The Confederacy statue debate has gone global. Retaining these symbols is variously defended in terms of protecting free speech or being truthful about history. True enough for some statues, but not all. A good many celebrate white supremacist values. So, which should come down? Slave traders? The slave-owning George Washington? History abounds with imperfect characters. Expect more debate.
Amidst lockdown, a writer reminisces about Delacroix’s The Abduction of Rebecca. At the center of the swirling action is an unconscious Rebecca in the hands of Muslim abductors. Her plight, and her “eroticized female flesh” grabs the viewer’s attention. Here is Delacroix deploying the key elements of his wild Romanticism – “unparalleled physicality, presence, and emotion.”
Modern home design, embodying our “ideal of domesticity”, emphasizes white sleek functionality. Lockdown has shown that this minimalism is not “enriching” and we now seek “textured hideaways”. Offices will need to become less dense. Cities will likely prioritise pedestrians and the “local” experience. Greater diversity in urban environments will “positively influence the global experience when we get back out there again”.
British Columbia, circa 1910, was isolated and tough. Carr, an aspiring painter, wasn’t deterred. After studying in Paris, she adopted the “colour heavy” style of the Fauvres. Modernist painting was hardly sympatico with the West Coast vernacular, but it brought a dynamism to Carr’s work that now underpins her reputation. A century later, her interest in the environment and indigenous culture puts her, finally, in step with the times.
Park’s lofty reputation grew out of his assignments in the American south for Life magazine. Around the same time, he completed an assignment on urban crime, accompanying police in their day to day tasks. The images were a revelation. Not only were they in colour, “cinematic, intense, and exquisitely composed”, they also conveyed empathy and nuance. More images are here.
Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas is “an anatomy of human gesture”. Warburg wanted to show that images are “viral”, unable to be contained within their historical moment. Instead, they transmit ideas across time. With images as various as ancient art, Renaissance frescoes, photos of zeppelins and astrological diagrams the Atlas is about how memory functions across the millennia of human civilization.
The fêted Ballad of Sexual Dependency chronicles a New York subculture. Its potency comes from its “incredible picture maker” (Nan Goldin) as well as the universality of its topic – relationships. “Who are these people? What’s happening to them? There’s the lush color. People have called [it] “operatic”. People’s Instagram feeds are their versions of The Ballad.”
More puzzling over Hopper’s enigmatic paintings. He, like film director Alfred Hitchcock, could compose scenes that elicit a particular feeling – aloneness, mystery, perhaps voyeurism. And what are his solitary human subjects thinking? “Regarding [Hopper’s] human subjects as “lonely” evades their truth. We might freak out if we had to be those people, but—look!—they’re doing O.K., however grim their lot.” A video (3 min) is here.
China’s most reputable art prize has just been awarded by Hong Kong’s M+ museum. Behind the hoopla, new security regulations are creating uncertainty about the future of Hong Kong’s art world. Will the museum and its new, grand, building, remain free to promote contemporary Chinese art? So far, so good, says the philanthropist behind the museum and the prize; “better days will come”.
Cézanne’s greatness requires a dense explanation, which this essay provides. He grasped the modern idea that perception is subjective. For him, a landscape was “unintelligible”, an assemblage of shapes and surfaces, something that changed with the viewer’s position. So, when painting a landscape, what was Cézanne reaching for? “An image of equivalence … a harmony parallel to nature”.
The humble handle. Elaborate creations appeared in 17th century Europe although England seemingly preferred the plain knob. The 20th century concept of a building as a total work of art brought handles that reflected architectural aesthetics. Then (of course) the Bauhaus, which introduced the idea of elegant functionality. Nowadays, despite numerous good designs, “almost every door handle you will see … will be cheap and ill-considered”.
Vivid. First, Warhol the person. “He craved the company of others, but never knew what to do with them.” Secondly, his art. It focused “on what he liked best, the tawdry pathos of supermarkets … you don’t need an art degree to get it.” Lastly, the new biography. “Elephantine, ill-written, nearly insensible … [old material] is rolled out as startling news, embedded in a dense lard of fatuous pedantry.”
Some of Gentileschi’s works portray frenzied violence. Is this an expression of her “thrilling” talent or lingering trauma from rape by her art tutor? If we think the latter, are we limiting her work to being just “a visual record of her personal and psychological make up”? And what then about our view of the eminent English artist Eric Gill, who was not a victim of sexual violence but, it seems, a perpetrator?