Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection

Went to the preview of the new exhibit Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last night. Which raised the questions: Who is Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman and where did she get all that money from? (note to self: next time round, marry money often.)

This bequest to the museum is a veritable who's who of modern and post-war art: Ernest, Arp, Leger, Dove, Wols, Matta, Giacometti, DeKooning, Motherwell, Rothko, Kline, Pollock, Stills, Louis, Calder, Frankenthaler, Noland, Oldenburg, Artschwager.......

It's runs shotgun shack-style through galleries in the Met's Modern Wing with a display copy of the catalogue screwed to the wall at waist height (it's at the end between the Louis and the Noland). And if she really lived with all this stuff that must be some Lake Drive apartment she's got there!

Highlights: Although the title stresses the Abstract Expressionist works in the collection, its was primarily the "other modern works" that stood out. The Ernst portrait of Gala Eluard, the Schwitter collage, and the two dreamy Joseph Cornell boxes, kept me returning to the early section of the installation during the evening. Post- AbEx artists are also well represented. A large lazy Morris Louis stained canvas made me dream of having a wall in my home big enough to accommodate it. This worked nicely with its two nearby companions, a large Noland bull's-eye and the more cushioned ovoid shapes of a colorful Olitski. An Oldenberg soft-sculpture calendar page and a small Artschwager painting of a bean help bid the viewers a fond farewell to post-war AbEx excess and high-brow aesthetics for more low-brow, Pop ones without torturing us with more Warhols.
Thank you for that Muriel!!