Jasper Johns "Gray" and the Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute in Chicago is currently exhibiting Jasper Johns Gray, a sprawling collection of mostly monochromatic works. While I have certainly looked at Johns before, I was taken aback by the variation and continuity of the work. The subtlety was actually quietly stunning. There weren't a lot of pieces that wowed me individually, but as a whole, it is more than the sum of its parts.

One that did wow me was Diver. This is a breathtaking drawing in person...it's large; 6 or 7 feet tall, on paper mounted on canvas. The warmth of the underpainting is just luscious. The image reverberates from the downward thrust of a dive, to the two-dimensionality of the mark making and the hand prints. It is movement and static all at once. And a lovely catalog to boot. I believe it moves to the Metropolitian next. Visit http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/johns for more info.

Also on display was a photo exhibit: Girls on the Verge. You know...I am mostly bored by photography, and this was no exception.










The permanent collection is strong in painting...I was pleased to see Cailebotte again....I didn't realize that he never sold a painting in his lifetime until I read it the other day. The museum has a number of big names; Picasso, Monet, van Goghs....a few lovely Corots.

I don't recall seeing Manet's The Mocking of Christ during previous visits...what a stark and haunting painting. The figure is so incredibly high key it almost leaps off the picture plane.


And John Singer Sargent's The Fountain is just lovely. I just get this pure sensual joy looking at his color and brushwork.

The minaiture room is fun; the American collection is good. The Asian collection, well, I don't know enough about it to know if it's good. I wasn't too impressed by anything pre-17th century.....so Egypt, Rome, etc. were small (hopefully, I didn't just miss them, but I was struggling to see everything in one day, so who knows?). Some of the galleries were closed due to the construction/renovation on the Modern wing.


Upcoming exhibits for Spring 2008 include Edward Hopper and a show of Winslow Homer watercolors (a must see, I think).