My Favorite Painting and Installation at Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin

The Blanton Museum of Art of the University of Texas at Austin was a wonderful museum showcasing collection with impressive depth and breadth.

A painting, Woman on Trapeze (1946), by German-born American painter Karl Zerbe (1903-1972) was among one of my favorites there, depicting a circus act, a popular subject in early 20th century, but his woman on trapeze was a different specie from other circus troupers recorded by Picasso, who had left us a considerable volume of his observations and thoughts on that particular group of people. Though tinged with desolation and pensiveness, the Spaniard's circus players were often graceful in forms and poses, often seen resting and meditating between acts, and at most practicing as if for self-amusement, and they congregate in packs; the German artist's circus performer was caught at her most strenuous moment, and despite her lovely dress, her determined and concentrated face with slightly twisted facial features, her perspective-distorted large hands, fearful shadows on her face, her flying away legs, all contributed to a sense of danger and instability, and her corpse like pale skin, muted further by streaks of dark shadow, conspired to make her look surreal. And she was all alone. The audience, in horseshoe seats, behind circular red panels, was seen as faceless mass; a single bicyclist, parked in the edge of the central stage, paid no apparent heed to the swinger in the air. A thick rope, slightly curved leftwards, in parallel to her swinging body, counterbalancing her slightly right-curving shape, managed to augment the sense of instability and transience. Though silent, this woman, seemed to be the personification of a barely contained scream, insistent, somewhat helpless, and angry.  Though pretty to behold, this painting was terrifying.


Woman on Trapeze, 1946, Karl Zerbe


My second favorite, the raison d'être for my visit to this museum, was a site-specific installation by Teresita Fernández (born 1968), Stacked Waters (2009), tiles on the four walls of a large rectangular hall with some loggia arches at the base of one of the long walls, and it was as becalming as Woman on Trapeze was disturbing.


Detail of Stacked Waters, 2009, Teresita Fernández

Upon close inspection, those tiles had a look of shining plastic, with patterns of swirling clouds or waves, or like a glimpse of deep sea or the germinating universe. Those tiles, banded together to form horizontal layers in alternately greenish blue and various shades of pale gray colors, and as a whole, looked like cross-section of geological deposits, but with candy-like luminosity. Liquid deposits. Those layers also had different heights, with darker layers grew taller as they approached to the base of the walls, created a vision of gradually settling down, yet never completing such process.

Surrounded by such four shimmering walls, one felt breathless, as if immersed in the depth of cool and hushing water, soundless, motionless, and one would finally be deeply moved, as if some truth of universe had been revealed in front of the incredulous eyes.

It was wonderful to be there alone, to feel the refreshing emptiness; and it was great to be with other visitors, friends or strangers alike, to see how people glad about, like oblivious fish, utterly at home, yet strangely out of place, and utterly entranced.


Stacked Waters, 2009, Teresita Fernández



 

My Favorite Museum Collection Series
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 157: My Favorite Paintings at Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin
- Wonderful Food Experiences in Austin, Texas
- Texas State Capitol in Austin
- My Favorite Sculptures at Institut für Klassische Archäologie, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
- The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles
- Brand New Contemporary Art Museum - The Broad Museum in Los Angeles

Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin

In June, I visited Blanton Museum of Art of The University of Texas at Austin and was delighted to encounter many amazing art works, including vessels from ancient Greece, paintings dating back to early 15th century to installations completed just a few years ago.

The first major work to greet the visitors was the site-specific installation, Stacked Waters, by Teresita Fernández, in 2009, who "transforms The Blanton's Rapoport Atrium into a place of welcome that surrounds visitors with color and illusion. One of the most accomplished artists of her generation, she is known for her evocative large-scale sculptures and immersive installations that address space, light, and perception." [source: Blanton Museum of Art]













The scope and vision of the installation were breathtaking and it offered viewers endless angles to appreciate the layers of blue washes.  Below is a compilation of several videos I shot on site:


Stacked Waters, 2009, Teresita Fernández

Before I dive into the vast painting and modern installation collection of the museum, I want to address another singular collection - William J. Battle Collection of Plaster Casts, which consisted of "some of the finest examples of Greek and Roman sculpture and architectural elements, the originals of which date from the 6th century B.C. to the 3rd century A.D. The casts were purchased with funds from the University's Department of Classical Languages between 1894 and 192.  The majority of the works were cast in the late 19th century by August Gerber in Cologne , Germany, and the Caproni Brothers in Boston."[source: Blanton Museum of Art]

Sure, they were not originals, but it was deeply satisfying and gratifying to see so many wonderful works at the same setting, a similar experience I had at the Archeology Department of the University of Graz, Austria.

The center of this collection was housed in an oval room, whose middle was the Dying Gaul:


Dying Gaul, Epigonos of Pergamon (?), Greco-Roman, late 200s BCE



Surrounding this wonderful sculpture, were casts of other famous works such as Belvedere Torso, Apollo Belvedere, and Aphrodite from Melos, plus other busts of famed personalities of ancient Greece and Rome.


Belvedere Torso, Attributed to Apollonios, Greek, 2nd cen. BCE








Demosthenes, Anonymous, Greco-Roman, c 280BCE & Kouros (from Tenea), Anonymous, Greek, mid-6th cen. BCE


Apollo Belvedere, Anonymous, Greco-Roman, c 330BCE & Aphrodite from Melos (Venus de Milo), Anonymous, Greek, 2nd cen. BCE

To wrap up the ancient world, I also saw other interesting vessels from Greece and these were genuine antiquities:


Polychrome Lebes Gamikos (Marriage Vessel), Sicilian (Centuripe), c 300-289 BCE


Statuette, Polychrome Oinochoe (Wine Pitcher), Pelike (Jar), Red-Figure Fish Plate, Greek-Italy 3rd Cen.-200 BCE

As usual, my focus in an art museum would be on paintings and here the vast painting collections, dating back to early 15th century, really shone. The range of these works were so broad, here, I choose to present them in general chronological order.

15th Century - medieval, a bit stiff, but otherworldly and brilliant:


Madonna and Child with Angels, 1410s, Giovanni di Marco, called Giovanni dal Ponte


Saints Augustine & Jerome, c 1495-1500, Giovanni Ambrogio Bevilacqua

16th Century - flesh and blood figures, best represented here by Luca Cambiaso and Tintoretto:


Head of Saint Michael, from the Petrobelli Altarpiece, c 1563, Paolo Caliari, called Paolo Veronese


Portrait of a Man, c 1516, Sebastiano Luciani, called Sebastiano del Piombo & Suicide of Lucretia, c 1565, Luca Cambiaso

 
Saint John the Baptist, c 1542-45, Jacopo da Ponte, called Bassano


Esther and Ahasuerus, c 1565-70, Luca Cambiaso


Ecce Homo, early 1570s, Luca Cambiaso


Saint Catherine, Saint Ursula, and Saint Margaret, c 1583, Bartholomaeus Spranger, Blanton Museum, Austin


The Annunciation, c 1585, workshop of Paolo Caliari, called Paolo Veronese


Portrait of a Gentleman, c 1585-90, Domenico Robusti, called Domenico Tintoretto


Portrait of a Man in Armor, 1590s, Gervasio Gatti


The Holy Family, late 16th century, Circle of Hendrick Goltzius

17th Century - somewhat more stylish and mannered than the previous century, and often provocatively dramatic:


Drunken Silenus on an Ass, 1600s, Attributed to Giulio Cesare Amidano


Head of a Young Man, 1601-02, Peter Paul Rubens


The Visitation, c 1602, Camillo Procaccini & The Assumption of Mary Magdalene, 1630s, Riccardo Taurini


Portrait of a Young Man, c 1618-19, Circle of Simon Vouet


Saint James Vanquishing the Moors, c 1630, Giovanni Battista Crespi, called Cerano


The Angelic Consolation of Saint Francis, c 1645-49, Valerio Castello & Madonna and Child in Glory with an Angel, c 1654-55, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

18th Century - art became more decorative and mannered, thus less engaging.  Highlights included work by Tiepolo:


A Miracle of Saint Dominic, c 1750


The Storyteller, mid 1770s, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

19th Century - I recorded no paintings from this period in this museum.  Perhaps there was an interesting story behind this omission.

20th-21st Century - many impressive modern paintings and installations and my favorites included works by Karl Zerbe, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline and Anselm Kiefer below:




Woman on Trapeze (detail), 1946, Karl Zerbe


From That Day On, 1960, Ben Shahn


Elysium, 1960, Hans Hofmann & Black and White No. 2, 1960, Franz Kline


Missão_Missões [Mission_Missions] (How to Build Cathedrals), 1987, Cildo Meireles






Summer Circle (detail), 1991, Richard Long


2244 Módulos [2244 Modules], 1997, Isabel Del Río & Seepage, 2007, El Anatsui


Sternenfall (Falling Stars), 1998, ANselm Kiefer






Passage and the detail, 2011, Paul Villinski


More on Austin, Texas Trip, June 2014

Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst: 
- Wonderful Food Experiences in Austin, Texas
- BAM/PFA New Building Topping Out Celebration
- Revisiting Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena
- The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles
- Industrial Museum of China in Manchurian Shenyang
- Late Night of Jewish Museum in Vienna