American Modernism @ Metropolitan Museum of Art

My post on The Met's American Wing might have left the impression the museum had few holdings of 20th century American Art.

Actually, they have some awesome stuff, but it's hung in different areas of the museum.

For example

The Alfred Steiglitz photo collection

The Alfred Steiglitz painting collection.

Basically, the collections are huge so it's easy to lose where things are or grasp the total.

Images from The Met's New American Wing

Even though I have a press pass to The Carnegie, I don't feel free to take pictures in a museum with a pretty strict no photo policy.

Allowing, photography has it's pros and cons. In a crowded museum, like MOMA, one can be overwhelmed by the masses who want a picture of themselves in front of every work on their "bucket list". And, yes sometimes a flash goes off, which is really bad for most work. Damaging flash bulbs are one of the good reasons many museums banned photography.

The Met, being large enough to rarely feel too crowded allows photography in most of it's permanent collection.

I don't take shots too often, but here's a look at some of the newly reinstalled American Wing.



Boy, it looked great! Somehow the museum was so huge, this part of the collection sort of got lost before. A few highlights.

A collection of early American art and folk art--on semi permanent loan from the troubled Museum of American Folk Art

Great Collection of Early American and early colonial Paintings

Whole room of amazing John Singer Sargent paintings

Several really important Thomas Eakins works.

A very strong display of American impressionism- Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam etc...

A strong display of works Frederic Remmington and other western artists.

A very strong selection of Augustus Saint-Gaudens sculpture.

An incredible selection of Tiffany Glass

Some great Albert Bierstadt paintings.

Many amazing Winslow Homer works.

From what I could see, the collection drops off at the start of the twentieth century and includes almost no American modernism, ashcan school or later American paintings. To a large extent, I think these are grouped in other parts of the museum.

The Whitney Museum is one of the best places to see American Modernism and regionalism. The Brooklyn Museum also is home to an amazing selection of Hudson River school, Winslow Homers and ashcan school works. Sadly, the cheesy, distracting, "educational" way this part of the collection is set up makes it hard to appreciate.

The Tides of Provincetown: Pivotal Years in America's Oldest Continuous Art Colony (1899-2011) @ Westmoreland Museum

If you live anywhere in the main region this blog covers and have never been to The Westmoreland, you are really missing out; if you don't it's just one reason to swing by. I myself miss way to many shows there.

Put together, by New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut, this is the first major museum survey of the most important single artist colony in America. Included in the show are works by Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb, Hans Hofmann, and Charles Hawthorne, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Lee Krasner, William Zorach, Michael Mazur, Robert DeNiro, Sr., and no doubt many other artists spanning the entire life of the colony up till today.

"The Provincetown Art Colony was largely established by Charles Hawthorne and quickly rose in importance as a major haven for the arts in the early 20th century. Hawthorne and the early students of Provincetown made significant contributions to American art through their exploration of movement and light. These small departures heralded the beginning of a new and modern approach to art. Later, the art colony, particularly under the direction of Hans Hofmann, broke from traditional European formats of study to create a system of learning that was uniquely American. The symbiotic relationship between Hofmann and Provincetown resulted in what is considered the best work of his career and the development of Provincetown as a world-class center for modern art. An esteemed string of abstract artists followed in his footsteps, finding inspiration in the famous "light" and environment of Provincetown. To this day, Provincetown remains a thriving arts colony with an impressive legacy of abstract artists. Contemporary artists still flock to this small seaside town for inspiration from the masters who worked there long ago as well as the indescribable energy that Provincetown exudes."

The Tides of Provincetown: Pivotal Years in America's Oldest Continuous Art Colony (1899-2011)

Saturday October 29, 2011 - Sunday January 22, 2012

Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties @ Brooklyn Museum

Malvina Hoffman: Martinique Woman


Florine Stetheimer: Natorium Undine

Spending a bit of time in NYC again, hoping very much that others will keep one up on shows in Pittsburgh.

The Brooklyn Museum has an awesome permanent collection, heavy on great American art, strong Egyptian and African holdings and lots of contemporary work. Sadly, much of this is marred by ugly and hugely distracting, educational labels and giant signs. Even worse are the loud video displays that make it very hard to spend time or think about what one is seeing. Even so, this is a must see place.

The Youth and Beauty show currently up has none of these problems and is wonderfully, curated and displayed.


George Bellows: Two Women

It's hard for any one show of a modest 64 or so works to fully represent an artistic era, but this seemed to. I was struck by the contrast between so much of the American Art from this period with what was happening in Europe. The twenties in Germany and Eastern Europe was a time of turmoil and political chaos. While, beauty, gaiety, and infatuation with technical inventions is evident, it tends to be tempered by the scars, anger and questions left by the great war.

Much of American Art, in contrast is just very happy, sincere and optimistic. Our time of doubt comes in the 30's

Artists of the period dealt with the impact of European modernism; migration to cities, mass production, photography and the emerging role of women's liberation. The show reflects all of this. Several great works from the Harlem Renaissance are included.


Aaron Douglas: Charleston

An insanely great show, with works by Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Peter Blume, Joseph Stella, Thomas Hart Benton and many more. See it if you can.

Two Great Henry Koerner Paintings in Real/Surreal @ Whitney Museum

The Whitney has a series of six consecutive shows curated from their collection. Real/Surreal highlights works that can be loosely be grouped this way. Henry Koerner's work fits right in, drawing small crowds of avid viewers.

Surrealism was not born in America but by the late 30's a large group of artists here were exploring the various poetic and dreamlike possibilities it opened up. One feels that many were already strongly inclined in this direction.

Several highlights in this show, include works by Rockwell Kent, Paul Cadmus, George Tooker, Charles Sheeler, Joseph Cornell, Charles Burchfield and Kay Sage.

REAL/SURREAL
OCTOBER 6, 2011–FEBRUARY 12, 2012
Whitney Museum of American Art

The Rise Of The Rest-- The Art World Turned Upside Down

If you watched any Olympic coverage, you got a nice visual display of the awesome transformation of Asia.This is not just a one city illusion, looked at by the numbers, Asia's rising trade surpluses, huge savings rates and currency surpluses demonstrate a vast potential spending power, most of which has yet to be unleashed. China for example has gone to great lengths to keep it's currency far lower than the market would, depressing it's citizens spending power.

The other thing that came across was the almost violent pride, that has developed in in China and it's similar in India-- which is starting to be seen in the exploding interest in Asian art.



I wonder about the place American Art, now plays in art history and the art market. In the post war world, we were the sun, everything seemed to revolve around us, especially the art market. The message in art history books was that all the paths of history lead to us, which was funny since a lot of the modernist movement, came from artists inspired by non western art.



Here's a story in The Washington Post about the same trend in India.

"The world art market first took fleeting notice of modern Indian art in the 1990s. A critical appreciation emerged only in the past six to seven years. In February, Sotheby's sold about half a dozen Indian contemporaries along with works by Andy Warhol and Francis Bacon.

Analysts say the enthusiasm coincides with the world's growing attention to Asia.

"There is a new de-centeredness that has come into play in the art world. And it coincides with the so-called rise of the rest, which means vocalization of positions and perspectives that differ from the Western position," said Gayatri Sinha, an art critic."

Interesting to see how this plays out.