EXHIBITION: Matisse drawings at Mt. Holyoke Art Museum

Nude at a Window

Forty-five rarely seen and "ravishing" drawings by Matisse are currently on display (through Dec. 14) at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum in picturesque South Hadley, Massachusetts. Drawn from the collection of the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, the show is made up mainly of works from the mid-1920s to the end of the artist's life in 1954. The drawings were chosen and installed by one of the world’s greatest living artists, Ellsworth Kelly.

"You look at them, you register their legendary ease and simplicity, and it’s very easy indeed to take them for granted — to assume that in some strange way they were born and not made ... Matisse’s drawings are just like air. They expand and contract. They have areas of high and low pressure. The heat they give off shifts from zone to zone. And they have a quality that is at once manifold and indivisible." (Boston Globe)

Woman in a Chair

Link here for more information

EXHIBITIONS: AMERICAN MODERNS -- held over by popular demand!

The Quadrangle in Springfield Massachusetts, an enclave of museums spanning the fine arts, science and history -- as well as the charming Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden  -- is a gem in a city that has admittedly seen better days. Nestled into a serene, leafy part of town, it makes an excellent destination where visitors can easily enjoy a full day, as I did recently when I went to catch the American Moderns exhibition at the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts.

Now running through Sept. 7, 2014

at the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA

American Moderns 1910 - 1960: From O'Keefe to Rockwell is a touring exhibition of fifty-seven paintings by American masters, each of whom represents in some way the beginnings of American Modernism. Leading artists of the day are featured, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Norman Rockwell, Milton Avery, Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Max Weber and Elie Nadelman. 

These painters addressed the social changes brought on by two world wars, the Depression, and modern technology; they were inspired visually by the urban grid, skyscrapers, and the streamlined shapes of modern machines. American Moderns features works in a wide array of styles, including Cubism, Synchronism, Precisionism, Expressionism, and Social Realism. Below is a taste of their work.

Manhattan Mosaic by George Copeland Ault

Black Pansy and Forget-me-nots, 1926
Georgia O'Keeffe



Entrance to "Cubist Experiments" section

Handsome Drinks, 1916
Marsden Hartley

Landscape with Clay Pipe, 1941 (above)
Pad No. 4, 1947 (below)
Both by Stuart Davis

A Reinterpretation of Norman Rockwell's
Triple Self-Portrait, 1960
by local artist John Simpson
(note the "extras" in the painting: a laptop computer, 
and a picture postcard of Andy Warhol)

This exhibition, which was curated by the Brooklyn Museum, will be on view at the Wichita Art Museum from Oct. 3 - January 4, 2015 and the Josyln Art Museum in Omaha Feb. 6 –May 17, 2015. Link here for more information.

Zany bonus exhibit
Stories from the Kitchen Sink by Ricky Bernstein
(runs through June 21, 2015)

We happened upon this altogether hilarious and jazzy exhibit at the D'Amour Fine Arts Museum. Artist Ricky Bernstein describes his cartoony collages -- made of glass and aluminum painted with oil and acrylics -- as "a slice of everyday life infused with fun, longing, disappointment and celebration." I especially loved the pieces called "Queen for a Day", "Hey -- A Girl Can Dream, Can't She?" and "Agility and Grace." More on this exhibit when I've had a chance to see it again. Meanwhile, here's some additional info.

       

            Gloria's soft-boiled egg topper

... by way of explanation  

"... with balance and poise, Phyllis whipped up a 

lovely cherry pie, and popped it in the oven."

ODD BITS: A giant purple doughnut?

This colossal, balloon-like structure is the world's first inflatable, portable concert hall!
Called the Ark Nova, it was designed by British sculptor Anish Kapoor and
Japanese architect Arata Isozaki; their intent was to provide a touring performance space where victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami could find comfort and community.

Ark Nova interior

"I am honored to have been asked to design Ark Nova for the Tohoku area," 
Kapoor says. "The structure defines a space for community 
and for music, in which color and form enclose.
 I hope that the devastation can be overcome by creativity. 
Music can give solace and bring community together 
and in so doing can help us to see we are not alone."

Watch the installation process here.

BOOK NOTE: Who doesn't love the Beatles?

Taschen publishers has just released a new volume of photos by Harry Benson, entitled The Incredible Beatles Photobook. Benson chronicled the advent of Beatlemania in France, the Fab Four's groundbreaking first visit to the United States, hysteria outside the group's hotel in Manhattan, playful interactions with their beloved manager Brian Epstein, their famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan show, and the group in action on the set of A Hard Day’s Night.

“These photos convey a really happy period for them and for me. It all comes down to music; they were without a doubt the greatest band of the 20th century, and that’s why these photographs are so important.” – Harry Benson 

ODD BITS: More Mayhem!

4-year-old fashionista Mayhem's paper dresses have been well-publicized since I first blogged about her last February 14. Her mother Angie reports that young Mayhem (an assumed name, to keep her identity private) is now working independently -- not relying on her parents for ideas or for finishing up her projects. Here are a few recent designs, some of them based on gowns she's seen at various awards shows. Photos by Mom.

Lupita Nyong’o's dress for the Golden Globes

Snow White, "Nerd Edition"

Here's a recent story about Mayhem, from the Today show

BOOK NOTE: Alex Steinweiss: Inventor of the Modern Album Cover

Alex Steinweiss: The Inventor of the Modern Album Cover

Taschen, hard cover, 420 pages, more than 300 color illustrations, $70.

In our era of downloaded music — disembodied from any visual references, let alone a three-dimensional presence — the singular artistry of Alex Steinweiss, who designed midcentury album covers and magazine and film credits, is particularly notable. In this eye-popping, cleverly designed monograph (optical illusions appear at front and back), author Kevin Reagan pays rhapsodic tribute to the Brooklyn-born graphic artist widely regarded as the originator of the modern-style phonograph record jacket. Before 1940, records were packaged in dull brown wrappers; it was 23-year-old Steinweiss’s idea to enclose them in visually arresting cardboard sleeves. He created hundreds of them over decades for numerous record companies, primarily Columbia (where he was art director from 1939 to the mid-1940s) and Decca. Decorating the recordings of jazz, classical and pop musicians from Fats Waller to Chopin to The Weavers, his poster-like designs sported vivid colors, bold typography (featuring his zany “Steinweiss Scrawl”) and whimsical, showy imagery, all to magical effect. “I wanted the people to look at the artwork …” Steinweiss wrote, “and hear the music.” 

         The jazzy Steinweiss Scrawl

    

Yes, Steinweiss designed the

 iconic Dave Brubeck LP cover

JEWEL BOXES: Bauhaus abundance in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv's celebrated White City is the striking group of neighborhoods that comprises the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings in the world. Together, they contain more than 4,000 individual white cement structures, designed in the distinctive sleek, curved-corner style that embodies international Modernism.

The city's architectural riches have become more and more of a draw to art and design aficionados, and the White City recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (The only other modern city afforded this honor is Brasilia, the futuristic capital of Brazil.) Festivities included open houses, special exhibitions, talks and all-night fetes.

Above and below:
Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv's White City neighborhood

Photo by Michael Schonbach

Bialik Square
Photo courtesy Tel Avivi Tourism


Link here to read my PRIME magazine article 
about design tourism in Tel Aviv