Building Momentum: Sejima and Nishizawa Win 2010 Pritzker

"We want to make architecture that people like to use," said Kazuyo Sejima, who with partner Ryue Nishizawa won the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize yesterday. "The jury somehow appreciated our way of making architecture." The Japanese architects aim towards using everyday materials to build dreamlike structures in which people can roam freely in groups or meditate individually. In the often befuddling world of modern architecture, Sejima and Nishizawa never lose sight of the human element in their buildings, including the sense of humor and excitement that can make entering a museum or office space a thrill rather than a chore. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Building Momentum."

[Image: Sejima and Nishizawa’s Rolex Learning Center.]

French Twist: Jean-Paul Gabilliet’s “Of Comics and Men”

Like Jerry Lewis, comic books seem to be an American institution best appreciated and understood by the French. Jean-Paul Gabilliet’s Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books provides the first scholarly overview of the development of the American comic book industry. First published in French in 2005, Of Comics and Men has finally been translated into English by Bart Beaty and Nich Nguyen, who worked with Gabilliet to update the history to make it as up to date as possible. Their effort adds up to nothing less than an encyclopedic study of what comics are, how comics have changed, and who has read them—all with an eye on how those factors interrelate in the realm of cultural production. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "French Twist."

[Many thanks to the University Press of Mississippi for providing me with a review copy of Jean-Paul Gabilliet’s Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books.]

Survivor Story: Carl David’s “Bader Field”

Death challenges the strength of any family. A suicide can tear a family apart. Art dealer Carl David, fourth in a line of a four-generation family owned art gallery, recounts the death of his father Sam and the suicide of his brother Bruce in Bader Field, a touching memoir of life and art. Art plays a major part in the story of the David family, but the love and strength of that family shows how living life itself can be an art. Carl David writes of his family’s lows and highs as his way of “paying it forward” and helping others strive and thrive through the adversity of suicide. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Survivor Story."

[Many thanks to Carl David for providing me with the image above and a review copy of Bader Field.]

Print the Legend: “Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey” at the NGA, London

In the classic Western film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, James Stewart’s character confesses that he wasn’t a hero only to hear the newspaper man he’s confessed to respond, "This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." When Lady Jane Grey met her end on the executioner’s block in 1554 after once serving for nine days as the Queen of England, the facts of her death soon became a legend of martyrdom. Nearly three centuries later, French artist Paul Delaroche revisited the legend in his 1833 painting The Execution of Lady Jane Grey (pictured), which became the sensation of the 1834 Salon exhibition. In Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey, the National Gallery of Art in London reexamines that moment in history when a French artist used the legend of an English monarch to say something both about art and about French society in the nineteenth century. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Print the Legend."

[Image: Paul Delaroche, The Execution of Lady Jane Grey, 1833. Oil on canvas © The National Gallery, London.]

[Many thanks to the National Gallery of Art in London for providing me with the image above and other press materials for Painting History: Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey, which runs through May 23.]

Guilt Trip: Robert Snyder’s “Michelangelo: Self-Portrait”

Michelangelo spent most of his life on a massive guilt trip. When he painted The Crucifixion of St. Peter in 1550 (pictured), he inserted not one, but two self-portraits. To the left of the martyr, a young Michelangelo stands beside a soldier gesturing to the cross, as if Michelangelo were responsible for what was happening for his years of following the pagan ideals of beauty over the glory of God. To the right of the martyr, an old Michelangelo stands disconsolate, realizing the cost of his embracing God over the god of beauty too late. Robert Snyder’s 1989 film Michelangelo: Self-Portrait, finally available on DVD from Microcinema, takes us along this long guilt trip as he presents these and many more self-portraits in vivid detail along with Michelangelo’s own self-portrait in words from his diaries and poems. In this film we step inside the mind, heart, and soul of a titan of the Renaissance and shed light on the long shadow he continues to cast on our culture. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Guilt Trip."

[Image: Michelangelo’s The Crucifixion of St. Peter (1550).]

[Many thanks to Microcinema for providing me with a review copy of Robert Snyder’s film Michelangelo: Self-Portrait.]