Things are not in full swing yet, but there was a newly opened show that was very enticing at the Howard Greenberg Gallery, “Jacques Henri Lartigue: A New Paradise.”  Going to a gallery show is clearly a very different experience than a museum, but what you miss in educational background information you make up for in learning about the current art market and also – if the gallery makes the information easily available – current prices.

I knew of Lartigue’s photographs from books and classes but had never seen a a solo exhibit, nor one so specialized to his early work. Many of the photographs were taken around 1905, when Lartigue was just 11 years old, with some taken even earlier. The most interesting thing is that you would not necessarily know these photos had been taken by a child – perhaps precisely because of the influence he has had on photography we are used to these types of images now.  This is also expressed in the opening blurb which quotes John Szarkowski as saying that these works are could only have been done by a “primitive.”

The gallery does provide just enough information on Lartigue, explaining that he came from a wealthy family and was given a camera by his parents at a young age. Thanks to his family’s status, his access to society events or upper-class leisure activities led him to capture those happenings on camera. But there are also just some images that capture simple pleasures, for example “Raymond van Weeks,” which shows a man mid-jump over four iron chairs. Also “Bouboutte, Rouzatte” from 1908 is insouciance and freedom captured on paper.

The small accompanying show in the gallery, “Marville: Paris before Lartigue” – a collection of about a dozen images – showcases beautiful albumen prints from the 1870s. The images focus mainly on architectural views of Paris, with very few figures or outward signs of life. The perspectives, anchored by elements such as a lamppost, afford beautiful views of Paris and help to put the time period in context.

Afterwards, finding myself on 57th street, I decided to make a jaunt across the street to Pace Wildenstein, which just opened “Sol Lewitt: Forms Derived from a Cube”. Not being a scholar of this artist (and what I had learned of him being a little blurry), I entered the show without expectations or context. In retrospect, those might have helped; sometimes it is okay to see a show without knowing the artist and other times it is not. It is also important to consider other factors: it was raining and humid, my hair was frizzy … maybe I wasn’t in the right state to fully grasp and appreciate conceptual work involving color washes applied directly to the gallery walls.

[side note: I couldn't take any photos in the show, nor could I find any online that represented these works, so instead I will link you to here, a timely article about another Lewitt installation.]

Luckily I can say that while the show did not awaken feelings of awe in me, it certainly did succeed in making me curious to know more about the process in which these works are created. The captions indicate where the work was first exhibited and the person who applied the color washes to the wall. Here it would have been helpful for me to know some background [ie, Lewitt passed away in 2007 - obviously the works cannot have been applied to the wall by him.] Perhaps also the contrast between Lartigue’s photographs – small (some tiny), delicate and portraying tangible events – versus Lewitt’s large scale, brightly colored works that engage directly with the space instead of necessarily with the viewer was also a factor in my ambiguous feelings towards the show.

Another good thing about gallery hopping: it’s free! And much less of a commitment. Also usually much less crowded than a museum, except for perhaps some of the larger shows.

Other shows to look forward to this fall: David Hockney at Pace Wildenstein, Eero Saarinen at Museum of the City of New York, Vermeer at the Met, Kandinsky at the Guggenheim … I could go on for a while.

Happy travels!