Carol Tyler at the Carnegie

Carol Tyler, Ponder.

Cartoonist Carol Tyler has created a beautifully detailed art installation as her contribution to With or Without: Challenges, an art exhibition curated by Mary Heider for the Carnegie (Covington, KY), September 5 - November 1 2015. The show presents work created by artists as a way to process and address difficult life experiences or challenges in their lives. 17 artists are included in the exhibit, along with Tyler, and the Woebegone Basketry Guild.

Tyler's installation Pages from the Graphic Novel You'll Never Know is based on her graphic novel trilogy, You'll Never Know. Tyler devoted nine years of her life to telling the emotional story of  her family, particularly her father, a World War II veteran suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), a condition that was formerly known as "soldier's heart."

When I asked her to explain the contents of the installation, Tyler told me, "What is on display is a recreation of my living/workspace for the past 9 years. I created You'll Never Know in the most humble space with no budget and in between care-giving duties, a job, and various other things, mainly health problems. What is seen here is one side of the room (the process) and then the other side is a sampling of the finished art. There are 23 pages on display. The other 350+ pages live in that box below the art that Dad & I made.

The following photos were taken by Carol to document the installation:

Panel explaining the installation

Recreation of Tyler's workspace, including her drawing board.

A display of pages from the books.

Justin Green creates signage.

Tyler and her daughter Julia.

Planning a sequence

Guest sign in book for Veterans. 

Gallery visitor reading 

The photo above, of a gallery visitor reading, holds special significance to Tyler, as she explains: 'The chair was meant to display the jacket from the book, but I love how this guy sat down and read all three books. He said he couldn't stop and that he was stunned and could he please come back during the week so he could look further (made me tearful)."

Other artists included in the exhibition are Soulaf Abas, Julie Abijanac, Lynn Arnold, Ann Burrell, Steven Finke, Tim Freeman, Joe Girandola, Jamie Grauvogel, Barry Gunderson, Laurie Hughes, Kelly Malec-Kosak, Adam Maloney, Derrick Meads, Tim Rietenbach, Dana Saulnier, Nick Scrimenti, Thom Shaw, Carol Tyler, and The Woebegone Basketry Guild.

Midcentury Modernism at the Contemporary Jewish Museum

Yesterday I viewed Designing Home: Jews and Midcentury Modernism (at the CJM SF through 10/6) a show about how European Jewish emigres networked together around a core of design institutions across the US, inspiring a new look for architecture, furniture, textiles, dinnerware & utensils, Judaica, and graphic design.  The institutions singled out in the show were MoMA, Walker Art Center, Institute of Design (Chicago), Black Mountain College (NC), Case Study House/Art + Architecture magazine (LA), and Pond Farm (Guerneville, CA). There were many artists included in this survey and about 200 works on display; in this post,  I am sharing examples of graphic design I found interesting (all photos by me). There's a detailed press release about the entire show on the CJM web site.

Entry to the exhibit. Focus is on the 1950's, 60's, & 70's

A display of album covers by Alex Steinweiss, 1950's

Book covers for Merdian and New Directions books by Elaine Lustig-Cohen, 1950's.

Book Cover by Alan Lustig, 1940's

Aviary, a wallpaper designed by Saul Steinberg

Saul Bass poses with his best-known poster, Anatomy of a Murder

Poster for No Way Out by Paul Rand, 1950

A wall of corporate logos designed by Paul Rand, Saul Bass, and Louis Danziger
between 1938 & 1980.

Also on view is Project Mah Jongg, which explored the game's roots and how it came to be an important pastime in Jewish American life. The thing I really liked about this show was the series of drawings by local artists describing their memories of how Mah Jongg was part of their personal family life and culture (through 10/28).

Pretty in Ink at Cartoon Art Museum

Trina Robbins discusses the fine points of a page by Grace Drayton from her collection at the
Pretty in Ink exhibition, as CAM executive director Summerlea Kashar looks on.

Last Night (7/31), the Cartoon Art Museum hosted a reception for Pretty in Ink, an exhibition showcasing pieces from the collection of comics creator and Herstorian Trina Robbins, which will be up for about another month (through August 24). On display are a gallery full of works from female cartoonists working in the early 20th century, including pieces from Ethel Hays, Edwina Dumm, Nell Brinkley, Ramona Fradon, and Lily Renée. The exhibit also includes fan art, rare photos, and other memorabilia. Trina also signed copies of her new Fantagraphics book, Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013.

Trina Robbins pointing out highlights in the career of the flapper age cartoonist Nell Brinkley.

In the next gallery was an exhibit of the work of Mike Zeck, an artist most identified with The Punisher, who also had popular runs on Captain America, Secret Wars, Lobo, GI Joe, Green Lantern, Batman, Master of Kung Fu, and Spider-man.

Art by Mike Zeck on display at the Cartoon Art Museum (through 8/10)

Also on display through September is a celebration of the Mutant Ninja Turtles, curated by Andrew Farago, whose Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History was recently published by Insight Editions (see video review below):

On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison

Margaret Harrison. The Last Gaze. 2013 Northern Art Prize winner.

Over the summer, I've been pleased to spend several afternoons with Margaret Harrison, discussing her new work. Her latest installation piece, The Last Gaze, builds on many of the themes and devices she has developed throughout her career.

Based on the Pre-Raphaelite painting of the Lady of Shalott by Waterhouse and the ballad by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Harrison uses the myth of "the Lady" to comment on contemporary issues.

Margaret Harrison. The Last Gaze (detail). 2013

The Lady, because of a mysterious curse, is only able to look out on the outside world, particularly Camelot, through her mirror, weaving tapestries of the scenes she views. One day, she spies handsome Sir Lancelot through her mirror, and falls in love with him. The mirror cracks, and the curse comes upon her. She sets off for Camelot by water and dies en-route, where Lancelot looks on her lovely, dead face with pity, although she is completely unknown to him. Harrison sees the restriction of viewing life indirectly from the home as a possible "metaphor for the Victorian perspective on women's sexuality," and the curse as a warning to the female gender not to step outside of those boundaries. 

Mirror reflecting The Last Gaze.

In Harrison's installation, we are all "the Lady." We look out through the mirror of television, news media, the internet and myriad other sources to indirectly view events both international and personal. In the rear-view car mirrors installed by Harrison, the gallery visitor can see fractured reflections of themselves, the Lady and other visitors as another way to live our mediated experience. Much like the Lady weaving her tapestries, Harrison shows us different threads of discussion by including images from news media and pop culture, such as a candle raised to the victim of the 2012 Delhi Bus Rape, Snow White, Elvis, Captain America, Grace Jones, Superman and Wonder Woman.  She shows them both as internalized concepts and as outside influences by placing them both within the Lady's dress, or outside, surrounding her.

In 2015 & 2016, Harrison will be showing this piece and other new work in shows at the Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast, the Middlesbrough Institute of Art (UK), and the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York, as well as touring exhibits of older work through the Tate, and other gallery shows in Berlin and London.

Margaret and I have been collaborating on a book that would include biographical information and an overview of her work and career entitled On Reflection: the Art of Margaret Harrison. If you would like to see more images or and a proposal, please contact me at kim_munson AT yahoo.com.

Tyrus Wong at Disney Family Museum

I am so glad I got over to the Presidio see Water to Paper, Paint to Sky: the Art of Tyrus Wong at the Disney Family Museum before it closed.

Wong had a fascinating career. Well, still has, actually. He's 103 and still actively creating beautiful work.  This wide ranging exhibit was one of the best I've seen at the Disney, showing over 150 works by Wong.

Promotional Art from Disney Family Museum.

The exhibit begins with the story of his immigration from China through Angel Island as a child, and what a trial it was, and establishes how he found a balance between Chinese ideas of form and perspective and Western methods of portraying a scene. These ideas are evident in his best known work, the concept art for Disney's 1940's masterpiece Bambi. In a video, Wong talks about the contrast between the mists and the need for distance in Chinese painting, where Western painting tends to feature the main subject front and center. His atmospheric paintings really set the tone for Bambi, and made it the work of art it is.

Gallery View looking down from 2nd floor (from Wong's FB page)

Wong was laid off at Disney following an acrimonious labor dispute and strike, eventually working again as a storyboard artist for Warner Brothers TV. He also designed scarves, dishware, greeting cards, and ceramic tiles. His post-retirement watercolors are lovely and moody, showing his isolation as he dealt with that transition in his life.  Then he discovered kite making, which he does in a very precise, traditional manner. He is still making kites and participating in kite events, particularly at Venice Beach in Southern California.  Wong's kites were well displayed hanging from the beams of the open ceiling of the gallery, and the second floor was ringed with photos of the kites in the air, and with photos and celebratory quotes from other animators that have found inspiration in Wong's work.

There's a documentary film in the making; Tyrus Wong: Brushstrokes in Hollywood (FB page). Here's a Cartoon Brew review by Amid Amidi with lots of images.

Yerba Buena GalleryWalk 2013

The Annual Yerba Buena GalleryWalk was held on June 8^th. I made it to 10 of the 13 galleries participating this year, but couldn’t quite figure out overall attendance. The California Historical Society was packed, and the nearby Gallery Wendi Norris and Modernism had good crowds. Otherwise, it was pretty spotty. I saw lots of good work though. Here’s a quick run-down of what I liked. Since I got behind on posting and some of these shows might be closing at month-end, you should check the gallery sites to see what’s there now.

Totally worth a look is Curating the Bay on view at the California Historical Society through 8/25/13. After a painful transition in which the CHS actually stopped creating exhibitions, programming has returned in the last year or so. This exhibition categorizes some of the Society’s photos, paintings and other artifacts in a very general framework of questions meant to inspire ideas about what living in the SF Bay Area means to people and what they do. The Society’s intention is to crowdsource ideas that will utilize (and add to) their collection in new ways. They are collaborating in this project with researchers at Stanford University and Historypin in the Year of the Bay project.

Julio Cesar Morales. We are the Dead 3.

Around the corner at Gallery Wendi Norris, I was glad to see new work by Julio Cesar Morales, an artist whose work I was once well acquainted with through SFSU and I had completely lost track of. He’s still dealing with themes of immigration, memory and identity, this time in a new video installation Forever Now! Sharing the gallery was Kelly Barrie, who had a series of works about play, weeds and other organic materials.

After checking out Modernism and the Visual Aid Gallery, I walked down to 111 Minna and really enjoyed unearthed by Rob Reger (best known for Emily the Strange) in collaboration with Jim Dirschberger, Steve Ferrera, Buzz Parker and Jared Roth. I am always happy to visit this gallery; they have really built a community vibe, and it’s a great place to meet up, have a drink and hang out. A couple of blocks away, Varnish Fine Art had a show of beautifully detailed slightly surreal and spooky work by Dan Quintana that really intrigued me.

Stopping at Chandler Fine Art and walking by SFMOMA, I was struck by how forlorn the mighty SFMOMA building seems with paper over the windows and no signs of life. Just a few weeks ago, it was teeming with visitors, now… tumbleweeds. Change is good, but it felt weird anyway.

Dan Quintana. Zero Instruments

At 871 Fine Arts, I saw a fascinating group show of work done by 7 artists that have been meeting every Sunday at June Felter’s studio to paint still lives together (Felter, Keith Alward, Adelie Bischoff, Gary Bottone, Barbara Scales, Jack Schnitzius, and Louise Smith). Predominately water color sketches, it was interesting to see all this work together. I’d love to see a larger show where you could see how the artist’s styles evolved together over time. Of course, the really dangerous thing about 871 Fine Arts is that half the gallery is a bookstore focused on rare and out of print art books and exhibition catalogs, I’m amazed I got out of their without adding to my (already out of control) collection. Upstairs at Crown Point Press, there was a small exhibit of new monotypes by Robert Bechtle. These specific works interested me because they were very soft and watercolor/washy feeling instead of the usual precision I’ve come to expect from his work. They were quite lovely.

I am glad that the Yerba Buena Alliance coordinates this event every year. I hope they get a more consistent turnout in the future. Still everyone I saw in the galleries seemed really engaged, and that’s what we want.

Margaret Harrison - Captain America Continued

Margaret Harrison's latest show at the Payne Shurvell Gallery in London

As regular readers of my blog might know, I did an extensive research project a couple of years ago on the British artist Margaret Harrison, generally about her career, but specifically tracing the path of her series of Captain America paintings. Captain America is a character she has returned to several times in key points of her career between 1971 and now, and her interpretation of the character has evolved over that time.

Margaret Harrison. What's
That Long Red Limp Wrinkly
Thing You're Pulling On? 2009.

The painting reproduced on the gallery invite seems to build on the themes I’ve identified in Harrison's work previously, particularly What's That Long Red Limp Wrinkly Thing Your're Pulling On?, which was part of a series she began around 2009 that used paintings as "mirrors" to reflect or comment on the inner state of a character. In this recent work, Cap is looking in an actual mirror, but the image reflecting back at him is an ancient grotesque ala Leonardo or Caravaggio. Harrison has been an advocate of women's rights throughout her career, and it is my feeling is that this painting is a commentary on the weird way the US is dealing with women’s rights, equal pay and abortion. The US (Cap) is self-congratulatory and proud, yet its role as a superpower is shrinking (signified by the tiny cape), and the reflection shows the face of the "ugly American" (which is probably the way people in the other first world countries see us at the moment). The US is built on the labor, creativity and strength of its female citizens, yet their rights are still in dispute, and grandstanding politicians say ugly things about rape being a gift from God.

I'm looking forward to seeing a higher-res image so I can pick out the details. I can't quite make out the dancing figure in the leg. I recognize the Wonder Women: the armored Alex Ross version from Kingdom Come, the flying one in the upper right looks like a classic George Perez, and the one inside the figure looks like a well-known cover image from the Who is Wonder Woman? storyline by Terry & Racheal Dodson (series 3, #3).  The position of the "Dodson" WW inside Cap's transparent body seems to reference the invisible plane, and could refer to the strength of women building the US, and to the right to choose.

If you'd like a glimpse of my past research on Harrison, here's a slideshow (article pdf):

Censorship & Superbodies: The Creative Odyssey of Margaret Harrison from Kim Munson

This is Harrison's second exhibition at Payne Shurvell, the first being I am a Fantasy (2011). She currently has work on show at Tate Liverpool, in Tracing the Century (drawings from the Tate Collection) and included in ‘Glam’ the Performance of Style also at Tate Liverpool and then touring to Germany and Austria. Her work will also be part of a group exhibition, Keep Your Timber Limber, opening at the ICA (London) this June. Related works are on show in the 2013 Northern Art Prize at the Leeds Art Gallery for which Margaret Harrison has been short-listed. The prize winner will be announced on 23 May.

A Swarm, A Flock, A Host

Darren Waterston, Plates II, VI, and X, from the portfolio
A Swarm, A Flock, A Host, 2013. Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint

On a recent visit to the Palace of Legion of Honor, I viewed Darren Waterston: A Compendium of Creatures in the small but always lovely Logan Gallery of Illustrated Books. I appreciated this modern take on the traditional bestiary with illustrations and corresponding comments/lessons. The companion publication is beautiful, and I've enjoyed reading it, but the images are a pale shadow of the pages on display at the Legion, with their sumptuous backgrounds and large scale compositions. Up into December, so there's lots of time to check it out. 

Calligraphy Out of Character at Asian Art Museum

Out of Character: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy was on view at the Asian Art Museum (SF) Oct 3, 2012 – Jan 13, 2013.  Based on the extensive classical calligraphy collection of Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, this show filled the Asian’s two main exhibition galleries on the first floor, and the lobby between them.

I was up and down about this show. It was amazing to see all these pieces, many of which have never publicly displayed. I thought the curators did a pretty good job of explaining calligraphy techniques and the importance of calligraphy for an audience that may have had no prior exposure to this kind of work. Most classical calligraphy utilizes poetry as its subject matter, and the museum provided helpful translations (there is a good video about this on the AAM’s site). After close scrutiny, I was awed by the way the writing was both fluid and precise, brush and ink on paper or silk which allows few corrections. Included in the show were several acknowledged masterpieces, like one of the seven hand scrolls of The Sutra on the Lotus of the Sublime Dharma by Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322).

The Asian Art Museum's Out of Character: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy gives most of the public a first look at one of the finest private collections. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle. Read Kenneth Baker's review in the SF Chronicle at http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Out-of-Character-review-Chinese-calligraphy-4023902.php#ixzz2IqROMZ1k

I was fascinated by the animation The Character of Characters by Xu Bing, which took Mengfu’s piece as his starting point (Video excerpt here). Throughout his career, Xu Bing has explored calligraphy, the written word in general, and how we make meaning out of these symbols. He has presented large installation of books that turned out to be meaningless gibberish (Book from the Sky, 1987-91) and has attempted to organize the icons from all over the world into one universally understood language (Book from the Ground, on-going since 2003). In Character of Characters, he deals with topics ranging from the history and techniques of calligraphy to the modern veneration of logos on luxury goods. My personal favorite was his visualization of how the brain processes writing, which looked like some type of organic Rube Goldberg machine.

A show on a topic of this magnitude can’t cover everything, but there were some things that disappointed me. For one, I didn’t feel enough of the presence of the literati/civil servant. While there was a wall panel explaining the importance of the civil servant’s exams and the idea of the gentleman scholar, this concept is so essential to the meaning, interpretation and purpose of this work that I didn’t think the curators emphasized it enough. A section of the exhibition featuring modern Western art by Mark Tobey, Franz Kline, and Brice Marden, which was meant to stand for Chinese calligraphy's infiltration of modernist aesthetics felt tacked on and didn’t really work. The movement of modern art theory and techniques into Chinese calligraphy itself is such an interesting story, with so many intriguing and impressive works, that I was extremely disappointed none of it was included.

I have written and presented frequently on modern calligraphy in China, and hoped to do an exhibition of the collection of Gordon Barrass, currently archived at the British Museum. See my slideshow embedded below.

Modern Chinese Calligraphy from Kim Munson

Comic Art Show Article in Fall IJOCA

Catalog cover featuring Warhol's Dick Tracy.

My article about the Comic Art Show, which was at the Whitney Museum's downtown gallery in 1983, has finally been published in the International Journal of Comic Art (Vol 14, No. 2, Fall 2012). I thank the following people for sharing their memories, giving me input on my numerous drafts, or other assistance:

John Carlin, Art Spiegelman, Gary Panter, Sheena Wagstaff, Ann Philbin, Brian Walker, Leonard Rifas, Denise Lederman, Kristen Leipert, Marc H. Greenberg, John Lent, and the Frances Mulhall Achilles Library and Archive at the Whitney.
  
The IJOCA's articles are not published on-line.Here's a link to a (legible, but not fabulous) pdf scan of the article.

True Blue - Simone Gad & Ingres

I was knocked out by this beautiful painting/collage by the LA artist Simone Gad, who is participating in the True Blue show organized by Charity Burnett at Sangria Fine Arts (LA, opening 8/31/12). True Blue features small pieces by over 60 artists who have become friends, or have invited friends, through social media.

Simone Gad. hommage a ingres painting collage.
copyright simone gad 2012/all rights reserved

First, a little context from Simone about her body of work: "I started out as a fabric artist in 1969, and then moved to making collages on fabric/then collage and assemblage with painting about hollywood icons during the 1970s thru the 1980s. In the 1990s, I started to incorporate art history collage elements into my works -acrylic on canvas with objects, then self-portraits, the holocaust clowns with pinups series from 1998 to 2012, small pinups with building facades also, the art history collages in the 2000s as well as making paintings without collage, continuing my self-portraits series, and now - fudogs paintings, chinatown, and pinups with rescue animals drawings on paper".

As an art historian, I was fascinated with the inclusion of Ingres in this work. Simone explained her concept, beginning with the title: "The painting I have in True Blue is an homage to Ingres and the Princess - hence the title - Hommage a Ingres.I have always loved art history and have incorporated from time to time collage elements in my paintings of building facades re Belgium Art Nouveau - since Brussels is my birthtown; Old Los Angeles structures - ala Victorians, Craftsman homes, some Art Deco, and Chinatown Plaza pagodas, etc... in my funky expressionist style of heavily built up acrylic in layers on canvas. I love Ingres' paintings and bought this postcard of Princesse Albert de Broglie during one of my trips to the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, which I incorporated into one of my buildings of Atwater Village/Los Feliz area of So California. The Princess wearing her lavish blue gown, inspired me to make my building facade in the same shade of blue".

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (French, Montauban 1780–1867 Paris). Béarn (1825–1860), Princesse de Broglie. 1851–53, Oil on canvas, 47 3/4 x 35 3/4 in., Robert Lehman Collection, 1975, 1975.1.186 Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I have always loved this painting, and took this occasion to refresh my memory of it. The Princess, who was renowned for her elegance and beauty, sat for one of the last commissioned female portraits Ingres undertook. He also painted her sister-in-law, the Comtesse d'Haussonville in 1845 (hanging right down the street at the Frick Collection). Unfortunately, the princess died of consumption at age 35. Her husband kept this portrait in a prominent place, draped with dark curtains in tribute to his lost love. Simone and I discussed this story, and agreed that this kind of loyalty is the very meaning of "True Blue."

Simone has an upcoming solo show (her 4th) at the L2kontemporary gallery (Hill Street, Downtown LA) January 5 - February 9, 2013. This page from her previous show at the Bleicher/GoLightly Gallery features a great photo of her studio. Other works by Simone can be seen on the bluecanvas site.

Karrie Hovey & The Other New York 2012

Karrie Hovey, an SFSU MFA alumni who just finished a residency here in SF at Recology (previous post here), has just installed her work at the Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse and Onondaga, NY September 22, 2012 - January 6, 2013), for their multi-venue biennial The Other New York: 2012. Shown in at 14 participating venues (museums, outdoors, & other public spaces) the project is intended to showcase artists in Upstate & Central New York, and encourage interaction between the artwork and the public.

Karrie's work builds on some of the past projects I've loved, such as Mum, a piece she began while doing her residency at Recology, utilizing the endless supply of discarded books they received.

Karrie Hovey, Utica, NY (b. St. Johnsbury, VT, 1971).
Mum (detail), 2012. Site-specific installation, salvaged books, variable.

About Mum Karrie says: "In many parts of the world the chrysanthemum (a mum) is seen as a flower of mourning and grief, while in other cultures it is a joyous flower of rejuvenation. I have constructed a field of chrysanthemum inspired forms from discarded books. Playing off an alternate definition of “mum” as a command to not speak, the repeated pattern mourns the loss of physical books and laments the silencing of their content. On the other hand, given the current efforts made to digitize all printed volumes, many written works that historically have had limited availability are giving a new life. I see books as a symbol of potential and knowledge, a resource for personal and societal growth. I reference a circular trunk-like form to suggest the forests of trees destroyed in the creation of the books".

Karrie Hovey. ...the Garden Grows : Cultivate Garden 1

In addition, she installed ...the Garden Grows : Cultivate Garden 1, a work that reuses cast-off materials from retail stores (such as wrapping paper and shopping bags) to construct a fantasy garden.  Encypher is a map project based on the museum's floor plan, area freeways, and other local topography, with materials supplied by Golden Artist Colors and The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation. She explains her process in the video below:

if this video isn't working right, click here to see it on YouTube.

Karrie Hovey. Encypher.

See more of Karrie's work on her web site.

Sigur on Japan, Decorative Arts & Art History

Hannah Sigur

KM: This is a conversation with Hannah Sigur, an art historian who recently presented on the Japanese influence on American decorative arts at the Legion of Honor in conjunction with the Cult of Beauty exhibition. Hannah, would you mind repeating your story of the Japonesque room you discovered (re-discovered) recently? I love stories about discovery through research and serendipity.

HS: It was the Japonesque parlor of Henry Marquand, first president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The mansion, by Richard Morris Hunt, the most famous architect of the era, and its Japonesque room, were considered major highlights at the time, and there was much hand-wringing when the property was sold and mansion demolished shortly after his death. His famous art collection, he intended for the Met, was sold; the "Japanese room" disappeared. About 6 weeks ago, a good friend who is a well known glass conservator was brought in by an appraiser for a project at a 1905 house in Connecticut being prepared for sale. They found remnants of what had once been a stunning Japonesque interior and some unidentified period photos and wondered if it was Jeckyll. She sent me those, and her own photos of details and asked what I thought. I said it didn't look like Jeckyll. But, quick research on the owner of the 1905 house showed that he had been very significant in his day, and casting about for the kind of social circles he might have been in, I remembered the Marquand mansion and sent her a period NYT article about it, which had rudimentary photo reproductions of the Japonesque interior. They matched the original photos exactly. So we have found the long lost room. But it is in such reduced state, and because it is up for sale, it's hard to know what might unfold with whoever the new owners turn out to be. The designer, Manley Cutter, fell rapidly into obscurity after this remarkable debut and finding out much about him is for the moment elusive. But I think it's an important find because of its quality and because it gives a sense of what these now largely lost rooms were like. And, maybe with Cutter we'll uncover something interesting.

KM: This event was hosted by the American Decorative Arts Forum. I recognized many people there from Victorian Society of America events, and other things we’ve attended together. I have to admit that before this I didn’t realize what an active community of collectors there are in the bay area.

Hannah utilizing a group of wallpapers to illustrate the cross-pollination
of design elements between Japan, the US, and Europe.

HS: The ADAF is as good as it gets in the Bay Area--it encompasses very wide ranging interests and it seems to be very well-run, and it has a lot of very smart, friendly members. I've been to several of their lectures, and all were well attended, although mine was exceptional--I think because Cult of Beauty is so gorgeous. They also benefit from some sort of official relationship with FAMSF, although my impression is that the museum administration and curators aren't necessarily attuned to what an excellent asset the ADAF is to them. ADAF had asked if I would do a gallery walk-through, for example, and the curators turned it down. At the Met, or any other major museum, they would have jumped to have a specialist for something like that. The museum should be requiring that their docents all attend ADAF lectures--they bring people in from all over the country, so it was quite an honor for me to be invited to speak.

KM: Often when we talk about local museum exhibits with Asian art connections, you tell me that you feel things have been misstated or misunderstood. What questions should we keep in mind while looking at these shows?

HS: That's a tricky question. At the FAMSF and SFMoMa, the curators seem to have little real knowledge or deep interest in Asian material culture, and if you're going to reference it, you need to be accurate and up-to-date. But they are not motivated to do it on their own, and because there is no mentality of collaboration with the academic community here, they do not ask them or involve them in any way. This leaves major gaps. It was not rocket science to see the Japanese elements in the "Iznik" dish, and that dish became much more expressive of Aesthetic philosophy by revealing them. There were other issues--the Hokusai reference for the Godwin cabinet was doubly wrong. If the curator had mentioned the other artist, it would have been acceptable because it's a much more recent assessment, from a Japanese scholar who had recently published a significant book in English on the Japonesque in Britain.  At the Asian, it seems to be a slightly different problem--leaving out things because of the presumption that people do not need or want to know--thus preserving the sense of exoticism and exclusivity. One of my students even was told "The common people wouldn't understand" by a docent. My general advice is to take a tip from Ronald Reagan: "Trust but verify."

KM: You’ve been teaching Art History for a long time. What do you think the benefits are of learning about the art of a different culture?

HS: Material culture doesn't lie, although people sometimes lie about it, it confronts us honestly and it is only what it is. If you respect that, you learn so much from that of another culture. You learn who you are, by learning who you are not. You learn that outward differences amount to different solutions to the same kinds of human problems, passions, and fears that all people have, and thus that there is a common validity among societies. You also learn that in truly respecting another culture, that demands you acknowledge not just its beauties, but also its evils--and all societies have them.
   
KM: I know you are about to finish your PhD dissertation on Japan and the World’s Fairs. I’ve seen you speak on this subject, so I’m sure your paper will be amazing. Do you have any other speaking gigs lined up?

HS: Not at the moment. I've submitted an abstract for SAH 2013, but haven't heard back yet. I'm glad you got so much out of this one--the subject is enthralling. It hits all the marks for me.

Hannah is the author of The Influence of Japanese Art on Design (Gibbs Smith, 2008) and, with Alisa de Jong-Stout, A Master Guide to the Art of Floral Design (Timber Press, 2002).

Wagstaff Moves to the Met

Photo of the Whitney at Night by Ezra Stoller/Esto;
from the Whitney's web site. See more about
the Breuer building here.

As part of my on-going research about The Comic Art Show, which was one of the first major exhibitions of comics as art at the Whitney's downtown gallery in the summer of 1983, I interviewed Sheena Wagstaff, who co-curated the show with John Carlin as part of the Whitney's Independent Study Program. Eventually she became Chief Curator at the Tate in London. I just read in the March edition of ArtNews that she is taking over as head of the Modern Art department of the Metropolitan Museum in New York.  By an odd coincidence, most of the Met's modern collection is moving over to the Whitney's iconic Marcel Breuer building, as the Whitney will be moving into their new Renzo Piano designed building in the meatpacking district.

I plan to incorporate this story into my final draft, along with info about the recent Feininger show, and finally complete and publish my research on this show over the next couple of months (honest :-)

Art, Academia and Victorians

Had a busy day this past Friday, visiting with fellow art historian Hannah Sigur. Together we visited the de Young Museum, went to a meeting of the Victorian Society in an amazing period house, and went to a party at the downtown offices of academia.edu

Still Life with Grape Juice & Sandwiches (Xenia) 1994
by David Ligare, in the collection of the FAMSF.

Things were quiet at the de Young, as everyone's focus was on the Cult of Beauty exhibition opening at the Legion of Honor. We enjoyed the opportunity to wander around the nearly empty galleries, happy to spend some uninterrupted quality time with the art. One painting that completely transfixed us was Still Life with Grape Juice & Sandwiches (Xenia) 1994 by David Ligare. The wall text explains that Ligare often volunteered in a soup kitchen, and this is what they served to the people coming in for a meal. Xenia refers to the ancient Greek custom of gracious hospitality to guests, including bread and wine.  The details and the lighting in this painting were gorgeous. It's on display in a second floor gallery surrounded by still lives from the 18th and 19th century, as an example of how still lives and the often subtle messages they contain can still be relevant in contemporary art.

The historic home of
Richard Reutlinger

In keeping with the 19th century theme, next we went to a meeting of the Victorian Society in the absolutely astonishing home of Richard Reutlinger near Grove and Webster. From the Egyptian Revival parlor, to the themed bedrooms upstairs, every room is like an individual exhibit.  As I wandered the house, I noticed all the random period portraits he collected and wondered about them. I wondered if he invented stories for them, all those strangers, inhabiting his walls.

The Victorian Society meeting was in Reutlinger's basement, where he houses his collection of vintage player pianos (at least 6 plus 2 in the parlor).  The meeting itself was about the Society's Summer School programs in London and Newport, Rhode Island, featuring tours and field trips about the architecture and decorative arts of the period.  They include a through discussion of all classes of Victorian society from the home of the Vanderbilts to textile mills. The London tour includes fabulous gardens and the home of William Morris (among other locations). I previously posted about hearing the Director of the Newport program Richard Guy Wilson speak at the Walt Disney Family Museum about the "American Renaissance" and the World's Fairs. I hope, someday, to make it to one of these.

academia.edu logo

Moving on to something completely different, we dropped in on a party in the financial district at the offices of academia.edu, who were celebrating their 1 Millionth member. On the whole, it was a typical dotcom party with wine and foosball. Everyone was really friendly, and we stayed long enough to hear Richard Price, Founder & CEO, talk about his goals for the company. He said that academia.edu's mission was to make it easier for research to be shared, cutting the time it generally takes for traditional publishing (about a year and a half) to more-or-less instant. He hoped that this would open new dialogs in the sciences (see more about this). In conversation, he seemed amazed that two art historians would find the site useful, and wanted to hear all about it. We were also surprised when one of the staff members told us that they have heard of people using academia.edu's stats as a way to justify their research, and that academia plans to expand this feature. It's a great site, I wish them continued success!

Kim at SJMA

Here's a short announcement about my lunchtime talk at the San Jose Museum of Art in conjunction with the Crumb Genesis show 9/7 at noon. I saw Crumb speak about this work last Halloween at the SF JCC, and posted about it here.

R. Crumb
The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb, 2009 (Chapter 1, page 1)
Pen and ink on paper; 14 3⁄4 × 11 1⁄2 inches
Courtesy the artist, Paul Morris, and David Zwirner, New York
Photo: Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. From the web site
for the Genesis Illustrated exhibition, San Jose Museum of Art.

Richard Guy Wilson at the Disney Family Museum

When my friend, author and art historian Hannah Sigur, invited me to a lecture by the architecture and design expert Richard Guy Wilson, sponsored by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Part of the attraction was that it was being held at the theatre at the new-ish Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio, and I still haven’t made it over there. I’m a big animation fan, and it’s been on my to-do list for a long time, but the bay area is rich in fabulous museums. It’s almost a full-time job to keep up… I digress.

The event started with a reception in the lower lobby (as this was an evening event, the rest of the museum was not open to view).  Aside from the good conversation, the other high point of the reception was that the lower lobby seemed to be a tribute to Disney concept artist Mary Blair. The room was ringed with many posters by her, and the pattern set in the floor is based on one of her concept paintings for It’s a Small World.  In a case near the center of the room, I was pleased to see a large paint stand (sort of a combination storage chest and worktable), with some of her tools and art supplies and a pair of her eyeglasses.  Let’s face it, as an artist myself, I’m a sucker for art supplies. I can stare at tubes of paint and visualize how they could be used for hours. In this case, the tubes that were shown seemed to be a good representation of her bright and whimsical color palette.  The display also included some photos of Blair, and a hard hat decorated with day-glo flowers bestowed on her by her colleagues at Disney Imagineering. I tried to snap a photo, but was denied. However, I found this one on the Disney Family Museum web site with an article about the installation of the exhibit.

The Disney Museum theatre itself was interesting. It’s painted with comets, constellations and other space related graphics. For this event the house lights stayed up, but I imagine that the stars and comets probably glow in the dark.  In this setting, we settled in to listen to Wilson talk about “The American Renaissance” period, roughly from the 1870’s through the 1930’s. Wilson is the Commonwealth Professor’s Chair of Architectural History at the University of Virginia (Thomas Jefferson’s University), in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a former Guggenheim Fellow and Visiting Fellow at Cambridge, and his specialty is the architecture, design and art of the 18^th – 20^th century.

The American Renaissance, Wilson explained, an era in which the United States, trying to prove its maturity as a country, worked to establish its own identity. It was at this point that Americans made an effort to mythologize the country’s history, accumulated the foundations of many art museum’s collections, and began to incorporate the classical elements of Greek and Roman architecture into city plans and civic architecture. Wilson tied the result of this progression into several examples here in the bay area, notably the San Francisco City Hall (left) and civic center, and the Palace of Fine Arts, which remains from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exhibition.

Wilson is an excellent speaker with a sense of humor, and he held our attention throughout. I’d read quite a bit about city planning and architecture in this period, but he was able to sum it up and populate the story with the personalities of the architects, designers and moguls that drove this transformation in American history.