Stick figures are like tubes of energy,
just actual wooden twigs,
and can be quite delightful when bent, proportioned, and placed just so.
I’m guessing that this way of handling clay
followed a way of twisting, cutting, and arranging natural pieces of wood.
Nothing shows more inner power than a tree branch.
This guy has as much motion as a static object can have.
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Korean exhibition
These two Bodhisattvas from the 7th Century
All these pieces come from the formerly private collection of the Chairman of the Samsung Group.
Overall, it’s disappointing.
Pieces were probably acquired for historical rather than aesthetic value.
The above, however, appear to have both.
So gentle and lyrical.
Kim Kichang, 1914-2001, 1955
Bold and fun …. but nothing more.
Buncheong ware, c. 1500
12th C. Celadon
Open doors to infinite nothingness.
Yi Haeung (1820-1898), Orchids
Statesman in the royal family and father of Korea’s last king,
as well as very adept artist.
Especially like the goofiness of this piece.
The contrast of loose and tight.
Hard and soft.
Kim Whanki 김환기, I9I3-1974
Echo of Mountain 산울림 I9-I1-73#307
1973
Oil on canvas , 104”x84”
Kim Whanki was one of the first abstract artists in Korea, ushering in a new chapter in modern Korean art in the 193os. Throughout his career, he explored diverse forms of abstraction, culminating in his Echo series in which he painted dense dots to create immersive surfaces. While living in New York from 1964 until his death, Kim longed for his home country and often reflected on his cultural heritage.
He found solace in the repetitive act of adding dots to canvas, and he likened blue to the sky and ocean of Korea.
Reminds me of a show by
Young-il Ahn (1934-2020)
that came to Chicago a few years ago.
Both artists moved to America and made meditative surfaces.
Doesn’t really play well in a noisy museum.
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The Matisse Show
Matisse : The Horse, The Rider, and The Clown, 194
A dynamic design that races out to the corners.
And what a nice setting for the colors.
They are the stars of this show.
This is the entire series of prints now called “Jazz” , designed with pieces of cut paper. It’s so much easier to see them online where a backlit screen does them justice.
If you disagree, you can always see them whenever you want in the museum’s Print and Drawing room. Nothing here was borrowed from other collections.
So this exhibit mostly serves as an inexpensive way to appeal to a larger and likely younger audience
Here are the others that I like:
The Circus
Love the contrasting legs - and arms too.
There’s something so classical about taking joy from someone else’s misfortune.
The French text is translated as:
“Such a free moment. Shouldn’t we also make a big plane trip for young people who have finished their studies.”
The old French modernist was making joyful figurative art at the same time some young Americans were abstract expressing confusion and despair.
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On the way to the Matisse, I ran into this in Gunuslaus Hall:
Raqib Shaw : Paradise Lost
Detail
