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GLENN LONEY'S MUSEUM NOTES
GLENN LONEY’S APRIL RAMBLES ROUND MUSEUMS, GALLERIES, INSTALLATIONS, & AUCTIONS--
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| Caricature of Glenn Loney by Sam Norkin. | |
Please click on "
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At
Christie’s Auction House *
Collection of Edwin & Lindy Bergman--"Hallmarks
of the Chicago Art Scene"--Now at Christie’s. *
Seagram’s Heir, Edgar Bronfman, Collected Picasso Ceramics: Soon Up for On
Line Auction! *
Nearly $5 Million Total in Christie’s Ninetheenth Century European Art Auction! *
At Bonhams Auction House *
Also at Bonham’s: $1.3 Million for Eric Caren Archive Printed Treasures! *
CARRYING COCA: 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas *
WATERWEAVERS: The River in Contemporary Columbian Visual & Material Culture *
At One Remove from the Brooklyn Museum of Art *
THE ROOF GARDEN COMMISSION: Dan Graham with Günther Vogt *
LOST KINGDOMS: Hindu Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th
to 8th Century *
OUT OF CHARACTER: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy--Selections from the Collection
of Akiko Yamazaki & Jerry Yang *
ALIBIS: Sigmar Polke, 1963 2010 *
LYGIA CLARK: The Abandonment of Art, 1948 1988 *
AIPAD Photography Show New York *
JEWISH LEGACY OF CAPE VERDE: Preservation of Memory *
Forget about Putin’s Land Grabs in the Crimea; Odessa was always really Russian.
The Crimean War wasn’t fought by British Troops against Ethnic Ukrainians.
All The Russias were ruled by a Tsar, or Czar, or Tzar: whichever you prefer.
Tzar Ivan was certainly Terrible & Czar Boris seems to have been Certifiable.
But Nicholas II was the Last of the Imperial Romanov Line & the Imperial Family just loved Easter Eggs & other Precious Products from the Workshops of Fabergé.
So it was that Christie’s Cases & Cabinets were recently crammed with Romanov Rembrances.
So many Tiny Photos of Czar Nikki, of the Imperial Children: Alexji, Sophie, & Anastasia…
All so Brutally Murdered in that Cellar in Ekaterinburg, then dumped down a Mineshaft to hide the Evidence!
So many Loving Notes & Trinkets…
All these were Up for Auction at Christie’s, along with a Marble Bust of Ivan the Terrible & a Bronze Head of I. E. Repin, by Viktor Vasnetsov.
In the Post Bidding Fallout, Prince Ivan Obolensky’s Ivan the Terrible Bust was not at all a Terrible Bust, winning a World Record of $269,000 for a work by Sculptor Mark Antokolskii.
Repin’s Portrait Head sold for $112,500, although there were No Prizes for Bidders who actually knew who I. E. Repin was, or His Place in History.
As for Imperial Princes, Prince Paul Troubetzkoy--who died in 1938--did very well in the Russian Sales.
His Bust, not of himself, but of the Famed Russian Author of War & Peace, Count Lev Tolstoy--Russkis prefer Lev to Leo--sold for $60,000.
But nowhere in Christie’s Sales Reports are the Auction Prices for all those Imperial Family Photos & Notes.
But they certainly didn’t go for a Song: they were Archivally & Historically Too Valuable.
Had Grand Duchess Sophie lived, she could have had a Career as a Watercolorist. Her Early Works are impressive.
Just imagine! A Romanov who was an Amateur Artist! Not always Oppressing the Peasants.
Sophie’s Imperial Mother, however, was born a Princess of Hesse Darmstadt, where her Brother, Gross Herzog Ernst August had founded an Avant Garde Kunstler Kolonie, on the Model of the Wiener Werkstätte.
Across from Ernst August’s really Avant Garde & Jugendstil Hochzeitsturm, the Gross Herzog constructed a Miniature St. Basil’s for Divine Worship when the Imperial Family came for its Annual Summer Visit.
Grand Duke Ernst August was Queen Victoria’s Favorite Grandson, but The Great War damaged Inter Family Relations for a while, for he had to Fight on the Wrong Side…
Collection of Edwin & Lindy Bergman--"Hallmarks of the Chicago Art Scene"--Now at Christie’s.
On 7 May, 13 May, & 14 May, you could bid on some of the Modernist Treasures of the Bergmans.
How about one of those Joseph Cornell Boxes?
Bidding Ranges for Medici Princess are suggested at $2,500,000 to $3,500,000, with Cornell’s famous Medici Slot Machine also in that range.
His Snow Maiden, however, is in the $800,000 to $1,200,000 range, for the More Conservative Bidder.
Wayne Thiebaud’s Self Portrait might fetch as much as $1,800,000, as suggested by Christie’s, but this Beloved California Painter could well soar even higher.
"Sandy" Calder’s Poisson volant (Flying Fish), an amusing Black Mobile, is expected to reach as much as $12,000,000.
Once upon a time, they laughed at Calder.
Thomas Wolfe even parodied Sandy showing his Circus to Manhattan Society Leaders, but Look Where It Is Now: in a Glass Case at MoMA!
Seagram’s Heir, Edgar Bronfman, Collected Picasso Ceramics: Soon Up for On Line Auction!
There were Big Bucks in Booze, especially when Prohibition came to an End.
The Bronfmans, however, were Seagrams, not Common Saloon Keepers.
So Edgar was able to indulge His Passion: Picasso Plates, Van Gogh, Rodin, Cézanne--You Name It!
But, if you really Can’t Take It with You, it can be Auctioned at Christie’s!
Nearly $5 Million Total in Christie’s Ninetheenth Century European Art Auction!
Actually, the Artworks on Sale Totaled only $4,815,250.
Some of them, in fact, could be Easily Dismissed as Romantic or Sentimental Kitsch.
William Adolphe Bouguereau’s works generally belong to either of those Categories.
Nonetheless, his Réverie sur le seuil was bought for $485,000.
Top Lot was Gustave Courbet’s Les Récits de la Grand Mère Salvan, fetching $845,000.
Other Top Performing Canvases were painted by a Peruvian [Federico del Campo], a Brit [Montague Dawson], an Italian [Alberto Pasini], & an American [Ferederick Arthur Bridgman].
Someone bid $365,000 for Jean François Millet’s Woodcutter in the Forest and Young Woman Taking Linens from a Shelf.
With a Title that Long, the Bidder might have been Buying by the Word…
Way Down the List was Jean Baptiste Camille Corot: his Marino, grandes fabriques au sommet de rochers brought only $112,000.
Meanwhile, over at Bonhams, Russian Ikons were the Big Deal.
The Fabled Collection of US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Laurence A. Steinhardt, won $1,340,000.
Ambassador Steinhardt served in Moscow from 1939 41, when Soviet Russia was under attack on its Western Flanks by the Nazis, which made him especially valued by Stalin & the Kremlin Apparatchiks.
Since the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Soviets had been doing all that they could to destroy any form of Religious Worship, especially Russian Orthodoxy, so Ambassador Steinhardt was in a unique position to purchase Ikonic Treasures at Fire Sale Prices.
Top Highlight of the Bonhams Sale was an Ikon especially created for a Domestic Ikonstasis, or Private Chapel.
Dating from the late 16th Century & decorated with Multiple Local Saints from Yaroslavl & Rostov, it won $245,000.
Do not expect to see many of these Ambassadorial Treasures at a Museum Near You anytime soon.
Many are already on their way back to Putinesque Russia!
Nonetheless, it is a Comforting Easter Thought that the Kremlin Manufactured Smolensk Mother of God Tryptich Ikon fetched no less a sum than $173,000.
Of course, you can hardly Put a Price on God’s Mother, can you?
Also at Bonham’s: $1.3 Million for Eric Caren Archive Printed Treasures!
The first Newspaper Printed Copy of The Declaration of Independence--from Boston’s New England Chronicle--sold for $257,000.
Paul Revere’s famous Colored Broadside of the Boston Massacre of 1770 won $100,000, certainly more than Revere ever earned for one of his Printed Works during his Lifetime.
Eric Caren has collected all kinds & forms of Printing: Books, Magazines, Photos, Broadsides, Newspapers. Even Manuscripts from which Books & Broadsides were printed.
For the Record: Eric Caren is currently looking for a Wealthy Collector to purchase, en bloc, some further 200,000 Items from his Collection.
Bonhams doesn’t say, in its Press Release, but the Price is obviously Negotiable…
Cartier’s Diamond Brooch Wins $317,000--
In Fine Jewelry Sale at Bonhams: Totals Reach $4.3 Million!
Lauren Bacall a Big Fan of Henry Moore: Stephen Bogart Sends Moore Maquette for Auction…
This is a Moore "Maquette for Curved Mother & Child," once in the Collection of Actress Lauren Bacall & now being released from the Collection of her Son, Stephen, whose Dad was Humphrey Bogart!
Bidding may be in the range of $150,000 to $200,000--to start.
Incidental Intelligence: Lauren Bacall became a kind of Icon for Joseph Cornell: Maker of Magic Boxes.
He was entirely Smitten with Lauren, so much so that he even created one of his Unique Boxes in Her Honor.
But this Bacall Box isn’t at Bonhams: it is in a Special Bacall Black Room over at Christie’s, where there are also Immense Bacall Photos on one Wall, both Positive & Negative Versions.
There is even Cornell’s Collection of Hollywood Fan Magazines, all featuring Lauren Bacall.
Something else about Stephen Bogart, Son of Bogie:
Long, long ago, I was a Luncheon Guest at Sardi’s, with a Broadway Star who had permitted me to be In the Wings to watch him Do Impossible Things in Tony Shaffer’s Sleuth.
Maitre de Martin had given us the Table right by the Entrance, so everyone could greet Keith as they walked by.
Soon Lauren Bacall entered with her Two Sons in Snappy Blazers--one of them must have been Stephen--hosted by Tom Prideaux, then Theatre Editor for LIFE Magazine.
Theatre Reportage was then Very Big, but so was LIFE--for which I was an Occasional Correspondent.
Lauren Bacall stopped to Greet & Congratulate Keith.
He then asked her: "Do you know my friend, Glenn Loney?"
She looked at me briefly, as though I were a Dead Bug on the Tablecloth…
Then, Tom, Lauren, & the Boys sat at the Table next to us, fiercely ignoring Keith & his Dead Bug Guest.
LIFE no longer has a Theatre Editor, for LIFE is DEAD.
Theatre--that "Fabulous Invalid"--Lives On…
At the Bard Grad Center Gallery:
CARRYING COCA: 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas
[Closing 3 August 2014]
When in Peru, especially high up in the Andes--think Machu Pichu--it’s often a Forbidden Treat for Visiting Americans to have a Chew on some Coca Leaves.
Not quite the same as having a Soothing Cup of Hot Chocolate, however.
Hot Cocoa is not the Equivalent of Chewed Coca.
Traditionally, among Peruvian & Columbian Peasants, Chewing Coca can suppress Hunger, relieve Altitude Sickness, & Cure varied Ailments.
In effect, it’s a Mild High.
For hundreds of years, poor Campesinos have carried Woven Coca Bags, or Chuspas, filled with Coca Leaves: to ward off Hunger, to aid in Climbing the Andes, & just to Feel Good.
But the Coca Culture is more than that: it is a Tribal Ritual, a Sign of Sharing, an Honored Tradition.
Finely Woven Coca Chuspas go back some 1,500 Years to the Nazcas of Southern Peru.
The Intricate Designs, the Looming, the Fibers used, the Colors involved: All tell Experts something about the Cultures & Eras from which surviving Curated Chuspas have come.
Unfortunately, the International "War on Drugs" has discouraged Coca Chewing, especially in the United States, where there are no Ethnic & Historic Coca Carrying Bags generally available, let alone the Coca Leaves to carry in them.
Fortunately, the American Museum of Natural History does have a Large Collection of Coca Chuspas, from which it has lent some Woven Masterpieces for this Intricate & Informative Show.
WATERWEAVERS: The River in Contemporary Columbian Visual & Material Culture
[Closing 10 August 2014]
In a Darkened Room, an Enormous Wave suddenly seems about to Engulf Us, as Raging Waters surge on the Opposite Wall.
Then, suddenly, the Waters recede, leaving a Spotlight to focus on some Low Seats, created by a Contemporary Artist from the Northwest Corner of South America.
The Waters, The Rivers: They are the Metaphoric Glue of Waterweavers, which is certainly not all about the Native Weavers or even the Native Rivers of Colombia & Peru.
But the Idea--the Conceit--of the Curators & Designers of this Eclectic Exhibition is that Government Highways & Native Roads are so Bad--or Downright Non Existent--that the Rivers are the Main Way of Trading & Traveling.
Anyone who has ever taken a Local Bus anywhere in Colombia or Peru--think Popayan, Cuzco, Cartagena, even Bogotá--may well have preferred to go by River Boat…
Waterweavers does not ignore the current & ongoing Violence in parts of Colombia, the Black Market, the Drug Thugs, the Ethnic Clashes…
But it is a bit of a surprise to find Handsomely Designed Book Covers amid Riots of Weaving.
That’s because the Colombian & Peruvian Artists represented here are not all Back Country Native Weavers or Carvers at all, but often rather Sophisticated Visionaries.
Among those on view: Olga de Amaral, Lucy Salamanca, Carol Young, Monica Bravo & Jorge Lizarazo.
At One Remove from the Brooklyn Museum of Art:
If you were in Prospect Park on Saturday Night, 26 April 2014, you could have seen Judy Chicago’s big Fireworks Display: A Butterfly for Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, back at the Brooklyn Museum, Judy is showing her Early Work.
The Show is called Chicago in L. A.: Judy Chicago’s Early Work, 1963 74.
Medical Emergencies have prevented Your Roving Arts Reporter from getting over to Brooklyn to see Judy’s Show, which will be closing 28 September 2014.
Judy Chicago is No Relation to Robert Indiana, but at least they are on the Same Land Mass.
At The Met--The Metropolitan Museum of Art:
THE ROOF GARDEN COMMISSION: Dan Graham with Günther Vogt
[Closing 2 November 2014]
If you did not already know that you were not only Looking at a Work of Art, so to speak, but also being Part of That Art Experience, when you come out onto the Met Roof for the Summer Art Installation, you could be forgiven, almost, for thinking that you were walking on Uneven Squishy Lawn & encountering Lawn Furniture, in the Process.
Considering the Remarkable Views from the Met Roof out over Central Park & Beyond, you could also be forgiven for wondering why the Met Managers did not Commission some Wonderful Fantasy Architectural Pavilion--perhaps with Striking Shards of Stained Glass--to take advantage of the Location & the Light.
But No!
Last Summer, the Roof looked like someone had painted Paisley Designs all over it…
This Summer, it’s all Live Lawn, some Metal Furniture Groupings, & Two Walls of Fake Hedge, flanking the so called Two Way Mirror Walkabout.
Yes, well…
You can reflexively reflect on Your Own Reflection in Clear Glass & in Mirror Glass.
Here’s what the Met’s Leonard A. Lauder Chairman of Modern & Contemporary Art had to say about Dan Graham’s Walkabout: "…a new form of Quixotic Landscape Architecture that combines Nature & Community within a City Environment."
Yes, well…
Sheena Wagstaff--the Leonard A. Lauder Chairman of Modern & Contemporary Art--continues: "It is Work that draws paradoxically on Formal 18th Century Northern European Gardens, while also referencing the Glossy Sleekness of Corporate Skyscrapers & the American Suburban Vernacular."
Yes, well…
I guess I couldn’t have Said It Better, but I’d rather have had a Pastiche of the Gardens at Veitshochheim, outside Würzburg, or perhaps even a Baroque Salzburgian Maze…
But then, as Fran Liebowitz once said: "Furniture gives a Room a Sense of Purpose."
The same might well be said of that Furniture on Dan Graham’s Lawn…
LOST KINGDOMS: Hindu Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century
[Closing 27 July 2014]
The Entrance Hall to this Haunting Visit with the Gods recreates the Experience of Wandering through the Ruined Halls of Angkor Wat.
Some of the Images on view recall those I long, long ago photographed--for INFOTOGRAPHY™--in Cambodia, Myanmar, & Thailand.
But, since most Met Visitors are not rushing off to Vietnam or Indonesia, fragments of these Ancient Temples & Stone Deities have been brought to Fifth Avenue.
There are over 160 Fascinating & Often Intricate Sculptures, as well as rare Terra Cottas & gleaming Bronzes.
All of the Stone Carvings on display are from the First Millennium in Southeast Asia.
Christian Missionaries had not yet had the opportunity to dampen the Artistic Enthusiasm of the Masters who carved these Gods & Demons.
Nor were there any French Colonials around during these Mysterious Centuries.
They came along much, much later, but they did take some of these Images back to Paris.
Fortunately, some of those have been permitted to leave France for the Moment & bless Upper Fifth Avenue with their Presence.
OUT OF CHARACTER: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy--Selections from the Collection of Akiko Yamazaki & Jerry Yang
[Closing 17 August 2014]
If you had Trouble deciphering that Fine Print on that Slip of Paper you found inside your last Fortune Cookie, then you will be All at Sea seeing the Handsome Chinese Scrolls now on view at the Met.
Cookie Fortunes are at least in English, but all of these Scrolls are in Chinese, but the Characters--or Ideographs--are not Uniform.
Different Poets, Different Brush Masters in Different Eras & Dynasties formed their Characters distinctly but Differently.
If you understand No Spoken Chinese then it is highly unlikely that these often Stark Black Brush Strokes will speak to you either.
Nonetheless, there is a Distinct Beauty in several of the Script Styles, as is demonstrated on the Exhibition’s Free Take Out Card.
Here, the Character Shu--which means Writing--is presented in Five Styles: Seal, Clerical, Cursive, Semi Cursive, & Standard.
Standard Shu is clearly the most Clear Form. It requires the Calligrapher to lift his Brush between each Stroke that form the Character.
In Seal, Shu is more Streamlined, but also more Elaborate: The Art Deco of Calligraphy…
Cursive reduces Shu to a Vertical & a Squiggle--Bold & Brash: the Brush has not been lifted from the Surface.
See Shu for yourself at the Met!
At MoMA--The Museum of Modern Art:
ALIBIS: Sigmar Polke, 1963 2010
[Closing 3 August 2014]
If you have never heard of the Famed German Avant Garde Artist Sigmar Polke, where have you been hiding out?
Sigmar Polke is almost as famous & ubiquitous as Anselm Kiefer, whose Epic Artworks almost everyone now knows.
If you want to get acquainted with Sigmar Polke, MoMA is now making that possible in a Very Big Way!
You may enter the World of Sigmar Polke through the Atrium Portal on the Second Floor of MoMA.
There are some Plain Wooden Chairs--artfully arranged--where you can silently sit to study Very Large Scale Works by Sigmar Polke, mounted or projected on the Atrium Walls.
The Works, not actually Sigmar Polke, are on the Walls.
On the Atrium Floor is a kind of Elemental House Form, created by Sigmar Polke.
Years & years ago, you could have made an Elemental House Form like this--but Not So Large--out of Tinkertoys©.
Sated or Informed by the Atrium Displays, you then make your way into the World of Sigmar Polke--all Ten Galleries of it…
Seldom has a Single Artist merited such an Extensive Exploration of his or her Ouevre at MoMA, although there was a German Female Artist up on the Sixth Floor, who also filled the Galleries with seemingly Endless Quantities of her Creations, some of which were just Kooky or Kinky enough to be Worth the Visit.
That Teutonic Talent was, of course, Isa Gensken.
Oh oh! Albrecht Dürer, Eat Your Heart Out!
Especially because Sigmar Polke has Co Opted your famed AD Signature, as well as some of your Famous Renaissance Imagery.
In fact, some of the Larger Canvases or Prints of Herr Prof. Dr. Sigmar Polke incorporate Bits & Pieces of Well Known--at least to Germans--Art Historical Images.
The Witty or Jokey Way that Sigmar Polke has used these, however, obviously work best if you know these Visual Sources & their Original Context.
If you are an Ordinary American, you probably won’t make the Connections, lacking the Necessary Courses in Art History.
Not to Worry!
Sigmar Polke has also plundered American Cartoonage & US Magazine Advertising for Imagery.
Never one to discard any Fragment of Experimentation--although some Ordinary Bond Paper Sized Sketches seem to have been smoothed out, after Retrieval from a Wastebasket--Sigmar Polke, or His Curators, has/have positioned Hundreds, if not Thousands, of Sigmar Polke Artworks on seemingly Endless Long White Galleries on the Second Floor.
Ten Galleries of Sigmar Polke!
Who knew MoMA had so much Space at its Disposal, considering its Rigid Intention to Tear Down the Innovative & Ingenious former Folk Art Museum, more or less built into its Own Body…
Culling of the Repetition of some Sigmar Polke Images could have offered MoMA Visitors a More Concentrated Introduction to the World of Sigmar Polke.
Perhaps it’s the Very Sterile White Length of some Galleries that gives the Impression of a Monumental Talent on Parade.
Some Long White Gallery Wall Stretches are Outfitted with Long Glass Cases containing Note books & Sketch books, some of them filled with Astounding Images.
Those with bold & colorful Rorschach Blotches are among the Most Compelling.
Some of these Shelf Like Stretches have Wooden Chairs--artfully arranged--just like those in the Atrium, so that you can sit at what seem to be Computer Stations with Keyboards to View more Sigmar Polke Images.
The Media Preview Invitation, while noting that this "constitutes one of the largest exhibitions ever organized at the Museum," also states that it consists of more than 250 Works by Sigmar Polke & occupies Four Gallery Spaces on the Second Floor.
Upon arrival, however, the Press was/were given an extensive Gallery Guide with not Four, but Ten Galleries outlined.
Inside its Multiple Pages--this Gallery Guide is also available Free to the General Public--are not only Listed, but also Explained, all of the Artworks of Sigmar Polke, ranging over a Wide Variety of Mediums, including Film & Sculpture.
The Gallery Guide Lists & Explains a Total of 253 Artworks by Sigmar Polke, but on the Long White Walls, it seems like many, many more Images by Sigmar Polke.
When you go, you really need to read the Wall Texts to put both Sigmar Polke & his Artworks In Context.
After World War II & the Resounding Defeat of Adolph Hitler’s so called Thousand Year Reich, Germans were in Massive Denial, especially of the Massive Extermination of more than Six Million Jews.
Not to mention the Deaths in Dachau & elsewhere of Homosexuals, Socialists, Gypsies, & Communists.
Decisive Defeat--after such Absurdly Inflated Nazi Hopes of the Domination of Europe--was Impossible to Contemplate.
So it is that Swastikas & other Nazi Memorabilia sneak into Sigmar Polke Artworks. As well as Konzentrations Lager Imagery…
Worse yet was the Arrival of the Russians--or Soviets--with the Partition of Germany.
Sigmar Polke & his Family were expelled from German Silesea--Schlesien bleibt Deutsch! was the Rallying Cry of Former Silesians in West Germany--only to find themselves trapped in what soon became East Germany, still under Soviet Domination.
Because the Nazis had been so Naughty about Territorial Demands, Silesia--which had been German for Centuries--was turned over to Poland.
Its Handsome Capital City, Breslau, is now known as Wroclaw, if you can wrap your tongue around that Name.
The Polkes escaped to West Germany in 1953, where the Young Sigmar was to develop under the Tutelage of some of its most Innovative Modernists.
But, East or West, in the 1950s, Germans still could not deal with what had happened.
The Common Alibi was: "I didn’t see anything.!
So it is that the Sigmar Polke Show at MoMA is called ALIBIS…
Oh, that Tinkertoy House in the MoMA Atrium?
It is correctly called Kartoffelhaus--or Potato House, because all its Joints are Socketed into Potatoes!
It is currently On Loan to the Neues Museum in Nürnberg, from the Vehbi Koç Foundation in Istanbul, from which it is obviously On Loan for this Exhibition--which will travel on to the Tate Modern in London, thence passing onward to the Museum Ludwig in Köln.
LYGIA CLARK: The Abandonment of Art, 1948 1988
[Closing 24 August 2014]
This is a Major Major Exhibition: Brazilian Born Lygia Clark has been given--as with Sigmar Polke--an Entire Floor at MoMA!
Clark’s Abstractions, Neo Concretisms, & Art "Abandonments" sprawl all over the Sixth Floor, recently completely occupied with the Wide Ranging Art Inventions of Isa Gensken.
The Initial Abstractions look like Quintessential Art Deco Geometric Designs, inspired by Paul Klee, Fernand Léger, Piet Mondrian, & Vladimir Tatlin.
But Clark wasn’t satisfied with Planar Geometrics, beginning to break the Lines & the Surfaces.
The Neo Concretisms are the Most Fascinating of all the Clark Works, not only because she intended them to be Interactive--you are invited to pick some of them up & see what you can make of them!--but also because they often seem like Moritz Escher Inventions, but in Three Dimensions.
Triangular & other Metal Shapes are hinged to each other in such ways that it’s amazing what you will create Three Dimensionally by Folding & Folding.
Aside from the Geometric Hinged Forms, Clark also hinged what she called Bichos, or Critters. How about a Crab Shape?
These can also be Transformed by fiddling with the Hinged Panels, but Do Not Touch them…
Later, Clark began to make Larger Metal Works, often with Möbius Strip Effects of one Metal Ribbon developed into a Sinuous Sculpture.
When Clark finally decided to Abandon Art, she moved on to Real Things, making Art out of Gloves, Seashells, Stones, Plastic Bags, & even Hoodies.
Some of these you will be invited to Fool Around With. Or you can make your very own Möbius Strip!
At The Park Avenue Armory:
AIPAD Photography Show New York
[Only 10 13 April 2014]
Seldom have I seen such an Astounding Assemblage of Historic Photos, Famous Photographer Images, & Huge Scale Photo shopped Prints, crammed into, or bulging out of, so many Gallery Booths.
In fact, there were Four Hundred Twenty Five Booths!
Some of the Dealers represented are almost as Well Known--if not Totally Famous--as the Photo Artists they represent, Living & Dead.
How about Bernard Quaritch, Alan Klotz, or David Zwirner?
The Booths were arranged around the Four Walls of the Wade Thompson Drill Hall of the Park Avenue Armory, with Six Double Banks of Booths in the Center of the Croweded/Crammed Exhibition Space.
While American Galleries dominated, there were Exhibitors from Europe & Asia.
Consider the Taka Ishii Gallery, from Tokyo; the Grundemark Nilsson Gallery, from Berlin, or Michael Hoppen, from London.
Not to Overlook such Exhibitors as Galería Vasari, from Buenos Aires…
I didn’t know there were so many Photo Galleries--even in New York--but one Lady Dealer tartly informed me that there were many more Dealers & Galleries, but they were Not Members of AIPAD!
Thanks to the Internet & World Wide Websites, you can see what AIPAD had to offer over at the Armory, as well as what Individual Dealers have in stock.
Nonetheless, among the more Striking Images were Nina Korhonen’s The White Horse, Galicia; Charles Marville’s Opéra Candélabra--also on view at the Met Museum in the Marville Show; & Marc Yankus’ Stairs Building, 2013.
I happened by just when the Dealer was explaining how Yankus had manipulated this Unusual Elevation.
In fact, there were several Panels, on topics such as Curating & Collecting.
By chance, my Eye was Caught by some Images in Catherine Coutourier’s Gallery, notably those Fantastic Visions of Maggie Taylor, especially Girl with a Bee Dress…
Maggie’s Photos, handsomely mounted, cost a Bundle--$8,000 for 36"x36"-- so I settled for one of her big books of Maggie Taylor Photos, to be sent from far off Houston, Texas.
I Wore Out before I had the Opportunity to Inspect all of the Booths, but a number of the Dealers had Prints of the same Photographers: Ansel Adams must have been very busy in his Yosemite Studio…
Oh, AIPAD stands for the Association of International Photography Art Dealers.
Not just Any Old Photograph, you understand: ART was the Keyword at the Armory!
At The World Monument Fund Offices in the Empire State Building:
JEWISH LEGACY OF CAPE VERDE: Preservation of Memory
This was essentially a Slide Show, in which Carol Castiel--who is leading the Archival Research & Centrally Involved in Restoring Neglected Jewish Cemeteries & Headstones in Cape Verde--demonstrated how the WMF is aiding the Cape Verde Jewish Heritage Project.
Moroccan Jews emigrated to Portuguese Settled Cape Verde in the Mid Nineteenth Century, but there had earlier been Refugees from the Roman Catholic Inquisition’s Persecution of Sephardic Jews.
There are Descendents of some of those Families, but Cape Verde--off the Coast of Senegal, in West Africa--is now predominantly Catholic, with some Muslims from Morocco…
So, once the Cemetery Restoration is Complete, there is the Problem of On Going Maintenance.
If there are No Jewish Family Members now living, to come on Jahrzeit & Light Candles & Leave Pebbles, who will Honor the Dead?
As a World Monument Fund Donor, I thought Carol might pay some Locals to look after the Cemeteries?
I have been to Cape Verde only once: Our Plane, from Cape Town, South Africa, had to stop over for Refueling. It was Night, so I saw Nothing of the Actual Cenral Town, let alone Jewish Cemeteries…
WMF has been doing a Great Deal to aid in Restoring Jewish Synagogues & Other Jewish Antiquities in Eastern Europe & other Areas which Jews have Fled.
It is also Encouraging--when I am Photographing for INFOTOGRAPHY™ the Ruins of Angkor Wat & Ankor Thom, not to overlook Hundreds of Buddhist Stupas in Myanmar, or Historic Ruins in Thailand--to come across a World Monument Fund Project in the Middle of the Jungle!
Not to forget those WMF Projects in Lisbon & Rajastan…
Copyright © Glenn Loney 2014. No re publication or broadcast use without proper credit of authorship. Suggested credit line: "Glenn Loney, Curator's Choice." Reproduction rights please contact: jslaff@nymuseums.com.