On Tuesday this week I took a train to London to visit a consultant physician by the name of Dr Robin Lachmann. There is generally very little of interest in the train journey so I buried myself in to my seat and watched the world whizz by at 100+ MPH. Within a couple of hours I was stumbling in a non-too-calculated sort of way up the passenger embankment at Euston Station.
It’s quite staggering just how many people you can fit in to one space at Euston. A sea of black and grey greets you as super busy commuters fall over themselves like rats to find their route.

I took a step back from it all and gathered my thoughts. I was after all 2 hours early and little more than a 5 minute cab ride from the hospital.

In a moment I had decided to take a cab to Trafalgar Square where I would visit the National Gallery. More importantly I would visit one of the finest pieces of Baroque art this side of Rome – Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus.

15 minutes through crowded London traffic and a short stagger up the marble steps of the gallery and I was standing before a rather helpful looking lady who seemed more than eager to be of assistance. (It must be the crutch !) I still had about an hour before I was due at the hospital so I figured I could easily get around at least one of the half dozen sections of the gallery.

“Could you tell me where I could find Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus, please ?”
“Oo, I think it’s out on loan at the moment. Just let me check.”
.. horrible pause as helpful lady taps away on keyboard..
“Yes. It’s in Rome until next June.”

Caravaggio - The Supper at Emmaus

I just stared at her. Disbelief.

I offered my thanks and turned to leave the gallery. Helpful lady quickly pointed out that there were hundreds of paintings on offer but she didn’t understand. I don’t think anybody understands my obsession with that painting. Anyway I had to refocus and get to my appointment.

Sat in the hospital waiting for my call I kept thinking to myself about Rome.
A city with more art galleries per square mile than anywhere on the planet. Why do they have to have this painting ? My painting !

I guess a trip to Rome is on the cards.

The appointment with Dr Lachmann was a success. Effectively my name is down on his short list of AMN patients such that any drug trials that emerge will be finding their way to me.

Padova fino al 28/1/2010 Musei Civici agli Eremitani p.zza Eremitani, Quattro secoli di capolavori dalla Fondazione Longhi a Padova A cura di Mina Gregori  L’esposizione si propone di ricostruire le tappe dell’affascinante avventura collezionistica di Roberto Longhi (1890-1970), una delle personalità piu’ importanti della storiografia artistica italiana del Novecento. I dipinti sono stati scelti seguendo un criterio cronologico che evidenzia le preferenze e gli interessi di Longhi e posti in un confronto ideale con le collezioni dei Musei Civici agli Eremitani.  Il percorso espositivo prende avvio dal Duecento; grande rilievo occupano gli esempi della pittura bolognese del Trecento, mentre gli scambi culturali fra i maggiori centri artistici italiani tra Quattro e Cinquecento sono testimoniati da un significativo gruppo di maestri come Dosso Dossi, Lorenzo Lotto e Lambert Sustris. Il nucleo piu’ emozionante e’ costituito da pitture del Seicento, fra le quali spiccano il celebre Fanciullo morso dal ramarro del Caravaggio e le tele di Ribera, del Borgianni, del Valentin e di Mattia Preti. http://www.caravaggiolottoribera.it (Caravaggio)

Esco dalla visita alla Galleria Borghese con un’idea certa in testa: il confronto tra Bacon e Caravaggio forse non decolla, ma Bacon non trema mai. Se c’è prova del nove della grandezza di un autore, questa è certamente una: invadere la Borghese e tenere botta. C’è un angolo che mi ha impressionato, nel grande salone all’ingresso. Il Trittico della Tate Gallery (Triptych August 1972) è messo ad angolo con la meravigliosa Conversione di Paolo, seconda versione. È uno dei Caravaggio più perfetti, un vertice senza sbavature, esatto in tutto a partire dall’adesione al fatto. Quanto Novecento al confronto avrebbe fatto la figura di pittura arruffona, di istintualità geniale ma ultimamente senza capo né coda? Bacon invece puntella lo spazio con la sicurezza di un classico.  Chiude e apre, proprio come le braccia spalancate di Paolo, che sono gesto di abbandono, ma sono anche le linee di forza su cui Caravaggio poggia la costruzione di un quadro che non conosce nulla di scomposto. Nel Trittico le tre porte nere alle spalle sono ante aperte su un precipizio, ma non diffondono panico nella tela. Sono come le scene di una tragedia classica, tremende ma implacabilmente ordinate. Che sia proprio la categoria dell’ordine il punto da cui rileggere Bacon senza cadere in banalità?

Detto questo, Bacon alla Borghese ci sta benissimo. Sfonda i lunghi corridoi con l’incendio del Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh VI o con quel quadro strano che è come un  ring in verticale (Two figures, 1975). Il Trittico di autoritratti ha l’esattezza chirurgica di un fiammingo. Sa essere esatto nella deflagrazione delle forme.

So che in molti non saranno d’accordo, ma Bacon alla Borghese ci sta bene. (E quel vizio che ogni tanto si concede a mettere una punta di “arredamento” di troppo nele tele, in fondo non stona tra questi stucchi…)

Nota stonatissima: in mostra non c’è più il San Giovannino, delle raccolte della Borghese. Al pannello dove stava appeso hanno messo una foto e una dicitura: in prestito per una mostra a Kyoto. Non s’era mai visto un quadro in mostra che viene prestato… (hanno poratato là anche la Dama con il liocorno di Raffaello)

Nella foto, Triptych inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus, nel salone all’ingresso.

Okay, I know this is not about art; this comes under the ‘random stuff’ heading.

Recently, I have a few problems with companies over their appalling customer service. I won’t bore you with all the details but suffice to say three well known companies with BIG internet presence and a local, previously trusted, window firm have gone way down in my estimation. The problem; they don’t seem to care about their customers; ‘customer care’ is an oxymoron. Websites aren’t run correctly so errors occur when ordering, and delivery times are not adhered to. In the case of the window firm, the work was shoddy and it took two other guys a day to fix it. There are still outstanding problems to be corrected before they get paid. This not good for cash flow especially when small business overdraft rates are high, and it is taking 8 days to clear a business cheque.

I don’t know if some firms have actually noticed, but the UK is still in recession.

One would have thought that when customers are scarce companies would treat them like gold. Not so in these cases. Apologies for bad service from the big companies amounted to insincere lip service from their so called ‘customer care’ staff, whose whole manner conveys terminal boredom and the feeling that they really don’t care if you buy from their firm again or not. It took several phone calls and emails from me to get stuff put right. In the case of the local window firm, my very polite emailed complaints with photos of their handiwork were treated as an insult. Yes, an insult!  I was taken aback by this approach. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: if this is the way they treat their customers they don’t deserve to have any.

Years ago the local window firm did work for me, which was good, I told everyone who asked about them and recommended them, and this may have led to them getting work. But now I shall be recounting, in graphic detail, the problems I have had with this firm to anyone foolish enough to ask.

 The biggest change since I last used that firm is we are now living a post media age…What companies fail to appreciate is that in this day and age the customer is ALWAYS right even when they are wrong.

Firms had better treat the customer as though they are right or the angry customer will be furiously typing away on blogger, twitter, face book etc. telling the world how badly they have been treated, and they WILL find other angry customers who will support their claims, so watch your share price. 

Through the medium of the internet, it is no longer just a handful of people who get to learn how good/bad a company is but potentially the world.  Can any firm afford to have loose canon angry customers out there?

The customer no longer has to rely on semi-toothless government agencies and the painfully long winded manoeuvrings of consumer organisations and small claims court to get even. The internet, Google, and blogs have empowered us all. We can now get mad and get even.

Don’t make your customer angry, you won’t like us when we are angry.

Caravaggio was the bad boy of Baroque but even he knew, in his more rational moments, that he had to keep his patrons happy by producing good work to get more commissions. If they knew this in 16th Century Italy what do firms think they are doing by ignoring their customers now?

*

Caravaggio ("Narcyz")

*

* * *
Każdy kwiat jest narcyzem.
Bez uznania konieczności tego, że musi się być pięknym po to, by skutecznie uwodzić i wydać owoce, nie byłoby piękna kwiatów.

Jakież wyrzuty sumienia może mieć rajski ptak będąc świadom tego, iż jest najpiękniejszy – skoro pomaga mu to w zdobyciu wszystkiego, czego tylko zapragnie?

* * *
Dążenie do tego, aby być pierwszym, by zostać zwycięzcą, by zdobyć najbardziej urodziwą kobietę, by stworzyć najpiękniejsze dzieło… to wszystko związane jest z narcyzmem.
Chęć wyróżnienia się z anonimowego tłumu, wyniesienia się ponad “szarą masę” (jaką, tak naprawdę, dla poszczególnego osobnika są inni ludzie) – to jeden z najsilniejszych bodźców kierujących zachowaniem człowieka.
Wygląda więc na to, iż pewne elementy narcyzmu są czymś niezbędnym w budowaniu naszego świata. I były już obecne w przyrodzie, zanim człowiek stworzył swoją cywilizację.
Są siłą ewolucyjną równie mocną, jak dążność do władzy, chęć panowania nad innymi, narzucania innym swojej woli.
Jednym słowem: są czymś, jeśli nie boskim, to naturalnym.

* * *
Pismo czasami trafia w sedno, mówiąc np. bez ogródek:
“Kochaj bliźniego, jak siebie samego” (najwidoczniej odbywa się to przy założeniu, że miłość samego siebie jest czymś naturalnym i powszechnym).
Czy osoba, która nie kocha siebie, może pokochać kogoś innego?
Pytanie otwarte.
Jednak pewien jestem już tego, że ktoś, kto nienawidzi samego siebie, nie jest zdolny do miłości.

* * *
Kiedy kogoś bezgranicznie podziwiamy, wręcz ubóstwiamy? Czy wtedy, gdy projektujemy nań nasze własne pragnienia, dążenia i aspiracje?

Kiedy akceptujemy w kimś narcyzm? Czy wtedy, gdy widzimy w nim pewne atrybuty boskości?

Któraż z kobiet nie podziwiała choć raz swoich pomalowanych ust?
Któryż obdarzony mięśniami mężczyzna nie prężył przed lustrem swojej muskulatury?
Czyż nasze narcyzmy nie spotykają się ze sobą?

* * *
Czym są nasze kompleksy jeśli nie urażonym narcyzmem?

Czyjś narcyzm wziął górę nad naszym.
Rzadko wybaczamy taką zniewagę.

* * *
Narcyz przyznający się do swojego narcyzmu nie przestaje być narcyzem. Staje się po prostu narcyzem bardziej szczerym.
Ten zaś, który się nie przyznaje – narcyzem zatwardziałym.
Jest oczywiste, że większą sympatię wzbudza w nas ów pierwszy. Gotowi nawet jesteśmy przyznać, że narcyzmu się on wyzbył.
Co jest oczywiście złudzeniem.

* * *
Naturalnie, jest również ta ciemniejsza strona narcyzmu: niezaspokojona żądza, która kończy się autodestrukcją. Skupienie się na sobie prowadzące do zupełnego zerwania ze światem. Rozdmuchane ego, które dławi samo siebie. Miraż i złudzenie jako obiekt pożądania i źródło westchnień.
Wreszcie obłęd i katatonia – ostateczne uwięzienie w klatce skrajnego introwertyzmu.
Być może melancholia to łagodniejsza forma autyzmu.

* * *
Jesteśmy dziwnym zlepkiem narcyzmu i niechęci do samego siebie.

* * *
Trudno mi się jednak zgodzić z tym, że narcyzm jest – jak ktoś to określił – “korzeniem psychopatii”. Jeśli już chcemy ów “korzeń” znaleźć, to prędzej odnajdziemy go w czymś, co jest przeciwieństwem narcyzmu, a mianowicie w nienawiści do samego siebie, (czyli – w konsekwencji – w nienawiści do świata i innych ludzi).

* * *
Zwykle, posądzenia o narcyzm unikamy jak ognia.
Głównie dlatego, że pochwała samego siebie, działa zwykle na innych jak przysłowiowa płachta na byka – potrafi wręcz kogoś zdyskredytować, jako zarozumiałego pyszałka. Nawet jeśli jest prawdą… Co innego, jeśli to samo wypowiada ktoś inny.
To właśnie na to czeka narcyz, który udaje skromność. Jednakże, kto z nas nie pragnie pochwał?

Pascal: “Chcecie, aby ludzie mieli o was dobre mniemanie. Nie mówcie dobrze o sobie.”

* * *
“Metamorfozy” Owidiusza.
Mit o Narcyzie nabiera tu literackiej formy. Czy jednak możemy go traktować jako pochodną czegoś co jest głębiej, a mianowicie archetypu?
Co w nim jest?
Losy Narcyza i zakochanej w nim nimfy Echo są tragiczne: żadne z nich nie zazna zaspokojenia ani spełnienia. Oboje skazani są na alienację: Echo nigdy nie zespoli się ani z Naturą, ani z człowiekiem (powtarzając tylko to, co dotrze do niej z zewnątrz). Narcyz zatopi się zaś we własnym odbiciu i znajdzie tam śmierć (niezdolny do otwarcia się na świat i pokochania go – ani czegokolwiek, co jest poza nim, na zewnątrz).

Mit o Echu i Narcyzie wskazuje na to, iż rzeczywistość jest zbiorem elementów, które do siebie nie przystają.

Zwróćmy uwagę, że mitologiczny Narcyz (podobnie jak Echo), nie wywołuje w nas odrazy (ani nawet niechęci). Nie wydaje się też nam śmieszny. Budzi natomiast nasze współczucie, może nawet sympatię.
Czyż nie dzieje się tak dlatego, iż podświadomie odnajdujemy w nim wszystkie nasze zawiedzione miłości – zarówno te, w których kochamy kogoś innego, jak i tę, w której kochamy samego siebie?

* * *

APENDYKS

A OTO “NARCYZ”  HERBERTA:

“Ten mit tkwił we mnie całe dziesięciolecia, tkwił, ale nie rósł, nie rozwijał się jak piąstka niemowlęcia wokół nieruchomej grzechotki.

Cóż można bowiem powiedzieć o Narcyzie? Że był, że był piękny, że zapatrzył się w swoje odbicie w sadzawce i rażony pięknem utonął. A gdzież wzniosły przekaz, przesłanie, morał? Gapi się w wodę i nagle – chlup. W sam raz na modne haiku, które propagował przed laty pewien klasyk, aby powściągnąć wodolejstwo poezji rodzimej. W istocie mit był nieznośnie statyczny. Tkwił.

Czyniono wszakże próby ożywienia Narcyza. Wymyślono mu nerw, nerw oczywiście erotyczny. W Narcyzie zakochała się nimfa leśna – Echo. Z niewiadomych przyczyn Narcyz odrzucił tę miłość i Echo z żalu została bóstwem leśnych ustroni. Wycieczkom otyłych mieszczuchów odpowiadało – imię.
I tak nimfa stała się stewardesą natury.

Jak widać, brak Narcyzowi zarysu charakteru, czy choćby zalążka winy tragicznej, by można go było traktować poważnie i tropić jego losy naszym współczuciem lub gniewem. Tłumaczyć może on najwyżej imię kwiatu, uwodzicielskiego oczywiście, ale róża, która nie ma swojego kawalera i trubadura, jak wiadomo – obywa się bez mitów.

I jaka była kolejność? Zapewne olśnienie nowym zjawiskiem natury, poszukiwanie nazwy, wreszcie próba dopasowania anegdoty, bez której i tak istniał, więc była ona czymś przypadkowym i bez znaczenia, niekoniecznym. Tak więc Narcyz został emblematem tautologii.

Taki los musiał spotkać Narcyza, którego jedyną cnotą była – uroda”.

*  *  *

Zbigniew Herbert (“Król mrówek. Prywatna mitologia”)

To odnalezienie Herberta zawdzięczam  Adzie . Przy okazji zapraszam do zobaczenia całej galerii TUTAJ  .

 

 

John William Waterhouse ("Echo and Narcissus")

 

Un inedito dipinto presenta la stessa iconografia della Cleopatra eseguita da Bartolomeo Manfredi si ritiene interessante studiarne le differenze.

Cleopatra

Si può osservare l’ antica toga romana tinta avorio con decorazioni d’ orate e fascia porpora, il dogma sulla spilla.

In rilievo la luce sugli incarcati e l’ intensità dello sguardo

Cleopatra

Bartolomeo Manfredi

L’ opera dovrebbe essere sottoposta ad accertamenti scientifici, la scienza che studia l ‘arte con sistemi non distruttivi ha elaborato nuove tecniche di ricerca che pongono l’ Italia  ad un alto livello culturale specie per il difficile compito di valorizzazione.

L’ arte non è solo accettare le opere già riconosciute, ma una continua ricerca e studio su ciò che si definisce cultura

One must wonder if the Chef at u café (1436 Lexington Avenue, Bet E. 93rd E. 94th St, New York, NY 10128 – In Manattan’s Upper East Side – Telephone: 212.427.8223) was a painter of delightful still life canvasses in a former gilgul. The attention to shape, the attention to color, the attention to detail, make the particular presentation unforgettable. Udi Ben Ari’s eye for color will remind you of some Caravaggio paintings, his shapes will bring to mind Breugel the Elder.

While the owner and his parents are Israelis, this dairy and fish restaurant features far more than mere Israeli fare. Udi graduated from culinary school in Rhode Island and that training shows through. Not only is the look of the food guaranteed to make your mouth water, the unique combination of flavors in each dish bespeaks of an all too rare understanding of the subtle nuances of taste each ingredient brings to the total culinary experience.

On my fist visit to u café I ordered a Fritatta which, as you see below, was full of color and invitingly appetizing…

The next time I went I ordered a Salmon Burger…

Notice how the shape of the pepper, on top of the bread, fits in perfectly with the sauce at the bottom of the photo. Notice how well the cherry tomato’s color goes with the color of the pepper while it directs your attention to the fresh salad? Which 16th century painter’s eye was responsible for this dish’ perfect composition?

I can hear those of you who know me saying, “But CS, you never eat fish!” It’s true I haven’t – even as a child – touched fish.  Having seen another diner at the cafe at a table next to mine order the Salmon Burger, having smelled the non-fish aroma I thought I’d take a bold step and – with trepidation in my heart – I too ordered it. I shouldn’t have worried; it’s taste, it’s texture did not say fish! The perfect proportion of condiments made the burger taste very meat-like.

I finished by having a coffee and a slice of Tricolor Cake. A true feast for the eye of any chocolate lover and his palate.

Once you taste their food you soon understand why they won this year’s Kosherfest’s competition for the best sandwich!

The winning sandwich above is made with tarragon egg salad over smoked salmon with black caviar over brioche. Having eaten the  very same one I photographed I must fully agree with the Kosherfest judges that it is the best sandwich in New  York!

All in all both my visits there were delightful experiences that proved you can eat art!

CS

EVENT

This Saturday night, November the 14th, there will be a cantorial kumzits at u café, I plan to be there. Come over and say hello!

—-)xoxOxox(—-

[Our upcoming website, the supremegourmet.com will feature a longer more in depth review of this restaurant and our experience there]

I love Caravaggio’s The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. Thomas’ face is almost amusing . Click image to enlarge.

Anti-climaxes usually suck. The whole of chapter 21 of the Gospel of John is an anti-climax. It’s not boring it’s just not the Big Bang ending that you might have wanted to round off a best seller.

You see the Big Bang happened at the end of chapter 20.

1 – 11 describes the life and ministry of the Lord, 12 – 17 the period of time just before His arrest, 18 His arrest and subsequent trial and 19 His crucifixion. Now 20 is always going to steal the show, His resurrection, however that event isn’t even the climax, it’s the scene setter. You see chapter 20 details first Jesus appearing to Mary, then Jesus appearing to the 10 without doubting Thomas and then finally Jesus appearing to the 11 with doubting Thomas.

And it’s Thomas’ reaction to the risen Christ after he has touched His side and put his fingers into His hands which is the pinnacle, the ultimate, the apex, the climax of the Gospel of John. Read the Scripture below starting at verse 24,

Thomas’ great acclamation of the deity of Christ has to be the climax! And John says as much in the verses following,

So why did John bother writting chapter 21? Well he’d given the testimony of Peter a huge knock during the telling of the tale and he needed to rectified it in the final chapter. 21 is the tell of Peter being a Jumping, Loving, Following Christian and a call to you and me to be the same.

Take some out and read the chapter today. It’ll change your testimony. It’ll change your life.

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]]> http://insorgenze.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/erri-de-luca-risponde-a-giovanardi-sulla-morte-di-stefano-cucchi/ Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:28:18 +0000 insorgenze http://insorgenze.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/erri-de-luca-risponde-a-giovanardi-sulla-morte-di-stefano-cucchi/

Caravaggio, La flagellazione di Cristo

«Stefano Cucchi era in carcere perché era uno spacciatore abituale. Poveretto, è morto, e la verità verrà fuori, soprattutto perchè pesava 42 chili. La droga ha devastato la sua vita, era anoressico, tossicodipendente… E poi il fatto che in cinque giorni sia peggiorato… Certo, bisogna vedere come i medici l’hanno curato. Ma sono migliaia le persone che si riducono in situazioni drammatiche per la droga, diventano larve, diventano zombie: è la droga che li riduce così»
Carlo Giovanardi, Sottosegretario con delega per la lotta alla droga, “co-ideatore” della legge Fini-Giovanardi.
Senza la quale Stefano Cucchi sarebbe ancora vivo.

Erri de Luca risponde alla sua insopportabile dichiarazione con queste righe apparse su Liberazione 11 novembre 2009

Il potere dichiara che il giovane arrestato di nome Gesù figlio di Giuseppe è morto perché aveva le mani bucate e i piedi pure, considerato che faceva il falegname e maneggiando chiodi si procurava spesso degli incidenti sul lavoro. Perché parlava in pubblico e per vizio si dissetava con l´aceto, perché perdeva al gioco e i suoi vestiti finivano divisi tra i vincenti a fine di partita. I colpi riportati sopra il corpo non dipendono da flagellazioni, ma da caduta riportata mentre saliva il monte Golgota appesantito da attrezzatura non idonea e la ferita al petto non proviene da lancia in dotazione alla gendarmeria, ma da tentativo di suicidio, che infine il detenuto è deceduto perché ostinatamente aveva smesso di respirare malgrado l’ambiente ben ventilato. Più morte naturale di così toccherà solo a tal Stefano Cucchi quasi coetaneo del su menzionato.

Link
Paolo di Tarso che porto l’attacco al cuore dello Stato
Caso Cucchi: Carlo Giovanardi, lo spacciatore di odio
Cronache carcerarie

This is an eight part series written and narrated by Simon Schama. Schama looks at some of history’s most notorious and ground-breaking artists such as Caravaggio, Van Gogh and Picasso. This is not the most relevant video resource for BTEC Art & Design students but is none-the-less enlightening and exciting even for people from non-artistic fields.

The series follows the lives of eight famous artists. Famous for revolutionising art in their own field, be it religious painting, sculpture, landscape painting or abstract art, and infamous in their personal lives. The series features many reconstructions of scenes from the artist’s lives (for example where Caravaggio, forced into exile murdered another man in a brutal sword fight over a woman) interlaced with Schama’s own analyses and interpretations of the works produced by each artist.

Schama is articulate and exciting to listen to as he guides you through the lives of these eight notorious artists and his analyses and interpretations of the art works are absorbing. You will not look at these art works (as you have probably seen them many times before) in the same way again after watching this series. A true masterpiece in education and entertainment.

Simon Schama’sThe Power Of Art: The Complete BBC Series [DVD]

Born in 1928 in Manchester, England, Johnson is an English Roman Catholic journalist, historian, speechwriter, and author. He was educated at the Jesuit independent school Stonyhurst College, and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He has more than more than 40 books in print that include:

Heroes(2007)
Creators (2006)
George Washington: The Founding Father (2005)
Intellectuals (2003)
Napoleon (2002)
The Renaissance: A Short History (2002)

I have just re-read Creators in which Johnson examines 17 exemplars of what he characterizes as “creative courage”: Chaucer, Dürer, Shakespeare, Bach, Turner and Hokusai, Austen, Pugin and Viollet-le-Duc, Hugo, Twain, Tiffany, Eliot, Balenciaga and Dior, and in then Picasso and Disney. The range of his interests correctly suggests the scope and depth of his erudition. Here are two brief excerpts:

Creative courage “is of many different kinds. What are we to think of the quiet, withdrawn, silent, uncomplaining courage of Emily Dickinson? She continued to write her poetry, and eventually amassed a significant oeuvre, with little or no encouragement, no guidance, and no public response, for only six short poems were published in her lifetime and these against her will. She worked essentially in isolation and solitude, a brave woman confronting the fears and agonies of creation without (or hindrance either, as perhaps she would have said).” Johnson also briefly discusses Mozart, Dickens, Caravaggio, Beethoven, Marie Cassatt, Toulouse-Lautrec, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Hume, Trollope, V.S. Pritchett, and J.B. Priestly…all of whom encountered and overcame “daunting challenges.”

“The popularity of the creative arts, and the influence they exert, will depend ultimately in their quality and allure, on the delight and excitement they generate, and on demotic choices. Picasso set his faith against nature, and burrowed within himself. Disney worked with nature, stylizing it, anthropomorphizing it, and surrealizing it, but ultimately reinforcing it. That is why his ideas form so many powerful palimpsests in the visual vocabulary of the world in the early twenty-first century, and will continue to shine through, while the ideas of Picasso, powerful thought they were for much of the twentieth century, will gradually fade and seem outmoded, as representational art returns in favor. In the end nature is the strongest force of all.”

I highly recommend Creators as well as Howard Gardner’s Creating Minds in which he examines the lives and achievements of Freud, Einstein, Picasso, Stravinsky, Eliot, Graham, and Gandhi.

So I am studying for my art history test right now and I must say Caravaggio is probably my favorite Baroque artist out there. It’s as if he was the worlds first photographer who used paint and understood dramatic lighting. Also the fact that he became so enraged during a tennis match and killed his competitor is pretty radical. He was manhunted as he fled but even in the act of fleeting from his country he was commissioned to do works in other places. The guy is mad.

The Calling of Saint Matthew is one of my favorites

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Alles, was tief ist, liebt die Maske.
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Tutto ciò che è profondo ama la maschera.

(F. Nietzsche)

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Not many people visit this gallery in Potsdamer Platz due to its slightly out of the way location in relation to Museumsinsel. However, it holds one of the most important collections of European art dating from the 13th to the early 19th century.

Rembrant

Most notably, it is home to the second largest collection of Rembrants in the world after the Rembrant Museum in Amsterdam. The collection would have been bigger, had not a fire at the end of the second world war destroyed 11 Rembrants as well as hundreds of other works. 

The gallery currently exhibits about 1500 works, including those by Eyck, Bruegel, Dürer, Raphael, Tizian, Caravaggio, Rubens and Vermeer.  If you don’t have time to take all of them in, here are my top three highlights.

Amor Vincit Omnia

This painting caused a big fuss, not only because of the erotic representation of Cupid, but also because of the realistic touches Caravaggio gives him – such as dirty feet which are unbefitting of a god.

The painting has a photographic quality and striking chiaroscuro lighting. A recent article in The Guardian explains why Caravaggio may have been “ the first master of photographic technique, two centuries before the formal invention of the camera”, and it is interesting to view his paintings in the gallery with this in mind.

Netherlandish Proverbs

Terranuova Madonna

di Simona Maggiorelli

Caravaggio

Fece clamore, tre anni fa, la scoperta di Sir Denis Mahon che, sotto le incrostazioni di una polverosa Chiamata dei Santi Pietro e Andrea attribuita a un seguace di Caravaggio e conservata nei magazzini della Royal Gallery di Hampton, riconobbe la mano geniale del Merisi.

E ancor più la querelle sul Narciso della Galleria Barberini lanciata da Vittorio Sgarbi dal salotto tv di “Porta a porta”: espungere la tela dal catalogo delle opere di Caravaggio era il diktat dell’attuale sindaco di Salemi. Alla quale rispose un’alzata di scudi da parte degli studiosi, da Strinati allo stesso Mahon. Ma se quella volta il Nostro aveva l’appoggio di un’autorevole allieva di Longhi, come Mina Gregori, fu invece unanimemente negativo il giudizio che nel 2006 fioccò sulla mostra firmata da Sgarbi Caravaggio e l’Europa a Palazzo Reale di Milano: brutta controfigura di quella che Longhi aveva realizzato nel 1951 nella stessa sede. Una mostra, quella di Sgarbi, talmente confusa nell’affastellare opere di pittori “caravaggeschi” e opere definitivamente attribuite a minori (e uscite definitivamente dal catalogo di Caravaggio) da avere un pregio: fermare la ridda delle esposizioni di Caravaggio ad alto tasso di spettacolarizzazione, ma affrettate e di scarso contenuto critico.

Una pausa di riflessione quanto mai utile, alla fine, ha connotato gli ultimi tre anni. Un silenzio laborioso ha accompagnato il percorso di avvicinamento alle celebrazioni del 2010 per il quarto centenario dalla morte di Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610).In questi anni e nei mesi recenti si è pensato soprattutto a studiare e a presentare il risultato di nuove ricerche in convegni e lezioni. E mentre alla Galleria Borghese ( dove è allestita la mostra Caravaggio-Bacon)e alla Galleria Corsini l’associazione Lo studiolo annuncia per novembre un ciclo d’incontri sul “nero come spazio dell’interiorità e massima ombra in Caravaggio”, alla Pinacoteca dell’Ambrosiana a Milano (dove è conservato il celebre Canestro dell’Ambrosiana) si è appena concluso un convegno dedicato alla formazione di Caravaggio, periodo ancora in larga parte oscuro della vita e dell’arte del Merisi. Così, mentre il catalogo delle opere autografe (senza quei grandi colpi di scena che piacciono ai mercanti d’arte) ha conosciuto assestamenti in base a nuovi fatti documentari, importanti, lavori di restauro hanno permesso di acquisire nuove o più approfondite conoscenze. E’ questo il caso del San Francesco in meditazione attribuito a Caravaggio da Cantalamessa agli inizi del Novecento e del quale è ben nota una copia. Nella versione conservata nella chiesa di Carpineto, con le indagini radiografiche, è stata scoperta la figura retrostante di un San Francesco di piccole dimensioni, che si suppone autografo, e che Caravaggio usò certamente come immagine guida nel dipingere il panneggio nella stesura definitiva del quadro. La scoperta e lo studio di questi ripensamenti dell’artista, insieme a particolari venuti alla luce durante il restauro (le orecchie rosse per il freddo, dettaglio che il copista non capì e non trascrisse), fanno pensare che l’autografo sia il quadro di Carpineto e non quello dei Cappuccini, come fin qui si era pensato.

Importanti risultati si aspettano anche dal restauro della Adorazione dei pastori, umanissimo racconto ed epifania di luce che appartiene all’ultima, tormentata, fase della parabola caravaggesca, a quei concitati anni di fuga a cui fu costretto dopo aver ammazzato Ranuccio Tomassoni. Fino al 31 gennaio i lavori dei restauratori si possono seguire in un “cantiere aperto” allestito alla Camera dei deputati. Poi la tela andrà alle Scuderie del Quirinale dove, il 18 febbraio, sarà inaugurata una grande e attesa retrospettiva di Caravaggio per il quarto centenario.
“In anni recenti l’abbondante messe di ricerche, studi e interventi sulle vicende biografiche e artistiche del Merisi – annota il curatore  Claudio Strinati- ha confermato il generale, costante e crescente interesse intorno alla tormentata leadership del pittore.Da qui la scelta di strutturare la mostra secondo un criterio espositivo filologicamente rigoroso, che dia luogo a un percorso sintetico, non antologico, pur tuttavia fondato sulla presentazione di opere “capitali”.Opere come il Bacco dagli Uffizi, Davide con la testa di Golia dalla Galleria Borghese, I musici dal Metropolitan, costituiranno, nella loro presentazione contestuale, una sorta di omaggio all’unicità di Caravaggio”.

dal quotidiano Terra del 3 novembre 2009

“Before I started working with him, he was described to me as ‘a director who prepares like Rembrandt and executes like Picasso,’ and I felt that was pretty insightful.”Dion Beebe ASC ,Aug.2004 American Cinematographer Hell On Wheels

Dante Spinotti, Mann’s cinematographer on four of his films, described the director’s visual processes in the following way. “It’s a little like being in front of a Caravaggio scene and changing it into a Kandinsky painting.” [25] The Kandkinsky-like qualities Spinotti is evoking are Mann’s intoxicating passion with the painterly, expressive, plastic possibilities of the cinema, with the way that framing, colour and light can transform a room in a house or a street at night. But while images in Mann’s films can sometimes be abstracted, expressive or surreal they are almost always tied to a character’s point of view, or the mood of the narrative, and always linked to emotion and affect.
MICHAEL MANN Cinema of images by Anna Dzenis

The Keep-The Last of Moichans

Manhunter-Heat-Collateral-Miami Vice

The Keep-The Insider-Public Enemies

Jericho Mile-Thief-ALI

I know I haven’t finished uploading the notes yet, but I thought I’d write a bit about my impression of the course.

So, a bit of background: In the middle of summer I was looking for courses on history of art, as, especially after my visit to Pisa when I got to visit Florence and the rest, I realised that I really needed to brush up on this subject, which I have not touched a lot though it always interested me. So in my search I found a set of courses at the National Gallery on styles in painting. I was interested in attending, but couldn’t find it in me to justify buying them for myself, so I put them on my wish list (yes…Michael’s family function with one, so I have started keeping one).

The part of the course I was mainly interested in originally was the first part, on Medieval and Renaissance art. Michael got me something else for my birthday (which I had been whining about for ages, so I am happy he followed my whining ) so the first part of the course came and went. However, when Michael’s parents came to visit in October they gave me a birthday gift: registration for part 2 of the course, on Northern Art, Mannerism and the Baroque.

I personally know nothing on Northern art or mannerism, so I wasn’t particularly drawn towards this part of the course. I was more drawn to the first part which I already knew quite a bit about and knew I liked and appreciated. However, oh well, it was the second part I was going to, so I might as well make the best of it! And I wasn’t disappointed! In a way I was wanting to remain in my ‘comfort zone’ of that which I knew. However, learning about Northern art and Mannerism allowed me to start appreciating a different style of art which I didn’t understand. And in hindsight I am so glad that it turned out like this! In fact, when we got to the Baroque, talking about Caravaggio and the like I started getting slightly disappointed that I already knew much of the stuff from art classes and some history of art I have done. The result was therefore good…a very much appreciated gift from my in-laws …thanks again!

…Just the worst time of the year for a journey, and such a long journey…

Waar het pad begon. Als er al een begin valt te vinden. Lagrime di San Pietro van Lassus. Hoe het geleidelijk deel van me werd. Tot ik besefte waar het over ging. Het verraden van jezelf, van datgene waar je ten diepste in gelooft. Telkens opnieuw. De pijn dat plots te beseffen. Het kraaien van de haan dat ons pas wakker schudt. En doorheen alle verdriet de diepe, onverklaarbare hoop dat alle fouten, alle tekortkomingen niet opwegen tegen datgene wat groter is. Verdwijnen, goedgemaakt worden door iets wat ons overstijgt. Welke naam we dat ook geven.

Caravaggio’s Avondmaal te Emmaüs. Een presentatie die ik over het schilderij mocht geven. Hoe ik bij de voorbereiding al merkte dat het over meer dan kunstgeschiedenis ging. Lucas 24, 13-35. Over blind zijn voor het wondere dat je overkomt. Over wakker worden door het plots herkennen van symbolen. En hoe vanaf dan niets meer hetzelfde is. Een ronduit onverantwoord vertrouwen in de wereld overneemt. Je viel in het bodemloze.

Sindsdien was niets meer hetzelfde. Lag je pad vol tekens. Onderlinge verwijzingen. Soms evident, soms onbegrijpelijk tot pas veel later. Sluimer nu niet in. Blijf de signalen lezen, blijf die weg gaan. Heb geen angst omwille van de woestijn waar je door moest, waar je wellicht nog vaker door zal moeten. Het is pas begonnen…

…With the voices singing in our ears, saying that this was all folly… 

 (T.S. Eliot – Journey of the Magi)

di Demetrio Paolin

[Sul numero che sta uscendo in questi giorni di Nuova Prosa, diretto da Luigi Grazioli, c'è una mia serie di prose, tre, a proposito di Caravaggio].

Non c’è paradiso qui, niente. Caravaggio dipinge la fine di tutto. L’apocalisse di ogni cosa che si mostra a noi, la rivelazione ultima della nostra solitudine estrema in limine mortis.
Eppure mi chiedo cosa spinga Caravaggio a dipingere questa tela, cosa porti a me a scrivere – anni dopo – di questa donna bianca e bellissima, di cui ricordo l’immagine tesa nel riquadro del giornale – le ho fatto un primo piano da tessera, bianco e nero e 22 righe. Eppure anni dopo sono qui a scriverla.

Credo che alla fine scrivere sia un modo per prolungare l’esistenza in vita di quella ragazza e anche Caravaggio dipinge perché il nero non si chiuda del tutto sulla cortigiana annegata nel Tevere. La fa
diventare la madre di dio, le fa dormire un sonno di morte e di acqua.
Lei non sarà mai completamente morta, ma ferma nel quadro come la madre di tutti, immagine della nostra comune sorte.

Io scrivo perché se ne salvi un resto. Di quella ragazza sul greto del fiume non sapemmo mai il nome, l’età e la nazionalità, ma in queste poche righe lei arriva ad essere vivissima. Nel pomeriggio invernale con la luce calante, gli uomini intorno e quei vestiti dozzinali e volgari, lei sopravvive a me, sopravvive ad ognuno di noi, perché è scritta.

È la redenzione, che mi pare di vedere in ogni quadro di Caravaggio, una redenzione che non è salvezza, non c’è salute se non nell’oscuro in cui tutti sprofonderemo, ma un misero salvare delle parti, portandole via
dall’oblio delle cose che si guastano.

Quindi alla fine scrivo per togliere un po’ di male agli altri e a te, a cui sono dedicate queste note su Caravaggio. Lo faccio, perché dicendoti ti redimo.
E tu? Sembri chiedermi.
Io non mi salvo, ma mi mostro con lo sguardo spaventato di un Oloferne in prolungata agonia.

Leggi “Caravaggio, Figure III” (pdf)

Midnight trains to Saint Petersburg invariably leave the traveler a little lagged. I think I finally beat the lag today, five days, ten museums, and several cardio sessions later, after our original trip to Russia’s Northern capital (the reference books insist on calling it this). As I contemplate the whole experience of tackling this world-famous city in a mere four days, I am nearly certain that I have never been and will never be such a violent tourist ever again. If I were to literally trace our steps on any of the maps we were constantly pulling out (as pictured), I’d be looking a fractured mess of a giant circle. But that’s what made it so fun, I guess.

The first leg of our trip included a visit to the Winter Palace, otherwise known as the Hermitage Museum. The Romanovs originally resided here for a better part of the year, but once the revolution occurred, it was turned over to the public as a heritage site and more recently as world-class gallery housing Russian and European art. Visiting a place this visually complex does a number on your brain. I couldn’t decide whether I should be looking at the luxurious interiors of the palace (the wooden inlays in the floor were especially captivating for me) or the paintings and tapestries hung on every available surface. I was delighted to find a Caravaggio in the museum and more Gauguin’s than I’ve ever seen in a single location, but, when it comes down to it, we walked around the Hermitage for the better part of five hours. A body simply wants to eat after seeing that much.

Oddly enough, I feel that brings me to the subject of weather in St. Pete’s, seeing as we had to battle it every time we wanted to find a toilet, another attraction, or something to it. Bottom line: pretty unbearable. The shock inflicted by the city’s general dampness on my poor, unprepared body left me a little cranky and tired for most of the trip. That’s not to say the whole break was a bust, but running through nearly freezing rain for a half an hour or more just made me want to die. The misty rains of Petersburg seep through everything: wool coats, penny loafers, and leather purses included. The place perpetually smells of cold rain. Which is nice if you’re huddled under a blanket somewhere deep within the bowels of a hostel.

One stop that remains intriguing to me is the mini park with Catherine the Great’s giant statue. Not expressly because of the statue or the lights that made the autumnal foliage look green but because it has a reputation for being popular among the homosexual community in St. Pete’s. When our tour guide informed us of this, my ears perked up: even after having lived in Russia for over two months, I’d never heard anyone speak of gays, lesbians, transsexuals, etc. or their place within Russian society. Lena, our omnipresent babysitter (that’s more or less her job description), explained to me that here, in Russia, homosexuality simply doesn’t factor into the equation for most people; Russians rarely wonder if a friend is gay or recognize any deviations in sexual preference. And, of course, she admitted to thinking the whole concept was rather bizarre. So I’ll be doing a little more research concerning that issue, which I suspect is related to this country’s aggressive macho culture.

Juan Bautista Maíno

Este sábado pasado, aprovechando que tenía una tarjeta Madridcard 24h, vi varias exposiciones que merecen la pena (y me quedaron muchas para el próximo fin de semana).

En el MNCARS, hasta el 11 de enero de 2010, se puede ver “Rodchenko y Popova – Definiendo el constructivismo“. La exposición se centra en los trabajos de Rodchenko y Popova en el periodo 1917-1925: pintura, carteles, esculturas, etc. Para completar esta visita, podéis ir también a la Fundación Canal, donde exponen el trabajo fotográfico de Rodchenko.

En el Museo del Prado, hasta el 17 de enero de 2010, hay una magnifica exposición dedicada a Juan Bautista Maíno (1581-1649), que también incluye cuadros de otros pintores que inspiraron su trabajo, como Caravaggio o Gentileschi.

Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas (interior)

En el Thyssen, aparte de la seguro lucrativa exposición “Las lágrimas de Eros“, hay también (hasta el 10 de enero de 2010) una exposición de pinturas, dibujo y grabados de Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904).

Por último, en el Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas se puede ver hasta el 15 de noviembre “Alvar Aalto. A nuestra medida“, exposición que incluye mobiliario, objetos de iluminación, tejidos y piezas de cristal procedentes del Museo Alvar Aalto.

Entre estas exposiciones y las que comenté en alguna entrada anterior (la de Palladio en el CaixaForum o la de Lissete Model en la Fundación Mapfre), tenéis para estar entretenidos una buena temporada .

Lámpara del Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas

Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas (mobiliario)