New WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, Manhattan

Ugly, clunky, ungainly on the outside, yet elegant, light-filled, spacious inside, New York's new star, the $422 million WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART got off to a good start yesterday with sunshine n' blue sky showing off its superb Hudson River setting to advantage. Even before you enter it's a case of location, location. 

 Sited at 99 Gansevoort St, right at the start of the popular tourist spot, the High Line, (7 million visitors last year) & with sweeping panoramic views overlooking the city: Chelsea & Greenwich Village to the east & water to the west, adjacent to swanky boutiques & expensive real estate, this hot spot used to be grungy, down at heel & industrial. 

Still known as the Meatpacking District, (only a few remain,) it now welcomes billionaire residents, restaurants and high end / upmarket bistros & clubs.

PianoDonna

"Its a very inspired location. We think so!" says chief curator Donna de Salvo. "Here u really are in a special place, yet it's - as far as the eye can see." 

It's also a long $40 taxi ride from the old famous upper East Side Breuer Building on Madison Avenue, and has taken many many years, multiple attempts + much infighting to achieve, but at last Renzo Piano's building is open. 

Piano's Italian charm has no doubt helped along the way. Tall, thin, dignified, he emphasised the building's relationship to the city and the need for a Piazza. "I don't call it a lobby! I'm Italian." He also refused to explain the building - "Go & enjoy it. The singer does not explain the song before he sings!" But he did say that 1000 people worked on the project, & emphasized that a gallery should be open, accessible, where u can enter a "world of art & freedom."  

And thank god, there are benches to sit on, (not enough & none on Floor 5) even some sofas to relax in while u soak up the spectacular views. I was the only person there in a wheel chair, but overall things worked well: floors flat, no steps, even low down buttons to open doors onto the terraces, but - complaint- handicapped toilet doors impossible. Literally too heavy to open.

The museum took 4000 tons of steel, weighs 28,000 tons! It has 50,000 sq ft for exhibitions, plus lots more space for offices, conservation, a study centre, theatre, restaurant. The 4 elevators sit at the very centre of the building - and are STILL slow - but all are an art work themselves, the last creations famous Richard Artschwager, (who lived down the road from us upstate,) worked on. For once truly immersive, he designed one with a door & window in his characteristic wood grain, black and cream; one with a decorative floor + the freight elevator like a giant woven basket. 

High ceilings + huge windows, these immense galleries include one which at 18,200 sq feet and no columns, is the largest museum gallery in NYC. There are lots of outside spaces for sculpture, running along the terraces. Altogether 8 floors, with 4 for exhibitions. The launch show, AMERICA IS HARD TO SEE, with 600 works from 400 artists, fills them all. In the future 2 floors will be reserved for the permanent collection; 2 for new shows. 

So what IS American art??? Who is an American painter?? The Whitney was founded by the heiress Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1930. Back then rules n' regulations were less strict & she was focused on championing innovative art in the face of love of old masters and considerable resistance to the newfangled. And from 1974-1990 artists had to have an American passport or green card to be allowed in. 

Today things have changed. America is a melting pot. Di Salvo explains, "There's a much fuller picture of the hybrid nature of the collection. A migratory pattern reflects the US itself." So for the first time labels will tell where an artist was born, eg Kusama and On Kawara come from Japan but have lived intermittently in NYC. 

                           by Marsden Hartley. 

All the old favourite, signature Whitney icons are here - Calder's beloved Circus, Hopper's Early Sunday Morning, Warhol's Coca-Cola bottles and Jasper Johns' Three Flags. 

But some pictures have never ever been shown before. How did they select I asked? A team of 6 including di Salvo, worked for 2 years +. 

The show is chronological working from top down. Floor 8 has paintings from 1910-1940; Floor 7 looks at the period 1925-1960 and so on. Floor 5 brings us up to the present. 

There are 23 "chapters" each, roughly 5 per floor, taking their name from a picture in that section, ie Music Pink & Blue on Floor 8 comes from O'Keeffe's 1918 oil. Scotch Tape on Floor 6 refers to Jack Smith's 1959 video, & the section includes Jim Dine's Black Rainbow on corrugated paper.  At first I was very confused. Also the prominent names high up on the walls are the names of sponsors not artists! 

Some sections or grouping like Pop art and Abstract Expressionism are obvious. Some, like Fighting With all our Might, or Love Letter from the Front, are not. Being European, I assumed, wrongly it was about World War II or Vietnam, but in fact referrs to the Depression, 1929 crash &  AIDS, via Ben Shahn, Dorothea Lange, Nan Goldin, Robert Maplethorpe, & Martin Wong. 

Some walls had works tightly grouped and hung Salon style which I really liked. It allowed for the inclusion of photography, prints, small drawings, (by Richard Serra, Ellsworth Kelly, Adam McEwan no less.) 
There was less video than I expected.  (I was grateful for that but many will complain.) Less women of course, tho I think they have tried. No Native Americans. Few African Americans. The USA art world is STILL male and WASP!  

I do worry. The Whitney claims to support only the best in American art. Yet its last blockbuster just before the move was the commercial Jeff Koons. What does that say about the level of American art right now??  

There are other quibbles. The space is not as big as we expected. The so-called 'performance' (slides of the downtown area) by Yugi Agematsu was disappointing and  
it would help the public if there was a wall list of artists in each section, or even a list of artists on each floor by the elevators, -  and so on. 
But it's built. It's open. The Whitney's 21st century downtown life has begun, and we wish it well. 

And today, Thursday, Michelle Obama came to cut the ribbon!

Open 6 days (closed Tuesdays.)10.30-6pm. cost $22, seniors $18.

DUNCAN SHANKS at the HUNTERIAN;  Below another Sky at Glasgow Print Studio; LIZ LARNER, The Modern Institute; LAURA ALDRIDGE, Tramway; ROBIN LEISHMAN, J D Kelly Gallery, GLASGOW

Presentation should not be all, but it helps. The Hunterian has done Duncan Shanks proud. Shanks, now 78, gifted the Gallery his entire collection of sketchbooks, 45 in all, from his 5 decade career, together with some recent paintings. 

And the Hunterian has displayed them in an impressive manner via a wall of rows of open books behind glass. Alongside is a monitor showing pages from sketches shown in 1984 as part of the SAC Travelling Gallery exhibition, Weather. A big oil, from the Hunterian opening back in 1980, is in the Hunterian collection, now accompanied by recent pictures. 

Shanks is a well known landscape painter who has spent his life drawing inspiration from the area within a few miles of where he lives in Crossford, in the Clyde Valley. The sketches are lively, graphic & sure, evoking the sheer pleasure Shanks finds in drawing. He taught at GSA till 1979, from when he painted full time, resulting in many exhibitions at the RGI, Billcliffe Gallery, Scottish Gallery and Talbot Rice. 

This enjoyable exhibition (till August 16th) is accompanied by a beautiful, lavish catalogue. It encourages close attention.

Below Another Sky features 20 artists, 10 from Scotland, 10 from Commonwealth countries. All were invited to take part in a truly wonderful programme of residencies, research trips and commissions, to result in new work. 

Given the freedom to pursue their own research interests, to use the opportunity to develop new ideas & explore new ways of working, one expects results. A great opportunity. Some were big names: Christine Borland, Jim Lambie, Louise Hopkins. Scotland's 5 print studios hosted the printmaking. 

The concept behind this project is terrific. But the results are such a disappointment: safe, prim & proper prints with no pizzazz. Given the freedom to pursue their own research interests, to use the opportunity to develop new ideas & explore new ways of working. I expected great things, but It seems the artists spent their energies on travelling; their excitement on exploring rather than printmaking. 

At Glasgow's Modern Institute, sculptor LIZ LARNER presents heavy ceramic slabs, often split or cracked, but covered with wonderful glazes. Wall mounted on fairly ugly brackets, these pieces work best when richly coloured. This top-lit gallery is beautiful - even empty. 

TRAMWAY is also top-lit & can be beautiful (think of David Mach's Parthenon, Glen Onwin's show, Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon) but it's a big space, & needs a sure hand, real imagination & skill not to mention artistic ability. LAURA ALDRIDGE has none of these, with the result that her spotty installation of fabrics, carpet, bits n bobs plus dreadful smiling suns straight out of a travel bureau, leaves me cold. The only worthwhile piece here is a pink Perspex room, but it's not enough to redeem a particularly poor effort. 

The RGI KELLY Gallery has been quietly supporting its RGI members and others for many years. It is never going to set the art world alight but is a very useful Glasgow location. ROBIN LEISHMAN's Propaganda is a good example. A 2011 GSA  graduate, he lost his father young & here explores his dad's collection of toy soldiers coupled with a residency at Perth's Black Watch Museum to create mysterious paintings & prints. His prints are noteworthy.  

I am off to see the opening of the new $450 million downtown WHITNEY. Report later! 

ARTIST ROOMS: The First Five Years. 

Since  Anthony d'Offay's ARTIST ROOMS  launched in 2009 with 700 works by 38 leading artists, there have been 143 Artist Rooms exhibitions seen by 35 million visitors at 77 venues from Orkney to Brighton, Belfast to Hull, including 20 in Scotland. An amazing story. Says an American supporter, "Arguably the most innovative & successful exhibition concept in history." These collections are managed by 2 of the world's most prestigious institutions (Tate & NGS) which share these treasures with regional museums & art spaces across the UK.

A brand new book recounts The First Five Years. D'offay's collection worth £125 million was acquired for the nation for a knock-down £26.5m, a lavish gift, putting d'Offay on a par with philanthropists like Henry Tate & Samuel Courtauld. Says Tate director Nick Serota, " A gift of this magnitude completely transform s the opportunity to experience contemporary art in the UK. Anthony d'Offay's imaginative generosity establishes a new dynamic for national collections and is without precedent anywhere in the world.'

 Richard Long

Well illustrated with images by all the artists so far involved in Artist Rooms, (Arbus to Weiner & Woodman with an emphasis on Beuys & Warhol) it contains some dry facts & lists levened by vital details. Right at the back of the book we learn that aged 7 to 10 d'Offay was left at Leicester's main art gallery while his mother went shopping. There was a Francis Bacon there that made a big impression. Bacon still does, "because of his colossal importance and influence a continuing relevance today." These Leicester gallery visits "Became the defining experience of my life." 

Warhol

Later as a student in Edinburgh he haunted the NGS, met Ricky Demarco & Beuys, plus Ian Hamilton Finlay. Says Demarco, "In the early 1960s t his extraordinarily serious young man came into my gallery endeavouring to interest me in a print ! " Twenty years later, Demarco watched d'Offay create his reputation as an international dealer via  Beuys, whom Demarco had introduced to Britain - and to d"Offay. 

As his West End London Dering St gallery spaces grew, in 1980 d'Offay was able to do Beuys' huge felt pieces justice. In 1986 he exhibited Warhol's late self portraits portraits amid a media riot of TV & press. My review of 15th July '86 tells me there were "22 portraits, silk screen on canvas of Warhol with spiky silver grey wig teased into angular diagonals, printed in shocking pink, bilious green or jigsaw camouflage. The large 9ft canvases cost $65,000 in dollars."  I met Warhol again the day after his opening. He was at the Hayward Gallery to see L'Amour Fou, the blockbuster Surrealist photography show. "I wish I'd come here yesterday instead of those d'Offay receptions." he told me. "This is a wonderful, marvellous exhibition." Warhol wanted his photo taken in front of the placard blowup of Boiffard's 1930s female nude, & he raved over a small, precise & mysterious 1923 image of Aragon's Hands taken by Man Ray. Six months later he was dead. 

Still controversial & challenging to new audiences, Warhol & Beuys were key to d'Offay's gallery and, because there are several hundred works by each, remain the twin great poles of ARTIST ROOMS. Damien Hirst

D'offay was one of the most hugely successful art dealer ever & shocked everyone when he closed his gallery in 2001, a week before 9/11. 'There is never a good time to announce one's retirement, but I would rather step down when the gallery is at its height.' he said. Little then did we know his master plan! Its 3 main principles are to work with world-class art; to curate tailor-made in-depth solo shows which are shared by travelling to regional museums & art galleries far from metropolitan centres; to inspire young people.                             
Hamilton Finlay

Immersive is such a current over-used word. But for once it really applies here. Introducing difficult figures such as Vija Celmins to Dumfries or Bill Viola to Kilmarnock & Stromness, Jenny Holzer to Woking, is made easier by an all encompassing, immersive focus. Collaboration with smaller galleries has taught them about environmental & insurance conditions. Encouraging marketing/press partnerships between museums/ galleries + youth programming... it's all a veritable educational institution as well as a top class touring extraveganza. 

         robert therrien

It all comes down to branding & stamp of approval. Big names open doors. Big names get press attention. No surprise that frequently 50% of visitors were new to the venue & the young have often never heard of the artist before they step thro the door.  

Loyalty to Scotland shows, vide the current superb Lichtenstein exhibition at GMA. D'Offay believes fiercely that  "Art isn't fun. Art is about mortality. Art is about ideas. Art is a liberating & strengthening experience. In a time when, for many people in this country, religion no longer fulfils the role that it did 50-100 years ago, what you believe in becomes very important. Art and creativity become something you can believe in.'

Warhol once said, "I wanted to be an art business man or a business artist. Being good at business is the most fascinating kind of art." With ARTIST ROOMS D'Offay, now 75, still very hands-on, has achieved something wonderful, something unique, at a stroke transforming the visual arts landscape of the UK. Thank you Thank you. And I hope you get your Francis Bacon soon! 

       Edinburgh GMA

LICHTENSTEIN, Gallery of Modern Art EDINBUGH

Artists widows can have a tough time. My friend Magda Salvesen, herself the widow of American expressionist Jon Schueler, wrote a book about women left to deal with famous painters' archives. 

Some widows accept the job. Others hate it. In Scotland Carol (Steven) Campbell and Maggy (Tim) Stead have tackled the problem with determination and expertise. 

Dorothy Lichtenstein is also an example 
par excellence. She is present whenever, whatever. The first time I met her was in New York subway at 42nd St /Times Square when Lichtenstein's vibrant 53 ft mammoth mural was installed. It was 2002. She told me then, "Roy loved New York & rode the subway from the time he was a boy." Last week she was in Edinburgh, her first visit, for the unveiling of 16 large scale prints from the 1990s.

Still beautiful, unfailingly polite she endures posing for press photos & interviews with patience and tact. 

They met in 1964 when she was working in an art gallery in New York round the corner from his studio. "We had asked him and Andy Warhol if they would put an image on a shopping bag for us. Roy was just happy to be asked.  He was a shy person."  For her it was love at first sight. They married in 1968. He died in 1997 age 74. 

The Edinburgh show consists of 3 Artists Rooms, filling the GMA ground floor. The 16 prints from the 1990s are huge & impressive, most riffing off the idea of reflection, glass and mirrors. GMA is lucky in its possession of his famous comic book Car oil painting 1963 which used comic books as its source. The Tate has also loaned a dramatic steel relief from 1965, Wall Explosion.

 Car 1963

Lichtenstein, a pioneer of Pop Art, is best known for his use of the immediately
recognisable commercial Benday dots, which brought him fame when he was 40. But another signature is his love of  images as tho seen thro glass, with streaks crossing the surface.

In the 1990s he reprised this use of parallel lines but in a more elaborate, sophisticated way. He also took to a playful reworking of iconic images by Picasso & Monet. Here a series of 1992 Water Lilies on stainless steel are produced using a hand held tooled drill to make small whirls. Silk screen lines & lily pattern shapes over lap the reflective surface to suggest shimmering water - a highly complex printing process!

In the 1990s Lichtenstein also tackled the nude for the first time. Dorothy says, "Roy once joked that it was a good excuse to contrast undulating & volumetric form with rigid geometry."

There are also several compositions relating to music - he loved jazz - with notes breaking free of the stave to float beyond.

Lichtenstein's blurring of the boundaries between high & low culture which began in the 1960s, never left him. He has had a major influence on future generations of artists and designers worldwide.

This exhibition is courtesy of Anthony d'Offay's ARTIST ROOMS, the Lichtenstein Foundation in NY & the Tate. Since it was launched in 2008 with 1500 works by 38 leading artists, valued at £100 m, there have been more than 130 Artist Rooms exhibitions seen by 31 million visitors. An amazing success story.