Monsters in Africa

Yinka Shonibare, "The Sleep of Reason (Asia & Africa)" 2008

In Goya’s original print series, Los Caprichos, his intent for his “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” print was to demonstrate that by turning off strict reason, the artist could produce creative, dark monsters. For his sleep, this was a good thing. In 2008, when Yinka Shonibare reproduced this print in his Asian and African versions, his intent, to me seems different. Right now the sleep of reason of certain leaders in Africa and the general apathy of  other countries worldwide are producing the very real monsters of genocide, famine, sexual slavery, etc. This New Year, join me in informing yourself and maybe even sending a little money to help the people and groups who are making a difference.

Enough Project —  enoughproject.org

Human Rights Watch —  hrw.org

Genocide Intervention Network — genocideintervention.net

Save Darfur — savedarfur.org

The Resolve (Uganda & DR Congo) — theresolve.org

Investors Against Genocide — investorsagainstgenocide.net

International Crisis Group — crisisgroup.org

Invisible Children — invisiblechildren.com

 

Speaking of Christmas…..

"Virgin and Child from the Abbey Church of Saint-Denis" c. 1250-1260 CE, Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati

A statue from the collection of Cincinnati’s own Taft Museum of Art, and one of the most important of its type in the world,  is being shown on a massive international, online project of French Gothic ivories. From Artdaily:

The Gothic Ivories Project website makes available the first 700 objects from a database that already numbers more than 3,000 ivories. A detailed entry has been written for each piece and the vast majority are illustrated by high resolution colour images, with multiple views. The final number of objects looks set to triple Koechlin’s figure.

“The project has been made possible by the collaboration of numerous institutions”, comments the Project’s director, Professor John Lowden, “but it is not only the major museums that will benefit from this resource. Many Gothic ivories are still in private collections, and the website will enable owners to identify what they have.” Project manager Dr Catherine Yvard adds: “The support we received from institutions around the world has been astonishing: all major collections have joined us and smaller collections have also been enthusiastic.

We are equally interested in including objects in private collections, so as to be as comprehensive as possible. The website will be accessible to all and is designed to welcome collectors and curators as well as students and scholars. As so many Gothic ivories were divided up for sale in the nineteenth century, there is a very real chance of being able to identify what have been thought to be missing parts of a whole. The website makes possible searches by many aspects of content, provenance, function and so on.”

To see the Cincinnati Virgin and Child, click here.

what i want for christmas…..

"Rouchefoucauld Grail" (detail), 1315-1323, Sotheby's, London

Wow. So how often does something like this go to auction? No, it’s not THE Grail, but in the world of medieval codicology (the study of books as physical objects) this is THEIR grail. The Rouchefoucauld Grail (c. 1315-1323) is considered to be the oldest surviving account of the Arthur’s quest for the Grail. From ArtDaily:

It is the greatest romance of chivalry produced in the Middle Ages, and its themes of friendship, treachery, ambition, achievement and star-crossed tragic lovers form the foundations of much of our modern literature. The stories of the quest for the Holy Grail, of the Lady of the Lake, of King Arthur and his court at Camelot, and of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, captured the imaginations of generations to come, and have inspired some of the best-selling novels of our time. The Rochefoucauld Grail is from the 14th century, and on a scale which is as impressive as the text: some 200 cows would have been needed to produce the vellum sheets that make up the three monumental volumes, the whole embellished with some 107 jewel like illuminated illustrations – each one a work of art in its own right.

Dr Timothy Bolton, specialist in charge of the sale at Sotheby’s, said: “This is one of the principal manuscripts of the first significant medieval work of secular literature. It is a grand book, in a monumental format, with 107 miniatures, each a dazzling jewel of early gothic illumination. The subjects are almost entirely secular – a breathtakingly unusual thing at the time – with scenes of jousts, tournaments and battles, noble adventures and daring tests of strength and courage. The scenes often have a riotous energy, and often stretch beyond the boundaries of the picture frames, with lofty towers poking through the borders at the top, and figures tumbling out of the miniatures onto the blank page as they fall or scramble to escape their enemies.”

To check out the parchment’s specs (or to register for the auction) click here. Just keep in mind it may go for around $3.2 million. If that’s a little out of your price range though, I’ll settle for any of these.

Back to some writing & some history……

The writer at the Grave of Henry David Thoreau (Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Mass.)

After a few month away, I’m back to some writing. Sometimes you can go for months without the mood striking you, and so it goes. Recently, I’ve been reading Eric Weiner’s wonderful travelogue, The Geography of Bliss. In describing “the happy person”, he quotes the British philosopher Bertrand Russel: “Such a man feels himself a citizen of the universe, enjoying freely the spectacle that it offers and the joy that it affords, untroubled by the thoughts of death because he feels himself not really separated from those who will come after him. It is in such a profound instinctive union with the stream of life that the greatest joy is to be found.”

Earlier this year I took a trip to Concord, Mass. and felt a bit of this “profound instinctive union”. For me however, this bliss and happiness comes not from connecting with “those who come after”, but rather with “those who came before”. I find a sublime giddiness when history smacks me in the face. In Concord’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, there is a little dirt trail running up a steep but short ridge. When it crests, you come face to face with history. Here are the graves of Thoreau, Alcott (Louisa May & Bronson), Emerson, and Hawthorne (along with his artist wife, Sophia Peabody), all within ten yards on each other. I felt at first disoriented, and a little intoxicated (hence the look on my face in the above photograph). But then came understanding: just as Jefferson, Adams, et al. created Political America, these people,  whose mortal remains were at my feet, created Cultural America. Ahh…..a “hyper-senstivity” of history.

Another trip to the Taft…..

Henry Peach Robinson, "Dawn and Dusk" (1885), Cleveland Museum of Art

So I’ve just viewed the new exhibit at the Taft and have one thing to say: I am ready to admit that photography is an art form on par with painting and sculpture (possibly). I am only ready to say this under the condition that said photograph is done following the precepts of pictorialism, a school of art in the late 19th C. which claimed that in order to achieve artistic viability, photography had to begin following the form and style of traditional painting. As this exhibit, TruthBeaity: Pictorialism & Photograph, 1845-1945, makes clear, this new art form worked from its very beginnings to prove the legitimacy of its expression.

Curated and collected by the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, highlights of the exhibit are photographs by Alvin Langdon Coburn, F. Holland Day, Robert Demachy, Frederick Evans, Gertrude Käsebier, Heinrich Kühn, Edward Steichen,  and Alfred Stieglitz. My favorite was the above photo by Henry Peach Robinson. A great exhibit which I can’t wait to see again.

Frank Duveneck, "Elizabeth Boott Duveneck" (1888), Cincinnati Art Museum

 However, the biggest surpise came in the form, again, of an unexpected Duveneck. In my last post, I had mentioned that the Taft had lent their Duveneck painting to the Cincinnati Art Museum for an exhibit. Well, as a nice little quid pro quod the CAM has lent the Taft Duveneck’s portrait of his wife, Elizabeth Boott Duveneck. I have only seen this painting on display once at the CAM years ago. This is a beautiful painting which documents a tragic part of Duveneck’s life. Their life together ended too early when Elizabeth died in 1888 after only a few months of marriage. This portrait was in fact her wedding portrait. A great essay by Carol Osborne about their relationship can be read here.

The Duveneck Boys

Frank Duveneck, "The Whistling Boy" (1872), Cincinnati Art Museum

So there is great new exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum that truly may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for art lovers. The exhibit, Cincinnati Collects America, displays dozens of painting, sculptures  and decorative works that most of the time hang in the homes of some pretty wealthy folks in the Queen City. I was really amazed to see some of these works and a little depressed to know that this is the only time I’ll see them. Amongst others, they had portraits by Sargent and Henri, and a beautiful genre scene by Cincinnati’s own Elizabeth Nourse.

However, the most amazing part of the exhibit was a free-standing wall right in the middle of the exhibition space. Hanging on it are two of Frank Duveneck’s most famous paintings, “The Whistling Boy” and “The Cobbler’s Apprentice”. With them is displayed another painting of a boy with tousled hair that is from a private collection. Let me tell you, these are three of the coolest kids ever put on canvas.

Frank Duveneck, "The Cobblers Apprentice" (1877), Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati

“The Whistling Boy” stands cooly looking at the viewer,well, whistling. “The Cobbler’s Apprentice” stands holding the product of a long day in the cabbage field, putting the Marlboro Man to shame. It’s really great to see “Boy” and “Apprentice” together considering how well-known they are in Cincinnati and that they are usually hanging a few miles away from each other in the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Taft Museum, respectively. I implore you to check it out.

Quick closing note: I want to thank Shelley, the art expert over at About.com for posting a profile of me and my blog. It’s nice to be noticed. Thanks again to Shelley and everyone else who continues to read my humble little blog.

 

“Android Karenina” & Quirk Classics Giveaway

Welcome to my little part of the Quirk Books “blogsplosion”. Let me first direct you to the Quirk Books message boards where you can go, put in your name, the name of this blog and you are entered into the Quirk Classics giveaway. 25 individuals will win a Prize pack of books, posters, audio downloads, etc, etc. After you’re done reading, go there and good luck.

Andriod Karenina is book that at times seems to ask “what will it be like? ” when it is in fact asking “how might it have been?” This book reads at time like Alan Campbell or at other times like the best of speculative, historical, science-fiction. (whew!) Set in imperial Russia, Android maintains the romance and class struggles of the original while giving way to the subtext of post-industrialization’s effects on people’s personal, day-to-day lives. Anna and Vronsky have their affairs of the heart and Stiva and Dolly have at each from the opening chapter…..but in the hands of co-writer Ben Winters, in this world, all human actions seem to have parallel actions in the world of their servants/companions: the robots.

Written as a “steampunk” epic, Andoid Karenina does not cater to the lazy reader. The function of each robot is given in it’s name (“I/Samovar/1(8)”, for example), but much of the human/robot etiquette and scientific terminology is not readily explained and the reader must work through this based on context alone. For this and many other reasons, I would highly recommend Andriod Karenina to any fan of science fiction or 19th century romantic epics. But I would especially recommend it to anyone looking for a book that is truly imaginative and challenging.

“Andriod Karenina” — Quirk Giveaway!

Got my Advance Reader’s Copy and will be reviewing it here on June 8th! Watch this space for your chance to win one of 25 Quirk Classics Prize Packages.

pat steir: underrated?

Pat Steir, "Blue River"

According to John Perrault over at the ArtsJournal, contemporary painter Pat Steir is the most underrated painter in the business. She has been exhibiting since the mid-60s and has been overshadowed as abstract expressionism moved on and pop art took over. Her early work was  blocky and narrowly dimensioned. But starting in the 70s her work was smoothed and textured with more subtlety. She became less shy about epic size and dramatic presentation.  Of the above painting Perrault noted that “like all of her rivulet paintings [Blue River] has great drama, a kind of theatrical presence not seen since Pollock, Newman and Louis.” — quite good company. Steir said of her style that, ““I wanted to destroy images as symbols. To make the image a symbol for a symbol. I had to act it out―make the image and cross it out. …no imagery, but at the same time endless imagery. Every nuance of paint texture worked as an image.”

I would recommend looking at some of her work in anticipation of the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center’s exhibit of her work which starts this weekend.

Pictures & Words: Hawthorne

Charles Osgood, "Portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne" (1840), Peabody-Essex Museum, Salem, MA

Between tall gate-posts of rough-hewn stone, (the gate itself having fallen from its hinges, at some unknown epoch,) we beheld the gray front of the old parsonage, terminating the vista of an avenue of black-ash trees. It was now a twelvemonth since the funeral procession of the venerable clergyman, its last inhabitant, had turned from that gate-way towards the village burying-ground. The wheel-track, leading to the door, as well as the whole breadth of the avenue, was almost overgrown with grass, affording dainty mouthfuls to two or three vagrant cows, and an old white horse, who had his own living to pick up along the roadside. The glimmering shadows, that lay half-asleep between the door of the house and the public highway, were a kind of spiritual medium, seen through which, the edifice had not quite the aspect of belonging to the material world.

– “Mosses from and Old Manse”, Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Old Manse, Concord, MA (Photo by P. Simcoe)