Letter from London
By Nina Zivancevic
Sometimes we go to places just to rediscover the familiar settings which have become estranged to us, but often we find, upon arrival, that they are very much changed. Hence, when I was in London last week I went to see Tamara de Lempicka’s (1898-1980) show at the London’s Royal Academy of Arts, and the show reminded me of Paris, which I has escaped, and where de Lempicka has spent her formative years.
The catalogue revealed that the show was entitled, "Tamara de Lempicka: Art Deco Icon," despite the fact that Art Deco was just one of the venues of art that de Lempicka was trying to cover in her work. She was, indeed, an extraordinary artist who lived a challenging life in Europe and then in the US, capturing the spirit of Modernism unlike any other artists. Yes, of course, in most of the 55 de Lempicka’s paintings presented at the Royal Academy of Arts we detect "Art Deco" or the so-called spirit of her age (the period from 1922 to the early 1940s), but her cool classicism and her glacial eroticism could just as well belong to any other era, from High Renaissance to Russian Constructivism. De Lempicka chose Maurice Denis and Andr� Lhote as her teachers who taught her to favor a new figurative art that promoted the object (refer to self portraits, Adam and Eve and Portrait of Dr Boucard). She belonged to that class of artists who invent and teach the essentials of an art movement rather than following any preestablished movements themselves.
As I strolled along I wondered if this timelessness could still be seen in London’s contemporary art spaces. Indeed, I discovered the OCTOBER Gallery on Old Gloucester street, a friendly gathering place of contemporary art, music and performance, a caf�, courtyard and a library room where artists can meet and create and perform their ideas. Founded in 1979, the gallery is dedicated to the advancement and appreciatian of art from all cultures, as their artistic directors Elisabeth Lalouschek, Gerard Houghton, Kathelin Gray and Chilley Hoyse promote artists of the trans-cultural avant-garde. Past axhibitions have included Gerard Wilde, William S.Burroughs, Kenji Yoshida, Xu Zhongmin, El Anatsui. Here one can find a visually comprehensive cultural and educational guide to the heritage of Sri Lanka, the Yoruba diasporas, Tibet or Oceania, supplemented by the appropriate concerts and poetry readings from their respective parts of the world. The accent is always put on the contemporary moment, as in the current show which features Haitian Woodo art, such as the wodoo flags by Jean Sylvestre and Guisnol. In this art the symbolic meets the literal and the phantasmagoric as the Virgin Mary is often transformed into a siren/witch, the one who heals and kills and gives life. Here, too, is a work of Julian Balan, a local artist who makes metal cutouts, and Frantz Lamothe, whose painting resembles that of Basquiat. (In fact, as these two were old friends and compatriots one could easily say that Basquiat’s work resembles that of Lamothe but that the latter one was not promoted.) The show celebrates the 200-year independence of Haiti, which was the first colonial state that revolted successfully against the super power such as the French emperor Napoleon. Additionally, one can say that it speaks to the trans-national tradition of innovation Tamara de Lempicka represents to me.
