[Note: Most Instagram images below are severely truncated or cropped. Click on the images to view the artworks at full size. Be sure to click on the actual image itself or you may get an error.]
Jennifer Higgie on Instagram: “The great German artist Jeanne Mammen was in Berlin 21 November 1890. She studied in Paris, Rome and Brussels and exhibited for the first time in 1912. She fled Paris when World War I broke out, in order to avoid internment; she lived in poverty in Berlin but found work illustrating fashion magazines and designing film posters. Her watercolours and drawings chronicled the life of bohemian and lesbian communities of 1920s Berlin. Mammen’s work became well known and in 1930 she had her first major solo show at Galerie Gurlitt in Berlin. In 1931 she illustrated a book of erotic Sapphic poetry, Les Chansons de Bilitis, in 1931–32, which was banned by the Nazis; they denounced her subjects as ‘Jewish’. She somehow survived World War II in Berlin, selling books from a handcart and living in what she called a state of ‘inner emigration’; she also made sculptures from debris she collected on the streets of bombed out Berlin and, according to @moma website, she ‘increasingly painted in Cubist and Expressionist styles out of solidarity with artists who Nazis defamed as degenerate’. After the war, she began showing her work again and in the 1970s there was a resurgence of interest in her. She lived in the same flat at Ku’damm 29 for over 50 years and died at the age of 86; she had continued to make art right up to the end. Her work is now in the permanent collection of the #BerlinischeGalerie and @themuseumofmodernart It possible to visit her studio at Ku’damm 29 by contacting www.jeanne-mammen.de My Berlin-based colleague @frieze_magazine Pablo Larios wrote about his visit to Mammen’s studio: link is in my bio. #jeannemammen#bornthisday#bowdown PS this work is ‘Berlin Cabaret’ 1928 Thanks to @janeblott for letting me know there’s a retrospective of her work @berlinischegalerie until 18 Jan. If you’re in Berlin, don’t miss it!”
Suzy Faiz on Instagram: “woman loving women @barpifamsterdam Opening 17:00 - 20:00 Wed 2nd August Jeanne Mammen (1890 - 1976 Berlin, Germany) was a painter and illustrator of the Weimar period. Her work is associated with the New Objectivity and Symbolism movements. In 1921, Mammen moved into an apartment with her sister in Berlin. As a part of my research I attended a tour of this apartment (thank you to my dear friend Anna Königshofer for translating). Her sexuality was not discussed, however she never married and it was mentioned that her sister was a lesbian. During this period in her life she recorded the flourishing lesbian subculture known as the ladies’ clubs. Her double portrait works show strong and sensual women of both performers and guests at the clubs. She also created a lithographic series to “Les chansons de Bilitis” [The Songs of Bilitis] by the French author Pierre Louÿs. This collection claims to be translations of poems by a woman named Bilitis, a contemporary and acquaintance of Sappho. This project is supported by the AFK (Amsterdam Fund for the Arts) & Rebel Wines. . . . @afk020@barpifamsterdam@rebelwinesamsterdam#amsterdamfondsvoordekunst#amsterdamartist#amsterdamart#prideamsterdam2023#queerartist#queerart#jeannemammen”
[Note: Most Instagram images below are severely truncated or cropped. Click on the images to view the artworks at full size. Be sure to click on the actual image itself or you may get an error.]
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: ”• JAGUAR • 2021 • Pencil, charcoal, and oil on linen • • “When I draw I feel I am making a contract between my mind, my hand, the tool, the surface, this moment, your eyes, your mind, the world, and ultimately the whole universe. In this way, the labour, the intention, and the politics of the body making a drawing become inextricable from the drawing itself. And what, then, is the importance of drawing today? What a question to ask at a time like this! What a thing to be doing in these heaving, charging, and thunderous days of great reckoning! But I think it is precisely in these times of great change that drawing is a language that makes particular sense. Drawing-- whether as observational or fantastical representation, as diagram, as script or text, as game-plan or other schemata-- often appears at moments of great instability. Moments much like the one we are all standing in together right now. Moments so unstable it is easy to feel that all of our work, our entire legacy can, without warning, become forcibly un-finished. Drawing, with all its provisionalities and temporality, seems a medium most apt.” (excerpt from a short essay I recently wrote titled “Drawing Urgency” for the University of North Carolina at Asheville)”
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: ”• “Retribution” 2018 Pencil and acrylic on canvas • “...and for the halfhearts: all compassion, but no mercy.” • #iamtellingyouaboutlove”
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: “I am so pleased to share this new work to be featured in my upcoming solo exhibition, ‘Battlecry,’ opening the 3rd of September at Goodman Gallery, London. The beautiful sculptural works of Mateo López (@vemirave) will also be featured in a concurrent show. • • The Two, II• 2020• Pencil and oil on wood panel• • This September Goodman Gallery London opens two concurrent solo presentations of new work: ‘Make Do and Mend’ by Mateo López (@vemirave) and ‘Battlecry’ by Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (@pamelaphatsimo), marking both artists’ first exhibition with the gallery. López’s exhibition of collage, sculpture and film speaks to how “we must shrink for the future good: slow down, take care of each other, reflect on consumer practices” (López). The exhibition speaks metaphorically to questions of Repair, Transformation, Reusing, Fixing and mending ourselves and society. Sunstrum’s large-scale paintings on wood explore the artist’s interest in archetypes that originate in classic mythology, which Sunstrum translates into a cast of characters and alter egos. For this exhibition, Sunstrum layers visual information using oil and pencil to create imagery that exists as a rich “collection of citations - building a code into the meaning of the work” (Sunstrum). Both exhibitions run from 3-26 September Open by appointment - schedule a visit via the link in bio or Goodman Gallery’s website. ________________ Image: Mateo López, The waste of my time, Composition # 17, 2020 Image: Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, The Two II, 2020 #MateoLópez #PamelaPhatismoSunstrum#GoodmanGallery#GoodmanGalleryLondon#makedoandmend#battlecry@goodman_gallery”
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: “I’m so pleased to debut this new work with Goodman Gallery @goodman_gallery at the 2020 Frieze NY @friezeartfair online platform. • ‘Helm.’ 2020. Pencil and oil on wood panel.”
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: “We are pleased to share that Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s “Front Room” (2022), which was recently acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art (@artsmia), Minnesota, is currently on view in their collection galleries. The composition references the 1866 painting “The Hesitant Fiancée” (La fiancée hésitante) by 19th-century French painter Auguste Toulmouche (1829–1895). In contrast to Toulmouche’s bride-to-be, who reveals momentary doubt, the figure in Sunstrum’s work conveys an expression of barely restrained rage–—a defiant reaction to the social and cultural expectations that constrain women’s lives. With its flattened pictorial space and conspicuous patterning, Sunstrum’s painting zeroes in on the women’s faces, presenting a psychologically complex portrait of a woman’s domain. This work was originally included in Sunstrum’s debut solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong & Co. NY @galerielelong Image: #PamelaPhatsimoSunstrum (@pamelaphatsimo), Front Room, 2022. Minneapolis Institute of Art. Gift of Funds from Mary and Bob Mersky, 2022.82.”
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: ”✨ “Lambsheart” 2022 Pencil and oil on linen “It’s not just sentimental She has her grief and care But the soft words they are spoke so gentle It makes it easier to bear” Harry M. Woods Try a Little Tenderness 1932 Sharing some more of the works that I was very proud to debut at my first solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong & Co. NY @galerielelong. Alt text: A six-legged lamb is cradled in the arms of a woman who is also the sky, and who is also the land. Behind them are fragments of traditional mud garden walls. Beyond, the flat, bright expanse of a Botswana landscape dappled in shade and sunlight.”
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: ”“The Ambassador” 2023 Pencil and oil on wood panel This work was featured in the Goodman Gallery @goodman_gallery booth at Art Basel Switzerland 2023 @artbasel . Thank you @lottevanuittert for so beautifully documenting this piece.”
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum on Instagram: “AMAZING! My work has been featured on WeTransfer’s artist profile platform, WePresent. Have a look at the work and read the interview: • Posted @withregram • @wepresent Who says a painting must adhere to the laws of time and space? Not @pamelaphatsimo. Pieced together from childhood memories, museum archives and thrift store finds, each of Pamela’s works is an eclectic collection of both artistic and cultural history. “To me it’s really important that there’s this confusion of time when you look at the work. I want it to be uncertain whether you’re looking into some deep past or some faraway future.” - - - - #wepresent#storytelling#painting”
That’s it for this week! But we want the dinner party to continue! So each week we are asking a “dinner party” question for everyone joining us here at our table. Last week, we asked: “Who's one of YOUR favorite misunderstood women from history, myth or literature?” Here are some of the great responses from the comments:
Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses! That was last week . . . but we don't want this week's dinner party to end either!
So here is this week's question for the table:
This week we talked about Tony Bennett, Nina Simone and Sinéad O'Connor, three legendary singers and passionate social activists who weren’t afraid to stand up for the causes they believed in.
So, our question for the table this week is:
Who's one of YOUR favorite singers and activists?
Tell us your choice in the comments and we’ll share some of your responses on next week’s podcast! And thank you for joining us for Season Two of Aesthetic Arrest!
Cheers to that!
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Aesthetic Arrest Podcast: Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, Sinéad O'Connor, Joyland & Everything the Nazis Hate
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Aesthetic Arrest Podcast
We are Ryan and Ryan, and what we propose to you here is an observational celebration of the most extraordinary people, places, books, art, music, food, wine and cultures we have had the honor to experience together over the last 22 years.
We are Ryan and Ryan, and what we propose to you here is an observational celebration of the most extraordinary people, places, books, art, music, food, wine and cultures we have had the honor to experience together over the last 22 years.
Aesthetic Arrest Podcast: Nina Simone, Tony Bennett, Sinéad O'Connor, Joyland & Everything the Nazis Hate