New Discoveries at the Met

I have been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art countless times in my life, so last week, when I ventured to the Met, I wanted to see pieces that I had never seen. I went to the Met’s new exhibit, “Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World.” This exhibition compiles over 265 objects that were made during the time of the Hellenistic kingdoms, emphasizing the ancient city of Pergamon. The gold and enamel myrtle wreath from the Late Classical Period caught my attention for its beauty and its glisten. Gold wreaths like this one were a traditional in Macedonian culture, donned at feasts and banquet halls. In ancient Greece, myrtle wreaths like the one pictured, could have associations with Aphrodite, Dionysus, youth, and beauty.

            Another painting that caught my attention was the divine painting by Alexandre Cabanel, “The Birth of Venus.” The color palette Cabenel implement is strikingly beautiful. The deep blue green of the sea, topped by sea foam is soothing to the eye and soul. Cabanel outlines Venus’ voluptuous figure in such a way that she appears almost three-dimensional. Her long auburn hair and curvy body make her the ideal woman at the time, even though she is a mythological creature. The angels surrounding Venus illustrate how much of a worshipped figure she is. In fact, Napoleon II purchased the first version of this painting, dubbed the “Salon of the Venuses” for his personal collection.

Anytime you have the chance, you should visit and look at the exceptional artwork in the Met Museum. If you have been to the Met before, go to an exhibit you have never seen. The Met has some of the most amazing art in the world. Exploring the museum is truly an experience that you will treasure forever.

A Day at the Whitney

Last week, I went to the Whitney museum in the Meatpacking district and saw some of the most unique pieces of art I had ever seen in my life. Win McCarthy’s “Ceaseless Passage” is a made with foam board, staples, latex paint, newspaper clippings, wood, hot glue, graphite, and pebbles. McCarthy cut doors the foam board, which when you look out of, you can see the sky, as the piece is placed by a window in the Whitney. McCarthy also pastes clippings from poems over the board, which relate to the meaning of the piece. The title “Ceaseless Passage” is perhaps a metaphor that life itself is a ceaseless passage. Just like in Mccarthy’s piece, in life, we are always entering new doors and embarking on new pathways.

            Andy Warhol’s “Nine Jackies” also intrigue me. Warhol was famous for his prints of celebrities such as Jackie Kennedy in these prints. Warhol shows three of Jackie’s expressions and moods. On the top row are prints of Jackie smiling, looking cheerful. In the second row are prints of Jackie with a man, with a stern look on her face. In the last row of prints, Jackie appears shocked and somber, with her mouth a bit open. Thus, these prints try to capture Jackie’s personality and emotions.

The art at the Whitney is remarkable. Anyone who lives in Manhattan or is visiting should explore this fascinating museum.

Amazing Art at the MOMA

Yesterday, I went to the MOMA and spent three hours observing the entire collection. Two exhibits stood out to me the most. One of them was Bruce Conner’s exhibit called “It’s all True.” It includes over 250 objects of Conner’s film, paintings, assemblages, drawings, prints, photography, photograms, and performance. His art focuses on themes of American postwar society, from the rising consumer culture to the foreboding and anxieties of a nuclear apocalypse. His work, though some of it is disturbing, is very evocative and relevant to modern times.

           One of Conner’s assemblages, “Cherub”  (1959) is similar to a scene in a horror film. In the upper right corner, is the bald cut off head from a doll and surrounding the doll’s head are gray Nylon wax. To me, this assemblage stands for the all the chaos in the world. When I look at it, I imagine I am walking in a dark spooky cave with cobwebs and a creepy doll. The cave makes me feel uneasy. Thus, I think that this piece is supposed to be apocalyptic and make viewers feel apprehensive about the future of society. Each piece in this exhibit makes you really think about its significance and what Conner is trying to say.

            Another exhibit I enjoyed at the MOMA was Edgar Degas’ “A Strange New Beauty.” Degas is known internationally for his paintings of the ballet. However, his work as a printmaker truly shows the lengths of his “restless experimentation. (www.moma.org) In the mid-1870s, Degas was shown the monotype process, which is drawing with ink on a metal plate that is run through a printing press, usually producing one print. By implementing the monotype in his paintings, Degas was unique in his artwork.

            One of my favorite paintings by Degas in the MOMA is “A Group of Dancers”. (1898) Degas used oil on paper mounted on canvas to make this painting. Like in many of Degas’ works, in this painting, he portrays ballet dancers. In this painting, the dancers wear what looks like blue and pink tutus. He paints the floor in a beautiful aqua color mixed with some reds and oranges. In the left corner of this piece is a mirror where you can see the reflection of one of the dancer’s tutus and the backs of the dancers. Degas paints the reflection with blacks, grays, blues, oranges, and whites. Perhaps, the blacks and grays are the dancers’ shadows. Degas’ works throughout this exhibit are exceptional and reflect the hard work he put into his pieces.

I highly recommend the Bruce Conner and Degas exhibit at the MOMA. But, if you have the time, I suggest you look through the entire museum. The MOMA has work of the most renowned artists with some of thier most famous paintings including “Starry Night” by Van Gogh.

My Trip to the Frick

           Last week, my class, New York and the Visual Arts went to the Frick Museum on the Upper East Side. Johannes Vermeer is one of the renowned artists whose work graces the halls of the Frick.  He is known as one of the best Dutch painters of the Gilded Age. There are only 34 Vermeer paintings in the world and the Frick holds three of them, Girl Interrupted At Her Music,” “Mistress and Maid,” as well as “Officer and Laughing Girl.” He was known for his rendering of light, as seen in “Mistress and Maid,” for example, gleaming from the mistress’ pearl jewelry.

collections.frick.org

            In 2013, Tim Jenison, a computer graphics expert, chose to paint a Vermeer painting using just a mirror on a stick. His friends, Penn and Teller made a movie called “Tim’s Vermeer.” In the film, Jenison figures out a way to use technology to replicate Vermeer’s painting “The Music Lesson.” I think that the film adds to the definition of what art is as a whole. When I look at Vermeer’s work, I do not look at it with the technical mindset of Jenison, but rather I focus on Vermeer’s use of lighting and his attention to detail in his paintings. “Tim’s Vermeer” does not infiltrate my experience of seeing a Vermeer painting, but rather opens my mind to the capacities of modern technology. Thus, the film does not turn Vermeer’s work into a transcription machine.

http://collections.frick.org/

            One of the first paintings I saw in the Frick, “Portrait of a Man in a Red Cap” is by one of my favorite artists, Titian. It is one of Titian’s early works. Titian paints a man in a red cap dressed in lavish garments, lined what appears to be fur. The man stares into the distance, in deep thought, giving the painting a contemplative mood. Additionally, Titian’s play with light over the surface accentuates and highlights the man’s features. The man’s attire demonstrates his abundant wealth.

The Frick museum is internationally recognized for its Old Master Paintings in addition to its European sculpture as well as decorative arts. I strongly suggest you visit it and explore the wonderful art it has to offer.

The World of Maholey-Nagey at the Guggenheim

 This weekend, I went to the Guggenheim to see Laszlo Maholey-Nagy's work. He uses several mediums to make his art, which shows a progression of his works throughout the course of his artistic career. For his drawing created in 1918 (title unknown), he uses black crayon as pictured …. To make curved and intertwined black lines. This piece, among several others comprised of Maholy-Nagey’s drawings on military-issue postcard, which illustrated his time in World War I. These works were his earliest and demonstrate his lack of formal artistic training as well as his expressive abilities.

            With his painting, “Circle Segments” made in 1921, Maholy-Nagey uses tempera on canvas. However, in the drawing pictured above, Maholy-Nagey uses crayon on paper. Similar to his earliest works, he expresses himself through abstract geometric shapes, as seen in both the drawing and this painting. His artistic progression is evident with his use of paints and color.

            In 1946, Maholey-Nagy made his Plexiglas sculpture, “Leda and the Swan.” With this piece, he is using another medium. Even though Plexiglas is a new medium, Maholey-Nagy still makes his art with geometric shapes.

            Maholey-Nagy believed in the potential of art as a vehicle for social change. A large portion of modern art is conceptual. If you look at my blog on the art in Bryant Park, I discuss the globes. The globes in Bryant Park are conceptual, as they are not literal presentations of the world, but rather reflect the problems of society in an artistic way. In other words, the globe exhibit illuminates the concept of global warming through art. Maholey-Nagy revamps the concept of art itself. He merges art with various innovations, such as his usage of Plexiglas in his sculpture of “Leda and the Swan.” His abstract works have influenced the role of the artist in today’s society.

            Kandinsky and Maholey-Nagy’s pieces relate because of their geometric abstraction. Kandinsky’s painting, “Small Pleasures” (1913) involves abstract depictions of reality. Similarly, Maholey-Nagy uses abstract geometric shapes in his Plexiglas piece, “CH 4” (1941). 

 

I recommend that you go to the Guggenheim to look at the wonderful art of not only Maholey-Nagy and Kandinsky, but also other works in the shows, “But a Storm Is Blowing from Paradise: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa” and the work in the Thanhauser Gallery.

Unfinished Art at the Met Breuer

If I were a painter, I would know when a painting is done when the vision in my mind of the person or object matches what I have on paper.

      I feel that all of the pieces in this show belong in the exhibit. El Greco’s painting, “The Vision of Saint John” (ca. 1608-14) seems finished to me, though, evidently, it was not complete to the artist. A painting is finished when the artist feels that it is. It is physically unfinished because it is part of an altarpiece. If I saw the other paintings in the altarpiece, I would deem “The Vision of Saint John” as unfinished by itself. Additionally, this piece was not on the audio tour.

      One piece that was not on the audio tour was Alice Neel’s “James Hunter Black Draftee” (1965). The incomplete quality of this painting gives it more depth and meaning. Neel only colored Hunter’s face and left the outline of his body “unfinished.” When he sat for Alice Neel, James Hunter had recently been drafted for the Vietnam War. When Hunter failed to come back for their second sitting, Neel called the work “unfinished.” This partial work is significant in two ways; Hunter did not return to model for Neel and many soldiers in the Vietnam did not come back home.

      Another piece that was not in the audio tour is Alina Szapocznikow’s sculptures, “Tumors Personified” (1971). Szapocznikow created this piece after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The fragmented heads symbolize how Szapocznikow feels after her diagnosis, broken and shattered.

     

"American Art" Auction at the Swann Gallery

On Thursday, my class, "New York and the Visual Arts'" at Pace University went to the Swann Gallery's "American Art" auction on east 25th street. I have never been to an art auction in my life, so this experience was eye-opening. As we walked into the galley room, we saw several pieces being auctioned on the walls. 

During the auction, the auctioneer showed a piece which started at a certain price. Each bidder had a stick with their identifying number attached. When the auctioneer announced a price the art piece was going for, if the bidder wanted to buy it, he or she would raise their stick.  As long as multiple bidders offered to buy a piece for the auctioned price, the auctioneer would keep increasing the value. At the end of the auction for each piece, each work of art went to the highest bidder. 

Before going to this art auction at the Swann Gallery, I thought the pricing of art was more objective, possibly based on paints and materials. However, I learned that the pricing of art is subjective. Works of art are quantified by the artist who made it and simply, how much voyeurs want the piece.

I found it interesting and confusing how the works of art were priced. For instance, Abraham Walkowitz's "Skyscrapers," a blurry watercolor of the skyscrapers in New York, was $2,000. About fifteen years later, Guy C. Wiggins made a clearer painting, with oil on canvas, "Fifth Avenue Storm," which was $30,000. There is no exact science for the reason people buy a piece of art. It is a subjective practice. What people like today may become a fad tomorrow.

 

While I was browsing through the to-be auctioned works at the Swann Gallery, a few pieces caught my attention. One of those pieces was Frank W. Benson's painting, "Seascape" which was auctioned for $4,000. "Seascape" is watercolor of the sea. Benson uses white, light blues and greens to create the color of the sea, giving the painting a calming effect. Just by looking at this painting, one can imagine themselves with their feet in the sand looking out at the sea, listening to the soothing waves Benson adds white for the sea foam which lies atop the water. He paints the rocks of the sea brown. If you look closely, you can see that the rocks aren't simply just brown, but also purple, blue, and white. The rocks blend with the colors of the sea. Even if I did not see this piece in an art auction, I would have been drawn to it because of my propensity towards water. Additionally, the fact that the piece was estimated to be between $8,000 and $12,000 demonstrates the subjectivity of art.

Photo Credits: www.publicdelivery.org

  Graffiti is an example where works of art are determined differently than artworks inside formal art institutions.  Voyeurs will either look at graffiti as beautiful street art or an act of defacement. Keith Haring, for instance, a renowned street artist, was arrested several times by the New York police in the 1980s. However, he was also commissioned to do public art installations. Therefore, it is impossible to be objective when looking at and assessing the value of an art piece.

If you want to look at beautiful works of art, purchase them, or both, I suggest you attend an art auction.