Art in Review

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

EYE OF THE BEHOLDER: PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE COLLECTION OF RICHARD AVEDON
Pace/MacGill Gallery

Richard Avedon (1923–2004) was a star from the very beginning of his career as a fashion photographer, and this gave him early access to the money and colleagues that made it possible for him to acquire a brilliant collection of photographs. Of course, the fact that he was aesthetically curious, had an educated eye and a generous nature was equally important. “Eye of the Beholder: Photographs From the Collection of Richard Avedon,” currently at Pace/MacGill Gallery, presents 68 of the pictures that gave one accomplished artist pleasure, inspiration, and a sense of challenge from his peers — some long dead, some his friends.

In the early 1970s Diane Arbus sometimes spoke at a master class Avedon taught with Marvin Israel at the Avedon Studio. Always strapped for cash, Arbus put an enormous amount of time and her ferocious energy into “A Box of Ten Photographs,” which she hoped would earn her enough money to get by for a while. Only three boxes of these now classic pictures were sold. Avedon bought the first one, set 1/50, and Arbus was moved to make it “A Box of Eleven Photographs” by giving her friend, colleague, and patron an extra picture.

Peter Hujar was a student in those classes, and he remained friends with Avedon until Hujar’s death in 1987. There are seven of his photographs in “Eye of the Beholder,” two of them pictures of artist friends who were dying, “James Waring” (1975) and “Sydney Faulkner” (1981). Avedon’s own extended photo essay on his dying father was the body of work that established him as more than a fashion photographer, so he must have especially appreciated the dignity and sensitivity of Hujar’s pictures. “Butch and Buster” (1978) is something else, two cattle, a delightful picture expressing wonderment at the natural world.

There are two pictures by August Sander, “Philosopher (Professor Max Scheler)” (ca. 1925) and “Farm Girls” (ca. 1928). Did Avedon look at the latter and wonder, as I do, how Sander could make so attractive a picture of two such plain girls? There are “Mug Shots” (1929) by an unknown photographer, fascinating portraits of three women entangled with the law. And pictures by Irving Penn, Baron (if he was a real baron) Adolphe de Meyer, Julia Margaret Cameron, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jacques-Henri Lartigue and Nadar.

The nine albumen prints from glass negatives taken in the 1860s by Pierre-Louis Pierson of La Comtesse de Castiglione are a highlight of Avedon’s collection. The countess was considered the most beautiful woman of her day, the mistress of Emperor Napoléon III, and she loved to pose. In the famous “Scherzo di Follia” (1863–66), we see little except one eye as she peers through an oval picture frame: Are we looking at her, or is she staring at us?

— William Meyers

Until September 16 (32 E. 57th St., between Madison and Park avenues, 212-759-7999).

TOM UTTECH: RECENT PAINTINGS
Alexandre Gallery

Romantic visions of nature might seem old-fashioned these days, but Tom Uttech’s paintings continue to compel in his second show at Alexandre Gallery, opening Saturday. These 15 meticulous paintings of wooded swamps and lakeshores resonate with his peculiar mix of the proximate and the otherworldly. They contain no trace of humans, yet teem with life: tree trunks reaching to the skies, wolves roaming and blending with rocks, hundreds of birds saturating the air. All seem utterly self-possessed amid the riot of nature. When black bears rise up to stare at us, we feel like momentary, unexpected intruders.

The studied mysticism of these images recalls Casper David Friedrich, but Mr. Uttech’s attack is considerably less hermetic. Working from memory and imagination, he employs a vibrant palette — deep browns, pinks, aqua-blues, pale yellow — to animate the march of tree trunks before receding lakes and skies. Details often capture the weight of light: In the sunset scene “Nind Ogwissinam” (2006), stolid, khakigreen lily pads are neatly suspended upon a pond’s ethereal orange-pink; in “Bidaban” (2006), the mottled darks of a wolf stand out abruptly against a lake’s expansive yellow. (All titles derive from Ojibwe, a Native American language.) The largest relationships — of earth to trees and sky — don’t always achieve the same poignancy of color, but the mysteriousness accrues with each evocative, dream-like detail.

The striking, 10-foot-wide “Nin Mamoiame” (2006) dominates the gallery’s largest room. In the foreground, moss-covered banks become bold swaths of red and green. Foam curls delicately across the water lapping below, while slender strands of branches incise the sky above. The sumptuous tapestry of details suggests a nature-intoxicated Gustav Klimt.

Several small panels are adventuresome in other ways. In “Nin Baba Madaga” (2005), a blue-green ribbon winds around rocks and trees; an owl dives, echoing the aurora borealis draped in the sky. Is the ribbon a stream? Tiny fish seem to leap from its foremost section, but farther on it turns to an evanescent mist. Only occasionally in the exhibition does the mysteriousness turn coy —when, for instance, a bear or moose, hiding in brush, is seen only in a pond’s reflection.

Mr. Uttech fashions his own frames of rustic wood, applying twigs and painted dragons to them. But one hardly needs these cues. Standing in front of these images, the viewer is readily drawn in by their quirky, original intent.

— John Goodrich

Until October 21 (41 E. 57th St. at Madison Avenue, 212-755-2828).

ANNETTE MESSAGER: TO BRING INTO THE WORLDS
Marian Goodman Gallery

In her first exhibition in New York since 1997, Annette Messager presents two rooms of installations, one sculpture, and several framed works on paper.

One of Europe’s leading artists, who represented France in last year’s Venice Biennale, Ms. Messager is now into her third decade of exhibiting work. A long overdue first monograph is due out next month and a traveling retrospective of her work will begin in Paris next June.

In this new show, she enlists a broad range of materials, such as hand-painted silk, colored pencils, fishing nets, toy globes, and teddy bears. Taken out of their normal context, these elements are fragmented and reconfigured to create wondrous objects.

A thrillingly theatrical installation of organic silk forms, “Inflation; Deflation” (2006 ) is located in the dimly lit first room. It consists of more than two dozen lifesized, delicately colored forms, which appear to be schematic, childlike representations of body parts that inflate. Their electric motors emit a soothing breathy hum, while their rhythmic inflating and deflating produces liquid-like movement. Viewers are free to walk along the edge of the piece, allowing for discovery of combinations that range from the curious to the humorous. Skull, spleen, foot, and phallus slip and slide against forms representing viruses, germs, and cancers. The surprising placements suggest that the inside could meet the outside.

In the second and third rooms, several pieces — including a stuffed teddy bear that has been crudely bound and suspended like a prisoner, a spider-like form made from a 6-inch geographical globe and black string, and a 10-foot word spelled out in black fishing net — occupy the perimeter walls. On the floor, groupings of hand-made toy figures feature geographical globes for heads and bodies and have long colored pencils for Pinocchiolike noses. Two of these figures sit precariously upon a bolster, facing each other squarely. With their long noses aimed at each other like rifles, they seem caught in a private showdown.

— Jennifer Riley

Until October 13 (24 W. 57th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-977-7160).


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use