JUAN GRIS

The student paints his master in an act of homage, and in doing so steps out of his shadow. When Juan Gris moved to Paris at the turn of the century, he was well timed to meet Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque as they were beginning to define the new language of the 20th century they were to call Cubism. Immediately infatuated with the style, and in awe of Picasso’s genius, Gris spent many years on the sidelines of this artistic scene, not as a full fledged member of the movement but instead as a disciple. This picture marked Gris’ entrance into the artistic milieu that managed to redefine the movement he had admired since it’s inception. Retaining the multiple perspectives and geometric forms of early Cubism, Gris’ portrait adds in an optical illusion effect with the crystalline structure of the geometry to create what would be coined ‘Analytical Cubism’. It is a fitting subject for a seminal work: his teacher and inspiration serves as the stepping stone to Gris’ emergence as an essential artist in his own right.

ELLSWORTH KELLY

In an age of modernity, where religion’s powers are waning and art was moving away from the representative, Ellsworthy Kelly wondered what would become of the altar-piece. Spending nearly a decade in Europe in the late 40s and early 1950s, he spent time in classical churches and cathedrals and became infatuated with the large scale, multi-panel works that served as their centre-pieces. On his return to America, he tried to incorporate this idea of art works composed of separate pieces, each serving as stand-alone painting but contributing ultimately to something greater than the sum of their parts. This seven panel work was the answer to his wondering, arranging the colours through chance techniques, he removed himself from the aesthetic decision making of the work and instead let the beauty of the artwork live in the intersections of its medium. The dialogue happens at the edges of the panels, where block colours interact across flat planes, and like the religious altarpieces that inspired it, the work tells a story of humanity and emotion when seen in its totality.

STANLEY TIGERMAN

After decades of dominance, in the 1970s the architectural style of Mies van der Rohe that had held the American architect in its grips was beginning to wane. Modernism was being replaced by postmodernism, and the clean minimalism that was considered the paramount of aesthetic style was being challenged by iconoclastic ideas that uprooted the very principles the modern nation had based its visual language. Yet, as architectural schools and practices around the country were rebelling against Miesian ideals, Chicago, where van der Rohe had held the position of director of the School of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology was the last hold out of his pure, unadulterated philosophy. Tigerman created this photocollage of the Rohe’s famous ‘Crown Hall’ building sinking into the depths of the ocean as a sort of ultimatum to the architectural institutions. He mailed out the image to leading figures in the medium, with the option for a one way ticket on the Titanic, implicitly urging them to adapt, improve, modernise or die. The work has become a landmark of postmodernism, and a watershed moment in the history of American architecture, serving as the most implicit nail in the coffin of van der Rohe.