Adventures in Art: Spring 2012

A compendium of things that inspired me last spring, including history, books, trips, art museums, and tea.

Last Spring:

For our Dada, De Stijl, and Bauhaus class I showed clips from the documentary Rape of Europa since it dealt with the Degenerate Art show that took place throughout Germany right before World War II, in 1937. Mounted by the Nazi party in Munich, this exhibition featured over 650 paintings, sculptures, prints, and books which had been confiscated from German public museums, including the works of some important 20th century artists like Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Emil Nolde, Georg Grosz, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and many others. These artists were marked because they were Jewish, African, strange or otherwise considered inferior by the regime. 

The pieces were hung with accompanying criticism and derisive text. This was in order to clarify to the German people which type of art was considered unacceptable, dangerous even. Afterwards, these works were sorted out for sale, sold at auction, some were acquired by museums, and others by private collectors. Certain pieces were appropriated by Nazi officials and some were burned. But before this, the Degenerate show was seen by three million people as it went on tour to other German cities. 

The Rape of Europa

Check this link from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for a short clip of footage from inside the Degenerate Art show. It's silent, but look closely at the fascinating body language. I am so intrigued by this historical event. People are dressed up to look at things they are supposed to hate. What if they found themselves liking the works of art? What kind of personal struggles or discoveries might have been taking place in this museum? What kind of gallery tours were being held? "Please take note of this horrible detail and this criminal use of line..." So many questions! 

The Dada Wall in Room 3 of the “Degenerate Art” (“Entartete Kunst”) Exhibition, 1937. 

The Nazis believed that a blended, multi-media show (paintings mixed with sculptures) arranged randomly, would illustrate, even highlight the "inferiority" of the art. The goal was to get the public to boycott modern and postmodern art for the sake of staying true to Germany. 

After the war started, as you can see in the Rape of Europa trailer, Hitler and his team began to loot museums all over the world. Hitler employed art historians to steal the best works and whisk them away to the famed Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. This castle, the prototype for Disneyland, is where the stolen works of art were stashed.

Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany

Another example, this more recent and less evil, involves the relocation of the Barnes Foundation. I don't want to say too much on this topic because I'm both biased and torn. I absolutely loved the original suburban setting of this small Impressionism heavy collection. I will always cherish my trips out to Merion, with classes and on my own, to stroll around the magnificent grounds and look through the stunning works by Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne, Modigliani, juxtaposed with metalwork and furniture. 

The Art of the Steal

Over the summer of 2012, the collection was moved to Center City Philadelphia. I haven't seen it, but there are reviews that give great praise.

I've been thinking a lot about the value of placement, especially art in museums or art in other venues. In her book, Art and the Power of Placement, Victoria Newhouse illustrates how our responses to works of visual art are shown to depend, much more than we realize, on the way they are presented. 

This is a fascinating look at something we may take for granted when we visit museums. Read more about Newhouse's book here and check out art historian James Elkins' review of it in the NYT: "Art and the Power of Placement: Getting the Hang of It."

MUSEUM ADVENTURES, Spring 2012
Since we had plans to leave our beloved East Coast, we decided to take a museum based road trip from Boston to DC with stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore. 

Philadelphia:
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, May 2012
Zoe Strauss: Ten Years was spectacular. We have long admired this artist.

Zoe Strauss, I-95

We have three photographs from the I-95 shows that we went to a couple of times. Strauss hangs hundreds of photos on supports underneath Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, a huge, ugly yet somehow still pleasing, outdoor space. For one day these photos are on display. At 5pm you're encouraged to peel off any photograph you want, free. It's an incredible experience. We also sat, enraptured on the floor, at her Whitney Biennial in 2006. Her photography always conjures vivid memories of all the different people and neighborhoods we got to know while we lived in Philadelphia.

Zoe Strauss, Mattress flip, 2001.

Zoe Strauss, 10th and Reed Billboard.

Zoe Strauss, Camden, NJ, 2004.

Jamie Teich, The old Divine Lorraine Hotel, Philadelphia.

I love this crusty decayed building. We walked all over Philadelphia during our two days there, passing it on our way to one of my favorite places, The Random Tea Room and Curiosity Shop on N. 4th Street. Their Masala Chai is amazing: "made every morning from scratch with love and devotion – no concentrate here! Hand-ground spices harmonize with Mapelhofe Farms whole milk, Harmutty Assam, fresh ginger, brown sugar, vanilla & rose water," according to their site. It's the perfect place to sit and enjoy the ritual of taking tea. 

Washington, DC:

The Phillips Collection, May 2012
Similar to the Barnes, the Phillips Collection is an intimate house museum. Opened in 1921 in Dupont Circle, it is America's first museum of modern art. Works of art are not organized by time or category so exploration is free. Some of the major highlights include:

Jacob Lawrence's The Migration Series (1940–41), a sequence of 60 paintings, depicts the mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North between World War I and World War II. The Phillips Collection and New York's Museum of Modern Art agreed to divide the collection. The Phillips owns the odd-numbered paintings. 

Jacob Lawrence, Panel No.1

Gauguin:

Gauguin, Still Life with Ham, 1889. 

Colors!

And the Rothko Room:

Phillips Collection, DC

This Rothko Room is pretty great (the photo doesn't do justice), but it's no Rothko Chapel, which happens to be just a few sweet blocks away from my house!

Rothko Chapel, Houston, 1971.

Homesick For Traveling: A Medieval Weekend In Philadelphia.

The Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia from Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981). 

Hey. I don't remember seeing the poster for this film at the Philly airport. I guess it's because of the Liberty Bell Strangler. Bummer, because it really captures the essence of the city. 

It's always strange revisiting the places of past lives (I was in Philadelphia for five years). The main reason for my somewhat capricious trip was, as I mentioned earlier, to attend the symposium on the reception of medieval sculpture. Two full workdays of lectures on medieval art. In Jamie dialect: magical elixir of happiness. 

I left Houston at 4am and went straight to the Penn Museum for immediate immersion. Hours later I emerged with my fellow medievalist, a Tufts colleague and current Penn PhD student. We raced over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for another lecture given by the curator of sculpture at the Louvre. After: well earned drinks at a new Stephen Starr restaurant on N. Broad, Route 6 (maybe a reference to the road through Cape Cod?). It was actually really good, though I usually don't like his style over substance strategy. Check out the gourmet unexpectedness of the fresh fish sandwich and whoopie pies. 

I wasn't asleep until well after midnight. I was too delirious, too excited about my bold introduction to a certain senior scholar who did in fact flash Ripoll on the screen during his lecture. I'm still somewhat shocked at my confidence as I waited patiently to introduce myself and my parallel research interests. Professor was very enthusiastic. After our animated chat he handed me his card, wrote his personal e-mail (which enables him to exchange large files), and encouraged me to submit my paper to a conference taking place in Ripoll next year. YES. The next day he remembered my name and introduced me to another student who is writing his thesis on Ripoll. Truly a major moment for this art historian.

Only for art history would I wake up at 7am on a cold Saturday morning. I met with my Tufts friend and her Penn classmates and together we settled in for eight hours of lecturing. Though there were many interesting topics discussed, from performativity in medieval art to the erroneous placement of medieval art in modern museums (looking at you Yale Museum) to 19th century restoration work on a medieval portal, I think everyone in our group agreed that the best all around lecture was by Georg Geml from Vienna. His paper was entitled "C'est un saint qu'on ne fete plus": On Images of John the Baptist's Passion in the 19th and 20th Centuries and it was all about gory Counter-Reformation style Johannesschüssel:

Johannes-Schüssel aka St. John's Head on a Platter.

Oh those Germans.

The best one Geml showed, from a museum in Cologne, had more guts trailing out. I couldn't find it online. Better get back to Germany soon.

TRAVEL NOTES:

I learned from my weekend roommate that the neighborhood around 12th and Callowhill is known as Eraserhood. I never knew about this. Better revisit the Lynch classic.

From our place in West Philly I took the 64 bus to Federal Donuts in South Philly. I love taking the bus around Philadelphia and I love donuts. Especially green tea sesame ones. Sesame!

My last minute attempt to see the revamped Barnes on the "Champs-Élysées" was not rewarded. Apparently you still need to reserve a month in advance. I am slightly outraged by this exclusionary policy. Isn't that why they moved the collection to Center City? I'm an art historian! Without people like me (ok, people much more scholarly than me) no one would understand the value of these works. 

The Art of the Steal.

Better to stick with fond memories of the original and forget about the scandal? What about the glowing NYT review? I have mixed feelings over all of this.

After my donuts and a nice tea date with my American Swedish Historical Museum friend (+her two year old and still growing baby-in-belly!), I walked from South Street to Ritz at the Bourse to see The Loneliest Planet. This is the same theater I rushed to post GRE to see The Science of Sleep. I have a crush on Gael Garcia Bernal oh do I. Also, this film takes place in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia, near my favorite, Armenia. I was intrigued by the simple, but layered plot, which I won't say much about here. It was an appropriate choice for a solo attendance on a cold and grey afternoon. 

The Loneliest Planet, Julia Loktev, 2012. Hani Furstenburg, on the right, is radiant.
She reminds me so much of Bergman muse Liv Ullmann. 

Spare and provocative, somewhat flawed, but I appreciated the restraint from indulging in exposition and useless filler dialogue. Without these, the simple events take on an intensity that includes the audience in a dynamic way. This is again a kind of Mona Lisa painting: with little information, you're left to your own unique interpretation. One of the lighter topics that resonated with me was the feeling of traveling. 

During our summer adventure I remember when I started feeling homesick. It was in Athens, week 3. A day or so later I was happy to continue traveling on and on to new countries forever. I realized that I thrive on adapting to new environments, which is why I enjoy the small tortures of relocating frequently. Within disorientation the potential for exhilaration increases. Traveling is when you are truly awake, all senses are open and receptive, passive moments are rare. I am especially interested in the way you learn about yourself. Both through the context of others who seem very different from you, but in fact have many similarities of course, and how you negotiate traveling situations, especially crises. 

Cultural observations in Turkey by artist extraordinaire Alexander B. Teich.

Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts. My dream job.

As soon as we returned home I experienced a deep melancholy and desire to be back on the road in Europe. I missed traveling. So I set about planning our next trips. To Los Angeles and another to New York. And there I go to Philadelphia. It's not that I don't like being in Texas, in itself a great new adventure, it's just that I love being a part of the traveling experience; from rushing through the airport toward your departing jet to reunions at arrival (mine or others, I love airport reunions), reading maps, constructing itineraries, getting lost, making new friends from strangers, seeing how people are dressed, learning new words on the spot of necessity, testing personal relationships and communication while constantly negotiating new terrain, trying new food, understanding rituals of all kinds  >> cultural explosion. My idea of home must have changed, probably for survival's sake, along the way.

I'm starting a top five in five years travel plan. These selections are based mostly on art history and culture, of course. So far:

-Mexico 

-Morocco

-Japan

-India

-Egypt

*if, in the next five years, relations with the Middle East improve, then include one or more:

-Syria

-Iran

-Afghanistan

Big plans.

Imagining that I was in De Palma's Philadelphia or even Lynch's Eraserhead, I marched around with Siouxsie and the Banshees' Kaleidoscope (1980) playing on repeat, loudly. The entire album is cinematically atmospheric, the sounds threatening and seductive. It was the perfect soundtrack for today's Philadelphia, which despite gleaming new developments, retains some of that old grit and menace. 

Happy House

Red Light