Mickalene Thomas, Monet, & Doorzien

[image_with_animation image_url=”9362″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] I went to see Figuring History at the Seattle Art Museum (closes soon!). Figuring History is a selection of work by three generations of contemporary black American artists (Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, and Mickalene Thomas) as they use their spin on white dominated painting traditions to address the white dominated painting traditions. (Calling my attention to what a luxury of privilege it is to be white, and how free I am that I can paint whatever I want without having to prove or address my whiteness through the painting itself. Addressing race and everything that entails is not a burden I consciously experience when I paint.)

The work that held my attention the longest, and made me grin the widest, was the bespangled paint collages by Mickalene Thomas. For her contribution to this show, she put female figures in poses that echo historical paintings such as Manet’s Olympia and the three muses, and she did it with a dynamically cubist influenced style and some funky. Her paintings were spectacular, and positively confrontational. I’ll post her figurative works soon, but because I posted about doorzien yesterday, I wanted to post this:

One painting in particular by Thomas that caught my attention was a perfect example of doorzien.

Doorzien – a Dutch word translated as “to see through.” In dutch art, doorzien referred to a painting that showed a view from one room into another, making the picture especially beautiful.

Detail of painting:

This gigantic collage was textured and painty and sparkly and fantastic to look at in person. Really, the screen does not do it justice. The title Monet’s Salle a Manger Jaune illuminates that the source of her inspiration was Monet’s dining room at Giverny, where Thomas had a residency in 2011.

Monet’s Yellow Dining Room in Giverny, France

Here’s another painting by Mickalene Thomas. This one isn’t at SAM, but it’s in series with the other.

Monet’s Blue Foyer (2012)

 

Monet’s Blue Foyer/Salon in Giverny, France

 

Here’s Mickalene Thomas’s impression of Monet’s Kitchen

Monet’s Kitchen

 

Monet’s Salon

Again, you have to see these works in person. The sparkles, the thick painty paint, the cut outs applied like cubist carpet and samples, full effects of color texture and pattern within the largess of the painting’s full size – whatever screen you’re reading this on does not do them justice. You have to see Monet’s Salle a Manger Jaune in person.

More about work by Mickalene Thomas is coming up soon in V. Notes.