and one I pose to you gathered today, is to take these lessons we have learned and translate them into real change. Today is about coming together in discussion — to share ideas and experiences, about the arts and sciences, global issues and technological advances — and then leaving feeling empowered and energized to make real changes that will positively benefit the global community. The desire in creating my foundation — and the summit — was, and continues to be, to increase awareness of the role that culture and creativity can play in resolving global issues. It has always been my belief that through open, honest dialogue, we can confront the challenges that face us. From climate change and national security, to global health initiatives and women’s rights, I believe a multidisciplinary approach to these issues — bringing the best minds from many different fields — is the best way for us to move beyond complacency toward real-world solutions. I believe understanding Culture — and here, I use the word with a capital “C” — is the key to resolving many of the pressing global issues that have brought us together. Now, when I say this, people often ask me what I mean when I use the term Culture in this sense. “Are you talking just about art?” is one I get often. “How can Culture,” people ask me, “help answer, say, issues of poverty in the world today?” I respond and tell them that we need to understand Culture as the very lens through
which we view the world — and in turn, how others view the world. Culture is a gathering and development of collective memories, history, economy, religion, and traditions into a narrative that gives shape to an understanding of one’s place in the world. There is no one “Culture,” just as there is no one culture that possesses more or less of it than another. To elevate one culture at the cost of another is to disregard the totality of people who have given shape to it through their shared lives and experiences. Understanding what Culture is becomes the precursor for understanding how Culture affects us, and importantly, for recognizing that we must respect and appreciate the fact that we all come from different Cultural backgrounds. In that realization, we can begin to work together to achieve a common good. In the words of J. William Fulbright, the great U.S. senator and visionary of cultural diplomacy: “The rapprochement of peoples is only possible when differences of culture and outlook are respected and appreciated rather than feared and condemned, when the common bond of human dignity is recognized as the essential bond for a peaceful world.” We find ourselves assembled today, united in a vision that seeks to understand the forces that shape
“How can Culture,” people ask me, “help answer, say, issues of poverty in the world?” I tell them that we need to understand Culture as the very lens through which we view the world
Above (from left): Gillian Tett, British author, journalist, and U.S. Managing Editor of Financial Times; Richard Robb, Co-founder and CEO, Christofferson, Robb & Company, a New York and London based fund management company, and Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs; and Suzanne Gyorgy, Managing Director and Head of Citi Private Bank Art Advisory & Finance Left: French politician Edmond Alphandéry of the Union for French Democracy makes a point at the summit. He is the author of the book “Energy Security and Climate Change in the Trilateral Context,” and serves as the Chairman of the leading think tank on EU affairs, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
Cultures across the globe in the hopes of finding meaningful ways to address the pressing issues of our day. From panels on the latest advances in artificial intelligence and block chain technologies to discussion of the realities of living in a post-Brexittreaty world and the need to address the growing opioid crisis here in America, today’s summit is about learning, sharing, and establishing a vision that brings together the resources we all have in order to confront the problems we face. We are lucky to be joined by leading professors, scientists, economic and political
thinkers, activists, artists and concerned citizens. My sincere hope is that we can all come away from this summit and recognize the necessity for truth and openness in a time in which both values are seemingly under attack. In the words of a great scientist imperiled by an age dominated by superstitions, not facts: “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” I believe today we can renew that voyage of discovery. It is my belief that cultural diplomacy is the essence of peace and the evolution of man. MP
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THEORETICAL PHYSICIST PROFESSOR Lisa Randall, 55, was born and raised in New York City, graduating from Stuyvesant High School in 1980. She is a graduate of Harvard University, where she earned a PhD in theoretical particle physics.
Awardees Join the Debate The Foundation gave awards to theoretical physicist Professor Lisa Randall, world-renowned classical pianist Vladimir Feltsman and artist Dan Graham.
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Prof Randall’s books include “Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions” and “Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World.” She has regularly appeared on TV, spoken on radio and lectured on physicsrelated subjects. In 2007 she was named one of the most 100 influential people by Time Magazine. Prof Randall admits to being “surprised” when she heard she was to receive a Blouin Foundation award, but perhaps she shouldn’t be too amazed, considering her notable achievements in a hugely successful career, including being one of the world’s most cited physicists. When I ask Prof Randall if she agrees that girls should be encouraged more to study and work in the sciences, she seems perplexed. “Why wouldn’t I be!” she says. Her lifelong interest in physics led Prof Randall at the age of 18 to take first prize in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, and after completing her PhD at Harvard she taught at both MIT and Princeton before returning to her Alma Mater where she is now the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science. Her many awards include the Premio Caterina Tomassoni e Felice Pietro Chisesi Award from the University of Rome, the Klopsteg Award from the American Society of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and the Julius Lilienfeld Prize. She is a part of the US scientific establishment — a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and a former fellow of the American Physical Society. Unfortunately Professor Randall detects an antipathy towards the scientific community from the new administration led by President Trump, who has frequently cast doubt on the science behind global warming despite having no apparent scientific training. “It’s not even the less tangible science, such as global warming,” she sighs. “This administration doesn’t even seem interested in keeping the water clean. And look at the response to the recent hurricanes (notably Harvey and Irma). Scott Pruitt (Environmental Protection Agency administrator) said it was ‘insensitive’ to link them to climate change!” Prof Randall works closely with colleagues in Europe, including at the Hadron Collider, and believes many people in Europe are enthusiastic about science, even those aspects of it which may not have immediate obvious benefits for mankind. “European governments in general seem to fund theoretical science to a greater degree [than in the US]. Germany in particular is very generous with its grants.” However the professor is concerned for the future for scientists in the UK post-Brexit. “I warned a long time ago that leaving the European Union would create problems, and sadly that is what seems to be happening.” Despite her misgivings about President Trump and Brexit, Prof Randall is positive about the future and clear about where she wants to focus. “I’m investigating the properties of dark matter and merging black holes,” she says. “Particularly in light of recent discoveries related to gravity wave measurements.” Prof Randall is a worthy recipient of the 2017 Blouin Foundation award — and seems certain to continue to achieve great things within the science community for many years to come. MP
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AWARDS // MARK PIGGOTT
WORLD-RENOWNED CLASSICAL pianist and Blouin Foundation award-recipient Vladimir Feltsman admits to having gloomy moments when he contemplates the state of the world, and in particular relations between his mother country Russia (he was born in Moscow in 1952, first performing with the Moscow Philharmonic aged 11) and his adopted home, the United States of America. “The US has of course changed since I arrived,” Feltsman tells me over the phone from his ranch in upstate New York. “When I arrived in 1987, the President was Ronald Reagan. Now it’s… Trump.” It’s hard to miss the note of distaste in his voice as she says the name. He believes Trump came to power despite the fact so many in the Northeast and West Coast despise him because he
found a way of connecting with the “heartlands,” or as some media observers call them, the “Flyover States.” Nevertheless Feltsman seems happy in America, becoming a US citizen in 1995: he and his wife Haewon both teach at State University of New York New Paltz and spend their winters in Florida and he only returns to Russia every few years to play concerts, see his few friends who remained, and as he puts it, to “eat well.” If the US has changed in the past 30 years — Feltsman’s first concert Stateside being a performance at the White House shortly after his arrival — Russia has changed even more. In 1979, still under the Communist yoke, he applied for an exit visa and was barred from performing for eight years before finally being allowed to leave under the more
enlightened Gorbachev regime. Feltsman says that in many ways his old country — which he calls “Russia,” having no warm feelings towards the old Soviet Union — has improved, but many unattractive basics of Soviet state remained. With relations between the West — and specifically America — and Russia at a low point, Feltsman admits to sometimes hankering after the old certainties of the Cold War. “At least then it was black and white, now things are much more complicated. I just hope the new cold war does not heat up — and become hot.” Yet Feltsman refuses to be pessimistic about the world, and says music has the extraordinary power to bring people together all over the world. “Music connects people on a universal level. It’s a very powerful tool and can unite
people even when things are bad.” Deeply committed to the musical education, he founded the PianoSummer at New Paltz, a three-week festival dedicated to piano music that brings together young gifted pianists from all over the world. In 2011 Vladimir and Haewon Feltsman established “Feltsman Piano Foundation” that help the next generation of musicians to realize their potential and foster their careers. He believes the world has always had moments of chaos and uncertainty. “As a human being, you must study the past in order to understand the present and find your way into the future. Understanding of history is critical to any human being; without culture you are an animal.” Feltsman uses his knowledge of the history and culture to reassure himself that classical music will always survive, despite currently over-shadowed by what he calls “showbusiness.” “Classical music will survive,” he insists, adding that in his opinion it is pointless to attempt to distinguish between “Classical” and modern music. Refusing to be drawn on which contemporary composers he most admires — “Let’s not go there!”, he chuckles when pressed, he returns to the greats of the past, and in particular the Germans, Bach above all, whose complete works for keyboard he performed and recorded. “Bach is my daily bread,” he says. “Music such as his has given me far more than I could ever pay back in return.” Feltsman’s legions of admirers may disagree with that final statement, but few could argue that this undisputed great pianist is a worthy recipient of a Blouin Foundation Award. MP
Opens October 20, 2017 Image: Judy Chicago Designing the Entry Banners for “The Dinner Party” (detail), 1978. Courtesy of Through the Flower Archive
Self-portrait by Charlotte Salomon, 1940
FAC I N G PAG E: P H OTO © C H A R LOT T E S A LO M O N F O U N DAT I O N . T H I S PAG E: C O U R T E S Y T H E J E W I S H H I S TO R I C A L M U S E U M O F A M S T E R DA M
Charlotte Salomon painting in a garden, around 1939
SH E DI ED I N A GAS C H A M BER , OBL I V IOUS TO T H E FA M E H ER A RT WAS DE ST I N ED TO ACH I EV E . A N E X H I BI T ION I N A MST ER DA M IS R E A DY TO GI V E T H E A RT IST H ER DU E BY TOBIAS GREY
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”While beginning to paint the buttercup-strewn meadow where she happens to be sitting, she decides to make his prophecy come true and actually create something above average” from Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
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ife? Or theater? That is the title of one of the most ambitious and unclassifiable artworks of the 20th century. Charlotte Salomon, the artist who created it, was a German Jew whose art was a secret to the world when she died, pregnant, in an Auschwitz gas chamber during World War II. It is still not as wellknown as it should be. But next month, Salomon, who would have turned 100 this year, will finally get her due when “Life? Or theater?” (Leben? Oder Theater?) is exhibited for the first time in its entirety. The series of works makes up the exhibition “Charlotte Salomon,” running at the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam from October 20 until March 25, 2018. “Life? Or theater?,” which consists of 781 eye-popping gouaches and hundreds of drawings, texts and musical annotations, was donated to the Dutch museum in 1971 by Charlotte’s 88-yearold father, Albert Salomon. The enormity of the artwork has meant that only portions of it have been shown before. An 840-page complete edition of Salomon’s magnum opus is also being published for the first time by the Overlook Press on October 3. Meanwhile, the German publisher Taschen will bring out a scholarly study of the artist’s work on December 1. Renewed interest in Salomon’s life and work also resulted in a recent New Yorker article by the feminist writer Toni Bentley, which revealed that Charlotte wrote a 35-page letter confessing to using poison to kill her
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I had my children” Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
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maternal grandfather. In her article Bentley suggests that Salomon, whose family history was plagued by a long line of suicides, grew to detest her grandfather because he sexually abused her. (Some scholars dispute this conclusion.) “Life? Or theater?” is structured like a play in three parts, with overriding color codes for each part. Salomon assigned the color blue to the prologue, which takes place in Berlin and recreates her family’s troubled history. The main part, where red predominates, focuses on Nazi-controlled Berlin in the 1930s and Salomon’s love affair with her operasinging stepmother’s voice coach, Alfred Wolfsohn. Finally, the yellow-coded epilogue, which is the most Expressionistic part, describes Salomon’s years in the South of France (from 1939-1942), where she sought unhappy refuge with her maternal grandparents before her deportation and death at the age of 26 on October 10, 1943. Salomon’s paintings in the prologue, particularly the angel of her deceased mother descending from heaven, recall the nostalgia and mystery of Chagall’s dreamscapes. The
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harder edge of Weimar artists like George Grosz and Otto Dix are also possible influences, as are artists including Modigliani and Klimt. Several scholars have suggested that Salomon, who was the last Jewish student to gain admission to Berlin’s United State Schools for Pure and Applied Arts in 1936, might well have visited the Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich in 1937, where the paintings of so-called “degenerate” artists such as Grosz, Chagall and Picasso were held up to ridicule by the Nazis. To accompany the paintings and drawings, Salomon wrote long narrative texts on tracing paper which could be laid over each image. She also called on her knowledge of classical and folk music to annotate her art with a varied musical score, ranging from Bach cantatas to bar-room ditties. (An opera and a ballet have both been created from the work, which Salomon described as a singspiel, meaning literally sung-play.) Close-ups and shifts in perspectives recall the innovations of German cinema directors like F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. It is a Gesamstunckwerk (total
C O U R T E S Y T H E J E W I S H H I S TO R I C A L M U S E U M O F A M S T E R DA M
Image above: “Gentlemen here you see a severe gastric ulcer, but by using the new method I have invented we can save the patient.” Image below: “Professor Kahn - out - get -out.” from Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
C O U R T E S Y T H E J E W I S H H I S TO R I C A L M U S E U M O F A M S T E R DA M
BARBARA: We only kissed once, and they put me in a convent; CHARLOTTE: You only kissed once, and they put you in a convent. from Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
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A self-portrait of Charlotte being assieged by her memories as she paints. from Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
To the tune Jesus, our Lord, we bow our heads to thee. from Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
C O U R T E S Y T H E J E W I S H H I S TO R I C A L M U S E U M O F A M S T E R DA M
One of the intricacies of “Life? Or theater?” is to distinguish the autobiographical facts of Salomon’s life from her flights of fiction artwork), not one thing nor another, but containing multitudes. The French author David Foenkinos, whose best-selling 2014 novel “Charlotte” contributed a great deal to the rediscovery of Salomon’s art, equates “Life? Or theater?” to a book you might read on an iPad, where you can access music and video at the same time. “Her work has an interactive dimension,” Foenkinos said in an interview. “What motivated me for 10 years to write my novel, outside of her fascinating life story, was the injustice of seeing how her work had been forgotten,” he added. “What she did was incredibly modern so it’s good that she is finding a new audience now.” One of the intricacies of “Life? Or theater?” is to distinguish the autobiographical facts of Salomon’s life from her flights of fiction. She doesn’t refer to herself by her real name but instead by Charlotte Kann. Her family also becomes the Kann family, while her eccentric lover and muse Alfred Wolfson is renamed Amadeus Daberlohn. (Daberlohn means “penniless” in German and Amadeus is Mozart’s last name.) Much of the prologue recounts family events that she only learned about as an adult and was not witness to. How much is and isn’t invented is not always clear. There is further ambiguity in the text. The Dutch art historian Mirjam Knotter, who began studying “Life? Or theater?” in the late 1980s and is curating the exhibition at the Jewish Historical Museum, cautions jumping to hasty conclusions and indeed rejects Bentley’s abuse thesis. “The only source we have is from one gouache where Charlotte writes that she doesn’t want to share a bed with her grandfather when they have to share a room together on their way back to the south of France,” Knotter said in an
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“You have adorable eyes. Don’t be angry - please”; CHARLOTTE: Why should I be angry with you? from Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
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“The swastika - a symbol of bright hope - the day for freedom and bread now dawns”from Project “Life? Or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s verses and works, 32.5 X 25 cm
interview. “The grandfather replies something like ‘Don’t be so silly it’s natural’ – and that’s all we have to go on.” Knotter thinks that if Salomon had been abused she would have made that a part of “Life? Or theater?” “She’s so honest in her artwork in the way she points at the smallest details of trauma and all the suicides in her family,” Knotter said. “She never shies away from describing how weak or angry she feels, so if she had been abused I think it would have been in the artwork or the letter she wrote later on.” So why did she poison her grandfather then? Knotter, who dislikes the term “murder,” suggests something more akin to a mercy killing, while admitting that that the two were on very bad terms. “We have testimony from the grandfather’s neighbors that he fell down in the street and they took him to his home where he later died,” Knotter said. “I think Charlotte may have been called to take care of her grandfather and finding him in a bad way made him an omelette with some Veronal in it. Of course we can’t know for certain.” The lack of certainty surrounding Salomon’s life is one of the reasons that Knotter wants the Amsterdam exhibition to put more focus on the artwork itself, as opposed to its creator. “We want to put across what a wildly eccentric project this must have been to do,” Knotter said. “That’s why we’ve created a small stage with an overview of the entire work so that you can see all 800 pieces in one glance.” Before putting the exhibition together, Knotter showed “Life? Or theater?” to 10 students in their early to mid-twenties, close to Salomon’s age when she created it. “I sat with them for weeks and they looked into the work to see how they related to it,” Knotter said, adding that the work had surprising relevance to them. “They connected it to the whole concept of a society in despair and a single person having to leave her family and flee to another country. It brought home to me the situation of refugees in Europe now.” MP
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48 MODERN PAINTERS OCTOBER 2017 BLOUINARTINFO.COM “ L A C A I X A” C O L L E C T I O N , C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T. B A R C E LO N A , S PA I N © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
“I.G. (790-3),” 1993 by Gerhard Richter (born 1932). Oil on canvas, 82 X 92 cm
C O L L E C T I O N : M U S E U M O F M O D E R N A R T, N E W YO R K , U S A . G I F T O F J O C A R O L E A N D R O N A L D S . L AU D E R A N D C O M M I T T E E O N PA I N T I N G A N D S C U L P T U R E F U N D S © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
GERHARD RICHTER:
EFFACING MEMORY WITH A DRY BRUSH THE BRISBANE RETROSPECTIVE OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LIVING ARTISTS SHOWS HOW GERMANS GROWING UP DURING THE WORLD WARS RECONCILED THE PERSONAL WITH A TEMPESTUOUS WORLD AROUND THEM — A PRIMER, PERHAPS, FOR OUR DIGITALLY FRANTIC TIMES
“Self-portrait (836-1),” 1996 by Gerhard Richter. Oil on linen, 51 X 46 cm.
BY LOUISA ELDERTON
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“Birkenau (937-4),” 2014, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 200 x 260 cm
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G E R H A R D R I C H T E R A R C H I V E , D R E S D E N , G E R M A N Y. P E R M A N E N T LOA N F R O M A P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017; FAC I N G PAG E: C O L L E C T I O N : M U S E U M O F M O D E R N A R T, N E W YO R K , U S A T H E M U S E U M O F M O D E R N A R T, N E W YO R K . B L A N C H E T T E R O C K E F E L L E R , B E T S Y B A B C O C K , A N D M R S E L I S A B E T H B L I S S PA R K I N S O N F U N D S , 19 8 5 . © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
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he octogenarian German painter Gerhard Richter has never before had a major exhibition in Australia. This presentation at the antipodean Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, running from October 14 through February 4, will be his first, with loans from New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Tate, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Bringing together over 90 works, which span six decades from 1962–2016, the exhibition will display the diversity and range of Richter’s work, including his figurative paintings, family portraits, abstracts, landscapes and tapestries. The subject matters of these respond to landmark moments in European modern history, from the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, to the post-war division of Germany into East and West — a history that Dresden-born Richter experienced first hand. He grew up during the war and then fled from the East into the West of Germany in 1961, two months before the Berlin Wall was erected. This period coincided with the ubiquity of photography, and the artist was heavily influenced by the reproduced image, using sources from family photographs (his only means of visual contact with relatives after leaving the East) to black-and-white newspapers, images and books. Chris Saines, director of the QAGOMA, underlines that “for Richter, painting is a method of apprehending, understanding and interpreting Germany’s national trauma, a narrative in which his family history and broader relationship with the history of art is located.” A number of the artist’s paintings cross over between his family history and German history. These include works in the exhibition such as “Uncle Rudi” (1965) — a black and white blur that depicts Richter’s Nazi uncle
“Meadowland (572-4),” 1985, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 90.5 x 94.9 cm
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C O L L E C T I O N : S A N F R A N C I S C O M U S E U M O F M O D E R N A R T, U S A . P U R C H A S E T H R O U G H T H E G I F T S O F M I M I A N D P E T E R H A A S A N D H E L E N A N D C H A R L E S S C H WA B , A N D T H E AC C E S S I O N S C O M M I T T E E F U N D : B A R B A R A A N D G E R S O N B A K A R , C O L L E C TO R S F O R U M , E V E LY N D. H A A S , E L A I N E M C K E O N , BY R O N R . M E Y E R , M O D E R N A R T C O U N C I L , C H R I S T I N E A N D M I C H A E L M U R R AY, N A N CY A N D S T E V E N O L I V E R , L E A N N E B . R O B E R T S , M A D E L E I N E H . R U S S E L L , DA N I E L L E A N D B R O O KS WA L K E R , J R ., P H Y L L I S C. WAT T I S , A N D PAT A N D B I L L W I L S O N . © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
“Reader (804),” 1994, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 72 x 102 cm
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“St Andrew (653-2,” 1988, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 200 x 260 cm
P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N . © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
“Ella (903-1),” 2007, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 40 x 31 cm
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56 MODERN PAINTERS OCTOBER 2017 BLOUINARTINFO.COM G E R H A R D R I C H T E R A R C H I V E , D R E S D E N , G E R M A N Y. P E R M A N E N T LOA N F R O M A P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
“Skull (548-1),” 1983, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 55 x 50 cm
P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N . © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
“Tulips (825-1),” 1995, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 36 x 41 cm
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L E F T: P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N . © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017; A B OV E: F R O E H L I C H C O L L E C T I O N , S T U T TGA R T, G E R M A N Y © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
“Orchid (848-9),” 1997, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on aludibond. 29 x 37 cm
“Phantom Interceptors (50),” 1964, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas. 140 X 190 cm
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C O L L E C T I O N : TAT E , P U R C H A S E D 19 9 2 . © G E R H A R D R I C H T E R 2 017
“Abstract painting (726),” 1990, by Gerhard Richter. Oil on canvas/ 2 canvases, 250 X 175 cm each
Richter often described how he blurred his paintings to make “everything equally important and equally unimportant” in his SS uniform — and “Aunt Marianne” (1965), showing a baby Richter in the arms of his aunt, a schizophrenic destined to be sterilised and euthanized by the Nazis. Richter often described how he blurred his paintings to make “everything equally important and equally unimportant,” and did so by dragging a dry brush across the wet pigment’s surface. The artist agreed to lend a number of works from his personal collection, not least the signature oil-on-canvas portrait of his daughter, “Ella” (2007) — which depicts her in a pink shirt gazing down at the floor — and the exquisitely rendered “Orchid” (1997). A more recent abstract four-part painting, “Birkenau” (2014), is a deeply moving work that takes as its base the 1944 photographic negatives secretly taken by a Jewish Sonderkommando at Birkenau, which was a subcamp affiliated with the larger Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Also featured is Richter’s lifelong archival project “Atlas,” comprising over 4,000 clippings, photographs, reproductions and cutout details of illustrations, grouped in a new 400-panel version that has been lent by the Lenbachhaus museum in Munich. How can Richter’s work continue to resonate with our digitally frantic culture? “Richter has never ceased investigating and experimenting with new means for making images,” said the exhibition’s curator, Rosemary Hawker. “He’s engaged with an array of technology, including computer programming and digitally generated and printed imagery. His ‘Strip’ paintings from 2011–2013 take a pixel-wide detail from one of his 1990s abstract paintings and repeat this into a dizzying pattern of stripes that are then digitally printed. His tapestry works rely on similar sampling and software but this time input to a mechanical jacquard loom and resulting in huge Rorschach like patterns.” The diversity of Richter’s work, she concluded, “makes him entirely relevant to youth culture’s digital context.” MP
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Max Ernst. Woman, Old Man, and Flower. 1923–24. Oil on canvas. 38 x 51 1/4 in (96.5 x 130.2 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase, 1937.
MOMA REVISITS THE OEUVRE OF MAX ERNST, WHO LIKE MANY OF HIS PEERS TRIED TO MAKE SENSE OF THE WAR-RAVAGED WORLD AROUND HIM THROUGH ART, OFTEN GOING BEYOND PAINTING
FR ANCESCA DOLNIER
P H OTO: K AT E K E L L E R . © 2 017 A R T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y (A R S ), N E W YO R K / A DAG P, PA R I S .
EXPERIMENTS BEYOND REALITY
BY ARCHANA KHARE-GHOSE Talia Kwartler, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
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T
he steep red rock buttes and canyons of Sedona, Arizona, are not just otherworldly but also the stuff that can provide some surreal inspiration to a restless soul. Max Ernst, the GermanFrench-American artist who was one of the pioneers of Dada and Surrealism, found inspiration in Sedona at an important stage of his career when he needed to settle away from the maddening crowd after a long time spent escaping the vagaries of the World Wars in Europe (which also included serving on the front, internment, and eventual escape to the US). This is where he compiled his book “Beyond Painting” — a term that has increasingly been used to describe the experimentations Ernst undertook with his art, perhaps, to articulate the tumult he had experienced in the world around him, or to find comfort in the alternate reality offered by a dreaming mind that Surrealism helped channelize through his works. The ongoing exhibition of the work of German-born Ernst (1891-1976) at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), titled “Max Ernst: Beyond Painting” through January 1, puts the spotlight on the “ceaseless experimentation” that he carried out throughout
his life. Ernst’s work has been showcased at the museum before on many occasions, and the current one features about 100 works drawn from the museum’s collection. It is organized by Starr Figura, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, and Anne Umland, The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Curator of Painting and Sculpture, with Talia Kwartler, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture. MODERN PAINTERS speaks to Talia Kwartler for a detailed discussion on Ernst and his art. Could you share whether there is a specific reason for hosting this show of Max Ernst’s works now? Is there also a specific reason for the focus of the survey “on the artist’s ceaseless experimentation,” as noted on the website? The Museum of Modern Art has supported Max Ernst since its earliest days and has substantial holdings of artworks spanning his entire career. Even though Ernst is often included in exhibitions and collection displays at the Museum, he has not been the subject of a monographic show here since 1993. This tightly-knit exhibition focuses on Ernst’s artistic experimentations in order to foreground his material and technical inventions across subjects and mediums. The art of a young Ernst crystallized at a very turbulent time in history, around and between the two World Wars. Do you think his works have a special meaning for artists coming into their styles today, when, quite like the time when Ernst worked, the world is in a turbulent phase and
“This tightly-knit exhibition focuses on Ernst’s artistic experimentations in order to foreground his material and technical inventions across subjects and media. ”
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P H OTO: K AT E K E L L E R . © 2 017 A R T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y (A R S ), N E W YO R K / A DAG P, PA R I S .
Max Ernst. Two Children Are Threatened by a Nightingale. 1924. Oil with painted wooden elements and cutand- pasted printed paper on wood with wooden frame. 27 1/2 x 22 1/2 x 4 1/2 in (69.8 x 57.1 x 11.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase,1937.
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66 MODERN PAINTERS OCTOBER 2017 BLOUINARTINFO.COM P H OTO: P E T E R B U T L E R . © 2 017 A R T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y (A R S ), N E W YO R K / A DAG P, PA R I S .
Max Ernst. The Wheel of Light from Natural History. c. 1925, published 1926. One from a portfolio of 34 collotypes after frottages. Sheet: 12 11/16 × 19 5/8 in (32.3 × 49.8 cm). Publisher: Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris. Printer: Unknown. Edition: 300. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of James Thrall Soby, 1959.
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Max Ernst. Butterflies. 1931. Cutandpasted printed and painted paper, cellophane, and pencil on paper. 19 3/4 x 25 1/2 in (50.2 x 65.4 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase,1935.
P H OTO: T H O M A S G R I E S E L . © 2 017 A R T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y (A R S ), N E W YO R K / A DAG P, PA R I S .
Max Ernst. BirdHead. 1934–35. Bronze. 20 5/8 x 15 x 10 3/8 in (52.4 x 38 x 27.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the James Thrall Soby Bequest, 1983.
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there is a need for more cultural dialogue? In an autobiographical account published in 1961, Ernst wrote: “On the first of August 1914 M.E. died. He was resurrected on the eleventh of November 1918 as a young man who aspired to find the myths of his time.” Serving on the German front during World War I interrupted Ernst’s nascent art career and he was injured twice during the war. During World War II, he was interned in France as an enemy alien. After escaping to New York with the help of the collector Peggy Guggenheim, as well as the historian Margaret Scolari and MoMA’s founding director, Alfred H. Barr, Jr., he was sent off to Ellis Island where he was interned once again. Ernst’s work responded to the complexities of his time, resonating in many ways with our current political situation. The first time Ernst’s works were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art was in 1936. Since then, the museum has acquired several of his works and he must have been part of many shows there. What makes the current show different from the rest, and what incisive comment can it make on the state of art today? Ernst first exhibited at MoMA in the “Summer Exhibition: Painting and Sculpture” (1933), and was included in both of the landmark exhibitions “Cubism and Abstract Art” (1936) and “Fantastic Art, Dada, and Surrealism” (1936–37), featuring prominently with 46 artworks across mediums in the latter. Ernst was one of the most well-known Dada and Surrealist artists when
Alfred Barr organized these shows. Barr acquired 13 artworks by Ernst between 1935 and 1937. These early acquisitions are included in “Max Ernst: Beyond Painting,” together with many other major works acquired in more recent decades. This is the first opportunity to see MoMA’s rich Ernst holdings brought together. It is also be the first Ernst exhibition at the Museum to integrate paintings, sculptures, collages, prints and illustrated books. Does the survey also throw some light on the Surrealist inspirations that Max Ernst turned to for his work? The Surrealists were deeply inspired by chance processes, many of which Ernst pioneered. A number of these techniques feature in the exhibition, including frottage, or rubbing, in which Ernst would place paper atop diverse materials, scribbling over them with pencil to capture their chance textures, and often transforming them into natural or cosmological forms. He also pursued the technique of grattage, or scraping, in which he would apply pigment with non-traditional tools that would create diversely textured surfaces. Many other Surrealists adopted Ernst’s material processes. Ernst also borrowed techniques, experimenting with decalcomania, invented by his fellow Surrealist Oscar Domínguez, in which paint is applied with a sheet of glass or paper to create unexpected patterns. Is there a central theme running through the works on
“This is the first opportunity to see MoMA’s rich Ernst holdings brought together. It will also be the first Ernst exhibition at the Museum to integrate paintings, sculptures, collages, prints and illustrated books.”
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P H OTO: M A L I O L AT U N J I . © 2 017 A R T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y (A R S ), N E W YO R K / A DAG P, PA R I S .
Max Ernst. The Blind Swimmer. 1934. Oil and graphite on canvas. 36 3/8 x 29 in (92.3 x 73.5 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mrs. Pierre Matisse and the Helena Rubenstein Fund,1968.
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© 2 017 A R T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y (A R S ), N E W YO R K / A DAG P, PA R I S .
Max Ernst. The King Playing with the Queen. 1944 (cast 1954). Bronze. Overall: 38 1/2 x 33 x 20 1/2 in (97.8 x 83.8 x 52.1 cm); 20 1/2 x 18 1/2 in (52.1 x 47 cm) at base. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of D. and J. de Menil, 1955.
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“Ernst pursued radical new techniques as a means of articulating the irrational and unexplainable during the tumultuous decades between the end of World War I and the advent and aftermath of World War II.”
P H OTO: J O H N W R O N N . © 2 017 A R T I S T S R I G H T S S O C I E T Y (A R S ), N E W YO R K / A DAG P, PA R I S .
display in the exhibition? Could you elaborate? The central theme of the exhibition is Ernst’s technical and material experimentation across mediums. Beginning with his first solo exhibition in 1921, he repeatedly used the phrase “beyond painting,” the subtitle of the exhibition, to evoke his drive to transgress and upend prevailing aesthetic traditions. Could you talk about the artists’ works with which Ernst’s works could be in dialogue — if there is such a possibility — by virtue of inspiration, technique and execution? Ernst can be seen in dialogue with many artists. He had a lifelong friendship with Jean (Hans) Arp and his Dadaist provocations in Cologne with Arp, Johannes Theodor Baargeld, and other members of the Cologne Dada group (including his wife Luise Straus-Ernst), helped to establish contact with fellow Dadaists in Paris by 1920, particularly André Breton, Francis Picabia and Tristan Tzara. Ernst was also close with many Surrealist poets and collaborated with them often, among them Paul Éluard and Benjamin Péret. Leonora Carrington also collaborated with Ernst during their love affair in the late 1930s and there are resonances between their bodies of work during this period. Dorothea Tanning, an artist herself, was Ernst’s last wife; they were in intimate dialogue for the last 30 years of Ernst’s life. Where would you place the art of Max Ernst in the history of Modern art? As one of the principal leaders of Dada and then Surrealism, Ernst pursued radical new techniques as a means of articulating the irrational and unexplainable during the tumultuous decades between the end of World War I and the advent and aftermath of World War II. He was one of great inventors of techniques that conveyed Surrealism’s vision of an estranged world. The exhibition’s focus on Ernst’s ceaseless material and technical innovations across mediums highlight this legacy. MP
Max Ernst. Loplop Introduces Members of the Surrealist Group. 1931. Cutandpasted gelatin silver prints, cutandpasted printed paper, pencil, and pencil frottage on paper. 19 3/4 x 13 1/4 in (50.1 x 33.6 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase, 1935.
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A SWISS MISSIONARY IN CHINA
BY NICHOLAS FORREST
COURTESY M+ SIGG COLLECTION
GR E AT COLLEC T IONS A R E BOR N OU T OF PASSION, OR A N U RGE TO I N V E ST, BU T U L I SIGG’S CON T EM POR A RY C H I N E SE A RT COLLEC T ION H AS SOM ET H I NG TOTA LLY U N USUA L BEH I N D I T
RMB City, 2008-2011, by Fei Cao. Mixed media, videos, photos, objects, computer data, dimensions variable
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wiss businessman, former diplomat, and art collector, Uli Sigg made headlines around the world in 2012 when he announced the donation of the majority of his collection of Chinese Contemporary art to Hong Kong’s M+ Museum, scheduled to open in 2019. Conservatively valued at 1.3 billion Hong Kong dollars, (about $163 million), the donation consists of 1,463 works by 310 artists, including the likes of Ai Weiwei, Ding Yi, Fang Lijun, Geng Jianyi, Gu Wenda, Huang Yongping, Liu Wei, Wang Guangyi, Xu Bing, Yang Shaobin, Yue Minjun, Yu Youhan, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Peili, Zhang Xiaogang, Lee Kit, and Pak Sheung-chuen, to name a few. The donation was made under a part gift/ part purchase agreement, through which the M+ purchased an additional 47 works from the
late 1970s to 1980s for 22 million Swiss francs, or about $23 million. Regarded as the largest and most important collection of Chinese Contemporary art in the world, the Sigg Collection spans the 1970s to the 2000s, and features works in a wide range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, photography, performance documentation, video, installation, and multimedia. Started by Sigg in the 1990s with the objective of creating what he describes as an encyclopedic “document,” the main aim of the collection was to “inform the impressive breadth and depth of Chinese experimental art rather than single works or single artists,” he said in his “Foreword to Viewing the M+ Sigg Collection.” “It is intended as an encyclopedic documentation referencing Chinese experimental art production in this
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Uli Sigg shares a moment with Uli Sigg (Newspaper Reader), his likeness created by Ai Weiwei, 2004. Mixed media, 108 X 58 X 72 cm
COURTESY SIGG COLLECTION
TANK (the tank project), 2011-2013, by Xiangyu he. Drawings, photos and moulds, 890 X 450-500 X 100-150 cm
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China Party, 2017, by Zhao Bandi. Oil on canvas, 290 X 390 cm
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specific period and to form in its current state a solid base for further collecting,” he explained. Excerpts from a conversation that Sigg had about his life and collection with MODERN PAINTERS. When did you first start collecting art and what inspired and motivated you to start collecting? I started to acquire, as I would call it, in my student years: an acquaintance at the time was going bankrupt so I bought a painting by a Swiss Surrealist painter that was available from him at that moment. I perceived myself to be a collector much later, when I had defined my focus on Chinese Contemporary art and went at it methodically. That for me makes the difference between what I term “accumulating” or then “collecting” art.
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What are your main motivations and interests when it comes to collecting art? I may, in fact, never have turned into a collector if not for this very specific situation I found working in China in the ‘90s. I had already followed Chinese Contemporary art since the late 70s, but never felt compelled to buy any of it, because for long I felt it to be derivative of Western art. But then I observed that no one, neither Chinese nor foreign, institution nor individual, collected Chinese Contemporary art. I found that strange: In the biggest cultural space in the world, nobody taking an interest in what the Contemporary artists were producing. So I decided to create this collection that a national institution should have created, but did not. So my story may not be the norm, such as to collect out of sheer passion or investment urge, or to surround myself with beauty. Could you tell us a bit about your donation to the M+ Museum and why you chose to make it? When I defined my focus as I just mentioned, I did it with the idea already in mind to one day give it to China — although I had no idea as to when and how — so that the Chinese could one day see their own Contemporary art which they actually do not know. Around 2010, several large Chinese cities had very large museum projects on their drawing boards, so I thought that the moment had come to search for the best solution. After complex negotiations with Beijing, Ministry of Culture, Shanghai, and Hong Kong I took the decision for Hong Kong. They offered a package that would best ensure that the collection would not have to pass heavy censorship and would be handled with high professionalism. Furthermore, some 40 million mainland people travel annually to Hong Kong. So we decided for a donation/sale combination: 1,463 donated and 47 works sold. BLOUINARTINFO.COM OCTOBER 2017 MODERN PAINTERS
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How did you end up becoming so interested in Chinese art? This has to do with my professional career: in 1979,in the very first days of the opening up of China, I was sent to negotiate and form what then became the very first joint venture company between China and the outside world. I was totally ignorant on China then and was only allowed to see a narrow fragment of Chinese reality. My hope at the time was that through Contemporary art I could broaden my view on Chinese culture. And then in the ‘90s, when I worked in China as the Swiss ambassador, I chose this new focus in creating this “Document” as I call it. And most importantly, there was and is so much meaningful and interesting art in China! Who are the main artists in your collection and why did you choose to acquire their work? I prefer not to mention names out of the 400 Chinese artists I have collected. My collection, given my focus to mirror the art production from its beginnings in 1979 to 2012, which is the time of the donation, is encyclopedic in nature. I collected works that represent what artists were particularly concerned with at specific moments in time, what I felt would belong in this “Document” to one day tell the story line of Chinese contemporary art. It was not about my personal taste.
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How did your childhood and your experiences growing up influence and affect your love of art and the way you view and perceive art? I grew up around Swiss art from the 19th century, a kind of romantic realism. I never really noticed it… a friend later brought me to Contemporary art when I was a young student. That really triggered my passion —art which smelled from flesh and blood, so to speak. To form an encyclopedic collection — as I imagined a national institution would — made me very open to all media and all artistic languages for which I am very grateful. It is that kind of openness which I see missing with so many curators, gallerists, and collectors. What has been your most memorable experience as an art collector and why? Ask me something easier… maybe a conversation I had with the artist Ai Weiwei: For one time I felt the price he suggested for a major work consisting of 3,600 Stone Age axes was really too low, and I proposed a higher price. His response was that considering the thousands of years they already existed and may continue to exist, he felt it would not matter whether for the short blip of a human life they would remain in his or my possession —how true… now they are already with M+ Museum in Hong Kong. MP
COURTESY SIGG COLLECTION
B-X025Y018, 2014, by Changwei Gu. Color print, 110 X 274 cm
COURTESY SIGG COLLECTION
Lure of the Body No. 16, 2010, by Di Xu. Color photo, 127 X 156 cm
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SPOTLIGHT
Malick Sidibé’s “Fighting friends with stones on the banks of the Niger,” 1976. Gelatin silver print, 99 X 99.5 cm.
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THE EYE OF BAMAKO A YEAR AFTER THE DEATH OF THE MALIAN PHOTOGRAPHER MALICK SIDIBÉ, FONDATION CARTIER POUR L’ART CONTEMPORAIN — WHICH FIRST SHOWCASED HIS WORK OUTSIDE AFRICA — HONORS HIS MEMORY AGAIN
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From an exhibition dedicated to African artists at the Fondation Louis Vuitton to the inaugural AKAA (“Also Known As Africa”) art fair, France’s interest in Contemporary African art continues to grow.
The Fondation Cartier Pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris has showcased African artists since its inception, with exhibitions dedicated to the Kinshasa-based painter Chéri Samba and the Nigerian photographer J.D. ’Okhai Ojeikere. In 1995, the venue presented the first solo show of the Malian photographer Malick Sidibé outside the African continent, and again honors his vibrant photographic output with an exhibition that opens on October 20 and runs to February. Titled “Mali Twist,” in reference to the 1963 song by the Malian singer-guitarist Boubacar Traoré, the exhibition fittingly draws upon Sidibé’s indelible connections with music, dance, and the swagger these brought to youth culture. A retrospective of over 250 photographs — many original vintage prints developed by Sidibé himself — unspools the artist’s rich archive of incredible portraiture. Sidibé first received art world attention (with fellow Malian Seydou Keïta) thanks to the gallerist André Magnin, who curated this exhibition with Brigitte Ollier. Sidibé was born in 1935 in Soloba, a village south of Bamako, to a farming family. His talents as a draftsman enabled him to attend the School of Sudanese Craftsmen in Bamako; he graduated with a jeweler’s diploma in 1955. In 1956, he bought his first camera, a Brownie Flash, and apprenticed with the photographer Gérard “Gégé la Pellicule” Guillat. After Gégé retired, Sidibé opened his own headquarters, “Studio Malick,” in 1962, in Bamako’s Bagadadji neighborhood. Most of Gégé’s customers stayed with him, and he further expanded his clientele. Early on, Sidibé documented highway construction and building sites, plus commissions from workers who wanted to be photographed on the job. He covered christenings, communions, and weddings, in addition to traditional studio sittings.
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“Friends in the same outfit,” 1972 by Malick Sidibé. Gelatin silver print, 50.5 x 40.5 cm.
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SIDIBÉ FIRST RECEIVED ART WORLD ATTENTION (WITH FELLOW MALIAN SEYDOU KEÏTA) THANKS TO THE GALLERIST ANDRÉ MAGNIN, WHO HAS CURATED THIS EXHIBITION WITH BRIGITTE OLLIER
“To the beach,” 1974, by Malick Sidibé. Gelatin silver print, 51 X 61 cm.
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As Sidibé recounted in a conversation with Magnin (first published in the monograph “Malick Sidibé” in 1998, and revised for the present catalog in 2017), his studio was demarcated by a large neon sign; it was the only local business to feature such eye-catching publicity, and attracted buzz. People wanted to be seen, to be photographed in their newest finery and alongside their most extravagant purchases. Clients would return to the studio multiple times, to document the turnover of fashions and hairdos as often as they were changing. Elegance was a competitive sport. The prosperity in the photos was not always authentic — Sidibé had props on hand to loan to clients when possessions, from scooters to radios to vinyls, were beyond their reach. Fervent style was interlinked with materialist modernity, even when it was only projection. Parties eventually became his main beat, despite the fact that Sidibé himself was quite timid. (“I never danced because I am shy. But it all felt good… I would move just a little in time with the music,” he told Magnin.) Personal invitations were extended to him by the young people organizing the fêtes, and a designated table for his gear was always made available. Sidibé would announce his arrival by setting off his flash, and circulate among the dancers. He reveled in the euphoric atmosphere, peopled by mods and yé-yés headily swinging out the rumba and the cha-cha-cha. He would sometimes shoot up to six rolls of film — well over a hundred photos — to record a single party. Sidibé was nicknamed “the eye of Bamako” for so aptly capturing the city’s spirit. He became integral to its social life, which was heightened and jubilant with the country’s independence in 1960. He immortalized music-filled soirées, during which the nattily dressed youth shimmied to the latest dance crazes. Couples and soloists tried to outperform one another, bewitched by the sounds of rock ‘n’ roll and Afro-Cuban music. (“We can almost pick up the beat,” the critic Robert Storr marveled of the potency of Sidibé’s work.) The photographer chronicled a generation in the throes of cross-cultural pollination; he examined flourishing global trends through the microcosm of the dancefloor. He caught a charming moment in “Nuit de Noël,” 1963, where a young couple scrutinize
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SIDIBÉ WAS NICKNAMED “THE EYE OF BAMAKO” FOR SO APTLY CAPTURING THE CITY’S SPIRIT. HE BECAME INTEGRAL TO ITS SOCIAL LIFE
“Picnic at the Chaussée,” 1972, by Malick Sidibé. Gelatin silver print, 60.5 X 50.5 cm
“A young gentleman,” 1978, by Malick Sidibé. Gelatin silver print, 40.5 X 30.5 cm.
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THIS IS NOT AN IMAGE OF AFRICA ONE WILL FIND ANYWHERE IN NEWSPAPERS OR MAGAZINE REPORTS OF THE LONG POSTCOLONIAL ERA
their feet as they work out their dance steps, as well in “Regardez-moi!,” 1962, in which a joyous dancer is pitched back at a 45-degree angle. Storr noted in the essay “Regardez-moi!” featured in the catalog: “This is not an image of Africa one will find anywhere in newspapers or magazine reports of the long postcolonial era, be they in Paris Match or Jeune Afrique. Nor will one come across anything like the others in “mainstream” pictorial records of the postcolonial era. Rather, Sidibé’s is an intimate, avid, nonjudgmental insider’s view of the people of his generation, his town, his milieu.” Sidibé himself stated as much in conversation with Magnin: “with my pictures they had discovered another face of Africa, with gaiety and elegance and faces full of happiness... They thought Africa was just poverty and wretchedness, which is what people usually see on TV.” Sidibé made prints when he returned from parties, which he numbered and catalogued in cardboard folders. He stored his negatives in Kodak boxes, organized by month and year; the estimated volume of negatives spans 200,000 to 300,000. Anecdotes and memories were drawn upon for titles. He would display the photos in front of the studio after the weekend’s festivities, and partygoers would turn up to view their own images. Boys bought the photos for their dates as souvenirs. Some people ordered prints without purchasing them: the most thrilling aspect was simply for their photos to be on view. In this sense, Sidibé’s keen eye is as much sociologist as aesthetic observer. Sibidé stopped this genre of field reporting in 1976, as the dance clubs started to peter out. He transitioned to doing ID photos, and continued repairing cameras, an impassioned activity he’d maintained since 1957 (“It made me even fonder of pictures,” he said). Such respect for the camera, as both a complex mechanical device and as a symbolic way to honor citizens and friends, attests to his appreciation for the medium. Even as the African art market began to develop, Sidibé remained devoted to toiling in his studio until his death in the spring of 2016. Although he clearly understood the desire for visibility, he himself remained discreet. Luckily his images provide a lasting and memorable spectacle on his behalf. MP
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Xue Qiwen, 43, in her Shanghai apartment, decorated with furniture from her favorite brand, Versace, 2005
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© L AU R E N G R E E N F I E L D
THE CULTURE OF CONSUMPTION L AU R EN GR EEN F I ELD’S PROJ EC T DOC UM EN TS HOW & WHY THE WOR LD CA M E TO BE A CA P T I V E OF BR A N DS & I M AGE AS T H E ON LY TOOL S FOR DEF I N I NG I DEN T I T Y
BY ANNIE GODFREY LARMON
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white columns / est. 1970
Jack Drummer Helen Rae Will Sheldon Walter Swennen
September 9 - October 21 www.whitecolumns.org
PULSE MIAMI BEACH CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR
DECEMBER 7-10, 2017 INDIAN BEACH PARK
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Lauren Greenfield
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n 2014, Donald Trump tweeted, “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.” Last November, the United States demonstrated, by electing the real estate mogul and TV star to the highest office, just how powerful, how addictive, this game is. The photographer and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield has for the past 25 years been documenting the consumer culture that, in part, made our current political moment possible. In more than half a million photos, she has examined the “influence of affluence,” training her lens on subjects that reveal the imbrication of risk and desire, the banality of commodity fetishism, the disaffectation wrought by overconsumption, and the homogeneity of luxury caused by global advertising campaigns. Greenfield’s first retrospective, “Generation Wealth,” is running at the International Center of Photography through January 20. (It began at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles earlier this year.) The show presents thematic sections that variously address the causes and effects of rapacious consumerism, including the rise of celebrity and youth culture internationally, the financial crisis in 2008, and emerging Chinese and Russian elite in the post-bubble world. These images are also featured in a book published in May by Phaidon, and a feature-length documentary film of the same title is forthcoming. Following are edited excerpts from a conversation in advance of her New York show.
Crenshaw High School girls selected by a magazine to receive “Oscar treatment” for a prom photo shoot take a limo to the event with their dates, Culver City, California, 2001
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Jackie and friends with Versace handbags at a private opening at the Versace store, Beverly Hills, California, 2007
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llona at home with her daughter, Michelle, 4, Moscow, 2012
You began taking the images featured in “Generation Wealth” in 1992, just before the Internet became ubiquitous and changed the conditions of production, distribution, and consumption worldwide. In what ways have you seen your subject shift in relation to new technologies? This shift has been one of the driving factors of the project. The work started in 1992 when I returned to my high school, Crossroads, on the west side of LA. The resulting project, “Fast Forward,” was my first show, also at ICP in 1997. I was looking at how kids were impacted by materialism, celebrity, and image, and one of the things I discovered was the extent to which MTV and hip hop were having an impact. Kids at Crossroads were trying to be like kids in the inner city, and kids in the inner city were emulating the trappings of wealth. There was a homogenizing effect of shared values and interests through products seen on MTV. What I’ve found looking back at the work, 25 years later, was that this homogenizing influence has progressively gotten stronger and more ubiquitous with global media, international branding and marketing. In the world of social media, brands and image have become more critical in defining identity status and popularity.
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Though the images in this project span 25 years, you’ve said that you identified their cohesion in 2008, during the financial crisis. What about that moment brought the overarching inquiry into focus? I documented the financial crash in many ways: I explored California and the Inland Empire’s “Foreclosure Alley,” but also Dubai, Iceland and Ireland. Seeing that people from very different backgrounds were so similarly affected; that they made similar mistakes and were encouraged by similar forces, it really illuminated how our values had been exported and become a kind of global phenomenon, in terms of our addiction to consumerism and appearing rich. Credit was a way to do that. This idea crystalized in a film I made called “The Queen of Versailles.” I spent several years with a billionaire family in Florida who were building the biggest house in America as well as the tallest timeshare, in Las Vegas. These buildings forced them into foreclosure: a supersized foreclosure story. I saw that even a billionaire family could fall prey to the addiction; it impacted rich and poor. In what ways do you see the “fake it till you make it” attitude you identify in culture as impacting labor, education, relationships? Over the last 25 years we’ve seen greater inequality and less social mobility. With it, is the increasing idea that image and surface trump substance and that looking the part is as important as being the part. For a lot of people, this fictitious social mobility, bling, is the only social mobility that feels within reach. When you ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, their response is often “rich and famous.” That’s not a job. There’s an emphasis today on unrealistic BLOUINARTINFO.COM OCTOBER 2017 MODERN PAINTERS
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Film director and producer Brett Ratner (right), 29, and Russell Simmons, 41, a businessman and cofounder of hip-hop label Def Jam, at L’Iguane restaurant, St. Barts, 1998. Few establishments on the island accepted credit cards, and visitors often carried large amounts of cash
goals, and with that comes depression. I’ve documented the relationship between consumerism and addiction; it gets in the way of relationships with other people because it’s a myopic goal. Take Florian Homm, the Wall Street banker who was the richest man in Europe, making $800 million in hedge funds. He gets indicted for fraud and ended up in jail. He lost everything: his money, his wife, he became estranged from his children. Afterward, he told the story of how chasing money, like Icarus to the sun, made him lose everything. He was following the wrong God. In a way the hope in this work comes from these moments of learning from crisis. Iceland had a devastating crash and was not able to bail out its banks. From that, they realized they needed to change their values. Part of that was learning to spend time with family, focusing on relationships and the environment, and buying local. In many of these stories we hear the biggest cliché in the world: All you need is love. Chasing money takes people away from family, community. But in the Generation Wealth project, even the clichés have profound resonance because of who we are learning it from.
In what ways have you thought about the timeliness of this exhibition in relation to the current political situation — our president and his supporters’ obsession with image and materialism? After the last election, did you have a sense that you saw this coming? I was completing this work last November, and I never could have imagined Trump’s win. But in retrospect, I think the work does predict it. The values we see expressed in the pictures, starting with the ’80s and the idea that having money was good, made you a good person, ultimately leads us not to Trump, but to the culture that could give rise to Trump, because of the value of celebrity. But it’s unsustainable. One of the big lessons for me has been that crash and crisis are moments of insight. In these moments, creative destruction gives us an opportunity to think about what kind of world we want to live in, what kind of values we want to have. That’s what I try to do in the work: to deconstruct culture and connect the dots between what seems unrelated and, in this way, to give people an opportunity to see themselves differently.MP
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Throughout your career, you have focused on women’s issues. What do you see as the most dire problems women are facing now, especially regarding the cultural practice of commodifying women’s bodies? I struggled for a while to figure out how the work on gender fit into “Generation Wealth,” and it struck me ultimately that the commodification of the body is the most tragic piece of this, and girls become a case study in how capitalism exploits everything. What you see in this work is girls learning, at an early age, that their body gives them currency, and that they are sold stuff because of this. Their insecurities and vulnerabilities are what make them avid consumers. Following this idea to its logical conclusion, is when you learn that your body is what gives you value, you sell it. In a post-moral world, where Kim Kardashian started with a sex tape, there is no more stigma. It’s more about the lifestyle you have and the money you make. I’m not judging the girls who make that choice because I actually think it’s rational in the context of our values. And yet, there’s a huge cost, and I tried to document that cost.
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“Girl with Tobacco on Tongue (Mary Jane Russell),” New York, 1951, by Irving Penn. Gelatin silver print, 37.5 X 36.5 cm
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A PAINTER BEHIND THE LENS
THE GRAND PALAIS RETROSPECTIVE OF IRVING PENN’S OEUVRE SHOWS WHY HIS WORK WAS NOT JUST ‘FASHION SHOOTS’ BUT ‘REALLY A LOVE AFFAIR’
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AT AGE 25, IRVING Penn
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quit his job at Harper’s Bazaar magazine, where he had worked as an apprentice artist and office assistant. With the small bit of money he’d socked away, he left for Mexico, where he tried his hand at painting. A year later, he realized he wasn’t a painter and never would be. Penn, although an inspired artist, was always keenly aware of his own limitations. Back in New York, however, his photography caught the eye of Alexander Liberman, the art director at American Vogue. The staff photographers at the Condé Nast stalwart had dismissed Penn’s first photographic forays, but Liberman believed Penn had a special eye. He asked him to take a few pictures for the magazine. Penn agreed and, shortly thereafter, created a still life photograph by arranging lemons, oranges, and a topaz ring along with a leather bag, gloves and a scarf. The result was a truly original image of clean, modernist fashion. It became Vogue’s October 1, 1943, cover, and, at age 26, Penn’s career as a photographer had begun. Seventy-four years later, the Grand Palais in Paris is showcasing “Irving Penn,” the first major retrospective of his work in France since his death at age 92, in 2009. The exhibition, which includes over 235 photographic prints as well as a few drawings and paintings, also marks the centennial of Penn’s birth. (He was born June 16, 1917, in Plainfield, New Jersey.) The retrospective kicked off earlier this year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Liberman, of Vogue, created the term “stoppers” to describe Penn’s photographs — images that stopped viewers in their tracks, the composition and originality of his pictures unlike anything anyone had seen in fashion photography before. Then again, the term “fashion photography” would have likely grated on Penn. A photograph was a photograph no matter what its intention — and fashion was art just as art was a fashion. “We don’t call them shoots here,” Penn later told Vogue. “It’s really a love affair.” Over the course of 66 years, Penn created 165 covers for Vogue, more than any other individual photographer. He took a month-long trip around the world for the magazine in 1947 with the columnist Allene Talmey, and he spent the following year in Peru photographing, first, the well-known model Jean Patchett, then indigenous people in the city of Cuzco in the Peruvian south. The resulting portfolio became a classic, and it was published in Vogue as “Christmas at Cuzco.” He went on to Benin, Nepal, New Guinea, Morocco, Cameroon, and elsewhere, photographing more locals, capturing humanity in its purest form. Penn also photographed global celebrities, famously constructing a
“Mouth (for L’Oréal) [Stuffy (pour L’Oréal)],” New York, 1986, by Irving Penn. Dye transfer, 1992, 47.6 X 46.7 cm
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“Glove and Shoe [Gant et chaussure] New York,” 1947, by Irving Penn. Gelatin silver print, 24.4 X 19.7 cm
Although his still lifes open the exhibition, it is his portraits that are most striking and benefitted most from his discerning eye. Notably reserved, Penn had an intuitive understanding of how it felt to be famous when the last thing you wanted was a camera turned on you. studio set in which angled backdrops seemed to pin in his photographic subjects. His “corner portraits” of Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keeffe, W.H. Auden, and Igor Stravinsky for the magazine are some of his most arresting photographs, his subjects’ faces coming alive with combinations of fear, anxiety and confused confidence. Many of his most famous works — more typical “fashion images” — were from the couture collections in 1950, in which he photographed his wife and muse, the model Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn, mostly using a theater curtain he found in Paris as the backdrop. Penn’s style comes alive in the Grand Palais exhibition, which is similarly structured to the Met show. Visitors will proceed through small, distinct gallery spaces that focus on different aspects of Penn’s photography and professional life, starting at “Still Lifes and First Street Photographs,” then moving through “Existential Portraitism, 1947-1948,” to “In Vogue, 1947-1951” then on through rooms like “Cuzco, 1948” and “Cigarettes, 1972” (“A stubbed out cigarette tells the character; it tells the nerves,” Penn once said. “The choice of cigarette tells the taste of the person”) and ending in “Moments of the Past,” with rooms like “Nudes, 1949-1950” and “Classic Portraits, 1948-1962” in between. Penn’s simple elegance and minimalism is evident throughout. Along with his contemporary Richard Avedon, Penn elevated fashion photography to a fine art by conjuring vivid colors off of his signature white background, always employing a rigorous, almost maniacal specificity in his composition. Although his still lifes open the exhibition, it is his portraits that are most striking and benefitted most from his discerning eye. Notably reserved, Penn had an intuitive
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110 MODERN PAINTERS OCTOBER 2017 BLOUINARTINFO.COM T H E M E T R O P O L I TA N M U S E U M O F A R T, N E W YO R K , P R O M I S E D G I F T O F T H E I R V I N G P E N N F O U N DAT I O N C R E D I T: © T H E I R V I N G P E N N F O U N DAT I O N
“Salvador Dali, New York,” 1947, by Irving Penn. Gelatin silver print, 23.8 X 19.7 cm
T H E M E T R O P O L I TA N M U S E U M O F A R T, N E W YO R K , P R O M I S E D G I F T O F T H E I R V I N G P E N N F O U N DAT I O N C R E D I T: © C O N D É N A S T
“Rochas Mermaid Dress (Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn),” Paris, 1950, by Irving Penn. Platinum palladium test, 1980, 50.5 X 50.2 cm.
T H E M E T R O P O L I TA N M U S E U M O F A R T, N E W YO R K , P R O M I S E D G I F T O F T H E I R V I N G P E N N F O U N DAT I O N C R E D I T: © T H E I R V I N G P E N N F O U N DAT I O N
“Tribesman with Nose Disc [Membre d’une tribu avec disque nasal],” New Guinea, 1970, by Irving Penn. Gelatin silver print, 2002, 39.4 X 39.1 cm.
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By placing bags and watches within meticulously classical compositions, by photographing the likes of Picasso in similar ways to that of slender fashion models, and by his own transition to global superstar, Penn blurred the lines between fame, commercialism, and high art. understanding of how it felt to be famous when the last thing you wanted was a camera turned on you. For instance, in 1957, Penn was set to photograph Picasso in Cannes, France, at a hotel just down the hill from the Villa La Californie (now the Pavillon de Flore), where Picasso was then living. When Penn arrived at the agreed hotel, Picasso was nowhere to be found, according to Penn’s account in “A Notebook at Random,” a book of autobiographical musings published in 2004. Penn had his assistant phone the château. Jacqueline Roque, Picasso’s second wife, answered. “Oh, the maestro’s not at home,” she said. Penn was in disbelief. He and his assistant marched up to Picasso’s villa. After Penn’s assistant hopped the gate, Picasso walked out. “Why didn’t you say you were here?” Picasso said to Penn. “It was a bold lie,” Penn wrote. “He was a tester. He was trying to do something so unacceptable that I’d walk away.” But Penn stuck around and took control, making the maestro change out of his gray sweatshirt (it “made him look like a high school basketball coach,” Penn wrote) and into a bull fighting uniform. The ensuing portrait is one of his most famous, but what it also showed was Penn’s ability to control even his trickiest subjects and to gain their respect. Penn’s legacy is manifold, but he will largely be remembered for overhauling fashion and expanding the purview of artistic photography. By placing bags and watches within meticulously classical compositions, by photographing the likes of Picasso in similar ways to that of slender fashion models, and by his own transition to global superstar, Penn blurred the lines between fame, commercialism, and high art. Penn’s father, Chaim Michelsohn (who changed his name to Harry Penn upon emigrating from Russia in 1908), was a clockmaker who enjoyed painting, and the family interest in exactitude and creativity no doubt had a lasting influence on the younger Penn. In many ways, Penn, who studied at the Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts) under Alexey Brodovitch, retained the fine eye of the painter throughout his life. As the Grand Palais exhibition makes clear, Penn ultimately realized that his most powerful weapon was not his paintbrush, but his trusty Rolleiflex camera. MP
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FAC I N G PAG E: T H E M E T R O P O L I TA N M U S E U M O F A R T, N E W YO R K , P R O M I S E D G I F T O F T H E I R V I N G P E N N F O U N DAT I O N C R E D I T: © C O N D É N A S T
“After-Dinner Games [Jeux pour après-dîner],” New York, 1947, by Irving Penn. Dye transfer, 1985, 56.5 X 46 cm
“I LOVE THE RESILIENCE AND INFINITE BEAUTY OF PARIS”
An art aficionado doesn’t need a reason to visit the Louvre, the world’s largest and most visited museum
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C H A R L I E D E N N I N GTO N A N D M U S E U M M AGA Z I N E
JENNIFER FLAY, DIRECTOR OF FIAC PARIS, SPEAKS TO MODERN PAINTERS ABOUT HER FAVORITE PLACES TO ADMIRE ART, EAT, SHOP AND STAY IN PARIS
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What are some interesting artworks we can look forward to at FIAC 2017? There are many things that I am particularly looking forward to, for example Henry Taylor’s solo exhibition at Blum and Poe. His paintings, for which the subject matter consists of social and political issues affecting African Americans today, have incredible power and painterly virtuosity. [Also] Corita Kent’s work at Galerie Allen: Her brightly colored, silkscreen text works occupy an important but much overlooked place in the history of Pop art on the West Coast. Orlan and Lea Lublin at Espaivisor will be an interesting juxtaposition of the contextualizing of both artists. Selma Feriani from Tunis will be showing at FIAC for the first time with works by Ismaïl Bahri and Massinissa Selmani respectively from Tunisia and Algeria, and Imanes Farès, also showing for the first time, will present Sammy Baloji from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The year 2017 will also mark the return of a design sector to the Grand Palais with five galleries showing masterpieces of modernist and contemporary design. Oscar Tuazon’s site-specific installation on
C LO C K W I S E F R O M B OT TO M , FA R L E F T: H E N R I GA R AT; W I L L I A M B E AU C A R D E T; D I D I E R P LO W Y/ C M N ; C H A R L E S P L AT I AU/ A F P
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Come October19, collectors and art lovers from around the world will once again convene in Paris for the latest in contemporary art, thanks to FIAC, the annual International Contemporary Art Fair. “The Lafayette sector this year is particularly exciting, with 10 galleries from eight countries including Kosovo, Eygpt and India,” said Jennifer Flay, who has been the director of the festival since 2003. Flay, a native of New Zealand, has a long history in the field. Born in 1959 in Auckland, she began her art history studies in New Zealand and pursued her education in France from 1980 thanks to a scholarship from the French government. From 1982 to 1987, she worked in several contemporary art galleries (Galerie Catherine Issert, Daniel Templon et Ghislaine Hussenot) and took an active part in the participation of these galleries in international fairs in Paris, Basel, Chicago, Madrid, Los Angeles and Amsterdam. During this period, Flay collaborated, notably, with Carl André, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Christian Boltanski, Keith Haring, Richard Serra, Lawrence Weiner and Franz West. In 1990, Flay founded her own gallery in Paris. La Galerie Jennifer Flay (1990-2003) represented in France Claude Closky, John Currin, Willie Doherty, Michel François, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Karen Kilimnik, Sean Landers, Liz Larner, Zoe Leonard, Christian Marclay, Anselm Reyle and Xavier Veilhan. After she was named the artistic director of FIAC in 2003, she formed a partnership with Martin Bethenod from November 2004 to May 2010 to reposition FIAC on the international scene,redevelop the sites of the Grand Palais, the Cour Carrée of the Louvre Museum and the Tuileries Garden in the center of Paris and especially to revitalize the event, which today is recognized as one of the most prestigious of its kind. Since June 2010, Flay has been managing director of FIAC. Following are edited excerpts from her interview with MODERN PAINTERS:
Clockwise from bottom, far left: Jennifer Flay, the director of FIAC; Philharmonie de Paris, the venue Flay recommends for all those with a classical taste in music. The Jean Nouvel-designed building is a work of art in itself; she also recommends Sainte Chapelle as a must-visit destination in Paris for the deep spirituality it resonates; a concert in progress at Philharmonie de Paris
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Which is your favorite museum in Paris and why? Impossible to say which is my favorite! No city in the world can boast so many worldclass institutions. The Musée Guimet’s incredible treasures of Asian art, the Musée du Quai Branly and its unparalleled collections of art premiers, the Palais Galliera’s collections of costumes and couture retracing the history of fashion; the Musée de la Vie Romantique and of course the collections of the National Museum of Modern Art at the Centre Pompidou, which will be rehung on the occasion of FIAC. I have a particular affection for museums which are housed in the former homes or studios of artists, such as the Musée Eugène Delacroix or the Musée Gustave Moreau. It is as if the presence of the previous occupants can still be felt. What are your recommendations for must-visit places in Paris and why? All the aforementioned museums, but also the Sainte Chapelle inside the Conciergerie for
the deep spirituality it resonates; the gardens of the Musée Eugène Delacroix and the Petit Palais because both are such unsuspected and miraculous little havens of peace and quiet within the hustle and bustle of the city, and the Opera Garnier because the excellence in the field of opera and dance which it embodies is perpetuated each night of the week during the season. What restaurants, bars, and cafés would you recommend in Paris and why? I love Balagan, a restaurant located on the ground f loor of the Hôtel Renaissance Paris Vendôme. Modern-day Jerusalem cuisine, with fusion dishes mixing up Jewish, Arabic and Meditteranean traditions. There is also the Racines des Près, a sophisticated new address run by chef Alexandre Navarro (ex-Plaza Athénée, Pré Catelan and Racines 2). Finally, I would recommend Tondo, a great Italian inspired place which opened in the 12th arrondissement a year ago, and where it is always nice to go with friends.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
the Place Vendôme will be exceptional; Richard Nonas will present a large-scale work imagined for the pedestrianized esplanade of the Avenue Winston Churchill; Matt Mullican’s banners from 1986 will be displayed on the façade of the Petit Palais. The Tuileries Gardens, organized in collaboration with the Louvre Museum, will present an exceptional ensemble of 26 sculptural works and installations, together with six architectural projects including modernist houses by Jean Prouvé, a utopian dwelling by Hans-Walter Müller, an artist’s house by Atelier van Lieshout, a Pavillion by the Campana brothers and a nomad and modular museum space by Christian de Portzamparc! Trisha Brown’s performances, held in the context of our Festival “Parades,” will pay homage to work of this great choreographer who passed away this year, while the young choreographer Nicholas Paul of the Paris Opera Ballet will present his piece “A Bras le Corps” for the first time in France and the iconic American poet John Giorno will give a poetry reading in the auditorium of the Louvre Museum.
From left: Flay says Galeries Lafayette is the best place to shop if you don’t have enough time in Paris as all major brands are present in one place; In the heart of modern Paris is Square de la Place Dauphine, which seems to belong to another era
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Where would you go and what would you do if you had a free morning or afternoon in Paris? There is always something I feel I must see or see again at the Musée du Louvre so a walk in the collections is always a great destination. Very central but still quite preserved, at the very extremity of the Ile de la Cité, is the tiny Square de la Place Dauphine, which is one of my favorite places in Paris. It is a plunge into the Paris of another era with a quaint, almost provincial, feel to it.In fact, it is not unusual to see people playing pétanque. Close by, the Marché des Fleurs is also one of my favorite places. On Saturdays and Sundays, I like the Vanves fleamarket where I invariably find something that stimulates my curiosity. Where would you head to in Paris for the best shopping and what would you buy? To take the pulse in terms of fashion trends, from time to time I like to visit the fashion houses along the Avenue de Montaigne, certainly one of the places where “l’élégance à la française” is best expressed.
But on a more regular basis, I enjoy the possibility of “one stop shopping” at the Galeries Lafayette where all the major fashion houses are present, together with interesting and more affordable younger designers and “prêt à porter.” The shopping experience provides a great overview of what is available; an ideal solution for busy schedules. Where would you recommend people stay when they visit Paris? There is an incredible variety of beautiful and charming places to stay in Paris. For a truly unforgettable experience, I can recommend the Hôtel Meurice on the Rue de Rivoli just opposite the Tuileries Gardens. The refined elegance of the“Belle Étoile” suite with a panoramic terrace on the rooftop is pure magic. What are the best places to see and buy art in Paris? Paris offers an exceptional concentration of worldclass galleries. Fifty-four out of the 193 participating galleries in FIAC 2017 are Parisian.
Concentrated in the sectors of modern and contemporary art, they represent only a small part of the large number of highly reputed venues to be found in the capital. The Gallery Night, to be held on Thursday October 20 during FIAC, is an opportunity to discover around 100 of these. What are the best places to see live bands or musicians in Paris and why? In a classical vein, the new Philharmonie de Paris has an exceptional program of worldclass musicians, ensembles and orchestras with a varied repertoire. The Silencio, a club conceived by David Lynch and inspired by the European salons of previous centuries, has a great line-up in an ambiance conducive to (very) late nights. Last but not least, and in keeping with Paris’ motto fluctuat nec mergitur — and for the memory of those who lost their lives — the Bataclan has reopened with the great program it is known for. What do you love most about Paris? Its resilience and its infinite beauty, both of which never cease to inspire me. MP
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N O I T A N I T S E D DON N LO DON N O ZE L E I R ND F AND TO A S STER IME AT H A M IEZE SPARE T R AM F L R O A F T C E O O S E OR LOT HR EAL S A K I VISIT P L A E IT K CITY T KE S E N U H T M &A VER H O C C E DIS K BE
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JOHN STURROCK
The Granary building and Granary Square fountains, King’s Cross
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With more than 160 participating galleries showing works from more than 1,000 of today’s leading artists, Frieze London in 2017 promises to be an exciting combination of emerging and classic art. The art fair is being held at Regent’s Park from October 5 through 8. But when you’re not ogling interesting art or experiencing the critically acclaimed Frieze Projects and Talks programs, you’ll want to get to know London better, find the best meals and take home some memorable souvenirs. We bring you a quick guide of the best places to eat and drink, relax, shop or soak in the city’s vibes.
WINE AND DINE
L’ESCARGOT ON GREEK STREET London’s oldest French restaurant has just turned 90 years old and continues to serve classic cuisine. Its founder, Georges Gaudin, who started a restaurant in 1896, moved to a Georgian townhouse dating to 1741, once the private residence of the Duke of Portland, and in 1927 renamed after his most famous delicacy. He had a snail farm in the basement. Over the decades L’Escargot has been visited by Coco Chanel, the Beatles, Mick Jagger, the Princess of Wales, Adele and Dame Judi Dench among other luminaries. Now refurbished under the ownership of Brian Clivaz, it has an upstairs private club, and the allday menu includes lobster bisque, salade Niçoise, and coq au vin. It is one of London’s most romantic restaurants as well as one of the best. Address: 48 Greek Street, London, Soho, W1D 4EF Reservations: 020 7439 7474 Hours: Monday-Saturday all day; breakfast 9-12p.m., lunch 12-3p.m., dinner 5p.m.-11:30p.m.
CLAUDE BOSI AT BIBENDUM A restaurant with a storied history and a bright future, Bibendum calls the historic Michelin House, originally the tire company’s British base, home. Sir Terence Conran and Paul Hamlyn opened Bibendum in 1987 as an unapologetic celebration of effortless luxury and fine French cooking. Michelin-starred chef Claude Bosi has now taken over, and the current menu features dishes such as veal brains, tripe and cuttlefish gratin and wild strawberry vacherin. The restaurant’s interiors are infused with natural light and a stained glass window in shades of
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sapphire. Address: Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road, Chelsea, London SW3 6RD Reservations: 0 20 7581 5817 Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, lunch 12-2:15p.m., dinner 6:30p.m.-9:45p.m.
TRAMSHED Mark Hix is known for creating restaurants where art meets funky food. Tramshed by Mark Hix is housed in a former tram-generator building in the heart of Shoreditch, featuring the famous Cock ‘n’ Bull installation by Damien Hirst. Appropriately, poultry and steak is on the menu: Swainson House chicken and Peter Hannan’s beef, carved at the table and ideal for guests to share, are among the highlights. It’s also worth visiting Mark’s Kitchen Library in the Tramshed building to look at his vast collection of cookbooks, artworks and curiosities. HIX ART, an “industrial-chic” event space below the restaurant, often features curated exhibitions by emerging artists, parties and receptions. Hix’s other establishments include Pharmacy 2, a restaurant with more Damien Hirst art. Address: 32 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3LX Reservations: 020 7749 0478 Hours: Monday and Tuesday: 11:30a.m.-11p.m., Wednesday-Saturday: 11:30a.m.-midnight, Sunday: 11:30a.m.- 9:30p.m.
Above: Statue of Sir Hans Sloane at Chelsea Physic Garden, a peaceful oasis within the bustle of the city; Below: Marcel Duchamp’s “Bicycle Wheel, 1913,” 6th version, 1964. Bicycle fork with wheel mounted on painted wooden stool, 126 X 64 X 31.5 cm. This work is part of the exhibition ‘Dalí/ Duchamp’ on view at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, through January 3
C LO C K W I S E F R O M TO P : W E S T D E A N C O L L E G E , PA R T O F E D WA R D JA M E S F O U N DAT I O N/ (C) S A LVA D O R DA L I , F U N DAC I O GA L A - S A LVA D O R DA L I , DAC S 2 017; K E LV I N G R OV E A R T GA L L E R Y A N D M U S E U M , G L A S G O W (C) C S G C I C G L A S G O W M U S E U M S C O L L E C T I O N ; B E N M C M O H A N
TO P : C H E L S E A P H Y S I C GA R D E N ; P H OTO (C) OT TAWA , N AT I O N A L GA L L E R Y O F C A N A DA / (C) S U C C E S S I O N M A R C E L D U C H A M P/ A DAG P, PA R I S A N D DAC S , LO N D O N 2 017
Clockwise from left: Salvador Dali and Edward James, “Lobster Telephone (red),” 1938. Telephone, steel, plaster, rubber, resin and paper, 18 X 30.5 X 12.5 cm; Salvador Dali, “Christ of Saint John of the Cross,” c. 1951. Oil on canvas, 204.8 X 115.9 cm. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow. Both works are part of the ‘Dalí/ Duchamp’ exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts; Heywood Hill Bookshop in a Georgian townhouse in Mayfair has an unbeatable collection of old, new and antiquarian books
SEXY FISH This Asian-inspired restaurant and bar on the corner of Berkeley Square, Mayfair, is another art-destination place. It is known for its sushi, sashimi, seafood and meat cooked on a Robata grill. There is art by Damien Hirst again, as well as Frank Gehry and Michael Roberts. A DJ entertains guests from Wednesday through Saturday. The Coral Reef Room, a private dining space on the lower ground floor, hosts two of the largest live coral reef tanks in the world. Address: Berkeley Square House, Berkeley Square W1J 6BR Reservations: 020 3764 2000 Hours: Monday-Sunday, 12 noon to 2a.m.
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largest outdoor fruiting olive tree in Britain, and the world’s most northerly outdoor grapefruit tree. Enjoy afternoon tea at the Tangerine Dream Café. Address: 66 Royal Hospital Rd, Chelsea, London SW3 4HS Hours: Monday-Sunday, 11a.m.-5p.m.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS Many people know that the Royal Academy of Arts is independent, privately funded, and has eminent artists and architects at its helm. Some teach in the R.A. Schools and decide on the exhibitions program. Come here to see a wide array of exhibitions ranging from ancient sculptures to modern-day masterpieces and large-scale installations. There is a private members’ club in Keeper’s House, but the basement, garden, bar and Peyton & Byrne restaurant there are open to all. They are not widely advertised so these places are often beautifully quiet and relaxing. Address: Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BD Hours: Monday-Sunday 10a.m.-6p.m.
CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN
GRANARY SQUARE
Often referred to as “London’s secret garden,” it is the oldest botanic garden in the city and was founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in order to train apprentices in the identification and use of medicinal plants. Nestled beside the Thames, it is a peaceful oasis with about 5,000 different edible, medicinal and historical plants. The garden is also home to the
The choreographed fountains with 1,080 water spouts are an eye-catching feature of the King’s Cross site, which has rapidly become a must-visit location with numerous bars, cafes and restaurants and shops nearby. The fountains look particularly beguiling in their myriad colors at night. Visitors to the area can sit on the wide, south-facing steps and watch the boats float by.
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F R O M TO P : PAU L W I N C H - F U R N E S S ; S I M C A N E T T Y- C L A R K E
The finest fish, shellfish and seasonal game find a place on the menu of J Sheekey, situated on Saint Martin’s Court between Covent Garden and Leicester Square. It is one of the capital’s finest fish restaurants, along with Bentley’s. The restaurant was founded in the 1890s when stallholder Josef Sheekey was given permission by Lord Salisbury to serve fish and shellfish in Saint Martin’s Court, on the condition that he supply meals to Salisbury’s after-theater dinner parties. The restaurant is set up for pre- and post-theater meals and is very close to Garrick, Duke of York’s, Noel Coward and Wyndham’s venues. The National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, St.Martin-in-the-Fields and the cinemas of Leicester Square are also close. Try the main restaurant, slightly more casual Oyster Bar or sit outside in good weather. Address: 28-32 St Martin’s Court, London WC2N 4AL Reservations: 020 7240 2565 Hours: Monday-Sunday, lunch 12-3p.m., dinner 5p.m.-midnight
The House of Illustration, a gallery and education space, is also worth a visit. Address: 1 Granary Square, Kings Cross, London N1C 4AA
SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM Sir John Soane, one of the greatest English architects, built and lived in this extraordinary home which is now Sir John Soane’s Museum, preserved as it was when he died around 180 years ago. The house contains the architect’s collection of antiquities, furniture, sculptures, architectural models, paintings and more than 30,000 architectural drawings. Exhibitions are also held from time to time. Admission is free. Address: 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10a.m.-5p.m.
THE ORANGERY AT KENSINGTON PALACE Kensington Palace is the only royal palace in central London where one can take a traditional afternoon tea. Its restaurant, open all day, is set amidst beautiful formal gardens, offering a tranquil and graceful setting. At one time, Queen Anne’s elegant court entertainment would take place at the Orangery with its loft ceilings and classical 18th-century architecture. Other afternoon tea places include Browns, the Ritz, Hush and Claridge’s. Address: Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens, London W8 4PX Reservations: 020 3166 6113 Hours: Monday-Sunday 10a.m.-6p.m.
GO SHOPPING FORTNUM & MASON
Top: Bar at Sexy Fish. The place is known for its sushi as well as the art that it houses; Above: Interiors of J Sheekey, considered one of the finest fish restaurants of London
The food hall can get packed with tourists, but this historic shopping emporium is worth a visit. F&M gift hampers, loaded with delicacies, are much sought after gifts. Also enticing are the picnic baskets, wine, Champagne, Florentines, biscuits, chocolates, tea, condiments, jams, curds and marmalades. On the upper floors Fortnums sells much more, from jewelry to homeware. It has a range of restaurants including the upmarket 45 Jermyn Street. Address: 181 Piccadilly, London, W1A 1ER (also at St. Pancras and Heathrow T5)
SANTA MARIA NOVELLA IN PICCADILLY ARCADE One of the oldest fragrance-makers in the world, Santa Maria Novella is one of the first shops one encounters in Piccadilly Arcade, which rivals the Burlington Arcade for its luxury shopping. Here you will find moisturizing face creams, body milks, tonics, shampoos and conditioners, bubble bath, tanning products and fine home products such as scented candles, potpourri, liqueurs, honeys and compotes. Nearby is Floris, another fragrance maker. Address: 1, Piccadilly Arcade, 175 Piccadilly, St. James’s, London W1J 9EN
JJ FOX This 225-year-old shop’s customers have included Sir Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde, British and foreign Royalty. While it is known for its imported, handmade, machine-made and budget cigars and cigar accessories, it also has jewelry and gifts. It is in another shopping area without equal: nearby are Jermyn Street stores and wine merchant Berry Bros. Address: 19 St. James’s Street, St. James’s, London SW1A 1ES
HEYWOOD HILL This renowned bookstore occupies two floors of a Georgian townhouse and has an unbeatable collection of old, new and antiquarian books. Its staff members, all bibliophiles, are all ready to help. This makes it an enjoyable experience visiting or browsing — and therefore a recommendation above some of the larger London bookstores. Heywood Hill, which has a Royal Warrant, can also help in building private collections of books. Address: 10 Curzon Street, Mayfair, London W1J 5HH
ANDROUET Splurge on seasonal cheese at this shop that is run by two French brothers. Their stock changes regularly, and not all the cheese is French. The shop is a favorite of gourmet Brian Clivaz, chief executive of the nearly Devonshire Club and hotel. Address: Spitalfields Arts Market, 10 Lamb St, London E1 6EA
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DATEBOOK T he season’s top picks from all the art capitals
M I LA N
WHILE THE CULTURAL histories
of Chicago and Milan are worlds apart, from October 20 through January 15 the Italian super curator Germano Celant will devote every gallery of the Fondazione Prada to Chicago’s Post-war art scene. Broadly separated into three sections, “Famous Artists from Chicago 1965–1975” will take place in the podium on the ground floor of the building, beyond which exhibitions focusing on the work of Leon Golub and H. C. Westermann will be presented in the North and South galleries, respectively. The foundation’s aim is to explore the work of two generations of artists: the Monster Roster — a group that has been overlooked despite being a key Midwestern contributor to American art’s development, spearheaded by Golub alongside artists such as Cosmo Campoli, June Leaf, Dominick Di Meo, Seymour Rosofsky and Nancy Spero — and the Chicago Imagists, who are broadly associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is an in-depth focus on artists who were active in the city during the 1960s and 1970s, their works characterized by figurative narratives, political commitment and a graphic register. Examples include Roger Brown, whose surreal paintings often depict the “Officer Doodit,” 1968, by Jim Nutt. Acrylic on plexiglas, enamel on wood, brass hardware,
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P H OTO : W I L L I A M H . B E N GT S O N . C O U R T E S Y O F T H E R O G E R B R O W N S T U DY C O L L E C T I O N , T H E S C H O O L O F T H E A R T I N S T I T U T E O F C H I C AG O
‘Famous Artists from Chicago 1965-1975’ at Fondazione Prada
P H OTO : W I L L I A M H . B E N GT S O N . C O U R T E S Y T H E A R T I S T, GA R T H G R E E N A N GA L L E R Y, N E W YO R K A N D K A R E N L E N N OX GA L L E R Y, C H I C AG O
“Station Time,” 1966, by Art Green. Oil on canvas. 170 x 155.5 cm
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“Mercenaries IV,” 1980, by Leon Golub. Acrylic on canvas. 305 x 584 cm
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city’s buildings amid ominous dark and swirling skies or being consumed by ferocious flames; Gladys Nilsson, who fuses the spaces of fantasy and domesticity in a style that recalls the early 20th-century German Expressionists; and Suellen Rocca, who mixes the human figure with wordplay and vernacular imagery. Karl Wirsum originally wanted to be a comicbook artist, and his bold, sometimes cartoonish characters, which are rendered in the brightest of colors, are clearly influenced by Japanese and Indian precursors. Ed Paschke was also interested in animation and cartoons, as well as tattoo art, and his trippy works combine psychedelic hues and patterns. Rejected by mainstream New York culture, these artists purposefully counteracted Minimal Art’s essentialism. The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago was pivotal in terms of providing a platform for them to exhibit their work at the time, and the space’s curator, Don Baum, has described in an interview with Sue Ann Kendall in the exhibition catalog how: “My theme from the very beginning was that it was important to show Chicago artists. Because here were all these artists in town and none of them had exhibited. I mean, there were two or three people that had galleries. Nobody else did. And there were almost no opportunities.” His shows included “Hairy Who” (1966–67), “FalseImage” and “Nonplussed Some” (both 1968–69), which alongside the itinerant exhibition “Made in Chicago,” first presented at the São Paulo Biennial in 1973, put these artists on the map. The earlier 20th-century movements of Surrealism and Art Brut strongly influenced the practices of many of the artists included at the Fondazione Prada show, where vivid colors and strange forms abound. Indeed, the influence that the Chicago figures subsequently had on new generations of artists in the 1980s and 1990s, right up to today, should not be overlooked: from Graffiti and urban murals, to emerging Contemporary artists such as Torey Thornton, whose own choice of loud colors and flat style suggests that he cannot have escaped knowledge of their work. While much of the rest of the world has, thankfully this imbalance is now being redressed. — LOUISA ELDERTON
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C O U R T E S Y F O N DA Z I O N E P R A DA
“All Puffed Up,” 1970 by Karl Wirsum. Acrylic on papier mache laid on wooden table. 108 X 53.3 X 50.5 cm
P H OTO TO M VA N E Y N D E . C O U R T E S Y O F T H E E S TAT E O F E D F LO O D A N D C O R B E T T V S . D E M P S E Y, C H I C AG O
“First Nighter,” 1968, by Ed Flood. Acrylic, plexiglas and wood. 33 x 33 X 2.5 cm
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PA R I S
‘Dada Africa, Non-Western Sources and Influences’ at Musée de l’Orangerie l’Orangerie, Paris, from October 18 to February 19, draws on recent scholarship to explore how the African and other traditional arts influenced that revolutionary, conceptual World War I era art movement, in entirely different ways than it did the modernists. While the modernists were focused entirely on borrowing ideas on form from African art, the Dadaists adopted cultural
and artistic expressions from non-Western cultures in order to reject Western mores, said Cécile Debray, director of Musée de l’Orangerie and curator of the exhibition. “Most important for them was dance, happenings and music and a way to find a sort of freedom from a civilization that had failed during the first World War,” said Debray.
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Motifs abstraits (masques), 1917 by Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943). Gouache on paper, 34 X 24 cm
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Composition verticale - horizontale, 1918, by Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943). Wool, 81 X 117 X 0.3 cm
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F R O M L E F T: © A R P M U S E U M B A H N H O F R O L A N D S E C K / P H OTO M I C K V I N C E N Z ; © S T I F T U N G A R P E .V., R O L A N D S W E R T H/ B E R L I N . W O L F GA N G M O R E L L
IT’S WELL KNOWN that the European modernists such as Picasso and Matisse were highly influenced by African sculpture and masks in the early part of the 20th century to create their stylized forms. But until recently, the African impact on the Dada movement has been largely ignored. “Dada Africa, Non-Western Sources and Influences,” an exhibition at the Musée de
B E R L I N I S C H E GA L E R I E - L A N D E S M U S E U M F Ü R M O D E R N E K U N S T, F OTO G R A F I E , A R C H I T E K T U R © K A I - A N N E T T B E C K E R
Untitled, Hannah Höch en figurien avec une poupée Dada, circa 1920, by anonymous artist. Albumin photograph, 11.8 X 5.8 cm.
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—NINA SIEGAL
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Torso of the Goddess Uma, end of the 9th century-beginning of the 10th century, Khmer Empire, Cambodia. 123 X 39 X 26 cm
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A Baoulé statuette, end of the 19th century
F R O M L E F T: © C O L L E C T I O N PA R T I C U L I É R E ; © M U S É E R I E T B E R G/ P H OTO R A I N E R W O L F S B E R G E R
“They saw it as a failure of humanism and they were looking for alternatives.” Works in the exhibition include tribal-style masks by Marcel Janco, African-inspired costumes created by Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and collages of Western figures glued together with pictures of African sculpture by Hannah Höch. Other pieces by Jean Arp, George Grosz, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Man Ray are presented alongside works by unidentified artists from Africa, Oceania and Asia. “Dada Africa” was originally developed as a collaboration between the Berlinische Galerie and the Museum Rietberg, an ethnological museum in Zurich where the show first took place last year. The exhibition particularly suits l’Orangerie, Debray said, because its permanent collection was formed from the holdings of Paul Guillaume, one of the first art dealers to organize African art exhibitions in Europe. Non-Western influences presented in the show aren’t exclusively limited to African traditional art; there are also pieces by native Oceanic, Asian and North American cultures. The Dada artists did not specifically visit African countries or travel elsewhere to make their works and only relied on imported works, images and ethnographic studies. As a result, their artistic responses ranged from idealizing the “simple” life to primitivizing cultures they didn’t comprehend, said Debray. “Dada artists from that era were people who lived in a colonialist world, so of course they couldn’t have had the discourse or thoughts about this that came in the post-colonialist time,” she added. “They used words like ‘art negre’ and they used music that they thought to be ‘African’ music that was very simple and childish noises. It could be that we consider this as a sort of colonialist point of view or a sort of simplification of what was the African music or African poetry, but it was more complicated than that.” Perhaps the best example of this complexity comes from a “Note on Negro Art” that the Romanian emigre at the head of the Zurich Dada movement, Tristan Tzara, published in the modernist art journal SIC, to express the Dadaist embrace of Africa: “From blackness, let us extract light.”
B OT H I M AG E S: © M U S É E R I E T B E R G/ P H OTO R A I N E R W O L F S B E R G E R ;
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Boîte, Democratic Republic of Congo, second half of the 19th century. Wood, Raphia bark, 43.5 X 13 cm LEFT: Masque grotesque à l’expression malicieuse, first half of the 20th century. Painted wood, fur, teeth, 40 X 25 X 17 cm Scène et site, October 27, 1979. Acrylic on paper (4 sections), 51 X 70 cm
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Reflections: Art, 1988, by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas, 1124 X 1937 mm BELOW:
Wall Explosion II, 1965, by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). Enamel on steel, 1702 X 1880 X 102 mm
LIVERPOOL
Roy Lichtenstein at Tate Liverpool ALONGSIDE ANDY WARHOL , perhaps no other artist has come to define American Pop Art as much as Roy Lichtenstein. He rose to prominence in 1960s New York with his paintings and works on paper that are instantly recognizable for their Day Glo primary colors and Benday dots borrowed from the vernacular of comic strips, newsprint and advertising. Although Lichtenstein was the subject of an in-depth retrospective held at the Tate Modern in London in 2012, this is the first time that a substantial grouping of his work goes on show in the North of England at Tate’s other outpost, in Liverpool (on view through June 17). This display comprises more than 20 works, including paintings, reliefs
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and works on paper drawn from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, National Museums Scotland and Tate’s own holdings; as well as Artist Rooms, a major collection of international Modern and Contemporary art that was established through a donation made in 2008 by the British art dealer and collector Anthony d’Offay. (Today, Artist Rooms is jointly owned by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland. ) Spanning his career from the 1960s through to the 1990s, the display examines how Lichtenstein’s work responds to cultural and political changes of the period, while also making detours to focus on particular aspects of his practice, emphasizing for example his Pop
TO P : A R T I S T R O O M S TAT E A N D N AT I O N A L GA L L E R I E S O F S C OT L A N D. L E N T BY P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N , C O U R T E S Y O F T H E R OY L I C H T E N S T E I N F O U N DAT I O N 2 015 © E S TAT E O F R OY L I C H T E N S T E I N/ DAC S 2 017. B OT TO M : TAT E P U R C H A S E D 19 8 0 © E S TAT E O F R OY L I C H T E N S T E I N
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land- and seascape paintings, which he began making after 1964. One of the earliest paintings on display, “In the Car” from 1963, is signature Lichtenstein. In it, we catch the eye of a handsome, clean-shaven, square-jawed man. His companion is an attractive blonde draped in a leopard-print coat, her face and hair partially obscured by horizontal black and white striations (the silent “whoosh” of the car rendered visible). In an email interview, the curator Darren Pih described the piece as “an absolute pop art icon. It shows Lichtenstein grappling with what it means to be a painter in an accelerated age of mass-mediated
imagery. For him, art is concerned with the organization of perception and this painting can be seen as a cool critique of gender roles.” Alongside the paintings, the little known triple-screen film installation “Three Landscapes” (c. 1970-1971) is sure to be another draw. A mesmerizing hybrid of film, painting, billboard, comic strip and kinetic spectacle, it will be displayed for just the second time in Europe (the Tate Modern retrospective was the first). While Lichtenstein experimented with different media throughout his career, this was his only foray into filmmaking as part of the pioneering Art and Technology program at
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art that placed international artists — among them Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg and others — in residence with leading California-based industries. Lichtenstein spent two weeks at Universal Studios in February 1969 and the resulting five-minute film loops — featuring a juxtaposition of still and moving images of sky and seascapes, and a static Benday-dot pattern, all divided by a thick black horizontal line that echoes the comic-strip images of his paintings — are an amalgamation of his formal and conceptual concerns. And a feast for the eyes, always. —ANYA HARRISON
In the car, 1963, by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997). Oil and magna on canvas, 172 X 203.5 cm
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‘Hyon Gyon: Cruel World’ at Ben Brown Fine Arts Arts in Hong Kong presents “Hyon Gyon: Cruel World,” a selection of paintings and sculptures by New York-based Korean artist Hyon Gyon (born 1979), marking her debut solo at the gallery. Known for her large-scale paintings that incorporate traditional Korean shamanistic imagery, Hyon Gyon holds a bachelor’s degree in western painting from Mokwon University, South Korea, and both a master’s degree and doctoral degree in painting from Kyoto City University of Arts, Japan. A recipient of many fellowships and awards, including the Asao Kato International Scholarship, the Kyoto Cultural Award and the Tokyo Wonder Wall
The Same Weight of Joy and Grief I, 2016, by Hyon Gyon (born 1979). Oil on clay, 23.1 X 19 X 11.4 cm
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BEN BROWN FINE ARTS
BEN BROWN FINE
BEN BROWN FINE ARTS
Still Life II, 2017, by Hyon Gyon. Melted fabric, foam board and acrylic on canvas, 213.4 x 182.9 x 10.2 cm
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Mother, 2014, by Hyon Gyon. Acrylic, gold leaf, rice paper and other mixed media on canvas, 2 panels, 121.9 x 365.8 cm
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2017, encompassing disciplines like painting, sculpting, installation and performance art. Her 2014 work “Eleven Minutes” — the title of Paulo Coelho’s 2003 novel — had the artist creating a sculptural relief on the surface of her canvas with thick, haphazard layers of cloth and wax, hinting at a mysterious topography and leaving its interpretation to her viewers. Her most recent works — “Still Life II,” “Diabolic Flower V,” and “Diabolic Flower VI” — explore the effects of layering and melting clothing, often embellished with metallic paint, onto foam board. These luxuriously surfaced works, marked by a distinct color palette, are organic and synthetic at the same time, with notions of chaos and harmony, beauty and fear, abstraction and mysticism. The exhibition runs through November 9.
ABOVE, RIGHT: Harlem Gold (#PHG03), 2016, by Hyon Gyon. Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 182.9 x 152.4 cm
B OT H I M AG E S : B E N B R O W N F I N E A R T S
Competition Prize, Hyon Gyon has been the subject of many exhibitions, including those at the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Museum of Kyoto, Japan; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. Her work is included in many private and public collections, including the Takahashi Collection, Japan; the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Using materials like melted fabric, foam board, gold leaf, encaustic, spray paint, hair and found objects in her works, Hyon Gyon’s paintings and sculptures exude raw energy and explore a multiplicity of complex subjects such as shamanism, grief, catharsis, stigma, cultural identity and sexual politics. The exhibition is a comprehensive survey of her work between 2014 and
ABOVE, LEFT: Harlem Gold (#PHG08), 2016, by Hyon Gyon. Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 182.9 x 152.4 cm
SHANGHAI
‘Zheng Zhu: Celestial Phenomena’ at Edouard Malingue Gallery
Z H E N G Z H O U/ E D O UA R D M A L I N G U E GA L L E R Y
EDOUARD MALINGUE GALLERY is
presenting “Celestial Phenomena,” the first solo show for the Beijing-based artist Zheng Zhou, at the gallery’s Shanghai location, through October 22. The exhibition presents a selection of recent paintings by Zheng Zhou. Born in 1969, he started his career with a formal education in printmaking from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, and worked briefly as a printmaker before pursuing masters in oil painting at the China Academy of Art from 1997 to 1999. He moved to Beijing in 2013 to formally practice as an artist. Zheng Zhou, known for his style of instinctive painting, often depicts quotidian motifs such as figures, crowds, animals, or objects as his compositions’ central themes. The show features works that appear as a bridge between the figurative and abstract, depicting a version of the cosmos conjured by the artist and expressed through his own color palate and techniques. For example, his 2017 work, “Past Life’’ is a panoramic image populated with faintly outlined characters, who appear to be women with contrasting two-piece underwear, hovering in different moods across the canvas. They are connected with each other by lines, forming abstract shapes between them, conjuring a sort of anthropomorphic constellation. This same anthropomorphic transformation gets more profound in his less-populated canvases, such as “Embrace,” “Five Stars Meet,”“Death Shadow,” and “Broken Dream to
Shakespeare, 2015, by Zheng Zhou (born 1969). Acrylic on canvas, 150 X 100 cm
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Five Stars Meet, 2017, by Zheng Zhou (born 1969).Acrylic and oil on canvas, 40 X 40 cm
T H I S PAG E A N D FAC I N G PAG E: Z H E N G Z H O U/ E D O UA R D M A L I N G U E GA L L E R Y
Deliberateness, 2017, by Zheng Zhou (born 1969). Oil on canvas, 80 X 80 cm
be a Queen,” all painted this year. These paintings portray individual figures or small clusters of figures, and focuses on their posture or interactions. Zheng Zhou’s canvases feature wide deviations in terms of technical approaches — while “Ancients and the Present Moon” was painted with the
Modernist techniques of the early 20th century, “Past Life” features abstract block-color outlines. With varied imagery, mood, tonalities and method, Zheng Zhou’s body of work is marked by an unapologetic pluralism, in his very own version of a virtual celestial constellation.
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‘Picasso 1932: Erotic Year’ & ‘Picasso 1947: A Major Donation to the National Museum of Modern Art’ at Musée Picasso TWO NEW PABLO Picasso
shows will open this month at his namesake museum in Paris. The first, a highly researched, academic show — and the more significant of the two — will trace his life and his work throughout 1932, known as his “year of wonders.” That year, Picasso’s works were shown to the public for the first time since 1911, with exhibitions at the Georges Petit gallery in Paris and at the Kunsthaus museum in Zurich. Their success cemented his status, to many critics, as the greatest living artist of his time. The Musée Picasso exhibition, titled “Picasso 1932: Erotic Year,” will also focus on the way in which his increasingly complex personal life spurred him to artistic heights. Throughout 1932, Picasso increasingly distanced
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himself from his first wife, the Russian ballerina Olga Khokhlova, and Paulo, their 11-year-old son. He instead began spending more time with his French mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was 28 years younger than him (when they first met, she was 17; he was 45). As a result of his time with Walter, the exhibition argues, the Spaniard created some of his most beloved, sexually charged works, many of which will be on show, including “Jeune fille devant un miroir” (Girl before a Mirror) — which rarely leaves the Museum of Modern Art in New York — and “Le rêve” (The Dream), a vividly colored masterpiece that depicts Walter’s ecstasy, and which has been loaned from a private collection. The year 1932 was also important for cementing the
L’aubade, May 4, 1942, by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Paris.
C E N T R E P O M P I D O U N AT I O N A L M U S E U M O F M O D E R N A R T. I N D U S T R I A L C R E AT I O N C E N T E R © S U C C E S S I O N P I C A S S O. C R E D I T: © C E N T R E P O M P I D O U, M N A M - C C I , D I S T. R M N - G R A N D PA L A I S
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P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N O F S T E V E N C O H E N . © C H R I S T I E’ S I M AG E S/ B R I D G E M A N I M AG E S © S U C C E S S I O N P I C A S S O 2 017
Picasso’s The Dream, 1932. Oil on canvas
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myth of Picasso. After the show at the Georges Petit gallery, Picasso’s first catalogue raisonné was published by Christian Zervos, the Greek-French art historian best known as the founder of Cahiers d’Art, the regaled Paris-based art magazine. Picasso’s increased rate of travel began to inform his art as well. In 1932 alone, he moved between Paris, Normandy, and Switzerland. He seemed to become more social as well: going to the movies and boxing matches and attending the exhibitions of other artists. It was a time of hard work but also of basking in the glory of his successful gallery shows. As a result, he saw a great increase in commission requests for his works in 1932, which were solicited in Japan, Italy, Spain, the United States, and elsewhere. Running through February 11, 2018, “Picasso 1932: Erotic Year” is organized in partnership with the Tate Modern in London, where it will go to after Paris. Overall, the show will include more than 110 paintings, drawings, engravings, and sculptures by the artist. Also at theMusée Picasso this season (until January 27), “Picasso 1947: A Major Donation to the National Museum of Modern Art” will be a much smaller exhibition, showing just the 10 paintings that Picasso donated to the Paris Modern art museum upon its inauguration in 1947, including “Atelier de la modiste” (Workshop of the Modiste), “La muse” and “L’aubade.” The show will present the 10 artworks along with the archives and documents that tell the story of their creation, their acquisition and their first exhibition. With both exhibitions, the Musée Picasso continues to prove, even with its commercial appeal and sometimes blockwinding lines, that it is still, first and foremost, a rigorous, academic museum. — CODY DELISTRATY
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M U S É E N AT I O N A L P I C A S S O - PA R I S . P H OTO © R M N - G R A N D PA L A I S ( M U S É E N AT I O N A L P I C A S S O - PA R I S )/M AT H I E U R A B E AU © S U C C E S S I O N P I C A S S O – G E S T I O N D R O I T S D ’AU T E U R
Woman Reading, January 2, 1932, by Pablo Picasso, Boisgeloup. Oil on canvas
H O N G KO N G
Crystal Liu’s ‘In Dreams’ at Galerie du Monde
C O U R T E S Y O F GA L E R I E D U M O N D E A N D C R Y S TA L L I U
GALERIE DU MONDE is hosting “In Dreams,” the first Hong Kong solo exhibition of work by Crystal Liu, a San Francisco-based Contemporary artist. The exhibition presents 17 new paintings by Liu, who is known for work that evokes elements of nature with echoes of Chinese landscape paintings. Liu, who holds a master’s from the San Francisco Art Institute, has been the subject
of many exhibitions, including shows at the Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco; Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto; and the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. These paintings, on view for the first time and created specifically for the exhibition, represent the artist’s construction of metaphorical landscapes, with motifs of natural elements like the moon, stars,
Crystal Liu’s It’s out of my hands, 2017, from “In Dreams” series. Gouache, watercolor and collage on paper, 76.2 X 76.2 cm
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mountains and rocks, referencing her emotional life. Liu’s series, “The Moon and The Tides,” consists of gouache and watercolor works depicting natural interrelations. Works from the series, “Settling In” and “When You’re Close,” both from this year, invite viewers to reflect on the connections between natural phenomena and human relations. Liu created marbled-paper collages for the first time in her series “The
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Mountains,” where the swirls of marbleized paint recall traditional Chinese ink paintings; while the hard-edged collages mimic the rigidity of stones, mountains, and cliffs. Her “In Dreams” series depicts a set of mountain scenes and reflections of the night sky in the water, symbolizing the imaginary, lucid, and tumultuous world of dreams. The exhibition is on view through October 29.
Top: Stay Close, 2017, from Crystal Liu’s “In Dreams” series. Gouache, watercolor and collage on paper, 127 X 127 cm Bottom: I’ll take you there, 2017, from Crystal Liu’s “The Mountains” series. Gouache, watercolor, ink and collage on paper, 126 X 127 cm
A L L I M AG E S C O U R T E S Y O F GA L E R I E D U M O N D E A N D C R Y S TA L L I U
A Rocky Start, 2017, from Crystal Liu’s “The Moon and The Tides” series. Gouache, watercolor and collage on paper, 121.9 X 127 cm
BEIJING
A R T I S T A N D GA L L E R I A C O N T I N UA , S A N G I M I G N A N O / B E I J I N G / L E S M O U L I N S / H A B A N A
Carlos Garaicoa solo ‘Bestiary’ at Galleria Continua CARLOS GARAICOA, WHO lives and works between Havana and Madrid, is known for his multidisciplinary use of video, photography, performance, drawing, installation, and text to convey themes of urbanism, history, politics and cultural studies. In his work, featured in this solo exhibition through December 17 at Galleria Continua, Garaicoa grapples with the idea of artist as agent of change, as well as with the function of art in the public sphere. His work comments on the cultural and political dimensions of architecture in metropolises, often engaging with the social realities that reflect upon and influence architectural policies. Much of his critique has focused on the architectural policies in place in post-revolution Havana, which he views as having neglected older buildings in the city in need of preservation, and which have also prevented the construction of new buildings. Though much of his work has centered on his native Havana, Garaicoa has also focused on other world cities in his art. In 2008, Galleria Continua featured Garaicoa’s first solo exhibition in China with works created in response to his impressions of Beijing and Shanghai, drawing intentional parallels between his own social reality in Havana and that of his experience in China. In his early work, Garaicoa depicted his engagement with metropolises, photographing and drawing his urban investigations. Later on, in the mid-90s, Garaicoa began to expand into new forms of expression, creating large architectural models and multimedia installations. The title of the exhibition, “Bestiary,” refers to Garaicoa’s new series “Bestiario / Bestiary,” a
Drunk Monkey, 2017, from the series “Bestiary” by Carlos Garaicoa. Photograph printed on canvas, 250 X 200 cm
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On How Earth Wishes to Resemble the Sky (I), by Carlos Garaicoa. Installation View at Venice Biennale.
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Saving the safe (HSBC), 2017, by Carlos Garaicoa. 21k gold sculpture, 13.5 x 8.5 x 7 cm, safe box, rotating base, LED light, wood,
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The Roots of the World, 2017, by Carlos Garaicoa. Wood table, laser-cut stainless steel and knive blades. Table: 90 x 50 x 160 cm BELOW:
reference to the genre of book made popular in the Middle Ages. Bestiaries were book compilations that featured illustrations and texts on animals and natural history, both real and imagined. These were usually accompanied with some type of moral lesson. In more modern times, artists have appropriated the genre to produce such works as Jorge Luis Borges’s “The Book of Imaginary Beings,” a compendium of fantastical beasts from folklore and the world of fiction. One of the photographs in Garaicoa’s series depicts an illustrated whale on the side of a deteriorating building, presumably in Havana. The whale, black and monolithic, wraps along the corner of the building, almost hiding the visible deterioration with its engulfing presence. Another photograph features another building mural — one of a monkey eking out the last drops of an empty bottle. In addition to these photographs, the gallery will feature a wide variety of Garaicoa’s installations incorporating such materials as glass, plexiglass, wood and laser-cut stainless steel. — CONSTANCE CHIEN
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Portrait (Europe), by Carlos Garaicoa. Installation view at CA2M, Madrid, 2014
A L L I M AG E S C O U R T E S Y A R T I S T A N D GA L L E R I A C O N T I N U A , S A N G I M I G N A N O / B E I J I N G / L E S M O U L I N S / H A B A N A
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Carlos Garaicoa’s Scale 1:1 (Metal), 2014. 12 pieces, metal, serigraph ink, variable dimensions LEFT:
And after, what will we do?, 2016 by Carlos Garaicoa. Wood and crystal resin, variable dimensions. Installation view at Galleria Continua San Gimignano, 2016
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Witnesses: That perception, that strange world, 2015, by Carlos Garaicoa. Frottage and graphite on Bioprima, Book 100 gr. Paper Balsa wood model, 60 x 80 cm
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David LaChapelle’s Game of Death, 2010. Chromogenic print
SHANGHAI
SCAPES, A SOLO exhibition of the work of the American photographer David LaChapelle, showcases works from his new series, “New World,” as well as work from throughout the artist’s 30-year career. LaChapelle has been known for his ability to balance fine and editorial art photography in his work, evident in his vibrant, hyperrealistic color palettes and a kind of subversive use of popculture influence. In the late 1980s, Andy Warhol offered
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LaChapelle, then 17 years old, the opportunity to shoot for Interview Magazine, opening his world to international personalities and publications. His images during this period appeared in magazines such as Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, Details, GQ and Vanity Fair, and he befriended artists like Keith Haring and JeanMichel Basquiat. The exhibition will be the Asian premiere of selected works from LaChapelle’s latest photographic series “New World” (2017), which
represents an entirely different vein of his work. In the series, LaChapelle represents a vision of spirituality characterized by community and belonging. He conflates the vocabulary of nature and religion, and represents the natural world in vibrant images depicting man’s quest for spirituality and the sublime. This world is rendered in hyperrealistic colors and narratives, a fever dream that calls for a more communal way of living empathetic to the true, primal nature of
© DAV I D L AC H A P E L L E
‘Scapes: David LaChapelle’ at Pearl Lam Galleries
© DAV I D L AC H A P E L L E
David LaChapelle’s My Own Marilyn, 2002. Chromogenic print
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B OT H I M AG E S © DAV I D L AC H A P E L L E
David LaChapelle’s This is My House, 1997. Chromogenic print
mankind — a reaction to the ubiquity of the metropolis. The exhibition will also showcase works from the 1990s and 2000s, including staged scenes for magazine spreads, and extravagant portraits of Lady Gaga, Bruce Lee and Uma Thurman. His portraits often reference canonical works in the history of art, while also being heavily influenced by pop culture. Playing with the ideas of femininity and beauty, LaChapelle portrays the transgender icon Amanda
Lepore as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in the style of Andy Warhol’s prints from the 1960s. Above all, LaChapelle’swork often self-consciously elicits a strong response from the viewer. He does not seek naturalism — the viewer clearly sees the scaffolding of the work and the time it takes the artist to set the scene and create the illusion. Its beauty and ultimate value lie in its carnivalesque artifice.
ABOVE:
David LaChapelle’s Icarus, 2012. Pigment print
— CONSTANCE CHIEN
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© DAV I D L AC H A P E L L E
David LaChapelle’s Devon Aoki: Fish Stick, 1998. Chromogenic print
PA R I S
B OT H I M AG E S © J U L I O L E PA R C / A DAG P, PA R I S 2 017 P H OTO C L A I R E D O R N / C O U R T E S Y P E R R OT I N
Julio Le Parc at Perrotin JULIO LE PARC’S work has experienced a global revival of late: exhibitions at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2013, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London in 2014, and a major retrospective at the Perez Art Museum in Miami last year. His latest exhibition at Perrotin Paris (following an exhibition in the New York space in 2016) features some 40 paintings, sculptures and installations produced between the ’70s and ’90s, as well as new installations, mobiles and recent paintings. His dynamism hasn’t faded a bit: his 2016 “Alchimie 349,” a bright whirling dervish in acrylic paints, is as energetic as a spiraling 1976 canvas, “Modulation 204.” At 89 years old, the Argentine-born
artist has a storied past with the French art scene, ever since he arrived in the country on a grant in 1958. He has worked and resided here since, headquartered in an atelier in the southwestern Parisian suburb of Cachan, a veritable funhouse of whirring mechanized installations that transform light into undulating shadows or bright fantasias (including a venture into virtual reality experiences, developed with the help of his sons). Since 1959, Le Parc has self-imposed a 14-scale selection of colors (plus white, gray and black neutrals), a systematic palette he endlessly recalibrates. The vibrant hues are deployed into electrifying geometric forms that rouse one’s sense of perception,
toying with shifts in luminosity and sleights of hands to produce optical illusions. His work has been qualified as Kinetic Art, although Le Parc has vocally resisted this term. Ceaselessly motivated by experimentation, he has christened himself a “tinkerer,” elaborating in an interview with Purple magazine in March 2017: “If you have a little imagination, a little curiosity, a little stubbornness, you’ll stumble upon things.” This artist-asexplorer approach not only keeps him creatively satisfied, but enables more forthright connections with the viewer: “Play is, perhaps, a good way station toward opening people up to other things.” Le Parc has infused a political
FROM LEFT:
Julio Le Parc’s Relief with reflective plates, 1966. Inox, 80 X 80 X 8 cm Julio Le Parc’s Modulation 204, 1976. Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm
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© J U L I O L E PA R C / A DAG P, PA R I S 2 017 C O U R T E S Y P E R R OT I N
Julio Le Parc’s Alchimie 330, 2004. Acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm
© J U L I O L E PA R C / A DAG P, PA R I S 2 017 P H OTO C L A I R E D O R N / C O U R T E S Y P E R R OT I N
Julio Le Parc’s Série 33D 1-1 8-8, 1970/ 2012. Acrylic on canvas 200 x 200 cm
dimension to his work: He has criticized dictatorships in Latin America through assorted anti-fascist projects, and was temporarily exiled from France because of his local art activism during the country’s political upheaval around 1968. But playfulness has been paramount, even when delivering an activist message. He was a founding member of GRAV (Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel, an acronym that
winks at “grave,” the French word for “serious”), the disruptive 1960s collective that sought to popularize art discourse and provide a forum for ideological exchange between a handful of artists. The group’s most impactful gesture was the “Journée dans la Rue” (Day in the Street) in 1966, when members scattered objects and questionnaires in public spaces throughout Paris. “We wondered how we could change or
invert the status quo, and create a more direct relationship with people, without filtering things through aesthetic analyses, market value, and production,” the artist told Purple. Today his work still probes the relationship between art and audience participation. He wants joy to be the essential takeaway, he said in an interview: “If people feel a change in their spirit, some optimism, that’s already something.” — SARAH MOROZ
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GALLERY LISTINGS ACA Galleries
Chambers Fine Art
Debra Force Fine Art
529 West 20th Street 5th floor New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 206-8080 [email protected] www.acagalleries.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11-6 Please contact gallery for current and upcoming exhibition information
522 West 19th Street New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 414-1169 cfa@chambersfineart.com www.chambersfineart.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday10-6 Yang Jiechang: “The Whip,” through October 17 ACAW Thinking Projects presents Guo Hongwei: “The Pre-existent Painting,” October 21-November 11
13 East 69th Street Suite 4F New York, NY 10021 +1 (212) 734-3636 [email protected] www.debraforce.com Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 10-6, Saturday by appointment Exhibiting works by George Ault, Milton Avery, Albert Bierstadt, Hugh Breckenridge, Charles Burchfield, Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, John Marin, Grandma Moses, Jane Peterson, Edward Potthast, John Henry Twachtman and Andrew Wyeth, among others
Acquavella Galleries 18 East 79th Street New York, NY 10075 +1 (212) 734-6300 [email protected] www.acquavellagalleries.com Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-5 Jacob El Hanani: “Linescape: Four Decades,” October 2-November 17 “Three Dimensions: Modern and Contemporary Approaches to Relief and Sculpture,” through November 17
Chambers Fine Art
Sanford Biggers BAM (for Yvette), 2016, HD video, dimensions variable, 59 seconds Image courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen. ©Sanford Biggers.
Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe 525 West 22nd Street New York, NY 10001 +1 (212) 445-0051 [email protected] www.amy-nyc.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Franklin Evans: “paintingpainting,” through October 7 Michael Reafsnyder, October 12November 11
Boesky Gallery 509 West 24th Street New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 680-9889 [email protected] www.marianneboeskygallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Diana Al-Hadid: “Falcon’s Fortress,” through October 21
Boesky East 507 West 24th Street New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 680-9889 [email protected] www.marianneboeskygallery.com Sanford Biggers: “Selah,” through October 21
Boesky West 100 South Spring Street Aspen, CO 81611 +1 (212) 680-9889 [email protected] www.marianneboeskygallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11-7, Sunday 12-5 John Houck: “Tenth Mountain,” through October 1
Red No. 1-D, Caochangdi Beijng, 100015 China +86 10 5127 3298 bj@chambersfineart.com www.chambersfineart.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10-6 Yan Shanchun: “A Decade of Paintings and Prints,” September 23November 16
Crown Point Press 20 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105 +1 (415) 974-6273 [email protected] www.crownpoint.com Gallery Hours: Monday 10-5, Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 “Tom Marioni at 80,” September 7October 28 Wayne Thiebaud: “Merriment,” September 7-October 28
Danese/Corey 511 West 22nd Street New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 223-2227 [email protected] www.danesecorey.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 William Tucker: New Sculpture and Drawings, through October 14 Ellen Harvey, October 27December 23
Flowers 529 West 20th Street Suite 3E New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 439-1700 newyork@flowersgallery.com www.flowersgallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Patrick Hughes: “Perspective in Perspective,” through October 14 Tom Hammick: “Lunar Voyage,” October 24-Dec 17
Flowers 82 Kingsland Road London E2 8DP +44 20 7920 7777 info@flowersgallery.com www.flowersgallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 “Mono: An exhibition of Unique Prints,” on view through September 9 Nicola Hicks, September 20November 11
To be included in Modern Painters’ paid listings, contact [email protected].
Aleah Chapin Under the Curve of Time, 2017, oil on canvas at Flowers, Cork Street
Flowers 21 Cork Street London W1S 3LZ +44 20 7439 7766 info@flowersgallery.com www.flowersgallery.com Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-6 Aleah Chapin: “Within Wilds,” October 4-November 4
Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl 535 West 24th Street, 3rd Floor New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 249-3324 [email protected] www.joniweyl.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Ann Hamilton: “New Work”; In the Project Space: John Baldessari: “Hands & Feet,” October 5November 30 | In the West Gallery: Foundation for Art & Preservation in Embassies: Original Print Collection, October 19-November 30
Hirschl & Adler
Jack Shainman: The School
Lehmann Maupin
730 Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor New York, NY 10019 +1 (212) 535-8810 [email protected] www.hirschlandadler.com Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 9:30-4:45 Robert Natkin (1930-2010): “And the days are not full enough,” populated by stripes, dots, grids, and an array of free-floating forms, the work of Robert Natkin (1930-2010) is sensuous, playful, and visually complex. This encompassing exhibition brings together important examples from each of Natkin’s major bodies of work and celebrates the artist’s fifty-year career as one of the most innovative color abstractionists of the late twentieth century, through November 11
25 Broad Street Kinderhook, NY 12106 +1 (518) 758 1628 [email protected] www. jackshainman.com Gallery Hours: Open by appointment “The Coffins of Paa Joe and the Pursuit of Happiness:” A group show including works by Kerry James Marshall, Jackie Nickerson, Margaret Kilgallen, David Altmejd, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Beverly Fishman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Lynette YiadomBoakye, and Malick Sidibe, on view through January 6
12 Pedder Street Hong Kong, China 852 2530 0025 [email protected] www.lehmannmaupin.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday 10-7, Saturday 11-7 Mr. “Floating in the Air in the Vicinity of a Convenience Store,” through October 21
Jack Shainman Gallery 513 West 24th Street New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 645-1701 [email protected] www.jackshainman.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Andres Serrano: “Torture,” a selection of photographs from the 2015 series Torture, through November 4 | Nina Chanel Abney: “Seized the Imagination,” November 9-December 20
Jack Shainman Gallery 524 West 24th Street New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 337-3372 [email protected] www.jackshainman.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Leslie Wayne: “Free Experience,” a selection of new works, through October 21 | Hayv Kahraman: “Re-weaving Migrant Inscriptions,” October 26-December 20
James Goodman Gallery 41 East 57th Street New York, NY 10022 +1 (212) 593-3737 [email protected] www.jamesgoodmangallery.com Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 10-6 Modern and Contemporary Masters: Chamberlain, di Suvero, Dine, Hofmann, Motherwell, Moore, Wesselmann and others
Lehmann Maupin 201 Chrystie Street New York, NY 10002 +1 (212) 254-0054 [email protected] www.lehmannmaupin.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday10-6
Lehmann Maupin 536 West 22nd Street New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 255-2923 [email protected] www.lehmannmaupin.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday10-6 Mary Corse, thru October 7 Gilbert & George: “The Beard,” October 12-December 22
Leonard Hutton Galleries 790 Madison Avenue Suite 506 New York, NY 10065 +1 (212) 751-7373 [email protected] www.leonardhuttongalleries.com Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 10-5:30, Saturday by appointment Modern and Contemporary Masters 1950s-1990s, through October 3
Locks Gallery 600 Washington Square South Philadelphia, PA 19106 +1 (215) 629-1000 [email protected] www.locksgallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Elizabeth Osborne: “Reflections: Painting Memory,” September 8-October 14
Louis K. Meisel Gallery 141 Prince Street New York, NY 10012 +1 (212) 677-1340 [email protected] www.meiselgallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Louis K. Meisel Gallery specializes in Photorealist painting and the Great American Pin-Up
Marian Goodman Gallery
Mnuchin
Roberts and Tilton
Samar Albader
24 West 57th Street New York, NY 10019 +1 (212) 977-7160 [email protected] www.mariangoodman.com Gallery Hours: Monday-Saturday 10-6 Tony Cragg: Recent Sculptures, through October 14 “Celebrating the 40th Anniversary: 1977-2017” Marcel Broodthaers/ James Lee Byars, The Inaugural Exhibition of Marian Goodman Gallery, 1977, October 19November 4
45 East 78th Street New York, NY 10075 +1 (212) 861-0020 [email protected] www.mnuchingallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 “Minimalism and Beyond,” September 12-October 18
5801 Washington Boulevard Culver City, CA 90232 +1 (323) 549-0223 [email protected] www.robertsandtilton.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11-6 Jeffrey Gibson, September 9 October 14 Daniel Joseph Martinez: “Pacific Standard Time LA/LA,” September 9 December 16
+965 24819767 [email protected] [email protected] www.samaralbader.com
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery 100 Eleventh Avenue New York, NY 10011 +1 (212) 347-0082 [email protected] www.michaelrosenfeldart.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday10-6 Barbara Chase-Riboud: “Malcolm X: Complete,” September 9November 4
Nancy Hoffman Gallery 520 West 27th Street New York, NY 10001 +1 (212) 966-6676 [email protected] www.nancyhoffmangallery.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 Ilan Averbach: “The Lily Pond,” sculpture and drawings, through October 21 Joseph Raffael: Watercolors, October 26-Dec 9
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Sperone Westwater 257 Bowery New York, NY 10002 +1 (212) 999-7337 [email protected] www.speronewestwater.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday10-6 William Wegman: “Dressed and Undressed,” September 5-October 28 Tom Sachs: “Objects of Devotion,” September 5-October 28
Washburn Gallery 177 Tenth Avene, New York, NY 10001 +1 (212) 397-6780 Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Sautrday 10-6 “The WPA,” September 14October 28
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