Woman in a Garden, Claude Monet
The first day of summer has come and gone and it is the season of lovely gardens with beautiful and colorful flowers. I am happy to have Maria Appleman as guest writer for this blog. She is part of the Master Gardeners program in Orange County. Here are her thoughts about art, gardening and a wonderful exhibit, Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse which she saw at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
In a previous blog, Donalee wrote about the exhibit,
Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, at the Royal Academy of Arts in
London so I knew to visit it when in that city. The exhibit’s theme was the
interconnection of art and gardens. At
the end of the 1800’s and early 1900’s, both were changing radically to become
less formal and more accessible.
Gardening transitioned from being a royal pursuit involving extensive
land with traditional linear plantings maintained by teams of workers to the
vocation of ordinary people with small plots of land who enjoyed herbaceous
borders, flowers, nurseries and garden exhibitions. New strains of plants were
developed, and people experimented with grafting. Historians refer to this as
the great horticulture movement. It was
also the time of the development of impressionism, the first modern movement in
painting, when artists rejected official, academic definitions of fine art.
There
were numerous famous artists/gardeners during this dynamic time, the most
renowned being Claude Monet, and the exhibition includes many of his garden
paintings as well as the monumental water lily triptych he made at the end of
his life. Monet’s work reflects the changing styles of his era. In an early painting, done when he was 27
years old, Monet painted his aunt’s old fashioned garden. The painting showed
the very traditional planting style of 1867 with a round bed of all red flowers
surrounding a center bush. Later in his
life, he planted and painted his own gardens in a more naturalistic way. His
gardens demonstrated a deep knowledge of horticulture by the succession of
blooms that provided constant color for his painting. It is notable that Monet thought his garden
in Giverny, not his paintings, was his greatest masterpiece.
Being a
gardener, I consider gardening to be a most challenging art form. Every day, the garden looks different, is
never completed, and is always a work in progress. It is understandable why
impressionist painters who studied the optical momentary experience of nature
would appreciate the ephemeral beauty of gardens and use them in their work.
Highlights
Manus x Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology, runs through August 14 at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. It features over 150 ensembles from 1900 through the present. Historically there has been a lack of appreciation for fashion as an art form. In this exhibit each garment was tested to see whether it was handmade or machine made…contrary to popular belief, some of the machine made garments took longer to make. This promises to be an exciting as well as important exhibit. More information can be had at www.metmuseum.org so be sure and read up on this special exhibition.
Where
you can see my artwork
My artwork
is available at Rons. For
further information call the shop at 805.489.4747. Rons
is located at 850 W. Grand in Grover Beach a few blocks from the train station,
a golf course and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. For more information go to Rons
website at www.ronsingroverbeach.com
or find him on facebook.
Not To Be Missed –Museum Exhibits
A Passionate Eye: The Weiner Family Collection is at The Palm Springs Museum through
December 11, 2016. Featured are over 60 sculptures, paintings and prints by an
impressive array of artists including Picasso, Moore, Marini and Lipchitz. The
list continues with works by Arp, Modigliani and Isamu Noguchi making this a
must see installation. The museum also has a subsidiary museum in Palm Desert
known as the Galen. It is surrounded by the four acre Faye Sarkowsky Sculpture Garden that features over ten
significant sculptures surrounded by landscaped gardens. A visit to these two
venues make it worth the drive. Google the museum or go to www.psmuseum.org for current information.
Currently at the Bowers Museum
in Santa Ana is California Bounty:
Image and Identity, 1850-1930 which consists of paintings from the
museum’s collection representing a visual history of California. The exhibit
explores its mixture of Mexican and Anglo traditions as well as California’s
position on the Pacific Rim. Many paintings from the state’s Mission and Rancho
periods are part of the mix. Those who love art and California history will not
want to miss this so go to www.bowers.org
for all the pertinent information.
Highlights of the
Permanent Collection celebrates the Santa Barbara Museum of Art’s 75th
anniversary. The exhibit features some of the museums most well-known pieces. The
Armand Hammer Foundation has loaned some amazing Impressionist and
Post-Impressionist paintings to the Santa Barbara Museum of Art for an ongoing
exhibit. Of course, Portrait of
Mexico Today, painted by
David Alfaro Siquerios while living in political exile in Los Angeles in 1932
has a home in the front façade of the museum. It is intact and is in a
protected spot. We are so lucky to have it. Check on line at www.sbmuseart.org/ for more details.
Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium
explores the artist’s body of work. This exhibit at the Los Angeles County Art
Museum runs through the end of July and includes early drawings, collages,
sculptures and photos as well as two rare moving image works. Some pieces are
sexually explicit. It is Mapplethorpe, after all. The Getty is presenting a
companion exhibit as well. More information is at www.lacma.org on this exhibit.
The companion exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium
is currently on display at the J. Paul Getty Museum. This exhibit focuses on
different aspects of the artist’s works so if interested you really should see
both. It also runs through the end of July. The Getty has some special
paintings on loan. The Promise of
Youth: Rembrandt’s Senses Rediscovered is at the museum until August 28
2016. The artist painted a series of five senses while in his teens and one of
these paintings was just found a year ago. It is displayed along with two of
the other known early works on the senses. Degas:
”Russian Dancers” and the Art of Pastel is also on loan until October
3, 2016. The place for information is at www.getty.edu
with a sneak peek at what is in store.
The Art of Our Time at MOCA Grand Avenue in Los
Angeles features post-1945 art from the museum’s large collection. The impetus
for this installation is an interesting one in that it attempts to shed light
on the relationships between the artists, the interest they had in each other’s
work, the history of art schools and their friendships. The artworks were
chosen from close to 7000 objects. These wonderful works are on display through
September 12, 2016. You can see paintings by Rothko, Kline, Pollock, Krasner,
Frankenthaler and Mitchell among others. This is a must see so go to www.moca.com for a taste of this show. There is
a very nice video about abstract expressionism on line that is worth the time.
Currently at the Norton Simon
Museum in Pasadena is Duchamp to Pop.
Running through August 29, 2016, this exhibition focuses on the French
surrealist’s influence on many Pop artists such as Warhol, Dine and Ruscha.
More information is available at www.nortonsimon.org
so be sure to take a look.
Ed Ruscha and the Great American
West opens at
the de Young Museum in San Francisco on July 16 and continues through
October. The exhibit includes 99 of the artist’s works. He left his home in
Oklahoma at the age of 18 and took Route 66 to California where he has worked
for 50 years. He is still actively painting at age 78 and exploring the great
American west. Check www.deyoung.famsf.org
which will have all pertinent information. The de Young prides itself in making
its exhibits accessible and has instituted a plan for people who are unable to
come to the museum whether for medical reasons, distance or finances. They have two robots that will take visitors
on a tour via the internet. Rebecca Bradley is the Accessibility Curator. You
can email her office at access@famsf.org
if this great idea is of interest.
Graphic Masters: Durer, Rembrandt,
Goya, Picasso, Matisse, R. Crumb arrived on June 9 at the Seattle Art Museum. The exhibit will feature over
400 works and represents the Museum’s first large exhibit dedicated to the
graphic arts. The exhibit runs through August 28. Go to www.seattleartmuseum.org to obtain
more information.
Now at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver is a small
exhibit that highlights Still’s years in San Francisco. Clyfford Still and the San Francisco Scene, 1946-1950 is
open through October 9, 1916. This exhibit which runs in conjunction with the
Denver Art Museum’s exhibition, The
Women of Abstract Expressionism, focuses on Still’s role as a teacher
in the Bay area. Check out www.clyffordstillmuseum.org
for all the details.
The groundbreaking exhibit, Women of Abstract Expressionism opened at the Denver Art
Museum June 12 – September 25, 2016. This will be the first time this artwork
has been shown together. This very exciting exhibit features work by Helen
Frankenthaler, Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell and Grace Hartigan
as well as other female artists, many lesser known. Information is available at
www.denverartmuseum.org where you will find a particularly
informative video and slide show. It is about time for an exhibit of this kind
and it is wonderful that these women that I have admired over the years are
finally being recognized. I can’t wait for this show! Lucky for us on the West
Coast in that this exhibit will travel to the Palm Springs Museum in February
2017.
Make Room for
Color Field includes
paintings by three of the foremost color field painters, Helen Frankenthaler,
Jules Olitski and Morris Louis. There is still ongoing discussions on just how
Louis created his paintings and how he got the look he did. The exhibit is on
view at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in St. Louis through November 27. The museum’s
website at www.nelson-atkins.org will provide more information.
The Chicago Arts Institute has so many wonderful
exhibitions currently. America after
the Fall: Paintings in the 1930s is just one of them. This exhibit
which is open through September 18, 2016 features such artists as Georgia
O’Keefe, Edward Hopper, Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and William H. Johnson
and their reaction to the Great Depression. The 1930’s reflected great changes
in the American way of life. The exhibit runs the gamut in styles and political
perspective. Be sure to go online as there is a wonderful video that
accompanies this exhibit and some discussions with artists. More details are at
www.artic.edu for this fascinating exhibit.
Stuart Davis: In Full Swing opened in June at the Whitney
in New York. One of my favorite modernists, his work is so colorful and
whimsical. In this exhibit his early works will hang next to later works as
they made reference to each other throughout his career. Later in the fall Carmen Herrera will debut. The
Cuban – American artist is still working in her 100th year. A
contemporary of Ellsworth Kelly and Barnett Newman, her hard edged style
continues intact. The exhibit will contain work from her years in Paris as well
as selections from her Blanco y Verde
series, current work and some rare three dimensional pieces. Be sure to check www.whitney.org for all the details. You
will be delighted.
Currently ensconced in the
Albright Knox Gallery, a little gem of a museum in Buffalo, New York, is Shade: Clyfford Still/Mark Bradford
which is up through October 2, 2016. Mr. Bradford picked twenty of Still’s
paintings from the museum’s collection and they are hanging in their own
galleries. In adjacent galleries Bradford created works specifically for this
show. If you are in the area be sure and check it out. Love this gallery. All
the details are at the website www.albrightknox.org
so be sure and take a peek.
Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty inhabits New York’s
Museum of Modern Art through July 24, 2016. Every little girl knows Degas
paintings of ballerinas as they are printed on notecards galore. Degas, a
curmudgeon, was also very precise. He disdained plein air painting even though
he did landscapes. He felt that making art required a little distance from the
subject. In fact, he thought that it was better to paint from memory. He
experimented with monotypes, often drawing over them with pastels and painted a
series of nudes that were more caricature. This exhibit focuses on his
experimental side and over 100 of his monotypes are on display. Go to www.moma.org for more information and a fresh
view of this iconic artist.
Francis Bacon: Invisible Rooms opens at the Tate
Liverpool on May 18 and is open through September 2016. The artist is known for
painting a ghost like figure in many of his portraits. This device not only
draws attention to the figure but gives the viewer a glimpse of the emotional
content of the work. This exhibit examines his recurring use of this device. You can make plans by going to www.tate.org.uk for more information.
Maria Appleman wrote the
opening piece for this blog about the exhibit that she was lucky enough to see.
Although the exhibit has closed, there is a video that came out of this wonderful
show, Monet and the Post
Impressionists. The video is called Painting
the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse. Find out more by visiting www.royalacademy.org.uk and get the
whole scoop.
Coming up in September at the
Victoria and Albert is You Say You
Want a Revolution? Records & Rebels 1966-70. Examining the upheaval
in all areas of society, the exhibit will bring together objects relating to
music, fashion, film, design and politics. Sex, drugs and rock and roll will be
the mantra of this major exhibition which runs from September 10, 2016-February
26, 2017. For more information on this exhibit www.vam.ac.uk
will have everything you need to know.
Black Chronicles: Photographic Portraits 1862 – 1948 is at
the National Portrait Gallery, London, May 18 – December 11, 2016. This
interesting exhibit which intends to comment on Pre-World War II life in
Britain taps its own resources as well as those of Les Ballets Negres. The
portraits all have interesting stories associated with them. For example there
is a portrait of Sarah Forbes Bonetta who was born into a Yoruba royal family
but was captured in a slave hunt where her parents were murdered. A Royal Naval
Captain named Forbes convinced her captors to gift her to Queen Victoria. Sarah
was fostered and the Queen payed for her education. She later married a wealthy
merchant and lived in Laos. Her eldest daughter became Victoria’s god-child.
Information on this exhibit can be found at www.npg.org.uk
so you can plan your trip.
Currently at the Louvre in
Paris, Delacroix as a Model
is holding court until September 15, 2016. The Romantic painter influenced many
later artists such as Matisse, Picasso, Monet and Degas. This exhibit explores
his contribution to the work of many of the impressionist painters. The
centerpiece of this show is Women of
Algiers in their Apartment by Henri Fantin-Latour. Newly acquired by the
museum, it is representative of works for which Eugene Delacoix served as
inspiration. The museum’s website at www.louvre.fr
will give you information on this show as well as many others currently at the
museum.
Simply the Best:
The best place to find books on
the arts, Arcana, is a very
special book store located in the Helms Bakery complex in Los Angeles…its
wonderful! I have known owner Lee Kaplan for decades and his selection of books
is as superb as his taste is impeccable.
Arcana: Books
on the Arts is at 8675
Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232. For information go
to http://www.arcanabooks.com or call 310.458.1499.
Michiko Jewelry Design is an
incredible jewelry store in downtown Seal Beach, CA, featuring excellent
one-of-a-kind gifts. The shop owner and artist, Carol Matsumoto, custom designs
beautiful pieces. Michiko is
at 228 Main Street. Call 563.431.3237 for more information or check www.michikojewelrydesign.com.
Just a Thought
Have a wonderful
summer and enjoy your gardens.
Photo of Claude Monet in his Giverny garden,
1925
Photo of Claude Monet in his Giverny garden,
1925
My website, Nelson Fine Art Studio, was designed and created by Sandy Crespo.
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