Two American Loans at the Huntington
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| Installation view of John Singer Sargent's Countess Clary-Aldringen, 1896. Collection of Renée and Lloyd Greif |
Newly on view at the Huntington is John Singer Sargent's Countess Clary-Aldringen, a loan from Los Angeles collectors Renée and Lloyd Greif.
Born Thérèse Kinsky, the sitter was was the wife of Austro-Hungarian diplomat Count Siegfried Clary Aldringen. Her portrait was painted in London and shown to some acclaim there in 1896. The Greifs lent the painting to the Getty in 2010.
The Countess was a chain-smoker. Family tradition holds that the right hand, which seems to beckon an unseen visitor, was holding a cigarette. Sargent left it out.
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| Detail of Countess Clary-Aldringen |
Another Huntington loan is Belle Baranceanu's Lee, a promised gift of Bram and Sandra Dijkstra. The artist (1902–1988) is something of a (re)discovery of the Dijkstras. She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, then pursued a career as artist and educator in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego. Baranceanu produced WPA murals and taught art at San Diego's Francis Parker School until 1969. Lee harks back the Nabis in technique and Degas in subject, but it would have been considered quite modern in Depression-era Chicago and California.
Both Lee and Countess Clary-Aldringen are now on view in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art.
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| Belle Baranceanu, Lee, about 1931. Promised gift of Bram and Sandra Dijkstra |
Comments
> is Belle Baranceanu's Lee,
> a promised gift of Bram and
> Sandra Dijkstra.
The John Sargent Singer being a promised gift would have been a bit more welcome.
I recall a somewhat large artwork from around the late 1800s in the American galleries of the Huntington (don't recall the artist), but it was so second-rate, I felt somewhat embarrassed for the museum.
Although top quality almost always costs big money, the factor of good judgment or careful decision-making affects the same thing too.
As another example, the Huntington not long ago approved sub-par graphic work on their re-designed website, emails and PR material. Similarly, there are some major cultural entities in NYC that have what I'd rate as so-so websites. Then there's that city's building named for David Geffen, with LA's own Geffen in 2026 likely triggering some controversy too.