Sedef's Corner

Hi Karen, Unfortunately the Milion is long gone, ...

2013-05-14T08:16:21.762-04:00

Hi Karen,

Unfortunately the Milion is long gone, the structure that sits roughly where it used to be is an old water tower(probably Ottoman) But there is a great simulation in Byzantium1200 (Milion)

Thanks for the comment.

Love it, Sedef! Especially the Miniature of At Ma...

2013-05-13T11:55:52.225-04:00

Love it, Sedef! Especially the Miniature of At Maydani and your description of the statues lining the streets. Thanks for creating such a vivid picture of Constantine's city! (Will for sure visit the Milion this summer - assuming you've seen it?)

Hello, Actually I really like Lavinia Fontana'...

2013-05-10T16:11:38.544-04:00

Hello,

Actually I really like Lavinia Fontana's work as well but I think I am partial to Sofonisba because I see her as more of a maverick. There is a post about Fontana in the blog I wrote this review for if you are interested. link
thanks for the comment.

Hi Patricia, I find her look to be the epitome of...

2013-05-10T16:02:39.074-04:00

Hi Patricia,

I find her look to be the epitome of elegance and her personal life fascinating. Sargent did capture her charms perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by

Lavinia Fontana's work is a must-check if you ...

2013-05-10T01:36:39.423-04:00

Lavinia Fontana's work is a must-check if you did like Sofonisba's painting and are further interested in early examples of women artists.

There's something beyond sheer beauty going on...

2013-05-10T01:31:55.906-04:00

There's something beyond sheer beauty going on in this exquisite painting of otherwise simple colors, a seductive power beyond its form. She's made simply bizarre in the most enchanting way possible though most certainly not because she did looked like that. Rather, it's the effect of her charms he wanted to conjure up. Reading her biography (Amelie Gautreau's) clears a lot of this painting mysteries.

Thank you and welcome to Sedef's Corner.

2013-05-08T12:19:33.852-04:00

Thank you and welcome to Sedef's Corner.

Hi and Welcome to Sedef's Corner, I am glad i...

2013-05-03T14:23:13.553-04:00

Hi and Welcome to Sedef's Corner,

I am glad it helped.

Thanks Ed, This is actually wonderful, now we have...

2013-05-03T14:21:44.901-04:00

Thanks Ed,
This is actually wonderful, now we have the Wadsworth, Bowdoin College and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts as the contenders to the title of "The oldest art museum and school in America" which means I have to go visit the other two and write about it. May they all flourish and carry on for many more centuries...

Sedef--I hate to confuse things even further, but ...

2013-04-26T08:18:24.747-04:00

Sedef--I hate to confuse things even further, but I am now in Philadelphia and yesterday, I visited the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (wonderful place!) They make quite a point of billing themselves as "the oldest art museum and school in America", founded in 1805. Who knows?! Ed G.

Thank you! :D It really helped me for my Powerpoin...

2013-04-26T02:47:41.258-04:00

Thank you! :D
It really helped me for my Powerpoint presentation :)

Actually I heard something similar regarding the r...

2013-04-11T14:07:10.034-04:00

Actually I heard something similar regarding the request for her work which is actually the real business of curating isn't it. As in-depth a show as they would like to put together, there is more to determine what is shown in an exhibition than (literally) meets the eye. Wadsworth being the oldest museum is their claim, not mine, so I will take your word over theirs.

Is it actually true, I wonder, that Artemisia Gent...

2013-04-09T09:02:22.122-04:00

Is it actually true, I wonder, that Artemisia Gentileschi is being discriminated against these days because she is a woman? In fact, I recently had this discussion with a number of museum curators and the consensus was that her "iconic" works are actually rather few in number and there are so many requests for them for exhibitions that they have become almost unborrowable. Meanwhile, there are quite a few large,clunky and "uniconic" Artemisias, especially from her Neapolitan period, that no one ever requests, except for very specialized shows. However, considering that the Wadsworth is the oldest public art museum in America (arguably, since I think that Bowdoin College claims the honor as well) and was collecting baroque painting very early on, it is indeed surprising that they did not pick up an Artemisia along the way, especially since baroque pictures were often relatively inexpensive. I wonder if anyone has tracked the relative prices for Orazio and Artemisia over the last hundred years?

Thank you all for the comments, @Ed G. - It is ra...

2013-04-09T00:31:03.521-04:00

Thank you all for the comments,

@Ed G. - It is rather interesting that this exhibition would be in Hartford of all places but as it turns out the Wadsworth is the first museum that is still in operation in the United States (before the Met even!)"Rome in the Age of Caravaggio" show at Palazzo Venezia - sounds dreamy. We can hope that there will be others like it. Caravaggio requires the drama more than any other type of art.

@Hasan - Thanks for sharing the Chris Cunningham video, it is mesmerizing.
There are a lot of museums who are using phone guides now - I can think of the Philadelphia Museum as a start. I like it because then I can listen to it later as well. I realize it is a situation that only benefits those in the US but there is always Skype.

There is a great exhibition catalog which is more conclusive than the exhibit at the Wadsworth; it includes the works that were shown at LACMA which was three times as big as this one.

@Nancy - All I can say is that I felt Artemisia's absence but it was pointed out that there had recently been an extensive show of her works. It is mind boggling that in this day and age they would still discriminate against her because she was a woman.

@Monica - "John the Baptist" was the most powerful work by Caravaggio in this exhibit and I can understand it being the main focal point in any exhibition it is a part of. I am glad you asked about the walls because I did register they were a dark neutral color and complimented the works but I would love to have seen a space and lighting like the one Xavier Bray created for the "Sacred Made Real" exhibition at the National Gallery in London (http://youtu.be/cbzACVc2Ank)

Thanks again,

Sedef

What a great review, Sedef! Many of the pieces tha...

2013-04-08T22:52:31.607-04:00

What a great review, Sedef! Many of the pieces that you mentioned were in the "Caravaggio and His Followers" exhibition that I saw at the Kimbell Art Museum about a year and a half ago. Interestingly, in that exhibition the "John the Baptist" painting was also the central painting to draw the viewers into the gallery space.

I appreciate that you analyzed the lighting in the space. I agree that it must be tricky to consider lighting when curating a show on Caravaggesque art. Do you remember what the colors of the walls looked like throughout the exhibition galleries? Did you feel like the colors of the walls helped to complement the paintings with darker palettes?

I agree that the Bill Viola installation is a wonderful complement to the Caravaggio show. It is dramatic, spiritual, dark (especially the dark viewing room that you mentioned), and yet uplifting.

What a beautiful set of images. Thank you for this...

2013-04-07T20:28:54.552-04:00

What a beautiful set of images. Thank you for this. As for Artemisia, even now she is disparaged and thought of as a 2nd rate artist by some curators and art critics. Male chauvinism toward women artists dies hard.

Thank you for this superlative review Sedef, and f...

2013-04-07T17:27:58.895-04:00

Thank you for this superlative review Sedef, and for including the Ascension video, which really does remind me of the equally hypnotic Chris Cunningham directed "Only You" video for Portishead, released in 1998.

http://vimeo.com/17487178

It is always a dizzying and sombre experience to view a Caravaggio in person, an effect which his followers were able to capture in certain examples - some of which are definitely included here! Though I agree, a great shame they did not include Artemisia.

How intriguing that the Wadsworth is using the phone guide - I could not access it from here (Australia) but would be interested to hear it. I guess this may have been cheaper to implement locally then release it as an museum app?

Did you encounter an exhibition catalogue? I am curious to know if there was one, and what it contained.

Many kind regards, and well done. The writing and images presented are of wonderful quality - a great treat for us all.
H

Thanks, Sedef! It looks like a breathtaking show. ...

2013-04-07T15:47:26.156-04:00

Thanks, Sedef! It looks like a breathtaking show. And it is amazing how the first great baroque collection in America sprang up in Hartford. I, too, am always curious about issues of exhibition installation. Not only is the lighting usually wrong for baroque pictures but they are almost always hung too low. A stunning exception was the recentish "Rome in the Age of Caravaggio" show at Palazzo Venezia--where they built an altar with a full architectural surround for each big altarpiece. It was wonderful, but I doubt that we will again see anything that luxurious any time soon! Ed G.

Oh, right - make sense! I love that they're di...

2013-04-02T15:32:28.807-04:00

Oh, right - make sense! I love that they're distinguishing between date palms and other kinds of palms!

Hi Sedef - How did I miss this post? You've d...

2013-04-02T15:30:11.306-04:00

Hi Sedef - How did I miss this post? You've done such a nice job of summarizing this discussion - wish I could have gone! I often struggle with a lot of these issues, personally - I'm glad I can see Islamic objects on display in a museum, because I won't be going to Iran, for example, any time soon. But when they're taken completely out of their context and become art on the wall rather than functional objects that were part of an entire composition, such as the window grilles, so much is lost. A conversation that will be ongoing for years to come, I'm sure!
Thanks for another great one!
-Karen

Karen, You know the 'date branch' from th...

2013-04-02T11:17:13.130-04:00

Karen,

You know the 'date branch' from the museum label probably means 'date palm branch' which is one of the attributes of Nike a symbol of victory, triumph, peace and eternal life. Thanks for stopping by!

This is fascinating, Sedef - thank you for capturi...

2013-04-02T10:13:35.979-04:00

This is fascinating, Sedef - thank you for capturing so much of Mr. de Montebello's talk for us! I wish that it were possible for labels in museums to include this kind of information - makes the experience so much richer and alive. How do we find this kind of information if we can't attend lectures like this (and/or don't have expert reporters like you)? I guess we store it away when we can get it. I'll look for your Nike next summer! (Do we know the significance of the date branch?)
I'll be thinking about this post all day - thanks again!
-Karen

You are so right Hasan, being witness to such invi...

2013-03-06T17:36:34.876-05:00

You are so right Hasan, being witness to such invigorating and enlightening conversations was truly remarkable. I am just happy that I could share my experience with an appreciative audience.

Thanks for your kind words.

Sedef

Thank for this wondrously written, and lavishly il...

2013-03-04T12:29:27.554-05:00

Thank for this wondrously written, and lavishly illustrated summary Sedef.

When one is truly passionate about a subject, what is more delightful than being in a room full of kindred spirits?! Even with the debate and sometimes disagreement that may ensue(!), the benefits of being around such "deep knowledge" is always tangible, and resonant.

kind regards, and keep up the wonderful work
H

thanks i used it anyways to cheat in my projects ...

2013-02-17T12:29:48.695-05:00

thanks i used it anyways to cheat in my projects