So there's a Matisse/Diebenkorn show at SFMOMA these days that 'demonstrates' Diebenkorn revered Matisse (rightfully Ciwt thinks - if the whole premise is true) and was inspired by him throughout his career. The curators have, as above, one artist next to another 'showing' the samenesses.
Well, anything that sucks the soul out of Matisse (and secondarily Diebenkorn) is going be something that alienates Ciwt. And indeed the show is alienating to her. For one thing, these are not good Matisses (Those are in Russia) and cherry picked to show Diebenkorn likenesses. For another, all the comparisons refer to technique as if all that was on either artist's mind was technique - brushstroke, how much canvas to let show, palette - with no deep feeling for subject matter and passion.
Thirdly, Matisse is in an entirely different artistic realm, on a different art planet, from Diebenkorn. Hanging him in comparison mode with a much lesser artist is, what?, crass borrowing from Matisse's unique talents and exalted place in art history - in order to create a false show that would attract a paying audience.
It's difficult to convey. Imagine your favorite pianist and then put him/her beside, say, Billy Joel. Then watch a video of your favorite pressing a key and another of BJ pressing a key is a similar manner. And pushing the pedal and running fingers down the keyboard, etc.
Diebenkorn would have known all this, and, if he were alive, Ciwt wonders if he would have sanctioned such a show - even though it fills many rooms with excellent Diebenkorns - and lesser Matisses.
Last minute art tour coming up Tuesday. One of the people from last week's Presidio tour will bring her young son. So, Ciwt thinks "That's Good!" - and a challenge. What kind of art will interest/involve an 11 year old boy?
Walk: Nice Rainy Day for reading and first Instagram 'interactions' (Getting to like these storms when they are more spread out) Distance: 0, Home Yoga
A while ago Ciwt helped set up a little members' paintings show at her golf club. For whimsy and folk-type charm, she thought these (with no backs for hanging) by a cute young member were delightful. (She didn't say anything along those lines though in case the artist doesn't see her art this way at all. Always dicey with any type of artistic endeavor. You know, like when you tell a writer how funny you thought her character was - and she actually meant for her character to be carrying the sadness of the plot).
Walk: Marin Driving Day, Best Buy Distance: 3 miles, Small Yoga
So often - mostly actually - when Ciwt considers ideas for her daily CIWT, notions fly by in droves, and she reacts with "That's not interesting," "They won't like that," "That's too personal," etc, etc. In other words everything seems unworthy because it is just a small thing she thought or did or saw that day or recently.
But, then she realizes that's what her life is really about, and these 'small' things are very big for her - seeing a shriveled tulip and being touched by its aging beauty, eating lunch with a dear friend to whom Ciwt's thoughts and life are not "too personal,' mentioning little glitchy things that come up with her iphone, and hearing a friend say "Why don't you give it to me?" then sitting and watching him take care of the glitches. Simply acknowledging she has nothing she particularly wants to say some days - and having that be just fine.
The things she thinks she's supposed to write about - Huge pronouncements, life-altering theories, dazzling events or purchases, Real News - are not the fabric of most of our lives, certainly not Ciwt's. And CIWT allows her an opportunity to let that (meaning Life) sink in and be appreciated and savored.
Walk: Tj"s, Vogue Theater (Beauty and the Beast) Distance: 3 miles, small yoga
Looking forward to a non-grown up getaway today Ciwt went to the latest reincarnation of Beauty and the Beast. Much better than she was expecting, but actually bordering on an adult operetta. Interesting how versions and versions of this tale can be made over long periods of time, and the story continues to feel fresh (and kind of sad).
Henri Matisse, Dance (1), Paris, Boulevard des Invalides, early 1909, 6' 6.6" x 12' 9.6," o/c
Ciwt has found a kindred Matisse spirit who has written about him in a way dear to Ciwt's heart and also exceptionally. Peter Schjedahl, a New Yorker writer of course - another art presence (literary in this case) which is dear to Ciwt's heart. Here's what he has to say about Dance (1) (a study which hangs at MoMA for THE Painting). Matisse's greatness resides in capacities of the eye and mind that almost anyone, with willingness, can discern, and none, with whatever training, can really comprehand. I don't think it is possible to be more intelligent in any pursuit, or more serious and original, and with such suddenness, than Matisse was when he represented a reaching arm in "Dance 1" (1909)...
And, PS, Robert Hughes, one of Ciwt's favorite art critics, said of the final product, The painting, one of the few wholly convincing images of physical ecstasy made in the twentieth century.
There will be more CIWT on Matisse, rest assured....
Walk: Clay Theater (The Salesman) Distance: 1 mile, Day of Happy Introversion
Ciwt has heard about "Desert Bloom" when Death Valley, the hottest place on earth where 'nothing' grows, suddenly erupts with wildflowers. She's thought about going to see this phenomenon, but all accommodations are sold out years in advance (and, surprise, she is no car camper). Thanks to today's paper, she has now seen the pictures above. Subtle even at full bloom. But the small window of flagrant life must be a wondrous and thought-provoking sight for people who know the usual desolation of that desert area.
These wildflowers are up the state from Death Valley in marvelous sounding Tehatchapi, but Ciwt finds them - and expecially That tree - glorious.
Walk: Presidio Art Tour by Ciwt Distance: 5.5 miles, home yoga
Andy Goldsworth standing in front of (part of )his Spire (2008) Spire: 90' Tall, 15' Diameter, 37 Cypress trunks,*San Francisco Presidio
So now Ciwt remembers why she started her little art tour business! Wonderful group of four friends this afternoon, all delightful, outdoorsy, interested in art, appreciative, etc...Perfect weather. Yay!
*The trees (Monterey cypress, Monterey pine and Eucalyptus) in the Presidio were overplanted in the original and huge landscaping effort of ca.1885-1920. Also the cypress and pines have a life span of approximately 100 years. So, since the early 1900's there has been an on-going need and program for thinning as well as re-planting) the Presidio forest. The trees in Goldsworthy's sculptures were all harvested at the proper time and stock-piled for possible future use.
Walk: PGCC (Again! - Book Club - Life of Levi Strauss) Distance: 1 mile
With her new club Ciwt is spending more time in the extroverstion lane. It's been a while, and she's looking forward to a little more CIWT/Callie time after her art hike tour tomorrow and Cinema Club lunch on Sunday. Yes!!!
Walk: No. Took a chance on on-line exercises and ... Distance: A few blocks
Possible Internet Instructions: Stand on top of a high chair, leap really, really high and out while flinging your legs and arms strongly into space, head and neck should be waaaay. Once you've mastered the basics, challenge yourself with ankle and hand weights - increast over time.This exercise is rejuvenating and body sculpting for all ages, all conditions, begin immediately and wait for admiring glances.
Warning. Don't just read about it on the net and start some new exercise routine (with weights).
Who knows that better than former (and future?) yoga teacher, Ciwt.? Of course she didn't listen to her teacher self, and now has a slightly wrenched back. (Luckily, she listened to herself a little or her back would be a lot worse). Same goes for all new exercise routines: Be cautious.
Walk: Union Square Distance: 4.5 miles, small yoga
Until yesterday Ciwt never realized there was an outside balcony at the Opera House where she could go during ballet and opera intermissions. So, that was a nice surprise. And so were the advertising scrims and looking through the back of them out to Civic Center. The ever-changing and delightful views of San Francisco. Ciwt got here first during the Summer of Love, and she still discovers them on a daily basis- sometimes on her own block where they've gone unnoticed for years and 'suddenly' appear.
Walk: Cinema Club (Frantz), SF Ballet (Balanchine) Distance: 5.2 miles
Ballet scrim and City Hall from the Opera House balcony today
It has been a long while (mercifully) since Ciwt has been groped. That would be nearly every day on the New York subway on her way to and from work after college. And the reason she remembered and returned to her love of walking. Forty+ blocks/Eighty or more altogether back and forth from Time & Life was always refreshing.
So long, it took her a while to register when the hand of the man sitting beside her at the ballet today suddenly rested on her leg. She thought maybe he'd had some sort of spasm. But when it remained there and he started stroking she realized it wasn't an accident. There was his wife on the other side of him (at the ballet!) and there was his hand on Ciwt. Ciwt moved as far away as possible in those antiquated tiny seats and turned to look directly at him. He said something like "I'm sorry," and the hand was gone.
So why is Ciwt reporting this? Probably just to tell someone. Also to say she was reminded to 'get' what women and men are talking about when they say they've been groped. It is sudden, mind spinning, totally inappropriate and impersonal (at best) and all wrong. And the gropee is left completely alone to try to handle it; (like what are you going to do, speak loudly in the midst of a ballet performance and thousands of people knowing the 'innocent' man is going to say 'I don't know what she's talking about?').
Besides that, ...., the ballet and movie before it were excellent.
Walk: Legion of Honor (Monet/Rodin Tour), AMC Van Ness (Get Out) Distance: 4.5 miles, small yoga
It was a long way - aesthetically - from weeks with Monet to an afternoon with a black horror/comedy. And just what Ciwt needed to break the Monet spell when her tour was over. Her 'clients' turned out to be a very nice couple from SoCal. She was extremely receptive and observant; he was a terrific sport and probably in and out of being interested. For the most part, this is true of many men - if you can even get them to a museum.
Ciwt has actually noticed more older men than usual at museums these days - with their wives. She thinks this might be because the men have retired, and the couple is looking for daytime activities they can enjoy together. Plus all the rain this year has kept golf courses off limits.
Anyway, Get Out is quite brilliant and certainly riveting. Ciwt was sitting with one hand at the ready to quickly cover her eyes when a scary scene appeared. But she wasn't fast enough! Sort of Psycho-ish; things jumped out from nowhere. Like Psycho (which it isn't at all), there was an intelligence behind the action, not just horror for horror's sake. And there is plenty of subtle, sharp satirical humor - which emanates directly from Truth.
Ciwt is gearing up for her tour tomorrow of works done by a young Monet (just before he 'fathered' Impressionism) . And the youngish Rodin when he was just becoming the most famous sculptor in the world and was introduced to his great American collector/patroness and founder of the Palace of the Legion of Honor, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels.
Lots of history there; the trick for Ciwt is to fit it into two Interesting! hours. Stay tuned...
Walk: No, Researching Rodin with Callie in the rain Distance: Lots of stairs and small yoga
Brushing up on Rodin's sculpture, Ciwt is reminded of how she can never quite 'forgive' the fact that there are multiple versions and castings of all of his works. Even now the government of France - who owns his estate - is authorizing founderies to cast 'original' Rodins.
She should, you know. Rodin was just doing what sculptors since ancient Greece (and probably before that) did. And painters. There were factories, essentially, with various parts done by people who had developed expertise in particular areas: feet, hands, lost wax process, sketching, transfering, firing, polishing, painting, the list goes on.
Claude Monet, La Pluie, 1886, @2' x 2.4', oil on canvas
Take clear water with grass waving at the bottom. It's wonderful to look at, but to try to paint it is enough to make one insane. (Claude Monet) Ciwt is sure this appliedequally, if not more so, to painting rain where, in Monet's words, "I am witnessing a complete transformation happening in Nature.."
Walk: Marina Theater (Logan), PGCC Distance: 4.1 miles
So today Ciwt read about a Marvel (comic book) movie with a 99% Rotten Tomatoes rating and decided to take a culture break from her next tour artists, Monet and Rodin. Plus it starred Hugh Jackman, who can sort of do no wrong. Of course the usual for Ciwt came to pass: she didn't have a clue what exactly was happening but was entertained. If you need that kind of break, like Hugh Jackman and can handle violence, Ciwt says go.
Walk: Marin Driving Day, Legion of Honor Distance: 1 mile, small yoga
Claude Monet, Adolphe Monet Reading in the Garden, ca 1866, oil on canvas
So here we are again with the artist's father neatly attired and leisurely reading the paper in his sister's (Claude's aunt) garden. The sun is shining, the flowers are red, white and burgeoning. Monet leads us back through them and numerous happy shades of green to a distant stand of trees and soft clouds in the blue sky. Claude Monet, age 26, has painted the quintessence of family contentment.
The beautifully executed painting shows Monet early mastery of his art. It also says something, hard to say what, about how his mind worked because Monet's circumstances and relations with his family were far from contented. He was at his aunt's in Le Havre - away from Paris and his pregnant mistress - as well as numerous creditors. Absolutely impoverished and unable to sell any paintings even before his son was born, Monet was now desperate. He had come to implore his well-to-do relatives for funds.
But they would have none of it. They had seen Claude paint and spend money to the exclusion of their idea of sanity for years and the mistress and child out of wedlock were the final straw. Probably they felt if they refused him money, he would finally do as his father wished and join the family grocery business.
But, of course, rather than get any work, Monet continued to fill his days painting - even at this most precarious of times. There are even some reports of a suicide attempt. (Which, given his indominable will to paint, be with nature and enjoy life, Ciwt seriously doubts).
But there isn't a hint of his personal turmoil in this - or any of his paintings. What this was all about for him he alone knows, but the art world is better for it.
(Shortly after this painting, Monet was saved - this time by a local Le Havre businessman who commissioned portraits of his family. And his aunt, who loved him very much, did finally give him some money. At other junctures his artist friends - many of them, like Renoir, with extremely limited funds themselves lent him money so that he and his little family could eat. This after days without any food at all).
*On the other hand, his lifelong correspondence is filled with descriptions of the extreme difficulties he encountered with his paintings: No one but myself knows the anxiety I go through and the trouble I give myself to finish paintings which do not satisfy me and seem to please so very few others
Claude Monet, Adolphe Monet Reading in the Garden, c. 1866, oil on canvas
Hard to believe what was going on in Claude Monet's life when he painted this tranquil and sunny canvas. Stay tuned to find out....
Yes!!!
says Ciwt today. Stay tuned please...
. And the youngish Rodin 
when he was just becoming the most famous sculptor in the world and was introduced to his great American collector/patroness and founder of the Palace of the Legion of Honor, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels. 
