Barton Gallery Docent Guide Update March 2013 Museum of Art And
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Barton Gallery Docent Guide Update March 2013 Museum of Art and Archaeology University of Missouri-Columbia Jessie Beard Rickly (American, 1895-1975) Red Shoes Fantasy, ca. 1932–35 Oil on Masonite 2011.24 Gift of Museum Associates Jessie Rickly was born in Poplar Bluff, Missouri and educated at Harvard and at Washington University School of Fine Arts in St. Louis. Further training came from Charles Hawthorne in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Upon returning to St. Louis, which she made her permanent home, she also studied with Oscar Berninghaus and Edmund Wuerpel. In 1934 she and fellow St. Louis artist Aimee Shweig co-founded an artist colony in the southeast Missouri town of Ste. Genevieve. Rickly spent three summers there working in the company of such artists as Joe Jones, Joseph Vorst and Thomas Hart Benton, among others. Independent, spirited, and politically active, Rickly became an artistic voice for women in the 1930s as she battled against then-prevailing gender expectations. This painting, depicting the interior of a bedroom, was most likely painted in Ste. Genevieve at some point between the period when Rickly helped to found the artist colony and when she left three years later. A reworking of Van Gogh’s famous painting Bedroom in Arles (a version of which she could have easily seen at the Art Institute of Chicago beginning in 1926), Rickly’s variation hints at the bohemian ambiance of a colony formed of artists who had traveled and studied around the world. The exotic locales of the American Southwest or Mexico may be implied in the colorful coverlet, and Old World Europe is recalled in the sgabello or Italian side chair. The altar containing a sculpture of the Madonna at the head of the bed reflects the deep spirituality of many of Ste. Genevieve’s Catholic residents. Although entitled Red Shoes Fantasy, the artist gives us no clues as to the meaning of the painting. The presence of the bright red shoes on the floor and the guitar on the bed remain enigmas. Viewers are left to contemplate and question the subject of the painting for themselves. Robert MacDonald Graham Jr. (American, 1919–2003) Foundation for a Building [Research Hospital, Kansas City], 1959 Oil on board (2012.2) Gift of Museum Associates Robert MacDonald Graham Jr. studied art at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1937 until 1941 and became one of Thomas Hart Benton’s favorite pupils. When showing in New York City at the age of 20, the critics praised his use of a glowing light. While his early works of art show the clear influence of Benton, Graham’s later paintings veered away from his teacher’s Regionalist style and moved into a more abstract mode. His training under Benton influenced Graham’s choice of subject matter in this work, but his painterly style conveys his individuality as an artist. The supernatural and flickering light that suffuses this painting, a common element in Graham’s work, suggests a melancholy mood brought on by the modernization and industrialization of mid-twentieth century Kansas City. Dark shadows and an overcast sky exacerbate the anonymity of the faceless workers. The repetition of stiff angular lines adds dynamism reminiscent of European Modernist movements like Cubism and Futurism. Cyclops (British, b. 1975) Hallelujah, 2007 Acrylic and ink on canvas (2008.3) Gilbreath-McLorn Museum Fund Born in Manchester, England, Cyclops (aka Lucas Price) is currently studying for his Fine Arts Masters degree at the Royal College of Art in Battersea. He has a studio in Bristol and often collaborates with other street artists in London. He began exploring graffiti when he was thirteen. Not long after, he was suspended from school, when his teachers saw that the drawings in his exercise books corresponded to his "rooftop hit," which the school promptly eliminated by sandblasting. Hallelujah is an example of Urban art, which is intricately related to city life and architecture. Also referred to as street art and graffiti, Urban art developed on the streets. It is a democratic form of popular art often filled with rebellious undertones. Urban art frequently questions the status quo and the past in a contemporary language. While often considered a nuisance, Urban art has now become a mainstay inside museums and galleries as artists transpose their paintings from the sides of buildings to canvas. The painting depicts the face of an idealized young woman overlaid with outlines, shapes, and graffiti recalling the forms found in modern city street life. The title Hallelujah is a religious utterance used in worship and also an expression of rejoicing, which means “God be praised.” With a series of crosses around her neck, the figure is meant to recall an important Christian female. If the forms piled on her head are understood as a type of modern crown, the woman can be interpreted as a royal figure. Indeed, the majestic serenity of this extraordinary figure links her to the glorious Madonnas painted by Jan van Eyck more than five hundred years ago. In this modern reinterpretation of a centuries-old Christian figure, the religious significance is almost completely obscured by the chaos of modern life. Duilio Barnabé (Italian, 1914 – 1961) La Serveuse, ca. 1959-61 Oil on canvas 86.66 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George Schriever Barnabé’s emphasis on pure and universal forms is evident in La Serveuse, with its simplified masses and planes emphasizing features shared by all individuals rather than unique to one. Instead, Barnabé uses understated blocks of color to depict clothing or uniforms, and careful depiction of hands rather than faces, to define subjects through their social roles and what they do rather than their identity as individuals. His works, whose figures often have no facial features but are instead a sphere sharply divided between light and shadow, evoke the existentialist isolation of individuals in postwar Paris, where Barnabé lived and worked during an intense fifteen year period of creative achievement from the end of the Second World War until his death in 1961. Although Barnabé did not associate himself with any particular artistic movement, his aesthetic choices relate to the Cubists and reflect the deep influence of Picasso. While this canvas is undated, the treatment of the eyes is distinctive, and similar to dated canvases from the last two years of Barnabé’s life. Ed Paschke (American, 1939-2004) Kiss I, 1996 Oil on linen (97.17) Gilbreath-McLorn Museum Fund Ed Paschke studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1960s, where he was influenced by Pop Art and by the works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists such as Paul Gauguin, and Pablo Picasso. His paintings contain imagery from the popular culture and explore themes of aggression and physical incongruity in modern life. Paschke often used lurid neon color combinations as part of his anti-aesthetic approach. In the 1980s, Paschke incorporated electronic media into the creation of many of his works. The use of computer-generated images allowed him to explore technology’s impact on human life. He wrote: “Increased worldwide connections through cyberspace and international multiculturalism have improved communication and enhanced our lives on many levels. It is ironic that these same factors have increased our sense of isolation and detachment. My paintings explore these issues through metaphor and the juxtaposition of symbols.” Kiss I exemplifies Paschke’s style and subject matter. Disembodied heads appear in many of his paintings, signifying the relationships and voids that exist between individuals in the modern world. Paschke’s use of patterning and bright colors calls to mind imagery from the internet and the mass media, while the repetition of motifs forces us to question the nature of individuality. (MAA 12/04) Irving Kriesberg (American, b. 1919) Oh, Joy! (Tokyo), 1985 Oil on canvas, 2007.36 Anonymous Gift Kriesberg has been a figurative expressionist painter since the early 1950s, when he fell under the influence of the abstract expressionists in New York City. In 1952 he showed with Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still in an important exhibition of fifteen American artists at the Museum of Modern Art. The gestural paint handling of artists like Franz Kline, in particular, had a lasting effect on his art. Featuring the odd combination of a gorilla and an owl, Kriesberg paints them in a cartoonish fashion, using Fauvist bright colors and expressive brushwork. The gorilla’s massive head on the right of the composition floats disembodied from his hand, which supports the gigantic owl in front of him. While the claws and outspread wings of the owl appear intimidating, the gorilla shows no fear, putting his head right next to the agitated bird. The disturbing effect of the large shapes, bizarre pairing, and frenzy of color and strokes appear to have been born from the artist’s unconscious. At the same time, the composition is a childlike and intimate vision created from a rainbow of colors meant to delight. There is an innocent appreciation for nature in all of its forms. (MAA nd) Dale Chihuly (American, b. 1941) Lime Persian Single with Vermilion Lip Wrap, 1993 Glass (94.1) Gift of Museum Associates, Members’ Choice Dale Chihuly studied sculpture and interior design at the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He also learned glassblowing techniques in Murano, Italy, an important international center of glass production. The popularity of Chihuly’s work has helped to blur the lines between fine art and craft. His works are celebrated for their vibrant color, fluid shapes, and the fragility of their blown glass forms. In his studio in Seattle, Chihuly draws or paints a sketch of each work, then (with the help of his assistants), blows molten glass into shapes to match his original drawings.