Rocky Steps To The Philadelphia Museum of Art

I've not yet seen the film "Creed" for which Sylvester Stallone is an Oscar nominee.

But I have seen the movie's final scene, which has one of the best closing lines of any recent feature release. For this writer, it's actually the second or third to the last line that's perfect, but who's counting?  

For the uninitiated, like the original "Rocky" released 40 years ago, "Creed" (the former's sixth sequel) features Philadelphia, a city I had, until recently, only experienced from an Amtrak seat in 1994, an Interstate drive en route to New York in '96, and a flight connection to Stamford, Conn., in 2009. 

As mentioned on a previous post, this month finally provided time to explore the City of Brotherly Love following some work travel to the Keystone State. 

Though it was not the only destination on my Philly wish list, the outstanding Philadelphia Museum of Art is probably my favorite. 

Like its peer museums the Chicago Art Institute, The Met in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and The Getty in L.A., the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a massive, historic structure filled with treasures (more than 225,000 in its collections) -- I was on campus for nearly five hours and only experienced half of its main building! 

But before describing the richness within its galleries or other nearby museum-managed venues, a few notes on the approach. 

My trek to the museum was blessed with good weather on a sunny Saturday morning. If time permits and a clear sky is forecast, arrival at the Philadelphia Museum of Art by foot may be the best approach. Given the chance again, my choice in the future may be to hike from the city center to the museum, which sits prominently atop its own hill. 

In my case, I set an Uber driver on a course from my hotel (the fine Club Quarters) to the three-way corner of 23rd Street, Spring Garden and Pennsylvania Ave., then walked a few blocks to the lawns along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at the foot of the museum's famous "Rocky Steps." 

Three things surprised me facing the Philadelphia Museum of Art. First, there is a bronze statue of Sylvester Stallone. Second, that statue is now on view at the base of the steps the actor made famous (more specifically, folks lined up to hold up their fists in victory to the right side or eastern corner of the museum grounds). And third, though not entirely surprising, there were a lot of people running up the ascent to the museum plaza's spectacular views into downtown. 

Like hailing a cab in New York, sampling toasted ravioli in St. Louis or wading in the Malibu surf, every American should at least once take their jog up these steps. And, yes, plenty of folks had Bill Conti's Oscar nominated theme song "Gonna Fly Now" playing on their phones.

Inside the museum, prepared to be amazed.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art's enormous Great Stair Hall atrium provides a glimpse of what it may have been like to stand inside the Parthenon in its Athens heyday.

Dozens of marble steps, soaring ceilings, and giant columns frame a 14-foot sculpture titled "Diana." I learned later, this work was originally a weather vane atop Madison Square Garden.

Alexander Calder's monumental mobile "Ghost" dangles from above, with its curved metal taking aim like the archery bow in Diana's grasp.

Acknowledging my schedule would not permit a race through every single gallery, I focused on the Modern and Contemporary Art galleries, the American Art section and on a search for every Georgia O'Keeffe on view.

The very first painting to greet my eyes featured hometown Philly and American hero Benjamin Franklin and his shocking discovery of electricity.

This small canvas was familiar as it appeared on a U.S. postage stamp collected in youthful philately days.

I was impressed by the giant canvas "The Gross Clinic" and the similar, latter painting 'The Agnew Clinic" by Philadelphia's own Thomas Eakins.

These paintings vividly depict surgeries in progress, and they are so real as to induce a wince and cringe by me (just like a female covering her eyes in "The Gross Clinic").

Eakins also created the Stallone-free boxing scene "Between Rounds" that took me back to portraits by N.C. Wyeth viewed two days earlier at the Brandywine River Museum of Art.

Like the Wyeths, Eakin's boxing figures may have inspired Texas-based contemporary artist Bart Forbes' creations featuring Olympic athletes playing their sports.

An unusually moving find was an in-gallery fireplace, mantle and door, which I mistook for a Frank Lloyd Wright but turned out to be a hearth and entry created by Philadelphia-born designer turned sculptor Wharton Esherick. This guy carved the handles, trim and everything surrounding the hearth -- beautiful woodworking.

Across the museum in Gallery 50, a single room houses a collection of Modern American Landscapes, where three outstanding O'Keeffes jump off the wall.

From the playbook of Slow Art Day, I must have spent 10 minutes studying "Red Hills and Bones" and its skeletal spine, then the artist's "Birch and Pine Tree No. 1" with its forest green foliage and ghostly white trunks, and finally "Red and Orange Streak," an early abstract reminiscent of arriving late to a sunset.

If the gallery walls could talk visitors would mingle with voices from Stuart Davis, Charles Sheeler, Arthur Garfield Dove, Marsden Hartley and Francis H. Criss, all artists I had previously seen but seldom explored (this museum visit and their works in this collection inspired further study of each).

Almost every room of the Modern and Contemporary Art wing featured multiple showstopping works. Salvador Dali's "Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)" is somber yet filled with rich details not previously known from books on the artist (yes, I was a bean counter).

Rene Magritte's "The Six Elements," Jackson Pollock's "No. 22" and Picasso's "Woman and Children" each had small groups of visitors in queue for a closer look, and spotting a blond woman painted by Roy Litchtenstein felt like running into an old friend.

My favorite room at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (so far) is filled with several works by Jasper Johns spanning his career.

Imagine this blogger's delight in finding the most colorful work in the room -- "Painting With Two Balls" -- actually includes a 1960 winter Olympic article as part of the artist's collage!

From what I can tell, this five-ringed headline was ripped from a small town newspaper and perhaps only by accident the artist did not paint broad strokes of color over its black, white and read all over lettering.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp completing "Etant donnes," a closet-sized mixed media piece viewed through peep holes on a wooden door.

The work, created in secret during a 20 year span (1946 to 1966), gives the viewer more than a wink from the artist and his Brazilian lover who served as a model for its life size female nude figure.

The gas lamp she holds aloft slightly evokes an Olympic torch, but I must admit my eyes focused more elsewhere ... on the waterfall.

Yeah, that's it. I focused on the waterfall. See it there to the right of the gas lamp? Of course that's where most eyes naturally wander while gazing upon Duchamp's work.

Since the journey to the museum I've been kicking myself for sleeping in at the hotel and booking an afternoon versus evening flight home -- could have used several more hours on site.

I also regret missing the two Diego Rivera works in the Grand Stair Hall, but these creations, another O'Keeffe (and a Howard Finster) not on display, and the entire second floor of the museum -- as well as the other nearby museum buildings (including the Rodin Museum) -- give multiple reasons for a return to Philly soon.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Two's Company At The Dalí Museum

For those who love Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso as much as this blogger, the time is now to book a flight or plan a road trip to St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Dalí Museum in The Sunshine City recently opened a new blockbuster exhibition "Picasso/Dalí, Dalí/Picasso" which was well worth a special day trip across Florida while in Orlando for work.

I likely would have driven from Atlanta for this one -- spectacular!

Featuring an assemblage of more than 90 items from 20 international museums and private collections, the Picasso:Dalí exhibition showcases how the two artists -- professional acquaintances and mutual admirers for 30+ years -- found inspiration or potential influence in each other's work.

The exhibition gallery entrance welcomes visitors with a pair of black and white photograph portraits of the artists, setting the tone for several side-by-side canvas (or other object) placements, as pleasant for the eyes as a expertly paired wine and charcuterie plate for the palate.

Since photography is not allowed in the galleries, many of the images (some paired, most not) in this post are corralled from the Internet or the 250-page full-color exhibition catalog (a good read).

For instance, both artists created depictions of female nudes bathing at the sea, motherly women in profile, self-portraits (and many images of their patrons), still-lifes, Spanish Civil War symbolism and influential women such as their wives and, in Dalí's case, his sister, whose double image gazes like a playing card.

I found the paired-for-comparison works as home runs around every corner of the third floor presentation. Also enjoyed reading Salvador's "Dalí News" newspaper with screaming headlines and reference to his own portrait of Picasso.

Several other publication samples -- original magazine features, exhibition programs and books -- are showcased throughout the exhibition. There are numerous drawings by both masters, once again mirroring themes.

A few items in the exhibition resonated as "stand alone" items for either artist. Picasso's "Minotauromachy" (a 1934 etching from the Museum of Modern Art) and the extra large canvas "Las Meninas" (from Museo Picasso) are favorites.

I later learned this enormous canvas is one of 58 created by the artist as influenced by the original by Diego Velázquez.

This colorful version, with a dog like figure in its foreground, also reminds me of a fourth Spanish artist, Javier Mariscal, and his creation "COBI" as mascot for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (to what extent was Mariscal influenced by these works, I now wonder).

The Dalí "Portrait of Pablo" stunned me as did his "Profanation of the Host."

But the biggest Salvador surprise was the pre-surrealism "Venus and Cupids" (1925) with its conch-holding bather.

His enormous "Neo-Cubist Academy" may leave some chirping, "Hey, Sailor!"

In addition to "Picasso/Dalí, Dalí/Picasso" the museum offers a dazzling array of permanent collection works, splendid architectural features (a sky-lit spiral staircase of three levels), outdoor sculpture (including a "melting" bench with droopy clock) and flora reminiscent of Catalonia.

In the collection gallery I spent a lot of time studying each item on view before snapping a collage of close-up photos (some posted below). This was the first time to find so many Dalí watercolors in one place.

Though my eyes soaked in most of the currently-mounted paintings on a previous visit to St. Pete, and again when the museum loaned many items to Atlanta's High Museum of Art for "Dalí: The Late Work" (reviewed in two prior posts), I loved getting reacquainted with several favorites while learning about a few new-to-me paintings.

The massive "Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid" with its surreal take on the discovery of DNA is a stunner. In spite of the museum and artist interpretation, it appeared to me more of an artistic
commentary on nuclear energy with "God" taking the form of a mushroom cloud extended before the gaze of Madonna (portrayed by Dalí's wife, Gala).

Love the Minute Men-like molecules with a rifle bead on one another. Reminded me of an all-time great with a family back story, also on view.

Please accept this strong recommendation to trek to The Dalí Museum in time for the current special exhibition on view through Feb. 16, 2015. Enjoy!

Images via The Dalí Museum, the "Picasso/Dalí, Dalí Picasso" catalog and numerous image sites including WikiArt, this site, this site , this one, that one and one more here. Selfie and outdoor images of The Dalí Museum by Nicholas Wolaver. All images are copyrighted and presented for reference only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roy Lichtenstein's "Girl With Ball" Bounces to ATL with 163 Other Works at High Museum of Art

During the summer of 2012, the Chicago Art Institute debuted the outstanding "Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective" exhibition set to open at the National Gallery of Art next week.

I'm guessing the curators of that exhibition were slightly miffed the Museum of Modern Art's iconic Lichtenstein canvas "Girl With Ball" was already booked for its High Museum of Art premiere in Midtown Atlanta.

Through some freelance P.R. work at the High these last few days, it was a privilege to experience "Girl With Ball" in the museum's new exhibition "Fast Forward: Modern Moments 1913>>2013" through a media preview event held this week. What a treat!

Curated by Michael Rooks with co-curators Jodi Hauptman and Samantha Friedman of MoMA, "Fast Forward" features 164 works by 105 artists including some of my all-time favorites: Salvador Dali, Lichtenstein, Jenny Holzer among them. And there are some works easily recognized from past treks to MoMA, such as "Chief" by Franz Kline. The works including painting, sculpture, photography, film and other media appear centered around key historic dates of the last 100 years.

But what's to love most about "Fast Forward" are the surprises around several corners of the exhibition space. Upon exiting the museum elevators, the first right turn reveals "Unique Forms In Continuity," a gorgeous three-foot bronze statue of a figure in motion evocative of the lyrics to "Against The Wind" by Bob Seger. I love this Umberto Boccioni sculpture, and it's only made better positioned racing toward about a dozen Soviet propaganda posters that make it seem "the walls have eyes" (be sure to view the feature film from 1929 projected among these framed U.S.S.R. works).

Dali's miniature canvas "Illumined Pleasures" -- complete with a self-portrait of the artist's decapitated head, tiny insects and even tinier cyclists -- is displayed just steps from where Dali's "Persistence Of Memory" dazzled High visitors two years ago (also on loan from MoMA), and facing the currently displayed work is a beautiful canvas by Gerald Murphy showcasing an enormous wasp and sliced pear.

The next corner reveals the large and bug-like Kline work inspired by the artist's childhood memories of a locomotive. Moving fast forward another decade, the next corner brings the "Girl With Ball" into view flanked by an Andy Warhol canvas.

With stops in key years of the last century, wall texts describe how then-current events may have influenced the artists and their contemporaries. Another decade-to-decade action -- the evolution of transportation -- is subtly revealed as more vehicles, including a crushed car, take the stage. A three-dimensional untitled work by Lee Bentecou jumps out of the wall as though a fighter jet engine is backing into the museum. "The Chariot" by Alberto Giacometti is a must-see vehicular piece. Shapshots taken from within cars of the mid-century reveal modern moments of days gone by.

I loved locating two matching Jenny Holzer pieces (rubbings from her carved marble benches?) as "Fast Forward" rolled into the 1980s.

And this was the first time my eyes met a Jeff Koons work, a life-sized porcelain of a topless blond woman embracing the Pink Panther. Interesting.

Then the cavalcade of modern moments moves again, one last time to 2012-13 with an immersive floor-to-ceiling, half-room-sized new commission by artist Sarah Sze that must be seen to be believed (sort of a twist on Damien Hirst's creations featuring hundreds or thousands of the similar items on display in a single work). If you're into seek-and-find, try to locate Sze's plane ticket to Atlanta as part of this space-specific creation.

"Fast Forward" is on display at the High now through January 2013, by which time we will all fast forward to the highly anticipated exhibition "Frida & Diego" bringing together the Mexico artists/spouses Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Until, then, "Fast Forward" is an excellent option for an afternoon of art exploration in Midtown Atlanta.

Photos via the High, MoMA and select exhibition photos by Nicholas Wolaver