Cy Twombly: Photography, Abstract Art and Memory

posted by ARTCENTRON

Cy Twombly, Foundry Naples. Image: Gagosian Gallery

ART REVIEW

Art photographs by abstract expressionist Cy Twombly on display in Spain for the first time reveal an artist determined to capture fleeting memories and time.

BY KAZAD

Image: Photograph of Flowers at St Barth by Cy Twombly

Cy Twombly, Flowers, St Barth’s 2011. Image: Gagosian Gallery

SPAIN- Presently at the Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa in Spain is an exhibition of photographers by Cy Twombly. Titled LUX, this is the first time photographs by this celebrated artist are on display in Spain. Presented in an atmosphere that conveys their poetry, the photographs tell the story of the artist’s career journey. Starting from the early 1950s when he was a student at Black Mountain College, Cy Twombly began capturing his life in photographs. He carried this tradition through his death in 2011 at the age of 83.

ART AUCTION: Twombly’s Untitled, house paint and wax crayon on canvas, painted in 1970 sold for $69,605,000

The images Cy Twombly took reflected his daily experiences. From the verdant landscapes of Virginia and the coast of Italy, he captured them all. His attention to detail was the impetus for some of the close-up details of ancient buildings, sculptures, studio interiors, landscapes, still life, and flowers.

An Adventurous Artist

An adventurous artist, Cy Twombly was always looking for new ways to express his artistic thoughts and ideas. In the early 1990s, he began utilizing specialized copiers to enlarge his Polaroid images on matte paper. The result is an intense distortion of the images in a way that approximates the timeless qualities of his paintings and sculptures. In a manner akin to Pictorialism popularized by photographers like Alfred Stieglitz, his prints elevate the images beyond their mechanical reproduction, inscribing them with a new aura.

The exhibition at the Museu d’Art Contemporani d’Eivissa in Spain includes forty photographs, many of which were taken in Rome, Capri, St Barths, and Gaeta between 1985 and 2011. The garden in Gaeta was a particular point of reference for the artist. Overlooking the sea and landscape, there, he captured images of natural subjects, including landscapes, tulips, strawberries, cabbages, and lemons. He also took portraits of friends and family. The blurry intensity of the images, though abstract in their originality, elevates their presence.

Cy Twombly’s mediation of his photographs situates them on the threshold of abstraction and realism. This follows in the artist’s tradition of engaging the concept of duality and juxtaposition. They give birth to alternation between the visible and the hidden, between present and past, and between light and shadow.

Abstract Expressionism: Physical and Emotional

Each photograph in this show carries a physical and emotional aspect of Abstract Expressionism. They reference a wealth of historical and myth allusion and are steeped with references to poetry and classical mythology. Many of the photographs capture a moment in time, revealing the struggle between memory and oblivion. They are epiphanies, capturing moments of transition when an action begins.

The collection of Cy Twombly’s photographs on display in Spain shows how they are related to, yet different from his paintings, drawings, and sculptures. The distinct nature of the photographs draws from history in a way that challenges the concept of time and memory. They reference Julia Margaret Cameron’s atmospheric portraits and Henry Fox-Talbot’s early photographic prints. They are reminders of the contingency of fleeting moments.