I made a second visit to Yale Art Gallery, because I
did not have the time to do the entire visit the first time. Last visit I focused
on the African Art so this recent visit I focused more on the Oil Canvas Art. I
took many photos of things that caught my attention. However I will share only 2 for this week blog.
This is at the entrance of the Gallery.
I came across this Dada abstract by Kurt Schwitters called Merzbilde med regnbue (Merz picture with rainbow) 1939 the technique was assemblage of urban debris and everyday material. I liked how the rainbow stood out among all the others pieces in the painting. His raw wood and wheel spoke was the project from a canvas painted with a rainbow to express his belief in the artistic ability have things that are not considered artistic. I really liked this painting.
The next painting caught my eye because it resembles a boardwalk. Francis Picabia Midi (Promenade des Anglais) I like the textures used for this painting oil, feathers, macaroni and leather in a snakeskin frame by Pierre Legrain. Picabia's view of a boardwalk along the French Riveria is framed as if the viewer is looking out a window that his enhanced by the shutter like snakeskin frame. I captured this picture from 3 angles.
The Schwitters piece is not a painting but a collage or assemblage. Dada is an important movement after WWI that was in reaction to the aesthetics of the past whose culture and politics could produce a horror like WWI. Schwitters was influenced by Cubism and had a long friendship with Katherine Dreier in the US and who gave many of the pieces on display at Yale. A good place to begin your research is with Wikipedia as there is more information in the Schwitters article than you could use.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Schwitters
Picabia too was part of this avant garde movement of Dada and Surrealism...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Picabia
There is much modern intellectual art history to absorb in grappling with these artists who challenged every conventional notion of what it means to make and appreciate art.