Posts from ‘Art History’
Lonely Planet of Art; The Other Moran
As this is the Jackson Hole Art Blog, and not the Irish Artists Look at America Blog, I should probably begin this post with my “Art for Dummies” discovery that Thomas Moran, famed portraitist of Yellowstone, was not the only artist in his family. In fact, most of his immediate family were noted artists, a bit of art history I recently discovered.
Instead I’m opening by turning you on to Irish painter Tom Molloy’s exhibit at the 
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. Located in Ridgefield, Connecticut, the Aldrich is a gem, an “approachable” museum with great appeal. A friend cautioned that the Aldrich was, at the time of our visit, “between exhibits.” It was. Most galleries were closed, but the exhibition we viewed was so powerful it was worth the time invested and more.
The show’s title, Tom Molloy, is as spare as this exhibit first appears. It is unusual because Molloy is an Irishman living in Ireland whose work is largely about American events and issues. Akin to Pop Art, Molloy’s art utilizes real money, maps, other found objects and wordplay. His “surgically precise” drawings and scale are magnetic. Zoomed in, Molloy’s scathing opinions on global events, new world order and America’s role in global affairs reveal themselves. Messages are punch-you-in-the-heart clear.
A self portrait depicts Molloy holding a newspaper featuring a photo of an Abu Ghraib detainee holding a photo depicting one of the detention facility’s nefarious prisoner abuses. Map, one of Molloy’s best known works, is a cut dollar bill map of the world; not much larger than a dollar bill, we initially mistook the work for a wall doodle. Positioned at eye level, it is in fact a “….double-edged metaphor of American might and hegemony.”
Dead Texans, a series of fifty stamp sized portraits of death row prison inmates executed in that state during George W. Bush’s tenure as governor, captures each prisoner’s likeness, even providing glimpses of personality and fractured spirits. From a slight distance the portraits resemble inky thumbprints. These men are simultaneously stripped of personal identity and confirmed as unique, individual beings. Each regards the viewer straight on. Faintly visible penciled drawing grids further connote incarceration and the reality of fifty doomed destinies.
Standing in the gallery’s center, we realize that an exhibition as politically charged as this has yet to turn up in Jackson. With time, I believe we can open ourselves to exhibiting work with equal depth and commentary.
Tom Molloy remains on exhibit at the Aldrich until June 13 2010. Phone: 203.438.4519.
Item #2:
Went to dinner at my cousin’s house. She’s a master artist in her own right, she needs to exhibit and show, show, show.
As we talked, she pointed out a substantially sized etching hanging over the sofa. The work depicts a Pennsylvania open field, ringed by forest, and inhabited- Peaceable Kingdom style–by cows and other animals. She pointed to the artist’s name: Peter Moran (1841-1914).
My cousin found the etching at a flea market. She cleaned it up, and instantly spotted Moran’s signature.
Peter Moran, brother of Thomas Moran, favored Pennsylvania’s farmlands as subjects, but in 1890 
he participated in the U.S. Indian census, and ventured into Yellowstone. “Grand Tetons View” was, according to Grand Teton National Park, most likely painted while he was on that expedition. A watercolor, this view captures the Tetons as they appeared from Idaho. It is part of the permanent collection of the Roswell Museum and Art Center.
Peter Moran, the youngest brother in the Moran family, is said to have become his brother’s best art student.
Peter was three when his family arrived in America. At age fifteen, he became a lithographer’s apprentice. His interest in portraying animals was life long. Moran’s efforts in this area are obvious; the Teton painting seems an exercise compared to his animal scenes, which are rich in detailed devotion.
“I love the way my gallery looks right now; it looks like a New York gallery!” – Tayloe Piggot
J.H. Muse Gallery’s Tayloe Piggot made that comment a few years back; the gallery was then housed in its former West Broadway space. But, far from moving away from aligning herself with NYC’s mega-arts culture, she continues to reach out, looking to translate that city’s contemporary energy to Jackson Hole’s art scene.
To that end, she and arts specialist Camille Obering present “Influences of Nature on Abstraction,” opening at J.H. Muse on September 3. Spotlighting contemporary masters Milton Avery, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell, the show remains up through the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival (power play!) all the way to October 14, 2009. An opening reception takes place Friday, September 11, 5-8:00 pm.
Obviously, public access to works by internationally known contemporary artists is rare in Jackson. We’ll all feel as if we’re partaking in a MoMa field trip, and that will be thrilling. Folks living full time in the inter-mountain west, as a rule, don’t visit significant contemporary museums as often as urban dwellers This show, says its organizers, depicts work “unconstrained” by “representational” rules—a comment seeming to allude to a belief that here, constraint and representation are the norm.
Emerging art movements often claim to be throwing off restraints of earlier schools, and they are. But no school of art emerges from a vacuum.
Artistic “constraint” is a misconception; artists decide for themselves what feels like constraint. If Clyde Aspevig were asked to paint like Frankenthaler, he may feel some constraint. Aspevig doesn’t interpret and experience nature the same way as Frankenthaler. Poetry is highly structured and disciplined, but often seems less formally conceived than prose.
These artists–Frankenthaler, Avery, Mitchell and Diebenkorn–created something 
new for themselves and for art history. In creating something new, another set of rules for achieving the effect the artist wants is established. Another guide is written, another opinion. Artists’ efforts to tell the world as they see it are opinions set to canvas, photographic paper, in clay.
Artistic vision is highly personal, but principles invariably apply.
From the age of seven, Picasso received formal, academic artistic training. From those building blocks, his brilliance exploded. Over and over again Picasso studied the human form. Without this deep knowledge, Picasso’s abstractions would lose their magic.
Obering puts the Muse show artists in context:
“Milton Avery (1885 – 1965), often thought of as America’s Matisse, is best known for his conflation of abstraction and representation using a rich and unusual palette.
Richard Diebenkorn’s (1922 – 1993) aerial landscapes of California illuminated the light and line of this area by marrying color field painting and geometric abstraction in a bold personal style.
Helen Frankenthaler (born 1928), known as a color field 
painter and an abstract expressionist, utilized a technique known as “soak stain,” in which oil paints were diluted and painted onto unprimed canvas or
paper, resulting in stunning and luminescent paintings.
Joan Mitchell’s (1925 – 1992) powerful and energetic brush stroke played out nature’s patterns, light, and depth, making her work some of the most spectacular of the
Abstract Expressionists.”
I’d kill for a Frankenthaler; when I look at her work I feel as if I’m beneath the ocean’s surface—a favorite place to be—floating over brilliant corals, translucent kelps. My sister would like an Avery, please.
For information, visit www.jhmusegallery.com, phone 307.733.0555—or, contact Camille Obering through her website.
Item #2 - Not Too Late For a Little Cayuse!
Cayuse favorite Jack Walker is back, bringing new designs and best sellers, on Friday, August 28th from 5 – 8pm. Meet Jack and view his pure silver and leather hand crafted work. He’s joined for the second year by Jackson jeweler and silversmith Dawn Bryfogle, whose work combines contemporary gemstone styling with vintage sterling treasures. She’ll also be showing her new handmade sterling pieces.
Margaritas may make an appearance at tonight’s opening. For info, email info@cayusewa.com.
The Buffalo Bill Historical Center’s Whitney Gallery of Western Art is set to re-open June 21. It has been closed for remodeling since October 2008.
Curator Mindy Besaw has been neck deep in the project.
“It’s been “all Whitney, all the time” says Besaw. “I hope to provide visitors with a rich new perspective on the role of art in understanding the American West.” Besaw feels the gallery’s 50th anniversary catch phrase, “Seeing the West in a whole new way,” captures its essence. She notes that the “… reinterpreted gallery goes beyond a traditional chronological display of artwork to create a mixture of historic and contemporary art, grouped together based on such themes as, “Horses in the West,” “Wonders of Wildlife,” “Heroes and Legends,” and “Inspirational Landscapes.” Put another way, it “celebrates the past and envisions the future.” ”
The gallery’s history began when the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association commissioned a New York artist, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, to create a monument to Cody. She donated Buffalo Bill – The Scout, which was dedicated on July 4, 1924, and forty acres of adjacent land.
Besaw tells us that,”For 30 years, the Scout remained a solitary horse-and-rider at the outskirts of town. In 1954, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, the sculptor’s son, donated funds in his mother’s honor to create a western art gallery in Cody, Wyoming. Then, in 1957, the Honorable Robert Coe, acting for the Coe Foundation, purchased the Frederic Remington studio collection of paintings, sketches, and artifacts and gave it to the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association for a new art museum.”
And, as they say, the rest is history. For information, contact Mindy Besaw at mindyb@bbhc.org , or phone 307.578.4053
First Lady Michelle Obama’s remarks at ribbon cutting ceremony for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing are stirring indeed. The Jackson Hole Art Blog takes this opportunity to remind its readers of art’s crucial role in our education, cultural life and economy by reprinting her speech here. The “…intersection of creativity and commerce…” The text of Mrs. Obama’s speech is supplied by the White House Press Office. The ceremony took place at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 18, 2009.
MRS. OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Please, rest. (Laughter.) Good afternoon and thank you, Emily, for that introduction, and thank you for reminding me. You know, after 20-some-odd years of knowing a guy, you forget that your first date was at a museum. (Laughter.) But it was, and it was obviously wonderful; it worked.
So I am delighted to be here with you to celebrate American history through the arts. From the beginning of our nation, the inspired works of our artists and artisans have reflected the ingenuity, creativity, independence and beauty of this nation. It is the painter, the potter, the weaver, the silver smith, the architect, the designer whose work continues to create an identity for America that is respected and recognized around the world as distinctive and new.
The American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art captures this spirit in presenting a variety of American art forms and providing a link to history for us to learn from, appreciate and be inspired by.
Our future as an innovative country depends on ensuring that everyone has access to the arts and to cultural opportunity. Nearly 6 million people make their living in the non-profit arts industry, and arts and cultural activities contribute more than $160 billion to our economy every year. And trust me, I tried to do my part to add to that number.
The President included an additional $50 million in funding to the NEA in the stimulus package to preserve jobs in state arts agencies and regional arts organizations in order to keep them up and running during the economic downturn. (Applause.)
But the intersection of creativity and commerce is about more than economic stimulus, it’s also about who we are as people. The President and I want to ensure that all children have access to great works of art at museums like the one here. We want them to have access to great poets and musicians in theaters around the country, to arts education in their schools and community workshops.
We want all children who believe in their talent to see a way to create a future for themselves in the arts community, be it as a hobby or as a profession.
The arts are not just a nice thing to have or to do if there is free time or if one can afford it. Rather, paintings and poetry, music and fashion, design and dialogue, they all define who we are as a people and provide an account of our history for the next generation.
The President recently nominated renowned theater producer Rocco Landesman to chair the National Endowment for the Arts. Rocco’s entrepreneurial spirit and his commitment to being a bridge between the philanthropic, non-profit and commercial arts community will ensure that all types of art and creative expression are provided fertile ground to live and to grow.
And that’s what we hope to do at the White House, that’s what we’ve been trying to do at the White House. We’ve been trying to break down barriers that too often exist between major cultural establishments and the people in their immediate communities; to invite kids who are living inches away from the power and prestige and fortune and fame, we want to let those kids know that they belong here, too.
I want to applaud the Metropolitan Museum of Art for all the outreach that you do, for having kids like these here today to be involved in this and to experience this and to share this with us, because this is your place, too. So we’re very proud of the Met for the work that they’ve done.
So we are excited. Thank you for including me. And now we can get to the — we’re going to cut the ribbon now. (Laughter.) Thank you so much. (Applause.)
END
3:21 P.M. EDT
If you missed, as I did, the opening of “People of the Plateau: Native American Photography by Edward S. Curtis,” on loan to the Art Association from the University of Wyoming Art Museum, you have through May 25 to see this historic collection of photographs of Native Americans. Curtis’s great work, “The North American Indian,” is 20 volumes in length, with 20 portfolios of over 700 copperplate photogravures. The exhibition is on display upstairs, in the ArtSpace Loft Gallery.
Terry Winchell, owner of Fighting Bear Antiques, opened the show April 10th.
The magnitude of Curtis’ work cannot be overstated. It brings together myriad people and languages. I’m grieved to have missed Winchell’s talk, and in an effort to assuage myself and learn more about Curtis, I did a bit of research. I found a wonderful site, Edward S. Curtis’s “The North American Indian”/Edward S. Curtis in Context.
There you will find five other pages that together provide an excellent context on Curtis: A biographical timeline for Curtis; Curtis and the North American Indian; The Myth of the Vanishing Race; Curtis as Pictorialist and Ethnographic Adventurist; and a map of the North American Indians as experienced by Curtis.
Mick Gidley, Professor of American Literature, School of English, University of Leeds, England’s essay on “The North American Indian” is excellent. Here is an excerpt:
“But when the seeming white brother appeared on the mesas of Arizona in the sixteenth century, the Hopi had been expecting him for hundreds of years. That is, they had an extensive history quite their own, and a corresponding literature. Indeed, all of the Indian peoples–however much the coming of horses and other later imports affected the bases of their cultures–had a history, a religion, a system of government, social customs, handicrafts, and myths and songs of their own which predated the coming of white people among them. Edward Sheriff Curtis’ The North American Indian was a truly magnificent effort to record a vast amount of very many of these aboriginal cultures. Published between 1907 and 1930 in twenty volumes of illustrated text and twenty portfolios containing more than seven hundred large-sized photogravures, The North American Indian, which was issued in a very limited edition and sold rather expensively on a subscription basis, contains millions of words: descriptions of homelands; accounts of religious beliefs that some might find strange; accounts of tribal organizations ranging from the aristocratic to the casually democratic; records of ceremonies so subtle in their significance, or so seemingly bizarre, that an alien eyewitness could easily not understand what it all meant; versions of haunting myths, songs and stories; descriptions of domestic chores and of intricate and skilled arts and hunting practices; and heroic tales of arms and men. In short. The North American Indian is a monument in words and pictures to a range of cultures which most white men could not or would not see.”
