I find that looking at art with kids, at least with mine, becomes really an enlightening and much more pleasurable experience when they finally learn how to behave in a museum or gallery. This has seemed to happen for me just recently when we were walking through Yayoi Kusama at the Whitney and American Art galleries at the Met this summer, for about an hour and a half at each location, I didn't once have to tell anyone to slow down, not talk so loud, watch for swinging arms, stop fighting, etc. This certainly didn't happen overnight and has been quite a struggle. I have been dragging (yes, dragging is the word) my kids to galleries and museums since before they could talk - always knowing that it was going to be a short experience - around an hour max. My son had a total meltdown, screaming and throwing himself on the floor to the mortification of his parents, in front of the Venus de Milo at the Louvre, when he was about 15 months old. And when I used to take the double stroller to Chelsea, I quickly found out that visits to about 4 galleries are the maximum that we all could endure.
Now, that they are ages 7 and 9, I have found that my brainwashing has worked, and they believe that going to look at art is an essential component of our life. If we haven't gone to a museum in a couple weeks, they ask to go and are more proactive about letting me know what they want and don't want to see. I don't have to restate the rules before we enter anymore, but am still inclined to reward after a job well done at the end of our excursion.
As I said before, its been a fascinating experience going to look at art with my kids, because most of the time, they see things so much differently than me. Their minds are not clogged with decades of imagery, past art history courses and compare and contrast essays, economic factors, etc. They ask questions that would never come to my mind and sometimes have steered me to and from objects based on their own opinions. I always find it interesting that one kid is consistently curious about when and the other how. When was this made, what was happening at the time, why is he painted bigger than him, what was going on in this place to make someone paint this picture the way they did. My other, could care less about that, but demands to know how and with what was this made. If she could touch everything, she would be much happier. She is interested in the materials, how to achieve different textures and what tools are used.
I guess these are all small tips for bringing kids to look at art. I think most people in New York do already but what I have found helpful is - being clear what the rules are before going because you actually want to enjoy yourself, keeping it a short experience with respect to your child(ren) ages and tolerance level, focusing on one or two paintings in a room rather than trying to see everything, asking a ton of questions to your children - what does it look like, what's going on, how do you think its made, how does it make you feel - and sometimes letting them direct you to what they find interesting in the room rather than focusing on the "famous, well-known" work there. If you go to a museum - focus on one exhibition or one area rather than trying to do it all. And before we leave a section or room, I always ask the what was their favorite and least favorite work and have them explain why - the answers are always interesting and fun to hear. If the kids forget the rules, I have been known to go up and have the security guard reexplain to them why talking loudly in a museum is not acceptable. Hey - they will listen to someone with uniform that exudes authority than they will me, so I take advantage of it and it is really effective.
I do not go for the audio guides. I know some friends swear by them for the kids, but really, I don't like anyone telling me what to look at and I think they are a big old distraction from looking with your eyes and using your mind instead of listening to someone prattle on.
We sometimes look at an art book at home and find a specific painting to look for on our outing (heard another version from someone else that they buy a postcard in the gift shop and then go on a hunt for that work in the museum - but I don't like the idea of purchasing something beforehand and they may miss everything else on the wall if they are really determined with their scavenger hunt). We also have a game called "spot the portrait" (or history, genre, landscape, still life, abstract painting). The kids have to discern the difference between these categories and they have fun talking about the differences of a portrait vs a group of people doing an activity or a historical painting vs a landscape. They now have their favorite artists and we will always try to go to exhibitions where their artists will be showing - my son is crazy about Diego Velasquez, and my daughter loves Rothko and both are crazy about Jackson Pollock. And, I always spot a bakery, ice cream shop or cafeteria that I can use as a reward (bribery) after we are done.
There was a period of time, my husband and I would get a sitter and go look at galleries on our own. It was impossible to bring them - let's call it "the toddler years" - and for any of us get any sort of enjoyment. But one day, my son asked "how come we can't come with you to look at art, why do you leave us at home" and then I knew it was time to get them into the game.
So here is one great exhibition out of many that we saw this summer in NYC.
My "don't miss" top pick is the exhibition at the Guggenheim called "Art of Another Kind". It ends in mid-September so try to see before the kiddies are back to school!!!
http://web.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/anotherkind/
This exhibition focuses on Abstraction from the decade + between 1949 - 1960. All the paintings are from the Guggenheim's permanent collection and a lot were shown at the museum in various shows during this period. These were from a time when the museum switched directors and seemed to be "rebranding" itself, so the exhibition is as much as a history of mid-century abstraction as it is a history of the mid-century Guggenheim. The show is impressive in scale, is excellently curated and installed and dominates the spiral loops around the museum. What I love most about this exhibition is the focus on International Abstraction rather than American AbEx artists and how those European and Asian artists used Abstraction for the variety of avant garde movements during this period. Its like a breath of fresh air from all the Pollocks, de Koonings, Rothkos that we normally see (although there are a handful of great examples here)!! The second thing I love about this exhibition, is that these works, that have been in storage for decades, are in unbelievably pristine condition, and practically jump off the walls and hit you in the face with their vibrant colors and powerful brushstrokes. They really pack a punch and while also being very cerebral at the same time. There were a bunch of names in this exhibition that I was unfamiliar with - which is always exciting.
The first thing you see is there is an Alexander Calder mobile, always a crowd pleaser, that is suspended from the center. My daughter really appreciated not only seeing it from underneath, but also being able to look down on it, a totally different perspective. (I only was with one on this visit.)
I was really fascinated by the Japanese Abstraction included here. These I was totally unfamiliar with. Apparently, the Guggenheim will devote an exhibition to this body of artists in the future. Below is a work by Kenzo Okada. We had fun looking at these vs the early de Koonings and Pollocks. There is almost a sheer mist over the surface of the painting making it atmospheric. Less brash and bold than the Americans, there is power in its composition, technical qualities and its almost addictive serenity. Its like staring at a beautiful still lake, contradicting the noisy city street outside. I think its interesting that the director of the Guggenheim purchased these works not so long after WWII and internment camps in this country and was committed to embracing and showing all abstraction globally. We can really benefit from this now. There are also examples from the Gutai group based more on action painting along side Franz Kline works that were influence heavily by calligraphy.
Examples of the Yves Klein action works are present, and were very fun to talk about with my daughter. She quickly points out any cobalt color as "Yves Klein" blue - a residual effect of my brain washing - and recognized his canvases immediately. However, she was struck by the fact that they were not the solid textured canvases that she is familiar with. Once she saw the historical photographs of blue painted naked people and I explained that the paintings were made by them rolling around the canvases - well, she was in a fit of giggles. We talked about whether the act of making the painting or the painting itself was a work of art - and like all great art - couldn't come up with a definitive answer. See example in the far right below.
We both really enjoyed the Grace Hartigan and Hans Hoffman abstracts (below respectively), with their determined strokes in rich colors and complex composition that you feel that you are looking out the window at a beautiful view of an alternate universe.
We really appreciated the collaged work by Alberto Burri (below) and Conrad Marca-Relli. Burri with his sewn and painted burlap sacs so exquisitely reflects the Arte Povera movement in Italy and heavily influenced artists like Marca-Relli in his construction of paintings from pieces of glued canvas. These are great examples of the movement from straight painting to integration of new and found materials combined with painting into their works (prescient of Johns and Rauschenberg). Are these works paintings, sculptures? We had a difficult time classifying them, and I think that's the point.
We also had fun looking at the Tapies (below) and Dubuffets that enliven the surface of the canvas with texture from the mixing of sand and paint and we seemed to have focused on this more than the composition of the works themselves. We spent a lot of time guessing what materials were used and less on the meaning and structure of the work. But the use of non-traditional materials was just as important a statement by the avant-garde artists as much as the subject, or lack of subject matter, so we probably came away with the good message.
In keeping with materials, we really enjoyed the sculptures in the show. Again, the variety of materials was really intriguing to us. Also the variety of structure, composition and technique were also fascinating. We grouped these 3-dimensional objects into "scary" and "not scary". Not so scary was the Louise Bourgeois (below) and Moholy-Nagy, Noguchi and Calder sculptures. Scary was the Chillida (below) and the Theodore Roszak sculptures. We had fun discussing the idea of the mobile and a suspending sculpture like Chillida. (And a little bit off the subject, I have been insane for Roszak sculptures forever - last photo below in far left - and when, oh, when is someone going to do a major exhibition of his work?!? The Hirshorn has many fantastic examples of his work. But really its time for a big NYC museum exhibition of his work as he influenced a great deal of artists at the time.)
I cannot do "Art of Another Kind" justice here because the exhibition is exhaustive and the art varies so greatly. All based on abstraction, however, the techniques are so different and the imagery so diverse. This is what will completely intrigue you and the children. Focus on the materials, the sense and feelings the work gives you, the idea of repetition or lack of repetition of forms and most importantly, how this broke with traditional art making during mid-century and why this important to look at now. Enjoy!!!
(P.S. There is a great L'arte del Gelato stand right out front of the museum for a treat afterward!!)
