Gallery chronicle (May 2022)

THE NEW CRITERION, May 2022

Gallery Chronicle

On “The Utopian Avant-Garde: Soviet Film Posters of the 1920s” at Poster House, New York and “Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades, 1967–2017” at David Richard Gallery, Chelsea and Harlem, New York.

Is this bad timing for a show on Russian art and design? “The Utopian Avant-Garde: Soviet Film Posters of the 1920s,” which opened at New York’s Poster House museum in late February, suggests otherwise.1 Here is an eye-opening exhibition of fifty works from a century ago that lays bare Russian aspiration in graphic form. Created during the first flush of enthusiasm for the new Bolshevik state, these innovative posters speak to the progressive spectacle of early Sovietism—and the hundred years of failure that has followed, with its aftershocks in devastating evidence today.

Alexander Rodchenko, Poster for Film-Eye, 1924, The Ralph DeLuca Collection. Photo: Poster House.

These works are also simply dazzling to see. The posters were designed to startle, bringing to the Russian street a taste of such cinematic innovations as montage, unexpected angles, stop-motion animation, and extreme closeups as they vied for popular attention. Informed by a new faith in utopian architecture and engineering, and drawing on tenets of Constructivism, Suprematism, and Productivism, these posters reflect the influence of early Soviet design over much of modern art.

Even before the Russian Revolution, Nicholas II, the modern world’s ill-fated tsar, was quick to grasp the potential of the motion picture. Just five months after their first picture show in Paris on December 28, 1895, the Lumière brothers sent their cameraman Camille Cerf to Saint Petersburg. Cerf filmed Nicholas’s coronation for a ninety-three-minute cinematic feature, among the first documentaries of its kind. Sensing the power of movies to reach his dispersed and largely illiterate population, the tsar ordered the importation of production supplies and initiated a Tsarist Chronicle newsreel series. Major French studios, such as Pathé and Gaumont, established offices in Moscow both to create and distribute film. With a burgeoning domestic appetite for movies, the Russian film industry was soon well underway.

As the First World War upended the supply chain of movies from the West, a domestic Russian cinema grew up around the country’s new movie palaces. The Russian Revolution and Civil War then placed their own extreme pressures on the production and distribution of film—theaters were nationalized, making the sale of raw celluloid illegal, and eventually all cinematic and artistic expression outside the supervision of the Soviet state was criminalized. By the early 1930s, the creative suppression was total. Still, for a brief period in the 1920s—under a more inchoate revolutionary state—Soviet movie culture prospered. Propagandistic domestic films and adulterated “bourgeois” foreign productions competed for screen time. The Russian audience was hungry, including for mass entertainment.

Vladimir Stenberg and Georgii Stenberg, Poster for High Society Wager, 1927, The Ralph DeLuca Collection. Photo: Poster House.

At the leading edge of this strange Soviet quasi-industry, the movie poster became the prime vehicle for selling these films. Fifty of these posters are now on display at Poster House, all on loan from the Ralph DeLuca Collection. It is remarkable that any have survived at all. They were almost all created with limited time, limited resources, and limited knowledge of the movies they were advertising. In the fast-paced climate of 1920s Russian cinema, they were designed, printed, and posted in a day and covered over in a week. Yet from what has remained, it is clear that these pressures combined with the visual idealism of the early Bolshevik state to encourage their graphic innovation. “In this chaos,” writes Angelina Lippert, the chief curator of Poster House, “a vibrant, idealistic group of young artists and intellectuals enjoyed a brief period during which they could use their talents to build a new Russian culture.”

What this exhibition lacks in an independent catalogue, it makes up for with wall labels that well describe the posters on display and the films they depict. If anything, the exhibition should send you home to look up these early Russian films. Out of copyright, they now reside on such YouTube channels as rvision. Be sure to pause on Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Camera, an astonishing silent documentary from 1929 that depicts the kinetic street life of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Moscow, and Odessa. In his opening credits, Vertov bills his film as an “experiment in cinematic communication of real events, without the help of intertitles, without the help of a story, without the help of theater, a truly international language.” Or consider the “Odessa staircase,” Sergei Eisenstein’s famous scene from Battleship Potemkin. Perhaps the finest example of propaganda ever put to celluloid, this famous story of a 1905 mutiny against tsarist overreach calls out for rescreening today. Alexander Rodchenko’s poster for the 1925 film, with Potemkin’s twin guns reaching out like the steel arms of an incipient Soviet man, is a visual highlight of the show.

Alexander Rodchenko, Poster for Battleship Potemkin, 1925, The Ralph DeLuca Collection. Photo: Poster House, New York.

For all of their appreciation by cinephiles today, such early Soviet films were often less popular with Russian audiences than the adulterated Western films from America, England, and Germany that made their way east. This, despite the fact that the West didn’t always send their best. Soviet authorities also changed up Western film plots to conform to the party line, inserting alternative intertitles. They might even include a live political speech or recording, bookending a movie with agitprop to justify the playing of a Western show. “In reality,” writes Lippert, “people—particularly the urban poor—just wanted to be entertained.” That meant that “almost anything of note, from factory openings to seasonal festivals, found its way into Soviet cinema, always accompanied by a dynamic poster.”

As she describes them, many of the films that circulated in 1920s Russia, from both East and West, sounded like they were lifted from an off week of the Moscow TV Guide:

A six-reel satire in which a British aristocrat poses as a butler in order to win affections of an American businessman’s saxophone-playing daughter. (The Business Man, 1929)

The young son of a revolutionary obsessively holds onto a pipe belonging to his father—but this gesture eventually results in his own death. (The Communard’s Pipe, 1929)

The plot follows a young Jewish couple escaping life in a shtetl by becoming actors in a traveling Yiddish theater. (Wandering Stars, 1928)

Based on the groundbreaking sociological work The Sacred Scarab (1909) by feminist writer Else Jerusalem, in which she documents the lives of Vienna’s fifty thousand prostitutes, The Green Alley . . . is reshaped into a tragic love story between a waitress at a brothel and a doctor’s son. (The Green Alley, 1928)

A documentary celebrating the triumphs of modern agricultural practices through mechanized farming. (Giant to the Virgin Soil, 1930)

It was just as well that Soviet poster designers often knew little about the movies they were promoting. Such ignorance gave them license to move away from the character-driven storytelling of Western design and its “bourgeois sentimentality.” Instead they experimented with the broader possibilities, and limitations, of color lithography. One of those limitations was the size to which they could print the image of a film still. Unable to enlarge them to the full size of a poster, they often employed a series of smaller, related images as a montage to animate the storyline, as Anton Lavinsky did for his poster of The Death Ray (1925). Or they might trace out a larger photographic projection in lithographic pencil, as Alexander Rodchenko did for Film-Eye (1924). Or they might resort to graphic abstractions, such as Nikolai Prusakov’s tetrahedron for The Second Exhibition of Film Posters (1926).

Vladimir Stenberg and Georgii Stenberg, Six Girls Seeking Shelter, 1928, The Ralph DeLuca Collection. Photo: Poster House.

The most successful posters often used a combination of these lithographic techniques. Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg’s High Society Wager (1927) finds its characters running up an abstracted spiral staircase. Semyon Semyonov’s Turksib (1929) grafts the solarized face, hands, and shoes of a shouting worker onto railway signals. The Stenbergs’ Six Girls Seeking Shelter (1928) turns a pattern of alternating rectangles, like the flicker of the movie projector, into a screen that covers the girls’ bodies. For The Great Tragedy of a Small Woman (1929), Nikolai Prusakov dismembers a pair of human figures and an automobile grille to create a visual chaos that even crashes into the typography.

For all of the intelligence throughout this exhibition, its finest movements come at the conclusion, in its explanation of the “death of the avant-garde poster.” In 1930, the directory body Soyuzkino was founded to centralize control of all cinematic production and distribution. Foreign films were banned a year later. In April 1932, the Soviet Central Committee banished independent artistic groups entirely. The golden age of Soviet art, film, and graphic design had lasted less than a decade. “Unlike his immediate predecessors,” writes Lippert, “Stalin did not share the view that art could be used as a means of transforming society. Instead, he believed that its sole purpose was propaganda.” She concludes:

While design historians celebrate the incredible posters in this exhibition, it is important to remember that they were produced during a time of social upheaval and terror. Millions of people were murdered under the Soviet regime; millions more were stripped of their property, separated from their families, and exiled to labor camps for the remainder of their lives. Today, these posters allow access to a period of Russian history in which chaos and political uncertainty were briefly outshone by the progressive idealism of some of the greatest graphic designers of the twentieth century.

A major survey of the paintings of Thornton Willis, now on view at David Richard Gallery across its two New York locations, serves to illustrate the long influence of Russian design, for one, on the history of modern painting.2 This ambitious exhibition also makes a case for the inclusion of Willis in the pantheon of American abstract art. With over twenty major works on view from the artist’s collection, some of them not shown outside the studio for several decades, “Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades, 1967–2017” brings together highlights from each of Willis’s series of abstract compositions. David Richard’s Chelsea location includes a tight arrangement of medium-size paintings, while the gallery’s Harlem venue gathers Willis’s largest works, topping out at over ten feet wide. The survey coincides with “Exploring Thornton Willis,” an exhibition at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at the University of Alabama, featuring a selection from Willis’s recent gift of over two dozen paintings to his alma mater.

Thornton Willis, Starstrux, 2007, Oil on canvas, David Richard Gallery, New York.

Working across more than six decades, Willis has been consistent in his abstract exploration of the basic tensions between figure and ground, push and pull, color and contrast, and surface and depth—visiting and revisiting his visual language. Observing his work over twenty of those years, I have learned to look to his edges to appreciate how his fields of paint rub against each other to create their dynamic tension.

In their simplicity, Willis’s more basic abstractions, such as his wedges, lattices, and zig-zags, are approached as particular challenges of visual animation. Bold compositional decisions, from paint handling to color contrasts to the placement of a single corner or edge, are what set these works in motion. With Willis’s more complex abstractions, such as his cityscapes and kaleidoscopic prisms, the challenge is not to create tension but to maintain it. Underdrawing, pentimenti, and paint splatter all signal the energy of that final dynamic, of artist and object, as Willis folds his compositions together to await our own unpacking—ensuring his designs do not land too firmly on one thing or another. The suspension of Brooklyn Bridge (1993), the shock of Brown Zinger (1983), the portal of Full House (1981), the mechanics of Locomotive (1999), the radiance of Starstrux (2007)—the full energy of these paintings is now ready to be felt and seen.

1. “The Utopian Avant-Garde: Soviet Film Posters of the 1920s” opened at Poster House, New York, on February 25 and remains on view through August 21, 2022.

2. “Thornton Willis: A Painting Survey, Six Decades, 1967–2017” opened, in part, at David Richard Gallery, Chelsea, New York, on March 30 and remains on view through May 13, 2022. The second part of the exhibition opened at David Richard Gallery, Harlem, New York, on April 4 and remains on view through May 13, 2022.

Reaching

THE NEW CRITERION, April 14, 2022

Reaching

On the Dance Theatre of Harlem at the City Center Dance Festival.

New York has an abundance of ballet companies. Last summer five of them took the Lincoln Center outdoor stage for the first time together. The initiative—restoring live performance after over a year of pandemic closures—was called the BAAND Together Dance Festival, an acronym of the New York–based companies taking taking part in it: Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

New York’s cultural institutions can be notoriously siloed, often competing for the same donor dollars. The unusual five-day event therefore turned into what I might call a friendly battle of the bands—or make that “Baands.” The evenings exposed both performers and audience members to repertoires they might not otherwise see, with different companies performing alternating works. And on my night, evening number two, the winner in my mind was Dance Theatre of Harlem with its New Bach. Created by the company’s resident choreographer Robert Garland in what he calls “post-modern-urban neoclassicism,” here was classical ballet with street rococo, George Balanchine by way of “Soul Train.”  

Dance Theatre of Harlem in Odalisques Variations from Le Corsaire, by Dylan Santos after Marius Petipa. Photo: Theik Smith.

Founded in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell, the first black principal dancer to join New York City Ballet, and his teacher Karel Shook, Dance Theatre of Harlem has brought classical ballet uptown for over half a century. At the same time, Dance Theatre has incorporated uptown into classical ballet, promoting dancers and works that have expanded the classical repertoire. 

The greatness of Balanchine, the co-founder of City Ballet, can be explained in part by how he incorporated various dance vernaculars into the classical language of ballet. As principal dancer, Mitchell proved to be a particular inspiration for Balanchine, who choreographed the famous pas de deux for him in Agon and the role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. When Mitchell then set out to found Dance Theatre, Balanchine gave him the rights to several works and co-choreographed others to add to his new company’s repertoire. 

Billing itself as a “neo-classical ballet company,” Dance Theatre has preserved the ideal of Balanchine in its own luminous frequency. It hasn’t been easy. Mitchell and his colleagues had to revive the company after an eight year financial hiatus between 2004 and 2012. In 2013, founding dancer Virginia Johnson became the school’s new artistic director. In 2019, a year after Mitchell’s death, the company crossed its fifty-year milestone with the dancers, the school, and the repertoire thriving. 

The Dance Theatre of Harlem in Balamouk by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Photo: Christopher Duggan.

Recently Dance Theatre returned to the New York stage with four performances as a centerpiece of the first City Center Dance Festival. Anchoring the program was the New York premiere of Higher Ground, Robert Garland’s latest work, set to the music of Stevie Wonder. Also on the bill was Balamouk, by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa featuring live accompaniment by The Klezmatics. Rounding out the run was Passage, by Claudia Schreier with live music by Jessie Montgomery, and Odalisques Variations from Le Corsaire, by Dylan Santos after Marius Petipa, which were presented in alternating performances.

At a time when new ballet seems to be minimal, cerebral, and “forward-thinking,” Garland is an unabashed retrospectivist. He draws on a sincere appreciation of dance history, one that includes both classical ballet and the soul of his youth. He has described waking up as a child in Philadelphia to the clock radio and hearing Stevie Wonder. It is remarkable to consider that this music is now as distant to us as the music of the 1920s was to the 1970s. And the differences between 1970s Stevie Wonder and the music of today can be just as profound. Here was genuine instrumentalism, not electronic sound, performed at a pace and rhythm that is slower and fuller than today’s rapid auto-tuned beeps and bops. Wonder is also anything but cold and minimal. If the music of Stevie Wonder had a color tone, it would be yellow, orange, and red. The songs recall smoggy city summers, the scent of the unairconditioned bus. This music gives heat.

Over the years, Wonder has been reluctant to license this work, but Garland got his hands on six of his songs for a new ballet named after the final number, “Higher Ground.” With six dancers on stage in earth-toned costumes by Pamela Allen-Cummings, bathed in a warm light by Roma Flowers, the ballet could be called Wonder variations. 

The Dance Theatre of Harlem in Higher Ground by Robert Garland. Photo: Theik Smith.

The first dance, to “Look Around,” seems unnecessarily restrained, too withholding of the dancers’ virtuosity. By “You Haven’t Done Nothin” and “Heaven Is Ten Zillion Light Years Away,” the following songs, the energy was up. At times the dancers gestured to the audience, amplifying the rhythm and miming the street poses of the past. “Village Ghetto Land” then connected past to present, with a nod to the illusions of modern culture as dancers posed with smartphones. 

You might not think the “up” direction of pointe work would lend itself to the downbeat of soul, but “Saturn” well deployed its pirouettes for the celestial song. Then for “Higher Ground,” the final number, the company came together in a joyful, spiritual ensemble. Here was ballet with feeling, with the dancer Anthony Santos a particular standout. In the program, Garland describes his work as a “Sankofa-esque reflection on our current times.” What does this mean? “Sankofa” can refer to a mythical bird that looks back—an appropriate symbol for a choreographer who reaches back to what is left behind.      

The Dance Theatre of Harlem in Passage by Claudia Schreier. Photo: Theik Smith

It was something of a disservice for Passage and Balamouk to be programmed after the high of Higher Ground. Choreographed by Claudia Schreier, Passage has its passing moments. This is  especially true for its ominous beginning, as dancers emerge from the fog like three prows of a ship and then fall in acrobatic waves. According to the program, the work is meant to reference “the first documental arrival of enslaved Africans” and reflect “in abstract the fortitude of the human spirit and an enduring will to prevail.” With live music by Jessie Montgomery and costumes by Martha Chamberlain, this ballet was more head than heart, with symbols lost in its treacherous woods. 

If such a ballet would seem too on the nose for Dance Theatre of Harlem, Balamouk should have been a welcome and worldly departure. The work calls for Klezmer music, and a live band called The Klezmatics performed. I did not know they were there until they took their bow. The music was so over-amplified, it was unclear this was live accompaniment. Musicians should make themselves known at a ballet performance. Wave from the pit. Or better yet, have them perform from the stage. This music was wonderful, energy-filled, exotic. We are grateful they are there. 

With choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, this was the “extended version” of Balamouk. The ballet is a goulash of Slavic movement, with gypsy, Russian, and Ashkenazi influences. The title is Romanian for “house of the insane.” The bright costumes by Mark Zappone and uptempo rhythms by Les Yeax Noirs, Lisa Gerrard, and René Aubry were there to amplify the mania. Even in its extended version, the ballet never seemed to develop, but again here was Dance Theatre of Harlem looking to tradition—even “Tradition!” (as in Fiddler on the Roof)—and making it their own. 

New podcast: Larry P. Arnn on "consistency in politics"

Larry P. Arnn, the Churchill scholar and president of Hillsdale College, joins me to discuss “consistency in politics.” On April 28, Dr. Arnn will received The New Criterion’s Edmund Burke Award for Service to Culture and Society. For more information, visit newcriterion.com/gala.