Book Review

More Pictures to Grow Up With  (1946)

by Katharine Gibson

   

    Most know that I am a used book aficionado.  No, I don’t mean rare books or first editions.  Not even pedestrian art critics make enough money for that sort of lifestyle.  Rather, I mean those books which are classics based on having been passed between at least two generations.

    In the world of art books, I found that going back to the pre-WW II days brings a refreshingly straight-forward perspective to the field.  You see, back in the day, art was understood by a relatively egalitarian populace to belong to all people – and all people were expected to have at least a basic understanding of art.   I find that two fields have declined precipitously since the war – being visual arts and poetry, but that much of the fault lies with the critics, the private galleries and the artists who arguably have cultivated a less approachable, highly elitist environment that has benefited only the gallery owners.

    Katharine Gibson’s pleasant book is aimed introducing art appreciation to the middle elementary school student.  She does not talk down to the reader but does rather, find aspects of art that might be more appealing to children.  Gibson starts with pets – introducing children to the world of art and its concepts through the agency of animals while dealing with complicated concepts such as the difference between art and design, artistic intent, choice of medium, and so on.  I greatly appreciate her review of the concept of narrative within a work of art, whether it be an Italian Renaissance painting, a French tapestry, and Egyptian tomb motif or a Greek vase.  By the end of the first chapter, a child (or adult for that matter) is well prepared for his or her first enjoyable trip to the gallery or museum.

en Pe'trett auf fäaschmiete

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Mennonite Portrait wins 2012 British Taylor Wessing Prize

en Pe'trett auf fäaschmiete

 

© Jordi Ruiz Cirera, 2011-12.

And the prize goes to – a portrait of a Mennonite youth.  Yes, in fact, the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2012 has gone to London-based, Spanish photographer Jordi Ruiz Cirera for his hauntingly beautiful 2011 photographic portrait of a young Bolivian Mennonite, Magarita Teichroeb. 

Four to Watch

Four to Watch

   You will have to excuse my silence.  No, I did not stop noting and appreciating good art – in fact, some of the most interesting pieces have come out of the last twenty-four months.  Rather, I have been more pre-occupied with that other aspect of art and culture – the establishment and maintenance of narrative theory (in other words, grad-school).  While this has taken up most of my time, it is with relief and joy that I return to our conversation about the everyday, pedestrian enjoyment of the art that surrounds us.

   In this regard, I feel it somewhat necessary to re-establish some of my aesthetic tastes and leanings with you.  While I cannot provide you with an exhaustive, culturally critical analysis of the various regional and world markets, I have identified four areas that I feel are on the up-swing – pending their ability to maintain the necessarily social and political stability to foster the creative process and their ability to gain an audience.

    As the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games has demonstrated, the great games can serve as a ready catalyst for great artistic endeavors – and for generating the appreciative audience to support the works being presented.

Alfieri's The Sisters

The Sisters (2005)

03 Oct 2012

    Richard Alfieri’s 2005 film adaptation of Anton Chekov’s The Sisters, by the same name, is both brilliant and disturbing.  As is usual, I tend to miss the point extolled by the jacket commentator:  “… the story of familial deception and ultimate revelation … [and] the ties that bind them despite their dysfunctional family dynamics…”

   What I am missing is the sense of family dynamic – in fact, to my reading of the film, the action is defined specifically by the lack of family dynamic.  There is no family.

   The issue of the male child in the family is removed from consideration by the omission of the female matriarch – the mother died long before the story’s narrative begins – with no exploration but the minimal side references of bitterness, Marcia redirects from hostility she feels towards her mother, onto her father.  The makes even more intriguing the repressed sexual anger and tension between her and her father.  Clearly, her husband is nothing more or less than a surrogate father figure – of this the narrative is quite clear.

   What we are left with is the incidental relationship amongst four grown women (for this, the character of Nancy (Elizabeth Banks), is of larger impact than that of Andrew, the brother (Alessandro Nivola).  Leaving the cast of relevant characters as Marcia Prior Glass (Maria Bello), Olga Prior (Mary Stuart Masterson), and the youngest sister, Irene Prior (Erika Christensen).

    To my mind, there are two themes – and I think it important to reiterate that this play reflects the perspectives of two men – Alfieri, the writer, and Chekov, the originator, and to a lesser extent, director Arthur Seidelman, another male, and to explore the following with that clearly in mind.

Wall Photo Sets New Record

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Jeff Wall, Jewish Russlander Photographer

Eena dee schienent Bilda aufnemmt

Jeff Wall by Hermann Wendler, 2007

   IIn tracing and detailing the extent of the Russian Mennonite diaspora, one spends a lot of time on the look-out for key names – such as Toews, Unrau, Wiens, etc.  Many names, however, exist well beyond the diaspora – Becker, Unger, Wall, etc. 

   Regarding the surname Wall, I have always been intrigued by the artist Jeff David Wall of Vancouver, British Columbia – is he of the Dutch Wall’s, the Norwegian Wahl’s, the Irish Wall’s (who are actually Dutch) or the Mennonite Wall’s – if he is Mennonite, is he of the Belgian Vanderwalle’s  or de Walles, or of the Frisien Walde / Waldens?  Nor is Wall’s photo of any assistance.  I, for example, look just like my father, grandfather, great-grandfather – all the way back to C.M. Wall, the earliest for whom an image exists.  Wall does not look unlike a Dutch-Flemish Wall, but they have also, possibly due to shared heritage, also looked suspiciously Irish.

   So leaving off the Jerry Springer – Montel Williams investigatory work , Arthur Lubow, of the New York Times, actually published the answer to the dilemma in his bio-piece on Jeff Wall , 25 February, 2007.  In a piece title “The Luminist,” Lubow reveals that Jeff Wall, that great Canadian photographic artist is actually – “Jewish”.  “Jewish?” one asks.  “Jewish” he says.