Degas and the Nude

Earlier this week I went into town, to the French Cultural Center to hear a lecture on the up coming Degas exhibition at the MFA. The lecture was given by Xavier Rey, a curator of paintings at the Musée d’Orsay, who along with George Shackelford has brought to fruition    the magnificent exhibition "Degas and the Nude". Although, the lecture was in French, & I may not have gotten every word, it did give me a good foundation on the subject before actually, viewing the exhibit, which I was able to do yesterday.

The official opening will be this Sunday, October 9, & will run until February 5, 2012. I attended a members preview yesterday & found the show even more beautiful & moving than I had anticipated. I love Degas & have always cherished seeing his work, whenever & wherever I could. I was so pleased, to see pieces that I have never seen, but have known only through photographs, as well as pieces that I have been privileged to see before. I have seen the work of Degas many times on visits to the d'Orsay, & seeing them again here in Boston, was like seeing an old friend.

The exhibition will not be going to any other American museums, but will go directly to the d'Orsay  & run from March 13 - July 1. This is just another reminder, of how lucky we are here in Boston, to have such a wonderful museum. I hope everyone in the Boston area will be able to find the time to see this beautiful exhibit, & maybe it will even be a good reason for those not in the area, to make a visit to Boston.

Alice Neel Retrospective in Houston

Alice Neel, the legendary 20th century portrait painter, is the subject of a major retrospective at the Museum Of Fine Arts in Houston. Working against the grain of popular taste, Neel concentrated on the portrait at a time when abstraction was the norm. Her bold, distinctive, signature style did not gain recognition until the late 60's,when she emerged as a major influence on contemporary figurative painting. A recent article, written in conjunction with the exhibit, for The New York Times, addressed Neel's influential role in the American art world. She was embraced by the feminist movement, but the sacrifices she made as a women artist were not fully understood until after her death in 1984 at the age of 84.

In a documentary film, entitled Alice Neel, her grandson, Andrew Neel, shares a moving & intimate picture of Neel’s life. Her story epitomizes the struggle of women artists in pursuit of their art & the difficult choices one must make to do so. I found this film very moving. It was sad how much Neel & her family had to give up in order for her to be true to her art. She said of herself :

“I do not know if the truth that I have told will benefit the world in any way. I managed to do it at great cost to myself and perhaps to others. It is hard to go against the tide of one’s time, milieu, and position. But at least I tried to reflect innocently the twentieth century and my feelings and perceptions as a girl and a woman. Not that I felt they were all that different from men’s.”

Of course not all of us would make the choices that she made. One hopes for balance between art & life, but perhaps, balance is achieved at the expense of greatness & that is where Alice Neel succeeded.

Tattoos Come of Age in Boston

This month in Boston, both the Museum of Fine Arts & the Institute of Contemporary Art have simultaneously opened exhibitions featuring the art of the tattoo. The exhibit at the MFA, entitled "Under the Skin: Tattoos in Japanese Prints" explores the historical side of this ancient art form through it's extensive collection of Japanese prints. While the ICA presents the first US solo show for the contemporary Mexican tattoo artist known as Dr. Lakra. The fact that both of these prestigious art institutions are giving the nod to the medium of tattooing, gives, what is generally thought of as an underground art form, a greater sense of authenticity. I myself do not have any tattoos nor do I wish to, but I do confess to enjoying the guilty pleasure of looking at tattoo books & magazines. Perhaps now I can take the "guilty" part out of the equation. In searching for some images to share with this post, I discovered an array of websites on the subject. Some of my favorites can be seen here , here & here. Weather one likes tattoos or not, it is impossible not to acknowledge the artistry involved in these finer examples. It certainly does seem, with the shows at the MFA & the ICA, that the art of the tattoo has come of age in Boston, when, interestingly enough, less than ten years ago tattooing was actually banned in the state of Massachusetts.