Modern Museum of Art-MoMA-NYC

The 19th of April was an amazing day for me. I was able to spend the day in my favorite city with my favorite person, my wonderful mother. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day which we got to spend visiting museums. We spent a couple hours at the MoMa after we visited the Met on 11 West 53rd Street, NYC. I've been to the MoMa before and really enjoyed it. The last time that I visited there was when there was a  Tim Burton exhibit, whom is my favorite director/writer/producer. I went this time and was actually able to walk through the entire museum and had an amazing experience.

In the 1920s, three patrons of art decided to get together to challenge the conservative procedures of traditional museums and establish a place that would be dedicated to modern arts. In 1929, The Museum of Modern Art was founded by Lillie Bliss, Mrs, Cornelius Sullivan, and Mrs. John Rockefeller Jr. along with other trustees. It was created to expand the worlds eyes to modern art and they began with 8 prints and 1 drawing.

     Within 10 years, the museum moved three times, each time expanding. The founding director, Alfred H. Barr Jr. intended the museum to be dedicated to helping people understand and enjoy the uniqueness of the modern arts. His intention was to provide New York with the greatest museum of modern art in the world.

     In 1939, the museum opened at its present premise on 11 West 53^rd Street in New York City, midtown Manhattan. Barr created a the concept of the museum and he organized it with a multi-departmental structure with departments for architecture, designs, film and video, and photography. In 1984, they doubled in size with a design created by Cesar Pelli. They now house over 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photos, models and drawings. The MoMa features over 630,000 square feet.

James Rosenquist
F-111 1964-65
Oil on Canvas with
aluminum-23 sections

     As I entered the museum, we saw the videos on the wall on the right that was a preview of exhibits there were in the museum. The first floor had the sculpture garden outside, as well as shops and ticket sales. The sculptures were massive and very impressive. It was a beautiful day to go outside and reflect on their beauty. The second floor  consisted of prints and illustrated books including black and white prints that were titled by an artist named David Shrigley. He used solid white and black colors create extreme contrasts within the picture. Each one depicting simplicity at its best. Some of the prints appear almost primitive-like such as a hand or a witches hat, a simple container to a montage of never ending lines.




Daniel Buren
Striped cotton Fabric with Vertical
while and Colored Bands of 8.7cm each.
The two external white bands covered
over with acrylic white paint
recto-verso 1970
synthetic polymer paint on striped
 cotton fabric, 12 works

The third floor contained architecture and design as well as photography and drawings. I was really surprised to see a considerable amount of furniture being used as art pieces, such as The Butterfly Stool created in 1956 out of molded plywood and metal by Sori Yanagi. Most of the pieces were made of wood and did not look very comfortable, with it's extreme lines and contemporary feel. These pieces are definitely not typical pieces of furniture. There was also very strange piece when you first enter the third floor called Designs by an Overpopulated Planet: Foragers by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby in 2009. This piece was made out of fiberglass and has strange green objects that look like a wishbone and a dental mirror and the seat of a unicycle.



Frederick Kiesler
Totem for All Religions
wood and rope 1947



Yves Tanguy
The Furniture of Time
1939 Oil on Canvas



Lee Bontecou
Untitled 1961
Wielded steel, canvas,
 black fabric, rawhide,
 copper wire, and soot

On the fourth floor, there were more paintings than sculptures by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, and many more. There was a 3 dimensional piece that was untitled, created in 1961 by Lee Bontecou. It is created with welded steel, canvas, black fabric, rawhide, copper wire, and soot. He was able to manipulated the piece to look like a giant hole. To me it looked like the abyss just waiting, for you to enter and get sucked in to your death. One of the first rooms that you walk by is a room filled with 23 different panels that completely cover three walls with bright and reflective colors, shapes and images. The piece was called F-111 by James Rosenquist in 1964-1965. It is created with oil on canvas with aluminum and is an extremely striking piece.  Each image appears to be a story in itself, especially the little girl that looks like she is popping out of an egg. I also found an interesting sculpture on this floor, made from wood and rope in 1947 by Frederick Kiesler entitled Totem for all Religions . It appears to have one person after another on to of each other and the person on top worshiping the gods above.  Another interesting piece named  The Furniture of Time  by Yves Tanguy in 1939 with oil on canvas. It reminds me of a Salvador Dali piece with odd shapes and hard edged shadows with a blended sky.


George Segal
The Bus Driver 1962
Plaster over cheesecloth
and bus parts




Donald Judd
Untitled (Stack) 1967
Lacquer on Galvanized Iron



Pablo Picasso
Woman's Head 1908
oil on canvas

On the fifth floor was my favorite floor, it had amazing Impressionist art and Cubist art. There were paintings and sculptures created by many famous artists including Paul Cezanne,Henri Rosseau,  Salvador Dali, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. Pablo Picasso had a painting called Woman's Head created in 1908 with oils on canvas. It is very dark and most likely more realistic than most of his paintings that seem obscure. This painting appeared to silhouette a woman looking sad and in deep thought. I turned the corner from that painting to find my all time favorite painting glaring at me! Van Gogh's Starry Night  created in 1889 with oils on canvas. This picture to me, is the most breathtaking scenes that I have ever had the pleasure and privilege of seeing. His deep and thick brush strokes and swirls of color are amazing to me. George Segal created a piece containing many different materials in 1962 called the  Bus Driver. It was made with plaster over cheese cloth, and bus parts. It is a funny sculpture that depicts the man (sitting a the wheel) in white while the other part of the sculpture is in black and silver. Another piece that I didn't quite understand but found impressive was entitled (stack)  created in 1967 by Donald Judd and made with lacquer on galvanized iron. To me, it looks like blue blocks stuck to a wall  with space in between. I really don't quite understand the purpose of this piece, and never was able to interpret the full meaning of pieces like this or a canvas that has a blue stripe down the middle.

Vincent van Gogh
The Starry Night 1889
oil on canvas



Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
Designs for an Overpopulated
Planet: Foragers 2009
Fiberglass

The sixth floor was reserved for special exhibits and at the time that I went, there was an exhibit by Cindy Sherman. She was a photographer and considered an influential artist in contemporary art. Many of her photos contain her as the model and she was able to capture herself as many different characters. She was a stunning woman and she appears to be looking out from an attic with wandering eyes.

 

 

Henri Rousseau
The Dream 1910
Oil on Canvas

Also on the fifth floor was the oil painting, The Dream by Henri Rousseau, I thought that it was a very unique piece. I kept on wanting to look deeper into the jungle to see what other animals or creatures that I could see. The flowers are just brilliant in my opinion and I love the different color greens that he used for each plant. The woman, I thought was abnormal but I also found to her fit in the painting, sort of like a female Tarzan. I love the cartoonish quality that he was able to bestow in the painting and the depth to which the jungle goes back is amazing.

Close Up of Elephant

Close Up of Woman

    Henri Rousseau was born May 21, 1844 in a quaint village named Laval, in Northern France. He began painting in his early forties and had worked as a tax collector which is where he got his nickname, "Le Douanier".  Henri worked there for many years until he retired at the age of 49 to pursue his art career full time.  In 1884, Henri was lucky enough to obtain and special permit that would allow him to sketch paintings at the Louvre. He spent many hours at the Louvre sketching masterpieces and considered himself self – taught. He did admit, however, to have gotten advice from artists such as Jean-Leon Gerome from and Academic artists school. Henri loved to sketch works of art from the classical era. And earned money so that he could go to the Louvre often with his job and as a street musician. 

Close up of Lions

     He was inspired by the jungle but had never went there or even out of France. He used his daughter’s illustrated books and visits to the zoo and botanical gardens as his research. Many critics did not understand his jungle paintings stating that they were primitive and naive which is the type of artist he was classified as, also known as the untrained artist. He painted bananas upside down and animals with other animals that would never be seen together in real life. Rousseau took their criticisms as praise and continued his works. Henri was very sincere and optimistic which helped him to get through any hardship to come his way.  He worked during the post impressionist period and did exhibits of his work at the Salon des Independants where other artists such as Paul Gauguin and Georges Seurat had also showed their art. 

Top Left Corner

    Pablo Picasso was an admirer of his works and even bought a few of his paintings. He even gave a banquet in Rousseau’s honor. Rousseau also influenced other artists such as Paul Gauguin, Robert Delaunay, Felix Vallotton and many others. Picasso especially was impressed by not only his works, but his view on life. Rousseau retired in 1893 but still did little jobs such as playing the violin on the streets. He also produced a number of covers for Le petit journal. Rousseau died in September 2, 1910 in a hospital in Paris due to a blood infection that was caused from a wound in his leg. At his funeral, seven of his friends attended. The artists, Paul Signac, Manuel Ortiz de Zarate, Robert Delaunay, Sonia Terk, Brancusi, his wife, and his landlord. Despite the many critics and people who did not treat him the way he deserved, those seven people loved him and had his tombstone engraved with, "We salute you gentle Rousseau, you can hear us. Delauny, his wife, Monsieur Queval, and myself. Let our luggage pass duty free through the gates of heaven. We willbring you brushes, paints, and canvas. That you may spend your sacred leisure in the light and Truth of Painting. As you once did my portrait facing the stars, lion and the gypsy" (imdb). 

     Rousseau created the painting “The Dream” just a few months prior to his death. The painting was created with oils on canvas. It was exhibited at the Salon de Independants in 1910. Critics hated it and could not understand the nude woman on the velvet couch in the middle of the jungle. To Rousseau it was obvious that the woman was dreaming of the jungle and could hear the charmer’s pipe. He wrote a letter in response to their criticism stating : 

Bottom Right Corner



“I am writing in response to your friendly letter to explain to you why the couch in question is where it is. The woman asleep on the couch is dreaming she has been transported into the forest, listening to the sounds of the instrument of the enchanter.” (Bio).

  This painting has been used as a democratic message to symbolize the role of sexual seduction and the evolution of the human being. It has been read by psychologists as a metaphor for people to evolve into more intelligent and imaginative sexual beings. Within the painting is a dark figure in the middle known as the enchanter. Possibly enchanting the woman during her dream. The details of the painting are more childish and believed to be refreshing. The Garden has been taken as a botanical garden of Eden. The perspective dissolves as the viewer gets deeper into the woods and adds to the feeling of being in an enormous jungle. The shapes at some point are very hard edged while as one gets deeper into the painting, seems to fade. The piece is an amazing and beautiful work that inspired many to come, although he was criticized during his lifetime, his contributions to the art world has made him into an art genius.                                             
 



 

Bibliography

 

•  "Henri Rousseau" International Movie Database. 2012. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0745939/bio
• "Henri Rousseau" 2012. Biography.com, Bio. True Story. http://www.biography.com/people/henri-rousseau-9465420
• Parker, Stephen. "The Last Painting of Henri Rousseau". Jung Currents. 2011. http://jungcurrents.com/the-last-painting-of-henri-rousseau/
• "Rousseau, Henri" Webmuseum. 2012. http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/
• "The Dream" http://sunsite.utk.edu/FINS/loversofdemocracy/TheDream-Review.htm

 The video below is a better close up view of the piece. It really gets up close and personal so that one can really see the beautiful and bright colors.