Habsburg Splendor: Masterpieces from Vienna's Imperial Collections 2015

Making a special trip to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta can be an easy trip for most of us in the United States. I encourage everyone to see this remarkable exhibition of ninety masterpieces from the Habsburg collection which has traveled from the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna, Austria. The Habsburg Empire ruled most of Europe for six hundred years and collected and commissioned some of the finest art you’d ever be fortunate to see and experience. Many of the pieces never before exhibited in the U.S.

As one enters the exhibition two young boys in armor are jousting on horseback.Gorgeous intricate carvings in ivory to stunning Old Master paintings are visually and spiritually uplifting for their exquisite beauty and expert craftsmanship. 

I loved Peter Paul Rubens' “The Lamentation of Christ”; not a large painting, but an extremely intimate and emotional description of the three Marys lamenting Christ after he is removed from the cross. The story is acutely poignant and Rubens painted with such reverence and attention to light, pureness of color, vulnerability of human flesh, and suffering from loss that you will want to spend some time in front of this splendid work. 

Other brilliant Old Master painters represented in this show are Correggio, Velasquez, Caravaggio, Titian, and Tintoretto! Each painting by these artists is a wonderful example of his work, and the paintings are in excellent condition. Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velasquez's portrait of Infanta Maria Teresa, 1653, displays effortless brush strokes that seem to float across a sea of soft atmospheric colors and underlying form. 

The Lamentation of Christ   by Peter Paul Rubens  Flemish  1577-1640 Kunsthistorisches Museum,Vienna, Austria

Boy in Armor 

The Exhibition continues until January 17, 2016. From there it travels to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Texas through September 13, 2016.

Jan Van Eyck 1390-1441

2010

Museum of Bruges

In trying to capture the impact of great visual art with a quick stroke of the brush, I would certainly say, "never underestimate the power of seeing a painting from life."

I was amazingly reminded of this truth when I stood in front of a Jan Van Eyck at the Groeningemuseum, the summer of 2010. Museums have and always will have much cultural and esthetic value to offer to our lives and must not be cast aside for the convenience of YouTube and the allure of the digital age.

For viewing a fine painting, there is no other way than to be standing quietly in front of the elevated energy level and visual bravado of a masterpiece in any genre and any time.

While being purposely led to this rather famous example of Jan Van Eyck's " The Madonna of Canon Van der Paele" by my Belgian host, I still wasn't prepared for the immense impact it would have on me.

Jan Van Eyck, born around 1390, was younger brother to the famous Hubert Van Eyck. He studied painting under and collaborated with Hubert in cathedrals in Bruges and Belgium as a young man. While Hubert was very celebrated in his day, it is Jan Van Eyck who is remembered by history. Jan was considered the founder of oil painting, and for sure his oil, which was called the varnish of Van Eyck, has been carried forward by great artists in the old master tradition. As a life long student of Old Masters and their techniques, this is the granddaddy of all and is referenced in scholarly books covering Flemish art materials and secret formulas. In Van Eyck's innovations of working with tempera and oils, he was able to discover how to work with wet glazes of unsurpassable quality. To this day, we are not quite sure how he did it. Isn't it always true that when a person needs a way to express his vision or do something differently, he is the one to uncover new paths and methods for that advancement in his field? Van Eyck's pupils carried on his tradition of glazing as all great Master's techniques were passed on through their students. The layers of wet glazes of pure color technique was even introduced to the Italian masters. A master from Venice who was influenced by Van Eyck's technique and took painting further into completely oils was the 15th Century Venetian painter, Antonella Da Messina.

Setting aside this remarkable technical and historical importance of the advancement of oil painting as we know it, there needs to be an honoring of Van Eyck the master painter as an artist who was able to express the spiritual qualities of his mind and heart and place them powerfully upon his images, forms, symbolic icons, and environments. In this painting of the Madonna and male figures, who were arranged in their places of importance according to role, one can only begin to take in the enormous abilities in this artist's hands and gradually absorb them into the whole composition. The painting feels as if he painted it yesterday with its pure glazed colors and atmosphere, and in some ways the painting feels very modern. It's super realism is just that, Real, and from Life with the aid of the artist's private and extraordinary accuracy to details. This is not mere rendering and a copying of outlines to be filled in. There is a principle of form with light and shadows that always remains paramount to the inclusion of detail, surface and textures to be described on top. Painting was created from life and the artist mind's eye, thus he was true to a brevity and unity of expression. All the architecture and players in the scene, and there is a lot, fall into their places in the grand play. The rhythms, designs, story, and details remain coherent within the very complex architecture, rich and intricate materials, and soft blending of forms even within the portraits and figure of the baby Christ upon the throne of his mother's lap. They embody throne consciousness for a reason and Van Eyck royally exudes their presence in the holy and earthly environment. If you look at the portrait of the older clergyman, you see his character, etched with fine lines and forms that describe his personality. To paint such detail and know how to make it work within the larger form of the portrait is a characteristic of a brilliant portraitist and allows the viewer to really get absorbed into the individual personality and yet larger divine essence.

In depicting the story of the Virgin Birth, Jan Van Eyck has focused on the very essence of man's spiritual life and the glory and meaning of God's presence in the world. The Spiritual world transformed into the earthly world by his way of using and depicting light, forms, archetypes, and symbols. His map is an illustrious journey of description that makes the viewer pause and meditate upon the grand vision and story that he illuminates. Was he like a Mozart, born with an extraordinary gift that only few titans are granted? For me, he certainly was.

Another piece of interesting information about the importance of Jan Van Eyck in his lifetime, was his role as ambassador for the Duke of Burgundy- Philip the Good around 1425. The court artist was invaluable when he could travel in place of the king to another country and even visit a potential wife. He was known to make a picture- painting of Isabella, the eldest daughter of John I of Portugal, and send it along to Philip so he could see what she really looked like. Meanwhile, upon the Duke's approval, Van Eyck helped to negotiate the terms of the wedding and union of two countries. In this case, Van Eyck accompanied his bride back to Bruges for the union of their marriage. Jan Van Eyck was employed by the Duke of Burgundy and they shared a mutual respect and fondness of great importance to both men.

In the 15th Century, under Philip the Good, Bruges was in its heyday and a center for artists and bankers, establishing its importance in Europe. It's medieval architecture is a wonderful attraction to be viewed on foot and by boat ride around its canal. Other highlights are the Church of Our Lady which houses "The Madonna and Child" by Michaelangelo, thought to be the only example by the artist outside of Italy.

Jan Van Eyck is most known for his Ghent Altarpiece in Brussels which was begun by Hubert. Many of us have seen images of the wedding portrait of " Gionvanni Arnolfini and his Wife" at the National Gallery in London. Van Eyck is considered a portraitist and his work has had enormous influence in art history. The "Madonna of Canon van der Paele" of 1436, is held as an important painting in the overall canon of art history.

I encourage anyone to include a visit to the Bruges Museum and experience an unique moment with one of the world's greatest Flemish masters and a true genius of the art world.

Luis Melendez - Master of the Spanish Still Life

July, 2009

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C
May 17 - August 23, 2009

The Still Life as a genre has inspired artists for centuries. It is often overlooked by the public and yet when fortunately composed and rendered, can consist of a world of glorious forms, magical colors and harmonious rhythms of meaningful objects. Part of a brilliant series and beautifully organized examples of still lifes are on exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. by 18th Century Spanish painter Luis Melendez, from May 17 - August 23, 2009.

Although traditionally categorized as nature morte (dead life), the Artist has to communicate the living essence. If the message is not honestly revealed or even received by the viewer, then he was not successful. Objects displayed in front of the artist are easily copied, but can an artist reveal the essence of those objects profoundly and with an informed and focused sensibility? Melendez shows you quite immediately how successful he is and how wonderful is his earthy story. What a brilliant artist for studying forms - an almost lost skill in today's world of predominantly flat images. Plump oranges, real tomatoes with all their bumps, pears with nicks, and watermelons broken open to reveal their watery, drippy, and seed filled interiors beg to be tasted right there on the canvas. This successful description of form is in its adherence to large shapes where each smaller area is modeled within the greater mass and remains secondary to the importance of the larger image. Melendez painted this exalted series of 44 compositions of fruits and vegetables for the Prince of Asturias, who became King Charles IV, to hang in The New Cabinet of Natural History of the Royal Palace. The beauty of these carefully arranged objects was born from his imaginative mind and hand, making art that arrests us today. We know today what its like to pick up a pear or apple tasting it with great pleasure, and we can immediately respond to this artists' dazzling fruitful descriptions. One is astounded at his focus for complex textures and the careful individual portrait of each glorified fruit which, at the same time, takes its splendid place in the larger composition.

19th century American artist and teacher, Robert Henri said, 'It is this sense of the persistent life force back of things which make the eye see and the hand move in ways that result in true masterpieces.' That is where the master leaves the rest behind and is urgent to explore his medium for the expression of what he feels. Melendez paints a cantaloupe like no other before him, skillful in his detailed texture and yet the texture does not overwhelm the roundness and weight of the melon's shape. Light and shadow move in rhythms and our eyes never grow tired or still. He did not shy away from the intricate skin rhythms of the roughness of the cantaloupe. I can imagine it would be like feeling braille of raised paint if I could touch the surface of the canvas. The beauty and combinations in the food the 18th Century Spaniard cooked and ate, and even the simple objects that are still desired today pulls us deeper into the beauty of the Melendez world.

Today, we all look at fruit and vegetables and know that they are beautiful and that we ingest them. In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell refers to our own lives and journeys as symbols in a larger universal connectedness. He goes into great detail in describing religious and cultural stories from different parts and times of the world explaining that these stories reveal universally known concepts of how man relates to his world. Food comes up in many myths and can be a representative of the idea of transformation. Food is taken into our bodies for sustenance and growth, it changes form within us and transforms us. I refer to this idea because I believe we can actually experience the concept of transformation when looking at these still lifes- it is a part of our own make up and often refers to rituals in our own cultures. For me, the indescribable and emotional response to the painting can often be wrapped up in this mythical relationship to our world and our selves as an instant recognition of life itself. 'I am connected to this'.

Melendez, a contemporary of Goya, created these paintings as a group and titled them, "The Seasons of the Year" to illuminate the continuous time line of their lives, an abundance of regional food, and seasons of change: his vision. His mastery of the principles of rendering form, light and shadows, and atmosphere permits our eyes to wonder around the objects within the canvas and also reveals that he did not literally copy his subject. Melendez's personal and spiritual interpretation gives a vitality of life in the paintings that this Spanish master so well describes for us.

Many art historians like to spend much of their expertise trying to discern how, when, and under what circumstances an artist like Melendez painted each oil. As an artist who studied the principles of Italian, Dutch, and Spanish old master painters, I find these writings often full of guesswork. That's not the purpose of the artistic creation. For the viewer, our purpose is only to show up and enjoy the fruits of such masterpieces and give their messages some time to enter our own space and eternal moment. As Joseph Campbell so well put it, "concepts and ideas short circuits the transcendent experience." Luis Melendez is one Spanish master who shows us how to elevate an ordinary definition of still life to a spiritual, breathing, display of life.

Luis Melendez, Master of the Spanish Still Life, continues to:
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art Sept 23 - Jan 3, 2010
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Jan 31, 2010 - May 9, 2010

1The Art Spirit by Robert Henri page '92
2 Masks of Eternity - The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell audio
© Luis Melendez -The National Gallery of Art - 2009

Rodin - A Magnificent Obsession

Frist Center of the Arts, Nashville, TN

Sept 12, 2008 - Jan 4, 2009

I personally love the title of this exhibition and have admired the French 19th C. sculptor, Francois-Auguste Rodin, an artist who was often rejected by the standards of Neoclassisim of his times. Most of us are aware of the familier Rodin bronze called "The Thinker". This rendition of man heavy in thought and strong in stature has been reproduced innumerable times all over the world. Having visited Musee Rodin and former studio in Paris twice, I reccommend this stop for any visiter to Paris looking for a memorable art experience. Camille Claudel, one of his most famous students, now has her own room and her influence on Rodin was equally important to his work. It would not be for us to know if her sensual, feminine influence of expression came from their personal love affair or their professional ties that formed brilliant sculpture forever to be revered by the world. Theirs was a tumultuous love affair and her life a tale of great sorrow and intrigue in her times. But let's return to the show at hand and the professional brilliance of the master sculptor, Rodin.

Upon entering the Frist exhibition, the collection of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, with great anticipation, I was greeted by a woman who was leaving and shaking her head. She looked at me and said, "This was not a happy man!". Curious of her discouraging sentiments, I soon discovered why she was overwhelmed by the emotions of the show and was surprised in this artist's choice of expression. This was not your casual, let's go to the museum to see pretty work, although, let me be clear, there was beautiful work to behold. A good part of Rodin's magnificent obsession was his tremendous energy or calling to depict the burdened, thoughtful, reflective soul.

My attention for this show goes to the Three Shades, a free standing sculpture lifted from his idea for the Gates of Hell. This project was created for a future museum that never grew to fruition. The rendition of the male figure is created times three with the man's head bent heavily forward, an arm and fist thrust downward, and both extremities connect each version of the same pose exposing different view points. As strong as this man was as seen in his incredible muscles and body, his head was too heavy and bent in unimaginable despair. The original sculpture was placed at the top of the door for the never constructed museum, another frustration that played out for Rodin's career. How disappointing for an artist! Yet, what important work came out of this proposed project. Rodin's knowledge of the human figure is intimate and proficient as seen in this emotional depiction of a tortured man in Hell. It is in his ability for shorthand, pushing his figures to extreme postures and describing great emotions that was his genius. History transcribes that Rodin hired many nude models in his studio and had them always moving about until he would stop them in a pose he liked. That was a brilliant recipe for an artist lacking the inhibitions of mainstream society that could prohibit such a searching of new material and ideas. While this collection of the Cantor Foundation shows many agonizing figures, and brilliant portraits, I missed the sensual and erotic figures found in his large oeuvre at the Rodin Museum in Paris. Examples to see of his other side would be those as "The Kiss" and "The Eternal Idol" both connected to Ms. Claudel.

When Rodin took great pains to describe his personal version and characteristics of a celebrity, he was often not appreciated by the client and public. Yet, it is this place of universal art - subjects of timeless inquiry and even themes concerning man or woman's search for his or her own meaning in life that remain with us. Whether one personally likes Rodin or not, his works are the stuff of true substance and big ideas coupled with his unconscious or conscious interests depicted in his sculpture. He had the enormous ability to render the figure, portrait or figures in new ways to express his passion and show beauty even in unexplored areas of human existence.

You see the Rodin who sculpted the famous writer, Balzac, in several different ways and hugely disliked for its almost cartoonish and crude description of the writer. This was the same Rodin who could sculpt only the hands of a young female pianist with the precise anatomical truth and poetic sensitivity needed to describe the sublime idea of music that could only be birthed from hands as these. This magnificent artist was sensitive, observant, explorative, and true to his vision - establishing new avenues of revealing the truths of our spiritual lives on earth. I believe that knowing the rules of anatomy and yet knowing how to break the rules with integrity is the true meaning and value of artistic license.

True, this is not a show for the faint of heart or even those who may cling to the old chauvinistic rules of society (that he was!). With this collection and artist, you are invited and then required to participate in the ultimate discovery of his brilliant creations of man, woman, and a dance that takes place in his exquisite visions of the sublime. WIth the passing of time, we are allowed the freshness of space to experience this monumental artist and discover for ourselves his legacy of work and contribution to great Art not only to France but of the world today.

"Magnificent Obsession" continues Jan.24 at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art in Baton Rouge, La.

Gustave Courbet at the Metropolitan

Seeing a collected body of work by Gustave Courbet is like reading a juicy novel full of adventure, passion, scandal, and even crime. With this artist you witness his story clearly displayed on his canvases and learn about a man who not only created some monumental works of art, but led a life totally determined by his own convictions and ideas.

Gustave Courbet, a Frenchman born in 1819 -1877, was from a small town in the country called Ornans. Courbet grew up in a middle class environment in provincial France and left for Paris when he was twenty. In the big city, he lived amongst the Bohemian section of writers and painters. This was a time of great tension between the established artists and those of lesser backgrounds and money. He was powerfully influenced by Delacroix and Gericault and political writers such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and good friend Jules Champfleury. The richness of this time in art, literature and politics is vast and encouraged me to find out more about the strifes and debates during this highly creative period in France and Europe.

Courbet is mentioned in the exhibition byline as one who opened the door to Modern art, I think only because he did want to break with the Salon Rules and oppressed culture of his times. Otherwise, he favored the term- Realists and strongly argued his case and meaning in the art world. He was not afraid of consequences and even paid for his political outbursts by being ultimately sent to jail and later a self imposed exile.

Sometimes, Courbet used his art to exemplify ideas of his world and he certainly used his pictorial rhetoric to denounce his government's superiority over the arts. He refused to accept the French Legion of Honor for an appearance of accommodating the monarch Napoleon III's order to dominate the arts.

Courbet's goal was to establish an arts society that was run by artists, involving everything from the appointees of museums, to art teachers in schools. Eventually with the destruction of the Vendome Column, Courbet was fined and sent to prison. The action of the revolting Commune was not condoned by Courbet and he fought for his integrity, name, and actions to save many works of art with the destruction of the Tuileres Palace. He did not ultimately have to pay with his life in France's severe prison and thus got off lightly 'so they say'.

This is the stuff of Courbet's life- one of enlightenment and personal accomplishments and yet burdened with severe political reprimands for his passionate views. Such focused actions from an artist who studied, showed and taught art reveal an honesty to his own art which deserves to be admired.

When you look at the show's poster image, a self portrait titled "The Desperate Man", you see quite clearly the strained look of a man with his staring eyes and pained look very much the focal point. These wide open eyes peering squarely out into the public, are uncommonly strained and honest as he was pulling his hair and grabbing his head. In the other self portraits, Courbet never really showed his eyes, they were usually in shadow and not very finished.

This multidimensional artist experienced equal passion in expressing the beauty of the landscape and seascapes of his native Ornans. This was still a time where great artists learned to paint all and any subjects. It revealed a freedom and passage to become a more accomplished painter fully utilizing the medium to express anything he wanted to concentrate on. Artists seem to demand freedom of expression and some at any costs.

After passing through the first room of self portraits and a variety of pained and even sensual expressions, the viewer is really brought to the journey with an interest and at least curiosity for what's next. A famous subject for Courbet was his love for the female figure and often quite shocking and erotic compositions. I learned that even with commissions, Courbet demanded complete freedom to express, and no preliminary sketch would be allowed for the client of this artist.

One painting worth mentioning that was absent because of its large size was "The Artist's Studio". Drawn on the museum wall was the actual dimensions of this controversial oil and smaller references to different people that were in the large painting. Smaller exhibiting oils were present that referred to some important figures in his life. Delacroix declared this painting a masterpiece and others rejected it completely. It was definitely an important statement by Courbet and yet he himself could not possibly explain it all. But he also knew that it was in the viewing by the individual that meaning would reveal itself without any words necessary by the creator. "The Studio of the Painter," 1855, can be seen at the Musee d'Orsay and would be a great crescendo to the drama that is revealed and built up in the paintings we see in the show at hand.

Eventually, I reached the large fish paintings which were metaphorically representing his time in prison. He did these oils in prison and from memory, clearly, representing his own capture and imprisonment. These are not pretty images, but powerful in size and handling of thick paint. Courbet was not to be silenced by anyone, anywhere.

In experiencing a large show of Gustave Courbet, I would compare his energy somewhat to Van Gogh. Not so much as to color and application, but to the pained passion of the masterful artist who desperately needed to connect to his audience and experience a multitude of subjects. There is almost more than the viewer can handle at one time and sometimes you may need to be selective. One of the benefits of such a compilation of work, the viewer really gets a chance to understand the life of an artist and relate to his work's direction and influence from the culture, and to his place in the world. In such a rare show, art history becomes electrified and intrigues the participant to want to know more.

Starting out a rather simple artist from a small region, young Gustave aimed to create art that would agree with main stream tradition. As he worked, traveled, copied the masters, and became a progressive demonstrator of new ideas, Courbet evolved his mastery into complex themes and reflective imagery. Courbet pushed for the elimination of the salon exclusion of artists and juries in a time where the poor and middle class were also controlled by the upper class domination.

Gustave Courbet claimed that Art represents man in his physical status and in his time while also being the result of the artist's individual expression and imagination. He felt these ideas were inseparable. Courbet's fundamental statement about Realism in his Realist Manifesto is an interesting topic for current discussions of art. The public review of Realism via Courbet reestablishes some timeless principles when abstraction, subjective ramblings of descriptions of visual art, and shock value have become the dominating subjects of today's promoted art.