Art And Design: Bonnard At The NGV

The Bonnard Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria is a revelation in curation.  The gallery engaged the services of award winning architect and designer India Mahdavi to create a “unique and immersive scenography” for their 2023 Winter Masterpieces exhibition.  In fact, the full title of the exhibition is “Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi.”

(Geoff Harrison)

Iranian born, but now based in Paris, Mahdavi produces immersive environments around the world for exhibitions and restaurants.  In her studio, she endeavors to merge the worlds of architecture, interior design, furniture design, fashion and exhibition design.  Initially, Mahdavi wanted to be a film maker, but the opportunities in Paris for women were very limited so she decided to study architecture instead.  She then went to New York and took classes in product design, graphic design and furniture design which introduced her to something “more tactile, more emotional.”

(Peta Tranquille)

Her work is closely aligned with the film industry.  “Many of the environments I create are very cinematic….they are saturated with life…”  She explains her objectives thus, “In general, I think that your environment has an impact on your mood, right?  I like to bring a sense of joy and happiness to whatever I do, because it puts you in a good mood.  So really, that’s my approach, in general.” 

Mahdavi’s “scenography” certainly succeeded with the current exhibition as I have never been able to entirely understand Bonnard as an artist, yet I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  As is often the case when I struggle to appreciate an artist, I turn to that excellent critic, Robert Rosenblum.  By the 1880’s, some artists were looking for more in their art practice than merely recording the landscape as an objective.  The impressionists were becoming passe for many artists who wanted to explore the psychology behind a scene, that is; what can be seen behind closed as well as open eyes.  They wanted to evoke nuanced and nameless emotions in their art using a wide variety of techniques - flat bold colour with clear outlines in some cases (Gauguin for instance), or hazy darkness in others.

Bonnard, Twilight (The Crocket Party), 1892, 130 x 162 cm (Pubhist)

Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard have been dubbed the Intimistes for their depictions of domestic scenes infused with a “mysterious, elusive sensibility.”  In this exhibition you can see how Bonnard’s technique evolved over time.  His early scenes are viewed through a tapestry of patterns and textures which blend in with the physical elements of the scene.  Later in his career, Bonnard seems to have abandoned this technique entirely.

Bonnard, Man And Woman 1900, 115 x 72.5 cm (Wikimedia Commons)

One striking aspect of this exhibition is how the artists appear to break all the rules of composition, yet come up with paintings that still work.  A classic example is Bonnard’s “Man And Woman” from 1900, in which a screen divides our view and perhaps sets up a duality of male and female.  It gives a charge to a scene that might otherwise be regarded as one of quiet domesticity.

Vallotton, Dinner By Lamplight, 1899, 57 x 90 cm (Wikiart)

But it’s the ‘support acts’ of this exhibition that add extra enjoyment, especially the paintings of Felix Vallotton - two in particular which appear in a catalogue of the Musee d’Orsay that I have always wanted to see first hand.  One is “Dinner By Lamplight” from 1899 in which we see the menacing silhouette of the artist himself in the foreground and his step-daughter in the distance.  Apparently, Vallotton was a master wood engraver, hence the strong colours and outlines.  Rosenblum refers to the “Halloween-like spookiness” of the scene.

Vallotton, Poker 1902, 52.5 x 67.5 cm (Paintings In The Musee D'Orsay)

The other painting is “Poker” from 1902.  A large empty table dominates the scene and suggests that dinner is over and a card game is the aftermath.  There is a theatrical element to this scene which is illuminated by the same intense, even eerie lamplight. 

“Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi” is on at NGV International and runs until 8th October. 

References;

NGV Magazine

“Paintings Of The Musee D’Orsay - Robert Roseblum 

Hello, my name is Geoff. You may be interested to know that I’m a fulltime artist these days and regularly exhibit my work in Victoria, but particularly in Melbourne. You may wish to check out my work using the following link; https://geoffharrisonarts.com

Paris - The Luminous Years

Shortly before losing its arts channel to Foxtel Arts, SBS screened one of the best arts documentaries I’ve even seen.  “Paris - the Luminous Years” is an American PBS production focusing on the years 1905-1930, “when for an incandescent moment Paris was a mecca, a magnetic centre of a new world of the arts, a laboratory of experiment and innovation.  It attracted an international avant-garde and became part of the making of the modern”.

“If you succeeded in Paris, all doors were open to you” - Joan Miro.

(Perry Miller Adato)

All the arts are covered in this two-parter from 2010, performing and visual as well as literature.  Suddenly the arts of the past, including impressionism seemed obsolete.  

Origins

The so-called rebels of the arts were drawn to Mont Marte which was still semi rural in those days, high on a hillside and thus cut off from the rest of Paris. Artists crossed paths regularly, exchanging gossip whilst their favourite meeting places were just down the hill - the Lapin Agile and the Moulin Rouge.  

(Wikimedia Commons)

They had their predecessors at Mont Marte of course, Van Gogh and Gauguin among them.  

Major retrospectives of Gauguin in 1903 and Cezanne in 1907 in Paris had a considerable impact on artists of the period.  Gauguin is considered the father of Fauvism, Cezanne the father of cubism.  When Henri Matisse exhibited his ‘Woman With A Hat’ at the 1905 Salon d’Automne it was ridiculed by the public.  Later, Gertrude Stein who was a collector of modern art, bought it.

Picasso's studio on the Rue Ravignan, (Wikipedia)

The Cafe

Pablo Picasso’s first studio was on the Rue Ravignan in Mont Marte from 1904-1910 where he shared lodgings with other artists and poets.  Being short of cash, they appreciated the cheap rents and camaraderie.  Picasso believes he really found himself as an artist during this period.  Many artist studios and apartments of that era had no gas, no electricity and thus were freezing in winter.  The cafe offered warmth, a cheap meal, a toilet, and an opportunity to sketch, write, plan exhibitions and gossip.  Writers could find publishers and vice-versa.

Cafe Dome, Montparnasse (Wikipedia)

Artists and Poets

The “Picasso Gang” was formed in 1905 which included the poets Guillaume Apollinaire and Andre Salmon as charter members.  With the exception of Georges Braque, poets were Picasso’s closest friends.  Painters tend to have trouble explaining themselves and thus poets were useful in putting into words the artists’ objectives.  Using his connections as an impresario and skill as a writer, Apollinaire was always willing to defend what was new and exciting in the arts.  Apollinaire’s poetry acted as a clarion call to all avant-garde artists of that era.

La Ruche

Often referred to as the bee-hive, a communal space of over 70 studios near the slaughter house in Montparnasse occupied by Leger, Modigliani, Diego Rivera and others including painters and sculptors from Russia.  In those studios lived the artistic Bohemia of every land, according to Marc Chagall.  Many of the artists who practised at La Ruche had come from poor villages in Eastern Europe and beyond so poverty was not an issue for them.  The artists of La Ruche didn’t identify with any “isms” of the era, they had no manifesto, instead they developed their own individual styles which were transformed by the experiences there.

La Ruche, Montparnasse (Pinterest)

Collaborations and Falling Outs

The close collaboration between Picasso and Georges Braque is covered.  Braque once described the two of them as being like mountain climbers clinging to the same rope together.  At one point, their work was almost indistinguishable.  Then came WW1, Braque enlisted but Picasso didn’t, and that was the end of their friendship.  Later Braque took exception to Picasso describing him as his ex-wife.

And then there was the falling out between the writers Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.  For some years each had been supportive of the others work in Paris, until Hemingway asked her to write a favourable review of a new series of his short stories in 1925.  She was less than impressed and said so.  Hemingway took exception to this and Stein responded “when a man writes continually about sex and death you can be assured that he is impotent, both as a man and a writer”. Ouch! 

Ballet Ruse

The Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev brought his Ballet Ruse to Paris in 1909.  With Igor Stravinsky’s scores, they reinvented the ballet.  Diaghilev brought together dancers, writers, composers, musicians, choreographers and artists (including Picasso who designed some of the sets for his productions) and is considered one of the most influential figures in the art world at the time. 

World War One - the Aftermath

The war tended to alienate those artists who enlisted from those who didn’t.  It’s argued that the war gave the conservative right in French society the opportunity to rail against avant-garde art by portraying it as German.  Avant-garde artists grew concerned that anything they produced that couldn’t be readily understood might be interpreted as German inspired.  The paint on their cubist works had barely dried before they began churning out conservative portraits.  A neo-classical movement had arisen - lead by Picasso.  To make matters worse for them, the main dealer in cubist works, Daniel H. Kahnweiler (a German) was forced into exile.  Apollinaire served in the war and was badly injured before dying of the Spanish Flu two days before the armistice was signed in 1918.

Paintings by Robert Delaunay from 1912 (left) & 1914 (Wikimedia Commons)

Among the more significant art movements that arose in the early 1920’s was Dada, a protest movement born out of the horror of the First World War.  It was subversive and provocative and it eventually evolved into Surrealism.  The contribution of Marcel Duchamp is discussed with his ‘readymades’ leading to a never ending argument about what constitutes art. 

The Americans

Many American writers who had served in Europe during the war returned to Paris in the early 1920’s and were inspired by the freedom, the mood for experimentation and the art of Picasso (back to his cubist phase again) and others.  This was in marked contrast to the repression, censorship and prohibition that constituted life back in the States - all the things they had fought against in Europe.  So it was little wonder that they couldn’t get back to Paris quickly enough.  And life was so cheap, you almost didn’t have to hold down a job to survive.

American women artists and writers found particular freedom in Paris compared to life in the States where they were expected to marry young and raise families.  American jazz represented modernity to the French and it had a major influence on French composers and artists.

Matisse, Woman With A Hat, 1905 (Wikipedia)

Serge Diaghilev died in August 1929 and the Ballet Ruse would close shortly after.  Two months later came the Wall Street crash, the effects of which would reverberate across Europe.  It would devastate the avant-garde in Paris and most expatriot American artists would return home.  Eventually Braque and Picasso would reconcile - to a point. 

This documentary includes interviews with academics, art historians and contains archival footage of interviews with Joan Miro, Marc Chagall, Jean Cocteau, D. H. Kahnweiler and many others. If there is a criticism I could level against this series, it’s that there is no mention of the artists who didn’t make it and what became of them.  Perhaps there is a tendency to romanticize the era to some degree.

Hello, my name is Geoff. You may be interested to know that I’m a fulltime artist these days and regularly exhibit my work in Victoria, but particularly in Melbourne. You may wish to check out my work using the following link; https://geoffharrisonarts.com

Francoise Gilot, SURVIVING pICASSO

I’m currently working my way through the book ‘Life With Picasso’ written by one of his many muses Francoise Gilot who was also an artist.  She had to work hard to develop her career beyond the baggage of her 10 year entanglement with HIM.  She is unique in that it was she who ended the relationship, much to Picasso’s annoyance so it seems.  He instructed her dealer, the famous Daniel-Henry Kahnwieler to dump her (which he did) and broke off contact with their 2 children.  She is still alive, now aged 99 and lives in New York.

The book was originally published in 1964 and republished in 2019 which tells you something – it’s a significant work.  In her introduction to the 2019 edition, Lisa Alther states that Picasso launched three unsuccessful lawsuits trying to prevent its publication, and 40 French artists and intellectuals, some of whom were former ‘friends’ of Gilot signed a manifesto demanding the book be banned.  It’s likely the objections revolved around gender issues, a woman succeeding in a man’s world although Gilot believes they were simply ingratiating themselves to Picasso.  Some of those signatories later admitted that they hadn’t read the book.

Gilot 'Fire Spirit', oil on canvas, 2011

Gilot was only in her early 20’s when she met Picasso in 1943 – he was about 40 years her senior.  Against the wishes of her parents (in particular her violent father) Gilot gave up her law studies to pursue a career in art.  She was banished from the family home and lived with her grandmother, who supported her whilst the relationship with Picasso evolved in secret. 

It is suggested by many observers of the time that Gilot’s influence on Picasso was greater than the other way around.  In an interview with The Guardian in 2016, it was put to Gilot that being involved with an artist of such magnitude threatened to overwhelm her own style and development.  She responded “No, in art subjectivity is everything; I accepted what [he] did but that did not mean I wanted to do the same.”

In August 2019 an exhibition of her monotypes was held at the MacGryder Gallery in New Orleans.  Over the years she has experimented with many mediums, styles and techniques displaying a confident use of colour and texture. 

Gilot, 'Polarities' monotype, 2009

Commenting on Gilot’s exhibition at the MacGryder, Jess Civello said “Using lithographic inks, solvents and equipment, but painting directly onto plexiglass rather than stone or metal plates, Gilot was free to improvise, adding layers of translucent texture with pass after pass of inking and wiping clean the plate. Collaging different exotic textured papers onto the base sheet further enhanced her finished vision, resulting in unique paintings on paper with various symbolic themes that have an organic sense of movement to them.”

The book provides us with a vivid portrayal of both Gilot and Picasso.  She describes how Picasso would manipulate the market for his work – playing one dealer off against another.  He would invite 2 competing dealers to his studio, make them wait an hour before inviting one of them into his ‘inner sanctum’ whilst the other sweated it out.  Oh, to have that much power as an artist!!

Gilot, 'My Grandmother Anne Renoult', oil on canvas, 1943

Gilot also gives a vivid account of how Picasso would manipulate people, including how he enticed her to leave her grandmother and live with him.  He argued that every positive action can have a negative consequence “the genius of Einstein lead to Hiroshima”, he said.  Emotional blackmail was also part of his armoury.

So how did Gilot survive Picasso?  By being strong-willed, talented and financially independent thanks to the support of her grandmother.

References;

The New York Times

The Guardian

“Life With Picasso”, Francoise Gilot & Carlton Lake, New York Review Books, 1964 (republished 2019)

Suzanne Valadon - Feisty, Determined & Talented

“I had great masters.  I took the best of them, of their teachings, of their examples.  I found myself, I made myself and I said what I had to say.” Suzanne Valadon

The illegitimate daughter of a drunken laundress, artist Suzanne Valadon (1865 – 1938) overcame her poor background to forge a career in a man’s world.  Contrasts are drawn with Valadon’s contemporaries Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt who both came from wealthy families and were thus thought to be restricted in their subjects and outlook.  Raised on the streets, Valadon had seen it all and this gave her the confidence to be independent and paint challenging subjects.  It’s worth noting that both Morisot and Cassatt eventually bought paintings by Valadon.

When she was in her teens, Valadon worked as a bare-back rider in the circus.  But after injuring her back in a fall, she became a model for artists – supposedly one of the few professions available at the time to young, beautiful women from poor backgrounds.  During her modelling career, Valadon cleverly cultivated contacts, gleaning techniques and ideas.  She made up stories about her background – raising or lowering her age depending on the circumstances.  She became the lover of many notable artists such as Renoir who painted possibly the best known image of her.

Renoir Dance At Bougival 1883. The male figure is Renoir’s brother.

Henry Toulouse-Lautrec met Valadon when she lived just next door to him in Paris and she became his mistress and muse for about two years.  One of the most moving of all depictions of Valadon is “A Grenelle” painted by Toulouse-Lautrec and based on a song of the same title sung by the sad balladeer Aristide Bruant.

Toulouse-Lautrec ‘A Grenelle

Unlike most of Valadon’s artist contacts, Toulouse-Lautrec took her artistic ambitions seriously.  It was he who convinced Valadon to change her name from Marie-Clementine to Suzanne, claiming no one would take her seriously if she was named after a fruit.  

In 1896, she got involved with well-to-do lawyer Paul Mousis and with financial security behind her, she was able to focus full time on her art.  Mousis purchased a house for her, her mother and son (thought to be Renoir’s, but he denied this).  The marriage didn’t last and her son, the artist Maurice Utrillo was having problems of his own.  Yet through all this and beyond, her career flourished.

Without any formal training Valadon developed a technique of her own with bold heavy strokes and a very direct style, laced with emotion.  Her nudes were considered very sincere and intense.

Valadon Reclining Nude 1928 Oil On Canvas

Valadon met the artist Andre Utter through Maurice and she became transfixed by him.  She was still living with Paul at the time.

Valadon Adam and Eve 1909 Oil on canvas

The figures (believed to be Valadon and Utter) are almost life size and this is the first painting by a woman depicting a nude male and female – so it created quite a stir.  The leaves covering Utter’s genitals were a later addition to enable the exhibition of this work at the 1920 salon.  The painting is audacious as there is no idealization here, instead there is a raw fleshiness in the presentation of the bodies already entwined as Eve (Valadon) picks the forbidden fruit.  It’s thought that Valadon was referencing her relationship with Utter – an older woman with a much younger man.

Valadon  The Joy of Life  1911 Oil on canvas

This is a familiar subject painted by Cezanne, Matisse and Gauguin among others but for one major feature – the presence of the male nude modelled by Utter again.  In previous paintings of this genre, the female figures are presented as languidly displaying themselves with no suggestion of where this might lead.  But with Valadon, there is again a demystifying of the scene and a clear pointer to desire and sexual gratification.

Art historian Gill Perry writes of the female figures being strangely separated from each other, from the male viewer and from nature that surrounds them….there is no evoking of the harmony between women and nature as suggested by Matisse or Gauguin.  She puts this down to Valadon’s “robust and sharply outlined” style.  Not surprisingly, Valadon’s “marriage” to Mousis ended. 

Such was the growth in her reputation that in 1923 the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery signed an unprecedented contract with Valadon worth 1m francs per year just to have her on a retainer.

References: 

Through The Eyes Of An Artist; Suzanne Valadon – Youtube

Toulouse-Lautrec, The Full Story – ZCZ Films 2006

Suzanne Valadon – The Art Story 2019