MoMA
Posts tagged ‘painting’
January 13, 2016  |  Artists, Collection & Exhibitions
Joaquín Torres-García’s Creative Paradox
Installation view of Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (October 25, 2015–February 15, 2016). Photo: Jonathan Muzikar. © 2016 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Installation view of Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (October 25, 2015–February 15, 2016). Photo: Jonathan Muzikar. © 2016 The Museum of Modern Art, New York

When Joaquín Torres-García returned to his native Uruguay in 1934, he was 60 years old and had lived abroad for more than 40 years. During the first years of his American relocation, before he became the referential Master at Taller Torres-García, he founded and directed the Asociación de Arte Constructivo, the achronym for which—AAC—appears signed on most of his paintings from 1935 to 1938. During these years Torres-García created a series of black-and-white abstract paintings that constitute one of the most striking repertoires of synthetic abstraction ever produced in the Americas.

December 8, 2015  |  Behind the Scenes, Conservation
Francis Bacon’s Painting (1946): Histories and Conservation, Part 2
Francis Bacon. Painting. 1946. Oil and pastel on linen, 6' 5 7/8" x 52" (197.8 x 132.1 cm). Purchase. © 2015 Estate of Francis Bacon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London. From left: a photograph of the painting from May 2015; digital restoration of the painting’s appearance prior to light-induced fading

Francis Bacon. Painting. 1946. Oil and pastel on linen, 6′ 5 7/8″ x 52″ (197.8 x 132.1 cm). Purchase. © 2015 Estate of Francis Bacon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London. From left: a photograph of the painting from May 2015; Digital restoration of Painting (1946), 2015. Photoshop was used to digitally manipulate the background colors, suggesting how the painting may have looked prior to fading

With Francis Bacon’s Painting (1946) in the conservation studio for radiography, we had the opportunity to give the painting a closer look overall, checking it for changes in condition or other problems that might require conservation treatment of some sort.

November 19, 2015  |  Collection & Exhibitions, Conservation
Francis Bacon’s Painting (1946): Histories and Conservation, Part 1
Pre-treatment image of Francis Bacon's Painting. 1946. Oil and pastel on linen, 6' 5 7/8" x 52" (197.8 x 132.1 cm). Purchase. © 2015 Estate of Francis Bacon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London. Photo: The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Conservation

Pre-treatment image of Francis Bacon’s Painting. 1946. Oil and pastel on linen, 6′ 5 7/8″ x 52″ (197.8 x 132.1 cm). Purchase. © 2015 Estate of Francis Bacon/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS, London. Photo: The Museum of Modern Art, Department of Conservation

Francis Bacon’s Painting (1946), which is currently on view in the exhibition Solider, Spectre, Shaman: The Figure and the Second World War, came into MoMA’s paintings conservation studio in early 2015, after we received a request for an X-ray.

March 25, 2015  |  Collection & Exhibitions
Layers of Paint, and What Is (or Isn’t) Painted: A Gallery Tour with The Forever Now Artist Dianna Molzan
Dianna Molzan in the galleries. Shown, from left: Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906). Still Life with Apples. 1895–98. Oil on canvas, 27 x 36 1/2" (68.6 x 92.7 cm). Lillie P. Bliss Collection; Georges-Pierre Seurat (French, 1859–1891). Evening, Honfleur. 1886. Oil on canvas, with painted wood frame, 30 3/4 x 37" (78.3 x 94 cm) including frame. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy

Dianna Molzan in the galleries. Shown, from left: Paul Cézanne (French, 1839–1906). Still Life with Apples. 1895–98. Oil on canvas, 27 x 36 1/2″ (68.6 x 92.7 cm). Lillie P. Bliss Collection; Georges-Pierre Seurat (French, 1859–1891). Evening, Honfleur. 1886. Oil on canvas, with painted wood frame, 30 3/4 x 37″ (78.3 x 94 cm) including frame. Gift of Mrs. David M. Levy

Over the past few months, we’ve asked artists represented in the exhibition The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World to share their thoughts on certain works in MoMA’s collection. I have been lucky enough to tour the Museum’s galleries with three different artists to find out which pieces they found most thought-provoking, and why. (Be sure to read about the previous gallery tours.)

January 30, 2015  |  Artists, Collection & Exhibitions
Bread Tins and Thumbtacks: A Gallery Tour with The Forever Now Artist Michael Williams

The artists featured in The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World all draw inspiration from a dizzying array of art-historical styles and processes. Two years ago, in conjunction with the exhibition Inventing Abstraction, 1910–1925, MoMA asked contemporary artists to discuss works in the show that they found compelling. We thought it might be fun and enlightening to revisit this approach and invite several artists from The Forever Now into the Museum’s collection galleries to see which works pique their interest.

January 21, 2015  |  Collection & Exhibitions
Contemporary Painting Exhibitions at MoMA: A Brief History
Installation view of The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, December 14, 2014–April 5, 2015. Photo by John Wronn. © 2015 The Museum of Modern Art

Installation view of The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, December 14, 2014–April 5, 2015. Photo by John Wronn. © 2015 The Museum of Modern Art

The Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World has, as the critics have said, been “a long time coming” and “long anticipated.” The art world has been waiting for MoMA to take a position on contemporary painting now that worry over the “death of painting” in the 1980s and 1990s has been more or less settled by the medium’s persistence in both artists’ studios and the (much-maligned) painting-heavy art market.

Dealing with Wet Contemporary Paintings: Tips for Artists—Mold and Paintings

Never wrap a wet painting in plastic, as this will promote mold growth. Also, the surface may be quite fragile and nothing should come in contact with the surface until it has been thoroughly dried and inspected.

Paintings wrapped in plastic should be removed from the plastic to prevent mold growth if they were in a damp environment

In the Artist’s Space: Helen Mirren on Vasily Kandinsky

While Dame Helen Mirren was in New York to film her movie Arthur—a remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore classic—she graciously agreed to do a video interview at The Museum of Modern Art. Truth be told, I’m a huge fan of the dame. In addition to being a fantastic actor, she’s beautiful, smart, and completely unpretentious. She’s an art lover, and she is especially enamored of the pioneering abstract paintings of Vasily Kandinsky, whose work is represented in MoMA’s collection and whose “Four Seasons” were very fortuitously on view on the day of her visit (and they still are).

November 8, 2010  |  Artists, Collection & Exhibitions, Videos
Jackson Pollock Asks: “Is This a Painting?”

Jackson Pollock. One: Number 31, 1950. 1950. Oil and enamel paint on canvas, 8' 10" x 17' 5 5/8" (269.5 x 530.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art. Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection Fund (by exchange). © 2010 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Pollock at MoMA, uploaded to Flickr on Feburary 11, 2009: http://www.flickr.com/photos/plathfan/3271119503/

In one of the videos we produced for the current Abstract Expressionist New York exhibition, Ann Temkin, Chief Curator of MoMA’s Department of Painting and Sculpture and the organizer of the exhibition, tells this story about Jackson Pollock: