May 26, 2018

Elliott Erwitt: Pittsburgh 1950 at International Center of Photography (ICP), May 23 – September 2, 2018

“In 1950 Elliott Erwitt, then just twenty-two years old, set out to capture Pittsburgh’s transformation from an industrial city into a modern metropolis. Commissioned by Roy Stryker, the mastermind behind the large-scale documentary photography projects launched by the US government during the Great Depression, Erwitt shot hundreds of frames. His images recorded the city’s communities against the backdrop of urban change, highlighting his quiet observations with the playful wit that has defined his style for over five decades. After only four months, Erwitt was drafted into the army and sent to Germany, leaving his negatives behind in Stryker’s Pittsburgh Photographic Library. The negatives remained at the Pennsylvania Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh for decades until Vaughn Wallace, now a senior photo editor at National Geographic, rediscovered the archive. Elliott Erwitt: Pittsburgh 1950 was organized by Assistant Curator Claartje van Dijk in collaboration with the photographer. The exhibition was made possible with the support of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.” — ICP

Elliott Erwitt, Children on Beelen Street, Pittsburgh, PA, October 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Fifth Avenue Downtown, Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Salvation Army Singers, Pittsburgh, PA , 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Downtown Hat Shop Window, Pittsburgh, PA, September 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Beelen Street Overlooking Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, The View Looking toward Downtown Pittsburgh from Oakland, Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Schenley Park at Night, Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Snow Scene in Mt. Washington District during “The Big Snow,” Pittsburgh, PA, December 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Crowd at Armistice Day Parade, Pittsburgh, PA, November 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Fifth Avenue Downtown, Pittsburgh, PA, December 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Poultry Shop on Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, September 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Section near Penn Incline, Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, Section around Tenth Street Bridge across Monongahela River, Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Elliott Erwitt, One of Pittsburgh’s Myriad Bridges That Give It the Nickname “The City of Bridges,” Pittsburgh, PA, 1950. © Elliott Erwitt/Magnum Photos, Courtesy of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Images courtesy International Center of Photography.

Title photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary.

May 26, 2018

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment at International Center of Photography (ICP), May 23 – September 2, 2018

“Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment examines Cartier-Bresson’s influential publication, widely considered to be one of the most important photobooks of the twentieth century. Pioneering for its emphasis on the photograph itself as a unique narrative form, The Decisive Moment was described by Robert Capa as “a Bible for photographers.” Originally titled Images à la Sauvette (“images on the run”) in the French, the book was published in English with a new title, The Decisive Moment, which unintentionally imposed the motto which would define Cartier-Bresson’s work. The exhibition details how the decisions made by the collaborators in this major project—including Cartier-Bresson, French art publisher Tériade, American publisher Simon and Schuster, and Henri Matisse, who designed the book’s cover—have shaped our understanding of Cartier-Bresson’s photographs. Through vintage gelatin silver prints, first-edition publications, periodicals, and correspondence, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment brings new insights to this iconic work. The exhibition was organized by the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson.” — ICP

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment (Simon & Schuster, 1952), p. 16, “Chez Gégène,” Joinville-le-Pont, France, 1938. © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment (Simon & Schuster, 1952), p. 19-20, Sunday on the Banks of the Seine, France, 1938. © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment (Simon & Schuster, 1952), p. 32, Tivoli, Italy, 1933. © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment (Simon & Schuster, 1952), p. 57, Downtown, Manhattan, New York, United States, 1947. © Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos.

Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Decisive Moment (Simon & Schuster, 1952), p. 127–128, Last Days of The Kuomintang, Shanghai, China, December 1948–January 1949. © Henri Cartier- Bresson/Magnum Photos.

Images courtesy International Center of Photography.  

Title photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary. 

May 25, 2018

Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms at New-York Historical Society, May 25 – September 2, 2018

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

“Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms explores the odyssey of humanity’s greatest ideals. The Four Freedoms have inspired dozens of national constitutions across the globe, yet Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1941 declaration that the United States was willing to fight for Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear did not turn out to be the immediate triumph envisioned by the president.  As the nation found itself sliding ever closer to direct involvement in World War II, the underlying meaning of his words captured surprisingly little attention among Americans. 

It would take the continuous efforts of the White House, the Office of War Information, and scores of patriotic artists to give the Four Freedoms new life.  Most prominent among those artists was Norman Rockwell. His images, first published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1943, became a national sensation and the definitive embodiment of the president’s ideals. When Eleanor Roosevelt convinced United Nations delegates to include  the Four Freedoms in their postwar statement of human rights, FDR’s words—now forever entwined with Rockwell’s images—achieved immortality.

The Four Freedoms resonate as strongly today as they did in their time.” — Introductory Wall Text

Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms debuts at the New-York Historical Society as part of an international seven-city tour. Organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA—where the tour culminates in 2020 after traveling to five additional U.S. venues as well as Normandy, France.

Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms is co-curated by Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, deputy director and chief curator, Norman Rockwell Museum, and James J. Kimble, Ph.D., associate professor of communication & the arts, Seton Hall University. The New-York Historical Society presentation is coordinated by Wendy Ikemoto, associate curator of American art. Additionally, a National Advisory Board comprising scholars, artists, and museum professionals has provided guidance and expertise for the exhibition.

May 24, 2018

Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams at The Museum of Modern Art, May 26, 2018 – January 1, 2019

“‘I am a designer, an architect, a sculptor, engineer, artist,’ said Bodys Isek Kingelez (1948–2015). In the late 1970s in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), which was rapidly redefining itself following independence from Belgium, Kingelez began making intricately constructed sculptures of miniature buildings and cities. Eliding the boundaries between artistic categories,they embody his dreams for his country, his continent, and the world. These ‘extreme maquettes,’ as he called them, present models for a more harmonious society of the future and offer optimistic alternatives to his experience of city life in Kinshasa, where urban planning and infrastructure were often unable to keep pace with exponential growth and development. 

Kingelez’s vibrant, audacious sculptures were created from an incredible range of everyday materials and found objects—colored paper, commercial packaging, plastic, soda cans, and bottle caps—all meticulously transformed and arranged. While he didn’t travel outside of Zaire until 1989, Kingelez was deeply attuned to international affairs, and his work addressed health crises, shifting geopolitical alliances, and global locations, from Canada to Japan. Kinshasa’s layered architectural history was also a source of inspiration, and he referenced its colonial-era Art Deco buildings and the ambitious structures erected post-Independence. Infusing these diverse concerns with his inventive vision, Kingelez explored the multivalent realities and potentials of the contemporary city, proposing, in his own words, a ‘better, more peaceful world’.” — Introductory Wall Text

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Untitled. c. 1980. Paper, paperboard, and other various materials, 32 15/16 × 14 7/8 × 9 5/8″ (83.6 × 37.8 × 24.5 cm). Private collection, Paris. Photograph by Kleinefenn.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Paris Nouvel. 1989. Paper, paperboard, and other various materials, 33 7/16 × 24 × 27 9/16″ (85 × 61 × 70 cm). Long-term loan from the Centre national des arts plastiques, France to the Château d’Oiron, France, FNAC 981003. © Cnap (France) / droits résérves; photograph by Frédéric Pignoux, Studio Ludo.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Stars Palme Bouygues. 1989. Paper, paperboard, and other various materials, 39 3/8 × 15 3/4 × 15 3/4″ (100 × 40 × 40 cm). van Lierde collection, Brussels. Vincent Everarts Photography Brussels.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Belle Hollandaise. 1991. Paper, paperboard, and other various materials, 21 5/8 × 31 11/16 × 22 1/16″ (55 × 80.5 × 56 cm). Collection Groninger Museum. Photograph by Marten de Leeuw.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Kinshasa la Belle. 1991. Paper, paperboard, and other various materials, 24 13/16 × 21 5/8 × 31 1/2″ (63 × 55 × 80 cm). CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva. © Bodys Isek Kingelez / Photo: Maurice Aeschimann. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Place de la Ville. 1993. Paper, paperboard, plastic, and other various materials, 15 3/4 × 33 7/16 × 29 1/2″ (40 × 85 × 75 cm). Courtesy The Museum of Everything.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Africanisch. 1994. Paper, paperboard, plastic, and other various materials, 19 11/16 × 22 7/16 × 24″ (50 × 57 × 61 cm). Private collection, Paris. Photograph by Kleinefenn.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Kimbembele Ihunga. 1994. Paper, paperboard, plastic, and other various materials, 51 3/16″ x 72 13/16″ x 10′ 5″ (130 × 185 × 320 cm). CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva. © Bodys Isek Kingelez / Photo: Maurice Aeschimann. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). U.N. 1995. Paper, paperboard, and other various materials, 35 13/16 × 29 1/8 × 20 7/8″ (91 × 74 × 53 cm), irreg. CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva. © Bodys Isek Kingelez / Photo: Maurice Aeschimann. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Ville Fantôme. 1996. Paper, paperboard, plastic and other various materials, 47 1/4” × 8′ 8 7⁄16″× 7′ 10 1⁄2″ (120 × 570 × 240 cm). CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva. © Bodys Isek Kingelez / Photo: Maurice Aeschimann. Courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Sports Internationaux. 1997. Paper, plastic, and other various materials, 35 7/16 × 33 7/16 × 9 13/16″ (90 × 85 × 25 cm), irreg. Purchased 2013 with funds from Tim Fairfax, AM, through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation. Collection Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane. © QAGOMA, Natasha Harth.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Ville de Sète 3009. 2000. Paper, paperboard, plastic, and other various materials, 31 1/2 × 9′ 10 1⁄8″ × 6′ 10 11⁄16″ (80 × 300 × 210 cm). Collection Musée International des Arts Modestes (MIAM), Sète, France. © Pierre Schwartz ADAGP; courtesy Musée International des Arts Modestes (MIAM), Sète, France.

Bodys Isek Kingelez (Congolese, 1948-2015). Nippon Tower. 2005. Paper, paperboard, plastic, and other various materials, 26 3/8 × 13 3/8 × 8 11/16″ (67 × 34 × 22 cm), irreg. Courtesy Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels. Vincent Everarts Photography Brussels.

Bodys Isek Kingelex with Étoile Rouge Congolaise in Nantes, 1993. Courtesy André Magnin, Paris; photograph by André Magnin.

Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams is organized by Sarah Suzuki, Curator, with Hillary Reder, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art. Exhibition design is produced in collaboration with the artist Carsten Höller.

Images courtesy The Museum of Modern Art.

May 23, 2018

History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift at The Met Fifth Avenue, May 22 – September 23, 2018

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

“This installation of paintings, sculptures, and quilts celebrates the creative accomplishments of contemporary African American artists from the southeastern United States and a transformative gift of fifty-seven artworks from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation of Atlanta, Georgia. Remarkably diverse in media and technique, the selection nonetheless suggests cultural and aesthetic bonds in the use of found and repurposed materials, an approach fostered by the distressed economic conditions of the post-industrial rural South. The subjects these works address are likewise varied, rooted in personal history and experience as well as regional identity—particularly common legacies of slavery and post-Reconstruction oppression under the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws—and national and international events. 

History Refused to Die spotlights the mixed-media creations of Thornton Dial—whose monumental 2004 assemblage provides the exhibition’s title—and the renowned quilters of Gee’s Bend (now Boykin), Alabama, including Annie Mae Young, Lucy Mingo, Loretta Pettway, and other members of the extended Pettway family. Others featured here include Nellie Mae Rowe, Lonnie Holley, and Ronald Lockett. Over time, the label “outsider” has been applied to self-taught artists like these who used everyday or discarded materials to create work for themselves and their communities, without the expectation it would been seen in galleries or museums. Presented in the context of The Met’s collection, this exhibition aspires to challenge that inadequate description and to encourage an expanded understanding of their legacies within the broader canon of contemporary American art.” — Introductory Wall Text

Thornton Dial, Victory in Iraq, 2004

Center: Thornton Dial, History Refused to Die, 2004

Left: Lucy T. Pettway, “Housetop” and “Bricklayer” blocks with bars, ca. 1955. Center: Mary Elizabeth Kennedy, Housetop-nine-block “Log Cabin” variation, ca. 1935. Right: Annie Mae Young, Work-clothes quilt with center medallion of strips, 1976

Left: Loretta Pettway, Housetop, 1963. Center: Linda Pettway, “Housetop” – eight-block variation, ca. 1975. Right: Lucy T. Pettway, “Housetop” and “Bricklayer” blocks with bar, ca. 1955

Installation view

Purvis Young, Locked Up Their Minds, 1972

Left: Four works by Nellie Mae Rowe

Thornton Dial: Left to right: 9/11: Interrupted by the Morning News, 2002; African Athlete, 1998; January 20, 2009, January 20, 2009

Left: Lonnie Holley, Ruling for the Child, 1982. Right: Thornton Dial, The End of November: The Birds That Didn’t Learn How to Fly, 2007

Installation view

Right: Joe Minter, Four Hundred Years of Free Labor, 1995

Thornton Dial, Shadows of the Field, 2008

Installation view

Ronald Lockett, The Enemy Amongst Us, 1995

Left: Lucy Mingo, Blocks and Strips work-clothes quilt, 1959. Right: Thornton Dial, Powder Plan, 2013

Left to right: Loretta Pettway, Lazy Gal “Bars”, ca. 1965; Emma Lee Pettway Campbell, Blocks and strips work-clothes quilt, ca. 1950; Linda Diane Bennett, Bricklayer variation, ca. 1970; Lucy Mingo, Blocks and Strips work-clothes quilt, 1959

History Refused to Die: Highlights from the Souls Grown Deep Foundation Gift is organized by Randall Griffey, Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Amelia Peck, Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Decorative Arts and manager of The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art at The Met. The exhibition was originated by Marla Prather, former curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Met.

May 22, 2018

Canova’s George Washington at The Frick Collection, May 23 – September 23, 2018

“In 1816, the General Assembly of North Carolina commissioned a full-length statue of George Washington to stand in the rotunda of the State Capitol, in Raleigh. Thomas Jefferson, believing that no American sculptor was up to the task, recommended Antonio Canova (1757– 1822), then one of Europe’s most celebrated artists. The first and only work Canova created for the United States, the statue depicted the nation’s first president in ancient Roman garb—all’antica armor—per Jefferson’s urging, drafting his farewell address to the states. It was unveiled to great acclaim in 1821. Tragically, a decade later, a fire swept through the State Capitol, reducing the statue to a few charred fragments. On May 23, The Frick Collection presents Canova’s George Washington, an exhibition that examines the history of the artist’s lost masterpiece. The show brings together for the first time all of the objects connected to the creation of the sculpture—including a remarkable life-sized modello that has never before left Italy—and tells the extraordinary transatlantic story of this monumental work. — The Frick Collection

Antonio Canova. Modello for George Washington, 1818. Plaster, 66 9/16 × 39 3/8 × 54 3/4 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno; photo Fabio Zonta

Antonio Canova. Primo Pensiero for George Washington, 1817. Terracotta, 13 3/8 × 11 7/16 × 8 1/16 inches. Museo di Roma, Roma © Roma – Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali – Museo di Roma; Photo: Mauro Magliani

Antonio Canova. Bozzetto for George Washington, 1817. Plaster, 20 1/16 × 9 1/16 × 17 11/16 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno; photo Fabio Zonta

Antonio Canova. Bozzetto for George Washington, 1817. Plaster, 31 1/2 × 18 1/8 × 26 3/4 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno; photo Fabio Zonta

Antonio Canova. Bozzetto for George Washington, 1817. Plaster, 31 1/2 × 18 1/8 × 25 9/16 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno; photo Fabio Zonta

Antonio Canova. Study for George Washington, 1817. Graphite on paper, 3 1/8 × 3 15/16 inches. Bassano del Grappa, Museo Civico. Su gentile concessione MBA Musei Biblioteca Archivio di Bassano del Grappa

Antonio Canova. George Washington, 1818. Plaster, 27 9/16 × 18 1/8 × 14 9/16 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno; photo Fabio Zonta

Sir Thomas Lawrence. Antonio Canova, 1815–19. Oil on canvas, 35 7/16 × 28 3/8 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno

Gilbert Stuart. George Washington, 1795. Oil on canvas, 29 1/4 x 24 inches. The Frick Collection, New York. Photo: Michael Bodycomb

Giuseppe Ceracchi. George Washington, ca. 1791–92. Terracotta, 29 1/2 × 14 3/16 × 20 7/8 inches. Nantes Métropole, Musée d’arts © Nantes Métropole – Musée d’arts de Nantes – Photographie: C. CLOS

Giuseppe Ceracchi. George Washington, ca. 1792. Marble, 23 7/8 × 20 inches. On loan from the Carolina Art Association/Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina. Image courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of Art/Carolina Art Association

Giovanni Tognoli and Angelo Bertini, after Antonio Canova. George Washington, 1819. Etching and engraving, 17 13/16 × 12 13/16 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno

Giovanni Tognoli and Domenico Marchetti, after Antonio Canova. George Washington, 1819. Etching and engraving, 17 13/16 × 12 13/16 inches. Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, Possagno. Fondazione Canova onlus, Possagno

Jean-Antoine Houdon. Life Mask of George Washington, 1785. Plaster, h. 12 1/2 inches. The Morgan Library & Museum, Gift of J. P. Morgan, Jr., 1924. The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

Albert Newsam, after Joseph Weisman and Emanuel Leutze. The Marquis de Lafayette Visiting the State Capitol in Raleigh in March 1825, 1840s. Lithograph. Framed: 34 1/2 × 28 1/2 × 1 inches. The North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, N.C. Courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History

Antonio Canova. Fragment of George Washington (base and signature), 1818–20. Marble, 16 1/2 × 25 × 4 3/4 inches. The North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, N.C. Courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History

The exhibition is organized by Xavier F. Salomon, The Frick Collection’s Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, in collaboration with Mario Guderzo, Director of the Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, the Venice International Foundation, and Friends of Venice Italy Inc. Following its presentation at the Frick, the exhibition will be shown in Possagno, Italy, at the Gypsotheca e Museo Antonio Canova, in the fall of 2018. 

Images courtesy The Frick Collection.

May 20, 2018

Wayne Thiebaud, Draftsman at The Morgan Library & Museum, May 18 – September 23, 2018

“Best known for his rich, colorful paintings of cakes, ice cream cones, and candy counters, California artist Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920) has been an avid and prolific draftsman since he began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist. Featuring subjects that range from deli counters and solitary figures to dramatic views of San Francisco’s plunging streets, Thiebaud’s drawings endow the most common objects and everyday scenes with a sense of poetry and nostalgia.

Wayne Thiebaud, Draftsman is the first exhibition to explore the full scope of the artist’s works on paper, including quick sketches, finished pastels, watercolors, and charcoal drawings. The earliest of the almost eighty-five works on view are cartoons from the 1940s, while the most recent feature landscape drawings inspired by the Sacramento River valley.” — Morgan Library

One day Kathan brought down lunch, which was a cheese sandwich, a couple of olives, and a beer, and I said, “Before we eat that, I think I’ll draw it.” — Wayne Thiebaud

Installation view of “Early Drawings”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Early Drawings”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Foodstuff”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Foodstuff”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Candy Sticks, 1964, watercolor and graphite. Yale University Art Gallery, Bequest of Susan Morse Hilles. © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Installation view of “Jelly Apples”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Nine Jelly Apples, 1964, watercolor and graphite. Yale University Art Gallery, Gift of George Hopper Fitch, B.A. 1932. Photography by Tony De Camillo. © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Installation view. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Sketches”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Page of Sketches with Ties, 1960s–70s, pen and ink and pastel. From the artist’s studio. © Wayne Thiebaud/ Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Page of Sketches with Movie Billboard, ca. 1990s, pen and ink. From the artist’s studio. © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Installation view of “Tradition”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Tradition”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Toys, 1971, charcoal. From the artist’s studio. © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Installation view. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Candy Ball Machine, 1977, gouache and pastel. Collection of Gretchen and John Berggruen, San Francisco. © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Installation view. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Cityscapes and Landscapes”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Three Roads, 1983, charcoal. Private collection. © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Installation view of “Cityscapes and Landscapes”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Cityscapes and Landscapes”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Cityscapes and Landscapes”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Installation view of “Cityscapes and Landscapes”. Photo by Corrado Serra for Arts Summary

Study for Brown River, 2002, charcoal. From the artist’s studio. © Wayne Thiebaud/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

“The Morgan is delighted to present this groundbreaking exhibition,” said Colin B. Bailey, director of the museum. “Understanding the importance of drawing in Wayne Thiebaud’s career is fundamental to understanding his art and his artistic development. Throughout the exhibition, Thiebaud’s ability to find inspiration in the prosaic and familiar is on vivid display. The Morgan is deeply grateful to the artist for his cooperation in the organization of the exhibition and for his generosity in agreeing to lend so many works to it.” 

Wayne Thiebaud, Draftsman is organized by the Morgan Library & Museum, New York. The curator of the exhibition is Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator and Department Head, Modern and Contemporary Drawings, the Morgan Library & Museum. 

May 19, 2018

Waste No More by Eileen Fisher DesignWork at WantedDesign during NYCxDESIGN, Terminal Stores, Manhattan, May 19-22, 2018

During WantedDesign’s showcase for NYCxDESIGN 2018 at the historic Terminal Stores space in Manhattan, Eileen Fisher DesignWork presents “Waste No More”, a new line of artistic wall work, fabrics and pillows for the architecture and design community. The New York exhibition follows a groundbreaking exhibition in April of the same title curated by Li Edelkoort at the largest interior design show in Europe, the Salone del Mobile, Milan.

The installation at WantedDesign demonstrates the inherent aesthetics of recuperated materials in contemporary design. The zero-waste works have been developed by longtime Eileen Fisher designer, collaborator and artist Sigi Ahl, in partnership with a dedicated team at Eileen Fisher’s sorting and recycling facility in Irvington, New York. DesignWork will also be featured at the AIA Conference at the Javits Center June 21-23, 2018.

Images courtesy Eileen Fisher DesignWork.

“Waste No More” at Salone del Mobile, Milan, April 17 – 22, 2018:
May 16, 2018

Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i at New York Botanical Garden, May 19 – October 28, 2018

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

“The New York Botanical Garden’s landmark 2018 exhibition, Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i, will focus on the iconic artist’s immersion in the Hawaiian Islands in 1939. Visitors will experience a lush flower show in the Garden’s Enid A. Haupt Conservatory evoking the gardens and landscapes that inspired O’Keeffe as well as the complex story of the flora and unique ecology of Hawai‘i. Curated by art historian Theresa Papanikolas, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Art and Programs and Curator of European and American Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art, the exhibition will feature 20 of O’Keeffe’s depictions of Hawai‘i—including paintings not seen together in New York since their 1940 debut.

In 1939, at the age of 51, O’Keeffe traveled on commission to Hawai‘i to produce images for a Hawaiian Pineapple Company promotional campaign. Her nine weeks on O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i, and the Big Island of Hawai‘i resulted in stunning depictions of mountains and waterfalls as well as her signature close-cropped views of flowers and plants she observed. At the time of her trip, O’Keeffe was among the most famous artists in the United States, best known for her depictions of the stark landscape and desert flora of her beloved New Mexico. Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of Hawai‘i, will explore this lesser-known chapter in her career, the enduring cultural impact of mid-century perceptions of Hawai‘i, and the ecological complexity of the Hawaiian Islands—one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth—hidden behind O’Keeffe’s depictions. Integrating art, horticulture, and historical interpretation, the exhibition will explore the Hawai‘i that O’Keeffe experienced and also reveal the complex history of the Hawaiian Islands that she was not familiar with at the time.” — NYBG

Harold Stein. Georgia O’Keeffe on Leho‘ula Beach, near ‘Aleamai, Hāna, Maui, 1939

White Lotus, 1939,  Muscartine Art Center, Iowa

Installation view

Hibiscus with Plumeria, 1939, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Left: Untitled (Hibiscus), 1939. Right: Untitled (Yellow Flower), 1939. Both: Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe.

Installation view

Installation view

Installation view of “Montain Views”

Left: Cup of Silver Ginger, 1939, Baltimore Museum of Art. Right: Bella Donna with Pink Torch Ginger Bud, 1939, Private Collection

Installation view of “Tropical Wonders”

Left: Fishhook from Hawai’i, N.1, 1939, Brooklyn Museum. Right: Papaya Tree, Iao Valley, Maui, 1939, Honolulu Museum of Art

Left: Heliconia, Crab’s Claw Ginger, 1939, Collection of Sharon Twigg-Smith. Right: Pineapple Bud, 1939, Private Collection

Installation view of “Ocean Views”

Please note:  Most Paintings © 2018 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

May 11, 2018

Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now at National Portrait Gallery, May 11, 2018 – March 24, 2019

“’Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now’ is the first major museum exhibition to explore the art form of cut-paper profiles in terms of their rich historical roots and powerful contemporary presence. Well before the advent of photography in 1839, silhouettes democratized portraiture. Offering virtually instantaneous likenesses of everyone from presidents to those who were enslaved, silhouettes cost far less than oil paintings and could be made with inexpensive materials. Museums have paid little attention to the art form, but ‘Black Out’ aims to broaden the traditional American art canon by placing silhouettes—and their subjects—at the forefront. 

The exhibition, which primarily features works on paper, will also bring together sculptures, prints, media art and mixed-media installations. Ranging in scale from 3 inches to nearly 40 feet, and featuring art from 1796 to today, the exhibition presents around 50 unique objects.” — National Portrait Gallery

“With both historical and contemporary explorations into the form of silhouette, ‘Black Out’ reveals new pathways between past and present, particularly with regard to how we can reassess notions of race, power, individualism and, even, the digital self,” Naeem said. “‘Black Out’ unpacks the art of silhouettes as a potent art form, revealing the paradoxes of a country roiling with ideals of freedom and the trauma of slavery in the 1800s and the messiness of our modern lives.”

Moses Williams, Cutter of Profiles by Raphaelle Peale, by Moses Williams. Cut paper and ink on paper, c. 1803. The Library Company of Philadelphia

Chin Sung by Auguste Edouart. Lithograph and cut paper on paper, 1841. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

John Quincy Adams by Auguste Edouart. Lithograph, chalk and cut paper on paper, 1841. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Euphrasie Borghese by Auguste Edouart. Lithograph and cut paper on paper, 1841. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Robert H. Collyer and Monsieur De Bonneville by Auguste Edouart. Ink wash, chalk and cut paper on paper, 1842. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Joaquin Cesar de Figaniere e Morao and Danel J. Desmond by Auguste Edouart. Ink wash and cut paper on paper, 1843. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Catharine Williams and William Mead by Auguste Edouart. Ink wash, chalk and cut paper on paper, 1843. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Laura Dewey Bridgman by Auguste Edouart. Ink, chalk and cut paper on paper, 1843. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Oliver Caswell by Auguste Edouart. Lithograph, chalk and cut paper on paper, 1843. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Thomas Sully by Auguste Edouart. Ink, chalk and cut paper on paper, 1843. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Mary Phelps Austin Holley by Auguste Edouart. Ink, chalk and cut paper on paper, 1844. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

Maibaum by Kristi Malakoff. Paper and foam core, 2009. Photo: Kristi Malakoff

Profile by Kumi Yamashita. Wood, single light source, and cast shadow, 1994. Photo: Ryo Sekimura

Chair by Kumi Yamashita. Wood, single light source, and cast shadow, 2015. Photo: Hiroshi Noguchi

Origami by Kumi Yamashita. Japanese paper, single light source, and cast shadow

Auntie Walker’s Wall Sampler for Civilians by Kara Walker. Cut paper on wall. 2013 © Kara Walker, courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. Installation view: “We at the Camden Arts Centre are Exceedingly Proud to present an Exhibition of Capable Artworks by the Notable Hand of the Celebrated American, Kara Elizabeth Walker, Negress.” Camden Arts Centre, London, 2013. Photo: Angus Mill Photography.

Auntie Walker’s Wall Sampler for Savages by Kara Walker. Cut paper on wall, 2013 © Kara Walker, courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. Installation view: “We at the Camden Arts Centre are Exceedingly Proud to present an Exhibition of Capable Artworks by the Notable Hand of the Celebrated American, Kara Elizabeth Walker, Negress.” Camden Arts Centre, London, 2013. Photo: Angus Mill Photography.

Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynching by Kara Walker. Laser cut steel and paint, 2006 © Kara Walker, courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. Photo: Luciano Fileti

Entangled by Camille Utterback. Interactive installation (depth camera, custom software, computer, projection, lighting), 2018

“Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now” is curated by Asma Naeem, the Portrait Gallery’s curator of prints, drawings and media arts.

Images courtesy National Portrait Gallery.  

May 10, 2018

Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination at The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters, May 10 – October 8, 2018

Photographs by Corrado Serra.

“’Heavenly Bodies’ features the work of designers who for the most part were raised in the Roman Catholic tradition. While their current relationships to Catholicism vary, most acknowledge its enduring influence on their imaginations. On the surface, this influence is expressed through explicit Catholic imagery and symbolism as well as references to specific garments worn by the clergy and religious orders. On a deeper level, it manifests as a reliance on storytelling, and specifically on metaphor—which the sociologist Andrew Greeley describes as the essential characteristic of a particular sensibility he defines as ‘the Catholic imagination.’ 

This exhibition explores how the Catholic imagination has shaped the creativity of designers and how it is conveyed through their narrative impulses. These impulses are reflected in the organization of the exhibition, which unfolds as a series of short stories told through conversations between religious artworks in The Met collection and fashions of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Catholic imagination also operates on an experiential level, and, accordingly, the show’s configuration evokes the concept and practice of a pilgrimage.

The journey begins at The Met Fifth Avenue in the Byzantine and medieval art galleries and continues in the Anna Wintour Costume Center. It concludes at The Met Cloisters in northern Manhattan, where elements from French monasteries have been rebuilt as four cloisters. While the fashions might seem far removed from the sanctity of the Catholic Church, these contexts illuminate the myriad ways in which they embody the imaginative traditions of Catholicism. Taken together, the fashions and artworks in ‘Heavenly Bodies’ sing in unison with distinctly enchanted and enchanting voices.” — Introductory Wall Text

The Met Fifth Avenue

The Met Cloisters

A collaboration between The Costume Institute and the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, the exhibition is organized by Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, working together with colleagues in The Met’s Medieval department: C. Griffith Mann, Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge of the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters; Barbara Drake Boehm, Paul and Jill Ruddock Senior Curator for The Met Cloisters; Helen C. Evans, Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art; and Melanie Holcomb, Curator.

May 8, 2018

Tanya Aguiñiga: Craft & Care at Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), May 8 – October 2, 2018

“The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) is pleased to present the first institutional solo exhibition of works by Los Angeles–based artist and designer Tanya Aguiñiga. Craft & Care highlights Aguiñiga’s practice at the intersection of fiber art, design, social practice, and activism, with a focus on motherhood, care, border issues, and the creation of community—themes that run throughout the artist’s work. The exhibition spotlights AMBOS Project (Art Made Between Opposite Sides), Aguiñiga’s ongoing activation of the US–Mexico border.

Aguiñiga’s work, ranging from her ‘Performance Crafting’ series—which uses craft to generate dialogues about identity, culture, and gender—to furniture whose material and form reimagine its functionality to provide ‘support,’ asserts design (and craft) thinking as political. At the heart of her practice is an inquiry into how community is created, and the role that craft, design, and materiality play in its formation.” — MAD 

“We are thrilled to bring Tanya’s multifaceted practice to MAD,” said Shannon R. Stratton, MAD’s William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator. “Her work is compassionate and courageous, and her emphasis on interaction and collaboration is inspiring. Both her process and her finished pieces testify to the power of craft and design to bring people together.”

Tanya Aguiñiga, CRAFTA, Craft in the Post NAFTA Era, 2012.  Mixed media, 40ft wide x 12 feet deep. Courtesy of the artist

Tanya Aguiñiga, Performance Crafting, Community Felt-In, 2014. 6ft high x 48 ft long. Courtesy of the artist

Tanya Aguiñiga, Support, 2014, from Future Tropes Denim, thread, salt, rice. Variable. Courtesy of Volume Gallery, Chicago

Tanya Aguiñiga, Border Quipu/Quipu Fronterizo, 2016.  Recycled dress and bathing suit straps. Variable. Courtesy of Gina Clyne Photography

Tanya Aguiñiga, Reindigenizing the Self, 2017. Installation View. Courtesy of Volume Gallery, Chicago

Tanya Aguiñiga, Reindigenizing the Self (detail), 2017

MAD presents Craft & Care as part of this season’s investigation of the political impact of craft. It is installed in the second-floor galleries, across from and in dialogue with the current exhibition La Frontera: Encounters Along the Border, which explores the border as a complex landscape of human interaction through the medium of contemporary jewelry.

Tanya Aguiñiga: Craft & Care is curated by Shannon R. Stratton, MAD’s William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator, with the support of Assistant Manager of Curatorial Affairs Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy. 

Images courtesy Museum of Arts and Design.