Zooming into Fall with Lectures, Online Articles and Museum Appointment Info

 

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Roots, 1890

Dear friends of the New York Arts Exchange,

September is here with the promise of refreshing autumn breezes. And yet, confusion still reigns over the New York area as we continue to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic.  Whom do we trust?  Where should we go without concern for our health?  Should I make an appointment with a museum or wait a bit until the museums test their new procedures?  

I prefer prudence and will continue to Zoom my classes at Mercy College and at other venues this fall.  

Here is Beth's Fall Schedule on Zoom.  Click on the titles to find the website and register with the specific organization.

Wednesday, September 23rd at 7 pm: "Vincent van Gogh's Auvers Period: Considering the Latest Revelations."  Hosted on Zoom by the Greenwich Arts Council

Free for Members of GAC; $15 for non-members.  Register through the GAC

Tuesday, October 13th at 10 am: "Three Important Contemporary Black Artists: Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley and Yinka Shonibare."  Hosted by Learning in Retirement. 

Fee: $5.  Register through LIR.

Wednesday, October 21st at 7 pm: "Recycled and Refashioned: The Art of Ruby Silvious." Hosted by the Greenwich Arts Coucil.  This is an interview with Ruby Silvious with plenty of time for a Q and A.  Mark your calendars - not to be missed! 

Free to member of the GAC. $15 for non-members.  Register through the GAC

Thursday, November 12th at 7 pm: "Andy Warhol and the Pop Revolution." Hosted by Byram Shubert Library, Greenwich, CT.  Free.  Register through BSL.

James Tissot, Seaside (Portrait of Kathleen Kelly NewtonP, 1878

People often ask: What are you up to these days?  Well, I am ashamed to admit, I didn't "Marie Kondo-ize" my house, as I promised myself back in March  Instead I wrote articles on art, because this is my #1 passion.  Here are a few examples on the New York Arts Exchange blog: Lester Rapaport, Fereshteh Priou, Chizuru Morii Kaplan, and Ruby Silvious.

Jacqueline Marval, Les Odalisques, 1903

Here are my articles in Bonjour Paris articles since April 2020:

"The Marvelous Madame Marval: A Woman Artist Among the Fauves," April 7, 2020.

"Museum Musing for the Mother's Day in France: A Quiz," June 3, 2020.

"Man Ray's Muse and Model Adrienne Fidelin: An Interview with Wendy Grossman," July 6, 2020.

"Vincent van Gogh: The Last Painting in Auvers-sur-Oise," August 10, 2020.

"James Tissot: The Painter of 19th Century Modern Life," August 25, 2020.

And finally, museums are beginning to open again.

You have to make appointments, which at first seems strange until you discover that you don't miss navigating through the midday mobs.

Here are the websites for reservations in NYC:

Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://engage.metmuseum.org/admissions/tickets/

Museum of Modern Art: https://buy.acmeticketing.com/orders/198/calendar?eventId=5ef36ac25eeba32ee256c78d&cart 

Whitney Museum of American Art: https://visit.whitney.org/ga/ticketing.aspx?node_id=540044#/step1

New York Historical Society: https://tickets.nyhistory.org/?date=2020-9-11

Museum of the City of New York: https://35948.blackbaudhosting.com/35948/page.aspx?pid=196&tab=2&txobjid=ed762206-14a8-4ff2-b199-f89d6eaa8cf9

NB:

El Museo del Barrio has posted guidelines, but does not require reservations:

https://www.elmuseo.org/visitor-guidelines/

Farther afield:

Hudson River Museum, Yonkers: https://www.hrm.org/plan-your-visit/

Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah: https://katonahmuseum.simpletix.com/e/55816?aff=HomePageLink

Il Magazzino, Cold Springs: https://www.magazzino.art/booking

Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT: https://brucemuseum.org/site/visit_us_detail/admission_reservations

Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY: https://stormking.org/visit/

Best wishes for your Labor Day Weekend,

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and owner

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

nyarts.exchange@verizon.net 

Labor Day Weekend - Last Call for September/October Closings

Milton Avery (American, 1885-1965). Swimmers and Sunbathers, 1945. 

Oil on canvas, 28 x 48 1/4 in.

 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Roy R. Neuberger, 1951 (51.97). 

© 2019 The Milton Avery Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), 

New York. Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY.

Labor Day is nigh and the end of summer is here!  I sincerely hope you all had wonderful summers with friends and family, whether here in New York or far, far away.  

Now is the time to catch the last days of the New York Summer Season's best exhibitions, each closing very soon. Here is the list:

James McNeill Whistler, Fumette, 1858.

 Etching and drypoint, black ink on cream French laid paper, 6 3/8 × 4 1/4 inches. 

Gertrude Kosovsky Collection; © The Frick Collection

Labor Day Weekend:

Whistler as Printmaker: Highlights from the Gertrude Kosovsky Collection, Frick Museum, through Sunday, September 1.

Summer with the Averys: Milton, Sally and March, and Sharks! Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, September 1.  (This one venue is perfect for the family as both exhibitions are suitable for children of all ages.)

Ragnar Kjartansson:  Death is Elsewhere, Metropolitan Museum of Art, through September 2.

Blue Man Group: Ready . . . Go!, Museum of the City of New York, through September 2

Anne Samat, Che Yah (The Greatest Love),2019

Next weekend:

Camp: Notes on Fashion, Metropolitan Museum of Art, through September 8.

Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything, The Jewish Museum, through September 8.

Anne Samat: Greatest Love, Hudson Valley Museum of Modern Art, Peekskill, NY, through September 8

Two weeks from now:

Summer Revolution, New York Historical Society, through September 15.

Walt Whitman, Bard of Democracy, Morgan Library and Museum, September 15.

Three weeks from now:

Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, through September 22.

Hogarth: Cruel and Humor, Morgan Library and Museum, through September 22.

Mrinalini Mukherjee, Aranyani, 1996

Last weekend in September/October 1:

Phenomenal Nature: Mrinalini Mukherjee, Met Breuer, through September 29.

Free Lecture on Thursday, September 5th, 6:30 and Gallery Talk on Tuesday, September 10th, 12:30.

From Manet to Picasso: The Thannhauser Colllection, Guggenheim Museum, through September 29.

Best wishes for the Labor Day Weekend and the Fall Season ahead - 

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and owner

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Last Call: Impressionist Alfred Sisley at the Bruce Museum through Sunday, May 21

Alfred Sisley, Peasant Under the Trees in Blossom, 1865-66

Oil on canvas, 46.5 x 56 cm

Galerie Bailly, Geneva

Image courtesy of Galerie Bailly, Geneva

With much sadness, I have to announce that Alfred Sisley: Impressionist Master at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, will close on Sunday, May 21st. From the flowering fields of spring to the floods of Port-Marly,  Sisley delivers the quintessential appearance of an Impressionist painting in all its freshness, spontaneity and keen observation of nature in flux.  This exhibition has brighten a rather dark winter in these parts - not unlike the period Sisley emerged from during the 1860s.

Alfred Sisley, The Bridge at Villeneuve-le-Garenne, 1872

Oil on canvas, 49.5 x 65.4 cm

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and

Mrs. Henry Ittleson, Jr., 1964 (64.287)

Image courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sadly too, Alfred Sisley's work never cultivated the starstruck fan-base enjoyed by his fellow Impressionists Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, with whom he bonded over the study of light on surfaces. Together they organized a "pop-up" at the photographer Nadar's modern studio from April 15 to May 15, 1874, which became known as the first Impressionism exhibition among the following eight. Sisley exhibited in all but the last in 1886. Yes, we know his name from the art exhibitions and auction catalogs, but most people know very little about Sisley's life and personality. Indeed even during his lifetime, he was overshadowed by the more popular members of that renegade group of "sloppy daubers" (the first reaction to the work we now call "Impressionist").  One wonders why this magnificent retrospective is not in a Manhattan museum, where more people would have access to its exceptional quality and the privilege of viewing works owned by private collectors. Alfred Sisley may still suffer from a lack of "power branding." The proof of his true talents is best experienced in front of the work, rather than in reproductions.

Alfred Sisley, La Route de Verrères, 1872

Oil on canvas, 47.5 x 63 cm

Private Collection, Thomas Gibson, England

So, what should we know about Alfred Sisley?  A lot. First off, he never became a French citizen.  He was born to two British subjects, William Sisley and his wife Felicia Sell, who had settled in Paris. Alfred was born on October 30, 1839 on rue des Trois Bornes, in the 11th arrondissement - not terribly swanky, but not shabby either. His father made a respectable living as a textile merchant. It was expected that Alfred would follow in his father's footsteps (as most of the young Impressionists' parents hoped for their sons too). Sisley spent 1857-58 in London studying commerce, but also drinking in the great museum collections and developing a passion for Shakespeare.

Alfred Sisley, Fête Day at Marly-le-Roi, 1875

Oil on canvas, 54 x 73 cm

The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford

Image courtesy of The Higgins Art Gallery &

Museum, U.K.

Sisley entered academician Charles Gleyre's studio school during the autumn of 1861, where he met his life-long buddy Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who introduced him to Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and all the others in due time. They all fell under the spell of Monet's mentor Eugène Boudin and the swashbuckling strokes of Edouard Manet, who never exhibited in the independent exhibitions organized by Monet, Degas and the rest of the Société Anonyme Cooperative des Peintres, Sculpteurs et Graveurs (modeled on the Bakers' Union).

Sisley, like his fellow Impressionists Monet and Pissarro, met his life-long domestic companion in his 20s and remained monogamist (as far as we know). Her name was Marie-Adelaïde-Eugènie Lescourzec. She was a florist. On June 17, 1867, their first child Pierre was born. Their second child, Jeanne-Adèle, was born on January 29, 1869 and their third, Jacques, was born on November 26, 1871, but died three months later on February 28. 1872.  

Alfred and Eugènie finally married on August 5, 1897 in Cardiff Town Hall, over thirty years after they met. Eugènie died over one year later, on October 8, 1898, and Alfred Sisley died about four months after that on January 29, 1899 in Moret-sur-Loing. During that last year, on February 3, 1898, Sisley appealed again for French naturalization.  It was never granted. Ergo: this "French" Impressionist was English all his life (as indeed Camille Pissarro wasn't French either, though descended from a French family, he remained a Danish citizen from St. Thomas).  

Alfred Sisley, Flood at Port-Marly, 1872

Oil on canvas, 46.4 x 61 cm

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.,

Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

(1985.64.38)

Image courtesy of National Gallery of Art

So much for the unconventional details about Sisley's rather conventional life as a plein-air artist among the practitioners of a thoroughly avant-garde modernist approach to making paintings. Resolute in his adherence to this messy, rebellious direction, Sisley suffered from financial hardship most of his life, surviving as best he could from sales and living outside the expensive booming metropolis that Paris had become. Therefore, we see in his work a cozy comfort in rural France, mainly modest villages and expansive landscapes affected by seasonal conditions: spring becomes resplendent in her delicate pastel blossoms, winter feels hushed under its blankets of purple-shadowed snow, fall is a bit broody, and summer dazzles, especially on the surfaces of a river gently flowing under the sun.  A decidedly Sisleyan characteristic is the pathway leading the eye through the composition - a central street dotted with shoppers in the village, a road winding through the countryside, or a path cut into a green meadow on a gently sloping hill.

Alfred Sisley, A Farmyard at Chaville-December, 1879

Oil on canvas, 46 x 55.5 cm

Private Collection

Most of Sisley's work is easel-size, occasionally grander but not by much. This is a snug, huggable show - calming, pleasant and carefully chosen for its diversity of subject matter. Art historian and curator MaryAnne Stevens has astutely arranged in chronological order a substantial introduction to Sisley's range.  She also chose the strongest to represent his areas of interest. Her efforts may never be duplicated, which makes this show so important. Would that the exhibition could stay just a few months longer to serve as an oasis for the mind and eye.  May the audiences visiting the Hôtel de Caumont, Centre d'Art, Aix-en-Provence enjoy this Sisley retrospective as much as we did in the US.

Kudos to MaryAnne Stevens, who wrote valuable essays for the exhibition catalog, along with contributions from Richard Shone and Kathleen Adler. 

If you were not able to see Alfred Sisley: Impressionist Master, please join me for a course on Impressionism this summer through Purchase College.  I will teach the course online and at the Met.

Details can be found on the Purchase College website or contact me at beth.gersh-nesic@purchase.edu or bethnewyorkarts@gmail.com.

Best wishes for the weekend,

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and owner

New York Arts Exchange, LLC

www.nyarts-exchange.com

newyorkarts.exchange@gmail.com

Spring Holiday Greetings and Spring News!

Alfred Sisley, Peasant Under the Trees in Blossom, 1865-7

on view at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, through May 21

Dear friends,

Happy Passover and Happy Easter!  May your holiday celebrations bring you good cheer and much needed warmth, among your family and friends - and weatherwise too. Spring is  finally here!

Here at the New York Arts Exchange the winter really heated up with tons of activities.  We are now LLC and were granted use of the word "exchange" in our title thanks to the NYS Attorney General. Hurray! Thank you, our beloved New York!  We explained that our currency is conversation.  

And to that end, please join us in conversation during . . . .

The Exhibition and Conversations

April 27-30

171 Elizabeth Street, between Spring and Kenmare Streets,

NYC

Opening: Thursday, April 27, 6 - 8 pm

(Winners announced on our Facebook page.)

Come schmooze about arts on our couch - 

Artists-led conversations all weekend long.

Curated by Beth S. Gersh-Nesic and Patrick Hankin

Alfred Sisley, La Route de Verrieres, 1872

May Tours - Hither and Yon (outside Manhattan)

May 11 - Alfred Sisley at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich

May 18 - Fred Wilson and Leonandro Erlich at The Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY

May 25 - TBA

Best wishes to you and your family for the holidays,

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and Owner

The New York Arts Exchange, LLC

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

Last Call: Manus X Machina at the Met and Electric Paris at the Bruce Museum

Chanel Wedding ensemble by Karl Lagerfeld for House of Chanel. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Nicholas Alan Cope


The Met Museum's annual Costume Institute exhibition will close on Labor Day 2016: Monday September 5th. This year's Manus x Machina features machine- and handmade fashion that dazzles the eye with its opulence. Here is a fun blog with great photos to whet the appetite.   Go. See. And revel in this delicious bouquet of fashion fantasy!  

N. B. Extended hours on Saturday, through midnight.

John Singer Sargent, In the Luxembourg Gardens, 1879

Electric Paris at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut is a magnificent exhibition that highlights 19th century art from the City of Light. Here we see the artists' attempts to emulate gaslight and electric light surrounding the everyday life of modern France. The works of art are excellent, selected by Margarita Karasoulas, who expanded the original show curated by S. Hollis Clayson for the Clark Art Institite in 2013.  A small interactive show on the science of electricity provides a wonderful way to share art and education with friends and family. A perfect idea today, before Hurricane Hermine comes our way.  Electric Paris closes on Sunday, September 4th.

Come join us today at Saunders Farm, 853 Old Albany Post Road, Garrison, New York for exhibitions and Performance Art, 2 - 6 pm.  Beth New York will perform Word Exchange - with you.

Look for me on Field iii.

Happy Labor Day Weekend - and take care,

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com 

"Sins" of the Summer Continue through the Fall 2015

Hieronymus Bosch, Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things, 1485

The Fairfield/Westchester Museum Alliance (FWMA) organized a sinned-filled summer and fall with its first united effort: the "Seven Deadly Sins."  Based on the "Eight Evil Thoughts" set down by Evagrius Ponticus, a Greek monk (345- 399 AD), and established by Pope Gregory I in 590 A.D., these moralizing concepts may seem a bit out-of-touch with our relativist 21st-century minds. Moreover, most of the curators missed the opportunity to teach us about the use of morality tales in art history. For traditionally, art was meant to uplift and ennoble, inspire virtuous behavior and give comfort to those afflicted by pain.  Art also promoted fame through portraiture - an act of pride, of course.  Pride, therefore, can do good - recording the faces of yore,

Fay Ku, Juno's Creatures, 2014

Graphite and oil on mylar, 42 x 30 inches

Courtesy of the artist and Claire Oliver Gallery, New York

Deputy director and curator at the Bruce Museum Susan Ball should take great pride in her wonderful selection of artworks and her ability to educate her audience. Of special note, the exhibition includes a mesmerizing Antoine Roegiers video of animated Bosch and Bruegel characters which act out all Seven Deadly Sins in brief humorous vignettes.

Gabriel Schlaching (1850-1912), 

Sweet Reflections, 1886

oil on canvas, 51 x 39 inches

Woodmere Art Museum, Bequest of Charles Knox Smith

Photograph by Rick Echelmeyer

According Dr. Ball: "The Seven Deadly Sins have played a significant role in theology, literature and art since the Middle Ages, Pride, or superbia, represents the mother of all sins and the one from which all others arise – the root of a many-branched tree.  .  . The debate about the definition of sinfulness in general and each specific transgression in particular has raged for centuries.  One might ask, at what point is the line between healthy self-esteem, or pride, and the sin of arrogant self-aggrandizement, or pridefulness, crossed?” 

So true!  I should note that there were attempts to conscious-raise in other exhibitions. 

Diane Burko, Arctic Cyclone, 2012

For example, "Wrath: Force of Nature" at Wave Hill, took on environmental issues with magnificent paintings that address the unpredictability of Mother Nature. Some were tumultuous, others calm. Together, the works delivered such visual pleasure their negative connotations seemed beside the point. (Please click on the title of the exhibition to see digital reproductions of the paintings and read the catalog.)

James Lee Byars, The Golden Divan, 1990

Greed at Neuberger Museum, Purchase College, exhibited Gold organized by the Curator of Exhibitions José Carlos Diaz at the Bass Museum. The press release stated: "Some artists explore the ritualistic use of gold to imbue objects with spiritual and eternal significance. James Lee Byars utilizes gold in pursuit of his idea of sacred beauty and perfection by including a tiny golden sphere in his Self-Portrait and using metallic fabric in The Golden Divan for one of gold." 

What does this have to do with "Greed"???  Plenty of eye-candy, but "Seven Deadly Sin"-ful it is not.(Please click on the exhibition title to view several examples in the show.)

Sylvie Fleury, Yes to All That, 2004

Sylvie Fleury at least has a sense of humor. The absurdity of this gold-plated garbage receptacle evokes a preciousness that teeters between excess and emptiness. "All that glisters is not gold," Shakespeare reminded us, i.e., a gilded veneer may lend value to worthless objects, such as Dario Escobar's 1999 Untitled (a golden McDonald's soda cup) or disguise potential dangers, as in Chris Burden's Gold Bullets (2003).

Emilie Clark, Sweet Corruptions, 2012-13

egg shells, fruit peels, bread crusts, shells, on wooden table

(liquids and solids in auxiliary jars)

Emilie Clark, "Untitled EHR/H-1," from The Delicacy of Decomposition series, 2015

Gluttony at Katonah Museum of Art, serves up the sin of garbage-making by aesthetically displaying various food scraps accumulated over a year.  The artist Emilie Clark views her studio as a lab and combines art with science to help us understand her installation Sweet Corruptions, 2012-13. Her  series of delicate watercolors of decomposing edibles (2015) surround a large wooden table groaning with egg shells, bread crusts, fruit peels and cheese rinds, arranged in an attractive composition.

However, one person's idea of  gourmet may be another person's idea of gourmand.  Do we really need 20 ounce servings of soda?  Apparently, Mike Bloomberg said "nay" and his NYC constituents said "forgettaboutit."  Gluttony is in the eyes of the beholder.  And waste, well that's another topic entirely - and suitable for a different show.

Adrien Broom, Envy and Temptation, 2015

Envy:One Sin, Seven Stories, combines digital photographs of actors and 3-D stage sets in order to dramatize classic fairy tales about coveting desirable possessions, from beauty to material goods. Unfortunately, the choice of Snow White set my nerves on edge, as I am a stepmother and believe that today's stepmothers need kinder publicity.  Why not consider the envy of siblings: Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Osiris and Seth, Mufasa and Scar?   Why not an updated examination of Envy in today's media: Cribs, Housewives of Whatever, or The Primates of Park Avenue?

Marcy Freedman, Poster for Performance Piece, July 26, 2015

Lust at Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art proved to be the least appealing of the exhibitions and most inappropriate for its location: the only museum in a family town (Peekskill) should not bar youngsters under 18 years old from art. This decision may be the real sin perpetrated by this lifeless show. Nevertheless, In Bed with a Big, Bad Wolf, performed by Marcy Freedman on July 26, brought intelligence with a twist of humor to this fairly dull take on such a spicy topic.

Sin Najafi with Mats Bigert, Sloth, 2015

Sloth at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Center had the most innovative idea: engage the audience through direct participation.  Here, the visitor can sit in a comfy recliner and watch a video loop of curators explaining the other exhibitions in the FWMA SDS project.  However, right here and right now, as you read, you can out sloth the Aldrich's Sloth-y installation.  For the New York Arts Exchange provides the various links to the FWMA venues so that you can sit in your own easy chair in the comfort of your own home accompanied by gluttonous portions of your own favorite snacks tailored to your own greedy appetite. (After all, this the 21st century and you should be able to curate your own experience of the Seven Deadly Sins in your own way.)  

Two exhibitions have closed already.  Five still remain on view, but not for long.  May I suggest that you put Pride at the top of your to-do list - and take pride in the fact that you didn't miss this excellent show.

Closed:

Lust at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, April 19 - July 26, 2015

Wrath at Wave Hill, June 7 - September 7, 2015

Still open:

Envy  - Hudson River Museum, June 6 - September 26

Pride - Bruce Museum, June 27 - October 18

Gluttony - Katonah Museum of Art, July 12 - October 11.

Greed  - Neuberger Museum, Purchase College, July 12 - October 18

Sloth - Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, July 19 - October 18

If you were to organize an exhibitions on Seven Deadly Sins in our time, which would you choose? Perhaps, an updated list might consider the Seven "Sins" that lead to death, such as murder, neglect, abuse, hazing, drug addiction, "doping" in sports, and excessive measures for beauty.  

Please write to me at nyarts@verizon.net or comment on my FB page.  I would love to hear your thoughts on "sinfulness" in the 21st century.

Best wishes to you all - whether you are atoning for your sins on Yom Kippur or indulging in the pleasures of mid-September or both,

Beth New York

Last Call: Hans Hofmann Murals at the Bruce Museum, through Sept 6th

Hans Hofmann

The Gate, 1959-60

oil on canvas, 75 x 48 1/2 inches

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC

Now is the time to visit the Bruce Museum, if you haven't already savored their most exciting summer yet!  Four excellent exhibitions are still on view through next weekend: 

• Walls of Color: The Murals of Hans Hofmann (through September 6th)
• Pride, one of the Seven Deadly Sins series in Westchester and Fairfield Counties (through October 18th
• Theodore Nierenberg: Photographs from His World Travels (through November 29th)
• Madagascar: Ghost of the Past (through November 8th)

Each in its own right is worth the trip to Greenwich, CT.  Altogether, Bruce delivers a perfect outing for families - great art and fascinating science that everyone can enjoy.  (I love looking at lemurs since my daughter and I read Lunch with Aunt Augusta by Emma Chichester Clark years ago.)

Hans Hofmann
Awakening, 1947, oil on canvas, 59 ¼  x 40 ¼ in.

Private Collection, Photograph by Paul Mutino 

Works by Hans Hofmann used with permission of the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust

Of special note for art history fans: Hans Hofmann's iconic The Gate, 1959-60, which belongs to the Guggenheim Museum's permanent collection, makes a cameo appearance in this intimate setting. Often reproduced in art history textbooks (and selected for Wikipedia), this oil painting exemplifies Hofmann's well-known "push-pull" interpretation of Cubism that galvanized the New York School movement. Its luscious impasto slathered on neatly executed forms ("figures") cannot be appreciated in digital reproduction. Here is a physicality of expression that we find in Jackson Pollock: the evidence of "Action Painting," which was the critic Harold Rosenberg's description for Abstract Expressionism.

Hans Hofmann

Lonely Journey, 1965, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 ⅛ in.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (1989.397), 

Gift of Renate Hofmann, 1989

Image copyright © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Image source: Art Resource, NY

Works by Hans Hofmann used with permission of the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust

Adjunct curator Kenneth Silver, a professor of art history at NYU, rightly points out that Hofmann was famous for "his dynamic approach to color."  "He was a towering figure among New York painters. . . a teacher and theoretician" for the AbEx generation, most notably Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, and Joan Mitchell (among many others ), 

Born in Bavaria on March 21, 1880, Johann Georg Albert Hofmann settled in Paris in 1904 (as the Fauve movement was about to take over the avant-garde at the Salon d'automne in 1905). By 1908, Cubism was on the rise and Hofmann found his footing in this new movement, leaning toward to the non-objective spin-off Orphism. From here he concentrated on the tension between figure and ground.  In 1930, he came to the US to teach at the University of California in Berkeley and by the mid-1930s, he ran two schools - one in New York City and the other in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In 1963, the Museum of Modern Art gave him a retrospective.  He died on February 17, 1966.

 

Hans Hoffman

Mural, 711 Third Avenue (in situ), 1956

Walls of Color marks a significant moment in Hofmann's oeuvre: his mural projects made with mosaic tesserae (tiny tiles) rather than paint - very old medium that posed a new challenge for this seventy-six-year-old artist. (Mosaics made of tesserae, as opposed to natural stones, date back to the middle of the 3rd century BCE, invented in Hellenistic Greece.)

In an exciting model set up in the gallery space, we have the opportunity to study Hofmann's first foray into mosaics: a mural in the lobby of 711 Third Avenue, wrapped around a bank of elevators. In the Bruce Museum, this miniature room invites the visitor inside to view an excellent video on Hofmann's work. Today, still radiant in a cool white and gray lobby, the 711 mural reflects the zing of post WWII, 1950s exuberance. The building was completed in 1957.

Hans Hofmann
Mosaic Mural, 711 Third Avenue, New York, 1956 (detail)
Photograph by Paul Mutino
Works by Hans Hofmann used with permission of the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust

439 West 49th St. (former School of Printing),1958

Not far from 711 Third Avenue (near 44th Street) is another Hofmann mural on the facade of the School of Graphic Design, commissioned by the New York City Board of Education.  It is 64-foot long and 11-foot tall, produced for the High School of Printing that is now the High School of Graphic Arts Communication at  439 West 49th Street. Here Hofmann's signature geometric forms seem to simultaneously advance and recede against a pure white background (his "push-pull" effect).

Hans Hofmann

Mural Fragment (Chimbote), 1950, oil on panel mounted on board, 83 ⅞ x 35 ¾ in.

Photograph by Doug Young

Works by Hans Hofmann used with permission of the Renate, Hans and Maria Hofmann Trust

Finally, the exhibition features nine studies that are seven-feet tall for a collaboration with the architects Jose Luis Sert and Paul Lester Wiener. They were meant for a church in Chimbote, Peru. This project, meant for the bell tower, was never realized.

Walls of Color: The Murals of Hans Hofmann occupies the main galleries in the Bruce Museum.   Rush forth! And then slowly take in Hofmann's great works of art.

Best wishes as we end the Summer of 2015 -

Beth New York

aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com