Kehinde Wiley at the Petit Palais

When I wrote about the black images in European art at the Petit Palais in late 2015, I never dreamed that I'd be able to write an article about an exhibition of works by a person of African descent being shown at the same institution. So I am pleased to be able to report on the Kehinde Wiley exhibition, Lamentation, that is currently on display.

Much of the press about the show, and even the information presented at the museum itself, indicates that Lamentation contains ten works by Wiley. In fact, there are only nine - three oil paintings and six stained glass windows. But no matter - they are well worth a visit to this beautiful museum, which is located just off the Champs Elysées.

Petit Palais
© Discover Paris!

Lamentation banner - Petit Palais façade
© Discover Paris!
From the Petit Palais information card:

Kehinde Wiley continues his exploration of religious iconography at the Petit Palais.

By focusing on the story of Christ and his relationship with his mother, the Virgin Mary, he is initiating a thought-provoking conversation about masculinity.

The previously unseen series of six stained glass windows exhibited at the heart of the large format gallery center on the figure of a young Christ: the artist moves beyond the religious context to explore the expression of his vulnerability - the vulnerability of the dead child and the adult Christ.

The six stained glass windows are displayed in a hexagonal structure at the rear of the "Large Format Gallery." They are found between the majestic The Funeral Day, a Scene from Morocco by Jean-Joseph Benjamin Constant and several works with religious themes, such as Gustave Doré's The Ascension and William Bouguereau's The Virgin with Angels.

Lamentations stained glass window display
© Discover Paris!
Each window portrays an adult holding a child. Though three of the adults are men, the names of these works indicate that the man represents Mary, Mother of God. In the works entitled Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted I and Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted II, the man carries a dead child.

Mary, Comforter of the Afflicted II (detail)
2016 Stained glass and aluminum frame
© Discover Paris!
Downstairs, a room is dedicated to three monumental oil paintings that complement the stained glass windows.

Lamentations oil paintings
© Discover Paris!
From the Petit Palais information card:

Together these works offer a bodily representation of the Christ figure. By choosing to focus on the body, the most concrete and vulnerable, if not animal, aspect of his "personality", Kehinde Wiley takes a highly contemporary approach to reviving the debate of the divine or human nature of Christ, the eternal dichotomy between body and mind.

The signature piece of the exhibition, Lamentation, is found here.

Lamentation
2016 Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
Wiley has indeed focused on the "body of Christ" in these works, rendering each subject with anatomic precision.

Lamentation (detail)
2016 Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
In Christ after Lady Macbeth I and Christ after Lady Macbeth II, one can easily imagine that the Christ figure was a bodybuilder.

Christ after Lady Macbeth II
2016 Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!

Christ after Lady Macbeth II (detail)
2016 Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
Only a few days remain to see this exhibition. It closes on January 15.

Lamentation
Petit Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01.53.43.40.00
Internet: http://www.petitpalais.paris.fr
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM. Closed Mondays.
Entry to the Kehinde Wiley exhibition is free.

African-American Masters at Three Major Paris Museums

Perhaps for the first time ever, works by several master African-American artists are simultaneously on display at three major Paris museums.

THE COLOR LINE (October 4, 2016 - January 15, 2017)

I have already written about The Color Line, the groundbreaking exhibition at the Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac, in an ETBP blog post:

The Color Line - Buzz

Curator Daniel Soutif has borrowed the vast majority of the works in this show from private collectors, galleries, and museums in the U.S. Lenders include the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dr. and Mrs. Walter O. Evans, and the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery.

The catalog (Flammarion, 49€) contains 400 pages of images, essays, and references. Published in French, it presents a comprehensive review of the exhibition.

Portrait of Booker T. Washington
Henry Ossawa Tanner
1917 Oil on canvas
State Historical Museum of Iowa, Des Moines
Fifty-nine artists are represented in The Color Line. Below is a partial list of their names:

• Charles A. Alston
• Jean-Michel Basquiat
• Beauford Delaney
• Palmer Hayden
• Edmonia Lewis
• Faith Ringgold
• Augusta Savage
• Henry Ossawa Tanner
• Hale Woodruff

This exhibition is so rich in depth and breadth that serious visitors should either plan to spend the entire day at the museum or foresee making multiple visits.

The Color Line
Musée du quai Branly Jacques Chirac
37, quai Branly
75007 Paris
Telephone: 01.56.61.70.00
Internet: http://www.quaibranly.fr
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday - 11 AM to 7 PM; Thursday through Saturday - 11 AM to 9 PM. Closed Mondays.
Entry fee: 10€
Reduced fee: 7€


LAMENTATION (October 20, 2016 - January 15, 2017)

Lamentation over the Dead Christ
Kehinde Wiley
2008 Oil on canvas
© Kehinde Wiley Studio

For the last ten years, I've been obsessed with stained glass.
-- Kehinde Wiley

Several monumental works by Kehinde Wiley are being shown at the Petit Palais in the artist's first solo exhibition in France. They consist of paintings and stained glass and can be found in the heart of the museum's permanent collections.

A contemporary portraitist, Wiley explores religious iconography in this exhibition. He makes artistic reference to Christ in several paintings and depicts the Virgin Mary in stained glass. This is the first time he has represented the Madonna in his work; he sometimes uses a male figure to portray her.

Six works of stained glass are installed in a hexagonal structure in the "Galerie des Grands Formats" on the first floor of the museum. Four monumental paintings that hang in one of the rooms dedicated to 19th-century works on the ground floor.

Lamentation
Petit Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
Telephone: 01.53.43.40.00
Internet: http://www.petitpalais.paris.fr
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM. Closed Mondays.
Entry to the Kehinde Wiley exhibition is free.


AMERICA AFTER THE FALL: PAINTINGS FROM THE 1930s (October 12, 2016 to January 30, 2017)

The Musée de l'Orangerie is hosting America after the Fall: Paintings from the 1930s, a traveling exhibition that it co-curated with the Art Institute of Chicago. The show represents a large cross section of styles and artistic themes that capture the volatile pulse of the United States as well as the state of flux of American art during the 1930s.

Works by several of the U.S.' greatest artists, including Georgia O'Keeffe, Grant Wood, and Stuart Davis, are displayed in the exhibition. Among these great artists are two African Americans - Aaron Douglas and William Henry Johnson.

Douglas' Aspiration and Johnson's Street Life, Harlem are part of the show. Aspiration is on loan from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, while Street Life, Harlem is on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Aspiration
Aaron Douglas
1936 Oil on canvas

Street Life, Harlem
William H. Johnson
ca. 1939-1940 Oil on plywood
Many of the works in this exhibition are traveling abroad for the first time. America after the Fall: Paintings from the 1930s will travel to London's Royal Academy after it closes in Paris on January 30, 2017.

America after the Fall: Paintings from the 1930s
Musée de l'Orangerie
Jardin des Tuileries
Place de la Concorde
Telephone: 01.44.77.80.07; 01.44.50.43.00
Internet: http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/
Hours: Wednesday through Monday - 9 AM to 6 PM. Closed Tuesdays.
Entry fee: 9€
Reduced fee: 6,50€
Free entry on the first Sunday of the month
Free entry for persons less than 26 years of age



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Black Images in European Art: The Petit Palais

For years, I've wanted to cast my eyes on the famous bust by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Pourquoi Naître Esclave, at the Petit Palais. I can't count the number of times I've walked by the museum and never set foot inside.

Last week, Tom and I finally paid a visit to the "Little Palace." The building is incredibly well endowed with natural light. On either side of the large glass panel that looks over the semi-circular garden opposite the entrance is a marble bust of an African man.

The artist's name is not indicated on the information cards accompanying these works. The only date mentioned is "19th-century" - with a question mark.

We went straight downstairs and to the rear of the museum to Room 14, which is devoted to sculptures by Carpeaux. And there she was...

Pourquoi naître esclave?
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
1868 Patinated Plaster
© Discover Paris!
I stood in front of the sculpture and gazed into the hollow pupils of its patinated plaster eyes.

Pourquoi naître esclave? - detail
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
1868 Patinated Plaster
© Discover Paris!
This bust is one of eight that Carpeaux created in preparation for the incarnation of the African persona found in the sculpture Les Quatre Parties du Monde. It and the bust at the Musée des beaux-arts de Reims are the only two made of plaster. Other busts are made from terra cotta, bronze, or marble.

After satisfying this long-held desire, Tom and I took a (relatively) quick stroll through the rest of the museum to see the permanent collection and to decide where we'd concentrate our time upon subsequent visits.

As expected, we found a few paintings that depict blacks. The most impressive one was an oversized painting by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant called Le Jour des funérailles, scène du Maroc.

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Le Jour des funérailles, scène du Maroc (La Mort de l'émir)
Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant
1889 Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
It is located on the ground floor in Room 3, which is part of a long gallery that houses 19th-century paintings.

19th-century paintings
© Discover Paris!
I found the detail and the coloring in this work to be magnificent!

Le Jour des funérailles, scène du Maroc (La Mort de l'émir) - detail
Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant
1889 Oil on canvas
© Discover Paris!
The Petit Palais's Web site gives a detailed description of this painting as well as information about its author (in French).

The museum is small enough to easily see the entire collection in a single day. Because it belongs to the city of Paris, entry to the permanent collections is free.

Petit Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
Metro: Champs-Elysées Clémenceau (Lines 1 and 13)
Open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 AM to 6 PM

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