Missed Exhibitions. Some Reviewed too Little or Late.

Today Dick told me about the exhibition I regret I missed at the Met, the Mourners. He only managed to see it on the last week through word of mouth, from fellow painter Ephraim Rubenstein.  So, we decided to focus on three shows Dick thinks and I agree could have received major reviews and more attention, but did not.

First, the Boldini exhibition, Giovanni Boldini in Impressionist Paris which Dick saw thanks to another fellow painter, John Leavey, in the Clark Institute, Williamstown.

The Clark Institute has a fine collection, including superb Renoir.
"Boldini is an exceptional and neglected painter whose work is rarely seen today and the show should have been seen by many more people and certainly by artists." FC

There was a good preview of the show in the NYT, but no review.
Here are good examples of the range of Boldini's works:

Giovanni Boldini "Two White Horses"

Giovanni Boldini "Highway of Combes la Ville"

Giovanni Boldini "James McNeill Whistler"

  
The Mourners, the exhibition that's just ended on Sunday was reviewed by Ken Johnson in the Times very late, in the last chance section.

“The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures From the Court of Burgundy” is a solemn processional of alabaster figures of monks and clerics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.(NYT)

The figures, each approximately 16 in. high, explore expressions of mourning in individual postures, which suit the age and character of each particular mourner.  They do so without exaggeration and without Gothic distortions of proportion or linear rhythm in the draperies.  The naturalism never becomes caricature. The collective expression of humanity in these figures is overwhelmingly powerful. They will travel to various American cities before going back to Dijon and their architectural setting.
"The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy" Exhibition
Venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Schedule: From 2010-03-02 To 2010-05-23 

Finishing on June 13 at the Met, The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry presents the unbound manuscript from The Cloisters collection.  Dick saw it at the Getty Museum about two years ago, spent time with magnifying glass (provided by the museum), examining the many pages.  The show is not to be missed.

Here is a short review in the New Yorker and a longer one in the NYT.

Designs Within the Design

Back in January we made twi video titled "Designs Within Design" and "Designs Within Design Cont." illustrated with a small landscape and a three figure painting Dick was working on at the time and is still working on. Today Dick returns to the subject of designs within design, taking as an example a nude he did in the 1990s, "Peter--Reaching" (1994-96) oil on linen 72'' x 48''.

Arthur Cohen & Francis Cunningham Exhibition, May 2010 in Red Bank NJ

Those who could not make it to Francis Cunningham and Arthur Cohen "The Landscape Cape Code and the Berkshires" show's opening reception at Laurel Tracey Gallery last weekend, we managed to glean some images from the gallery and a guest and bring your a slideshow.  Click here for the slideshow. You can also see the exhibition at the gallery until May 20, 2010.

Laurel Tracey, Francis Cunnigham, Arthur Cohen, Kitty Cunningham before the show in the gallery.

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Arthur Cohen, who is showing Provincetown Harbor paintings in the exhibition, just like Francis Cunningham studied with Edwin Dickinson, although at an earlier time.  Laurel Tracey Gallery page says the following about Arthur Cohen, his style and technique:

Cohen's sweeping panoramas of Provincetown Harbor are developed from storied layering and scraping - thin levels of paint build up over a day. week, or even over several years, referred to by Cohen as the "ghost" in his painting. It is this "buried" sense of time and continuity that evokes a sense of timelessness and spatial infinity. Working with a focused palette of blues and grays, occasionally some pink and green, Cohen repeatedly brings the viewer a synthesis of light from different moments;

Keeping in mind the common denominator, it is interesting to see the difference and similarities between the two painters' work in this exhibition.

Dick got a point-and-shoot camera

Encouraged by Temi Rose and with the help of perke, Dick bought a camera last week.  He spent a short weekend, May 1 and 2 in the Berkshires.  He played hookie and played with the camera instead of painting.  Here are some pictures.