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.

Alexander Calder exhibit at LACMA

I roamed over to LACMA to enjoy the Alexander Calder exhibit of his Mobiles and Stabiles...the ones that move and the ones that don't.  Calder lived from 1898 to 1975 in the U.S. and Europe.  Born in Pennsylvania as a son and grandson of traditional sculptures.  He received his degree in mechanical Engineering at Steven's Institute and then went off to Paris to be inspired by Dadaists, Surrealists and other avant-gard artists like Duchamp, Miro, Mondrain, Arp and others.  In 1930 Calder moved on to Abstraction after visiting Mondrain's work.  Then his Mobiles appeared and later the Stabiles.  He moved back to the U.S. with the beginning of WWII along with many other artists. 

Below are some of his works:

Calder' designed this poster for the opening of LACMA in  1965

Calder's "Un effet du japonals" 1941

Calder's "Three Quintains (Hello Girls)" permanently installed as a fountain at LACMA in 1965

Calder's "Spiral Imaginatif" 1975

"Little Face" 1962

"Laocoon" 1947

"La Grande vitesse" 1969



"Gibralter" 1935



Chicago's Flamingo

Natures' Sky Painting over the Rose Bowl

Below are photo's of the beautiful sky over the UCLA vrs. Arizona State football team on Saturday...UCLA lost.

Yep, the Blimp was floating by too

Fowler Museum at Fifty

I roamed through the exhibits of the Fowler museum on the UCLA campus.  They are celebrating their fifthieth year of operation.  Thr brochure says that the museum collections comprise more than 150,000 works of art and material culture and 600,000 archaeological objects, which together represent past and present cultures from Africa, Native and Latin America, Asia and the Pacific..  Nearly 1,000 objects are now on display.  The roooms have sctions that are entitle with different themes such as "Intersections:  World Arts, Local Lives, Art and Action, Art and Knowledge and Art and Power."

Here is a sample of things I observed:

A wall weaving with coper wire and fabric by a Ghana/Nigeria artist in 2005

"La Calavera Don Quijote," 1980 in Papier-mache by Felipe Linaries (Mexico, b. 1936)

"Aparthied's Funeral," 1994 by Johannes Segogela (South Africa, b. 1936) in wood with paint.

""Shrine sculpture," by Ishan peoples, Nigeria, 19th-20th century in wood, pigment, cloth, string,  and fiber,.

"Headdress (ere gelede)" attributed to Labintan (Otta, Nigeria, d. ca. 1930) in wood, paint, laundry bluing.  "Headdress with motorcycle and rider," by Eloi Lokossou (Republic of Benin)

"Mask" by Tsimshian peoples, British Columbia, Canana, 19th century.

"Ship-on-wheels" is a party of the Fowler silver collection.  This adult toy of the 19th-centuiry German manufacture is modeled on the galleons of an earlier era.

"From the Sepik River to Los Angeles:  Art in Migration.  The items in this room came from a region now part of the nation of Papua New Guinea.

Canoe from Yami peoples, Botei Tobago Island, Taiwan, Early 20th century.  The Offering post in front is from the Tetum peoples, Dafala, Belu, West Timor, Indonesia, 19th century in stone.

UCLA Sculpture Gardens on Thursday

I roamed around the UCLA Franklin Murphy Sculpture Gardens on Thursday morning just after it had rained a bit.  The gardens were championed by the UCLA Chancellor, Franklin D. Murphy, who later became chief executive of the Times Mirror Company.   The garden was dedicated in 1967 and features over 70 modern and contemporary sculptures on a five-acre site designed by landscape architect Ralph Cornell.  I first visited the gardens in 1977 and have enjoyed them many times over the years.  It is fun to see the students and faculty also enjoying the gardens as it is a great place to picnic, study, nap, spoon with your partner, and just look around and enjoy.

Here are some of my favorites:

"Reclining Nude" by Francisco Zuniga 

"Oval Form" by Barbara Hepworth

"Bathers" by Jacques Lipchitz

"Tower of Masks" by Anna Mahler

"Mother with Child at her Hip" by Francisco Zuniga 

"Two-Piece Reclining Figure" by Henry Moore

 "Dance Columns I and II by Robert Graham

"Maja" by Gerhard Marcks

"Pensive" by Deborah Butterfield

One of 4 Bas-Relief panels by Henri Matisse

"Night" by Anna Mahler

"Mulier" by Eric Gill

Roy Choi and Evan Kleinman talking about food and life at Aloud on Wednesday

Wednesday night's Aloud at the central library in L.A. feature an interview of Roy Choi by food expert Evan Kleinman.  Roy has recently published an autobiography/cookbook "L.A. Son:  My Life, My City, My Food."  As Evan is an excellent interviewer, as heard on KCRW's Good Food radio show, and Roy Choi is fun, creative and an impulsive subject....it was a great night!  Roy is the creator of the gourmet Korean toco truck, Kogi, that mixes Korean and Mexican tastes.  He is also runs two restaurants, Chego! and Sunny Spot in L.A.  A new restaurant "Pot" will be opening in Korea Town in January.  As Choi is an avid pot/weed smoking fan, he didn't commit if the name was from that or a kitchen pot. 

Choi talked about his childhood, born in Korea with a Clef Lip/Palette, moved to L.A. with parents at age 2.  His parents had challenges including alcoholism and they moved around a lot.  They finally made it in the jewelry business after running a restaurant...where Choi worked as a kid.  So they moved on up to an exclusive community in Orange County (OC) in a home formerly owned by famous pitcher, Nolan Ryan.  He said that the day they moved in, his father took him to the bath room, flushed the toilet, and said this is where Nolan Ryan shit.  He thought about that often while setting on the toilet.

Roy began running the streets with Mexicans while in Junior High.  He loved low rider cars and eventually had one himself.  After some significant trouble and drifting around, he woke up on a friends couch and said that the Emeril Lagasse cooking show was on T.V.  He said that Emeril seemed to be talking to him and saying you can do this too.  So, he went to chef school....but his strong mother said if you going, you are going to the best, "The Culinary Institute of American" in Hyde Park, New York....along the Hudson River, 2 hours North of the City.  This led to good internship at Le Bernardin in New York...another mystical intervention led him there.  He has worked at The Beverly Hilton and the Rock Sugar Pan in L.A. 

He then had the idea with his partners to turn what people called "roach coaches' into gourmet dining.  The Twitter age helped them succeed, announcing their changing locations. 

He said he wrote the book, now age 43, because it was time to grow up.  So the story of his life is a way to find out about who he is and to share his recipes for cooking.  He says their business does not have a plan, they just grow like a plant, without pruning.  He said that maybe next year is a time for planning. 

I went outside the library after the program and enjoyed two tacos, short rib and chicken, with the mysterious sauces.  I also had a Blue Moon Mulita (their premiere Salsa Azul dish."  For dessert I had a Sriracha Bar...a kind of brownie with crisped rich and caramel dipped in dark chocolate.  Wow!

Tuesday night at a Camerata Pacifica concert in The Gold Room in Pasadena

My friend Judith invited me to a Camerata Pacifica concert in The Gold Room of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.  Adrian Spence, the Artistic Director, introduced the program, a solo recital of two of Beethoven's most important and difficult works for piano.  These works were written in Beethoven's later years, after he lost his hearing, and perhaps when he became even more obsessive-compulsive.

Adam Neiman

Adam Neiman, attacked and conquered these difficult pieces that required much pounding and finesse on the Steinway.  The first was the Beethoven 33 variations on a waltz by Anton Diabelli, Op.120....yes 33 variations!  I didn't count them but was amazed how Adam was pumping both his feet on pedals and was up and down the keyboard with his fingers seemingly without breaking a sweat.

After the intermission, Adam played Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-Flat Major..."set a new standard for difficulty, duration and depth."  Yes, Adam did handle all of it very well.