Textiles and modern abstraction close Sunday at the National Gallery of Art

Ann Hamilton (b. 1956), (side by side.coats), 2018/2023.  The label says Ms. Hamilton worked on her art in northern Portugal, sourcing fleeces from a local farmer and using coats from secondhand shops to show "enduring interdependencies: between human and animal, manufactured and organic, nurture and sacrifice." Loaned by the artist/By Patricia Leslie

The National Gallery of Art hosts a large show, Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, in eight rooms to display some 160 works by 50 artists from around the globe. Their art begins with the first World War and continues to present day.

The exhibition brings to mind the question: Why have textiles and related arts taken a back seat to oil, sculpture, prints and drawings and other fine arts?*

The fact that textiles and woven arts are usually associated with women likely plays a role. 

Sophie Taeuber-Arp, 1889-1943, Cushion Panel (detail), 1916 (facsimile 2021) cross-stitch embroidery. Loaned by the Museum of Design, Zurich. Silhouettes of viewers are reflected in the protective glass/By Patricia Leslie

Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972), from left, The Past as Future Artifact (Mask 2), 2020, The Anthropophagic Effect, Helmet No. 2, 2019, and The Anthropophagic Effect, Helmet No. 1, 2019.  Materials used included birch bark, pine resin, porcupine quills, brass bells, metal jingles, turquoise, and beeswax. Loaned by the artist/By Patricia Leslie

These artists produce their works for the same reasons as other artists: to effect political and social change, to capitalize on change, to build momentum for matters of the time, to promote more awareness of cultural and historical change, to enjoy beauty, to document scenes from current events, to express themselves.

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Electric Prisms (detail), 1913, Davis Museum at Wellesley College/By Patricia Leslie

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Groupe de femmes, 1923-1924, watercolor, colored inks and graphite on paper glued on cardboard, Centre Pompidou, Paris/By Patricia Leslie

In a textiles gallery at the National Galley of Art, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Eden Gallery with offices around the world may have answers to why these arts have not enjoyed the same prestige and importance as other "fine arts."

On its website, Eden asks:

What exactly is fine art, and how has its definition changed over the centuries?

Art, in its broadest sense, embodies the act of crafting something unique that tantalizes our visual or auditory senses. Fine art, often labeled as "high art," stands as the pinnacle of artistic expression, emphasizing aesthetics over functionality. This inherent aesthetic quality sets fine art apart from "low arts" which are crafted with a more utilitarian purpose in mind.

Yet, as the art world continues to evolve, the once-clear boundaries that defined what is "high" or "low" art blur. This prompts the question: should any art form be considered superior to another in today's democratized art landscape?

Sonia Delaunay, 1885-1979, from left, Summer Dress, c. 1926, printed silk and Dress, c. 1926, printed and pleated silk. Private collection/By Patricia Leslie

The artists explain their various techniques of weaving, knitting, netting, knotting, and felting** and the reasons why they choose the mediums they do.  

Here I've included artworks which I found of particular interest, and without paying attention to the artists' names as I photograhed them, I was struck later as I write this, that of the few I chose for this blog post, three are by Sonia Delaunay 1885-1979.

Olga de Amaral (b. 1932), Cintas Entrelazadas, c. 1969, wool and cotton. Loaned by the artist/By Patricia Leslie

Marilou Schultz (b. 1954), Replica of a Chip (detail), 1994, wool. The label says the Intel Corporation commissioned Ms. Schultz, a Native American weaver, "to make a blanket featuring their Pentium microprocessor," using the traditional techniques that she learned as a child growing up on the reservation. The company proposed "affinities between Native American aesthetics and advanced technologies" as part of its marketing campaign. Loaned by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society/By  Patricia Leslie

Ellen Lesperance (b. 1971), Cardigan Worn by One Woman of the Boeing Five,  Tried for Entering the Boeing Nuclear Missile Plant on September 27th, 1983, Sentenced to Fifteen Days in the King County Jail for Defending Life on Earth, 2011. Loaned by Brooklyn Museum/By Patricia Leslie

Liz Collins (b. 1968) and Gary Graham (b.1969) (GRIZ), Pride Dress from the Seven Deadly Sins series, 2003. Loaned by Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design/By Patricia Leslie

Liz Collins (b. 1968) and Gary Graham (b.1969) (GRIZ), Pride Dress from the Seven Deadly Sins series, 2003. Loaned by Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design/By Patricia Leslie

A hardback catalog, Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abraction of almost 300 pages with 200 colored illustrations is available in the shops, online at shop.nga.gov, and by phone, 800-697-9350 for $32.50. Accompanying products are available.

The exhibition comes to NGA after its showing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and, after its stay in Washington, will travel to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (November 8, 2024–March 2, 2025) and then, the Museum of Modern Art, New York (April 20–September 13, 2025).

Lynne Cooke, senior curator in the department of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art, curated the exhibition.

*After you've seen the show, maybe you can answer the question.

**sculpting and making figures and shapes from wool 

Hannah Höch is one of the artists included in this show and for more on her, go here where she's included in a book on Da Da.

What: Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction

When: Through July 28, 2024. The National Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

Where: East Building Concourse and Ground Floor, National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington

How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905


patricialesli@gmail.com

Unsung Van Goghs in the Netherlands

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Pipe and Straw Hat, 1887, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1887, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1887, Van Gogh Museum, to show security lock on back/By Patricia Leslie

At the Van Gogh Museum, June 24, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Cottage, 1885, Van Gogh Museum.  The label says Van Gogh  loved these homes, comfortable places which made their occupants feel safe and secure.  Two families lived here, made evident by the two front doors.  Vincent "deliberately set the scene at dusk, the time when the peasants have returned home after a hard day's work."

Vincent van Gogh, Head of a Woman, 1885, Van Gogh Museum. The label says the artist set out to paint a series of 50 "'heads' ....to represent the peasants...who had been tilling the land for centuries. 'They remind one of the earth, sometimes appear to have been modelled [sic] out of it,'" he wrote.

Vincent van Gogh, Montmartre: Behind the Moulin de la Galette, 1887, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Montmartre:  WIndmills and Allotments, 1887, Van Gogh Museum.  The label says he "derived the fresh, pure colours...from contemporary French art."

At the Van Gogh Museum, June 24, 2024, looking at ...one of his!/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Three Novels, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. The label says Vincent "attached so much importance to contemporary literature that he painted no fewer than four still lifes of modern French novels....The oval format...is due to its unusual support, namely the lid of a little Japanese box."

Vincent van Gogh, Garden with Courting Couples:  Square Saint- Pierre, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. The label says he called this park "'the painting of the garden with lovers.'...Van Gogh took liberties with the Pointillist technique....[and] succeeded in rendering the effects of a dazzling spring day....He too longed for a wife and a family, but he had 'the most impossible love stories.'  He ultimately resigned himself to this situation; after all, he was devoted to his art."

Paul Gauguin, Clovis Sleeping, 1884, Van Gogh Museum. New to the collection.  

The label says that this is the first Gauguin impressionist painting in the museum. Vincent and his brother, Theo, collected Gauguins and given the "close, but complex friendship, which was all about artistic exchange," between the two artists,  Gauguin's work "has always been a focal point" of the collection.

This has a sad ending...Clovis was Gauguin's "apple of his father's eye" who was five when his father painted him sleeping.  In 1885 while the rest of the family stayed in Copenhagen, the father and son moved to Paris where they lived in poverty.  Gauguin wrote that "Clovis was 'very sweet and played all alone in his little corner without tormenting me.'"

To concentrate only on his art, Gauguin left Paris for Brittany in 1886, leaving Clovis behind in a boarding house with strangers when Clovis was only 7. Gauguin did not visit his son because, for one reason, he did not have money to pay the boarding house for Clovis's expenses. 

At age 21, in 1900 Clovis died of blood poisoning.  He had not seen his father in nine years, his father having left the continent for Tahiti in 1895.  Sounds rather like I'd imagine Gauguin to be:  self-centered and another "me! me! me! me!" personality. Read more about Clovis here.

Paul Gauguin, Clovis Sleeping, 1884, Van Gogh Museum.

Vincent van Gogh, View from Theo's Apartment, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. In Paris

Vincent van Gogh, In the Cafe: Agostina Segatori in Le Tambourin, 1887, Van Gogh Museum. Okay, some works are better known than others, like this one.  Agostina owned this café which Van Gogh frequented. A woman in a café was a popular subject for artists, the label says.

Vincent van Gogh, The Harvest, 1888, Van Gogh Museum. To Van Gogh, this work left him "very satisfied" and "absolutely surpassed all his other works from this period," according to the label. Around Arles. 

Vincent van Gogh, The Zouave, 1888, Van Gogh Museum. A Zouave was a French soldier stationed in North Africa.

Vincent van Gogh, Gauguin's Chair, 1888, Van Gogh Museum. The label says this "unusual painting...can be understood as a portrait of the artist."  Not long afterwards, the two artists "would quarrel fiercely and part ways."  Van Gogh painted his own chair in blue and yellow.

Vincent van Gogh, The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry, 1886, Van Gogh Museum.

Theo van Gogh's Cabinet, 1790-1800, Van Gogh Museum. This cabinet housed Vincent's brother's collection of prints and drawings, and later, Vincent's letters.  After her husband, Theo, died, Johanna "took it upon herself to order and organise (sic) all these letters so that they could be published," all of the correspondence now at the Van Gogh Museum/By Patricia Leslie

At the Potato Eaters, Van Gogh Museum/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Wheatfield under Thunderclouds, 1890, Van Gogh Museum, painted around Auvers during the last weeks of his life when, the label says, he tried to "express 'sadness, and extreme loneliness.'  The landscapes' effects on him were "'healthy' and 'invigorating.'"

Vincent van Gogh, Landscape at Twilight, 1890, Van Gogh Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Roots (detail), 1890, Van Gogh Museum. The morning of his death, Van Gogh worked on this, his last painting, the label says, which was left unfinished due to his suicide by firearm.  Although there is question regarding annoyances by neighborhood children and whether the artist did kill himself, the Van Gogh Museum states unequivocally that he died by suicide.

Moving on two days later to the Kröller-Müller Museum, did I say all the Van Goghs in the Netherlands were lesser-knowns?  Not the case! 

Above, the hand and arm of a guide points out A Cafe at Night, 1888 at the Kröller-Müller. The label says Van Gogh "set himself the difficult task of making a nocturnal painting without using black...one of the highlights of his oeuvre." Astronomical research confirms the accuracy of Van Gogh's sky, painted "precisely" what he saw on the night of September 16 or 17, 1888/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Girl in a Wood, 1882, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label says a gift from Theo permitted Vincent to purchase paints which did not require mixing, and he also bought a "perspective frame" which could be used to set up on uneven surfaces like here.  "It is very likely that he paints it [above] on his knees...[made evident by] the low perspective, but also because pieces of leaves...have become lodged in the paint." 

Vincent van Gogh, Cyresses with Two Figures, 1890, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label describes two women, which he added later, standing in a lovely landscape, but "the work is not about [them, according to the label], but about the row of trees behind them." Van Gogh wrote Theo: "'The cypresses still preoccupy me.'"  He gave this painting to the Parisian art critic, Albert Aurier, "the first to write enthusiastically" about Van Gogh's work.

 
Vincent van Gogh, Interior of a Restaurant, 1887, Kröller-Müller Museum. The insides of cafés, bars, restaurants made good subject for impressionistic artists, including Van Gogh who did not identify this establishment.  The label notes the high-hanging hat on the wall. Van Gogh didn't care too much for city life or its inhabitants (whom he called "decadent") and six months after finishing this, he left Paris for the quieter surroundings of southern France.

Vincent van Gogh, Patch of Grass (detail), 1887, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label notes the minute refinement of each part of the painting: "In the hands of Van Gogh, a piece of nature that is usually part of a larger whole thus becomes a subject in itself." The colors here do not adequately convey the richness of the green in the painting.

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait, 1887, Kröller-Müller Museum. The label says Vincent wrote to Theo: "'People say [...] that it's difficult to know oneself...but it's not easy to paint oneself either.''  Between 1886 and 1888, he painted about 25 mostly small self-portraits.  Since he didn't have much money to pay models, Vincent painted himself.  

Helene Kröller-Müller, the museum's founder, paid about 6,500 francs for this at an auction in Amsterdam which biographer Frederik Muller noted in 1919 was the only Van Gogh self-portrait in the collection. (She was one of the world's first Van Gogh collectors, who bought 15 Van Goghs when she visited Paris in 1912. The value today of 6,500 francs is about $7,340.)

Vincent van Gogh, Still Live with Straw Hat, 1881, Kröller-Müller Museum, one of the artist's first paintings.

Vincent van Gogh, Still Life with Jars, 1885, Kröller-Müller Museum.

Vincent van Gogh, Peasants Planting Potatoes, 1884, Kröller-Müller Museum. This was one of six renderings Van Gogh painted on commission for the dining room of amateur artist and goldsmith, Antoon Hermans. Initially, Van Gogh planned for two figures to be included in the work, but he added more people to please the buyer.  The label says:  "Van Gogh does not really manage to combine the figures into a whole."

A Van Gogh gallery, June 26, 2024 at the Kröller-Müller Museum with more room to enjoy art than found at the Amsterdam museum!/By Patricia Leslie

Vincent van Gogh, Path in the Park, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, The Green Vineyard, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, The Green Vineyard, (detail), 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Trunks with Ivy, 1889, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh, Tree Trunks with Ivy, (detail) 1889, Kröller-Müller Museum

Vincent van Gogh,View of Saintes-Marles-de-la- Mer, 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum.  In a stay of just a few days, Van Gogh completed nine drawings and a painting of the village on the Mediterranean, commenting how the sky and the sea changed colors.

Vincent van Gogh, Girl Peasant Women Digging Up Potatoes, 1885, Kröller-Müller Museum

The front of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, June 24, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

The rear and exit at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, June 24, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Lunch at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, June 24, 2024. Not the greatest but okay, I guess, for museum food. (Eat before or after you go.) The utensils were compostable. Yay! The prices were high/By Patricia Leslie

In the Netherlands they pronounce his name "Van Hoff," his popularity, never ceasing. 

The National Gallery in London has just announced its major fall exhibition, the  "once-in-a-century" Van Gogh show, Poets and Lovers, certain to attract thousands.

At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, even with timed entry, the crowds surge, overflowing from the city's enormous tourist numbers. (Buy tickets online before you visit! One cringes to think what the crowds would be like without timed entry, and photos here show the crowd on a Monday. Pre-covid annual numbers of visitors to the museum were about 2.2 million of whom 85% were international guests.)

Neither the museum nor the  Kröller-Müller Museum* about an hour southeast of Amsterdam in Otterlo, have many of the famous Van Goghs of which enthusiasts are familiar, and someone in my group complained that the famous Van Goghs were few and far between in the Netherlands. 

Who cares when there was so much new to see?

Many of his self-portraits hang on the walls in both places. Artists who could not afford to pay models often settled for themselves in the mirror.

Depending upon your source, estimates about the number of Van Gogh self-portraits vary between 32 and 36.

The Kröller-Müller Museum says it has "the world's finest Vincent van Gogh collection" with the world's second largest Van Gogh collection of 90 paintings and more than 180 drawings (not all hang simultaneously) while the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam  houses the world's largest Van Gogh collection, with more than 200 paintings (including Sunflowers, Almond Blossom, and The Potato Eaters), 500 drawings and almost all of his letters.   

 The Van Gogh Studio says its namesake turned out 900 paintings and many more drawings and sketches in his short art life of ten years (1880-1890. The Van Gogh Museum estimates 1,300 works on paper). At both museums, standing close to the works (most covered in unobtrusive glass), his massive brush strokes are striking.  (Unlike Washington's National Gallery of Art which has automated devices to warn visitors they stand too close, sound devices in the Netherlands are human.)  

Pictured above are Van Gogh works in the two museums which I found of special interest. 

* A woman from New York City on my trip told me the Kröller-Müller Museum was the chief reason she had joined the Road Scholar group because it was the only museum which she had not visited, wanting to spend hours. On that day she skipped lunch (of vast importance to the rest of us!) to swoon in the Kröller-Müller galleries.

The entire collection at the Van Gogh Museum may be accessed here: www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/search/collection.  Enjoy! 

patricialesli@gmail.com