This is a close-up of some jamb sculptures at Chartres cathedral in France. These fellas were completed in 1240 A.D. Here’s the full picture. Abraham is shown in the middle here with a young Isaac. They’re standing on a ram, to remind us of the story of God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son, only to intervene and provide a sacrifice (the ram) at just the right time. On Abraham’s right is Melchizedek, a king who was also a priest, and on Abaraham’s left is Moses, who holds the tablets of the law. Abraham and Isaac are both looking at Melchizedek, Isaac’s gaze directed more at the chalice Melchizedek holds more than at his face.

The craftsman (or men) who made these sculptures has made layer upon layer of beautiful meaning. In every way, visually, physically, and in their story, Abraham and Isaac are dependent on Christ. They stand on him…he’s bearing their weight, and they’re pose is completely focused on him in the person of Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was a King and a Priest, which didn’t happen very often and Hebrews 7 tells us makes him a type or picture of Christ. Genesis only says that he was King and Priest of Salem (which means Peace) and that he blessed Abraham after a battle and gave him bread and wine. The chalice he holds in this sculpture remind us of that story and also of communion or Eucharist wine-Jesus blood- which would have been served in a chalice just like this. Abraham and Isaac look to Christ and his body and blood for salvation.

Another layer of meaning comes from the historical context of this cathedral. France had only been a Christian nation for a few hundred years. Before that, they were pagans, worshiping all kinds of idols, quite often with human, especially child sacrifices. When Abraham received the command to sacrifice his son, he didn’t know what God would do. He didn’t have the Torah to tell him what this God is like. He only said, “God will provide for himself a lamb for a burnt offering,” and obeyed. It was in this story that God declared that he did not require Abraham to kill his son and gave the promises that he would fulfill in his Incarnation…confirming that He would sooner die than break his promise to Abraham and all of his children. This story would have been so dear to people whose recent ancestors had been worshiping gods who required the blood of their children, and now worshiped the God who freely gave and still gives all the blood of His only Son.

As Christian artists, we have such a rich heritage of beautifully crafted, deeply meaningful images that direct praise to our great God. And it’s only as Christians that we have a solid basis for and perfect example of the strong giving Himself for the utterly helpless. The small, helpless ones have value because He says so and He didn’t just say it, He humbled himself and became utterly helpless. Our God was once a zygote, a fetus, all of those words we use that mean little tiny fragile human, born in the body of a teenage girl. It’s that earth-shattering incarnation that gives our efforts – artistic and otherwise -  meaning and hope.

Recognized Contemporary Canadian Artist and founder of The Automatic Word Drawing/Painting style Richard Rossetto is currently looking for investors interested in accumulating a collection of images created during study and creation over a “year” of  an artist’s life. This work would be An accumulation of works created over the period of ten to sixteen months and include a combination of studies and finished works ranging from still life pencil drawing , small word oil paintings up, portrait studies in all media to on finished 14x 17 inch finished oil painting(subject matter to be discussed by investor and artist). This work would be compiled and sent in mail art form to the investors.

Art Lover 10000$ ( or 1000$ a month) would receive one art package(or one work a month) with a minimum of ten works of art. These ten works would consist of studies(both traditional and non traditional)on paper and canvas, a minimum of three finished works on canvas ranging in size between  14×17 inches to 1×2 feet with the possibility of a commission piece.

Investors 20000$ would receive minimum of fifteen work, which would include: completed word drawings, word drawing studies ( meaning a  composition has not been found), life studies (figurative, still life, portraiture), oil studies on canvas, oil studies  on paper canvas, and one minimum six foot by four foot oil Automatic Word Painting

VIP 30000$-…..

This is an example of what a package might look like. The work is guaranteed and the collection will be worked upon until the patron is satisfied. Please contact rossettoink @ Gmail.com for more information . References available upon request

You can also see more of my art and follow my musing on modern art at this link

http://www.artandculture.com/users/2959-richard-rossetto

Here is a link about art as an investment by Reuters journalist John McCrank

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091120/stage_nm/us_wealthmanager_art_1

Other works available for investment

http://rossettoink.com/2009/10/13/hans-all-over-150000/

http://www.artandculture.com/feature/1352

This work entitled Heros was sent to Ugo Matulic as a thank you note for a recent interview he gave me involving his Norval Morrisseau art collection. Through our interview and countless other discussions he has given me great insight into why collectors collect a particular artist or images.  It is entitled Heros as I believe Norval is very happy to see us working together to defend and promote his work , it is also entitled as when ever I see two figures one male, one female I often consider them father and mother looking to defend and up bring their young, which truly is a lot of work and makes them true heros, just like fire and policemen.  All of these “Heros” give often selflessly for the benefit others. So I guess what I am trying to say is thank you to all the HEROS.

Richard Rossetto

Ps As I was writing this post I realize I spelled heros wrong, That is how the image is spelled on the card so that is the title of the work, a funny note on that is that many pieces have had  names misspelled and often at times changes the name and meaning of the name in the work. I also believe that there is some sort of link between the way I in take and out put written information and how my word drawings are created.

http://www.artandculture.com/feature/1817

Fun stocking stuffer for your favorite artist…two erasers per set, one with the portrait of a famous artist, the other with one of the artist’s paintings.  Latex and pthalate free white eraser. 

The Daily Book of Art features 365 readings that teach, inspire & entertain.  What do the Mona Lisa, the Parthenon and a pinecone have in common?  Why did van Gogh purposely sever his ear?  What colors should you wear while dieting?  Who was Caravaggio?  Learn the answers to these questions and more in The Daily Book of Art, a yearlong journey through lively and thought-provoking discussions.  The book also includes fun, simple step-by-step exercises by artists Eileen Sorg and Ed Tadem.  This book is one daily indulgence the reader need not feel guilty about!

The Field Museum was founded to house the biological and anthropological collections assembled for the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. These objects form the core of the Museum’s collections which have grown through world-wide expeditions, exchange, purchase, and gifts to more than twenty million specimens. The collections form the foundation of the Museum’s exhibition, research and education programs, which are further informed by a world-class natural history library of more than 250,000 volumes.

This year the Exhibitions Department is hosting one Wellesley intern assigned to the division of Exhibition Development.

Internship Description for 2010

The staff members of the Field Museum’s Exhibitions Department are responsible for the development, design, and production of permanent, temporary, and traveling exhibitions. Each project team includes one graphic designer, exhibition designer, content developer, production supervisor, and project manager. These team members work together to create exhibitions that communicate the main messages of the museum’s curators. Exhibitions are chosen and developed based on the museum’s mission of helping visitors “explore the Earth and its people” and vary in size and scope from small installations of photographs to a large exhibitions of artifacts and scientific specimens.

The intern will help the Exhibition Developers in their role as content developers for exhibitions. In addition to assisting with day-to-day duties such as topic research and project management tasks, the intern will receive a more intensive introduction into the area of audience research as it relates to exhibition development.

The intern will work with teams of museum professionals as they plan, develop, design and conduct audience research leading to the implementation, production, or post-opening evaluation of a number of exhibitions. A significant portion of the intern’s duties will focus on conducting and analyzing audience research. This research serves as the fundamental basis of the exhibit development process.

 Other duties may include: attending meetings and strategy sessions relating to the development and design of selected exhibitions, assisting in developing questionnaires and implementation strategies for audience research projects, assisting in writing reports on data gathered from interviewing museum visitors.

The intern will be mentored by Franck Mercurio, Senior Exhibition Developer. 

Desired Qualifications

This internship is available to current Sophomores and Juniors who are studying history, art history, anthropology, archaeology, classics, paleontology, or related subjects. These subject areas are ideal for the type of research and content development that is done in the Exhibitions Department. Additional coursework in psychology, economics, or education are all ideal for visitors studies and audience surveying. All candidates must have strong organizational skills, research skills, and written communication skills. 

Self-motivation, and the ability to work independently-especially on research assignments- are desirable qualities in the candidate. Candidates should also have good oral communication skills. They should be comfortable speaking and interacting with visitors of varying age ranges and backgrounds. They should also be comfortable speaking with the diverse members-and diverse personalities- of an exhibition project team. 

No language requirements.

A recreation of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sky Above Clouds IV was painted on a concrete wall outside of my 4th grade classroom. At some point I had learned it was a work of art, but that concept was meaningless until I went to the Art Institute with my parents on my birthday.  We came across the painting while going down one of the museum’s grand staircases.  Mounted high above my head,  I could not see its brush strokes, imperfections or other indications of “realness.” Nonetheless, it was clearly more exciting than the school mural.  I remember wanting to stay because there seemed to be something to figure out about this painting. But, we had to move on because we were standing in the middle of the museum’s stairs.

Georgia O’Keeffe. Sky Above Clouds IV. 1965. Oil on canvas. 8 x 24 ft. Image from The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I was not taught how to look at art as much as how to make it until taking a Humanities course in high school, during which we studied art’s masterpieces by flipping between and comparing images in E.H. Gombrich’s The Story of Art at record speed; there was too much art history to be had for a high school class divided into equal parts between visual art, music and literature, but we did what we could.

I studied Ingres’s Une Odalisque during a college Humanities survey course, but I was not prepared for the way such a work could bring a person to pause.  Visiting the Louvre as an American citizen is typically expected to be a pace-driven experience, as one tries to consume as much art as possible in a single day. The chateau’s daunting, 4-wing layout and shopping list of masterpieces-to-be-seen in the map discourage any sort of intimate experience one might want to have with singular works of art.  Une Odalisque was a painting I happened upon while wandering through the rooms of French Neoclassical paintings.  The preciseness of the technique was so much more stunning and the blue so much more bold than I had expected, I felt like I could stay with this single painting until the institution closed and be content.  But for reasons I can no longer remember, we felt compelled to keep on, the art marathon track guiding us away from any impromptu lingering.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Une Odalisque. 1814.  Image from Musee du Louvre.

In The Story of Art, Gombrich offers warnings against the meandering experience:

“People who have acquired some knowledge of art history are sometimes in danger of falling into a…trap. When they see a work of art they do not stay to look at it, but rather search their memory for the appropriate label. They may have heard that Rembrandt was famous for his chiaroscuro…so they nod wisely when they see a Rembrandt, mumble ‘wonderful chiaroscuro,’ and wander on to the next picture.” (Gombrich 34)

Museums are highly conducive to the empty wandering Gombrich describes; Michael Kimmelman recently discussed the phenomenon  and attributed the problem to a desire for self-improvement. His claim that there is pressure to see everything is certainly true. “Everything” could be everything in the museum, everything in an exhibition, everything famous.

“Everything” never means one work of art.  Yet, a painting as rich as Une Odalisque commands a stop, an opportunity for the viewer’s full attention. I disagree with Kimmelman  in that I think a thorough trip to the museum can be meaningful when objects are viewed more quickly but still thoughtfully and as a whole.  However, there are also works of art that need to be seen entirely on their own, without a “white cube,” placement on a time line or the underlying desire to see anything else.

Charlie White’s 1957 is a work I want to return to see on its own.  The photograph is part of This Old, Weird America, an exhibition currently on view at the Frye (see exhibition reviews by Regina Hackett and Jen Graves) comprised of an interesting, and often unexpected,  grouping of artists. However, 1957 is so fascinating I am tempted to come back to see this photograph only.  A composition of filmic and allegorical images combines with a level of attention to period details seemingly comparable to Mad Men to open a space for considering how the past is created in the mind, amid the fictional representations to which we cling.  Although the intrigue of 1957 can be enhanced by the works around it, the experience of seeing it independently is entirely different.

Charlie White. 1957. 2006. C-print photograph. Image from CCF Artist Gallery.

Sky Above Clouds IV and Une Odalisuqe were early occasions in which  I felt compelled to focus on only on one thing and did not.   Since my experience at the Louvre, I have had several opportunities to go into a museum and see only one thing. The evening I arrived in New Orleans to see Prospect.1*, I could only find one work of art to see, as all of the venues were already closed. Alexandre Arrechea’s Mississippi Bucket was listed as being in the Plaza of Good Fortune at Harrah’s Casino, which seemed like a place that would be open all night.

Alexandre Arrechea. Mississippi Bucket. 2008. Plaza of Good Fortune, Harrah’s Casino, Prospect.1 New Orleans.

Predictably, the Plaza of Good Fortune was difficult to find. The Harrah’s tower dominated the modest New Orleans waterfront, but determining the location of a particular plaza housing a work of art was challenging. After walking through an underground tunnel towards the inside of the casino, I made my  way towards the first human in sight.  When I asked about the Plaza of Good Fortune, she directed me back outside.  After wandering the perimeter of Harrah’s for 20 minutes, searching for something to indicate the plaza I needed (Symbols of luck? Pennies falling from the sky?), I happened to look down to see a sprawling, trough-like sculpture made from wood.  After spending so long in search of the Plaza of Good Fortune, I kept reconsidering this empty, quiet bed of tributaries and what good fortune actually meant to them.

Since this encounter with Mississippi Bucket, I went to SFMOMA to see only Olivo Barbieri’s site specific_LAS VEGAS 05, I went to the Henry to see only Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation’s The Rape of the Sabine Women, and I wandered through the labyrinth of the EMP to find Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean jacket and white glove.  All of these works are highly memorable to me in a way that even standout work in an exhibition is not. One of the reasons for this difference is the individually viewed work of art becomes an experience rather than one object among many.

Creating an “experience” is something museums constantly strive for, and yet the “museum visit” can become so formulaic (get ticket, enter galleries, see special exhibition, see permanent collection, depart) that remembering even a hand-full of works can be challenging by the end of the day. Interacting with a work of art involves both the artwork and the viewer; when a single work is seen alone, the entire context of seeing becomes part of the work.

Although admission fees, large-scale marketing campaigns and highlighted maps may suggest otherwise, seeing one work of art should not be considered a luxury reserved for the admission-less museums in England or the masterpieces of painting in France. The viewing process always under our control, and it is our responsibility to see accordingly.

*For the purposes of this essay, the biennial experience’s qualities of maximum art consumption and presence as a large-scale exhibition make it comparable to the museum experience.

Jane Stockdale – This road safety sign in the Himalayas (2009)

If I just left you in the park, would you still walk home the same way like we did last year? Or would you try to save time on the way home if I wasn’t here?

All the dust I swept away yesterday just returns as I stare. And one neighbor, he looks away as I walk by. Like you, he learns I’m not there.

On the drive out to the store, I trace your name out three times with my finger on my knee. I pretend you sit beside me as we drive towards a day at the beach.

Geoff Farina – The Same Way

The Italy Peggy Guggenheim Collection began in 1980 as an invitation to young people to assist operations in the early days of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection has developed into a competitive international internship program, involving the operation of Italy’s foremost modern art museum. It is the first and the only program of its kind in Italy. The work-study program offers an experience as unique and wide-ranging as the museum itself. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, endowed with art of the full high Modernist spectrum, is situated in Venice. For young people interested in the arts, a Peggy Guggenheim Collection internship is an opportunity to profit from in-depth exposure to modern masterpieces and from involvement in Venice’s premier cultural environment simultaneously.

The steady expansion of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection from1980 to today parallels a comparable growth in the internship program. The number of students has increased from 6 to as many as 30 students per month. In 2009, of approximately 1,200 applicants, 146 were successful from 37 different countries. The program is organized by the Manager of Education, together with two former interns who are selected to return for a period of approximately 6 months to manage the daily and weekly activities of the group.

In addition to Peggy Guggenheim’s collection of the classical avant-garde, the museum also presents on permanent display masterpieces from the Gianni Mattioli Collection (Futurism, Modigliani, Morandi) and modern sculpture from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection. The permanent collection is integrated by temporary exhibitions.

Internship Description for 2010

Interns assist in the daily operation of the museum four days a week. They prepare galleries prior to opening, guard the rooms, answer questions from the public, sell tickets and catalogues, and close the museum at the end of the day. Interns are assigned to help staff the offices (administration, public affairs, press, library, publications, registrar research, retail operations). They also act as docents. In particular they may be involved in presentations to visitors and in KIDS’ DAY—guided visits and workshops on Sundays for junior members of the visiting public.

These tasks involve considerable daily responsibility. Part of the experience is, therefore, work of a varied nature. In addition, through its ownership of the US Pavilion, the museum has direct involvement with the US presentation at the Venice Biennale.

Consequently, interns may have the privilege of assisting in the world’s oldest international contemporary art event. Several times a week interns meet for discussions and seminars on art historical or museological issues. These seminars are conducted by the interns themselves as well as by staff members or visiting professionals. Speakers from 2007-2009 included: artists Lawrence Carroll, Jason Martin, Catherine Opie and Fred Wilson; Sculpture conservator Stefano Lanuti; Luca Massimo Barbero (Director, MACRO, Rome, on “Carlo Cardazzo: A New Vision for Art” exhibition); Nancy Spector (Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; on Felix Gonzalez-Torres exhibition, 2007 Visual Arts Biennale); Christopher Rauschenberg and Susan Davidson (Senior Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; on “Robert Rauschenberg: Gluts” exhibition), Andrew Gibbon-Williams (Critic, The Sunday Times); and respected Art Historians such as Gail Levin, Robert Hewison, Sharon Hecker and Flavio Fergonzi.

Museum staff speaks regularly to the interns about their role in the museum and upcoming projects. Visits in and outside Venice are planned twice a month to allow interns to view exhibitions and cultural and historical sites in various Italian cities. Interns have the exclusive use of the museum’s library of modern and contemporary art and enjoy enough free time to study privately, attend language courses and lectures, and take trips around Venice and elsewhere in Italy.

Desired Qualifications

Academic interests should include at least one of the following: background in history, training/interest in arts-related career (applied art, art history, teaching, gallery or auction professions, museum administration, or curatorship)

An ideal candidate should be able to work independently, be outgoing and have a great sense of creativity.

Knowledge of Italian is preferred.

Chinese brush painting by Wang Xi Meng, 1096-1120 AD

I do a Poetry Saturday column, and a random, curiously named “Daily Musings” column, which doesn’t actually happen every day (hee hee)–and I’m also starting a new art-focus feature, inspired by my friend Robert’s blog. He does an art history and appreciation day, where he brings interesting works into the light, for people to enjoy and explore.

I’m planning an art focus column for Fridays, inspired by Robert’s art history days–featuring works of art that I find compelling or mesmerizing. Might be fun and interesting. Might suck. We’ll see.

My goal:
To bring some interesting pieces of art out of the stiff, formal world of art history, and into every day enjoyment. Period.

Check out my article about photography of blind subjects. This is my first contribution to Viz, the online journal of visual studies for the Department of Rhetoric at UT Austin.

NARCISSUS by Bob Kessel
apres Caravaggio

“NARCISSUS” by Bob Kessel, is from his art series “ART HISTORY”. This picture and many others, can be purchased as signed and numbered limited edition original fine art prints. Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.

Here’s a final rough draft of a paper  I wrote during my junior year of college… while I was completely drunk. It was later revised, lengthened, and turned in the following morning while  immensely hungover… I don’t really recall what I did to change it, as the final copy lies somewhere on a dead computer/in my professor’s garbage can.  Hands down one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done, and I mysteriously got an A on this… I say ‘mysteriously’ because there is a fat lot of this that is lazy and outright atrocious.  If you can make it through this, I will grant whatever wish you ask of me.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Arrangement in Black; The Lady in the Yellow Buskin - Portrait of Lady Archibald Campbell. 1882-84. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA

“…The beautiful wraith with beryl eyes, our Lady Archie, how is she?” Though written to James McNeill Whistler in a letter from then-friend Oscar Wilde in the summer of 1882, a year before the artist had even publicly exhibited the painting, this small remark contains an almost uncanny description of Arrangement in Black: The Lady in the Yellow Buskin (Figure 1).  Standing at the threshold of a seemingly endless black void, the very same “Lady Archie” casts the viewer a fleeting glance from behind, her pointed nose and glassy eyes peeking out over her fur-clad right shoulder, as if we have caught an apparition right before the moment it disappears. But perhaps she is not a ghost—perhaps she represents “a streetwalker encouraging a shy fellow with a backward glance”, as members of the Campbell family had interpreted the unusual and decidedly brash portrait. Yet maybe both readings are incorrect–maybe what Whistler physically represented on his canvas was all that the viewer was ever intended to see: a portrait of a well-dressed, well-to-do friend. However we may choose to see this painting, Arrangement in Black: The Woman in the Yellow Buskin is nevertheless the product of several intersecting concepts: of the erratic and contradictory genius of Whistler himself, of the way in which feminine gender roles and fashion were portrayed in Victorian culture, and of the ascent of Aestheticism.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Composition in Black, at least at a first glance, is the sheer scale of the painting. Measuring at eighty-three by forty-three-and-a-half inches, the canvas is almost overwhelmingly huge. In spite of the fact that it currently hangs in the corner of a room already packed with paintings, the size alone is enough to command the viewer’s attention immediately upon entrance. Even the portrait’s subject herself is life-size, a long rectangle of blues, blacks, and browns, with a few spots of creamy skin poking out from her sleeves and under her large fur hat. These arrangements of color seem flat, even blockish, composed of long, broad, and (to the unaccustomed eye) haphazard brushstrokes. And what’s more, there is no detailed background to support the subject–only a dusty beige ground and the aforementioned velvety black shadows It is only when the viewer is inches away from the painting that he or she sees the detail put into the fine hairs on Lady Archibald’s fur coat, or the  subtle way in Whistler paints one eyebrow furrowed, while the other sits high in an almost accusative manner.

In examining James McNeill Whistler’s life, perhaps such a unique, brash painting is better explained by the fact that an equally unique, brash artist was behind its creation. Born in the United States on July 11^th, 1834, Whistler spent his childhood punting between America, England, and Russia, lapsing in and out of various childhood illnesses, losing two younger brothers, attending the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and getting kicked out of West Point for poor grades in chemistry– all of this under the watchful eye of his highly religious mother, Anna, and the decidedly more lax (but equally concerned) guidance of his father, George Washington Whistler. Following the death of the senior Whistler and James’ expelling from West Point, it was only a few short years before the artist took the initiative to say goodbye to his birth country in 1855, from whence he then settled in Paris for the next several years. As an inattentive student at the atelier of Charles Gleyer, Whistler seemed more concerned with the idea of living out the life of a French Bohemian than turning in assignments or showing up to sketch, instead drinking up the busy city life and basking in the presence of equally headstrong  artists like Courbet. After leaving France and settling down in England in 1859, Whistler was swept up in f (long chunk o’ missing)

With such a dynamic life behind him by the time of the conception of Arrangment in Black, it may be easiest to make sense of the painting by focusing on more well-known, earlier Whistler works. While there is no denying the importance of other Whistler paintings (the early “Japonism” of At the Piano, the abstraction of the infamous Falling Rocket), it is his portraits of other women that are of particular interest. While it is not always the case, a curious pattern repeats itself throughout the breadth of his work: the female model, clad in beautiful clothes, has her back turned against the viewer and her face portrayed in lost profile, with a simple background of one or two colors behind her. A few examples in which this arrangement is utilized include his portraits of Mrs. Louis Huth (Figure 2), Mrs. Frances Leyland (Figure 3), and Rosa Corder (Figure 4). However, this is not particular to Whistler–the pose was frequently found in the works of other contemporary painters and in fashion plates/photography. (Nakanishi) Still, when we compare Arrangement in Black to the aforementioned paintings, there is something comparatively personable in how Lady Archibald stares at the viewer directly in the face. Where the other woman are almost passive entities, silent clothes hangers subject to the decidedly foppish whims of Whistler, she directly interacts with the viewer in a most unladylike and somewhat atypical-to-Whistler fashion.

I use the terms “unladylike” and “atypical” in the context of Victorian British gender roles and the massive influence Aestheticism on Whistler’s painting. Late 19th-century depictions of women within popular literature and art are saturated with the concept of the “Angel in the House”–a woman committed to and content with the traditional feminine role of domesticity, morality, and chastity. (von Hook) Combined with the rise of Aestheticism (the concept of “art for art’s sake”, or art devoid of any inherent narrative), (Chu) not to mention the growing fashion industry, it is not necessarily surprising to see the trend in depicting women as decorative beings–centerpieces to a beautiful interior, living dolls displaying elaborate clothing and hairstyles.  However, as much as a driving force in Aestheticism as Whistler was, Composition in Black becomes less strange when compared to his famous Symphony in White, No 1: The White Girl (Figure 5). It too features a woman who faces out towards the viewer, and it too sparked salacious and controversial remarks in regards to its decidedly aggressive woman (note that she stands on top of a bear rug), in spite of Whistler’s best efforts to insist its lack of a subject. (Spencer)

But what of Lady Archibald herself? Knowing her dynamic personality, as alluded to earlier by Oscar Wilde, may clarify why Whistler depicted her in such a curious manner.  A patron and close friend of Whistler, Lady Archibald (born Janey Seville) had married Lord Archibald Campbell, son of the Duke of Argyll, in 1869. Both shared an interest in theater, producing open-air plays out in the countryside of their Coomb Hill Farm. The Lady fancied herself somewhat of an amateur actress, as well as a writer, having published her own pamphlets on harmony and color. In the words of art critic Theodore Duret, Janey was “a woman of great distinction  … intelligent and of independent spirit.”  (Anderson, 245) (I am hoping there was something that actually connected this to the last few paragraphs somehow )

Having discussed some of Whistler’s catalogue, the Aesthetic movement, and the character of Lady Archibald herself, it’s perhaps difficult to come to a conclusion as to what this portrait was meant to signify—if it signifies anything at all. If Aestheticism is “art for art’s sake”, as the saying goes, then are all meanings that we try to assign to this painting completely arbitrary, aside from the idea that the painting was created for the purpose of pleasing the senses? Certainly, it is a sensual painting in the truest sense–Lady Archibald herself is not only a beautiful woman. but we can practically feel the weight of her soft, fur coat and the heaviness of the thick black of night that surrounds her. However, perhaps there is something deeper and more personal to the painting. There is a theatricality to the it that suits an amateur actress like Lady Archibald–the artificial light (reminiscent of a spotlight on am empty stage), the moody facial expression, the gesture of removing a glove  (as if she is enticing a customer with the supple skin of the wrist, or preparing to slap someone).  She is no clothes dummy at all, but a figure in control of the painting entirely. Even if one decided to interpret it as a depiction of a prostitute–not even a surprising, if perhaps incorrect, reading, given that a decent lady of society always wore her her gloves (Nakanishi) and wouldn’t dream of walking a dark street alone–Lady Archibald is still no weak, fallen women. Whistler has given her a playful expression, with a raised eyebrow and upturned mouth that almost make her seem condescending to the viewer. Even her eyes seem fairly uninterested in focusing on us–the glassy irises almost give them a sense of movement, as if she is curtly signaling towards the final destination that she will lead us to.

Nevertheless, we cannot be entirely certain of how Whistler wanted us to view Arrangement in Black: The Lady in the Yellow Buskin. As a painting, it is almost completely ignored in most literature on Whistler–a footnote sandwiched somewhere amongst “Whistler’s Mother” and “The White Girl”, forgotten in favor of the Ruskin controversy of the late 70s or his bitter falling out with friend-turned-foe Oscar Wilde. Perhaps  Lady Archibald Campbell was meant to be depicted as nothing more than a woman caught in the moment of taking off a glove, an explicitly meaningless and outwardly insignificant scene. Or, on the other hand,  is it a uniquely undehranded painting that embodies much of what makes Whistler so fascinating? It’s struggle between abstraction (in the stylized colors, relatively flat space, and the typically music-inspired title itself) and meaning (depicting a specific woman in a forward and potentially quite layered setting) symbolize Whistler himself–the man who spent the bulk of his life in movement, planted in Aesthetic ideals while never completely able to shake the lingering Realist strains of his young adulthood in Paris; the man who indulged in dandy dalliances and “idled” as a student, but was never too slow to show himself as force of talent and wit. If James McNeill Whistler was a man of contradictions, it is perhaps not amiss to suggest that Composition in Black: The Lady in the Yellow Buskin is just one physical manifestation of this struggle. (A world of no.)

Works Cited:

Anderson, Ronald and Koval, Anne. James McNeill Whistler: Beyond the Myth. New York City: Caroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1995.

Chu, Petra ten Doesschate. Nineteenth-century European Art. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2006

Fleming, Gordan H. Whistler: A Life. New York City: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.

Nakanishi, Branka. “A Symphony Reexamined: An Unpublished Study for Whistler’s  Portrait of Mrs. Frances Leyland.” Art Institute of Museum Studies. Vol. 18, No.               2, British Art: Recent Acquisitions and Discoveries at the Art Institute, (1992), pp.               156-167+188-191. 2 May 2008, <http://www.jstor.org>.

Spencer, Robin. “Whistler’s ‘The White Girl’: painting, poetry, and meaning.”    The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 140,9 No. 1142 (May, 1998), pp. 300-311.      29 April 2008. <http://www.jstor.org>.

von Hook, Bailey. “Decorative Images of American Women: The Aristocratic Aesthetic of the Late Nineteenth Century.” Smithsonian Studies in Amrican Art. Vol. 4, No. 1.   (Winter, 1990), pp. 45-69. 5 May 2008. <http://www.jstor.org>

Wilde, Oscar. “Oscar Wilde to JW, [June 1882].” The Correspondance of James McNeill   Whistler. 12 NOV 2007. The University of Glasgow. 27 APR 2008 <http://    www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/index.htm>

It’s time for the end of the quarter and looking back I wish I had said a little more than I did, but It felt like I was just starting to get to know you all a little better.

But then again I’m sure I’ll see many of you around and maybe even see you in class. If you do see me just tell me hey and I promise I’ll try to talk more than I did, haha

Good luck with everything guys, it was a pleasure.

A.G.

While at the museum I took a little deeper look into the religious art while I was there, more than I did before.

Seeing how we were coming into the Christian artwork I was looking forward to it but we never really got too far into it. I drew Jesus on the cross and I thought of words to go with it.  Candee told me that when you add some words to the picture it speaks a little louder to the viewer and I thought I’d share it with whoever is willing to read it.

Why am I here? Such a simple question with such a complex meaning. A question that threatens to entangle and shake the most stable of minds. I too like many other people have taken this question to such a limit that it would all but consume my state of mind. But why? Why would such a question that has nothing to do with a persons every day life have the most astounding influence on how we run it!? Because we are not designed for no purpose, we are not designed to be alone. Sometimes people can take a simple question and take it to such an extreme that they forget what the question was or why they had asked it.

I found my answer and I found in you my lord my God. This is the Aharit, the answer to the question I had asked myself so long ago. Thank you my lord my God, I have come home.

You’d been warned haha, but if anyone is interested in seeing the picture I drew just send me an email or stop me in the hall and I’ll show it to ya, (again if your interested) but Thank you for reading.

A.G.

Going to the art museum with you all was great, it was a really fun trip and I really enjoyed it.

When I went the first time I went with my grandparents when they were trying to show me this whole world of art that I really knew nothing about. I was trying to learn more because I was trying to actually get better at drawing when I found out it was something I really liked to do in my free time.

The second time was when I was in my 2nd year at Shawnee College and like always I was struggling with my work load and straining to draw better and I was really going to look at what the pro’s do. Maybe it would make me feel as though I’m perfectly flawed like them?

When I went the 3rd time with you all I went with a whole different mindset, not one with a minor understanding or one with the burden of a heavy mind, but a more pleasant and deeper understanding of what I was seeing there.

Thanks for the memories!

A.G.

Now that this class is over I think I will really miss it. I liked being in this class and sharing my thoughts with the other people in the room. When I first came into the room I was a day late, but once I got to know the other people in the room it was a great experience. I really enjoyed getting to know all the people in the classroom even though I already knew Loren and Amber it was still nice to meet the rest too. I will really miss coming to class and seeing Candee who was always very excited about teaching and that made me more excited to learn. Thank you so much Candee you have really made this quarter go a lot better because your class was always fun and a joy to look forward to.

Thanks again Candee!!!

~Megan~

On my question I was thinking about what else might effect the way you like art. The thing that I have come up with is that it can also depend on your style choice. The things around you in your everyday life can effect them too. I have learned that almost everything in your life can effect everything in your everyday lifestyle. Just because you like one thing now doesn’t mean that in a couple of days, months, or years that your mind may decide to change and you don’t necessarily like that artwork anymore. In time everyone changes. Some people change in the way they look at things such as art and other people may stay the same all their life. Everyone is different and has their own opinions, but the way you look at art is all up to you and how you personally feel about the piece. Just because someone else doesn’t like it doesn’t mean that you can’t. Any thing you want to like you can.

~Megan~

This Thursday, December 3rd, is a great time to check out art for FREE in Seattle! Galleries in Pioneer Square open their doors from noon to 8 pm offering food and drinks, socializing, new local and international art. Seattle’s First Thursday is the first Art Walk of the US, and in historic Pioneer Square, it’s really a great scene.

Learn more at “http://www.firstthursdayseattle.com/about.php”

I’ll be heading to the SAM to check out the Michelangelo exhibit and some of the permanent collection. Here is what SAM Deputy Director for Art and Curator of European Painting & Sculpture, Chiyo Ishikawa and Susan Brotman have to say about the exciting Michelangelo exhibit:

This exhibition brings one of art history’s greatest figures to Seattle for the first time. Drawn exclusively from the collection of the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, the show explores Michelangelo’s complex personality and different aspects of his life and career. Centered around twelve original drawings by Michelangelo, the exhibition also features portraits of the artist, personal documents, and decorative arts from the Casa Buonarroti.
The primary focus of the exhibition is Michelangelo’s preliminary work for the Sistine Chapel in Rome, including a selection of working drawings for the Sistine Ceiling and the Last Judgment. Together, these objects give modern viewers insight into the artist’s working process, from sketches to finished studies. This exposure would have appalled Michelangelo, who burned many of his drawings hoping to sustain the idea that divine inspiration, not human labor, was responsible for his celebrated masterpieces.
The Casa Buonarroti was founded in 1612 by Michelangelo’s great-nephew as a monument to his famous relative, on the site of the artist’s former home. Housing original works of art, including the largest collection of Michelangelo’s drawings in the world, it now acts as the protector of the artist’s legacy.

I will also be looking at 3 particular pieces of Ancient Art in the SAM for an Art History course. For those of you fellow procrastinators in 201, First Thursday is a great opportunity to get going on this assignment. If you have already chosen a work to write about, this may be a good opportunity to have another look in person in a festive environment. From my own experience, visual analysis is best done with time, and if possible, several visits in person with the artwork.

I’ll report back on my Michelangelo thoughts soon!
-Milena

A fired clay Cucuteni figurine, from 4050-3900 B.C. (Photo: Marius Amarie)

Before the glory that was Greece and Rome, even before the first cities of Mesopotamia or temples along the Nile, there lived in the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills people who were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade.

For 1,500 years, starting earlier than 5000 B.C., they farmed and built sizable towns, a few with as many as 2,000 dwellings. They mastered large-scale copper smelting, the new technology of the age. Their graves held an impressive array of exquisite headdresses and necklaces and, in one cemetery, the earliest major assemblage of gold artifacts to be found anywhere in the world.

The striking designs of their pottery speak of the refinement of the culture’s visual language. Until recent discoveries, the most intriguing artifacts were the ubiquitous terracotta “goddess” figurines, originally interpreted as evidence of the spiritual and political power of women in society.

New research, archaeologists and historians say, has broadened understanding of this long overlooked culture, which seemed to have approached the threshold of “civilization” status. Writing had yet to be invented, and so no one knows what the people called themselves. To some scholars, the people and the region are simply Old Europe.

The little-known culture is being rescued from obscurity in an exhibition, “The Lost World of Old Europe: the Danube Valley, 5000-3500 B.C.,” which opened last month at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. More than 250 artifacts from museums in Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania are on display for the first time in the United States. The show will run through April 25.

More

John Noble Wilford
New York Times

It’s the winter term, and for me and my students, that means ancient Greece.

This year, there’s a twist.  I decided at the beginning of the year that we were going online, and all primary source, all the time.

So in the three weeks between now and Christmas break, we’re reading as much of the Iliad as we can get through.  We’ll be reading this translation by Ian Johnston of British Columbia, which is distinguished as the first online translation.

Oh, and the art files.  I went through the first five books of the Iliad, and loaded them in sections into our class wiki (because I can’t be certain that the translation will be accessible through our filter).  And then I dug into my digital slide-shows of Greek art history from the last few years, and pulled out seventeen images — everything from Minoan snake goddesses to the walls of Troy to Mycenaean daggers — and plugged them into relevant places in the first five books, as accompaniments to the text.

Each image links to a research project page… Six questions, the image itself, and an opportunity for an essay.  Before the end of the term, they’ll take an art history quiz based on ten of the images: tell me what, when, where, and why significant.   It’ll be great.

There’s one other part of this that I think is both vital and cool.  This past Monday, we had a faculty meeting where we actually talked to one another, and it emerged during the meeting that we believe our students actually learn best — in academic, social, and ethical ways — when they’re performing for an audience.  So they’ll perform for an audience of each other, first of all.  Their research of each image will inform how I grade the quiz at the end of the first marking period of the winter term, and at the end of the term.  They’ll have to rely on each other, or do extra work to make up for specific failures.  By the end of the term, as well, they’ll have a library of 68 images that they understand… and based on that library, they’ll be able to talk, think, and find their way around a classical art gallery in any museum in the world.

I’m excited about the potentials here.  I’ll keep you all updated with progress reports, too.

Carpe Diem, JafaGirls

A question that feminist art historians have asked for decades is: where are all the great women artists in history? And so they digged, found a few nuns in the middle ages and as the centuries went by more and more women artists were added to the list, although still mostly western women. For most art history books however, the ‘great’ names of art continue to be those of white men.

Fast forward to contemporary movements and we see graffiti splashing urban walls with painting and, surprise surprise, still largely by men, in spite of the fact that an increasingly significant number of girls are out there bombing too. It seems that the brush, or rather the spray, continues to be largely a male utensil, while the women stay home knitting.

Not quite. While they still knit, women took their art to the streets and are bombing like graffiti artists. It’s the urban crochet guerrila of colectives such as the ‘Stitch and Bitch’  (http://www.stitchandbitchlondon.co.uk/), ‘Jafagirls’ (http://jafagirls.wordpress.com/) or the  ’Ladies Fancywork Society’ (http://www.ladiesfancyworksociety.com) operating to make our streets more colourful, more engaging and more creative spaces.

A movement to spread? Most definitely. Everyone welcomed. And, according to the girls, that includes the dudes.

For more yarnbombing art check the link on the right underArtEs or click here http://yarnbombing.com/.

Stencil on yarn, Jafagirls

Uma pergunta que historiadoras de arte feministas perguntam tem décadas é: onde estão todas as grandes mulheres artistas da história? E assim foram pesquisando, encontraram um monte de freiras da idade média e enquanto os séculos foram passando mais e mais mulheres artistas aumentaram a lista, apesar de serem na sua maioria mulheres ocidentais. Mas nos livros de história de arte, entre os ‘grandes’ nomes da arte continuam a predominar os homens brancos.

the prick who came to dinner, Jafagirls

Nos movimentos artísticos contemporâneos, destaco o graffiti que salpica as nossas paredes com cor e, surpresa surpresa, pela mão de uma maioria masculina, apesar de haver cada vez mais mulheres bombando.Parece que o pincel, ou neste caso o spray, continua a ser um utensílio majoritariamente masculino, enquanto as mulheres ficam em casa fazendo crochet.

Bem, já não é tanto assim. Apesar de ainda tricotarem as mulheres levaram a sua arte para as ruas onde bombam como os artistas de graffiti. É uma guerrilha de crochet urbana em coletivas como as ‘Stitch and Bitch’ (http://www.stitchandbitchlondon.co.uk/, as Jafagirls  (http://jafagirls.wordpress.com/) e ’Ladies Fancywork Society’ (http://www.ladiesfancyworksociety.com/) operando para tornar as nossas ruas em espaços mais coloridos, atraentes e criativos.

Um movimento crescente? Concerteza. Todos bem vindos. E, de acordo com elas, os rapazes estão convidados a participar.

Para mais informação sobre a arte de yarnbombing ver o link na direita, categoria de ArtEs, ou clique aqui http://yarnbombing.com/.

Leg warmers, Ladies Fancywork Society

My photos suck but the exhibition is awesome. Go see “Small Brain, Big Stomach” at Metro Pictures, through Saturday.

This Post is one in a special week celebrating  Echostains I year Birthday blog

Martin Creed minimalist art

It’s nearly that time again: the controversial Turner prize winner will be announced on December 7th.  I have only ever been to one Turner Prize exhibition at Tate Britain.  It was the year that Martin Creed won (2001).  Martin Creed, the one with the light that went on and off…….  We bounded across a large empty room, like a pack of marauding Wilderbeeasts, a light went on….then it went off.  Before this I had been in the cellar looking at a whole world that  Mike Nelson had created out of rubbish.

Lucy Skaer

This year the nominees are; Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and  Richard Wright.  I have to say I don’t know any of these artists work.  From the bits I have read though,  Lucy Skaer’s Black Alphabet sounds intriguing – only it’s not an actual alphabet…from what I can gather, it’s Brancusi ’s Bird in Space (1922) cast in cold dust and resin, multiplied  to resemble weird letters.  I would like to see this in real life.

turner_prize_hiorns

Roger Hiorns has reconstructed a councilflat  encrusted full of crystal surfaces, that he hasn’t actually constructed  yet…a tad complicated, you will have to read about it yourself, as I’m not sure I can grasp the concept. 

Turner-Prize-09- Wright

Now Richard Wright’s work sounds quite good.  He’s done a fresco full of baroque, angel wings, lots of gold and surface stains that resemble Rorschach blobs (and you know how much I LOVE those!)

Enrico-DavidTurner-Prize-09-

Enrico Davod’s work is billed as a kind of surrealism with stuffed paper mache figures against black backgrounds.  Probably fun, but it doesn’t interest me.  I need to actually SEE these exhibits really to make a judgement.  I’ve absolutely no chance of this as it’s much too near Christmas (though we went to London around this time last year).  I shall have to watch it on TV like everyone else, and complain that the wrong man  (or woman) won it.

Read all about it HERE

An interesting 3D exploration of Picasso’s  Guernica. 3D by Lena Gieseke with music by Manuel de Falla, Christopher Johns and Matthew Anderson.