Norton Simon to Show Manet "Execution of Maximilian"
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| Edouard Manet, The Execution of Maximilian, about 1867–68. National Gallery, London |
This fall the National Gallery, London, will be lending a famous Manet to the Norton Simon Museum. The fragmentary Execution of Maximilian is the second of four versions created by Manet in commemoration of the 1867 death by firing squad of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Napoleon III's puppet Emperor of Mexico. By the time of Manet's death, the picture was damaged and its topical subject must have seemed old news. Manet's family cut the canvas into fragments for resale. Degas bought the fragments, hoping to reassemble them, and the National Galley purchased them at Degas' 1918 estate sale. They are mounted on a canvas the size of the original picture.
The Execution of Maximilian will be on view in Pasadena Nov. 13, 2026–Mar. 1, 2027.
Comments
The intact (fourth and final) version, unadulterated, from the Kunsthalle Mannheim, is here:
https://www.kuma.art/en/exponat/lexecution-de-lempereur-maximilien
Something about LACMA's landing page right now in particular has the quality of second-tier-municipal-art-gallery about it.
To be fair to LACMA, however, parts of the front page of the Chicago Institute of Art also sort of looks the same way. But the highlights of the Institute's permanent collection on that same page are so obviously first class, they offset the website's other features.
--- J. Garcin
> unrelated element about
> LACMA
LA Times, May 2023: "LACMA has transitioned to a de facto contemporary art museum. But not a very good one."
For some reason, that critique of the museum almost 3 years ago didn't hit with as much force until I saw the special-exhibitions schedule of the Metropolitan.
Yea, NYC's main art museum for over 150 years has been a powerhouse of collecting & fundraising. But I now realize that, although LACMA's budget is stretched to the breaking point, the director's excessive devotion to contemporary has warped the museum's operations.
Galleries in the Resnick that should have been allocated since 2020 to the permanent collection have instead been turned over to Hauser-Wirth-type exhibits. A commercial-art-gallery format should cost no less - & probably costs even more - than presentations of things already owned by the museum.
The ongoing display of so many (way too many, as far as I'm concerned) works by living artists is making me wonder if LACMA is getting a form of payola?
I suppose there's nothing wrong with an artist cutting his picture, but I'm still curious about the nature of the damage that prompted the family to cut it.
That is so incisive!
I suppose if Gogh can do shoes, Manet's family can do a shod leg. It's positively Duchampian.
• "It ain't over 'til it's over."
• "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be."
• "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
• "We made too many wrong mistakes."
• "Never answer an anonymous letter."
• "The future ain't what it used to be."
• "Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel."
• "I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4."
• "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
• "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."
• "It's deja vu all over again."
The Norton Simon Museum does relate to LACMA in a certain way. When the Ladd-designed building opened in late 1969 as the Pasadena Art Museum, it was overseen by people no less into contemporary art as LACMA's director is. Their budget got into trouble and they had to turn the the museum over to Simon.
By switching from contemporary art to Simon's diverse collection, it also became a higher quality museum.
Los Angeles Times, May 17, 2023: "LACMA might be a de facto museum of contemporary art, but frankly it's not a very good one."