WELCOME TO WONDERLAND

A floating baby, a giant bear and Alice herself perched precariously on a cascading waterfall -- all have fallen through a rabbit hole to become part of the sculptural wonderland at Chatsworth, the "Palace of the Peak District" in Derbyshire, U.K. Entitled "Beyond Limits," this is an annual, private sale of sculpture presented by Sotheby's. This year, a wonderful display of 25 works by 23 artists is thoughtfully presented and juxtaposed among the landscape features of this glorious garden.

Now in its third year, "Beyond Limits" has so far presented 76 works of sculpture by 50 artists. With a global reach, it has become a truly international venue for the best in 20th Century and Contemporary works. Each exhibition brings an array of new art and artists to Chatsworth and provides an art loving public with the only opportunity of viewing these pieces before purchase, and of viewing them in a landscape which heightens one's experience of both the art and environment. As one walks among the sculptures in this vast park, the organization of various juxtaposed elements forms an other-wordly dreamscape which beckons one to re-imagine.

This installation takes full advantage of the variety of landscape features which makes Chatsworth one of the great gardens of Europe. Water is used to maximum effect in the placement of several pieces. Sited at one end of the early 18th century Canal Pond is Mark Quinn's Planet, a 9 & 1/2 meter sculpture of a baby. Cast in bronze with a steel frame and painted white, this huge baby appears to float effortlessly in the air. Planet, a portrait of the artist's son, is intended as a symbol of life, and is presented newly emerging from his aqueous canal. For Kiki Smith's Seer ( Alice II), this meant perching her on an early 18th Century stepped Baroque Cascade. Another white, painted bronze figure this time of a young girl looking into the distance, rests on a watery step, her smoothly articulated face and extremities contrasting sharply with the roughly hewn mass of "stone" which serves as her dress. Is this Alice attempting to stay afloat in her sea of tears? For Smith, the Seer was meant to be shown with water "... gleaning the information from the water, one moment at a time, placing her hands in liquid like an oracle." ( Kiki Smith, Sotheby's Preview, Sept./Oct., 2008, p. 100). Lynn Chadwick's larger-then-life Couple sits quietly on a bench in the secluded Ring Pond, their reflections glimmering in the still water.

The hills and dales of this great estate are alive with sculpture: a giant bear stands tall in the woods ( Francois- Xavier Lalanne), a Botero Horse solidly punctuates the Broad Walk, and a bronze Woman in Flames (Dali), gesticulates wildly in the garden. Beverly Pepper's monolithic stone is recast as a guardian figure. An exercise in ambiguity, is it blocking the exit from the Maze or the entrance to the One Hundred Steps? A giant bronze apple ( Pomme de New York by Claude Lalanne), rests in prelapsarian bliss in a wooded clearing. A polished bronze heart (Love Me by Richard Hudson) and mirror polished logs ( Log Corner by Arik Levy), reflect the beauty of earth and sky. Yasuda's Key to a Dream provides a Carrara marble frame for viewing the surrounding park land designed by Lancelot " Capability" Brown in the 18th century. And who could possibly be big enough to fill Sui Jianguo's gigantic Mao Vest, an anxiety laden vestige of the Cultural Revolution?

Almost every piece in this exhibition is super-sized and every piece is equally overflowing with resonance whether on an archetypal level or on a culturally referential one. It is a provocative "brief encounter" which stimulates both the senses and the imagination. And these pieces will never "talk to each other" again. Hopefully, they will find equally appropriate and loving homes.

OBSESSING OVER LUNCH

OBSESSING OVER LUNCH

Allen Jones was not the first artist to put his personal spin on Manet nor will he be the last. Claude Monet, James Tissot, Paul Cezanne, all responded in their personal styles and created paintings which enriched the artistic canon. However, for one artist it became an obsession. Picasso wrestled with Manet's "Dejeuner" for almost 20 years. He attempted to exorcize the painting in the same way he chose to exorcize the women in his life: by painting them. Between 1954 and 1970, he would return to "Le Dejeuner" and attack it as a way of nourishing his own creativity. Twenty-six paintings, 150 drawings, and five pieces of sculpture later, the legacy of "Le Dejeuner" is a series of works imprinted with the great sweep of Picasso's genius. Part of the blockbuster "Picasso et les Maitres" show opening in Paris on the 8th of October, will be a special exhibition in the Musee D'Orsay "Picasso/Manet, Le Dejeuner sur L'Herbe," a collection of around 40 of the paintings, drawings, prints and maquettes created by Picasso after Manet's masterpiece. The exhibit will reunite fourteen of the twenty-six Dejeuner paintings which Picasso completed.



Images: Luncheon on the Grass after Manet ( and Bathers, a study of Luncheon), Mougins, August 1961- May, 1970.

Allen Jones at Chatsworth: The Picnic

PART I

ALLEN JONES

AT CHATSWORTH:

DEJEUNER ENCORE

Chatsworth, the magnificent British "Treasure House" located in the Peak District of Derbyshire, now contains a new marvel. It is sculptor Allen Jones' Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, a monumental abstract and colorful 21st Century rendering of the painting of the same name by Edouard Manet.

The 1863 painting by Manet is of a pastoral scene with two men and two women placed in an enclosed wooded area. There is a picnic basket filled with fruit and a round loaf of bread in the foreground. What is so striking about the painting is Manet's distinctly modern treatment of his subject matter and his painterly technique. A seated naked woman stares boldly out at the viewer. She is a fully confident and self-assured Parisienne with nothing to hide. She is accompanied by two nattily, fully-dressed males who appear to be totally absorbed in conversation with each other so that they take no notice of either her or the viewer. In the background, another scantily clad woman appears to be bathing in a stream. The canvas appears flat, lacking in depth as if staged in a studio. The light is almost photographic with little shadow. The viewer's eye is drawn immediately to the creamy flesh tones of the woman who stands out in marked contrast to the muted tones of the men's clothing and the wood. It is easy to understand why this painting ( along with Manet's Olympia), made the French viewing public of the period uncomfortable. Encountering this scene, the viewer assumes the role of "voyeur." It is no wonder that the painting was rejected by the Paris Salon of 1863 and was later relegated to the Salon des Refuses.


Hidden from direct view, in a remote and wooded area on the grounds of Chatsworth, Allen Jones' Dejeuner sur l'Herbe has to be discovered. Three metal larger-then-life figures have been placed in a clearing only to be encountered by the unsuspecting walker. The scene however is far more inviting than disturbing. Jones has given us a portal, an entry point into a bucolic world -- he even provides a seat should we wish to join the picnic. Here arcadian myth has been fused with 21st Century reality -- only Pan is missing!

The work consists of three painted figures sculpted of metal and a metal picnic bench with a complimentary "bottle" of claret and two glasses. In wielding his artistic license, Jones has dramatically changed the dynamics and has limited his Dejeuner to two naked women and one fully dressed male. In contrast to Manet, the male and the two females are fully engaged in animated conversation with one and other and appear to be having a really great time. Painted in a bright lipstick red, the females are sensual, coquettish and lively. One female who is seated replicates the disposition of the dominant female in the Manet canvas. Posed in a prone position, the other female probably relates to the similar disposition of the female in Paul Cezanne's 1870 painting, the Idyll, which is known to have direct ties with Manet's Dejeuner. Jones combines the two males in the Manet painting to create a large scale river god (Manet used a Renaissance engraving by Raimondi), still inappropriately attired in a jacket and tie. Yet as in the painting, water though not quite visible is not far away and one can hear the rush of a 300 year old cascade in the nearby woods.


Jones has given the visitor a lively and playful pastoral moment within the stately environs of Chatsworth where one can picnic and enjoy the beauty of the surrounding countryside.

NEXT: MANET REVISITED: CEZANNE/PICASSO AND COMPANY