TT 255: Georgia O'Keeffe and Anton Arensky

art diary

Yesterday I took in “Georgia O’Keeffe: To See Takes Time” at the Museum of Modern Art. The show features early work unlike her later familiar style; there’s unexpected media including watercolor and charcoal. A no-holds-barred review by Jackson Arn in The New Yorker offers high-handed but valuable counterpoint.

Looking at the first footsteps of an icon is definitely to my taste; years ago, a Jackson Pollock retrospective had a similar impact.

iPhone shots of favorite pieces:

1 Evening Star

2 Train at Night in the Desert

3 Green Lines and Pink

4 A Storm

5 Goat’s Horns with Blue

6 Patio Door

7 detail from a self-portrait

In general, mid-century modernism with clean lines speaks to me, whether it is in classical music, jazz, design, architecture...or painting. “What the hip kids liked 80 years ago.” Not sure if early O’Keeffe is that distinctive, especially compared to her famous work, but I just love almost anything with this kind of style.

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MOMA has “The Dream” by Henri Rousseau, a touchstone.

When looking at Rousseau’s “The Sleeping Gypsy” in person, the man in the moon is much more apparent.

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Rousseau is considered a “primitive.”

I had never heard of Joseph Pickett before, but “Manchester Valley” stopped me in my tracks. Pickett was an American primitive who was only exhibited in galleries posthumously; the best guess for the date of this massive canvas is 1914-1918. When looking at “Manchester Valley” I immediately hear the sounds of Charles Ives.

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[changing topic completely]

Anton Arensky’s name is mostly familiar to those who adore 19th-century Russian music in the Tchaikovsky idiom. Stravinsky liked Arensky, giving a special nod to the substantial Piano Trio in D minor.

Piano mavens also revere a duo recording of an Arensky Waltz by Harold Bauer and Ossip Gabrilowitsch. Harold Schonberg mentions this track in his landmark overview The Great Pianists; it was also featured on the important compilation LP Keyboard Giants of the Past.

The other night I listened again for the first time in decades.

Truly a miracle!

I was inspired to download the score of Arensky Op. 15 and audit the full set. While it’s all well done (there’s also a Romance and a Polonaise), the Waltz is easily the best.

And, it must be said, the very slight rhythmic tugs and leans from Bauer and Gabrilowitsch make all the difference. Even the Waltz loses some of its charm in the hands of straight-laced pianists.

This recording is famous thanks to the performance, not the composer.