Toulouse-Lautrec and La Vie Moderne (Paris, 1880-1910) | Crocker Art Museum
My husband, Nick, and I spent the day visiting local galleries and the Crocker Art Museum. I will break the day up into 3 posts - stay tuned!
I visited the Crocker Art Museum (for what feels like the millionth time) on Sunday, March 8, 2015, with my husband in tow. The current exhibition had to do with turn of the century (1880 to 1910) French modern art, with an emphasis on Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s work. It was a very expansive show, taking up the whole changing exhibition hall as well as some of the outward hallways. The mediums displayed were mostly limited to paper and canvas with lots of smaller pieces throughout. I found the variety of pieces very interesting: some were paintings, graphite drawings, pastels, etchings and lithograph prints. They were very expressive, some were very cartoon-like and the glimpse into the past was intriguing. The subject matter seems to focus on performing arts and theatre scenes. I also noticed a substantial amount of cats throughout the pieces and clowns appeared to be pretty popular back then. Unfortunately, the Crocker requested no photography in the exhibit, so I only have a picture of me at the entrance of the show (below).
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| Me at the exhibit |
While my intention for visiting the Crocker was to view the “La Vie Moderne” exhibit, I had probably way more fun revisiting the works in the permanent collection. Seeing new works are always inspiring, but to revisit art that has been previously motivating is re-energizing. Christopher Brown’s Winter’s Blue Cold, Irving Norman’s pieces (My World and Yours [And The Gods Created the World in their Own Image], Celebration; visit here for more of his works), Raymond Jenning Saunders's Joseph Fitzpatrick was our Teacher and John Yoyogi Fortes’s Runt have always been some of my favorites.
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| Me with Christopher Brown's Winter's Blue Cold 1990-91, Oil on canvas Crocker Art Museum Purchase, 1991.33 |
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| Irving Norman My World and Yours (and the Gods Created the World in their Own Image), 1954 Oil on canvas Crocker Art Museum Purchase, George and Bea Gibson Fund with contributions from Roger and Carol Berry, Chris and Dana Daubert, Marcy and Mort Friedman, Anne and Malcolm McHenry, Kim Mueller and Robert J. Slobe, and Russ Solomon, 2001.47 |
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| Raymond Jennings Saunders Joseph Fitzpatrick was our Teacher, 1991 Mixed media on canvas Crocker Art Museum Purchase, 1993.11 |
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| John Yoyogi Fortes Runt, 2010 Mixed media on canvas Crocker Art Museum |
There were also a few new works that either I had not noticed before or were new additions (most likely the former). There was a fantastic metal piece by Andreas Nottebohm called KNI725 that played an awesome optical illusion and I looked at it for quite some time. Paul Jenkins’s Phenomena Intervening Mantle was very exciting, with paint moving over the canvas as if it were alive. Thom Merrick’s Desert Metamorphosis caught my eye from a distance – the paint drips throughout the painting helped create a sprawling desert scene.
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| Andreas Nottebohm KNI725, 2005 Aluminum Crocker Art Museum, gift of Philip M. Lederer, 2006.26 |
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| Paul Jenkins Phenomena Intervening Mantle, 2006 Acrylic on canvas Crocker Art Museum, gift of Suzanne and Paul Jenkins, 2010.57 |
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| Thom Merrick Desert Metamorphosis, 2005 Oil on canvas Crocker Art Museum, gift of Michael Klein in memory of his parents, Emil and Hedy Klein, 2013.4 |
I felt that the current exhibition at the Crocker, “La Vie Moderne” was a little lack luster; seeing Toulouse’s work in person was nice but overall, it was easy to move through the display quickly. The items in the permanent collection, I felt, were more substantial and impressive. I have to remember to visit my favorite pieces more often than once a semester!
(more information on the exhibition here)
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