Detail from “My World and Yours” (1954). Oil on Trapper Keeper.
This Sunday, I took my 2 daughters to the Crocker because, if you didn’t know this already, it’s free from 10 to 1. We started our visit with a snack on the grounds of the Crocker–crackers and apples in a garden setting, just to the left of the main entrance. It was a fabulous idea.
Then I made the mistake of telling my 3 year old that we probably didn’t need to see the special exhibit “Dark Metropolis: Irving Norman’s Social Surrealism” because it would probably be scary. Well, I might as well have told her that the paintings were made of candy (not because she’s a museum toucher–she’s actually quite restrained, maybe because I fed her first).
Now I have to tell you, I do not go for the social surrealism style. The Crocker is billing Irving Norman as an “overlooked” talent. I’m no art critic, and I understand that Norman lived through the Spanish Civil War and that his work is imbued with his passionate reaction to the events he witnessed, but maybe he’s overlooked for a reason. This style of painting–lavish, complicated dreamscapes with grotesque (or poorly painted?) figures and over-the-top symbolism just looks like something a 15 year old would do in the margins of his notebook. It actually reminds me a lot of an Al Jaffee fold in.
Besides which, the Crocker just hosted MC Escher. If I want complicated dreamscapes, I’ll take the ones that don’t bonk me over the head with symbolism.
For the record, my daughters didn’t really go for it either. The older one enjoyed the hugeness of “My World” (pictured above) which is like 15 feet high, and made a comment about “suit of armors” in another painting depicting marching soldiers (she’s using metonymy at a 1st grade level).
However, the (free) visit wasn’t totally ruined because there is also a small exhibit of photographs by Allen Ginsberg which was a treat. And there is something about knowing that the permanent collection is there, you know? Even though it’s not a grade-A collection, I like knowing that whenever I want I can go take a look at “Sunday Morning in the Mines” or “The R of Proserpina” (talk about scary paintings).
By the way if you want to recall what they’ve got you can browse the collection online.
The Sac Rag 