Monet at the de Young, 2019

I just squeaked in a visit to "Monet: The Late Years" at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, and I am so glad I did. The exhibit, as the title suggests, focused on his later work once he was established at Giverny and had created his beloved water lily pond, and the later additions of the Japanese foot bridge and trellis.

It was an appropriately wet and moody day when I visited and the courtyard entrance window featured a wonderful reproduction of one of his many water lily pond paintings.

While several pieces came from private collections and the permanent collections of museums here in the United States, the bulk of the exhibit came from the Musée Marmottan Monet, a museum in Paris dedicated to the works of Monet. At over three hundred pieces, the museum is the largest collection of the work of this Impressionist master. We are lucky that they decided to share the genius of this man. I have seen Monet's works in museums all over the world and there is nothing like standing in front of one of his canvases, seeing the image and comprehending that it is of, perhaps, a pond, or a foot bridge over a pond, but seeing the dichotomy of the colors and brushstrokes, the wild scribbling and glorious caked-on pigments that go to create such an image. It is always staggering to me to see the free flowing colors, and I get lost in the swirl and play of the palette of each painting. You can see some close-ups of some of the pieces interspersed with my photos below.

Via the audio tour (which was peppered with beautiful French Impressionist musical pieces), I learned that the pond at Giverny initially did not exist and he had petitioned the local council to divert water from another source to create it. He was an avid gardener and kept up the grounds of Giverny himself but the growing gardens eventually demanded more attention than he could give, so he hired eight full time gardeners to look after not only the plots and beds and trees and flowers but also the pond itself and the precious water lilies. Men would daily skim the pond and dunk the lily pads to wash off whatever dust or dirt might have accumulated on them. Monet also suffered from cataracts and at one point, his vision was down to only 10%--a devastating debilitation for a painter. But he was persuaded to have surgery and much of his eyesight returned. He spent his final years in a prolific flurry of activity, creating ambitiously large and breathtakingly beautiful canvases.

Of course Impressionists are known as "painters of light" and like many Impressionists, Monet painted the same subject again and again but at different times of day and thus in different light, resulting in almost completely different paintings. I love these four view of a weeping willow tree, but depending on whether the light was indirect or direct, during the morning, afternoon, or at dusk, the feeling and colors change dramatically.

And the same goes for these four views of the main house at Giverny, whose top (seen at left) barely peeks up over the shrubs and climbing roses.

https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/late-monet
https://www.marmottan.fr/en/

Keith Haring at the de Young, 2015

I am so pleased I got to squeeze in a visit to the de Young Museum in San Francisco to see their current Keith Haring exhibit before it closes this month.

Haring is such an iconic 80s artist, coming from the downtown Manhattan art scene along with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna, and although Haring died in 1990, his work still speaks to us today. His graphic street style translated well onto large canvases in which he railed against injustice of all kinds: apartheid, the destruction of the planet, rampant consumerism and greed, and the bigotry and hatred that allowed thousands and thousands to die of a disease that, if we had gotten a jump on finding a cure, might be eradicated by now. His squiggles pack a punch. So much so that the show is entitled "The Political Line" since we are still dealing with all these issues more than thirty years on. His work reads like hieroglyphics, recording and marking the rage, terror, and sadness that infiltrated the dark Reagan years. Figures either dance in rapture, or shake and run from a restlessness born of frustration. I lived through those years and while Madonna sang "Everybody/ Come on, dance and sing," there was an anxious, fearful energy in the air because of AIDS and the very real threat of nuclear war with Russia. I think both of these paradoxical feelings--joy and fear--informed Haring's work. Things may have been difficult, but we still wanted to dance and have a good time...

And of course Keith Haring was unapologetically gay and used sexual imagery in his art work. Now, there is of course a history of gay male artists throughout the centuries, but I can't think of another gay artist who drew penises and erections with such dedication, love, and abandon (Tom of Finland aside!). I won't post them here, but the exhibition shows an entire notebook of penises (mostly self-portraits!) and the location where he drew each of them ("Drawing penises in front of the Museum of Modern Art").

As I toured the exhibit, I also realized that so few artists have created their own vocabulary. By that I mean that artists traditionally have painted landscapes or still lifes, figures of mostly women and some of men, allegorical scenes or scenes from the Bible. But who else created anything akin to barking human-dogs, a radiant baby, or persistent and zapping UFOs...and used them in their own visual language. Oh, there are some who created their own semaphores: maybe Cocteau... maybe Francis Bacon in a way...certainly Matthew Barney with his oblique Cremaster Series. But this is not so common to painters. And Haring did manage to invent his own visual language.

Before--and somewhat after--Haring became famous, he drew impromptu scenes on the unused black-lined niches used for advertising posters in the New York Subway. I recall being in Manhattan in the summer of 1982 and seeing, at seemingly every subway station, these curious white chalk drawings of the outlines of angels, or people, or robots...

The exhibit shows a marvelous collection of these drawings in a low-light room so as not to damage the paper or chalk. One is still attached to a film advertisement next to it. And clearly a friend of Haring's wrote some cheeky graffiti: "HARING STOP IT ENOUGH ALREADY."

As I mentioned, there is something wonderfully hieroglyphic and primitive about Haring's lines and he put them on some large vases...which feels ethnic and appropriate.

Below are some of his more directly politically charged pieces. I have to say that since I recall the 80s clearly, it was very powerful standing in front of his Silence = Death. It brought back memories of ACT UP and my own feelings about being gay, being marginalized, and feeling a kinship with the kind of fury that comes from having a large segment of humanity tell you, for no real reason at all, that you don't deserve to be here.

And here is your blogmaster outside the museum in front of Haring's delightful Three Dancing Figures, a joyous explosion of movement in primary colors. I could almost hear Madonna, back when she was still good, urging, "Everybody/ Get up and do your thing..."

If you are in Northern California, do try to get to the De Young for this rare opportunity to see so many Harings all in one place, and to learn about his life and works... it is very special. The exhibit closes this month, February 16th, 2015.

http://deyoung.famsf.org/haring
http://www.haring.com/

All photos by JEF except the last photo by JDG

BEAUTY: Painting--"Richard Diebenkorn: The Berkeley Years"

This weekend, I went to San Francisco's de Young Museum to see the "Richard Diebnekorn: The Berkeley Years" show and was really struck by the power of his work. I had seen Diebenkorns before, here and there, but it was a treat to see 100+ paintings and drawings gathered together for impact. And it was especially rewarding to see almost all of his Berkeley paintings in one spot, to go from one to another, in a row, and stand before the enormous canvases of color and form.

Berkeley No. 8

Berkeley No. 13

Berkeley No. 22

Berkeley No. 23

Berkeley No. 32

Berkeley No. 33

Berkeley No. 52

Berkeley No. 57

Since the show was organized chronologically, it was also fascinating to see how he began with abstract works and moved into figurative and landscape works. When one follows the career of an artist, it is usually the other way around, with an artist gradually deconstructing his or her own message and distilling it down. But Diebenkorn started already deconstructed, working within the framework of Abstract Expressionism, and evolved into representational work.

On the wall at the entrance to the exhibit, there was a copy of Diebnenkorn's "Notes to myself on beginning a painting." I loved these ten tips which can work for any artistic output.

The show runs through September 29, 2013. If you are in Northern California--or are coming to Northern California--consider stopping by Golden Gate Park to see it. It's worth it...

http://www.richarddiebenkorn.net/
http://diebenkorn.famsf.org/