tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60770374954332527542024-03-20T22:24:38.844-04:00Cultural GhostsUncovering culture's forgotten and under-reported pastAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-26794191703702201582017-12-01T08:58:00.000-05:002017-12-08T08:32:34.855-05:00Revisiting Knives Don't Have Your Back by Emily Haines<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Solo albums or side projects
by established musicians can be a mixed bag.
Sometimes they can bring a new level of notoriety to an artist, but they
can also massively overestimate the public’s interest in any music a well-loved
band member has to offer. For every
Peter Gabriel or Sting solo record, there are at least 4 members of KISS
willing to put out stuff <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYZ0rkVaPyY" target="_blank">like this</a>. Done well, though, a good side project or
solo album can give the listener a new appreciation for an artist they thought
they already knew. This article focuses on one such album, namely <i><a href="https://shop.lastgang.com/products/emily-haines-knives-dont-have-your-back" target="_blank">Knives Don’t Have Your Back</a></i> (2006) by
<a href="http://emilyhaines.com/" target="_blank">Emily Haine</a>s. Since Haines just released
her new solo record (the excellent <i>Choir
of the Mind</i>) I figured now was as good a time as any to explore how <i>Knives</i> fits in with the rest of her
extensive discography.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Haines is mostly known as
the vocalist and keyboard player for Canadian indie rock band <a href="http://ilovemetric.com/" target="_blank">Metric</a>. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">By 2006, Metric had released two albums and
had been working for years at establishing a dedicated (and growing) fan base,
first in New York City and Los Angeles, and then in Haines’ hometown of
Toronto.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Their songs on these two albums
(2003’s </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Old World Underground, Where are
You Now?,</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> and 2005’s </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Live It Out</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">)
deal with topics one might expect a young rock band to cover.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Songs such as “Handshakes” and “Patriarch on
a Vespa” question the power structures of society and how we get trapped by
them or rebel against them. There’s a smattering of anti-war songs (“Succexy”,
parts of “I.O.U.”).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">When dealing with
relationships (a common topic for any musician to cover), a fairly cynical
approach is often expressed.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Songs like
“Too Little, Too Late”, “Live It Out”, and “Wet Blanket” describe affairs gone
sour or about to end.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Happy songs are
occasionally thrown in to the mix, such as “Love is a Place”, the short and
sweet song that closes out </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Old World
Underground…, </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But the positive and cynical are mixed, with a cynical or
skeptical view of relationships often winning out.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This overall tone would start to change with
the release of the album </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> in
2009, and I think </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your
Back </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">played a role in that artistic evolution.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Haines’ distinctive voice,
as well as the prominent and creative use of synthesizers (also provided mostly
by her) are what truly set Metric apart.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">At an early stage in their career, she had already established herself
as a charismatic band leader and prolific songwriter. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">To Metric fans, it perhaps seemed inevitable
that she would eventually record solo material, and she was certainly no
stranger to side projects (both Haines and Metric guitarist Jimmy Shaw
collaborate regularly with <a href="http://brokensocialscene.ca/" target="_blank">Broken Social Scene</a>).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But what makes </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your Back </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">unique is where and how it fits within
Metric’s overall discography. We might tend to see solo projects as diversions
from an artist’s usual gig.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Maybe a side
project is an attempt to branch out and try something different or indulge in a
new musical style. My point is that solo projects sometimes seem to be
appreciated separately from an artist’s main act.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Mick Jagger’s solo albums are a good example-
does anyone really consider them to be an essential part of the Rolling Stones’
output?</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I would argue that </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> was not a diversion for Haines,
but a vital piece of the puzzle in understanding how Metric evolved as a band.
The first curious thing about </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
is it’s timing.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Metric would eventually
achieve greater success and notoriety (especially after the release of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">), but 2006 might have seemed
like a strange time for the lead singer of an up-and-coming band to release
solo material. Metric had only released two albums at the time and were not
widely known outside of Canada. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Therefore </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
cannot be seen as a cash-grab or a quickie release recorded only to capitalize
off of a successful album.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This makes </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> feel more personal and urgent,
like she had to get these songs out, regardless of whether or not anyone else
wanted to hear them. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">One could argue
that she had nothing to lose in releasing it, but potentially nothing to gain
either.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">An album filled with sad songs
might have seemed like a gamble after recording the defiant and angsty </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Live It Out</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Fans might have rejected it. The album did
sell moderately well in Canada upon it’s initial release, but remains obscure
pretty much everywhere else. I was a Metric fan for a while before I was aware
of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your Back</i><b style="font-size: 9pt;">, </b><span style="font-size: 9pt;">and I’ve met fans who have never
heard it. It’s unfortunate that the album isn’t more well known, since it’s an
impressive collection of songs that explore complex emotions and themes like
depression and loss</span><b style="font-size: 9pt;">. </b><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I also believe
the album is important because it marks a turning point in Metric’s overall songwriting
and tone, signaling a shift from darker or more cynical topics to more positive
and (dare I say) happy imagery.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">(I should say before I go
further that </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your Back </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">is
technically a side project (as opposed to a solo album).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Released under the name “Emily Haines &
The Soft Skeleton”, she recorded it with Metric guitarist Jimmy Shaw, Scott Minor, Justin Peroff, and Even Cranley.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But, she wrote all of the
songs and several of the concerts she played to support the album were solo
affairs (just her and a piano), so I consider it a solo album and refer to it
as such throughout this post.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The narrative that often
surrounds </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> is that Haines wrote
it after the sudden death of her father, poet <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Haines_(poet)" target="_blank">Paul Haines</a>, in 2003.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">That unfortunate event might have been the
catalyst for recording the album, but some of the songs had been written before
that, and only a couple of the tracks (namely “Winning”) seem to deal
specifically with death. (The album cover, though, is a direct reference to </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalator_over_the_Hill" target="_blank">Escalator Over the Hill</a></i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, the album Paul
Haines recorded with jazz pianist Carla Bley in 1971). </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Instead, the album deals with the sadness and
depression that can follow loss.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The
loss of friendships and relationships is tackled in a stark, often harrowing
manner throughout the album’s 11 tracks.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Make no mistakes going in- </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives
Don’t Have Your Back</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> is an intensely sad album.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">From the opening track, the somber “Our
Hell”, Haines lays out her thesis that she develops and revisits throughout the
album:</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Being happy is all well and good,
but when something happens that upends that happy life, you’re just left
longing for it.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Our hell is a good
life,” she sings, not because the good life is hellish, but because the good
life might only be temporary.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The songs
are filled with reflections on disappointments and dashed expectations.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Recorded when Haines was in her early 30s,
the downbeat tone of the lyrics may be a result of growing older and
experiencing both the good and bad in life.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The brashness and confidence of youth eventually collide with
reality.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“What I thought it was it isn’t
now” she sings later in “Our Hell.” </span><b style="font-size: 9pt;"> </b><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Ruminations such as this make </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your Back</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> the
soundtrack to things coming undone.</span></span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAMCXvt0xQnLaE2V55flA0F0XvdvPKdVCGvdxWzTRknN7WHP9Bp1ZCK-fZYrXrWNuf2lYpCC_jsgvA5-fX4lgYgOl89w07F-PYQPkYz8-3IXObQljqx6hQRohltHR7tMRmyYXPNX-vfwF/s1600/DoctorBlindStill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="628" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQAMCXvt0xQnLaE2V55flA0F0XvdvPKdVCGvdxWzTRknN7WHP9Bp1ZCK-fZYrXrWNuf2lYpCC_jsgvA5-fX4lgYgOl89w07F-PYQPkYz8-3IXObQljqx6hQRohltHR7tMRmyYXPNX-vfwF/s320/DoctorBlindStill.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still for the music video for "Doctor Blind."</td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Our Hell” is followed by
“Doctor Blind”, the closest thing </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
had to a hit.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Doctor Blind” was
originally a Metric song, and Haines and Shaw recorded a demo version early in
their career that never made it on to a Metric album (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG4VyLj54Qo" target="_blank">hear it here</a>).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The interesting thing about it’s inclusion on
</span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> is how Haines recycles and
repurposes the older song to make it fit the themes of the rest of the album.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Originally a more upbeat condemnation of
consumerism, Haines re-worked the lyrics and instrumentation to create a
stunningly accurate portrayal of depression, and from the first notes “Doctor
Blind” feels uneasy.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It uses a slowed
down, wonky time signature that makes the opening piano chords feel disjointed
(seriously, try to tap your foot to the melody- it’s not easy).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The first verse reinforces Haines’ view of an
upended world (“Toothless dentists/ Cops that kill”) but it’s the chorus that
hits home. “My baby’s got the lonesome lows/ Don’t quite go away overnight/
Doctor Blind, just prescribe the blue ones/ If the dizzying highs don’t subside
overnight/ Doctor Blind, just prescribe the red ones.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The lonesome lows that don’t quite go away
overnight.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Has there ever been a more
accurate and succinct description of depression?</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As someone who’s suffered through depression
in the past, I think “Doctor Blind” captures the feeling perfectly.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It’s a touching depiction of depression as
well as a condemnation of doctors who are unable to treat it or indifferent
towards it.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">That medicine didn’t
work?</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Just take this one.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">We might be over-medicated but we’re not
better.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Doctor Blind” is easily the
standout track on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, and I think
it’s one of the best meditations on depression ever written, as well as one of
the saddest songs I’ve ever heard.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">“Crowd Surf Off a Cliff” comes next, and with
this song Haines doubles down on the sadness.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">If “Doctor Blind” is about being depressed, then “Crowd Surf” is about
being </span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">really, really</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> depressed.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Played only on the piano and sung with
slightly distorted vocals, the song is stripped down and ethereal.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Some of the darkest imagery on the album is
conjured here, and it makes for a devastatingly sad song. It starts with a
lamentation for a lost lover: “Rather give the world away/ than wake up lonely/
Every day and every way/ I see you with me” she sings, but the song soon slips
in to other regrets as well.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">It’s hard
to see some lines as anything other than a reappraisal of her choice to pursue
a music career.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">“Are we breathing?/ Are
we breathing?/ Are we wasting our breath?/ It won’t be enough to be rich/ All
the babies tucked away in their beds/ We’re out here screaming.”</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">To me, the whole song really gets to the
heart of what it’s like to suffer from depression.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">When you’re depressed, you aren’t just sad
about one thing- you’re sad about everything.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">You feel that every choice you’ve made in your life has been the wrong
one, and that’s really what the whole song’s about. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">I just wrote that “Doctor Blind” is one of the
saddest songs ever written, but “Crowd Surf” beats it by a mile.</span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Crowd Surf Off a Cliff” is
a difficult song, both lyrically and musically.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It’s disjointed and has no clear structure.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Lines are re-arranged and recycled as both
verse and chorus, so you never really know what’s coming next.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Just when you think it’s going to end, the
piano picks up again and carries the song a little further, approximating the
swirling sense of dread that accompanies depression.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This meandering causes it to be the longest
song on the album, clocking in at almost 6 minutes.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I don’t think this is wholly accidental.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Listening to the album in it’s entirety is
like going on a journey with Haines, and the songs are placed in the order
they’re in for a reason.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">When producing Metric’s albums, both Haines
and Jimmy Shaw put time in to choosing the order of the songs, and they intend
the album to be a statement that’s listened to all the way through, not
consumed only in singles. Therefore, I think there’s a rationale for
front-loading the album’s saddest songs and having the listener hear them
first.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Sinking to the depths of “Crowd
Surf Off a Cliff” would be unbearable if Haines stayed there, wallowing in the song’s
dark themes for another 30 minutes.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Instead, the tone of the album begins to perceivably shift about halfway
through.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The melancholy feeling remains,
but a kernel of hope starts to work it’s way in, allowing </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> to end on an oddly uplifting note.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This shift starts to become
apparent at about the half way mark with the song “Mostly Waving”.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Energized by a horn section and lyrics that
are more cynical than sad, it’s here that the sense of humor seen on previous albums
comes to the surface.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Of all the songs on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, “Mostly Waving” is probably most like a Metric track.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">When Haines sings “Don’t talk like that/
You’ll frighten off the frat boys/ use your baby talk” it’s easy to believe
that this is the same woman who wrote “Combat Baby”.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">With the album’s tonal shift underway by this
point, songs closer to the end approach problems from a different point of
view, and perhaps start to question some of the doubts she expressed earlier.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztmFsS2JYVI" target="_blank">“Nothing and Nowhere”</a> is a
melancholy song about reluctance to settle down with places or people, but also
seems to refute some of the doubts she raised in “Crowd Surf Off a Cliff” Parts
of it still seems like a criticism of music as a choice of profession, but this
time the criticisms are coming from others, not from within. “Some say our hair
is in our eyes,” she sings. “Some say we’re out of our little minds/ Some say
our life is insane.” </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Here the “some say”
is the important part.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The criticism has
become externalized.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">She counters that
criticism with “But it isn’t insane on paper.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Add up your accomplishments and things start looking pretty good, or at
least better than they did.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxvt5_av1yzPne9ZzBdN7b1JknHabDs4k1l37NwWFH5MEdi-_m3_BSXjYLn3Z9KNy1a7_Z9Ecp3MgjvJJKXDHxwFQ46wDh8tmgYfF1F2rDtNb4vjYvYPK3hNOQ-q_XscTWL0L5OjFnr9Z/s1600/PosterofaGirlstill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="638" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpxvt5_av1yzPne9ZzBdN7b1JknHabDs4k1l37NwWFH5MEdi-_m3_BSXjYLn3Z9KNy1a7_Z9Ecp3MgjvJJKXDHxwFQ46wDh8tmgYfF1F2rDtNb4vjYvYPK3hNOQ-q_XscTWL0L5OjFnr9Z/s200/PosterofaGirlstill.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image taken from the music video for<br />
"Poster of a Girl"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Now perhaps it’s dangerous
to hear too much autobiographical information in anyone’s songs, and this album
is no exception.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Songwriters are story
tellers, after all, and they create fictions that can’t always be taken
literally. Haines has stated in multiple interviews that she tries not to be
too autobiographical when writing lyrics, but does strive to convey genuine
emotion in her songs.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">So, perhaps it’s
foolhardy to suggest that any of the lyrics here document a real part of her
life, but she drops enough clues to make it hard to see this song in particular
as anything other than personal commentary. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The line about “our hair is in our eyes” is
the one I think is important here.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Far
from just a generalized criticism of musicians being “crazy longhairs,” I see
this line as describing Haines herself.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Recordings of older Metric performances
capture her playing style at the time, and as she stands on stage and moves her
head rhythmically to the beat, one can see that her hair is truly in her
eyes (see picture at right).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Far from being allegory or
allusion, I think this song marks the point where Haines consents to her fate
and starts to begrudgingly accept her career in music.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This maybe wouldn’t be so remarkable for any
other musician, but this very theme is one that she will repeatedly return to
over in over again in her post-</span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
songs (especially on the album </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Synthetica</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The closing track is the
song that ends the album’s journey, bringing an amount of closure to the
overall narrative.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Winning” is, in my
opinion, the song that most directly deals with the death of Haines’
father.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The lyrics are filled with ideas
of wanting to hold on to something you know won’t last and that you’re afraid
of losing forever (“When you talk can I tape you?”).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Although the feelings of loss conjured here
are at perhaps their most tangible, the chorus is hopeful and stirring.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As Haines’ stark piano notes reach a
crescendo, she sings “What’s bad, we’ll fix it/ What’s wrong, we’ll make it
alright.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But, these comforting lines
are tempered by the realization that as much as you may want to help someone,
that might be impossible.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“We don’t know
how to help” she sings. “Only know how to hound.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">And, when we’ve lost someone close to us, we
have to keep going, as hard as that might be. “Nose to the grindstone/
grindstone to the ground.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">With the mournful but
hopeful lyrics, she seems to reach a balance- or at least a shaky truce-
between losing a loved one, but still holding on to their memory. “It’s gone/
so long” she sings, saying goodbye but knowing that the connection will never
truly be gone, continuing with “We’ve got time/ all the time.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This realization seems to come with an amount
of peace, or at least acceptance.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As she
lets go and says farewell, she assures the listener “All our songs will be
lullabies in no time.” </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">After exploring
heartache and depression for the previous ten songs, at the end comes a
rejection of that which causes pain.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The
things in your life that hurt you won’t protect you.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives don’t have your back. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As she vocalizes over the last notes of the
album, her fragile voice starts to crack. Whether because of sadness, joy, or
just relief, it’s a beautifully</span><i style="font-size: 9pt;"> human</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
moment and the perfect end to an album that starts off as depressing but ends
with an unexpectedly uplifting sendoff.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">After the release of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, Haines embarked on a solo tour
to promote the record and it’s follow-up, the EP </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">What is Free to a Good Home?</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, released in 2007.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The tour was stretched out over two years,
starting in September of 2006 and ending in March of 2008.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Haines was still actively playing with Metric
throughout that time, and the band was beginning to navigate the protracted writing,
recording and mixing process that eventually culminated with the release of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> in 2009.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Therefore, her solo dates were sprinkled in
between her other commitments, giving the </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
tour an unconventional structure.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">She
played a handful if shows in late 2006, but the bulk of the tour took place in
January of 2007.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Between January 4 and
January 23, she played a whopping 19 shows in 20 days across the U.S. and
Canada.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">After a brief European tour in
the summer of 2007 she returned to North America and played a few final
concerts, the last of which was on March 30, 2008 in Toronto. Since the last
dates were played over two years after the first ones, her relationship to the
material definitely changed along the way, and this can be seen in some of the
video evidence available on line.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Even though these concerts
didn’t take place at a time when everybody had cameras on their cell phones
(the iPhone was still a relatively new thing in 2007), several performances of
varying quality were captured on film or as audio recordings.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The best and most complete concert recording
from the tour was made in Washington D.C. on January 10, 2007 by NPR (audio
only), and it’s still archived on their site (<a href="https://www.npr.org/2007/01/10/6725538/emily-haines-and-the-soft-skeleton-in-concert" target="_blank">you can listen to it and download it here</a>).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This recording is a
fascinating listen for several reasons.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Since
cell phone recordings were rare at the time (or low quality), this concert
remains the only source of a high-quality professional live recording of songs such as “Crowd
Surf Off a Cliff," "Reading in Bed," and "The Lottery."</span><b style="font-size: 9pt;">. </b><span style="font-size: 9pt;">(This
may change when she tours to support her new album in the coming weeks- she’s been performing songs off of Knives in her recent shows</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Also, it was
taped only a few months after the album’s release, and her connection to the
songs as well as the cohesive nature of the album is still fresh.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">She plays the whole album, almost in order
(she slightly rearranges some songs in the middle section), and this allows the
revelations of “Winning” to close out the show on an uplifting note.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Her stretched out solo tour
format allowed her live performances to evolve, and later dates didn’t always
follow the same format of the NPR recording.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> aged, Haines’
relationships with the songs seemed to change as well.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Living with the songs on and off for over
two years and revisiting their darker themes must have been emotionally
draining.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">She also used some of the
dates as an opportunity to celebrate her father’s life, reminiscing about him
while she bantered with the crowd between songs.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This can be observed in some video clips that
can still be found on YouTube.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzN3VBLkTI8" target="_blank">In this clip</a>, made during a concert at Toronto’s Harbourfront Center in July of 2007,
she talks about her father’s poetry and her relationship with him, and it’s
clear she’s getting choked up as she wipes away tears.</span><i style="font-size: 9pt;"> Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> is an emotional album and reliving those songs over and
over must have become difficult.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Even
today, they can bring up troubling feelings. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecxgcAtQ4WM" target="_blank">After a recent performance</a> of “Doctor Blind,”
she commented that singing it still conjures up everything she was feeling when
she wrote it a decade ago.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This is perhaps most evident
in the video that was captured from the last date for the tour, a show at
Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theater on March 30, 2008.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This concert was legendary or infamous
depending on who you ask, and I want to spend some time analyzing this particular
show for two reasons: First, I think her performance was unfairly maligned or
misunderstood by some viewers, and secondly I think her statements made during
the performance, and her reaction to the songs from </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, helped guide the path Metric would take over the following
decade.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Part 1. She perfoms "Anarchy Song" and "Something to Prove"</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">First, a word about the
videos that capture this performance (all of which I’ll link to here). It was
recorded by Mobile Jam Fest, which was a Canadian organization that helped
aspiring filmmakers (the organization is now defunct, but some of their website
is saved on the Internet Archive).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The
concert has been edited so as to cut Haines’ between-song banter with the
crowd, so any song intros or backstory are missing. Eight full songs (and part
of a ninth) are recorded, comprising approximately 40 minutes of the concert
(the videos comprise about 30 minutes of live material, and I’m estimating song
intros, applause, crowd banter, etc. to be about 10 additional minutes). As far
as I can tell, the songs are presented in the order they were performed. The
last part of the show (perhaps the most important part to me here) is also
absent, though a few bits remain in the form of videos shot by other concert
attendees. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">By watching the surviving clips,
a casual observer might think it’s a perfectly normal, though incomplete,
concert.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Part 2: "Dont' Move" and "No Light"</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The first thing that’s
readily apparent from the recording is that songs from </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your Back</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> have been dropped almost completely
from her set list.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Instead, she plays mostly
new material. These new songs were never formally released, and the Mobile Jam
Fest film is the only time most of them were professionally recorded in any
capacity.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The 5 parts that make up the
concert video are an important record because they show an artist in transition.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The newer songs aren’t nearly as depressing as
the tracks on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">(though some are
quite melancholy), and Haines is clearly having fun with the crowd as she plays
them, encouraging the audience to sing along and making jokey asides between
verses.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">There are also other
interesting aspects to her songwriting that become apparent while watching the
concert more than 10 years after the fact.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">About halfway through, Haines brings her opening act, the singer Lyra
Brown, out on stage and they play a song together called “Sweet Caroline.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">What any Metric fan will recognize listening
to this today is that it’s clearly a first draft of “The Shade,” a song Metric
wouldn’t record until 6 years (and 3 albums) later.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It’s perfectly normal for artists to work
this way, using old material as spare parts to reconstruct new songs (as she
did with “Doctor Blind”) but to be able to see those formative steps really
sheds light on her songwriting process.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">During the concert, Haines
acknowledges that the songs she’s playing might not be what the crowd is
expecting.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As she plays the opening notes
of the </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> track “Detective
Daughter” (7 songs in) she comments “that’s familiar, right?”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Musicians try out new material in a concert
setting all the time, but cutting most of the songs from the album you’re
ostensibly touring to promote is a little odd. This a clear sign that the songs
were perhaps becoming too tough to perform live, or at least signal that she
was ready to move on from the material.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">After playing “Detective
Daughter” and “Mostly Waving”, Haines started playing “Doctor Blind.” A couple
of minutes in to the song, she had a sort of epiphany.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Before starting the second verse, she just
stopped playing and declared “I don’t want to play these songs anymore”. This
declaration is edited out of the Mobile Jam Fest recording, but Haines herself
describes the event in the following way (from her recent Reddit Ask Me
Anything [AMA] session) “…in the middle of the performance I just felt this
wave of relief and an overwhelming sense that the fog of grief was lifting and
at that moment I absolutely could not play one more single note of that dark
dark music I had been inhabiting so I brought up members of the audience to
take over for me. It was one of the best musical experiences of my life, the
pure ‘fuck it’ of it.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">After stepping
away from “Doctor Blind” (along with the rest of the songs off </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">), she improvised the rest of the
show.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Evidence of this is hard to find,
but reports I’ve read describe her as wading in to the crowd and just talking
to her fans for a while. I don’t know how many songs were played during this
part of the concert, but to close out the show, she brought a participant from
the audience up on stage and he played guitar for an impromptu rendition of the
song “Live It Out” (evidence of this last part </span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As one might imagine, the
concert and it’s unexpected ending didn’t go over so well with all critics and
fans.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Reading through the comments
section on many YouTube videos of the performance seems to indicate that it’s
remembered relatively fondly by people who were there, but critics of the performance
consider it a trainwreck. <a href="http://www.blogto.com/music/2008/04/emily_haines_the_soft_performance/" target="_blank">This review</a>, from the website BlogTO (TO is the
common abbreviation for Toronto), is particularly harsh.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Now, I wasn’t there and the concert video is
incomplete, but the article’s characterization of the entire concert as a
shambling mess just isn’t backed up by the evidence that remains.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Describing the whole show as a series of
fumbled, unfinished songs is not only inaccurate, but misses the point as to
why the concert went off the rails to begin with.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Haines is a solid live performer and the
video doesn’t lie. The Mobile Jam Fest recordings show her delivering almost 40
minutes of material before going off script</span><b style="font-size: 9pt;">.
</b><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">She might be playing songs
unfamiliar to most people in the crowd, but she’s playing them well, and having
fun while doing so.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">These recordings contradict
the article, which describes her as stopping midway through songs and people
shouting out song requests, and then accuses her of not being able to perform or
finish her own songs without help from the audience. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I don’t doubt that the second half of the
concert was probably a little messy, but it was only half of her total performance.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The concert had a pretty definitive split
when she reached “Doctor Blind,” and that just isn’t mentioned here.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">There was also a reason for the chaos, which
she stated to the crowd when she declared she couldn’t play one more note of
those songs. Her actions were the result of a conscious (though spontaneous) rejection
of sadness.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">One part of the concert that
the BlogTO review is especially critical of is Haines’ duet with her opening
act Lyra Brown, who the reviewer says was
“</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">obviously taking cues from Haines, almost watching for her
approval at every turn. At least Brown had her shit together.”<span style="color: #4a4a4a;"> </span> I’ve watched that performance a number of
times while writing this post, and I really don’t see any of that. It’s a little rough around the edges and
Brown does seem to be taking cues from Haines, but why wouldn’t she?- it’s
Haines’ song. The song speeds up as they
play it, and Haines realizes they’re both playing a little too quickly and she
tries to reset the tempo by counting out the meter. But despite this, the song
doesn’t suffer. Both performers are able
to adjust to the tempo changes. Neither artist stops playing during the
song. Neither artist forgets the lyrics
or piano chords. At no point does Haines
seem lost, on the contrary she seems to be helping the younger artist through
the song.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The version of “Live It Out”
played with one of the audience members (above) also shows that Haines was in full
control of her material.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It’s a little
sloppy, but sweet.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Again the criticism
that Haines can’t remember her own songs doesn’t stand up, and she proves here
that she knows the song so well she can have a little fun at her helper’s
expense.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBHFFv4-vNE" target="_blank">“Live It Out”</a> has a slightly
non-traditional song structure.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It has
verses and a chorus, but the chorus, sung twice in the song, changes lyrically each
time (I consider the chorus to be the parts that begins with the line “It’s a
good story”, occurring at 1:06 and 2:09 in the album version).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The first time the chorus is sung, one of the
last lines is “Now I’m never gonna see you again,” but when the chorus repeats
the line changes to “Now you’re never gonna be here again.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">When her helper gets to the first chorus at
the Phoenix performance, he sings the wrong line and Haines catches it
immediately, joking with him by saying “Are you never going to be here again?”
(or something like that- the audio isn’t great).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Everyone laughs and they continue the
song.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">When they get to the second
chorus, Haines purposely switches the lines </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">herself</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">,
getting in a playful jab at her young accompanist.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It’s a subtle gag, and I’m probably not doing
it justice with this description (just watch the video), but one that Metric
fans can pick out and have a laugh over.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It shows that Haines is able to joke around with her own material.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">As Shakespeare might say, she clearly knows a
hawk from a handsaw.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The crowd is going along
with this as well, cheering and laughing along with her.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This also seems to contradict the BlogTO
article, which describes the audience as being filled with befuddled Metric
fans ready to swear off her music forever after a non-traditional performance. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I can completely understand why some people in
attendance might have been unhappy with the show, and I know that several
people there that night were disappointed in her performance.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Perhaps witnessing an on-stage catharsis
wasn’t what they expected when they bought a ticket.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But, based on the video evidence, she seems
to be overwhelmingly supported by her fans.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Toronto is friendly territory for Haines and she clearly felt safe
expressing herself in this forum.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">On
that stage, Haines and sadness parted company, and this would characterize her
songwriting as she moved forward. These effects can still be heard ten years
later.</span></span></div>
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was released in 2009 (about a year after the Phoenix concert) and it’s clear
from the first notes that the dark songs off <i>Knives Don’t Have Your Back</i> have been left behind, but she’s
certainly learned from the experience. The
album begins with the anthemic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoK63Bk7pgw" target="_blank">“Help I’m Alive,”</a> and this acts as the perfect
intro song. In it, she outlines her
hesitation moving forward (a theme perhaps carried over from <i>Knives</i>), “I tremble,” the song begins,
“They’re gonna eat me alive.” but that initial fear is later paired with a
strong conviction that she’s doing the right thing, stating “My regrets are
few.” Some lines even seem to be directly
answering her critics. “If my life is mine,” she sings, “what shouldn’t I
do?” She acknowledges that there are
still expectations placed upon her which may cause contradictions (“Hard to be
soft, tough to be tender”), but at the same time a new understanding of herself
seems to have been reached<b>. </b>She expresses these complex emotions in a
track that is as much a mission statement as it is a pop song.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Help I’m Alive” is far from
an outlier on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Whereas tracks like “Satellite Mind” and
“Gold Guns Girls” would have fit comfortably on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Live It Out</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, there are plenty of other songs that lead in a new
direction, achieving a level of exuberance not previously seen on a Metric
album.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Yes, there are songs that are
downers, such as the bittersweet “Collect Call”, but these songs are tempered
by the likes of “Sick Muse,” with it’s soaring sing-along-ready chorus, and
“Stadium Love,” the record’s rousing closer.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">is interesting because it looks both
backwards and forwards.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It contains all
of the things that identify it as a Metric album, such as their distinctive
guitar and synthesizer work (by this time, they had developed a distinctive
sound), but also seems to be moving somewhere else, especially lyrically.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The anthems of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Live It Out</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> are confrontational and antagonistic. The songs on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> are self-aware, personal, and
confident.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The Emily Haines of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your Back</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> is nowhere
to be seen.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">On “Detective Daughter,” she
stared at her reflection in the mirror and pleaded “please don’t be me.” Now
she was declaring that “all the blondes are fantasies.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">While listening to </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, it’s clear that Metric was
evolving.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">This evolution is perhaps most
evident in the transformation of the song “Gimme Sympathy.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Metric worked on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> for a long time, and as early as 2007 they were playing
songs in concert that would eventually feature on the album.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Some of these songs, like “Stadium Love”, appear
to have come in to this world fully perfectly formed.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Others, like “Twilight Galaxy” or “Sick Muse,”
originally sounded a little different, but were tweaked slightly for the album
version.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Gimme Sympathy” is
different.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In it’s original form, it sounds
almost nothing the version Metric fans are familiar with (demo version posted below).</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Gimme Sympathy” was around
for a long time before it was officially recorded, and the earliest video I can
find of a live performance dates from September of 2007.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The original version, which I’ll refer to as
the demo version, is also sometimes referred to as “The Hooks” or “Hooks”,
although by 2007 the title had officially been changed to “Gimme Sympathy.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Both musically and lyrically, the demo version
is almost completely different from the album version.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The lyrics of the demo version traverse
territory Metric had covered before, speaking about relationships in a cynical
light.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Lines like “There’s no romance
without finance” and “Meet me at the gates of Hell/ I’m on the guest list” make
the song somewhat nihilistic.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The
chorus, which begins with “I can feel it in my bones,” remains mostly
unchanged, and the familiar line of “Who’d you rather be?/ The Beatles or the
Rolling Stones” is still here, but there’s a major change at the end.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The chorus of the demo version concludes with
“Come on baby play me something like ‘She’s Come Undone.’”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLMF5GM0Kt8" target="_blank">“Undun”</a> is a song by The
Guess Who, and it’s pretty downbeat, detailing a woman’s self-destruction.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I didn’t know until researching this post
that this is the official name of the song.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I always thought it was called “She’s Come Undone,” and plenty of online
sources refer to it this way as well.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">There’s no doubt, though, that this is the song Metric is referring to
in the demo of “Gimme Sympathy.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">At
about the 2:40 mark in the above video there is a musical callback to The Guess
Who song when Haines sings “Didn’t know what she was looking for/ But when she
found what she was looking for/ It was too late.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Directly referencing a song such as “Undun”
makes sense in the context of the original lyrics.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The Metric song </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">sounds </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">more upbeat, with it’s hand claps and sing-songy background
vocals, but it’s ultimately a downer, just like “Undun.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Gimme Sympathy” was
performed in it’s original version for a while before it changed. Performances
throughout 2007 included the early version of the song.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">By the start of 2008, though, the song had
changed.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It seems to have been
re-written all at once, since there isn’t a slow evolution of the lyrics or
music that can be observed in live recordings.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In October of ’07 they perform the demo version, then there’s a three-month
gap where I couldn’t find any performances of the song. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">By February of ’08 the song had been mostly
re-worked, discarding the nihilistic lyrics in favor of a song that has a
different, more positive, theme.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The
line at the end of the chorus referencing “She’s Come Undone” is still present,
though.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It would be a couple of more
months until the final alteration (and perhaps the most important, tonally) was
made to the song.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In it’s new form, “Gimme
Sympathy” eschews the negative (and frankly, slightly raunchy) lyrics of the
original version and replaces them with something that could be described as
hesitantly positive.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Like on “Nothing
and Nowhere,” some of the lines seem to make references to Haines’ experience
as a musician, as well as her growing reputation within that field.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Get hot/ get to close to the flame. / Wild
open space/ talk like an open book. / Sign me up.” (It’s perhaps worth noting
here that the song gelled in to it’s final form and included the line ‘talk
like an open book’ shortly before her solo performance at the Phoenix, where
she did just that.) </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">But, it isn’t so
specific as to exclude the listener from finding inspiration in the words and
ideas she presents.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It’s a song about
taking chances and making choices (“Who’d you rather be?”), but it’s also a
reflection on the past.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Did things
happen so fast that she missed something along the way?</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The song isn’t an apology </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">per se</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, but a plea for understanding.
The search for a confirmation of self worth, which the song is ultimately
about, is something anyone can relate to.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In this new version of the song, when she asks for sympathy you’re
willing to give it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Perhaps the most significant
change made to the song was the last one.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In late 2008, less than a year before the release of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, the reference to “Undun” was
removed.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Now, instead of “She’s Come
Undone”, Haines sings “Come on baby play me something like ‘Here Comes the
Sun.’’</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">One could argue that perhaps
Haines just wanted a Beatles-specific reference in the song, since they’re
already mentioned earlier in the chorus, but I think it goes deeper than
that.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Referencing “Undun” worked within
the context of the demo version of the song, but as the song became more
positive it really didn’t fit anymore.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Undun” contains the lines “She’s lost the sun/ she’s come undone.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Replacing it with “Here Comes the Sun” fits
the new tone of the song and seems to hint at Haines’ experience with </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives Don’t Have Your Back</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0kHokSsokI" target="_blank">”Here Comes the Sun”</a> is about going through a
dark time and coming through to the light on the other side.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">There’s perhaps no better parallel to Haines’
descent in to the dark themes of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">,
only to publicly reject that sadness and embrace positivity. With this
addition, the tone of the whole song is brightened, and the entire album is
better off for it.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Placed right in the
middle of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, a song that
could have been a cynical downer is instead transformed in to the album’s
emotional anchor. The song’s themes of asking for forgiveness, while still reluctant
to apologize, would continue to filter in to her songwriting, perhaps reaching
it’s apex with the release of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Synthetica </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">in
2012.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">On </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Synthetica</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, the ideas introduced in bits and pieces on</span><i style="font-size: 9pt;"> Knives </i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">and </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> are fleshed out and formed into an album-long treatise
that functions as both wistful reflection and unapologetic acceptance of one’s
self.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">It’s almost a concept album in
it’s thematic tightness. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The overarching
ideas of the album deal with weighty issues like identity, one’s past, and the
impact of one’s actions (both positive and negative).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Though </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Synthetica</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
is overwhelmingly positive, echoes of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives
Don’t Have Your Back</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> can still be felt.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">On “Crowd Surf Off a Cliff,” Haines sunk to a pretty dark place, and
here some of those same ideas are re-visited and re-appraised.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">On “Crowd Surf,” everyone’s tucked into their
beds while Haines is “out here screaming.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">On “Artificial Nocturne,” the album’s defiant opening track, she seems
to reject that idea and now embraces the night.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Perhaps the closest connection exists between “Crowd Surf” and
“Breathing Underwater.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Both songs frame
the experience of being a musician in similar ways.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In “Crowd Surf,” she asks “Are we breathing?/
are we wasting our breath?”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">In “Breathing
Underwater” she asks “Is this my life?/ Am I breathing underwater.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Both songs question her life, but one is
overwhelmingly more positive.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">“Breathing
Underwater” seems to start off by once again mentioning other people’s
criticism of her: “They were right when they said we were breathing underwater/
Out of place all the time in a world that wasn’t mine to take.” But, it’s the
next line that makes all the difference and tilts the song in a more
inspirational direction: “I’ll wait.”</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Instead
of wallowing in depression or past mistakes, the songs on </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Synthetica</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> acknowledge that mistakes may have been made, but
repentance is possible (“Steal once, pay twice”). The positive nature of the
album in carried until the last line, when Haines states “I’ve got nothing but
time, and the future is mine.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">I conclude this lengthy post
by admitting that I could be completely wrong.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">The writing and recording of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives
Don’t Have Your Back</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> may have had nothing to do with Metric’s evolution as
a band.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">And to give credit where it’s
due, songwriting is a group effort for the band and Jimmy Shaw, bassist Joshua
Winstead, and drummer Joules Scott-Key all play a hand in crafting their
music.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Therefore the accomplishments of </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Fantasies</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Synthetica</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">, and 2015’s </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Pagans
in Vegas</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> are not Haines’ alone (though she is their primary lyricist).</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Artistic evolution and creation is rarely a
bolt-from-the-blue event, and while I think </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;">
played a part in their evolution, other factors were probably just as important.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Growing older and gaining experience as well
as finding a level of success in your artistic endeavors can all contribute to
positive change over time.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Still, it’s
interesting to think about what Metric would sound like today had </span><i style="font-size: 9pt;">Knives</i><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> had never existed.</span> <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-61679477045532034832017-05-04T13:25:00.000-04:002017-05-04T13:25:03.656-04:00Vincent Price Sells Art at Sears (Yes You Read That Correctly)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I spend a good
amount of time searching for obscure videos on YouTube, and I always find
surprises. Recently, I found an old
commercial for the <a href="http://albrightknox.org/" target="_blank">Albright-Knox Art Gallery</a> (a museum I know well) featuring
legendary screen actor <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001637/" target="_blank">Vincent Price</a>.
It’s an interesting snapshot of the museum at the time, and after
walking through the galleries Price stops in next to the large reclining figure
by Henry Moore, a piece that’s long been off public view, most likely because
of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/oct/13/henry-moore-bronze-sculpture-stolen-scotland" target="_blank">incidents like this.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">After watching
the video and searching a little more, I found that Price had recorded similar
commercials for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe2g4IcZ-8w" target="_blank">other museums in the U.S.</a> Apart from being a little time
capsule of the early 1980s, I was left with the question of why Vincent Price
had been chosen in the first place.
Price was primarily known as a horror movie actor, and I really didn’t
know much about his connections to art before researching this post. I found out that he did, and it’s kind of an
odd one. He collected art throughout his
life and in the early 1960s he was approached by the department store chain
<a href="http://www.sears.com/" target="_blank">Sears</a> and asked to collaborate on a project to sell fine art in their stores. Price himself was responsible for choosing
and buying the thousands of paintings and prints that would encompass the
Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art at Sears.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The most
important video available that really helps to understand the relationship
Price had with Sears is an instructional video created to train employees on
the art that would be for sale. In the
film, Price himself admits that people may be skeptical about buying fine art
at Sears, and he makes a point of separating what’s being sold here from the
cheap, printed- on-cardboard images people might be used to. This video goes a long way towards explaining
what exactly Sears was selling. He takes
time to showcase some of the pieces and discus their merits. I’ve identified the work and artist where
possible.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The first piece
Price highlights is a print by the Japanese artist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshige" target="_blank">Utagawa Hiroshige</a>. After doing a little digging, I was able to
see that it’s a print from Hiroshige’s collection called <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifty-three_Stations_of_the_T%C5%8Dkaid%C5%8D" target="_blank">The 53 Stations of the Takaido</a></i>. Specifically, it’s #39- Chiryu:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08JdMAGC4TObH5Vrd6j7zyUNi5pLYk02DqrwqVyR7qtspo5sPUvGKodsYjolCbXNVP-6u-r2FSOorhG3THbvPDGFSaLMHyn-Qq-kdyVb6biV6_s2JQfgZkn1UaiiayoSpiaph-M_4FSfr/s1600/HiroshigeSideBySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh08JdMAGC4TObH5Vrd6j7zyUNi5pLYk02DqrwqVyR7qtspo5sPUvGKodsYjolCbXNVP-6u-r2FSOorhG3THbvPDGFSaLMHyn-Qq-kdyVb6biV6_s2JQfgZkn1UaiiayoSpiaph-M_4FSfr/s640/HiroshigeSideBySide.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">As Price
describes it, he refers to it as one of Hiroshige’s famous “views.” When I heard this, I immediately thought of
“36 Views of Mount Fuji” (of which <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa" target="_blank">The Great Wave Off Kanagawa</a></i>) is the most famous
image. But, the views of Mount Fuji are
prints made by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai" target="_blank">Hokusai</a>, not Hiroshige. I
can’t be too hard on Price for seemingly confusing the two artists, since
lumping Hokusai and Hiroshige together unfortunately is fairly common. Google “Hiroshige print” and images of
Hokusai’s Great Wave are returned.
Moving on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The next
painting highlighted was one that stumped my.
Price says it’s a French artist who’s name sounds like “Boboline.” I tried several spellings and was able to
find nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-v34v3qBHVlbvm7m7QXaGwYBpU_i0u1gMgRafyDEMpQzon7e2hyKoCEi7Hr4pIRJVTCyvF25PzTz_4Y26Y2AOhDhwYVb5GOkfohngmj6uOwOwbzbjE1kKfa1bdcKATaHfghuCe6SnuCnK/s1600/BobolineQuestion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-v34v3qBHVlbvm7m7QXaGwYBpU_i0u1gMgRafyDEMpQzon7e2hyKoCEi7Hr4pIRJVTCyvF25PzTz_4Y26Y2AOhDhwYVb5GOkfohngmj6uOwOwbzbjE1kKfa1bdcKATaHfghuCe6SnuCnK/s400/BobolineQuestion.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The drawing
Price highlights after Boboline (Baubelline? Boboleine? Your guess is as good
as mine) is an interesting one. It’s by
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Kley" target="_blank">Heinrich Kley</a> and appears to depict a satyr dancing with a woman. Kley was a German illustrator and painter who
was well regarded by Walt Disney, who was an avid collector of his work. Kley’s illustrations (especially those of
anthropomorphic animals) were a huge influence on the design of Disney’s <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032455/" target="_blank">Fantasia</a></i>, released near the end of
Kley’s life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> wasn’t able to find the exact drawing that’s
highlighted in the Sears video, but I was able to find part of it. Searching for Kley images on Google is
difficult because a lot of what comes up isn’t by Kley but is by people he
influenced (Disney concept artists, other illustrators, etc.). But a winery used a Kley drawing as a wine
bottle label and it’s pretty clear that it’s the same drawing seen in the video
(minus the figure on the right). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Next Price
shows off two artists who I was able to find more information on but I wasn’t
able to find images of the exact paintings shown here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The first is an Italian artist Price calls
Frederico Gentillini but his name was actually <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_Gentilini" target="_blank">Franco Gentillini</a>.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He also points out a piece by an artist named
<a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-04-28/news/8803120765_1_inch-painting-portrait-family" target="_blank">Gustav Likan</a>.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Likan taught in Chicago,
so he might have been familiar to those who worked at the Sears headquarters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">After showing
off these two artists, Price gets into some of the more interesting pieces on
display in the film. The first of these
is a print by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec" target="_blank">Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec</a>.
To go off on a slight tangent here, one really fascinating aspect of old
films like this is because they record the way people spoke and communicated
that may sound a little antiquated today.
This is best captured he when Price refers to Toulouse-Lautrec as
“really one of the extraordinary people.”
But, I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The print at
hand is called <i>Por Toi! (For You!) (Desire
Dihou with his Bassoon),</i> and was originally printed in 1893. If the print shown in the video was legit, it
could be worth a lot of money today.
Other copies have sold for as much as $14,000. I say “if” because prints can be problematic
if the printing blocks or plates were used without the artist’s authorization
of after the artist’s death. I don’t
know if that’s been an issue with this particular print, but prints seen later
on are potentially problematic (keep reading).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The next piece
seen is a small print of a bird and insect Price identifies as <i>The Young Entomologist</i>. Googling that title or looking for similar
images yielded nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNsWB7_McEh9QQZZQjqPMOXKlK950A6El-Zxth7tlwj8oSSJW9riEgfL2TScmHkHFHclTKCrUNwCpZFBk6i-b6LfkVXp5sVoJ96mnshoGzqZDcCeISokALQCVvFtEFTeBJhyphenhyphenowmDrcNB6m/s1600/YoungEntomolpgist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNsWB7_McEh9QQZZQjqPMOXKlK950A6El-Zxth7tlwj8oSSJW9riEgfL2TScmHkHFHclTKCrUNwCpZFBk6i-b6LfkVXp5sVoJ96mnshoGzqZDcCeISokALQCVvFtEFTeBJhyphenhyphenowmDrcNB6m/s320/YoungEntomolpgist.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry little guy, I don't know who made you.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">What comes next
are probably the most problematic pieces Price presents. They are two prints by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Goya" target="_blank">Goya</a> from his famous
series of etchings called <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_caprichos" target="_blank">Los Caprichos</a></i>. The lower one is easy to identify: it’s no.
39 in the series, entitled <i>Hasta su
Abuelo (And So Was His Grandfather), </i>first published in 1799.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGJEa-gOgj5GKnYz2NsA1kfTTQ2cQhlJ-ov8HVm_KuHUXKyYUzGG-eEF6WYSyBobgZcVFr62E5aZq3IR0zjYOf7CAFzM978lfDR32WU6ynEKTucbHrZcuPm8nyBQRTY8STksmPDlu72R4/s1600/GoyaSidebySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFGJEa-gOgj5GKnYz2NsA1kfTTQ2cQhlJ-ov8HVm_KuHUXKyYUzGG-eEF6WYSyBobgZcVFr62E5aZq3IR0zjYOf7CAFzM978lfDR32WU6ynEKTucbHrZcuPm8nyBQRTY8STksmPDlu72R4/s400/GoyaSidebySide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The upper one
is hard to identify since it’s never shown in close-up, but I think it’s no.
47, <i><span style="background: white; color: #222222;">Obsequio al maestro (A Gift
for the Master)</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN-kzahFIt9rc5pZ8X4DaltnIW1TXHiDSWgf0ewlseESzPieVWjZGvxAFNwM0i9arI-FkJXzAOF8c_fNFuUdpaNeQFUbeNs9n60kk0nUZDZCgEeu67liFfv7EB-DfqWbm_cIzSEsjfVyAI/s1600/Goya2SidebySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN-kzahFIt9rc5pZ8X4DaltnIW1TXHiDSWgf0ewlseESzPieVWjZGvxAFNwM0i9arI-FkJXzAOF8c_fNFuUdpaNeQFUbeNs9n60kk0nUZDZCgEeu67liFfv7EB-DfqWbm_cIzSEsjfVyAI/s400/Goya2SidebySide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Unscrupulous publishers churned
out prints like this long after Goya’s death, and even though they used the
original printing plates, they did so without Goya’s permission. This flooded the market with unauthorized
editions that degraded in quality as time went on. The problem is so rampant that when you
Google it, “Goya Caprichos forgery” autocompletes before “Goya Caprichos.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtw6USmocFEoECVGSRDbwxtKkv5n9eT9hbvZ0EzB7TneyzARxfTDbWl0yO6DlqbLRAQdPSY91FgctFAQrhQfLHOQqsIRMrON8m3weA0IVncwRjw31IT9kpO2HCoNjM4TkJ7fbmVpQ8M1q/s1600/GoyaGoogle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtw6USmocFEoECVGSRDbwxtKkv5n9eT9hbvZ0EzB7TneyzARxfTDbWl0yO6DlqbLRAQdPSY91FgctFAQrhQfLHOQqsIRMrON8m3weA0IVncwRjw31IT9kpO2HCoNjM4TkJ7fbmVpQ8M1q/s400/GoyaGoogle.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goya coupons now accepted at Sears.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Perhaps Sears is acknowledging a
sketchy provenance with the price- they’re only $35 apiece. Given the little I know about Goya’s prints,
the chance of these prints being genuine is slim to none. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZu4O6hkdo0-yT6txar7BiTg_sBSscwZ-jddR1gSmZUMaspV3PLfQgI5F_tsLQ3D8lUskhsvMyvgfB6BjbYRm8ld2d1eGs6_bfr-ARAWwY9izcoptDq6Kbtrehe9H8dZJLpgKmHdvgfkS/s1600/CaliforniaArtist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZu4O6hkdo0-yT6txar7BiTg_sBSscwZ-jddR1gSmZUMaspV3PLfQgI5F_tsLQ3D8lUskhsvMyvgfB6BjbYRm8ld2d1eGs6_bfr-ARAWwY9izcoptDq6Kbtrehe9H8dZJLpgKmHdvgfkS/s200/CaliforniaArtist.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The next work is one that’s almost
impossible to identify based on the information given. Price introduces it by saying it’s by “a
woman in California who’s comparatively unknown.” I think this piece (perhaps more than the
others on display) really gets to the heart of what the Price/Sears
collaboration was trying to do. Namely,
finding regional artists whose work was affordable and introducing it to a
national audience. They might never have
received international attention on the art stage, but what was important was
finding something you liked, regardless of value. Price takes some time to talk about these
very ideas before he moves on to the next piece, as print by Louis Legrand (or
LeGrand):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhasquwaISBY0KRqcJ6aDGPecuGgGsfSChof3PEoagrZPWN61IQLHUZAJkFNKQyHxgjtCOiQLSxOFfUYMEMd3cIKvpVHdSV4jqmTUOe7660Hyq95wuxWL5dceey2eg6FAFHzyWkwNEw_qdv/s1600/legrandprint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhasquwaISBY0KRqcJ6aDGPecuGgGsfSChof3PEoagrZPWN61IQLHUZAJkFNKQyHxgjtCOiQLSxOFfUYMEMd3cIKvpVHdSV4jqmTUOe7660Hyq95wuxWL5dceey2eg6FAFHzyWkwNEw_qdv/s320/legrandprint.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">I was able to find info on him but
not this particular print. He also
highlights a small watercolor of a landscape that is unidentifiable as well
(Price mentions it’s British, but that’s about it).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">After all this comes the big
one. Price saves the best for (almost)
last and it’s a doozy. A print by none
other than <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt" target="_blank">Rembrandt van Rijn</a>. It’s the
print <i>Angel Appearing to Shepherds</i> and Price talks at length about the
provenance of the piece. Rembrandt (like
Goya) also faces authenticity issues with his prints and Price seems to
acknowledge this by detailing the print’s former owners. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDFzCsImfJyvx-aE9-8WZL4ZS5uJH0Xg1cKhJFKt3MPrRdIuNGYWn5SY8JiaWjZT784bj57fDIQCA5S87C1sFBnQ8Gg_bPyY-1F8s-V58OiePh0wtONL9imyGRE7Lhz3Yfa1LChdLX-DCk/s1600/RembrandtSidebySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDFzCsImfJyvx-aE9-8WZL4ZS5uJH0Xg1cKhJFKt3MPrRdIuNGYWn5SY8JiaWjZT784bj57fDIQCA5S87C1sFBnQ8Gg_bPyY-1F8s-V58OiePh0wtONL9imyGRE7Lhz3Yfa1LChdLX-DCk/s400/RembrandtSidebySide.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">From the small amount of research
I was able to do (I’m no Rembrandt print expert) this piece appears to have
been the genuine article. A YouTube
commenter on the video claims his family member bought it, and years later
Vincent Price himself tried (unsuccessfully) to buy it back. If that story’s legit, someone got a great
deal and owns a print that today is worth much, much more than they paid for it
(the price on the tag that’s flashed on screen is $900.00. Yes, that’s in 1960s dollars, but still
probably a bargain). A wall tag flashes
briefly on the screen that seems to suggest that Sears sold (or at least
planned to sell) other Rembrandt prints.
It reads:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">“Angel
Appearing to Shepherds”</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Rembrandt
Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669)</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Possibly the
greatest artist that ever lived. Perhaps no as inquisitive a mind as Leonardo,
but his concentration on the soul of his sitters makes him more understandably
human. Almost no one can afford a Rembrandt painting but fortunately his
etchings are considered by many as his greatest works and are within the
financial reach of many. All the etchings and drypoints in this collection come
from his studio during his lifetime. You can honestly say you own a masterpiece
with the possession of any one of them.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The need to mention that all the
prints available came from Rembrandts studio in his lifetime points to the idea
that even in the 1960s, there could be authenticity problems with Rembrandt
works. Were any other Rembrandt prints
sold at Sears in the 1960s? Were any or
all of them genuine? I wasn’t able to
find that out but it’s pretty bizarre to think that someone somewhere could
have purchased a 300 year old print worth tens of thousands of dollars at a
department store.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The last piece featured in the
video is a painting by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Zerbe" target="_blank">Karl Zerbe</a>. Price
refers to him as “one of the best known Amercan artists.” This is probably a bit of an exaggeration. I was able to find some info on Zerbe but not
a better reproduction of this particular painting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFJhYTpeLFeV6om4uJywJg-43qB8Wj5aWwtMOfyqkWQC2qAeAmtPfo8AF9H7jk51tHDXLJli2a9T2Bo26gWyxihah379b0By83vKNf4xjVMIDeCsCaJUl8Y1j5os2Yoh5BG4tbH1bBT_E/s1600/PriceVidZerbe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaFJhYTpeLFeV6om4uJywJg-43qB8Wj5aWwtMOfyqkWQC2qAeAmtPfo8AF9H7jk51tHDXLJli2a9T2Bo26gWyxihah379b0By83vKNf4xjVMIDeCsCaJUl8Y1j5os2Yoh5BG4tbH1bBT_E/s320/PriceVidZerbe.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Price with Karl Zerbe painting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">That’s the work
that Price runs through in the video.
Some big names in the forms of prints, some original paintings by lesser
known artists. As I researched this
story, one advertisement from an old Sears catalog kept popping up, usually
associated with the Vincent Price venture.
It’s apparently a page from the 1963 or 1967 catalog:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPwgcrz9KU6FmbZLlkbmCocXXcrn6ZLyW4UfSGmhpa_4N9iXnxHNODqToUJd3rKzOncuVk1NFZ2YW7qemyJi0V7dFxefTHBavWq43Xijdpp2OfXhBZlCPsXGg5xyBZnROMWnzwqPirmbf/s1600/SearsArtPage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghPwgcrz9KU6FmbZLlkbmCocXXcrn6ZLyW4UfSGmhpa_4N9iXnxHNODqToUJd3rKzOncuVk1NFZ2YW7qemyJi0V7dFxefTHBavWq43Xijdpp2OfXhBZlCPsXGg5xyBZnROMWnzwqPirmbf/s640/SearsArtPage.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">What often
mentioned when people comment on this is that the ad claims to be selling
paintings by Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian.
And I should point out that the paintings aren’t just being used as décor
for the fashion. They’re catalog items
with prices attached. Was Sears selling
original works by these artists and was Price attached? The answer those questions are “of course
they weren’t, don’t be silly” and “I don’t think so”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">First, the
paintings.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Picasso is titled Girl
With a Boat and is located in a gallery in Switzerland.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Mondrian is called </span><em style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Composition with Large Red
Plane, Yellow, Black, Grey and Blue</em><span class="artwork-metadatatitle" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, and was painted in 1921. It’s currently in the collection of the
<a href="https://www.gemeentemuseum.nl/en/collection/composition-large-red-plane-yellow-black-gray-and-blue" target="_blank">Gemeentemusem in The Hague</a>. I don’t know
when they acquired it but I think it’s a safe bet to say it didn’t come from
Sears. The museum has given it an
object number of 0333329. I don’t know
very much about museum studies, but I do know it’s not uncommon for a museum to
make the last 2 numbers of an identifying tag the year in which the piece was
acquired. If that’s the case here, it
means that the painting entered their collection in 1929. So what’s going on here and what was Sears
selling? The works are listed as oil
paintings (not cheap reproductions on cardboard) and they’re not cheap, but
they are copies. They must have been
mass produced copies too, since it’s listed in the Sears catalog and presumably
more than one person might want one.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At this point, one could debate the ethical
situation brought up by a major retailer passing off masterwork copies and not
labelling them as such, and that’s certainly an interesting argument and
discussion.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But what I want to point out
here is that these reproductions appear to have nothing to do with Vincent
Price’s venture.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">His name does not
appear on the ad, nor do the words “The Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art at
Sears” which is what the project was usually called.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In fact, passing off copies like this would
go directly against what Price wanted to accomplish. He repeatedly states in
the film that the works he has chosen are authentic and original.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The catalog page is an interesting piece of
kitsch history, for sure, but it’s got nothing to do with Vincent Price.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After
researching Price’s venture, I’m still left with a couple of questions.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For example, how many Sears stores had
galleries like this?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sears had locations
across the country, in small towns and big cities.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I would be surprised if art galleries like
this cropped up in every one.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’m
guessing that the Price art collection was featured in only some stores,
probably in bigger markets where consumers might have a little extra disposable
income, but I don’t know for sure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In conclusion,
Price genuinely wanted to bring his love of art to everyone, and the choices he
made set out to do just that.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Much of
the work appears to have been prints, drawings, and watercolors, mediums that
usually sell for less money.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The subject
matters showcased were quaint landscapes, genre scenes, and safe
modernism.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It was work that was meant to
be palatable for everyone.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Was some of
it middling work by artists who have been long forgotten?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Probably, but the point wasn’t to create a
long-term investment portfolio of multi-million dollar pieces.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Price repeatedly states that someone should
choose something they like that they can live with and looks good in their
house.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Judging by the comments left on
the YouTube videos, that’s exactly what happened.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s easy to find several commenters who
remark that work bought at Sears hung in their homes (or their parent’s homes) for
years and were much loved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While reading
article about this whole thing, I found articles that praised Price’s
commitment to bringing art to the people, but there were just as many articles
kind of mocking it as the ultimate in kitsch consumerism.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I think the criticisms miss the mark of what
Price was trying to do.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He was
thoroughly trained in art history and was an avid collector himself.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> He donated thousands of works of art to East Los Angeles College and a museum there bears his name</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He was also an all-around decent guy.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He accepted his daughter as gay before that was even a thing, and was an
early celebrity to speak up publicly about the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He also said this:</span></div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mrMCqOmsMB4/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mrMCqOmsMB4?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I’d buy art
from a guy like that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-24037813136927590902017-04-21T10:06:00.001-04:002017-04-21T10:06:26.033-04:00No, Not That Star Wars Trailer, a Different One<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Well, the teaser trailer for the new <i>Star Wars</i> film was released last weekend and it’s already been
watched about 30 million times on YouTube.
Pretty impressive for a clip that showcases less than two minutes of
footage, some of which might not even end up in the finished film (right, <i>Rogue One </i>trailer?). I’m not going to link to the clip here,
mainly because if you’re reading this you’ve probably already watched it a
dozen times. This is a post about other
trailers, and I’m not going to pour over the scant footage to try to work out
any and all plot points and clues from the- OH MY GOD THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE ON
LUKE SKYWALKER’S ISLAND:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaljUKVHHXYEDwGJYttgtLftST4dx06lVrGeV4NBs7qzE-Ur14aMFeyNd9lFhY7GEyDrABITAT2MBRHUzHhcOiOGEA_vknxQ88fikIPvSIQhNoygpRoYnCZphg0H39YuE4kSNiMxkg91fV/s1600/TLJStill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaljUKVHHXYEDwGJYttgtLftST4dx06lVrGeV4NBs7qzE-Ur14aMFeyNd9lFhY7GEyDrABITAT2MBRHUzHhcOiOGEA_vknxQ88fikIPvSIQhNoygpRoYnCZphg0H39YuE4kSNiMxkg91fV/s400/TLJStill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh wait, on closer inspection that just appears to be a
rock. But, I digress. Apart from
showing Rey levitating several small stones and enough shots of Skellig Michael
to make the Irish tourist council happy, there’s not much to glean from the
teaser. I should mention at this point
that I myself am a huge <i>Star Wars</i> fan
and watched the trailer almost immediately after it was posted over the
weekend (and several more times since then). Seeing the original <i>Star Wars</i> at the drive-in when I was
three is potentially my earliest memory as a human on planet earth. I realize that many fans are also excited about the new movie and will spend the next
few months watching the trailer frame by frame, trying to figure out the entire
plot based only on the back of Leia’s head, and that’s fine by me, you’re
dedicated and I respect your commitment.
I just try to avoid the endless speculation, and I stay away from
spoilers. So I’m using the release of the new trailer to talk about an older <i>Star Wars</i> trailer, as well as the
evolution of movie trailers in general.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The idea of a highly anticipated movie trailer is a
relatively new one. Platforms like The
Internet Movie Database and YouTube allows us to watch them whenever we want,
as many times as we want, and I think that’s ultimately a good thing. You used to have to buy a movie ticket to see
them, or settle for short 30 second TV commercials. Now trailers are big business (and essentially free to watch), and movie
studios spend time and money crafting them into mini movies, and their release
is sometimes as eagerly awaited as the movie they’re advertising. This can be taken to extremes (remember how
the teaser for <i>Rogue One</i> had it’s own
teaser?) but for the most part I think this just helps increase excitement for
a film.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But trailers weren’t always an art form. Older trailers, readily available to us today
thanks to YouTube, often look like they were slapped together quickly, and seem
like they’ve had only the slightest association with a thing called “editing”. Take a look at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkrhkUeDCdQ" target="_blank">this original trailer</a> for the film Apocalypse Now to see what I mean (I have to link to it this way because Blogger isn't letting me embed the video I want)</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Apocalypse Now</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> is rightly
considered a masterful film, but the trailer looks terrible. The beginning, which features Martin Sheen’s
voiceover, is o.k., but then it turns into a roughly chronological outline of
the movie told through a bunch of strung-together clips. There isn’t an overall soundtrack to the
trailer, and it seems as if the music that’s playing is there because it was
already in the scene. This creates a
disjointed rhythm to the whole thing and makes it look like kind of a
mess. This was the norm at the
time. There are many other old trailer
you can find that look just as rushed as this one. 30 years ago, trailers just weren’t something
that a studio put a lot of time and effort into, and it shows. </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To get back to <i>Star
Wars</i>, the original trailer for <i>The
Empire Strikes Back</i> upped the game a little. It’s from around the same time as the <i>Apocalypse Now</i> trailer but seems to be
showing a little more effort. It’s not
just a chronological series of shots, but aims more to reintroduce characters
that are already familiar as well as introduce some new settings. The music is still a mess, though, and seems
choppy and random. Compare this to the
full trailer for <i>The Force Awakens</i> (which
seems to have a soundtrack that was composed specifically for it) and the
difference is clear.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JNwNXF9Y6kY/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JNwNXF9Y6kY?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps the strangest part of that original trailer is the
voice-over narration. Yes, it’s Harrison
Ford, and no, I’m not the first person to notice this. Voice-overs were incredibly common in older
trailers, so it’s use here isn’t odd.
Don LaFontaine made a career out of it, but I always preferred the
creepier narration of Percy Rodriguez I think LaFontaine's "in a world" shtick got old).
Rodriguez was doing trailer voice work in the late 1970s (he narrated
the original trailer for <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1fu_sA7XhE" target="_blank">Jaws</a></i>), and
even did the narration for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRgsMKu8oNA" target="_blank">Star Wars special edition</a> trailer in 1997. So,
why didn’t they get someone like that for <i>The
Empire Strikes Back</i>? I understand why
the filmmakers might want to use one of the actors from the film, but Ford isn’t
even narrating it in character as Han Solo (which admittedly would probably be
stranger). Instead, he gives us a corny
delivery that makes it seem like he’s trying to rope us in to a sketchy ring-toss
game at a carnival. The disconnect
between the tone of the film we all know today and that goofy, used car
salesman narration is jarring. Writer Lawrence
Kasdan said that <i>Empire</i> was the film
where “everything goes to hell”, and he’s right. Everyone’s betrayed at some
point, Luke’s hand is cut off, and the rebellion loses so epically they actually
have to flee the galaxy at the end.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4Ud4o4fwF8WPFKObe_Jf8ejE2BMUOz_TxyFEdJnWc6rH3remBfuqyVGdS1Wnj1xjuDftnMl810BBQTEaz6FvdECRqLYM60njABG9aEsmA7077B_corhq2Stfcrk1Cv6-Ye5Jev8E3Gur/s1600/EmpireStrikesBackLastScene.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH4Ud4o4fwF8WPFKObe_Jf8ejE2BMUOz_TxyFEdJnWc6rH3remBfuqyVGdS1Wnj1xjuDftnMl810BBQTEaz6FvdECRqLYM60njABG9aEsmA7077B_corhq2Stfcrk1Cv6-Ye5Jev8E3Gur/s640/EmpireStrikesBackLastScene.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, cynical<i> Family Guy</i> writers, this is how it ends. Everything the rebels are fighting for is
visible through that window.<o:p></o:p></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why Ford chooses to narrate the trailer the way he does remains
a mystery to me. I wasn’t able to find
much out about his involvement, other than confirmation that it is, indeed,
him. Was he intentionally trying to
sound as cheesy as possible? Was he
trying to torpedo the whole thing by sounding as goofy as he could? He famously hated the <i>Star Wars</i> dialogue, so
perhaps this is meant to be his revenge? Maybe the filmmakers didn’t want him
to be recognized, but then why even use him at all? </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkFVTr5Ws6CgrTJMvngLDO9nbVPJfUErPGBOD0M6QJLzFSMwNoM_lJc7rbx3TyyrYGh5wGVh28JFAUc5HCaBNnDJpVAtiZoJFKQD2OL6YHWk_Yi0GSMY2agVxfySgIr1AjXLIxOG8sUtY/s1600/Lumpy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdkFVTr5Ws6CgrTJMvngLDO9nbVPJfUErPGBOD0M6QJLzFSMwNoM_lJc7rbx3TyyrYGh5wGVh28JFAUc5HCaBNnDJpVAtiZoJFKQD2OL6YHWk_Yi0GSMY2agVxfySgIr1AjXLIxOG8sUtY/s200/Lumpy.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How bad was the Holiay Special? Allow<br />
me to present Exhibit A.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s almost as if there wasn’t a really clear direction that
the franchise was heading in at this point, and the overall tone was just
confused. At this point in time, the
only <i>Star Wars</i> based entertainments
that had been released were the original film and the horrendous Star Wars Holiday Special. I’ll take a second
here to mention that the Holiday Special is just as terribly godawful as
everyone says it is. I was child in the
70s and was obsessed with the first film (I still can’t bring myself to call it
<i>A New Hope</i>- it’ll always be <i>Star Wars</i> to me). My family had a VCR at the time and my father
taped the Holiay Special for me and my siblings (we couldn’t stay up late to
watch it). We watched it once the next day and then <i>never watched it again</i>. We had recording technology in 1979 that
would have allowed us to watch a Star Wars themed TV show as many times as we
wanted and our response was “pass”. That’s
how bad the Star Wars Christmas Special was. Kids, who I'm presuming were the intended audience,
wanted nothing to do with it. George
Lucas should be lucky that it didn’t kill all future interest in the franchise (and yes, I'm aware of the fact that Lucas was not involved in the planning of the Holiday Special, but viewers in 1979 wouldn't have necessarily known that). Would future Star Wars films be adventure
films that explored ideas of good and evil, or would they be variety show
farces filled with goofy wookiees? Ford’s
narration of the trailer makes it sound like he was still in Holiday Special
mode, ready to introduce Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman right after Lando
Calrissian.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think everyone exhaled a sigh of relief when <i>Empire</i> turned out to be such a great
movie. It’s consistently considered the
best of the Star Wars films, and I don’t disagree with that. George Lucas will repeatedly say that the
Star Wars films are made for children, but I think <i>Empire</i> busts that idea a little.
Sure, it has space battles and giant ship-eating slugs, but also
introduces more adult themes such as loss, love, personal responsibility, and
destiny. It vastly expands the story and
improves on the first film, and is probably one of the greatest science fiction
films ever made. But you wouldn’t guess
it from that corny trailer.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My last thought on the matter is a personal message to
Harrison ford. Thank you for not using that cheesy carnival huckster voice
while you were playing Han Solo. That might have traumatized me more than the Holiay Special.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-37609014818695429722017-04-07T09:01:00.000-04:002017-04-07T09:01:26.430-04:00Cesar Pelli's Lost Oasis: The Niagara Falls Winter Garder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFupcQd9XuJKMrYdnhWNUaGgoqZyl0t3KshoDlYiZU23XGVstU2C79jfu4bTQgj9oFGFGi-03HD2zOC6dHiYnBpD6jg5No4zA0C90iBR8JlW0sT7dlECRnO2LniHCkBJYwjbIyROgerLH/s1600/WinterGardenExterior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFupcQd9XuJKMrYdnhWNUaGgoqZyl0t3KshoDlYiZU23XGVstU2C79jfu4bTQgj9oFGFGi-03HD2zOC6dHiYnBpD6jg5No4zA0C90iBR8JlW0sT7dlECRnO2LniHCkBJYwjbIyROgerLH/s320/WinterGardenExterior.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cesar Pelli's Winter Garden, nearing the end.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I distinctly remember the first time I experienced Cesar
Pelli’s Winter Garden in Niagara Falls, New York. I was in high school, and I was visiting the
Falls with a friend. We decided to poke
around in the Rainbow Center Mall, which by then was already declining pretty
badly. It was the early 90s and I don’t
remember there being many stores that were still open. After wandering in and out of a couple of shops,
we came to the southern end of the mall and entered into an unexpected
oasis. One doesn’t often expect to find
a lush tropical botanical garden attached to something as banal as a shopping
mall, but there it was. I was intrigued
by the building’s multiple raised walkways and elevators. A tall spiral staircase stretched to the
highest level of the greenhouse. Pools
and fountains trickled through the thick vegetation. It was certainly unlike other Niagara Falls
structures I was familiar with. The Falls
are a tourist destination, so is filled with the normal tourist trappings one
would expect like souvenir shops (with a generous dose of wax museums and goofy
haunted houses thrown in). This was
completely different from what I knew of the Falls. As a kid growing up in Western New York, regular
trips to the Falls are a rite of passage, but this building had somehow not
entered into my previous visits. But,
once I discovered it I made a point of visiting it every time I was there. I’m glad I got to experience it when I did,
because it was eventually demolished.</div>
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The building has sort of a sad history that ties into the
City of Niagara Falls in general. It was
built in the 1970s in an effort to revitalize the downtown core. Large sections
of the city had been razed during ill-fated attempts at urban renewal, and
Cesar Pelli was one of the modernist architects hired to re-build the city,
pretty much from the ground up (buildings by Philip Johnson, Skidmore, Owings
& Merrill, and Paul Rudolph are also close by). It was an attempt to create a tourist
destination, but perhaps a tropical greenhouse was an odd, and eventually
unsustainable, proposition. As I
researched the Winter Garden, I read about how it had been glazed using
non-insulated single pane glass. Heating
the building during Western New York’s harsh winters became a burden for the
city. As time went on, the Winter Garden
became difficult to support financially.
Niagara Falls may be an iconic world landmark, but the city itself has
suffered with poverty and falling property values for decades. Any fixes to the city-owned building would
have been difficult and costly.
Re-glazing the structure with insulating glass would have cost
millions. Charging an admission fee for
the building also posed problems (visiting the Winter Garden was free). It was attached to a shopping mall, and the
building itself was supposed to act as a pass-through from one side of the
tourist district to the other. The
building had already been criticized for being built over what had once been a
street, so closing it off to all but paying customers would have hurt business
in the city even more. There were other
ideas proposed, such as converting the plantings to native species that could
weather the cold, but nothing panned out.
In the end the plants were auctioned off and it was (for a brief time)
converted into “Smokin’ Joe’s Family Fun Center.” It was filled with video games and bounce
houses, but that venture only lasted for a couple of years. The Winter Garden was finally torn down in
2009.</div>
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Say what you will about the demolition and the successes or
failures of modernist architecture in general, but there’s no doubt that a
unique (and admission-free) attraction was lost when the Winter Garden came
down. It was an unexpected oasis in the middle
of the city.</div>
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As I began writing this article a little while ago, I
started researching the Winter Garden on-line, looking for photos that could
give me information on the building’s design as well as the plantings
within. I came to the quick realization
that there isn’t a lot out there, unfortunately. For a building that stood in the middle of a
major tourist destination for 30 years, it’s lack of representation on the
internet was both puzzling and a little frustrating. Pictures of the outside of the building are
fairly easy to find, but interior photos that show the tropical plants and
fountains are rare (maybe 12-15 pictures will show up in a Google search). Of course there are photos out there. I took pictures of the building during my
visits, and I’m including some with this post. The building was also a common
location for weddings in the Niagara Falls area, so countless wedding photos surely exist, they just haven’t been uploaded to the internet. Many photos of the construction of the building’s interior
spaces, as well as many people’s accounts of the building can be found in<a href="http://niagarahub.com/2014/01/22/memories-of-the-wintergarden-niagara-falls-new-york/" target="_blank"> this post.</a> (a good article that's definitely worth a read) </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQO_CqNkM2FbY1jt60Of9GK7Rp9Dch3jGr3g-dtQXIBqeoGU9RW4PbXtdIY5TnlBkCnBYi-uwiLkmWantBhYeB2u61Kaq6FpKys1s0qlNilTitqPOQPihTNg4_9MlSpVlcST95MKoQb-Q/s1600/WinterGardenMag1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQO_CqNkM2FbY1jt60Of9GK7Rp9Dch3jGr3g-dtQXIBqeoGU9RW4PbXtdIY5TnlBkCnBYi-uwiLkmWantBhYeB2u61Kaq6FpKys1s0qlNilTitqPOQPihTNg4_9MlSpVlcST95MKoQb-Q/s400/WinterGardenMag1.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I found this interior photo in an old architectural magazine.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9QU-pV4o0P7y9IQTsslA1M56MsWcZzC3bTS0AUWxuKI7iY01DBysVtsyW7A5xaNsz-ytV4WCBBGX4gWJ-mXdMIHN-p8HUklMWIX6mvOQeE35p-tb81YZil8m7D9ohQzdMH2vWBbzU-6Y/s1600/WinterGardenMag2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD9QU-pV4o0P7y9IQTsslA1M56MsWcZzC3bTS0AUWxuKI7iY01DBysVtsyW7A5xaNsz-ytV4WCBBGX4gWJ-mXdMIHN-p8HUklMWIX6mvOQeE35p-tb81YZil8m7D9ohQzdMH2vWBbzU-6Y/s320/WinterGardenMag2.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This photo is from the same magazine article.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAftlyrek2-O2yIj5EJ2VtqFBFv3HBH_SGpB_FpBubtDnw9CRgj35ARcAt-Nm9U168_Nhr1AGZ0It8sg_5q3aslhjSnwWJLJlYaLOdBR8hKeKtz2tzmtjfx8YzWqlxHGe1esztG2LwUykd/s1600/WinterGardenInterior1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAftlyrek2-O2yIj5EJ2VtqFBFv3HBH_SGpB_FpBubtDnw9CRgj35ARcAt-Nm9U168_Nhr1AGZ0It8sg_5q3aslhjSnwWJLJlYaLOdBR8hKeKtz2tzmtjfx8YzWqlxHGe1esztG2LwUykd/s400/WinterGardenInterior1.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a photo I took in the late 90s. The seating area was where special event like weddings were held.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfGHqrDDFdnT1uDgxeXCyqslIfk0TSGL9hk0xb76Iz_3z9vjuf-aT27sx14rtyo-v-36wGzTOSXOJIDMrN0aSZYtJnK4ItaQIzYHcl78lyg4GKxAIiktEUDMUR1Il_rvNa6wx-dRxOoq0/s1600/WinterGardenInterior2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHfGHqrDDFdnT1uDgxeXCyqslIfk0TSGL9hk0xb76Iz_3z9vjuf-aT27sx14rtyo-v-36wGzTOSXOJIDMrN0aSZYtJnK4ItaQIzYHcl78lyg4GKxAIiktEUDMUR1Il_rvNa6wx-dRxOoq0/s400/WinterGardenInterior2.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This photo shows the pool and stairs, and shows the many different levels contained within the structure.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxDjeGRqsJJqXLNaUsdwil_dkdF3mnSyHmwzgVsQvWK8m6yUhvedfqnhttqeYc0C8wEGzpL9PCmJIDQVy2TExDz9aMls2Yl2V_srpqI38AVauMoX0uxoAD3KL6wHCyGwSsZqmgs4wpuU6/s1600/WinterGardenIntterior3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxDjeGRqsJJqXLNaUsdwil_dkdF3mnSyHmwzgVsQvWK8m6yUhvedfqnhttqeYc0C8wEGzpL9PCmJIDQVy2TExDz9aMls2Yl2V_srpqI38AVauMoX0uxoAD3KL6wHCyGwSsZqmgs4wpuU6/s400/WinterGardenIntterior3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This pic was taken from an upper walkway, looking down at the main path that cut through the garden areas.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8WD0tehncD4mrc46QhAacfmiBxg1yY6uuYuUM3LiFsVte8IXfxZBOMppYeB5fX8UxQtStdyitNC2KUpFVlgTxJUl3m2qdDzwVkWHEn5Pz3SDqf0sTfqoVmEGRAleosJo43QVIcfIfQCRE/s1600/WinterGardenExterior1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8WD0tehncD4mrc46QhAacfmiBxg1yY6uuYuUM3LiFsVte8IXfxZBOMppYeB5fX8UxQtStdyitNC2KUpFVlgTxJUl3m2qdDzwVkWHEn5Pz3SDqf0sTfqoVmEGRAleosJo43QVIcfIfQCRE/s400/WinterGardenExterior1.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
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When I first visited the Winter Garden, the large
dove-shaped decorations (visible in the above photo) were mounted on the front of the building, and were
there for several years. These are a
vestige of the Festival of Lights, a winter/holiday themed event that was held
throughout the city in the 1980s and 90s. I was
able to find <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzJk4VMdKG4" target="_blank">one YouTube video</a> that showed the doves illuminated. The footage of the Winter Garden comes near the end, but I took a screen cap:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihqOrv75V8rCSYCC-5fxuqGArAB-TIfnvYbVy9G3W_B5bRjni5BVl9D8qxFrmoSWykKAB4veeLEh0t5ziIz6bD_oL9q2jMCKlSSFHDg03hdmjBkRVUrVZU9Gh36NIeMWCkxNTo4yQLdcFY/s1600/WinterGardenIlluminated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihqOrv75V8rCSYCC-5fxuqGArAB-TIfnvYbVy9G3W_B5bRjni5BVl9D8qxFrmoSWykKAB4veeLEh0t5ziIz6bD_oL9q2jMCKlSSFHDg03hdmjBkRVUrVZU9Gh36NIeMWCkxNTo4yQLdcFY/s400/WinterGardenIlluminated.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is literally the only footage I could find of the illuminated decorations.</td></tr>
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On a final note, I noticed an interesting inconsistency
while viewing the site of the Winter Garden in Google Maps. I went to the street view in to see the area
now (it’s essentially been turned into a large pedestrian walkway and plaza)
and found something unexpected- some of the street views are old and still show
the Winter Garden. They’re all views
from the periphery, as if you’re catching a glimpse of a ghost from the corner
of your eye.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnx9Bm2vDriN3XUH_D27zGZxb8P_hb88KFfcCQNW6Qhe6hB0xEG59esxMrKHOnqzlS9GMavBlqcEpyoFxXSsPiNc-b-v9VJ2BzoB5xQr1n7ZTnfkcTDQcx2vQ4_9i2XDLdaVucQwX-7CLD/s1600/WinterGardenMaps1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnx9Bm2vDriN3XUH_D27zGZxb8P_hb88KFfcCQNW6Qhe6hB0xEG59esxMrKHOnqzlS9GMavBlqcEpyoFxXSsPiNc-b-v9VJ2BzoB5xQr1n7ZTnfkcTDQcx2vQ4_9i2XDLdaVucQwX-7CLD/s400/WinterGardenMaps1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The street is now closed off, so when the Google cameras recently captured new images of the area, these shots couldn't be updated, so the Winter Garden's ghost lives on.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhw9F9h_UfryD0zizjWNwaA3ngeMAsKw1NzhaUgt8JRBILJ461rxDPHUpGqnk30v0xj5OV45WTBuLP2rdQPj1JSJJ9zasQahostad_EIJS7SJXGCnsv_bMiU5lfH3SOp7e9SslOxjozwV/s1600/WinterGardenSideBySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhw9F9h_UfryD0zizjWNwaA3ngeMAsKw1NzhaUgt8JRBILJ461rxDPHUpGqnk30v0xj5OV45WTBuLP2rdQPj1JSJJ9zasQahostad_EIJS7SJXGCnsv_bMiU5lfH3SOp7e9SslOxjozwV/s640/WinterGardenSideBySide.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now you see it, now you don't.</td></tr>
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Cesar Pelli’s Winter Garden: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>Once an
oasis, now a mirage.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-41616368752527928722016-04-08T09:59:00.000-04:002016-04-08T09:59:08.181-04:00Not on The Wedding List: Kate Bush Gets Snubbed Again<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When I choose
topics for this blog, I try to pick things to write about that aren’t widely
discussed on the internet. That was the
whole reason for starting this thing in the first place, since I wanted to
highlight topics that might be under-reported or absent altogether from on-line
sources. I break from that format just
this once to write about something that is mentioned fairly frequently on-line,
and I’m far from the first person to do it.
You can also reference <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/20-classic-artists-still-not-in-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-20140409/kate-bush-0939360" target="_blank">this site</a> (and <a href="http://www.notinhalloffame.com/rock-and-roll/153-142-kate-bush" target="_blank">this one</a>, and <a href="http://www.futurerocklegends.com/The_Snub_List.php" target="_blank">this one</a>, and <a href="http://flavorwire.com/385680/10-women-we-cant-believe-arent-in-the-rock-hall-of-fame" target="_blank">this one</a>, and <a href="http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/10/the-20-worst-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-snubs/" target="_blank">this one</a>) to
read similar pleas. But, I always choose
to write about things I care about, and that’s where this post is no different
from my others, and this week I wanted to add my voice to the countless other
music lovers who ask the same thing year after year: Why isn’t Kate Bush in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEtqEtBL6XeHF39-jHK9Mw3XsSHtifPuieGRCRSmPR9MdHJg7aXJwDN5ZMZuFH1tH118_1T-4jq483f1XFE_n2QlNmzmH-nGoN76PukievgK5-WfFPT80oQs0R3K4ZEfZpjzVto8d5fV-p/s1600/Bushin86.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEtqEtBL6XeHF39-jHK9Mw3XsSHtifPuieGRCRSmPR9MdHJg7aXJwDN5ZMZuFH1tH118_1T-4jq483f1XFE_n2QlNmzmH-nGoN76PukievgK5-WfFPT80oQs0R3K4ZEfZpjzVto8d5fV-p/s200/Bushin86.png" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bush in 1986</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame attracts its fair share of controversy, and far be it from me
to try to explain it all here. But one
of the criticisms that’s dogged the intuition from the beginning is how
inductees are chosen. <b> </b>Only a handful of people control the
nominating process, and they’re often criticized for appealing to their own
tastes as opposed to more popular views (to their credit, popular views aren’t
always right- Nickelback is very popular but shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near
Cleveland). Nominees are chosen each
year from all eligible acts, and the year’s inductees are whittled down from
that list. Only acts who are nominated
that year can get in. Any artist who
released their first album more than 25 years ago is eligible, and by now that
list of eligible acts is huge (and growing).
Acts can be nominated more than once (Chic hold the record- nominated 10
times and still not inducted). Kate Bush
has been eligible for induction since 2003 and has been nominated for inclusion
a whopping 0 times. Yes, that’s right- zero. None.
In thirteen years or so of eligibility, she’s never even been in the
running. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3OL9gtCS8jCVG-50iXQpcQllcMCrc-8kDz79f9aYiFEzuzxAejJTytyvZ_bg5MnWK0EWjs1sRIP29xTDD5Ajoovw9A-0e6NIbW-JoWMrRnkuCKUEEdtJuJALCmQu79HV_IS0irEBMG0S/s1600/Rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv3OL9gtCS8jCVG-50iXQpcQllcMCrc-8kDz79f9aYiFEzuzxAejJTytyvZ_bg5MnWK0EWjs1sRIP29xTDD5Ajoovw9A-0e6NIbW-JoWMrRnkuCKUEEdtJuJALCmQu79HV_IS0irEBMG0S/s320/Rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-sunset.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland; Kate Bush free since 2003.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Kate Bush
fans see this as a bit of a snub.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When
considering musicians who came out of the 70s and 80s it’s hard to find anyone
who was as wildly original or as influential, and therefore eligible for
induction, as Bush.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She’s difficult to classify
as a musician, straddling the line between music and art.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She’s a keyboard virtuoso, actress, dancer,
and music video pioneer.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I think it’s
fair and appropriate to place her on the same level as other groundbreaking
British acts like David Bowie and the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis (both in the
Hall of Fame, by the way).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">They all
crossed boundaries between music genres and dipped their toes in performance
art, experimenting with elaborate costumes and stage shows.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Musically, she truly pushed the limits of
what a synthesizer (a relatively new instrument at the time) could do, and on
albums like </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Never For Ever</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> created
sounds that I daresay had never been heard before.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">That perhaps
raises another aspect of Bush’s music the Hall of Fame might not fully
embrace.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Simply put, Kate Bush’s music
is strange.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Her voice can range from a
whisper to a shriek to a howl.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She
affects accents and plays characters.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She incorporates sound effects in her songs to build moods (breaking
glass and footsteps on </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Never For Ever</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">,
birdsong throughout </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aerial</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thematically, her music is just as
diverse.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She’s written songs about
British composer Frederick Delius, philosopher and inventor Wilhelm Reich, and
Adolf Hitler.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The second half of her
epic album </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hounds of Love </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">is a
concept album that describes the final moments of a girl drowning after falling
through thin ice.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She has recorded
albums that might be considered more “normal” (such as her debut </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Kick Inside</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">), but she’s truly at her
best when she’s at her most experimental.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Her strangest and most complex work (</span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
Dreaming, Hounds of Love</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, the double album </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aerial</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">), are clearly her strongest, and perhaps it’s this
strangeness that’s prevented her from becoming more of a mainstream success in
the U.S.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She remains somewhat of a
cult figure in the States, and this also might be holding up her
nomination.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Other cultish musicians
(like Frank Zappa) have been inducted in the past, though, so maybe there’s
still hope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Her recorded
work is unique within the music world and remains as lush, strange, and
challenging as ever, but it’s her massive influence on others that also makes
her eligible for inclusion in the Rock Hall.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Reading through Bush’s Wikipedia page (easiest for us researchers with
limited time) the list of musicians she’s influenced is extremely diverse and
crosses through musical styles and genders.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Tori Amos is the artist that’s cited most frequently as being extremely influenced
by Bush, but the list of her admirers is much more exhaustive and inclusive;
Allison Goldfrapp, k.d. lang, Robert Smith of The Cure, Tricky, even unexpected
musicians like Johnny Rotten and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Tupac
freakin’ Shakur</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Her willingness to
experiment with image and costume also be seen in the work of PJ Harvey.</span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Florence
Welsh of Florence and the Machine is heavily influenced by Bush, and if you don’t
believe me listen to Bush’s “Sat in Your Lap” and “Dog Days are Over”- even the
music videos for the two songs are similar.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Joanna Newsom’s song “Leaving the City” could </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">be</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> a Kate Bush song, and the album that song appears on (2015’s </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Divers</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">) is a direct descendant of Bush’s
stranger and more experimental albums like </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Never
For Ever</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Dreaming</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It’s easy to
make the case for Bush’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but
it’s hard to overlook the one glaring issue that may be keeping her from
getting in- when it comes to inducting female musicians, the HoF has an
absolutely awful track record.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While
researching this post, I looked over the inductees to the Hall, choosing to
focus on everyone inducted since the year 2000.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I did it this way because Bush has only been eligible since 2003, and I
wanted to focus on her era of eligibility.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The breakdown isn’t particularly diverse, and looks something like this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Since 2000,
103 acts have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">That’s counting acts, not individuals (most
inductees contain multiple band members, though some are solo performers).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Of those 103
inductees, only 8 have been female solo performers: Bonnie Raitt, Brenda Lee,
Patti Smith, Madonna, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro, Donna Summer, and Linda
Ronstadt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">An additional
6 inductees have prominent female members:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Talking Heads, Pretenders, Blondie, ABBA, Heart, and Joan Jett & the
Blackhearts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One inductee
contains multiple women (but no men): The Ronettes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In total,
that’s only 15 acts that are comprised of all women or some women.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This works out to about 15% of
inductees.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If you calculate only the
percentage of the inductees who are female solo performers, it’s less than 8%
of the total.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">8%. </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Compare that to male
solo performers, and the imbalance becomes even more glaring.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">30 male solo performers have been inducted
since 2000, making their contribution about 30% of the total.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">O.K., you
might say, that’s just the numbers since the year 2000.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Female inductees may be a little scarce
lately but surely the entire history of the institution doesn’t look this
bad.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Well, not so fast.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Going back all the way to the first year of
induction (1986), only an additional 7 female solo inductees can be found
(Aretha Franklin, LaVerne Baker, Ruth Brown, Etta James, Janis Joplin, Joni
Mitchell, and Dusty Springfield).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">That brings
the all time total to 15.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Hall has
been inducting members for 30 years.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hundreds of acts and musicians have gotten in.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Only 15 of those inductees have been female
solo performers.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">That averages out to 5
a decade.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
people, you can do better.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Start by
inducting Kate Bush.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Ultimately,
what’s it all matter what some music executives in Cleveland think?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Why do Kate Bush fans take it so personally?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After all, not being included in the HoF
doesn’t change her music.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We can still
listen to it and be inspired by it whether her name is on the list or not.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She’ll keep releasing albums (albeit slowly) regardless
of whether or not she’s included.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She
might not even care herself.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But fans
can take these things personally and see induction as validation for a life’s
work- just look at how much fans of the band Rush pushed to get them
inducted.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">They were relentless in their
support of the band and eventually succeeded.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Kate Bush fans need to do the same thing (and I don’t mean to offend any
Rush fans, because I know you’re a dedicated lot and I respect that, but Kate
Bush is way more eligible for induction then Rush).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Induction also means preservation.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Hall of Fame is also a museum, and induction
means that her legacy, both musical and material, can be preserved for future
generations.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I close with
a personal story about my introduction to her music, a story that I think underscores
the personal connection that Kate Bush fans have with her music. When I was in
college 20 years ago I found a second-hand copy of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Dreaming</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> at the local Salvation Army (on cassette no
less).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It cost a dollar.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I knew who Kate Bush was but didn’t really
know that much about her music.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I bought
it on a whim but was hooked from the first time I heard it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It was complex and strange and it made me </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">think</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It certainly wasn’t a passive listening experience.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I was studying art and was close to receiving
my BFA degree, and</span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I realized that
this album was art too</span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It had to be interpreted.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It was challenging and dense but also
alluring and beautiful.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoogCdI_Wdas9ask45aMhb6tqZlZXX1N3EUXbERpewnse-x_Xurz_5kxwD1echn-l3BMYNmYIhdghvtaHdKyVSnVgKv308Eif5IkuUuW3042v3l49y0JAmq_i_McwDU9XUeC1_G0ONcpN/s1600/kate_bush-sat_in_your_lap_s_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhoogCdI_Wdas9ask45aMhb6tqZlZXX1N3EUXbERpewnse-x_Xurz_5kxwD1echn-l3BMYNmYIhdghvtaHdKyVSnVgKv308Eif5IkuUuW3042v3l49y0JAmq_i_McwDU9XUeC1_G0ONcpN/s320/kate_bush-sat_in_your_lap_s_1.jpg" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the album cover I'm referring to.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
was working as a DJ at the college radio station at the time and I eagerly
raided the stacks of vinyl, looking for more Kate Bush albums. It was always fun looking through the old
records at the station since students would often write comments or reviews on
the record sleeves. Sometimes they would
be general comments like “this is good” or “don’t waste your time”, and
sometimes they’d be warnings to future DJs, like “track 7 uses the F word” or
something like that. As I browsed
through the Kate Bush albums I found a simple three word comment written on one
of her records that remains one of the most accurate and succinct statements I
could ever find on her music. The record
was the 12” single for the song “Sat in Your Lap” and the cover features a bizarre
looking portrait of Bush wearing an odd striped costume (see right). Scrawled across the cover were the words
“weird but good”. I couldn’t have said
it better myself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame holds their annual induction ceremony tonight (April 8) in
New York City.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Kate Bush will not be in
attendance.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here’s hoping for next year.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-51409433981702098952016-03-10T11:48:00.000-05:002016-03-10T11:48:56.061-05:00Discovering Burchfield's Buffalo, Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last June, I posted an exploration of the Charles Burchfield
painting called </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Black Iron</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m fairly certain I located the two railroad
bridges Burchfield painted in 1935 and documented the similarities between
the painting and the existing bridges that still span the Buffalo River
(although only one is still operational).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This examination of Buffalo’s industrial past was illuminating, and I
decided to look into another Burchfield painting.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I chose the oil painting called </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grain Elevators</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, 1932-38, currently in
the collection of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUiyYAaEV6-A-1LqnT82tnKxXAwyupwwbKKZkB_nWyyA-jIIWjGoHbxCT2nvUqrm9fXzG6XzKuTwJPSN_SzVutAGsTzWvJH4eIXv5Q9u2Po_LiT5gk_Ts8CQ06zIcm4bwXDunfWIl3c32/s1600/CEBGrainElevators.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixUiyYAaEV6-A-1LqnT82tnKxXAwyupwwbKKZkB_nWyyA-jIIWjGoHbxCT2nvUqrm9fXzG6XzKuTwJPSN_SzVutAGsTzWvJH4eIXv5Q9u2Po_LiT5gk_Ts8CQ06zIcm4bwXDunfWIl3c32/s400/CEBGrainElevators.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If there is one type of structure that immediately reminds
one of Buffalo’s past as a shipping and transportation behemoth, it’s the grain
elevator. At one point, dozens of grain
elevators crowded the waterfront, constantly being filled and emptied as
countless freighters and canal boats traversed Lake Erie and the Erie
Canal. The elevators were essentially
temporary storage units. Large
freighters coming from the Great Lakes couldn’t travel down the narrow Erie
Canal, so their cargo would be offloaded into the elevators, and then loaded on
to smaller canal boats for transit to the eastern part of the state. The process could also be reversed for cargo
coming the other way. In the late 19<sup>th</sup>
and early 20<sup>th</sup> century, the Buffalo waterfront witnessed a constant
flow of grain and oats that helped feed the country.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Early grain elevators were made of wood or brick. This material limited their size, so was
later replaced with concrete. Concrete
grain elevators were made much larger, and massive groupings of silos sprouted
up on the waterfront, capable of holding much more product. Concrete was also much more durable. Many concrete grain elevators still exist in
Buffalo (although most of them aren’t used anymore), but the wood and brick ones are mostly gone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Burchfield’s painting shows sort of a microcosm of this
development. The two large silos on the
right are made of brick covered with rusting metal panels. In the center is a squat grouping of six
cement silos, and on the left a tall building with the silos built into the
side is visible. Closer to the viewer
(also on the left), another elevator lifts grain off a canal boat. The large scooper arm is extended over the
deck of the boat and a cloud of grain dust partially obscures the boatman. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I started my explorations, there was no doubt that the
painting showed a scene from Buffalo, since it was made while Burchfield was
living there. The question was where the
view was taken from. Did any of the
silos still exist? Could I identify
where Burchfield stood as he created it?
Not to spoil anything too soon, but the answers turned out to be “No”
and “Sort of”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, I had to track down the location, which wasn’t as
easy as one might expect. Buffalo’s
waterfront is an interesting place. Some
areas haven’t been touched by development in decades, and other have seen huge
upheavals and now look completely different.
At the height of the Erie Canal’s dominance of Northeast shipping, the
waterfront was a maze of canals and industrial buildings. Aside from the main canal, dozens of slips
and smaller canals perforated the landscape, intersecting each other as well as
flowing in to natural waterways like the Buffalo River and Lake Erie. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxNlZ1mvBYhEqM4EWmsCKKLE2BMy8li0SMdscGyHWOnj5PXey8jx0uo6zIMJXC__7WctA2tCJ2kl3WgvOxvfXrerRmE_3y0wMif773lQqkF8iN5LW7klKhIRYuTC87NRrdubF1Mj4ufZY/s1600/CanalsandElevators.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHxNlZ1mvBYhEqM4EWmsCKKLE2BMy8li0SMdscGyHWOnj5PXey8jx0uo6zIMJXC__7WctA2tCJ2kl3WgvOxvfXrerRmE_3y0wMif773lQqkF8iN5LW7klKhIRYuTC87NRrdubF1Mj4ufZY/s400/CanalsandElevators.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a good chance that the canal or tributary
Burchfiled painted wasn’t there anymore, so historical photos seemed to be my
best bet. Looking at photos of Buffalo
grain elevators on line didn’t yield much, since so many of them looked the
same or similar. I was looking through
one of my books on Buffalo history when I caught a break. A photo I found of
what appeared to be the two large silos on the right of the painting was
labeled as the Evans Ship Canal. Now
that I had a name, I could pin down the location. I found an old map of the waterfront and the
Evans Ship Canal immediately seemed like the place.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfLnYhEGX7CpdElE71KhvbOQZd10rpgOiWvXsdvNnRuVbF3P4bk1qt8gBW8t0NazUPNDsNQZuYjGz5zUZXVSJbv350ya72Fg-Mhc-uTQ0Gb53PdFPyk0H985KXKSyvDq3thsjsc4cSem0/s1600/EvanCanal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGfLnYhEGX7CpdElE71KhvbOQZd10rpgOiWvXsdvNnRuVbF3P4bk1qt8gBW8t0NazUPNDsNQZuYjGz5zUZXVSJbv350ya72Fg-Mhc-uTQ0Gb53PdFPyk0H985KXKSyvDq3thsjsc4cSem0/s400/EvanCanal.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Evans Ship Canal, located to the northeast of Buffalo’s
canal structures, wasn’t a straight rectangular slip (like many were). It had a bend in it. This definitely aligned with what Burchfield
is showing, since two canals appear to be interesting in the work. One canal in the foreground is intersecting
another that runs in front of the silos in the distance. So I was pretty sure I had found the right
location, but what about the silos? A
quick check of Google maps assured me the canal and silos weren’t there anymore
(more on that in a bit), but what did they look like when they were still
standing? Had Burchfield depicted them
realistically? When I investigated <i>Black Iron</i>, I came to the conclusion
that even though the painting was abstracted, Burchfield had created a fairly
accurate document of the bridges at the time.
I wanted to see if the same was true of <i>Grain Elevators</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Searching through historical photos and old maps showed me
what I was looking for. Two photos in
particular showed that area of the canal, and sure enough all of the buildings
Burchfield painted are grouped together, looking like they do in the painting.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGh2mZxeLzj-_0lPg9jHnZIogoO4548QALGwOmydNsZ1MMKrJTqczy2q3W8rFms0G3oGRpj9ZswibETHnGRLYIXMHg0ff5reH0IjXpM_ETNmemSvkIwlR5_mT3jc_8R1uuhjmATYaqjVQu/s1600/EvansCanalFromBehind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGh2mZxeLzj-_0lPg9jHnZIogoO4548QALGwOmydNsZ1MMKrJTqczy2q3W8rFms0G3oGRpj9ZswibETHnGRLYIXMHg0ff5reH0IjXpM_ETNmemSvkIwlR5_mT3jc_8R1uuhjmATYaqjVQu/s640/EvansCanalFromBehind.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the above photo from 1930, the group of buildings is
clearly visible, though shot from the back (I’ve highlighted the area in
red). To the left in this photo are the
two large brick silos, then the shorter concrete silos are next to them. As in Burchfield’s painting, there appears to
be a large rectangular structure over these silos (the birds are using it as a
perch in the painting). The tall
structure on the end is also visible here.
This photo is also interesting because it shows how the Evans Ship Canal
was positioned in relation to the main Erie Canal (visible to the right in this
image)</span>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRF7U9xDvE_vGy-dxSqX_H9SlyvcC0q53jiS75hi78OfRzW6ZAZ21mvIdqORBUNvaCjm8170KAUv6IDEF-3i_KVSFN0_PmeThHHNNm2jXpnXtFb85uY50Z1ZXE3Y2i9VRb1iGrekKbkEM8/s1600/EvanCanalFront.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRF7U9xDvE_vGy-dxSqX_H9SlyvcC0q53jiS75hi78OfRzW6ZAZ21mvIdqORBUNvaCjm8170KAUv6IDEF-3i_KVSFN0_PmeThHHNNm2jXpnXtFb85uY50Z1ZXE3Y2i9VRb1iGrekKbkEM8/s640/EvanCanalFront.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This photo, which appears to be from around the same time,
also shows the buildings in situ (also outlined in red). Not as much is visible, due to the camera
angle, but this photo gives a sense of what the canal looked like at the time,
as well as how the area was situated in relation to the downtown core of the
city of Buffalo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to visit the site where Burchfield painted the
elevators, and now I knew where it was, but as I wrote earlier in the post, the
structures (all buildings and the canal) aren’t there anymore. So where did they go, you might ask? The answer lies in the decline of the Erie
Canal. The whole canal itself was
necessary due to the presence of Niagara Falls.
Ship freight through the Great Lakes as far as Lake Erie, and you’re
fine, but try to go any further and you run into a little bit of a problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Erie Canal avoided the Falls by routing traffic over
land. It worked extremely well until the
nearby Welland Canal (in southern Ontario, Canada) was restored and expanded in
1932. This route made it possible to
travel directly from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, then further east right to the
Pacific Ocean via the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Freighters didn’t have to be unloaded (and reloaded) onto canal
boats. The time consuming task of
transferring goods through grain elevators became somewhat obsolete. By the time Burchfield started painting this
work , the Welland Canal was open, and shipping goods by train was gaining
momentum. The writing was, as they say,
on the wall. The era of the mighty grain
elevators (as well as the prominence of the city of Buffalo in world commerce)
was coming to an end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As traffic on the canals slowed to a crawl, many of them
were filled in and turned into roads for a growing form of transportation-
automobiles. Even the main Erie Canal
itself, widely celebrated and for a time the main driver of economic growth for
the entire region, was scrubbed from the landscape. It was filled in and became an ordinary and
totally unremarkable street.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg81cV803aDE0X-2Lckfu2i2pgKcpIvjzprCUtFWlvc0SSxErMxctj-__2ZOeqxkiun-AVPl4zqnEPlGP8lO4eH5asAb9ASOhVEvo8p4-Xsa0KpIY_VVl1kObpuSS8hSK6LKuHaMPcvlwRE/s1600/eriecanaltoday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg81cV803aDE0X-2Lckfu2i2pgKcpIvjzprCUtFWlvc0SSxErMxctj-__2ZOeqxkiun-AVPl4zqnEPlGP8lO4eH5asAb9ASOhVEvo8p4-Xsa0KpIY_VVl1kObpuSS8hSK6LKuHaMPcvlwRE/s640/eriecanaltoday.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behold the mighty Erie Canal</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the canal gone, grain elevators lost their <i>raison d’etre.</i> Many smaller silos were torn down to make way
for other developments. I should note at
this time that many of the great concrete elevators survive to this day. Abandoned for years, many are now finding new
life as tourist attractions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The silos Burchfield painted weren’t so lucky. They were torn down, along with several
nearby blocks, to make way for the Marine Drive Apartments, a multiple-building
housing complex that was built in 1951.
I don’t know if the grain elevators were torn down right before
construction of the apartments started, or if they had been torn down earlier,
but by 1951 they were gone.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqJkB4l-u9Yu8E3hyphenhyphensnTwSX3QlylqvEkXQ_8LXOYKkf9WWgt4YFoN_PFYUJPJRSMpE6CjGTnfXGmbCHdJpioHqzn40KxdGxRqdnZoWoE_5bhno98MO4ux6BDLCaK-ZaVi_Zy-5cHgVVgS/s1600/1-Erie-Basin-1950%2527s-BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="505" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqJkB4l-u9Yu8E3hyphenhyphensnTwSX3QlylqvEkXQ_8LXOYKkf9WWgt4YFoN_PFYUJPJRSMpE6CjGTnfXGmbCHdJpioHqzn40KxdGxRqdnZoWoE_5bhno98MO4ux6BDLCaK-ZaVi_Zy-5cHgVVgS/s640/1-Erie-Basin-1950%2527s-BW.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Marine Drive Apartments are visible here at the lower right. The Evans Ship Canal is still watered in this photo, though it was later filled in and turned into a street.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the landscape had changed, but would it still be possible
to figure out where Burchfield stood when he viewed the structures in the
1930s? I examined the painting further
and noticed something odd. It seems to
have been painted while standing in the water.
Although there’s a little strip of land to the right, the canal comes
right towards the viewer in the center on the painting. I started examining the canal more closely to
see if there were any features that might account for this specific view. The Evans canal was sort of shaped like an
upside-down “V”, and only one arm intersected with the river. The other arm terminated at a dead end. If Burchfield stood right on the bank of that
arm and looked forward, he would have been able to see the intersection between
both of these sections. By cropping his
view slightly in the final work, it gives the appearance that he’s standing in
the water.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That gave me a pretty good sense of where Burchfield
observed the silos from, but what was there now? I found a historic diagram of the waterfront
and overlaid it over a contemporary aerial view of the same area. I saw when comparing the 2 images that the
place where the Evan Ship Canal ended is now a parking lot. Sorry if that’s a little anti-climactic, but
it’s true. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMzcZNPoQk7vTzAMdDEsU08pNUk44Rv03vLgE304aZUP7JMUtDh11WV4E0MoqNOSpv4cIfPxOPR0eRbjX4QWrh_VIs4NDRQt9q0sv75fNEP1SV1e3WMdsLBuV3VBSa99PKCndWP755HdJ/s1600/Overlaytemplate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxMzcZNPoQk7vTzAMdDEsU08pNUk44Rv03vLgE304aZUP7JMUtDh11WV4E0MoqNOSpv4cIfPxOPR0eRbjX4QWrh_VIs4NDRQt9q0sv75fNEP1SV1e3WMdsLBuV3VBSa99PKCndWP755HdJ/s400/Overlaytemplate.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a historic map of the canal system showing the Evans Ship Canal to the left.<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BLW1UMG0Scl_3ze1INsBI4Tx8tmFQHuqPCy0nNHIqe-xp0tivboUPBHUSST6LUsOUP90PO-13h1ZJshPvP6dVXmxM3fnqyeERuhkdwO0PMt8EYdta4p5KTv_grRYNwNghwc-XzXv8dT6/s1600/CanalOverlay1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3BLW1UMG0Scl_3ze1INsBI4Tx8tmFQHuqPCy0nNHIqe-xp0tivboUPBHUSST6LUsOUP90PO-13h1ZJshPvP6dVXmxM3fnqyeERuhkdwO0PMt8EYdta4p5KTv_grRYNwNghwc-XzXv8dT6/s640/CanalOverlay1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The blue dot towards the left (under the word "slip") is my approximation of where Burchfield stood when observing the silos<br /><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">I went down there a while back and tried to take a picture
from the same viewpoint Burchfield used to show how much the area had
changed.</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">It was difficult because
literally no frame of reference from the original painting could be used, since
the landscape has been totally transformed, but I think I did O.K.</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">I ended up with this image:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwr_gapvArnJuXDLucakvVNd7c3P-fmEZbBQiJ5sLdjgc90uXNqaMx8Qrn_XKXN67NIsmzMfKhTuFNLGwcYsKfCzSQj1K9rhQkFMFIQXo-p21zoMsWOrhACfJ05E744AAKtCsHyCe7cYtg/s1600/GrainElevatorstoday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwr_gapvArnJuXDLucakvVNd7c3P-fmEZbBQiJ5sLdjgc90uXNqaMx8Qrn_XKXN67NIsmzMfKhTuFNLGwcYsKfCzSQj1K9rhQkFMFIQXo-p21zoMsWOrhACfJ05E744AAKtCsHyCe7cYtg/s400/GrainElevatorstoday.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cities are always in flux.
Buildings come and go, and once-important features of the landscape can
be removed, leaving little trace that they were ever there in the first
place. Burchfield’s painting acts as a
record of how this landscape looked, and reminds us of the inevitability of
change.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZJwc2lERn3i3PCWs4KYHcgxhRxMwufoSFbGQlqbexwQQvjwFgEbc5AepPfLReDeFy71aRre1YoYQlaFV_rbHmSSnYEWMS9evF_BhMmEf1rVvBJE1u79nnAHd0p0KYYKQp356QKe0uUZgX/s1600/ElevatorsSideBySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZJwc2lERn3i3PCWs4KYHcgxhRxMwufoSFbGQlqbexwQQvjwFgEbc5AepPfLReDeFy71aRre1YoYQlaFV_rbHmSSnYEWMS9evF_BhMmEf1rVvBJE1u79nnAHd0p0KYYKQp356QKe0uUZgX/s640/ElevatorsSideBySide.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-71767943492021898432015-10-08T08:56:00.001-04:002015-10-08T08:56:16.983-04:00Let's look at art, neighbor<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Growing up in the 1970s, I watched a lot of Mister Roger’s
Neighborhood. Children’s T.V. programming
was limited in those days. Sesame Street
was around, of course, and living close to Canada gave me access to classic <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/" target="_blank">CBC</a>
kid’s shows like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Dressup" target="_blank">Mr. Dressup</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Friendly_Giant" target="_blank">The Friendly Giant.</a> By writing about Mister Roger’s Neighborhood
for this blog, I don’t mean to infer that the show is a “ghost”, it still airs
intermittently on PBS and some episodes can be found on-line, but it isn’t as
widely seen as it was in its heyday, and this is unfortunate, since it was a
respectful and innovative show that treated children as people capable of intelligence and insight. Fred Rogers never
talked down to his viewers. He discussed
topics that were relevant to children of the 70s and 80s (like divorce), and in
doing so created a relevant contemporary forum for contemporary family issues. Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister, but
his show was never preachy- he treated all children as his neighbors and spoke
to them on their level.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The show featured many types of segments, from remote
segments filmed outside of the studio to the stories that took place in the
Neighborhood of Make Believe. Just this
past weekend, I was channel surfing on a Saturday morning and caught an episode
of the show that dealt with art (both the making of and looking at) in Rogers’ characteristic
easy going style.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the age of instant re-watchablitly, I was expecting to
be able to find the episode on YouTube and just post a link to it here so any
reader could just watch it and see what I was talking about, but the episode
isn’t available there so I find myself relying on my memory as much as I
normally do when I write one of these posts (if anyone who reads this is able
to find a version of it online, please send me the link).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The episode is from the show’s 11<sup>th</sup> season,
episode 9, and first aired on June 2, 1981. In it, Rogers travels to the
<a href="http://www.cmoa.org/" target="_blank">Carnegie Museum of Art </a>to look at some paintings (Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
was filmed in Pittsburgh). Walking
through the museum’s halls with one of the curators, he stops and studies three
paintings. The first is <i>Portrait of a Boy</i> by John Singer
Sargent, 1890. Then, they move on to
view Vincent van Gogh’s <i>Wheat Field after
the Rain (Plain of Auvers),</i> also 1890.
Finally, they visit the large and colorful <i>Queen Louise of Prussia</i> painted by Joan Miro in 1966 (this painting
is a little bit of a Cultural Ghost in itself- it’s hardly represented online
at all).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY2-70dUnqWGQck1SkPBoJwvuqJkV_jSuYGepSpR-VMVPckoTH-TYrC6ttqcwVrCPENMGF_acdTqKLxwOonKWALVOcqw8v6e7GsUUzChKxlZppT2pkY1xGOU-rkqc_gM9c3RUVUcqzNmCa/s1600/John_Singer_Sargent%252C_1890.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY2-70dUnqWGQck1SkPBoJwvuqJkV_jSuYGepSpR-VMVPckoTH-TYrC6ttqcwVrCPENMGF_acdTqKLxwOonKWALVOcqw8v6e7GsUUzChKxlZppT2pkY1xGOU-rkqc_gM9c3RUVUcqzNmCa/s320/John_Singer_Sargent%252C_1890.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Singer Sargent, <i>Portrait of a Boy</i>, 1890</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I found so remarkable about the show (and why I
wanted to write about it here) was how long the two spend looking at the
paintings. Visitors to art museums often
speed through works of art, spending only seconds looking at each one. Rogers presents the work very
differently. The camera lingers over
each of the paintings for a couple of minutes while he talks about what might
be going on in the picture. That he can
talk about the painting in ways that make the work relevant to young viewers
while still talking about it intelligently speaks to what a great educator he
was. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj28ds6Gjkds9tsKPu9CnKiW4kqop_-OwAe-2PqyG6eNUxNvMmr1HJ3tNF9g83PC_TeSyp4NuxIuZE-X0XXatrDmiXnPO8i3etq6IlMJ-18zjXoMDM91WOTXX0DZ2TM-zgz1zbS8PLVK_RW/s1600/vincent-van-gogh-wheat-fields.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj28ds6Gjkds9tsKPu9CnKiW4kqop_-OwAe-2PqyG6eNUxNvMmr1HJ3tNF9g83PC_TeSyp4NuxIuZE-X0XXatrDmiXnPO8i3etq6IlMJ-18zjXoMDM91WOTXX0DZ2TM-zgz1zbS8PLVK_RW/s320/vincent-van-gogh-wheat-fields.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vincent van Gogh, <i>Wheat Field After the Rain (Plain of Auvers)</i>, 1890</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">When talking about the Sargent, for example, Rogers
considers what children might think about the young boy depicted in the work.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">After being told that the boy would have had
to sit for potentially hours while Sargent painted him, Rogers notices that he
looks a little bored (something a child who has to sit through a long day at
school can definitely relate to).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">When
contemplating the colorful Miro, Rogers doesn’t ask the curator what it’s
supposed to be a picture of, but instead immediately identifies parts of the
painting that look like other things.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">He
says he sees a moose head in the upper right, and the curator says that
children who visit the museum see a helicopter in the upper left.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Finding things we find important in a work of
art (regardless of what the artist intended in many cases) is what keeps are
alive, and Rogers totally nails this aspect of it, letting children at home
know it’s O.K. to see these things in a work of art.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I think we often lose track of this innocent viewing
and look at art through different eyes as we grow older.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">We might look at a non-objective painting like
the Miro and ask “What’s this supposed to be” instead of “what do I think </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> see?”</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA187llm9KJtLVSf_jvPKZiZ_Yl1EIC2eZjpbzwT9PBQ-DA88v-1L4c3n069CGwpbbB7tT7-CxYLIzVyDlKG0Vc8sV05VQ4aA7JjfogQWhJ8fLJcy7of7t7Kl9mFXkiQOBcSI0kUxbBArj/s1600/MiroImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA187llm9KJtLVSf_jvPKZiZ_Yl1EIC2eZjpbzwT9PBQ-DA88v-1L4c3n069CGwpbbB7tT7-CxYLIzVyDlKG0Vc8sV05VQ4aA7JjfogQWhJ8fLJcy7of7t7Kl9mFXkiQOBcSI0kUxbBArj/s400/MiroImage.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joan Miro, <i>Queen Louise of Prussia</i>, 1966</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">In fact, by using these three works, Rogers presents the
three basic categories of art.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Sargent is realistic, the van Gogh abstract (simplified and exaggerated) and
the Miro is non-objective.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s an intelligent
and well-thought out collection of work that asks the viewers to contemplate
different ways of making a picture.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Rogers returns “home” (the studio), he introduces
that episode’s Neighborhood of Make Believe segment, that also happens to
revolve around art making. King Friday
is having an art competition and all of the inhabitants are getting ready to
participate.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Land of Make Believe segments were probably the
segments I looked forward to most as a child (what kid doesn’t love puppet
shows?). As an adult, I can appreciate the lo-fi appeal of these segments. The puppets have a charming hand-made appearance,
and Rogers doesn’t really try to disguise his voice in his puppetry
performances- any kid watching knew it was him doing many of the voices. Even though he’s not visible, his presence is
still felt in these segments, and this really creates the sense of make believe
he so strongly advocated. Outside the
puppet arena, Rogers was the kindly guide and mentor, but in the land of Make
Believe he was allowed to play. The
characters in the land of Make Believe really act as surrogates of emotions and
feelings. Shyness, confidence, sadness, and
happiness are all embodied by the friendly human and animal inhabitants. Then there’s Lady Elaine Fairchild.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GnRoj_iuHmpt2v_vRxsmW4nV4wRP2oJmRpEFtqiSj7-9L6X4kYsRo1zbJ4U7FVSPcgi58mTvgLkARtKC_qT5VfkY0eE8vB4Rvg4lduP3FC5TtLWhNiB5kgLHsbTsNBs1H8zIn2Mxdrni/s1600/LadyElaine+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3GnRoj_iuHmpt2v_vRxsmW4nV4wRP2oJmRpEFtqiSj7-9L6X4kYsRo1zbJ4U7FVSPcgi58mTvgLkARtKC_qT5VfkY0eE8vB4Rvg4lduP3FC5TtLWhNiB5kgLHsbTsNBs1H8zIn2Mxdrni/s320/LadyElaine+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dude, what the hell?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Wikipedia describes Lady Elaine thusly: “<span style="background: white; color: #252525;">Although a frequent antagonist, she is
not portrayed as evil, but as someone who challenges authority</span>”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nice try Wikipedia, but any kid that grew up
in the 70s knows that Lady Elaine is a stone-cold schemer.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In this episode, she tries to </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherrie_Levine" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Sherrie Levine</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
her way into the competition by presenting a post card of the van Gogh </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Plain of Auvers</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> as her own work.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lady Aberlin sees through that crap in about
two seconds, though, and chides Lady Elaine for trying to cheat. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This bit is important because it introduces
the idea of originality and honesty.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If
someone is going to compete in a competition, they must do the work
themselves.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In conclusion, I wanted to write about this episode
because it seems so different from how children’s programming is made
today. Not to say that contemporary
programs are bad or deficient in some way, but just different. Sometimes it’s good to see evidence of a time
when a kindly television host took to time to introduce art to children and let
them just <i>look</i>. This episode has so
much to teach kids about art it’s really- wait, what? Big Bird’s in it too? Holy
crap, this is like the greatest episode ever!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNDBiQmNYe-AdC60eYhoJgZCajZT5pwYASNXEtBrcwPyzIBVcaKZwf0KCTreG5PUNOlkZAfTlXZ-RvuhZpHFfD6PvIN678bDcTowRf39rbdgZJpJiCOIQ5YbnA8R9iIIestmkZtkF9cun/s1600/BigBirgNOMB+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNDBiQmNYe-AdC60eYhoJgZCajZT5pwYASNXEtBrcwPyzIBVcaKZwf0KCTreG5PUNOlkZAfTlXZ-RvuhZpHFfD6PvIN678bDcTowRf39rbdgZJpJiCOIQ5YbnA8R9iIIestmkZtkF9cun/s1600/BigBirgNOMB+%25281%2529.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, if I could only prove that Casey from Mister Dressup
was Lady Elaine’s long lost child…</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibStkQpsYO-NAaIX0hH-YmXiNbrPoh6l6Tnat1O5cBIVa5MdLuL3WtAs54JpfPsGrQpYWw1QPfZ6N-TCH6DpTsr81OsYxvAmiSBl_dHAL6f3_QZPSsvz0vFF_IWshSivXTMqjJPCBEzi6r/s1600/LadyElaineandCasey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibStkQpsYO-NAaIX0hH-YmXiNbrPoh6l6Tnat1O5cBIVa5MdLuL3WtAs54JpfPsGrQpYWw1QPfZ6N-TCH6DpTsr81OsYxvAmiSBl_dHAL6f3_QZPSsvz0vFF_IWshSivXTMqjJPCBEzi6r/s320/LadyElaineandCasey.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-39877397141183544742015-06-16T08:56:00.001-04:002015-09-22T08:33:26.319-04:00Discovering Burchfield's Buffalo<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">I grew up in the Buffalo suburb of West Seneca.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was pretty ordinary, as suburbs go, but
West Seneca was special in one regard: a famous artist once lived there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father told me this when I was a kid and
it was kind of a magical thought, since Buffalo in the 70s and 80s was not
always seen as particularly remarkable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I knew even then that artists usually lived somewhere more exciting, like
New York City, so a famous artist living in a regular everyday place like West
Seneca made it special and gave me an early pride in my hometown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The artist was Charles Burchfield.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Burchfield wasn’t from Buffalo (he grew up in Ohio) but
moved to the city as a young man and lived in the area until his death in 1967.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He lived within the city of Buffalo for a
short while but eventually settled in what was then called Gardenville
(Gardenville in now a neighborhood within the larger town of West Seneca).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That Burchfield lived in a place called
Gardenville makes sense, seeing as how he’s perhaps most well-known today for
his fantastical nature scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
Burchfield also documented Buffalo’s industrial landscape, capturing the
infrastructure around the Buffalo River and Erie Canal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Railroad architecture, grain elevators and
bridges feature prominently in his earlier work, and some of them are still
standing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these structures
feature in Burchfield’s painting called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black
Iron</i>, so I decided to look further in to them.</span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZJaNcIHedwc57Am53NExy5NhLixI8kzzBN6qxVU_W7hLrSjsC_S9TYRSPNb9WAbLBce-1Ei-5h5rhfxu1mABQg6U74XzYIn4wfzr9DR5TH107dcAO4O3sWT5aBvzGEe7rhR2HkodQXkb/s1600/Black-Iron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrZJaNcIHedwc57Am53NExy5NhLixI8kzzBN6qxVU_W7hLrSjsC_S9TYRSPNb9WAbLBce-1Ei-5h5rhfxu1mABQg6U74XzYIn4wfzr9DR5TH107dcAO4O3sWT5aBvzGEe7rhR2HkodQXkb/s320/Black-Iron.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Burchfield, <i>Black Iron,</i> 1937</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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--</style><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Black Iron</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> is a watercolor painting created
in 1935.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It features two railroad
drawbridges (technically called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bascule</i>
bridges) running parallel across a river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A train can be seen crossing one of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several of these bridges cross the Buffalo
River as it weaves between the countless grain elevators that still feature
prominently on the city’s waterfront.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
there’s such a high number of these bridges still around (many of them still
used by trains), I figured that this was where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Iron</i> was painted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
didn’t know if the bridges Burchfield saw were still around, but when scanning
the river from the air via Google Maps I quickly found that there was only one
possibility for the location.</span></div>
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--></style><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On the edge of Red Jacket River Front Park
and just south of South Park Avenue, two side-by-side railroad bridges cross
the Buffalo River.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the only place
where two bridges cross the river at such close proximity to each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could this be the place that Burchfield
painted 80 years ago?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t really tell
from the Google Maps pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I
could really see was that they were drawbridges, and that the one on the left
(the west) was locked in an upright position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Railroad tracks no longer cross that one, and it’s been up for as long
as I can remember (even though I’d never seen the bridges up close until I
started this story, the raised drawbridge is visible from a distance, and can
be seen from the highway when driving in to the city).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to know for sure if these bridges
were the ones featured in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Iron</i>,
I would have to see them up close.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I traveled to Red Jacket River Front Park on
a warm and sunny day a couple of weeks ago and made my way to the bridges,
which are located at the easternmost edge of the park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing I noticed right away was how much
plant growth separated me from the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Burchfield’s painting was done right from the river’s edge, and the view
from the park’s path was different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I
approached the bridges, I could see the operational one clearly, but the raised
drawbridge was completely overgrown, obscuring the details of it from my
current location.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one bridge looked
right but I couldn’t see enough details on the raised bridge to know if I was
in the right place or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was going
to have to get closer.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq15j89Lx232EB9qk6QWYm9U4FvB5s8j782WvGkKdyX_7PpUEtzZUTv0IxBUZf4OqFugxAFVfVrvh4NoBvrOlAOVIFqcg25JyV-biDIxGb6hMe95Aw7hbUXE07QCqtcQkPAk_ztqT_2xq4/s1600/BlackIronView1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq15j89Lx232EB9qk6QWYm9U4FvB5s8j782WvGkKdyX_7PpUEtzZUTv0IxBUZf4OqFugxAFVfVrvh4NoBvrOlAOVIFqcg25JyV-biDIxGb6hMe95Aw7hbUXE07QCqtcQkPAk_ztqT_2xq4/s320/BlackIronView1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view of the bridges from the park. The passing train was a happy coincidence.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I retraced my steps a little and found a
small clearing (not really a path <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">per se</i>)
that led right to the water’s edge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
made my way down there and was happy to see that there was a fairly substantial
layer of driftwood and old plants that made a path of sorts along the
river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a little squishy in places
but was solid enough for me to make my way towards the bridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Burchfield was working on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Iron</i>, he got stuck in the mud so
badly a railway worker had to pull him out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I didn’t want to suffer the same fate so I proceeded carefully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I made my way towards the bridges, I
started to get a better look at the raised bridge and started to see signs that
I was in the right place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For starters,
the pattern of trusses on the bridge seemed to match what Burchfield had
painted.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2AIrNBZkyS2TNX5KsVrnWC-Ve4zQvc2L9dVI36xT8vxnk9sHbGFC3H4NdxxaEC4Q_WsZDbokokEykQgiJsiIA8BcTnWjhDkSfQh3AO7SngLDxJWnUMGjZPW4MFb0qmefUD3n1uzzf17PS/s1600/SideBySide3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2AIrNBZkyS2TNX5KsVrnWC-Ve4zQvc2L9dVI36xT8vxnk9sHbGFC3H4NdxxaEC4Q_WsZDbokokEykQgiJsiIA8BcTnWjhDkSfQh3AO7SngLDxJWnUMGjZPW4MFb0qmefUD3n1uzzf17PS/s640/SideBySide3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
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--</style><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">This was encouraging, but I needed to get
closer to the bridge to try to see more if it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The bridge is almost completely overgrown and I still couldn’t see much
more than the raised deck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I continued
to make my way to the base of the structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was soon close enough to the bridge and could finally glimpse some of
it through the thick underbrush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peering
over a short concrete wall I found myself face-to-face with the bridge’s
massive counterweight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though it
isn’t in the same position as in the Burchfield painting, I could see that it
was clearly the same shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could also
see an elevated catwalk that’s also visible in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Iron</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was now
convinced that this was the same bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_7SRAgkHBmiKokEtrPXPiSAhvFZx4twSWhlDyB7fzZVloQCnzN6sXxywtX7u5Mm0Rh5FIES8f-vAgCYAVjLq4JEUSkTpqC6Dy6QCCRnK8UrwQhLN-2hAHzaAUZ32xWW4ngOZSa2-p9lH/s1600/SideBySide1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7_7SRAgkHBmiKokEtrPXPiSAhvFZx4twSWhlDyB7fzZVloQCnzN6sXxywtX7u5Mm0Rh5FIES8f-vAgCYAVjLq4JEUSkTpqC6Dy6QCCRnK8UrwQhLN-2hAHzaAUZ32xWW4ngOZSa2-p9lH/s640/SideBySide1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I looked around at some of the other pieces
of bridge architecture I could see from my position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To my right there was a platform made of
steel girders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew that this was the
platform that once held the shed next to the bridge in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Iron</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shed
(probably some sort of control room) is long gone, but the platform that held
it is still there, as are the steel structures above the platform, also visible
in Burchfield’s painting. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiym8oBZLEAfPxUGe1ZSY0UjGOOiDKi8lDhwDNePX1rAcn417rF12ezfZ9U8uv4oheBj23YOZJUHrVjUVUxPDn3G-Zon1YeFc0yrtyHsE484yCANq0uI-eRyE0IQjdFosfFaEZAERyQHbXO/s1600/SideBySide2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiym8oBZLEAfPxUGe1ZSY0UjGOOiDKi8lDhwDNePX1rAcn417rF12ezfZ9U8uv4oheBj23YOZJUHrVjUVUxPDn3G-Zon1YeFc0yrtyHsE484yCANq0uI-eRyE0IQjdFosfFaEZAERyQHbXO/s640/SideBySide2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span></div>
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--</style><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I could see by comparing the bridge to the
painting, Burchfield created an incredibly accurate depiction of the
bridges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The placement of the big and
small architectural details of the structures is pretty remarkable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also remarkable that enough of the
unused bridge is still there in order to make a positive identification.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As I searched for more information on the bridges, I came across the following picture. This photo shows the same bridges and further confirms the location. This picture was probably taken in the 1940s or 50s (judging by the look of the cars) and at that time the little shed on the side of the west bridge is still there and looks pretty much the same as it did when Burchfield painted it years earlier. Also, you can see the hint of a water tower looming over that bridge in the background. This tower is still there too (you can't see it in any of the pictures I took but it's definitely still there). You can make your own comparisons:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dDiEglKl7nh1qMpMHlBS8snkFGTllZGiFBNPIQJUNnQPWjLBouNxgORuUKMXGdqCV8ndt6SdxHjfGQ_8X6vzym8n11t1ztiLco79Ym5bqyTNyliYgxL2zoCwli-sotqcjgXSm3UfW1cE/s1600/bridges.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dDiEglKl7nh1qMpMHlBS8snkFGTllZGiFBNPIQJUNnQPWjLBouNxgORuUKMXGdqCV8ndt6SdxHjfGQ_8X6vzym8n11t1ztiLco79Ym5bqyTNyliYgxL2zoCwli-sotqcjgXSm3UfW1cE/s400/bridges.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">After slogging through the underbrush to get
closer to the bridges I feel closer to Burchfield, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve always felt close to him spiritually due
to our shared residency in West Seneca, but now I feel closer to him physically
as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was able to stand in almost
the exact spot he did, and that made him more real somehow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bridges in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Iron</i> weren’t generic or anonymous, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">these</i> bridges.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When Burchfield painted Buffalo’s industry,
he was painting a landscape that was changing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the 1930s, the greatness of Buffalo’s shipping industry was already
starting to fade a little, and his paintings show this transition<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Black Iron</i> shows two bridges that were still being used, but other
paintings depicted rusting and decaying structures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My visit to the bridges reinforces this idea
of change and transformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In future
posts I hope to find more of the places and buildings Burchfield painted while
he was one of Buffalo’s most famous residents.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMo0KeB9CxAo352Hxq7czx7m0gsbZVSO706-XdN1DLWwxCOlwzGYruR6laQsWpw9nxt05J0mCvlXA8WveZZRYKGIt1v23pK4oAgN8bKlAkhvHffOTmTfJKr-EtRdWJlUeUBNiwzuIPXkaW/s1600/BlackIronView2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMo0KeB9CxAo352Hxq7czx7m0gsbZVSO706-XdN1DLWwxCOlwzGYruR6laQsWpw9nxt05J0mCvlXA8WveZZRYKGIt1v23pK4oAgN8bKlAkhvHffOTmTfJKr-EtRdWJlUeUBNiwzuIPXkaW/s400/BlackIronView2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next time, a new topic. It might be someplace you've never been.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-23449077779757626992015-04-09T12:16:00.003-04:002015-04-09T12:16:47.858-04:00Jean Michel Basquiat and the Joy of Original Sources<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Recently my local PBS station aired <a href="http://www.julianschnabel.com/" target="_blank">Julian Schnabel’s</a>
1996 film <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115632/?ref_=nv_sr_1" target="_blank">Basquiat</a></i>. I had never seen it before but after watching
it, I wanted to do a little digging into the movie’s subject. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat" target="_blank">Jean-Michel Basquiat</a> occupies a near-mythic
position in the art world and it’s hard at times to separate the art from the
man. Over the years, Basquiat has become
the poster child for the excesses of a live fast and die young lifestyle, and I
think that even today discussion of his celebrity equals or outshines
discussion of his art. Was he always
seen this way? I wanted to go back and
explore how Basquiat was viewed and talked about before he died. How did his contemporaries feel about him? I decided that a good source to re-visit was<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rene_Ricard" target="_blank">René Ricard’s</a> essay entitled “The Radiant Child.” Not only was it written by someone who knew
him, it’s also one of the first in-depth critical responses to his art.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">René Ricard was a critic and poet, and aspects of his
relationship with Basquiat play into the myths and legends that continue to
surround him to this day. For example, it
was supposedly Ricard who told Basquiat “I can make you a star”, bolstering the
narrative that Basquait was a special and unique breed of artist who was
destined for greatness (this exchange is featured in Schnabel’s film, where
Ricard is played by actor Michael Wincott).
Ricard’s essay was written at a time when Basquiat’s career as a
professional artist was only a few years old.
He had been known as a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_art" target="_blank"> graffiti artist</a> for a while, but his foray into
fine art was still evolving. Would
Ricard’s essay be a gushy promotion of Basquiat’s art, or something else? I had never read it before, so I didn’t know
what to expect. After reading it, I feel
that “The Radiant Child” functions today as a fascinating glimpse of how
Basquiat’s career was changing perceptions of what could constitute art in the
1980s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The article first appeared in the December 1981 issue of
<a href="http://www.artforum.com/" target="_blank">Artforum</a>. What surprised me most about
the essay perhaps is that even though the article is most closely associated
with Basquiat’s career, it discusses other artists as well. It’s so associated with Basquiat today, by
the way, that a documentary on him produced in 2009 was called <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/find?ref_=nv_sr_fn&q=the+radiant+child&s=all" target="_blank">The Radiant Child</a></i> even though that title
comes from work made by Basquiat’s contemporary Keith Haring. Basquiat is talked about at length in the
article for sure, but other artists are mentioned and discussed in an effort to
place graffiti art squarely within art historical practices. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The goal of “The Radiant Child” is not to only bolster
Basquiat’s career, but to place him within a history of art making that was
evolving outside of the traditional art museum and art education system. Basquiat is held up as an exemplar of that
movement, but he is part of a movement that also includes other important
artists. Basquiat (as well as Haring and
Judy Rifka) are the artists who were transforming graffiti art into in to fine
art. In Ricard’s words:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><b><i>“Artists have a responsibility to their
work to raise it above the vernacular. Perhaps it is the critic’s job to sort
out from the melee of popular style the individuals who define the style, who
perhaps inaugurated it … and to bring them to public attention.”</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">-René Ricard, “The Radiant Child”,
ArtForum International, December 1981<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That statement really brings into focus
that reasons why Ricard saw Basquiat as so transformative. He came from the realm of street art, but his
paintings weren’t just re-creations of his graffiti tags. They referenced graffiti art, but looked like
works of art that belonged in an art gallery.
Again, Ricard says it best:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><b><i>“…what the pictures are internally about
is what matters. If you’re going to stand up there with the big kids you’ve got
to be heavy, got to sit on a wall next to Anselm Kiefer next to Jonathan
Borofsky next to Julian Schnabel and these guys are tough they can make you
look real sissy. There’s only one place for a mindless cutie and it ain’t the
wall, Jack”</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I love that quote because it gives a
pretty good sense of Ricard’s voice. He
abandons art speak at this point in the article and addresses would-be graffiti
artists in the vernacular of the 1980s. It
is here where he lays out his thesis for the entire article (and perhaps for
the whole graffiti art movement): You
can come from the streets, and you can try to move from painting on a wall to painting
on a canvas, but your work has to <i>say</i>
something. Just writing your tag (a “mindless
cutie”) on the wall isn’t going to cut it.
Basquiat’s paintings didn’t look like his graffiti. They included aspects of graffiti (writing,
symbols, etc.) but aimed to transform it into something else, perhaps something
that’s hard to describe. Ricard
basically says that Basquiat’s art is important because it looks like art. Far from being a bit of pretentious critic-speak,
saying that it “looks like art” is an effort to place Basquiat within art
history. He might not have had the same
training as someone like Anselm Kiefer, but he created art that can be
discussed and interpreted the same way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oTyxk3tXn7j0DavYBMOvK2CUlWBNy4dQtT1IEV-S_4vZbWS6gfilyYnKnvnZzHFHw7FPKWtH5FOFxt3nzBKgW7kT02TX9CRw6p589AtEN0KDXxGicwNviJQ-U068VaW3lg7fHK0xejTn/s1600/RicardInArtforum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oTyxk3tXn7j0DavYBMOvK2CUlWBNy4dQtT1IEV-S_4vZbWS6gfilyYnKnvnZzHFHw7FPKWtH5FOFxt3nzBKgW7kT02TX9CRw6p589AtEN0KDXxGicwNviJQ-U068VaW3lg7fHK0xejTn/s1600/RicardInArtforum.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The article, as it appears in the December 1981 Artforum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">When I set out to read Ricard’s article
for this post, I wanted to go right to the original source.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">You can read it on-line (</span><a href="https://artforum.com/inprintarchive/id=35643" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;" target="_blank">Artforum has itavailable on their website</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">), but so much is missing there.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">For starters, the artwork that Ricard uses to
illustrate the essay isn’t there, making the text seem kind of sterile.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">As mentioned above, Ricard doesn’t only
discuss Basquiat in the article.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">He also
mentions Alain Jacquet, John Ahearn, and Joe Zucker, among others.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Examples of their work are reproduced in the
original article along with documentation of some of Basquiat’s street
art.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">But, one wouldn’t know this from reading
it on-line (the only way one can access the article as it originally appeared is
by having a paid subscription to Artforum- not cheap by the way).</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, I went to my campus library and
found the original issue. Picking up the
actual magazine and leafing through it shows me so much more about the art
world in 1981 than the on-line version of the article ever could. Mainly, the article is given context that can
be experienced in a very tangible way.
On Artforum’s website, the article is presented alongside every other
article without a sense of chronology. The
magazine, however, is a snapshot of the early 80s. The articles, along with gallery
advertisements and exhibition reviews, give a clear picture of what was
happening at that moment. One can flip
through a year’s worth of old magazines and chart an artist’s success (or
failure). Artists who were lauded in
their time might be forgotten today, but conversely an artist who received
little attention when they first started showing their work could be much
celebrated now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">When I was studying art in college, old magazines formed a large part of
my education. In breaks between classes
I would flip through the bound collections of magazines in the library,
watching decades of art making unfold before me. Seeing everything side by side matters, and
that’s something that gets lost on the internet. Devoid of context, Ricard’s article loses its
immediacy and impact. Today we know that
Basquiat became a star, but in 1981 that wasn’t so certain. In the pages of that magazine, Ricard makes
his case for including Basquiat among the greats, a poet extolling the virtues
of an artist who was not yet a household name.
It was that magazine, that physical object, where someone might have
learned about Basquiat for the first time.
One can travel to the past, in a way, through these old sources. On-line, stripped of its illustrations and
jockeying for attention with all the other articles Artforum presents on their
website, this is lost. The article’s
importance gets buried in a sea of data.</span><br />
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Next time, a new topic. It might be something you've never heard of (or read).</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-15660267288993940102015-02-05T11:54:00.002-05:002015-02-05T11:54:48.476-05:00Rediscovering Peter Blume<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Shortly after
I started this blog I introduced a feature called the Forgotten Artist
File. I wanted to explore the work of
artists who at one time had been well-known but were currently disregarded by
art historians or forgotten altogether.
One of the artists I featured was American painter Peter Blume. Perhaps he is most remembered today for his
epic painting <i>The Rock</i> (currently in
the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago), but apart from this one work
his art has been little seen for decades.
This perhaps will change, though, since the <a href="https://www.pafa.org/" target="_blank">Pennsylvania Academy of FineArts (PAFA)</a> in Philadelphia is currently presenting a <a href="https://www.pafa.org/peterblume" target="_blank">large retrospective of his work</a>. Driving home the idea that
Blume is largely marginalized is the fact that this show is the first major
exhibit of his work in nearly 40 years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The field of
art history can be incredibly selective and, frankly, exclusionary. When covering American art, for example,
historians may only choose to cover those periods and artists who, in
hindsight, were the most important in furthering new and innovative ideas. Art history texts are also sometimes limited
in size, so exclusions may merely be the victim of a limited number of
pages. When looking at American art of
the 1940s and 50s, Abstract Expressionism clearly comes out as the winner. Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko (among many
others, of course) are the artists who are mentioned today, and still engender
theoretical discourse. One could argue
that Pollock is discussed as much today as he was when he was still alive. His work was as shocking as it was
innovative, and he is rightly remembered as one of the most important American
artists of the 20<sup>th</sup> century.
But, although Pollock and the other Abstract Expressionists made lasting
contributions to American art history and art history in general, they were
hardly the only artists who were getting attention at the time. Blume, along with artists such as Charles
Burchfield, George Tooker, Philip Evergood, Ivan Albright, and Henry Koerner<b> </b>constituted a different art historical
narrative of the mid 20<sup>th</sup> century.
Their work was based in realism, but introduced ideas imported from
European modernism like abstraction and surrealism. They received recognition and accolades. Their work was collected by major museums
(especially the Whitney Museum in New York).
But today, they’re hardly mentioned.
Open up an art history survey published within the last 20 years and
you’re unlikely to find them listed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNw3_FH1r2ZzVPPjelY5ZXL70yPHNlYlzm2DsFnjlbRIRF4Ie8R0yWHNkTHJEOgxbzXcBDxROmLELqmglA5k5GdBMlbqlg0q5e6X_8awYvvzsR90gOW8fSSPcnnhhbfsRnAtRuu0qi0p2/s1600/HunterBooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNw3_FH1r2ZzVPPjelY5ZXL70yPHNlYlzm2DsFnjlbRIRF4Ie8R0yWHNkTHJEOgxbzXcBDxROmLELqmglA5k5GdBMlbqlg0q5e6X_8awYvvzsR90gOW8fSSPcnnhhbfsRnAtRuu0qi0p2/s1600/HunterBooks.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s
surprising to see how quickly this marginalization occurred. In my library I have a copy of the book <i>American Art of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century</i>
by Sam Hunter and John Jacobus, published in 1972 They
write extensively about these American surrealists and acknowledge their contributions alongside the work of the Abstract Expressionists (although
this is sometimes done grudgingly- they clearly do not like Burchfield’s
watercolors). I also own a newer version
of the text, re-dubbed simply <i>Modern Art</i>
and published 20 years after the other book (Admittedly, these are not
identical books, but the authors are the same and many of the same
illustrations are used in both). In the
newer version, these artists have been almost completely removed, as if their
contributions to American art meant nothing.
Burchfield and Evergood make the cut, but that’s about it. Abstract Expressionism, though, gets over 10
pages. This is unfortunate, since these artists took European ideas (like
surrealism) and re-interpreted them to create something quintessentially
American. Below I’ve placed Blume’s <i>South of Scranton</i> next to Yves Tanguy’s <i>Indefinite Divisibility</i>. It’s not hard to see how European Surrealism
inspired Blume:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07dRZZRRcQJp9iSWPCQQRavsST9UEBCKFDdO4WvRdzdF31t9IrHlytZvtUkOytQwcsEVQGru2B2x2hujKJzo-CHMmDnC-JujD7Mw4wio1hcj_TymCOjZOLQ8D_ITCtA-CQfsQtxJiFg11/s1600/TanguyBlume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh07dRZZRRcQJp9iSWPCQQRavsST9UEBCKFDdO4WvRdzdF31t9IrHlytZvtUkOytQwcsEVQGru2B2x2hujKJzo-CHMmDnC-JujD7Mw4wio1hcj_TymCOjZOLQ8D_ITCtA-CQfsQtxJiFg11/s1600/TanguyBlume.jpg" height="312" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Show like the
current one are important because they remind us that there are many facets to
art history besides the grand narrative that art history book usually
present. These kinds of shows can
re-ignite interest in an artist that was previously forgotten or considered “minor”. This has recently taken place with Charles
Burchfield and perhaps now Blume will follow.
There’s certainly room for him
in art history, if we only know where to look.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Peter Blume: Nature and Metamorphosis</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> is on view at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts through April 5, 2015</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-11435708741071017762014-10-09T16:09:00.001-04:002015-01-29T11:57:01.342-05:00The Girl in the Zigzag Dress<h3>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Part
One: A Decisive Moment</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">When
choosing topics to write about for this blog, my ideas come from various
sources. Sometimes there’s an idea
that’s interested me for a long time and I think about it for months before I write
about it. Sometimes I find an idea and
write the post quickly. I choose the
topics, they don’t choose me. That was
not the case for this post, however.
One unexpected image, found at a time I was not expecting it, catapulted
me into months of research and discovery that now culminate here. To begin, some background is in order.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://kurttreeby.com/" target="_blank">My own artwork</a> requires me to research art history quite frequently, so that’s
where this post begins. I was at my
campus library, researching a topic completely unrelated to what I’m discussing
here. Specifically, I was researching
the infamous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscan_terracotta_warriors" target="_blank">Terracotta Warriors</a> that were once believed to be stellar examples
of ancient Etruscan art. It turned out
they were<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_forgery" target="_blank"> forgeries</a>, though, and the case gave the <a href="http://metmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a> (who
bought them believing them to be authentic) a curatorial black eye. I was hunting through old books looking for
color photos of the sculptures, focusing on books about the Metropolitan
Museum’s collection. I was having no
luck when I saw <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hoving" target="_blank">Thomas Hoving’s</a> <i>Making
the Mummies Dance</i> on the library shelf. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Hoving
was the Met’s outspoken director for many years, and he also wrote an excellent
book on art forgery called <i>False
Impressions</i>, so I knew he was well versed in the Etruscan warrior
case. Even though <i>Mummies</i> is more about his time running the Met in the 60s and 70s
(the sculptures had been exposed as forgeries years earlier) I figured it was
worth a shot. I quickly flipped through
the photos included in the middle of the text and saw a picture that literally stopped
me in my tracks. All thoughts of forged
antiquities evaporated as I glimpsed a shockingly familiar face in a grainy
photo. My immediate reaction was “<i>I know
that woman</i>”. The photo in question
(reproduced below) was taken by <a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL535UHJ" target="_blank">Leonard Freed</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlG9PNI2UQIak2YtIRCCb0G51oSWfCOOj1lKP6e7_w8mqX5J7pRwQB_GHd8iUaipuPlsuhu7wln2s9FoMH_-2GeZ-arBFqHy_7JcF8gjZUQJ9DiVOEY2Ng6QlezUOnbsjUa40lnRFvzGlD/s1600/FreedMet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlG9PNI2UQIak2YtIRCCb0G51oSWfCOOj1lKP6e7_w8mqX5J7pRwQB_GHd8iUaipuPlsuhu7wln2s9FoMH_-2GeZ-arBFqHy_7JcF8gjZUQJ9DiVOEY2Ng6QlezUOnbsjUa40lnRFvzGlD/s1600/FreedMet.jpg" height="162" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was not able to find a clear reproduction, but even at this resolution the dress in pretty distinct.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The
reproduction was of low quality but there was no mistaking that I had seen her
(and her zigzag dress) before. Not in a
vague, half-remembered sort of way, either.
I could remember exactly where and when I had first seen her. Namely, here:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSyjiJPHTvz-EqmhhOY_Mr9cbwgBlrylIEt9MYZg97_0dTgpxmCvaxGDp6Sj25YPUsbURUtZZ-zpsxIhEgAGhGBewEvSKNIqB3WXZJLSzWoUkyB-Zw8__ZGTlAM2Yr6KHHDMjvL9L5iRkX/s1600/WinograndWomenareBeautiful.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSyjiJPHTvz-EqmhhOY_Mr9cbwgBlrylIEt9MYZg97_0dTgpxmCvaxGDp6Sj25YPUsbURUtZZ-zpsxIhEgAGhGBewEvSKNIqB3WXZJLSzWoUkyB-Zw8__ZGTlAM2Yr6KHHDMjvL9L5iRkX/s1600/WinograndWomenareBeautiful.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This
photo is by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Winogrand" target="_blank">Garry Winogrand</a> and clearly shows the same woman wearing the same
dress (the same man is next to her in both photos too, by the way). It was
taken during the Centennial Ball held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (it’s
one of several photos from that event that Winogrand made).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The photo has gone by different titles (from the
descriptive </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Centennial Ball, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, to simply Untitled), but almost every source I
found, both in print and on-line, date the picture to 1969 (something I take
issue with, but more on that later in the post).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUSF5xNQ6kb1Sb-HzcaRF8mSBTl9_PNTBQYI1Cm7KGFz4dHEYaaxuEKHwYoqSA6cD5piurrNalsUzSSlCYsjzwng_DWhHhGGJeN4Dg_gGOQ5rB6FxRz-BTP4eXVquLWRLoeo3u2WxiJZl/s1600/FreedWinogrand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUSF5xNQ6kb1Sb-HzcaRF8mSBTl9_PNTBQYI1Cm7KGFz4dHEYaaxuEKHwYoqSA6cD5piurrNalsUzSSlCYsjzwng_DWhHhGGJeN4Dg_gGOQ5rB6FxRz-BTP4eXVquLWRLoeo3u2WxiJZl/s1600/FreedWinogrand.jpg" height="102" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Keep reading after the jump</span></h4>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I
first saw the Winogrand photo in the exhibition entitled </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1999/muse/" target="_blank">The Museum as Muse: Artists Reflect</a></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, held at the <a href="http://moma.org/" target="_blank">Museum of Modern Art</a> in New York in 1999.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In many ways,
this show was a watershed moment for me personally, and my art was greatly
influenced by it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I guess it’s the gift
that keeps on giving, since here I am again flipping through my copy of the
exhibition catalog, still finding inspiration in its images.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I
was immediately drawn to this photo in 1999, and not for the obvious reasons
(get your minds out of the gutter, people, I’m a professional). The woman’s beautiful, for sure, and her
dress is provocative to say the least, but there is so much more there. There’s humor, for example, since it’s pretty
obvious where the man’s eyes are looking, but the photo is more than just a
cheap one-liner. There’s fun and
joyousness, a sense of celebration and activity. Everything in the picture is moving. The woman’s vibrant and distinctive dress
echoes the backdrop, creating a near-perfect combination of subject and
setting. (When I first saw it I thought she was standing in front of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Klimt" target="_blank">Gustav Klimt</a> painting- it’s really a curtain decorated with a Klimt-like pattern) Every time I look at it, I seem to notice
something new; like the woman’s perfectly silhouetted right hand, or the
couple’s similar pose, as if they’re captured in the middle of a dance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Everything
about the picture typifies Winogrand’s pursuit of the Decisive Moment. Coined by groundbreaking photographer <a href="http://www.henricartierbresson.org/index_en.htm" target="_blank">Henri Cartier-Bresson</a> (a great influence on Winogrand), the Decisive Moment was
defined as “<span style="background: white; color: #252525;">the simultaneous
recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well
as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper
expression.</span>” If any quote
perfectly describes the Winogrand photo, it’s this one. It captures the glamour and celebration of
the Centennial Ball, but does so in an elegantly visual way. It’s also a pretty impressive technical
achievement as well, since the photo was captured in near darkness. The hall in the Met where this was taken was
dimly lit, and the illumination in the picture is coming almost entirely from
Winogrand’s flash. Capturing a photo
this perfect in these conditions can be compared to shooting an arrow
blindfolded and hitting a perfect bullseye.<strong> </strong>Any person today who uploads photos to social media sites and fancies themselves a photographer stands in Winogrand's enormous shadow. Through this single photo,
Winogrand exhibits an almost effortless virtuosity that puts a whole army of
Instagram using selfie-takers to shame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">After
realizing the connection between the Freed and Winogrand photos, I thought this
deserved further exploration. Could I
find out more about the photo? Where did
that zigzag dress come from? Who was the
woman? Would I even be able to find that
out? I figured researching the Met’s Centennial Ball was a good starting point,
so I began by looking for more info on-line.
I was only searching for a few minutes when I found this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mt3k8svHMb_-kF9jyeFgnGx0-YPQoa067yWXvrag_8Zr5TKPsmQs0oJfqkXp5vzxVG6QouIcQOHHamlK_aF3nRuu7wOhrez5xadX-fVnsUwoKIzCs4Gy3jVkNl2bcKxuhcuxT6lFMRS5/s1600/Fink1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1mt3k8svHMb_-kF9jyeFgnGx0-YPQoa067yWXvrag_8Zr5TKPsmQs0oJfqkXp5vzxVG6QouIcQOHHamlK_aF3nRuu7wOhrez5xadX-fVnsUwoKIzCs4Gy3jVkNl2bcKxuhcuxT6lFMRS5/s1600/Fink1.jpg" height="320" width="237" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Really?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Now this is just getting weird.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This photo is by a still different person,
documentary photographer <a href="http://www.larryfinkphotography.com/" target="_blank">Larry Fink</a>.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It
clearly shows the same woman in the same dress in the same place (the Klimt
curtain is clearly visible here, too).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Who was this person?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How does one
woman get photographed by three world-class photographers all in one
night?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I needed to know more.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">My explorations into the Met Centennial Ball
would bring up still more questions.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLh5q9JRN0uQorTg1ZpKagVP_TKtMDsH50h6UdpgoTNsEB6ZxFNEHR4q-vo1T5PvggHU4wCa_TiRC-6G_dQ93EnZqFkt2t9bme7aF2GMgthXJrTWG1fZKLfA1wlRvqO-XORnO54ocsJt4M/s1600/FreedWinograndFink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLh5q9JRN0uQorTg1ZpKagVP_TKtMDsH50h6UdpgoTNsEB6ZxFNEHR4q-vo1T5PvggHU4wCa_TiRC-6G_dQ93EnZqFkt2t9bme7aF2GMgthXJrTWG1fZKLfA1wlRvqO-XORnO54ocsJt4M/s1600/FreedWinograndFink.jpg" height="123" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Part
Two: Party like it’s 1969 (or 1970)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">As
I continued to research the Met Centennial Ball, I figured the most accurate
source would be Hoving’s book. He was
director of the museum at the time, after all, and a quick perusal of the text
produced the desired information. Hoving
specifically mentions the centennial celebrations and lists the date of the
ball as April 13. Now I was getting
somewhere, but I immediately noticed a discrepancy. Hoving states that the Centennial Ball was
held in 1970, but almost every one of Winogrand’s photos of the event I could
find list the date as 1969. In both
magazines and books (including the<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Garry-Winogrand-Metropolitan-Museum-York/dp/0300191774/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412854766&sr=1-1&keywords=garry+winogrand" target="_blank"> brand new Winogrand book</a> that just came out
last year) the 1969 date for the Met Ball photos is used. Who was right? When was the event actually held? I supposed it was possible (though not
probable) that Hoving was wrong, but all art historians and writers seemed to
disagree with his date. I needed another
contemporary source that mentioned the event, and I found it in an old issue of
<i>The New Yorker</i>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“On
Monday, April 13, The Museum’s hundredth birthday, an immense (free) frolic
will take place, spreading into most of the crannies of the old ark. Concert bands will sound off, choristers will
chorus, music boxes (from the music department) will tinkle. There will be a twenty-five-foot cake in the
entrance hall, but the man to keep your eye on is a member of the Egyptian
department who will translate visitors’ names into hieroglyphics.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-<i>The New Yorker</i>, <b>April 11, 1970</b>, p. 18<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
magazine confirmed Hoving’s date. The
Met’s Centennial Ball was held on Monday, April 13, 1970. That left me with two possibilities. The first was that art historians have been
printing an incorrect date for decades. The second was that the photos were mislabeled
and weren't taken at the Met at all (perhaps coming from a different event that
did take place in 1969). In order to
find out I went back to Hoving. He
explains the structure of the Ball, describing the four main celebration spaces
in some detail. The one that concerned
me most was his description of this one:<span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">“The
fourth ballroom in the Fountain Restaurant opened at midnight and remained
active until five in the morning. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Baldwin_(decorator)" target="_blank"> Billy Baldwin</a> had fashioned a dark and sexy disco.
The décor was decadent <b>Viennese
inspired by the designs of Gustav Klimt</b>.” (my emphasis)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">-Thomas
Hoving, <i>Making the Mummies Dance</i>,
1993, p. 214<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Hoving
seemed to clear things up. The curtain
behind the woman in Winogrand’s photo is clearly based on Klimt’s paintings. The location is listed as the Fountain
Restaurant. That space in the museum is
quite changed today (it’s now the Met’s Greek and Roman galleries) but the
restaurant that was there for decades is well documented. It was originally designed by <a href="http://www.architecturaldigest.com/architecture/archive/draper_article_052006" target="_blank">Dorothy Draper</a> in
the 1950s and perhaps the most noticeable features in the space were the large
birdcage-like chandeliers that hung there.
Below is a period photo of the restaurant placed next to another
Winogrand photo taken that night. The
chandeliers in 1970 have been covered with some sort of fabric to make them
look solid, but their shape is unmistakable:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3FvViBf3uKRThWvxco0E3JXKUBQ407Wi8wMIwV6fo_ffKZ84GCsC4BztNZ6JIbb0bpsZ91Ks4c6OyFtlGDyVxBiUXb9Ksf-IteGOykuNdwh-Tgr7A2RZj2gSsB-m0u5k2pGWpqPLxFX6/s1600/WinograndRestaurant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3FvViBf3uKRThWvxco0E3JXKUBQ407Wi8wMIwV6fo_ffKZ84GCsC4BztNZ6JIbb0bpsZ91Ks4c6OyFtlGDyVxBiUXb9Ksf-IteGOykuNdwh-Tgr7A2RZj2gSsB-m0u5k2pGWpqPLxFX6/s1600/WinograndRestaurant.jpg" height="170" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There she is again, by the way</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">The
<i>New Yorker</i> and Hoving confirm the date. Winogrand’s photos, paired with Hoving’s
description, confirm the place. The
pictures were definitely taken at the Met during the Centennial Ball. An exact date and time can then be applied to
the photos. Since Hoving mentions that
the fourth ballroom didn’t open until midnight, I can say without doubt that
the pictures were taken on the morning of Tuesday, April 14, 1970. I was able to confirm this information with
just a little bit of research (maybe an hour or so all told) so why does
everyone else get it wrong? Even the
Metropolitan Museum- <i>who hosted the event
depicted-</i> lists the 1969 date on their website:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAHxj_HOzUYVKmN4rR5IWjQ20H4YW3HqXzVEgSkyQ-UJEk9L6-jibsz3XIfmvL-NDDIDYRqYHkKobbzHd5rF1HVMZj7SIsSiJLwNLJt1ubD-jfETqho5up08u-IF1v2YwbN0CoVrLBH7C/s1600/MetPage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIAHxj_HOzUYVKmN4rR5IWjQ20H4YW3HqXzVEgSkyQ-UJEk9L6-jibsz3XIfmvL-NDDIDYRqYHkKobbzHd5rF1HVMZj7SIsSiJLwNLJt1ubD-jfETqho5up08u-IF1v2YwbN0CoVrLBH7C/s1600/MetPage.jpg" height="253" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I
should mention here that Fink isn’t immune from this mislabeling either.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">His photo is also misdated in several sources
I found (with some listing the date as early as 1967).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">How did this happen?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Although I can’t say for sure without doing
more research, I can hypothesize on how the date of 1969 continually gets
attached the photos.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Winogrand’s Met
Ball photos weren’t exhibited right after they were taken.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As far as I was able to find out, he didn’t
exhibit or publish any of them until later in the 1970s.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">His book </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2013/08/10/garry-winogrands-women-are-beautiful-photos.html" target="_blank">Women
are Beautiful</a></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2013/08/10/garry-winogrands-women-are-beautiful-photos.html" target="_blank"> </a>(1975) features several of the Met photos (including the one
being explored here) but presents the pictures without titles or dates.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It’s entirely possible that when Winogrand
did eventually have to produce a date for a publication or exhibit, he just got
it wrong.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Once a date of 1969 was
attributed to the photos, it got picked up and repeated by writers and
historians.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Before you know it,
Winogrand scholars and respected institutions like the Met are using the wrong
date.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">By
this point, one may be asking why all this matters. It’s just a matter of a couple of months,
after all. April 1970 was <i>almost</i> 1969 (there’s only about a four
month difference), so what’s the big deal?
It matters because being inaccurate is unnecessary in this situation. Approximate dates are commonly used by art
historians, but are usually reserved for specific situations. Ancient artworks, for example, often carry
approximate dates because they’re old and may pre-date record keeping
systems. An artist may not keep great
records themselves or choose not to write the date of a piece down, so art
historians may have to guess. This
situation calls for more accuracy. These
are photos of a well-documented event and the date is recorded in prominent
sources<b>.
</b>There’s no excuse for getting it wrong.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I’m
just an obscure niche blogger, and don’t mean to be pushy or anything, but it’s 1970, not
1969.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Part
Three: Fumbling in the Dark (My Crash Course in Fashion History)</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I’ll
start this next section by admitting that I know next to nothing about the
history of fashion design.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I realize now
that someone well versed in fashion history could probably look at the dress in
the photo and identify it in about a millisecond.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I could not, so I had to search for the
designer using less exacting methods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I
hoped that the dress was traceable (it was, and then some, but to remind you
again I have no knowledge of fashion history- didn’t you read the last
paragraph?). I started by searching for vintage dresses on Google. I searched through lists of well-known
designers and wasn’t having much luck.
The problem with searching for stuff like this on Google is that you
have to hit just the right combination of words in order to bring up the
desired result. Searching for vintage
dresses brings up many retailers that don’t necessarily sell old things (the dresses may only <i>look</i> vintage). Searching for dresses from the 60s or 70s
brings up too many hits. I had to narrow
things down a little. I latched on to
the fact that the dress had similarities with the Klimt-like decoration in the photos. I searched for “Klimt dress 1970” and got
nothing. I searched through variations
of this and finally hit on something. I
think it was “Art Nouveau dress 1960s” or something like that (I’ve done so
many Google searches at this point that they all seem to blend together). Regardless of what the search was, the end
result was success. I found this photo:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghpL8tFK5J6m1EKqj1DVJF84h0OJxY6M92GJcGdGFL2zK2GFTMTFSnxvrHEOZ2PFkw0ioQt09HcCWJH6NXq-V_xcCmOeIGOyTPv6Yk4KdR2qQFhT-sIGekwokFThbGvYH9eCTrNimzjcr5/s1600/ParkinsonOssie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghpL8tFK5J6m1EKqj1DVJF84h0OJxY6M92GJcGdGFL2zK2GFTMTFSnxvrHEOZ2PFkw0ioQt09HcCWJH6NXq-V_xcCmOeIGOyTPv6Yk4KdR2qQFhT-sIGekwokFThbGvYH9eCTrNimzjcr5/s1600/ParkinsonOssie.jpg" height="320" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://normanparkinson.com/" target="_blank">Norman Parkinson</a> took this photo for British <i>Vogue</i> in 1969</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This
was the first photo I found of the dress outside of the Met Ball photos.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">What was fortunate was that it had a date (1969)
and designer attached.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I now had a name
(two names, actually): <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1250_ossieclark/" target="_blank">Ossie Clark</a> and <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1250_ossieclark/designs/celiabirtwell/" target="_blank">Celia Birtwell</a>.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The names meant nothing to me at first, but
once I did a little searching I realized that I knew them too (and had been
familiar with their faces for a long time).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They appear in <a href="http://www.hockneypictures.com/" target="_blank">David Hockney’s</a> famous double portrait </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hockney-mr-and-mrs-clark-and-percy-t01269" target="_blank">Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy</a></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, painted in
1970-71:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkpB9ghMR_6zxuhaIFIIE9rVOv_JmsOCcyKDSvl9_t1p9FVM3nDqbylqdFwF1cRYQqJx0gdCUZVsHuJ8xGrTS5wcHYSYDnpOqC7A_P4aQbzO0azgWZnFC72w61xQZoF6LuSO0hS_I5J_P/s1600/mr-and-mrs-clark-by-david-hockney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkpB9ghMR_6zxuhaIFIIE9rVOv_JmsOCcyKDSvl9_t1p9FVM3nDqbylqdFwF1cRYQqJx0gdCUZVsHuJ8xGrTS5wcHYSYDnpOqC7A_P4aQbzO0azgWZnFC72w61xQZoF6LuSO0hS_I5J_P/s1600/mr-and-mrs-clark-by-david-hockney.jpg" height="277" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I
had known of this painting for years, but never knew much about the
sitters.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Clark began designing clothes
in the mid-1960s, and in 1966 he paired with textile designer Birtwell, who
provided the vivid patterns that made Ossie Clark dresses so unique.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Their collaboration led to some of the most
distinctive fashion of the 60s and 70s.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Their fashion collaborations were perhaps more successful than their
personal one.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Their marriage (which
their close friend Hockney celebrated with the painting) lasted only a few
years.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">After
researching their collaborative work I really have to give all of the credit
here to Birtwell. Ossie Clark was a
talented designer and craftsman (his sewing and tailoring skills are legendary)
but Birtwell’s distinctive zigzag pattern helped me track the dress down,
especially considering that I was searching through dozens (if not hundreds) of
tiny thumbnails on my computer screen.
The pattern is just as distinctive in a small photo as it is in a large
one. (As a side note, the dress actually contains two patterns: The bold zigzag pattern used for the skirt is
distinctly different from, but harmonious to, the pattern on the bodice.) After
identifying the dress, I could see that it carries many of the hallmarks of
Birtwell’s patterns. The triangles with
a small circle on the end can be found in some of her other patterns of the
era, and the flower with the spiral in the center, called the candy flower, is a motif she uses to this
day (<a href="http://www.celiabirtwell.com/" target="_blank">she still works as a textile designer</a>, Clark passed away in 1996).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUVakMqi4K75Kf9pyO31-CS-4_NmHWA_UeCElgdsYCQuM4jM4Zjs3SCVoLWD4yYO6O1YklxUtOoQapLy85H2frP8XnIZMecadZEWltJhFn8wwGoeGBNBHvp9sipZJI7IKUa_xGM9agoLGl/s1600/OssieClarkinColor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUVakMqi4K75Kf9pyO31-CS-4_NmHWA_UeCElgdsYCQuM4jM4Zjs3SCVoLWD4yYO6O1YklxUtOoQapLy85H2frP8XnIZMecadZEWltJhFn8wwGoeGBNBHvp9sipZJI7IKUa_xGM9agoLGl/s1600/OssieClarkinColor.jpg" height="200" width="74" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Another
reason for trying to find out more about the dress was to see if I could find
out what color it was. The 60s and early
70s were well known for bright (some might even say garish) colors, and I was
curious as to whether this dress exhibited those tendencies. I was picturing bold combinations of teal,
fuchsia, and chartreuse. Only a color
photo could give me this information. A
little more searching started to fill in some of those blanks. The blog <a href="http://sighswhispers.blogspot.com/2010/05/photo-of-day-gary-winogrand-ossie-clark.html" target="_blank">Sighs and Whispers</a> featured a post
about this very dress (and the Winogrand photo, but I didn’t find this post
until I had already identified the dress). Blog author Laura Helms saved a photo of the same dress from an e-bay auction held a
couple of years ago and this allowed me to see it in color for the first
time. It wasn’t garish at all. In fact, the coloration is a pleasant
combination of black, white, gray, and rose.
The delicate use of color perhaps helps to explain why vintage
Clark/Birtwell designs are still sought after and worn, whereas other fashions
from the era might seem too over-the-top or outdated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I
now had seen a relatively recent photo of the dress, and I thought to myself
“What if it’s </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">the</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> dress, the exact same
one seen in the Winogrand photo?”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A
quick look at the photo showed that this was not the case.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The dress sold on e-bay has a mostly
symmetrical bodice.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Right above the
sash, rows of triangles extend on both sides.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The Larry Fink photo shows the right side of the mystery woman’s dress
clearly and it’s pretty obvious that the dress worn to the Met Ball was
slightly different.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjxlKeEALk83ThiTxmpzF94u-2mSWqS_SrxOKkwJDO9KN5USyKkURDmTxx_I9OWcAIfVvIcRSRNLd02Q-OT2qA0g7RSEvqFRIoGq6sflXomki_CSapqe5Qughm75sQKK4oca1lB-EoR7MG/s1600/BodiceCompare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjxlKeEALk83ThiTxmpzF94u-2mSWqS_SrxOKkwJDO9KN5USyKkURDmTxx_I9OWcAIfVvIcRSRNLd02Q-OT2qA0g7RSEvqFRIoGq6sflXomki_CSapqe5Qughm75sQKK4oca1lB-EoR7MG/s1600/BodiceCompare.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This
was good, because it indicated that the dress wasn’t unique.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If there were at least two versions of it,
there were probably more.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">More dresses
out there meant more chances to find information on it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I decided to try YouTube to see if there was
any vintage film documentation of Clark/Birtwell dresses.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I found<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNPzg80S6Cw" target="_blank"> this video </a>dating from 1969 and at
about the one minute mark I-</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmJUkh_eDvvZ2n8Wped6rQWF8cMRTWt-lG31SMLdhOvP_6z1uxLn_fmgCkUToFa0AMrGyle0fyTENniwoQzxrabpLd2F0Awh4SgKNiJ0iT4WTXM66blRrfaou3Q0TxrTxDXFhVyIvMWcT/s1600/VidCapture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYmJUkh_eDvvZ2n8Wped6rQWF8cMRTWt-lG31SMLdhOvP_6z1uxLn_fmgCkUToFa0AMrGyle0fyTENniwoQzxrabpLd2F0Awh4SgKNiJ0iT4WTXM66blRrfaou3Q0TxrTxDXFhVyIvMWcT/s1600/VidCapture1.jpg" height="254" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Whoa,
easy there YouTube, I hardly know you!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Let’s get a little distance here.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh888bWOHLNHgXo27A0i9XHte4o8nbFxDn0IANF0OmtcoS65yDqKKeQNs8DkmzUksMSuwD_5RaFB9duXSsvMlq-vtUY26CCrxPvuaf7AGp-pwz3vghomxkpZqC94v4cC5jpvf58FzCOOBAs/s1600/VidCapture2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh888bWOHLNHgXo27A0i9XHte4o8nbFxDn0IANF0OmtcoS65yDqKKeQNs8DkmzUksMSuwD_5RaFB9duXSsvMlq-vtUY26CCrxPvuaf7AGp-pwz3vghomxkpZqC94v4cC5jpvf58FzCOOBAs/s1600/VidCapture2.jpg" height="257" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The dress is featured in this video but here
it’s pale blue.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Same dress, same
pattern, different color.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So which one was
featured in the Winogrand photo?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I would
have to keep looking, but before I go on can I say how perfectly this video
illustrates the culture clash that took place between old and young at the end
of the 60s?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The old man to the right is
literally stopped in his tracks when the model passes him!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">You can almost see his jaw hit the ground.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7C8BHdfVDabJ3WdI0wQYQ08_YRWoSjUQy7d3HEEJOfmxxXgldcdNC2WfZfb3FahXKJmjCtMolmi9x-Tb8l6GIRqc6guJpxPITMk1Yvi5YwNipN90Sc5gkMN5FXSWDBhaVcizwUqjSWJ9-/s1600/VidCapture3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7C8BHdfVDabJ3WdI0wQYQ08_YRWoSjUQy7d3HEEJOfmxxXgldcdNC2WfZfb3FahXKJmjCtMolmi9x-Tb8l6GIRqc6guJpxPITMk1Yvi5YwNipN90Sc5gkMN5FXSWDBhaVcizwUqjSWJ9-/s1600/VidCapture3.jpg" height="252" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Insert your own comical sound effect here. I prefer a slide whistle. A sustained "boing" is also appropriate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">But,
I digress. I needed more color photos of
the dress in order to make further comparisons to the Met pictures. After looking though page after page of
thumbnails (again) I found this image:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcOhpCF7Rgx4pSh4WlixsrA4AHqosXPvt-t6D8AsseSsHdG349lshMVqtP276uGNqYUUNMj7cve_QeVs2egA5kaacTwJ4zOVBYsv9_gXeJfHtns_EI77MPse3dFR5C9fn70lcTHufni1i/s1600/zandraossie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEcOhpCF7Rgx4pSh4WlixsrA4AHqosXPvt-t6D8AsseSsHdG349lshMVqtP276uGNqYUUNMj7cve_QeVs2egA5kaacTwJ4zOVBYsv9_gXeJfHtns_EI77MPse3dFR5C9fn70lcTHufni1i/s1600/zandraossie.jpg" height="400" width="255" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There’s
our dress again.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This time the photo’s
in color, and it’s the rose version (I think the color has been altered in this
photo, making it look like a brighter red).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The other model is wearing a dress by fellow British fashion designer
Zandra Rhodes.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It appears to be the type
of photo taken for a fashion magazine, perhaps to illustrate a story on English
fashion designers or something.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> I found it on <a href="http://emmapeelpants.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">this blog</a> written by fashion historian Liz Eggleston. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I
started comparing the dress in this photo to the Winogrand and Fink photos,
trying to see if the pattern arrangement matched in all of them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The right side of the dress (the model’s
right) is mostly obscured in the color photo, but I could tell that the two
sides of the bodice didn’t look symmetrical.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I was comparing the photos for a while when I noticed something
completely unexpected and also glaringly obvious (sharp-eyed readers might have
noticed it already).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It had nothing to
do with the dress, but an accessory the model was wearing.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Look at her choker:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eObbxTamB-WzBzqYAfCS1Qy-ncNWm9BB11w84DsEw0J0uRYqY7bW3yEM2T3gzKtMZ0q64XEawZsZuhsg1MNPiVEcURDWhYprcpEtNQ8X44T01vhZWh1n2gNwFJGRB3PIKT5fvoH1XCT6/s1600/ChokerComparison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5eObbxTamB-WzBzqYAfCS1Qy-ncNWm9BB11w84DsEw0J0uRYqY7bW3yEM2T3gzKtMZ0q64XEawZsZuhsg1MNPiVEcURDWhYprcpEtNQ8X44T01vhZWh1n2gNwFJGRB3PIKT5fvoH1XCT6/s1600/ChokerComparison.jpg" height="177" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">It’s the same person. </span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdGG50MnRh9i2XW6eZHwJsoVIkpe6Jsl49ks2c8dHXDvWIvm-UXPd-7e1ZKTVW1AO4uAsOm1M-gHnyySdrE8JN6-K8P52vwczvTOqHrFAysCKBBR6x21tbbIf1e8ZXlg7g-Y5YilmiDNcf/s1600/4SidebySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdGG50MnRh9i2XW6eZHwJsoVIkpe6Jsl49ks2c8dHXDvWIvm-UXPd-7e1ZKTVW1AO4uAsOm1M-gHnyySdrE8JN6-K8P52vwczvTOqHrFAysCKBBR6x21tbbIf1e8ZXlg7g-Y5YilmiDNcf/s1600/4SidebySide.jpg" height="148" width="640" /></a></div>
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<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Part
Four: The girl in the zigzag dress gets a name</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">O.K. That kind of blindsided me. I was hoping to find more information and
photos of the dress (which I had), and I was hoping I could find information on
the woman wearing it, but I never thought I’d find a photo of the same woman
wearing the same dress taken outside of the context of the Metropolitan
Museum. This is clearly a formal fashion
photo, probably taken for a publication.
The blog where I found it lists the photographer as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Cunningham_(American_photographer)" target="_blank">Bill Cunningham</a>. Another well-known
photographer was now attached to the woman and the dress. Throughout this process, the trail had gone
cold for long stretches, but now it was getting very hot. I felt I was close to some answers. Fashion photographs appear in magazines or ad
campaigns. Models appear in other
photos. The answers I was looking for
were within my reach.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I’ll
rewind a little bit to state that even in the beginning of this search I was
working under the assumption that the woman could be a model, or at least
someone connected to the fashion industry.
There were a couple of reasons for this.
First of all, Ossie Clark was a pretty swanky choice in 1970 (posh, the
Brits might say). He was, at the time,
more well known in his native England and his fashions were sold in America
through only a few boutiques. You
couldn’t just walk into any department store and buy one. His dresses were also expensive, even by 1970
standards. That led me to the conclusion
that the wearer would have to be someone in the know. Someone connected to the
fashion world or a model who would have had access to the highest of high
fashions. In a way, I had to work under
this assumption. I started out this
research hoping I could identify the woman, and this would be more attainable
if other pictures of her existed. If the
woman was just a regular New Yorker who happened to be in the right time at the
right place, I might never be able to find out more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">But,
all that wondering was now done. She was
a fashion model. I had proof.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">That
was all well and good, but I wanted a name.
I tried to find other photos from that fashion shoot and couldn’t. I looked for models who specifically modeled
for Ossie Clark and came up short. Like
searching for the dress, searching for something as general as “Fashion models
of the 1970s” on Google can bring up a wide variety of disparate results. Change the wording of your search slightly,
and you’ll get different results. I
tried countless combinations of words and sifted through countless photos. I needed to get just the right combination of
magic words typed into the search bar. I
was starting to give up, wondering if I would even be able to recognize her in
a different setting. It seemed kind of
hopeless until one morning when I must have typed in a combination of words I
hadn’t tried yet. As I scrolled through
the tiny thumbnails I saw a photo that signaled to me that my search was over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBl5s6q5RMh8ehKXULOsccfSdaMuc8W1ZasHVKeNTKYAvVrk5lfjVWOJbcQ3q-pYR7p86rz15m1XC2AKVLhoe5KXrxac4w3rODMAYuXIVg1mSC79O7e1oBCxMt34grFxMVRNXOGZebxVYN/s1600/Margrit+Ramme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBl5s6q5RMh8ehKXULOsccfSdaMuc8W1ZasHVKeNTKYAvVrk5lfjVWOJbcQ3q-pYR7p86rz15m1XC2AKVLhoe5KXrxac4w3rODMAYuXIVg1mSC79O7e1oBCxMt34grFxMVRNXOGZebxVYN/s1600/Margrit+Ramme.jpg" height="200" width="138" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Even
at the thumbnail size, I knew it was her.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I clicked the picture, hoping the models name was attached to the
photo.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Margrit
Ramme. That’s who it is. She’s the girl in the zigzag dress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7dmwaW8Cq5OKUf017w9ioo4piZqxbaDivSN8A3eXqvfsDXzLPSGQHuFzILRvC37m06Rj2zTHfY1PZ_ozY6mYJZBUzLVPDvIrNzSt9plgxzCIewtm_bLyMUjgmwp2hSeltFt3FksmWIqo/s1600/5Margrits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7dmwaW8Cq5OKUf017w9ioo4piZqxbaDivSN8A3eXqvfsDXzLPSGQHuFzILRvC37m06Rj2zTHfY1PZ_ozY6mYJZBUzLVPDvIrNzSt9plgxzCIewtm_bLyMUjgmwp2hSeltFt3FksmWIqo/s1600/5Margrits.jpg" height="123" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Finding
more photos confirmed it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Everything
matched.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Her face in profile,
especially, matches the Freed and Winogrand photos.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The dates match as well.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Ramme was active as a fashion model in the
60s and 70s, as evidenced by these photos:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TtLwHzXwMUnBWLSwB5UBLtfP4c-8rav66ExdEA7nKRQjsw8YJPCBYW6l8aBoQm1ft4pLtkyEPC0NG-DvI4JIuv9EpCZEsPgdMdyRia3K3XIMUlUcgb9WlVWf30buzCy0T9eNiJv5a2ya/s1600/ViewsofRamme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8TtLwHzXwMUnBWLSwB5UBLtfP4c-8rav66ExdEA7nKRQjsw8YJPCBYW6l8aBoQm1ft4pLtkyEPC0NG-DvI4JIuv9EpCZEsPgdMdyRia3K3XIMUlUcgb9WlVWf30buzCy0T9eNiJv5a2ya/s1600/ViewsofRamme.jpg" height="213" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Oh,
and I found this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BDt4q2wghoPxvePrxMH0eZKZRz_rAYdTRoCJjM63fS9OBBaRlUboipIz_SOWfz1NttFXKERSYC_Ib7wQ8O8RfakzatkNBr-xxCzHYcsynX-L9W4m4sL1NeFE5crv2y-vxMj3M-ZFBU5Q/s1600/Karen+Graham+-+Margrit+Ramme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4BDt4q2wghoPxvePrxMH0eZKZRz_rAYdTRoCJjM63fS9OBBaRlUboipIz_SOWfz1NttFXKERSYC_Ib7wQ8O8RfakzatkNBr-xxCzHYcsynX-L9W4m4sL1NeFE5crv2y-vxMj3M-ZFBU5Q/s1600/Karen+Graham+-+Margrit+Ramme.jpg" height="400" width="286" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It’s
another photo from the same photo shoot that helped me identify her.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The caption on the photo identifies her but
misspells her name (calling her Margaret Ramay), but it’s clearly the person I
was searching for.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So who is Margrit
Ramme?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She's a fashion model active in
the late 1960s and early 1970s.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I
actually couldn’t find large amounts of biographical data about her on-line,
but as far as I can figure she was about 25 at the time of the Met Centennial
Ball.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She doesn’t model anymore, but
does <a href="http://www.amazine.com/user/margrit-ramme" target="_blank">post to a blog</a> where she occasionally reminisces about her modeling
past.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">During her career, she was shot by
some of the best photographers to ever pick up a camera, including greats like Helmut
Newton and Richard Avedon.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Add to that
list Leonard Freed, Larry Fink, and Garry Winogrand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I
had found the girl in the zigzag dress, and that gave me some closure. But, identifying Margrit Ramme in the photos
brought up more questions that I have yet to answer. I am now convinced that even though these
photos aren’t that old, dating them precisely seems elusive for some reason. The black and white photo of Ramme seen above
(the one that spelled her name wrong) was found on an <a href="http://www.jacksonfineart.com/Ed-Pfizenmaier-4099.html" target="_blank">art gallery’s website</a>,
and they date it to 1965. Impossible,
since Clark and Birtwell didn’t start collaborating until 1966, and all other
references I could find (the Parkinson <i>Vogue</i>
photos, the YouTube video) date the dress to 1969 (July of that year, to be precise). This photo is also attributed to a different
photographer, raising even more questions.
The color photo I found from the same photo shoot was apparently taken
by Bill Cunningham, but this photo was credited to Ed Pfizenmaier. Did both fashion photographers shoot the same
models in the same setting? I didn’t
think fashion shoots worked that way (and these are clearly from a fashion
shoot), but my lack of knowledge in the field of fashion history is well
documented. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">I’m
left with questions that still perhaps need answers. My main inquiries have ended, since I know
more about the dress and more about the girl.
A little piece of art history becomes a little clearer. A Cultural Ghost is brought to light and
given a name. I still have questions
about the photos that need investigation, though. The two photographers (Bill Cunningham and Ed
Pfizenmaier) attached to the same photo shoot still nags at me, and I’m curious
as to where those fashion photos appeared.
I also have a theory that those photos were taken on the same day as the
Met Ball, hence the same dress and accessories in all photos. If that’s the case, it means that Ramme was
photographed by at least 5 famous photographers all in one day. That’s got to be some kind of record. I’ll save these posts for another day. The obscure niche blogger’s work is never
done.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Next time, a new topic. It may be something you never heard of (or noticed) before.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com5Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 10028, USA40.7791865 -73.96353479999999140.7761805 -73.968577299999993 40.7821925 -73.958492299999989tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-89007460885507812942014-09-25T07:13:00.000-04:002014-09-25T07:13:33.098-04:00Modernist Playgrounds of My Youth: Update<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to everyone who read my previous two post on the playground equipment designed by Creative Playthings in the 1950s and 60s. A comment on the last post about the "Fantastic Village" pointed my in the direction of Blair Hills Park in Culver City, California. The concrete play sculpture there is not the full Fantastic Village but definitely may be a modified or later version of it. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhThYEKNFhwpcIH2tufCAHwAcarRe_T56ypE8G_P6e-eksb57qqh902b859Uxaxt4VxT8SFqi0T22kB8s4GHvyBRxPMPLPZj8FVYQDOpucMCAoa1NB0ZnjzE3F7HZCDR99vhtjFRb5TmqYm/s1600/BlairHillsPark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhThYEKNFhwpcIH2tufCAHwAcarRe_T56ypE8G_P6e-eksb57qqh902b859Uxaxt4VxT8SFqi0T22kB8s4GHvyBRxPMPLPZj8FVYQDOpucMCAoa1NB0ZnjzE3F7HZCDR99vhtjFRb5TmqYm/s1600/BlairHillsPark.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Considering the fact that a Creative Playthings turtle stands right next to the "Swiss Cheese", I can be fairly confident in saying that the yellow piece is also by Creative Playthings. It's so amazing that some of these old structures still exist. If any other readers are aware any other structures like this that are still around (specifically whole or partial Fantastic Villages) send the info my way. I'm not always able to respond right away but I do read the comments left by my readers. Thanks so much.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-74174514458499079512014-09-04T08:07:00.000-04:002014-11-11T11:17:03.535-05:00Modernist Playgrounds of my Youth, Part 2<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In my previous post (it’s
been a while, I know) I started discussing the design of playground equipment
of the past. Specifically, I was
thinking about the large concrete turtle that was a fixture in many playgrounds
across the U.S. throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Manufactured by a company called Creative Playthings,
the turtle was just one of several playground elements I remember from my
childhood. All of these things, I discovered
while researching this article, were made by the same company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The playground I
specifically reference here was the Hilery Park playground in South Buffalo,
New York, but I suspect there were dozens, if not hundreds, of playgrounds
across the country stocked with Creative Playthings items. Since they were all made of concrete (seen as
unsafe nowadays) many of these amazing mid-century designs have been torn down
and replaced with presumably safer (but definitely blander) playground
equipment. Finding evidence of its
existence is hard, and that’s probably most evident with the playground
construction known as the Fantastic Village.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before delving into the
Fantastic Village, however, a short history of Creative Playthings will help to
establish their artistic pedigree. It
was a company invested in art and design as much as childhood development. (I must start by giving credit where credit
is due. Much of the info I was able to
find on the company came from the article entitled “Creative Playthings:
Educational Toys and Postwar American Culture” by Amy F. Ogata. <a href="http://acorn09.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/creative_playthings.pdf" target="_blank">Read the original here</a>). The company was started by Frank and Theresa
Caplan. Frank Caplan was an educator who
truly believed that toys could stimulate childhood development and
imagination. Creative Playthings
creations were intentionally stark and non-specific. This helped spark creativity in a child’s
developing mind. One of the company’s
first mass-produced products were a set of simple hollow wooden blocks. These could be stacked and arranged any way
the child chose. They were fort,
dollhouse, and bookcase all in one. Really,
they could be anything the child wanted them to be. They also epitomized the simple and elegant
designs of the company. Just maple boxes
open on one end, they were simple constructions that could become complex in
the mind of the child playing with them.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zF5vj4LUVXRNVaDyS5AyKnwGwh6nEiCv7TfAaOoy4yepN3XrHZDo_ukwndVy2XIHGGoI93MMJh11LRtr9IkZa0qboEamk49BuMZncEzS06obXghQilOAnP903PEXotMmXnGDc5gn-g3p/s1600/Dorazio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zF5vj4LUVXRNVaDyS5AyKnwGwh6nEiCv7TfAaOoy4yepN3XrHZDo_ukwndVy2XIHGGoI93MMJh11LRtr9IkZa0qboEamk49BuMZncEzS06obXghQilOAnP903PEXotMmXnGDc5gn-g3p/s1600/Dorazio.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia Dortch Dorazio</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Caplan later started working
with Victor D’Amico, who was in charge of educational programming at the<a href="http://moma.org/" target="_blank"> Museum of Modern Art.</a> This partnership eventually
led to the creation of the Fantastic Village.
In 1953, Creative Playthings, MoMA, and <i>Parent’s Magazine</i> co-sponsored a competition to find designs that
met the company’s standards of inventive design paired with childhood
stimulation and exercise. The winner was
a 28 year old painter named Virginia Dortch Dorazio (sometimes written D’Orazio). Her design consisted of concrete-walled rooms
punctuated with holes of varying sizes that could be used as windows, doorways,
or climbing grips. The structures were
held together with metal bars that could also be used for climbing. This was the Fantastic Village. After winning the competition, Dorazio’s
design was put into full production by Creative Playthings and featured in
their catalogue. Below are some photos I
was able to find of the design.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What’s interesting looking
at these photos is that the configuration of the rooms is different in every
photo. Like Caplan’s maple boxes that
could be arranged in many different combinations, it seems that the Fantastic
Village had no set plan or scheme for the pieces. I was unable to discover whether Creative
Playthings sent multiple installation ideas with the set, or whether it was up
to the purchaser to set it up how they chose.
Regardless, it perfectly fit the company’s ideas on open-ended
play. The Fantastic Village could be a
playhouse, fortress, or castle.
Unfortunately, I was only able to find black and white photos of the
piece, and the Fantastic Village was definitely colored. I remember the concrete was yellow, blue,
red, and green. Also unfortunate was
that all of the photos I could find seem to be promotional photos sent out by
the company to promote the product. I
couldn’t find any pictures of a Fantastic Village <i>in situ</i>. I was certainly not
able to find any contemporary photos of one.
I have no idea of how many were sold.
That’s sad because it leads me to believe that every one of the
Fantastic Villages sold in the 50s and 60s has by now been torn down. It’s possible that they now exist only in the
memories of children (now adults) who played on them many years ago. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Of course, when I was
a child I had no idea I was playing on a piece of cutting edge mid-century
modern design endorsed by one of the most famous museums in the world. I didn’t know the name “Fantastic Village”
either. We called it the “Swiss Cheese”. Design concerns and child psychology and
development didn’t interest us. It was
just fun. Perhaps it also helped me
become a more creative person. As is turn
out, I was being influenced by artists even before I truly know what art was. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Next time, a new topic. It may be something you've never heard of.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-87851732194826984472014-07-03T08:18:00.000-04:002014-11-11T11:16:55.971-05:00Modernist Playgrounds of My Youth, Part 1<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As the upcoming holiday weekend approaches and the
weather gets hot, I’m spending more time outside. Now I’m mostly working around my house, but
when I was younger the warmer summer months meant playing outside. Playgrounds and play areas for kids are
different from when I was growing up in the late 70s and early 80s, and I
wanted to take some time to examine those differences by investigating one of
the playgrounds I frequented as a child.
My research into the topic yielded more information than I expected, and
I realized that as a child I was playing on important modernist designs (now
lost, in more ways than one).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ll begin with a short explanation of how I got to this
topic in the first place. I started by
trying to remember details of a playground I went to as a child. The Hilery Park Playground in South Buffalo
is not one of Buffalo’s most well-known parks (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Law_Olmsted" target="_blank">Frederick Law Olmstead’s</a> much
more respected <a href="http://www.bfloparks.org/parksystem/majorparks/35/cazenovia_park" target="_blank">Cazenovia Park</a> is just a few blocks away). It’s really just a glorified school playground,
attached to the Hilery Park Academy (known as Public School 27 when I was a
kid). Thinking back, it really
epitomizes the differences in children’s play spaces then and now. Today safety is rightly a major concern. Playgrounds are built on grass or mulch, and
plastic is used for much of the construction.
The Hilery Park playground in the 70s was very different. All of the play sculptures there were
concrete, and everything was built over asphalt. There weren’t many trees for shade. This may seem strange to parents today, but I
never felt at risk there. Even though
everything was made of rough concrete that got constantly blasted by the sun, I
have only good memories of the place.
The hardness of the playground must not have concerned my mother much
either, since she took me and my siblings there all the time. I think safety concerns have trumped
originality as of late, and all playgrounds today really look the same. Spiral slides, a rock climbing wall, maybe
some elevated walkways and passages are the norm. Hilery Park stood out to me (even as a child)
because it was different and special. My
research revealed to my how special it once was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKltW_FiiJIXjBhRfJD7zvJSvslWybY1I6_ucXmF2WKCQvf03LQ51-E64qtD0_kHeH4RzanCtJMBWyRCQbWMtb4jaftD8Z-MFaljlk4jnfUjRh5UuND7WcfWPq0KVdb-UTsfIvBZy-gS-k/s1600/TurtlePic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKltW_FiiJIXjBhRfJD7zvJSvslWybY1I6_ucXmF2WKCQvf03LQ51-E64qtD0_kHeH4RzanCtJMBWyRCQbWMtb4jaftD8Z-MFaljlk4jnfUjRh5UuND7WcfWPq0KVdb-UTsfIvBZy-gS-k/s1600/TurtlePic.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sadly, the turtle I played on as a child was not built over sand.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What really started me down this path was researching one
of the playground’s features. I
remembered that there were large concrete turtles that once stood there. These turtles (there were two of them I
think) could be climbed on or crawled under.
Doing a little digging on-line revealed that these turtles were popular
across the country, and many are still left.
Those that are still in existence have at times been the focus of <a href="http://www.oakpark.com/News/Blogs/5-24-2012/Oak-Park-students-love-their-concrete-turtle/" target="_blank">preservation efforts</a>, so I’m not the only one who fondly remembers these
rounded green beasts. I won’t go into
their history too much here, since they are much loved and there are several
websites that track their history and locations throughout the US (including
<a href="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=204537344208333939851.0004abf8156995d3dbac3&dg=feature" target="_blank">this map</a>, which documents many existing and lost turtles. It’s incomplete, though- Hilery Park isn’t on
the list). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47Phfg-D0Y0qLEXgq2B97U-Y3cS5C0x2K0mBnEMBCsj9dxmed2rZp7Q3B2ysHdOGAIG95D1sV5XQdOHELYVCwNquP4CdwD41Xv8Aql6dvT6fxY40Ka80eoDVQthk5Uhk8tRmTwyN8ERtu/s1600/CreativePlayCatalog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi47Phfg-D0Y0qLEXgq2B97U-Y3cS5C0x2K0mBnEMBCsj9dxmed2rZp7Q3B2ysHdOGAIG95D1sV5XQdOHELYVCwNquP4CdwD41Xv8Aql6dvT6fxY40Ka80eoDVQthk5Uhk8tRmTwyN8ERtu/s1600/CreativePlayCatalog.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page from 1956 catalog</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I soon discovered that the turtles were designed and
produced by a company called Creative Playthings, and they first appeared in
the 1950s. The website<a href="http://mondo-blogo.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"> Mondo Blogo</a>
posted an entire catalog of the company’s products (<a href="http://mondo-blogo.blogspot.com/2012/03/creative-playthings-catalog.html" target="_blank">view it here</a>) dating from
1956. The turtle play sculpture is
featured prominently in the section on play sculptures, indicating that it was popular even then,
while it was still in production. As I
scrolled through the pages of the catalog, I noticed not only the turtles, but
other features of the Hilery Park playground were apparently sold by Creative Playthings
as well. Triangular ramps that I
remember running on as a child were featured, as was a large fort-like
construction called The Fantastic Village.
These were a part of my childhood memories as well, and I wasn’t
expecting to find them. (more on those
play sculptures in my next post).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Reading through the catalog, I realized one of the things
that truly makes writing this blog enjoyable.
It’s really a form on time travel.
Seeing all these play sculptures in the same catalog, and knowing that
they once all graced the same playground, puts this catalog in the hands of a
Buffalo city planner over 50 years ago.
I can start to understand the decisions that were made that would impact
generations of children in South Buffalo.
The catalog I found record of was from 1956 (according to the poster)
and I am guessing that the Hilery Park playground must have been supplied with
the Creative Plaything products at or around that date. I played on them as a child in the late 70s
and early 80s, so for at least 30 years these objects were a part of the
neighborhood’s fabric. Will the generic
metal and plastic playgrounds of today hold up for another 30 years? Possibly, but they certainly won’t be
remembered for their unique designs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">For my next post, I’ll
explore the Fantastic Village; kid tested, MoMA approved.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-32064103727456652402014-04-10T12:52:00.001-04:002014-04-10T12:52:10.524-04:00Picasso's Hidden Pictures<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqJs0dvSM8XM628Z3LCQP1mOaJZ54vo2kLmb6afICZ-AyE8rBVeWOHEosS1qarblPIY5g7Hm0wXbr69b7jiBerKFOpDVXmFXl9cXndSZxRTnEu3DhnDNfWTG6zc_787cvV4I-lWHU0Dxq/s1600/PicassoPhoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqJs0dvSM8XM628Z3LCQP1mOaJZ54vo2kLmb6afICZ-AyE8rBVeWOHEosS1qarblPIY5g7Hm0wXbr69b7jiBerKFOpDVXmFXl9cXndSZxRTnEu3DhnDNfWTG6zc_787cvV4I-lWHU0Dxq/s1600/PicassoPhoto.jpg" height="258" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm pretty sure this was one of the analyzed photos.<br />Picasso is on the right.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When I started
this blog over a year ago, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picasso" target="_blank">Pablo Picasso</a> was not someone I thought I’d find
myself writing about. I try to bring
attention to things that are forgotten or little-known, and Picasso doesn't even come close to fitting that description.
I can’t think of a 20</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> century artist who is written about
or discussed more than him (Salvador Dali or Andy Warhol may come close, but
Picasso’s got them beat by a long shot). <a href="https://www.google.com/#q=pablo+picasso" target="_blank">Google “Picasso” </a>and you’ll get millions of hits. Literature (both books and magazines) have
seemingly covered all aspects of Picasso’s life and art, and these explorations
can get incredibly specific at times.
For example, I was looking through an old Art in America a number of
years ago and found a very curious article about photos that had been taken of
Picasso and some of his friends in Paris.
The author had looked at the series of pictures and figured out exactly
where each picture had been taken as well as the exact timing of each one (I
remember there were in-depth explorations of the angles of the shadows, which
had helped determine time of day). It
was fascinating in a way, but also interesting because it was such an in-depth
exploration of something so seemingly minor.
The article didn’t offer any insight into Picasso’s artwork, but really
highlighted the cult of personality that still surrounds Picasso today. Every aspect of his life is studied with
almost scientific precision. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> [As a complete side note that highlights
Picasso’s impact, I just forgot to capitalize his name a second ago and Word corrected
it for me. Even computers know Picasso
is important!]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So why
Picasso this week? Is Cultural Ghosts
turning into the Superstar Artist Worship Site?
Hardly. I’ve chosen him
(specifically, one painting of his) to discuss this week because there’s an
aspect of Picasso’s work that seems to be marginalized (or ignored completely)
by art historians. Picasso hid pictures
in his paintings, and I have the evidence to prove it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Before I get
to that, Introducing a painting by Salvador Dali might help establish my point
here. Look at this painting and ask
yourself what you see:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMJFUJhZi9PsRhyTKR2Y9zvE5THxTzouq7EQJG4ZtUUiDwFx7kiHDFE3ebviGOZ2hkkTeQieVgngFCFiJPS6XJFjeThSM1GtWlCbRQqSR9Fr4vniuswSv7mNcxiLSWfq0mIVP8zPHaceT/s1600/daliApparition.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMJFUJhZi9PsRhyTKR2Y9zvE5THxTzouq7EQJG4ZtUUiDwFx7kiHDFE3ebviGOZ2hkkTeQieVgngFCFiJPS6XJFjeThSM1GtWlCbRQqSR9Fr4vniuswSv7mNcxiLSWfq0mIVP8zPHaceT/s1600/daliApparition.jpg" height="312" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The painting
is called </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Apparition of Face and Vase on
a Beach</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, and was painted in 1938.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">You
probably see a landscape, but you most likely see other things as well.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A face?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A bowl of fruit?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A dog?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">They’re all there, and Dali really doesn’t
work too hard at hiding them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">wants</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> you to see something besides the
landscape.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There are multiple
interpretations and multiple hidden images and everyone who looks at the
painting may focus on different areas.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Dali was extremely influenced by psychoanalysis, and the painting is
sort of a Rorschach test.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What you see
or focus on says something about you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Surrealist
paintings often create a sense of mystery or at least the sense that there’s
something else there, just under the surface.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Creating paintings that could be two (or three, or four) things all at
the same time was a common theme for Dali.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It was kind of his thing, as evidence by these other Dali paintings that
do the same thing as </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Apparition</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9sdOhiBPfdLpwnQDBysG9erkvY7KQGb25CoPlsMAEYD4EJ_Unela3TZCB_Im4S2_hKLk5yetBAfrz_VYu8pzORNukPo55nSjMFdihuVjWAzXu2vSVz0BGLJ1-190WFxgH3hI4gqj4sc2X/s1600/daliThreeages+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9sdOhiBPfdLpwnQDBysG9erkvY7KQGb25CoPlsMAEYD4EJ_Unela3TZCB_Im4S2_hKLk5yetBAfrz_VYu8pzORNukPo55nSjMFdihuVjWAzXu2vSVz0BGLJ1-190WFxgH3hI4gqj4sc2X/s1600/daliThreeages+(1).jpg" height="244" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipB8GZiuQBkHAwCTG16NKX01YU6LJ__Ht7lolp_oSsIfFYenQ9MozoL1fr6nFC3TDfpNrmSa3L25xgadF5c7mgMa_vFHmSJXeg9EUDSY0hX9KPbS7oiRbhbH7WAxfBLEkZHBfBqUrl_3kU/s1600/daliThreeages+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipB8GZiuQBkHAwCTG16NKX01YU6LJ__Ht7lolp_oSsIfFYenQ9MozoL1fr6nFC3TDfpNrmSa3L25xgadF5c7mgMa_vFHmSJXeg9EUDSY0hX9KPbS7oiRbhbH7WAxfBLEkZHBfBqUrl_3kU/s1600/daliThreeages+(2).jpg" height="320" width="254" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCn6ohXjri9rf0Z-7pEYJqe9z02b8QWMNuxedW39rxg4BjH1gx7fiHa0gojGq6Q4DAAU-XVMzKNgBhNO5t7DhOFs_g8i1oZRYDoOcMNf1YEbk-_9KOUfmbk26h5rjnDLmgEPWDTPGlOZUs/s1600/MagritteTheModel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCn6ohXjri9rf0Z-7pEYJqe9z02b8QWMNuxedW39rxg4BjH1gx7fiHa0gojGq6Q4DAAU-XVMzKNgBhNO5t7DhOFs_g8i1oZRYDoOcMNf1YEbk-_9KOUfmbk26h5rjnDLmgEPWDTPGlOZUs/s1600/MagritteTheModel.jpg" height="200" width="159" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Context is
what I’m getting at here. Picasso and
Dali were living in Paris at the same time, and Surrealism and Cubism were
happening concurrently. The two artists
certainly knew each other (at least informally) and Dali at one time admired
Picasso greatly. There is precedent for surrealists being influenced by cubism (take a look at the Magritte painting on the right),
so it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that relationship to be a two way
street. Considering that both of these
movements existed at the same time in the same place, is it any wonder that
Picasso created a painting like this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawolniGORg6j9bZRNTxkXSAsD97ejBOs_IDgVT8baqIKsuIQcd5h29X0d6I2IT4djjocACpP4Tv195hyJLHoFQTyR_LdYotTDIou8n1oZJ1VKA_cAm0uSPmRnwsHoAMpiMwK6_WpyjNgJ/s1600/MandolinAndGuitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhawolniGORg6j9bZRNTxkXSAsD97ejBOs_IDgVT8baqIKsuIQcd5h29X0d6I2IT4djjocACpP4Tv195hyJLHoFQTyR_LdYotTDIou8n1oZJ1VKA_cAm0uSPmRnwsHoAMpiMwK6_WpyjNgJ/s1600/MandolinAndGuitar.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The painting
is called <i>Mandolin and Guitar</i> and was
painted by Picasso in 1924. It is
currently in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. On the surface it’s a still life featuring
two instruments, but do you see something else too? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6J39vqBzPZXMHmKVKqrv9HZH7pKp7LuU6ODequOOHu6pPYF4h8tTrMh0siz8XxNfTHzqF1A7Tqn56vAwz6UzShlyvfW91BH3r4aLyKmu1gs8V1a6ae89HKpp9qiUkN-qC90dMNmWGeTA/s1600/MandolinAndGuitarFace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju6J39vqBzPZXMHmKVKqrv9HZH7pKp7LuU6ODequOOHu6pPYF4h8tTrMh0siz8XxNfTHzqF1A7Tqn56vAwz6UzShlyvfW91BH3r4aLyKmu1gs8V1a6ae89HKpp9qiUkN-qC90dMNmWGeTA/s1600/MandolinAndGuitarFace.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Red lines drawn by the author. Sort of creepy skull-like face provided by Picasso.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s a face,
right? I know I’m not the only one
seeing this. Not only is it a face, but
it’s a highly detailed face. The eye on
the left even has an eyelid. I knew of
this painting before but saw it again recently and the hidden face jumped out at
me almost immediately. Now I can’t <i>un</i>-see it. It almost functions better as a portrait than
as a still life. Is this a cubist
painting, a surrealist painting, or both?
Picasso is often discussed and revered as an innovator (which he certainly
was) but also was open to influences just like everyone else. Is this painting evidence of that? I wanted to find out if this aspect of
Picasso’s work had been studied by scholars, as well as see if there were any
other hidden objects to be found in his work.
What I found out surprised me a little.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Simply put,
art historians haven’t discussed it much.
The official description of the painting on the Guggenheim's website
(<a href="http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/3441" target="_blank">read it here</a>) doesn't mention it, nor could I find something written by an art historian on line that mentioned this aspect of his work. I did find a few blogs that mentioned it
(read one <a href="http://www.everypainterpaintshimself.com/article/picassos_mandolin_and_guitar" target="_blank">here</a>) but that was about it. Art historian T.J. Clark, who has written
extensively about this painting <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Picasso-Truth-Cubism-Guernica-Bollingen/dp/0691157413/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397148040&sr=8-1&keywords=tj+clark+picasso" target="_blank">in depth</a>, seems reluctant to talk about this
aspect of the work and actually marginalizes the importance of the face (he chooses to focus more on formal properties of Picasso's work). Why is this? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Before I go
any further, I should state that I merely scratched the surface as I researched
information for this topic. There are
literally thousands of articles (perhaps tens of thousands) that have been
written about Picasso over the last hundred years or so, and it makes
researching him a pretty daunting task.
Even just beginning to try to find information in old books and journals
would be a full time job (if anyone thinks the majority of scholarly research
on Picasso can be found online, they’re wrong).
Perhaps there is a whole corner of the Internet I missed in my search,
and I know there’s probably written material out there, I just haven’t been
able to find much. If any readers know
of anything specific, please kindly point me in the right direction. I will gladly post a correction or update a
post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But, I
digress. Why isn't there any information
out there concerning this aspect of Picasso’s work, and why do even scholarly
explorations of the painting omit it? After
doing a little digging, it’s seems that </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mandolin
and Guitar</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> is kind on a one-off.
There aren't many other Picasso paintings that contain hidden images. So perhaps it’s not seen as an important
aspect of his development. The hidden
image thing really didn't go anywhere, so why dwell on it? I would counter that argument by asking,
then, why it’s there in the first place.
If Picasso didn't want it looked at, why did he make the face so
obvious. And if you still aren't convinced of its obvious-ness, have another look:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9alCOYEmr2O5YhQYJc5ogMFiO7C8_xhQoxB1MK9aj34JyfRjwjqy8p9vtOYzRFxIBbggd8D5WElQko-QJ78OyVWnAX3YiUUuEzyOVbvoTWczKYaQP3nN0-l3lWnZvyUNz1j72-J9iKtSh/s1600/MandolinAndGuitarFace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9alCOYEmr2O5YhQYJc5ogMFiO7C8_xhQoxB1MK9aj34JyfRjwjqy8p9vtOYzRFxIBbggd8D5WElQko-QJ78OyVWnAX3YiUUuEzyOVbvoTWczKYaQP3nN0-l3lWnZvyUNz1j72-J9iKtSh/s1600/MandolinAndGuitarFace.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello again. Did you notice that I have cheekbones and teeth?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But, art historians
can be a pretty stubborn lot sometimes.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">They can stake whole careers on a theory about someone’s work, and then
they will defend that theory.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Bringing
in competing ideas can be seen as threatening an entire career of research.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The restoration of the Michelangelo’s Sistine
Chapel ceiling is a great example.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When
the </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">frescoes</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> were cleaned 30 years ago, bright, vibrant colors that had been
hidden under dirt for centuries were revealed.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Some scholars were shocked.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Historians had spent hundreds of years talking about how Michelangelo </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.399999618530273px;">didn't</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> know how to use color, and now they were being proven wrong.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe seeing the face in the painting forces
us to reconsider Picasso a little.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Was
he the serious innovator who created completely new styles of seeing, or could
he be influenced by others?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Is the piece
meant to be funny?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Is Picasso trying to
out-surreal the surrealists?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Regardless
of why Picasso hid the face in the painting, it’s there all the same.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It might not be an important aspect of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">all </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">of Picasso’s work, but it’s
certainly a big part of this one.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Next time, a new topic. It might be something you've never heard of (or seen).</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-71251977048695380652014-04-03T12:39:00.002-04:002014-04-03T12:58:15.068-04:00Still Bobbin' Along- Wonderfalls turns 10<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What creates
a cult phenomenon?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cult television shows
or movies certainly have to meet certain criteria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They must have a devoted (sometimes almost
slavishly devoted) fan base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are
usually quirky or at least a little different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes they have tragic endings, such as being cancelled too soon or
being unappreciated in their time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps no television series in the last decade epitomizes the qualities
of a cult TV show more than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderfalls" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i></a>,
the off-beat and thoroughly engaging program created by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Fuller" target="_blank">Bryan Fuller</a> and Todd
Holland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This week (April 1, to be
exact) marks the tenth anniversary of its untimely cancellation by the Fox
network.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjT6R-gQuCMnENI1Ul9wKY9UDERKrk9UY770SklGV6zmj3rqpgtc8QkFVYpWSR5HiqDsc3AQxmdKtsZtPoSVSRHLZyQIMsqlSqCwAAhH9XYt-2FMf7Iuyb0MkMtpV44H4AOXWv6OWb5OWm/s1600/Wonderfalls1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjT6R-gQuCMnENI1Ul9wKY9UDERKrk9UY770SklGV6zmj3rqpgtc8QkFVYpWSR5HiqDsc3AQxmdKtsZtPoSVSRHLZyQIMsqlSqCwAAhH9XYt-2FMf7Iuyb0MkMtpV44H4AOXWv6OWb5OWm/s1600/Wonderfalls1.jpg" height="241" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The series title card</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">To the uninitiated,
perhaps a short introduction is necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> centers on Jaye
Tyler (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Dhavernas" target="_blank">Caroline Dhavernas</a>, who now stars on Fuller’s <a href="http://www.nbc.com/hannibal" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hannibal</i></a>), a disaffected twenty-something who works at a tacky
souvenir store in her hometown of <a href="http://www.niagarafallsusa.org/" target="_blank">Niagara Falls, New York.</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s over-educated (she has a philosophy
degree) and completely unmotivated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
the series begins, she’s living in a trailer park and has just been passed over
for a promotion at work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though her
house has wheels on it, her life doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere (at
least not anywhere interesting).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She has
a strained relationship with her family, who in contrast are all more
successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father Darren (<a href="http://www.williamsadler.com/" target="_blank">WilliamSadler</a>) is a doctor at the local hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Her mother Karen (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Scarwid" target="_blank">Diana Scarwid</a>) is a well-known travel guide
author.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sister Sharon (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Finneran" target="_blank">Katie Finneran</a>)
is an immigration attorney (and closeted lesbian), and her brother Aaron (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Pace" target="_blank">LeePace</a>) is a theologian (and atheist) pursuing his Ph.D.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhAWES-vX4XS3HevBTfJe3j1WWuyUaGKQEjOi-JHrHVNSk_2sZGc-CN8tBsoh-QoU8y-dPU7EOxVNtdeDafVuypTt0hpmydHWQ1-ISZ4h968CSGDxpflkpAa4xsLvtF16nnS2yCm-wWIl/s1600/Wonderfalls4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhAWES-vX4XS3HevBTfJe3j1WWuyUaGKQEjOi-JHrHVNSk_2sZGc-CN8tBsoh-QoU8y-dPU7EOxVNtdeDafVuypTt0hpmydHWQ1-ISZ4h968CSGDxpflkpAa4xsLvtF16nnS2yCm-wWIl/s1600/Wonderfalls4.jpg" height="245" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Her life has
settled into a groove that she seems resigned to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She hates her job, but can vent about it with
her best friend Mahandra (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracie_Thoms" target="_blank">Tracie Thoms</a>), who works as a waitress at the local
bar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things are pretty mundane, that is until
she starts hearing voices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After almost
choking to death during her lunch break, she returns to work and is
understandably disturbed when one of the souvenir tchotchkes speaks up (lack
of a larynx aside) and tells her to not give a customer their refund.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually, any animal-shaped object (it has
to have a face, according to Jaye) starts communicating with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes they repeat cryptic statements;
sometimes they give her advice or orders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When she listens to them, she sets in motion events that end up affecting
the lives of not only her family and friends, but also strangers she’s now
forced to interact with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Complicating
things even further (as if believing you’re losing your mind isn’t complicated enough)
is Eric (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyron_Leitso" target="_blank">Tyron Leitso</a>), the new bartender she has an immediate attraction
to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, nothing is simple in Jaye’s
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric is a New Jersey resident who
came to Niagara Falls on his honeymoon, only to find new bride Heidi in a
compromising position with a hotel employee shortly after checking into their
hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdQ7faE_9F90UVGlE2vMozwg44y8tx1Wu_OkYIfIYIW4n_Y4mS_ctKL5bXEZCkdWounBFHYwMWyt_Q61H8qc0T662p3kzbL29jINWKUA98IoCKxte4XgqaBf2iaUKQCYFprTfwaXEZNZI/s1600/Wonderfalls2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdQ7faE_9F90UVGlE2vMozwg44y8tx1Wu_OkYIfIYIW4n_Y4mS_ctKL5bXEZCkdWounBFHYwMWyt_Q61H8qc0T662p3kzbL29jINWKUA98IoCKxte4XgqaBf2iaUKQCYFprTfwaXEZNZI/s1600/Wonderfalls2.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As I’m
writing this, I’m finding that summarizing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>
in a few paragraphs isn’t easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
combined philosophical ideas of fate and faith, while also presenting a
complicated and multi-layered view of Jaye’s family (all of her family members play
important roles in various episodes).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was ultimately a comedy, but different episodes had varied themes and looks,
and from episode to episode the show could take on the tropes of the crime
thriller (“Crime Dog”), a noir mystery (“Cocktail Bunny”) or 1980’s high school
comedy (“Pink Flamingos”).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It carried
numerous story arcs through multiple episodes and certainly wasn’t a “drop-in”
show that could be watched casually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After
the airing of the pilot episode on Friday, March 12, 2004, the show immediately
started to receive positive critical attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Over the next three weeks, the show built a small but very dedicated fan
base.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time, reality shows seemed
to be taking over television and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Wonderfalls</i>
seemed like a breath of fresh air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
really wasn’t anything else like it on TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course, Fox cancelled it after only airing four episodes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That Fox
never had much faith in the show was pretty evident from day one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was originally scheduled to air on Friday
nights at 9pm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time is affectionately
referred to in the TV industry as the “Friday night death spot”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since people typically go out on Friday
nights, it’s very difficult for a show to gain an audience at this time
(probably the most well-known show that aired at this time successfully was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The X-Files</i>, and even that was
eventually moved to a different night).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Complicating
things further was that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>
had a terrible lead-in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the 8pm spot
was the wretched reality show <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playing_It_Straight" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playing itStraight</i></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This show had an absolutely
horrible premise: a solitary woman on a ranch is surrounded by attractive men,
the only catch is that some of them are gay and it’s her job to identify and eliminate
the gay ones (one a week, in typical reality show fashion) so the man she ends
up with is straight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was like if <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Bachelorette</i> had gay people on it
and everything was awful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was so
offensive about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playing it Straight</i>
was how it pandered to the worst gay stereotypes: gay men are effeminate and
can be identified by their mannerisms; women have “gay-dar” and can pick out
who is gay and who is straight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
pretty bad and really represented how low reality TV had sunk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pandering and stereotypical representation
of homosexuality on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Playing it Straight</i>
was in stark contrast to the way the same topic was dealt with in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the pilot episode, Jaye discovers that her
sister is gay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karen’s homosexuality, as
well as her insecurity and inability to come out to her conservative parents,
is treated humorously at times, but it’s also dealt with compassionately (realistic
representations of gay people weren’t as common on TV only a decade ago).</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After airing
for three weeks with a crappy reality show for a lead-in, Fox unexpectedly
moved the show to Thursday night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
gave little notice of the change, airing only a few spots advertising a new
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sudden move caused many fans
to miss the airing of the fourth episode (“Pink Flamingos”) on April 1, 2004,
and it wasn’t helped by the fact that it was now competing with Donald Trump’s <a href="http://www.nbc.com/the-celebrity-apprentice" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Apprentice</i></a>, at the time in its first
season and very successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Within a few
days, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> fans (and there
were already a lot of them) were finding out the show had been cancelled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fans were understandably outraged, and did
something that wasn’t very common back in 2004- they took to the internet and
demanded action.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wonderfalls</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> was probably never that exciting from
a television executive’s standpoint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Reality TV was very big at the time, and those shows were cheap to
produce and could at times produce big ratings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> was more expensive
to make.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had a big cast (seven major
characters, not including recurring roles and guest stars), required occasional
location shooting in Niagara Falls (although the show was primarily filmed in
Toronto), and needed extensive post production (all of the animal animations
were created through CGI).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add to this
the current TV culture that must be able to declare a show a “hit” after only
airing one episode, and it was pretty clear (in hindsight, at least) that the
writing was on the wall. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wonderfalls</i> had devoted fans almost
immediately but didn’t post huge ratings numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when the show started airing in March of
2004, all 13 episodes that Fox had ordered were basically finished and paid
for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fox made it very clear that they
weren’t planning to air the remaining episodes at any time in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This seemed illogical to the show’s fans
since a network will often “burn off” episodes of a cancelled TV show, usually
during the summer months (even the recently cancelled <a href="http://www.fox.com/rake/" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rake</i></a>, a Fox show that garnered little to no critical or fan
attention, is getting it’s episodes burned off this month).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fans wanted answers, and shortly after the
cancellation a website called “Save <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>”
was created.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It quickly became a hub for
fans to discuss the show, share rumors, and speculate on the future.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One of the
reasons I chose to write about the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>
cancellation this week (aside from the fact that I love the show) was to
highlight how much the Internet and TV have changed in a very short amount of
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fans seem to have more power
today, and some recent efforts to re-start fan-favorite TV shows (namely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arrested Development</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Veronica Mars</i>) have succeeded thanks to
basic technological infrastructure that wasn’t there a decade ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Veronica
Mars</i> movie was crowdfunded by fans through Kickstarter, and Netflix picked
up <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arrested Development</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both of these revivals would have been
impossible in 2004 because TV just worked differently back then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s weird to say “back then” in reference to
2004, but this is one of those times where great changes in the way we receive
entertainment are very noticeable.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Early
conversations on the “Save <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>”
message boards dealt with discussions of the episodes that had aired, rumors
and plot lines from episodes that hadn’t aired, as well as instructions on how
people could write to Fox and complain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
was a lot of anger being vented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People
who hated reality TV lamented the fact that a smart and funny show like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> wasn’t given a chance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were hopes that a different network
might pick up and air the unseen shows or perhaps even begin production on a
new season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This also highlights another
major difference between TV then and now; there just weren’t many places for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> to go, since fewer networks
produced their own series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back then,
the majority of original programming was coming from basically five sources:
NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, and HBO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other
networks produced shows (Bryan Fuller’s pre-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>
show <a href="http://www.deadlikeme.tv/index.php" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dead Like Me</i></a> had aired on
Showtime, after all) but these shows often flew under the radar or weren’t seen
by large audiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today it seems that
every network on television is producing only its own content, and even non-TV
outlets like Netflix and Amazon produce original, incredibly successful
programs. It’s very possible to speculate that had <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> been cancelled today, it might have found a new home on
a different network.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But alas, it was
not to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As months passed, it became
clear that Fox had no intention of reviving the show or airing the rest of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Save <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>” shifted its focus, and started encouraging fans to
contact Fox and ask them to release the series on DVD.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the diligent action of the shows fan
base, who would not let the memory of the show fade, their efforts were eventually
successful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The entire series was
released on DVD in 2005.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Ultimately,
what carried the show through cancellation and into cult TV history is the
quality of the program itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> is at turns touching and
philosophical, but it’s also funny as hell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you’ve read this far but haven’t seen the show, I don’t want to spoil
anything for you in my conclusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stop
reading this blog and go binge watch it (another term that didn’t exist 10
years ago).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The DVD is available on
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wonderfalls-Complete-Series-Caroline-Dhavernas/dp/B0006GAO18/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396544129&sr=8-1&keywords=wonderfalls" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can probably stream it on
Netflix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go watch it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll wait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Good, you’re
back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Funny, isn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Lick the light switch”, am I right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh wait, you didn’t get that reference?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That means you didn’t watch it and you’re
just a big liar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go watch it for real.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> ended, fans felt deprived of
a great show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Questions of “what if” abounded
on the Internet and people speculated on what would have happened on the show
had it stayed on the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the audio
commentaries on the DVD (which I totally recommend listening to- they’re
actually informative and funny, unlike some audio commentaries), Fuller and
Holland talk quite a bit about what future storylines would have been
explored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jaye was going to be committed
to a mental institution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karen was going
to get mysteriously pregnant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
these story lines would have worked, maybe not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m going to go out on a limb here and say something that would have
probably irked die-hard fans ten years ago: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>
is fine (and almost perfect) the way it is. </span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Whenever a
popular show gets cancelled, it seems that the first thing people do nowadays
is take to the internet and demand that someone make new episodes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes fans are willing to finance these comebacks
out of their own pockets, and that’s fine if it can lead to more quality
programming, but I really think these instances are rare and not always the best
for the legacy of the show. (Does anyone really think <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Family Guy</i> has benefitted from the addition of countless new
seasons?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two other Bryan Fuller-penned
shows, in my opinion, illustrate this.</span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dead Like Me</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is a show that shares a lot of
similarities with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i> (both
shows have similar protagonists, both include supernatural elements).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fuller created the premise and tone of the
show and left after just working on a few episodes, so the way the show wrapped
up isn’t his fault, but the program had a dedicated fan base who wanted more
after the show was cancelled after t<i>wo</i> seasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What resulted
was the full-length movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Life After
Death</i>, and it isn’t very good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
suffers most from the absence of series star Mandy Patinkin, who couldn’t be in
it due to contract obligations on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Criminal
Minds</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without him, the heart of the
show was missing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dead Like Me</i> is a good show too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you haven’t seen it but wish to, do yourself a favor and skip <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Life After Death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>It adds nothing to an otherwise solid
run.</span></div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Daisies" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Pushing Daisies</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> is the show that Bryan Fuller is
perhaps most known for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonderfalls</i>, it was suddenly cancelled (it
too was critically acclaimed but was crippled by a writer’s strike that cut the
first season short and caused the show to lose momentum).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Repeated attempts to revive the show as a graphic
novel, feature film, or even a Broadway musical have all seemed to stall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As more time passes, the task of reuniting
the whole cast becomes harder and seems less likely (never say never, though-
who thought anyone would ever be able to reunite the entire <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arrested Development</i> cast?)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">No<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, Wonderfalls</i> is fine just the way it
is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It tells a story that mostly wraps
up by the final episode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eric frees
himself from Heidi and returns to Niagara Falls to be with Jaye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jaye seems to have at least come to grudgingly
accept her abilities and realize that she has a part to play in the
universe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no unresolved cliffhanger,
and few loose ends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ending is
satisfying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes the viewer feel as
if we’ve been on a journey with these characters and learned something about
them in the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jaye and Eric get
their happy ending, and isn’t that what we should want for characters we
like?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t see how more episodes
could have made it any better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">On a personal
note<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, Wonderfalls</i> introduced me to
the television shows of Bryan Fuller, and I’ve since gone on to watch and
thoroughly enjoy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dead Like Me</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pushing Daisies</i> (I’m just starting on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hannibal</i>- better late than never).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As fans know, he has a unique writing style
and vision that I completely relate to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
also introduced me to the power that a show’s fans can have when united behind
a common cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following the aftermath
of the show’s cancellation, I found myself part of a larger community, one that
was like-minded and dedicated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the DVD
was finally released, I felt as if I had helped to make it happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the days before social media (at least as
we know it today), it was heartening to see how something like a television
show could bring people together and generate such strong feelings of
loyalty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fans of the show remain loyal,
and as one of them I should know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
2006 I had just started dating my girlfriend, and she noticed the<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Wonderfalls </i>DVD on the shelf in my
apartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I loved that show!” she
proclaimed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it any wonder I married
her? </span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGrKgY2aN2y08KFPx2El5UHpP60Tqz5gXjErT86LA5IWTkhhN0KWzZN8kyw7iI1-ORPNa5pFVOa9J1lBArl674INHf3tEizGAvqcrNFxNX6wEeoLiXqQ7jhw87PnXZL5EjNgJlmXgfT8l/s1600/Wonderfalls3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGrKgY2aN2y08KFPx2El5UHpP60Tqz5gXjErT86LA5IWTkhhN0KWzZN8kyw7iI1-ORPNa5pFVOa9J1lBArl674INHf3tEizGAvqcrNFxNX6wEeoLiXqQ7jhw87PnXZL5EjNgJlmXgfT8l/s1600/Wonderfalls3.jpg" height="315" width="640" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Next time, a new topic. It might be something you've never heard of.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-25637627412432033082014-03-06T12:09:00.000-05:002014-11-11T11:16:28.086-05:00A Tragic Day on Genesee Street<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">As
I probably mentioned on this blog before, I’m a native of Buffalo, New
York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still live there and I find the
history of the city fascinating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love
finding old photos of Buffalo, and I’m always pleasantly surprised when I find
an old picture of Buffalo in a mainstream publication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While looking through a book on photographic
history not long ago I came across this photograph taken by I. Russell
Sorgi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taken on May 7, 1942 and called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suicide</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> (also referred to as </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Genesee Hotel Suicide </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">o<i>r</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> The Despondant Divorcee)</i>, it is a disturbing photo that captures
an event that no one would voluntarily choose to witness:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jZ4mGobULUzw7yQWHgC0MjFoksxWgEghZKxJ6OVGSxKvcdMH6ND-vWMzCrT1l9mE_5dJI2jTT2TRgTfBia8q5ZLbveVIS7e4FxDVWEJnhQZ5FMxIlF7FIJuboPg0w-jCVdetobJxtikS/s1600/SorgiSuicidePhoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_jZ4mGobULUzw7yQWHgC0MjFoksxWgEghZKxJ6OVGSxKvcdMH6ND-vWMzCrT1l9mE_5dJI2jTT2TRgTfBia8q5ZLbveVIS7e4FxDVWEJnhQZ5FMxIlF7FIJuboPg0w-jCVdetobJxtikS/s1600/SorgiSuicidePhoto.jpg" height="400" width="316" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">A
little background information might be useful before I go on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The photo was taken in front of the Genesee
Hotel that stood on the corner of Genesee and Pearl Streets in downtown Buffalo
(more on the building a little later on).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It shows a woman named Mary Miller falling to her death after jumping
from an eighth story window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Captured
just a fraction of a second before Miller’s violent end, the photo made
headlines and became well-known nationally after it was reprinted in<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Life</i> magazine a few weeks after the
incident.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The photographer was
I(gnatius) Russell Sorgi, a staff photographer for Buffalo’s Courier Express
newspaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorgi happened to be close by
when the events at the Genesee Hotel were unfolding, and he explained the
origins of the photo afterwards:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">“I
snatched my camera from the car and took two quick shots as she seemed to
hesitate…As quickly as possible I shoved the exposed film into the case and
reached for a fresh holder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I no sooner
had pulled the slide out and got set for another shot than she waved to the
crowd below and pushed herself into space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Screams and shouts burst from the horrified onlookers as her body
plummeted toward the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took a
firm grip on myself, waited until the woman passed the second or third story,
and then shot.”</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Reading
the quote over 70 years after the fact, Sorgi’s account can seem a little
callous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His description of the event
seems indifferent to the plight of Mary Miller, but his words really underscore
the difference between photography then and now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People in the 1940s owned cameras, but they
were used for special occasions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
would take their cameras on vacations or to birthday parties, but didn’t take
them to work with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were other
witnesses to this particular event (a woman in uniform, believed by some to be
a meter maid, is rushing into the building, and the waiter in the coffee shop
seems aware of a commotion outside) but none of them would have had cameras
with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorgi was perhaps the only
person in the immediate area with a camera at the ready, and he realized that
the picture he took was different than other crime photos of the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since photography was a more complicated
process back then (through Sorgi’s description you can tell that his camera was
definitely not point-and-shoot) and most photos of crimes or tragedies were
taken after the event had already occurred.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This photo is a great example:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBD7FBwKQzhK9I-M_GcSWOah0D69vuyD0QynYA8XHuqLzliPXaMbdk8UqTNDVt5O03oel8xv01aihjt6uwONMcnUncGMd-wjacPZFZhGc61giTP205Lti4SuSgXwGeCS0X69oUI4OvwM9L/s1600/282px-Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBD7FBwKQzhK9I-M_GcSWOah0D69vuyD0QynYA8XHuqLzliPXaMbdk8UqTNDVt5O03oel8xv01aihjt6uwONMcnUncGMd-wjacPZFZhGc61giTP205Lti4SuSgXwGeCS0X69oUI4OvwM9L/s1600/282px-Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895.jpg" height="320" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">That
photo, taken after a train accident at Montparnasse Station in Parisin 1895, really
illustrates how documentary photos worked back then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Photo could be a time-consuming process and
cameras were bulky, so they were often brought in to document the aftermath of
an event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the above photo, the event
had already happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This makes it no
less disturbing, for sure, but by the time the photo was taken the train was
essentially debris waiting to be cleaned up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sorgi captured Murray’s tragic suicide while it was happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Catching something like this (however
gruesome) was extremely rare and Sorgi was literally in the right place at the
right time. He knew capturing this moment in this way was a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We tend to take photography for granted and
treat it as something that everyone has access to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recent tragedy that really illustrates the
difference between then and now is the Boston Marathon bombing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literally hundreds of people were recording
the finish line before and after the attack, creating an almost continuous
record of the bombing and its aftermath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sorgi’s words may seem seem a little harsh, but perhaps we can forgive him a
little for realizing that he was both witness to, and sole recorder of, a
tragic event.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">After
discovering the photo, I was interested in finding out where it had taken
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sign for the Genesee Hotel is
clearly visible in the photo, and Genesee Street is a major street in downtown
Buffalo (although it’s been altered quite a bit since the photo was
taken).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a major hotel there
today (the Hyatt) and I assumed that this is where the event had taken
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But after studying the
architecture of the Hyatt (originally called the Genesee Building) I know that
wasn’t the place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first floors of
the Hyatt are glass and bronze, not the brick and concrete visible in the Sorgi
photo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After doing a little digging I found
this postcard reproduced on the Buffalo Police Department website:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMUKvwQV0ELNyqcjYPvmZjo1PT8oil1Ge2neE3aP3Q8aczj7IOvP8sxfsuBDCdWCBKeilYAp9w0E2CptcXGMZSZy8HsVHfLPzyGIE6Je66PRD_Ws6ZunLbUM6QKdR2_ib_sDPUtXNJDLiD/s1600/GeneseeHotelPostcard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMUKvwQV0ELNyqcjYPvmZjo1PT8oil1Ge2neE3aP3Q8aczj7IOvP8sxfsuBDCdWCBKeilYAp9w0E2CptcXGMZSZy8HsVHfLPzyGIE6Je66PRD_Ws6ZunLbUM6QKdR2_ib_sDPUtXNJDLiD/s1600/GeneseeHotelPostcard.jpg" height="195" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Arrow added by the Buffalo Police Department</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">That
image shows a building attached to the Buffalo YMCA building (on the left) that
matches the lower floors of the building visible in the Sorgi photo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a ledge at the eighth floor (Miller
was described as jumping from an eighth story ledge) and a different photo
taken after Sorgi’s clearly shows the YMCA in the background.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-f-x5eXvKsyAgUe_8EQWdPmwL9o_5_vFLKu69TggxiPLkPnR18pNeRCQWeVNPC7rHN1ZCa5c3ymEmAliUQc907GHnzBc861qRfKqKZMh-RM-chLoKAj1Anx2wovTVe6osA1HpX61S3Lyg/s1600/Genesee_HotelOtherView.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-f-x5eXvKsyAgUe_8EQWdPmwL9o_5_vFLKu69TggxiPLkPnR18pNeRCQWeVNPC7rHN1ZCa5c3ymEmAliUQc907GHnzBc861qRfKqKZMh-RM-chLoKAj1Anx2wovTVe6osA1HpX61S3Lyg/s1600/Genesee_HotelOtherView.jpg" height="244" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">I
was able to find another old photo that shows where the building stood in
relation to the surrounding buildings, some of which are still there.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVweoyTnJcQxn6T1wV0gDC3zYo8d1EVLCZj-C09GVeezLIwfiLf9ZPQhfrE7IOhUIde_47fi8ZWxKBWCoG35JxN7c5EGTQ_iVWa-auMtp19RDJPudZHliSxASk80FWrp-KmR8lwoqA9oCe/s1600/GeneseeHotelinContext.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVweoyTnJcQxn6T1wV0gDC3zYo8d1EVLCZj-C09GVeezLIwfiLf9ZPQhfrE7IOhUIde_47fi8ZWxKBWCoG35JxN7c5EGTQ_iVWa-auMtp19RDJPudZHliSxASk80FWrp-KmR8lwoqA9oCe/s1600/GeneseeHotelinContext.jpg" height="400" width="321" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This photo shows the Genesee Building (now the Buffalo Hyatt) on the right, the white Victor and Co. building in the center (since demolished) and the Genesee Hotel to the left (outlined in red).</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">The
building doesn’t exist anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most
recent photo I was able to find of the old Genesee Hotel (that was later used
as the YMCA Men’s Hotel) was from 1978.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It looks as if the building is in the early stages of demolition here:</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAuyWGUE47Agsp6ebf6geGVOqk3KZi1DM_pWv5FbCH9S-mVwFYT-KpOCx2xkv9QYo0GZcqP58tiCFNuM1tHFBQdRk6-cMGNj-48qUvWG_4va9zdunYuPPAhbtEnD-8DVBmxdstoOQ2cF3/s1600/GeneseeHotelLastView.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAuyWGUE47Agsp6ebf6geGVOqk3KZi1DM_pWv5FbCH9S-mVwFYT-KpOCx2xkv9QYo0GZcqP58tiCFNuM1tHFBQdRk6-cMGNj-48qUvWG_4va9zdunYuPPAhbtEnD-8DVBmxdstoOQ2cF3/s1600/GeneseeHotelLastView.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The low building blocking the YMCA is the Buffalo Convention Center. The entrance to the Genesee Hotel (at this point the YMCA Men's Hotel) seems partially boarded up.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">I
visited the site recently and it’s changed quite a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The YMCA is still there, but the grand
entrance that once faced Genesee Street is now found crammed into an
alley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Genesee Street was removed during
the construction of the much-maligned Buffalo Convention Center, and the north
entrances to the convention center now sit where Genesee Street once did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The spot where the Genesee Hotel stood it now
occupied by a modern office building and courtyard, and it’s hard to get a sense of
where exactly the tragedy took place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The sidewalk has been widened, and the removal of Genesee Street (which
ran diagonally across Pearl Street) makes it hard to get a sense of how the
building sat in relation to the street.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6o825SgXosH_zYIBdCPaXW08Rx_uTEDVOQSir1dwpVXXW6MmfVdqXtFjE-VvW0Bcviqzdjq-9WvZ6njF_4usiYVjQkOPoE6LMyAUFODeq8S1k-CB8f72VLjStm07KjkmoiiB7_swTipLO/s1600/GeneseeHotelToday2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6o825SgXosH_zYIBdCPaXW08Rx_uTEDVOQSir1dwpVXXW6MmfVdqXtFjE-VvW0Bcviqzdjq-9WvZ6njF_4usiYVjQkOPoE6LMyAUFODeq8S1k-CB8f72VLjStm07KjkmoiiB7_swTipLO/s1600/GeneseeHotelToday2.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The once grand entrance to the YMCA is now banished to a narrow alley</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbLTPhdL4SPt56gmRcoGRkgzvMGt3fkBbwcWI-idaztNUef6HVj8lzmLmaKAW4uolwZ95I26MRew3jz_C49gbCHH33NghUUjBqw6a7HZDhx3t_PTW_Xx_athTXhXep6oUKiajGM0blyMO/s1600/DSCN5102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbLTPhdL4SPt56gmRcoGRkgzvMGt3fkBbwcWI-idaztNUef6HVj8lzmLmaKAW4uolwZ95I26MRew3jz_C49gbCHH33NghUUjBqw6a7HZDhx3t_PTW_Xx_athTXhXep6oUKiajGM0blyMO/s1600/DSCN5102.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The entrance to the Genesee Hotel visible in Sorgi's photo stood roughly where this courtyard is now.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_js1iYNtuAH7riy5F2rTRQi8cYH6KUvUxJoCIHEaTGNn7H1qNm9cW5h7kwgFWdxwnqEPxKvMxyTZj2_UjPvwSYg3VwuYLpxPbutIacmwX4gHkp2uDBREh9n3JojrwwKXByL_0FcSQW80/s1600/GeneseeHotelToday1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_js1iYNtuAH7riy5F2rTRQi8cYH6KUvUxJoCIHEaTGNn7H1qNm9cW5h7kwgFWdxwnqEPxKvMxyTZj2_UjPvwSYg3VwuYLpxPbutIacmwX4gHkp2uDBREh9n3JojrwwKXByL_0FcSQW80/s1600/GeneseeHotelToday1.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Genesee Hotel stood to the right from this viewpoint. The elevated walkway to the left connects the Convention Center to the Hyatt across the street</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xM4wUiN2Tqkd2XSO3H_QutuNR6JYMU4o6VPepaxTvEEQnu4QSuHOuZgN3etBsKC25UFhI4Mtl-5EGSM2abaQ1PxsXHWPHlsfvnx9JNxvER_dAoiVq8dtU0UPsAWKvniSwcL7NEI1nHNk/s1600/GeneseeHotelSideBySide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xM4wUiN2Tqkd2XSO3H_QutuNR6JYMU4o6VPepaxTvEEQnu4QSuHOuZgN3etBsKC25UFhI4Mtl-5EGSM2abaQ1PxsXHWPHlsfvnx9JNxvER_dAoiVq8dtU0UPsAWKvniSwcL7NEI1nHNk/s1600/GeneseeHotelSideBySide.jpg" height="265" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This isn't and exact side-by-side comparison, but it really shows how much the street has changed since 1942.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">We
tend to take photos of every moment of our lives now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New technology is being developed that will
actually take photos of our surroundings constantly, so we never have to miss
anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with that is that
most of our lives are pretty ordinary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s the rare and special moments in our lives that we want to remember,
and that’s what photo used to be saved for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You brought out the camera to commemorate those special times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorgi’s photo functions in that way too, but
on a much darker scale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tragic moments in
life occur as well, and sometimes these moments are over in an instant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When captured at just the right time, they
can serve as horrifying reminders of tragedy and loss.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Next time, a new (and hopefully happier) topic. It might be something you've never heard of. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-61008745848107172202014-02-18T12:01:00.001-05:002014-11-11T11:21:23.023-05:00Montreal's Fleur de Lys Theare; Post Script<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wow. I received quite a response for my last series of posts that I wasn't really expecting (but was definitely welcome). This blog is still new and this was my first experience with crowd sourcing my research. Normally when I begin one of my posts, I know at least a little bit about the topic I'm writing about, and have the basic facts straight. In this case, I was missing the artist altogether. Readers in Montreal found the story and ran with it, as the saying goes. I still don't have a name, but I'm closer to the truth and have the on-line community to thank (read my previous post <a href="http://culturalghosts.blogspot.com/2014/01/montreals-fleur-de-lys-theater-part-1.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://culturalghosts.blogspot.com/2014/02/montreals-fleur-de-lys-theater-part-2.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://culturalghosts.blogspot.com/2014/02/montreals-fleur-de-lys-theater-part-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Special thanks are due to Jim Forbes and Dominic Gascon. Mr. Forbes commented on my post last week and identified himself as someone who worked on the building in the past. He gave me quite a bit of useful information (more on that below). Mr. Gascon is a current employee at <a href="http://www.stereonightclub.net/" target="_blank">Stereo Nightclub</a> (the building's current tenant) and he posed my question to social media, generating dozens of comments and guesses in the process. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Apparently the building is German in origin (not Canadian as I originally assumed). According to Mr. Forbes, the mural was designed in Germany and meant to invoke Haida imagery. The forms on the facade of the Fleur de Lys really don't capture the spirit of Haida art, but that can probably be expected from an artist working in another country, and not really fully aware of the iconography they're working with (or the region, Haida art originates in Western Canada). I've got some good leads to go on, and once I can name a specific architectural firm or artist, I'll post an update (and perhaps be able to find another building designed by the same architect).</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggMlbeI79eCtoiKY2x7WiE2CQAP6TP4IRY875l0Wtq0uDe2Xuxy1EP4tBJGLOJxs_7hpBeDLp3hZa9gURRWFbQtXnC1czpZm7S3iC2c9nHbtJL2phnRsEkMjqGXqRdZ8tOZaPWwIfU9wq1/s1600/haida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggMlbeI79eCtoiKY2x7WiE2CQAP6TP4IRY875l0Wtq0uDe2Xuxy1EP4tBJGLOJxs_7hpBeDLp3hZa9gURRWFbQtXnC1czpZm7S3iC2c9nHbtJL2phnRsEkMjqGXqRdZ8tOZaPWwIfU9wq1/s1600/haida.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A true example of Haida art, much different than what appears on the Fleur de Lys</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thanks again to everyone who contributed to my search or just took a little time to think about something they might not have noticed in the past. It is through you that the history of this building, as well as the history of Montreal, lives on.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com1858 Saint Catherine Street East, Montreal, QC H2L 2E3, Canada45.5160876 -73.558276145.5160441 -73.5583551 45.516131099999996 -73.5581971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-49418870206331359502014-02-13T12:14:00.001-05:002014-11-11T11:21:04.766-05:00Montreal's Fleur de Lys Theater, part 3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I continue to search for the specific architect/artist
who designed Montreal’s Fleur de Lys cinema, I continue to come up against dead
ends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simple Google searches didn’t get
me far, and I have only been able to find brief references through other sources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I studied nearby architecture built around
the same time, and that didn’t yield any results either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been pointed in the direction of
Montreal’s Place des Arts, but the architects who designed those various
buildings didn’t seem like a stylistic match to the concrete frieze that
decorates the Fleur de Lys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought
the next logical step would be to study the artists and sculptors whose work is
displayed throughout the complex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps that would lead to a solution.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWh90zhZ7ii5nZ44Uj1GuQ2xpN4DxI6-1pTPEL_BXgktuKk5l3g7ynR1PKQEsXgLBeh0Z2nFjKcQPnwXuzmeAn8lC94sAJDf-MeuUsATBW6BCm0otuIfVEKTyHAWCotqmWRX1t11Dczva2/s1600/FleurdeLysCorner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWh90zhZ7ii5nZ44Uj1GuQ2xpN4DxI6-1pTPEL_BXgktuKk5l3g7ynR1PKQEsXgLBeh0Z2nFjKcQPnwXuzmeAn8lC94sAJDf-MeuUsATBW6BCm0otuIfVEKTyHAWCotqmWRX1t11Dczva2/s1600/FleurdeLysCorner.jpg" height="316" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"I will haunt you in your dreams" -Montreal's Fleur de Lys Cinema</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I’ve sort of been doing this since this research began,
really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t put an artist’s name
to the Fleur de Lys decoration, so I tried researching artists who were working
at the same time the cinema was built (the late 60s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I might be able to find an artist working in
the same style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the World’s
Fair held in Montreal in 1967 (Expo 67) the city was overflowing with public
art and monuments, and the task wouldn’t be easy.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was able to find several artists who share stylistic
elements with the frieze, but none seemed to be a good match.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the artists I researched included:</span></div>
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<h3 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jordi Bonet</span></h3>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordi_Bonet" target="_blank">Bonet</a> seemed promising for a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He produced large amounts of public art
throughout Montreal (including a mural at the Place des Arts) and much of it
takes the form of murals made out of various materials including concrete,
ceramic, and metal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, his work doesn’t
look exactly like what’s on the side of the Fleur de Lys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bonet’s work is often much more detailed and
can tell a much more recognizable story (he created a lot of Christian-themed
murals for churches).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also discovered a <a href="http://www.jordibonet.net/jordibonet.net/Home.html" target="_blank">fairly comprehensive list</a>
of Bonet’s work on the web, and the Fleur de Lys theater wasn’t part of
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strike one.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyyDzhFT_KVRubGREGZL9yNwf5IBTDnhLU0wXgaiS3cAMghPXhaqC7t9qqHPL-NvxKB99gc0sK0-RyvzdKS4shIM9jlgCbByal8NbRsG2xakJXYmxco77bJ6lJC8-Y5tj9allBq_woZTB/s1600/800px-Les_trois_soleil_de_Jordi_Bonet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHyyDzhFT_KVRubGREGZL9yNwf5IBTDnhLU0wXgaiS3cAMghPXhaqC7t9qqHPL-NvxKB99gc0sK0-RyvzdKS4shIM9jlgCbByal8NbRsG2xakJXYmxco77bJ6lJC8-Y5tj9allBq_woZTB/s1600/800px-Les_trois_soleil_de_Jordi_Bonet.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A Jordi Bonet mural</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Charles Daudelin</span></h3>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Like Bonet,<a href="http://www.charlesdaudelin.org/www/Home.php?locale=fr-CA" target="_blank"> Daudelin</a> also created several public art
pieces that can be found all over Montreal (both artists created pieces for the
city’s Metro system).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were also
both well-established artists in the late 60s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A Daudelin sculpture is placed in the lobby of the Theatre Maisonneuve
at the Place des Arts, and like much of Daudelin’s art it is composed of
abstract forms that can vaguely resemble human or animal forms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There seemed to be a slight connection to the
Fleur de Lys mural, but just like with Bonet, the differences outweighed the similarities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Daudelin was also fairly well established at
the time, and I could find no documentation that listed the Fleur de Lys frieze
as one of his artworks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strike two.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfdnQW4pHUjsy34_BMeOINBjJpoJDCRS809L-7ZASqxerbQapN4YT3cUmNX0hFXfbCZlIXMdkUgGJ5HbY6KuEqVqwjlkMQEWHuyHRH5yoPCfA8Ab8IMbzqWfhmeAhR5J_wiP9oNG6rwCs/s1600/6a00c22521f785604a01347f1e5329860b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfdnQW4pHUjsy34_BMeOINBjJpoJDCRS809L-7ZASqxerbQapN4YT3cUmNX0hFXfbCZlIXMdkUgGJ5HbY6KuEqVqwjlkMQEWHuyHRH5yoPCfA8Ab8IMbzqWfhmeAhR5J_wiP9oNG6rwCs/s1600/6a00c22521f785604a01347f1e5329860b.jpg" height="223" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A free-standing Daudelin sculpture</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>Sorel Etrog</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of all the artists I researched trying to find answers
for this post,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorel_Etrog" target="_blank"> Etrog</a> seemed to get me the closest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His work is somewhat biomorphic, he was
active in the 1960s, and would occasionally create murals or relief sculptures
(although most of what I saw consisted of free-standing sculptures).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, like with all the artists I researched,
I was able to find no documentation linking Etrog to the sculpture in
question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strike three (really something
like strike 27 at this point – I have researched so many artists at this point
I’ve lost count.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These three were just
the closest matches I found).</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikszWl46R8uJeBCfQ9ZLzG7MlP1etsBirgDbplg-sVWFGrMht3YhoYTSGxNxh6PWoEwVIOqY8GhPMn3yrV_jQZeXeUqVqbvcZz6bVC44Ikm2585KzK4XZBK7htARuJpNTw-lM0wRZ8z6qu/s1600/etrog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikszWl46R8uJeBCfQ9ZLzG7MlP1etsBirgDbplg-sVWFGrMht3YhoYTSGxNxh6PWoEwVIOqY8GhPMn3yrV_jQZeXeUqVqbvcZz6bVC44Ikm2585KzK4XZBK7htARuJpNTw-lM0wRZ8z6qu/s1600/etrog.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Two figures by Etrog</span></td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So I must end this series of posts with a question
mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hate loose ends, but I’m afraid
I must move on for the sake of my precious sanity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve wrapped my head around this thing dozens
of different ways over the last few weeks and really feel I need to turn my
attention to new things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least for
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My research will continue, but in the background. There are still some resources that I can turn to, and I'll post an update if I can ever find more specific information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At this point, one may ask why I even care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The building and its decorated frieze
obviously aren’t important enough to garner much attention, and thousands of
people probably walk by everyday and don’t even bother looking up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s there just the same, and there are
people who do care.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As an artist myself,
I know how much time and energy goes into the creation of a work of art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This piece was made by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">someone,</i> and the last
thing this artist wanted was to be forgotten. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next time, I (reluctantly) move on to a new topic. It might be something you've never heard of.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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</xml><![endif]-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com2858 Saint Catherine Street East, Montreal, QC H2L 2E3, Canada45.5160876 -73.558276145.5160441 -73.5583551 45.516131099999996 -73.5581971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-33622273763527696842014-02-06T12:51:00.001-05:002014-11-11T11:20:47.401-05:00Montreal's Fleur de Lys Theater, part 2<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<h3 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The search sort of narrows (maybe)</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I find myself writing more of these multi-post essays,
I can see that research is something that grows and changes and can be both
exhilarating and frustrating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Easy
answers are boring, and the hunt is what truly fascinates me, even if it leads
to multiple dead ends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The search for
the origins of the Fleur de Lys theater have really tested my researching
abilities, and has required me to use every source at my disposal, from
internet searches, books and magazines, as well as personal recollections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still haven’t come to any conclusions but I
have learned more and focused my search over the past week.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-nEED93Jq8R4I0CI4c3nI-zVsMaIyphvJEUPOQLc7uk2fxPT7G1vjmwQz4B4mOWNNUXQCtVxxx_Tm2wfGHPag5UUFxg0px_nKTaFURd4ITxL1yqsnpIDCe3tgm1VVbtJ_MWWfCJmwX6D/s1600/FleurdeLysStreet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-nEED93Jq8R4I0CI4c3nI-zVsMaIyphvJEUPOQLc7uk2fxPT7G1vjmwQz4B4mOWNNUXQCtVxxx_Tm2wfGHPag5UUFxg0px_nKTaFURd4ITxL1yqsnpIDCe3tgm1VVbtJ_MWWfCJmwX6D/s1600/FleurdeLysStreet.jpg" height="169" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here it is again, in all it's weird glory</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After finishing my last post, I continued searching for
information on the theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came
across a journal database I hadn’t used yet and was pleasantly surprised to
find some information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My search led me
to a magazine called BoxOffice that has several decades of past issues
available for viewing on their website.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>BoxOffice is a trade magazine, so it doesn’t have many stories about
theater architecture, but I was able to get some concrete facts about when the theater
opened and who ran it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Fleur de Lys
opened on April 1, 1967 (a Saturday) and was run by Michel Custom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had come across Custom’s name in association
with the theater before, and as I expected he was the theater’s original owner,
not the designer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The theater was
described as follows:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">"The modern house has widely spaced seats, wall-to-wall carpeting, and a wide screen. A feature film and a documentary will be shown at the Fleur de Lys, said Custom, with an expected run of four weeks for each program." (BoxOffice Magazine, April 3, 1967, p. 56)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first film screened there was “<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Tendre Voyou</span>“.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was welcome information for sure and
really gave me some insight into how the building operated when it first
opened, but the search for who designed the theater, as well as the sculpted
mural outside, would have to continue.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PE12NI5zLLLzeV8vHVcCZSOCT4h3epF_qplfq0Ah7NFBTnR_6hCTbGdT8PqcVpAucKy8BzARPbrNL56FVqQABIwBBIzipaQ3YtO4ErmeAa0-lDZ5gSdHk48LcAEbCsMF-zqZ-mYamZjD/s1600/FleurdeLysAd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PE12NI5zLLLzeV8vHVcCZSOCT4h3epF_qplfq0Ah7NFBTnR_6hCTbGdT8PqcVpAucKy8BzARPbrNL56FVqQABIwBBIzipaQ3YtO4ErmeAa0-lDZ5gSdHk48LcAEbCsMF-zqZ-mYamZjD/s1600/FleurdeLysAd.jpg" height="165" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I realized that a different approach might need to be taken,
so I focused on <a href="http://www.stereonightclub.net/" target="_blank">Stereo Nightclub</a>, the current tenant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps by studying the recent history of the
building I could get a glimpse into the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stereo had been a victim of a pretty bad fire a few years ago, and much
of the interior had to be rebuilt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
<a href="http://www.stereonightclub.net/?cpt_galleries=stereo-2009-2010#prettyPhoto[pp_gal]/1/" target="_blank">interior photos</a> (waning- for some reason there's a photo of a topless woman included in the interior photos) found on Stereo’s website show the clear involvement of a
designer, so a description of the rehab might be helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When old buildings are renovated, it’s common
for the firm to list who the original architect was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopefully this would be the case here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I dug around a little bit, Googling terms like “Stereo
Nightclub re-design” and “Stereo Nightclub interior design” and was rewarded
with some information fairly quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The firm who worked on Stereo won a design award for their work on the
club.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Great, now were getting
somewhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The design firm was named In
Camera Design, so all I should have to do is Google “In Camera Design” and I
should be able to access their website (all designers have websites, don’t
they?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I searched for “In Camera Design”
and was immediately made aware of the fact that “In Camera” has many more
meanings than I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Camera is
the legal term for “In Private”, so countless legal sites came up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In camera effects are special effects carried
out right when a picture is taken (not done in Photoshop) so dozens of
photography websites came up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add to
this all of the advertisements for camera stores that also came up, and I ended
up with a lot of information that didn’t help at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can find no reference to In Camera Design
other than the press release written by the board that gave out the award.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t appear to have a website, and I
can find no reference to other designs they’ve done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet another dead end.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Not ready to give up yet, I contacted Stereo
directly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sent them an e-mail asking
if anyone there knew who the architect of the building was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I received a very quick response that
somewhat re-focused my search.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
person who wrote me back didn’t have a name, but said that the same person
designed the Montreal Place des Arts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This could be it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I finally felt
that I was close to getting some concrete information.</span></div>
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<h3 class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The Place des Arts?</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, not so fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Of course it couldn’t be that easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><a href="http://www.placedesarts.com/index.en.html" target="_blank">The Place des Arts</a> is a large complex of theaters and performing arts
venues, like New York’s Lincoln Center, and I quickly found that it wasn’t all
designed by the same person, or at the same time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wouldn’t be cut-and-dried, perhaps, but
looking here for information was promising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The complex houses theaters, and is right down the street from the Fleur
de Lys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the many building on the
site, two of the buildings were of interest to me almost immediately:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Salle Wilfred-Pelletier and the Theatre
Maisonneuve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The <a href="http://www.placedesarts.com/rooms/main-rooms/wilfrid-pelletier.en.html" target="_blank">Salle Wilfred-Pelletier</a>
was designed in 1964 by the architecture partnership <a href="http://www.arcop.ca/" target="_blank">Arcop</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That name had come up in some of my previous
research, so seeing it again gave me a little hope that I was on the right
track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, after doing some research I
couldn’t really find much visual affinity between their buildings and the Fleur
de Lys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also maintain a pretty
comprehensive website that lists many projects going all the way back to the
1960s and doesn’t list the Fleur de Lys as something they designed.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfl9f2KY-3LV2UJdhqWqSE55Z7t4QYqm4wWXYp9bwE_qJMzY5jdgiq9EtrQ9WoVCa_ca__qoFU0JJN1XnkqvC8ioJhELPcwTgZBYUbSVN87z20jgEA5lammELN31ccmFBUihueQi1P0ma9/s1600/Maisonneuve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfl9f2KY-3LV2UJdhqWqSE55Z7t4QYqm4wWXYp9bwE_qJMzY5jdgiq9EtrQ9WoVCa_ca__qoFU0JJN1XnkqvC8ioJhELPcwTgZBYUbSVN87z20jgEA5lammELN31ccmFBUihueQi1P0ma9/s1600/Maisonneuve.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Theatre Maisonneuve</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The<a href="http://www.placedesarts.com/rooms/main-rooms/theatre-maisonneuve.en.html" target="_blank"> Theatre Maisonneuve</a> seemed a little more
promising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's brutalist, like the Fleur
de Lys, and most of the exterior is unadorned (also like the Fleur de
Lys).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It opened in 1967, the same date
as the opening of the Fleur de Lys (almost the exact date, actually- the
Maisonneuve was opened on April 30<sup>th</sup>, not even a month after the
opening of the Fleur de Lys).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were
some things that didn’t fit, though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is no exterior decoration on the Maisonneuve, and it’s made of
cast concrete (not brick like the Fleur de Lys).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a lead, though, and I hadn’t had one
of those in a while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The architectural firm who designed the theater was
David-Barott-Boulva, a firm that also acted as associate architects for
Montreal’s iconic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67" target="_blank">Habitat ‘67</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also
designed Montreal’s Dow Planetarium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
of these buildings (Habitat, the Planetarium, the Maisonneuve) have
similarities to each other, but none of them really look like the Fleur de
Lys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, the firm was probably pretty
busy working on Habitat ’67 (a very high profile commission) at the time of the construction of the Fleur de Lys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Considering
the attention and notoriety Habitat would garner, would they have taken the
time to design a little single-screen cinema?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Perhaps not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My search had led me
through pretty major segments of Montreal’s architectural history, but I wasn’t
much closer to the answers I was looking for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe there was something I was overlooking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe the Place des Arts and the Fleur de Lys
didn’t have an architect in common, but a sculptor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My search would continue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next post, I'll have to wrap things up, answers or not. At this point I can't promise a neat and tidy ending. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0858 Saint Catherine Street East, Montreal, QC H2L 2E3, Canada45.5160876 -73.558276145.5160441 -73.5583551 45.516131099999996 -73.5581971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-69944698142302693492014-01-30T12:07:00.001-05:002014-11-11T11:20:33.437-05:00Montreal's Fleur de Lys Theater, part 1<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Memory is an odd thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>An image of something glanced in passing can stick in our heads like a
song we keep humming to ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
follows is an exploration (perhaps a somewhat obsessive one) of one such
memory.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In May of 2009 I travelled to Montreal as part of my
honeymoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While exploring the city with
my new wife I happened across this building:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvN7fOlFpUPMUUhNvsF6ufTLn9KUYrcpKDiNVO3bbASKlwHjVOEkyt-sr3su_FZo5g8MHoFMY35eqosi30_-37uadPDYqAuoXMMpfSUcxWmVemvQ81BUcoLcAutLI6kMdsS-B7KEaID2A/s1600/FleurdeLysStreet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCvN7fOlFpUPMUUhNvsF6ufTLn9KUYrcpKDiNVO3bbASKlwHjVOEkyt-sr3su_FZo5g8MHoFMY35eqosi30_-37uadPDYqAuoXMMpfSUcxWmVemvQ81BUcoLcAutLI6kMdsS-B7KEaID2A/s1600/FleurdeLysStreet.jpg" height="169" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I noticed it our first night in town while we were
looking for a bite to eat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had just
arrived in Montreal and wanted to find some food after the long drive from
Buffalo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We eventually settled on a
grocery store on Rue Sainte-Catherine directly across the street from the building pictured
above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It stood out to me because it
seemed so out of place among its otherwise nondescript neighbors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This stretch of street is relatively
ordinary as big city streets go, filled with commercial storefronts that are
more utilitarian than pretty or interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This little building, though, was different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A monumental mural decorates the second floor,
wrapping around the corner to face Rue Sainte Christophe. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost alien considering the surroundings,
the strange abstract symbols cast in concrete caught the attention of the
artist in me. What was this place?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who
had designed the building and the mural?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What does the mural symbolize, if anything?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are the figures meant to be human or animal,
or something else altogether?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqNms_udpwJWthsgkoAd6QC4z5v0k0iW6yRUjSxIG2wPJgK0UJf77gYYvFI7HNKKQoOXQBIJqziOgttbo-qbT28FO9yH8gMssPbR6WxeIe7hLC1z2koEMXGdBs9GhS6xIe5-Tit-h4HjHJ/s1600/FleurdeLysCorner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqNms_udpwJWthsgkoAd6QC4z5v0k0iW6yRUjSxIG2wPJgK0UJf77gYYvFI7HNKKQoOXQBIJqziOgttbo-qbT28FO9yH8gMssPbR6WxeIe7hLC1z2koEMXGdBs9GhS6xIe5-Tit-h4HjHJ/s1600/FleurdeLysCorner.jpg" height="253" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">During my stay in Montreal, I would see the building many
more times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stayed in a bed and
breakfast near Rue Sainte-Catherine, and every morning while walking to the nearest
metro station, we passed by this strange little structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we returned to our hotel in the evening
I would see it again, its enigmatic figures greeting me as I exited the
Berri-UQAM metro station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After leaving
Montreal, my curiosity about the building didn’t fade away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I started this blog last year, I thought
it would be the perfect opportunity to explore it a little further and perhaps answer
some of the questions I had.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first thing I had to do was find it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mention street names and more exacting
locations above, but to be honest I only had a rough idea of where the building
was when I started this research late last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew the building was near the Berri-UQAM
metro stop, so I started there (we used this station a lot while we were in
town, so I remembered the name).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often
on this blog I talk about how researching topics in print form can be better
than searching on-line, but this was one time that the Google Maps satellite
view really came in handy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It only took
a few moments of scanning the immediate area around the metro stop before I
found it, the strange mural visible even from the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When switching to street view, I was able to
once again revisit (albeit virtually) the building I remembered so well from a
few years before.</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXoBcERUpaJRm3b5yJzC7QynozeqbNJG3qQV1jZq5QdVnqf3SZu_i8Ot07g99sibHDbI6yyvOsBDVo8TOn6oP2okf_WQT7xASsCz_2km0bXiIk53qxPuVhflG5wPxCMU9eDKlM_VUos9Z3/s1600/FleurdeLysAerial.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXoBcERUpaJRm3b5yJzC7QynozeqbNJG3qQV1jZq5QdVnqf3SZu_i8Ot07g99sibHDbI6yyvOsBDVo8TOn6oP2okf_WQT7xASsCz_2km0bXiIk53qxPuVhflG5wPxCMU9eDKlM_VUos9Z3/s1600/FleurdeLysAerial.jpg" height="251" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The mural is indicated by the red arrow</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After finding it again, I could start to be a little more
exacting in my research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found its
address (858 Rue Sainte-Catherine est) and could scrutinize the exterior a little
more closely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was the building’s
purpose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are two identifiable
storefronts on the first floor facing the street (both occupied by restaurants)
but from the Google Maps street view what appeared to be the main entrance into
the building is closed up (a larger establishment does currently occupy the
building but was closed for an extended period of time- keep reading).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are few windows in the structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A large window faces the street, and there is
a thin ribbon window that runs along the top of the decorated frieze, but that’s
about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s an exit at the back of
the building facing Rue Sainte Christophe, but that whole side of the building is
windowless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lack of fenestration led
me to my first idea about the building: it is (or was) a theater.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Figuring out when the building might have been built
(perhaps a clue to the designer) was pretty much a no brainer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No. 858 wears its mid-century <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalism" target="_blank">brutalism</a> on its
sleeve like a badge of honor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mostly
unadorned block shape, the brown brick, and the rough aggregate concrete
decoration all indicate that the building was built in the 1950s or 60s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brutalism isn’t universally loved by the
public (or art historians, for that matter) and brutalist buildings can be
awkward or downright ugly (it’s called brutal for a reason).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The architect who designed this building
tried to temper the harsh unadorned walls by adding the decorated frieze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the rest of the building is so austere,
the frieze becomes the main focal point, drawing the viewer’s eyes across the
entire façade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I initially thought that
this unique feature would be my point of entry into the history of the
structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This massive decoration (at
least 8 feet tall and 20 or more feet long) had to be designed by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">someone</i>, right? Surely there would be
record of the artist somewhere.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Initially I did have some success researching the recent
history of the building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the late
90s, it has been the home of<a href="http://www.stereonightclub.net/" target="_blank"> Stereo Nightclub</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stereo is globally respected as possessing one of the best sound systems
in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Naturally, all of the
press on Stereo that I found on-line discusses the above-mentioned sound system
as well as acts who have performed at the club, not the architecture of the
building, so this knowledge only got me so far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I also discovered something a little sadder- no. 858 was the victim of a
pretty severe fire a few years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
fire occurred in 2008 and was ruled an arson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>From rumors I read on-line, a rival club in Montreal hired a biker gang
to torch the place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently the club
scene in Montreal is more cutthroat than I imagined!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stereo was closed because of the fire when I
was originally visiting the city but has since re-built and re-opened (the
entire interior was re-done, but the outside remains unchanged).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s a short YouTube video of the fire. The
sculpted mural is visible to the right.</span></div>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ryiNBsg2vhg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Searching for information on Stereo Nightclub only yielded
music and fire related items, so I had to try to research the building in
different ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Googling the address (858
Rue Sainte Catherine) mostly brings up information on Stereo, so another tactic
would be necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But without the name
of an architect or designer to search for I knew it wasn’t going to be
easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspected that the building used
to be a theater (perhaps a movie theater) but again I had no specifics and was
only going on hunches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus began a
series of blind Google searches that have (as of this date) yielded little
information and have turned up some enigmatic dead ends.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To begin searching, I Googled some basic terms I thought
might work:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montreal Architecture</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montreal strange architecture</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montreal theater architecture</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montreal modern architecture</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montreal concrete decoration</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Montreal cement decoration</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And so forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
get the idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus began my journey down
the Google rabbit hole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Searching for
notable buildings in Montreal on Google is tricky because so much of the
information you get is on Buckminster Fuller’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Biosph%C3%A8re" target="_blank">Expo 67 pavilion</a> or Moshe Safdie’s<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_67" target="_blank"> Habitat 67 </a>(notable structures, for sure, but not useful to me here).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I searched through pages of Montreal history
and looked at countess flickr portfolios of the city.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked for Canadian architects who were active
in the 50s and 60s (I was, and still am, working under the assumption that the
architect is Canadian).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This led to names
that I researched using multiple search engines, which in turn often led to
other names and artists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Metro" target="_blank">Montreal’s subway</a> was built up mostly in the
60s and 70s, and is heavily adorned with <a href="http://www.metrodemontreal.com/art/" target="_blank">public art</a>, so I researched every
metro station in the system looking for art that had affinities to the mural on
no. 858.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The desk in my office is currently littered
with pieces of paper listing the names of architects and architectural firms
that were once a possibility. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each one is
now a dead end.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While searching, I discovered that Google has an option
that lets you search visually, and thought this could be helpful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can upload an image to the site, then ask
it to search for similar images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe
it was worth a shot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I entered the
Google Maps street view and took a screen capture of part of the mural (the
small part facing Rue Sainte Christophe- the mural facing the main street is
partly obscured by trees).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used
Photoshop to remove the distortion and ended up with this:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqELSWefWOJT-P8GMmKxf8OFbYXRzJeJ_FAFtKE7jdcKF6Vkd5_TcX2gO1am54vdQyrtd5pUCQlLLYRn9M398_CM62V1ZMGyUj7ppHZbZrjJFAD0l5ZG1Ji2-hwHorRoiEG9cZBbQWX3Nh/s1600/FleurdeLysMural.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqELSWefWOJT-P8GMmKxf8OFbYXRzJeJ_FAFtKE7jdcKF6Vkd5_TcX2gO1am54vdQyrtd5pUCQlLLYRn9M398_CM62V1ZMGyUj7ppHZbZrjJFAD0l5ZG1Ji2-hwHorRoiEG9cZBbQWX3Nh/s1600/FleurdeLysMural.jpg" height="218" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I uploaded the image to Google image search and crossed
my fingers- maybe I was finally about to get some answers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ended up with this:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHA22H6YYTsczyB5TtcbuMKou73p9Kdnw0RT59k3VIApy_d8j8tioaYrGbAlWMXuVDUAH4-v5vklcEKOf5Z_nrMTat_Opm-VaWb24AjWIt9-EpH9bN6zIMXSbAF6gduxhiPVHQZd_cXPTD/s1600/FleurdeLysgoogle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHA22H6YYTsczyB5TtcbuMKou73p9Kdnw0RT59k3VIApy_d8j8tioaYrGbAlWMXuVDUAH4-v5vklcEKOf5Z_nrMTat_Opm-VaWb24AjWIt9-EpH9bN6zIMXSbAF6gduxhiPVHQZd_cXPTD/s1600/FleurdeLysgoogle.jpg" height="287" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s good to know that the mural apparently has visual
affinity to naked mannequins (probably not what the artist intended) and it
seems that Google can at least identify it as part of a building, but it was
yet another dead end.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was just about to give up hope when I finally stumbled
across actual, seemingly accurate information about the building on a website
called <a href="http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3064" target="_blank">Cinema Treasures</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a movie
theater!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was right!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now let’s find out who designed this thing-
oh wait, it doesn’t say here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it
does give a short history of the building, which I present here:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Opened in 1967 by Michel Custom, it was purchased in 1984 by United
Theatres and changed its name to the Capitol. In 1987, the name changed
to Mon Cinema. In 1987, the name changed again to Universite (Universite
du Quebec au Montreal is nearby.)<br />
In 1990 Famous Players sold the theater and it became Cinema Quartier Latin. The 603-seat theater closed in 1994.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After finding this, I was finally able to refer to the
building by its proper name: The Fleur de Lys Theater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This definitely gave me some satisfaction,
but not enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The site lists the
building as being constructed in 1967 but that date isn’t verified, nor is it
listed where that information came from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The name Michel Custom belongs to a promoter or manager, I think, not an architect. Since this is a website dedicated to old movie houses, I tend to trust
the information, but I still had a lot of questions that couldn’t be answered
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I did have a name, and that
was a huge step forward in my journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now I could search the web more exactly, and look in books on
architectural history and perhaps find some info.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At this point, all I can say with certainty is that this
building is Montreal’s Fleur de Lys Theater. It was probably built in
1967.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Armed with this information I
could focus my on-line searches and start looking for print evidence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Surely I would be able to finally discover the
name of the architect who designed this strange little building, as well as
what the mural is meant to symbolize (my current theory is that it’s landing coordinates
for the alien motherships, in which case we’re all doomed). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next week, the story of my slightly more directed (but no
less confounding) search continues. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com4858 Saint Catherine Street East, Montreal, QC H2L 2E3, Canada45.5160876 -73.558276145.5160441 -73.5583551 45.516131099999996 -73.5581971tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-84704250281466334312013-11-05T11:06:00.001-05:002013-11-05T11:06:20.329-05:00Nirvana in Concert: 20 Years Later<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I usually end my posts by saying that my next topic might
be something you’ve never heard of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
certainly not the case this week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Nirvana is a legendary rock band and certainly not a Cultural
Ghost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why I’ve chosen to write about
them this week is because today marks the anniversary of one of their
concerts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exactly 20 years ago today,
November 5 1993, Nirvana played in my hometown of Buffalo, New York, and I was
there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First, let the music speak for itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A user named NirvanaUnseen has posted the entire
concert on YouTube:</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xdDKxF7kQs8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In late 1993, Nirvana was at the height of their
success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Utero</i> had just been released and “Heart Shaped Box” was in
constant replay on MTV and radio stations everywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a week and a half after the Buffalo
show, they would record their Unplugged concert in New York City.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In November of 1993 Nirvana was the biggest
rock band in the world and to those who were at that concert, the future seemed
bright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>History would unfortunately play
out differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kurt Cobain committed suicide five months to the day
after playing in Buffalo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His death was
the defining event of my generation and remains one of those “where were you
when you heard the news?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember the moment like it was
yesterday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in the campus center at
Alfred University playing College Bowl with the same people I had gone to the
concert with five months before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was
a complete shock that none of us believed at first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the initial mourning period was over,
people invariably started talking about what would happen now that Nirvana was
no more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of these ideas and
theories bring me back around to the topic of Cultural Ghosts and help to
explain why a legendary rock band is being discussed on a blog dedicated to
things that have largely been forgotten.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Nirvana left behind a relatively small catalog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Three studio albums, a collection of B-sides,
and a couple of live albums.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cobain definitely left people wanting
more, and after his untimely death, rumors about unreleased album-ready Nirvana songs
started flying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the late spring and summer
of 1993, stories started circulating that the band had recorded an entire album
of new material and it would soon be released. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the album didn’t come out, new rumors
about Courtney Love withholding the album from fans started swirling (it was
quite easy to hate Courtney Love at the time).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These rumors of a whole album-full of new Nirvana material were taken
quite seriously at the time and some unreleased songs did trickle out as part
of bootleg concert recordings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was
in the era before YouTube and smartphones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you wanted to hear an unauthorized recording of a concert, you had to
buy a bootleg CD or tape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes they
were quite expensive (as much as $20 to $25, which was a lot to pay for a CD
back then).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a friend who
obsessively collected Nirvana concert recordings in an effort to track down
these post-<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In Utero</i> tracks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keep in mind that this was before the current
age of the Internet and much of this information travelled by word of mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Many of the songs he did track down were older unreleased tracks that hadn't made it on to older albums. </span>Sadly, the tracks were never released because
there simply was no mythical follow-up to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
Utero</i>. Nirvana did record a couple of tracks during their last studio
session in January of 1994, but they didn’t record a whole album.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These rumors of new songs could grow because Nirvana
fans didn’t want to believe that the band was done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Accepting that was accepting the fact that
Cobain had died suddenly and left his life and work unfinished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one wants to believe that they will never
hear new songs by their favorite band, and believing that these songs were out
there was a kind of wish fulfillment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like
Beatles fans who search for mystery tracks with odd names like “Colliding
Circles” and “Pink Litmus Paper Shirt”, the belief that a load of undiscovered
material was out there left open the hope that Nirvana wasn’t really over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another interesting topic of discussion from late 1993
was what the surviving members of Nirvana would go on to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was widely believed at the time that the
member of the band poised to find success post-Nirvana was bassist Krist
Novoselic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was often just as noticeable
as Cobain on stage and seemed to get just as much attention in the press during
Nirvana’s heyday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His epic bass toss
(that ended with him getting smashed in the face with his instrument) was often
cited as evidence of his rock and roll <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bona
fides</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If anyone was going to carry
on the torch of grunge, it would surely be him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Shortly after the death of Cobain, Novoselic formed a band called Sweet
75.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People had a lot of expectations for
this band, and there was much speculation at the time that Novoselic’s success post-Nirvana
was a sure thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As often happens in
these situations, things played out differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sweet 75 fizzled out after recording one
album, and Novoselic became involved with several political issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead it was Dave Grohl, often literally in
the background as the group’s drummer, who went on to form the Foo Fighters. The
rest, as they say, is history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ultimately, very little of what people thought would
happen after Cobain’s death actually did happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In
Utero</i> became Nirvana’s swan song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Dave Grohl, and not Novoselic, became the unlikely successor to the band’s
rock crown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing that hasn’t
changed over the past 20 years, though, is the influence Nirvana had on music.
Like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin before them, Nirvana fundamentally changed things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Music and culture (especially of the 1990s)
would have been completely different had Nirvana not come along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What musicians have that distinction
today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really can’t think of any.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are successful music acts today, for
sure, but there’s a big difference between selling a lot of albums and changing
music history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Singers like Katy Perry
and Bruno Mars sell countless records and get their music played seemingly
everywhere, but would music and culture be fundamentally different without
them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Probably not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The experience I had when I saw Nirvana live in 1993 is a
Cultural Ghost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will never be a
live Nirvana show again, and young people today who discover the band will
never be able to have that experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was lucky enough to be a fan of Nirvana during the relatively short time they
existed, and I cherish the memory of the concert on that November night and
still remember it like it was yesterday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m older now, and don’t go to concerts much these days (mainly because of
the cost), but I still listen to music, and I still listen to Nirvana.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their music has held up incredibly well, and doesn’t
sound dated or old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There may never be
any more new music from Nirvana, but their legacy lives on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Next time, a new topic. it might be something you've never heard of. </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-62311090753701341582013-10-24T11:45:00.001-04:002013-10-24T11:45:54.363-04:00The Musée Robert Tatin: A Singular Vision<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A few weeks ago I dug some old <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Smithsonian</i> magazines out of my attic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had once belonged to my Grandfather, and
they date from the late 70s and early 80s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had a subscription to the magazine, and when he was done reading an
issue he’d give it to me and my brother.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My Grandfather died when I was very young and I never really knew
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We saw him all the time growing up
(he and my father ran a business together) but I was never able to know him
through the eyes of an adult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These old
magazines are probably the only actual link I have to him now, and it offers a
little bit of an insight into who he was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Anyone who reads <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Smithsonian</i>
is going to be someone interested in a wide range of topics since it’s kind of
an eclectic magazine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any given month,
the topics covered can be as varied as history, science, archeology, and
art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a very smart magazine and
presents challenging articles about the government, environment, and culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like to imagine my Grandpa reading it cover
to cover, agreeing with some article, disagreeing with others, and always
eagerly awaiting the next issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can
read these old magazines now and feel I’m really connecting with him in a way I
was never able to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What perhaps is one of the most interesting aspects of
these old issues is how they document current events with a sense of newness
and wonder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading these stories now gives
an insight into how people saw these events while they were happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re windows to the past that can be
incredibly poignant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among the issues I
hauled down from my attic is an article from a 1979 issue discussing global
warming and climate change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These words
weren’t even close to being part of the public discussion back then, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Smithsonian</i> wrote about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another cover story documents the construction
of the then-controversial<a href="http://www.centrepompidou.fr/" target="_blank"> Pompidou Center</a> in Paris. This building is an
indelible part of the Parisian landscape now, but back when it was built many
questioned its design. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also vividly remember
the issue documenting the discovery of the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army" target="_blank"> Chinese terra cotta warriors</a> in the
mid 70s (this one particularly fascinated my brother).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another fondly remembered article explored
the discovery of the recently re-discovered<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass" target="_blank"> “Wasp in a Wig” </a>segment from Lewis
Carroll’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Through the Looking Glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>I don’t have all the magazines my
Grandfather gave me anymore (I once had dozens, now I have about 10) but the
ones that are left touch on topics that can certainly be considered Cultural
Ghosts, and this brings us to the topic of this week’s post.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the topics that Smithsonian covers with regularity
is art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Almost every issue (both past
and present) has at least one article dealing with art, and individual artist,
or architecture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While thumbing through
the February 1979 issue I found an article about a strange sculpture garden on
the outskirts of Paris created by a sculptor named Robert Tatin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have seen a lot of art and studied many
architectural sites, but wouldn’t profess to know everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a place I had never heard of, and
decided to research it a little more.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At the most general level, the<a href="http://musee-robert-tatin.fr/" target="_blank"> Musée Robert Tatin</a> could
be considered outsider art. It’s really the only thing Tatin is remembered for,
and he built the entire thing himself free of wider architectural styles or
trends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, he did what he wanted
to do, and didn’t care whether others liked it or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Outsider artists often work this way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may toil for decades on one project
(California's <a href="http://www.salvationmountain.org/" target="_blank">Salvation Mountain</a> or the <a href="http://www.wattstowers.us/" target="_blank">Watts Towers</a> in LA) or create their work in private, never
intending to show it to anyone (Darger comes to mind here).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Musée Robert Tatin may be lumped in with
other outsider art sites, but Tatin was anything but an outsider.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hobnobbed with <a href="http://www.dubuffetfondation.com/index2_ang.htm" target="_blank">Jean Dubuffet</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Breton" target="_blank">AndreBreton </a>(the founder of Surrealism) as a young man and tried many careers before
starting construction on what would become his museum and legacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After a chance meeting with French President
Charles De Gaulle in 1965, he set up a meeting with Culture Minister André
Malraux and was then relentless while he worked towards getting his site
recognized as an official museum by the French government.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His endless self-promotion eventually paid
off, and the site is still operating as an official Musée de France.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYYVf_1zsCLm5uj1jZR8FIwi_4yDvdJB5islHD2JZiVJJfGVbIGc7B-ahWgfmrltrdfAJsLaYwESwUngV0HmQNZPyRU6xi0x69PBHjuUaCNgdWyEpC4zssu5KFX_xwA4BuvwpmVznS-jZ/s1600/Tatin+Seurat+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpYYVf_1zsCLm5uj1jZR8FIwi_4yDvdJB5islHD2JZiVJJfGVbIGc7B-ahWgfmrltrdfAJsLaYwESwUngV0HmQNZPyRU6xi0x69PBHjuUaCNgdWyEpC4zssu5KFX_xwA4BuvwpmVznS-jZ/s320/Tatin+Seurat+(1).jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Tatin had a singular artistic vision, which is probably why
he’s often grouped in with outsider artists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Take this sculpture of the artist Georges Seurat, for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the concrete sculptures Tatin made
represented artists, but they didn’t use common symbolism or even look like the
artist they represented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here the female
figure is most likely meant to reference one of the main figures from </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Jatte" title="A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte">A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte</a></i> (Seurat’s most famous work).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
why is there a smaller figure under her dress, seemingly playing a shell
game?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tatin had his reasons, I’m sure,
even if they may not be clear to us now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s what’s so great about art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It can be depicted and interpreted in a myriad of ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe we see what Tatin intended, maybe we
don’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe we make up our own
meanings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our ability to make art
personal, while we’re making it or looking at it, keeps it valid and relevant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some other views of Tatin’s museum can be seen below:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphen6GUOEHilpRyoaQvH_YgvlVZejy4Xo-UQkCwqSk7LrkiWedxWWJSe7bJcy9Xt7V_Tqncv2TWfxPxYpPbEKBKqO2GBkVIa9bJiJ50rd1V2eKK-YoXuw2-E_nWu_MXkMB5S_HHKjklcngR/s1600/Tatin+Gate+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphen6GUOEHilpRyoaQvH_YgvlVZejy4Xo-UQkCwqSk7LrkiWedxWWJSe7bJcy9Xt7V_Tqncv2TWfxPxYpPbEKBKqO2GBkVIa9bJiJ50rd1V2eKK-YoXuw2-E_nWu_MXkMB5S_HHKjklcngR/s320/Tatin+Gate+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhaMYubuMQD2hKtdfEdQ0OvicL1iaP1RI6UiOIuXDkI5OECV6mMdmGYpYkllL_xuIGFfDzG4j2tesIQe2kEMJXFNq4mryTx8lNOjgF8ESdee7osxQKuV78a4b1WA2qvOwVCVcsok2uBkF/s1600/Tatin+Gate+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhaMYubuMQD2hKtdfEdQ0OvicL1iaP1RI6UiOIuXDkI5OECV6mMdmGYpYkllL_xuIGFfDzG4j2tesIQe2kEMJXFNq4mryTx8lNOjgF8ESdee7osxQKuV78a4b1WA2qvOwVCVcsok2uBkF/s320/Tatin+Gate+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs9OW6zIAIVZEsTQtqnKs_K8P2X8jkmoAKb1_pioOrOvuGjhsm6YG85NMazNnlhQhi4BwrE8ZzH2bUrBYjY4kdwPoBsz5_0PJICUGHXJ8NA7KMfBl23ouIfhMk6bbJKzoH_n_oMsYyIZqJ/s1600/Tatin+Seurat+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs9OW6zIAIVZEsTQtqnKs_K8P2X8jkmoAKb1_pioOrOvuGjhsm6YG85NMazNnlhQhi4BwrE8ZzH2bUrBYjY4kdwPoBsz5_0PJICUGHXJ8NA7KMfBl23ouIfhMk6bbJKzoH_n_oMsYyIZqJ/s320/Tatin+Seurat+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Unlike some other topics I’ve covered in the past, the
Musée Robert Tatin is still in operation and can still be visited today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I include it on this blog as a Cultural Ghost
because it’s a place that exists only a short drive from a major world capitol,
but is still largely unknown outside of France.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Robert Tatin doesn’t have an English-language Wikipedia page, nor does
the museum itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The official website
for the museum is in French only and can’t be viewed in other languages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I Googled the museum to begin my
research for this post, about half of the articles that came up were in
French.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are cultural sites outside
of Paris that are part of the tourist landscape in Europe and are visited by
thousands of people a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Places like
<a href="http://www.chateauversailles.fr/homepage" target="_blank">Versailles</a> and <a href="http://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/visitgb.htm" target="_blank">Giverny</a> come to mind, and are visited and talked about today
because they played a part in global history and culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tatin may have never made that much of an
impact, but he did leave behind a record of his distinctive artistic
vision.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your individual legacy is what
you make it, and perhaps nobody understood that more than Robert Tatin.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Next time, a new topic. It might be something you've never heard of. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-71589636111862871682013-10-03T11:26:00.001-04:002013-10-03T11:26:20.004-04:00What Wasn't Built: The FDR Memorial<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In my last
posts I looked for alternate designs submitted for the now legendary Vietnam
Veterans Memorial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My search proved
harder than I originally thought it would be, and I was only able to find a
photo of one submitted design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this
post, I decided to take a slightly different route and chose something I knew I
could find documentation of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Marcel
Breuer’s design for a proposed Franklin Roosevelt Memorial isn’t necessarily
hard to find (images of it are available on-line) but I classify it as a Cultural
Ghost because it’s the kind of thing that’s hard to find unless you’re
specifically looking for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It was
inevitable that a memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt would someday be built
in Washington D.C.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>FDR was elected
president 4 times and lead America through two of the darkest chapters in
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He enacted social reforms that
are still with us today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A memorial to
his presidency (and basically two decades of American history) was proposed as
early as 1960, but the memorial that stands today as a symbol of Roosevelt’s
greatness wasn’t opened to the public until 1997.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the course of 30 years, there were bound
to be some changes, and the finished memorial differed greatly from what was
eventually built.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The monument
was eventually handed to Lawrence Halprin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As it stands, the FDR Memorial is a series of rooms, each one abstractly
representative of Roosevelt’s time in office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Events like World War II and The Great Depression are remembered with
statuary and waterfalls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of one
statue of a president, the FDR Memorial is considerably more complex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sculptor George Segal created several of his characteristic
figures and vignettes, and other sculptors such as Leonard Baskin and Robert
Graham also contributed to the sculptural program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s the obligatory bronze statue of FDR
himself, of course, but Eleanor Roosevelt and FDR’s beloved terrier Fala are
also commemorated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a grand memorial
for a larger-than-life figure, but it could have been much different if the
original plan for the memorial had been built.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Architect
Marcel Breuer seemed to perfectly fit the profile of the designer for an FDR Memorial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was of Jewish descent and had taught at
the Bauhaus, the school that revolutionized the basic approach to teaching art
and design.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He fled to England when the
Nazis forced the closure of the school in 1933.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His life was rearranged by World War II, but he had overcome adversity
and found success as a practitioner of modern architecture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His design for the FDR Memorial, submitted in
1966, looked like this:</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHaqHeuWTmHv_6ksuwk3zUa084Xi8aHZw-mL0L961o9nJDaTTG_9NjgbLhyIBVdSQiHy0bVhp-WAxuxKOleyeSU2h0LrmeXMbU-HsjHMVxzXDHjZdn8KQ6U6inoJazR-yapMQ14_b2MpTY/s1600/Breuer+FDR+Memorial2+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHaqHeuWTmHv_6ksuwk3zUa084Xi8aHZw-mL0L961o9nJDaTTG_9NjgbLhyIBVdSQiHy0bVhp-WAxuxKOleyeSU2h0LrmeXMbU-HsjHMVxzXDHjZdn8KQ6U6inoJazR-yapMQ14_b2MpTY/s320/Breuer+FDR+Memorial2+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74T-mLZ7gJZE7v9p6mbJoxAuJgZY5UmRUQgtEcYIiPoc4ze-iHJ8Mlrde7BH6O4P7dWUQPLZD5chiX_jZC5VZAmpbJyFTM3eyQXD6z-kNAXOxF_1VjzQP8UO5rjDk94VwqHgqFnouWrBd/s1600/Breuer+FDR+Memorial2+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74T-mLZ7gJZE7v9p6mbJoxAuJgZY5UmRUQgtEcYIiPoc4ze-iHJ8Mlrde7BH6O4P7dWUQPLZD5chiX_jZC5VZAmpbJyFTM3eyQXD6z-kNAXOxF_1VjzQP8UO5rjDk94VwqHgqFnouWrBd/s320/Breuer+FDR+Memorial2+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Breuer’s
vision of architecture and design is certainly visible here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A large block or cube is surrounded by
several slanted slabs (they appear to be marble in one of the photos) that seem
to be radiating out from the center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
materials and surfaces speak for themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is no statuary or giant sculpture of the president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a modern approach would surely have been
controversial had it been built, and the design was criticized while still in
the planning phases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Delays in the planning
and funding dragged the project out, and it was eventually handed off to a different
designer. </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Breuer’s design
offers an insight into American aesthetics of the mid 20<sup>th</sup>
century.<span> </span>Modern design and architecture
was working its way into the mainstream, and the sleek unadorned memorial
reflects the changing attitudes towards design and planning that took hold
after WWII. But, I don’t mean to suggest that Breuer’s design would have been
better then what was actually built in D.C.<span>
</span>The monument as it stands is a moving tribute to a great man as well as
a peaceful place to contemplate and reflect on some of the most difficult times
in our history.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Next time, a new topic. It might be something you've never heard of. </span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6077037495433252754.post-15902713070571974502013-09-12T11:03:00.000-04:002013-09-12T11:03:07.255-04:00What Wasn't Built: The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, Part 2<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">I</span>n my last
post, I wrote about the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, specifically its design by
Maya Lin.<span> </span>She was the winner of a
competition held to find an appropriate monument meant to remember a difficult
time in American history.<span> </span>What interested
me in starting this topic were the other proposals that were submitted for review.<span> </span>Many different artists and designers had
ideas for the monument, and almost 1,500 plans were received.<span> </span>I thought it might be interesting to track
down some of these alternate monument designs.<span>
</span>How different would Washington D.C, and monument design in general, be
if a different design had been chosen?
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The task
proved harder than I first thought it would be.<span>
</span>Surely an old book or magazine article would illustrate some of these
other designs.<span> </span>Apparently that wasn’t
the case.<span> </span>After looking through many books
and magazine articles, I was able to find only one.<span> </span>It appeared in a 1980 edition of Time magazine.<span> </span>It looked like this:</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-OXS-oNv5YdRApwybLTPX18eH3dVIQZb2gsGXb4WOimaSqB5k5dMohFYnR8FEGV_4bwEX8nhiPjNyG9SBqx-OJmcS5Cx0fpgKMYFsJQpbCqOWJM4hP-o2cBJLG7nzYUAfYw_iY4JU-xJ/s1600/VietnamSecond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL-OXS-oNv5YdRApwybLTPX18eH3dVIQZb2gsGXb4WOimaSqB5k5dMohFYnR8FEGV_4bwEX8nhiPjNyG9SBqx-OJmcS5Cx0fpgKMYFsJQpbCqOWJM4hP-o2cBJLG7nzYUAfYw_iY4JU-xJ/s320/VietnamSecond.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The names of
the soldiers who lost their lives are listed on two separate wall sections, and
what appears to be a sculptural group of some kind is elevated between the
walls, creating an arch.<span> </span>No designer’s
name was given in the article (I would give credit to the designer if I
could).<span> </span>According to the article, it was
the second place finisher in the competition.<span>
</span>It seems competent enough, and could have been a fitting tribute, but
Lin’s design was the overwhelming winner.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The time
article doesn’t print any other pictures, but does offer a written description
of some of the other designs, stating:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">“The rejected
entries include such kitsch as a house-high steel helmet and a number of
handsomely styled columns, pylons, tables and structures that belong at a World’s
Fair or amusement park.<span> </span>Other designers accommodate
the thousands of names on various layouts of slabs, blocks and other geometric
stones and look depressingly like constructivist graveyards.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">That
paragraph states something that I hadn’t realized before starting this
research.<span> </span>Mainly, it wasn’t Maya Lin’s
idea to list the names of all of the fallen soldiers (I always thought it
was).<span> </span>That aspect of the memorial was
decided on by the selection committee, and all of the designs had to
incorporate it.<span> </span>The above design seems
to have the names listed in columns on white slab walls.</span></span></div>
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<h4>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A Strong,
Clear Vision</span></span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Ultimately, I
don’t wish to suggest in this post that something else should have been built in
D.C to commemorate the Vietnam War.<span> </span>Lin’s
design won the competition by a landslide and continues to move people to this
day.<span> </span>Even though the idea of listing the
names of the fallen was conceived by someone else, her design incorporates this
element in a unique and memorable way.<span>
</span>The walls are black granite (not the typical Washington marble) and are
reflective.<span> </span>Therefore, when a visitor
looks at the monument they see themselves.<span>
</span>Our history is tied to people from the past.<span> </span>Our present lives are impacted by the
sacrifice of others.<span> </span>Something as simple
as a reflective surface takes on incredibly deep, symbolic meaning in the
design.<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span></span>Also, Lin
chose to list the names in order of their death (not alphabetically), so if one
wishes to find a specific name, they will most likely have to scan a section of
the wall, reading many names before they find the one they’re looking for.<span> </span>Finding a name on the wall takes a little
effort, and in doing so Lin causes us to confront the enormity of the loss
sustained in Vietnam.<span> </span>It is not a
passive memorial, and it demands our participation.<span> </span>Many deigns were submitted, but clearly the
best woman won.<span> </span>Perhaps it’s fitting
that the other designs have faded into obscurity and become Cultural Ghosts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For more
information on the design and construction of the memorial, watch the excellent
documentary “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision.”<span>
</span>It not only documents the initial controversy surrounding Lin’s
selection for the Vietnam Memorial commission, but also highlights some of her other public commissions, such as the <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial" target="_blank">Civil Rights Memorial</a> in Montgomery, Alabama, and the <a href="http://www.yale.edu/womenatyale/WomensTable.html" target="_blank">Yale Women’s Table</a> in New Haven, Connecticut.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next week, some alternate designs for a different memorial. They might be things you've never heard of. </span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11416922253778815730noreply@blogger.com0