In the flesh
4 thoughts about 6 paintings by 4 famous artists
Today, Sunday 22 June, 2014, I went to the Art Gallery of NSW to see In the flesh: Picasso, Bacon, Freud, Soutine. Today was the day I found out about it, and the last day of the show. Very surprising given the line up: Picasso, Bacon, Freud, Soutine. I’ve paid money to see Picasso and Bacon at the AGNSW recently, own several books about Freud, and although I didn’t know about Soutine until today, he adds a lot of depth to the stock.
The paintings, all on loan from the Lewis collection, were on show in the Lowy, Gonski Gallery, the small gallery at the North Western end of the ground floor. A very elegant gallery for six beautiful paintings. From the door clockwise:
Lucien Freud, Two men in the studio, 1987-89
Francis Bacon, Study from Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Velazquez, 1959
Pablo Picasso, Woman lying on a couch (Dora Maar), 1939
Chaim Soutine, Man in a red scarf, c.1921
Lucien Freud, And the bridegroom, 1993
Lucien Freud, Susie, 1988-89
First thought
This exhibition is amazing because of the feeling for people displayed in the paintings. Freud’s people are most definitely real, I think he cares about them, loves them, for more than their ability to show him flesh. (Writing this I’m sitting in the Sol LeWitt exhibition downstairs, is he the same way? does he love the people that perform his artworks, the unknown hand/s that scribbled across the length of the wall? I think so, yes.)
Picasso and Dora Maar are antagonists … at each other, he attempts to confine her within a neat foot, a red couch. The palette is hung up on a nail, the breast is bare, the trees shiver in the breeze outside the window. Picasso uses this passion and slices it up. Uses it quickly.
Soutine is fascinated by the man he is painting, but he is remote, other worldly, yours and mine.
Bacon’s person is a fear. A contorsion, a spasm on the smooth surface of the mind.
Second thought
The frames lend authenticity, validity, authority to the works. They impose. The frame about the Bacon is almost a cage, pegs in pairs sticking out. Around the Picasso the frame is flamboyant, baroque. Yes, frames matter.
Third thought
The body as architectural element: column, tomb figure, pilaster, gargoyle, face for a corner. These works are sculptural, they come across as space, as layers, not decoration. The curator notes that Leigh Bowery and Nicola Bateman are like tomb sculptures and that gets me thinking and comparing. Their bed is like the bed of the three kings in Autun. Later I look downstairs at Max Dupain’s photographs of Paris, inhabited with carved people, holding things up, drawing focus.
Fourth thought
These works all belong to the same collection. Amazing the idea of owning these works, what need does that fulfil? Possibly it relates to the third thought — the Bishop orders his tomb — type idea. If you are not having yourself painted, you are leaving a collection of works, people who represent your wealth, who you are. This idea makes me feel very uncomfortable.
bonus thought
Only two of the “sitters” were women, which is unusual, although perhaps not, if you look at who the artists are.
