Raqib Shaw’s Paradise Lost at Art Institute of Chicago

 

 “Paradise Lost” is an immersive experience through the psyche of Raqib Shaw ( b. 1974,  Calcutta, India). One man’s mind is the entire focus of a theme park a hundred feet long and twelve feet high

In detail, it’s a collage of many landscapes, florals, animals, human/animal hybrids, yet only  one person.

Form and space collapse into the high energy of the collage, so the piece looks  better if they’re not even noticed. The effect is morbid - like dead flesh consumed by colorful blooms of fungus. Revolting and fascinating at the same time.  Though the piece is 1200 square feet, pixelated  dots of enamel have been applied with a porcupine quill. It’s the overstuffed horror vacui of Victorian decor.

Yet there is a colorful , dramatic flair to many of the areas.  This is dramatic self glorification on a grand scale.  Sometimes it’s gorgeous, but overall it’s Hellish.  This is, after all, a “Paradise Losr”, not a paradise. Whatever complexity may have been put into the narrative, it’s anchored in the pain of Raqib’s existance. I’ll be looking away the next time I have to walk through Gunuslaus Hall.

Elizabeth Catlett - A Black Revolutionary Artist

A review of Elizabeth Catlett - A Black Revolutionary Artist

at the Art Institute of Chicago

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Political Prisoner,   1971

Though wealth may still buy a seat on its governing board, the Art Institute of Chicago has recently been a platform for the radical social justice ideology of academia.  Exhibitions of rightwing propaganda are inconceivable, while this is the second explicitly “woke” exhibition  this year. Indeed, the defiant prisoner shown above wears the Pan African flag that represents the theme of last winter’s exhibit.

Gallery signage tells us :

Political Prisoner draws inspiration from newswire photographs of activist Angela Davis' arrest in 1970, but represents a universal figure. As Catlett explained for this sculpture “What I feel strongest about now are the Black people in prisons. . Not just Angela Davis, but all the political prisoners"

As you may recall, Professor Davis was arrested for buying the weapons used in a courtroom assault that left the judge and two others dead. Just as with the January 6 rioters - her motivation may have been political, but the crime for which she was arrested  (and later acquitted) was a crime regardless.

Homage to the Black Panthers, 1970

Likewise,  she valorized the Black Panthers among other prints made on behalf of Black Power.  The automatic rifle at the bottom glorifies violent insurrection.

Accordingly, Elizabeth Catlett called herself a "black revolutionary artist"  - the title of this exhibition - but her work appears much more tame.  Rather than a call to arms,  the above is more like a dirge for Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, made two years after they were shot  -  just as  most of her other prints show compassion for the poor and downtrodden. They call for an army of social workers not soldiers.  Catlett’s parents were educated educators.  Her sculptures were made for middle class homes.  Tom Wolfe’s phrase, “radical  chic” might better apply to her political activism.

Homage to my Young Black Sisters, 1968

One thing to remember about Catlett’s career, before she became a professional artist, she was a school teacher - and probably a very good one.   No  excuse of any kind was acceptable for poor performance -  reflecting confidence in the future rather than despair about the past.  Far different from the roof tar and chains sculpture of Theaster Gates .

As Catlett is quoted:  “In the printmaking I’m thinking about something social or political, and in the sculpture I’m thinking about form,”

No wonder all the sculptures here, including  “ Political Prisoner “ feel aspirational - even the monumental clenched fist giving the black power salute.  It expresses personal triumph more than defiance, celebration more than anger.  If you climb a ladder up to see the face, it's gentle and sweet.  

 You may also notice its resemblance to contemporary Modern sculpture, specifically Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.  Catlett took art making quite seriously, gaining  familiarity with both contemporary and traditional sculpture, as well as reaching a high level of craft. She selected each piece of wood or stone and carved it to perfection.

Black Unity,  1968

Even the giant fist is more celebratory than defiant, more affirmation than anger.

( and there are two sweet faces carved on the back)

These pieces are as decorative as elegant furniture, - masterpieces of craft and design.  But are they Art? If we ask Art to connect us to human destiny or higher purpose, her smooth, hard, pleasant surfaces aim no higher than order, confidence and personal satisfaction. 

These pieces appear  to have been made for a home - not a temple, pubic square, or art museum.  They’re comfortable.  They’re domestic.  The political content is all about personal identity.  The college kids of my generation put  “Che Lives” posters up in the dormitory.  A few years later,  fashion called for Angela Davis.  Elizabeth Catlett was in the academic vanguard of what would eventually be called “woke” -  the ongoing call for racial justice even after the Civil Rights bill of 1964 - a  velvet revolution led by an educated elite that has mostly served to motivate a real revolution by the radical right.  Which doesn’t make her work any less aesthetically pleasing.  Visuality  never  takes a back seat in Catlett’s work.

And who’s to say that the home is any less important to the human project than the more public areas. She certainly has dignity down cold - especially when compared with the women depicted by DeKooning.  She presents that satisfaction and authority only mothers can have.  Catlett created many more statues on the theme of motherhood than revolution -  but the curators of this show chose to highlight politics.

Her contribution to American politics is problematic , but her contribution to Modern and traditional African figure sculpture deserves much more attention.  While postwar abstraction was marginalizing the human figure, she carried its finest, most uplifting qualities into the following  century.  She stood alone among contemporary American sculptors of high reputation. 

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Naima, My Granddaughter,  1998

Belongs in a tourist shop,

but only the very  best ones.

Phyllis Wheatley,  1973

We might call this medieval idealization:  a pleasant design built up with modified geometric volumes to present a generic saintly person.  But not without without a certain flair to give it more appeal.

Compares well with the very best tribal carvings from Africa and elsewhere.

1956

A carefull arrangement of volumes.

1983

Even this early piece has elegance and power

Head of a Black Woman, 1946

Cassada ,   1946

1971

Belongs in a hospital maternity ward

1993

Almost Romanesque.

Feels like carved ivory.

Rebozo,  1968

Glory, 1981

Comparable to Benin bronzes.

Floating Family, 1996

Suitable for an airport?

Actually, it looks quite good  in the  library space for which it was commissioned 

Stargazer,  1979

A great reclining figure.

Yes -  it’s all about the stars 

Target Practice,  1979

Thankfully, she did not portray victimhood very often.

Mask for Whites,  1970

Thankfully, she did not create negative racial stereotypes very often.

I do have a big mouth , but at least I’m not crosseyed.

Makes me think of the right wing talk radio hosts.

My Reward has been Bars between Me and the Rest of the land.  Linocut, 1947

Barbed Wire

Another signed version, found online,  with a different title and effect.

Special Houses,  1946

Such strong characterization.

These people have seen hard times,

but somehow their lives seems brighter 

than the following,

done by Catlett’s husband the previous year:

.

Charles White, Mother, 1945

Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World

A review of Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World

at the Art Institute of Chicago

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Caillebotte, Paris Street Rainy Day, 1887, 83 x 108

Been there, done that?

That must explain why mimetic painting is now so marginalized by the academic and investment grade  artworld - despite its continued appeal and practice. If Caillebotte had been born a hundred years later, there is a better chance of finding a snowball in Hell than him having such a mammoth exhibit in Regenstein  Hall. He wasn’t even an innovator back in his own lifetime.  He just did what he did extremely well. And what he did was paint the world in which he was comfortable.  That is also the mission of an outsider artist like Henry Darger - but unlike Darger, Caillebotte grew up wealthy, well educated, and surrounded by beautiful things and the sophisticated people who bought, made, or talked about them.

The above iconic piece in the Art Institute of Chicago is a fine example.   No intensity of passion - he was not a poor struggling visionary like Van Gogh.  But perfect, elegant, rational, and true to its magnificent though damp subject matter.  It was quite an achievement especially at that huge size.  I can’t remember any other good painting quite like it. Though it’s also true that I hardly ever stop to look at it.  I’d rather just walk down Chicago’s Magnificent Mile by myself.

Caillebotte, The Boating Party,  1877-78, 35 x 46

Edouard Manet, 1874, Boating, 38 x 51

Is it possible to think about Caillebotte (1848-1894) apart from Manet (1832-1884)?   

The title of this exhibit. “Caillebotte Painting his World”, suggests something significantly different from "Manet - Painter of Modernity”as posted in the 2019 Manet exhibit in this very same gallery. And that difference can be seen when comparing Manet’s recreational boaters with Caillebotte’s version of that same theme painted three years later.

Caillebotte has replaced the sailboat with a rowboat -  replaced the lady passenger with the unseen viewer - replaced a casual straw hat with a formal stovepipe - and replaced a skillful sailor turning away with a vigorous rower who thrusts himself forward from the picture plane and into the gallery.   A bold masculine intrusion has replaced the allure of a travel poster, 

Caillebotte’s self centeredness is also expressed by the floor plan of the exhibition,  Regenstein Hall has been organized into three concentric circles.  Visitors enter the outer ring with  paintings of the artist’s  favorite activity, boating - followed by street  scenes of his favorite city, Paris. - then  portraits of people he knew.  It culminates with a portrait of the person he knew best, himself, adjacent to the exit

Caillebotte, self portrait, 1892,   16 x 13

Reaching the end of the tour, I was turning back to revisit favorite pieces when, to my surprise, I saw the entrance to an inner circle with even more paintings.   The walls were covered with portraits of friends- some like Georges Roman, feeling quite personal. 

Caillebotte, portrait of Georges Roman, 1879,  29 x 36

Hard to believe that Roman commissioned this sepulchral image. It might have been done by Ivan Albright. (Picture of Dorian Gray).  Apparently Roman, as well as  Caillebotte, placed high value on truth and honesty.  He was not a professional portraitist - which is a good thing.

Portrait of Jules Richmont, 1879, 37 x 32”

Strong portrait and good painting.

But don’t look for anything like an inner life.

Perhaps the subject did not have one.

 Man at his Bath, 1884, 57 x 45

When we  finally get to the innermost circle, something like the artist’s sexual identity may be investigated. 

Man Drying his Leg, 1884, 39 x 49

Degas explored the same subject with women  - and  Caillebotte’s sparse drawing is every bit as strong.  Was he flaunting conventional sensitivity by changing gender in such intimate scenes ?  A man of his status could do as he pleased.  Did that reflect his own sexual preference?

Apparently not - because there’s also a rather erotic portrait of his mistress:

Nude on a Couch, 1880, 51 x 77

No romantic fantasy -  just unflinching honesty. The girl looks depressed- and why not? Her lover is so much older, richer, and more powerful than she. He says “jump!” .- she says “how high?”  Compositional lines emphasize the sadness of her mouth and the importance of her pubes.  Is there anything else on that cold, gray sofa that interests him? 

This is not Manet’s regal, posturing , Olympia.  This is just a poor girl who has been collected by a powerful man - pushed forward by the cropped sofa like an hors d'oeuvre being offered for delectation for his friends at a party.

Manet, Olympia, 1863, 51 x 74

Young Man at the window, 1876, 45 x 31

And here is just that kind of confidant, wealthy man looking out at the city he owns. 

The key word is “entitlement”

Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers, 1875, 40 x 57

This  masterpiece also visited Chicago six years ago. A space as bright and airy as a Degas dance studio - but instead of ballerinas,  there are lithe young dudes doing a hot, nasty job. Something like Courbet’s salute to working people - but I think Caillebotte actually enjoyed half naked men, down on their knees, sweating on his behalf.

It’s a powerful image with a mastery of light, graphic energy, and  figure drawing.  It’s cut and dried compared with the ongoing puzzlement and mystery of Manet’s Dejeuner.  Yet still it serves as a memorable tribute to the class whose emerging resentment is still driving history.

The artist was age 27 and had been painting for about 6 years. Quite an achievement  - though we may note that he never again made anything as stunning.

Caillebotte,  In a Cafe, 1880, 61 x 45

Mellow and delicious.

A prosperous man content in his environment.

A nice piece to go in an upscale drawing room.

But obviously absent  is the drama of the following

contemporary examples of cafe scenes:

Manet, Bar at the Follies Bergere, 1882, 38 x 51

Degas, In a Cafe., 1875-6,  36 x 26

Caillebotte was not the man to query social norms.

Caillebotte, Vegetable Garden, 1881-82

A stong brisk landscape

though color was not an issue.

Almost medieval in its depiction of peasantry.

They belong to the earth as much as the tree.

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berryc. 1412, March (detail)

Pissarro, Orchard in Bloom, 1872

A more typical Impressionism,

taking delight in the passing  moment.

The above piece was left unfinished when he unexpectedly died at the age of 45.

Claude Monet, On the Bank of the Seine, 1868

Caillebotte admired Monet enough to pay the rent on his studio.

Whenever the story of Modernism is told,  Monet, Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, and Cezanne all play their part- and gallery signage at the Art Institute special exhibits always reflects that.  But not so Caillebotte.  He’s more like a master of traditional Chinese brush painting.  His paintings are not especially innovative - they’re just very very good (sometimes).  He’s a mandarin who pursues excellence in harmonious expression ( as well as other stuff - like stamp collecting and yacht racing). “Truth” has come to need scare quotes in our times - in the halls of Congress as well as the university.  But Caillebotte pursued it - and that’s probably why so many of his paintings feel so strong and fresh.

There are probably more than a thousand Impressionist painters worldwide over the past 150 years whose retrospectives would be no less satisfying and inspirational.  But with a public ( and curatorial staff) taught to focus on super-stars, we may never see them in Chicago.

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Note:  This show was a collaboration with the Getty Museum and the Musee d’Orsay where it has already appeared under the title of “Gustave Caillebotte : Painting Men” - and predictably, critical response has focused on gender identity. If aesthetics don’t interest you, what else does Caillebotte have to offer the contemporary artworld?

  I appreciate that Chicago gave it a different title

Caillebotte, Garden Rose and Forget Me Nots,  34 x 26, 1872-78

One of the critical reviews of this show as it appeared earlier in another museum noted that no florals were shown  despite the artist’s reputation in that genre. That's because they have nothing to do with the painting of men.  Too bad none were included here either.

The above is rather clever- including flowers as they appear on cloth, ceramic, and butterfly wing, as well as by themselves.