NEW YORK, NY.- The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 19101930, the first in-depth examination of Orphism, which emerged in Paris among a cosmopolitan group of artists in the early 1910swhen changes brought on by modernity were radically altering notions of time and space. Open from November 8, 2024, to March 9, 2025, the presentation features over 80 artworks comprising painting, sculpture, works on paper, and ephemera, installed across five levels of the museums spiral rotunda.
The poet Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term Orphism in 1912 to describe artists who were moving away from Cubism, toward an abstract, multisensory mode of expression. Apollinaires concept referenced the Greek mythological poet and lyre player Orpheus¾who swayed nature and challenged death with his songequating the ephemeral abstraction of music with Orphisms transcendent character.
Associated artists such as Robert Delaunay, Sonia Delaunay, Frantiek Kupka, and Francis Picabia created kaleidoscopic compositions that captured the simultaneity of modern life. Some investigated chromatic consonances and contrasts in their prismatic works, while others engaged with the rhythms and syncopations of popular music and dance. They drew inspiration from Neo-Impressionisms color theory and the Blue Rider groups philosophies. When pushed to its limits, Orphism meant total abstraction.
Alongside the formal harmony and dissonance related to color and sound that underpins Orphist compositions, the exhibition reveals sociocultural corollaries sparked by transnationalism, or the connections that greater mobility fostered between artists from myriad countries who converged in Paris as well as the tensions that geographic and cultural dislocations could engender.
Harmony and Dissonance employs Orphism as a generous and elastic category to embrace a range of artists experimenting with abstraction in the early twentieth century. Thus, selected works by Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Albert Gleizes, Mainie Jellett, Fernand Léger, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Morgan Russell, and others are among those in the presentation. Around a quarter of the exhibitions works hail from the Guggenheims collection, the very body of art that Frank Lloyd Wright designed the museum to house, aptly honoring the buildings 65th anniversary in fall 2024.
Harmony and Dissonance is accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue that, in tandem with the exhibition, situates Orphism historically, traces its roots, and addresses its multidisciplinary reach. Edited by Vivien Greene, the fully illustrated publication features essays by an international roster of established and emerging scholars from multiple fields including art history, dance, history, literature, and musicologynamely Nell Andrew, Tracey Bashkoff, Gurminder K. Bhogal, Elizabeth Everton, David Max Horowitz, and Effie Rentzouas well as concise texts that consider specific artists through the Orphist lens contributed by Matthew Affron, Masha Chlenova, Riann Coulter, Joana Cunha Leal, Megan Fontanella, Caitlin Glosser, Bellara Huang, Michael Leja, Anna Liesching, Chitra Ramalingam, and Rachel Silveri.
The conservation of Robert Delaunays Eiffel Tower (1911; inscribed 1910) is another example of the commendable scholarly research conducted around this exhibition. The cleaning of this work by the Guggenheim Museums conservation team, along with Frantiek Kupkas Divertimento I (1935), has restored the paintings subtle yet important color shifts, depth, and sense of movement.
Additionally, the museum is conducting a carbon emission study on Harmony and Dissonance, in accordance with the institutions commitments to quantify its environmental impact, establish benchmarks and baselines, and ultimately reduce its carbon footprint.
Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 19101930 is organized by Tracey Bashkoff, Senior Director of Collections and Senior Curator, and Vivien Greene, Senior Curator, 19th- and Early 20th-Century Art, with the support of Bellara Huang, Curatorial Assistant, Exhibitions.