ART-TRIBUTE:Infinite Blue,Part III

Louis Rémy Mignot,Niagara, 1866, Oil on canvas, 123.8 x 232.4 cm, Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Arthur S. Fairchild, 1993.118, Photo: Brooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum presents “Infinite Blue”, a major Collection exhibition in, that uses the color blue as a lens through which to explore art from ancient Egypt to the present. Through a cross-generational and multidisciplinary array of work, blue is examined as a link from the past to the present: as a historical force for global commerce; as an emblem of power, beauty, and spiritualism; and as a symbol for gender difference, among other uses and purposes (Part I), Part II)

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Brooklyn Museum Archive

Opened to the public in four phases, ”Infinite Blue” expands throughout its run to represent the breadth of the Museum’s global collections, including objects from our holdings of Asian, Egyptian, African, American, Native American, and European art, among them paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, the decorative arts, illuminated manuscripts, printed books, and contemporary art. The exhibition engages visitors from the moment they enter the Museum’s glass Pavilion with “Untitled (Water)”, an expansive curtain of blue iridescent beads by Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and “Liquidity Inc.”, an immersive video experience by Hito Steryl in the Museum’s Great Hall. Significant works include Joseph Kosuth’s “276 (On Color Blue)”, in which he reproduces in blue neon a quotation from philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein that questions our perception of blueness; and five works from Byron Kim’s ongoing series of “Sunday Paintings”, which represent the sky on the day they were painted with a short text of activities from the artist’s life on that day. The exhibition is part of A Year of Yes: Reimagining Feminism at the Brooklyn Museum, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art through ten diverse exhibitions and an extensive calendar of related public programs.

Info: Curatorial Team: Yekaterina Barbash, Susan L. Beningson, Meghan Bill, Edward Bleiberg, Connie Choi, Joan Cummins, Susan Fisher, Barry R. Harwood, Deirdre Lawrence, Cora Michael, Kimberly Orcutt, Nancy Rosoff, Lisa Small, Sara Softness, and Eugenie Tsai, Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, New York, Duration: 25/11/16-5/11/17, Days & Hours: Wed & Fri-sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-22:00, www.brooklynmuseum.org

Booties, 1898, Probably France, Leather, silk, linen, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009, Gift of Mrs. Cuyler T. Rawlins. 2009.300.1974a–d
Booties, 1898, Probably France, Leather, silk, linen, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009, Gift of Mrs. Cuyler T. Rawlins. 2009.300.1974a–d

 

 

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Water) (Detail), 1995, Installation View, Courtesy Brooklyn Museum
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled (Water) (Detail), 1995, Installation View, Courtesy Brooklyn Museum

 

 

Left: Wedding Dress, circa 1860, United States Silk, cotton, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of the Jason and Peggy Westerfield Collection, 1969. 2009.300.923. Right: Ewer. Iran, Qajar period, 18th century, Translucent deep blue glass, free blown, applied, and pinched, tooled on the pontil, 16.5 x 9.3 cm, Brooklyn Museum; Gift of Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, 46.63.3, Photo: Sarah DeSantis, Brooklyn Museum
Left: Wedding Dress, circa 1860, United States Silk, cotton, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of the Jason and Peggy Westerfield Collection, 1969. 2009.300.923. Right: Ewer. Iran, Qajar period, 18th century, Translucent deep blue glass, free blown, applied, and pinched, tooled on the pontil, 16.5 x 9.3 cm, Brooklyn Museum; Gift of Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt, 46.63.3, Photo: Sarah DeSantis, Brooklyn Museum

 

 

Gustave Caillebotte, The Seine and the Railroad Bridge at Argenteuil, 1885 or 1887, Oil on canvas, 115.6 x 154.9 cm, Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1999.76.1, Photo: Brooklyn Museum
Gustave Caillebotte, The Seine and the Railroad Bridge at Argenteuil, 1885 or 1887, Oil on canvas, 115.6 x 154.9 cm, Brooklyn Museum, Gift of The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1999.76.1, Photo: Brooklyn Museum

 

 

Cindy Sherman, Tureen with Cover and Under Plate, “Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson) Pattern,” 1990, Manufacturer: Porcelain Ancienne Manufacture Royale de Limoges, France, Porcelain with painted and silkscreened decoration, tureen with cover, 26 x 37.1 x 23.5 cm, other (under plate): 6.4 x 56.2 x 43.5 cm, Brooklyn Museu,; Gift of the Estate of Mary Hayward Weir, by exchange, 2009.47a-c, Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Brooklyn Museum
Cindy Sherman, Tureen with Cover and Under Plate, “Madame de Pompadour (née Poisson) Pattern,” 1990, Manufacturer: Porcelain Ancienne Manufacture Royale de Limoges, France, Porcelain with painted and silkscreened decoration, tureen with cover, 26 x 37.1 x 23.5 cm, other (under plate): 6.4 x 56.2 x 43.5 cm, Brooklyn Museu,; Gift of the Estate of Mary Hayward Weir, by exchange, 2009.47a-c, Photo: Jonathan Dorado, Brooklyn Museum

 

Byron Kim, Sunday Painting 2/18/07, 2007, Acrylic and gouache on canvas, mounted on panel, 35.6 x 35.6 cm, Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council in honor of Eugenie Tsai and Patrick Amsellem, 2011.37.1, © Byron Kim/ Courtesy James Cohan Gallery-New York/Shanghai
Byron Kim, Sunday Painting 2/18/07, 2007, Acrylic and gouache on canvas, mounted on panel, 35.6 x 35.6 cm, Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council in honor of Eugenie Tsai and Patrick Amsellem, 2011.37.1, © Byron Kim/ Courtesy James Cohan Gallery-New York/Shanghai