OUFF - WHAT A RELIEF !

I don’t mull over exhibitions but the Stephane Mandelbaum had had a real effect and images of his portraits and vulgar ladies kept on flitting through my mind. It was good to go with Marielle to the Custodia Foundation to look at 500 years of the Masters’ drawings.

We started in the lVe and went through to the XXle. As you can imagine the early centuries didn’t really attract me. In fact I didn’t take any photos at all. However, some of the sketching were incredibly detailed and precise. However, when we moved into the XXe I was back in my element. A couple of the artists were new to me. This time, I am just going to add a few comments on each one of the photos I took. As you will see, there are very few. Once again, just those that stopped me in my tracks.....

This was done by Vincent van Gogh in 1888. The title is "La Mousmé "or Portrait of a young girl The Mousmé is assocaited to a character in a Pierre Loti' novel, "Madame Chrysantheme" and represents a Japanese girl. You may remember that Van Gogh was passionate about "Japonism"

You probably recognized Picasso. A study for three women - watercolor - done in 1907-08. The beginning of the cubist period with Braque. It has a real music and seems to dance and twist. The women become really clear when you look closely at that movement.

This served at the poster at the entrance of the Custodia and was a favorite for me. A watercolor by Johan Adam Klein (new to me) and done in 1818. Here he has painted his friend and artist Johan Christophe Erhard. The two men shared a flat in Vienna for a couple of years.

Max Pechstein. An ink sketching of a mother and children done in 1913. He was part of the Die Brücke group which I enjoy so much.

Emil Hansen, but known as Nolde. Another of my favorite artists of that period. "Three heads of women" done sometime before 1930. Nolde was one of the first artists of that period to use very strong colors and paint strokes. His work is very powerful - for me.

Max Pechstein again. At the Seaside, a water color done in 1919. Pechstein was attracted by the exostism of Gaugin and traveled to Indonesia in 1914. The Palos Island. Is there a echo of aboriginal art? Wooden sculptures?

Of course, it's Kandinsky and once again a water color done in 1919. Quite simple, "Composition on a brown background".

And another Kandinsky painted in 1915. He really was one of the pioneers of abstract art.

I really adore this water color done by Paul Klee in 1923. "Portrait of a Little Doll". She is practically alive and dancing...

Another Paul Klee "The Paris Comet" in 1918. Done during the war when Klee was separated from his friends. We see the horrors of war creep into his paintings as they seem to float around in the sky without touching one another...

Paul Klee "Mask in the meadow" in 1923. SO different from his other paintings.

And finally, Picasso. "Study for the composition of a dead" done in 1908. Not the happiest of endings but a very striking one.

A TRAGIC DESTINY

My brother had sent me over an article on an artist whom I had never heard of. A Stéphane Mandelbaum. Michael said in his email « Is this worth seeing? Bizarrely, it sounds interesting ». The article was certainly bizarre and for those who want to take the time to read it, it’s worth it. 

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/04/22/the-unknowable-artist-stephane-mandelbaum/

There were more than 100 drawings relating to the real and imaginary life of this painter. He was born of a Jewish father and an Armenian mother and began to question his identity at an early age, around 17. He was able to do this through his work.
In his early work he depicted that shady world of prostitutes, pimps and gangsters that he frequented both in reality and in his dreams. Most of these I could not abide. I’m no prude but they were vulgar and pornographic in my eyes. Would I persevere? 

These I took when I traced my steps at the end of the exhibition...

l'Albertine Bar (Beautiful Deception) 1986

Papa Franco (Mamas zaïroises), 1985

His portraits of artists and writers which he admired or had influenced him were much more interesting but there again, not easy to enter into. They certainly didn’t make these people look very attractive and some of his auto-portraits turned Mandelbaum into a dislikable and even ugly person. 

Francis Badon - 1980

George Dyer, 1982 - Bacon's lover who took his life in 1971

Pier Paolo Pasonlini - 1980

Pasolin again

"Le Maître" (The Master) 1984

Salomon Mandelbaum 1981

Salomon Mandelbaum and auto portrait 1981

Auto portrait 1982

  And the real man?

With his father

With his his wife in 1986. When he visited Congo where his wife was born he started trafficking African art and took part in at least two burglaries...the second was the Modigliani

Probably to understand him better, it’s a good idea to start with the end of his life. No-one was too sure about the reality of his life, but everyone agreed on how he died. Violent is an understatement. Only 25 too but always an outsider. When he was murdered he thought of himself as a hardened criminal when in actual fact he was a controversial artist.
In 1986, he attempted to steal a painting by Modigliani from an old women who lived in a suburb of Brussels. He had been promised money from friends who had connections with the black market and as he was not selling his own work, he needed funds. Now did the old woman know it was a fake? When the friends found out, they murdered him in a way which I will not describe. Children found him too and that must have been quite traumatic.
So from a fantasy world where he lived in-between dreams and reality to a very tragic end.  - I’m glad I went, but I needed a glass of wine with my lunch when I came out!




A TRIP TO THE MOON

« Rouge » had certainly surprised me - although I don’t think I really knew what to expect when I went to see it  but « La Lune » (The Moon) was a total surprise. This was not so much an exhibition but the history of the first man on the moon and then all that the moon had represented for artists over the different periods. Fascinating. 


This is the 50th anniversary of the first human step on the Moon. What a good opportunity to take a look and the present and the long history which links humans with that very familiar celestial body. It was a journey to the moon. Once again HUGE - five sections with both real and imaginary dimensions. Once again, I only took photos which appealed to me so you will not necessarily being travelling though the artistic creations from Antiquity to the modern day. These were produced mainly in Europe but also by African, Arab and Far Eastern civilisations. Yes, really fascinating.

Just think too that if tourists are to visit the Moon within the next 50 years, they will probably be taking a space ship which looks like something out of Hergé. Who knows, the Aliens might be Tintin fans !

Here we go so enjoy your flight !

"MOONS", 2019 by Ange Leccia (1952-)

"Study for Sainte Genevieve watching over Paris."  Puvis de Chavanne (1824-1898) around 1898

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) "The Blue Landscape" , 1949

Semiha Berksoy (Istanbul, 1910-2004) "Love under the Moonlight" 1971. I love this!

Paul Nash (1889-1946) Battle of Germany, 1944

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) "The ghostly Cow" - 1928

Sylvetre Meinzer (1971-) "Lilith", 2018

Abraham Janssens (1575-1632) . "The Incostancy around 1617. A cliché of the 17thC society that women were unfaithful by nature! More humid than men, they were thought to be influenced by the Moon, and thererfor unstable. This allegory (her name is on the drapery) shows a woman holding a crescent Moon and a lobster by the tail. As the lobster moves back and forth, it is the living image of indecision.

Kudurru de Nazimaruttash (1307-1282 BC)

Statuette of Chandra (The moon) - India - 2nd half of the 19thC. In Hinduism, the Moon is embodied by Chandra, a young man carrying a stick and a lotus flower. Chandra mocked Ganesh who had indigestion and Ganesh cursed him by throwing one of his tusks in his face leaving Chandra scarred and in the throes of perpetual change in India. Chandra is a common name for the Moon, one of the "nine" planets that effect humanity.

Thot baboon holding Oudjat's eye. Vllc-lV BC

Kifwebe Luba Mask - 1912 (oriental)

Léon Tutundjian (1906-1968) - No title done in 1929

Jean Arp - Humane, Lunaire, specteral, 1950

Quite beautiful

Salador Dali (1904-1989) "The Perle" - 1981. From the Infanta Margarita of Austria of Vélasquez"

Paul Delvaux (1897-1994), "The Acropolis", 1966

Joan Miro (1893-1983) "At the Bottom of the Shell," 1948

Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) "Moon rising over a dock" around 1889-1894

Meret OPPENHEIM (1913-1985) A moon in Light red and Cypresses in Front of a Black Sky, 1975

Anna-Eva Bergman (1909-1987) N°11-1955 "Silver moon"

Anne Veronica Janssens

FRANCIS MORRELLET (1926-2016) "Lunatic neonly n° 3 - 1997

SEEING ROUGE

What does the colour red bring to mind? I have always thought of Russia first and sure enough there is an exhibition on in Paris at the moment called « ROUGE ». The poster itself didn’t give anything away. I went without really knowing what I was going to see. 

It may not surprise you that the majority of spectators were Russian. I had stepped off the Champs Elysées into Russia. All quietly whispering and pointing to pictures as they strolled along. From the look of things they seemed to know their history too. Apart from the obvious historical events in Russia, I am not too knowledgeable.

The exhibition presents an ensemble of more than 400 works, most of which have never been shown in France. It is organised in two sequences : the 1920’s characterised by a form of pluralism. The Bolsheviks allowed different artistic groups to cohabit and did not (much to my astonishment) impose aesthetic principals. On the other hand in the 1930’s and 40’s +, the State took more and more control of the arts. So, the two periods are dominated by the opposing artistic utopias.

I took vey few photos and only those that really stopped me. They seem to be reasonably well divided between these two periods so you should be able to see the difference quite easily. I have translated the titles as they were only in French...not comment! I was a little disappointed not to see more of some of my favorite Russian artists...but they were not really approved of by the government at that time. I hardly knew any of the artists displayed.  I loved Moscow when I was there with Pierrette and hope to go back for a long weekend. When I left the Grand Palais, deep down inside of me a little voice asked, « has Russia changed that much over the past 40 odd years? » . Of course it is much more modern and sophisticated but how about the corruption level today versus then? I wonder…

The Red communist phantom travels through Europe.

 Painted in 1920 by Vladimir Lebedev (1891-1967)

 

"Each unjustified absence is the ennemy's happiness, then the work heros is a bourgeois coup" 

A poster for ROSTA (n°858) done by Vladimir Maïakovski (1893-1930) in 1921 

Sketch for a signboard.  NBo date Ivan Pugni (1892-1956)

Project for a Moscow monument by Mikkhaïl Bakounine (1885-1963) in 1918

Project for a monumet at the lll International. Vladimir Tatline (1885-1953) in 1919

???

The country teacher - 1925 by Evgueni Katsmann (1890-1976) By the look of him he must have been tough!

Strike in Berline by Rudolf (1890-1955 Germany) done in 1920

On the bottom one is hungry because on the top they are stuffing themselves. Eric Johansson in 1923( 1896-1979)

Presentation of cheap goods by Otto Griebel in 1923(German 1895-1972)

Man and little girl by Jankel Adler ( 1885-1949) in 1920

"The Flee" study for make-up by V. Maiakovsli -1929

Project for a village by Ivan Leonidov (1902-1959) in 1935-38.

Millions of workers ! Rejoin the socialist competition ! Sketch for a poster by Gustav Klucis (1895-1938) in 1927

 THE SECOND PERIOD

The First Ukrainian tractor by George Roublev in 1931 (1902-1975)

Kazimir Malévitch (1879-1935) Woman's silhouette 1928-1929

Kazimir Malévitch "The White Horse" 1930-31

Portrait of Stalin 1935 by George Roublev (1902-1975)

Fish Factory by Ekaterina Zernova in 1927 (1900-1995)

Film Heroine from here and not there. Frontpiece for a review in 1927 by Youri Pimenov (1903-1977

We are building by Youri Pimenov - 1920

 Three studies for a ballet by Chostakovitch by Bruni Tatiana (1902-2001). Done in 1931

The sports lady with a bouquet - 1905

Bather by Alexandre Deîneka in 1951(1899-1969)

Metro builder with a spade by Alexandre Samokhvalov( 1894-1971). A series done in the 30's. 

The Metro by Alexanre Labas (1900-1983) 1935

The golden obesity of american capitalism by Fred Ellis (American 1886-1965) done in the 30's.

Morgan and Co. 1930 by Jacob Burck (1907-1982)

Airship by Vassily Kouptsov (1899-1935) in 1933

"The Kremlin - Stalin takes care of" us by V.I. Govorkov (906-1974) in 1940.