MEXICO !!!
I've had such a hard time finding 20th C. things (I like) from Mexico. I know there's plenty there -- but American museums just don't show much beyond Zuniga, Frido Kahlo, Rivera, and a few other famous muralists.
The library at the Art Institute has practically nothing -- and even the National Museum of Mexican Art, here in Chicago, has been a big disappointment.
I guess it's all a matter of taste -- and since mine is strange -- I'm never going to be satisfied --- until NOW ! --- with the personal collection of Andres Blaisten, who has graciously put his fabulous collection on the internet for everyone to enjoy.
Why don't collectors share their collections more often ? My friend,Conrad has the reason: "the pleasure of belonging to a few—especially if that few is just oneself". It's that special royal pleasure of finding an exceptionally beautiful woman and then locking her up in a tower.
" Towers and battlements it sees
Bosomed high in tufted trees,
Where perhaps some beauty lies,
The cynosure of neighbouring eyes."
The Andres Blaisten collection seems to be limited to the high-end artworld --- so even that folkish looking piece at top was made by an American woman, Rosa Rolanda, who moved in the social world of Frida and Diego. In fact -- many of artists being shown were only half-Mexican -- revealing the international quality of that county's upper classes.
But that's OK with me -- because Blaisten just seems to have picked things at which I like to look -- and when I searched the internet for the sculptors he's collected -- I found nothing as good (if I found anything at all)
Carlos Romero
Juan Cruz Reyes (1940) had a long career (1914-1991)-- but like many American sculptors over that same era, he kept up with the changing fashions of the international artworld -- and left me behind.
Olivero Martinez (1901-1938)had a tragically brief career (not enough time to change styles!)
Olivero Martinez -- a very horse, isn't it ? Or maybe it's a female centaur ?
"Victory" -- Luis Ortiz Monasterio (1906-1990) (there's not many good anti-war monuments in the world -- I assume there's a larger, more public version somewhere ?)
Francisco Zuniga (1951) later developed a genre of large, mysterious, Indian women that made him an art star -- but I'm glad that Blaisten chose to collect this earlier piece.
Luis Nishizawa
Masaru Goji (1943-) -- I wish Masaru would show more of his work on the internet
posted by chris miller at 10:38 AM
5 Comments:
Interesting stuff from Mexico though not quite my sort of sculpture nor Art. The previous post is fascinating. I admire your dogged loyalty to the cause of covering so many cultures and era without prejudice (unless stated and with good reason!). It is a noble aim to find 20th century sculpture and Art so effectively buried around the world.
Sorry to have been off line since Christmas, lot of work to do, the pressure is on. I will not forget to email your Father too. He has done a lot of quite remarkable stuff. I must go back again and think it all through.
Happy and prosperous New Year to you and all.
To Robert: yes, I am doggedly loyal -- but it's really just to my own youth -- which was spent in that truly bizarre and wonderful institution: the 20th C. museum of encyclopedic art.
Some kids grew up loving Elvis -- I grew up loving world art.
To Susan: Yes, this collection is very cool -- and as collectors begin to discover the internet, I think eventually all of them will be oh-so-happy to show off their collections online -- especially with images that are just large enough to whet the appetite -- but not large enough to satisfy it.
Susanna is popping up everywhere...
Lots of charm and liveliness here. You know what kept popping into my head was Sendak--those little fat horses in the original version of Where the Wild Things Are, the ones that made him decide he couldn't draw horses. (Though I like the way he drew them, and I love that tiny, lovely book by Krauss and Sendak, Charlotte and the White Horse--though that horse is slender and girlish.) The people, too, and some of the gestures (with the shawl, particularly) remind me of some of his work--particularly the illustrations to the Lore Segal/Randall Jarrell 2-volume set of fairy tales.
Another Masaru Goji catalogue on internet is
http://www.gallery-kitano.com/gallery.aspx?id=11&ct=15
Another permanent exhibition is at Kutsuki, Shiga, Japan
Further information:
http://gojiart.com/
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