One last chance

I had several chances to catch the Matisse-Picasso exhibit when it was in London and then in Pairs, but, because I'm an idiot and forget details like the dates in which I can attend a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of modern art masters, I missed my last chance at the beginning of January because I was holed up in Brussels drinking too much (probably). So it goes, and so it went --- across the ocean to New York. The European reviews have been quite good (London // Paris); though, if I remember correctly, my advisor mentioned that the crowds at the Tate Modern were hellish -- surprise surprise there. One can hope that the MoMA knows a bit more about crowd control.

Even if you're unable to make it to Queens before the paintings (and sculptures) head their separate ways in May, do yourself a favor and check out the story behind the exhibition (that of the artists, as well as that of the curators) in today's New York Times. A peek:

The curators decided their show would deal with the artists' long obsession with each other's work. "History and chronology would be respected," Ms. Cowling said. But as there was often a time lag of a decade or more between the call and the response, the flow of the show would be episodic rather than perfectly chronological, focusing on instances in which one artist responded, consciously or not, to the other.

"The objects would be selected so on the wall they speak to each other," Mr. Varnedoe said. It would be "art history without words." There would be 34 different groupings, and the occasion for each could be anything from a striking parallel in color, subject, composition or form to an explicit and documented duel.

On the one hand, Picasso's neo-classical painting "Three Women at the Spring" (1921) would be paired, for purely visual reasons, with two of Matisse's chunky relief sculptures of female backs from 1916 and 1931. On the other hand, a Matisse odalisque titled "Decorative Figure on an Ornamental Background" (1925-26), which Picasso found incredibly ugly, would be paired with his cocky response, an anti-odalisque called "Large Nude in a Red Armchair" (1929). With that painting, Mr. Elderfield said, Picasso was clearly taunting Matisse: You want ugly? I'll give you ugly!

[. . .]

The penultimate room of the exhibition juxtaposed Matisse's late paper cut-outs of acrobats and nudes with Picasso's paintings of acrobats and his cut-and-folded sheet-metal sculpture, "The Chair" (1961). And for the final space, Mr. Elderfield planned to hang two wistful paintings, Matisse's "Violinist at the Window" (1918) and Picasso's "Shadow" (1953). Even though these two paintings were finished 35 years apart, they looked like a mutual goodbye.

But where to put "Women of Algiers, After Delacroix" (1955), Picasso's attempt to absorb Matisse immediately after his death? It didn't fit with the cut-outs, but if it went into the small final room, people might bump into it while looking at the two goodbye paintings. That was a nut Mr. Elderfield still had not cracked.

Maybe the problem of staging the goodbye reflects the trouble in the Matisse-Picasso relationship all along, which Mr. Elderfield described as a continual volley of "jealously, peevishness, envy and fear of envy."

"One surges and the other responds," Mr. Elderfield said. In the end, "no one won." But the game made them both better painters. Picasso had the last word, and it was the kindest: "No one has ever looked at Matisse's painting more carefully than I; and no one has looked at mine more carefully than he."

When I first started hearing and reading descriptions of the exhibition, on a visceral level it sounded very appealing; however, critically speaking, when at an exhibition such as this, I am generally quite wary of such an unsubtle narrative. Lack of subtly, I felt, indeed, still feel, sentimentalizes really good stories, and thus, in turn, trivializes them. And yet, I also realize that one must also be willing to suspend disbelief in order to appreciate any story that's worth appreciating, subtle or not. So, there you go, I guess it looks like I'm flying into New York City when/if I visit the States before May. Anybody who sees it, or has seen it, before me, feel free to let me know your thoughts and opinions.