Postcard from New York, 3: The Guggenheim

Frank Lloyd's Wright's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is undeniably an impressive and pleasurable building; however, it is distinctly perverse. In a city defined by the grid and buildings that are essentially stacked cubes the Guggenheim is all curves; it seems to contradict the characteristic horizontality of the Prairie Style with which Wright is most closely associated (though, aguably, it does extend his belief in 'organic' architecture); perhaps most of all it flouts the Modernist architectural ethos of 'form follows function' - how could it have seemed a good idea to construct a building for the display of painting and sculpture as a spiral ramp? 
The interior spaces are beautiful - the building is a sculpture in its own right; as an exhibition space it sort of works but is undeniably problematic.

Currently on show are 2 exhibitions of contemporary work: Storylines,  a selection from the museum's collection organised around the idea of storytelling, and a retrospective survey of Doris Salcedo. Both exhibitions were very interesting but, in my view, Salcedo knocks the socks off everything else. Additionally there is a display of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early C20 work from the Thannhauser Collection.
Doris Salcedo's work is rooted in her response to the traumas and violence of political oppression particularly in relation to her native Columbia. However, what makes her work so powerful and effective is that its physical form universalises its meanings - that is, you don't need to know anything about Columbian politics to be touched by the poetic images and metaphors of a suffocating loss of liberty.

Doris Salcedo, installation view

Doris Salcedo, Atrabiliaros, 1996 (detail)

Doris Salcedo, Disremembered

Doris Salcedo, Plegaria Muda, 2008-10 (detail)

Where Salcedo's work is visually strong and admirably clear and direct in its emotional imapct, some of the work in Storylines, I felt, suffered from its dependence on (often obscure) references and the necessity for explanations in order to make any sense of the work. However, there is good work here. Below is my top five, in alphabetical order:

Shannon Ebner, Instrumentals, 2013

Iván Navarro, Homeless Lamp, the Juice Sucker, 2004–05

Gabriel Orozco, Astroturf Constellation, 2012

Katie Paterson, Light bulb to Simulate Moonlight, 2008

Natascha Sadr Haghighian, I can't work like this, 2007

Finally, a selection from the Thannhauser Collection:

Paul Cézanne, Still Life: Flask, Glass, and Jug, c1877

Édouard Manet, Before the Mirror, 1876

Pablo Picasso, Woman Ironing, Paris, 1904

(See also: Postcard from New York, 1: Whitney Museum of American Art (+ The High Line); Postcard from New York, 2: MoMA; Postcard from New York, 4: Dia: Beacon; click on the index label below to see all Postcards from New York)

Postcard from New York, 2: MoMA

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907

 As far as I am concerned, the main event of a visit to MoMA was always going to be seeing Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - I wasn't disappointed. It is an extraordinary painting: although  more than a century old it is still fresh. Familiarity has obviously blunted the shock that it provoked in 1907 but it is still startling and puzzling.

I was also delighted to find a small but focused exhibition devoted to Warhol: Campbell's Soup Cans and Other Works, 1953–1967. The 32 Soup Can canvases, first shown in 1962, are displayed in a single line around the gallery - arranged chronologically according to the date each variety was put on the market, from Tomato in 1897 to... unfortunately, I have forgotten what the last one was - possibly Beef Noodle? Some research needed!
Also included in the exhibition is Double Elvis (1963), Gold Marilyn Monroe (1962) and a full suite of Marilyn screenprints (1967) as well as a range of early commercial drawings. Great stuff.

Andy Warhol, installation view of  Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962

Andy Warhol, Double Elvis, 1963

Andy Warhol, Gold Marilyn Monroe, 1962

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe 1967 - portfolio of 10 screenprints

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe 1967 - portfolio of 10 screenprints - detail

The collection is wonderful - visiting was, in a way, like meeting old friends: so many artworks that I am familiar with in reproduction seen, at last, in the 'flesh'. There were a couple of disappointments - a thunder storm during my visit meant that the sculpture garden was closed ('health and safety'); but more seriously a significant chunk of the collection - principally Minimalism and Conceptual Art (my favourite bits) -  appeared not to be available to view; never mind, I got my fix elsewhere.
Below is my top ten - (apart from the Warhols and Picasso already mentioned above) - arranged alphabetically by artist:

André Derain, Bathers, 1907

George Grosz, The Poet Max Herrmann-Neisse, 1927

Alfredo Jaar, Lament of the Images, 2002 (NB this doesn't work as a reproduction - the blinding light has to be experienced.)

Jasper Johns, Flag, 1954-5

Sherrie Levine, Large Check, 1987 (detail)

Henri Matisse, The Piano Lesson, 1916

Barnett Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950-51

Pablo Picasso, Girl with a Mandolin (Fanny Tellier), Spring 1910

Robert Rauschenberg, Bed, 1955

Andy Warhol, Orange Car Crash Fourteen Times, 1963

(See also: Postcard from New York, 1: Whitney Museum of American Art (+ The High Line); Postcard from New York, 3: The Guggenheim; Postcard from New York, 4: Dia: Beacon; click on the index label below to see all Postcards from New York)