José Maria Sert, murals in photoplay
16 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in exhibits, photography Tags: Chomette, jose maria sert, muralist, Paris, photography, Rockefeller Center, Vich
José Maria Sert, the Catalan muralist who has left vast scenes of swirling humanity on the walls of churches, congress halls and skyscraper lobbies from Geneva to New York, is the subject of a photography exhibit at Michèle Chomette Gallery in Paris. Here dozens of fascinating photographic studies that Sert used for his modeling are shown as works of art in their own right.
New Yorkers may not be familiar with his name, but they will know his New York work, the monumental murals in the former RCA Building (now GE Building or simply, 30 Rock) at Rockefeller Center. These enormous allegorical scenes in sepia browns depict the construction of the great city with Biblical imagery. Great titans and grand masses of workers move the steel and the rocks that will rise up around them, as airplanes make swirls in the clouds above. It is unfortunate that these murals had to be painted atop the ruins of Diego Rivera’s murals for this lobby, after David Rockefeller had them destroyed in an anti-socialist fury. It is useless to compare Sert with Rivera, their styles, their heritage and their aesthetics were from opposite sides of the Earth. I mourn the loss of Rivera’s work, but cherish the opportunity to be thrilled by Sert in its place.
Now, seeing this exhibit, I have come to see another aspect of Sert’s art; the cultural and physical dimension of his inspiration. In these photographs, his assistants and models are set into position, among the paraphernalia of an artist’s studio, unfolding their imperfect and humanly beautiful bodies into the poses that would be used on the gigantic walls. Here and there are figures that have awed me from my earliest youth, now instead of straddling the columns in midtown Manhattan, they are Spanish workmen, atop wooden platforms in the artist’s atelier. The photos also show the marks of Sert’s studies: outlines to trace the flow of arms and legs, cross-hatching that set the bodies in air. The presence of ordinary articles from the period in the scenes is a further level of history and attachment to the cultural context. The viewer can sense the artist communicating, and it is a thoroughly satisfying experience.
Besides the Rockefeller Center murals, these photographs include studies for the Cathedral of Vich and for other works. Michéle Chomette, in her introductory notes regarding the exhibit, states that photography “took revenge” on Sert, by creating an undeniable new perspective and aesthetic for his work, moving his images into a more two dimensional plane, and infusing them with a soft-focus photographic light. Thus, his work with photography became a collaboration, between the artist and the modern technology of art. I believe that nothing could be more appropriate for this great master of the Machine Age.
This exhibit will soon be coming to an end, so if you are interested in seeing it you must hurry up to Galerie Michèle Chomette, 24 rue Beaubourg, Paris. In fact it was set to close on May 16, but it has been extended until the end of the month, May 30, 2009. If you cannot get there in May, don’t despair, because Michèle Chomette Gallery has an exhibit scheduled for June which will include many Sert photographs. It is entitled “Question de Poses, 1915-2005, en contrepoint à José Maria Sert, un laboratoire contemporain. It will run from June 4 until July 11, 2009
NOTA BENE: l’exposition est prolongée jusqu’au 30 mai,
et elle sera suivie par une exposition thématique
où seront maintenues beaucoup d’études photographiques de Sert :
“QUESTION DE POSES” 1915-2005
en contrepoint à José Maria Sert, un laboratoire contemporain
4 juin – 11 juillet 2009
Here is a detail from Sert’s Rockefeller Center mural, my own photograph, toned and touched with oil color:
For an examination of the evolution of Sert’s muralistic art as can be seen on the walls of the Cathedral of Vich, see my article elsewhere on this site. Click on the image of St. Luke, painted in 1941, the third and final commission for the walls of the Cathedral.
