Maira Kalman is a poet whose pictures are words come alive. After seeing a Kalman image, one cannot help but feel comfort, whether it’s a COVID-era billboard in Times Square or the new book Still Life With Remorse: Family Stories (Harper Collins). The book, an autobiographical exploration cum ode to the beauty of “dark,” opens with endpapers that set the emotional state that the subsequent paintings impart.
Still Life With Remorse is also an exhibition at the Mary Ryan Gallery. “Meditating on the emotional weight of physical objects,” says Ryan, “Kalman presents beautiful, tender paintings with a hint of darkness. In this exhibition, the human presence is rarely seen but rather suggested through Kalman’s interiors and still lifes, all done with her signature sense of humor and exuberant use of color.”
Drawing on her family history, Kalman narrates the ordeals of her grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles as they immigrated from Belarus to Palestine and the United States. “Grappling with stories of love and regret,” continues Ryan, “Kalman gives us richly colored gouache paintings of objects including flowers, tabletops, fruit and chairs. Her passion for detail focuses on small fragments such as tassels, an elaborate hat, doilies or candlesticks. She often injects a touch of melancholy into otherwise bright and cheerful scenes.”
As Kalman explains, “I’m pleased to create something beautiful and then I’m pleased to put something sad into it.”
Paintings in this exhibit and book pay homage to the artists that Kalman holds supreme, from Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne to Virginia Woolf and Leo Tolstoy. Her singular passion for the work of others shown in her painting helps her navigate through the oceans of remorse.
The post The Daily Heller: Maira Kalman Celebrates the Dark and Light of Remorse appeared first on PRINT Magazine.