Johns and Courbet at the Met

I went to the Jasper Johns grey show at the Met today. I enjoyed so much giving myself to this color. I like Johns' work a lot, although I don't think I've seen so many pieces all in one show. This was kind of an intense experience, because I got to get to know some more of the range of his work at the same time that I got to share in this deep involvement with one particular color. That isn't one color. There are so many differences in shade and texture. Creaminess, graininess, sootiness. The blues and browns. There were some pieces done in "sculp metal" that I think I liked the most. Also these small sculptures of light bulbs.

There was also an exhibit of Gustave Courbet, a nineteenth century French painter I know basically nothing about. I went through quickly, after having spent so much time on the Johns. but some of his paintings were so incredibly striking. This self portrait close up of his face that looks like he his flying at you. This sad and weird portrait of a white calf... And there was a room full of nudes that included a very close close-up of a vagina. I knew that the there are lots of openly pornographic oil paintings from this era, but I had never seen it before.