COUNTERPOINT
Maxy and Pettoruti versus Picasso
Christ Christiaa iaan n versus versus Chri Christi stiaan aan
Rem Koolha Koolhaas as versu versus s Isamu Isamu Julio Gonzalez versus Unknown Noguchi Fang Artis
NUMBER 3, OCOTBER 2010
Maxy and Pettoruti versus Picasso Christiaan versus Christiaan Rem Koolhaas versus Isamu Noguchi Wallace Harrison versus Constantin Brancusi Julio Gonzalez versus Unknown Fang Artist Cover: Max Herman Maxy, Three Musicians, 1926, © Collection Zylberstein, Switzerland
Why
COUNTERPOINT? My questions is whether the contrapuntal techniques from musical compositions can be applied to visual arts.
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Maxy and Pettoruti versus Picasso
From left left to right: Guillaume Apollinaire (The Pierot), Pablo Picasso Picasso (The Harlequin), Max Jacob (The Monk).
ARTIST: Pablo Picasso TITLE:Three TITLE:Three Musicians MEDIUM: oil on canvas YEAR: 1921 COLLECTION: MoMA, New York Perhaps the most famous painting for synthetic cubism style, Picasso's Three Musicians features a Harlequin, a Pierrot, and a Monk. Music was a favorite Cubist theme, and here here Picasso Picasso equips Harlequin with a guitar Pierrot with a recorder, and the Monk with an accordion. The painting has been interpreted as a commemoration of the recently deceased poet Guillaume Apollinaire in the form of Pierrot, with the poet Max Jacob Jacob as the Monk and Picasso Picasso himself himself as Harlequin.
From left to right: Pablo Picasso (The Harlequin), Guillaume Apollinaire (The Pierot), Max Jacob (The Monk).
ARTIST: Pablo Picasso TITLE: Three Musicians MEDIUM: oil on canvas YEAR: 1921 COLLECTION: COLLECTION: Philadelphia Museum of Art A year before he painted Three Musicians, Musicians, Picasso designed costumes for Sergei Diaghilev's Pulcinella. Pulcinella. The characters Harlequin, Pierrot, and Monk, derive from Italian popular popular theater theater and carnival carnival traditions the artist had encountered them during his visits to Italy as the set designer Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.
ARTIST: Max Herman Maxy TITLE: Three Musicians MEDIUM: oil on canvas YEAR: 1926 COLLECTION: A. Zylberstein, Basel Max Herman Maxy was a proeminent figure of Romanian modernism. A year before Max Herman Maxy painted Three Musicians, Musicians, he designed the costumes and the scenes for the play Der Zinger fun zayn troyer by Ossip Dimov (Joseph Perlman) and for Saul by André Gide. Both were played at the Teatrul Central (Central Theatre) and directed by I.M. Daniel. In the 1926 Max Herman Maxy designed the costumes (i) and/or the scenes (ii) for: L'Uomo, La Bestia e La Virtù by Luigi Pirandello, directed by Henry Tarlo, ( i and i and ii), ii), Got fun Nekomeh by Sholem Asch, directed by Sandu Eliad, (ii), ( ii), Manechinul Sentimental by Ion Minulescu, directed by Paul Gusty, (i ( i and and ii), ii), Thought by Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev, directed by Alexander Stein, ( ii). ii).
All were played at the Teatrul Central .
ARTIST: Emilio Pettoruti TITLE: El Improvisador MEDIUM: oil on canvas YEAR: 1937 COLLECTION: COLLECTION: Colección Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Both Max Herman Maxy and Emilio Pettoruti exhibited at Der Sturm in 1923.
Christiaan versus Christiaan
Like Christiaan Huygens, Christiaan van der Klaauw is obsessed by the cosmos and all phenomena that take regularly place in the Universe. It was Huygens who discovered Saturn’s moon Titan, and also Huygens gave the correct explanation for the rings around around Saturn. Christiaan van van der Klaauw Klaauw is mostly known known for his astronomical complications he builds into watches. He manufacturers the smallest working planetarium Planetarium 2000 , and he is so far the only watch manufacturer who can create a watch that shows when an eclipse of the Sun or Moon can occur, Eclips 2001. 2001. The watch Pendulum CH1 commemorates the 350th year of Huyghens invention. The watch is limited to 350 pieces.
Science Museum reconstructed the pioneer pendulum clock designed by Christiaan Huygens in 1656, as it was described and illustrated in his 1958's book Horologium. Horologium. Although Galileo had suggested the use of a pendulum to count the time, Huygen's design, where the dial and hands of a clock were controlled by a pendulum, was the first truly practical pendulum clock. Huygens attached a pendulum to the gears of a clock. The regular swing of the pendulum allowed the clock to achieve greater accuracy, as the hands are turned by the falling weight, which releases the same amount of energy with each tick . (www.sciencemuseum.org.uk) (www.sciencemuseum.org.uk)
Rem Koolhaas versus Isamu Noguchi
ARCHITECT: Rem Koolhaas TITLE:China Central Television Headquarters BUILT:2007 right According to Isamu Noguchi Museum: Among the Noguchi sculptures that are variations on a single theme, the most dramatic works employ the image of the void. Noguchi began the void series in Italy in 1970 with In Silence Walking, but it was in Japan that he created the largest work of this kind, Energy Void. In his voids Noguchi brought together a number of his theoretical interests, including physics (envisioning a circular flow of energy at the heart of matter), the concept of emptiness from Zen Buddhism, and the use of empty space as a positive formal element.
ARTIST:Isamu Noguchi YEAR: 1970's MEDIUM: marble COLLECTION: Isamu Noguchi Museum
Wallace Harrison versus Constantin Brancusi
ARCHITECT: ARCHITECT: Wallace Harrison TITLE: The Egg BUILT:1966-1978 ENGINEER: ENGINEER: Peter Steinborn The symbol symbol of "Fish" migrated migrated from Modern Modern Art to Modern Achitecture in the shape of an "Egg". "Egg". While Constantin Brancusi argues his masterpiece by "its speed, its floating, floating, flashing body seen through the water . . . the flash of its spirit", I have not found any argument of Wallace Harrison about his shape which resemble more like a fish rather than an egg.
ARTIST:Constantin ARTIST:Constantin Brancusi YEAR: 1930 MEDIUM: marble COLLECTION: MoMA Wallace Harrison "The Egg" was built close to the water and to the MoMA where Constantin Brancusi's "Fish" resides.
Julio Gonzalez versus Unknown Fang Artist
ARTIST: Julio Gonzalez TITLE: Masq MEDIUM: pen, ink and wash on paper YEAR: 1940 Based on geometrical proportions of his own face !and on tribal art, Julio Gonzalez made several works like this in the 1940's. Comparing his mask with authentic tribal masks we understand why Hans Hartung (a famous painter and close friend to Julio Gonzalez) has found the mathematical system of proportions that Gonzalez used to draw the mask series as " both elaborate and confusing".
ARTIST: Unknown Fang Artist YEAR: early 20th century COLLECTION: A.M. Switzerland PURPOSE: PURPOSE: despite of many studies, it is not known known today how Fang tribe used this mask and and the meaning meaning of geometrical incissions. But it is certainly know that Georges Braque, an avid collector of tribal art, owned a quite similar one, in his famous famous collection. The The cubism is made so easy when you are inspired by an unknown Fang artist! Before the financial crisis, mask like this one cost !only twice than minor drawings like Julio Gonzalez Masq, but today the Fang mask preserved it's market market value while minor drawings drawings dropped at least by 50%.
We apologise for incovenience caused by postponing our auctions. The updated calendar of 2010 auctions is listed below. MODERN, POST WAR and CONTEMPORARY Sale 105, Wednesday, December 22, 2010, Oradea PHOTOGRAPHY Sale 104, Wednesday, December 22, 2010, Basel PRINTS&MULTIPLES Sale 103, Wednesday, December 22, 2010, Basel
HIGHLIGHT LOT1, SALE 103, SAM FRANCIS, Untitled, 1991, colour lithograph (detail) ESTIMATE: EUR 3,000-5,000
