Norton Simon's Purchase

I attended a members reception at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena marking the opening of an exhibit entitled "Lock, Stock and Barrel:  Norton Simon's Purchase of Duveen Brothers Gallery.  In the 1960's Norton Simon began purchasing paintings from the Duveen Brothers Gallery, once one of the largest and most successful dealerships of the international art market.  He started with the purchase of "Portrait of a Courtesan" that was reported to have been painted by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, 1485 to 1576).  The authenticity has been disputed.  However, Simon decided to purchase this and then later the whole inventory of nearly 800 objects as well as the Duveen gallery building at 18 East 79th Street in New York City for $4 million dollars.  Simon sold off most of the objects to recoup his purchase cost.  Today 130 objects remain in the Norton Simon Collection including primarily paintings, a handful of sculpture, a few porcelains and a cape purportedly worn by Charles IV of Spain.  Only about two dozen pieces are regularly on permanent display, owing to their condition, the type of restoration that the paintings underwent, or their dubious attribution.

Here are my photos of some of the pieces in the exhibit:

"Bust Portrait of a Courtesan," 1509 by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio), Italian, 1489-1576

"Madonna and Child," mid-15th century, attributed to Luca della Robbia or studio cast, Italian, 1400=1482

"The Bay of Naples," 1762 by Claude Joseph Vernet, French, 1714-1789 

"Portrait of the Marquis d'Havrincourt," 1713 by Nicolas de Largilliere, French, 1656-1746

"Standing Figure of a Court Lady, circa 19th century, Chinese Qing dynasty (1644-1912)

"Lady Hamilton as Medea," 1786 by George Romney, English, 1734-1802
Born the daughter of a blacksmith, she became mistress and later wife of Sir William Hamilton, the British envoy to Naples.  This represents one of her famous "attitudes," a series of dramatic poses to act out mythological characters.

"Portrait of Louis XIII, King of France 1601-1643," 1622 by the Workshop of Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish, 1577-1640

"Portrait of Anne of Austria, Queen of France 1601-1666," 1622 by Workshop of Peter Paul Rubens

"The Sense of Touch," 1614-16 by Jusepe de Robera, Spanish 1591-1652

"Rape of The Sabine," 16th century Bronze by Giovanni da Bologna, Italian, 1524-1608

"A Venetian Nobleman," late 16th century, by Domenico Robusti, called Tintoretto, Italian 1518-1594

"Salome with the Head of St. John the Baptist," early 16th century by gthe Workshop of Titian.

Karl Benjamin The Late Paintings

Last Thursday I visited the Louis Stern Gallery at 9002 Melrose Ave in West Hollywood to view the paintings by Karl Benjamin between 1986 and 1995.  Benjamin is considered one of the founding fathers of West Coast Hard Edge painting.  He was born in Chicago in 1925, graduated from the University of Redlands with his MFA from Claremont Graduate School all in California. Benjamin is quoted as saying "Color is the subject matter of painting.  It posses a powerful emotive quality, unique in each individual.  Regardless of style or content, color is the material from which paintings are made."  He began his career as a painter in the 1950's and lived until 2012.

Here are my photos of the paintings.  They are all numbered with dates:

Archibald Motley Paintings at LACMA

I viewed an exhibit of paintings by Archibald Motley called "Jazz Age Modernist" at Los Angeles County Museum of Art last week.  I had seen a few of his paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago where he studied in the 1920's.  He was one of the African American artists who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920's, a period of heightened artistic creativity among Black artists in New York and other cities.  The description of the Motley exhibit states that his paintings are brilliant yet idiosyncratic with neon hues that are dynamic compositions. It also states that Motley interjected satire from the life of some African Americans in Chicago with hues caused by incandescent and fluorescent lighting that informed the artist's bold color choices, representing "the world in all its chromatic splendor."

Motley was born in New Orleans in 1891, lived and worked mostly on Chicago's South Side, with work in Paris and and Mexico.  He died in Chicago in 1981.

Steve Appleford of the L.A. Times wrote in his review today that Curator Richard J. Powell calls Motley a "pioneering provocateur" who dealt with "subject matter that might that might have been considered politically incorrect."  Motley began his career by painting portraits of his friends and family that the reviewer called "richly detailed portraits of weight and dignity."  Motley shifted to painting canvases that were crowded with people engaged with the culture from strip joints to the pulpit during the Jazz period of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington.  In the L.A. Times article, the curator stated that Motley was one of the few African American artists who said "I'm going to have fun, I'm going to do subjects that make people laugh or smile to themselves."

Here are my photos of some of the paintings on display:

"Blues," 1929

"Portrait of My Grandmother" 1922

Grandmother at work

"Tongues (Holy Rollers)," 1929
This painting reveals a crescendo moment in a Pentecostal church service in the South side of Chicago known as Bronzeville.  Motley s described as a devoted Roman Catholic but found churches like these fascinating subjects for art.

"Town of Hope," 1927.  The description states that the painting's title evokes an idealized vision of small-town optimism with streams of black migrants from the south.  The mood of the painting is one of unease, trepidation and upheaval

"The Plotters," 1933

"Portrait of a Cultured Lady," 1938
This is a portrait of on of Chicago's first African American art dealers, Edna Powell Gayle (1900-1984).  

"Cafe, Paris," 1929
Motley was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1929-1930 and studied art in Paris where he captured the essence of bohemian life.

"The Boys in the Back Room (Card Players)," 1934

"Sunday in the Park," 1941

"The Argument," 1940

"Another Mexican Baby," 1953-54, oil on woven potato mat.

"Barbecue," 1936

"Saturday Night," 1935

"Carnival," 1937

"Black Belt," 1934
The other term used to describe the African American community of Chicago was "The Black Belt."  In this and in the previous painting Motley paints a fat bald man physically absorbing the urban energy and human activity that surround him.  

"Self-Portrait (Myself at Work)," 1933

"Street Scene, Chicago," 1936

"Playground (Recess)," 1940
The painting description identifies Motley's visual shorthand for African American physical features - black skin, wide red lips, and white teeth...racial stereotyping.  

"The Picnic," 1936

"The Arrival at Chickasaw Bayou of the Slaves of President Davis," 1938
Motley painted this during the time he was working for the Works Progress Administration.  The painting satirizes an engraving that showed the president of the Confederate States of America arriving with his entourage.  

"Callejon del Beso (Alley of the Kiss)," 1951
Motley made numerous visits to Mexico in the 1950's.

"After Fiesta, Remorse, Siesta," 1959-60.

"Barbecue," 1960

The following paintings are by other African American artists and are part of the LACMA permanent collection.

"The 1920's...The Migrants Arrive and Cast Their Ballots."1974 by Jacob Lawrence, 1917-2000.

"Cotton Pickers," 1947 by John Biggers, 1924-2001

"Sharecropper," 1952 by Elizabeth Catlett, 1915-2012

"Cotton Pickers," 1880's-90's, "Wash Day" 1880's-90's, by William Aiken Walker, 1838-1921

"The Embrace: 1942 by Charles White, 1918-1979, Egg tempera on Masonite.