Tuesday's Roam around LACMA

I strolled to the Third Floor of the Ahmanson Building to view the newly acquired Baroque-era masterpiece by Bernardo Stozzi.  The painting is valued at $3 million and was recently donated to LACMA by Philippa Calnan, a retired public affairs director at LACMA.  This painting was restored to Calnan, the orginal owner's sole direct descendant, by the Italian Court.  The painting was purchased by Charles A. Loeser, an American expatriate and heir to a Brooklyn department store fortune.  He died in 1928.  Ten years later, the Mussolini's fascist government passed a series of anti-Jewish "racial laws."  Loeser's widow and family left Florence before the German occupation, leaving behind valuable works of art restricted from leaving Italy.  The painting vanish in April 1944, after the Nazi headquarters were set up in the family's villa. 

Bernardo Strozzzi was born in Genoa, Italy in 1581 and became a prominent Baroque painter in Genoa and later Venice.  His paintings show the dark emotionalism of Caravaggio but later soften with a Venician influence.  He lived for 10 years as a Capuchin Monk but when his father died when he was 27, he left the order to care for his mother.  He never returned to the order when his mother died and fled to Venice to escape confinement in a monastery.  He was called the Genoa priest.  He became a successful portrait painter in Venice.  He died in 1644.

So now Strozzi's painting has been given to the people of L.A. and I greatly thank Philippa for the gift.  Below is a picture of the painting of St. Catherine of Alexandria, painted in Genoa around 1615 by Bernardo Stozzi.

St. Catherine was the daughter of the the King and Queen of Alexandria who had superior intelligence and was well versed in arts, science and philosophy.  She became an ardent Christian in her teenage years.  The Roman Emperor Maxentius was smitten by her.  She attempted to get him to stop persecuting Christians.  She was imprisoned and hundreds came to see her.  All were eventually killed.  When she refused the Emperor's marriage proposal, she was beheaded.  Her sainthood came later and was an inspiration for Joan of Arc. 
In the museum she is flanked by 2000 year old Roman statues of gods....well guarded in her new home.

"Noah's Sacrifice after the Deluge," 1650-55 by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (called Il Grechetto), Genoa Italy, 1609-1664.  In this painting Noah is giving his thanksgiving sacrifice while corpses of those who perished in the flood are shown in the background.

This is a close up of the above painting showing the kittens who survived

"A Musical Party," 1626 by Valentine de Boulogne France 1591-1632.  The artist moved to Rome in 1610 after the death of Caravaggio and painted in his style - dark background, single source of light, figures to the front, and painted in action.  The painting is of a tavern scene but it is said that the melancholy figures may be an allegory of the four ages of man.

"A Philosopher," 1637 by Jusepe de Ribera, Spain, 1591-1652, active in Naples, Italy..

This is a close up of the Philosopher.  Notice the facial detail and expression.  Baroque painters use real folk as models and painted them with great perfection.

"The Storybook," 1877 by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, La Rochelle, France, 1825-1905.  The artist painted innocent-looking children in sentimental poses or setting.  He was a realist painter not influenced by the Impressionists in France.

"Woman with Hat," 1916 by Alexander Archipenko, Ukraine, 1887=1964, active in France, Germany and the U.S.  The three dimensional painting is of wood, metal, papier-mache, gauze and oil paint.  The artist moved to Paris in 1908 where he learned the cubist style.  He later completed many sculptures..

"The Centaur," 1955 by Pablo Picasso made of painted wood.  Picasso was born in Spain in 1881 and lived until 1973.

"The Guitar Player,"Bronze 1918 by Jacques Lipchitz, born in Lithuania in 1891 and active in France.  He died in 1972

"Violinist on a Bench, 1920 by Marc Chagall, Russia, 1887-1985, active in France.  Chagall's many paintings of this traditional childhood home in a rural Jewish community in Russia show violin players.  It is said that he inspired the creators of the musical "Fiddler On The Roof." 

"Yellow and Black," 1938 in Polychromed terracotta by Alexander Archipenko, Ukraine, 1887-1964, active in France, Germany and the U.S.