“06880” culture correspondent Robin Moyer Chung visited MoCA\CT’s new exhibition, “Art, Jazz + The Blues.” She reports:
In 2006 Westport artist Eric von Schmidt decided his master series, “Giants of the Blues,” should be hung in Staples High School, instead of the Smithsonian Institution.
Painted from the 1990s through 2004, the series of 7 paintings is an exhaustively researched visual account of legendary folk, blues and jazz creators and performers throughout the 20th century. The Smithsonian was eager to add it to their artistic and cultural accessions.
“Blues Piano Players” — from Eric von Schmidt’s “Giants of the Blues” — hung for 20 years in the Staples High School auditorium lobby (above). Most students, staff and theater-goers are unaware of its significance. (Photo/Lynn Untermeyer Miller)
But von Schmidt wanted the series to culturally enrich local students, as well as give back to Staples — his alma mater, which he credited with fostering his love of art.
Twenty years later these paintings — on long-term loan to Westport Public Art Collections (WestPAC), courtesy of the artist’s family — are largely ignored. Their historical importance is muted by the institutional halls and activity of a bustling school.
Planning “Art, Jazz + The Blues,” curators Anne Boberski and Ive Covaci knew that von Schmidt’s series should be its cornerstone. Boberski calls it “a lens to think about how music impacts visual arts.”
The curators then expanded von Schmidt’s narrative. with musically-themed works from the WestPAC collection and local artists.
Given that the exhibit features a number of Black figures, and the WestPAC collection is of primarily white artists (a current initiative will broaden its diversity), Boberski and Covaci reached out to area institutions for works from well-known African American artists like Faith Ringgold (whose works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim and Museum of Modern Art), Romare Bearden, Jack Whitten, and celebrated quilter Michael Cummings.
“Groovin’ High” (Faith Ringgold)
These appear alongside cover art for several David Brubeck records, drawn by Joan Miró and Arnold Roth, as well as a charming lithograph of Brubeck himself by Robert Risko.
Each piece displays an optimistic passion for its musical counterpart, manifested in colorful and chaotic patterns (the jazz room), or the energy of folks participating in or simply enjoying the soundtrack.
The exhibit is exuberant, and ties a deft string around the intertwining relationship of music, dance and art. Truly, it does “visualize sound, celebrate performance” of its period.
“Dave Brubeck” (Robert Risko)
Which brings us back to high school.
Each year MoCA\CT and WestPAC create a themed exhibit, coupled with works by student artists, based on a prompt associated with the theme.
This year, those works offer an interesting juxtaposition to the larger WestPAC show. The theme is “The Sound of Us.”
The number of submissions was fewer than usual. Perhaps that is because of the prompt: “Choose a song between 2020 to now and create a work of art that shows its effects on youth culture either through fashion, social interactions, speech, education, political alertness and activism, and life in general.”
That is an intriguing question — though personally I had a tricky time trying to answer it with words, let alone art. Few students could. I applaud those up for the challenge.
What it did effect were some unexpected and dispirited responses to today’s music, and its interdependence on videos.
A few examples:
Julia W., “Older”: “… music is no longer about the song but also the singer …many popular singers are young and ones that are not use Botox and plastic surgery to make them look younger. The title of my piece comes from a line in the song where people are telling the singer not to age.”
“Older” (Julia W.)
Mia C., “Stuck”: “My piece focuses on feeling like you’re stuck as everyone else moves around you. That there is just so much going on, you’re tempted to try everything but you don’t really know where to go, and that’s when you feel like you can’t escape.”
Josephine C.O., “American Teenager”: “My generation is growing up under the expectation of not being able to own a house, an extreme political divide, and an online world that we still haven’t quite figured out how to integrate into our lives.”
“American Teenager” (Josephine C.O.)
Many songs in today’s youth culture tackle tough subjects head-on, like mental health struggles, poverty, and violence. Hip hop, rap and emotionally honest pop lyrics have opened new veins of awareness and concern.
Fortunately, in this culture also exists a dialogue and acceptance of issues that were not available in years past.
As “Art Jazz + The Blues” is informed by the independence and resiliency of its age, “The Sound of Us” is informed by the angst, tension — and joy — of theirs.
(The exhibit runs through June 7. Click here for more information. To learn more about WestPAC, click here.)
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