mountshang

Zen Landscape

2009-07-11T22:00:00.004-05:00

Kaihō Yūshō (1533-1615) whose Samurai clan was annihilated during the civil wars, survived as a Buddhist monk, to become a professional painter at the tender age of 60 and win the patronage of the Emperor and highest warlords. (this screen, and several others, comes from the St. Louis Art Museum which is collaborating on the screen exhibition now at the Art Institute)

I would like to sit in on the floor
in front of these screens
for days

but, of course,
my legs
would get very sore.

So it's very kind
of the A.I.C.
to allow
cameras into this special exhibition.

(and once the exhibit comes down in September,
the chances of my ever seeing these pieces again
are about zilch)

Marks

2009-06-28T09:55:00.011-05:00

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

2030

2031

2032

2033

2034

2035

Wucius Wong , 2005 #2035
Brice Marden 1996 #2034
Mary Heilmann, Heaven 2004 #2033
Cy Twombly #2032
Lisa Yuskavage, Angel, 2004 #2031
Lucien Freud, 1997 #2030
Arshile Gorky 1946 #2029
Matta 1942 #2028
Fritz Glarner 1957 #2027
Andre Masson 1926 #2026
Paul Delvaux, 1939 #2025
Max Ernst #2024
Rene magritte 1938 #2023
Yves Tanguy 1928 #2022
tiepolo 1742 #2021
Thomas lawrence 1815 #2020
John Singer Sargent 1917 #2019
William Merritt Chase 1910 #2018
Vuillard 1906 #2017
El Greco 1577 #2016
Elizaeth Sparhawk-Jones 1911 #2015
William Harnett 1888 #2014
Berthe morisot 1875 #2013
Monet 1906 #2012
Monet 1894 #2011
Gerard David 1500 #2010
Childe Hassam 1890 #2009
Jacques louis david 1769 #2008
Cezanne 1888 #2007
Contemporary Imitation marble painted column #2006
George Inness 1870 #2005
John Wollaston 1749 #2004
Twachtman 1889 #2003
Cy twombly, painted surface of statue, # 2002
Project board in my studio #2001

Lady Poets of Japan

2009-06-01T07:44:00.009-05:00

Chobunsai Eishi (1756-1829) depicting Shunzei no Musume

This poet,
from a family of famous poets,
may have been the author
of Japan's first book
of literary criticism (12th C.)

Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) depicting Murasaki Shikubu

My favorite writer!
I had never imagined her
quite that full bodied

Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) depicting Murasaki Shikubu

Yes, I imagine her more like this

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) depicting Ono no Komachi

This early Heian poet
is famous
for the poetry of courtly romance.
She is legendary as a great beauty
who, unfortunately,
lived long enough to lose it
and then regret her wayward youth.

In this exhibit,
she is depicted more often
than anyone else,
and usually these images
show people standing in the rain
which was summoned
by one of her poems.

(here's a version from Boston)

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) depicting Sei Shonagon

and this is exactly
how I would imagine
this worldly lady

with a sharp eye,
and a sharper tongue.

Chobunsai Eishi (1756-1829) depicting Ukon

Utagawa Toyokuni

To remind us
of how different
lady poets are from courtesans
here is an image
that combines both ideas

Chobunsai Eishi

note:
several of these poets
have been translated
here
by my favorite beatnik

Eloise W. Martin Gallery of European Decorative Arts

2009-05-31T08:08:00.004-05:00

Here's a new sign that just went up
in the Art Institute of Chicago galleries
that used to show early 20th C.
European painting and sculpture
(all of which has been moved to the new Modern Wing)

Not really what I was hoping for
to fill that space.

What about all the early 20th C.
European painting and sculpture
that can't be called "modern"?

Why doesn't that
deserve a place in
"an encyclopedic art museum"?

And I'm also wondering
whether any of this furniture
is all that special?

I think I've seen pieces
just as good (or better)
in the sets of period plays
staged in my small, local theatre.

Though, I'm glad
they're showing more wacky ceramics.

Here's the original line-up
for that famous sixties band:
"The Monkees"

So far,
this is the period I like the most

That little writing table
looks like it is just waiting
to go on stage and dance.

(and all these pieces recall the set for that
wonderful film version of "Traviata" --
i.e. this is the perfect furniture
for a courtesan)

though,
I'm not really sure that
would carry away any of this stuff
if I saw it stacked up in alley

or these things, either.

Maybe if they were installed
into a period room,
whose walls are covered with fabric,
I would find it more enticing.

(BTW -- what a perfect place for
the 18th and 17th C. tapestries)

I just don't think
something like this
should be on display
for longer than a few months.

The A.I.C. gallery of decorative arts
used to be in the basement,
and actually,
they had several sculptures
that drew me there about once a year.

Here's what I liked,
though regretfully,
none of those got taken upstairs.

(perhaps Eloise W. Martin didn't care for them)

My own Sculpture Garden

2009-05-30T15:53:00.002-05:00

Having
delivered my opinion
of the new sculpture garden
at the Modern Wing of the Art Institute
(actually -- there's two,
but the one on the ground floor
was too dreadful to think about)

... I guess I should offer a view of my own.

(or should we call it
"an installation"?)

Looking west towards the house
while approaching from the studio

The standing figures
are being completed
as we speak.
(they were cast last year)

The bust was made about 8 years ago
(I just re-discovered it
while cleaning out the studio)

They all seem to fit together
(at least from this view)

But if there's a narrative,
God knows what it would be.

Modern Wing at the Art Institute

2009-05-27T20:38:00.013-05:00

This is Saturday, May 16, 2009.

Opening Day
for the new Modern Wing
of the Art Institute of Chicago.

So, I started out in Millennium Park
and walked south
(as seen here)

crossing the Nichols bridgeway over Monroe Avenue
to the new entrance on the third floor.

Above
is a view from that bridge,
and I guess I'm not overly impressed.

not that pretty photos cannot be taken
(the above is from the AIC's own website)

But couldn't this
also be a hospital
or a laboratory?

or a corporate center
for a Saudi oil company?

It's so severe,
and the facade
seems to be serving as a screen
(like the ones designed to conceal
air conditioning units on roof tops)

Off in the distance,
you can just barely make out
an architectural relic,
saved from the demolition
of the Stock Exchange building
designed by Louis Sullivan

Here's that Sullivan fragment close up,
reminding us that not a single
curved line can be found in the
new building right next to it,

and that the entrance to the new building
is treated
as a barrier rather than an invitation.

Appropriate to this festive occasion,
a company of African dancers
was hoofing it up
in this small amphitheater
beneath the bridge

They were so lively.

You go girl!

Here is the first work of art
that one sees when entering from the bridge,
just outside the
Terzo Piano Restaurant.

A very handsome ceramic by Andrew Lord.

and this is the first artwork label
one encounters,
reminding us that these are not just beautiful objects,
but also examples of comtemporary art theory and practice.

Here is the rooftop sculpture garden,
facing north
towards the magnificent
Streeterville skyline.

Can any sculpture compete with those buildings?

Here's a piece from the first exhibition,
the chairs of Scott Burton.

You can see that visitors
would much rather look at the skyline

except that the chairs are fun for kids

Taking the escalator down to the first floor,
this is looking north down the main entrance hall.
(from the balcony with a snack bar)

Apparently,
the architect specified
that he wanted no works of art
cluttering up this area.

So it feels quite solemn to me.

Like a columbarium.

solemn, except for manic crowds
on opening day

who were too much for
the stairways to handle.

And it does seem curious that
there's only one stairway
running from the first to the third floor.

(but probably it will be adequate for
the traffic on most days)

The entire north wall is glass,
yet the galleries adjoining it are dark
because the windows have been screened
to keep views of the park
from drawing attention away from the art work.

So why make a wall of windows in the first place?

And as one can see by the example of art shown here,
a giant checkerboard (?) on the floor,
the view out the window still remains
far more interesting.

Here's one the signature pieces of contemporary art
that will be on display for a very long time
(it's too big to be moved,
and had to be installed before the building
was finished)

Do you notice what has drawn the attention of the crowd?

The label.

Because without that label's explanation,
who would give a second thought to this
meticulous reproduction of a rotting log?
(commissioned by Charles Ray)

And the light in the gallery is so dim and flat,
if the carving on that log were actually beautiful,
you would never know it.

More contemporary art
from the second floor (1950- present)

This pattern was repeated,
like wallpaper,
over an entire small room.

Got it?

Something about racism and national guilt.
If you can't figure it out,
read the label.

This piece,
by
Kerry James Marshall
is working a similar territory
and the label tells us that:

"Kerry James Marshall's paintings, drawing, and installations examine the representation of African American popular and historical culture. Grounded in the tradition of history painting, his work employs a narrative structure that formally addresses art-historical themes and references while recontextualizing African American societal issues."

But they don't recontextualize those issues for African Americans
outside the contemporary artworld.

Actually,
I think his handsome paintings
of beautiful people in love
can live quite happily
without any such explanations.

Fritz Glarner (1899-1972)

Climbing up to the third floor,
I finally get to the stuff I really like,
Modernism 1900-1950.

This is Mondrian
after a few glasses of wine.

Jacques Lipchitz

Regretfully,
modern classical and expressionist
figure sculpture
has been completely ignored in this exhibit
(although a bit of it appears in the American wing)

Lipchitz is here because he's called a Cubist.

and this piece is shown
because Brancusi
eventually would drop the human figure.

The sculptures of Matisse and Modigliani
are shown because they were famous painters.

Why is this museum turning its back
on 20th C. European figure sculpture?

(Maillol's "Enchained Action"
is no longer on display.
But it wouldn't fit
in these clinical display rooms anyway)

And of course,
the chances of finding any
traditional European
portraits, landscapes, or still life
in this wing
are about the same
as finding a statue of the Virgin Mary
in a Presbyterian Church.

Rushing out of the modern wing in anger,
I come across one of its benefits:

a new (though small) area
devoted to Medieval Islamic ceramics
and painting.

Ahhhh -- the visual delights of work
that does not require
explanatory text!

Athough much of the space vacated by modern painting
has been filled with the new
"Eloise W. Martin Galleries of European Decorative Art"
... i.e. a lot of furniture, with some ceramics,
most of which fails to excite me.

Which reminds me
of one final question:

why is the museum director (James Cuno)
called
"The Eloise W. Martin Director" of the Art Institute?

Shouldn't he be called
"The People of Chicago Director" of the Art Institute?

I mean.....

how can the Eloise W. Martin Director
say "No"
to Eloise W. Martin ?

Artopolis 2009 - Next

2009-05-05T21:29:00.003-05:00

The "Next" exhibit
(of younger galleries and artists)
is mostly a vast wasteland for me -
one MFA project after another.

But
I did like a few things,
like this head painted by the German artist,
Christian Schoeler.

John Copland (b. 1975)

And here's an amusing young American painter.

The large, 8 ft. painting doesn't quite hold together
except as a gag.

but I enjoy its details

Claire Sherman

and I like this large scale painting,
that seems to be
architectural in ambition.

She should be painting murals
for a zoo cafeteria.

Artopolis 2009 - Antiques Fair

2009-05-05T21:12:00.003-05:00

The Antiques Fair
was really strong on Tang Dynasty stuff this year.

Wow!
What a nice lady
to come
galloping across the sofa.

and then they had two
wonderful monsters

I may be trying something like this at home
this year

I think my front yard
needs one of these

wish I'd gotten a better photo of this
Han Dynasty fish vendor.

I've never seen anything quite like him.

Edgar Simone

This Italian sculptor
was in Chicago in the 1940's,
and he was completely new to me

Edgar Simone

I'm not sure
why anyone would want
such a figure,
but it was hard to avoid.

Charles Drew Cahoon (1861-1951)

Here's the only painting that flipped my switch
in the Antique Fair this year.
So simple - so precise

(a Cape Cod painter)

This fine head was
labeled "unknown Chicago sculptor"

... but it sure resembles
this
John Storrs
head from last year.

Artopolis 2009 - Art Chicago

2009-05-04T07:03:00.013-05:00

Anthony Eyton (b. 1923)
"Benares"

I feel like a quail hunter
when I walk through big shows like this.

My camera is cocked and loaded,
and when a painting seems to jump into the air
I pull the trigger and fire.

Not enough time for thought or contemplation,
just point and shoot
at whatever I want to remember.

This painting (by an aging Royal Academician)
must have caught my eye
because I've been immersing myself in India lately,
and I instantly recognized it as such.

Robert Dukes "After Corot"

The same British gallery
also had this delightful piece.

A study after Corot?
How Chinese of him,
to make something so fresh and alive
in response to an historical painting.

But now, I have to record
that I was wearing the above
as I traipsed through the show this year,
and soon was told
that after 34 years of service,
the dean of Chicago art critics,
Alan Artner,
had just been laid off by the Chicago Tribune.
(along with about 50 other staffers,
in a series of major blood lettings
as the paper stumbles through bankruptcy)

And, he's not going to be replaced.

The marriage of daily journalism and art criticism
appears to be over.

Of course,
there's still that posse of un-paid opinionators
like myself
who publish in blogs or in New City,
and it's better to have a bunch of people
looking at the fragmented art scene.

For example,
I will never set foot
into the Museum of Contemporary Art,
and apparently,
though Alan Artner was willing to pay it lip service,
he was not very enthusiastic about that genre either.

Read here
how he answered the question:
What Constitutes Quality in Contemporary Art?

His conclusion?

"In the 21st Century the finest contemporary art
is the art that makes the most money."

Yikes !
How Cynical!

Back on August 10, 2008
when that "Ask the Critic" essay
was first published,
the Tribune's website allowed readers to respond online,
and being the pest that I am,
I asked him :

"Then what is the role of an art critic?"

Apparently, he couldn't come up with an answer,
because my question was soon removed from the site,
and readers were never again invited to respond.

But, on this day, May 2
I actually had a chance to ask the critic
that question in person,
because there he sat,
right next to me in the "Press Lounge"
(to which the above badge gave me access)

I had never met this graying eminence before,
and here he was holding court
on his last weekend
of his life as an art critic.

But I asked him nothing.

(while recalling that it was just a few years ago
that I asked him to retire )

I have to admit
that occasionally I appreciated his recommendations,
like the ones he made regarding certain pieces
in the big tapestry show last year.
But the art critic's #1 job
is to identify the great (though under-reported)
artists of his own time and place,
and at this job he failed miserably.

Nothing about Milton Horn, Richard Schmid, or Enrique Santana.

He was apparently blind to the living traditional arts,
while merely lukewarm to the
contemporary artworld.

Though offering helpful (and safe) commentary about the past,
he was a fence sitter regarding the work of his own time,
and one may recall the horrible punishment
that awaits such people in Dante's Inferno.

So, no
I'm not going to miss him
except that ....

He was a very handy source
for news about small historical exhibits
in out-of-the-way places
(like a recent show at the Italian consulate)

And I like what he had to say,
in his very last review,
about how the Art Institute of Chicago
changed direction
regarding the contents of its new wing
in response to the flow of money
it got from collectors of contemporary art.

That's the kind of information,
about public art institutions,
that's only going to come
from a professional art journalist
who can make such observations
a matter of public record.

Morris Topchevsky (1899-1947)

Here's a Chicago painter
taking us to a dry goods market
(Maxwell Street ?)

Manierre Dawson (1887-1969)

An uncharacteristic nocturne
by Chicago's most famous
abstract modernist.

(painted on a roofing shingle)

Reminds me of an urban background
from the Quattrocento

Richard Schmid (1934-)

And here's a typical nocturne
from Chicago's most famous living Romantic
(and former president
of the Palette and Chisel)

Bo Bartlett

There always something
mischievous from this painter,
who's been in every Art Chicago
of this decade.

Bo Bartlett

and here's his self portrait
as Harry Potter.

Javier Marin (b. 1962)

Here's the most dramatic figurative sculpture
I've yet to see in these shows.

Big - ugly - grotesque.

Yes.

But, wouldn't they look good
in a tropical garden ?

Hugo Robus (1885-1964)
"Dawn"

I wonder if Robus is as popular elsewhere.
He seems to be appearing
regularly in Chicago.

Moses Soyer (1899-1974)

I like the Soyer twins,
and especially this nude from 1945.

Not to get too incestuous here,
but this exactly how I image my mother
must have looked at that time.

Jeremy Long (b. 1971)

I'm becoming a fan of this local painter
who makes enormous paintings
(the above is 6 foot high)

I like the power,
but might have had enough
of his Steven Spielberg vision
of American middle class life.

Ben Tinsley

Who is this guy?

One of my favorite paintings at the show,
selling for about $1600.

Hong Purume

This is the second year
I've stumbled across the
work of this Korean painter.

And a quick search of the internet
reveals that
she is just as beautiful
as her paintings.

Franz Kline 1957

Allegedly,
Franz Kline had no special interest
in the schools of Asian calligraphy.

What a tragedy
that he didn't found his own.

That's the problem with Modernist ideology:

it doesn't give much respect to followers.

China Square Gallery

Here's a Manhattan gallery's take
on contemporary art in China.

(more enjoyable, for me,
than the show currently at the Chicago Cultural Center)

The sculptor (of the nudes) is Cai Zhisong,
the painter is Xu Weixin

but here's the kind of Chinese sculpture
that I really like.

So little can say so much.

(very considerate of Art Chicago
to include a gallery of ancient Chinese art)

**********

Note:
this year marked the return
of Arcadia Gallery
but I wasn't really thrilled
because
by now, I've already seen Jeremy Lipking,
and the paintings they brought this time were
a bit disappointing.

Contemporary Sculpture from China

2009-04-11T20:34:00.006-05:00

Let's face it,
Chicago's Millennium Park
is not the Jardin des Tuileries.

It's just a high-brow amusement park.

Sui Jianguo (born 1956)

So so it's a proper setting
for these giant, out-scale toys
that have come here from China.

Made not by toy-makers,
but by graduates of Beijing's art academy,
which has moved quite easily
from the Social Realism of the revolutionary years
to the ironic flash n' trash
of rambunctious capitalism.

(Sui Jianguo is best known for his Mao suits,
following the trail blazed by Andy Warhol)

Chicago likes big dinosaurs
(there's a magnificent steel brontosaurus
just west of the Field Museum
which houses, of course,
the fossilized remains of "Sue")

Mr. Sui's version is kind of cheap looking,
and stickered "Made in China".

Get it ?

Chen Wenlin (b. 1969)

Strolling further into the Boeing Gallery,
we find this bizarre confection,
presumably a tribute
to Chicago as
"hog butcher to the world"
(do we still hold that title ?)

Kind of repulsive,
kind of funny,
kind of eye catching.

If only that little car that carries it
could be driven
in some kind of holiday parade
full of outrageous confections.

But there is something Chinese about it.

Mr. Chen must have seen
some ferocious temple guardian lions.

Zhan Wang ( born 1962 )

Finally, we come to this outscale version
of a Chinese scholar's rock.

The Art Institute had a display of such things
about 10 years ago.
They're natural chunks of rock
whose rough, weathered, perforated surfaces
provide an opportunity
to contemplate the forces of nature (i.e. the Tao)

But Mr. Zhan has made this rock by himself
(possibly by hammering sheets of metal
over a real rock)
and it allows the modern scholar
to contemplate the forces of modern civilization

Which is to say,
it looks like a train wreck.
(except that I've seen some good train wrecks,
and they look better)

It's not a bad idea,
to make a large, rough,
vertical piece
and display it against
the severe rectangles of a modern city.

But this one was made be ugly,
not beautiful.

which contrasts it with this
earlier installation in the park,
Anish Kapoor's famous "bean"
(or "Cloud gate" as he had named it)

It actually is beautiful

and it relieves the tedium
of modern urban architecture.

Perhaps beauty is more accessible
to a person born in Mumbai instead of Beijing
in the middle of the 20th C.

Art in Bloom

2009-04-04T22:12:00.003-05:00

It was Art In Bloom day
at the Milwaukee Art Museum today.

This is where local florists are invited
to decorate each gallery with a design
appropriate for the paintings on the wall.

Above is the 18th C. room
(with Beth posing beside the Fragonard)

and here is Beth
with the German Expressionists

(actually,
she is something
of a German Expressionist
herself!)

Gupta Sculpture

2009-03-29T22:26:00.006-05:00

Tara group, Aurangabad cave

The problem with sculpture
from the Gupta era (250-650)
is that so much of it did not survive
the Muslim invasions of northern India.

Dancing Gana, Bhumara, 500

This little fellow once danced
on the roof of a temple
that has long since been turned to dust.

Uttar Pradesh

This is probably the kind of thing
that the invaders found so offensive

Punar, 5th C.

It's called a "Golden Age"

Mirpur Khas, 400

Matrika, Rajastan, 6th C.

Mathura, 5th C.

Bihar, 6th C.

Rajastan, Tanesar-Mahadeva, 500

These little fragments
are now on display
at the Art Institute

Cruel Beauty

2009-03-29T18:30:00.005-05:00

So,
where would you expect to find
a piece like this ?

(other than in the Ando Gallery of the Art Institute)

Obviously,
in the boudoir of
a femme fatale

There's something unnatural
about its beauty.

Sometimes,
even when she's wearing
way too much makeup,
a woman can still be beautiful.

This would be a drawer
where the deed
to a client's family is being kept.
(before it is sold to a speculator,
and the current inhabitants are evicted)

or,
what about this cricket cage.

with a captive pair of
metal crickets.

There's something
so uncomfortable about it.

As a beautiful object
that might adorn a life of hopeless despair.

(both of the above are Meiji era pieces)

Of course,
I'm much more comfortable
with some 15th C.
Wabi Sabi.

reminds me
of the floor
of my studio!

Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper at the A.I.C.

2009-03-29T17:17:00.006-05:00

Matisse 1906

This show
is a nice opportunity
to compare Modern with Contemporary
(unless, like myself, you'd just as soon ignore the latter)

I'm not especially thrilled with the above,
but
I sympathize with the artist
needing to add a strip to the top of his sheet
after realizing that
he began the figure too high on the page.

Ludwig Meidner, 1913

Nightmarish ?
Yes... but also beautiful

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1905

Ah.. for the life of a wild, young artist.
This is presumably a scene from his studio in Dresden
where he and his friends founded "Die Brücke"

Lovis Corinth, Self Portrait , 1924

Something of an anomaly,
Corinth is from an earlier generation (b. 1858),
but here,
in the last year of his life,
we find him
as a full blown expressionist.

Oscar Kokoschka, Portrait of Alma Mahler, 1913

Another relic
of the famous romance
between a young artist
and the widow of Gustav Mahler.

There's something so...
damp
about it.

Kurt Schwitters 1942

There seems to be a story here.
With a little modification,
it could be one of the side panels
done by Duccio.

Which is why I like these
early 20th C. Expressionists,
even if there's a straight
(and descending)
line
from their artworld celebration of miserable self
to the contemporary art
that followed them.

Luca Cambiaso

2009-03-28T22:02:00.009-05:00

Here's a drawing
I saw last weekend in
this show at the Block Museum,

which reminded me
of another drawing by the same artist
that I saw in the
Goldman Collection
at the Art Institute last year.

Now, I realize,
I don't like Renaissance Italian drawings
so much as I like Luca Cambiaso

and here's the first one
I ever saw,
about 45 years ago
at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
(it was one of my father's favorites)

So now,

I'll just go whole hog,
and show as many as
I can find.

Here's the drawing
that made him so famous
in the early 20th Century.

An early cubist!

What could make a Modernist more happy?

But I'm more excited
by his rapturous control of space.
(though I'm also intrigued by
those block-headed figures
that he uses --
an early variant of the cone-heads
that would become famous centuries later
on American television)

Though, more likely,
it just shows that
he has a design
that's trying to become a narrative,
rather than
the other way around.

What a wonderful vision
of poor St. Paul falling off his horse
(and how much energy
is being released in every direction)

These lines
are as perfect
as those of Wang Hsi-chih

A nice image of St. Francis

Every squiggle
is just so right.

Here's a nice puzzle for you:
one of them is
by Cambiaso,
and the other is
someone else's copy.

Which is the original ?

The problem is.....
that he couldn't carry
this level of excitement
into the paintings
for which these were studies.

Unlike the great Chinese masters
of ink on paper,
European artists are basically
just high-end contractors.

They're small businessmen,
and perhaps they can't always afford
to bring exceptional quality
to all of their projects.

while these pieces
can be completed in a few hours. (or less)

so lively!

and I love how energy
moves across this scene
like a breeze
blowing through leaves
in a forest.

Poussin and Rembrandt
also made this kind
of wonderful drawing.

(but they could also carry that wonder
into their paintings)

every drop of ink is alive

here's the answer
to the question asked above.

the difference between
Cambiaso and the
other Renaissance draftsmen
is not one of degree.

It more like the difference
between poetry and journalism.

His sense of volume and space
is uncanny.

Persian and Mughal paintings from Cincinnati

2009-03-21T21:07:00.007-05:00

Iran, 17th or 18th c.

The bad news
from the Cincinnati Art Museum
is that they haven't shown
a single Chinese painting for more than a year.

But the good news
is that they're still showing
some great Islamic art.

The above style
looks so bad when it's caricatured,
and so good when
it has that spark of excitement.

Polo game, Shiraz, Iran, 1675-1700
from a Shah-nama

I wish the Art Institute
had stuff like this.
(the Met has several rooms full)

(I also wish they were better lit
so I could take better pictures.
Though I understand the
needs of conservation)

What a happy piece!

What a delightful,
musical,
court
that must have been.

(oops -- I forgot to shoot the label,
so you'll have to make up your own story)

Shirin receives the portrait of Khusrau
Iran, late 15th C.,
Khamsa of Nizami

There aren't many other figurative traditions
that just show people enjoying themselves.

Tur beheads Iraj
Safavid, attrib. to Sultan-Muhammad 1530-35
page from Shah Tahmasp's Shah-nama

Even murder
can be a beautiful thing.

Hamzanama, Hamza (companion of Muhammad) emerges
from a chest to confront King Zrtab who is taken prisoner
and later converts to Islam.
Artist is signed as "Mahesh"

The only Mughal paintings
I can remember
from my teenage years,
were the battle scenes
(with plenty of bloody beheadings)

Those are no longer on display,
but the above is just as good.

and it's especially interesting
from an historical perspective
because the artist's name is Hindu
while the patron is Akbar the Great,
from a dynasty that demolished it's share of temples
and slew its share of idolaters.

Akbar was also
a key figure
in the development of Hindustani music,
which is shared by Muslim and Hindu alike.

Indian Sculpture at the Cincinnati Art Museum

2009-03-17T21:00:00.004-05:00

What a thrill to learn
that this wonderful piece
is from the hard-to-find
Mathura period.

(Chicago has nothing like it)

But it's not one I grew up with,
since it didn't arrive until 1980

I also liked this 11th C.
piece from Rajastan,
which I also think post dated
my time in Cincinnati.

These regional styles
are so different
from one another.

This one seems
more musical.

and for a completely different style,
here's their Shiva Nataraj from Tamil Nadu,
the southeast corner of the peninsula
that is so distinct from the rest.

(I think it's 16th C., but am not sure)

There's something wonderfully different
about Tamil sculpture.

It's less sensual,
but more forceful

Is this the same Nataraj
I saw so often 40 years ago ?

I think so,
but now that I've seen others,
I realize how different it is
from ones that came from the north.

This is one Shiva
who really means business!

The History of Art Museum Catalog Design

2009-03-17T09:16:00.007-05:00

I had just a few minutes left
at the Cincinnati Art Museum
(while Beth was applying eyeliner
out in the parking out)

.. when I stumbled upon this sad notice
up on a wall near the museum entrance.

Noel Martin had just died,
and the museum was giving him a tribute.
(as did the New York Times )

Two years ago, I wrote about him here

And here he is,
as he appeared in his salad days
(his mouth a bit crooked
because it needed to be
holding up a pipe)

As it turns out,
I wasn't the only artist's kid
who visited his wonderfully cluttered studio
hidden behind a secret door
in the depths of the cavernous art museum.

Danny Leonard,
the son of designer William Leonard
(shown above at the far left, Martin is 3rd from left)
also took that magical trip,
and remembers all the swatches
of color and paper that cluttered that small office/studio
with the very high ceiling.
(the two artists then sent him off to play in the museum,
while they pulled out the Jack Daniels)

Martin is recognized
for bringing modern graphic design
into the world of art museum publications.

Do you see that dynamic, strong logo
that he made for them 50 years ago ?

Now, compare it with the wimpy version shown above,
that the C.A.M. is using these days.
(presumably to present a more family-friendly face to the public)

or compare it with the design
of museum publications from
earlier decades,
like this one
from the Chicago Art Institute in 1939.

Yikes !

It's as if they didn't care about design at all.

or look at this catalog
for an A.I.C. sculpture exhibit
that ran for 6 months in the same year.

Clearly,
American art museums had a much different
approach to their publications back in those days.

They just didn't care.

(though, I would rather have them
still have exhibits of local sculptors,
regardless of how carelessly the catalog was made)

What fun it must have been to
design all these graphics
for so many different kinds of shows

and to pick through
all the latest textures and colors of paper
that were available to him to use.

(and that manufacturers made sure
that he had at his disposal)

He was especially into typography,
and followed the latest designs,
which usually came from Germany.

(Danny tells me that in addition to a free studio
in exchange for his design work,
the art museum also let him use their phone line,
so he could talk with designers in Europe
at no extra charge)

Can you feel
how much fun he had
when designing this one ?

I can smell his aromatic pipe,
and hear his Wes Montgomery record
playing in the background.

Cincinnati Painters

2009-03-16T11:43:00.002-05:00

Imagine my surprise,
at this, the first, and last
posthumous birthday party
for R.J. Miller,
to find these two spectacular portraits
on display
with the other delectibles

Is it just the subject matter
that makes these paintings
so adorable ?

(my niece, Ashleigh,
with her son, Loki)

My niece, Joanna,
with her daughter, Allea.

No...
I think they really are good paintings
(especially the one of Ashleigh)

And they would add the name of Carin Hebenstreit
to the list of other good Cincinnati painters
who came after Frank Duveneck

like Bessie Wessel

and Dixie Seldon

The little Etruscan Warrior

2009-03-16T10:54:00.004-05:00

Here he is, at last.

The 5th C. BCE
Etruscan Warrior
that my father said
was the best sculpture
in the Cincinnati Art Museum

Unfortunately,
as you can see,
I had a hell of a time
taking shots of it.

He used to stand alone,
in a case all by himself,
as the proud acquisition
of the museum's director,
Philip Adams.

But now,
he's been demoted
to a community case
that he has to share
with all the other refugees
from the ancient Greek/Italian world.

And, he's so skinny,
my camera
insisted on focusing
on the objects behind him.

...while the glass display case
fills my images with reflections

But, hopefully,
you will get some idea
of what the piece is like.

Proud and unbowed!

despite 2500 years
of adverse history

Web Museums of the World

2009-02-28T09:07:00.013-06:00

While wasting time on the Sculpture.org listserv this week,
I was trying to show everyone a good depiction
of a Biblical miracle,
and I remembered the piece shown above
that I saw many years ago at the Cleveland Museum.

I love it!

Poor Jonah!

He's really gotten himself in a tight spot,
and then, miraculously, found a way out.

Only.....

1) It's not now on display in the museum

2) The above image is the best
that The Cleveland Museum has to offer.
(except that for $35, they will mail you
an 8X10 color photograph)

Ouch!

What is the mission of an art museum
if not to collect/protect objects of cultural significance
and then make them conveniently available to be seen ?

The website of the Art Institute of Chicago
is not much better,
the images are still less than 35k

The Metropolitan Museum of New York
has very small images, as well

...but at least
they let you zoom up
into the detail areas of your choice

as does the National Gallery.

But still....
these images are just too small
to get a good feel for what is happening

The Boston Museum has these midsize images
(and it looks like they will put all 350,000 pieces up on the net)

..and they let you zoom up to this size for details

But this is the best detail that they offer
for one of their greatest paintings,
the Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace.

And it's just not big enough.

The same thing with this detail area
offered by the Hermitage

The Prado is much better,
allowing the user to zoom up to about 60X
(the above is a detail from the below)

but still,
it would be nice to get the whole image
in a very big size

which is exactly what
the British Museum offers.
(except that you have to register,
and then wait 24 hours for them to
send you the image by email)

(the above is a detail that I have cut
from the much larger image that they sent)

and finally,
we should mention the Louvre,
which is exceptionally good for sculpture
since it offers so many multiple views.

*******

Overall,
the European museums
are much better online
than their American counterparts.

Possibly,
they consider their mission
to be cultural dissemination
rather than high-end entertainment.

(although -- I can't find any online collections
from museums in Italy, except the Vatican,
and nothing from Germany.

Perhaps they are taking the old prostitute's advice:
"Don't give it away, girls")

BTW,
the Tokyo National Museum
shows nice big, 100 k images,
except that
it doesn't show very many,
(and I'm wondering whether
they ever will)

The National Museum in Taipei
offers a few full scrolls like this one, on the internet

..which is zoom-able up to this

(depicting the poet/painter Su Shih floating down the Yangtze River
past the famous Red Cliffs where Cao Cao was defeated
a thousand years earlier)

but even better
are the zooms that are possible
for the calligraphy

(this scroll is by
Wu Yüan-chih (active 1190-1195)

Fortunately, they have good online displays
for the items in their special exhibits.

But unfortunately, only an expert
can find them.
(you can't get there from the main menu)

Guess I should also mention the Rijksmuseum
that shows VERY big images
of selected paintings in their collection.

Here's a nice piece of calligraphy
in an unusual masonry style.

Mathura

2009-02-07T09:05:00.009-06:00

Stupa from Sanchi, c. 50 BCE

I'm finally turning my attention to another
great civilization of the world,
India,
and my first big discovery
is the sculpture of Mathura,
one of the styles that developed
in the 4 centuries
between the two great empires,
the Mauryan and the Gupta
(200 bc - 200 ad)

It's contemporary with the Ghandaran style,
example of which are
much more common
in American museums,
probably because the more detailed style
made for highly collectable fragments -
and
it reflected a Hellenistic influence
probably more popular with collectors.

There's no Mathura work in Chicago,
and I can only remember seeing one piece
anywhere else -- in the Met.

The memorable characteristic,
for me,
is the full figured, melon-breasted women
as shown above
often hanging from trees

They're called Laksi,
and apparently
they do not appear
in the pantheon
of either the Vedic religion, Buddhism, or Jainism.

(though there also appears to be a backstory
that makes them assistants to a god of wealth
who moved to the Himilayas)

They just seem to express
the irresistible desire
to be surrounded by young,
full bodied,
beautiful women.

(with which I have great sympathy)

from Kusana, 2nd C.

Nobody has a body
that looks like this,
composed with such
full, simple shapes.

but that doesn't really bother me.

These are architectural features
that also happen to be sexy.

2nd C.
And why are they
often standing on the backs
of these little monsters ?

BTW -- this girl
is pointing to the nail marks
on her cheek,
presumably left by
last evening's lover

(this is the same age
that produced the Kamasutra)

from Uttar Pradesh c. 100

from Punjab, c. 200

from Uttar Pradesh, 50 BCE

2nd C.

from Uttar Pradesh, c. 15
Here's the Mathuran version of relief sculpture.

It feels Romanesque, doesn't it ?

Quite different from the Ghandaran style.

from Uttar Pradesh, c. 15

from Uttar Pradesh, c. 15

I can't figure out this story.
Is this the burial of a dead prince ?

Uttar Pradesh, c. 50 BCE

The male figures are also voluptuous,
with cute little tummies

2nd C.

This is the Maitreya Buddha,
the one who is coming in the future

Here's the Mathura piece
from the Cincinnati Art Museum

They date it to the 2nd C. C.E.
and locate it in Kushan

Murphy Hill Gallery II

2009-02-04T20:07:00.006-06:00

Ralph Murphy stopped by the store last week
and alerted me to the new exhibit in his gallery.

As usual, it wasn't artists that he had selected,
but at least someone had selected them
(their sales rep)

And happily,
one of them was George C. Clark
a member of my art club
whose drawings show up many times
on ThisoldPalette

I've known George for 30 years,
and
there's always something both strange
and ordinary
about his scenes.

This is Halloween
(see the little ghost ?)

There's no axe murderer here,
but obviously
sudden and violent
death is in the air.

This artist goes by the name Isz.

I think that if a person feels this way,
she should sit down
and take a few deep breaths
but
it certainly feels well crafted

This is an image
that never saw paint and brush,
except within a program like Photoshop.
The artist is Eric Sorensen.

I suppose
I just like to lie on the grass
and look up at the trees.

This was my big discovery for the day,
the photography of John Segami.

I'm not a big fan of photography
(except of statuary)
but these images
just sucked me right into their mysterious world.

They seem so well designed,
I thought that John Sagami had
manipulated them as digital images,
but no.

He's just using all the tools of
of a good, old fashioned camera.

it's such a busy scene,
and yet it makes me feel so relaxed

and here's my favorite.

It feels just the way I "see"
the episodes in the Shanghai novels
I've been reading.

( I always read stories in black-and-white)

Etruscan Sculpture

2009-01-28T07:17:00.004-06:00

Back when I was a impressionable youth,
my father took me to the
Cincinnati Art Museum
and declared that their
Etruscan-stickman-warrior
was the best sculpture in their collection.

Regretfully,
on my last trip there,
I couldn't get a good photo
through the reflective glass case
and the piece
can't be found on the museum's website

And, to my surprise,
there wasn't much on the Internet either,
or even in the art books
at the Ryerson Library

But whatever I find
will be added to this post.

None of them seem as good
as the one I remember
seeing when I was 12,
but that could just be
the nature of my memory

most of the ones I'm finding now
appear to be from a later
less anorexic style,
which is good too,
but not quite as exciting

I feel kind of bad
for the old Etruscans.

They seem like an elegant
and gentle people.

As the Roman historian, Livy, tells us
every Spring a Roman army
would march north to do battle,
and after a few generations of this,
Etruria finally succumbed.

this is one of my favorite pieces
from the books,
and I think this book
was in my parents' collection.

Etruscan sculpture was a big deal
in the modern art world of the early 20th C.
(that's why there was such a good market
for forgeries - which fills the first few pages
of a Google search)

But today,
that enthusiasm has waned.

(BTW - the above piece is #1 for me,
not at all hurt by the background
cleverly placed behind it)

The Art Institute of Chicago doesn't have
any Etruscan bronze warriors,
but it does have this wonderful terracotta.

What a great action scene!
(and perfect composition)

The Aesthetics Cop

2009-01-08T08:16:00.007-06:00

Here is the complete text of
"How the Metropolitan Museum Misteaches Art" (1962)
by my favorite skeptical curmudgeon,
Theodore L. Shaw.

How can you argue with a skeptic ?

Except -- perhaps to ask him
how he would do a better job than the Met.

Perhaps this guy is too
much of a crank
to merit serious attention.

But still...
I like the questions that he raises,
and if serious aesthetes
cannot answer them,
they should probably be arrested
by "The Aesthetics Cop"
and locked in an art museum
until they can figure them out.

And,
I like the fact
that he shows paintings
and then variants of them
to test whether that variation
would make any difference to the man in the street.

(although to an aesthete,
the opinion of randomly chosen individuals
would be worthless)

His contribution to art theory
may found here:

"Art Reconstructed: A New Theory of Aesthetics"
(published 1937)

that somewhat resembles
a text book in high school physics,
and was discussed here , here , and here )