Pendant with Two Interlocking Circles and Dragons, China, Ming dynasty, 1368-1644. Abraded jade, 2 1/8 x 3 1/2 x 1/4 in. (5.4 x 8.89 x .64 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of the Marcia Israel Collection (M.89.156.23). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Merovingian Cloisonné Architectural Ring, French, ca. 500. Gold and garnet. Height 31.03 mm; exterior diam. of hoop 22.3 mm; bezel 20.5 {x} 21.3 mm Weight 10.7 grams U.S. size 8.5; U.K. size Q 1/2. Griffin Collection, L.2015.73.6© 2000–2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bow Brooch, East Germanic, 400–450. Silver with gold-sheet overlay and garnets. Overall: 6 9/16 x 2 7/16 x 1 3/8 in. (16.7 x 6.2 x 3.5 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1947, 47.100.19© 2000–2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Eastern Germanic women living along the Danube River wore this type of brooch in the 300s and 400s. This piece undoubtedly belonged to an aristocratic woman, and was part of a rich ensemble of gold jewelry consisting of armlets, rings, and collars with pendants. As with the rings on view nearby, garnets were used extensively as part of the surface decoration. These hardstones were polished— a technique referred to as cabochon—rather than faceted. Gemstones with faceted surfaces do not appear in western European jewelry until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Brooch, Ottonian, Made in probably northern Italy, ca. 970–1030. Gold, pearls, glass, cloisonné enamel. Overall: 1 1/2 x 1/2 in. (3.8 x 1.2 cm). Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917, 17.191.7© 2000–2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
High-ranking members of the Ottonian court wore this kind of adornment. The star-shaped brooch is decorated with miniature architectural forms constructed out of fine gold filigree and granulation. Collared enclosures for gems and glass paste were often used to set stones onto bezels for finger rings of the same date.
Pygmalion and Galatea, about 1812-20, Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Francisco de Goya); sepia wash. The J. Paul Getty Museum.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- Drawing and sculpting may appear to be profoundly different practices, but for many artists these two disciplines have been intimately intertwined. Sculpture can serve as subject matter for drawings, while drawing often plays a vital part of the sculpting process. Through a selection of drawings and sculptures from the late fifteenth through twentieth centuries, a new exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum—The Sculptural Line, on view now through April 16, 2017—examines the dynamic interaction between these two mediums.
“Since the Renaissance, the practice of drawing after ancient sculpture has played a central role in the training of artists. Offering a repertoire of forms from which to derive inspiration, the appeal of classical statuary derived both from its embodiment of perfect proportions and from its unrivalled aesthetic and expressive appeal.” says Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “The exhibition also includes neoclassical works in which draftsmen integrated antique statues into their compositions, and work by contemporary artists who use sculpture to experiment with the movement and position of the body before representing it on paper or canvas.”
Laocöon, about 1720, Giovanni Battista Foggini; bronze. The J. Paul Getty Museum.
In all periods, drawings were often made as preparatory designs for sculpture. These resulted in finished modelli (models) where sculptors worked out their ideas before committing to the expenditures of labor and materials. Alberto Giacometti’s Standing Woman I (1960) was initially conceived by the artist as part of a group of monumental bronzes to be placed on the plaza outside Chase Bank in Manhattan. Giacometti first sketched some ideas on paper before the group of rough, eroded, heavily worked figures were modeled in plaster and cast in bronze. Unsatisfied by the relationship between the sculpture and the site—which he had never visited—Giacometti ultimately abandoned the project, and the figures were sold individually.
In other cases, drawings served as a record of a sculptor’s finished work before it left the workshop for public or private view. These sketches functioned as ricordi, or records of completed sculptures. Auguste Rodin wrote in a letter to a friend, “My drawings are the result of my sculpture.” The sheet of Rodin’s Sphinx (about 1898–1900) belongs to a group of late graphic works that stem from Rodin’s focus on the rendering of a three-dimensional subject. By keeping his eyes on the model without looking at the sheet of paper as he drew, the artist captured the figure—both frontally and in profile—almost as if it were moving.
Study of Two Men (recto); Study of the Head of a Bearded Man (verso), about 1525. Braccio Bandinelli (Italian, 1493 – 1560). Pen and brown ink. 34 x 22.4 cm (13 3/8 x 8 13/16 in.). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
"Particularly important was the tradition of drawing after ancient statuary and their plaster casts,” says Ketty Gottardo, curator of the exhibition. “Beginning in the Renaissance and continuing through the early nineteenth century, artists focused on the study of volumes, poses, and expressions which derived from such examples.”
Although known primarily for his sculpture, Baccio Bandinelli was also a virtuoso draftsman who produced a large graphic oeuvre. In Study of Two Men (about 1525), he used the pen almost like a chisel, seeming to carve the figures’ limbs and muscles on the paper with rapid, precise hatching. The left figure reveals Bandinelli’s debt to the most famous of all Renaissance statues, Michelangelo’s David, a colossal sculpture that Bandinelli greatly admired and envied.
The Sculptural Line is on view now through April 16, 2017, at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center. The exhibition is curated by Ketty Gottardo, Martin Halusa Curator of Drawings at the Courtauld Gallery in London and former associate curator of drawings at the J. Paul Getty Museum. The display coincides with the Getty’s exhibition on Edme Bouchardon, accomplished sculptor and prolific draftsman.
Théodore Géricault (French, 1791 - 1824), Classical Nudes (recto); Classical Statuary (verso), about 1814 - 1815. Graphite, pen and brown ink, and brown wash, 21.3 × 28.4 cm (8 3/8 × 11 3/16 in.) Accession No. 87.GG.97. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Paul Gauguin, Head with Horns, 1895 - 1897. Sandalwood with traces of polychromy on a lacewood base. Object (head): H: 22 × W: 22.8 × D: 12 cm. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Sphinx, about 1898 – 1900. Auguste Rodin (French, 1840 – 1917). Graphite and brown wash. 48.7 x 32.4 (19 3/16 x 12 3/4 in.). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Happiness, 1953, Fernand Léger; brush and black ink, watercolor, gouache, and graphite. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Gift of Dr. William and Mrs. Lili Weingarten.© 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Nova Scotia III, 1983, Richard Serra; paintstick on paper. The J. Paul Getty Trust. © 2016 Richard Serra/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Artist’s Hands Holding a Bone, 1981, Henry Moore; graphite and ballpoint pen. Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Gift of Eunice and Hal David. The Eunice and Hal David Collection of 19th and 20th Century Works on Paper. © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2017 / www.henry-moore.org
Ren Han, Untitled, 2016© Ren Hang / courtesy Stieglitz19.
AMSTERDAM.- Provocative, but also poetic. Foam is exhibiting the explicit photographs of Ren Hang (1987, CN). The photographer was selected by the Outset | Unseen Exhibition Fund during the Unseen Photo Fair 2016, his exhibition at Foam is the result.
Naked youths, mostly Chinese and every one as beautiful and unashamed as the next, take centre stage in the work of Ren Hang. Swans, peacocks, fish and snakes, as well as cherries, apples, flowers, plants and trees are all employed as absurd yet poetic accessories. The male models usually come from Hang’s own circle of friends, while the female models apply through the photographer’s website. The girls all meet his ideal of beauty: lily-white skin, usually black hair, red lipstick and painted nails. They pose willingly in well-balanced poses, or intimately entwined in sophisticated bodily compositions. Although very much staged and often provocatively explicit in the display of sexual organs, Ren Hang’s work is not necessarily pornographic. In his work, the human body takes on sculptural forms and seems primarily to want to break through the taboos surrounding the body and the sexes.
Although Hang’s compositions are well thought out, his photography can only be described as nonchalant. He uses cheap digital cameras and often makes unsubtle use of the flash – a style that he has held onto since he began teaching himself photography in 2008. This gives his work a glimmer of spontaneity and emphasises the feel of impulsiveness. The obscure locations that he selects for his photographs also give the impression that his images are created intuitively. On the roof of a building, next to or in a lake, a river or a forest, but also in impersonal bathrooms and bedrooms, the variation in which suggest that the many hotel rooms in which he sleeps are made use of as decor. It is as though any location at any time can be used as a setting for his shoots.
Ren Han, Untitled, 2016 © Ren Hang / courtesy Stieglitz19.
Ren Hang is from Chang Chun in the province of Jilin in the north-east of China. He is a poet and a photographer and currently lives in Beijing. His provocative photographs challenge the traditional morals that still govern the highly conservative Chinese society. His work is often censured, even though he insists that it does not contain any political statement. Poetry is central to Ren Hang’s work, both in word and images. Although he considers his poetry and photography to be entirely separate, both deal primarily with sexuality, identity and the body, as well as love, longing and death. Due to the high speed with which he continues to produce new work, his photos, poems and many books seem to form part of a stream of consciousness which – consciously or not – express his longing for a life without restrictions.
The artist’s work has been shown in various exhibitions and magazines in China and the rest of the world. Ren Hang’s photographs were previously exhibited in the Netherlands in the group exhibition FUCK OFF 2 in the Groninger Museum in 2013, curated by the artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Ren Hang has also published many art books, almost all of which have sold out immediately.
Ren Han, Untitled, 2016 © Ren Hang / courtesy Stieglitz19.
Kettledrum Top, Northern Vietnam, Dongson culture, 500-400 B.C.. Copper alloy. Diamater: 23 in. (58.4 cm); Depth 1/2 in. (1.3 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Marilyn Walter Grounds (M.91.350.1). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Basin, Vietnam, Dongson Culture, circa 1st-2nd century A.D. Copper alloy. Height: 6 1/4 in. (15.88 cm); Diameter: 15 3/4 in. (40.01 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Daniel Ostroff (M.2003.226.4). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Disk Brooch with Cameo, Langobardic (mount); Roman (cameo), ca. 600 (mount); 100–300 (cameo). Sheet gold, onyx, glass, and wire. Overall: 2 7/16 x 1/4 in. (6.2 x 0.7 cm). Purchase, 1895, 95.15.101. © 2000–2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Plate, Vietnam, 15th-16th century. Stoneware with cream slip, underglaze blue painted decoration, and clear glaze. Height: 2 1/4 in. (5.72 cm); Diameter: 9 7/16 in. (23.97 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Ambassador and Mrs. Edward E. Masters (M.84.213.222). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Dish with Lotus Sprays, Floral Scrolls, and Lotus Petals, Vietnam, 1450-1550. Wheel-thrown stoneware with cream slip, underglaze blue painted decoration, and clear glaze. Height: 2 7/16 in. (6.19 cm); Diameter: 11 1/8 in. (28.26 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Ambassador and Mrs. Edward E. Masters (M.84.213.254). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Dish with Cursive Floral Spray, Vietnam, late 14th century. Wheel-thrown stoneware with cream slip, underglaze brown painted decoration, and clear glaze. Height: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm); Diameter: 11 11/16 in. (29.69 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Ambassador and Mrs. Edward E. Masters (M.84.213.243). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Dish with Winged Horse, Vietnam, 16th century. Stoneware with decoration. Height: 4 1/8 in. (10.48 cm); Diameter: 16 1/2 in. (41.91 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Dr. Chester and Mrs. Wanda Chang (M.2006.64.1). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Bowl (Wan) in the Form of a Plum Blossom, late Northern Song dynasty or early Southern Song dynasty, about 1100-1200, China, Jiangxi Province, Jingdezhen. Qingbai ware, wheel-thrown porcelain with ribs and pale blue glaze. Height: 2 in. (5.1 cm); Diameter: 4 11/16 in. (11.9 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Arthur and Fran Sherwood (AC1997.149.1). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Lobed Bowl (Wan), China, Northern Song dynasty, 960-1127, Ding ware, wheel-thrown stoneware with transparent glaze and metal rim. Height: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm); Diameter: 8 in. (20.32 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Nasli M. Heeramaneck (M.73.48.108). Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
