Voyage in the Deep South

 

A trip to New Orleans is never quite complete without a visit to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, famous for its collection of vernacular art. In addition, the museum hosts temporary exhibitions and the latest titled Vicinal Visions: Dusti Bongé, Ida Kohlmeer & Dorothy Hood features three women artists born at the beginning of the 20th century in the South of the United States. From affluent backgrounds, all three pursued their artistic calling following studies at reputable institutions, the Rhode Island School of Design and the Arts Students League of New York for Dorothy Hood, the Newcomb/Tulane College and the Hans Hoffman School of Fine Arts in New York City for Ida Kohlmeyer while Dusti Bongé was encouraged by her husband to skip art school and paint. During their travels, both Kohlmeyer and Hood became interested in the art of Central and South America. Hood's vacation in Mexico extended to a twenty-year stay. There, she befriended intellectual and artistic luminaries among them Jose Clemente Orozco, the poet Pablo Neruda, Rufino Tamayo and the famous couple Kahlo-Rivera. At some point the three artists found themselves immersed in the unescapable art circles of New York City where they mingled with Surrealists and Abstract Expressionists. Bongé was represented by the famous Betty Parson Gallery, Hood moved to Manhattan to study in the late thirties and visited the City frequently after her move to Mexico. They eventually returned to their birthplace mostly for personal reasons: Bongé to raise her son in Biloxi, Mississipi, Kohlmeyer solidly anchored in New Orleans kept a foot in New York City and Hood returned to Houston in 1961 where she taught at the School of Art of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as she cared for her ailing husband. The exhibition curated by Bradley Sumrall, Curator of the Collection, showcases paintings from the permanent collection of the museum locally called the Ogden, last name of its founder. 

My first encounter with Hood's paintings was a revelation. Time seemed to stand still in the quiet gallery and surrounded by five abstract landscapes, I simply allowed myself to bathe in their colors. The paintings project a profound serenity reaching spiritual levels, a deep connection with nature translated through sky to ocean blues, murky bayou greens or the muted colors of an uncertain sunrise. The large expanses of colors are not flat, they are enlivened by gentle caresses of the brush and by geometric or biomorphic shapes providing the illusion of depth. Illuminated Earth (c. 1970) was inspired by the Landsat views of the earth which Hood compares to her own compositions, and she sums up her travel to Florence with a predominant burnt Sienna in Florence in the Morning (c.1976). The five paintings were made upon her return from Mexico, while back in Houston. Along the wall leading to the other side of the gallery, a sample of her collages started in the early 80s, Shards of the Earth (c.1980's) is an assemblage of fragments from earlier earthy-toned paintings and a woven piece of fabric featuring Mexican motives, like piecing her past together. One drawing summarizes her life-long practice (at least until the mid-70s), the foundation and complement to her paintings. It provides a smooth transition to Bongé 's two surrealist watercolors and on the other side of the partition wall, larger oil paintings. Bongé veered to an unmistakable abstract expressionism with Circles Penetrated (1952)  and Sails (c.1955) in sync with her peers at the time. Further, two semi-abstract landscapes from the late 1950s and 1960s take a distinctly Southern turn, capturing the palpable, mysterious atmosphere of the swamps. The limited display overlooks her productive later years, including her delicate watercolors on Joss paper and her vibrant pieces about the void, most likely reflecting the museum's holdings. 

Ida Kohlmeyer takes over the exhibition with her works filling the remaining space of the vast gallery and spilling into the hallway. Widely recognized for her public sculptures in the crescent city, ten key works summarize her practice influenced by the Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann and the Color Field style of Mark Rothko who spent two months as a visiting artist-in-residence at Tulane University's Newcomb Art School. She also mingled with the Surrealists in Paris and adopted similar compositions made of grids filled with pictograms. Back home in festive New Orleans, her glyphs and symbols took a joyous, colorful pop flair as illustrated by four of her paintings from the 80s. 

The exhibition wall texts deserve a special mention. They contribute to the quality of the show by providing pertinent biographical details, quotes from the artists, and in-depth analysis of each work. However, their length feels better suited for a catalogue or an exhibition brochure which would enhance its impact and preserve its legacy. 

The three Modernist artists are hailed as visionary pioneers of abstraction in the South, a well deserved recognition that limits their broader reach. Their creations warrant a much wider audience and looking back, a more prominent place in art history.

photographs by the author:

-Dusti Bongé "Sails", c.1955

-Dorothy Hood "Untitled", c.1972

-Ida Kohlmeyer "Signs and Symbols 85-1", 1984

-Dorothy Hood "Preceptors", c.1970

Dusti Bongé on the Coast

Two exhibitions for one artist, from the Ohr O-Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi to the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, the works of Dusti Bongé are on the walls. Born in Biloxi, Bongé came back to her hometown after a stint in Chicago, then New York where she was represented by the Betty Parsons gallery. She chose to paint for ...the sake of painting and ignore the pressures of the art world. The rediscovery of the artist is long overdue and these two exhibitions are the occasion for the public to view the works, known mainly by insiders or friends.

My journey to discover the artist started at the Ohr O-Keefe Museum of Art. In the large gallery, five early works from the 40's are gathered on one side: landscapes, boats, buildings and two self-portraits. Representative of the painter's realistic style influenced by Cubism during that period, they are a testimony of her love for colors. The bulk of the exhibition consists of her later works from the early 90's, approximately twenty small watercolors on Joss paper organized around abstract or semi-abstract oil paintings from the 50's  and 80's. The eye is immediately attracted to the large oil paintings, due to their size and also their colors. Big Red, 1987, illuminates the space with its fiery vibrant reds, Infinity, 1980, another major piece with subdued colors and a poetic undertone is contrasting with darker compositions like Oyster Chorus, showing the rich palette of the artist. The small works usually 8 1/4 inches by 3 3/4 require a closer look. They represent an abstract microcosm, a visual oxymoron: small, watercolors, abstract. The vigor of the lines, the intensity of the colors, dark blue, green, bright orange give a palpable energy to the miniature pieces. The silver or gold square shaped leaves define the story. Bongé challenges the viewer by conveying her message through a small scale.
The carefully selected but limited works assembled for Bongé a retrospective left me somewhat hungry for more and  the next stop at the Walter Museum of Art did fulfill my wish.

The abundance of works representing all stages of the artist's career went beyond my expectations. Starting from the entrance, on both sides of the long hall, the paintings are displayed more or less by chronological order and continue into the gallery, right and left. My recent acquired knowledge at the Ohr allowed me to recognize the period of the 40's. The display follows the maturation of the artist's style, her search for colors and lines to reach her ultimate goal, uninhibited spontaneity. Encouraged by her husband not to attend art school, she followed his advice. The paintings are grouped by series, starting in the early 50's she investigates semi-abstraction, a game of positive and negative simple shapes against a pure background in paintings like The Marriage of Blue and Green, 1952 or Below Looks Up, 1952. Her "Circus Series" are another example of her search, full of movement with twirling shapes and a surrealistic influence. She reaches pure abstraction with paintings like Untitled White, Blue, Red Abstract, in 1956. The generous gesture, the boldness of the colors transfer on the canvas the wish of the painter to give the viewer "part of her".

 The combination of the two exhibitions allows to view the full spectrum  of Dusti Bongé's career, from the 40's till her late works from the 90's.
I concluded my trip with a visit at the Dusti Bongé Art Foundation in old town Biloxi. The 30 minutes video available on the foundation's Website, realized in 1982, gives an insight on Bongé's art from the artist's point of view.

Few female painters chose the adventure of abstract and in her quiet way, Dusti Bongé was a pioneer.

photographs by the author

"Self-Portrait", 1936-39
View of the exhibition at the Ohr O-Keefe Museum
"Untitled, White, Blue, Red Abstract", 1956
"Void #6", 1982
"Silver Beach", 1959