Rodin in Roma

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

During a recent trip to Roma, my painter friend and I visited the Rodin exhibit happening now.  Only white marbles by the French sculptor were on exhibit and it was interesting to see them all together in one long ancient room of brick.  The curator wanted to show something of the thought processes of the artist.  I appreciated the choices here and glad to see ONLY the stone.

It is a problem for me to refrain from touching sculpture, and sometimes even paintings.  Sure, I understand about keeping something treasured in a good condition for future generations (hey, with pollution these days, even keeping something lovely for OUR generation is a struggle); but I think that love should be expressed and some of the most beloved sculptures throughout the history of man have worn-down parts from too much touching or the rubbing of fans and believers.    

I think part of the solution is to have more people buy the art that moves them, so they may enjoy it as they wish.  As a creator, I am thrilled when collectors feel that the art makes a real difference in their lives.  More people living with beloved artworks also has the fringe benefit of keeping artists working.  [Perhaps part of the problem is that we artists are not inspiring many these days?   Thoughts, anyone?]

A strange feeling has been growing in me for many years now:  a reluctant admission that white marble is lovely, but cold when it comes to depicting human flesh.  It has a beautiful way of standing out in an outdoor environment and lending class to any situation.  However, we have so many colors of stone to choose from and I like this idea very much.  Also, I do not enjoy as much the solid white marble.  A little bit of natural veining lends some sort of authenticity to what the artist has accomplished in this living material – one knows that the works was not cast, afterall.  That said, I will be happy when my focus turns again to stone.  Right now, I am limited by the location of my current flat (in the city) and my lack of tools.  I am missing my former life in Texas a little, especially the ability to work outdoors surrounded by trees and privacy.

Ah, but I digress, as is my way too often… As for Rodin, I saw in Roma some carvings that I had never seen before.  I do not like all of Rodin’s work, and I think that is natural.  However, he pushed into the emotional and, specifically, the sensual realm of human expression.  For that alone, the world should be forever grateful.  I include here some of my better shots from the exhibition.  The lighting was soft over the white marble.

Exhibit runs now through 25 May 2014
“Rodin. Il marmo, la vita”
18 febbraio / 25 maggio 2014
Museo Nazionale Romano alle Terme di Diocleziano, Roma
[an easy walk from the Termini train station and Piazza della Repubblica]

Here is one page with more information and images (although the text is in Italian):

http://www.romeguide.it/mostre/rodinilmarmolavita/rodinilmarmolavita.html

Vermeer Exhibition Rome Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

We went to Roma recently to see the exhibit “Vermeer: il secolo d’oro dell’arte olandese” ("Vermeer: the Golden Age of Dutch Art"), although being the multi-taskers that we all are, Vermeer was not the only reason to go to Roma (as hopefully you gathered from my recent blog posts). The exhibit was inside the Quirinale in the central part of the city and is easy to find.

I enjoyed the display. Each painting was hung on its own colored wall. There was a warm feel to the room by the variety of colors chosen and the personal attention given to each work. The artist’s name was written at the top of each wall, except Vermeer’s. His purple walls signified royalty, and like royalty, one need not be given the royal person’s name. One is expected to know these things already.

It is quite possible that I “people watch” as much as I look at the art on the walls. I was enchanted by a father who took his young son to each painting. They spoke at length about each one, longer than most people generally stand in front of a work of art. They are in the foreground of this image I secretly took of one of the Vermeer’s paintings on exhibit. (See the purple wall?) Until someone can explain how my flash-less, noiseless behavior is hurting the art or the viewers of it, I will continue to take images without permission. Most of the time, what I am interested in is not something that I will find on a postcard, or even sometimes in the catalog. And there you have it: another human behavior noted. We all justify our own actions, good or “bad.”

This painting of the girl in the red hat by Johannes Vermeer is the one that is being used on all the publicity. It is quite beautiful with a wonderful use of color and, of course, light. But I had not expected it to be so small, perhaps 8 x 6 inches? It is no surprise that the qualities that I enjoyed about the Vermeers were the soft edges, atmosphere, and the dramatically soft light.

As my friend Roberto pointed out, “The Lute Player” (shown here) is lovely because of its intimacy. The majority of the paintings in this exhibit were by contemporaries or perhaps students or followers of Vermeer. However, most were not to my taste. In general, one could appreciate the skills and technique involved. Painting is, after all, a difficult thing to do well. Besides the occasional poor drawing skills, the edges were all so sharp that I wondered if these artworks were painted in the fast drying egg tempera. When edges are consistently sharp, the viewer can have the impression that the work was a bit formulaic, not unlike a paint-by-number situation, although I am not intending to be so ugly.

I do not know art history as well as I should, I suppose, but it seems to me that the Dutch were interested in portraying their own contemporary Dutch life sooner than many other painters had moved away from mythological or religious concepts. I enjoyed how often dogs were painted into these scenes. I miss my dog Zac a lot and remember well how important these companions are in our daily lives. I was also amused by the artists who wanted us to see dogs peeing, even inside of a church!

The painting that I found myself drawn to again and again was the self-portrait of Carel Fabritius. A student of Rembrandt and tutor to Vermeer, he died at a horribly young age, in the famous Delft Explosion. Carel Fabritius died of his injuries after a gunpowder store exploded. Most of his paintings were lost as well.

This self portrait from 1650 (four years before his death) is beautifully done and we studied it for a long while. But what is up with that hat on the right side? Seriously, had it made sense and been symmetrical with the rest of the form of the hat, it would not be nearly as interesting a shape! How does one invent such joys? Also, as I commented to Roberto, the eyes do not match up as we are taught to do, but they work. However, I do not think the eyes would have worked if the shoulders did not work with them. There is a quality – je ne sais quoi – that is consistent in the body language. It is the illusive thing that we artists want to capture… the essence of the emotion in the gesture. Hmmm….

The exhibit “Vermeer: il secolo d’oro dell’arte olandese” ("Vermeer: the Golden Age of Dutch Art") continues at the Quirinale in central Rome until 20 January 2013.

Here are some lovely large images from the Vermeer exhibit, including a study that Vermeer did from a Florentine artist. It is interesting to see the changes that he made to the original: https://art4arte.wordpress.com/tag/jan-van-der-heyden/

You might also enjoy this link: http://www.alaintruong.com/tag/Carel%20Fabritius.

Buon compleanno, Roberto! Your enthusiasm is contagious and pure.

P.S. These latter images are some of the views I had while inside the Quirinale in Roma, Italy.

Bone Crypt of Friars Cappuccini Rome Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Back in the summer of 2009, I visited Austria and wrote about the Beinhaus (The Bone House) in a Gothic church in Hallstatt.

In my recent trip to Roma, my friends and I visited the Museo Frati Cappuccini described in my last post. Once you get past all of the traditional museum stuff, you enter . . . La Cripta dei Cappuccini aka Cripta Ossario (bone crypt).

I was asked by my Austrian friend years ago not to take photos inside the Beinhaus out of respect for the dead, but that seems different from staff trying to sell postcard images, so I share with you a few snapshots I snuck of this amazing way to … honor the dead. If you can step back about the subject matter for just a moment, think abstractly, and take in the shapes, I hope you will see that there is a grace and elegance to the lace-like designs.

I find that the scientific and curious part of my brain takes over in situations like this. I am not sure that I think it is offensive to arrange bones in any manner once people are dead (or to photograph such artistic compositions). Unless, of course, you killed them. I am not convinced that we need our bodies after death. I suspect that our energy “simply” changes. In any event, I doubt we need our body parts after death and I tend to think it is more important for those that go on living to express their grief and love in a way that comforts them and acknowledges cherished memories of another. And I am not sure what the answer is to the question of how one arrives at obtaining clean bones for such cryptic compositions.

Also, I am fascinated continually by the design of our bodies. Our bones are very specific shapes even when they vary for individuality. They curve for engineering purposes and are relatively strong; yet lightweight for the tasks they have been given. I find it fascinating to see bones arranged into delicate shapes and patterns that are aesthetically lovely. I believe that those who are responsible for creating this crypt of bones did so out of a deep-felt passion and love.

Visit the Crypt in Rome, Italy:
La Cripta dei Cappuccini
Chiesa dell'Immacolata in via V. Veneto, 27
Convento dei frati cappuccini – Roma
Here is another link with a cool image of the crypt..

P.S. On a happier note, I recently successfully applied to renew my “Permesso di Soggiorno” (permission to stay in Italy for another year). This was only one step, but I now have an appointment with the Questura (Italian immigration police) in January. So, I can legally spend the holidays here and am already painting on several things and happy about it.

Convento dei frati cappuccini Rome Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

I recently went to Roma to see the Vermeer exhibit with three other friends. It was wonderful to have such a small group so that we could move more efficiently and see more things. After looking at all the art available to us in the National Gallery of Ancient Art inside the Palazzo Barberini, we walked over to Via Veneto 27. Here is the Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata. While the church was closed during our visit, we entered the part of the building that is the Museo Frati Cappuccini.

This museum houses items you would expect in a friar’s museum, mostly objects from the daily lives of the friar, from clothing to clocks and more. There is not a bad collection of paintings, including one from Guido Reni. The painting shown here of St. Francis in prayer was recently attributed to Caravaggio. It is not a bad painting, but like St. Francis himself, perhaps, the painting seemed a little tame to me.

This last image shows my friends and fellow artists looking at the metal whips the friars made for self-flagellation. If you think that is fun, wait until the next post. It gets better!

Drawing in Charcoal

I love the look of charcoal drawings. When done well, they look so soft and touchable. On my blog entry from 14 January 2008, I showed you one of my charcoal “cast drawings” of an ear.

Here I include two detail images of this drawing so that you may get an idea of what it feels like to put your face inches away from a charcoal. From a small distance away, one can see the image as the artist intended. But up close, the artwork looks amazingly grainy and, in the case of the image of the upper ear, line-y.

The Roma paper has a grid texture to it, the tooth that holds the charcoal. This art form consists of adding only darks to a light paper. There are no “white charcoals” really. In the dark areas, one can apply carboncino (‘charcoal’ in Italian) in such a way that the lines disappear. But in the light areas, there is nothing to be done since a physical ridge creates a shadow that cannot be lightened. Però, I rather enjoy the totally not smooth or perfect artwork – reminds me that human hands were at work, making the paper and creating the image.



I tend to jokingly refer to this close-up view as “dirt on paper,” although most times, I am using the term in a derogatory way to refer to my own dissatisfaction at my current inability to create a successful illusion. Some people tell me that I am too hard on myself, but in truth, it is this quest to improve that keeps me interested in art. One goal is to have the viewer be amazed by the image, but not necessarily have the thought of what the materials are. If you think of paper and charcoal when you see my image, perhaps I have failed to wow and woo you.

Church of St. Giovanni Rome Italy

Franco lives in Roma and he has been inviting me back to Roma ever since I met him there in December of 2006 outside of the Coliseum. So, he greeted me at the Termini (train) Stazione after I left the Leonardo da Vinci Airport there on New Years’ Day recently. Wanting to show me the charm of his beloved city, Franco took me to see the inside of the Church of St. Giovanni, where the Pope lived before moving over to St. Peter's Basilica and Vatican City. The church is filled with art and stone! Franco seemed to know so much about every piece, too. I am including just four images of the many that I took that day to give you an idea of the grandeur of the place. Even the floor was delightful!

I was surprised a little bit that some of the fabulous columns were not, in fact, stone. They were either gesso (plaster) or stucco (I think Franco called it). And many of the white sculptures were not marble either, but a much less romantic or sexy material. If it is the same in Roma as in Florence, many of the original stone sculptures have been moved to a less public place for protection and replaced with meno cara copies.

When I was exhibiting in New York several years ago, a man was trying to tell me that his exhibited medium Parian II (I think?) was as good as marble. Now, I realize that I am biased towards the live material, but there is no way that cast stone, no matter how much marble dust goes into it, will ever look, much less feel, like real stone! This salesman was trying to convince me that the collectors wanted only an image and this fake stuff enabled them to get the sculpted image they wanted for a cheaper price.

He was not convincing me to switch. He simply depressed me. I am convinced that no matter how good a quality we humans can make a fake, a “blow-up doll” just cannot compete with a real woman. But then, maybe he was speaking about an audience different from the one I was/am seeking.

But when in Roma, do visit the Church of St. Giovanni. I was more charmed and interested than any negative emotion I temporarily felt.