The Last Hurrah

Rooms to Let in Slavic Village in Cleveland

There was a uplifting art happening in Cleveland last weekend called "Rooms to Let."  It was the second such event where foreclosed and abandoned houses in a hard hit area of Cleveland (houses that are scheduled to be demolished) are turned over to artists, who give them one last celebratory and dignified, send-off.

 Artist: Dana Depew
 Artist: Dana Depew
The houses are all roughly a hundred years old and the last few years have been less then their best years. They are filled with character, beautiful wood, built-in china cabinets, window seats, etc., but what the artists focus on, for the most part, are that the houses are also filled with the lives of their former occupants. The houses sheltered people whose lives cry out to be celebrated before the tangible evidence of their exsistence is gone forever. We as a society, especially one hard hit by its changes like Cleveland's Slavic Village, are too quick to erase the past as we rush toward the future and we often don't realize what has been lost until it is no longer there. "Rooms to Let" stops us in our tracks and makes us look at these places, see the beauty, enjoy some music, laugh and talk with people, honor these structures and the families who lived and loved in them.

 Artist: Christine Mauersberger
 Artist: Christine Mauersberger
 Artist: Christine Mauersberger
Having become blighted and a burden on the neighborhood, the city has no choice but to tear them down. This has been the story for many rust belt cities who deal with a loss of population and aging housing stock. For one more weekend though, people filled rooms, created music, gathered around them and enjoyed life. It was a celebration of the service of the houses as dwellings and the lives of the people who lived in them.

 Artist: Jeff Chiplis
 Artist: Paul Sydorenko


Good News

The Wedding Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1566, Detroit Institute of Arts.

The New York Times reports that the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts is no longer in danger of being sold as part of the Bankruptcy filed by the City of Detroit. This is very good news for not only the DIA, Detroit and Michigan, but for any art lover that enjoys access to masterpieces through public museums. Do yourself a favor and visit this collection if you can, there are some very fine pieces and you won't regret it.

Side by Side

The West Wind by Tom Thomson, 1916-17, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario is hosting a study of two iconic Canadian artworks  by artist Tom Thomson through January 4, 2015. Tom Thomson's The Jack Pine and his The West Wind are examined side-by-side. I first came to know of Thomson after marrying my Canadian husband and visiting his relatives in Toronto when we went to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) and I was introduced to the Group of Seven. They were a loosely tied group of landscape artists all choosing to focus on their surroundings as subject matter and thereby created the first major Canadian art movement.

The Jack Pine by Tom Thomson, 1916-17, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

Happy Father's Day

Portrait if

Alexander J. Cassatt

and his son, Robert Kelso Cassatt

by

Mary Cassatt

,1884-85,

The Philadelphia Museum of Art

Mary Cassatt

, the Impressionist artist, is well known for using her family as models in her artwork (men and boys are seen less often) as she spent a lot of her time around the women of the family. In this portrait we see

Cassatt's

father and her brother sharing an intimate moment. Her father was a railroad man and probably not around the house as often, or willing to sit still for very long (pure conjecture on my part). Happy Father's Day - perhaps you can capture an image of your father today?

The Armory Show - Then and Now

 Gallery A in the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art (nicknamed "Armory" Show)

The International Exhibition of Modern Art (The Armory Show) of 1913 was a pivotal time in the world of art. It marked the first time that art considered to be the "modern" style was brought together and exhibited in one space. It took over a year of planning and received much public scorn from people unaccustomed and uninterested the burgeoning styles displayed like Cubism, Fauvism and Futurism.

 Currently, there is an exhibition of the same name taking place in New York at the Piers which highlights art of the 20th and 21st centuries and is primarily a venue to buy and sell. However, if you have the opportunity, it is also a chance to see works by famous and unknown artists in the same locations.


2014 Armory Show in New York through March 9, 2014

Supreme Painting


Suprematist Composition, 1916 by Kazimir Malevich

During the closing ceremonies of the Olympics in Sochi last night, reference was made to Ukrainian artist Kazimir Malevich, but not much else was said about him. He is one of the most important artists of the 20th century, less famous than Picasso, but no less important. This is considered to be one of the most important pieces of 20th century art and in his treatise of 1916 Malevich explained that he wanted to concentrate on color and texture and to move beyond traditional representation.

Artist Carrie Mae Weems on 30 Years of Genius - EBONY

 "Art has saved my life on a regular basis. I wanted to offer that experience to children, to enlist them, to show them the possibilities that are in the arts, to persuade them to pursue it for both their own personal salvation and for changing the way we are understood." Carrie Mae Weems

A Gold Star for Cleveland

A large detail of Louis Grebenak's WBOE mural, which awaits installation at ideastream in downtown Cleveland.
 
There is an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer today about a series of WPA murals that were saved from destruction by an art history teacher from Cleveland State University named Walter Leedy, who unfortunately did not live to see the results of his efforts. Much of the thanks goes as well to the ICA Art Conservation of Cleveland and to the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA). The artwork has been displayed around Cleveland, including on the campus at Cleveland State who leased two of the murals.

In Defense of Art History

Art Connoisseur by Norman Rockwell, 1962.

I do not normally use this blog to editorialize, but I was listening to the radio yesterday and they played a sound bite from a speech President Obama was making in Wisconsin in defense of vocational training and I will say I agree with what he was saying, that there is no shame and often wage benefits, to being trained in a trade however, he chose the perpetually easy target of art history as an example of a college pursuit gone wrong (as Click and Clack humorously and routinely point out on Car Talk).
 
Here is the quote according to the Washington Post:
    
      "A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you, folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree." According to the Washington Post, President Obama then chuckled and attempted to put out the fire he had accidentally started by saying "Nothing wrong with art history degree, I love art history. I don’t want to get a bunch of emails from everybody. I’m just saying, you can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education, as long as you get the skills and training that you need."
 
I thought oh great, one more insult to add to the pile, way to grab for the low hanging fruit Mr. President, but it points out a larger and and growing disdain in our society for the libral arts/ humanities in education. With all the promotion of the STEM degrees the traditional libral arts have taken a real hit in the last ten years or so. What used to be considered a fine, well-rounded background for almost any pursuit, has become the butt of jokes and is pointed to as an education squandered.

From my perspective, without the studies of the humanities our lives are less rich, they lack an understanding of past and richness that only an appreciation of the arts can bring. People may argue that you can pursue these avenues of enrichment on your own, outside of how you earn your money, but without teachers in these areas, your pursuit will only take you so far. Without someone to explain Abstract Expressionism to you, you might likely dismiss it as so many "globs of paint" and miss the importance of the freedom the movement represented and how by throwing the canvas on the ground and tossing the paint onto it, Jackson Pollock took art to a place without boundaries and represented the potential of a nation emerging from the dust of a hard-fought world war, as the new global super power. Art, music, literature, poetry are the mirror that reflects our world back to us, they capture and see things that may not be clear at the time, but upon further study enrich our understanding of ourselves and our world. 

When I pursued my studies in the areas of literature and art, I knew I was not choosing a path to wealth or fame, but I expected to work in a museum or teach for a wage that would allow me to live modestly, but comfortably and reap my rewards though proximity to beautiful art, or through introducing students to the world of art. As I struggle to find a job (while the adjunct teaching opportunities dry-up and pay far less than a living wage [a rant for another place and time]) I get what Obama is saying, but I am sad for what we lose as a society when we devalue the humanities and look down on those who see its value as more than a guaranteed income bracket.

The Fountainheads

Ai Weiwei, Circle of Zodiac Heads

Currently on display at The Cleveland Museum of Art are Chinese artist Ai Aweiwei's bronze representations of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. They have been traveling around the world, we saw a glimpse of them in Toronto during the summer and are now installed in the interior court at CMA through January 26, 2014. They are reproductions of the fountain heads from the now destroyed Yuanming Yuan Imperial retreat which were pillaged after the palace was attacked by French and British troops in the 18th century. Ai Weiwei intention is to draw attention to the looting and repatriation of art around the world.

Art for All


Everyone knows about the financial and societal woes of Detroit. The once grand and prospering city has been in decline for decades now and an emergency manager was appointed in March which gave fiscal control to the state instead of the city. Last week the news came out that all city interests are being examined as possible revenue streams, up to and including, the city owned Detroit Institute of Arts. Now in all probability, the city would not be able to sell off assets given in trust or as gifts to the institution and the idea has already sparked a backlash in the museum community who would take it as a direct assault on museums in general. Even the suggestion of looting the collection really drives home how desperate situation is. The DIA owns some spectacular pieces, a Brueghel any museum would love to own, a beautiful Caravaggio, the painting by Whistler that sparked (pun intended) the legendary Whistler vs. Ruskin case, a sublime Bingham, and of course the Rivera Court, just to name a few. Perhaps all this publicity will remind people the depth and beauty of the collection and how a visit, over the course of the summer, to see it  for themselves would do the DIA and the city good.

Quiet Remembrance


Although considered part of the Harlem Renaissance movement, Motley never lived in Harlem. He was born in New Orleans and moved to Chicago where he studied art the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This painting from early in his career shows his grandmother Emily Motley (a former slave) quietly mending socks surrounded by mementos and references to her life.

Happy Birthday, Ingres



Madame Moitessier, 1856 by Jacques-Auguste-Dominque Ingres, National Gallery of Art, London.

True to the fashion of his time, Ingres was more interested in painting historic scenes than doing portraits, but also true, portraits are an artist's bread and butter. Mme. Moitessier's husband asked Ingres to paint his wife's portrait and Ingres refused, upon meeting her however, he was intrigued and agreed to paint her. Notice how the use of the mirror behind her, gives us two portraits in one.

Happy Birthday Gustave

Fruit Displayed on a Stand by Gustave Caillebotte, 1881-2, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Caillebotte existed on the fringes of the Impressionist group, as he was both a benefactor and a member of the group. He was a painter himself, but lived as a lawyer, solider, and engineer. He did not adhere closely to the painting by light and loose brush strokes of the Impressionists and his work belies his realistic-style training, however, he allowed enough of the looser, less studied style of the Impressionists to enter his work, that it was given a lightness, that more realistic work lacks.

Even in death he supported the Impressionists, leaving his vast collection to the French Government on the condition that it be displayed, not stored away. The artists and their work had not yet been embraced by the French people, and the government and they rejected that condition, but ended up accepting a portion of the work which they did display, making it the first time the artists of the group were displayed in a government exhibition.

Beautifully New

Lady with Fan by Gustav Klimt, 1917, Private Collection.

Happy Birthday to Gustav Klimt, today would have been his 150th birthday. The Austrian Art Nouveau painter, often chose women as his subjects and also used gold leaf to further embellish and decorate his work. There is a retrospective of his artwork at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria now through January 6, 2013.

Beautiful Perfection

Cupid and Psyche as Children by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1889, Private Collection.

Among the most popular and prolific artists of the 19th century, Bouguereau was a traditional academic-style painter as many other artists were shunning (or being shunned by) the French Art Academy and heading in different directions. He preferred classical subjects, such as Greek Mythology, and a very straight-forward, realistic, presentation. His work remains quite popular for it's beauty, and the obvious skill of the artist.