In no way am I an art critic. I’m not qualified to be one. However, Brother Ted’s story on Louise Nevelson brought back a few artistic pursuits of my own. Originally, I wanted to study art instead of teaching, but it’s probably a good thing I didn’t go down that road. While I can do a decent amateur water color, my brother, Harlan, was the real artist in the family. I did, however, learn a lot while I was studying art. I studied art all through high school and on into undergraduate school, including Art Appreciation. In the end, I probably would have made a better interior decorator, as I love designing spaces. My diner, which you have seen pictures of before, is a good example. So then, I can appreciate art, even if I can’t produce it.
Which brings me to the title of this blog, Louise Nevelson, “A Happening Before Her Time.” Any major artist will tell you that what you see in their art very often is a very personal thing. They simply create a space in your brain in which you can explore your own artistic beliefs, feelings of the world around you, etc.
The artist often becomes part of the art itself, which is where the word “Happenings” comes in. I can see in my own warped sense of art, a correlation between Louise, whose work sometimes becomes “performance art” and the “Happenings of the Sixties.” More on “Happenings” later.
First I pulled some information off the internet about Louise, so we will have her background in our minds.
From Studio International, published 08/21/07
Louise Nevelson: The Artist and the Legend
'I seek truth. What I seek is anything that will work for me. I'll use a lie if it works, and that [becomes] the truth.' Louise Nevelson
As an artist whose life coincided with the major historical events and artistic movements of the twentieth century, Louise Nevelson (1899–1988) remained to a remarkable degree true to a singular vision of herself as an artist and her work. Although her name has been connected with Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, installation art and feminism, she did not ally herself with any movement and easily threw off all labels. She worked hard to establish herself within the male-dominated art world, but did not wish to be seen as a trailblazing 'woman artist'. Nevertheless, Nevelson was a trailblazer, a bold woman who made bold choices. She enjoyed being an artist as much as creating art and, by the end of her life, had become a legend.
The celebrity that surrounded being an artist had great appeal for her. Her flamboyant costumes consisted of dramatic clothing, colourful headscarves and elaborate layers of false eyelashes. Her friends and acquaintances included Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, whose Occupant, a play about Nevelson's life, premiered off Broadway in 2002 with Anne Bancroft in the leading role; Andrew Wyeth; Diego Rivera, with whom she worked briefly as an assistant; and Frida Kahlo. In 1985, she appeared at the White House to receive a National Medal of Arts from President Ronald Reagan. She was photographed for the cover of the May 24, 1958, issue of Life magazine. And she was the subject of a set of Louise Nevelson commemorative stamps issued in 2000 by the U.S. Postal Service. These and other accomplishments pointed to a person who was as comfortable in the public spotlight as she was showing her art in major museums and galleries in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Theartstory.org
Childhood
At age six, in 1905, Nevelson immigrated with her father to Rockland, Maine from Ukraine. (Southenders claim her as one of their own as she did live there for at least part of her life.) Born Leah Berliawsky, her family was forced to relocate due to cultural strain between the Jewish community and Tsarist Russians. Nevelson claimed to have known from the beginning that she would be an artist, and at age nine was called to sculpt by a statue of Joan of Arc at the Rockland Public Library. In 1920, soon after she married Charles Nevelson, the couple moved to New York, where Louise sought to hone her artistic career.
Early Training
Louise Nevelson left both her husband and her son, Mike, behind for travel to Munich to study Cubism under Hans Hofmann. Her decision to focus on her career instead of just solely on mothering formed her sculptural installations such as Dawn's Wedding Feast. In 1932, when Hans Hofmann decided to come to America, Nevelson followed his lead in becoming a student at the Art Students League, an art school where Jackson Pollock and other Abstract Expressionist artists studied. Here, she studied painting, modern dance, and sculpture, and built constructions based on portrait and lighter subject matter relative to her future work. It was also during this time that she met Frieda Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and assisted the legendary muralist for a period. Nevelson also hosted community meetings, which she called Four O'Clock Forums. These forums became the meeting grounds for Abstract Expressionist artists, and fostered a sense of camaraderie among her peers.
It was a good thing Nevelson followed Hofmann in 1932, as the horror of Hitler was soon to become true in 1939. As a Jew in Germany she might not have been with us long.
As noted above, Louise was a flamboyant dresser. We can relate that fact to today’s world if we only look at Lady Gaga, whose costumes are as much a part of her singing as her voice is. Lady Gaga is a performance artist in every sense of the word and Louise was the forerunner of this artistic phenomena.
Now we come to the “Happenings” part of this story. A “Happening” is defined as a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. A Happening may include poets, musicians, film makers, as well as visual artists. The narrative doesn’t necessarily follow a straight line and audience participation is encouraged. They can take place anywhere. As the 60s took hold, the term “happening” could mean any gathering or special event, usually involving the hippie culture.
Let me tell you about my own personal involvement with a “Happening” in the 60s when I was studying art at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.
This was the period in my life when I was toying with the idea of going into the art world as a means of support for myself. As I told you before, that didn’t work out.
The art students at the college at that time were considered to be a little weird. Well it was the 60s after all. As I was, in fact, “studying” art there, I guess they called me weird too.
Anyway, one day I attended a “Happening” at the school. I could never be as weird as the art students who participated in that event that day.
Here’s the scenario: All at one time, like a 3-ring circus, all of the following was taking place:
1. A mattress on the floor, with a figure trapped inside it was wiggling to get out.
2. Music playing, of some 60s genre
3. A television set tuned to who knows what with the volume up.
4. A poet spouting off nonsense
5. Pigeons flying all over the place.
The audience was in very close proximity to the action taking place so that you felt you were part of the “performance.” We all watched the pigeons carefully, especially when they flew over our heads. I didn’t know what to look at first, or even if I should. It was the weirdest event I ever attended even to this day.
Louise was still doing her thing in the 60s. I don’t know if she ever attended a “performance art” event or even a “Happening,” but if she did, I bet she had a grand ‘ole time. The example of her art included here could very easily be said to be a “performance art” in and of itself.
Thanks for listening.
If you want to read more about Louise Nevelson, I suggest the following:
Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life, by Laurie Lisle
Nevelson: Wood Sculptures, An Exhibition Organized by Walker Art Center, 1973, by Louise Nevelson and Martin Friedman
Louise Nevelson: Atmosphere & Environment, 1988, Pedro E. Guerrero and Louise Nevelson
Louise Nevelson & The Fourth Dimension, Lori Wilson, Robert Frankel and Louise Nevelson, no date given
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