sculpture LACMA 2016

Mayan censors, German angels and sandcastles at LACMA

mayan gallery
The entrance to the Art of Ancient America’s collection. These galleries were designed by artist Jorge Pardo.

The ‘Big Attraction Show’ for 2016 holiday tourists at Los Angeles Country Museum of Art is the Diego Rivera-Pablo Picasso exhibition.  The common ground between these two men is that they both came out of Spanish cultures, both spent time in Paris in the early 1900s, and both were greatly influenced by ‘primitive art’. I have seen tons of their works so I decided to skip them in favor of some other special shows and two parts of the permanent collection that I love.

censor stand mayan
A Mayan censor stands near the entrance to the Latin American galleries.

First is the Latin American collection of art from indigenous people south of our border. Then, after that I ‘traveled’ to Germany during the time of Luther and the Reformation. Then I stopped to look at art works from living artists and ended with a quick look at a Kandinsky work I really wish I owned.

So here goes:

lucas cranach painting
In this painting the wings on the angels are of all different birds, instead of the usual ‘angel wings’. For example there are peacock feathers on the wings on the figure to the far left! This break with traditional was characteristic of the changes in society and culture during the age of Luther and the Reformation.
st. matthew lacma
A beautiful sculpture of St. Matthew in the Exhibition of art during the time of Luther.
adam and eve
Cranach’s famous Adam and Eve was recreated often by artists of that day, in part because it allowed both artists and viewers to observe nudes.
kandinsky painting lacma
I do love Kandinsky’s art works!
sandcastle sculpture
I could not find any identification of the artist or what this sculpture was named or when created. As a sandcastle is is fun and perfect for Los Angeles.