It has been a very long year and I find it hard to believe that during the last days of 2010 I was visiting the National Gallery of Art with my husband and his friends. I had blogged about the visit in March but as I have been working on my painting dates and visual analysis I have started to and reflect on the art we saw. One of the more interesting pieces that I had discovered during that visit is almost not something that I would typically call a “piece of art” at all, Multiverse.

Technically Mutliverse is a light sculpture.  Created by American artist Leo Villareal, this LED experience connects the East and West buildings underground. At 200 feet long the light experience is made of 41,000 computer-programmed light-emitting diode nodes. They flash on and off, chasing each other along the wall of the tunnel. Given the size it is not a surprise that Multiverse was created especially for the space, starting in 2005.

Light is an interesting medium to work with, some examples I have seen recently are Inopportune: Stage One by Cai Guo-Qiang at the Seattle Art Museum and Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Both of these examples however are less interactive – you do not physically move through the work as you do with Villareal’s piece. I wish that I had video to share because the changing and moving of the light is what really make the experience, but then again since I don’t you will just have to go and experience it for yourself.

Links:

• More of Villareal’s Work

Last semester was crazy to say the least; I had two fairly hard classes, a lot going on at work, my family in Vermont was hit hard by Irene, my grandfather’s health has been getting worse and all along there was a possibly of a move to Seattle, a life changing event which did occur this month. STRESS. To say I do not deal well with stress is an understatement, as a result very little other than what had to be done, got done. This can be seen very clearly by looking the fact that were no blog posts.

A couple really great things did happen, one I was part of a study group which I LOVED and two my class started to organize group trips to museums. Since I am taking this spring off from school I will miss out on the trips, but I am going to try to help my study group from afar. I have (they are currently in storage) two brand new art history text books and my flash card set ready for emails and Facebook postings, but why wait? I have my first two flash cards ready.

The two I have selected are Winslow Homer’s Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) and Mary Cassatt’s Boating Party. These two paintings have several things in common; both are part of the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Art, they feature a small sail boat and were painted by American artists at the end of the 19^th Century. Each also uses the canvas edge to cut the sail, a cropping style which shows the influence of photography and the idea of capturing a precise instant in time.

Starting with Breezing Up, painted in 1873 to 1876 Homer has depicted a bright sunny day.  The wind fills the sails of the Gloucester, pushing the small boat through the water. A gentle balance is at play along the horizon line, wind risks toppling the boat and silhouetting the young boys against the sky. Against the background, entering from the opposite frame edge is a large sail boat.

Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) © National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

The cropping of the boats sail creates a sharp diagonal line guiding the eye to the boats riders. This focus on the riders, who are both relaxed and at the mercy of the water and wind is a great representation of Homer’s work. The painting is about man’s interaction with nature and a representation of what was distinctly American. Painted at a time when America was looking to form its own artistic identity Homer’s work can only be American.

He does use light and create an image of a single moment of time, both influences of impressionism, yet he was never an impressionist painter. Mary Cassatt on the other hand was part of the Paris art world, connected with the impressionist painters.

The Boating Party painted in 1893 to 1984 illustrates two key elements of Cassatt’s oeuvre, relationships between mother and child and the influence of Japanese prints. Scholars have discussed at length the reasons why Cassatt painted so many mother and child paintings, given that she never was a mother herself. To me the most logical reason that has been presented is that as a proper woman it was one of the few subject matters which she had access to. Unlike her contemporary male painters she did not have access to the brothels and bars of Paris for inspiration.

Boating Party © National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Many of the painters during this period were influenced by Japanese woodblock prints, and Japanese art in general. Cassatt shows this influence in her flat areas of color. These segments show brush strokes and slight variations in color, but ultimately are seen as a blue block of the water, a yellow flat shape of the boat and the black clothing of the rower. Aside from the dark clothing of the male figure, the vibrant colors express the mode of the boating party members. While the male figures relationship to the mother and child is not clear, the mother and child’s gaze would suggest that there is a close relationship between the three.

Much as the positioning of the horizon in Homer’s Breezing Up drew attention to the young boys and the vast world they were exploring, Cassatt’s barely visible horizon places the viewer close into a private moment. The lines created by the sail, the boats curved hull and the rower all focus the eye on the child. While Homer was expressing the relationship of man with nature, Cassatt is showing the joyous relationship between individuals. It is a painting of human interaction.

So – what did I miss my art history friends?

The exhibit Gauguin – Maker of Myth at the National Gallery of Art was the real driving force behind the May afternoon I spent visiting the museums in DC. The exhibit closed on June 5th and I really wanted to see it while it was on display.

If John Singer Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose is my first love – innocent and sweet – then Paul Gauguin’s The Sacred Mountain is a love based on pure attraction. It was that painting that I wrote my first art analysis on so many years ago when I took my first art history class. The assignment was to simple, visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art and pick any piece to write a formal analysis of. Out of all the work available to me in the museum it was Gauguin’s colors that attracted me to this canvas.

Paul Gauguin, The Sacred Mountain (Parahi Te Marae), 1892© Philadelphia Museum of Art

At that point in time I knew nothing of Gauguin’s personal history or even what any of this other pieces were like, but I loved the painting. I have since learned about the artists personal life and I cannot say that the guy was all that great, nor is he that different then many other artists. My opinions about his work have never been as strong as say Susan Burns’ are, but some of his work I do not like. Until I personally experienced the Breton culture I did not understand the charm that his work from that period of his life captured. Also, other than the Philadelphia piece, I have spent little time looking at his works in person and this exhibit was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

It has been over 30 years since there has been a display of his work this size in the United States, and with nearly 120 pieces on view his evolution as an artist is clear. The exhibit organized around the theme of Myths, the works were divided into Personal Myths, Breton Myths, Tropical Myths and Sacred Myths. An arrangement which provided visitors with  an idea of Gauguin’s evolution as a painter. The exhibit expressed the connection to artistic styles which were growing in the art world at the time. You cannot help to see Pissarro, Cezanne’s influence and nor can you over look the effect his friendship with Van Gogh had on his art. Looking at the pieces from the “Breton Myths”, you can see the canvas showing through the paint. He did not apply the paint as evenly to the canvas and as his style evolved the canvas was covered more evenly. I also saw a change in the modeling he used, making the “Tropical Myths” feel more refined in some manner.

The task of showing all this to the public and to do well required incredible cooperation by museums from around the world. Truthfully, the museum geek part of me thinks that this fact was one of the things that made this exhibit remarkable. Standing in Washington D.C. the visitor was able to see pieces from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York and the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh – only a few feet from each other. I wish I had written down all the museums which sent a piece, potentially a very predominate piece, from their collection to this display. In fact my love from Philadelphia hung in the exhibit as well, and once again it drew me in.

Paul Gauguin, Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888, © National Galleries of Scotland

His colorful paintings are attention grabbing, but what I really enjoyed the most were the carvings and wood cuts. I have a soft spot for wood cuts, printmaking in general so the fact that I could see some of Gauguin’s was a bonus. The real treat for me was that on display from the Musée d’Orsay were the five wood carved pieces that make up Maison du Jouir. This group alone was worth visiting the exhibit to see and that it was available for display is remarkable. I think that the fact that all five pieces are owned by one museum is wonderful to see happen when so often “sets” ended being split between several different museums or collections. The Musèe held four of the pieces which had been purchased for Saint-Pol-Roux since 1952, they were able to complete this set in 1990 when the fifth piece was purchased. To then to lend out these pieces to another museum, across the ocean for several months is another thing all together.

My practical mind believes that if the Musèe was not currently going through an extensive remodel these carvings would not have made their way to Washington D.C., hopefully I am wrong and this is just one example of the how the art world all working together to share with the public. Whatever the reason, I am really glad that they were included in the display, being able to see these in context with the paintings, carvings and sculptural pieces really was amazing. They captured my attention for quite awhile and I went back to look at them again after walking through the entire show. 

I have much more to look into now, the wall text had some information about the idea of foxes as a representation of perversity, which is seen in many of his works. An aspect that I have seen, but did not know of the symbolic connection. The largest area that I want to explore is Gauguin’s ceramics. I never knew that he worked in ceramic, and to be completely honest looking at the pieces in person I think that maybe he should have done more. While the colors he uses in his paintings are wonderful and brilliant, I think the ceramics represent his best work.

Paul Gauguin, Eve, 1890, glazed ceramic © National Gallery of Art

His figure Eve can be seen at the National Gallery of Art, in Gallery 5 of the East building until September.

Links & Sources:

• National Gallery of Art – the pieces in their collection
• The Guide Musèe d’Orsay
• Paul Gauguin – The Complete Works
• Gauguin: Maker of Myth
• Biography

I continue to make an effort to visit all the museum’s in D.C., which can be a challenge because I am finding a new small one all the time and there are constantly exhibits that I want to see at museums I have been to already. I have made it to the National Gallery of Art half-a-dozen times and most recently during Christmas break with Chris and some of his friends. We had no plans as to seeing anything in particular, just a chance for the non-locals to check out Andrew Mellon’s wonderful building.

I have never studied sculpture or even considered studying it, however as it became apparent at the gallery I am drawn to more and more sculpture, and  there are some wonderful pieces in the  collection. My favorite on display in the west building has to be David Triumphant by Thomas Crawford. It is a wonderful combination of  marble and bronze, with fine wires making up the harp strings. A fair amount of time was spent trying to understand where each material ended and the other started.

You can see a full image of the sculpture on the National Gallery web site.

The collections of paintings are great, while a large amount of the work was the gift of Andrew Mellon, the Chester Dale collection is my favorite. Currently it is separated off from the rest of the work in the museum, hopefully it will be mixed in with the other work in the future. The more I learn and as I visit new museums  the more I really like to see work together, I hate the idea of two parts of one item being divided between museums and in this case I would like to have Dale’s collection mixed in with the other pieces in the museum.

From the National Gallery Website - Mary Cassatt The Boating Party, 1893/1894 Chester Dale Collection

His collection includes The Boating Party by Cassatt and Salvador Dalí’s The Sacrament of the Last Supper, two pieces I would not put in the same exhibit. Add to the arrangement work by William Merritt Chase, Van Gogh and Edgar Degas and what you have is a very big mix of styles and artists. A display that I would be interested in Carol Duncan looking at after reading her feelings on the donor memorial in the museum.

The collection is great, I cannot fault the quality of the items that are on display, it is just that the paintings are separated out from the others in the museum. I enjoy walking through the exhibit when I am at the gallery, nearby this time was a really interesting photography exhibit, The Pre-Raphaelite Lens: British Photography and Painting, 1848–1875. Last fall I visited the Truth/Beauty photography exhibit at the Phillips Collection a few times so it was exciting to see some of the same names displayed. I am sorry that it has gone off to Paris and I cannot take a look again, early photography is interesting. It is great to look at the manipulations before Photoshop when photographers used the chemicals, cut negatives and manually adjusted images until they reached their desired photograph. I heard a docent at the Phillips collection stay that one of the early female photographers actually had distorted lenses made to get the effect she wanted.

Prior to this visit I had only been to the east building once, in 2004 to see the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit. Since I  had entered that exhibit through the front doors of the east building I had not seen the awesome underground tunnel of lights that connect the buildings underground.

Villareal Light Sculpture, Multiverse - National Gallery of Art

I took a ton of photographs, most which look the same, if you care to look two more of them are posted on my IgoUgo page. The east building is the home of the modern art and on display while we were their was Arcimboldo, 1526–1593: Nature and Fantasy. The exhibit was one that had been discussed in my Aesthetics class which ended in December and I did want to see it, mostly for the new versions of Arcimboldo’s work like the sculpture.

Winter (After Arcimboldo) by Philip Haas

The 15 foot tall piece is a conversation starter, everyone was having their photo taken with the sculpture and it was probably the reason that the exhibit was so full. While the sculpture was in the main hall the exhibit itself was in a smaller gallery. Up close I could really see how detailed the paintings were, but there were so many people there that it was hard to get up close, add to that the room was boiling hot. I did not spend a lot of time in the exhibit, quickly checking everything out and then explored the rest of the galleries. Which was the best and worst thing. I loved a piece that was on display, but I could not take a photograph of it – or actually I was trying to take a photo of the information label it was not allowed. No photograph means my brain has long forgotten who the artist was, I thought that I had put the name in my phone… no luck. I need to go back soon, Gauguin: Maker of Myth recently opened and it will be on display until June so I will have to see if I can find the missing artist.