Monday, April 7, 2008

Encounters with Four Amazing Women


I'm still in Philadelphia. I have good fortune to have encounters of sorts with four of the most amazing of women.

Lee Miller


Lee Miller. Last year I visited the Nevada Art Museum in Reno and fairly blown away on the phenomenal photojournalism of Inge Morath. Almost a year later, I visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art and similarly am overwhelmed by their presentation on the art and life of Lee Miller. (An irony and coinicidence: Morath became Mrs. Miller, as in Arthur) In both cases my response is to want to follow up with researching their lives and viewing as many of their photographs as possible.

Miller is almost a Reifenstahl like figure. She helped bring modeling to a new level, was muse and fellow colleuge of the avant garde and surrealists was an excellent and unique photographer, especially of portraits, and served as a photojournalist in late WWII, One wants to fantasize a bit that somehow maybe Miller's path did intersect with Reifenstahl's: there is a photo in the exhibit of her washing away the grit of war in Hitler's bathtub after it was secured by the allies. I could have spent a lot of time in the Miller exhibition, but was pressed by time and attention to at least give the regular collection a slight pass and the special centetary
exhibit of Frida Kahlo that is pretty much overwhelming the Philadelphia museum these days.


Frida Kahlo


Frida Kahlo, is someone whose work I was clueless to have any idea at all what it was about when I first encountered it. The show at the Philadelphia attempts to stress all of the major themes of her work and explore the impact she has had on art and culture in the twentieth century. Politics, culture, and autobiography all play exceptionally important roles in Kahlo's art. Both deep almost uncalcuable passion and cool detachment are essential aspects of her work, sometimes in the same painting. It was a great and unique opportunity to see so much Kahlo in one place because of the range she covers. This makes for a person fascinating to look

Julie Taymor's film biography of Kahlo a few years back used lots of film and media techniques to explain and expand her story. It could be looked at as a blessing and a curse to the efforts of all of the heart and energy that went into this exhibit. It brought her story to the masses and the masses to the work of Kahlo. Unfortunately, the exhibit was docented (and you have to docent Kahlo---too many biographical and cultural factors to consider for the world at large) by an audio tour that belabored the experience when there was a crowd in the galleries.

A slight solution would have been to have had a couple different tours available, but instead descriptions of the paintings were also augmented by longish explanations of symbolism and testimonies analysis and appreciations by artists as patrons would jockey for position to see experience and grasp an understanding of Kahlo's work as well as the second and third chambers of the exhibition that were filled with photos of her life and those who inhabited it.

There was one contribution to the audio tour that I think is especially worth noting. Patti Smith talks about the impact Kahlo had on her work and life, especially the relationship she had with Diego Rivera as fellow artist, that Smith saw as a model for the relationship she wanted with Robert Mappelthorpe.


Amy Tan


After encounters with Kahlo and Miller, I made a quick base down the long civic Philadelphia pathway along JFK Blvd. from Rocky steps to Convention Center to see another amazing woman artist, Amy Tan. After a very long self-congratulatory session of awards and tributes to various folks involved in honor society Phi Theta Kappa and the American Association of Community Colleges, she took the stage for her lecture in this terrific green flowing Oscar red carpet dress that seemed more like stage costume, but was truly stunning none the less.

I didn't know Tan's story, other than having overheard discussions about her books from my wife and relations who always made mention of her crazy mother. I had not heard about the year her father and brother died of brain tumors and how the mother decided to move the family to the Netherlands because Dutch cleanser convinced her that Holland would be a clean place to live.

Tan started her talk with a confession that she had cheated on her papers using Cliff Notes. (And had a great time reviewing the Cliff Notes for Joy Luck Club as well as she visited her life story for the benefit of the audience) She talked about how things happened. Her father was a Baptist minister who believed in God's will and her mother believe in the fact that things would happen and all was possible, such as the belief that she would easily find life for her family despite no contacts and not being able to speak Dutch or German, etc. And she also explored how one's fate is determined by experience, circumstance and industry. Tan became a community college student because 38 years to the week of this lecture she met the man who would become and still is her husband who chose to move to San Jose instead of continuing his studies at Linfield College where they met. At San Jose Community College she took a black literature class where a black literature class, the only class not to be filled "with dead white guys" exposed her to the work of Wright, Ellison and others and thus played a fundamental part in her own development of an artist.


Angelique Kidjo


Angelique Kidjo is one of the most powerful performers I have ever seen. She harassed the crowd early about not dancing. Her five piece band kicked out an awesome groove. She talked about living your life to the fullest and disdained any religion that had violence associated with it. Towards the end of the concert at the Zellerbach Theater at UPenn, she wandered through the crowd with her wireless microphone and indeed everyone was on their feet dancing with her. She then invited as many people to come up on stage as room allowed. It was a kind of controlled anarchy as she would cue various folks to come forward and dance like crazy.

Kidjo is 44 years old but puts out as much energy as I saw her do 16 years ago. Her cover of Gimme Shelter was absolutely riveting. It seems a shame to pigeonhole her as a World Beat artist. The whole world should know about her! She is as dynamic a diva as you will ever see,
posted by well-executed buffet at 7:59 PM
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