lifestyle TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2013

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File photos show people working on the restoration of the 15th century Early Flemish polyptych panel painting ‘The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb’ by Jan and Hubert van Eyck in the Museum of Fine Arts in Gent. — AFP photos Flemish masterpiece ‘Mystic Lamb’ under the microscope

plit, stolen, even stashed in a salt mine, one of the Baptist’s robe with a special 3-D microscope at the Ghent “All in all there are no catastrophic gaps, no faces or key the 16th century and the altarpiece was hauled up to safe- world’s most mythical oils, Flemish masterpiece “The museum. Visitors to the museum in the Belgian city can elements have been badly damaged or attacked,” said ty in the St Bavo tower. Two centuries later, panels that had SAdoration of the Mystic Lamb”, is undergoing its most see the work in progress behind a large glass panel. Depuydt-Elbaum. The worst problem area is a large white been seized by the French were returned to the church by ambitious clean-up in 600 years. By Flemish primitive mas- spot in St John the Evangelist’s robe, she said. That panel the Duke of Wellingon after his victory at Waterloo against ters Hubert and Jan Van Eyck-though Hubert remains ‘No catastrophic gaps’ was either badly restored in the past or left too close to a Napoleon. Ghent sold them not long after to an art dealer- something of a mystery-the 24-panel work is also known Already the iconic Van Eyck reds and greens, the optical window in the almost 100 years the work spent in a Berlin with the exception of the Adam and Eve panels whose as the Ghent Altarpiece or Lamb of God, and features the effects and mastery of detail such as fabric patterns and museum, where its side panels were sawn apart to sepa- nudity was a moral shocker at the time-from where they first known nudes in Flemish art, Adam and Eve. Its unusu- jewels are emerging from beneath old dulled varnishes. rate back and front. wound up in the hands of the king of Prussia before head- ally eventful past as well as questions over its genesis pose Hopes are that the 1.2-million-euro ($1.6 million) project ing home. In 1934, two of the panels were stolen in Ghent an extra challenge to the five-year restoration project tak- will clear up questions about the creation of the work-how From its start, the talk of Europe and one-The Just Judges remains misssing to this day. ing place in full public view at the Ghent Fine Arts museum long it took to complete, which of the brothers or their Made of 12 oak panels painted on both sides, the mas- Sent to the Vatican for protection during World War II, (MSK), with details also on website closertovaneyck.kikir- assistants painted what? Little is known about the Van Eyck sive altarpiece from its beginnings was the talk of Europe, the panels went instead to France and were seized by the pa.be. family and although Jan’s works are famous, not a single attracting kings and queens to St Bavo’s cathedral in Nazis, who later hid them in a salt mine in Austria. There “We’ll never find the exact original state, it just isn’t pos- painting has been attributed with certainty to Hubert. Ghent-even German artist Albrecht Durer made the trip in they were saved from planned destruction by the 3rd US sible!” project leader Livia Depuydt-Elbaum told AFP. “With Some even doubt his existence. 1521. According to letters etched into the frame that make Army. Art historian and restorer Dubois said she first saw time, colors fade, materials alter. But we can get closer than “We have noticed huge differences in painting tech- up a chronogram in Roman numerals, the immense 4.4 x the work at age 15 and was transfixed. “It inspired me to has ever been possible before.” After a year at work, state- nique,” said Dubois. “There are very big differences in quali- 3.4-metre (yard) work dates to 1432 — although art histori- become who I am,” she said. “After 600 years, this work has of-the-art analysis has also shown that the wood in two ty not only between the panels but also between different ans squabble about whether it was really finished by then. not yet delivered all its secrets.”—AFP panels was carved out of the same tree. Infrared reflectog- parts of one panel.” In the first months, conservationists The red capital letters are part of a four-line verse stating raphy has revealed an early sketch hidden under layers of researched the work’s chaotic history before painstakingly that Hubert Van Eyck, “a greater man than whom cannot paint. “It is a much finer work than ever said before, which scraping off coats and coats of yellowing varnish and lay- be found,” began the work, but that it was completed by uses extremely complex painting techniques,” said art his- ers of over-paint at a rate of just four square centimeters a Jan, “the second greatest artist.” torian Helene Dubois after poring over St John the day. With the Reformation, Protestants attacked Ghent in

Director secretly shoots feature at Disney parks

s a kid, Randy Moore was haunted by Disney World, the film fell under the fair-use doctrine as a parody of an idyllic where he made an annual trip during summers with his day at Disney World. Branding is so much a part of our culture, Adad. So as an adult, and a filmmaker, Moore wanted to and it’s everywhere. capture and question the allure of such manufactured-fantasy. And (Disney) is everywhere. They’re so ubiquitous, you can’t The result is “Escape From Tomorrow,” which was shot guerrilla- get away from them even if you tried... To not be able to com- style at Disneyland and Disney World without permission from ment or critique or parody that (ubiquity), I just think it’s morally the famously proprietary Walt Disney Co., and which has actually unacceptable.”— AP made it to the screen. “I was pretty confident that Disney wasn’t about to go out of their way and give me permission,” Moore said, “so I didn’t ask them for it.” The writer-director insists there was no other way to tell his story of a frustrated family man who begins losing his grip on reality during a trip to Disney World. So Moore and his crew bought season passes to Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and Disney World in Orlando, Fla, and used hand-held digital cam- eras to shoot scenes and tiny digital audio recorders to capture sound. They repeatedly rode It’s a Small World and other trade- mark Disney attractions to film from various perspectives - just Photo shows Dolores Del Rio in a scene from the film ‘Maria Candelaria,’ 1944, directed by Emilio ‘El Indio’ Fernandez, like any other theatrical feature. and cinematography by Gabriel Figueroa. “Escape From Tomorrow,” available on video-on-demand and in select theaters Friday, first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The black-and-white indie film quickly built a buzz based on its surreptitious shooting style and dark take on Disney, including the movie’s poster with what looks to Jack Dalton as Elliot closing the door in a scene from be Mickey Mouse’s oversized hand covered in blood. The film ‘Escape from Tomorrow,’ a feature film by writer/director also picked up its share of skepticism that it would ever be Randy Moore. released. Representatives from Disney, which has a history of aggressively protecting its image, brands and intellectual prop- erty, did not respond to requests for comment for this story. The company also hasn’t spoken to Moore or the film’s dis- tributor. “We’ve had no contact with Disney at all whatsoever,” Moore said. But if anyone from the Mouse House, as it is known in the industry, did contact him, he wouldn’t be afraid. “I would ask them if they liked it or what they thought about it,” he said. The director was afraid, however, during the crew’s secret film- ing outings at Disneyland and Disney World, but not because they were filming illegally. “What I was worried about was letting down my cast and crew, who had come on this ride with me,” he said. “As a first-time director, I think the hardest thing is getting everyone to see your vision and believe in it and want to help you to achieve that.” He never intended to make a guerrilla film, he said: “The style ‘Enemigos,’ 1933, directed by Chano Urueta and cinematography by ‘La Perla,’ directed by Emilio ‘El Indio’ Fernandez, of the film came from the story, and ... there was no other way Gabriel Figueroa. and cinematography by Gabriel Figueroa. we could make it. I hope to God the next thing I do doesn’t — AP photos Roy Abramsohn as Jim losing his head in a scene from require this same style. It’s traumatizing.” Yet for Moore, again, it’s ‘Escape from Tomorrow.’ not about copyright violations and the wrath of Disney, but Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel rather the time limits inherent in such shooting. “We believe that Figueroa-Art and Film rom the early 1930s through the early 1980s, the beyond. The exhibition features film clips, paintings, photo- Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa (1907-1997) graphs, posters and documents, many of which are drawn Fhelped forge an evocative and enduring image of from Figueroa’s archive and the Televisa Foundation collec- Mexico. Among the most important cinematographers of the tions. In addition, the exhibition includes work by contempo- so-called Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, Figueroa worked rary artists and filmmakers that draw from the vast inventory with leading directors from Mexico, the United States and of distinctly Mexican imagery associated with Figueroa’s cine- Europe, traversing a wide range of genres while maintaining matography. his distinctive and vivid visual style. In Los Angeles, the exhibition is co-presented by the Los In the 1930s, Figueroa was part of a vibrant community of Angeles County Museum of Art and the Academy of Motion artists in many media, including Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Picture Arts and Sciences and is generously supported by the Orozco, Edward Weston and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, who Televisa Foundation, the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las sought to convey the country’s transformation following the Artes (Conaculta), and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes trauma of the Mexican Revolution. Later, he adapted his (INBA). The exhibition “Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel approach to the very different sensibilities of directors Luis Figueroa - Art and Film,” is on view at LACMA from September Bunuel and John Huston, among others. 22, 2013 through February 2, 2014, in Los Angeles.-www.lac- Figueroa spoke of creating una imagen mÈxicana. His films ma.org are an essential part of the network of appropriations, exchanges and reinterpretations that formed Mexican visual Roy Abramsohn as Jim freaking out during a ride in the amusement park on the last day of his family vacation in a scene identity and visual culture in the mid-twentieth century and from ‘Escape from Tomorrow,’ a feature film by writer/director Randy Moore.—AP photos