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LACMA: “Construction for Noble Ladies” (Kurt Schwitters, 1919)

LACMA: “Construction for Noble Ladies” (Kurt Schwitters, 1919)

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One of the more intriguing movements in the history of modernist art is that of Dadaism. Dadaist paintings were rarely just that: they frequently used different mediums, such as pieces of printed material, sand, and found objects, in their works along with paint. This creates an intricate texture, one that cannot be fully conveyed by p hotographs. Kurt Schwitters’ Construction for Noble Ladies, currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is a perfect example of a dadaist found-object “painting”. This work mimics a traditional painting, and, in fact, is displayed in a room full of them. However, Schwitters’ piece is comprised of several seemingly random objects, including a wheel with broken spokes, a ticket for shipping a bicycle, a funnel, a flattened toy train, and other bits and pieces of detritus, along with paint.

The three-dimensional texture of this masterpiece is not properly conveyed through photographs. In a photograph, the effects of the layered depths of the different parts of the work is somewhat diminished, and the work develops an overall sense of unity that takes away from the experimental nature of the piece. Seeing this work in person highlights the distinct contrast within the work created by Schwitters’ use of almost sculpture-like relief. The intricacies in texture are much clearer, and give a better overall understanding of the piece.

The juxtaposition of this work and the other pieces in the gallery also adds to the avant-garde nature of the piece. Even though the paintings currently displayed on either side of this work are modernist and were experimental art for their time, Schwitters’ creation is clearly cutting edge on another level entirely. It also adds to the absurdity of the dadaist movement as a whole: you don’t typically walk into a German Expressionism gallery in a major art museum expecting to see a flattened toy and an old receipt painted to a piece of cardboard and hung on the wall. This helps the viewer better understand the context in which the dadaist movement existed, and thus better understand how Schwitters’ piece and other dadaist works were received.

Pablo Picasso “Men and Women” (1969) LACMA

Pablo Picasso “Men and Women” (1969) LACMA

I found my visit to the LACMA to be really fun and interesting to see different art pieces. My friends and I spent our time in the Ahmanson building in the Modern and Expressionist art exhibits. I saw a lot of Picassos and Pissarros, and I think the museum had a good diversity of artwork that I have never seen before. The work I saw that I felt connected with what we have learned in class was “Men and Women” (1969) by Pablo Picasso. Even though this work was done in a later period than what we’ve talked about in class this art piece still stays true to the Cubist principles we’ve talked about. The painting depicts a man and woman contrasted in white and black, and the painting semi-overtly shows the man penetrating the woman. Besides the sexual subject matter, the figures are still distorted as if seen from multiple perspectives. However, Picasso uses a lot of color in this painting opposed to earlier Cubist painting in which expression though color was avoided. The painting style looks more abstract than Cubist, but the underlying techniques still remain, as the painting is still ambiguously fragmented and over exaggerated. The LACMA had the biggest collection of Picasso paintings I’ve ever seen before, so it was interesting to see his creative process and how his art changed over time, especially after learning about him in class. “Men and Women” was displayed alongside the rest of the Picasso paintings, and the me that highlighted its difference in style compared to the other pieces due to his use of color and the way it was painted with heavy brushstrokes. This painting was also much larger than the other Cubist paintings so the eye was immediately drawn to it. Although this painting shows clearly a difference in Picasso’s painting style, the sexual subject matter and fragmented perspectives are very much in the conventional Picasso style. Going to the LACMA was a great experience in relation to the class because it allowed me to visualize the art we talk about in person, and having learned about the kinds of artwork I was looking at made it all the more interesting.

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