Out of Lascaux

Sniper Tower

Some things just irk me, like this article in the Art Newspaper. I really think we should get out of Iraq, but that doesn't mean this is right.

US army snipers have been positioned at the top of the great spiral minaret of the 9th century al-Mutawakkil mosque in Samarra. Armed with 50 calibre rifles and working in 24-hour two-man shifts, the soldiers watch over this turbulent city in the Sunni triangle north of Baghdad, which continues to be a hotbed of resistance against the Coalition.

It's not the fact that they are doing it, but the fact that they are being criticized for doing it.

...their presence has raised concerns for the safety of one of the most important buildings in the history of Islamic architecture, of such significance for Iraqis that it is depicted on the new 250 dinar banknote.

Apparently, this national treasure "was wrested from the control of insurgents who were using it to mount attacks against US troops". Now, what I want to know is why we are the bad guys here? If the darn thing is so important, why were the Iraqis so willing to endanger it? It just chaps my ass when the US military is played as the bad guy when they are just doing what they are paid to do. They aren't damaging that minaret any more than the insurgents were - probably less. Our military is taught to respect other religions, other cultures and other people, even when those people are shooting at them. I'm glad they hold that minaret.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure I believe these "insurgents" are actually Iraqi natives. I have to wonder how many of them are imported from other middle-eastern countries? That would explain the lack of consideration for a national monument, I suppose.

Paintings that changed the world? - Part II

(Part I)

As I read through Paintings that Changed the World: From Lascaux to Picasso, I started to wonder if perhaps part of the problem was in translation. The original German title is Bilder, die die Welt bewegten: Von Lascaux bis Picasso, but the difference between the German and English title seems to be insignificant. The blurb on the back of the book says:

Paintings that Changed the World looks at ninety of history's greatest masterpieces to explain just what makes them great. Brief, informative essays examine each work from historic and cultural perspectives and offer intriguing observations and interesting anecdotes about the artists and their eras...

Boy, do I take issue with that statment. I really don't think the authors have given enough attention to the actual works they chose to include in this book. They spend more time discussing the event portrayed, or the artist who painted it, than they do talking about why that particular work is memorable.

Continuing with my review/revision of Paintings that Changed the World, I will skip several of the paintings they included, 1) because I don't think they are all that "earth-shaking" and 2) because I have no intention of re-writing the entire book. So, on to the the Byzantine Era.

Mosaics at San Vitale, Ravenna

The title the authors give to this entry is "From Brothel to Court: Masterpieces of art and architecture." They go on to describe Byzantium at this time, and the Emperor Justinian and his Empress Theodora, depicted here. The Emperor and Empress were definitely memorable; not only did Justinian build fine churches for the newly dominant Christian religion, he is also said to have married a prostitute.

The Byzantine historian Procopius said of her: "She bared her body front and back, inviting men to look at charms that are supposed to remain unseen, and became an expert in the techniques of exciting lust so as to hold worldly men in their thrall."

It is generally agreed that Procopius had issues, and probably exaggerated Theodora's lurid past to some extant. The authors are diligent in discussing Theodora, but nowhere do they actually mention the mosaic.

What makes this work so extraordinary is that up until this time, almost all church mosaics portrayed Christ or other sacred figures. There may have been a small figure of a donor added in a corner, but nothing like these grand processionals that flank the walls of San Vitale. Theodora and her women face Justinian and his court on the opposite wall. And if we are to believe even the tiniest hint of Procopius' vile rumours, Theodora would be the last person to be represented on the walls of a church.

The mosaics of San Vitale in themselves are breathtaking, from the image of Christ Enthroned to the Sacrifice of Abel and Melchisidec, the mosaics are unique in their richness of detail and expertise in execution. For more images, there's a Virtual tour of the main apse here, and a class slide list which covers many of the mosaics here (scroll down to the San Vitale section)

Next time: The Bayeaux Tapestry

Paintings that changed the world? - Part I

I recently purchased a book titled Paintings that Changed the World: From Lascaux to Picasso by Klaus Reichold and Bernhard Graf. It has lovely pictures, and I was curious to see which works they chose and why.

I have to say I was a bit disappointed. While I don't have very many quibbles with their choices, I don't think the authors explained why they chose the ones they did. Each painting has a page of text, but that text doesn't tell us what really makes the work so important. Here's an excerpt from the introduction:

Of course, no painting can really change the world! But who can question the influence of art? Who can deny that a painting can change the way we look at the world - or that artists have been influenced by world changes? An evolving world captured in paintings, and paintings that alter our view of the world: past and present, cause and effect.

The authors go on to say that, certain "works of art are paintings which have changed the world either by making history visible or creating history themselves." The first criteria is a bit vague, but I can agree with the second. The problem comes with the discussions of the works themselves. The authors don't really tell us how these works "changed the world." To my mind, many of their choices just didn't, and those that did were not sufficiently explained.

So, as a public service, I have decided to pick a few of the paintings they chose, and see if I can't explain why I think they made the right choice, even if they couldn't explain it themselves.

We'll begin where one should always begin this type of survey: with the caves at Lascaux.

Discovered in 1940 purely by chance, they were thought to be a hoax at first. No one thought primitive man could have produced such wonderful, realistic paintings of animals. The authors of the book say:

Unique in their vitality and remarkable in the skill with which they were executed, these pictures dramatically changed our view of art history. Until well into the nineteenth century, it was thought that art had developed gradually and in stages over time, similar to the way a child's art develops - from awkward beginnings to more polished forms.

This is certainly true, but it is only one way in which the caves at Lascaux have changed our perceptions. No one would ever have thought that 15000 years ago, our ancestors were creating any type of art. There is just so little in existance - a carved bone here, a figurine there - but nothing to tell us that there were incredibly talented artists.

One thing the authors here neglect to discuss is the artists themselves - what does it tell us about them? Scholars believe these were sacred caves - "cavemen" didn't actually live in caves if they could help it - and that the decorations may have had some magical power. This is an educated guess - for all we know, this could have just as easily been a dance hall or brothel as a sacred space. But we can tell that our ancestors were not the primitive, club-wielding creatures we assumed them to be.

And to top it all off, these paintings are stunning works of art.

Next time: the Byzantine Mosaics in San Vitale, Ravenna

Iceman Comments

For some reason, my Iceman's Curse post is getting a lot of attention from Googlers. And a few interesting comments from strangers. Otzi has been around for 10 years, and got plenty of attention during that time, but I guess it takes rumours of a curse for people to really sit up and take notice.

Side Note: I habitually close my comments once the post falls from the front page in order to avoid huge amounts of spam, so get those comments in now before it's too late!

Anglophile

The other day, my boy pointed out that my music collection is almost entirely made up of UK bands. It hadn't occurred to me before, but he's right: Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull, Big Audio Dynamite, Chumbawumba, The Pogues (ok, I do have some R.E.M in there). And I drink English teas - ordered from Goodwoods British Market. My favorite comedy shows - aside from Red Green, which is Canadian so it's almost the same - are Monty Python, Black Adder, The Vicar of Dibley, Absolutely Fabulous and a few others. So it's no wonder that I got this result on a quiz (via EGO):

You Belong in the UK

Blimey! A little proper, a little saucy. You're so witty and charming... No one notices your curry breath

Illustrated Ideas

I just discovered a blog that seems to be the male counterpart to Out of Lascaux - only he's an objectivist, and he has more pretty pictures. Check out Illustrated Ideas. (via Blogshares)

Family of Man

The Getty has an interesting exhibit: Close to Home: An American Album (via Plep).

This exhibition is devoted to American family photographs that were separated from their owners and then rediscovered by artists, writers, collectors, and museum curators. Removed from their original context, these snapshots become open to many different interpretations: Who are the people in the photographs? What did these photos mean to them? Where are these people now?

I have always been fascinated by "lost photos," the ones you see piled in boxes in antique stores and at flea markets. It makes me kind of sad to think that people have lost their relatives. I know I would not want to lose mine. The problem is, what do you do with pictures when you know longer know who they represent? These long dead friends and distant relatives were memories of other people now gone. My mom had tons of photos of people I never met, so there's no point in keeping them. But the really old ones, those are the ones we need to make sure are labeled. I would never know what my great-grandparents looked like without it.

The Getty site also has something unque - a place for people to upload their own family photos. As I looked at each photo it struck me how much other people's photos look like my own. Go, take a look, and see how familiar they seem to you.

See what I mean? It means we all value the same things, we cherish the same people, we enjoy the same good times. This is all broadly speaking, of course. But to prove my point, I am starting a photo meme: just show a few photos from your shoe box or scrapbook that you know other people will recognize.

The parents


Me and my dad


The DH in a snowsuit


The Date


Me and the Boy

Others not scanned but I know you have them: baby in the bathtub; a day at the beach; visiting the amusement park; the whole family on the front porch; picture taken with new car.

The Iceman's Curse

This article (via Mirabilis) looks at first to be just another note on Otzi, the stone age mummy found in the Alps about ten years ago. But apparently, there is now a curse surrounding it.

A curse? After ten years? Shouldn't it have shown up earlier? Maybe so, but it's only been ten years, and look what's happened to so many of the several hundred people who have been involved in the study of Otzi:

Forensic medic Rainer Henn, one of the first to touch the mummy, died in a car crash on his way to a lecture about Oetzi.

A mountain guide who helped with the find plunged to his death.

A journalist who filmed the excavation died from cancer.

Last October, Helmut Simon fell to his death in the Alps after a sudden onset of bad weather near the spot where he had discovered Oetzi.

Walter Leitner was close to the scene the night Mr Simon died.

At the time, he was explaining his iceman theory to a team of American journalists when they too were suddenly engulfed by the storm and had to be rescued by helicopter.

Mountaineers dying in mountaineering accidents? Who would've thought. And cancer, whoa, that's rare. Ok, so I'm not convinced. I wouldn't even have blogged the article but for this last bit:

The archaeologist explained Mr Simon had been profoundly moved by his discovery, seeing it as a religious signal to convert to Christianity.

"But why should the mummy punish him for that?" Mr Leitner said.

"It doesn't make sense."

Hello!?! The mummy was not a Christian. It makes perfect sense. If someone were to convert to something to appease him, I believe it would a Pagan religion, would it not? Let's see, 5,300 years ago... yup! Pagan.

Movie Watching

Michael over at 2Blowhards asks about watching movies over and over again. Well, Michael likes those artsy-fartsy French movies, as do many of his readers. Myself, I have eclectic tastes; from chick flick to monster action to b&w with subtitles. The real test is this: the movie is on right now - will I watch it yet again, or find something better to do? Below is my list of movies that I'll watch whenever I catch them surfing channels.

My Favorite Year
The Miracle Worker - the original with Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft
The Birdcage - although my DH is more guilty of this than I am
The Mark of Zorro - with Tyrone Power
Captain Blood
Interview with a Vampire
To Sir with Love
Seven Samurai and Red Sun - both Toshiro Mifune, but one has Charles Bronson and no subtitles.
White Heat - just for the last scene
Just about any Busby Berkley musical pre-1938.
Star Trek 2: Wrath of Kahn
Star Trek: First Contact
Men in Black

I'm sure there are at least a dozen more, but that's enough for now.

The New Modern Masters

Ok, so an original painting of Dogs Playing Poker has sold for $590,400 at auction. I know kitsch is considered very popular, and the Dogs are nothing if not kitsch. For that reason alone, I can see why this painting would bring in so much. But consider this: the Dogs are an American icon now, a symbol of bad art just as much as velvet paintings. I suppose the ultimate would be Dogs Playing Poker painted on velvet. The image is ubiquitous, and now it has been given importance by the all-powerful dollar. It has made it to the big time. Does anyone realize where this is heading? In years to come - centuries from now, perhaps - Dogs Playing Poker may well be the image that represents 20th century zeitgeist. A nation of dog-loving, poker-playing, beer-drinking art lovers. That's us, by golly.

The Gates

So, The Gates are open. The NYT has a lot of pictures and video well worth registering for if you haven't already. I have a feeling that the Gates are much more impressive in person than on film. It seems like the preliminary drawings are more interesting, but I don't think that's true. It still looks very cool, and I would really like to see it for myself. Oh, well.

What kind of homeschooler are you?

Umm...well.. yes. This is embarrassingly accurate.

Mr. Potato Head You have your ideal of how things
should look, but youre flexible enough to allow
for change. You are not bothered by changing
methods, mid-course if necessary. You use an
eclectic combination of curriculum sources.


What Type of Homeschooler Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

(via Guilt-Free Homeschooling)

Black History Month

I have never been a big fan of Black History month. I never understood why we have to have a month devoted to that, when we should just be studying it all year long. Anything historically significant done by a black person should be part of the normal curriculum.

However, in honor of this silly excuse to relegate black achievements to one month a year, I present my most cherished family picture: my great gandparents - on my mother's side- Marion Wesly Alexander, his wife Birdie Archer Alexander, and three children - Irene, Ira and baby Marion (my grandmother Othellis had not been born yet.) Circa 1905-06.

Funny Enough to get you going in the morning

This makes me glad mine is 12 now.

Blogrolling Again

I just rearranged my blog roll. There are so many new blogs dedicated to visual arts that I felt they needed their own category outside of culture blogs. And I'm sure some of my "Other Blogs" could be considered culture blogs, but let's not get carried away with this whole change thing, ok?

New Art Blog

Looks like Diane is gaining some well deserved fame for herself. The inaugural post of Art in Toronto is an interview with her. I'm not sure about the whole red-on-black color scheme, but the blog might be worth keeping an eye on.

Famous by Accident

An article in the NYTimes, Artist's Erotic Oeuvre Is Rescued From the Trash really caught my attention this morning. It seems a man named Edward Victus has been in the hospital, and when he gets home, he will be needing some nursing care. His friends decided to clean up his apartment, getting rid of any "offensive" material in the process. Apparently, most, if not all his artwork was deemed offensive for it's erotic nature. A painter named Brian Ermanski rescued hundreds of sketches, drawings and paintings from a dumpster outside the apartment. He laid them out on the sidewalk, creating an impromptu art show of the man's works, as well as giving people a chance to give the artworks good homes.

There are so many levels to how fascinating this is. First, here is this 76 year old man's life strewn across a Manhattan street. Along with artwork, there were also resumes and tax forms in the dumpster, so we now know that Mr.Victus was never even an artist by trade. But he'll soon be an artist by reknown.

Jeffrey Miles, 21, a English student at New York University, said he had saved Mr. Victus's tax returns in case he wanted them back, and had begun shooting segments on Tuesday for a documentary film about Mr. Victus's art.

Had anyone ever heard of this man before? Had anyone ever even seen any of it? I have no idea if his work is even considered good or not, but there were many people who thought it good enough to take home. And I don't know if Mr.Victus ever showed his work anywhere. We don't even know how he feels about this whole thing because he could not be reached for comment. It's as if some small twist of fate has just turned Edward Victus from "working stiff" to artist. I sincerely hope there is a follow-up to this somewhere, because I really want to know more about this man who's become famous by accident.

Buffy, Duncan and Jack

I seem to be one of these people who cannot get into a TV series until it's been on enough seasons to be almost over. I don't know why that is, especially when I know a show is good - plenty of people tell me so. And yet, I couldn't get into Babylon 5 until the third or fourth season; Deep Space:9 - the next to last season (I was in Egypt at the time); Highlander - season three (I got in early on that one); Buffy the Vampire Slayer - well, I actually caught the series finale on the night it aired, but very little before that; Stargate:SG1 - ok, that only took me 5 seasons, mainly because I couldn't watch it until it came to the Sc-Fi Channel. But once I do get into it, I can get just a little obsessed. Does buying all of seasons 1-5 of Highlander on VHS count as obsessive? I mean, I bought 3 of the seasons used on ebay, so that's not so bad, right?

So let me tell you why I couldn't get into Buffy at first. Those kids are SO YOUNG! It's very hard for me to relate to a show where the only people my age are the male authority figure and the mom. THE MOM!?!? But the show is so funny, and very well done. The cultural references are what get me - there is no way on earth a teenager like Buffy could understand half of what she utters. When did she catch the 70's SF movie Soylent Green? And does Xander really know who Godfrey Cambridge is? I think not. At least the young thing is not as bad as Smallville - I'm sorry, but I am NOT old enough to be Ma Kent, no way, no how.

My next obsession should be Angel if the pattern continues. It comes on TNT every day, but I'm totally lost whenever I catch it. Give me time.

Patsy Cline

Do you like to put on Patsy Cline when you're depressed and sing along at the top of your lungs? Or is that just me? Something about her voice just moves me. And even though I can't sing for sh*t, I find I can sing along with her no problem. Ok, back to falling to pieces for me.

Egyptian TV

I was thinking about watching TV in Egypt. We lived in Alexandria from February to September of 2000 - my husband was working with the Egyptian military at the time. Anyway, I watched a lot of TV. There was a time slot for Egyptian produced mini-series that were subtitled in English. I got hooked on a mini-series about the famous singer Om Kolthoum. I had never heard of her, and I'll bet most of you have never heard of her either, but she was a superstar in Egypt from the 40's until her death in 1975 - check out these websites, one in arabic and one in English.

She starred in movies and tv specials, she ran organizations, she wrote and produced songs. She was a megastar. She never married because she wouldn't leave her public for a husband. She was a classic Egyptian beauty. I caught one of her old movies from the 40's and she was quite stunning, a beauty right off the walls of an Egyptian tomb. She was considered the Voice of Egypt. She told the Russians back in '67 that she would be happy to sing for them if they would help them fight Isreal. She was so well-loved, that Egypt claimed they actually won the October War in '73 because Om was in the hospital and they didn't want to upset her with the real news. Ok, maybe that last part was an exaggeration, but they sure put that spin on it in the mini-series.

I attempted to listen to her music several times, but I could never get into it. It just didn't appeal to me no matter how many songs I listened to. Hey, at least I tried.

I also tried to learn Arabic, so I had another excuse to watch TV - subtitled, of course. I watched a lot of ST:NG and DS:9, only they were in English with Arabic subtitles. That was cool. But I think I learned more from the mini-series' with the English subtitles. The last one I got involved in was about this woman and her grown sons. One was rich and was trying to screw her out of her money and her home. The other got married and the daughter-in-law tried to screw her out of her money and her home. Quite the soap opera, but I never saw how it ended. One thing I liked about watching these was seeing how Egyptians decorate their houses - the rich ones, at least. At first I thought they just showed all these marble floors, Persian rugs, Louis XV furniture and baroque clocks because it was how "the middle-class lived." But I got a few glimpses into other apartments every now and then, through balcony doors and unshuttered windows. They really do decorate that way. Of course, we lived in a huge apartment with marble floors and Egyptian rugs, too. No French furniture, though, thank goodness.

Geez, have I rambled enough? Sorry, just what was on my mind today.

Charles Sheeler (1883-1965)

I mentioned Charles Sheeler to Rufus the other day because her content - thought certainly not her style - is very remeniscent of his work. So I thought I would spotlight this not-quite-so-famous artist today.

Sheeler was a photographer first and a painter second. He preferred photographs to painting, but he was very good at both. He was considered a precisionist painter, creating works with sharp, hard lines and flat planes. He based his paintings on his photographs, which featured hard contrasts of light and dark and geometric shapes. For more on the artist himself, look here and here. A good site to view his photography can be found here.

My favorite Sheeler piece was done for a series of six works commissioned by Fortune magazine in 1938 entitled "Power." Being the great capitalist mag that it was, it looked to spotlight America's ability to produce power, goods, and armaments as WWII came closer to our doorstep. The piece is Steam Turbine. He manages to make this huge machine look both cold and sensual at the same time. The sinuous, rounded shapes and smooth surfaces make you want to touch it. Yet, it is still crisp and sharp; touching it wouldn't be a good idea.

This another in the series, called Suspended Power. The color palette in this one is disturbingly organic. That, and the large, smooth planes make this another of those touchable pictures. But, when you look closely, you see a very small human figure standing in the well below the turbine. Suddenly the fanned turbined becomes more menacing, a mechanical "Sword of Damocles" ready to crush anything in its path.

This third painting is different in execution, with its emphasis on a monotonal palette. I think that the photograph it's based on is actually more interesting.

The photograph Wheels seems to have more power, as if concentrating our view on a slightly smaller section intensifies the experience.

Of the three other works in this series, Yankee Clipper and Conversation Between Sky and Earth can be seen here (just scroll down). Again, they are different in execution, and don't have the power or intensity of the other three works. I could not find an online image of "Primitive Power", perhaps because it was the "odd man out," being a picture of an old fashioned water wheel.

For all his wonderful images of American Industry, when you Google Charles Sheeler these are what come up most: insipid early works from his days of experimenting with cubism. Not terribly inspiring, and not the kind of works that would make you want to do anymore research on this artist. But he's worth the digging.

Elsewhere

Discovered a few new blogs today:

Adventure Journalist, a blog with gorgeous photos of northern New Mexico by Tonya. She also has a a homeschool blog, and more photos at Vivo.
One of my homeschooler email lists has started a blog: UUHomeschoolers. It's just a baby, so it needs nurturing.
Tidbits, Thingamajigs & Watchamacallits (Frally for short) via Poppins Classical Academy.

Death

I have been wanting to get something off my chest for a while now. My mother died in July, and I have not really discussed the experience with anyone, but I want to talk about it. So, I'm talking.

My mother was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma around her 70th birthday in '98. Being the woman she was, she did not take it lying down. She fought it, even though she knew it was incurable - treatable, but not curable. So she went through chemo and radiation and bone marrow treatments, struggling to hold onto a another few precious months. She gave herself almost 6 years, but they were six years of severe ups and downs from the various treatments. Finally, last May, her doctor said he couldn't do anymore. She still fought it, but she knew she was losing every day.

My sister came down from CT to be here in June, "until the end," she said. We cared for her - with the help of the Mariposa Hospice - and watched her deteriorate more and more every day. She did get to see her youngest great-grandson before she was too mentally gone. But once the slide had started, it was a steep descent.

Neither my sister nor I wanted to watch this, but we felt it our duty to do so, We had to: she needed us to be with her. And she was in my home/her home, so there were no hospitals involved at the end - we'd had enough of them. When the time drew near, our hospice nurse showed us the signs. So we were not surprised when the time finally came. I am not going to go into detail because it is not something I want to relive that graphically. I will say that we spoke to her, told her everything would be all right, and I feel that we helped her to release herself from her mortal body and go someplace better. For all the fighting she did to remain on earth, once she was gone, she was gone. No "presence," no nothing. Just gone. And that was my mom. She was always ready to do something new and leave the old behind.

I had never experienced death in any form except for having to put beloved pets to sleep. I had only an idea of what to expect. I have found that once you watch someone die, death becomes its own entity. It hovers about my consciousness because now I know what happens. And it's not pleasant. All those fake movie and TV deaths just don't even come close to the reality. I was watching the Buffy episode entitled "The Body" the other day. In it, Buffy comes home to find her mother dead on the living room couch. It's a rather moving and disturbing episode, but what disturbed me most was that she didn't look dead. I kept thinking she looked just like an actress trying hard to keep from moving. Her eyes were wide open and obviously alert. The eyes don't look like that. Dead eyes glaze over, and that's the image that will stay with me most powerfully.

My mother's death was drawn out and painful. We kept her on morphine and other painkillers just to keep her comfortable. I kept thinking that it shouldn't have to be like this. When I put my animals to sleep, it was quick and painless. Why can we not show as much compassion to our own family? A couple of times, she actually asked us if she could just take a pill. What can you say except, "sorry?"

My mother's cousin had died several months before; she had developed some kind of tumor. We never really knew the details, since she still lived in Chicago. But we did know that she refused to see a doctor. She said she knew it was her time to go, and there was no point in prolonging it. My sentiments exactly. If I am ever diagnosed with Cancer or some other fatal disease, I will wrangle myself a bottle of barbituates and buy a bottle of scotch - single malt. I do not intend to go through that, and I sure as hell don't want my son to go through it, either.

At the time, it didn't seem that hard; we just did what had to be done. But as the sounds and images continue to haunt me, it becomes more difficult to deal with. And I miss my mother more and more every day. I had been under the impression that grief was supposed to subside after a while, not get worse. Silly me.

I'm not trying to sound bitter or angry. It's just that being at my mother's bedside was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. But it was also the most important. I hope never to have to go through that again. Once is more than enough.

Bosch Figurines

These are way cool. I seriously want a few.

(via Newthings)