Until June 29, 2014, the Whitney Museum in NYC offers us, “American Legends: From Calder to O’Keeffe… It showcases the Whitney’s deep holdings of artwork from the first half of the twentieth century by the eighteen leading artists: Oscar Bluemner, Charles Burchfield, Paul Cadmus, Alexander Calder, Joseph Cornell, Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Gaston Lachaise, Jacob Lawrence, John Marin, Reginald Marsh, Elie Nadelman, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Joseph Stella. Organized as one- and two-artist presentations, this exhibition provides a survey of each artist’s work across a range of mediums.”
Never could quite get my “Fro” to such lofty heights. Leave it to the Brooklyn Museum to remind me with their current exhibit, Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties .
The presentation “offers a focused look at painting, sculpture, graphics, and photography from a decade defined by social protest and American race relations. In observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this exhibition considers how sixty-six of the decade’s artists, including African Americans and some of their white, Latino, Asian American, Native American, and Caribbean contemporaries, used wide-ranging aesthetic approaches to address the struggle for racial justice.”
New in San Francisco will be “Intimate Impressionism, on view at the Legion of Honor through August 3, 2014, showcasing approximately 70 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, interiors, and portraits, from the collections of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.”
“Complementing these paintings… are depictions of artists’ studios and domestic interiors; several captivating self-portraits by Edgar Degas, Henri Fantin-Latour, Paul Gauguin, and Édouard Vuillard; Renoir’s 1872 portrait of Monet…”
2014 is the 25th year anniversary of Spike Lee’s terrific film, “Do The Right Thing”, 1989. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will celebrate the event with the writer-director and members of the cast at two special screenings in LA on June 27, at the Bing Theater, and in Brooklyn on June 29 at BAM.
Director Lee has made so many films since 1989, but, “Do” is his most celebrated film so far – it’s included on the American Film Institute list of the 100 best movies of all time. Shot in Brooklyn, NY in 9 weeks, the movie tells the story of a hot day in Bed’Stuy, when pent up anger and over boiling resentment combusts into violence in a matter of minutes.
The stellar cast includes Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Rosie Perez, Martin Lawrence (film debuts for both Rosie and Martin).
“Do the Right Thing” – 25 years (amazing how time flies )
Morrie Turner was the first nationally syndicated African-American cartoonist. Born in Oakland, CA, Mr. Turner’s carton strip, “We Pals” which he created in 1965, mirrored the ethnic diversity that he experienced while growing up in the Bay Area. In the 70’s, the strip was carried by more than 100 newspapers, his young characters were also captured in several books and in 1972 there was a popular local TV show, “Kid Power”.
“We Pals” is still being carried in the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times Newspapers.
The Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco features 2 exhibits by French artist Henri Matisse, 1869 – 1954.
From SFMOMA Ollection :
”… traces four decades of the artist’s career—from his early, Cézanne-inspired still lifes to his richly patterned and brightly colored figural paintings made in the 1920s and 1930s.
This intimate exhibition features 23 paintings, drawings, and bronzes from the internationally acclaimed collection of works by Matisse at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)”
And
Matisse and the Artist Book:
“Matisse was stimulated and challenged by book illustration and design… he declared that the first principle of good book design was a rapport with the nature of the book. For Matisse this meant carefully balancing text and illustration.
Henri Matisse was 60 years old when he began to create original illustrations for livres d’artiste (artists’ books). By the time of his death, 25 years later, he had produced designs for 14 fully illustrated books, several of which are considered 20th-century masterpieces of the genre.” Seven of these are on view.
Ms Weems is African American and her art reflects that, however, “It also contains a desire for universality: while African Americans are typically her primary subjects, Weems wants “people of color to stand for the human multitudes” and for her art to resonate with all audiences.”
“Carrie Mae Weems is a socially motivated artist whose works invite contemplation of race, gender, and class. Increasingly, she has broadened her view to include global struggles for equality and justice. Comprehensive in scope, this retrospective primarily features photographs, including the groundbreaking Kitchen Table Series (1990), but also presents written texts, audio recordings, and videos.”
I’ve never liked the term “Blue Eyed Soul“. Thought it was demeaning and still feel that way today. I’m only revisiting this notion because of “Sara Smile” the Hall and Oaks hit single of the late 70’s and new interpretation of this song by Rumer, another British female artist who has been able to recreate a sense of the past without being nostalgic.
Rumer’s rendition of “Sara Smile” is soulful and very much her own, understated, and in this live version of the song the band does all of the Hall and Oaks screams and shouts. If you like Rumer ‘s interpretation and I do, you might notice that the color of her eyes had nothing to do with it. Let’s place an asterisk next to the term “Blue Eyed Soul” that says “Eyes Don’t Matter”.
Even though he passed away last week, one of my favorite books, “100 Years of Solitude” written by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, will remain one of the best and unforgettable reading experiences on any “great” list for years to come.
Written in 1967, the book recounts the history of a family that presides over a South American town called Macondo. It is the perfect “did it happen or didn’t it?” story. Critics refer to García Márquez as a pioneer of “magical realism”. His work is often time shifting, mystical and surreal, it takes the reader to a different space, a different time.
“100 Years of Solitude” is a magical story – a definite adventure, a great book.
Detroit Institute of Arts/ DIA hosts the student’s show until Sunday June 8, 2014. “The Annual Detroit Public Schools Student Exhibition features hundreds of imaginative works created by Detroit Public Schools students in grades K-12, ranging from paintings, prints, drawings, photography, ceramics, videos, jewelry and more. The exhibition is free with museum admission.“
77th Annual Detroit Public Schools Student Exhibition
Until June 8, 2014 at the Detroit Institute of Arts
(Image: “Keepers Of The Dreams”, Justin Coleman – Grade 12)
Until June 29, 2014, the Whitney Museum in NYC offers us, “American Legends: From Calder to O’Keeffe… It showcases the Whitney’s deep holdings of artwork from the first half of the twentieth century by the eighteen leading artists: Oscar Bluemner, Charles Burchfield, Paul Cadmus, Alexander Calder, Joseph Cornell, Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, Edward Hopper, Gaston Lachaise, Jacob Lawrence, John Marin, Reginald Marsh, Elie Nadelman, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Joseph Stella. Organized as one- and two-artist presentations, this exhibition provides a survey of each artist’s work across a range of mediums.”
