Shirley Jaffe's Retrospective...
6:49 p.m.
07/03/23 - To begin to explain what we saw in this exhibition, we must confess, first of all, that we knew very little about Shirley Jaffe, an artist born in New Jersey (USA) in 1923, who moved to Europe at a very young age and ended her days in Paris, where she died in 2016.
Thanks to this current impulse to bring to the spotlight all these female creators, we discovered many artists who did not have the opportunity to present their work in institutions of the magnitude of the Kunstmuseum (Basel, Switzerland).
The exhibition is entitled Form as Experiment and it displays a large number of Jaffe's works in chronological order. The retrospective is didactic because we can experience how the different historical circumstances that moved her are reflected in her paintings, as well as the pictorial changes in her work as the years go by (from her youth to her maturity).
Which in the World, by Shirley Jaffe (1957)
The exhibition begins with a series of abstract canvases, such as Which in the World, deeply influenced by Abstract Expressionism.
The artist's gesture is present in spontaneous movements that run through the entire canvas. The sign reads that the title seems to come from an ongoing conversation and the artist explained that her observation of Le Déjeuner des canotiés, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1880-81) inspired this work.
The Red Diamond, by Shirley Jaffe (1964)
Technique: oil on canvas
Work on paper - Shirley Jaffe
By 1960 Jaffe abandoned Abstract Expressionism to start another movement, coinciding with her residence in Berlin. The line becomes structured and the colors vibrant. The edges are defined, giving rise to flat surfaces with the presence of calligraphy in black.
In this exhibition, the works on paper are exhibited together and in a separate room so that the visitor has the opportunity to experience the artist's exercises with colour, composition and light.
Boulevard Montparnasse, by Shirley Jaffe (1968)
Technique: oil on canvas
The previous oil painting was inspired by photos that Jaffe took in the ruins of the Montparnasse station before its renovation. From this moment on, her works shift completely towards geometric vocabulary and a matte palette. Due to the economic success that this series obtains, she decides to keep this path for a period that goes from 1973 to 1982.
General View
Hop and skip, by Shirley Jaffe (1987)
Technique: oil on canvas
X, encore, by Shirley Jaffe (2007)
Technique: oil on canvas
In the late 1990s Jaffe returned to his primitive forms of expression, juxtaposing dense, monochromatic areas of color with rapid-stroke shapes (almost like her 1950s paintings). The artist describes them as “organized chaos” or urban landscapes (related to her walks through Paris), as a way of experiencing urban chaos or the rhythm of the city. As observers of this last expressive moment of the artist, we can feel the sound of the streets, the movement of the passers-by and the vehicles.
Otherwise, by Shirley Jaffe (2002)
Technique: oil on canvas
We end this extraordinary journey having seen the exhaustive curatorial work and the comings and goings in the work of Jaffe, who was also extremely generous with young American artists. Her small studio at 8, rue Saint-Victor in the 5th Arrondissement, where she painted until her very last days, was the safe harbor for all those who wanted to seek their artistic destiny in Paris.
0 comentarios