Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

Before You See “Monuments Men,” The Film

9780679756866_p0_v2_s260x420There’s at least one thing to know before you see how Hollywood, i.e. George Clooney, renders the story of the Monuments men and women who in the last days of World War II and soon thereafter saved so many precious works of art that Hitler had seized: I am sure that by now you know that the movie opens on Feb. 7.  It will be how so many people learn about what we know about them.

Clooney’s movie credits the book of Robert M. Edsel — and to my knowledge, as shown in the credits on IMDB, makes no mention of Lynn H. Nicholas, who in 1994 had published The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War.” That’s the book — the research — to which we owe the story of the Monuments men. Edsel credited Nicholas in his own book on the monuments crew, published in 2009. But not the movie.

So I was pleased to read The Wall Street Journal this morning, and to see a piece by Nicholas headlined What the Monuments Men Wrought. It recaps the tale and provides some anecdotes of her initial reports, and ends graciously this way:

During these interviews I was surprised at how interested each Monuments Man was in what the others had done—assuming, as most do, that they had worked closely together. But, in fact, they almost never saw one another in the field, nor were they able to communicate on a regular basis. So they were fascinated by the details of the various missions of their colleagues. I am sure that those who are no longer with us would be delighted by this cinematic re-creation of their exploits. Can’t wait to see it myself.

 

Asking A Lot From Visual Art

Perhaps you read — yesterday in The Wall Street Journal and today in The New York Times — about JR’s project at the New York City Ballet. The French artist who goes by JR is known for his provocative, open-air photographic installations, and the Ballet commissioned a work from him for the Koch theater as part of The Art Series, which employs visual arts as a way to connect to new audiences. The Art Series is in its second year, and it makes perfect sense since, as Karen Girty, the Ballet’s senior director of marketing and media, told the WSJ, “We’re a visual art form as well.”

NY-CU820_NYMURA_G_20140126193033The Times story was headlined A Giant Photo Connects Fans to Ballet Stars, and said The Art Series “aims to draw more art fans to ballet” and “was designed to draw newcomers to the ballet.”

What a heavy load to place on a work of art. It got me wondering if we sometimes ask too much of art — certainly, I think, that the NEA’s ArtPlace program expects too much economic activity from the arts. But in this case, the NYC Ballet seems to be getting it right.

According to the WSJ:

NY-CU804_MURALj_G_20140126192820To encourage viewers, City Ballet reduced ticket prices to $29 for a handful of coming performances, including Feb. 7 and 13, and audience members will receive a small giveaway, designed by the artist.

Art Series launched last year with the Brooklyn-based artist collective Faile. About 70% of the Art Series patrons were new to City Ballet, and those who attended had a far higher rate of returning to the ballet than average, according to …Girty…

According to the NYT:

At last year’s installation, by the Brooklyn artist collective Faile, 70 percent of the people who went to the two special art-theme performances were new to City Ballet. An unusually high number of those first-timers came back to the ballet, [Girty] said: about 7 percent. The previous record for getting first-time ballet audiences to return came when the company put on Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty” soon after “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” and about 5.8 percent of the “Nutcracker” novices were enticed back.

What is this year’s work? Last fall, JR asked the company’s dancers to pose on crinkled white paper, in his pre-sketched positions, while his camera shot from above. The resulting 6,500-square-foot photo he produced was placed in the theater’s promenade, and when viewed from above, the dancers resemble a giant eye.  JR also made a large poster for the front windows of the Koch theater, and 10 smaller works of the dancers for the lobby.

Read more about it in a Q&A with JR that the NYC Ballet has posted here.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of the WSJ

Cultural Sites: Taking Stock In Syria

With the war in Syria continuing now for two years, with no signs of a true settlement and only minimal progress at the talks in Switzerland, The Guardian has published an update on the damage to cultural heritage that includes devastating before and after pictures.

The Old Souk in AleppoHeadline Syria’s Heritage in Ruins, the article says that all six UNESCO World Heritage sites have been damaged. Specifically, it reports:

  • “In Aleppo, one of the oldest covered marketplaces in the world is now in ruins; its maze of stone streets has been one of the most intense battlefields in the country for the past 18 months, bombed from above by air force jets and chipped away at ground level by close quarter battles that show no sentiment towards heritage. Those who dare raise their heads above the ruins, towards the ancient citadel that stands at the centre of the city, can also see damage to several of its walls.”
  • “Several hundred miles south, just west of Syria’s third city, Homs, one of the most important medieval castles in the world, Krak des Chevaliers, has taken an even heavier toll. Directly struck by shells fired from jets and artillery, the hilltop fortress now stands in partial ruin.”
  • “Homs itself has fared even worse. A residential street, where cars not long ago parked under gum trees, has been destroyed. Life has ceased to function all around this part of the city, as it has in much of the heartland of the country. In one shot, a destroyed tank stands in the centre of a street. The old minaret next to it has also been blown up.”

The article quotes Emma Cunliffe, a Durham University PhD student and member of the Global Heritage Network, saying “Archaeological sites in Syria are often on the front lines of conflict and are experiencing heavy damage. Economic hardship and decreased security mean even sites away from the fighting are looted. This is denying not only Syrians but the world a rich heritage which can provide a source of income and inspiration in the future.”

Please use the link above to see The Guardian’s full report.

I’ve posted one before-and-after, of the Old Souk in Aleppo, in 2007 and 2013, courtesy of The Guardian and Corbis, Eyevine.

 

Details on Bombing At Cairo Museum

Renewed bombing in Cairo has destroyed the highly decorated facade of the Museum of Islamic Art there, and severely affected much of the art and artifacts inside. The damage occurred on Friday, when a powerful car bomb exploded in front of the adjacent headquarters of the security police, according to Ahramonline.  The bomb, which killed four people and injured dozens more, also damaged the nearby Egyptian National Library and Archives building.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s unclear what can be salvaged inside the building, which dates to the 19th century. The collection includes wood, metal, ceramic, glass, crystal, and textiles objects “of all Islamic periods from all over the world.” Ahramonline said:

“The museum building is in a real mess,” said [Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed] Ibrahim, describing the interior of the museum as “topsy-turvy.” According to Ibrahim, a number of ceilings inside the building collapsed, and some artefacts were damaged.

“Until now I cannot move freely inside the museum to continue my inspection tour due to safety reasons, as the ceilings are still on the verge of collapsing,” he said.

2014-635261600628407764-840

The Associated Press article dated Jan. 24 has a full report, including:

Centuries-old glass and porcelain pieces were smashed to powder, a priceless wooden prayer niche was destroyed and manuscripts were soaked by water spewing from broken pipes…

…Ceramic and Gypsum pieces dating to the Fatimid and Mamluk periods suffered the most damage, along with ancient lanterns once used in mosques during the holy month of Ramadan. Of the world’s 300 rare lanterns, the museum houses 60, and five of those were ruined, said Rafaat el-Nabarawy, an Islamic antiquities professor….

…Among other destroyed treasures, he said, were glass pieces dating back to 750, including an ornate pot of a rare type of glass believed to be pioneered by the early Egyptians.

Other priceless pieces that were damaged or destroyed included a century-old wooden niche or “mihrab” used in mosques to point to the direction of Mecca during the five daily calls to prayer. Arabic inscriptions and verses from the Quran were carved on the piece, which belonged to Ruqaya, a daughter of Ali, a successor of Prophet Muhammed…

Today, the Associated Press reported that a UNESCO team was on its way to Cairo to assess the damage. UNESCO promised $100,000 to help the museum recover.

UNESCO’s statement condemning the bombing is here.

The AP also reported that the museum “recently completed $14.4 million renovation [that] included 25 exhibition halls, as well as state-of-the-art security and lighting systems, a fully-equipped restoration laboratory, a children’s museum and a library, much of which was gutted by the blast.”

The pictures I’ve posted are before and after shots.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of UNESCO (top), of Ahramonline (bottom) 

Paging Through A 1505 Prayer Book

It was a perk of the job, and what a pleasure it was. As I reported and then wrote a short item about the Rothschild Prayerbook, which is up for sale on Wednesday at Christie’s, I went over the the auction house to “look” at it. I assumed that an expert would don white gloves and let me see a few of its 150 pages.

GerardDavidMadonnaBut no. When I arrived at the skybox overlooking Christie’s Rockefeller Center sales room, the guard standing outside let me in (along with a representative of the PR department) and — as long as my hands were clean — invited me to page through it, no white gloves needed (that’s a trend, I’ve learned, with books and manuscripts; the theory is that more damage is done with gloved hands, possibly because gloves make us careless).

And so I did, and discovered — as Roger S. Wieck, curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum, put it a book with “some of the finest paintings by major, major illuminators,”  and borders decorated with widely varying images that include flowers, peacock feathers, shells, architectural elements, skulls, pearls and jewels that “are unbelievably bedazzling,” plus “some text pages have no decoration at all – just luxuriously wasted vellum.”

23369245_cIt is a spectacular prayer book, which holds the world record price at auction for an illuminated manuscript (nearly $13.4 million). I relate its background and assess Christie’s strategy — putting it in its Renaissance sale, rather than a manuscript sale, and touring it to Moscow and Hong Kong — in a small article in today’s Wall Street Journal on the Saturday Icons page. As Kay Sutton, Christie’s London-based Director and Senior Specialist of Books and Manuscripts, noted, “It has 67 paintings, and that’s almost as many as the rest of the Renaissance sale.”

Since it last sold, in 1999, Wieck said, the book has barely been touched at all — he examined it then, and saw it again recently, and said, “It is in pristine condition, with no changes at all since I last saw it in 1999.”

Of course, I hope that the prayer book goes to an institution – and by consensus the Getty is the likeliest American museum to buy. It was, reportedly, the underbidder last time.

Over to you, James Cuno and Timothy Potts.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of Christie’s