Category Archives: art history/books

FEBRUARY READING RESULTED IN SNYCHRONICITY

I vowed this year to keep up with what I’m reading and share it on a monthly basis. I hope to get some new ideas for books too – because I read every day!P2280049_1444This is a sample of what I have stacked up to read!  Here is what I finished in February:

Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story  by Amanda Vaill.  This was such an interesting biography.  Gerald and Sara lived in Paris and then the south of France. There they entertained Picasso, Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, Stavinsky and others.  Gerald was an artist – and despite being exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art – he packed up his brushes and abruptly quit. It is said the couple was the inspiration for the characters Nick and Nicole Driver in F. Scott Fitzgeralds Tender is the Night (I need to reread it now). Both Hemingway and Picasso may have been in love with Sara. The couple were friends with the Fitzgeralds until their sad demise. They also remained close to Hemingway. But if wasn’t all fun and games, there was alot of heartbreaks along the way. My synchronistic moment:  about 2/3 of the way through the book, Sara befriends Calvin Tompkins, who remains in the book until the end.  Last month I read Off the Wall: A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg – written by – Calvin Tompkins. 

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. This consists of little stories about daily habits of 160 artists – consisting of novelists, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, composers and more. I could write an entire blog on this book and I plan on going back through it and keeping track of which rituals appear with frequency. Many of the people profiled took long daily walks and carried a notebook to jot down ideas. Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up in the kitchen. Trollop made sure he wrote 3000 words every morning before going to his job at the postal service. Stravinsky was unable to compose unless he was positive no one could hear him – and then stood on his head to clear his brain. Balanchine did his greatest work while ironing. The list goes on – enjoyable read.

The Blind Contessa’s New Machine  by Carey Wallace. I picked this book up on a bargain table in a book store (yes, in a real brick and mortar book store).  And yes, I did choose it based on the cover.  But it was a delightful find – a very small book.  It tells the story of an Italian contessa who goes blind and no one believes her, except for a local inventor and long time friend, Turri. Wanting to communicate with the Contessa, he builds what is thought to be the first working typewriter. I loved the magical realism in the dream sequences in the book, and I loved the fact it is a book of fiction that is based on a very obscure historical event.  Isn’t the cover inviting:

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The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro. Claire is an artist who makes a living reproducing famous works of art for an online company. She is approached by THE GALLERY OWNER in Boston to forge a Degas from a copy.  This is one of the paintings that was stolen in the famous Gardner Heist.  If you don’t know the story, click here.  Briefly it is the largest art heist in history when in 1990 two men went into the museum in the middle of the night and stole 13 pieces of art – none have ever been recovered.  All is not what it seems and I couldn’t put it down.  Another SYNCHRONISTIC moment in reading – forgers find a painting by a lesser known artist from the period of what they are forging and use that canvas.  In this book, a painting by the artist Meissonier was used.  Last month I read the book The Judgement of Paris, The Revolutionairy Decade That Gave the World Impressionism by Ross King.  Lo and behold, this book followed the career of Edouard Manet and Ernest Meissonier, who was the most successful artist in Paris at that time!  (and generally overlooked now)

Gustav Klimt, Painter of Women by Susanna Partsch. I haven’t read the entire book, but I have enjoyed looking at the plates in it.  Klimt is one of my favorite artists.  Below is an image of The Kiss – one of the most beautiful paintings ever.  If you ever get a chance to see a Klimt in person, don’t miss the opportunity.

Gustav_Klimt_016

What am I reading now – actually I’m between books.  I did start a book about Henry VIII, but I realized most of the major characters are beheaded and I kind of lost my way – maybe I’ll pick it back up.

Last thing – what am I watching?  I discovered House of Cards and binged on it one weekend. I’m up to episode 8, I feel another binge weekend coming up!

What are you reading or watching?  Give me suggestions.

P2150046_1446Ziggy likes to get in on the action too – he’s been caught pulling art books off the bookshelf. Why?  it is a mystery to us!

 

 

FOUR SMALL FACTS I FOUND BURIED WHILE READING THIS YEAR

To say I am a reader is an understatement – I am a READER.  I read almost every day. I do read a good bit about art, both fictional stories and non-fiction. I find little facts buried within these books that inspires me to do further research.  Here are a few of what I found this year  (I admit this idea came to me late in the year so a goal is to keep a better record of what I’m finding).

THE LOST PAINTING by Jonathan Harr – This book reads like a fictional detective mystery.  However, it is a true account about the painstaking research done by Francesca Cappelletti and Laura Testa to track down the lost Carravaggio, The Taking Of Christ, shown below.  Before engraving and photography, did you know painters sometimes made, or had copies made of their paintings.   This particular painting has at least 12 copies, which made authenticating the original more daunting.  In fact, there are fewer than 80 Carravaggio’s authenticated, and according to some sources, there could be fewer than 60. 

The Taking of Christ, Carravagio, The National Gallery of Ireland

The Taking of Christ, Carravagio, The National Gallery of Ireland

If you don’t know anything about Carravaggio’s life, it is worth looking up.  He fled Rome after killing a man, often painted himself into his paintings, signed only one painting, he worked directly on the canvas and his painting career lasted only about 13 years.

Another interesting thing I discovered after looking up the painting, when Mel Gibson was filming The Passion of the Christ, he admitted to imitating Carravaggio’s style in the arrest scene in the movie, using both similar lighting and placement of the figures.

The Monuments Men:  Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel  – Paul Sachs, son of Samuel Sachs and Louisa Goldman Sachs (yes, Goldman Sachs) was the associate Director of the Fogg Art Museum beginning in 1923.  In fact, he started a study at Harvard on museum curatorship.  Being only 5’2″, he hung paintings much lower than in Europe.  Because his students considered it the norm, they continued hanging paintings lower also.  I don’t know if this is still true, but I found it an interesting fact.  He was also a founding member of the Museum of Modern Art .   

The average age of the members of the Monuments Men was 40 and everyone chose to join.  

Other members included Captain Walker Hancock, who had won the Prix de Rome prior to World War II and designed the Army Air Medal in 1941,  Lincoln Kirstein, the founder of the New York City Ballet, and Second Lt. James J. Rorimer, who became curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was instrumental in the founding of the Cloisters.

This book has so many interesting facts in it, it is important to mention it is a major motion picture, to be released in February 2014, written, directed, produced and starring George Clooney, along with Matt Damon, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and others.  

The Monuments Men Poster

The Monuments Men Poster – click on image for trailer

Bad Boy, My Life On and Off the Canvas – Eric Fischl – This book is interspersed with musings from fellow painters, friends and collectors.  Now, I wasn’t surprised to find art collector, comedian and all around renaissance man Steve Martin here. But, finding John McEnroe was initially surprising until I remembered he had a gallery in SoHo beginning in 1993 exhibiting such artists at Alice Neel and David Smith. However, he and Eric traded tennis lessons for painting lessons.  They began going on art expeditions together, thus furthering John’s interest in art.  In fact, the first painting lesson involved a nude model.

The Judgement of Paris, The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism – by Ross King – I have to admit, I have not finished this book, but there was one small paragraph that grabbed my attention that had to do with the history of the Top Hat.200px-Austin_Lane_Crothers,_photograph_of_head_with_top_hat

Yes, the top hat.  Apparently, in 1797, and English haberdasher by the name of John Hetherington took a walk wearing a top hat, which apparently caused a riot.  It terrified people, women fainted, children cried and dogs barked (can you imagine?) and the police literally grabbed him by the collar and gave him a summons for disturbing the peace.  Well, that seemed so outlandish that I started googling around, and apparently the top hat is credited to George Dunnage in 1793.  I couldn’t find any documentation that proved the story of John Hetherington actually happened, but it is recounted in several places.

In my reading, I come across small facts that I find so interesting I’m compelled to do further research.  In the future, I’m going to make better notes and write about these small and interesting facts.

If you have any books to recommend, please do so!