Tuesday 4 November 2008

American Modern in the Joan Miró Foundation

Once more we’re fortunate to have a new temporary exhibition in Barcelona which is also of great interest.

The Joan Miró Foundation – a visit you shouldn’t miss when you come to Barcelona- is presenting American Modern, a selection of paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington. The show contains over 100 works produced by American artists since the end of the nineteenth century. From landscape painters and the artists working under the influence of Paris, to Abstract Expressionism and even photography, the exhibition shows how modern art has developed in the United States up to the present day.

The artists represented include George Bellows, John Singer Sargent, Arthur Davies, Marsden Hartley, Joseph Cornell, Thomas Hart Benton, John Sloan, Edward Hopper, Milton Avery, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Richard Diebenkorn, Martin Puryear and Robert Mangold.

One of the pictures that particularly caught my attention was in the Afro-American room of the exhibition. It is entitled “Black girl dragging white girl” and it was painted by Kim Dingle in 1951. It seems to me that it could symbolise the heavy burden the white race has meant for the black race. Maybe, I’m interpreting it this way because last summer I visited South Africa where this situation is absolutely obvious. Let’s wait and see what finally happens in the American elections. Maybe it is time for a change and paintings such as this one are only a product of the past.

3 comments:

Marcin Szmyt said...

Monica, that exhibition seems interesting, will we have a chance o see it in January? Would be nice.

Mònica Villanueva Benet said...

Marcin,
The exhibition will last till January 25th. However, the Joan Miró Foundation is even more interesting for the building itself and for the permanent collection: the surrealist painter Joan Miró.
Are you satisfied with the result of the elections? Today the front page of one of the most important Spanish newspapers shows a huge picture of Martin Luther King, instead of a picture of Obama. A dream come true or only one more in the list of presidents? What is the feeling about it in your country?

Marcin Szmyt said...

Monica,
As for the elections I wasn't really sure if we all should believe the opinion polls carried out just before voting suggesting that Obama should be the winner. I was really curious if all these people support him or just say that because of being politically correct. But... as we can see he really made it. The key word of his campaign was 'change' and they or we will have a change. In Poland there is a lot of discussion, as in every country, what it really means, but I believe we will have to wait for a while to learn what this change is really about. But to be honest I think the dream is coming true, let's wait and see whether in a few years' time the dream wil have completely come true:-)