Last art exhibition you visited?

[king ubu]

yesterday at the Fotomuseum in Winterthur - a show about early daguerrotypes, mostly related in some way to Switzerland (either done by Swiss or images of Switzerland by travelling foreigners). Quite a bit of fun, also bought the book to go with the exhibition.

Also some recent austrian photography... about as kaputt as Austria seems to be, no wonder with their non-history...

[Adam]

I'm in Amsterdam today. Just went to the Van Gogh Museum, which was closed for construction when I was last here in 1999. Saw the whole thing, and rather liked the Van Gogh & the Expressionists which is the featured exhibition right now.

Then I went to the Bodies in Motion show, which is now here, and which I missed in Los Angeles. Over priced & over crowded, but still quite interesting.

Now to the airport...

[ejp626]

Just saw Cezanne to Picasso - Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avante-Garde. This is at the Art Institute of Chicago until May 12. It is about the collector Vollard who really made some of these artists famous and kept their careers going. If you are in the midwest and like this era of painting (generally my personal favorite), you will probably want to see the show. To be honest, the Picasso paintings are a bit disappointing, aside from a cubist portrait of Vollard. However, the Van Gogh, Cezanne, Derain and Gauguin selections are quite good. (Obviously Vollard didn't help out Van Gogh very much, and he also had a bad relationship with Gauguin, but he had a very good relationship with Renoir and Picasso and apparently Cezanne.)

This makes the second time in my memory that "Starry Night over the Rhone" has been shown in Chicago (first was a Van Gogh - Gauguin show). That alone is probably a good enough reason to go see the show. It is pricey, however. Around $15 I think. I ended up getting a membership so I can go back to the show three or four times before it leaves town. There is also an upcoming Jeff Wall exhibit that I am looking forward to, so will use my membership for that as well.

[J Larsen]

Just saw Cezanne to Picasso - Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avante-Garde. This is at the Art Institute of Chicago until May 12. It is about the collector Vollard who really made some of these artists famous and kept their careers going. If you are in the midwest and like this era of painting (generally my personal favorite), you will probably want to see the show. To be honest, the Picasso paintings are a bit disappointing, aside from a cubist portrait of Vollard. However, the Van Gogh, Cezanne, Derain and Gauguin selections are quite good. (Obviously Vollard didn't help out Van Gogh very much, and he also had a bad relationship with Gauguin, but he had a very good relationship with Renoir and Picasso and apparently Cezanne.)

This makes the second time in my memory that "Starry Night over the Rhone" has been shown in Chicago (first was a Van Gogh - Gauguin show). That alone is probably a good enough reason to go see the show. It is pricey, however. Around $15 I think. I ended up getting a membership so I can go back to the show three or four times before it leaves town. There is also an upcoming Jeff Wall exhibit that I am looking forward to, so will use my membership for that as well.

They had the same exhibit at the Met a few months back. It was a pretty good show.

Last thing I saw was asn exhibit of early 20th century modernist Spanish art and design, also at the Met. Oddly, the most striking piece in the show was a house designed by Mies van der Rhoe, who of course was not Spanish.

Edited April 6, 2007 by J Larsen

[BFrank]

I saw that Vollard show at the Met, too. It was interesting. Not only for the art, but the story behind the art, as well.

Going to see the Henry Wessell photography retrospective at the SFMoMA next week.

[brownie]

Some I went to recently:

the sculptures at the Rodin museum. A beautiful park near the Seine river with many of Rodin's masterworks.

Went also to the Musée Antoine Bourdelle to admire Bourdelle's work which I rate as high as Rodin's.

Went also to the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation to view the photos of Bruce Davidson. The images from his 100th St. work. I had marveled at these photos when Davidson's book came out but it was the first time I could get a close look at the prints.

[sheldonm]

Some I went to recently:

the sculptures at the Rodin museum. A beautiful park near the Seine river with many of Rodin's masterworks.

Went also to the Musée Antoine Bourdelle to admire Bourdelle's work which I rate as high as Rodin's.

Went also to the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation to view the photos of Bruce Davidson. The images from his 100th St. work. I had marveled at these photos when Davidson's book came out but it was the first time I could get a close look at the prints.

nice!

[ejp626]

I remembered this thread after someone asked if we needed a more general art thread.

Anyway, there was a quite good (and focused) Matisse exhibit at Art Institute of Chicago in the first part of 2010.

This past weekend, I made it to NYC. I liked this small exhibit at the Met on Miro and his "Dutch" paintings inspired by postcards he bought at the Rijksmuseum.

Also, the Abstract Expressionist exhibit at the MoMA is really something else. The catalog is nice, but leaves out some really key works.

I was trying to look at the paintings and not be a total tourist who in fact only sees the paintings through a camera lens. But that meant that I didn't take pictures of a few real stunners.

I'm going to try to make it back before late April when it closes, though that's a bit unlikely. (Anyone heading over to see it, feel free to PM me...)

[BillF]

I remembered this thread after someone asked if we needed a more general art thread.

That someone was me and last Saturday my daughter and I headed for the Gauguin ex. at Tate Modern only to find massive queues and no tickets available, so we went to one on Bridget Riley at the National Gallery, which was small, scrappy, frankly disappointing and not a patch on an ex. of her recent work at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, which I saw a year ago. Best thing in the afternoon was looking selectively at items from Tate Modern's permanent collection by Pollock, Kline, Rothko, Still, Newman, Léger and Braque.

Edited January 11, 2011 by BillF

[BruceH]

Late and post-impressionism exhibit at the nearby De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, just a few weeks ago. Took my kids to it as well.

[Chuck Nessa]

Last time was a Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. That was a couple of years ago. Before that was a general 20th century exhibit in Buffalo at Albright-Knox, from their holdings. They have a fantastic collection. Anyone with the opportunity should check out Albirght-Knox

[cih]

I tried to see the big Van Gogh show in London last year but had the same experience as BillF with Gauguin - enormous queues (and not enough time to wait).

But instead of the Van Gogh I went to 'Theo Van Doesburg and the International Avant Garde' at Tate Modern which was v interesting. One of those shows where much of the theory is so monumental next to the actual results - the straight lines of De Stijl and constructivism etc actually looking surprisingly hand-made. Van Doesburg's double life as a Dadaist was featured along with some Kurt Schwitters collages (who is amongst my faves)

Across the hall there was an Arshile Gorky show which I kick myself I didn't look at afterwards, but ran out of time

In August I went to see 'Peace and Freedom' in Liverpool, a Picasso exhibition

I'm waiting for the major new gallery - the Hepworth, to open in Wakefield where I live

[BillF]

Across the hall there was an Arshile Gorky show which I kick myself I didn't look at afterwards, but ran out of time

Daughter and I did the opposite thing - saw the Gorky, but not the Doesburg. The late Gorkys are superb - too much to take in on one visit. (You'll gather from my choices that I'm a big fan of the American abstract expressionists - the visual equivalent of the jazz of that period which is tops for me.)

In August I went to see 'Peace and Freedom' in Liverpool, a Picasso exhibition

Saw it, too. Some of the earliest items, often still lives, were little gems. After that I was less impressed by the rooms given over to newspaper illustrations and his re-workings of old masters when he was very old.

I'm waiting for the major new gallery - the Hepworth, to open in Wakefield where I live

That should be worth a visit! I saw a Hepworth ex. a few years ago at the Yorkshire Scupture Park, not far from Wakefield. In my youth I was a student in Leeds and the links with Moore, Hepworth, etc meant there was always plenty of sculpture to see in that part of the world.

Edited January 12, 2011 by BillF

[ejp626]

Across the hall there was an Arshile Gorky show which I kick myself I didn't look at afterwards, but ran out of time

Daughter and I did the opposite thing - saw the Gorky, but not the Doesburg. The late Gorkys are superb - too much to take in on one visit. (You'll gather from my choices that I'm a big fan of the American abstract expressionists - the visual equivalent of the jazz of that period which is tops for me.)

Then you would love the current exhibit at MoMA (and the catalog isn't too shabby either but it is certainly incomplete http://www.amazon.com/Abstract-Expressionism-Museum-Modern-Art/dp/0870707930/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1294847003&sr=8-3).

Perhaps the single most surprising exhibit was one on Suitcase Paintings at the Loyola Museum of Art in 2008: http://www.luc.edu/luma/Exhibition_page/Exhibitions_-_Suitca.html. These were all small scale abstract expressionist pieces that could fit into a dealer's oversized suitcase, hence the name. While the catalog is out of print and ridiculously expensive, it was such a fabulous surprise to come across this at such a small museum. I made sure to go back a second time.

Biggest disappointment is that apparently I was actually at the Met while their Philip Guston exhibit was winding down and I missed it (was it tucked away somewhere?). I have to say I find this hard to believe I wouldn't have noticed at least one sign for it, and I certainly would have gone had I seen a sign.

[cih]

Saw it, too. Some of the earliest items, often still lives, were little gems. After that I was less impressed by the rooms given over to newspaper illustrations and his re-workings of old masters when he was very old.

Definitely agree, and I think I prefer his cockerels to his doves - more spikes!

A still life from the show I really love, and which would look nice in my living room:

re. American Expressionism, I really need to learn more about it, and it definitely appeals to my tastes

Remembered another interesting show from last year - a small one on Mexican prints at the British Museum - JG Posada etc. I like woodcuts.

Edited January 12, 2011 by cih

[BillF]

re. American Expressionism, I really need to learn more about it, and it definitely appeals to my tastes

That gives me an excuse to post a few images!

Edited January 12, 2011 by BillF

[paul secor]

It's been too long a time since I viewed an art exhibition, but the most recent was the Robert Frank exhibition at the Metropolitan in NYC last year. I knew most of those images fairly well, but it was a different experience to see them outside the pages of a book.

[Adam]

Went to the Olmec show at LACMA last week, and intend to get to the William Eggleston show there this week before it closes. I have a long interest in Mesoamerican archaeology.

Also went to Suprasensorial and The Artists Museum at MOCA at the Geffen a week or two ago. Even went swimming in the pool in the Suprasensorial show.

http://www.moca.org/

Actually, only saw about half of the Artists Museum show at the Geffen, and there is more at the branch on Grand Ave. Huge show.

[cih]

That gives me an excuse to post a few images!

One of the few that I can recognise as Motherwell was into Dada and edited that great anthology of the movement - something of Arp in him

I knew most of those images fairly well, but it was a different experience to see them outside the pages of a book.

It's interesting - the difference in seeing the work in the flesh. The artist that surprised me most was Dali I think, due to the small scale... sometimes it can be disappointing - I know it sounds ridiculous, but even when I visited the Great Pyramid it was a bit of an anti-climax, I couldn't really grasp the scale or something - due to over-familiarity

Edited January 14, 2011 by cih

[brownie]

There have been several shows featuring the images of André Kertész in Paris but the show currently on view at the Jeu de Paume is a major event!

I marvelled at the beauty of so many of his images. I have not been so impressed by a photo exhibition in many years.

[paul secor]

There have been several shows featuring the images of André Kertész in Paris but the show currently on view at the Jeu de Paume is a major event!

I marvelled at the beauty of so many of his images. I have not been so impressed by a photo exhibition in many years.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Kertész very briefly in the mid 1980s. I went to a gallery in NYC where there was an exhibition of his Hungarian photographs. I didn't realize that it was the day of the opening of the exhibition, but the owner of the gallery was kind enough to let me in. André Kertész was present. The book, Hungarian Memories, had just been published and there were copies for sale at the gallery. I bought one, and since Mr. Kertész was signing copies of the book, I found an image in it that I admired and asked if he'd sign it. He gave me a somewhat puzzled look and said, "You'd like me to sign that one?" So much for my taste, as least as far as André Kertész was concerned.

I still treasure the book and still like the image.

[ejp626]

I knew most of those images fairly well, but it was a different experience to see them outside the pages of a book.

It's interesting - the difference in seeing the work in the flesh. The artist that surprised me most was Dali I think, due to the small scale... sometimes it can be disappointing - I know it sounds ridiculous, but even when I visited the Great Pyramid it was a bit of an anti-climax, I couldn't really grasp the scale or something - due to over-familiarity

Actually much of Dali's later work, as well as Metamorphosis of Narcissus, look just fine in person. But after seeing it for most of one's college years on dorm room posters, Persistance of Memory is a let down. It is tiny and you can't see it particularly well in a museum setting as everyone else is crowding in.

Edited January 16, 2011 by ejp626

[BillF]

I headed for the Gauguin ex. at Tate Modern only to find massive queues and no tickets available

I tried to see the big Van Gogh show in London last year but had the same experience as BillF with Gauguin - enormous queues (and not enough time to wait).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/16/gauguin-tate-modern-crowds

Edited January 16, 2011 by BillF

[A Lark Ascending]

"It's interesting - the difference in seeing the work in the flesh. The artist that surprised me most was Dali I think, due to the small scale... sometimes it can be disappointing - I know it sounds ridiculous, but even when I visited the Great Pyramid it was a bit of an anti-climax, I couldn't really grasp the scale or something - due to over-familiarity"

"Actually much of Dali's later work, as well as Metamorphosis of Narcissus, look just fine in person. But after seeing it for most of one's college years on dorm room posters, Persistance of Memory is a let down. It is tiny and you can't see it particularly well in a museum setting as everyone else is crowding in."

The opposite can also be true. I'm no art expert (my interest does not go much beyond reacting to classical LP covers and the links with the history of the time the paintings come from), but I recall seeing the Impressionist paintings in Paris in the very early 80s before they moved into the big railway station and being stunned by Van Gogh and Renoir. With the latter it was the way he portrayed the play of light on leaves so perfectly.

Bill. Hope you don't mind me asking but did your day job used to involve art? I seem to recall you mentioning something about lecturing. Apologies if I've dreamed that.

Edited January 16, 2011 by A Lark Ascending

[BillF]

"It's interesting - the difference in seeing the work in the flesh. The artist that surprised me most was Dali I think, due to the small scale... sometimes it can be disappointing - I know it sounds ridiculous, but even when I visited the Great Pyramid it was a bit of an anti-climax, I couldn't really grasp the scale or something - due to over-familiarity"

"Actually much of Dali's later work, as well as Metamorphosis of Narcissus, look just fine in person. But after seeing it for most of one's college years on dorm room posters, Persistance of Memory is a let down. It is tiny and you can't see it particularly well in a museum setting as everyone else is crowding in."

The opposite can also be true. I'm no art expert (my interest does not go much beyond reacting to classical LP covers and the links with the history of the time the paintings come from), but I recall seeing the Impressionist paintings in Paris in the very early 80s before they moved into the big railway station and being stunned by Van Gogh and Renoir. With the latter it was the way he portrayed the play of light on leaves so perfectly.

Bill. Hope you don't mind me asking but did your day job used to involve art? I seem to recall you mentioning something about lecturing. Apologies if I've dreamed that.

Yes, Bev. Art history was a lecturing subject.