The current exhibition at the Metropolitan
Museum—
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde —is extremely well worth a visit:
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and
the Parisian Avant-Garde
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
28 February through 3June 2012
Among its 200-odd paintings, drawings, and
sculptures, the exhibit contains many simply fabulous works, although it also
contains a fair number of rather mediocre—or, at least to my taste,
uninteresting—ones as well.
Nevertheless, the pleasure of seeing the wonderful works of art that
this amazing family collected (and many of which Gertrude Stein donated to the
Met upon her death in 1946) far outweighs the burden of having to deal with the
less good works. Many of the works are
old favorites: there are many
masterpieces that are part of the Met’s own august collection, some from MoMA,
and some old favorites from the Courtauld Gallery in London, the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, the Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, and even the
Yale University Art Gallery; but there also some marvelous works from private
collections that one simply does not get to see. There are an amazing number of paintings by Picasso and Matisse—some absolute masterpieces, some not so good; and there are
some magnificent painting by Cézanne,
a couple of great works by Juan Gris
(and some not so good), a wonderful little piece by Manet, a terrific Bonnard,
and some very good Toulouse-Lautrec
(and some Renoir, if that’s your
thing). This is a show in which you must
pick and choose what to look at.
The Met
describes the exhibition as follows (and a longer commentary from the
museum on the exhibition follows my own comments below):
Gertrude
Stein, her brothers Leo and Michael, and Michael's wife Sarah were important
patrons of modern art in Paris during the first decades of the twentieth
century. This exhibition unites some two hundred works of art to demonstrate
the significant impact the Steins' patronage had on the artists of their day
and the way in which the family disseminated a new standard of taste for modern
art. The Steins' Saturday evening salons introduced a generation of visitors to
recent developments in art, particularly the work of their close friends Henri
Matisse and Pablo Picasso, long before it was on view in museums.
Beginning
with the art that Leo Stein collected when he arrived in Paris in
1903—including paintings and prints by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin,
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Édouard Manet, and Auguste Renoir—the exhibition
traces the evolution of the Steins' taste and examines the close relationships
formed between individual members of the family and their artist friends. While
focusing on works by Matisse and Picasso, the exhibition also includes
paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Juan
Gris, Marie Laurencin, Jacques Lipchitz, Henri Manguin, André Masson, Elie
Nadelman, Francis Picabia, and others.
I must confess to
being far less interested in the family than in the art; but what wonderful
pieces there are!
There is, of
course, the fabulous Portrait of
Gertrude Stein (at left) that Picasso
completed in 1906. According to the Met,
“When someone commented that Stein did not look like her portrait, Picasso
replied, ‘She will.’”
Gertrude Stein, 1905–06
Oil on canvas; 39 3/8 x 32 in. (100 x 81.3 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
Bequest of Gertrude
Stein, 1946
One of my favorites
in the show is a totally amazing painting (at right) by Cézanne from ca. 1899, entitled Man with Crossed Arms (Homme aux bras croisés). This is part of the Guggenheim’s collection.
Man with Crossed Arms (Homme aux bras croisés), ca. 1899.
Oil on canvas, 36 1/4 x 28 5/8 inches (92 x 72.7 cm).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York 54.1387
There is a wonderful little work by Matisse from the Courtauld Gallery in
London. It is a Japanese woman’s
head—and, while I cannot find an image of it to share with you, it is
reminiscent of the Matisse’s Woman in a Kimono (Femme au Kimono), also
from the Courtauld (pictured at left)
Henri Matisse
Femme au Kimono
c.1906
Courtauld Gallery
Among the many
marvelous work’s in the show by Matisse
is The Bay of Nice, from 1916 (at
left). This is one of the many great
works on loan from private collections.
Henri Matisse (French,
1869–1954)
The Bay of Nice, 1916
Oil on canvas; 35 3/8 x 28 in. (89.9 x 71.1 cm)
Private collection
Similarly
from a private collection is Picasso’s 1914 Still Life with Bottle of Rum
(at left).
Pablo Picasso
(Spanish, 1881–1973)
Still Life with Bottle of Rum, 1914
Oil and charcoal on canvas; 15 x 18 1/8 in.
Private Collection, New York
Unfortunately, I do not have access to images of most of the works I most loved in this exhibit, and the ones presented above—with the notable exception of the first two—are included as much because of their availability as because of their specialness. So, I’m afraid you’ll just have to go see the show!
Here is the Met’s rather informative press release about the show:
(http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/exhibitions/2012/steins-collect)
The
Stein siblings—Gertrude, Leo, Michael, and his wife Sarah—were important
patrons of modern art in Paris during the first years of the 20th century. This
American family collected hundreds of artworks by a group of relatively unknown
artists with whom they became close friends. The Steins opened their apartments
on Saturday evenings to anyone who arrived with a reference in hand. At these
salons, scores of international artists, collectors, and dealers passed through
their doors in order to see and discuss the latest artistic developments, long
before they were on view in museums. Ultimately, the Steins’ enthusiasm for
avant-garde art—particularly the work of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso—had an
indelible impact on its development for decades to come.
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde—at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art from February 28 through June 3, 2012—unites
some 200 works of art to demonstrate the significant impact the Steins’
patronage had on the artists of their day and the way in which the family
disseminated a new standard of taste for modern art. The exhibition traces the
evolution of the Steins’ collections and examines the close relationships that
formed between individual members of the family and their artist friends. While
focusing on paintings by Matisse and Picasso, the exhibition will also include
paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Juan
Gris, Marie Laurencin, Jacques Lipchitz, Henri Manguin, André Masson, Elie
Nadelman, Francis Picabia, and others.
The exhibition is made possible by The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation and
the Janice H. Levin Fund.
Additional support provided by The Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky Foundation.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand
Palais, Paris.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the
Humanities.
Leo Stein was a collector by nature. Once he settled in Paris in early 1903, he
was amazed to discover that he could afford to purchase contemporary oil
paintings. He was most attracted to colorful figurative work, traditional
subject matter rendered in innovative ways. Leo’s youngest sister Gertrude
joined him in the fall of 1903. Their eldest brother, Michael, together with
his family, followed from California in January 1904. Leo was the driving force
of the collection during these early years. After realizing that his plan to
build a collection of paintings by Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet,
and Auguste Renoir was beyond his means, Leo changed strategies and instead
began to purchase inexpensive paintings by relatively unknown younger artists.
In 1905 he bought his first pictures by Picasso and Matisse.
Following Leo’s lead, Sarah and Michael began purchasing fairly inexpensive
pictures by Cézanne, Gauguin, Manguin, Picasso, and Vallotton. They became
close friends with Matisse after Leo introduced them in late 1905. Within three
years, the walls of their apartment were filled with colorful canvases. With
the exception of Matisse’s own studio, there was no better place to see his
recent work.
The Steins had close bonds with the emerging artists whose works they
collected. They went horseback riding and swimming with Henri Matisse and
arranged for their friends from San Francisco, Harriet Lane Levy and Alice
Toklas, to take French lessons from Picasso’s girlfriend, Fernande Olivier. It
was not uncommon for Leo to have lunch with Matisse and dinner with Picasso in
a single day. Both artists sent the Steins sketches and reports of their work
in progress.
The Steins were natural networkers. They famously introduced Matisse to Picasso
and made the art of the Parisian avant-garde available to hundreds of people
who might not have had a chance to see it otherwise. The first documented
visitors to 27, rue de Fleurus were Leo’s artist friends, who often found him
pacing the studio or reclining on a daybed while extolling the individual
merits of the pictures. As word of the Steins’ collections spread, they were overwhelmed
with requests for visits. A decision was made to consolidate the visits and
open both Leo and Gertrude’s atelier and Sarah and Michael’s apartment on
Saturday evenings to anyone who arrived with a reference. Artists, writers,
musicians, and collectors convened to discuss the latest artistic developments.
Visitors from the United States, Europe, and Russia spread news of what they
had seen. By opening their homes and making their collections accessible, the
Steins did more to support avant-garde painting than any other collectors or
institutions during the first decade of the 20th century.
By late 1910, the modest two-bedroom apartment at 27, rue de Fleurus that Leo
had initially rented for himself was home to three occupants: Leo, Gertrude,
and her companion, Alice Toklas. Leo’s increasing deafness led him to distance
himself from the Saturday evening salons, and by 1913 he recognized that it was
time for him to leave rue de Fleurus altogether. Leo and Gertrude divided their
collection. Gertrude kept the Picasso paintings, and Leo took 16 Renoirs.
“Rather an amusing baggage for a leader in the great modern fight,” he
conceded. Leo was relieved to live a quieter, simpler life with Nina Auzias,
whom he married in 1921. He spent the rest of his years in Italy, France, and
the United States, painting, writing and lecturing about aesthetics.
Meanwhile, Gertrude and Alice renovated the atelier and removed the frames from
most of the paintings, which accentuated her more orderly display. Gertrude
took her writing quite seriously, and friends noted that in books such as Tender
Buttons (1914 ) and The Making of Americans (1925), Gertrude was
“doing the same thing in literature that Matisse & Picasso [were] doing in
art.”
World War I had a particularly devastating impact on Sarah and Michael’s
collection. At Matisse’s request, they lent 19 of their largest and most
important paintings by him to a July 1914 gallery exhibition in Berlin. When
Germany declared war on France in early August, the paintings were trapped.
After years of legal negotiations, Michael and Sarah opted to sell them to the
Norwegian shipowner Tryggve Sagen and the Danish collector Christian
Tetzen-Lund. Matisse regretted the turn of events and painted portraits of
Sarah and Michael (1916; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), the only portrait
pendants he is known to have made. In the mid-1920s, the couple commissioned a
villa from Le Corbusier. “After having been in the vanguard of the modern
movement in painting in the early years of the century, we are now doing the
same for modern architecture,” Michael said.
Of all the Steins, only Gertrude managed to keep the bulk of her collection
together. She could no longer afford to buy paintings by the artists she had
once supported. Most new acquisitions were gifts or acquired through trade,
such as the last Picasso painting she added to her collection, Still Life
(1922; The Art Institute of Chicago). Younger artists such as Louis Marcoussis,
André Masson, Francis Rose, and Pavel Tchelitchew gravitated to Gertrude,
flattered by her interest in them. She and Alice retreated to their country
home at Bilignin during World War II, ignoring repeated warnings from the
American Embassy to leave. It was probably Bernard Fäy, a close friend,
translator of many of Gertrude’s writings, and influential Vichy collaborator,
who protected her.
In the mid-1930s, Gertrude reminded her readers that the art of Matisse and
Picasso was once scorned. “It is very difficult now that everybody is
accustomed to everything to give some idea of the uneasiness once felt when one
first looked at all these pictures on the walls.”
The Steins Collect; Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde
revisits this decisive moment. It is the story of one American family residing
in Paris who shaped the development of modern art for decades to come.
Highlights from the exhibition include Matisse’s Woman with a Hat (San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art), purchased by Leo Stein from the famous “fauve”
Salon d’Automne of 1905, and Picasso’s painting of Gertrude Stein (The
Metropolitan Museum of Art), which will be presented alongside additional
portraits of the Stein family by Matisse, Picasso, and Vallotton.
Life-size photographic enlargements of the Steins’ Parisian apartments will be
displayed throughout the exhibition to show how the art was installed in the
Steins’ residences. Additional themes covered in the exhibition include Sarah
and Michael Stein’s role in the formation of the Académie Matisse, the
influential art school that operated from 1908 to 1911; their commission of a
villa from Le Corbusier; and Gertrude’s later friendships and collaborations
with Juan Gris, Elie Lascaux, Francis Rose, and Virgil Thomson.
Exhibition Credits and Catalogue
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde
is organized by Janet Bishop, curator of painting and sculpture at SFMOMA;
Cécile Debray, curator of historical collections at the Musée National d’Art
Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Rebecca Rabinow, Curator in the
Metropolitan Museum’s Department of Modern and Contemporary Art.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated, 492-page catalogue edited
by Janet Bishop, Cécile Debray, and Rebecca Rabinow. The publication features
new research, previously unpublished archival information, photographs
illustrating how the Steins displayed their works of art, a facsimile of Sarah
Stein’s notebook of Matisse’s teachings, an extensive chronology detailing the
lives of the family members, and original essays by a range of French and
American experts in the field: Isabel Alfandary, Janet Bishop, Emily Braun,
Edward Burns, Cécile Debray, Claudine Grammont, Helene Klein, Martha Lucy,
Carrie Pilto, Rebecca Rabinow, and Gary Tinterow. This authoritative volume
also includes a timeline of the Steins' collecting activity created by Kate
Mendillo and a catalogue of the family's holdings compiled by Robert McD.
Parker, along with his presentation of rare photographs depicting the changing
configurations of works on the walls of the various Stein salons. The catalogue
is published by SFMOMA in association with Yale University Press, and is for
sale in the Museum’s book shops (hardcover $75, paperback $50).
Related Programs
The Museum will offer an array of education programs for this exhibition,
including films, a Sunday at the Met on April 29, a series of exhibition
tours and thematic gallery talks, a gallery workshop, a teacher program, and a
participatory teen program on May 19 exploring connections between writing and
art.
Education programs are made possible by The Georges Lurcy Charitable and
Educational Trust.
An audio tour, part of the Museum’s Audio Guide Program, will be available for
rental ($7, $6 for Members, $5 for children under 12).
The Audio Guide is sponsored by Bloomberg.
Prior to its presentation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Steins Collect
was on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and at the Grand Palais
in Paris.