Modern Masters at the Usher

 

Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Warhol at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln.

This newly opened exhibition is so very well timed to fit at the end of Part 2.  The prints are on loan from the V&A until the end of March and have attracted many viewers as might be imagined.

The four artists on show, Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Warhol represent a 75 year span of the 20th century and use a wide range of techniques.  I've chosen one piece of work from each artist to focus on.

Henri Matisse 1869–1954 

I've always thought of Matisse as a master of colour which of course he is.  The work on show here however was virtually without colour but stunning in it's simplicity and mainly of his nudes which he returned to time and time again throughout his life. Matisse used lithography because he liked the freedom it gave him and it enabled him to work in a very spontaneous way.

Whilst the simplicity of the lithographs appealed to me the most interesting piece of work was a woodcut because both the print and the block were exhibited.

The block was cut in 1906 shortly after Matisse met Picasso and is made of two joined pieces of pear wood. It was one of his first experiments with printmaking and puts mark making into serious focus. The block was lost for many years and re emerged in the 1960's.  Until then the print was thought to have been a lino cut.  

Woodcut for Nude in profile on a chaise longue

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/

Nude in profile on a chaise longue
http://www.scran.ac.uk/

I have real difficulty thinking in the negative and this print just astounds me.  It's quite lovely to know that the initials HM carved into the floorboards under the model's seat are back to front.

Pablo Picasso 1881-1973

Frugal Repast 1904
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This etching dates from 1904 towards the end of his depression at the death of his close friend Carlos Casagemas.  It was the first print he published but not until 1913.  It shows an emaciated couple who were circus performers.  They have eaten a very meagre meal and although they are touching in a fond manner they somehow feel very distant and unconnected both from the viewer and each other.

This work is so sensitive and detailed.  I can weave all sorts of stories around the couple.  I hope things improved but I think their future was pretty well mapped out.


Salvadore Dali 1904-1989

To be honest I'm not a big Dali fan but this exhibition gave me another perspective.  I only really know of wobbly clocks and the like and I was surprised to see a series of posters advertising rail travel. They are all from 1969.

Paris shows the Eiffel Tower and a silhouette of Louis XIV. 

Normandie  uses two of Dali's oil paintings in the design: The Weaning of Furniture-Nutrition (1934) and above Sleep (1937).  More recognisable to the travel public perhaps is an image of Mont St Michel.

The poster for Alsace shows the famous cathedral in Strasbourg.

Roussillon is another poster that makes use of earlier work (Gala Looking at Dalí in a State of Ant Gravitation).  The mountains of the Pyrenees are included as well.

This is a very different Dali; a very commercially aware one who is grounded in the everyday images people respond to.

This image is the one that captured my imagination most.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza 1956-57

collections.vam.ac.uk 

It was inspired by the comic knight Don Quixote and his companion Sancho Panzer.  It looks as though every bit of it is spinning.  There are surprises too. The ruff round the Don's neck is a host of armed soldiers if you look closely.  This is a strange print (a  lithograph) is yet another remarkable lesson in mark making.

Andy Warhol 1928-1987

As might be anticipated there were 3 prints of Warhol's iconic Marilyn all in very different colour ways.  The most striking was the almost monochrome one.  That isn't the one that will stick in my mind though.  I liked Flowers best of all, probably because I remember the 60's so well.  In fact I made a dress with a very similar print.

Flowers 1964

www.gallerywarhol.com

Warhol used print as his starting point and all his creative work sprang from it.  As a commercial illustrator Warhol used magazines as sources for his work and he did that with these flowers.  This print was produced in many different ways.  From the 70's onwards he began to use his own photographs and a variety of different materials like diamond dust and paper collage.  

Warhol's hope was to elevate the perception of illustration to  that of fine art.

I liked what I saw in the exhibition and wouldn't have missed it for anything.  There is a big "but". The catalogue was so out of kilter with what was actually hanging on the walls and the numbers were not chronological.  It was the most frustrating experience.  Every time I wanted more information it meant a search (in very dim light) and I actually abandoned the catalogue in the end.  I spoke to staff who were aware of the problem and said if I came again they would probably have sorted out something better.  Such a shame.

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http://collections.vam.ac.uk/
www.gallerywarhol.com

Modern Masters in Print: Matisse, Picasso, Dali and Warhol.  Exhibition catalogue

11 January – 30 March 2014

http://www.scran.ac.uk/