Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time

Influenced by the forms, myths, and structures of the arts of antiquity, artists Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Diego Rivera (1886-1957) displayed artistic trajectories both in Europe and Latin America.
 

The exhibit Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time, presented by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, weaves together distant geographies and worlds by juxtaposing more than 100 paintings and prints by Picasso and Rivera along with dozens of ancient Greco-Roman, Etruscan, Iberian, and Mesoamerican objects presented in five thematic sections.

 

On view at The Academy section is Picasso and Rivera’s neoclassical training as child prodigies in their respective national academies, Picasso in Spain and Rivera in Mexico.

The artists' Cubist works created while in Paris between 1908 and 1916, are on display in the Cubism and Paris gallery.

Included are Picasso’s The Poet (Le poète) (1912) and Rivera’s Sailor at Lunch (Marinero almorzando) (1914).

Also on view here is Picasso's Guitar, Gas-Jet and Bottle (1913) in which Picasso used a range of media and techniques. 

For the first time shown publicly by the Picasso Family Collection is Still Life with Bottle of Anise and Inkwell (1914-1915), a Cubist composition in which Rivera experimented with non-traditional materials, such as sand.

Both Picasso and Rivera traveled to Italy in 1917 and 1920, respectively and, following the war, they embraced a revalorization of the classical aesthetic tradition. Highlighted in Return to Order and Indigenismo are Picasso’s first monumental neoclassical painting, Three Women at the Spring (1921), an exceptional loan from the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA), and Rivera's Flower Day (Día de Flores) (1925). 

Also included here are portions of Rivera’s personal holdings of ancient Pre-Columbian ceramic and stone sculptures, a collection that has never traveled outside Mexico.

Grounding Mexico's culture into its Pre-Columbian past are Rivera's 1930's public murals and paintings enriched with references to Mexico’s ancient civilizations. Included in the Rivera and Pre-Columbian Art section is The Flowered Canoe (La Canoa en Florada) (1931), portraying two worlds: influenced by Western culture are the mestizos who enjoy a day at Lake Xochimilco, while representing the force of tradition is an indigenous oarsman.

The gallery dedicated to Picasso and Mythology explores works that shaped the foundations of 20th century art through formal experimentation with the art of the past.  

In Studio with Plaster Head (Atelier avec tête et bras de plâtre) (1925), Picasso reflects on the dialectic relationship between ancient Greek and Roman tradition with Western painting and the beginning of modernism.

Picasso's Minotauromachy (1935), based on the mythological figure, is considered the most important etching on paper of the 20^th century. Compositionally, this masterwork is the precursor to Picasso's iconic mural-scale painting Guernica.

Situated between the final two galleries, the film Ideologías y Muralismo, commissioned by LACMA and directed by Rodrigo García, explores Rivera’s mural Pan American Unity (San Francisco City College, 1940) and Picasso’s Guernica (1937).

The exhibit is currently on view through May 7, 2017, at BCAM, Level 2, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/

Picasso and Rivera will travel to Mexico City, where it will be on view from May 31 to September 10, 2017 at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes.

Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach

 Headed by Martin Luther's writings, the German Reformation period, 1460-1580, set in motion a major cultural shift in Europe and transformed the work of many artists of the time such as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Hans Holbein, Mathias Grünwald, Tilman Riemenschneider, and Peter Vischer.

Coinciding with the 500^th anniversary of this era, masterpieces of the German Renaissance art, rarely displayed outside Germany, are on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as the sole U.S. venue.

Reformation infused every aspect of art. Represented are over 100 works of art including paintings, sculptures, arms and armors, drawings, as well as decorative arts, displayed in five thematic sections.

The Traditional Imagery and Devotion section illustrates how objects of religious veneration gradually gave way to works of sculpture intended for aesthetic value.

The extent to which developments in art, media, and politics were intertwined is illustrated in Propaganda and Polemics. The Reformation was the first movement to use propaganda techniques to foster its cause.

In the section of Arms and Armor: the Splendor of the Saxon Court objects from the royal art treasuries recall the era’s exquisite craftsmanship, and feature weapons and armor that lend a glimpse into life at the royal court.

 


Themes explored in Humanism and Reality attest to new and transformed ways of looking at the world incorporating both idealized visions of classical antiquity and observations of nature and people. 

Emphasis is placed on drawings by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, Hans Beham, Hans Schäufelin, and Albrecht Altdorfer, among others.

Portraiture enjoyed great favor in European painting from the 15th century onward. As religious paintings were less in demand, artists relied more on commissions for individual portraits from secular patrons. 

 

German drawn portraits often used a combination of techniques and crayons to render their subjects with surprising likeness. Their delicate approach to the medium remains one of the most spectacular achievements of the German Renaissance.

The presentation is organized by three German institutions: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, and made possible by the German Foreign Office.

The exhibit runs from November 20, 2016, through March 26, 2017, at Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/

Toba Khedoori

Known for her use of negative space, Australian born and Southern California resident, Toba Khedoori blurs the boundaries between drawing, painting, and installation with meticulous detail and craftsmanship.

In the first major survey of the artist's work to date, the Toba Khedoori exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) includes 25 compositions of Khedoori's work from 1994 to the present, arranged in loose chronological and thematic order.

Ushered into the contemporary art scene in the early 1990s with her two-dimensional negative space compositions, Khedoori's breakthrough came with monumental monotone paintings on paper, frequently rendering decontextualized, distanced, and often fragmented, commonplace architectural forms as in Untitled (doors, 1996) and LACMA’s own Untitled (hallway, 1997), within which detritus from her studio floor appears embedded in the wax surfaces.

Hovering between representation and abstraction, are the more recent and smaller scale oil-on-canvas paintings featuring photorealistic depictions as in Untitled (black fireplace, 2006), Untitled (white fireplace, 2005), and Untitled (leaves/branches, 2015). Her latest art moves toward grids and abstraction, such as Untitled (tile, 2015), a geometric study of a mosaic tile floor reflecting light from an unseen source.
 

With intricate detail, Khedoori's magnificent work is restrained yet intense, enveloping the viewer with a novel perspective of the mundane.

 

The exhibit is currently on view through March 19, 2017, at BCAM, 2^nd Floor, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/

 

 

Following its run at LACMA, Toba Khedoori will be on view at the Pérez Art Museum Miami from April 20–September 24, 2017.

Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters

Packed with intellectual curiosity, and an insatiable attraction to the form, beauty, and graveyard poetry of horror movies, film director Guillermo Del Toro, established Bleak House, a shrine dedicated to all kinds of imaginative monsters.

A monster of a project begun in “what seemed to be a good idea a few years ago”, explains Del Toro. The tip of the iceberg of Bleak House's artworks were brought to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for the Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters exhibit. 

A broad scope of Del Toro's inspirations is represented in approximately 500 diverse media objects, including drawings, sculptures, paintings, prints, photography, costumes, ancient artifacts, books, maquettes, and film.

Del Toro's fascination with the macabre, horror iconography and comic book fare is manifested through imaginative, old school handmade creatures, with minimal computer generated images. 

Represented films include, among others, Cronos (1993), The Devil’s Backbone (2001), Hellboy (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), and Crimson Peak (2015).

Unifying ideas and themes, the exhibit references a wide range of cinematic, pop-culture, and art-historical sources. 

In addition to Del Toro's hero Forrest Ackerman's Monsters of Filmland magazines, vividly realistic, life-size representation of the people who influenced Del Toro's work are included, such as Mike Hill, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe, Ray Harryhausen, and makeup artist Dick Smith.

Del Toro redefines conventional film genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction while transforming ghoulish visions into a poetic beauty reminiscent of Goya. Fluidly presented are the thematic narratives exploring Childhood and Innocence, Victoriana, del Toro's Rain Room, Magic, Alchemy, and the Occult, Movies, Comics, and Pop Culture, Frankenstein and Horror, Freaks and Monsters, and concluding with Death and the Afterlife.

As a humble path towards the enjoyment and appreciation of art, this marriage of horror beauty, and traditional artistic medium is accompanied by an eerie soundtrack, with screams, crashes, thunderstorms and insect sounds that chills the flesh and bones. It is a true delight, reawakening the child in all of us. A must see.

The exhibit runs through November 27, 2016, at the Art of the Americas Building, Plaza Level, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/

This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and

the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Following its presentation at LACMA, Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters will travel to its co-organizing institutions: the Minneapolis Institute of Art (February 26–May 21, 2017) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (September 30, 2017–January 7, 2018).

Our Little Sister

 Under the expert baton of master Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda is the enchanting adaptation of Akimi Yoshida’s graphic novel Umimachi Diary, where three sisters in their early twenties, Sachi (Haruka Ayase), Yoshino (Masami Nagasawa) and Chika (Kaho), meet for the first time their 14-year-old, half sister Suzu (Suzu Hirose) at their estranged father's funeral in the country. 

They quickly bond and impulsively invite her to live with them at the coastal resort town of Kamakura. Together, they gradually overcome issues of loss and learn to gracefully embrace life.

With contemplative pace and refined performances, master Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda delicately sculpts a charming, moving and at times humorous drama, elegantly shot by cinematographer Mikiya Takimoto and enhanced by Yoko Kanno’s score.

Therapy for a Vampire

 In this Swiss-Austrian collaboration, director and screenwriter, David Rühm, provides a fresh new look to the frequently over-expressed horror comedy vampire genre, crafting an original, well paced, energetic film with a witty, allegoric script and spot-on performances.

Set in 1930, the feature follows vampire Count Geza von Kozsnom (Tobias Moretti) seeking psychotherapy from the famed Dr. Sigmund Freud (Karl Fischer). The Count complains that he “lost the thirst for life”, that he is trapped in an “eternally long” relationship with his vain wife, Countess Elsa (Jeanette Hain), who nags him to the point of madness about her inability to see her image in the mirror, and that he yearns for his long deceased, bite at first sight girlfriend Nadila.

Things change when Count Geza von Kozsnom notices on Dr. Freud's wall a portrait of Lucy (Cornelia Ivancan), the painter's girlfriend, in the spitting image of Nadila. The Count sets to hire the painter, mortal Viktor (Dominic Oley), to paint a portrait of Countess Elsa. Meanwhile, the Count attempts to charm and lure Lucy, whom he believes to be the re-incarnation of Nadila.

An accomplished photographer, director Rühm features great care and attention to detail in this visually homogeneous, gothic atmosphere with captivating production design, costumes, lighting and subtle special effects throughout.

This blood sucking feature is dealt with lots of humor and blood, a treat for genre fans, and an enjoyable cinematic experience for others.

Captain America: Civil War

Revitalizing the superhero Marvel blockbuster are returning directorial duo brothers, Joe and Anthony Russo, in an action packed epic, filmed with cutting edge technology, and an impressive cast of superheroes.

Loosely adapted from Mark Miller's tale, scriptwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely address escalating tensions that split the Avengers on the issue of autonomy versus government regulation, and superhero accountability.

Standing for the continued freedom to operate is Team Captain, lead by Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), supported by superheroes Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). In an effort to control collateral damage, Team Iron Man, led by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), stands with government control of the Avengers. It is backed by War Machine (Don Cheadle), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and the hilarious android Vision (Paul Bettany).

Other featured superheroes include Captain America's childhood friend Bucky Barnes Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and super-villain Zemo (Daniel Bruhl). Interjecting humor into this complex drama are Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland). 
 

Despite the large cast, the ambitious feature manages to maintain balanced screen-time and well developed characters. Setting the bar to a higher level is the crisp, humorous script, colorful cinematography, and the spectacularly intense CGI action sequences. A worthy addition to the Marvel franchise.

Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear, 1715-2015

With the strongest European and American menswear collection in the western United States, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is presenting the evolving nature of men's fashion from 1715 to 2015.

Drawn mostly by LACMA's permanent collection, the 200 featured items illuminate connections between history and culture in high fashion.

Debuting highlights are several rare surviving ensembles from the collection including fashions worn by men from different socio-economic levels during the French Revolution, such as an aristocrat's at home robe (banyan) and a revolutionary's sans-culottes pants and carmagnole jacket. An authentic 1940s zoot suit, that took over a decade to locate, is also on display.

The survey re-examines the frequent association between fashion and femininity in five themes: Revolution/Evolution, East/West, Uniformity, Body Consciousness, and The Splendid Man.

In the Revolution/Evolution section, anti-authoritarian currents surrounding the French Revolution, new styles, textiles and colors with exaggerated shapes and dramatic accessories were used to express political sentiment such as the English Macaroni of the 1770, and the French Incroyable of the 1790s.

Similarly, 200 years later, the punk movement embraced bricolage and do-it yourself personalization. Men's elegant clothing was also redefined from the Romantic Dandies of the early 1900, to the bespoke of the 1900s, to the power suits of the 1980s, and the form fitting suits of the early 2000s.

The East/West  section reflects cultural exchanges between the East and the West in the 17^th and 18^th centuries that led to banyans inspired by kimonos from Japan or the Middle Eastern caftan. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, clothing designs from India, China, and Japan were re-interpreted for Western Fashions. 
 
During the mid-20^th century immigrants transferred their indigenous styles to their adopted countries. For instance, Japanese settlers in Hawaii repurposed traditional kimonos and imported printed silks to create shirts now called Aloha or Hawaiian shirts.

Featured in the Uniformity section are military and working uniforms of the late and 18^th through the 21^st centuries inspired motifs, protective outerwear and camouflage seen in fashion today.

Body Consciousness covers the evolution of historically men's clothing devices such as stockings with padded calves, waist-clinching underpants, and body shaping tailored jackets or corsets to achieve an ideal male silhouette. 

The growing acceptance of exposed skin can be traced through the evolution of swimwear from the 1900 bathing suit that covered the entire body, to the 1935 Jantzen swimsuit with a detachable top, to Rudi Gernreich's 1974 thong swimsuit, only to revert back to a 2008 full-body competition swimsuit made by Speedo in collaboration with designer Rei Kawakubo.

The Splendid Man section 

considers how superfluities that were once commonplace in men's dress, such as sparkling paste (glass) stones and sequined embellishments, animal furs, floral patterns and vividly colored textiles, are resurrected and reinterpreted in contemporary clothes.

The exhibit runs from April 10, 2016, through August 21, 2016, at BCAM, Level 2, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/