Opening Oct. 15 at SAM, two shows organized by the museum that aren’t going to travel. (Click images to enlarge.)
1. Alexander Calder: A Balancing Act, curated by Michael Darling. The idea is to trace the origins of his signature style through his initial efforts to its flowering largely through intimate objects, from 1927 to the mid-1970s.
Seattle collectors John and Mary Shirley own a hefty share of the 80 objects, many of which haven’t been publicly exhibited. Calder has recently been at the Whitney and MoMA. The concentration in Seattle will be the 1940s.
2. Michelangelo Public and Private: Drawings for the Sistine Chapel and Other Treasures from the Casa Buonarroti, organized with the Buonarroti by Chiyo Ishikawa.
From the press release:
Renaissance biographer Georgio Vasari tells us that Michelangelo burned
most of his drawings and other preparatory works before his death “so
that no one should see the labors he endured and the ways he tested his
genius, and lest he should appear less than perfect.”
Grain of salt: Vasari is not facts on file. The most promising thing about this exhibit is the chance to see the artist thinking on paper – twelve drawings. If he really wanted to hide his tracks, there wouldn’t be any.
For this one exhibit, I’m going to try to break the habit of reading wall text. Maybe SAM will surprise me and skip all that oh-the-master-genius stuff, which wraps the artist in adulatory goo. Press release again:
In addition to drawings and models that reveal Michelangelo’s process,
the exhibition includes works by Michelangelo’s contemporaries and
generations of followers and admirers. Painted and sculpted portraits
and commemorative medals celebrating his life demonstrate the “cult of
Michelangelo” that had already begun during his lifetime.
Cults intend to honor but always alienate, a point well made in a bumper sticker: Jesus, Save Me From Your Followers.
Leave a Reply