Roaming through the Getty Center

On Thursday, I headed up to the Getty Center for a look at my old favorite paintings and to see the new exhibitions and acquisitions.

In the Research Institute I explored "Connecting Seas" a visual history of discoveries and encounters when the Europeans visited areas on the planet that were new to them.  The first section is entitled "Orienting the World."  This includes the techniques and tools European explores used to navigate the seas and the human urge to see the world and to define their place in it. The next section is "Expeditions and Exploration."  This includes the reports and objects that the explorers brought back to their homeland.  Some of this resulted in expert investigations of areas discovered and some were hearsay reports.  The final section is "Commerce and Colonialism."  Scholarly investigations were interesting but it was trad and commerce that became the dominant motivation that led to colonization and exploitation of the native people.  The race for control and the empire race dominated the ambitions of many European countries.  Here are photos I some of what I saw:

General Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) justified his military campaign in Egypt from 1798 to 1801 by claiming it would promote Enlightenment values and to "liberate" the Egyptian people....meaning to grab it from the English.  A group of 151 scientists, engineers, and artists traveled with an armada of 400 men and 36,000 men.  These scientists and others amassed an encyclopedia of knowledge of the ancient, modern and natural history of the region.  The military campaign failed but the publication of their findings was published.  The lithograph above by Antoine Maurin is entitled "The Triumph of Trajan," 1824.  It is based on a 1801 drawing titled "The Triumph of Napoleon."  It shows Napoleon seated atop a chariot as he regularly staged elaborate processions regardless of victory or defeat.

"Science in the pillory," 1799 etching by James Gillray (British, 1757-1815)   This is a caricature of a group of perhaps French being chased up "Pompey's Pillar" in Alexandria, Egypt.  

"Column from Temple of Hathor at Dendera, color etching and engraving by Louis-Jean Allais (French, 1762-1839).  The publication in France described the monuments of ancient Egypt

Frontispiece, 1809 of the publication "Description of Egypt" in France comprising 23 bound volumes.

Temple of Hathor at Dendera, etching and engraving by Francois-Noel Sellier 

Zodiac Ceiling in the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, etching and engraving by Louis-Jean Allais

The Spanish conquest of Mexico and Central America led to various expeditions seeking documentation of the remains of the America's ancient civilizations.  "Many explorers wanted to discover undeniable signs that the roots of these civilizations could be found in Europe, Asia, or Africa."  They couldn't believe that the native cultures of the Americas had developed advanced architectural and artistic creations.  This eventually led to a deeper appreciation of Mesoamerican art.
Above is a Bust of an Aztec Priestess lithograph by Jean Massard the Elder (French, 1740-1822).

Drawing of a Ruined Temple 1831 by Agostino Aglio (Italian-British, 1777-187)

Castle at Tulum, 1844 color lithograph by Andrew Picken (British, 1815-45)

The World Empire of France, 1939

German Colonial Game, 1910.  This board game showed the reaches of the German Empire at the time.

Cover and Endpapers with Map of the British Empire, 1943.  The book describes the achievements as well as the problems in maintaining an empire of such vast diversity of peoples, climates, and countries.

The wall description states: "In the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, European powers vied for parts of the African continent, driven by the abundance and variety of its natural resources such as gold, ivory, rubber, and cocoa.  In addition, the trade in slaves from African to the Americas had been a highly organized and lucrative business since the 1600's."
Photography of African peoples often expressed an interest in documenting and understanding local customs and lifestyles of African peoples.

Beautiful Wednesday in the Huntington Gardens

My friend Bonnie and I enjoyed a beautiful lunch in the Chinese Pavilion at the Huntington Gardens. Mallard ducks were floating on the lagoon, Koi fish were slowly swimming, hawks were circling over head and light clouds drifted by.  Evelyn Tang performed on the yongqin...a Chinese hammered dulcimer.  Oh yes, the azalea and camila were in flower as were the wisteria...ya, it was pretty nice. Here are a few pictures:

Tchaikovsky Fest with the LA Phil

We experience Tchaikovsky Fest with Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Phil on Thursday and Sunday.  This weekend ends a season celebrating the works of Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky, Russian, 1840-1893 by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  Earlier in the year I marveled in a full orchestra performance of the entire Nutcracker Suite.  On Thursday we heard his Polonaise and Waltz from his opera, Eugene Onegin, and Variations on a Rococo Theme Op 3 with cellist Alisa Weilerstein.  After intermission we were blow away with the full orchestra's performance of Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op 64.  The melodic sounds are with me as I hum away still.

Alisa Weilerstein

Gustavo Dudamel

On Sunday we delighted to the combined orchestras of the L.A. Phil and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, over 200 musicians on the stage under the direction of Dudamel, the conductor and music director of both orchestras.  We were delighted with the Capriccio Italien, Op 45, Francesca da Rimini, Op 32 and after the intermission the Waltz from The Sleeping Beauty, Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker, Waltz from Eugene Onegin, and the Waltz from the Swan Lake.  The principles in each section traded, starting with the L.A. Phil principles, then the Simon Bolivar principles playing the lead solos for each section.  The finale was the 1812 Festive Overture, Op 49.  This is only the third time it has been played inside by the LA Phil in over 40 years.  Rather than cannons and fireworks in the finale, we were blown away with two sets of tympani, six base drums, several sets of bells, the pipe organ playing bells, and a dozen brass playing from the organ balcony above the orchestra.  It was a major WOW ending to a great year of Tchaikovsky.   

The Color of Life: Japanese Paintings from the Price Collection

On Saturday morning I went to an Art 101 lecture at LACMA with my friend Jovon and his daughter.
The presentation was given by Stephen Little.  He gave a brief but important history of Japan and the paintings.  We then strolled through the Japanese Pavilion, celebrating it's 25 year to view the art he discussed.

The paintings in the exhibit are from the Edo period, 1700 to 1900 from the Price collection.  The exhibit will be shown in two parts.  Recently, the collection was shown in Fukushima, Japan where the people had been most effected by the earthquake, tsunami, and radioactive contamination.  The collection had a huge positive impact on the people.

The paintings are often on silk and are mounted on fabric that is hung with a dowel at the top and bottom.  The paintings can be easily rolled like a scroll.  However, the silk can be damaged by insects and the former capitol, Kyoto, was very warm and humid with insects in the summer.  The capitol was eventually moved to Edo which is now Tokyo.

The Shoguns ruled Japan until 1870's when they were replaced with a British like government.  The Portuguese came to Japan in the 1600's but were asked to leave in 1630 because they brought Catholic priests to convert the population.  Later the Dutch came who were Protestants who were only interested in money...he said.  The Dutch were kept on a separate island in order to not impact the population.  The Dutch were wealthy traders who brought the art of porcelain making to Japan.

Other interesting information that Little shared was that the Japanese love asymmetrical paintings and gardens because they are more like nature.  Fashion was very important to Japanese women as seen in their paintings.

Here are photos of what I observed:

"Tiger" by Katayama Jokoku, Japan 1762-1803.  The artist was born in Nagasake, the only city in Japan which during the Edo period (1615-1868) could be a home to foreigners from Chinese and Korean mainland.  He was born to a Japanese mother and Chinese father.  He incorporated Chinese style into his work. 

"Cranes," by Ito Jakuchu, Japan 1716-1800
The artist capture Cranes at their least graceful, in their most eccentric poses.

"Rooster and Rising Sun," by Ito Jakuchu.
The artist inherited a greengrocer's business and he raised fowl.  The rooster and the rising sun was commonly displayed at the New Year.

"Mandarin Ducks and Snow-covered Reeds," by Ito Jakuchu

"Eagle," 1798 by Ito Jakuchu..among the last of his paintings before he died in 1800 at the age of 84.

Birds, Animals and Flowering Plants on a pair of six-panel screens, color on paper.  The right screen depict a menagerie of real and imaginary beasts surrounding a white elephant.  The left screen shows a display of birds surrounding a mythical hoo (phoenix).  The screens are done in a mosaic-like style.

"Daruma," 1888 by Kawanabe Kyosal, Japan, 1831-89.  Daruma is credited as being the first patriarch of Zen Buddhism..emphasizing achieving personal enlightenment through meditation and transmission of dharma from master to pupil.

"Two Beauties," early nineteenth century attributed to Kitagawa Kikumaro (Tsukimaro)

The above photos are of the Shutendoji Ogre Tale, mid-seventeenth century, a pair of six-panel screens, color, gold and gold-leaf on paper.  A legend of Minamoto no Yoritmitsu, 944-1021, and his group of warriors who were dispatched from the palace to rescue court ladies and his henchmen.

"Paulownia; Maple, by Susuki Kiitsu, Japan, 1726-1858, pair of hangling scrolls; ink and color on silk.

"Egret and Willow," by Suzuki Kiitsu

"Tiger," 1755 by Ito Jakuchu
Jakuchu copied his Tiger from one he saw in a Chinese painting by Mao I as there were no tigers in Japan at the time.

"Seven Cranes," by Ito Jakuchu
"Cranes were a felicitous symbol of long life, and the wish is compounded when multiplied by seven."

"Crows and a Plum Tree; Rabbits and Pine Trees in Snow," 1774 by Katsu Jagyoku, Japan, 1733-1778.
Pair of six-panel screens; ink and white pigment on paper.

Hammer Museum on Thursday

I roamed around the Hammer Museum on Thursday and was interested in two exhibits:  "Take It or Leave It...Institution, Image, Ideology" and "Tea and Morphine...Women In Paris, 1880 to 1914."

The "Take I or Leave It" exhibit is described as "locating shared impulses among those artist who borrow and recast existing images, styles and forms from popular mass-media and fine art sources."  It includes the works of 36 artists from 1970 to 1990 in the U.S.  The era "witnessed a number of significant events that reverberated in the art world:  the AIDS crisis, Ronald Reagan's 'trickle down" economics and the significant recession, the Iran-Contra affair, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, ....the War On Drugs, the first public discussion of global warming, ...Tiananmen Square in Beijing,...the beating of Rodney King, the murder of Matthew Shepard,...culture wars in which federal funding for the arts was utilized as a tool for censorship."  Here is a bit of what I saw:

The above two works cover the walls of the entry stairs to the museum created for the show by Barbara Kruger, 2014, digital print on vinyl.

"Backyard Story," 1997 by Haim Steinbach.  The description states "oddly beautiful, conceptually precise and disarmingly humorous works...crafted like words into poems."

"Michael Jackson Fucked Up Big Head Big Foot," 2010 by Paul McCarthy, carbon fiber.  "Riffing on Jeff Koons's infamous sculpture "Michael Jackson and Bubbles" 1988, this work by Paul McCarthy explodes all sense of decorum to call out the potential valences of meaning available in the late pop icon;s image."

"Killers Killed," 1994-2007 by Mark Dion, tree, taxidermic animals, tar, galvanized aluminum, foam, paint.  "Rounded up and killed for crimes no greater than following their natural survival instincts, these animals exist as outlaws forced to live on the margins of society...implicating humans as the most insidious predators of all."

The second exhibit is entitled "Tea and Morphine:  Women in Paris, 1880 to 1914."  The museum notes state:  "Although art of the period often idealized women, this exhibition highlights grittier, darker images exploring the range of female experience - shining a light into the shadows."  "Tea and morphine - the one a refreshing beverage, the other  powerful narcotic derived from opium - would come to symbolize the extremes in women's lives in France, especially in Paris...tea was for good girls while morphine was often the bad girls' choice...both used to soothe nerves...and women had many reasons to be on edge."

Cover of th print portfolio Amour, 1899 by Maurice Denis (French, 1870-1943)

"I want gunpowder and bullets," 1897 by George Auriol (French, 1883-1938)

Poster for the Salon des Cent," 1895 by Fernand Fau (French, 1858-1919)

"Temptation," 1897 by Eugene Grasset (French, 1841-1917)
"A sexy, saucy Eve...looks at the tempting apple with hunger in her eyes."

"Morphine addicts, or The plume," 1887 by Alber Besnard (French, 1849-1934)

"Morphine Addict," 1897 by Eugene Grasset

Poster for the 17th Salon des Cent Exhibition, 1897 by Paul Berthon (French, 1872-1909)
"Berthon created a vibrant image of a very young, saucy, modern woman, part innocent waif and part seductress."