Isn’t it often the case that what you weren’t planning is what ends up being the most memorable of any excursion?

Evening Dress, Unidentified Maker, American, Silk velvet with silk plain weave lining. Worn by Mrs. Charles E. Inches (Louise Pomeroy) in her portrait, painted by John Singer Sargent, 1887

Last week we made a speedy trip to Boston to see “Fashioned By Sargent” at the MFA before it closes on the 15th. Even with timed entry on a weekday, it was very crowded and tough to dodge the many other viewers in order to truly see the paintings or read the gallery notes.

“Beetle Wing Dress” for Lady Macbeth, designed by Alice Laura Comyns Carr and Ada Cort Nettleship, 1888. Cotton, silk, lace, beetle-wing cases, glass, and metal.

Happily, the highlight turned out to be seeing some of the real-life dresses displayed near each of the portraits in which they appear, lending a better understanding of how Sargent rendered textures and draping. For anyone who sews, getting a close-up look at the detailed workmanship and needle skills of 19th and early 20th century clothing made waiting for the crowd to thin around each display case worthwhile.

Back view of Lady Macbeth Dress, Cloak

John Singer Sargent, Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth, 1889. Oil on canvas.

Comparatively, the rest of the museum felt enjoyably spacious and it was a treat to explore many of the other exhibits on view. There were three I can’t stop thinking about: Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances, Dinorá Justice: The Lay of the Land, and Toshiko Takaezu: Shaping Abstraction.

In hindsight, the Sargent exhibit landed like a heaping serving of eye-candy, whereas the Wong, Justice and Takaezu works were more main course fare. Interestingly, all three maintain their strong individual voices while unabashedly nodding toward and weaving in influences from art of the past and of their contemporaries. I walked out with a lot to digest.

Matthew Wong, Once Upon a Time in the West  2018 Gouache on paper.  Wong gleaned inspiration from many sources, including films. This piece takes its title from Sergio Leone’s 1968 film of the same name.

Dinorá Justice, Portrait 36, after Manet’s “Olympia,” 2023 Oil and acrylic on canvas. Justice’s work references well-known paintings by 16th-19th century men which feature and objectify reclining women. Her point is to reorient the historical masculine gaze, empowering her figures by connecting them with their femininity and their environment through the decorative textile patterns and colors of her Brazilian heritage.

Toshiko Takaezu, Euphrosyne (Joy), 2000 Stoneware. Rather than painting on canvas, Takaezu employed full-body glazed brushwork on her large-scale ceramic pieces, keeping her in step with her abstract expressionist contemporaries.

The overarching connection I found between the three of them (and what I most enjoyed about their disparate work), was the mainstay of pattern. Cacophonous? Yes.  Tranquil? Also yes.  Satisfying? Definitely.

I think it’s natural to find a sort of pure, visceral joy in pattern. I’m sure it has something to do with survival, but leaving evolutionary science out of it, I googled “what makes patterns so attractive to humans?”. The answer was that we are drawn to patterns because they help us make sense of the world around us, satisfying our brain’s need to find order in chaos.  Reading further about each of these artists, it’s not a huge leap to think that perhaps that definition describes a large part of what each of them may well have been/are seeking.

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One last unexpected treat the MFA had in store:
During the pandemic, I followed Eben Haines’ Shelter In Place Gallery on Instagram. Maybe you did too?

Eben Haines, Shelter in Place Gallery, 2020 Foamcore, mat board, acrylic and latex paint, balsa wood, redwood, plexiglass, adhesive backed vinyl, adhesive backed polyvinyl and aluminum

It was such a lovely thing to see at the time — ongoing exhibitions of artists’ “Large scale” work, placed and photographed in his miniature space, giving the impression of a full-scale gallery show at a time when no one could venture beyond their homes. It was a wonderful troupe d’œil illusion.
Coming across Haines’ miniature gallery, in the flesh, on view in the “Tiny Treasures” exhibit of miniatures last week, felt like running into an old friend.

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And finally,

A peek at the chaos that is my workspace this week. More on what’s cooking next time.