Galerie Michael got Blogged!!

Galeire Michael was blogged by a visitor to Los Angeles this past week! Below is the excerpt from the blog on the gallery. You can also check out her blog here: http://thenewkidintownla.blogspot.com/2009/07/diamonds-lace-couture-grand-masters.html

But Galerie Michael is timeless. The one shop on Rodeo that’s hard to resist revisiting. Like a mini museum in the middle of the block, their walls are covered with classics from Rembrandt to Picasso. The list of offerings reads like a roll call of the great masters Cassatt, Cezanne, Chagall, Degas, Dali, Toulouse Lautrec, Manet, Matisse, Picasso, Rembrandt, Renoir, Whistler… Unlike a museum though, these offerings are obtainable if one has deep enough pockets. The latest offerings are bright, colorful pieces by Alexandre Renoir, the great-grandson of Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Along with various oils of landscapes and flowers, he has rendered his own interpretation of some of his Great-Grandfather’s most famous pieces most notably “Luncheon of the Boating Party” demonstrating the versatility and variety of the human continence and how even the slightest alteration of expression or feature can change our entire perception of a situation or a person. His work does homage to the genius of his Great-Grandfather, dissecting the symphony of the crowd and distilling each moment, each conversation, each individual grouping into its own private universe. He demonstrates how independently they hold their own as compositions, adding to the whole but not dependent on it to tell their own story.

Unlike Picasso who leaves the impression he had a very strange and fragmented perception of women or Dali who had a very desolate and fluid interpretation of the world with strange juxtapositions and combinations of seemingly incompatible objects, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his Grandson Alexandre celebrate life in a brightly colorful and positive manner that is refreshingly happy and a pleasure to perceive. A pleasant gift to the senses that leaves one walking away with a smile. No small accomplishment in today’s world. All of them make it well worth a visit, at the very least, to Galerie Michael.

GOYA, Francisco "Los Caprichos"

GOYA Y LUCIENTES, Fracnisco Jose de

"He who does not like Thee Will Defame Thee in Jest", 1864
Etching and aquatint on wove paper

First published in 1799, Los Caprichos exposed the vice and corruption that led Spain to be branded as "Black Spain" in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the 80 etchings that comprise the series, Goya depicted the peasantry's superstitious belief in witchcraft, the arrogance of the nobility, and the widespread corruption of the Catholic Church. To avoid alienating powerful individuals at Court and to protect himself from the wrath of the Inquisition, however, the artist masked his satire by means of images that would inspire multiple interpretations. For example, in plate 68, two nude witches, one old and withered, the other young and voluptuous, ride a broomstick. The image clearly refers to the belief in witchcraft, but, on a less obvious level, it also addresses the issue of prostitution within Spanish society. This subtle layering of meanings, seen with particular brilliance in Los Caprichos is one of the hallmarks of Goya's artistry.

Only a few copies of the first edition of Los Caprichos were sold. Despite Goya's attempts to veil the critical nature of the series, he felt it necessary to withdraw the prints from circulation and make a gift of the plates to the Spanish monarch. Ultimately, however, Los Caprichos became Goya's most popular series; Domenico Tiepolo owned a set, as did Eugène Delacroix, who borrowed freely from Goya's images. Twelve editions of Los Caprichos were produced between 1799 and 1937, and it was primarily through this print series that Goya became known outside of Spain (view more works).

DALI, Salvador "Los Caprices de Goya"

Dali, Salvador
"A las primeras 18 sillas de mimbre", 1977
Etching and aquatint on Rives paper
One of 20 E.A, aside from regular edition of 200
Signed in pencil lower right

227 years after the birth of Spanish Master Francisco Goya, Salvador Dali had an idea to transform Goya’s Los Caprichos and present a new work. Goya’s Los Caprichos was an artistic experiment exposing the foolish superstitions in 18th century Spanish society. Goya described the series as depicting “the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual.”


The body of work was withdrawn from public sale before their planned release in 1799. Only a formal order from King Carlos IV kept Goya from being called before the Spanish Inquisition.


In 1973 Salvador Dali created a metamorphosis of Goya’s suite into a colorful surrealist masterpiece. From the numbered edition of 200, each piece is hand signed by Salvador Dali and represents a genuine rarity of a cross century’s collaboration between two of the most important artists of their time (view more works here).

MIRO, Joan "Gargantua"

Miro, Joan
Gargantua, 1977
Etching, aquatint and carborundum
Signed lower left 38/50

Story of Gargantua:

Gargantua (1929-1949) was a captive lowland gorilla who was famous in his lifetime and has been credited with saving the Ringling Brothers circus from bankruptcy. Gargantua was born wild in the Belgian Congo in approximately 1929. In the early-1930s, the gorilla was given to a Captain Arthur Phillips as a gift from missionaries in Africa. The captain was fond of him and called him "Buddy". He was kept aboard his freighter and became popular with most of the crew. One sailor, however, drunk and seeking revenge on the captain's strictness, threw nitric acid in Buddy's face. This did not kill the gorilla but the attack almost blinded him and left both mental and physical scars - leading to much more aggressive behavior.

Unable to deal with this aggression, the captain gave Buddy to Gertrude Lintz, a wealthy eccentric who looked after sick animals in Brooklyn. She cared for Buddy, and other apes, as her children and even arranged for plastic surgery on the scar, leaving Buddy with a permanent sneer. She was known to drive around Brooklyn with Buddy, dressed in clothes, in the passenger seat. This behavior backfired, however, in 1937. Buddy, frightened by thunder, broke out of his cage and climbed into bed with his "mother" for comfort. Mrs. Lintz contacted John Ringling shortly thereafter

Ringling bought Buddy from Mrs. Lintz and renamed him "Gargantua". The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in financial problems after the Great Depression, heavily advertised their newest attraction. Gargantua attracted millions and single-handedly saved the circus. Gargantua died in November 1949. His skeleton was donated to the Peabody Museum in 1950 but is now only displayed on special occasions.

Michael Schwartz Lectures at Bowers Museum!

This past weekend July 25, 2009 our very own Michael Schwartz lectured on "The Origins of Rembrandt's Etchings" at the Bowers Museum. (Michael Schwartz, Galerie Michael, discusses Rembrandt’s creative genius using the medium of etching as a major liberation of 17th century art. He will also examine the history of etching and how it replaced engraving.)



John Villarino's (a close friend of Galerie Michael) extensive Rembrandt Collection is currently on exhibition at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana:

Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt's Etchings
July 11 - August 23, 2009

Featuring 35 rare etchings by Rembrandt Van Rijn made between 1629 and 1654, Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt?s Etchings focuses on a subject the artist frequented in his formative years: the beggar. Rembrandt's images document and humanize the vagrant population living in 17th century Dutch society that considered these individuals repulsive and outcast. Often using biblical subjects and narratives, Rembrandt draws parallels in many of the etchings between the plight of the homeless and derelict, and figures such as Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Each etching on paper executed in a style closer to drawing than engraving portrays individualism, character and emotion of each figure rendered, beckoning the viewer's empathy and compassion.