: The UCLA Hammer Museum will present publicly for the first time
an exhibition of drawings from the collection of Oscar-winning
lyricist Hal David and his wife Eunice.
A promised gift to the Museum's Grunwald Center for the Graphic
Arts, "The Eunice and Hal David Collection of Nineteenth and
Twentieth Century Works on Paper" will be on view from November
through February 8. The collection features approximately 60
drawings by 48 celebrated artists who have shaped the course of
art history.
Artists represented span a period of 200 years and include Eugene
DeLacroix, Edouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
Gustave Caillebotte, Winslow Homer, Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso,
Henri Matisse, Fernand Leger, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder,
Robert Motherwell, Richard Diebenkorn, Isamu Noguchi, Andy
Warhol, Sam Francis and David Hockney.
After its debut at the UCLA Hammer Museum, the exhibit will
travel to the Portland Art Museum, Oregon, in July 2004.
"The Eunice and Hal David Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth
Century Works on Paper" is distinctly personal, a great
reflection on Hal and Eunice's interests and passion. At the same
time, the collection is remarkable for its breadth -- comprising
works by almost 50 prominent European and American artists," said
Ann Philbin, director of the UCLA Hammer Museum. "The museum's
exhibition, presenting the entire collection publicly for the
first time, will offer visitors a marvelous opportunity to
discover numerous approaches to drawing by some of the most
influential artists of the past 200 years."
The works in the exhibition reflect various approaches to
drawings including exploratory sketches, preliminary drawings for
paintings and large-scale or highly finished presentation
drawings. The works employ the techniques of graphite, pen and
ink, chalk, watercolor and gouache. Most of the drawings depict
figurative subject matter, though there is also a selection of
abstract, nonfigurative compositions.
The Davids' interest in representations of the human figure was
already present in their first purchase, Pierre Bonnard's
"Standing Nude Looking in Mirror," circa 1920-25, and deepened as
the collection grew to include works such as Edgar Degas'
"Dancer, Arm Too Far behind the Head," circa 1880-85; Gustav
Klimt's "Study for a Satyr Carrying Drum," circa 1886-88; and
David Hockney's "Celia Smoking," 1974.
The diminutive scale of Bonnard's graphite drawing of a female
figure seen from the back as she quietly observes herself in a
mirror is countered by the more dramatic diagonal pose of Degas's
ballerina, sketched in charcoal as she practices her movements.
Klimt's Nineteenth Century drawing of a naked Satyr -- a
preparatory drawing and rare example of a figurative study by the
artist -- is an interesting contrast to Hockney's Twentieth
Century pencil drawing of Celia, one of the most important
subjects among his numerous portraits.
In addition to figurative drawings, examples of abstract art can
also be seen in the exhibition. Sam Francis's "Study for Chase
Mural," 1959, and Robert Motherwell's untitled (Elegy), 1980,
both demonstrate a modernist aesthetic through abstraction of
form.
Although many people think of drawings as monochromatic, color is
strongly present throughout the exhibition, contributing to an
overall effect of ebullience in the galleries. The key roles of
color and richness of media in these drawings are exemplified by
works such as Paul Signac's "Rocheforte," 1930 and Fernand
Leger's "Starfish," 1937. The vibrancy of Signac's
neo-Impressionist watercolor suggests the shimmering effect of
sunlight upon the surface of water, exhibiting the artist's
research on color theory and the placement of pure colors next to
one another; in contrast, the floating form of Leger's starfish
is created by vivid solid colors, encapsulated by thick black
contour outlines.
The exhibition is organized by the UCLA Hammer Museum. The
curator is Cynthia Burlingham, senior curator of the Grunwald
Center for the Graphic Arts and deputy director of collections at
the museum. Accompanying the exhibition is a fully illustrated
catalog with an essay by Lee Hendrix, curator of drawings at the
J.Paul Getty Museum, and extended entries on each work by Hammer
curatorial staff members Cynthia Burlingham, Claudine Dixon,
Claudine Ise and Carolyn Peter, as well as Judith Brodie, Carol
S. Eliel, Noriko Gamblin, Robert Hobbs, Amy Schichtel and Marilyn
Symmes.
The museum, open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 11
am to 7 pm; Thursday, 11 am to 9 pm; and Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm,
is at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard. Admission is $5. For information,
310-433-7041.
