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

Openings and closing

First Saturday of the month, the galleries on Julia Street are opened late for the new exhibitions. The crowd is thinner than usual, it is cold in New Orleans.

Arthur Roger Gallery presents Ida Kohlmeyer, a well-known artist in this city, defined as an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor. The collector can buy small works of great quality making this exhibition a "do-not-miss". Daily, I am exposed to Kohlmeyer's "Lollipops" on my way to work.

What about young artists? I noticed Steve Teeters from Lubbock ,Texas,

brought by Prospect 1.5 to Le Mieux Gallery. The artist is using an easy language to speak to us about corporate America through his sculptures. The message is clear.

The Heriard-Cimino Gallery is presenting Carlos Betancourt with photographs and sculptures. Vibrant, full of life, an explosion of colors and shapes with favorite objects, flowers, toy bears, candies, beads for the compositon. The photographs are guaranteed to put the viewer in a great mood. (...decorative, superficial, ennoying with their cute exuberance and obviously favorites, with some red dots already on the walls).

The closing party for Prospect 1.5 is taking place at an interesting venue: Second Line Stages, advertised as a state of the art sound stages located in the Garden District. In a corner, small works of art are displayed (poorly) for the silent auction organized to raise money for Prospect 2. The total art on sale will raise maybe 10 000 dollars...a pitance compared to the budget of such event.

This year, Prospect 1.5 is a make-over with 50 artists.
My opinion about this event? random, poorly advertised. I visited two galleries in my neighborhood, The scope of the event was a far cry from Prospect 1.

So far, I have not experienced anything close to the Biennale in Venice, but time will tell.

Waiting to see Prospect 2.

photographs by the author

1. "Semiotic Staff #11", 1987, Ida Kohlmeyer

2. " Nest Egg" Steve Teeters

3. The entrance at Throwdown 1.5, Second Line Stages

(FOLK) ART

The exhibition at NOMA titled "Swamp Tours: Exploring the Louisiana Contemporary Collections" made me reflect on the subject of Art versus Folk Art.

It is a medley of works bringing together "unusual and unexpected acquisitions" from the NOMA.

The artists represented include David Butler, Clementine Hunter, Lynda Benglis, Noel Rockmore, Ida Kohlmeyer, Jeffery Cook... and more. There is art and folk art. Well, where do we draw the line?

I tried to find the elements of folk art, is it its utilitarian, decorative? Is it it's reflection of more primitive mythology and fears? Does it represent a smaller community?

Art work is intellectually driven, significant, representing a society, a civilization.

It is also the viewer.

It is a fascinating subject and I am not to write a thesis,... just thinking... This exhibition is very interesting indeed , sometimes whimsical. A flavor you would not find anywhere else, complete with the gourmet turtle soup I had for lunch at the museum's cafe.

photographs by the author

Forty

This Summer, the NOMA presents 40 artists with two characteristics in common, they are women and from Louisiana. The works cover the period from 1965 till 2010. The two rooms dedicated to this exhibition appear cramped, filled with sculptures and paintings.

There is art for every taste, Surrealist, Realist, Abstract... from known and not so well known artists.

The exhibit is interesting because of its diversity, which also makes it difficult to absorb.

Among all the artists, I noticed the work from Jesselyn Benson Zurik (1916), "the Madonna of the Chair", 1980. It is an interesting minimalist sculpture but it is already a late work for the Minimalist movement.

Another original work from Ida Kohlmeyer retains the attention. "Mythic Throne", 1986, combines painting and sculpture. One can find a flavor of New Orleans but also an early combination of high and low art which made Takashi Murakami well known in the 90s till the present.

Rayne Bedsole is represented by a collage of a silhouette againts a dark background. Her works make me dream. I especially like her boats, symbols of voyages, including the ultimate voyage. Her use of symbolism blends the Mythology of different cultures to create works telling the universal story of Mankind.

One of the limitations of such exhibition is that it presents a very narrow window of some artists career. For example, Lynda Benglis, a prolific artist, who expressed herself with strong messages to fight for women's representation, deserves a better display than one sculpture.

Of course, one of Lin Emery 's kinetic sculpture "River Tree" was at the center of the room. Her metal sculptures, with nature as the subject, are well-known in New Orleans.

Even with some informations about the artists printed next to the works, this exhibition stays superficial. Using a musical term, the works are too discordant to be appreciated in such closeness. One can ask the goal of the curator: to show a great number of women artists in Louisiana? Unfortunately, it just resembles another end of the year College or art school exhibition.

photographs by the author