SHARING WITH ME

Strangely enough, the exhibition the second time around seemed easier to handle. By that I mean it didn't appear to be so large as handling this period of history is certainly not easy. Also, I remembered Claude’s comments  and could for some, pass them onto Marielle. Apart from looking at what I had seen, I was more interested in looking at what we had had little time to see. Finally, Claude had covered 98% of the exhibition in the two hours we had been with him.  Charles Walch - Le Coq glorieux  - Liberation The Liberation is a moment of jubilation of course, but a dark period too. The French communist party is legitimized - Picasso becomes a member, and a hero. The horror is the discovery of witnesses returning from the camps and the stories told. I found that many of the paintings tend to depict this horror and probably then decompression occurs. 

Abstraction takes a place of honor and is no longer considered to be «degenerate art».  Picasso. Faune Jau...

Am working backwards this time. The morning was spent in «Art in War» with Marielle and after lunch I went off alone and  backwards into the Michael Werner collection. There was no need to rush. Much to the surprise of the attendant I asked to go in at the end rather than start at the beginning - and thank goodness. 
 Kirkeby in the 80's Gianni and I had discovered the Danish Per Kirkeby in Brussels at the beginning of the year «Hidden Images» - 14th of February. Here without expecting it was one whole room dedicated to Kirkeby. A couple of people wandered through - fast - I stood in the centre of the gallery alone, turning around - and around before discovering each painting.Many of the paintings had been enormous in the Beaux Arts but with the exception of a few, most were around the same size. As there was a young girl attendant following every step I took and quite bemused by my interest, I forgot to try and take a photo. This is a picture I saw on Internet amongst m...

  The Michael Werner collection or the little I had seen of it, pushed me to go further in my thinking since having read the introduction for "Art at War". I knew that Claude Rocca would more than complete the thoughts buzzing around in my head. (I might add that this buzzing went on all night and my dreams were colourful and dramatic). So there had been 900 works in the first exhibition of which I had probably digested 80 and now......400 works by over 100 artists all backed up by film and documentary material. Of its kind, I would think that this is the most important retrospective - ever - on this period.  It has never been done before bringing together all the artists who creatively forged resolutely ahead inside interment camps, prisons.....or if they had been fortunate enough to escape such horrendous punishment, many were condemned to the new realties of the «dark days» during the occupation and the Vichy regime. Some, and Picasso as we know, went on working either i...

It was going to be a big day but until I came home, I didn’t realize just how big nor important it was. A visit was programmed visit with Claude Rocca ( Edward Hopper last week ) mid afternoon at the MAM. For the first and of prime importance, exhibition called ART at WAR, France 1938-1947. From what I had read and the book I had been given on this period, it could only be «rich».....
 The other exhibition is The Michael Werner Collection. I had read the description  a little too quickly and was expecting to see the 127 pictures and sculptures he has recently donated to the museum which comprises the work of some 40 artists. I was not expecting 900 works presented in 20 rooms. Even when I started strolling through the first rooms and not studying the leaflet which we are given, I was not ready for the culture shock. The reference point for the exhibition is in Paris, a city (and how I understand this), which was and is adopted by so many foreign artists. At one time they were...