A long way from home

alt="For UCLA students, employees and Alumni Association
members.">

Tuesday, January 19, 1999

A long way from home

ART: A complete Van Gogh collection comes to Los Angeles and
provides a rare chance to view the treasures of Amsterdam

By Vanessa VanderZanden

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Bright colors swarm around the room, as crows overtake
wheatfields to the left and reedy underbrush fills up the right.
Many travel all the way to Amsterdam to legally take part in a
similar experience. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA)
new Van Gogh exhibit, however, makes such trips more easily
accessible.

LACMA is currently presenting 70 of the well-known Dutch
artist’s paintings. The exhibit, "Van Gogh’s Van Goghs:
Masterpieces from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam," runs through May
16. And, if the flood of reporters on press day was any indication
as to the public response to the limited-time showing, readers
would be recommended to purchase tickets fast.

The huge mob in attendance reflected the far-reaching impact
that Van Gogh has had on the American populace. Van Gogh’s
off-kilter representations of everyday life drew a crowd as varied
as his painting subjects. Everyone from studied gallery regulars,
eager to point out the intricacies of Van Gogh’s style to any
passerby in earshot, to uninformed crew members setting up tripods,
only to gain a day’s wages, circulated through the halls.

Although many may have expected to see the more famous of Van
Gogh’s works, such as "Sunflowers" and "Starry Night," the exhibit
showcases his lesser-known pieces. In fact, even the Van Gogh
Museum in Amsterdam, whose recent renovation and expansion has made
it possible for the paintings to leave Holland in the unprecedented
exhibit, doesn’t contain his larger works. Yet, LACMA’s collection
provides a concise representation of the life span of Van Gogh’s
art.

His paintings reflect the tumultuousness of Van Gogh’s life – a
man who went from wanting to join the clergy to cutting off his
ear. From early black and white paintings and bland wheat field
pictures to later Japanese inspired works, gushing with color,
LACMA’s exhibit covers all the bases. Just by looking at the wide
variety of both realistic and abstract works included in the show,
one can better respect the versatility of the famed artist.

One piece, "Flying Fox," focuses on a brown bat with a reddish
stomach and thin arms that expand into gaping bat wings. The color
of tarnished copper melded with green, his wide wings provide a
sedate contrast to his thin, stickly, bony-black, razor-sharp
claws.

The wings’ faintly highlighted luster truly captures the
apendage’s translucency. Placed against a murky background, Van
Gogh’s understanding of light and dark space makes his work some of
the finest ever produced.

Perhaps the most smoldering image of the entire exhibit is that
of "Wheatfield with Crows." Rich, dark black-blue rims the
painting, groping towards lighter, wide-brushed strokes of colder
blue, closer to the edge of an expansive, bright yellow wheatfield.
Meanwhile, the flapping, wicked hint of a swarm of black crows
emerges from the sky between two gaping moons, while three paths
converge at the field’s base, heading on into the unforeseeable
distance.

The loneliness expressed in this scene and its outsider
perspective continues in the work, "Crab on its Back." Here, a
large monster-like crab flails its dark claws at the sky, trying to
regain mobility, though unable, against an obscured, murky
background.

In a sense, this stands as the best symbol for man’s existence.
Van Gogh’s ability to express this reality is what has crowds
packing it in over one hundred years later, even though in his life
time he saw no mass acceptance of his work.

ART: "Van Gogh’s Van Goghs: Masterpieces from the Van Gogh
Museum, Amsterdam" is showing at LACMA through May 16. For tickets,
call Ticketmaster at (213) 462-ARTS.

Photos by PATIL ARMENIAN/Daily Bruin

A collection of Van Gogh’s art work is on display at the L.A.
County Museum of Art until May 16.

An example of Vincent Van Gogh’s brilliant use of color and
contrast is currently on exhibition in Los Angeles.