Before an opening the other day, I had two priorities on my list. The documentary by Frederik Weisman on « The National Gallery », then over to the Beaubourg to see Marcel Duchamp and finally onto the opening for Frank Gehry (the Architect). Probably a bit much to take in, in one day. Who knows?
The documentary was out of this world. It made the film on the Hermitage seem rather bland. Nearly three hours. Weisman’s techniques always seem so spontaneous to me. No direct interviews; looking at a public; looking at a picture or following the restoration process. Behind the scenes at the National Gallery. For those who have not seen it, there is a preview below. I could see it again as it gave another approach to looking at a picture and one which I would put into practice very fast. It’s probably quite true than we don’t look INTO a painting but only at it. It’s also very true that if you look at a painting twice or more, there is always so much to see. This happens time and time again when I download my photos onto the computer. They are new, different and I see much more detail.
When you consider that Frederik Weisman is over 80, 84 to be exact, age cannot be taken into account when you are talking artistic creativity. There are so many today. What will it be like with the next generation?
Hope the Youtube doc works. If not, you can always find it yourself, I am sure.
I came out and crossed over to the Beaubourg. As it was now late afternoon, there were not too many people around. Although quite a few in the Marcel Duchamp exhibition, it was not « uncomfortable ». So I would look
into each picture. Perhaps it wont surprise you that the work I was looking at seemed to be pretty mediocre after what I had just seen. A friend said that it was foolish to go after such an experience. She may have been right but when I reverted to looking AT a picture, I knew that I was seeing it.
Duchamp was born in 1887 and died in 1968. We all know him for his « urinoir » or « fountain ». I have referred to him before in other chapters. These ready-made are very difficult for most people to assimilate as art. I don’t consider them as such but rather objects which are being shown differently. Like his bottle holder or the bicycle wheel.
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| Bicylcle Tire 1913-64 |
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| Bottle Holder 1914-64 |
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| Bottle Holder 1914-64 |
Was he a Fauvist? A Symbolist? A Cubist? A Futurist? There is so much experimentation in his work following the different artistic movements of his times.
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| Braques - The Leques Golf 1907 |
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| Duchamp - Landscape 1911 |
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| Bateau Lavoir 1910 |
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| Kandinsky - landscape at the Tower |
I like his cubist period and find it for some of the paintings very delicate with water colors that soften the blow of the oils. « Nude Descending a staircase » is undoubtedly the most important painting of that period, and one we studied at the Ecole du Louvre. It was also the painting that made him famous in the U.S.A. You see her or you don’t - it took me a little while to sort this painting out.
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| Portrait Dulcinée 1911 - |
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| Sonate 1911 |
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| Francis Picabia - Dances at the Spring 1912 |
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| Nude coming dowstairs 1911 |
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| Nude coming dowstairs 1911 N°2 |
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| Passage from Virgin to Bride 1912 |
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| The Bride 1912 |
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| Virgin - 1912 |
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| The King and Queen surrounded by nudes 1912 |
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| Yvonne and Magdeline in bits 1911 |
His early nudes seem to be a rather « loose » Fauvist style and far away from the Duchamp that we know.
Then there is the whole series on the Bride. He seems to be borrowing styles and they are neither geometrical or sexual. Or I can’t see anything erotic about them anyway.
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| Two Nudes 1910 |
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| Two Nudes 1910 |
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| Influenced by Louis Michel Eilshemius Afternoon Wind 1899 |
A big influence in his work.....
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| Cranach - Venus 1532 |
His philosophical conversation with his brothers, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon (also artists) led him to themes on chess. Once again for me, a combinations of different styles. These too made a name for him around the world.
We end with « The Large Glass ». Strictly forbidden to photograph. I took six before they caught up with me. It consists of two large plates of glass standing vertically. There are many of his paintings included in it. « The chocolate Grinder », « The Bride » and others as well which were virtually impossible to decipher as there was a picture in black and white behind it.
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| The Game of Chess 1910 |
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| The Chess Players 1911 |
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| The Large Glass |
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| Behind it |
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| Straight on |
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| Coffee Grinder 1911 |
His portraits also didn't seem to be his style at all......
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| Nana in a Green corsage 1910 |
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| Portrait of Yvonne duchamp 1907 or 1909 |
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| Man sitting next to a window 1907 |
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| Portrait of the Artist's Father 1910 |
Of course, you can't avoid this......
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| L'envers de la Peinture - around 1985 - The back of the painting |
From the 50’s onwards he was considered as a key figure in a new way of approaching art. The Ready-mades were the crowning point of his celebrity. In my book, these are too limiting. Not unlike Fortuna with his « cut paper » . Both artists had a lot more to say. You like them - or you don’t.
There were other artists who influenced his work - and they influence me too
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| Man Ray Form organisation 1917 |
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| Kupka - Woman picking flowers 1910 |
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| Brancussi - The Queen who is not disdainful 1916-33 |
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| Giorgio De Chirico 1917-18 |
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