#Graham Gund Associates

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Graham Gund Associates, Davis Summer Residence, Mishaum Point, South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, 1981-1983

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Hyperallergic: The Eclectic Objects that Inspired Matisse’s Art

Henri Cartier-Bresson, “Matisse with his collection of Kuba cloths and a Samoan tapa on the wall behind him, Villa La Rêve, Vence” (1944) (© Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos, image courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

BOSTON — In 1944, Henri Cartier-Bresson photographed Henri Matisse in his studio surrounded by curious objects: a pewter jug with a swirling design, a Samoan tapa, Chinese porcelain, Kuba cloths, seashells, a bird cage, and a 14th-century head carved from stone. Obviously Matisse loved beautiful, well-designed objects and had collected more than 200 by his death in 1954. In his mind, they were neither decorative baubles nor travel trophies. Rather, they served him as visual references that opened his mind to new possibilities in seeing and creating.

Matisse in the Studio, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is the first exhibit to focus specifically on Matisse’s objects and how they influenced his art making. Thirty-nine are paired with the paintings, drawings, bronzes, and cut-outs they either influenced or appeared in.

Vase, artist unknown, Andalusia, Spain (early 20th century), blown glass (Ancienne collection Henri Matisse, former collection of Henri Matisse, Musée Matisse, Nice. Bequest of Madame Henri Matisse, 1960. Photo by François Fernandez, image courtesy Musée Matisse / Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

“Our exhibition is exciting because it allows you to almost step inside the space of the studio and see some of the actual materials that Matisse was looking at and he was inspired by,” said Ellen McBreen, associate professor of art history at Wheaton College and Matisse scholar. She co-curated this exhibit with Helen Burnham, the Pamela and Peter Voss curator of prints and drawings at the MFA, and Ann Dumas, curator of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where the show will travel to next.

Early in his career, Matisse sought new ways to represent one of his lifelong passions, the human nude form. He said, it “permits me to express my almost religious awe towards life.” Thus, it’s fitting this exhibit opens with Bresson’s photo and an anthropomorphic turquoise vase Matisse found on his 1910 trip to Andalusia. No doubt the artist took pleasure in the vase’s sinuous curves, half-moon handles, and bulbous hips that bring to mind a stoutly woman. It is the central figure in his painting “Vase of Flowers” (1924).

Perhaps the vase liberated Matisse from his academic art training, which required him to draw models exactly as he saw them. He knew the era of straight-on figure representation was over. He had seen the 1901 Vincent van Gogh retrospective at Galerie Bernheim-Jeune and followed Picasso and Braque as they explored Cubism. While he wanted to abstract the human form, he wanted to do it in a simpler, more natural way.

Henri Matisse, “Vase of Flowers” (1924), oil on canvas (bequest of John T. Spaulding, © 2011 Succession H. Matisse, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), 
New York) * Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

On his way to Gertrude Stein’s house in 1906, he stopped in a little Parisian junk shop and purchased a hand-carved wooden Vili figure, a tourist reproduction of those used in Congolese healing and fertility rites. He and Picasso were both drawn to its expressive language. That carving appears in Matisse’s 1907 painting “Still Life with African Statuette,” and, for the first time, the painting and object are displayed together.

In 1912, painter Clara T. MacChesney interviewed Matisse for an article in New York Times Magazine, and asked him, “What is your theory on art?” He replied by pointing to a table with a jar of nasturtiums. He said, “I do not paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.”

Over the next couple of years, Matisse would purchase 20 masks and figurines made in Northern and Central Africa. He took a cruder and more direct approach in depicting nudes, as seen in “Young Women,” a bronze from 1907-08. Critics reacted harshly to it and similar works, saying that Matisse strained in his abstraction and these works were “ugly” and the colors “cruel.”

Matisse in the Studio installation view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Ann and Graham Gund Gallery (photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Matisse noted that some African works depicted the human form as genderless or possessing both female and male characteristics. Thus, he decided to apply this idea in the bronze “Young Women.” From one angle, the two figures appear to be women embracing. From another angle, one figure rises a bit taller and has a more wide-legged stance and mannish appearance.

“Why?” MacChesney asked Matisse during their interview, when she spotted a lumpy and crudely formed female figure, from this same generation of sculptures. Matisse reached for a Javanese statue with a disproportionately large head and asked, “Is not that beautiful?” She thought not. Likely he was being coy with her, knowing she didn’t see the human body could be beautiful and expressive without being classically rendered.

Henri Matisse, “Marguerite” (1906–1907), oil on canvas (on loan from the National Musée Picasso, Paris RF 1973‑33, donation Picasso, © Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, New York, image courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

The tribal sculptures also inspired Matisse to reinterpret portraits. In painting his 13-year-old daughter, “Marguerite” (1906-07), he wanted to evoke the emotions of innocence and childhood. So he created her portrait with the simplicity of a child’s painting with flattened features, minimal details, and even what seems like a mistake — a profile nose on a frontal face. Even the letters of Marguerite’s name across the top are scrawled as though an inexperienced hand drew them.

Yet the face looks more like a woman’s, and Matisse knew very well his daughter was growing up. In the portrait, the girl wears a black velvet choker, which seems to separate her body from her head, as if she’s wearing a mask. Coincidentally, when Matisse and Picasso decided to trade paintings, Picasso chose this one. He hung it in his studio next to a Punu mask. Perhaps he saw the mask too.

Some accuse the modernists of having culturally pillaged tribal art, while others point out that the African artists and cultures went mostly unattributed. This exhibition, which alludes to but doesn’t explicitly discuss these tensions, aims to put Matisse’s influences front and center.

Window screen (Haiti), artist unknown, North Africa (late 19th‑early 20th century), cotton plain weave cut and appliquéd to bast fiber cloth (former collection of Henri Matisse en dépot, Musée Matisse, Nice. Photo by François Fernandez, image courtesy, Musée Matisse / Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Matisse had a lifelong appreciation of fine tapestries, which began during his student days at École Quentin De La Tour, a textile designing school near Belgium. After he’d traveled to Morocco and Spain and saw an exhibit of Islamic art in Munich, he became enamored with Islamic architecture, design, and fabrics. He acquired at least a half-dozen haitis, which are sumptuous, pierced, and appliquéd textiles that often bear a mihrab motif — the arch shapes and latticework found in the niches of mosques.

In “The Moorish Screen” (1921), Matisse places a blue-green haiti in the room’s corner, hiding the juncture where two walls meet. Doing this envelopes the two women, dressed in pale, simple frocks, in a rich collage of patterns and jeweled colors. The eye normally tracks towards human figures, but here it’s drawn to the room’s lively décor where it spins before going towards the women.

Henri Matisse, “The Moorish Screen” (1921), oil on canvas (Philadelphia Museum of Art, bequest of Lisa Norris Elkins, 1950. Image courtesy the Philadelphia Museum of Art, © 2017 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

One of most fascinating connections made in this exhibit comes from a 19th-century wood panel on which four Chinese calligraphy characters are made with quick, lyrical gestures. A 1951 photograph by Philippe Halsman shows Matisse making cut-outs in bed. Above him hangs this calligraphy panel, and below each character hangs one of Matisse’s gestural nude drawings, much like those in his “Acrobat” series. By this point in his life, he worked spontaneously, reducing the human form to a few lines, and showing complete total control over his application of ink.

Searching for source materials, Matisse traveled extensively and gathered works from China, Egypt, Morocco, Java, Tangiers, the Congo, Europe, and elsewhere. He had eclectic tastes and could find beauty and inspiration just as easily in a silver chocolate pot as a disproportionate statuette. Matisse was interested in how other cultures viewed life, thought about gender, and expressed beauty. His abstraction of the figure and borrowing from other cultures may have baffled viewers at the onset, but over time such experiments would become the hallmarks of modernism.

Matisse in the Studio continues at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston (465 Huntington Ave, Boston) through July 9. 

The post The Eclectic Objects that Inspired Matisse’s Art appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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Why Mueller Is REALLY Indicting Flynn

http://uniteordiemedia.com/why-mueller-is-really-indicting-flynn/ http://uniteordiemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Flynn-copy-600x334.jpg Why Mueller Is REALLY Indicting Flynn Let’s also remember that Flynn was one of the first people to publicly claim that ISIS was a willful creation of the US government.  …P.D. Mueller Versus Flynn The mainstream narrative is that squeaky-clean special prosecutor Robert Mueller is going to indict Trump’s one-time for...

Let’s also remember that Flynn was one of the first people to publicly claim that ISIS was a willful creation of the US government.  …P.D.

Mueller Versus Flynn

The mainstream narrative is that squeaky-clean special prosecutor Robert Mueller is going to indict Trump’s one-time foreign policy advisor Michael Flynn because Flynn is in the pocket of the Russians and the Turks.

But the truth might be totally different …

After all, Flynn’s meeting with Russian diplomats was completely normal, according to a prominent U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union.

So why is Mueller really going after Flynn?

When Flynn was head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and afterwards, he blew the whistle on the U.S. and its allies willfully allowing Islamic terrorists to flourish in Syria.

That didn’t ingratiate him with the Deep State …

Then last November, Flynn ruffled more feathers by writing:

The primary bone of contention between the U.S. and Turkey is Fethullah Gülen, a shady Islamic mullah residing in Pennsylvania whom former President Clinton once called his “friend” in a well circulated video.

Gülen portrays himself as a moderate, but he is in fact a radical Islamist. He has publicly boasted about his “soldiers” waiting for his orders to do whatever he directs them to do.

***

To professionals in the intelligence community, the stamp of terror is all over Mullah Gülen’s statements in the tradition of Qutb and al Bana. Gülen’s vast global network has all the right markings to fit the description of a dangerous sleeper terror network.

***

To add insult to injury, American taxpayers are helping finance Gülen’s 160 charter schools in the United States. These schools have been granted more H1-B visas than Google. It is inconceivable that our visa officers have approved thousands of visas for English teachers whose English is incomprehensible. A CBS “60 Minutes” program documented a conversation with one such imported English teacher from Turkey. Several lawsuits, including some in Ohio and Texas, point to irregularities in the operation of these schools.

However, funding seems to be no problem for Gülen’s network. Hired attorneys work to keep the lucrative government source of income for Gülen and his network going. Influential charities such as Cosmos Foundation continue their support for Gülen’s charter schools.

Incidentally, Cosmos Foundation is a major donor to Clinton Foundation. No wonder Bill Clinton calls Mullah Gülen “his friend.” It is now no secret that Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s close aide and confidante, worked for 12 years as the associate editor for a journal published by the London-based Institute of Minority Muslim Affairs. This institute has promoted the thoughts of radical Muslim thinkers such as Qutb, al Bana and others.

***

The forces of radical Islam derive their ideology from radical clerics like Gülen, who is running a scam. We should not provide him safe haven.

Now, Mueller is reportedly investigating Flynn specifically for his criticism of Gülen.

Who Is Gülen

So who is Gülen, really?

The Atlantic notes:

[Gülen’s organization] is rumored to have between 1 and 8 million adherents.

The Hill reported last year:

What lies underneath [Gülen’s] charter-school network, however, is a possible undercurrent of white-collar crime and corruption. Known in Turkey as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization or FETÖ this growing network is being investigated by the FBI for everything from fraud and malpractice, to misuse of public funds. One spokeswoman for the bureau said that an investigation is ongoing and FBI agents carried out raids at 19 Gülen-affiliated charter schools in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio in 2014.

***

Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks demonstrate a concern by U.S. officials that these Turkish teachers and businesses “might be using the reputation of the school as a cover to get to the U.S.” These cables state that the H1B visa applications were “not convincing” and that Gülen’s more moderate message “cloaks a more sinister and radical agenda.”

***

Receiving approximately $150 million a year in tax breaks and subsidies, government officials are increasingly concerned that taxpayer dollars are being used to fund a close-knit network of Turkish teachers and businesses using charter schools as a Trojan horse for embedding into the U.S. education system.

Private intelligence company Stratfor notes:

Gulen [said] that in order to reach the ideal Muslim society “every method and  path is acceptable [including] lying to people”.

Documents leaked by Wikileaks has shown that American officials have been worried Gülen could be targeting children across the U.S. for radicalization:

In 2005, one U.S. embassy worker expressed concern about the schools: “We have multiple reliable reports that the Gülenists use their school network (including dozens of schools in the U.S.) to cherry pick students they think are susceptible to being molded as proselytizers,” U.S. Embassy officials in Ankara said in a 2005 report. And we have steadily heard reports about how the schools indoctrinate boarding students,” they said.”

Vox notes:

Among other charges, critics allege that the schools were a scheme to replace US teachers with Turkish immigrants, who were then expected to transfer money back to Gülen organizations. This resulted in investigations from the FBI, Labor Department, and Education Department. An audit of Georgia Gülen charters found that they improperly awarded contracts to affiliated businesses, and in 2014 the FBI raided 19 Gülen-affiliated schools in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. A Gülen school in New Orleans lost its charter in 2011 after allegations of cheating and sexual misconduct involving kindergartners.

***

Secular critics in Turkey have long attacked the Gülen movement as a stalking horse for more thoroughgoing Islamism.

In the 1980s, Turkish generals — who at the time were in control of the government following a military coup — accused Gülen of plotting a takeover to install an Islamic dictatorship. As Al-Monitor’s Murat Bilgincan explains, Gülen went on the run for about six years before being arrested.

***

In 2000, the Turkish government, then led by secularist Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, indicted Gülen on charges of attempting to undermine Turkish secularism — a core feature of the state since Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Turkish Republic in 1922 — and trying to install a Islamic dictatorship.

***

In other words, the Gülen movement was for many years a crucial ally of Erdo?an and the AKP — acting as a grassroots arm with significant funding that could support Erdo?an’s attempts to fight back secularists and, in the eyes of critics, suppress dissent.

A diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks notes that Turkey’s chief Rabbi said about Gülen:

[There’s a] belief in parts of the U.S. government that he is a “radical Islamist” whose moderate message cloaks a more sinister and radical agenda

The Washington post reported in 2011:

A memoir by a top former Turkish intelligence official claims that a worldwide moderate Islamic movement based in Pennsylvania has been providing cover for the CIA since the mid-1990s.

The memoir, roughly rendered in English as “ess to Revolution and Near Anarchy,” by retired Turkish intelligence official Osman Nuri Gundes, says the religious-tolerance movement, led by an influential former Turkish imam by the name of Fethullah Gulen, has 600 schools and 4 million followers around the world.

In the 1990s, Gundes alleges, the movement “sheltered 130 CIA agents” at its schools in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan alone, according to a report on his memoir Wednesday by the Paris-based Intelligence Online newsletter.

(Gundes was chief of Turkish intelligence long before Turkey’s current dictator, Erdogan, came onto the scene, and doesn’t seem to have any connection with him.)

Interviews of Gülen’s former top assistants say that Gülen is running a cult, that he wants to rule Turkey and the Middle East, and that he won’t hesitate to use violence to make it happen:

Gülen is certainly supported by at least some former American intelligence and state department officials, at least in some capacity. After all, Gülen’s application for a Green Card to live in the U.S. was  supported by ex-CIA agent George Fidas, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey Morton Abramowitz, and former CIA Deputy Director Graham Fuller.   Another former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Marc Grossman, receives $100,000 per month (that’s $1.2 million per year) from a Gülen company called the Ilhas Group.

The Turkish government has labeled Gülen and his followers as a terrorist network.    This is ironic, given that Gülen was instrumental in converting Turkey from a secular to Islamic government, and electing Turkey’s leader Erdogan. Until recently, Gülen was a very close ally of Turkish strongman Erdogan.

FBI Whistleblower Says Gülen Is a Terror Kingpin

Sibel Edmonds – a former FBI translator who has been deemed credible by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, several senators (free subscription required), and a coalition of prominent conservative and liberal groups, who the ACLU described as “The most gagged person in the history of the United States of America”, and who famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says possesses information “far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers” – has for years tried to tell the truth about corruption related to Gülen:

  In a series of interviews over the last couple of years, Edmonds has said that – when she worked for the FBI as a translator – she saw documents showing that:

Gülen is the leader of one of the world’s largest terror networks, with terrorist training centers throughout the Middle East and central Asia

He is a key player in false flag terrorism in Turkey and other areas

He was key in changing Turkey from a secular country to an Islamic country, and electing dictator Erdogan

He is involved in heroin and other drug networks, selling nuclear material on the black market, and money-laundering

Gülen has contributed large sums of money to the Clintons through the Clinton Foundation

Gülen’s handler in the U.S. is former long-time CIA officer – and current CIA contractor – Graham Fuller

When Mueller was the Director of the FBI, he was instrumental in covering up Gülen’s terrorist activities and spiking prosecution against Gülen

Mueller is now trying to throw Flynn in jail, to silence his efforts to expose Gülen

This video goes into some of these allegations.

Washington’s Blog asked Edmonds what documents she saw while at the FBI which implicated Gülen as a terrorist mastermind.  She responded:

Gülen’s FBI cases:

1- White Collar Crime Division: had to do with front/shell companies and NGOs used for money laundering and bribery (political contributions to various political action committees).

2- Terrorism & Criminal Divisions: US derived funds being transferred to international hubs for various terror cells (including Chechen groups), Gulen’s Pakistani-Arab-Turkish operatives in US involved in heroin smuggling into US, Gulen-affiliated Turkish businessmen with cash-only companies (Ex: Re-selling used clothes previously contributed to charity groups like GoodWill) in Chile and other S. American countries (as money-laundering ops), …

3- Counterintelligence Division (Washington DC Field Office): Espionage (State Department, DOJ, RAND Corporation),  Bribery and extortion of dozens of elected officials,  including Hastert, Jan Schakowsky, Bob Creamer, Jane Schmidt …

Gülen has pocketed strategically position police chiefs such as the one for Fairfax County (Where CIA HQ is located among with several dozens of top Intel & MIC contractors) …

In other words, Edmonds says that Gülen is a terror kingpin and drug smuggler who launders vast sums of money, and bribes U.S. officials and officials throughout the world … and Mueller is going after Flynn in order to protect Gülen and the corrupt politicians he’s in bed with.

Read More: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-27/why-mueller-really-indicting-flynn

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Graham Gund Associates, Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976

[archiveofaffinities]

Graham Gund Associates, Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976