So I just got back from a family vacation at Colonial Williamsburg, the Virginia granddaddy of all American “living history” museums. (They hate the term “theme park,” and those people in 18th-century costume are “actor-interpreters,” not characters.) The first thing to say is that we all had a great time: My kids studied up on Revolutionary War spycraft, watched several terrific programs of 18th-century theater, and delivered orations from the Declaration of Independence late at night in our hotel room. We learned how bricks and barrels were made in that pre-industrial age, and my nine-year-old daughter signed up in the Virginia militia to fight the British. (Historical accuracy be damned: One of her drill sergeants was female too.)Continue Reading… … Read More
Spanish capital en ruinas
All images courtesy Brian Patrick Eha
WALKING THE GALLERIES of one of Madrid’s many art museums, one sees, inescapably, signs of decay. As paintings age, they face ruin from a multitude of forces. Changes in temperature and humidity cause canvases to expand or contract; exposure to light causes discoloration; physical vibrations can lead to paint loss; air pollutants eat away at varnish; and neglect, combined with these, allows damage to proceed unchecked. Museums, of course, do everything they can to frustrate such forces, and art restorers bring sophisticated tools to bear: hot air pens, heated spatulas, low-pressure suction tables that relax distorted canvases. But there is only so much the experts can do. Some works are too far gone; they will never again be as they were. Present-day viewers behold a Madonna’s alligator arms, her Babe’s flaking halo, and try to piece together, from the beauty that remains, an uninjured, original image.
An outsider artist’s inner life
Although he traced and painted and wrote in obscurity until the day he died, Henry Darger is, today, probably the best-known outsider artist in the world. In the past decade or so, the confines of his one-room Chicago apartment have ceded to the spacious galleries of museums and art fairs, and Henry Darger — a man who kept mostly to himself, not quite reclusive but not incredibly social either — has become the poster child of outsider art.
But what happens when someone becomes famous, especially posthumously, is you (or I) sometimes forget that there is or was a person behind that fame — a real person, a human being, who lived a life and created the art that people now refer to, both succinctly and dismissively, as “those paintings of the little girls with the penises.” It’s good to remember and revisit that human being once in a while.
Pope Benedict XVI’s surprising artistic legacy
As the first Catholic Pope to resign from his position since Gregory XII in the 15th century, Pope Benedict XVI has startled the world with his announcement that he will step down by the end of this month. While controversially conservative (and much less benevolent-appearing than his predecessor the grandfatherly Pope John Paul II), the German-born religious leader did have an open mind at least in encouraging a renewed relationship between the Catholic Church and art, viewing the use of beauty as a path to the sacred.
Named the Pope in 2005, he oversaw the 500th anniversary of the forming of the Vatican Museums by Pope Julius II, including a gathering of hundreds of “Patrons of the Arts” in the Catholic Church, as well as the permanent opening to visitors of a necropolis some 2,000 years old filled with ornate mausoleums. As the head of Vatican City and its immense Vatican Museums, the Pope casts influence not just over the Catholic Church, but the presentation of the history of art as well.
Sistine Chapel tourists to be vacuumed and cooled to protect frescoes
Tourists in the Sistine Chapel. Photograph: Oote Boe Ph/AlamyThe 5 million tourists who visit the Sistine Chapel every year are to be vacuum cleaned and cooled down before entry in an effort to reduce the pollution damaging Michelangelo’s frescoes, the director of the Vatican museums said.Visitors who traipse sweat, dust, skin flakes and hair into the 16th-century chapel will be “dusted, cleaned and chilled”, Antonio Paolucci told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. The heat and dirt generated by 20,000 tourists pouring into the chapel every day has been blamed for the layers of grime accumulating on the paintings, which include Michelangelo’s depiction of God giving life to Adam.”We will cover the 100 metres before the entrance with a carpet that cleans shoes; we will install suction vents on the sides to suck dust from clothes and we will lower temperatures to reduce the heat and humidity of bodies,” said Paolucci.”Dust, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide are the great enemies of the paintings.”The chapel features 300 figures painted across 2,500 square metres by artists including Botticelli, Perugino and Pinturicchio as well as Michelangelo, whose Last Judgment fills the end wall.For the ceilings, which are 20 metres high, the artist devised special scaffolding to enable to him to paint.Paolucci has been searching for a way to cut down on the bodily debris of tourists since restorers scrubbed a thick layer of dirt off the frescoes two years ago. A 20-year-old air extraction system is no longer up to the job and air conditioning is essential, he has warned.The Vatican is also planning to install a virtual tour of the chapel, allowing visitors a close-up view of figures in the frescoes, which they are currently forced to gawk at while being jostled by crowds pushing through the room.Apart from the sweat and steam they bring into the chapel, the sheer number of visitors has been criticised for giving the space the feel of a busy train station, complete with pickpockets.The Italian writer Pietro Citati has demanded that the Vatican restrict visitor numbers, calling the chapel “an unimaginable disaster” where tourists resemble “drunken herds”.Paolucci has resisted, claiming that limiting numbers would be a throwback to the days of the Grand Tour when only a lucky few could afford to visit.The new virtual tour, he added, would not be a replacement for a visit to the real thing. “Even if it is part of a museum, the Sistine chapel is not a museum,” he told Corriere della Sera. “It is a consecrated space where important liturgies are celebrated and where popes are elected.”It is the synthesis of Catholic theology.” … Read More
The Week In Arts & Culture: Hurricane Sandy, Election Angst And A Crafty Halloween (PHOTOS)
This week the art world faced devastating blows as Hurricane Sandy threatened art galleries, museums and non-profits around the East Coast. Even amidst the chaos Halloween came as planned and tensions continued to rise as November 6 approaches. It was a big week… read more about it in our roundup below:
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