The Best of the Best
New York, NY, November 30th – The giveaway of excellence in this exhibition is the name of the museum itself: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Containing some of the finest example of art in the word, the Met is home to massive galleries spanning numerous time periods, genres, and styles. So, when the museum directors decided to do a special exhibition on Abstract Impressionist Drawings of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, they did it right. Assembled are the biggest names of the period: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and David Smith, among others.
The pieces were selected as the most rare, most famous, and haphazardly, most fragile, of the period. The focus was on technique and innovation, showcasing the artists’ most visionary works. This is accentuated by the bleak, simple surroundings they are placed in, a dramatic difference to the grandeur that is the Met. As you enter into the chambers of the gallery, you are greeted by smaller, more personal pieces rather than the dramatic works that were to come. Weaving through the hallways, you finally reach the pinnacle of the show – the big guys. Immediately, I was struck by Jackson Pollock’s Number 28, 1950, a colossal painting of splattered media. Behind this is the wonderful Elegy to the Spanish Republic (No. 35), 1954-58 by Robert Motherwell, a meaningful portrayal of the infiltration of the Spanish Republic by Franco. Another highlight was Mark Rothko’s No. 3 (1953), a fantastic portrayal of his signature overlapping style. Dotting the center of the floor were impressionist sculptures, adding depth to the definition of Abstract Impressionism and extending it past paintings. David Smith’s Song of the Landscape, 1950 was one of these eclectic works of bronze and iron, a complete departure from La Crainte des Traits de l’Amour (1739–40) by Jean-Louis Lemoyne just a few yards away.
But, what makes this exhibit so special for me wasn’t the intimidating list of artists present or the works that were on display. What did it for me was how the show communicated what abstract impressionism really is. At its core, impressionism stands for the release of emotion through some art form that reflects the artist. Emotions of this kind pour out from the works and mesmerize the viewer, posing questions to them and arousing rebellion. When I looked at each of these pieces, I saw slices of the artists’ minds on the canvases, introspections into how they think. This is a huge accomplishment – one that the impressionists themselves would be most pleased with.
December 28th, 2007 at 12:13 am
I agree with Angelo about how these artworks were a step into the passageway of the minds and hearts of these great artists. These artworks evoked emotions in the viewer that I believe the artist was feeling when he created the work. Also, as someone enters the exhibit, he is slowly captured by abstract expressionism. It begins with the more simple smaller artworks and then evolves to the larger and more complex artworks.