September 25, 2020

Don McCullin at Tate Liverpool, September 16, 2020 – May 9, 2021

“Tate Liverpool presents a major retrospective of the legendary British photographer Sir Don McCullin. Renowned as one of Britain’s greatest living photographers, McCullin has captured images of conflict from around the world including Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Biafra. Often taken at great personal risk, these unforgettable photographs will be shown alongside McCullin’s work made in the north of England, his travel assignments and his long-term engagement with landscape. Originally shown at Tate Britain in spring 2019, the exhibition presents more than 200 photographs and showcases the scope and achievements of his career.

Don McCullin began taking photographs in 1958, documenting his surroundings and local community in his native Finsbury Park, London. In 1959 his photograph The Guvnors, a portrait of a notorious local gang, was published in The Observer, launching his career as a photojournalist. In 1961, McCullin travelled to Germany on his own initiative, funding the trip himself, to photograph the building of the Berlin Wall. The images he took won him a British Press Award and a permanent contract with The Observer. Working first for The Observer and then The Sunday Times Magazine, McCullin went on to capture major conflicts around the world from Vietnam and the Congo to Cyprus and Beirut. The exhibition includes some of McCullin’s most iconic and poignant photographs including Shell-shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue 1968 and Starving Twenty Four Year Old Mother with Child, Biafra 1968. Alongside McCullin’s hand-printed silver gelatin prints, the exhibition also includes his magazine spreads, contact sheets, helmet and the Nikon camera which took a bullet for him in Cambodia.” — Tate Liverpool

Don McCullin Protester, Cuban Missile Crisis, Whitehall, London 1962 © Don McCullin
Don McCullin Shell-shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue 1968,
printed 2013. ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries
of Scotland.Presented by the artist 2014 © Don McCullin
Don McCullin The Guvnors in their Sunday Suits, Finsbury Park, London 1958
© Don McCullin
Don McCullin Liverpool c. 1970 © Don McCullin
Don McCullin Catholic Youths Attacking British Soldiers in the Bogside of Derry, Londonderry 1971
© Don McCullin
Don McCullin Early shift, West Hartlepool steelworks, County Durham 1963 © Don McCullin

The exhibition was originally conceived by Simon Baker, Director of The Maison Européene de la Photographie, Paris, with Shoair Mavlian, Director of Photoworks, assisted by Aïcha Mehrez, Assistant Curator of Contemporary British Art, Tate Britain. The exhibition at Tate Liverpool is co-curated by Tamar Hemmes, Assistant Curator Tate Liverpool, and Aïcha Mehrez.

Images courtesy Tate Liverpool.

September 23, 2020

The Unity Project, Art that Inspires Us to Vote at Norman Rockwell Museum, October 17, 2020

“Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA announced a fresh artistic endeavor, ‘The Unity Project‘ designed to encourage American citizens to vote this November for the upcoming 2020 election. The Unity Project features six striking images from top illustrators, commissioned by the Museum to establish a camaraderie of unity and belonging among all Americans who share the common right to elect and vote in our country.

Engaging as an active citizen in our nation, the Norman Rockwell Museum is working in new ways with this arts-based civic project in support of democracy, highlighting original concepts from six leading contemporary illustrators including Mai Ly Degnan, Rudy Gutierrez, Anita Kunz, Tim O’Brien, Whitney Sherman, and Yuko Shimizu.” — Norman Rockwell Museum 

“Art has the power to inspire action, promote civic responsibility, and motivate change,” said Laurie Norton Moffatt, Director/CEO of Norman Rockwell Museum. “The Unity Project deploys the power of illustration to connect people from across the country to come together and exercise our common bond, which is the right to vote. This project reminds us that the United States Constitution gives power to the people to elect their government and carves out a new niche for the Museum, putting contemporary illustration to work in the world to inspire citizen engagement through powerful art.”

Mai Ly Degnan, Defend Democracy, 2020.
Digital. Mai Ly Degnan © 2020. All rights reserved.
Rudy Gutierrez, Humanity, Not Politics, 2020.
Acrylic, colored pencil, crayon on Bristol paper mounted on board.
Rudy Gutierrez © 2020. All rights reserved.
Anita Kunz, Every Vote Counts, 2020.
Acrylic on board. Anita Kunz © 2020. All rights reserved.
Tim O’Brien, Vote, 2020.
Oil on board. Tim O’Brien © 2020. All rights reserved.
Whitney Sherman, Vote: Defend Democracy, 2020.
Digital. Whitney Sherman © 2020. All rights reserved.
Yuko Shimizu, Defend Democracy (Lady Liberty), 2020.
Digital Design by Atelier Olschinsky Grafik und Design OG.
Yuko Shimizu © 2020. All rights reserved.

The new artwork will be at the Norman Rockwell Museum starting on October 17 as an addition to the Four Freedoms exhibition, Norman Rockwell: Imagining Freedom, which is making a celebratory return home to the Berkshires as the final stop after a 6-city world tour.  Following the exhibition, all six original paintings will be added to the Museum’s permanent collection of American Illustration Art.

Images courtesy Norman Rockwell Museum.

September 20, 2020

Lee Krasner: Living Colour at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, September 18, 2020 – January 10, 2021

“Lee Krasner’s works are characterized by incessant reinvention and exploration throughout her entire career: from her early self-portraits and life drawings to her exuberant, monumental works from the early 1960s, along with her Little Images from the late 1940s and her groundbreaking collages from the 1950s. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Lee Krasner rejected the idea of a ‘signature image’ because she found it overly rigid; the artist worked in series and constantly sought new means of authentic expression. After the death of several of her loved ones in the 1950s and a period of mourning in which her works took on umber tones, Krasner allowed light and color to burst back into her works in the 1960s.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Lee Krasner: Living Color, a retrospective devoted to this New York artist who was a pioneer in Abstract Expressionism. The show brings together a broad range of pieces, some of them never before shown in Europe. In this exhibition the public will be able to see the incessant reinvention and exploration that characterizes the oeuvre of Lee Krasner (1908–1984) throughout the 50 years of her career: from her earliest self-portraits and life drawings to her exuberant, monumental works from the early 1960’s, along with her Little Images from the late 1940’s and her groundbreaking collages from the 1950’s.” — Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Lee Krasner, Self-Portrait, ca. 1928. Oil on canvas, 76.5 x 63.8 cm. The
Jewish Museum, New York. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Courtesy Jewish Museum, New York.
Lee Krasner, Shattered Color, 1947. Oil on canvas 53.3 × 66 cm. Guild Hall Museum,
East Hampton, New York © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Lee Krasner, Mosaic Table, 1947. Mosaics and mixed mediums on wood.
Diameter 116.8 cm. Private collection © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York.
Lee Krasner, Composition, 1949. Oil on canvas, 96.7 x 70.6 cm. The
Philadelphia Museum of Art. © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Lee Krasner, Bald Eagle, 1955. Oil, paper, and canvas collage
on linen, 195.6 x 130.8 cm. Collection of Audrey Irmas, Los
Angeles © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Photo: Jonathan Urban.
Lee Krasner, Prophecy, 1956. Oil on cotton duck, 147.6
× 86.4 cm. Private collection © The Pollock-Krasner
Foundation. Courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York.
Photo: Christopher Stach.
Lee Krasner, Polar Stampede, 1960. Oil on canvas, 243.8 x 412.4 cm. The Doris and Donald
Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
© The Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York.
Lee Krasner, Combat, 1965. Oil on canvas 179 × 410.4 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Lee Krasner, Siren, 1966. Oil on canvas, 128.6 x 206.1 cm. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture
Garden, Washington DC © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Photo: Cathy Carver, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Lee Krasner, Palingenesis, 1971. Oil on canvas 208.3 × 340.4 cm. Pollock-Krasner Foundation,
New York © The Pollock-Krasner Foundation. Courtesy Kasmin Gallery, New York.
Lee Krasner, Imperative, 1976. Oil, charcoal, and paper on canvas, 127 x
127 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. © The Pollock-Krasner
Foundation. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Irving Penn, Lee Krasner, Springs, NY, 1972 © The Irving Penn Foundation.

Lee Krasner: Living Colour was curated by Eleanor Nairne, Barbican Art Gallery, and Lucía Agirre, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. It was organized by the Barbican Centre of London in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

Images courtesy Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

September 19, 2020

France-Lise McGurn at Kunthaus Centre d’art Pasquart, Biel/Bienne, September 19 – November 22, 2020

“France-Lise McGurn (b. 1983) is a Scottish artist, living and working in Glasgow, who paints on canvases as well as directly on walls, floors and the ceilings of exhibition spaces, creating an immersive and mobile experience. In her work she draws on a collected archive of images from films, club flyers and magazines and other platforms for popular culture, as well as her own experiences. These range from life in a city, partying and dreams to motherhood and female sexuality.

The found materials that McGurn collects are usually from past decades and have lost their original, immediate function. She makes drawings on paper loosely based on themes in her archive. Certain motifs that emerge from this become a repeated subject in a work, so that when the artist starts producing a wall painting, she has a bank of gestures, shapes and forms in her memory to source from. Because of this process, she feels she knows the figures and understands their context. The artist likens the viewer’s relationship with her figures to the experience in a club environment, where other people are unfamiliar yet close.” — Kunthaus Centre d’art Pasquart

2020 France-Lise McGurn, Percussia, Simon Lee Gallery, London, Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. © France-Lise McGurn.
2020 France-Lise McGurn, Percussia, Simon Lee Gallery, London, Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. © France-Lise McGurn.
2020 France-Lise McGurn, Percussia, Simon Lee Gallery, London, Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. © France-Lise McGurn.
2020 France-Lise McGurn, Percussia, Simon Lee Gallery, London, Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. © France-Lise McGurn.
2020 France-Lise McGurn, In Emotia, Tramway Glasgow, UK, Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. © France-Lise McGurn.
2020 France-Lise McGurn, In Emotia, Tramway Glasgow, UK, Installation view. Courtesy the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. © France-Lise McGurn.
France-Lise McGurn, Earth Girls are easy, 2019. Courtesy the artist and Simon Lee Gallery. © France-Lise McGurn.

Exhibition was curated by Felicity Lunn, director Kunthaus Centre d’art Pasquart.

Images courtesy Kunthaus Centre d’art Pasquart, .

September 14, 2020

Back to Nature. Contemporary Arts at Villa Borghese, Rome, September 15 – December 13, 2020

The park of Villa Borghese, one of the most famous and loved historical parks in Rome, will host Back to Nature. Contemporary Art in Villa Borghese, curated by Costantino D’Orazio. An unprecedented exhibition project that reflects on the future and on the need to build a new relationship with nature in this complicated period of climate change and pandemic. On display, with free admission, are a series of installations designed to be exhibited outdoors by internationally renowned artists Andreco, Mario Merz, Mimmo Paladino, Benedetto Pietromarchi, Davide Rivalta, Grazia Toderi, Edoardo Tresoldi and Nico Vascellari.

Back to Nature represents an absolute novelty within the cultural programming of the city. It is the first coordinated project with contemporary art installations which are part of a strategy to enhance the historical parks of the capital. The works will dialogue thanks to their transparency, which will allow you to admire them in harmony with the nature of the park and in perfect coexistence with each other. Walking in the park will allow visitors to enjoy the interaction between the contemporary works of art, the architecture of the park and the plants that inhabit it.

ANDRECO, Drops (2020)@ Simon d’Exéa
BENEDETTO PIETROMARCHI (Museo Bilotti) @ Simon d’Exéa
BENEDETTO PIETROMARCHI (Museo Bilotti) @ Simon d’Exéa
BENEDETTO PIETROMARCHI, 2020 (Museo Bilotti)
DAVIDE RIVALTA, Buffalo, 2020 @ Simon d’Exéa
MARIO MERZ, Untitled (Port Igloo), 1998 (detail) @ Simon d’Exéa
MIMMO PALADINO, Untitled (Flag for Villa Borghese), 2020
MIMMO PALADINO, Untitled (Flag for Villa Borghese), 2020
EDOARDO TRESOLDI, Etherea (detail) @ Simon d’Exéa

Exhibition was organized by Zètema Progetto Cultura and curated by Costantino D’Orazio.

Images courtesy Villa Borghese.

September 13, 2020

Betye Saar: Call and Response at The Morgan Library & Museum, September 12, 2020 – January 31, 2021

“The Morgan Library & Museum proudly announces a solo exhibition of work by the Los Angeles–based artist Betye Saar (b. 1926). Best known for incisive collages and assemblages that confront and reclaim racist images, Saar emerged in the 1960s as part of a wave of artists, many of them African American, who embraced the medium of assemblage. She went on to become one of the most significant artists working in this medium today. Betye Saar: Call and Response is the first exhibition to focus on Saar’s sketchbooks and examine the relationship between her found objects, sketches, and finished works.

As an early champion of Saar’s work, the Morgan acquired a series of six collages that will be displayed in full for the first time as part of this exhibition. A Secretary to the Spirits (1975) is the outcome of an invitation by author and activist Ishmael Reed (b. 1938) to create a series of collages for his poetry book of the same name. In another form of ‘call and response,’ each of Saar’s collages is based on and named for one of Reed’s poems. Saar employed a layered approach to echo Reed’s poetry, which combines references to the ancient and the contemporary, the spiritual and the mundane.” — The Morgan Library & Museum

Betye Saar, Eyes of the Beholder, 1994.
Paint on metal and wood serving tray, with painted
metal baking pan and metal ornaments.
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects,
Los Angeles, California. Photography by © Museum
Associates/LACMA, © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, Sanctuary Awaits, 1996.
Wood, glass bottles, metal wire, palm fronds,
compass, sheet tin, screws, and nails.
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los
Angeles, California. Photography by © Museum
Associates; LACMA, © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, A Call to Arms, 1997.
Washboard with stenciled lettering, toy guns, compass, clock,
wood picture frame, printed photo, crumb brush, twine, bullets, wood
and metal spools, and Black Power fists.
Collection of David Packard and M. Bernadette Castor.
Photography TK, © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, A Loss of Innocence, 1998.
Dress with printed labels, wood hanger, chair, and framed
photo on block. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects,
Los Angeles, California. Photography by Kris Walters.
© Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, I’ll Bend But I Will Not Break, 1998.
Ironing board with printed images and text, flat iron, chain, bedsheet with appliqués, wood clothespins,
and rope. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Lynda and Stewart Resnick through the 2018 Collectors
Committee © Betye Saar. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California.
Betye Saar, The Edge of Ethics, 2010.
Metal cage, figures, chain, glass bottle, and fan coral.
Collection of Iris and Adam Singer.
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects,
Los Angeles, California.© Betye Saar
Betye Saar, Sketchbook page for Memory Window for Anastacia , May 3, 1994.
Watercolor and ballpoint pen. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects,
Los Angeles, California. © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, Sketchbook page for Eyes of the Beholder, November 6, 1994.
Watercolor and ballpoint pen. Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects,
Los Angeles, California. © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, Page from Haiti sketchbook, July 24, 1974.
Watercolor, ballpoint pen, and ink.
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects,
Los Angeles, California. © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, Page from U.S.A. sketchbook, Santa Fe, Museum of
International Folk Art, 1988–91. Watercolor and ballpoint pen.
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects,
Los Angeles, California. © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, Spread from Black Dolls sketchbook, San Diego,
Mingei International Museum, May 24, 2015.
Photocopy, ink, watercolor, marker, and collage of paper on board.
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles,
California. © Betye Saar.
Betye Saar, A Secretary to the Spirits
(from the series A Secretary to the Spirits [for Ishmael Reed] ), 1975.
Collage of cut printed papers and fabric, with matte and
metallic paint and ink stamps, on laminated paperboard.
The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of the Modern and
Contemporary Collectors Committee.
Photography by Janny Chiu. © BetyeSaar.

Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the exhibition at the Morgan is coordinated by Dr. Rachel Federman, the Morgan’s Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawings.

Images courtesy The Morgan Library & Museum.

September 9, 2020

Isa Genzken Paris New York at David Zwirner Paris, August 29 – October 10, 2020

“David Zwirner presents an exhibition of recent work by the German artist Isa Genzken, on view at the gallery’s Paris location. This will be the artist’s fifth solo exhibition with David Zwirner and her first solo show in Paris since 2010. The exhibition coincides with a major presentation of Genzken’s early work at the Kunstmuseum Basel.

With a career spanning more than four decades, Genzken has incessantly probed the shifting boundaries between art, design, architecture, media, technology, and the individual. Her prodigious oeuvre frequently incorporates seemingly disparate materials and imagery to create complex, enigmatic works that range in media, including sculpture, painting, collage, drawing, film, and photography. Deeply attuned to both the legacies of the twentieth-century avant-garde and the materials and forms of twenty-first-century global society, Genzken’s work​ viscerally ​interrogates the impact of our increasingly commodified and interconnected culture on our everyday lives.

The show features an installation of Genzken’s recent ‘tower’ sculptures. These works stem from the artist’s decades-long fascination with architecture and urban skylines. At once makeshift and monumental, these architectonic forms consist of vertical structures of medium-density fiberboard adorned with mirror foil, spray paint, and other media, complicating the distinctions between interior and exterior space.” — David Zwirner

Installation views of Isa Genzken: Paris New York 2020 at David Zwirner Paris  © Isa Genzken / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Courtesy the artist, David Zwirner and Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne. 

September 5, 2020

Jean-Luc Mylayne: The Autumn of Paradise at Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, September 10 – November 11, 2020

“Jean-Luc Mylayne: The Autumn of Paradise is the first solo exhibition of this French artist to be held in the Netherlands. For over forty years Jean-Luc Mylayne (1946) has focused on encountering birds in their natural environment and capturing their fleeting presence with his camera. In his images the birds are not only protagonists, but also equal conceptual partners. The exhibition comprises a selection of over forty works made between 1979 and 2008. Using analogue photography, making unique prints, concentrating on the same subject for decades, and devoting prolonged periods of time to the creation of each individual work, Jean-Luc Mylayne has created an artistic oeuvre that is as radical as it is poetic, and which remains unparalleled to this day.” — Huis Marseille

The exhibition was conceived as a visual portrait of the deep conceptual connection between the work of Mylayne and of Van Gogh. Now Mylayne’s work is making the same journey that Van Gogh made over 130 years ago, but in the opposite direction: from Arles to Amsterdam.

N° 25, juillet août 1980, 33 x 33 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 25, July August 1980, 33 x 33 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 301, mars avril 2005, 123 x 123 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 301, March April 2005, 123 x 123 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 368, février mars 2006, 123 x 153 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 368, February March 2006, 123 x 153 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 450, janvier février mars 2007, 183 x 228 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 450, January February March 2007, 183 x 228 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 524, février mars avril 2007, 228 x 183 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 524, February March April 2007, 228 x 183 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 561, janvier février 2008, 183 x 228 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

N° 561, January February 2008, 183 x 228 cm © Jean-Luc Mylayne

Huis Marseille and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam embarked on a unique collaboration for this exhibition. Simultaneously with the exhibition in Huis Marseille, the Van Gogh Museum will be presenting a number of works by Mylayne as part of the series Van Gogh Inspires, illuminating the link between Mylayne’s work and that of Van Gogh.

The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles, where it was first shown in 2018. It was curated by Bice Curiger, the Artistic Director of the Fondation Vincent van Gogh in Arles.

Images courtesy Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam.

September 2, 2020

Monet and Chicago at Art Institute of Chicago, September 5, 2020 – January 18, 2021

The Art Institute of Chicago presents Monet and Chicago. The exhibition explores the city’s unique relationship with this Impressionist artist, showcasing the Art Institute’s exemplary holdings alongside works from esteemed Chicago-based collections.

“Monet’s work is a vital part of the Art Institute’s identity. Today, the museum’s 33 paintings and 13 drawings constitute the largest collection of works by the artist outside of Paris. Among the more than 70 paintings in the exhibition—from the Art Institute’s holdings and Chicago-based collections—are beloved major works as well as rarely seen still lifes, figural scenes, seascapes, and landscapes, spanning his long career from early caricatures made at Le Havre to the last splendid canvases inspired by his garden and water lily pond at Giverny. Monet and Chicago also benefits from new art-historical research and in-depth scientific study of his materials and techniques and offers an opportunity to look more closely at the artist’s oeuvre through our everadvancing understanding of his creative process.” — Art Institute of Chicago

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Claude Monet. On the Bank of the Seine, Bennecourt, 1868. The Art Institute of Chicago, Potter Palmer Collection.

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Claude Monet. The Artist’s House at Argenteuil, 1873. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

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Claude Monet. Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

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Claude Monet. Bordighera, 1884. The Art Institute of Chicago, Potter Palmer Collection.

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Claude Monet. Stack of Wheat (Thaw, Sunset), 1890/91. The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel C. Searle.

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Claude Monet. Water Lily Pond, 1900. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection.

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Claude Monet. Venice, Palazzo Dario, 1908. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection.

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Claude Monet. Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather, 1900. The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mrs. Mortimer B. Harris.

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Claude Monet. Water Lilies, 1906. The Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection.

Monet and Chicago is organized by Gloria Groom, Chair and David and Mary Winton Green Curator of Painting and Sculpture of Europe at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Images courtesy Art Institute of Chicago.

August 31, 2020

Gregory Halpern: Soleil cou coupé (Let the Sun Beheaded Be) at Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, September 8 – October 18, 2020

“American photographer Gregory Halpern—laureate of the 2018 edition of Immersion, a French-American Photography Commission—chose Guadeloupe as the destination for his residency, guided by the island’s history and the poetry of Aimé Césaire (1913-2008). Halpern set out to discover the island’s people, fauna and flora but was fascinated, too, by the burden of history and its traces in everyday surroundings. The exhibition ‘Soleil cou coupé’ (‘Let the Sun Beheaded Be’) is accompanied by Halpern’s monograph of the same name, published by Aperture. The book includes a preface by Clément Chéroux, former Senior Curator of Photography at SFMOMA and the photographer’s mentor throughout his residency.” — Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson

“When asked about the reasons he chose Guadeloupe for his project, Gregory Halpern replies: ‘I think I knew I would find a certain form of surrealism there.’ Indeed, there is something in his photographs of the Caribbean surrealism incarnated by the writer Aimé Césaire. In three successive journeys—the longest of which, in the spring of 2019, lasted two months—Halpern traveled to Guadeloupe as part of Immersion, a French-American Photography Commission of the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès. Every day, from late morning until sunset, he set out to photograph what he saw. With the perseverance of a gold digger sifting through river sand in the hope of finding a nugget, he scoured the island, most often on foot. What brought Halpern’s process close to that of surrealist wandering was, first of all, the way he set out to photograph. As he had already done elsewhere, he laid himself open to receiving what the place had to give.” […] — Excerpt from the essay “GH/971” by Clément Chéroux

Images: Gregory Halpern, Untitled, from the series Let the Sun Beheaded Be, 2019, courtesy of the artist © Gregory Halpern

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Gregory_Halpern ©_Gregory_Halpern

Gregory Halpern © Gregory Halpern

The title of the show, Soleil Cou Coupé (Let the Sun Beheaded Be), is borrowed from Martinican writer Aimé Césaire (1913-2008), whose poetry inspired Gregory Halpern during his time in Guadeloupe.

Gregory Halpern: Soleil cou coupé was curated by Clément Chéroux in collaboration with Agnès Sire.

Images courtesy Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson.

August 28, 2020

Mass Ornament: Pleasure, Play, and What Lies Beneath at South Etna Montauk, opens September 3, 2020

“The mass is forced to contemplate itself (mass meetings, mass demonstrations). The mass is always present to itself and often in the aesthetically seductive form of an ornament or an emotionally moving image.” — Siegfried Kracauer, The Mass Ornament (1927)

“Philosopher Siegfried Kracauer was among the first twentieth century thinkers to seriously contemplate the seductive surfaces and ornamentation of mass culture. An early theorist of cinema and one of the founders of the Frankfurt School of sociopolitical thought, he contemplated the ways popular culture and modern loci of leisurely pleasure—amusement parks, shopping arcades, dance halls, cinema, vernacular and press photographs—contain deeper revelations about the contradictions and complexities of our society. Having emigrated to the US during World War II, Kracauer focused in particular upon what he called ‘the ostentatious display of surface’ that characterized his new American surroundings, and intuited beneath the surface a host of sociological meanings in what are often dismissed as superficial forms.

Beginning September 3rd, and borrowing Kracauer’s title, the exhibition Mass Ornament: Pleasure, Play, and What Lies Beneath at South Etna Montauk takes liberties with the philosopher’s critical lens, transposing it to a twenty-first century exploration of pleasure and ornamentation, and the secrets they may conceal, in the work of a diverse group of artists and designers: Derrick Adams, Thomas Barger, Louis Fratino, Terri Friedman, Frank Haines, Varnette P. Honeywood, Ak Jansen, Nikki Maloof, Ohad Meromi, Ruby Neri, Gaetano Pesce, Rob Pruitt, Walter Robinson, Brian Rochefort, Jennifer Rochlin, Ugo Rondinone, Bruce M. Sherman, Katie Stout, and Iiu Susiraja.” — South Etna Montauk

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Derrick Adams, Floater 88, 2020. Acrylic paint, pencil, fabric on paper collage, on paper; each: 50 x 50 in (127 x 127 cm) overall: 50 x 100 in (127 x 254 cm). Courtesy the artist, Salon 94, and South Etna Montauk.

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Terri Friedman, Laughter is Carbonated Holiness, 2020. Cotton, chenille, wool, acrylic fibers; 41 x 54 in (104.1 x 137.2 cm). Courtesty the artist and South Etna Montauk.

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Varnette Honeywood, Let’s Party, 1980. Collage on board; 30 x 40 in (76.2 x 101.6 cm). Courtesy the Eric Firestone Gallery and South Etna Montauk.

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Gaetano Pesce, Pratt Chair #7 1984/2018 (Red), 2019. Polyurethane resin, Smooth-On pigment; 37 x 19 x 20 in (94 x 48.3 x 50.8 cm). Courtesy the artist, Salon 94, and South Etna Montauk.

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Brian Rochefort, Paint Can #5, 2019. Ceramic, glaze; 9 1/2 x 10 x 10 in (24.1 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm). Courtesy the artist and South Etna Montauk.

Mass Ornament: Pleasure, Play, and What Lies Beneath has been organized by curator and writer Alison M. Gingeras, who collaborated with artist Katie Stout to design the installation.

August 25, 2020

The Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965 at Whitney Museum of American Art, through May 8, 2022*

“This summer the Whitney debuts a complete re-installation of the Museum’s extraordinary holdings of early and mid-twentieth century American art. The Whitney’s Collection: Selections from 1900 to 1965 traces major art historical movements and genres, presenting 120 works by more than seventy artists, including Elizabeth Catlett, Elsie Driggs, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Jasper Johns, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Marisol, Joan Mitchell, Archibald Motley, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keeffe, Kay Sage, and Andy Warhol. The exhibition reflects upon the enduring influence of the Museum’s history on the institution’s current mission, particularly the claim made by curator Hermon More at the opening of the Museum in 1931: ‘We look to the artist to lead the way’.” — Whitney Museum of American Art

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Charles Demuth, My Egypt, 1927. Oil, fabricated chalk, and graphite pencil on composition board, 35 15/16 × 30 in. (91.3 × 76.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

94.171

Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), Summer Days, 1936. Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 × 30 1/8 in. (91.8 × 76.5 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © 2019 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Alexander Calder (1898-1976), Calder’s Circus, 1926-31. Wire, wood, metal, cloth, yarn, paper, cardboard, leather, string, rubber tubing, corks, buttons, rhinestones, pipe cleaners, and bottle caps, 54 × 94 1/4 × 94 1/4 in. (137.2 × 239.4 × 239.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © 2019 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Edward Hopper, Early Sunday Morning, 1930. Oil on canvas, 35 3/16 × 60 1/4 in. (89.4 × 153 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © 2019 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Edward Hopper, Railroad Sunset, 1929. Oil on canvas, 29 5/16 × 48 1/8 in. (74.5 × 122.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © 2019 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

51.17

Jacob Lawrence, War Series: Going Home, 1947. Tempera on composition board, 16 1/8 × 20 3/16 in. (41 × 51.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © 2019 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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Edward Clark, Winter Bitch, 1959. Acrylic on canvas, 77 × 77 in. (195.6 × 195.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

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Norman Lewis (1909-1979), American Totem, 1960. Oil on canvas, 73 1/2 × 44 7/8 in. (186.7 × 114 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © Norman Lewis. Courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

85.41

Edward Ruscha, Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights, 1962. Oil, house paint, ink, and graphite pencil on canvas, 66 15/16 × 133 1/8 in. (170 × 338.1 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © Ed Ruscha

2016.16

Rosalyn Drexler, Marilyn Pursued by Death, 1963. Acrylic and silver gelatin photograph on canvas, 49 7/8 × 40 in. (126.7 × 101.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © 2019 Rosalyn Drexler / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and Garth Greenan Gallery, New York

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Marisol, Women and Dog, 1963-64. Wood, plaster, synthetic polymer, and taxidermied dog head, 73 9/16 × 76 5/8 × 26 3/4 in. (186.8 × 194.6 × 67.9 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. © 2019 Estate of Marisol / Albright-Knox Art Gallery / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

This exhibition is organized by David Breslin, DeMartini Family Curator and Director of the Collection, with Margaret Kross, senior curatorial assistant, and Roxanne Smith, curatorial assistant.

Images courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art.

*The Whitney Museum of American Art plans to reopen to the public on September 3, 2020. The Museum will operate at no more than twenty-five percent of its total capacity to ensure proper physical distancing. Pay-what-you-wish admission will be offered to all through September 28, 2020. All visitors and members will need to reserve timed-entry tickets in advance on whitney.org.