Poets and Modern Masters: the search for a new language
Gilden’s Arts Gallery
Poetry played a central role in the evolution of Modern Art. Twentieth-century poets and visual artists struggled hand in hand with how to make it new, relevant, different and yet eternal. Both recognized that language, be it visual, spoken or written, is an always inescapable yet forever insufficient mode of expression. They often turned to each other in their search for an answer. To the Modern Masters poetry was an essential part of life and art. Picasso was close friends with poets, including Max Jacob, Guillaume Apollinaire, André Breton, and Paul Éluard, and collaborated with them from his earliest days in Paris. Miro read poetry with an almost religious intensity. He took the time to absorb and live each poem and found a profound affinity with Tristan Tzara and René Char, illustrating many of their books. Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars, and Louis Aragon all dedicated poems to Marc Chagall. In turn, all three Masters wrote poems, yet another of their numerous creative outlets. Our aim is to give a small glimpse into the myriad of ways in which visual artists have been inspired by or collaborated with poets in the 20th century. To this end we have selected a group of poems to accompany the artworks we present. With Picasso’s wall we explore his relationship to the women around him. Jacqueline’s portrait is ironically accompanied by a poem from his previous lover, the poet Genevieve Laporte, who compared Picasso to the allencompassing sun. Yet an earlier attempt to describe Picasso is found in Gertrude Stein’s iconic poem “Portrait of Picasso”. Having fully absorbed the lessons of cubism into the language of her poetry, Stein in her fragmented and angular prose relays the anxiety of the creative process. The highlight of this section is undoubtedly the gouache portrait of Dora Maar realised in 1942, as their relationship and the world as they knew it was falling apart around them. It is accompanied by a short poem written by Dora Maar in the same year which perfectly echoes the sentiments displayed in Picasso’s work.
Chagall’s works are often described with literary terms. Beyond the talk of symbol and metaphor, there is always the description of his work in terms of poetry and lyricism. Amidst the colourful flowers that are often found is his works, we share this touching poem written by Chagall. In it he again speaks about the flowers he creates for the world to see, yet he keeps his soul and his memories to himself. Miro’s deeply rooted Catalan identity is evident in his art work as well as in his collaborations. He created masterful portfolios to illustrate the work the two greatest Catalan poets: Miguel Costa i Llobera, of the Romantic era of the 19th century and Salvador Espriu i Castelló, innovative modernist poet of the 20th century. Like Miro, they drew their inspiration from the strong landscape and people that surrounded them. Both Calder and e.e. cummings share a clearly American identity, and a search for capturing both the frozen instant and the constant movement of life. They have broken all rules and conventions of their art form, and they each found their own dynamic language. In 1974 Calder illustrated Cumming’s most famous play, “Santa Claus: A Morality”.
We present the public with a new challenge: an interplay between poetry and visual art, to add a new layer of understanding to the art of the Modern Masters.
This interesting curatorial approach will be reflected in the set-up of the stand. To emphasize the relationship between word and art the walls will be designed in the following ways: -One wall in which large decorative vinyl letters (extracts of the poems) to emphasize the direct visual relationship between word and art. The result will be of high visual impact and will draw the viewer in. -Other walls in which the texts of the selected poems will be displayed in full with vinyl letters on the wall next to the work, allowing the viewer to make their own connection between the works at an intellectual level.
-Finally some works will be displayed accompanied by audio devices in which the viewer can hear the poems read by the author, a multisensory experience that adds to the appreciation of the works. -Also in display will be a number of complete Artist’s Books with poems (Moore’s Poesie, Paroles Peintes, Max Ernst’s Le Parquet se Souleve).
Gilden’s Arts Gallery Selection of Works
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ALEXANDER CALDER 1898-1976 The Wave, 1974 Original Signed Gouache on Canson paper 74 x 112 cm / 29.2 x 44.2 in Provenance: Christie's London: Contemporary Art, Thursday, February 22, 1990, Lot 397. Private collection.
un der, a lo co mo tive s pout ing vi o lets -e.e. cummings
Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976) Butterflies and Spiral, 1970 Original Hand Signed Colour Lithograph on Vellum paper 38.5 x 25 in
Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976) Taureau avec Spirale Rouge, 1975
Original Hand Signed Colour Lithograph on Vellum paper 58.4 x 78.7 cm / 23 x 31 in
Today it's another landscape in this Sunday at the end of the month of March 1942 in Paris the silence is so great that the songs of the tame birds are like little flames you can see. I am desperate But let it be -Dora Maar
Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973) Portrait of Dora Maar, 1942.
Oil and gouache on paper laid on canvas Signed and dated 11.1.42 at the upper left part. 41 x 30 cm Provenance : The collection Revillon Private collection, Paris The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity by Madame Maya Widmaier The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity by Monsieur Claude Picasso
PABLO PICASSO 1881-1973 Portrait of Young Woman (Jacqueline), 1964 Original Stamped, Numbered and Incised red earthenware plaque painted in black 32.8 x 25.2 x 1.8 cm / 12.9 x 9.8 x 0.7 in
PABLO PICASSO 1881-1973 Young Woman (Franรงoise), 1949/1968
Original Lithograph on applique Arches wove paper 65.5 x 50.3 cm / 25.8 x 19.8 in
If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him. Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it. If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told him would he like it would he like it if I told him. Now. Not now. And now. Now. Exactly as as kings. Feeling full for it. Exactitude as kings. So to beseech you as full as for it. Exactly or as kings. Shutters shut and open so do queens. Shutters shut and shutters and so shutters shut and shutters and so and so shutters and so shutters shut and so shutters shut and shutters and so. And so shutters shut and so and also. And also and so and so and also.
PABLO PICASSO 1881-1973 Four Nude Women and a Sculpted Head (Vollard Suite pl. 82), 1934 Original Hand Signed Etching on Montval paper with the Vollard watermark
44.5 x 34.5 cm / 17.5 x 13.6 in
-Gertrude Stein Audio files http://media.sas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Stein/1935/St ein-Gertrude_If-I-Told-Him.mp3 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJEIAGULmPQ
MARC CHAGALL 1887 - 1985 Siren and Fish , Couple with Fish, Bay of Angels with Bouquet of Roses (from Nice and the Cote d'Azur), 1967 Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches paper 73.3 x 52.6 cm \ 28.8 x 20.7 in
Portrait ou Marc Chagall by Blaise Cendrars
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 The Easel with Flowers / Le Chevalet aux Fleurs, 1976 Original Hand Signed and and Numbered Lithograph in Colours on Arches vellum paper 75.8 x 50.8 cm / 29.8 x 20 in
Il dort Il est éveillé Tout à coup, il peint Il prend une église et peint avec une église Il prend une vache et peint avec une vache Avec une sardine Avec des têtes, des mains, des couteaux Il peint avec un nerf de bœuf Il peint avec toutes les sales passions d’une petite ville juive Avec toute la sexualité exacerbée de la province russe Pour la France Sans sensualité Il peint avec ses cuisses Il a les yeux au cul Et c’est tout à coup votre portrait C’est toi lecteur C’est moi C’est lui
They came with flowers With songs of thieves And colourful cloths Day flees them night fears them Paler than their tambourines Their lips taste of rosemary
And their kisses bleed blackberry No sooner they hit the measure Their foot has lost its shoe Already moaning as they dance In the arms of his girlfriend Already the earth trembles -Louis Aragon
MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985 Grenade from Paroles Peintes, 1962 Original Hand Signed and Numbered Etching with Aquatint on Richard de Bas paper 38 x 28.3 cm
My heart loves a tree! More ancient than the olive tree, stronger than oak, greener than the orange tree, JOAN MIRO 1893-1983 The Pine Tree of Formentor, 1976 Original Hand Signed Etching with Aquatint in Colours on Guarro paper 104 x 90 cm
from its leaves it retains eternal spring and struggles with the winds that assail the shore, like a giant warrior. -Miquel Costa i Llobera
JOAN MIRO 1893-1983 Espriu-Miro. Plate 6, 1975
JOAN MIRO 1893-1983 The Sargeant, 1978
Original Hand Signed and Numbered Etching with Aquatint and Carborundum on Guarro paper
Original Hand Signed and Numbered Etching with Aquatint and Carborundum on Arches paper
106 x 90 cm / 41.8 x 35.5 in
106.5 x 75.2 cm / 42 x 29.8 in
Gilden’s Arts Gallery
. For thirty three years Gilden’s Arts has been researching and promoting works on paper. It is often on paper that we can see the artistic idea as it generates. Studying sketches and drawings one can really understand and appreciate the thought process that results in major paintings or sculptures. Furthermore, through the appreciation of a lithograph or an etching one can admire an artist's tenacity and technical skills. Its is this flow and conversation between different media: drawing and etching, watercolour and lithograph, painting and aquatint, cut-out and pochoir, that makes Gilden’s Arts intriguing and exciting to the visitor.
Evening Preview of our new exhibition “HENRI MATISSE Modern Master Printmaker” in our new Hampstead gallery
Gilden’s Arts is delighted to show selected works from almost all decades and aspects of Matisse’s work: starting with the nudes and portraits from the 1920s, to the Odalisques that followed, the reduced aquatints of the late 1940s and the monumental “Jazz” series, which we are showing in its entirety.
Matisse’s Jazz
The cut-outs mark the point of culmination of Matisse’s painted works, the album “Jazz” can be considered the concluding highlight of his print oeuvre, thus bringing a perfect synthesis of two mediums.
Art Karlsruhe 2014 Our stand shows our philosophy of unifying different mediums across a common theme.
In this case works by well-known German Expressionists artists and their entourage are exhibited. Watercolours, drawings, etchings and woodcuts hangs side by side and are a strong testament to the artist’s creative force.
The works effortlessly complement each other aesthetically, while offering the public a greater selection of prices.