Elbow-room at Acquavella
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That’s Marie-Therese Walter’s elbow, the painted one that got a hole punched in it when Las Vegas casino and resort mogul Stephen A. Wynn famously banged into it with his own elbow. (He also owns the painting, Picasso’s 1932 ‘Le Reve’ or, ‘The Dream.’) As you can see from the close-up picture I took Thursday at Acquavella Galleries in New York, where the painting has just gone on view, the repair to the puncture has been expertly done. The damage is virtually impossible to spot. Which is as it should be for a conservation bill in the vicinity of $100,000.
‘Le Reve’ is the star of one of the fall season’s more dispiriting New York shows. A dozen Picasso paintings, a work on paper and one sculpture, plus a slew of documentary photos all focus on Marie-Therese, the artist’s young, blond mistress.
Among the lenders are the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and, from across the Atlantic, the Tate Modern and the Beyeler Foundation. A few unidentified collectors have also lent, plus hedge-fund zillionaire Steven A. Cohen. (He owns two.) The funniest moment comes in the credit line on the wall-label for ‘Le Reve,’ which says: ‘Private collection.’
Um, OK.
Lee Rosenbaum, blogging at CultureGrrl, has rendered objections to museums lending to a business enterprise. She is right. Museum exhibitions have scholarly purposes. Gallery exhibitions have commercial ones. For art, that’s the real distinction between ‘high’ and ‘low.’ When museums lend to gallery shows, the waters get dirty.
This show pretends to have a scholarly aim -- there’s a catalog -- but it’s too small (and high-ticket) to be convincing as such. There is a serious exhibition to be done on the subject, but this one isn’t it. As the gallery plays scholar, the museums spin the wheel of commercial fortune. You’re left wondering what, aside from Las Vegas chips and Greenwich green, everyone is after.
In lieu of taking a cleansing shower after the mud-wallow, I suggest just clicking here.
--Christopher Knight
