More on Yale Student

The Yale student's project--see yesterday's comments--has created quite a controversy. See more at The Washington Post of May 3. Charles Lane, in his op-ed piece--The Art of Folly at Yale--speaks of "The politicized obsession with race, gender and sexuality; the denigration of canonical works by "dead white males"; the callow mocking of convention; the notion that truth itself is merely a construct of power and self-interest -- all characterize the study of art and literature in America's colleges and universities. All were reflected in Shvarts's rationale for her 'installation.'"

Renzo Piano reveals plans for new Whitney

The Whitney Museum of American Art revealed Piano's design for an addition to the Whitney to be constructed on Gansevoort Street in downtown New York City. Much work needs to be done, but the structure is quite a departure from the Marcel Breuer building of 1966.

Yale Student's New Art

You might have read recently about Aliza Shvarts, a senior at Yale University's art school. Her original project was said to include documentation of repeated artificial inseminations and induced miscarriages. The university would not allow her to submit her project unless she indicated that it was a fiction. She refused. She has now submitted a new project for her senior thesis exhibition. You can read about it more fully in the Huffington report blog.

Edinburgh Castle

Cannonballs from the Edinburgh Castle. As seen summer 2007 when I traveled to Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales.

Ric Burns - Ansel Adams

A rousing audience was treated Thursday evening to a showing of the documentary film on Ansel Adams made by Ric Burns to commemorate the 100th anniversary (in 2002) of Ansel Adams. The screening was shown in conjunction with the Corcoran's recent opening of an exhibit showing 125 pictures from the Lane Collection.

Burns (younger brother of Ken Burns) is a documentary film maker in his own right. Born in Baltimore, Ric (aka Eric) studied English at Columbia and Cambridge. He told us he worked for more than a dozen years on his PhD, but I suspect never finished his dissertation. He said he learned everything he knew about documentary film making from his brother.

Burns has been interested in making films about artists. I have not seen either the one on Andy Warhol or Eugene O'Neill, but look forward to them. I also hope to see Ken Burns new documentary to be shown this Sunday night on PBS on World War 2.

More on Jacob van Ruisdael

Yesterday I posted a brief mention of van Ruisdael as representing the Golden Age of Dutch painting. Tuesday, September 18, New York Times, first page of The Arts section, reproduces a beautiful painting of Wheat Fields, by van Ruisdael. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has just opened a new show called the Age of Rembrandt that includes 5 van Ruisdaels, as well as paintings by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, van Ruysdaels (not to be confused with Ruisdael), and 8 by Gerard ter Borch.

For you Corcoranites, we own a lovely pair of wedding portraits by ter Borch.

According to the Times, the Met has "packaged" the show with a theme: money. Rather than sorting the works by artists and dates, it is sorted by the names and dates of the collectors who bought and gave the paintings to the museum. So you will recognize names like J. P. Morgan and Vanderbilt.

Jacob van Ruisdael

One of his landscapes from the 1650s. A magnificent Dutch landscape painter, van Ruisdael was considered one of the best of the Dutch Golden Age.