Beyond Brushstrokes
By Maria Victoria Rufino
Art heals the heart and soothes the spirit.
During a season of extreme anxiety, pain or distress, one seeks relief in another dimension, in a different time frame. One looks back at a past experience that brought novelty, wit, color and a sense of balance.
Have you ever imagined what it would be like to step through the frame and enter the world of one of your favorite paintings?
One memorable exhibition Beyond the frame: Impressionism Revisited allowed the viewer to enter the realm of a two-dimensional painting and experience the life being lived there.
Seward Johnson interpreted Impressionism in his innovative, witty and humorous sculpture exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC.
Instead of merely gazing at a painting, one could touch the sculpture and be photographed in the act of reclining or sitting with the subjects. A closed circuit camera showed the live scene on a gilded frame with a video screen. As one entered the scene, one became part of the video painting of the masterpiece. Clever and ingenious.
Art lovers who have seen the Impressionists at Musee D’Orsay in Paris feel that the experience is the ultimate and it cannot be matched anywhere else in the world. The masterpieces of Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Van Gogh — in full glory. The subtle overhead light enhances the shimmering effect of sunlight as seen and painted by the artists.
Look but do not touch. No flash photography. These are museum rules that are strictly enforced.
The Corcoran exhibit (some years ago) was startling and impressive in manner and scale. The 18 tableaux were spread out and given so much breathing space. One would get the feeling of being outdoors “plein air” (i.e. in the field or by the Seine) or indoors in an intimate personal space (a bedroom or boudoir). The original artist was included in some of the tableaux. Monet was shown painting on the balcony. Overlooking the scene of his painting or floating in hi boat-studio.
It takes a certain type of imagination to recreate each scene and add all the little inventive touches to make the viewer feel involved. J Seward Johnson, Jr. accomplished the goal by bringing the viewer into a painting.
The artist, heir to the Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical fortune, expressed his joie de vivre though his engaging life-like metal sculptures.
Born in 1930, the artist rejected an early career in the family’s firm. He started as a painter and became famous as a sculptor. The past president of International Sculpture Center of Washington D.C., Mr. Johnson created a 22-acre public park in Hamilton, New Jersey where many of his life-like bronze sculptures are displayed. Throughout the world, his works of everyday people inhabit public spaces.
People who see his works — sitting nonchalantly on a bench or displayed under the trees — do a “double take.” The works appear so real and alive.
“I want to draw attention to the simple pleasure…to show how much fun life is” Mr. Johnson remarked on the whimsical, playful 3-D interpretation of the masterpiece.
In the exhibit of cast metal tableaux with digitally reproduced backgrounds of the famous artworks one can enter and savor “a sweet spot.” One sees beyond the frame — what the artist wanted to be left out and what was left unsaid. The viewer is encouraged to imagine what the subjects are thinking and feeling. Up close, one can almost hear the sculptures talking, dancing or celebrating life at a banquet.
The artist recreates the subject and complex spatial relationship of late 19th Century Impressionist art. Impressionism is primarily the school of plein air — outdoor painting.
“Seward offers a body of works that balances the serious against the light-hearted,” Corcoran director David Levy wrote, “while providing a compelling and accessible introduction to great masterpieces for the young and old alike — an entirely new way of seeing and literally feeling our artistic heritage.”
Among the stunning pieces was “Confrontational Vulnerability” on Edouard Manet’s Olympia the sultry seductress reclining on the chaise lounge inside her elaborate boudoir. The woman is naked, not nude. The difference in terms is explained by the fact that a nude is an ethereal figure from classical history and mythology such as Venus or Aphrodite. This Impressionist painting was considered shocking at that time because it was a portrait of a recognizable contemporary courtesan. Her demeanor was provocative as she boldly stared at the viewer.
Claude Monet’s two beloved paintings — Woman with a Parasol and Poppies at Argenteuil, were interpreted as a singular tableau On Poppied Hill. Red poppies and wild grass surrounded Monet’s wife Camille and son Jean who stand on the crest of a windy hill. In the Rotunda room, one could go around the hill and look up at the figures that were it from above.
Welcome Home was Vincent Van Gogh’s The Bedroom in the yellow house in Arles. The intimacy of Van Gogh’s personal space was strangely compelling. The proportion of the room is somewhat distorted and the bed is disheveled. One could sense the vibration as seen in the artist’s quivering brushstrokes.
The artist injected emotional, humorous and spiritual qualities that intensified the viewer’s relationship with the original painters.
“It’s funny. No one ever wants to leave this room. I love seeing people connect with these sculptures,” Mr. Johnson remarked during the exhibition.
It was a smashing success. Children and sophisticated art connoisseurs had a fun experience with paintings as they imagined life in another dimension.
Years later, one can still recall the images, colors and the feelings of vibrancy and lightness of the art and sculptures of Johnson. If only we could prolong the feel-good sensation.
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
