My first detection came years ago while watching Bewitched and noting the reproduction of Picasso's "The Old Guitarist" in Samantha and Darrin Stephens' living room.
It wasn't until I actually visited the original at the Art Institute of Chicago that I realized the set decorators of the classic sit-com hung the image on its side. A few others here on the internet have noted the error. Reportedly the picture was hung this way because it was too tall for the set, which begs the question, Why didn't they just find a horizontal masterpiece? Bewitched apparently abandoned Picasso after the second season.
Another mystery (or series of mysteries) obsessed me over the last couple of days after watching Elaine May's classic 1971 dark comedy A New Leaf. Though I've been a fan of the movie since it first came out, eagerly snapping up the VHS tape (with the wrong soundtrack) and then the DVD (original soundtrack restored), I hadn't paid a lot of attention to the art work in the set decoration of hero Henry Graham's apartment. The paintings are clearly "modern" (with a sprinkling of "primitive" sculptures) and intend to showcase the character's wealth.
A recent course on modern art at the Smithsonian set my curiosity for mid-Century American abstract expressionists (and others of that era), so I made it my unassigned mission to find out who these artists were. But I only found one I could definitively source.
The piece featured most prominently in Henry's (Walter Matthau) posh apartment is Multifarious (1959) by Morris Louis.
I am sorry to say I could not source any of the other artists, though the styles are very recognizably those of well known artists from the era. Mark Rothko? Barnett Newman? Robert Motherwell? Adolph Gottlieb?
In the film's credits, several galleries are given credit for providing the art (Marlborough-Gerson Inc., Edward R. Lubin Inc., Andre Emmerich, and French and Company). It's possible these particular pieces remain somewhere in private collections, never auctioned or sold to museums, and thus no records or images of them exist on the internet.
The image of Multifarious, identified above, is copyrighted by the Maryland Institute College of Art, but MorrisLouis.org states that the provenance of the painting is the estate of the artist and its whereabouts is unknown.
There is some evidence at least one piece in Henry Graham's collection is a work of fiction. The sculpture at risk of being destroyed by a young wedding guest is identified as a "Montrazini"--an artist who appears nowhere on the Web except in references to this film!
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| "She's unscrewing my Montrazini!" |
Love, hosaa
Returning over A New Leaf
I watched A New Leaf a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Elaine May is wonderful! But yeah, apart from the great characters and funny plot, the art collection really intrigued me. I don't think any mention of it is made in the dialogue, which is strange because the collection is really strong in terms of the featured artwork. As you said, it's obvious it was there to "showcase the character's wealth" but if they had done it with random artworks most of the audience wouldn't know the difference. So it didn't make sense to me that it was just casually put together for the movie, it had to be curated.
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought the house (and collection) might have belonged to one of the producers, or that it was a fully furnished high-end apartment that they rented, as it was, for the movie. But then I read your post, and if the artworks were provided by galleries my thesis probably isn't true. Still I wonder who the curator was...
As for the artworks themselves:
- in your first pic, it can't be seen from that angle but to the right of the Morris Louis, behind that doorway, there's a Piero Dorazio
- second pic, that's without a doubt an Adolph Gottlieb
- third pic, makes me think of Mark Rothko but it seems "smoother" than most of his works; I'm really not sure about that one
- 5th pic, that's an Helen Frankenthaler
- 7th pic, at first I thought it was a Franz Kline, but then I researched a bit more and I'm pretty sure it's a Robert Motherwell, most likely from the Africa series
- 8th pic I'm not entirely sure but I would bet it's a Robert Motherwell as well
There's also an abstract painting with several colors and a purple background, which I think is in his office (where the Gottlieb and Frankenthaler also are located), that I think it's a Philip Guston. And behind a doorway to the right of the Robert Motherwell from the Africa series there's a an abstract artwork with a white background and vivid colors which I think is a Sam Francis. As for the Montrazini" sculpture, it's probably inspired by David Smith.
I have been trying to find more info about the collection for years so it was great to find your post! If you ever want to make an update, I have prints from other angles that show the other works I was talking about.
Thank you, Diogo! Very helpful information. I assume an art director for the film curated the pieces borrowed from the galleries that were mentioned in the credits. The individual artworks might be in private collections now, thus explaining why they could not be found on the Internet.
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