ART Appreciation "class" #1: Manet and Homer

5/25/05 | republicanprofessor

[Sam Cree]

I see where that painting is coming up for auction. Apparently, infuriatingly, it's not quite in the same price range as a Warhol, but I gues it'll still bring millions.

[Republicanprofessor]

Could you respond to my post #79?

I was really rushed yesterday and didn't have the time to sit and write as much as I would have liked.

I didn't respond to you in part because you were right on. In fact, I haven't heard such a good interpretation of that "cotton picking" work before. It is wonderful to be absorbed into any artworks and to really "get" what the artist intended.

Homer was one of the first artists to paint black people with dignity and without racial stereotypes. One of my favorites is The Gulf Stream. I often pair it with the Fog Warning shown earlier on this thread.

In this work, the ending is more pessimistic than in the Fog Warning. This was inspired by a water spout storm in the Carribbean (vs. New England for the other painting). The black man is cut adrift, unaware of the ship in the background, without any mast or oar or controls. This painting has been connected to Reconstruction. Yes, slaves were freed, but there were no schools, no banks, no infrastruction. And the KKK developed, like the sharks swarming here.

Homer's work is very powerful.

[Republicanprofessor]

Does anyone consider Michelangelo's David porn? The very question is absurd.

I have heard of some who wanted to cover reproductions of David. There were also some cardinals who ordered the loin cloths to be added to Michelangelo's Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel.

To me, nudity alone is not pornographic, and many on this thread nailed that. It has to excite to be pornographic. (But, of course, different people are excited by different things....let's not go there.)

[Aquinasfan]

I'm an artist by profession, but have never taken an art course, except for a few worthless high school get-in-touch-with-your-feelings classes. In high school, I gave up on formal art education since so much of it seemed like crap. As it turns out, I was prophetic, literally.

Anyway, modern art seems like the longest-running hoax in history, kept alive only by financial speculators and academics.

I prefer realism, or any related style. I like the paintings you selected above, particularly the image of the men in the boat. I have no tolerance for abstract and modern art.

[Republicanprofessor]

the much more dynamic composition, suggesting the power of the sea, is strongly supported by Homer's triangular composition.

Homer and Manet, and many others, were inspired by Japanese prints and their frequent use of diagonal compositions. But, I agree, Homer is much more subtle in his use of them. And more powerful as a result.

Re Goya's Maja, the image of which is in post 90 something. The head always looks wierd on this. From the top of my head, I think this work and its clothed counterpart were made for a man with the head of his mistress painted on the top of another model. I also remember something about this also being Goya's mistress. But I'm not sure (and I definitely don't have the time to research this.)

[Republicanprofessor]

Would you please add me to your ping list when you get to Charlie Russell and Friedrich Remington.

I'm not sure I can be so selective about my pings, so I'll just add you and you can ignore what you don't like. I'm also not sure I'll do Remington, although his work is fine. I'm sorry to say this, but I don't know Charlie Russell's work. I'll have to look it up.

I could do this "lecture" thing for hundreds of lectures to get all the important people. I think I'll just hit the highlights and do a few. But I'm beginning to think an on-line course might work. I'd dismissed that idea before.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Put me on your ping list, please...

I thought (maybe incorrrectly) that Manet was a Mannerist painter...

[Republicanprofessor]

at the Duncan Phillips exhibit at LACMA last year there was nary a canvas that I didn't find breath-taking (the Bonnards!).

The Phillips Collection in D.C. is even better because you can see the house where he hung the works. His taste was broad and wonderful. He's one of my favorite collectors, especially since he loved Ryder and Dove.

[Republicanprofessor]

Loved all your discussion of Sargent. And thanks for the photo of the original (more shocking) painting. I'll use that in class!

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

I understood that she is a prostitute...

The flowers, as you mentioned, the slave presenting them, wearing shoes in bed, the neclace...

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

I understood that she is a prostitute...

The flowers, as you mentioned, the slave presenting them, wearing shoes in bed, the neclace...

Also, notice in the second painting, the subject looking directly at the viewer...

[Republicanprofessor]

The piece that really struck me was Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Gentleman in a Red Doublet.

I checked out the link, and I had a thought. Are you (and Steve Wynn) sure that this is an original? They had a group of scholars within the last decade or so who sought out most of Rembrandt's works to determine authenticity. A surprising number of them were fakes, or were by his students, or whatever. Imagine the Frick Museum in NYC "discovering" that one of their Rembrandts has been designated a "fake."

Of course, it may just be a bad internet image (even more common than fake Rembrandts). But it seemed to lack a great deal of his subtlety, especially in the doublet. My guess is that it is a bad image on the internet. But that's something to watch out for when you buy your next Rembrandt. :)

[Republicanprofessor]

I'm adding you to the ping list to see if I can get you to see some other qualities in modern art, when we get there. I expect you will add a great deal to the discussion.

[jalisco555]

Many years ago, when the show was still funny, the Simpsons did a clever bit on this subject. The statue was touring the US and some mothers objected that it was harmful to children so a fig leaf was strategically placed.

[Aquinasfan]

see if I can get you to see some other qualities in modern art, when we get there.

Good luck ;-)

I expect you will add a great deal to the discussion.

Being self-ignorant has its advantages and disadvantages.

[Republicanprofessor]

I love how the Simpsons add art into their shows. I haven't watched it for years, but my students will remark on it. (Sometimes I think the only art they've learned about is through such programs on TV.)

I always loved the fact that Roseanne's TV kids had a poster of Munch's Scream on their bedroom door.

[Pharmboy]

Excellent, professor. Much appreciated. Although I have a BA from a large northeastern school, for our coursework we had to choose between music and art history, and I chose music. About ten years after graduation I took a mail order art history course (Time-Life?) which actually wasn't too bad.

And, I go to museums in NYC, but appreciate the background that you are giving. It helps--keep it up!!

[AnAmericanMother]

I don't mind the head - and wrong proportions do really bother me. She seems to me to be tucking her chin to give the viewer a coy look.

Goya is a splendid painter, sometimes very disturbing.

Poor dog!

[LexBaird]

Hopper is awesome. There is always an intense loneliness and what we see as nostalgia in his works. And yet the daylight often mitigates this loneliness. This Nighthawks is different, more bleak somehow without the daylight.

Yes. One always sees Nighthawks, but I prefer his early morning cityscapes.

[iceskater]

I have heard of some who wanted to cover reproductions of David.

We recently had a battle about that very thing here in Richmond within the last 6 months. Seems one snotty person thought that David was "inappropriate" (repro statue in front of a mediterranean restaurant) and insisted on covering it. Finally, saner heads prevailed.