'Rearranging the real world'
Posted on Friday, October 3, 2008
Photograph contributed by Crystal Bridges Bumpei Usui ‘ Still Life: Kuniyoshi’s Studio, ’ 1930 Oil on canvas 50 inches by 32 inches
BENTONVILLE — Those attempting to get their art fix before the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art — an institution Mayor Bob Mc-Caslin has referred to on several occasions as “ the biggest thing to happen to Bentonville since Wal-Mart ” — have been busy Googling the names of Gerardus Duyckinck, Charles Willson Peale and Asher B. Durand.
These, after all, are the creators of several of the most prominent pieces announced as part of the permanent Crystal Bridges collection. With artwork from as early as 1735 into the very early 1900 s, those pieces served as an initial taste of what to expect. On Thursday, Crystal Bridges administration and curatorial staff blew the doors wide open, announcing five pieces of modern art from its permanent collection, created by some of the earliest and most influential artists of the modern movement in the United States.
Now, those salivating for more as Crystal Bridges is erected in northeast Bentonville have the names of Lyonel Feininger, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Stuart Davis, Romare Bearden and Bumpei Usui to start chewing on. With that, Crystal Bridges has begun to provide a feel for just how complete and diverse a collection museum founder Alice Walton has been assembling.
“ All of these artists we’re talking about here today are moving away from realism, ” Crystal Bridges Chief Curator Chris Crossman said. “ They’re rearranging the real world. ”
“ We’re presenting art in an honest context — a complete context, ” Crystal Bridges Executive Director Bob Workman said, “ even the darker side. Museums are the number one source of truth in the United States. We have a responsibility to be the custodians of this heritage. ”
The serving dished up Thursday began with Feininger’s “ Schlossgasse, ” an oil painting created in 1915. Feininger was born in New York and spent considerable time in Germany. His work — “ Schlossgasse” in particular — represents a very early and classic example of modernism.
Stuart Davis’ “ Still Life With Flowers, ” an oil painting created in 1930, ventures further down the road of abstraction. Realism is left behind as the vase and flowers are interpreted more along the lines of a musical composition by Duke Ellington or another jazz great of the day.
“ He was a great fan of contemporary jazz, and it shows, ” Crossman said. “ These are very complex, and that was very intentional. Davis never uses total abstraction, but kind of defines modernism. His work is in nearly every major collection in the country. ”
While several pieces from Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection are on loan to museums around the world, Davis’ “ Still Life With Flowers” is currently on display at the St. Louis Art Museum, just 340 miles away. “ Still Life With Flowers, ” which was part of a canceled exhibition in Eastern Europe immediately following World War II and was most recently on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, is on loan to the St. Louis museum for one year.
Kuniyoshi’s “ Little Joe With Cow, ” an oil painting dating back to 1923, represents the early distortion of space and figures in American art. This Japanese-American artist was among the leaders of his time, and his work has been highly sought after since being rediscovered in Japan in the 1980 s. According to Workman, about 95 percent of Kuniyoshi’s work resides in Japan. So acquiring “ Little Joe With Cows” — one of Kuniyoshi’s largest and most important pieces — from a private collection in Japan marks a significant accomplishment for Crystal Bridges.
One consistent theme in Kuniyoshi’s work is the cow, a figure he became obsessed with early in his career. During his research of Kuniyoshi, Crossman came across a quote from the late artist that explained this fascination: “ I thought it was decorative as well as ugly, and so I painted cows constantly until I was exhausted. The horse is a splendid animal, but the cow is irregular. You can make more out of it. ”
Usui and his “ Still Life: Kuniyoshi’s Studio, ” a 1930 oil on canvas, may not hold as prominent a place in American art history, but the piece and its creator certainly have an Arkansas connection. The story behind Usui, a name Crossman admits he isn’t sure how to pronounce, is just starting to come to light after exhaustive research.
In addition to Usui being friends with Kuniyoshi — an explanation for the subject matter in “ Still Life: Kuniyoshi’s Studio” — Crossman discovered Usui was an artist placed in an internment camp in Arkansas during World War II. Crossman believes Usui was placed in a camp in either Jerome or Rohwer, Ark., and taught art to others there.
Bearden and his gouache painting “ Sacrifice, ” created in 1941, on the other hand, serve as very recognizable pieces in the history of American art.
“ Bearden is an early African-American artist, ” Workman explained. “ There just are not a lot of African-American artists in the cannon of American art. ”
Born in Charlotte, N. C., Bearden and his family moved to New York City to escape the Jim Crow laws in the South. A graduate of Lincoln University in Philadelphia, Bearden focused on drawing early in his career but became known for his painting during the modern movement. His style, as exhibited in “ Sacrifice, ” embraced movement, color and the abstraction of figure. “ Sacrifice” and several of Bearden’s other works often draw comparisons to the likes of Pablo Picasso, one of the most widely recognized figures in the world of art.
And that’s just a taste of those artists’ stories and what’s to come, Workman said.
“ This opens the door to a volume of announcements that will dwarf what has already been announced, ” Workman said.
The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is scheduled to open in 2010.
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