Flaming June

"Flaming June" Frederic Leighton (ca. 1895)

New York recently saw the arrival of a lovely lady, one who hasn’t been here in more than 35 years.

Frederic Leighton’s “Flaming June” (1895) is currently at the Frick Collection, on loan from the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico. I saw her a few weeks ago at a special preview, and she is gorgeous. A sleeping beauty in an orange gown that seems to glow, “Flaming June” was one of Leighton’s final works and his masterpiece.

The figure in the painting epitomizes the classic Pre-Raphaelite woman—auburn hair, oversized features, and large, strong body. Drowsing in the warm Mediterranean air, she exudes an air of sensuality while the appearance of red oleander, a poisonous flower, in the upper right corner draws connections between sleep and death.

Also on display is a small oil sketch of the painting (1894-95). Both are a stark contrast to the more subdued tones of the Whistler portraits from the Frick’s permanent collection that share the room.

Even if you've seen the painting reproduced a million times in art books, she's worth seeing in person. “Flaming June” is at the Frick Collection through September 6, 2015. For more information, visit here.

Contemplation

Almost a month has gone by since I've posted anything here. Without going into details, the past few weeks have been both busy and stressful with a lot of uncertainty thrown into the mix. I’ve been spending a good portion of my time contemplating my next move (running away to Paris to live in a garret and write is at the top of the list). As a result plans for posts that I wanted to write went out the proverbial window. There were the exhibits and gallery shows: Cubism and Madame Cezanne at the Met; Lincoln at the Morgan Library; Don Quixote tapestries at the Frick;  Marc Riboud’s photos of Asia at the Rubin Museum; and the gigantic Armory Show where I saw a lovely portrait by Moïse Kisling and a Robert Capa image from the Spanish Civil War. There was also a big Broadway show, On the Town, and Parallel Exit's delightful performance of Everyone Gets Cake. And, of course, movies.

Writing long posts take time so moving forward there may be fewer posts and sometimes shorter ones (a quick snippet and a photo or two) but there will be posts. I love sharing my thoughts about history and the arts with you and hope you enjoy reading them. In the meantime, be sure to follow me on instagram and twitter, and pinterest too (where I pin way too many photos of Frenchies and striped shirts). And if I wind up in that garret, I'll be sure to let you know.

PS: If anyone has any information about the photo above, please share. All I know is sitting around in ones lingerie, reading a book with a dog (even a stuffed one) seems ideal.

Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery

"Lady Agnew of Lochnaw" John Singer Sargent (1892) 

There’s currently a small exhibit at the Frick Collection that’s a welcome respite from the larger shows around town. “Masterpieces from the Scottish National Gallery” features ten works from that museum's strong collection that look right at home on the walls of the Frick. 

The paintings, which range from the 15th to the 19th century, include Botticelli’s serene “The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child” (ca. 1485) with that wonderful Renaissance blue and a Virgin Mary who looks an awful lot like Uma Thurman; “An Allegory (Fábula)” by El Greco (ca. 1585–95), which depicts a boy “blowing fire,” rendering an interesting glow to the painting (there’s also a monkey by his side); “The Ladies Waldegrave” by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1780-81), featuring the grandnieces of Horace Walpole, shows a varying range of beauty and leave one wondering how the sisters fared in life (they all received marriage proposals after the painting was finished so on the surface they did well); and a requisite kilt to represent Scotland in Sir Henry Raeburn’s larger than life portrait of “Colonel Alastair Ranaldson Macdonell, 15th Chief of Glengarry” (1812).

Yet it is the youngest painting in the bunch that is the star of the show. John Singer Sargent’s portrait of “Lady Agnew of Lochnaw”(1892) holds court at the end of the gallery. The former Gertrude Vernon (yes, Gertrude) was married to barrister Sir Andrew Noel Agnew who commissioned the portrait from Sargent. Lady Agnew was obviously very beautiful but it is her very modern, straightforward gaze at the viewer and seemingly languid pose with her arm draped over the side of the chair that lends a sensual air to the portrait. Add the white and lilac colours of her gown with the flower-patterned chair and Chinese wall hanging and you have one gorgeous portrait. 

When the painting was shown at the Royal Academy in 1893 it received raves from the critics, bolstering the reputations of both the sitter and painter—Lady Agnew went on to become a popular hostess and Sargent would be known as the go-to portrait painter for the wealthy.

Ironically in 1922 a widowed Lady Agnew inquired about selling the painting to the Frick but Helen Clay Frick, daughter of the museum’s founder, declined. Some 92 years later, it’s finally arrived if just for a temporary stay.

Lady Agnew and the other paintings will be at the Frick through February 1, 2015. For more information, visit here. And if you go be sure to check out the gift shop, which has items from the National Gallery's shop including a fun mug dubbed "Men in Socks."

Schiava Turca

"Schiava Turca" Parmigianino (ca. 1531-34)

Saturday I took advantage of a free morning to dart over to the Frick Collection (which was, blissfully, near empty) to see a mysterious Italian woman.

There in the center of the Oval Room was Parmigianino's "Schiava Turca," a masterpiece of Renaissance art. Beautiful with a direct gaze and slight smile on her face, the subject of the painting exudes an air of confidence that only adds to her allure. The mystery is no one knows who she is. Some have said she is a fantasy, the ideal woman as imagined by the painter. Others have ventured to guess that she's Giulia Gonzaga, a young noblewoman. Curator Aimee Ng suggests that she may actually be a poet, perhaps Veronica Gambara, who would have been known to Parmigianino and his circle. Hence the title of the show, "The Poetry of Parmigianino's Schiava Turca." 

What we do know is that she was neither Turkish nor a slave. A cataloguer at the Uffizi in the 18th century wrongly identified her as wearing a turban, which led to her misleading name. The rich fabrics of her gown threaded with gold chains on her sleeve tell us she came from wealth and her headdress is not a turban but a balzo, which was popular with court women in Northern Italy at the time. 

As for the poetry connection, there are clues in the painting that could be read as supporting this claim. In the center of the balzo is a medallion of a winged horse, a Pegasus, often used as a symbol of poetic inspiration. And while she is holding an ostrich feather fan, it could represent a feathered pen. Her pose and attitude could also signal that she's a member of an artist circle, not troubled by social convention. Yet whether she was a poet or not, we will never know.

She is accompanied in the exhibit by portraits of four Renaissance men: another Parmigianino, two Titans (one of whom is the playwright Pietro Aretino), and a Bronzino. The last one, of Lodovico Capponi, comes closest to rivalling "Schiava Turca" in the attitude department yet he is but a court page, certainly no match for a grown woman of the world.

Once owned by Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici, "Schiava Turca" has resided at the Galleria Nazionale di Parma since 1928. This is the first time that she has visited America. She is at the Frick Collection through July 20, 2014, after which she will travel to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. For more information, visit the Frick's website here.

The Frick Magnolias

With an unexpected free afternoon today and magnolias still on my brain, I decided to check out the famed magnolias at the Frick Collection.

Planted in the Fifth Avenue Garden in 1939, the two saucer magnolias and one star magnolia are magnificent and as much a part of the museum as the artwork inside. Some years I’ve missed the blooms and was afraid that this week’s cold snap would have done them in but there they were, a bit thinned out but still looking beautiful albeit against a grey sky.

A man on the sidewalk had his easel set up and was painting the lovely pink and white blooms. A doorman from one of the nearby buildings came around the corner and watched him for a while. I darted across the street to get a closer look (I really shouldn’t be playing chicken with MTA buses) at the painting and the magnolias, wishing once again that I could paint (no skill whatsoever).

Afterwards, I walked around the corner to see what was blooming in the 70th Street garden. There along the side of the museum were tiny snowdrops and grape hyacinth while a blanket of bluish purple pansies greeted you in the front of the garden. Both of the Frick gardens are off limits to visitors even if you’re a member of the museum (like I am). One of these days, I hope to get inside the gates and see everything up close. But for now, at least I got to see the magnolias.

All photos by Michele.

The Dutch Visit the Frick

"Girl with a Pearl Earring" Johannes Vermeer (ca. 1665)

Last week I made a second visit to the Frick Collection to see my favourite exhibit of 2013. “Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis” is a small collection of 15 works from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in The Hague, the Netherlands. It’s a fantastic exhibit that proved to be just as enthralling on a second viewing.

The show offers some of the best examples of the Dutch Golden Age of painting including two Frans Hals portraits; four Rembrandts, one of which, the biblical “Susanna” (1636), captures the terrifying moment when she realizes she’s being watched; Pieter Claesz’ “Vanitas Still Life” (1630) complete with human skull; and Gerard ter Borch’s delightful “Woman Writing a Letter” (ca. 1655).

The star of the show though hangs alone in her own room at the Frick—“Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer (ca. 1665). Sometimes paintings that are so familiar from prints and reproductions disappoint when finally seen in person but this is not the case with the Girl. Her gaze draws you in and like the Mona Lisa, her eyes appear to follow you around the room. From the yellow and blue of her robe and turban to that symbolic large pearl, she is absolutely lovely and utterly unforgettable.

"The Goldfinch" Carl Fabritius (1654)

While I loved seeing the Girl, my favourite painting in the exhibit was Carl Fabritius’ exquisite “The Goldfinch” (1654). The tiny work that shows a beautiful little bird tied to his feed box with a slight chain was done as a trompe-l'oeil, made to trick viewers into thinking they were looking at a live bird. The little goldfinch’s soft down combined with the play of light and shadows on the canvas do indeed give him a lifelike appearance. It’s a thoroughly delightful painting, one that I could look at everyday.

The exhibit is at the Frick through January 19, 2014. I plan on seeing it one last time before it leaves and suggests everyone else do the same. For more info, go here.

Portrait of a Peasant

"Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier)" Vincent van Gogh (1888)

Sunday before last I stopped by the Frick Collection to check out Vincent van Gogh’s “Portrait of a Peasant (Patience Escalier)” before it returned home to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. The portrait of Patience Escalier, a gardener from Camargue, is one of a series of portraits of local characters that Van Gogh made in Arles during a 15-month stay. He was enchanted by the region’s colours and light, which inspired some of his most famous works.

While this painting is neither my favourite Van Gogh nor his best, it’s a great example of what sets him apart from other painters. Van Gogh's noticeable brush strokes and vibrant colours bring to mind the textures and colours found in nature. Doesn’t his skin resemble the polished wood of a tree? And isn't the yellow of his hat the same as that of a sunflower? Displayed in the middle of one of the Frick galleries, the portrait appeared to almost glow in comparison to the more muted colours of the paintings on the surrounding walls.

Flowers at the Frick. Photo: Michele. 

Outside, I walked by the garden and saw some blue violets popping up. Looking closer, I realized that some of them were the same shade of blue as the background in the Van Gogh painting. What a genius. (And kudos to the gardeners at the Frick for the choice.)

If you're in the Los Angeles area, you can see the painting at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena where they currently have on loan from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Van Gogh's "Self-Portrait" (1889) through March 4, 2013. For more information, visit here.

Renoir at the Frick

"Dance at Bougival" Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1883) 

A recent Sunday morning found me at the Frick Collection surrounded by Belle Époque beauties.

"Renoir, Impressionism, and Full-Length Painting” features nine works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The paintings are unusual not just because of their large size but because Renoir was the only Impressionist to work in the full-length format (the others thought it was too traditional). Looking at these paintings is like looking at French fashion plates; Renoir paid attention to every intricate detail of the subjects’ clothes, a topic that he was very interested in (his father was a tailor and his mother a seamstress).

Of the nine paintings in the exhibit only one, “La Promenade,” is from the Frick Collection. The rest are on loan from various museums. Three of the paintings feature a dancing couple. Grouped together, it’s hard not to compare them. While there are differences among the three men, it’s the three women who win the viewer’s attention: two wear red hats, one is without gloves while another bares her arms. All show varying degrees of closeness in their partner’s embrace. “Dance at Bougival” from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston was the one that I liked best (I have fond memories of it from my days in Boston).

Photo: Michele.

After a quick tour to visit some paintings in the permanent collection, I stepped outside and was blown away by the burst of colour coming from the Frick’s garden. A glorious bed of purple pansies with red tulips waving above was an incredible sight to see and made me wish I could paint them (unfortunately, I can just about manage stick figures).

Photo: Michele.

The Renoir exhibit is at the Frick through May 13, 2012. For more information, visit here.

The Frick Collection

"Diana the Huntress" Jean-Antoine Houdon (1776-1795)

Sunday morning I headed over to what may be my favourite museum in the city, the Frick Collection. Housed in the former residence of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, the museum is small with an amazing collection including the “Comtesse d’Haussonville” by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, which I’ve written about before. 

This month the museum debuted a new gallery that showcases Meissen porcelain and some sculptures. Created by enclosing a portico with panels of glass, the new gallery is a wonderful addition to the museum, giving visitors a view of the garden and Fifth Avenue. Used to viewing art in windowless rooms it was a welcome change to look at pieces in natural light and all the glass made the space feel much larger than it is. Porcelain isn’t particularly my thing but the “Diana the Huntress” sculpture by Jean-Antoine Houdon, which stands proudly at the end of the gallery, looking out toward the light, is beautiful and lovely to see close up.

“Still Life in Front of a Window at Saint Raphaël” Pablo Picasso (1919) 

While there I also joined the queue for the exhibit “Picasso’s Drawings, 1890-1921: Reinventing Tradition.”  Beginning with examples from when Picasso was a boy, the more than 50 drawings give visitors the opportunity to witness the artist excel at classical drawing and then take off to expand and develop his style. And after seeing past Picasso exhibits that seemed to cram in as many works and those by related artists as possible, it was refreshing to see a small, carefully curated collection of his drawings that you could take in without getting overwhelmed.

I enjoyed the exhibit—I particularly liked the colourful “Still Life in Front of a Window at Saint Raphaël” (1919) and “Head and Shoulders of a Woman” (1907)—but I have a horrible confession to make. I’m tired of Picasso exhibits. I do enjoy his work but it seems every time I turn around someone is having a Picasso exhibit (this is the third I’ve written about this year) and I wish everyone would give it a rest for a while and show some other artists. Nothing against Pablo, let’s just spread the wealth so to speak. With that said, I have no doubt that I will probably buy a ticket for the next Picasso exhibit that comes to town.

The Picasso exhibit runs through January 8, 2012. To find out about the exhibit and the Frick visit their website here.

The photo of "Diana the Huntress" by Michael Bodycomb.