Melodrama In Art

This is Jules Delaunay's The Plague In Rome (131 x 176 cm) which was a huge hit at the 1869 Paris Salon.  Critics at the time likened it to an operatic production.  As described by Robert Rosenblum (see previous post), this work is a blend of the historical and supernatural.  It illustrates a narrative from The Golden Legend (a 13th Century compilation) that tells the story of how, during the Roman plague of 680AD, a good angel commanded the bad angel to strike the doors of the godless with a spear, the number of knocks determining how many deaths there should be in the home.  

Rosenblum explains that epidemics such as cholera were still recurrent in 19th Century France and, as is often the case with human disasters, a religious explanation of sinful behaviour could easily be provided.

Robert Rosenblum 1927 - 2006

One of my favourite art historians, Robert Rosenblum is credited with challenging accepted norms of modern art and its history. He believed that Modernism had a much longer history than people assumed.  Instead of examining and judging works of art within time-specific frameworks, Rosenblum tended to critique art regardless of its associated movement or place in history. 

Rosenblum believed that Modern art can trace its roots back to the French, German and Danish painters (who worked mostly in the Neo-Classical style) of the late 18th-century.  Rosenblum constantly confronted formal ideas of Modernism and even art history itself, and challenged those in the art world to view Modern art as a vast well of ideas rather than being a product of particular timelines. 

Of Impressionism, Rosenblum wrote that it rejuvenated Western painting and forced us to rediscover what children had always known, that the most immediate spectacle of light, colour and movement, perceived before the brain can sort out other kinds of order, is a tonic, joyous experience. 

Of contemporary art he said (rather sadly, I suspect)  "We're in what might be called, in the phrase of the day, a Postmodernist situation, and the feeling that Modern art can be heroic, that it makes a difference to the world, all this seems sort of quaint and nostalgic rather than a part of living reality." 

King Frederick The Musician

The Flute Concert, oil on canvas by Adolph Menzel 1850.  Frederick The Great is the flutist and C. P. E. Bach as on harpsichord.  The setting is the kings residence Sans Souci in Potsdam, Prussia around 1750.  As well as being a ruthless ruler, Frederick was an accomplished musician and composer.  Multi-skilling at its best.

Sans Souci

Peder Severin Kroyer

The artist Vilhelm Hammershoi (see previous post) had a Danish tutor Peder Severin Kroyer who was described as a rumbustious realist who had quite a repertoire.  Anything from rugged industrial scenes to interiors of taverns or beauties strolling the beach.

Kroyer - Steel Forge 1880's

Kroyer - In The Store During A Pause From Fishing, 1882

Kroyer - A luncheon, the artist, his wife and the writer Otto Benzon

Intimate Interiors

The understated, yet intimate paintings of Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoi (1864-1916).  In an article published in the Guardian a few years ago, Julian Bell describes the artist as a master of demure conservatism who hit upon a modernist way of looking.  There is mystery, the viewer is being beckoned to enter these scenes, yet there is nothing to hold on to.

"Your curiosity is lured into that enclosed hall, yet your attention is held back - left dangling over the bare floorboards with their scuffed varnish, which is the nearest to an indicator of commonplace living and everyday usage that the picture is prepared to provide. A tantalising juggle with emptiness."

Author Alain De Botton argues that Hammershoi was selling an appreciation of the everyday.  Yet we are being "seduced by the nape of a lovely female neck, the delicate strands of unruly hair and the carefully calculated angle of the head, to get us to like a person and enter their imaginative world."

Hammershoi enjoyed great success with sellout shows in Berlin and London in the first decade of the 20th century.  

Dealing With Asperger's

A confronting exhibition is about to end at Latrobe Regional Gallery.  It's called Splinters Of The Minds Eye by Neale Stratford.  In this show, Stratford interprets the real world through the veil of Asperger's Syndrome with which he was diagnosed years ago.  

"I explore the gaps between internal and external realities, examine wanton desires and delusional thoughts within the context of everyday reality in the understanding of the paradox that is me."  Stratford's work puts me in mind of Bill Henson but with a powerful psychological twist.  References are made to anxiety, depression, introversion and autism that are part of his daily existence.  But at least Stratford has the ability to deal with his "disability" creatively.  I can't imagine what it must be like for those who can't.

The Mirror Woman

A remarkable site specific installation by Korean artist Kimsooja titled "To Breathe - The Mirror Woman" could be found at the Crystal Palace in Madrid in 2006.  The palace was built in the 1880's to house a collection of flora and fauna from the Philippines, but the artist transformed it into a multi-sensory light and sound experience.

A special translucent diffraction film was used to cover the windows to create an array of naturally occurring rainbows, which were reflected by a mirrored surface covering the entire floor area.

An audio recording of the artist breathing was played throughout the space to create what must have been a memorable experience.

Melbourne's Lost Biennale

When an art exhibition sticks in one's mind after 17 years, it tells you something.  The 1999 Melbourne International Biennale was an initiative of the Melbourne City Council, The Ian Potter Centre and Arts Victoria and the exhibition "Signs Of Life" was staged over several floors of a rundown former Telecom building in Russell Street.  It was a venue which according to reviewer Helen Stuckey came with no institutional baggage and was totally innocuous.

Shadow Of Falling Stars - Ugo Rondinone

Travelling from floor to floor was a journey of exploration and discovery and each level varied dramatically in character and light.  The most successful works were able to adapt the environment to their particular needs - there was video, installation, sound, sculpture etc.  For me, the most memorable work was "Shadow Of Falling Stars", by Ugo Rondinone.  In each corner of the room, video monitors were mounted high up (like surveillance equipment), 2 showing a figure walking, the other 2 showing a young girl dancing in slow motion.  Opposite the entrance was a wall of roughly finished timber painted dark green and in the centre a pink window overlooking the city.  Add to this the soundtrack of the artist repeating a languid dirge and it made for a very disturbing atmosphere.  I was going through a relationship breakdown at the time and he tapped into my emotions very succinctly.  

On another level, the entire floor was covered in a field of clover by Nickolaj Recke, and then there was Mariele Neudecker's aquarium sculptures - dark and mysterious.

Sadly, the building was earmarked for renovation into apartments immediately after the exhibition, thus denying Melbourne of an ongoing venue for cutting edge art from here and overseas.