Friday, December 22, 2017

Mesoamerican Homage: Josef Albers at the Guggenheim


An article at the New York Times this month reviews the latest exhibition of artwork by Josef Albers.  On display at the Guggenheim in New York, the show entitled Homage to Mexico: Josef Albers and His Reality-Based Abstraction, displays Mesoamerican inspired artwork by Albers, much of which was created while he taught at Black Mountain College in the 1930's and 40's.

From the New York Times piece:
Art rarely thrives in a vacuum. It is by definition polyglot and in flux, buffeted by the movement of art objects, goods and people across borders and among cultures, and also by individual passion. This much, especially the passion part, is demonstrated by “Josef Albers in Mexico,” a quietly stunning exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum that contrasts Albers’s little-known photographs of the great Mesoamerican monuments of Mexico with his glowing abstract paintings.  Read more.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Black Mountain College: A Thumbnail Sketch

In 1989 independent filmmaker, Monty Diamond, made a documentary short on Black Mountain College, which contextualizes the emergence of the school within the global context of rapidly shifting political and educational trends in of the early 1930's.