A Hammer Of An Afternoon

Miraculously arriving on time (avoid late morning naps) to meet Sharon, a former work colleague, at the Hammer Museum was an omniscient start to the afternoon. Our art adventure began in the lobby with the Jonas Wood exhibition – graphic representations of plants in bold oil colors on linen. My favorite plant was “Untitled (Big Blue and Yellow)”. From the lobby, we were lead up the staircase and to the Hammer courtyard by the Rob Fischer wall sculpture of wood gymnasium flooring with hand-painted signs titled “Few Landmarks and No Boundaries” consisting of interconnecting linear forming open squares. A welcoming trail leading to visual treasures.

At the courtyard we saw the café area with its many foliage and numerous small tables and chairs in which people were relaxing and enjoying a repast. As this was Sharon’s first time in the museum, I pointed out to her the Billy Wilder Theater (site of lectures and films) and the location of the street entrance to the courtyard. This is a pleasant oasis in the midst of Westwood. Then it was upward to the next floor where the major Rachel Whiteread exhibit was installed. (I’ll skip the backpack annoyance I encountered - suffice it to say my wishes prevailed.)

Rachel Whiteread’s retrospective exhibition consists mainly of her drawings and some accompanying sculptures. Her work is a tour through a household – staircases, tables and chairs, floorings, mattresses [favorite piece – “Untitled (Double Amber Bed”) – in rubber and high density foam], rooms, doors, baths – all while using correction fluid, ink, collage, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, enamel paint on paper and graph paper, There are also representations of one off projects – holocaust memorial (“Maquette for Holocasust Memorial”), water tower (“Drawing for Water Tower VI”), Trafalgar Square (“Trafalgar Square Project”), village (“Study for Village – 1st”) – using varnish, ink, pencil, photographic collage, acrylic on graph paper and museum board. And in a wall-mounted display case are objects that Rachel has collected over time – shoes, tree branches, glassware, rocks, dollhouse items, anatomical specimens. Additionally, Rachel collects postcards which she transforms into another type of art.

From a current day British woman’s drawings, Sharon and I transitioned to a past century Dutch man’s prints. The last time I saw Rembrandt’s works in person was at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum in the late 1990s. So it was a real treat to experience his art once again. Later in the afternoon I would buy a postcard of “Landscape with Three Gabled Cottages beside a Road”. Rembrandt works on plates, sheets, objects using etching, burin, drypoint. Whatever eye I looked at Rembrandt’s work in the past, I came to today’s viewing with my photographer’s eye. Seeing the same image in various intensities of printing, reminded me of the black and white photography printing I did in Paris earlier this century. It’s a whole new appreciation on my part for the work and artistry Rembrandt employed to produce his prints.

Moving on from drawings and prints, the next stop on the art adventure trail was an Italian woman’s, Luisa Lambri, photographs. Primarily the exhibit consists of outdoor images, in various contrasts, as seen through two skylights in the Sheats-Goldstein home. Luisa is mainly an interior architectural photographer, while my own photographic interest is the exteriors of structures. Her image that I like best is “Untitled (Sheats-Goldstein House, #16)”. For printing, Luisa uses Laserchrome.

The adventure path continued onto the Armand Hammer Collection – works that make up the museum’s permanent collection. This was the collection that Sharon was most interested in seeing. I have seen this collection several times in the past. The first time was when it was housed in the Palm Springs Desert Museum. Art lover and artist Tony Bennett was also in the museum the day I visited. That was my first realization that the singer had an interest in art. And from this collection, my favorite piece is “The Boulevard Montmartre, Mardi Gras” by Camille Pissarro. However today, I would actually buy a postcard of the collection’s “Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt” by Alfred Stevens.

Our afternoon art adventure road ended in the museum’s bookstore, where I bought the aforementioned postcards. While looking through the sale section in the bookstore, I came across a book titled Paris: Contemporary Architecture. So Sharon and I browsed through the book and I told her which of the included structures I had visited or knew of its existence (La Grande Arche, Bibliotheque Nationale, La Villette et. al.). Amazingly, the bookstore was playing Edith Piaf’s “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien”, as we looked at those images of beautiful Paris. An afternoon that begins with the art of a living American man and ends with the music of a deceased French woman – what’s to regret? Rien, mon ami, rien!

Images:
Left: Untitled (Red and Pink on Tan) and Untitled (Big Blue and Yellow) from the website hammer.ucla.edu
Center: Few Landmarks and No Boundaries from the website hammer.ucla.edu

Right: Untitled (Double Amber Bed) from the website hammer.ucla.edu