HELP: looking for sources on fascist aesthetics. Why fascists (Nazi Germany, other fascist countries, and current fascist movements) like minimalism, Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture, and “elegant” beauty.
EA Hornel was the Kirkcudbright Artist who began inspiring other Artists to come and visit, paint and live in Kirkcudbright, creating it's status as an Artist's Town. Steadfast in his refusal to go to the big city to ply his trade, he lived most of his life in the town, up to his death
Like the 5 previous volumes in Michel Pastoureau's series of books on colour, White: The History of a Colour (2022) is a mixed bag. Its full of great insights & wonderful illustrations, but (unavoidably) repeats some aspects of the previous books & never really completely coheres into a focussed argument about white as a colour. That said, there is so much of interest, that you can forgive this (inevitable?) short-coming.
Thinking about the Extremely Subtle And Understated Symbolism For Fertility painting again (Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit, c.1620–5, Sir Nathaniel Bacon)
All the lovingly and painstakingly crafted cabbages. The lovely bosom-forward lass holding that pumpkin? All the erect carrots? The shape of the wreath? So subtle! Incredible. 😆
I finished The Art Thief by Michael Finkel. It documents the crimes of one prolific art-loving thief who robbed out-of-the-way castle museums and other convenient locations within a seven-country radius from his home base in Alsace.
I find art heist stories compelling even as they are disconcerting. Probably because I like reading about the art and art crime units as well as the people whose work it is to care for art. In this genre is also art restitution stories, which are also compelling.
Unfortunately (no spoilers), as interesting as it was reading about the stolen art and even the way it was stolen (the audacity -- and no romanticization of the thief here), the book's ending is a letdown.
However, it's a quick little read that's entertaining and also a study in one person's psychology.
My daughter has to do a project whereby she collects art depicting historical art (pre 1950) regarding LGBTQ+. It can be pro or anti, or simply examples of LGBTQ+ EXISTING.
This is a bit off-topic, but today, I can proudly announce that I'm the new owner of a larger #Norwegian#ExLibris collection. Since I was a child, I've been intrigued by this art form & during my years in Berlin, I was part of the ExLibris society's exchange events.
It's a great honour & a great responsibility to own such a collection. There is no collector/artist scene in Norway for ExLibris, but perhaps my work w/ the collection can be an incentive. #Woodcut#Linocut#BookHistory#ArtHistory
This is statue of Saint Bartholomew, an early Christian martyr who was allegedly skinned alive. Notice: that's not a robe that he’s holding. It's his dissected skin. This stunning statute is by the Italian sculptor Marco d’Agrate, c.1562.
Meanwhile... another Artemisia Gentileschi work has been uncovered (this time at Windsor Castle) - in the wake of the groundbreaking National Gallery exhibition, and the ever growing interest in #ArtemisiaGentileschi her known (and viewable) works keep expanding - rescuers from obscurity & miss-attribution.
I often wonder how #arthistory would have been different if Vasari has been a Venetian?
Famously, Vasari championing Michealngelo, stressed the basis of art in drawing (disegno) while the art tradition dominant in #Venice emphasised its basis in colour (choice & use).
If Vasari has been a Venetian might we have told a different history of art?
Might we have had a different canon?
Or would the identity of the great artists have remained the same?
‘The Frick Pittsburgh postponed an exhibition featuring 10 centuries of Islamic art that was supposed to open on Saturday, citing the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war and the fear that the show could become “a source of unintended insensitivity or offense.”… “… the collection was supposed to help people understand the diversity of Islamic art… it included works by Muslims, Jews and Christians... The collection is so far away from anything that is remotely political or sympathetic to fanaticism.”’ #arthistory
Jackie Wullschlager wonderful Monet: The Restless Vision (2023) is the best #arthistory book I've read for a long time. Her account of Monet, his relations with 3 key women (two wives & a step daughter) & how they shaped his work, balances biography with a compelling/insughtful account of the development of his work. Like all good #art books this just makes you want to see his #painting in the flesh. I cannot recommend it highly enough
Neoliberal economics is killing the arts
By Tim Lutton, originally published by Red Pepper May 28, 2024
"...As a society, we must resist art-as-capital, where it is reduced to pure exchange value in a market of commodities. There, any politically-charged and counter-hegemonic content is rendered powerless, constituted as a stable harmonisation of the dominant socio-political order and drowning out all contradictions.
...In the present era, the tendency towards total marketisation of artistic production accompanies perpetual austerity and an atomised rentier economy that is shrinking public and social life. Without a rupture from neoliberal capitalism in general, the means to make new, generative and disruptive art disappears, and much else that is meaningful in our lives will follow after. The rest is silence."
I enjoyed Jackie Wullschlager's new biography of #Monet so much I wrote this (glowing) review of it for @NWBylines, which extends the micro-review that appeared here a couple of weeks ago.
In an article (a trailer for her forthcoming #Monet biography), Jackie Wullschlager makes the claim (which sounds plausible, certainly), that he was the only major painter of his time not to paint nude women.
This is an interesting claim, given other major artists around this time (from Courbet before, via Picasso, to Matisse) all did...
This refusal to adopt one of the key subjects in #arthistory, makes me think of Monet a little differently & now I'm eager to read Wullschlager's biography...
Une historienne qui décore des biscuits à partir d’œuvres du Moyen Âge et des 16e-17e siècle, que demander de plus (à part les recettes) ?
Miam ! Un #MardiPatisserie en retard mais à temps pour le #NationalBiscuitDay !
En préparation du CM de lundi, nouveau plongeon dans l'oeuvre de Bernard Palissy 😍 avec cette conférence de Françoise Barbe et Anne Bouquillon, à l'auditorium du Musée du Louvre : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa5u_WY6BOQ
@ChrisMayLA6 It's been a minute, but I was looking through some "books of the year" lists and I spotted this, which seems right up your street.
Aoife Hardy - Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker