Background on him and his career is here.
The Hammer Museum in the Westwood district of Los Angeles and affiliated with nearby UCLA holds one of his most important works,"Salome Dancing to Herod." This subject, and the closely related one of John the Baptist's head, have been grist for many artists over the centuries. It can be interesting to compare their interpretations, but for the purposes of this post, the focus is Moreau's version of the dance.
The museum had an exhibit in 2012 related to the painting, and here is the Los Angeles Times' art critic's reaction to it.
I visited the Hammer in 2010 and took a few photos of the painting.
My photo was slightly out of focus, as often happens when in museums using automatic mode. I tried to sharpen things, but it's not worth enlarging this because it's still a bit blurred.
Also her left arm seems way thicker than the right one.
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, when I was a student in NYC, this painting was owned and displayed by Huntington Hartford in his odd museum on Columbus Circle. The painting is huge! Really dwarfing. The impasto is so thick that the surface of the work is literally 3 dimensional in places. The museum was a tall very narrow building with a staircase going from top to bottom, each level opening onto a gallery with another gallery behind it. That was it - 2 rooms to a floor. The Moreau was the sole occupant of one of those galleries directly opening onto the stairwell. Climbing the stairs and seeing this colossal, pulsating vision was overwhelming. I went there, many times, more or less just to see this work and stood transfixed every time. Oddly similar to climbing the iron circular stars in the Moreau Museum to find yourself in the gigantic ballroom, display hall with dozens of this great artists mostly unfinished works towering over you. He, and his work is out of this world in every way. What a shame the French cared so little for their patrimony that they let three of the greatest Moreau paintings out of the country.
ReplyDeleteresborzage -- I visited Huntington Hartford's Gallery of Modern Art once, probably in 1966 or 67 (though I can't rule out the summer of '65. Don't recall if the Moreau was there. But as the post indicates, I eventually caught up with it.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it was on loan from the Getty, or Hartford owned it and later sold it to them. It was around the years you mention, but more likely 68 or 69 when I was going to school at SVA. 2nd or 3 landing when I saw it. All alone is imperial splendor.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for your wonderful blog. Would love your views on Frank Pape, who so fabulously illustrated so many of James Branch Cabell's great novels.
ReplyDelete