Artists and Lovers, an exhibition curated by London-based gallerist Pilar Ordovas, presents works by a number of the greatest artistic unions of the mid-20th century to suggest how love and friendship can shape creative process. With Peggy Guggenheim's life of lovers, friends, curators, mentors and artists in mind, Ordovas has brought together works by eleven artistic partnerships for this free, public exhibition held on New York's Upper East Side, from November 4, 2016 through January 7, 2017.
Artists and Lovers will feature a major Frida Kahlo self-portrait, painted in 1940, which has not been displayed in the United States for over 30 years (originally commissioned for the New York home of the American engineer Sigmund Firestone) and (Silver Square), painted by Jackson Pollock circa 1950, a work that hung for many years in the New York apartment of fellow Abstract Expressionist and Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner. As well as offering a glimpse into the much bigger tale of the cross-germination of ideas between Europe and America from the 1930s to the mid 1970s, the exhibition also aims to reflect Peggy Guggenheim's blurring of the boundaries between art collection, life and love.
"Peggy Guggenheim's powerful vision, and her ability to make no differentiation between art and love, colleagues and friends, sparked the idea to stage this exhibition. I was also fascinated by how the old and new worlds came together during this period of cross-fertilization, and how much smaller the artistic community was then," comments Pilar Ordovas. "The web of friendships and relationships between artists, patrons, friends, collectors, curators and intellectuals was intense; in order to navigate this complex constellation of art and partnerships, we have chosen to look at the period through the work of 11 couples. It has been fascinating to consider these artistic unions, and to explore the lasting power of creative influence."
The couples:
Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) and Diego Rivera (1886–1957)
Kay Sage (1898–1963) and Yves Tanguy (1900–1955)
Leonora Carrington OBE (1917–2011) and Max Ernst (1891–1976)
Dorothea Tanning (1910–2012) and Max Ernst (1891–1976)
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) and Joseph Cornell (1903–1972)
Elaine de Kooning (née Fried), (1918–1989) and Willem de Kooning (1904–1997)
Lee Krasner (1908–1984) and Jackson Pollock (1912–1956)
John Cage (1912–1992), Merce Cunningham (1919–2009), Cy Twombly (1928–2011),
Jasper Johns (b. 1930) and Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008)
Lauretta Vinciarelli (1943–2011) and Donald Judd (1928–1994)
About Ordovas
Pilar Ordovas founded her eponymous gallery in 2011 after 13 years at Christie's, where she was a Chairman for Post-War and Contemporary art in Europe, and two years as a Director of Gagosian Gallery, London. Scholarly in tone, the gallery has staged 16 museum-level exhibitions in London and, since 2015, in New York, bringing focus to historical works as well as modern masters, from artists including Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and Alexander Calder, to Alberto Giacometti, Rembrandt and Auguste Rodin. Many works are loaned from private collections to which there is no public access and several exhibitions have been organized in close collaboration with major European institutions including The Courtauld Gallery, London; and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. In the autumn of 2015, Ordovas began its international exhibition program, with an outpost show in New York, Chillida: Rhythm-Time-Silence (October 30, 2015–January 7, 2016). This was the first major Eduardo Chillida exhibition on U.S. soil in 25 years, and re-introduced the artist's work to a new audience of American art-lovers and collectors. In spring 2016, Ordovas established a permanent base in New York, opening an office in Tribeca.
RSVP for press view: Clara Zevi, clara@ordovasart.com / T +1 212 756 8870 / Clare Roberts, clare@ordovasart.com / T +44 7899 065 088 or for media requests.
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