A powerful painting rendered on a monumental scale, JoanMitchell’s Noon captures the ephemeral quality of nature itself.This painting is a magnificent tour-de-force, a shimmering array ofdazzling pigment that envelops the viewer in its vast,kaleidoscopic display. It evokes the pastoral splendor of theartist’s beloved Vétheuil, with its lush gardens and panoramicviews of the Seine. In Noon, Mitchell liberally covers the canvaswith a rich variety of brushwork, with a swiftness and ease thatbelies the underlying complexity of the painting’s internalstructure. Thickly-brushed rectangles of orange, blue and greenhover like dense clouds, while nearby, fine daubs of stippled paintlinger like a slowly-lifting fog. Elsewhere, delicately-dappledstrokes evoke the watery atmosphere of Monet’s water lilies. Itembodies the newfound confidence that pervades Mitchell’s work ofthis era, as the effects of living in the French countrysidebreathed new life into her paintings.
Mitchell’s connection to the natural world has long dominatedher work, but her permanent move to Vétheuil in 1968 allowed for adeeper, more powerful interaction. A year earlier, she had receiveda substantial inheritance after her mother’s passing, which sheused to acquire a sprawling estate overlooking the Seine. Theproperty featured a centuries-old stone house called La Tour, whichbecame Mitchell’s home and studio, as well as the original housewhere Claude Monet lived and worked between 1878 and 1881. AsMitchell’s biographer Patricia Albers wrote: “Nearly every windowat La Tour commanded a dazzling view: between river and the roadbelow lay a wonderfully unmanicured wet-grass field dotted withlocusts, pines, pear trees, willows, ginkgoes, and sycamores. …Birds twittered and swooped. Wind ruffled the foliage. … From thetime she acquired Vétheuil, its colors and lights pervaded herwork” (P. Albers, Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter, New York, 2011, p.313).
Inspired by the bucolic splendor of the French countryside,Mitchell threw herself into life at La Tour, planting an abundantgarden and renovating a studio space that accommodated much largercanvases than her earlier one on the rue Frémicourt in Paris. Aswas her habit, Mitchell woke around noon and worked into the latehours of the night, listening to Bach or Charlie Parker. At LaTour, the gauntlet of the great Impressionist masters had beenpassed, and Mitchell accepted the challenge with gusto. Thepaintings that followed, abound with wild, sumptuous color infloating slabs and planes arranged with nearly architecturalprecision.
Executed on increasingly larger and more expansive scales,these paintings reveal a mature artist at the pinnacle of hercareer. In 1972, the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York,organized the first major solo exhibition of Mitchell’s work, whereNoon was exhibited alongside major paintings from her oeuvre. Itsorganizer, James Harithas, described Mitchell as “a terrificpainter and, beyond that, an artist of profound and enduringinsight” (J. Harithas, “Weather Paint,” Art News, May 1972, vol.71, no. 3, p. 40). Two years later, a major retrospective ofMitchell’s work followed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in1974.
瓊·米切爾 正午Noon 局部
Newer, emboldened color combinations flourished during thisera. Here, Mitchell’s brilliant pairing of bold tangerine alongsidefields of navy blue enlivens the canvas. Her orange is lively andbuoyant; it zigs and zags its way around the surface much likesunlight dancing upon the slow-moving waters of the Seine. Herbiographer recalled: “Something Joan had seen, perhaps a flower,made her fall in love with tangerine orange, a color she had longdisliked. She decided to pair it with the lavender-tinged blue ofthe Gauloises cigarette pack” (P. Albers, Ibid., 2011, p. 322).Indeed, for Mitchell, color was deeply-felt, imbued with personalmemories. In Noon, Mitchell’s shimmery yellow-orange is reminiscentof her earlier Sunflower of 1969, which in turn were influenced byvan Gogh, an artist Mitchell had admired since her days at the ArtInstitute of Chicago. A recent publication described this effect:“orange appears, this sort of changeable mix of yellow and red, inwhich joy and torment, euphoria and sadness merge, in which weimmediately note the memory of Bonnard, édouard Vuillard and theFrench pastoral culture, of Gustav Klimt. … [It is] a melancholicgolden light which dazzles” (S. Parmiggiani, “Joan Mitchell: InSearch of a Lost Feeling,” in Nils Ohlsen, Joan Mitchell, exh.cat., Kunsthalle Emden, Reggio Emilia, Palazzo Magnani and Giverny,Musée des Impressionnismes, December 2008 - October 2009, p.55).
Highly-disciplined and sharp-tongued, with a love of poetryand the outdoors, Mitchell rigorously confronted each canvas withincreasing confidence and bravado, creating evanescent paintingsthat brim with luminous color. In Noon, Mitchell’s careful balanceof rectangular planes takes a cue from Hans Hofmann, whose colorfularchitectural slabs similarly reflected the natural world, whilethe minute daubs of brushwork within the upper left area evoke theshimmering planes of Cézanne. These delicately-balancedcompositions seem lit from within by an unknown light source,prompting one curator to describe them as “wet with light” (J.Harithas, ibid., p. 63).
Undeniably, the titles that Mitchell selected during this erawere highly significant. In the present work, the word “noon” mightrefer to Mitchell’s waking hour, since she typically worked longinto the night and awoke around mid-day. “Noon” might even perhapscorrespond to Mitchell’s own metaphorical awakening and the renewalthat took place in her work upon settling into Vétheuil.
In Noon, Mitchell effectively translates the very spirit ofVétheuil onto her canvas, essentially immortalizing a moment intime as if preserved in amber. Indeed, the splendor of JoanMitchell’s beloved Vétheuil pervades every square inch of thismasterpiece, a brilliant encapsulation of its heady scents and itssumptuous, resplendent landscape. Countless critics have chasedthis unnameable ephemeral quality in Mitchell’s work, but it isperhaps the artist herself who put it best: “Painting is a means offeeling living. Painting is the only art form except stillphotography which is without time. Music takes time to listen toand ends, writing takes time and ends, movies end, ideas and evensculpture take time. Painting does not. It never ends, it is theonly thing that is both continuous and still. Then I can be veryhappy. It’s a still place” (J. Mitchell, quoted in Yves Michaud,“Conversations with Joan Mitchell, January 12, 1986,” in JoanMitchell: New Paintings, exh. cat., Xavier Fourcade, New York,1986, n.p.).
一幅具有巨大意義的油畫，瓊·米切爾的作品《正午》捕捉自然本身短暫的品質(zhì)。這幅畫是一個(gè)宏偉的穿越力量，一個(gè)閃閃發(fā)亮的一系列耀眼的顏料包圍了觀眾在其巨大的，千變?nèi)f化的展示。它喚起了這位藝術(shù)家鐘愛的韋特伊(Vétheuil)的田園般的輝煌，它擁有茂盛的花園和塞納河的全景。在《正午》中，米切爾隨心所欲地用豐富多樣的筆觸覆蓋著畫布，迅速而輕松地掩蓋了這幅畫內(nèi)在結(jié)構(gòu)的復(fù)雜性。濃密的橙色、藍(lán)色和綠色的長(zhǎng)方形像濃密的云朵一樣盤旋，而在附近，點(diǎn)點(diǎn)油漆的細(xì)膩涂抹就像一團(tuán)緩慢升起的霧氣。在其他地方，細(xì)膩的筆觸喚起了莫奈的睡蓮的水氣。它體現(xiàn)了米切爾這個(gè)時(shí)代作品中新發(fā)現(xiàn)的自信，因?yàn)樯钤诜▏?guó)鄉(xiāng)村的影響為她的繪畫注入了新的生命。
米切爾與自然世界的聯(lián)系長(zhǎng)期主導(dǎo)著她的工作，但她在1968年永久搬到貝瑟爾的舉動(dòng)，使她得以進(jìn)行更深入、更有力的互動(dòng)。一年前，她母親去世后，她得到了一大筆遺產(chǎn)，她過去曾買下一處可以俯瞰塞納河的廣闊地產(chǎn)。這里有一座有著百年歷史的石屋，名叫拉圖爾，是米切爾的家和工作室，也是克勞德·莫奈在1878年至1881年期間居住和工作的原址。正如米切爾的傳記作者帕特里夏·阿爾貝爾斯(PatriciaAlber)所寫的：“拉圖爾的幾乎每扇窗戶都能看到令人眼花繚亂的景色：在河流和下面的道路之間，有一片未經(jīng)修剪的草地，上面點(diǎn)綴著蝗蟲、松樹、梨樹、柳樹、銀杏和桑樹?！薄B兒吱吱作響，猛撲而過。風(fēng)吹拂著樹葉。-…從她獲得Vétheuil的那一刻起，它的顏色和燈光就彌漫在她的作品中“(P.阿爾貝爾斯，瓊·米切爾：佩恩特夫人，紐約，2011年，p。313)。
米切爾受到法國(guó)鄉(xiāng)村田園風(fēng)光的啟發(fā)，投身于拉圖爾的生活，種植了一個(gè)豐富的花園，并翻修了一個(gè)工作室空間，容納了比她之前在巴黎弗雷米科特街的畫布大得多的畫布。就像她的習(xí)慣一樣，米切爾中午醒來，工作到深夜，聽巴赫或查理·帕克的歌。在拉圖爾，偉大的印象派大師的挑戰(zhàn)已經(jīng)通過，米切爾興致勃勃地接受了挑戰(zhàn)。隨后的繪畫，充滿了狂野的，華麗的色彩浮動(dòng)板和平面排列，幾乎建筑精確。
這些畫的規(guī)模越來越大，規(guī)模也越來越大，展示了一位成熟的藝術(shù)家，她的職業(yè)生涯正處于頂峰。1972年，位于紐約錫拉丘茲的艾弗森博物館組織了米切爾作品的第一次大型個(gè)展，在那里《正午》和她作品中的主要畫作一起展出。它的組織者詹姆斯·哈拉馬斯將米切爾描述為“一位了不起的畫家，除此之外，他還是一位具有深刻和持久洞察力的藝術(shù)家”(J.Hallias，“天氣繪畫”)。藝術(shù)新聞，1972年5月，第二卷。71，第3號(hào)，p.40)。兩年后，1974年惠特尼美國(guó)藝術(shù)博物館(WhitneyMuseum Of American Art)對(duì)米切爾的作品進(jìn)行了一次重大回顧。
新的、大膽的顏色組合在這個(gè)時(shí)代蓬勃發(fā)展。在這里，米切爾的華麗的結(jié)對(duì)大膽的橘子與領(lǐng)域的海軍藍(lán)使畫布活躍。她的橙色是活潑和浮力的，它在水面上蜿蜒而行，就像陽光在塞納河緩慢移動(dòng)的水面上跳舞一樣。她的傳記作者回憶道：“瓊見過的東西，也許是一朵花，讓她愛上了橘黃色，這是她一直不喜歡的顏色。她決定把它和高露潔香煙包中淡紫色的藍(lán)色搭配起來“(P.阿爾貝爾斯，同上，2011年，p.322)。事實(shí)上，對(duì)米切爾來說，色彩是深深的，充滿了個(gè)人的記憶。在《正午》中，米切爾那閃閃發(fā)光的黃橙色讓人想起了她早些時(shí)候的樣子向日葵1969年，這反過來又受到梵高的影響，一位藝術(shù)家米切爾從她在芝加哥藝術(shù)學(xué)院的時(shí)候起就一直欽佩她。最近的一份出版物描述了這一效果：“橙色出現(xiàn)了，這種黃色和紅色的混合，其中歡樂和折磨、喜悅和悲傷融為一體，我們立即注意到對(duì)邦納德、愛德華·維拉德和法國(guó)牧歌文化的記憶，即古斯塔夫·克里姆特(GustavKlimt.…)?！斑@是一束令人眼花繚亂的金色光芒”(S.帕米吉亞尼，“瓊·米切爾：尋找一種失落的感覺”，載于尼爾斯·奧赫爾森，瓊·米切爾，CAT.，KunshalleEmden，Reggio Emilia，Palazzo Magnani and Giviny，Musée desImpressionnismes，2008年12月-2009年10月，p.55)。
瓊·米切爾 正午Noon 局部
高度自律和尖刻的舌頭，熱愛詩(shī)歌和戶外，米切爾嚴(yán)格地面對(duì)每一個(gè)帆布增加信心和虛張聲勢(shì)，創(chuàng)造了短暫的繪畫，充滿了發(fā)光的色彩。在《正午》中米切爾對(duì)長(zhǎng)方形平面的仔細(xì)平衡是漢斯·霍夫曼(HansHofmann)的一個(gè)啟示，他的五顏六色的建筑板同樣反映了自然世界，而左上角地區(qū)細(xì)微的畫筆讓塞尚(Cézanne)閃閃發(fā)亮的平面產(chǎn)生了靈感。.這些微妙的平衡的構(gòu)圖似乎從內(nèi)部被未知的光源照亮，促使一位策展人將它們描述為“光濕了”(J.Hattas，同上。，p.63)。
無可否認(rèn)的是，米切爾在這個(gè)時(shí)代選擇的標(biāo)題是非常重要的。在目前的工作中，“中午”一詞可能指的是米切爾醒著的時(shí)間，因?yàn)樗ǔ９ぷ鞯缴钜?，中午左右醒來?！罢纭鄙踔量赡芘c米切爾自己的隱喻覺醒和在她的作品中重新定居在Vétheuil中所發(fā)生的變化相對(duì)應(yīng)。
在《正午》中，米切爾有效地將Vétheuil的精神轉(zhuǎn)化到她的畫布上，實(shí)質(zhì)上是永恒的時(shí)刻，仿佛保存在琥珀中。事實(shí)上，瓊·米切爾鐘愛的韋特伊的光輝彌漫著這幅杰作的每一平方英寸，是它令人陶醉的香味和富麗堂皇的風(fēng)景的光輝的概括。在米切爾的作品中，無數(shù)的評(píng)論家追求著這種不可比擬的短暫品質(zhì)，但也許是藝術(shù)家自己說得最好的：“繪畫是一種感覺的手段。”活的。除了靜止攝影之外，繪畫是唯一的藝術(shù)形式，攝影是沒有時(shí)間的。音樂需要時(shí)間去聆聽和結(jié)束，寫作需要時(shí)間和結(jié)束，電影結(jié)束，思想甚至雕塑都需要時(shí)間。繪畫不是。它永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)結(jié)束，它是唯一的東西是連續(xù)的和靜止的。那我就會(huì)很開心了?！斑@是一個(gè)靜止的地方”(J.Mitchell，引用于YvesMichaud，“1986年1月12日與瓊·米切爾的談話”)瓊·米切爾：新畫，XavierFourade，紐約，1986年，N.P.)。
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992)
Noon
成交總額USD 9,797,000
估價(jià)USD 5,000,000 - USD 7,000,000
拍賣 12152
戰(zhàn)后及當(dāng)代藝術(shù) (晚間拍賣)
紐約|2016年5月10日
拍品 18 B
signed 'Joan Mitchell' (lower left); signed again and titled'"Noon" Joan Mitchell' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
103 x 79 in. (261.6 x 200.6 cm.)
Painted in 1969.
來源
Galerie Jean Fournier et Cie, Paris and Martha JacksonGallery, New York
Private collection, New Haven, 1973
Xavier Fourcade, Inc., New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1980
Joan Mitchell, exh. cat., Institut Valencià d'Art Modern,1997, pp. 105 and 111 (installation view illustrated).
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韋特伊(Vétheuil)，一譯“弗特伊”，位于巴黎西北約60公里，塞納河在這里拐了一個(gè)大彎。畫家莫奈曾于1878-1881年在這里度過了3年多的時(shí)光，創(chuàng)作了許多富于詩(shī)情畫意的作品，他的妻子卡米爾在此地去世。
