Delicate Dig --- Day 9/322

Walk: 1. Union Square

Distance: 1. just a mile

Another 'home movie,' The Dig.  Ciwt thinks not bad because of the excellent acting and cinematography, but kind of a mess and thus a disappointment because it concerns one of the most important archealogical finds in English history. Still nice to learn a little, see the great Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan and to go to the flicks on a rainy day.

Some Show Favorites: Picasso --- Day 9/321

Walk: Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 2.5 miles, 90 minutes pickle

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le Taureau, December 1945- January 1946, lithograph, wash, pen, scrapings on stone, printed on paper, 11 states

This series of lithographs is iconic, perhaps his most famous.  But Ciwt never tires of seeing the way Picasso takes The Bull, so close to the Spaniard artist's heart and identity, from a fully traditional ink drawing to its essence, as concise as a cave drawing.  Each state with its own character, but still the same bull.  For those who doubt or have forgotten Picasso's genius, Ciwt says Look Here.

She's also fascinated by the story told on the Norton Simon Museum site about the conditions under which Le Taureau and others of Picasso's highly original and accomplished lithographs were printed:  

 On Nov. 2, 1945, with France still under a provisional government and groceries still rationed in Paris, Picasso walked into the Mourlot Frères print shop in the rue de Chabrol. “He arrived as though he were going to battle,” the firm’s director, Fernand Mourlot, later recalled, and indeed the demands Picasso would place on Mourlot’s master printers were without precedent. He had produced only a few dozen lithographs in the 1910s and 1920s—all more or less conventional in their approach—but the designs he brought to Mourlot’s shop were far more daring, incorporating grattage, collage and mixed media. “How could anyone possibly print from that?” demanded Gaston Tutin, one of Mourlot’s master printers, calling the artist’s disregard for proper lithographic technique “a monstrosity.” But, cajoling his reluctant collaborators, Picasso swiftly and decisively transformed the practice of lithography, producing 185 plates over the next three years and more than 400 by the end of the 1960s.

Pablo Picasso, Femme, June 8, 1946, oil on plywood

Such a dear painting. Sometimes Ciwt forgets the way Picasso can somehow use hard lines and geometric forms to capture utterly the tender softness of love. 

Some Show Favorites: Calder --- Day 9/320

Walk: 1. Presidio Pickleball  2. Sunday stroll

Distance: 1. 2.5 miles, 90 minutes pickle  2. 2.5 miles, yoga

Alexander Calder (1898-1976), Scarlet Digitals, 1945, sheet metal, wire, paint

detail

It's hard for Ciwt to settle on favorites in the visually alive and pleasing Calder-Picasso show currently at the de Young.  All Calder's mobiles float like gently captivating happy clouds.  This unexpected little flower or bird or playful fingers waving winked at her on the way by, so she is choosing it.   

The signage for Scarlet Digitals is also her choice to illustrate the ongoing (and unhelpful) 'art speak' throughout the show:  "...set in motion, this sculpture expands the implied spacial volumes encompassed by its projecting and rotating elements..." Did that excerpt help you to enjoy the work more?  Or did it detract, like it did for Ciwt?  Every piece in the show is very able to speak for itself.

Alexander Calder, La Grande vitesse (1:5 intermediate maquette), 1969, sheet metal, bolts, paint

At the end of his career Calder focused on large scale public sculpture.  You've probably seen several of them them.  They brighten up life in such places as Chicago, Montreal, M.I.T.,  JFK Airport and numerous other places around the world.  This one is one fifth the size of the final sculpture in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Ciwt thinks it is quite adorable at the end of the gallery where it is shown.

Many of Calder's sculptures are red.  She's never known why and enjoyed reading what Calder had to say about his use of the color: "...It's really just for differentiation, but I love red so much that I almost like to paint everything red."   (So the show signage isn't all bad; there are some great quotes by the artists themselves as well as other cultural luninaries).

Quiz Answer --- Day 9/319

Walk: Moscone Center (for last covid shot) 

Distance: 2.5 miles

Three metal sculptures by Calder and Picasso

So, back to Ciwt's quiz  about the three metal sculptures above (Day 9/319).  If you answered that the middle one was created by Picasso and the two on the ends by Calder, you are CORRECT🏆.

It is interesting to Ciwt that the two artists' very different temperments seem to influence the look and feel of their works.  Alexander Calder (American 1898-1976) was by nature joyful, mirthful, playful, outer directed, a rare happy artist*.  And these qualities suffuse all his art, including the two works below, both from 1927 when he was living in and enchanting Paris.

Alexander Calder,Ballplayer, 1927, wire
 ca 8" x 8" 

Alexander Calder, Acrobats, 1927, wire

ca 10" x 10"

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973) was complex: by turns genial, ego-centric, mercurial, playful, ferocious, cruel.  Above all probably, intensely bound up in himself, much like the little work below.

Pablo Picasso, Figure, 1931, iron and wire, ca .5"x 3"

* See CIWT Day 9/260, Yes Happy Artist

Brimming With Freshness --- Day 9/318

Walk: Hood

Distance: 2.5 miles

The Calder-Picasso show at the de Young is a visual delight.  The works on display look great individually and together coalesce into a magical environment.

Calder's fly along, bobbing on shaped delicate wires, delighting with primary colors in graceful, unpredictable motion.  Picasso's are strong, passionate, earthy, focussed on the inner self.  They look as if he stepped up to his easel and let his passions rip.  But, not at all.  All of Picasso's works started classically: with study of the great artists in museums, knowledge of classic themes throughout history and countless preliminary drawings. 

The show takes viewers back to the early and mid twentieth century when both Calder and Picasso did their most revolutionary - and freshest - work. One of Ciwt's favorite art eras so she thoroughly enjoyed feeling close to those artistically alive times.  To her mind the show's signage is too much technical 'art speak' trying to convey how radical the works were when they were first introduced.  To really get that shock of the new Ciwt wishes she could have seen the exhibit at its original venue, The Picasso Museum in Paris:

P-C: A Fresh Spin --- Day 9/317

Walk: de Young Museum (Calder-Picasso Show)

Distance: 7.3 miles, Yoga Stretch

Sculpted artworks by Alexander Caldwell and Pablo Picasso Ca 1930's

So the de Young Museum just re-opened this morning along with its new show, Calder-Picasso, and Ciwt had both almost entirely to herself.  It was her idea of heaven - Calder, Picasso, Ciwt alone together.  

She's letting the experience sink in a bit but will leave her readers with a question today:  In the photo above, can you guess which work is Calder's and which is Picasso's?

All Day Picasso --- Day 9/316

Walk: Hood, Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 5.5 miles, 90 minutes pickleball, stretches here and there



Pablo Picasso, Autoportrait, 1907

So, we just learned that, as of tomorrow, San Francisco is open again (sort of)* .  That includes our museums (sort of) and definitely Ciwt.  As luck would have it, there is a small donor opening for the Picasso-Calder show in the morning as well as a ZoomYale Art lecture on Picasso later in the afternoon.  So tomorrow will be All Picasso All Day for Ciwt.  Stay tuned - away if you are not a Picasso fan.

* Doors are open to many venues with definite restrictions about the number of people allowed in - and of course masks and spacing required.

March Begins --- Day 9/315

Walk: Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 2.4 miles, 1 hour pickle

Well, Okay, MARCH, take it away!