The Great Art Debate

[TANGODANCER]

Some Ottoman calligraphy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ottomancal ... otostream/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great art indeed. Superb work.

[William the White]

Good stuff - I'll have to lend you Brian Sewell's excellent book on his many art trips to Turkey!

I'd love to read that! Does he discuss Arabic calligraphy in it? We were struck by how the refusal of figurative art by Islam led to such inventive - and beautiful - calligraphy. The words of God themselves becoming devotional (and often public) masterworks.

The wife of the marbling artist I spoke about specialised in calligraphy - so it remains important in Islamic art, and I really like that. We saw some of her work - still devotional in its themes.

I haven't actually read it yet: http://www.amazon.co.uk/South-Ephesus-T ... 1780761201" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have seen him write with some enthusiasm about calligraphy in the Chinese context.

Ordered!

Oh good - saves me the postage cost!

It arrived today. I'm up to page 30. and enjoying.

[William the White]

Rave five star review in yesterday's Guardian for Cezanne and the Modern at Oxford's Ashmolean museum.

Looks unmissable.

http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/cezanne/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Rave five star review in yesterday's Guardian for Cezanne and the Modern at Oxford's Ashmolean museum.

Looks unmissable.

http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/cezanne/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't think the exhibition itself is free, but it does look excellent. Shame it's not in London for a bigger audience!

[William the White]

Rave five star review in yesterday's Guardian for Cezanne and the Modern at Oxford's Ashmolean museum.

Looks unmissable.

http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/cezanne/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't think the exhibition itself is free, but it does look excellent. Shame it's not in London for a bigger audience!

Yeah exhibition a tenner.

Shame it's not on in Bolton.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Some good stuff for watercolour fans in this:

http://galleryblog.courtauld.ac.uk/2014 ... -in-focus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TANGODANCER]

Some good stuff for watercolour fans in this:

http://galleryblog.courtauld.ac.uk/2014 ... -in-focus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This painting of a ruined castle is, to me,....a painting of a ruined castle. Very well done without doubt. It would be attractive for its shape, scenic location and light and shade. It would attract me for those reasons, not those below which are the absolute imagination of an art critic. Fohr was but twenty eight when he died. Why couldn't he just be a young painter painting something scenic that attracted him? Why this utter.......?


Was Fohr using the castle ruins to represent the passing of an old order? This seems likely, especially when we factor in the events of the day. Napoleon, who had earlier conquered the German states and principalities, had just fallen, and his empire was being carved up yet again. But is Fohr mourning or celebrating this passing? The impermanence of human civilisation in the face of nature was a favourite theme of Romantic artists and poets, but – given how lush and green the trees and shrubs overtaking the ruins are – is this necessarily a bad thing?

Fohr leaves this tantalisingly unclear.Perhaps it’s up to us to decide.

[bobo the clown]

Some good stuff for watercolour fans in this:

http://galleryblog.courtauld.ac.uk/2014 ... -in-focus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like an album cover for a middling prog-rock band.

[Prufrock]

Did the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay at the weekend. Much preferred the latter.

[Bruce Rioja]

This painting of a ruined castle is, to me,....a painting of a ruined castle.

Indeed. A took this pic (sorry PB ) during my visit to MoMA. It is NOTHING other than two course o' bricks.

[bobo the clown]

^^^ Not even herringboned. No solidity whatsoever.

[TANGODANCER]

This lunchtime I went down to the Town Hall Art Gallery to see the James Naughton In the footsteps of Thomas Moran-Paintings of the American West. project. It's absolutely staggering. Paintings, drawings and etchings by Moran, his wife and brother cover the walls in a mass of colur and skill. Naughton, himself a brilliant artis has many works on show including his sketchbook and there are loads of schoolchildren in there really involved in all sorts of projects. Really great to see.....

....and now.....right in the middle of it all, an original J.M.W. Turner..Rafts on the upper Rhine . A lovely delicate watercolour of logs and boats in a deep ravine/canyon. Stood a fair time in front of that one. If you're any sort of a paintings lover, get down there while you can. Absolutely lit up a miserable day for me. Here's a link all about it. You may have seen it, if not, do. It's magnificent and a credit to the gallery.

http://naughtonandmoran.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Some good stuff for watercolour fans in this:

http://galleryblog.courtauld.ac.uk/2014 ... -in-focus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like an album cover for a middling prog-rock band.

Right up your street then?

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

"Horizontality"

[bobo the clown]

Some good stuff for watercolour fans in this:

http://galleryblog.courtauld.ac.uk/2014 ... -in-focus/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It looks like an album cover for a middling prog-rock band.

Right up your street then?

Not middling .... never middling, sonny-Jim.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

This painting of a ruined castle is, to me,....a painting of a ruined castle.

Indeed. A took this pic (sorry PB ) during my visit to MoMA. It is NOTHING other than two course o' bricks.

A friend of mine called Reuben in the waaaaaaaaay distant past attached a dog's lead to one of those bricks (in the original pile) and took it for a walk around the gallery (the Tate).
Anyway he got sued by the artist for destroying his work, only when he went to court Reuben had some mates construct a replica out of different bricks and the gallery representitives (the 'artist' himself wasn't there) couldn't say which was the real article and which was the replica, so it got thrown out of court.
(a little while later somebody defaced the piece with paint, which became a cause celebre - only thing is nobody knows if the one that was defaced was Reuben's or Carl Andre's as the gallery had dismantled one so quickly Andre never had a chance to validate which was his.)

[Beefheart]

Was in the Pompidou centre last summer. There's some good stuff in there, but there's also a bag of sand, some blank canvases and empty picture frames. I know it's lazy to go 'That's art?! What a load of crap!' but the words that go along with the pieces trying to explain them just seem absurd. It got to the point where I wasn't sure whether a guidebook that had been left out was something I could look through or meant to be a piece of art.

[William the White]

I'm devastated that seven of the eight of the original Equivalent series were destroyed.

Though the recreation of Equivalent V - albeit in different brick - is certainly to be celebrated. You must have felt awed and humble to have been there, Bruce.

I hope you didn't use flash to take the picture.

[TANGODANCER]

I'm devastated that seven of the eight of the original Equivalent series were destroyed.

Though the recreation of Equivalent V - albeit in different brick - is certainly to be celebrated. You must have felt awed and humble to have been there, Bruce.

I hope you didn't use flash to take the picture.

"Equivalent V throws the surroundings into focus".......Does that mean the Whickes finest floor panels the bricks are laid on?

[William the White]

I'm devastated that seven of the eight of the original Equivalent series were destroyed.

Though the recreation of Equivalent V - albeit in different brick - is certainly to be celebrated. You must have felt awed and humble to have been there, Bruce.

I hope you didn't use flash to take the picture.

"Equivalent V throws the surroundings into focus".......Does that mean the Whickes finest floor panels the bricks are laid on?

I don't think it means very much. But, obviously, I'm sorry that Bruce didn't include more of the surroundings so that we could see how they are thrown into focus. It looks to me as though they have bee installed with that possibility. That you could view the work of art from any side, or any angle. From the corners, crouching, kneeling or even lying on the floor. And Bruce really should have had the artistic sensitivity to have done this, or we have no chance of seeing the different focii available to the viewer.