In 1998, the versatile, interdisciplinary artist Julian Schnabel presented a solo exhibition at the Guild Hall, displaying some of his extensive work. Now the Guild Hall welcomes Schnabel back to its museum to celebrate over 40 years of dedicated work with an exhibition.
The exhibition “Julian Schnabel, Selected Works from Home” opened to the public on August 4th, following a special preview of the exhibition during the Guild Hall’s Summer Gala on August 2nd, and it will remain on view until October 27th. The exhibition features paintings, drawings and sculptures by Schnabel from the past 45 years that the artist has kept for himself and that remain in his personal collection. This exhibition is organized by Melanie Crader, Guild Hall’s Head of Fine Art, in close collaboration with the artist, as well as Patrick Hillman, Julian Schnabel’s senior assistant.
Schnabel, a leading figure among the artists who revitalized painting in the late 1970s, is known for using unconventional materials and their use to create monumental works. He had his first solo exhibition in 1979 at the Mary Boone Gallery. Since the 1980s, he has divided his time between New York City and Montauk. That is when, according to Crader, he began painting “en plein air” – that is, working outside in the landscape he was creating.
Schnabel has worked as a painter, sculptor and film director and has quite an extensive artistic background. He paints on and with everything from wood to wax to resin and has used his artistic skills to explore the design of furniture and architecture.
“With Schnabel, there was no hierarchy in painting,” said Crader. “…no hierarchy in terms of the images, the content, the way a painting was made, or the materials used – everything was and is in play, allowing him complete freedom by removing historical constraints. This freedom allowed him immediacy in his practice and extended to other fields such as architecture and film.
“In 1978, Schnabel traveled through Europe and was particularly impressed by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona,” Crader continued. “That same year he created his first panel painting, ‘The Patients and the Doctors.'”
Some of Schnabel’s works may look to the trained eye like reinterpretations of classic paintings. These are his resin paintings, and they are that way for good reason.
“This is consistent with his practice of using found objects and re-appropriating found images,” Crader explained. “Schnabel’s resin paintings nod to the traditions of Italian and Spanish portraiture, yet the interruption of the white brushstroke clearly places the work in the late 20th century.”
An example of this technique is Schnabel’s 1997 painting “Las Niñas (Portrait),” which, according to Crader, “is based on a picture found in a second-hand shop in San Sebastián, Spain.”
“In addition, three of the paintings exhibited in 2019 are ‘Number 1 (Van Gogh, Self-portrait with bandaged ear, Vincent),’ ‘Number 1 (Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gauguin, Vincent),’ and ‘Number 2 (Self-portrait dedicated to Paul Gauguin, Vincent),’ all of which are panel paintings based on historical paintings from the series ‘Self-portraits of others,’ in which Schnabel recreated self-portraits by Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Kahlo and Velázquez,” Crader continued.
“As someone who has lived and worked in Montauk for a long time and is part of this community, we are thrilled to have Julian return to Guild Hall with this intimate installation of an extraordinary and historic work,” Crader said, noting that the exhibition’s opening coincided with Guild Hall’s summer gala on August 2 and a celebration honoring Schnabel, which “coincided with the final phase of our campus-wide renovation and the same year his latest feature film was released.”
In the Hand of Dante is Schnabel’s seventh feature film and will be released later this month at the Venice Film Festival. It is an adaptation of Nick Tosche’s third novel of the same name and stars Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, John Malkovich, Jason Momoa, Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese.
Additionally, Schnabel’s 1996 debut film, Basquiat, has been remastered in black and white and is set for release on September 13th by Janus. The film was restored under Schnabel’s supervision from a 4k scan using the original camera negative.
For an artist with decades of work (and a wide range of media), choosing which Schnabel works to include in an exhibition like this might seem like a daunting task. But for Crader, that was part of the fun.
“We wanted to show work that encompasses his 40-plus years of professional experience,” explained Crader. “Julian’s work is monumental in scale and achievement, and Guild Hall is an intimately sized space.”
“In planning this exhibition and discussing the possibilities, Julian generously offered works from his home,” she continued. “They are works that he wants to keep for himself and live among. We have paintings, drawings and sculptures from 1978 to 2021 and they are extraordinary.”
In his farewell message, Crader expressed his enthusiasm for the exhibition and the exceptional nature of the artist’s work over the decades.
“Schnabel’s work has been shown extensively around the world. He remains one of the most pioneering and prolific artists of the last four decades – and has been a major figure in contemporary art discourse since his first solo exhibition,” she said. “This exhibition is generous, intimate and a very special presentation. We can’t wait to share it with you.”
Julian Schnabel, Selected Works from Home is on view through September 27 at the Marks Family Gallery South, North and Tito Spiga Exhibition Space at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton. The galleries are open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. and Friday from noon to 7 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, visit guildhall.org.
