Arts

CAMILLE CLAUDE

• By CYNTHIA LUM

The sculptor Camille Claude will be presented in a featured exhibition at The Getty Center April 2 – July 21, 2024 – July 21,2024 Celebrated for her brilliance during a time when women sculptors were rare, Camille Claudel (1864–1943) was among the most daring and visionary artists of the late 19th century. Although she is remembered today for her dramatic life story—her passionate relationship with artist Auguste Rodin and 30-year internment in a psychiatric institution—her art remains little known outside of France. Including about 60 sculptures, this major exhibition seeks to reevaluate Claudel’s work and affirm her legacy within a more complex genealogy of Modernism. Born in northern France, Claudel moved with her family to Paris around 1881. Early on, she was recognized for both her artistic talent and her physical beauty. After studying sculpture at the Académie Colarossi, she shared an independent studio where Alfred Boucher taught. In 1885, Auguste Rodin asked Claudel to become a studio assistant.

Teacher, mentor, and lover. By working as Rodin’s apprentice, she had the chance to study the nude figure and anatomy, an unusual opportunity for a woman in the 19th century. She modeled hands and feet for Rodin’s Burghers of Calais and posed for figures in his Gates of Hell. By 1893, because of Rodin’s prominence in French culture, Claudel secluded herself in her studio to focus on creating work that would establish her own reputation.

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Flamenco Vivi

• By Cynthia Lum

Coming to UCLA NIMOY Theater, Thursday April 11 2024 at 8pm. Flamenco Vivi brings audiences an evening of bold, exciting dance. Called “The Keeper of Flamenco” by Dance Magazine, Flamenco Vivo celebrates the passion and power of flamenco. Artistic Director Carlota Santana channels the exuberant energy of tablaos, Spain’s intimate flamenco venues. Relishing the highly improvisational nature of flamenco, the new work Tablao Flamencohighlights the dynamic interplay of the dancers and musicians whose symbiotic creativity gives flamenco life.Co-founded by Santana and Roberto Lorca in 1983, Flamenco Vivo advocates for flamenco’s recognition as a living art form and a vital part of Hispanic heritage. Noting flamenco’s roots in Arab, Jewish, Roma, Spanish, African and Latin American cultures, Santana and Lorca believe flamenco can serve as a unifying force across generations and cultures.

Under Santana’s artistic direction, Flamenco Vivo has premiered more than 25 original works, offering commissions to numerous flamenco artists from Spain and the United States; important creations include Bailes de Ida y Vuelta, depicting flamenco’s journey through Latin America; Mano a Mano, a tribute to the bullfighter Manolete; and the contemporary flamenco story-ballet Federico, a celebration of the life of Federico García Lorca. Ms. Santana created the company’s innovative arts-in-education program, integrating Spanish dance and culture with academic curricula, and has pioneered bilingual education initiatives targeted to immigrant populations, as well as other programs addressing the special needs of students with disabilities.

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BUTTERFLY PAVILION

• By CYNTHIA LUM

Wonder takes flight at the Museum! Stunningly beautiful butterflies flutter (and often land on you!) as you stroll through the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum. This springtime exhibition features hundreds of butterflies, colorful native plants, and plenty of natural light to help you see these creatures shimmer. With lots of flight space and a variety of resting spots, come get one of the best views in Los Angeles of these amazing insects. 

Butterfly wings are like name tags with poems on them: the malachite sports the green tinge of its namesake gem, stripes cut across the zebra longwing, and there is something undeniably regal about the fiery-hued monarch. Thick black veins outline rich amber cells, like some kind of natural stained glass. Count up to 30 different species, including California natives like the Mourning cloak and Common buckeye.   

Visitors will see all the stages in the butterfly life cycle including eggs, caterpillars feeding on leaves and chrysalises. Museum educators and animal care specialists to find out what makes these animals so special. 

While you are there don’t forget to stop by the NHM Have a chance to shop in the NHM Butterfly Pavilion shop. 

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MAURICE SENDAK

• By CYNTHIA LUM

Wild Things Are Happening at the Skirball Cultural Center will take you on a trip to the fantastic world of Jewish American artist Maurice Sendak, creator of the acclaimed children’s books Where the Wild Things Are (1963), In the Night Kitchen (1970), and Outside Over There (1980). Organized by The Columbus Museum of Art, where it premiered in October 2022, it is the first major Sendak retrospective since his death in 2012, and the largest and most complete exhibition of his work to date. 

More than 150 sketches, storyboards, and paintings by Sendak drawn from the collection of The Maurice Sendak Foundation. Presented alongside landmark pictures for Sendak’s own books will be examplesof artwork he created for such celebrated as The Bar-Poet by Randall Jarrell, A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss, the Little Bear series by Else Holllmelund Iarik and Ziateh the Goat by Isaac Bashevis Singer.

This groundbreaking exhibition also adds new depth to audiences’ understanding of Sendak’s life—as a child of Jewish immigrants, a lover of music, someone with close personal relationships—and how it dovetailed with his creative work, which drew inspiration from writers ranging from William Shakespeare to Herman Melville. From portraits that he made of loved ones to archival photographs of family members to toys he designed as a young adult, the exhibition brings Sendak and his work to life in three dimensions.

Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak opens to the public on April 18, 2024, and will be on view at the Skirball Cultural Center through September 1, 2024.

For more information and related programs, click here.