Magic Transistor

Jean-Michel Basquiat. Untitled black-book page, c.1984.

Paul Klee. L'Ile engloutie (The sunken island), 1923.

Paul Klee. Helldunkel-Studie (Chiaroscuro study). 1921.

Eva Hesse, Untitled (Brown ink with wash on paper, detail), 1966.

Romare Bearden. Memories. 1975.

Romare Bearden. The Block. 1971. 

Expansive in scale, narrative detail, and conception, The Block celebrates a Harlem neighborhood in a dynamic, affirmative spirit. The collage is organized in six panels that together measure eighteen feet. Dense incident drawn from an almost journalistic reporting of everyday activity is coupled with imagery from an inner world of fantasy and pure imagination. The reportorial and the fantastic are conjoined here in a scene emblematic of the African-American experience-at epic scale. 

Whether we are seeing public, private, inner, or spiritual worlds, Bearden uses disjunctions of scale within the various vignettes to drive home emotional or narrative points. Other devices, too, carry the expression; color plays a huge role, as do sensitive transitions from black and white motifs to full spectrum. Sound was integral to the work as well: the original installation was accompanied by recordings of street noise, news broadcasts, and church music. -Met

Paul Klee. Scherzo with Thirteen. 1922.

Cy Twombly. Anabasis. 1983.

Claude Lorrain, Landscape with Pan and Syrinx, 1656.

Gustave Klutsis, Communism MUSIC Americanism, c. 1920.

Henry Darger. Untitled (Spangled Blengins). 1940s. 

Pablo Picasso, Death of the Harlequin, Paris, c. 1906.

Robert Adam, Romantic Castle, N.d.

Thomas Gainsborough, Wooded Landscape with Peasant and Donkeys, N.d.

Lina Bo Bardi, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (Arcitectural drawing), Brazil, 1968.

Vincent van Gogh, Winter Garden, Nuenen, 1884.

Joseph Beuys, Tunnel (Cathode Rays), Felt-Room Action, 1964.