My night with Kusuma was quite « tranquille ». Those tulips swayed around in my dreams and suddenly it was time to get up and go. The weather was still foul but this time there was a metro to take and then a bus to get to the LaM (Lille metropole of modern and contemporary art). Villeneuve-d’Ascq is not so out of the way until you get to the metro station and have to wait for the bus in the pouring rain. China had taught me how to push and I pushed my way into the shelter where a group of adolescents were hogging benches and a very small dry section. The wait seemed interminable.
Dead on 10am when I arrived. Opening time. Yet already there were groups of young children being presented to:-
Daniel- Henry Kahnweiler and his Painters (Picasso, Leger, Masson).
Since Gianni gave me his biography some time ago, written by Pierre Assouline « L’homme de l’art: D-H Kanhweiler" 1884-1979, a book I would certainly recommend to those who follow the painters in question. « The Man Who Held the Cubists Together » - is the title in English. The book gave me a much better insight into the period in question and of course the cubists who Kahnweiler discovered. To know that period, Kahnweiler is a must. As I said, he was the champion of the cubist period, discovering Picasso. Although Kahnweiler was born in Germany, Paris became his adopted city. There were many galleries and the interest of this exhibition for me is that the collections became much more interesting as they were split into the galleries that he created or that other collectors gave their names to as he was in difficulty over the war periods. In the first world war he didn’t seem to be overly concerned but having lost so many of his paintings, he was much more careful at the beginning of the second world war.
I don’t want to write screeds and screeds of history so for those who really are interested, I do suggest having a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel-Henry_Kahnweiler.
It’s a reasonably good resumé of his life. I bought another book, but this time of his where he is describing his relationship with his different artists.
What interested me this time around, is what I would discover which was new? Obviously there would be lots. And new artists of that period as well? Would there be artists that I know but give me a new impression of their work? Well the answer was yes to all those questions. Having been caught twice trying to take photos, this meant buying the catalogue which I try not to do these days. However, there are a lot of interesting articles about the period, the artists and Kahnweiler so I am not disappointed.
For openings we are surprised by Van Dogen’s « Femme Lipopue » very much of the Fauve period and which I least expected to see leading the exhibition. Kahnweiler bought this painting in 1909.
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| Van Dogen -1909 |
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| Michel Leiris - one of ten 1963 |
In one of the first rooms there are sketches of Michel Leiris by Juan
Gris, André Masson. Then Picasso. The simplicity of his strokes is
overwhelming compared to the other painters. There were ten sketches -
with very slight variations. Typically minimalist and what I like so
much about his designs. Leiris was a surrealist poet and writer of the
period.
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| JUAN GRIS LE PAPIER À MUSIQUE 1913/14 |
Jerome had sent me over a picture and asked me to guess who it was. I thought Juan Gris and it was very like this I seem to remember.
Of course you can’t not see Fernand Légèr in such a collection. I’m not overly keen on his work and when I saw this it seemed to be so much of what I already know. Then I saw these two paintings and my feelings certainly changed concerning Légèr. Something much more gentle has occurred rather than the austere cubic forms which we know so well.
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| LEGER - PAYSAGE 1914 |
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| Léger Sous les Arbres 1921 |
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| Fernand Légèr - Le déjeuner 1921 |
André Masson has always been a favorite and there was not one painting in this collection when I could say « oh that’s a Masson » One of the reasons why such a collection is so important as we see how a Kahnweiler has built his collection.
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| Masson - Cabaret 1923 |
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| Masson - Les Villageois 1927 |
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| André Masson the Bad Bull 1937 |
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| Paul Klee - 1935 |
Kahnweiler also took care of Paul Klee and although he was in Switzerland and Kahnweiler was still operating in Paris, I can imagine that there was no problem in exposing his work.
I don’t know too much about Eugène Nestor de Kermadec’s work. Jerome would say « squiggles » But even so, there is something interesting about how the squiggles overlap the main subject. In fact, I don’t think that I would have described him as a cubist at all.
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| Kermadec "Paysage anhydride 1928" |
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| Kermadec "Mittoral 1952" |
Eugène de Kermadec (1899-1976) studied at the École des Arts Decoratifs in 1915 and later at the École des Beaux Arts. During this time Paris was the center of the avant-garde, and the painterly language was Cubism. Kermadec, along with several foreign and French artists came into Cubism after 1918 when more and more artists adopting this technique and that the almost scientific approach was relaxed and replaced by a more lyrical style and figurative style. His first show was in 1929. From early on the Galerie Louise Leiris, which gallery was the centre of the avant-garde and the Cubists.
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| André Beaudin Le Cheval et le Lucarne 1938 (Skylight) |
Another artist I knew little about is André Beaudin (1895-1979). He was
close to Juan Gris and worked also for Max Jacob, the poet. Illustrating
his work. He too was known as a cubist and followed by Kahnweiler.
But of course my beloved Picasso got all my attention. Every time I see something new or something I know but am happy to look at it again, and again and again. There was a group of 8-10 year olds in front of this bull. The teacher was quite obviously a very enthusiastic Picasso follower. Perhaps she came from the museum itself. I listened to her. The children’s answers to her questions were not too interesting until she said « and now you will draw this bull and on top….. »she said nothing and the children yelled back « his horns, his horns » and she replied and on the bottom ? « His kicking feet…..I would love to have seen the finished works.
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| Picasso - Course de Taureaux 1934 |
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| Woman's Bust 1909-10 |
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| L'Atelier P.P.1955 |
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| LE PEINTRE ET SON MODÈLE 1963 |
Apart from these, there was « une petite perle » as we say. That is was is so remarkable about Picasso. He picks up paper, boxes anything around him and it or they become a work of art. This is a little box which he had painted on. « La Femme Couchée »(1932) I stayed in front of it for ???And came back and stayed again. It was not much bigger than you see below. It follows the theme of the same (Marie-Therese) he had finished a week earlier.
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| The lid of a carton box. "Femme couchée 1932" |
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| A week earlier "Une Femme couchée" Marie Louise |
So who were these people who finally had Kahnweiler's collection? Roger Dutilleul. and then his nephew Jean Masurel who was born in the area and when he went to Paris for his studies, he stayed with his Uncle. Apparently the apartment was overly crowded with paintings! Not surprising then that the Uncle passed on his passion to Jean, who donated the collection to Lille. There were other contemporary artists who were to be seen too and although I went through the different rooms I was virtually saturated by so many images.
This whole period satisfies me so you wont be surprised that I was purring inside when I left three hours later. The rain had stopped. The bus arrived a few minutes later. What a morning…….
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