Art Blog By Bob

Why Van Gogh Is Ready for His Close Up

2012-02-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

“All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up,” says washed-up silent film star Norma Desmond in the final scene of Billy Wilder’s unforgettable 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson caps off her Oscar-nominated performance as Norma by walking into the camera’s lens and revealing in that final close up the full extent of her sick and tortured mind. In Van Gogh: Up Close, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through May 6, 2012, Vincent Van Gogh seems finally ready for his close up, too, but with an opposite effect. The mad, sad, and dangerous to know Vincent seen through the telephoto lens of legend gives way here to a clear-eyed view of an intensely focused artist who, despite personal difficulties, achieved greatness in art and communed intimately with nature in a way not only artistically revolutionary, but also therapeutic for himself and others. “All right, art loving public,” Van Gogh: Up Close shouts, “I’m ready for my close-up.” Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Why Van Gogh Is Ready for His Close Up."

[Image: Almond Blossom (detail), 1890. Vincent Willem van Gogh, Dutch, 1853-1890. Oil on canvas, 28 15/16 x 36 1/4 inches (73.5 x 92 cm). Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.]

[Many thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the image above from, a review copy of the catalog to, an invitation to the press preview for, and other press materials related to Van Gogh: Up Close, which runs at the museum through May 6, 2012.]

Should the Mona Lisa’s Smile Be Saved?

2012-01-30T12:11:00.001-08:00

If you saw someone dying before your eyes, wouldn’t you do everything possible to save them? Is there ever a case when saving someone (or something) is the wrong choice? In a recent article on Art Watch UK titled “What Price a Smile? The Louvre Leonardo Mouths that are Now at Risk,” Michael Daley raises the issues surrounding what he calls “a wid[ening] international art conservation faultline” between conservative conservators who refuse to risk doing harm to great works of the past through cleanings and restorations and more aggressive conservators who feel that the benefits of modern conservation outweigh the (to them, minimal) risks. What raises Daley’s hackles the most is the shift from conservative conservation to almost radical change at the Louvre, the granddaddy of all art museums and past champion of the “do no harm” school. Not only has the philosophy changed at the Louvre, but, as Daley notes, some paintings by Leonardo da Vinci have already been changed with no debate on the issue. The Mona Lisa’s smile (cracking and faded, but still there, above) hasn’t undergone cosmetic surgery yet, but it seems the next step. Knowing the risks, should the Mona Lisa’s smile be saved? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Should the Mona Lisa’s Smile Be Saved?"

[Image: Leonardo da Vinci. Mona Lisa (detail), 1503-1519.]

Why the Renaissance Model of Portraiture Endures

2012-01-24T20:12:00.001-08:00

What is that “Presidential” look? Consciously or subconsciously, American voters ask themselves that question every four years on the way to the ballot box. Is it the Mount Rushmore-ready chin, the never-retreating hairline, or the ideally symmetrical smile to which we surrender our hearts? Portraits of power go back to the beginning of recorded history, but, as The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, which runs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through March 18, 2012, shows, it was the artists of the Renaissance who resurrected Greek and Roman models and modernized them for their day and our own. Since the Renaissance, portraiture continues to be more about conveying character than fidelity of representation. The Renaissance portrait endures today because portraits continue to be more about identities than about appearances. The nose (and the eyes, chin, etc.) knows who we are and reveals it to all the world. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Why the Renaissance Model of Portraiture Endures."

[Image: Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenica Bigordi; Florence, 1448/49-1494, Florence). Portrait of an Old Man and a Boy (detail), ca. 1490. Tempera on wood, 24 ¾ in. x 18 ¼ in. Département des Peintures, Musée du Louvre, Paris.]

[Many thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for providing me with the image above and other press materials related to The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, which runs through March 18, 2012. Many thanks also to Yale University Press for providing me with a review copy of the exhibition catalog, which was edited by Keith Christiansen and Stefan Weppelmann.]

Laurie Anderson’s Vision of Art in the Future

2012-01-23T11:51:00.000-08:00

“The main thing that attracts me to Buddhism is probably what attracts every artist to being an artist—that it’s a godlike thing,” performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson says in an interview in the January 2012 issue of Believer magazine. In addition to that interesting take on the godhood of the creative artist, Anderson (shown above, in concert) sees a future in which “[w]e’ll be able to be in the present more effectively” and no longer need to make art or have museums, say five thousand years from now. Anderson, always a provocative and controversial artist in whatever medium, raises interesting questions for modern (and post-modern) artists. Will art still be made in the future? If so, what will it look like? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Laurie Anderson’s Vision of Art in the Future."

How Zoe Strauss Flips Urban Stereotypes on Their Head

2012-01-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

Using money she had received for her 30^th birthday, Zoe Strauss bought a camera in 2000 and began shooting a 10-year project that had previously existed only in her imagination. The urban landscape of Philadelphia and its inhabitants soon found a new herald and champion in Strauss, who dreamed of creating “an epic narrative about the beauty and struggle of everyday life.” In Zoe Strauss: Ten Years, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through April 22, 2012, Strauss invades the rarified world of the culture industry and injects the gritty reality of the deindustrialized inner city, thus sending sparks flying from that clash and reenergizing both worlds. Strauss flips all the dehumanizing stereotypes of urban life in America on their head and restores the human face and indomitable spirit behind the façade of decaying infrastructure. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "How Zoe Strauss Flips Urban Stereotypes on Their Head."

[Image: South Philly (Mattress Flip Front), 2001 (negative); 2003 (print). Zoe Strauss, American, born 1970. Chromogenic print, Image: 6 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches (17.5 x 25.7 cm), Sheet: 8 x 10 3/8 inches (20.3 x 26.4 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with funds contributed by Theodore T. Newbold and Helen Cunningham, 2003.]

[Many thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for providing me with the image above, a review copy of the catalog to, and other press materials related to Zoe Strauss: Ten Years, which runs through April 22, 2012.]

Is the Editorial Cartoonist Dead?

2012-01-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

My first introduction to newspaper reading was the Sunday comics. Stretched out on the floor beside my Dad, both of us propped up on our elbows, we read everything from Andy Capp to Ziggy. But my first introduction to reading a newspaper like an adult was the editorial cartoon. Pat Oliphant, Jeff MacNelly, and others soon became heroes as big to me as Spider-Man and Batman. Alas, with the death of the American newspaper comes the collateral damage of the demise of the editorial cartoon. The Golden Age for Editorial Cartoonists at the Nation’s Newspapers is Over, a report recently presented by The Herb Block Foundation (founded by legendary editorial cartoonist, Herbert Block, aka, Herblock), gives the grisly details and sad statistics behind the extinction of that now rare animal, the flourishing editorial cartoonist. Is the editorial cartoonist really dead? What does that mean for American politics and culture, today and tomorrow? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Is the Editorial Cartoonist Dead?"

[Image: Herblock. “YOU MEAN I’M SUPPOSED TO STAND ON THAT?” (detail). A 1950 Herblock Cartoon, copyright by The Herb Block Foundation.]

[Many thanks to The Herb Block Foundation for providing me with the image above.]

How Yoko Ono Is Still Giving Peace a Chance

2012-01-13T12:55:00.000-08:00

Long before she ever met John Lennon, Yoko Ono established herself as a significant international avant-garde artist. With John by her side, Yoko’s political performance art found a larger audience to witness the "Bed-In for Peace" and Bagism. Alas, the idealism of the late 1960s that helped foster an environment for that activism faded during the Reagan years and has struggled ever since. Fortunately, the renaissance of activism known as Occupy Wall Street has inspired Ono to reach out and inspire once more. On Saturday, January 14^th, Yoko Ono and members of the OWS Arts and Culture and Occupy With Art groups will gather in the now famous Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan to announce a new artwork to promote peace worldwide. Forty-three years after singing “Give Peace a Chance” with her husband John, Yoko Ono is still giving peace a chance, and asking us to join her. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "How Yoko Ono Is Still Giving Peace a Chance."

[Many thanks to Occupy With Art for providing me with the image above.]

Why Is Chris Burden Playing in Traffic Again?

2012-01-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

If you know the name of artist Chris Burden, you probably think pain: shooting, electrocution, and even crucifixion. Although Burden ended his agonizing exploits over 35 years ago, those performance art pieces remain his most memorable work. Metropolis II (shown above), a gigantic kinetic sculpture featuring 1,100 custom-made die-cast cars and 13 model train sets racing and stalling in a chaos of traffic now on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, threatens to shoot down the old perceptions and make the art world see Chris Burden anew. But why is Burden, the man who once allowed himself to be nailed to a Volkswagen Beetle, playing in traffic again? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Why Is Chris Burden Playing in Traffic Again?"

[Image: Chris Burden, Metropolis II, 2010. Three 1/2 hp DC motors with motor controllers; 1,100 custom-manufactured die-cast cars; 13 HO-scale train sets with controllers and tracks; steel, aluminum, shielded copper wire, copper sheet, brass, various plastics, assorted woods and manufactured wood products, Legos, Lincoln Logs, Dado Cubes, glass, ceramic and natural stone tiles, acrylic and oil-based paints, rubber, sundry adhesives. Dimensions: 9’9” (H) x 28’3” (W) x 19’2” (D) (297 cm x 862 cm x 584 cm). Courtesy of The Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Foundation. © Chris Burden. Photo © 2012 Museum Associates/LACMA. See a video of Metropolis II in action here.]

[Many thanks to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for the image above and other press materials related to the exhibition of Chris Burden’s Metropolis II.]