Sunday morning at the Art Institute of Chicago

 

With two new special exhibits, it was time to visit the museum before my membership expires.

I was going to review them, but as it turned out, neither were that remarkable.

On the other hand, this piece from the permanent collection really grabbed me:

Equestrian Figure Late 12th-early 15th century Bankoni Bougouni region, Mali 

Terracotta 

Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment, 1987.314.

Seated on a bridled horse, this bearded equestrian has an elaborate hairstyle, facial scarifications, and jewelry that reflect wealth and status. The rider's sheathed knife further indicates the key role that warriors on horseback played in expanding West Africa's great empires from the 1roos to the early 160os: Quick-moving cavalry could maintain control over vast territories. Traveling merchants who served these powerful states traded goods and ideas with the Mediterranean world, the Middle East, and Asia. Figures in this style have been unearthed in Bankoni, a village near Mali's capital, since the 1950s.

Part of a five piece set, it stands alone quite well.

Presumably it’s been in the African gallery for decades, but I just can’t  remember it.

Stick figures are like tubes of energy,

and can be quite delightful when bent, proportioned, and placed just so.

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

The Swimmer in the Tank

Icarus

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

I reviewed it  "here" 

 The cosmic spectacle certainly captured my attention - like Thomas Cole’s “The Course of Empire” - but it’s too painful to ever want to see again.  

At 1200 square feet, it’s  the largest piece in the entire museum.

But still it felt claustrophobic and I badly needed fresh air.

  

Finally, I had to visit the great Rodin standing figures above the main stairway. I’ve recently been studying contrasting accounts of “the father of modern sculpture”, and posted the photos taken at the very end of this post.