BASEL, BALE, A HOME AWAY FROM HOME............
Basel or Bale is in the German part of Switzerland city, and like «going home». I had first been to the Foundation Beyeler with my Mother in 2004 to see Francis Bacon- it didn’t seem to be so long ago. However, my introduction to Max Ernst - again with my Mother was in Baden-Baden in 1989. She was by then a smitten collagist and Ernst had an incredible influence on her work. I can still hear her saying as we stood in front of this work, «you know he really was the first collagist» - today I would add, «One of the first».
 |
| Approaching puberty 1921 |
So two major exhibitions to be seen and a small one of Maurizio Cattelan whose work always makes me laugh. However the advertising for this was deceitful as I was greatly looking forward to this......
but instead, the only installation was this....
not quite the same theme you will admit. I had first seen that little head peeping out when in Rotterdam with Marielle. Quite some years ago now. We both jumped, not quite knowing if he was real or not.
«Maurizio Cattelan is one of the most-discussed artists of our day. Back in the 1990s he began to produce sculptures that surprised and astonished the public and the art world. His multi-faceted oeuvre reflects society’s paradoxes and alienation, as well as individuals’ struggle to find their place in it. Critical and humorous but always profound, Cattelan concerns himself with a variety of themes.»
Nearly four days in Bale. Being with Pierrette meant as in New York, I would be more of a tourist and see something else apart from my favorite museums. There is one I have not mentioned and that is the Tinguley Foundation. You may not like installations but if you don’t like Tinguely, I think there may be something wrong with your sense of humour. His machines are quite mad and I love them.
But let’s get back to the beginning of our week. The weather was divine when we arrived. Just divine. Hot perhaps. At last Summer had arrived. So Pierrette could get her bearings, we wandered down into the centre of the city and toward the Rhine.
Before getting there, we found the Kunst Museum and the Picasso. As Pierrette had suggested that we «find» it, I jumped at the occasion. Even without the Picasso, the Kunst has one of the most memorable collections I can remember visiting during my trips. The Picasso though was to be something very special. It’s a wonderful story. Not one you hear too often when a whole population comes forward to save Picasso paintings which «belonged» to Basel. Ever since the legendary year of 1967, the city has had a special relationship with the artist. As that time, there had been a vote (can’t imagine this happening in Paris) and Basel residents approved a municipal loan of 6 million Francs (that’s roughly 6,4 millions US in today’s rates) to save the paintings and then collected an additional 2,4 million francs to secure two important paintings (The Two Brothers and Arlequin).
 |
| The two brothers 1906 |
 |
| The Seated Arlequin 1923 |
Picasso was so touched by this expression of love and respect for his his work that he gave the city one - and then another as the curator could not choose between two paintings plus a famous drawing. The special connections with the painter go back much further and even before the second world war as many prominent collectors were gathering his works. This is for that matter a unique exhibition as all these works have been brought together from the early 30’s to his last period. Just the Basel collection. No wonder the exhibition was called «The Picassos are Here» - I guess the s on Picassos worried us a little but that is poetic licence for you.
 |
| One of the "PicassoS trams" |
Some of the work has been seen in other exhibitions but this is the first time that everything from Basel has been brought together. For those who are interested, this little video is quite informative. Now here are some of the paintings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2hUxtxiom8
 |
 |
| Les demoiselles des bords de la Seine, after Courbet, 1950 |
 |
| Les Demoiselles |
 |
| "Woman with a Flower". 1932 |
 |
I would love to have telephoned someone to say how excited I was about the Picasso.
Or sent a postcard to those who love his work as much as I did,
 |
| The central Postoffice |
admired though the town hall,
Not to mention this musician who was tapping on his......? The sound was like a harp.. the river was a welcome sight.....
 |
The current runs at a terrifying rate. No, they couldn’t have been people rushing down in the current?
From where we were standing it was difficult to see. This we would follow very closely after the Tinguely exhibition the following day.
Onto the Beyeler Foundation early the next morning. It’s a 30 minute tram trip from the main station and a good preparation to enter into this beautiful garden and fantastic centre. My visits have been to see Francis Bacon, Calder, Miro and a couple of others. Each time I walk up and see this window my heart turns to the first time I came here with Mother.
 |
This time it was Pierrette and I was a little unsure of how she would feel about Max Ernst. I need not have worried at all. This was a very different collection from the first retrospective of his work I had seen in 1989. Ernst (German:1891-1976) was one of the modernist most versatile artist. I knew his work and remembered it from his rebellious period as a Dadaist in Cologne. In 1922, he moved to Paris and soon became one of the leading lights of Surrealism. This is not a period I really rave about and after a few paintings of Dali, I am quite happy to disappear. Somehow though, Ernst seems to have a much more diversified approach and not so many symbols and repetitive as those are found in Dali’s paintings. In 1941, he escaped to the USA. It’s not surprising that he provided a lot of inspiration for the young American artists of that period. Not too many came up to his standard though in surrealism. Dorothea Tanning of course. He met her in her studio in 1942 and it was love at first sight.
«They married in 1946, in a double wedding with Man Ray and Juliet Browner in Hollywood, after Ernst's divorce from Peggy Guggenheim. They remained married for 30 years until his death.From my point of view this is one of those rare love affairs. The fact that he was married to Peggy Guggenheim is something too we don’t always remember.
In 1949, Tanning and Ernst moved to France, where they divided their time between Paris, Touraine and later Provence. They would often host guest such as Balanchine, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Marcel Duchamp, Pavel Tchelitchew and Dylan Thomas. In 1957 Tanning and Ernst moved to France again because Max Ernst was denied citizenship as a German during the McCarthy era. When speaking on her relationship with Ernst in an interview, Tanning said: "I was a loner, am a loner, good Lord, it's the only way I can imagine working. And then when I hooked up with Max Ernst, he was clearly the only person I needed and, I assure you, we never, never talked art. Never."
Ernst was an inventor of odd figures, forms and techniques. Collage, frottage, grattage..... He was constantly turning his attention to new directions. Sometimes the images seem to come straight out of a nightmare or bad dreams.
 |
| snow flowers 1929 |
 |
| La Toilette de la Mariée 76. |
 |
| The Entire cty |
 |
| The Fireside Angel (The Triumph of Surrealism) 1937 |
 |
| Nature at Dawn (Evensong) (Detail), 1938, |
 |
| The garden of France 1962 |
 |
| Napolean in the wilderness 1941 |
 |
| 1926 The Blessed Virgin chastising the baby Jesus in front of witnesses |
There were over 160 paintings and collages, drawings and sculptures in the exhibition. It is extensive to say the least. I understand better today why Mother was so influenced by his work and why at times I wondered if she wasn’t creating a Max Ernst collage.
We had lunched in the outside café, and later returned to the centre of Basel. Two very rich days. Perhaps too rich as when I started gathering my thoughts I was confusing sculptures thinking that this was Picasso and not Ernst....but of course, it is Ernst! Looking into my photographic archives, I have taken the same photo at least four times over the years!
 |
| The King playing....1941 |
The weather was rather gloomy the following morning, but my Iphone professed that the clouds would disappear by 10 and the sun would shine again. And it did. We walked along the Rhine on Solitude driveway to the Tinguely Foundation. The current runs so fast that no boat can cross it and the little ferries are pulled across on a wire.
 |
| Ferry on a wire |
 |
| And to go down....... |
 |
| Bee house |
 | ||
| Fish! |
 |
| A little respect please |
 |
| and NO, you can't..... |
Tinguely (1925-1991) grew up in Basel, but moved to France in 1952 to pursue a career in art. He belonged to the Parisian avant-garde in the mid-twentieth century and was one of the artists who signed the New Realist's manifesto (Nouveau réalisme) in 1960.
In 1971, Tinguely married his second wife, Niki de Saint Phalle. We all know her work. Her big dolls and weird sculptures too which are to be found frequently around Paris. However, there is not much mention of her work in the Foundation.
He was certainly revolutionnary. His machines are comedy-tragedy and undoubtedly require another level of interpretation for machines that come to life periodically during your visit to the centre. When I first went there in 2006, they all worked or rather, the spectator could make them work and see the drawing machine draw, the bicycle go back and forwards and horrible creatures make children and adults alike jump with fright.
 |
| And another..... |
 |
| Drawing machine |
 |
| another one. |
Now to save them, there movements are programmed short and far between. Videos show them in full swing and when they do come alive they are funny, ironical and full of poetry. Even if some have titles, it is better in my book to imagine what they are for yourself. The machine sculptures engage in a loud and multi-coloured conversation with the onlooker. Through his works, Jean Tinguely communicates and interacts with the spectator. The machine functions and becomes art. Tinguely’s artworks sparkle with wit, vitality, irony and poetry.
 |
| What's this? |
 |
| It's not me riding |
 |
| Mad machine |
 |
| More shadows |
 |
| and more |
 |
| Shadows in the dark |
 |
| What a face |
 |
| The dark gallery |
 |
| in a dark rool |
 |
| looking down at the horse |
 |
| climbing up as I did |
 |
| One way to garden |
 |
| flying upside down |
 |
 |
 |
| The car |
 |
| It's a car if you didn't know! |
 |
| A Boat? |
 |
| My car of course..... |
 |
| disks of wire |
 |
| another one |
 |
| plates of wire in the breeze |
 |
| The ball room |
 |
| Inside the café |
Tinguely is everywhere, even in the café where we had a simple lunch before our next discovery.
 |
| Wickelfisch |
Swimming down the Rhine with Wickelfisch. Yes, you read me right.
The first time we saw them, Pierrette thought that the swimmer had filled the wickelfisch bags with his or her belongings before diving into the current and being pushed a long way down the river. I was sceptical about this but how right she was. We discovered the departure point was from a tiny beach in front of the Foundation. Pierrette paddled in what was supposed to be 22° of warm water and we both watched the preparation as swimmers, young and old shoved their belongings into the bags, blew air into them, strapped the bag around the neck and off they went.
 |
 |
Not all of them had these bags but teamed up with another swimmer at once or later when wooshing down the flow. It took us nearly and hour to walk by the three bridges along the river to the swimmers’ final destination. Perhaps it took them 15 or so minutes in the current? We would both love to try it - but please, with some experienced swimmer and not like these two sisters who were off with a friend and her Mother.
 |
| First timers on the left |
 |
| And off they go..... |
By the time we returned to our hotel and then out to dinner, our own artistic creativity was developing further. Perhaps the waiter in our Italian restaurant did not appreciate his tip, but we certainly had many laughs creating it.
 |
| watching the waiter |
 |
| Our first creation |
 |
| And the second..... |
Commentaires