One source suggests medieval tapestries were proof of a “delicate palate”. Really? In Europe’s stone palaces and churches tapestries were a great way to display wealth, advertise one’s piety, and keep the place warm. What was once a mainstream area of art is now tiny, albeit with some resurgence. A video showing the art form at its most spectacular is here.
The re-evaluation of Lee Miller continues. Art history remembers her as a model to Man Ray. However, the posthumous discovery of her photographic work makes clear that she was much more. Her early work explored surrealism, followed by photojournalism in WWII and, after that, fashion photography. She reportedly said, “I looked like an angel, but I was a fiend inside”.
A couple of years ago it was suggested to Christo that he had avoided London. His response to that remark is, for the next few months, floating in the Serpentine lake. Christo has assured the locals that “Any interpretation is legitimate, critical or positive” Such works may be temporary but, as one writer observes, “the ambition behind it is boundless”.
Dorothea Lange was not an obvious candidate to trailblaze documentary photography. She was an upmarket portrait photographer before taking government assignments during the Depression. Her images were sensationally powerful and now form part of America’s visual history. “A camera is a tool,” she once said, “for learning how to see without a camera.”