Containing 53 paintings and 21 works on paper, the show spans a decade when modern art movements were breaking out all over Europe Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada and De Stijl. To the east, Russia was no exception. The shows ambitious title introduces an immense subject that is beyond the resources of this small jewel-box museum. Russian Modernism conjures foremost the abstract purities of Suprematists like Kazimir Malevich and Constructivists like Vladimir Tatlin, tendencies of great originality built partly on ideas that flowed, mainly to Moscow, from other European capitals. The Russians, like the Germans, were especially attuned to French and Italian developments.
But the shows actual focus is narrow and not well known: an earlier expressive figuration that was especially close to German Expressionism and based on shared interests in raw color, direct paint handling and indigenous folk traditions. This focus is alluded to by the subtitle, Cross-Currents of German and Russian Art, best personified perhaps by Vasily Kandinsky, who lived in Germany from 1896 to 1914, where he became a founding member of the German Expressionist avant-garde group the Blaue Reiter in 1911, by which time he had one foot in abstraction.
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In the galleries, the first panel is even more specific. It identifies the show as the first major museum exhibition in the United States devoted primarily to modern figurative art by artists from Russian and Germany during the early years of the 20th century.
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With this in mind, it is then a bit confusing to reach the final gallery after sections devoted to urban scenes, still lifes, landscapes, nudes and portraits and find 14 abstract works by Malevich and Kandinsky, all but one on paper. While central to a larger modernist narrative, it feels like filler in this context, as if the shows figurative focus rich and unfamiliar as it may be suddenly sputtered out.
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That sputtering may reflect the limits of a small gene pool. All the German paintings, all the Malevich and Kandinsky works on paper and three Kandinsky paintings are either from the Neues collection or that of its founder, Ronald S. Lauder, whose loans are, as usual, listed as from a private collection. The rest of the Russian paintings some 39 are from Petr Aven, a Russian collector who has been buying seriously since 1994. According to the Neue, he owns around 500 works, four-fifths of which are early modernist figurative paintings.
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Excluding the final abstract display, the exhibition is an amorphous batch of figurative works that show some artists leading, others following and still others who seem almost oblivious to the Modernist quest. It challenges the viewer to sort through it all, separating good from not-so, progressive from rear-guard; savoring what youve seen before and assessing whats new. But it is at best a partial account.
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The Neue Galerie and the Lauder pictures are mostly German Expressionist masterpieces that have been exhibited repeatedly here, but still work their magic. Erich Heckels 1908 Bathers in a Pond lavishes broad green stripes and some red ones on the backs of two bathers, as if trumping Matisses more delicate use of discordant lines of green or blue down the noses in two well-known Fauvist portraits of women. Heckels effort is so brusquely painted that Abstract Expressionism might be just around the corner.
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A big street scene that Kandinsky painted in 1908 in Murnau, a Bavarian village, has been exhibited at the Neue about a dozen times. Still, it may jump out at you as never before from a yellow-green wall here, its image constructed from bright, energetic dabs of pure color. It certainly jumped for me, asserting itself as one of Kandinskys greatest, freest paintings, with a scale and abandon rivaling many of his abstractions. Nearby, Study for Improvisation 8, from Mr. Avens collection, shows Kandinsky the following year, already sniffing out abstraction with another village scene in which the street functions primarily as a big gold chevron that swoops into the picture from above.
Petr Konchalovsky's "The House of the Lover of Bullfights" (1910). Credit 2015 Petr Konchalovsky Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Pictoright Amsterdam, Petr Aven Collection
Many of the Russian pictures will be new to most viewers. Several are little-known works by the well-established Russian modernists Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova. Perhaps the most astounding of these is Goncharovas 1908-9 Sunflowers, a yellow-on-yellow still life that enlarges and blurs van Goghs most famous subject almost to the point of allover abstraction. Goncharovas talent seems big and restless here. At the same time as Sunflowers, she also paints Pond, a more complicated, realistic landscape, tinged with Matisses influence. Each in a different style, the five Goncharovas here cry out for an American retrospective and sooner, not later.
But most of the Russian paintings are by relative unknowns. The most convincing is Petr Konchalovsky (1876-1956), who is represented by eight paintings the most of any artist that show him vigorously working in styles inflected by Czanne and Fauvism as well as German Expressionism. They all impress, especially the Czanne-esque The House of the Lover of Bullfights and the more Fauvist The Lover of Bullfights, a portrait of a man whose face matches the broad red stripes of his shirt. Both of the works were made in 1910.
Other pictures from Mr. Avens collection include four by Aristarkh Lentulov that have a decidedly Futurist flavor. The exception is the charming Victorious Battle (Military Panel) from 1914, which is more a flattened patchwork of Cubism, traditional figuration and storybook illustration.
Several Russians represented by single paintings from Mr. Avens holdings provide memorable moments. Alexei von Jawlenskys 1912 Oberstdorf Mountains locks Expressionist color into a tight structure of black lines, but keeps its surface open with squiggly brushwork. Natan Altmans landscape pushes Czanne toward Futurism with spherical trees and clouds lined up like cannonballs. And Vladimir Bekhteevs Bathing, a seven-foot-wide giant, gentles down a forest stream and seven nymphs with mossy greens and grays. Bold in scale, assured in its synthesis of influences, the painting has a distinctive tapestrylike surface and an Edenic calm. It is some kind of masterpiece an Art Deco precursor perhaps especially for being made in 1910.
The Neue Galerie is trying to expand its purview and credibly link its concentration on German and Austrian modernism to related developments. One problem is that its depth lies in the Austrian achievement; it has too few German works. It has, for example, given only two German artists a monographic show, while it has given several to Austrian artists and designers, sometimes more than once. Put another way: Its hard to account for cross-currents by pitting only a dozen German pictures against more than 40 Russian ones.
It would help if the Neue, now almost 14 years old, were less collector-driven and mounted shows on subjects like this with more loans from public institutions. In the meantime, this exhibition is, flaws and all, an indispensable first look at Russian modernisms figurative beginnings. One suspects that the exhibitions organizer, Konstantin Akinsha, a curator and scholar in Russian modernism, has made the best of a challenging situation.
I am just getting into different styles from different parts of the world and a variety of artists and found this collection to be very intriguing.
My favorites are the house with the hill in the background and the military scene
Which do you like the best
Enjoy
Not really something I would have in my house Robert. I would have to say the military scene would be my favorite out of the bunch as well.
We've been collecting art of late and some sculpture.
My favorite (living) sculptor is Nano Lopez. We have picked up a couple of his bronzes which are nothing short of fun. Like all sculpture, it is so much better in person! Some of his pieces are huge. We have Lucy, and Bertha & Charlie. We enjoy them very much, and people that visit seem to really like looking at them as well.
Here is a link.
Not much there that I like, but one that I would pick is the military scene.
I really enjoyed looking at these! Since I can't draw a straight line, I reallyadmire artists!
FLY
Of late we have been buying (collecting is a stretch) art from local OH/PA/Western NY artists mostly rural scenes, bridges, sunsets etc - come for the house some for gifts.
Not much into sculpture - I have a friend in Sao Paulo that has sent us a few pieces of Brazilian tribal sculpture, the stories behind what the figures mean are more interesting to me than the pieces themselves.
Thanks for the feedback and thanks for the link (I will check Lopez out)
Kavika
Thanks for the feedback, my favorite as well.
Nona
Thanks for the perspective
I also am creatively challenged when it comes to art and appreciate and enjoy the works of those that can and do create beautiful pieces that tell a story.
I agree that if you going to compare influences then you need a better balance. but then again, it is the Neu period.
Not a big fan of either modern art or impressionism. (big Leroy Nieman fan though which is both modern and impressionistic, go figure)
The military battle one is good given the style, and I get some appreciation out of the fuzzy sunflowers. (definition is in the strokes rather than the lacking contrasts) The bloody face on the Bullfight watcher makes a statement, if that is what it is.
The Pond, a fishing scene isn't that bad either, but I've seen better.
Nice pics overall, but considering them masters? I don't know about that. JMHO.
Impressionism, as introduced by J.M.W.Turner certainly did impress me, but I'm not so sure about modern art.
Although I'm not drawn to this art style, I'll give thumbs up to the sunflowers. The military one is visually interesting as there is much going in there.
Never had or took the time in life to really "see" art, since we retired I've really enjoy going to different galleries.
RIO....you have been finding some of the best articles....Thank You!!
N M
Thanks for the feedback
There are pieces of different genres that I like very much and some that I hate
I like to look at beautiful things and that covers all aspects of the art world.
Buzz
Thanks for the feedback
Lynne
Now that we are retired, visiting museums and going to art, flower, vintage care shows has become part of our routine and I have come to enjoy art in many forms and various styles.
Thanks for the feedback
Nona
I am glad that others have enjoyed the articles that I find interesting
I enjoy sharing them and talking about them
Thanks for the feedback
I never realized how may different "styles" of at there are...quite interesting!!
Why do the sunflowers make me think of Van Gogh?
Could this be why?
RIO...No problem!!
An icon in sunflower paintings!
Sunflowers always make me smile!
Me too, it was our daughter's favorite flower.I see her beautiful face and smile whenever I see them....they just make me happy
Buzz
That is surely the reason
Sunflowers and Van Gogh are inextricably linked for all time
Indeed
Nona
You re right and the more different styles I see and study the more different styles I find that I enjoy and like.
There was a house a few blocks away from me where the people grew some gorgeous Sun Flowers of all different types...they were humongous!! For some reason, fo rthe last 2 years they haven't been growing them.....;-(
Have driven by fields of them that are planted and farmed, in the morning sun it'll take your breath away. They are majestic, bold, looking to the sky as a gentle breeze sways them in unison...a sight to behold.
I have never been past a field of Sunflowers, I can only imagine what a sight that must be.
I'm not welleducated onart, but I know what I like when I see it.....
Nona
Exactly as a I describe myself
Exactly, there are many new "styles" of art today.
R W
Good point and I also sometimes find the message a little easier to follow in more modern interpretations, not all but some
Like you and Nona - I like what I like and go and see new styles whenever I get the chance.
R W
The reason a trip to a new museum takes all day or two days sometimes is that my bride and I are fans of a little of this and a little of that and sometimes all of this and that.
I can be content to sit an look at a great piece of art in silence, she likes to discuss the meaning and point of the piece
We also tend to like different aspects of a picture or different pictures so our trips are never dull
Good RIO ! My Tzio (Uncle) is an artist, and I really like his style..
He is into all kinds of artistic things. (or was, he's 85 y/o now)
I am drawn more to the simplistic artists. Me too, and I LOVE pastels!
Nona
A picture and or a style can be very simple and basic and still be very beautiful
I have seen some pictures done in pastels that are stunning, but some charcoals that were just as beautiful and appealing
As has been said above - in the eyes of the beholder lies the beauty
Exactly..... my Tzio also did charcoal that is absolutely stunning...
How awful...I was just about to ask you if you had any of his worl.
I like the military scene the best-- but I have to admit that modernism isn't really what I like best. These are interesting, but the stuff of nightmares, to me!
I don't think I could handle that self portrait in my house-- that guy would haunt me!
I have never seen a sunflower here, but I did in Canada. However, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil are plentiful.