Fine Art

Etching vs. Sketching: MoMa draws the line with two new exhibitions.

By Marcos Bernal-Salas

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Within the valuable and grand paintings that hang on the walls of the MoMa there is a line – literately – of inspiration with two new engaging exhibitions. The first one is Transforming Chronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, which is a two-part exhibition of drawings from the museum’s collection. Part One, being showcased until April 24, has drawings that are on view for the first time at the museum by artists as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Georges Rouault and many more.

The exhibition doesn’t follow the usual structure one expects when visiting the MoMa and clearly intended as it is all inspired by an atlas of images produced by German art historian Aby Warburg whose Bilderatlas Mnemosyne was to underscore the continuity of forms and motifs the artists behind the drawings was trying to create, convey or otherwise capture. Luis Perez-Oramas, Adjunct Curator of the Department of Drawings, further adds, “The exhibition explores visual relationship that can exist among artworks and presents six groupings that underscore the existence of multiple narratives within one single chronology.”

The selection of drawings here go from basic ink on paper like ‘M.B.M.B.M.B…’ by Marcel Broodthaers which details in infinite form his name initials to grand detail in watercolor and pencil by Paul Cezanne’s House Among Trees. The MoMa excels to present an idea that is different from standard organizing all the works into three different categories per se; Faces, Movements and Tectonics and within each highlighting the practice it refers to whether it is portraits, physical movement or structures. The show is also awe inspiring as I witnessed a few young artists that were visiting the show intensely engaged by many of the forms and sketches in front of them. A 13 year-old girl stood directly across from Leon Bakst’s Custome for the Ballet “The Firebird” sketching it onto her pad with great perfection. When I asked her what inspired such a reaction she simply replied, “Because is beautiful and almost out of the ordinary.” That is truth to both; the work itself and the museum’s exhibition.

The second exhibition, my favorite of the two, is The Compulsive Line:Etching 1900 to Now. The reason behind is because MoMa showcases nine etchings from visionary artist Trenton Doyle Hancock within the show. His Bye and Bye (Nine Sad Etchings) are part of Hancock’s creative epic. Not at all strange when most of his work has been influenced by James Ensor and Philip Guston whose works involved the satirical and caricatures developed in our pop culture. Bye and Bye is fascinating and one cannot just stand there looking at the etchings without taking a closer look and participating in the story of Hancock’s wild and imaginative creatures called “Mounds”. The story involves the death of ‘Mound # 1’, a peaceful creature now dead and the showing and tribute that other animals pay to him – eloquent in their eulogies and all carrying Hancock’s creative wordplay and humor.

Though etching is not a new technique it has however had a revival as more artists, graphic or otherwise use the intricate process to create more personal and reflective art. At first look for many this might just be ‘compulsive’ scratches but he truth is the images and the process itself call for closer inspection of the fine, fluid and always detailed lines within the work. This exhibition runs until April 17 and includes works from Louise Bourgeois, Ernesto Caivano, Carroll Dunham and many more.

A line has been drawn for sure that separates MoMa from other museums from thinking outside standards and presenting two exhibitions that are equally attractive, winning and inspiring.