November/ December 2011 Drawings at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center All Photos Courtesy of Vassar College from the Crocker Art Museum, E
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INSIDE: Raleigh on Film; Bethune on Theatre; Behrens on Music; Seckel on the Cultural Scene; Sittner at The Adams Horse Stable; Trevens on Dance; Pomeroy ‘Speaks Out’ on a Call for Artistry; New Art Books; Short Fiction & Poetry; Extensive Calendar of Events…and more! ART TIMES Vol. 28 No. 3 November/ December 2011 Drawings at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center All photos courtesy of Vassar College from the Crocker Art Museum, E. B. Crocker Collection. By RAYMOND J. STEINER comprise the exhibition, an impres- mediately — see Catalog No, 2, Angel sive selection made from the Crocker’s Playing a Lute by Fra Bartolomeo — is (Michelangelo on disegno (draw- some thirteen thousand forty-four that all such drawings were meant ing/design): “…si dipigne col masterpieces from which to choose as preparatory sketches for paint- ciervello et non con le mani” (One — the lot chosen by Crocker Art Mu- ings, clearly demonstrating the truth paints with the brain and not with seum curator William Breazeale and of Michelangelo’s pronouncement the hands)). mounted at two previous venues on the quoted above — since one can hardly THANKS TO SUCH art-conscious in- West Coast before this at Vassar, the overlook the thought that has gone stitutions as Vassar College’s Frances only one shown in the East. into Bartolomeo’s finished Madonna Lehman Loeb Art Center serving as Thematically arranged into four del Santuario — as well perhaps, as important venues, art connoisseurs sections — Italy, The Low Countries, others — in beginning with this draw- can always rely on the enduring ap- France, and Central Europe — the ex- ing. Although I choose but this one preciation for fine draftsmanship — hibition highlights not only the vary- example, the catalogue (a real trea- and, of course, for collectors such as ing tastes and styles of these different sure**) makes abundantly clear that Edwin Bryant Crocker who had the each of these drawings were but ex- foresight to gather up and preserve ecuted “thoughts” ala Michelangelo’s master drawings before they were lost dictum. An obvious “study” — and the to history. For those of us who appreci- care taken in making it — can be found ate the art, fine draftsmanship — for in Jan Steven van Calcar’s Studies of whatever reasons, and to my mind, Human Bones done in red chalk. none valid — has been given short Given that they are meant as pre- shrift by many moderns following liminary desegnos, one still cannot the questionable argument that such help but appreciate the exquisite beau- Studies of Human Bones, n.d. Calcar, skills are irrelevant to fine painting. ty that one can render by a simple line Jan Stephan van Netherlandish, 1499-1546 For this writer, it does not take a drawing and subtle cross-hatching in “connoisseur” to see the results of such such a drawing as Donato Creti’s Vir- with Herder and Animals, de Vlieger’s reasoning when we survey the current gin and Child. Note also the intense Landscape, Bloemart’s Landscape offerings — not only in galleries, but attention to folded drapery in Peter with Tree Trunks and a Shepherd Rest- also in many equally respected insti- Lely’s Two Clerics, from a Procession ing and van Schrieck’s Morning-Glory tutions as the Loeb Center. Whatever of the Order of the Garter, Adriaen van and Butterflies certainly made up for my own opinions on the matter or the de Velde’s A Young Woman as Pomona the lack. Kudos to Vassar and all such eventual outcome of the history of and Gérard de Lairesse’s Expulsion of institutions that continue to keep the art, this “pioneering collection”* will Hagar. Or the almost incredible com- love of fine draftsmanship alive. surely please anyone interested in the plexity in such drawings as Pieter Ste- If you love drawing, this is a show art of drawing. vens The Month of February, Michael that you ought not miss. Fra Bartolomeo, Angel Playing a Lute, n.d. A little under 60 master drawings Herr’s Witches Sabbath, or Johann *“A Pioneering Collection: Master cultures, but also the chronological Georg Bergmüller’s Saint Martin Ap- Drawings from the Crocker Art Museum” (thru Dec 11): Frances evolution of the art of draftsmanship pealing to the Virgin. Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, th th Finally, how can one fail to see how from the late 15 to the mid-19 Cen- 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, turies within these major art centers. a François Boucher or a Moritz Oppen- NY (845) 437-5632. Visit http://fllac. Aside from such artistic consider- heim captures in simple line the grace vassar.edu for more information ations, one cannot but be overwhelmed of femininity in The Birth of Venus and/or directions. by the thought that such treasures as or the sensitivity of a young man’s ** A Pioneering Collection: Master these drawings might well have been countenance in Portrait of a Man with Drawings from the Crocker Art lost to posterity were it not for such Open Collar, respectively? And, al- Museum by William Breazeale, et collectors as Edwin Bryant Crocker though I would have liked to see more al. (172 pp.; 8 ½ x 10 ½; fully-illus- and his wife Margaret. They began landscapes and/or florals, Fragonard’s trated; Bibliography; List of Art- An Italian Park, Cittadini’s Landscape ists and Titles. $35.00 Softcover). their collecting in the mid-eighteen ef hundreds — imagine the loss had they lived during the modern habit of pon- tifically denigrating their value, CSS Publications, Inc. Support the Arts; Viewers will, of course, choose their PO Box 730 Enrich your Life own ‘favorites’ and I simply point out Mt. Marion, NY 12456-0730 a few that caught my eye — either for www.arttimesjournal.com 845-246-6944 the motif or for what I feel points out its value as an artform worth preserv- ing. What comes to the fore almost im- Subscribe to ART TIMES Gaspard Dughet, Landscape with Two Figures, n.d. ART-LITERATURE-DANCE-MUSIC-EXHIBITIONS-THEATRE-FILM-ART-LITERATURE-DANCE-MUSIC November/ December 2011 ART TIMES page 2 Peeks and Piques! ART TIMES THE THING IS, no one exactly ists do not need teachers to instruct of four — but those who are inner- Commentary and Resource for the Fine & Performing Arts chooses to be an artist. It’s not like a them in technique, but that they do driven seem to suffer more since they ART TIMES (ISSN 0891-9070) is published bi- monthly by CSS Publications, Inc. with copies career decision of becoming a doctor, not require an outside force in being have no alternative but to create more distributed along the Northeast Corridor primarily lawyer, or Indian Chief (although I creatively expressive, i.e. “artists”. while their less-committed comrades throughout the Metropolitan and Hudson Valley can turn to table-waiting, bartending Regions, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New don’t suppose you choose being an In Renaissance times, artists were Jersey each month. Copies are also available by “Indian Chief” either — in fact, art- believed to be “divinely inspired” — and the like — some even giving up mail to subscribers and arts organizations through- ists, like Indian Chiefs are born to the in effect, “called upon” by God’s di- altogether and conceding that their out the US and abroad. Copyright © 2011, CSS Publications, Inc. job, and saddled with it whether they rectly “breathing” the creative spark parents were, after all, wiser than Publisher: Cornelia Seckel like it or not). I know it’s an old conun- into them at birth. They can’t help they thought. “Born” artists usually Editor: Raymond J. Steiner drum and many do not subscribe to but draw or paint or carve or mold have no such escape hatch — they Contributing Writers: the old saw that “artists are born, not — can’t help but create things with either create or suffer serious illness, Henry P. Raleigh Robert W. Bethune some even opting for suicide. Never Ina Cole Dawn Lille made” — but over the past 35 years their hands. Most of these “creations” Frank Behrens Francine L. Trevens or so, in my profiling or writing about — in the larger economical scheme mind not selling, I’ve seen some go- Subscription Rates: the work of artists, it seems that most of things — are “worthless” and this ing into a deep and angry funk when USA: $18 /1 year $34 /2years are, indeed, born to the yoke. As my is almost always immediately recog- their work was rejected from a juried Foreign: $35 /1 year $45 /2 years show — not knowing (or caring) that Contact for Print and Online Advertising Rates: readers are aware, I tend to separate nized by parents and guardians who CSS Publications, Inc., PO Box 730, Mt. Marion, “artists” pretty severely into “genu- attempt to guide their offspring and/ such choices are more often based NY, 12456. Phone or Fax (845) 246-6944; ine” and “non-genuine” practitioners or charges to more profitable paths on artworld politics rather than on email: [email protected] of the profession — in brief, those who (an old, old story to art historians). merit. Being told that their life’s work Web site: www.arttimesjournal.com is unacceptable is — well — unac- Advertising reservations are due: June 15 for Jul/ are less believable (at least to me) However, whether you believe that Aug; Aug 15 for Sep/Oct; Oct 15 for Nov/Dec; Dec are those who have been primarily they are born or taught, the fact ceptable to them. It is a rejection of 15 for Jan/Feb; Feb 15 for Mar/Apr; Apr 15 for May/ in the hands of teachers, while the is that many of the “genuine” (my them as well as of their work — a Jun.