Last updated December 16, 2024
Detail photo of a blacksmith named Gilbert Hunt. From the photography exhibit entitled A Long Arc at the VMFA Museum - click to enlarge image
The Exhibit A Long Arc at the VMFA Museum in Richmond, Virginia, features a collection of images that illustrate a sporadically detailed history of the Southern states. As with many photography shows, one of the outcomes of amassing a trove of photos together is that they inadvertently express something about the people who selected the images. In this case, this span of Southern history comes across as rather joyless and, I imagine unintentionally, devoid of tragic depths.
Sure, there are Civil War images depicting the carnage and death of that terrible fight. For instance, George Barnard's Ruins of Charleston, South Carolina easily conveys the sentiment quoted on the placard fastened to the wall beside the framed photo—a quote from Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, who essentially said, "Charleston deserved it." However, that quote creates a ricochet effect, bouncing through the rest of these pictorial dominoes of Southern history, the vast majority of which feature people with very little to no expression on their faces.
There is no laughter in these photos. Though there are a couple of images showing people arguing, or a girl with tears pooling around one eye, the recurring pattern is the blank, unyielding wall of the human face, repeated over and over. This sort of pattern is reminiscent of the current trend in commercial photography, where young people wear today's clothing, drive today's cars, and sell today's products—all while their faces reveal almost nothing.
Is the message of the blank face one of "I dare you to plumb my depths"? Or is it "I've got nothing really going on inside my noggin"? Or perhaps it is intentionally blank, inviting the viewer to intrude a little deeper into the proceedings with their own interpretations?
Whatever the case of the blank faces, this collection of photography broadly gives an anecdotal texture of the South, is sad, enjoyable and fascinating on those terms, and is perhaps directly a "report card" on the famous phrase by Martin Luther King, Jr.: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
At the VMFA Museum in Richmond, Virginia - A Long Arc
The Unfinished Goddess. A rare example of a Greek marble portrait abandoned partway through its sculpting, offering an evocative insight into the ancient artistic process. From Athens, c.4th century BC, ArtAncient Frieze Masters. pic.twitter.com/9xQ7IoHvuy
— Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) November 25, 2024
Rare Caravaggio goes on display for the first time
A rarely seen painting by Caravaggio is going on display at the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica (National Gallery of Antique art) Palazzo Barberini. The facility is a baroque palace in Rome with collection of artworks by Tintoretto, El Greco, Caravaggio & others.
Location: Via delle Quattro Fontane, 13, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Official website: BarberiniCorsini.org
"A portrait of an Italian aristocrat by Caravaggio, which has never been seen in public before, is going on show in Rome on Saturday. It will be on display for just three months, after a deal was struck with the painting’s secretive owner. First identified as a Caravaggio in 1963 by an expert who found it in the collection of a family in Florence, the portrait of Maffeo Barberini, the future Pope Urban VIII, was photographed at the time but has only been viewed up close by five or six art historians..."
Article at the UK The Times, Nov 22, 2024
The history of art restoration is one that spans centuries, driven by the mission to ensure famous works of art remain accessible. Michelangelo’s iconic Sistine Chapel frescoes were first restored as early as the 16th century due to water damage, and since, advances in technology… pic.twitter.com/0TErDcAMOf
— Archaeo - Histories (@archeohistories) October 27, 2024
Claude Monet in London – UK The Times - Review of the exhibit.
"...views of the Thames painted by the impressionist Claude Monet during three long trips to London, in 1899, 1900 and 1901, many, but not all, from the Savoy hotel, a stone’s throw along the river from the Courtauld. It’s the exhibition Monet had hoped to stage during his lifetime. It may have taken 120 years, but it is more than worth the wait."
Official web site for the exhibition Courtauld Gallery – The Courtauld Gallery will be open until 9pm on the following dates: 25 October; 22 November; 13 December; 10 January 2025.
King Charles new portrait is attacked by animal rights group – KSDK
The score on the Parthenon marbles? 17-0 in favor of Greece
A UNESCO vote on the ownership of the "Parthenon Marbles" (aka "Elgin Marbles") shows that support for the British Museum's position of legal authority over the Acropolis statuary and metopes has been steadily crumbling for some time, and might be headed for a climax of sorts. If the British claims are finally ditched and the marbles begin a return to Greece, this could open the door for a massive change in relationships of museums with tenuous holds on dubiously acquired objects in their collections with the various countries where the objects originally came from (Egypt, Greece and Turkey, for example, though the list of countries with art objects removed from them is a very long list indeed.)
Story at Kathimerini [in Greek]
I recovered the 6 paintings that were stolen last month from the town hall of Medemblik, the Netherlands, Historically very important paintings. Especially the one showing King Radbod, the last ruler of Frisia. The oldest portrait known of him. And one of 'William of Orange.' pic.twitter.com/jNbXTSXIRA
— Arthur Brand (art detective) (@brand_arthur) October 17, 2023
"15 Must-See Shows This Fall in Europe" – Artnet.com
Detail of Edward Hopper Self Portrait 1903-1906
Coming exhibit:
The Lost Mirror. Jews and Conversos in Medieval Spain
October 10, 2023 – January 14, 2024
"Using a broad selection of works, this exhibition recreates a medieval mirror that shows how Jews and conversos (converts to Christianity) were portrayed by Christians in Spain from 1285 to 1492. Images played a key role in the complex relationship between all three groups during this period. On the one hand, they were an important vehicle for the transmission of rites and artistic models between Christians and Jews and provided a space for collaboration between artists from both communities. On the other – the grim flipside – they helped spread the growing anti-Judaism embedded in Christian society. In this respect, the visual stigmatisation of the Jews was a faithful reflection of the Christians’ mirror, of their beliefs and anxieties, and accordingly a powerful means of asserting their identity."
More art pages in the Archives