December 2016 02 02 02 02 02 September November 74820 64692 A monthly74820 64692 review edited by74820 64692 Roger Kimball 74820 64692 74820 64692 January March Notes & Comments, 1 May Populism, IV: The German victory over American 11 populism09 by Fred Siegel, 4 05 03 01 > The future of permanence> in an age> of ephemera > > a symposium on museums An introduction by Roger Kimball, 14; The museum of the present by James Panero, 19; Notes on the postmodern museum by Eric Gibson, 23; Less can be more by Karen Wilkin, 27; The museum as “town hall” by Bruce Cole, 32; I swear by Apollo by Michael J. Lewis, 36; Conserving Kahn by George Knight, 41; The birth of an idea by Marco Grassi, 45; Tempus fugit, ars brevis by Philippe de Montebello, 49; A discussion, 51 New poems by David Mason & Morri Creech, 54 Reconsiderations by Dominic Green, 57; Theater by Kyle Smith, 61; Art by Mario Naves, Benjamin Riley & Genevieve Wheeler Brown, 65; Music by Jay 02 Nordlinger, 02 73; The media by James Bowman02 , 77; Verse chronicle by William02 02 December 74820 64692 74820 64692 74820 64692 74820 64692 74820 64692 February LoganOctober , 81; Books: Kate Felus The secret life of the Georgian garden reviewed by April Henrik Bering, 89; Mark Lilla The June shipwrecked mind reviewed by Mene Ukueberuwa, 92; James Stourton Kenneth Clark reviewed by Drew Oliver, 95 Volume 35, Number 4, $7.75 / £7.50 12 10 06 04 02 > > > > > Art emotional content and a distinct, prodigious hand, which in its spindly woodenness has the style simultaneously. The painting regularly look of a mannequin’s. The light amplifies the resides in Dublin on indefinite loan from the colors of the figures’ costumes, drawing out a local Jesuits, whose generosity in this case resplendent orange-red in multiple places and cannot be overstated. intensifying the gold brocade of the central Most of the other artists presented fare figure’s arms. The painting, thought to be poorly in comparison to Ribera and Caravag- de La Tour’s last, is proof that the influence gio. Cecco del Caravaggio’s two contribu- of Caravaggio could indeed be applied judi- tions, one from Apsley House and the other ciously and to great effect. from the Ashmolean, are especially derivative If the National Gallery’s intention in bring- and tinny—genre scenes at their most banal. ing together “Beyond Caravaggio” was to In addition to being his assistant, Cecco is prove the worth of Caravaggio’s followers rumored to have been Caravaggio’s lover, but then the result is fairly middling. If, however, if the two did have relations it seems little of the aim was to show how Caravaggio did it the Caravaggio genius found its way to the first, and best, then the show can be consid- young disciple. Matthias Stom, Gerrit van ered a great success. Following the show’s Honthorst, Dirck van Baburen, and Hendrick tenure in London, it will travel to Edinburgh ter Brugghen all carry the torch (sorry) for and Dublin, giving the population of the en- “Utretcht Caravaggism,” that Dutch strain tirety of the British Isles the chance to judge of tenebrism, which all the aforementioned for themselves. seemed to have picked up in Rome. Their —Benjamin Riley pictures tend to rely on that bête noire of tenebrism—the presence of a central candle serving as a light source. Caravaggio himself “Art and Industry in Early America: never used the trope, but so prevalent was it Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830” among his followers that the great master’s Yale University Art Gallery, reputation has been duly tainted. The most New Haven. extreme example of the tendency is found in August 19, 2016–January 8, 2017 Adam de Coster’s A Man Singing by Candle- light (1625–35), which depicts the subject of Our eye is immediately drawn to the carved the title holding a candle, the top of which mahogany concave and convex shells, fans of is obscured by a music stand. The light given radiating flutes, and ribs with lyrical edges off is flamboyantly strong, especially when that act as dynamic protrusions and recesses set against the deepest of black backgrounds. across the front of the eighteenth-century The sumptuously attired singer, with his fur desk. This “block-and-shell” design, a unique collar and feathered cap, emerges as a hyper- symbol of our distinctly American aesthetic, realistic vision, his face a varied topography was the product of the woodworking titans of light and shadow. Here is chiaroscuro at of one very small region—Rhode Island. The its most tarted up, and, while hardly the most miniature state has historically been given the technically proficient picture in the show, it lion’s share of credit for virtuosity in Ameri- retains a certain charm for its dedication to can decorative arts, and its masterpieces have the tenebristic contrivance. dominated furniture scholarship as well as Special mention among the candlemongers the auction market. must be given to Georges de La Tour, whose It will be surprising to learn, then, that it scenes, with their playing-card-faced inhabit- has been almost a half century since the last ants, present a somewhat surreal take on the major survey of Rhode Island furniture. But at Caravaggesque style and as a result register as long last, a more complete story of the colorful deeply original. His Dice Players (ca. 1650–51) history of Rhode Island woodworking and its mostly obscures the candle which lights the influence has come to light in the illuminating scene and gives a startling gloss to the roller’s exhibition “Art and Industry in Early America: 70 The New Criterion December 2016 Art Rhode Island Furniture, 1650–1830,” located in galleries we are taken chronologically through the almost-as-diminutive State of Connecticut the evolution of the Rhode Island style and its at the Yale University Art Gallery. influences—illustrated by the more than 130 Two equally important components were works on view, including side chairs, clocks, vital to the conception of the exhibit—the bureaus, desks, high chests of drawers, tables, lifetime research of Patricia F. Kane (the and upholstery. Each gallery is carefully ar- Friends of American Arts Curator of Ameri- ranged to create an intimate relationship be- can Decorative Arts at Yale University Art tween viewer and object. The pieces are artfully Gallery) and the establishment of the Rhode placed to encourage a visual interplay between Island Furniture Archive at the Yale Univer- the objects, and their interrelatedness is an sity Art Gallery. essential element of the discursive exhibition. Ms. Kane, a tireless champion of American We are introduced to Rhode Island cabi- decorative arts, is the driving force behind netmaking in the early Colonial period this exhibition. With expansive abilities, from (1650–1700) with chests and “wainscot” and analysis of stylistic details and deciphering “carver” chairs from Providence to Westerly, the mysterious cursive markings on furniture demonstrating the newly understood impor- drawers to divining rare historical documents tance of Rhode Island woodworking dating from regional judicial archives (such as eigh- from its founding. The previously under- teenth-century indentures stipulating a young explored “pre-golden” 1700–1740 period is apprentice’s winter tutoring), she continues next examined, highlighted by dramatic burl- to inspire fellow researchers, collectors, and veneered exteriors set off by rectangular bands potential exhibition lenders alike. of inlay on desks and high chests of drawers. The Rhode Island Furniture Archive (rifa) The exhibit also shares new evidence of a was established in 2010 under the steward- much larger eighteenth-century chair- and ship of Kane. An ever-expanding, publicly upholstery-trade in Rhode Island than has accessible digital archival trove, it contains previously been recorded. more than three thousand images and text The presence of the woodworker is near as entries related to the furniture of the Rhode we see videos of carvings and hear the sounds Island cabinetmaking trade during the Colo- of chisels tapping from recordings in several nial and Federal periods as well as its makers galleries. The exhibition-goer is placed in the and owners. rifa and the many similar online workshop to view a disassembled high chest collections launched within the past decade of drawers from 1759 by John Townsend, with represent a new golden age of archiving. With its drawers removed to virtually float on an an eminently accessible digital form, the as- adjacent support, allowing the viewer to have cendency of twenty-first century archiving has a complete view of the piece inside and out. led to an explosion of shared knowledge, new We explore the glue blocks, dovetails, mark- connections, and inevitable reattributions. ings, and secondary woods, a view usually only accessible to curators or certain furniture In this exhibition, Kane and her colleagues collectors at an auction-house viewing. weave the scholarly threads collected from The exhibition crescendos mid-way over ten years of rifa research and bring to through with the “golden age” of Rhode Is- life the data and objects—telling us new sto- land furniture (1740–1780) and a rare assembly ries and challenging our previously formed of five signed “block-and-shell” bureau tables conclusions about the Colonial and Federal of Newport-trained cabinetmakers. Dramati- American experience, whether it be about cally installed along the length of a single the Rhode Island mercantile economy or the gallery, it’s a veritable trove of Townsend roles of women, children, Native Americans, and Goddard masterpieces. Our eyes jump or African Americans. back-and-forth between these similar forms, Moving from archival abstraction to the displayed in close proximity side-by-side, to physical present, as we proceed through the experience the nuanced variations on a theme.