SHARING WITH ME

La danse et les pies - 2013 I looked right through my files to see when I last spoke about Gérard Garouste - and found nothing. Yet I have a very vivid memory of writing a chapter about this French painter. Perhaps I dreamt it. 

In actual fact I was off to see « The Happy Show » at la Gaiété Lyrique and the Galerie Templon, one our most important, was on the way. I stopped in to have a look. This exhibition , « Unspeakable Tales » journeys into the world of myths and fables, a voyage the artist uses to evoke universal questions such as our relationship to time, other people and knowledge. He has already done this research in earlier painting such as  Goethe’s Faust in 2011. This time around he has not chosen to confine himself to a single subject: paintings, gouaches and sculptures are given a dreamlike structure. It’s an auto portrait each time and I gather he is suggesting that knowledge is enriched by means of a two-tiered interpretation, based on what reason te

The Jewish Historical museum looked easy to find from where I was at the Hermitage. Even so I asked for directions and when I came to the forked street which had been indicated - took the wrong one. A very nice man put me back on track and there I was in front of the institute. Saturday and open. More than I can saw for the French one, as it is closed for Shabbat.  How many years ago could it be when my Mother introduced me to Arnold Schoenberg’s music? Half a life time  ago I would think. It took me close to ten years to really appreciate modern music. If she could persuade me to go, Mother took me to every concert she went to. Later I subscribed for a year of concerts, first with Mother, then with Gianni and now alone. However, my tastes are changing again so perhaps next year the subscription will be limited. Bartok, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Eisler and others are still on my list, but are they « modern » today?  
 Schoenberg (1874-1951) was one of the most important composers of th

The Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam is always a pleasure to visit. The site is marvelous yet it has kept it’s original flavour and if you want to go a little further. …. http://www.hermitage.nl/en/hermitage_amsterdam/geschiedenis_van_het_gebouw.htm The walk up from the hotel, small case clacking behind me on the pebbled pavement was a lovely one and after the rain and cold of the day before, the sun was about to come out. Walking along the canals has a charm of its own - different from Venice and different from the little town I visited close to  Shanghai. Amsterdam and its people who are ready to help and all those I have encountered when I lose my way (often) speak excellent English. I was  at the Hermitage at opening time. Around 1900, Paris was the undisputed centre of the European art world. After the Impressionists took hold another group of artists went in search of new artistic avenues. Paul Gaugin, Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis joined  artists in the name of « Les Nabis » In

In 2010 I specifically  went to Amsterdam to see « Matisse to Malevich, Pioneers of Modern Art at the Hermitage ». It was an amazing exhibition with Matisse, Picasso and Derain who received special attention, as did the Fauvists such as Van Dongen and De Vlaminck. The works go back to the Moscow collectors Ivan Morozov and Sergei Shchukin. Two other artists featuring in the exhibition were Kandinsky and Malevich. As nearly all of the artists in question are meaningful for me and I follow around Europe, I was somewhat stunned when I came to the last room and fell upon this…. »The Black Square » Kazimir Malevich - 1932. There was nothing else..... The last version of the Black Square - 1932 It’s not often that I turn my back on a painting but this one made me fume. Since I have read a lot about this period in Malevich’s life. The Black Square was painted four times at different periods and in different sizes. Supposedly it is his most famous and emblematic work. I am not going to