WE HAD FINISHED reviewing the galley proofs. Jane Isay, our publisher, hugged us and sighed, “This is the stuff dreams are made of.” Mike Kahn and I, unknown authors, had written what we imagined would be a book read only by psychotherapists. Now we were about to embark upon a nationwide tour, sponsored by a house whose writers had won Pulitzer Prizes. The typesetter (in those pre-digital days type was set by hand) was born in Puerto Rico. He got so carried away with The Sibling Bond that he sent a copy to his older sister. He urged Jane to have it translated into Spanish. It was later reborn El Vinculo Fraterno. In German it became Geschwister-Bindung .
“Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs and morality. Its use is prohibited by law…However, recently the purchasers, eaters, and consumers of opium have become numerous. Deceitful merchants buy and sell it to gain profit.” ~ ~Qainlong Emperor (known as Hongli), 6th in Succession, Qing Dynasty (1793)
The Samuel Russell House occupies a prominent place on the Wesleyan University campus, a neoclassical ‘wedding cake’ located on the corner of Washington and High Streets. Its prominence speaks to the career legacy of the man who planned and coordinated the 1827-28 construction of architect, Ithiel Town’s design for the home. But, many are not aware of the fact that Russell’s rise to prominence in Middletown derived from his accrued fortune in the sale of opium, tied to the early 19th century China Trade. The detailed historical records left behind by Samuel Russell speak volumes about his skills as a fastidious financial record-keeper and prescient businessman, but little about the heart and soul of the man who accomplished so much for himself, his family and the busy trading hub of his birthright, Middletown, CT.
Left: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, The Roman Widow (1874)
WWWWD?
It’s the silly season again in American politics. Wide-ranging intolerable rants, invectives and urgent pleas are being aimed at the most vulnerable members of our community, marginalizing and vilifying many for simply for not being “one of us,” while seemingly animating others to demand accountability for the actions of the “one-percent.” This Age of Exclusion seems to strike a chord with alarmingly large numbers of people on both sides of the aisle—those fed up with the system, with died-in-the-wool politicians and with a feeling of powerlessness—who then, historically, act on a sense of disempowerment and disenfranchisement to take notice, rise up and agitate for change. This particular essay is not a call for some ill-defined new world order, or even for an upending of our historically-stable republican (small-‘r’) system. Yet, this current state of affairs is all too reminiscent of a passage by William Butler Yeats, who fretted in his 1919 post-apocalyptic poem, The Second Coming, “Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer / Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.”
“Into the mystery of this heart which beats / So wild, so deep in us—to know/ Whence our lives come and where they go.” ~ Matthew Arnold, The Buried Life (1852)
“Of the last two lines, it is probably the last that is obscure to you. Life is as fugitive as dew upon the feet of men dancing in dew. Men do not either come from any direction or disappear in any direction. Life is as meaningless as dew. Now these ideas are not bad in a poem. But they are a frightful bore when converted as above.” ~Letter to L. W. Payne, March 31, 1928 [Stevens, H.: 250]
Édouard Manet, Young Woman in 1866 (1866). Met Museum, NY
It was not until the age of thirty-five that Wallace Stevens published his first body of poetry. The collection was entitled Harmonium (1923), and the inclusion of the poem ‘Sunday Morning’ (1915) by an otherwise cerebral, contemplative young Connecticut poet was, in retrospect, a watershed event. While initially panned by critics, it has gained traction over decades as a particularly luminous example of a nascent, itinerant poet’s work, and is often considered a classic example of the early modernist American genre. But, by undertaking an analysis of an early effort like Sunday Morning, the opportunity to benefit from a more comprehensive understanding of Stevens’s later, more mature poetical aesthetic is missed. In exchange, however, this exemplary work stands on the cusp of an emerging avant-garde style in American poetry—stripped down and clear-eyed in its narrative intent—and prepared, at least in spirit, to leave European literary traditions far behind. More
“Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.” ~Plato
Left: Pere Borrell del Caso: Escaping Criticism (1874), oil on linen. Banco de España, Madrid.
Artistic Wasteland: The Arts in America in the Age of Military Parades
On Monday, February 8th, 2016, candidate Donald Trump spoke at a Rotary Club gathering in Manchester, New Hampshire, where several Arts Action Fund members were present and attempted to ask Trump about his position on the arts. While he answered few questions, he did remark on his aesthetic goals for his proposed border wall with Mexico. To paraphrase Trump, he said “And I am going to have to add some designs to the wall because someday they might name it after me and I want it to look real nice”(Source: Americans for the Arts Action Fund).More
“Art is the reasoned derangement of the senses.” ~Kenneth Rexroth
Left: John Neagle, The Studious Artist (1836). Collection: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
WWWWD?
It’s the silly season again in American politics. Wide-ranging intolerable rants, invectives and urgent pleas are being aimed at the most vulnerable members of our community, marginalizing and vilifying many for simply for not being “one of us,” while seemingly animating others to demand accountability for the actions of the “one-percent.” This Age of Exclusion seems to strike a chord with alarmingly large numbers of people on both sides of the aisle—those fed up with the system, with died-in-the-wool politicians and with a feeling of powerlessness—who then, historically, act on a sense of disempowerment and disenfranchisement to take notice, rise up and agitate for change. This particular essay is not a call for some ill-defined new world order, or even for an upending of our historically-stable republican (small-‘r’) system. Yet, this current state of affairs is all too reminiscent of a passage by William Butler Yeats, who fretted in his 1919 post-apocalyptic poem, The Second Coming, “Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer / Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.” xxxxxMore
The Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, who has been assaulted, incarcerated and prohibited from traveling by his own country, is arguably regarded as the world’s most courageous, influential and outrageous living artist. He has taken on the repressive and corrupt Chinese regime, standing his ground against staggering odds. His provocative and fascinating work conflates his nation’s ancient heritage and Western avant-garde modernist strategies from the Dadaist movement, channeled through performance and conceptualism. artes fine arts magazineMore
Editor’s Note: Edward Rubin, an ARTES magazine contributing editor, returns from Eastern Europe and the International Art Critic Association’s meeting there, with a brief overview on the state of the arts in many corners of the world. Along with his own reporting, he has organized a series of feature articles by some of the prominent speakers at that meeting, to appear on the ‘pages’ of ARTESmagazine.com.
Every year for the last 46, the International Art Critics Association (AICA) with 4,600 members from over 61 countries, holds a Congress in a different country. Hosted by the participating cities, the international attendees are wined, dined, treated to tours by the participating city, regaled by a keynote speaker, feted by surprising personages, and treated to panels and Power Point presentations by top art writers and critics from around the world. Last year the Congress was held in Zurich, with a post-congress visit to Documenta, the renowned contemporary art fair, held every five years in Kassel, Germany. In 2015, the city of Seoul and Suwon, South Korea, will be hosting the Congress. artes fine arts magazineMore
A reoccurring theme at this year’s Museum Association annual meeting, held on the West Coast, was cooperation. In these difficult economic times, it is more important th an ever for institutions to band together to more effectively and efficiently compete for the public’s attention and vital revenue. Across the country the issues are essentially the same. But given the universal scope and scale of the challenge, responses tend to vary widely. For a culturally-diverse community like Los Angeles, with more than forty museums within the city’s limits, the need to find common ground and related exhibition themes is essential to bringing people to their doors and vital young membership to their rolls. For many far-western and less-centrally located museums, the priority is outreach and cooperative programs with other cultural and educational institutions in the region, where a shared cultural legacy or historical narrative, with its associated artistic heritage becomes the ‘take home message.’ Fine Arts Magazine
Back East, the mood is a different one. Large urban art institutions continue to set the tone for ground-breaking and innovative exhibitions featuring, in many cases, the giants of the western European art movements of the last two centuries, as well as a cadre of emerging and established artists who stand at the center of the contemporary art whirlwind. Directors and curators vie for high-profile names and regularly march out portions of their vast permanent holdings, mixed with famous and not-so-famous works on loan, to drive home a curatorial message. With currently-planned expansions of the physical plant more the exception than the rule now, the emphasis for many institutions is to achieve a Wow! Factor in the absence of dramatic new accommodations.
In Connecticut, at least, there is one important exception to the temptation to draw back and hunker down. With a rich heritage of art production that dates back to the founding of the country in the 18th century, the state’s museums have often acted as repositories for some of the most famous and beloved works of art by American artists known today. While frequently traditional in nature (American Impressionism was born in Connecticut), a new generation of institutions has appeared on the scene, representing the contemporary art world in a thoughtful and dynamic way. The Connecticut Art Trail is a coalition of 15 museums and historical settings which run the gamut from one end of the state to the other and from Old Masters of the 16th century to Conceptual artists of the 21st.
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Founded in 1995 as the Connecticut Impressionist Art Trail, within recent years the organization has redefined its objectives and broadened it s cultural horizons. Under the guidance of Sandy Betner, who was hired as executive director four years ago, and an active board, the mission of the ‘Trail’ has been strengthened and redefined. “We are passionate about partnering,” Sandy tells me. “Being inwardly-directed if you’re an art institution is passé. In order to survive in this market, with so many high-tech products competing for the hearts and minds of the younger visitor, becoming outwardly-oriented just makes sense. We have studied the data and know that people are looking for value when they travel. They don’t want to spend hours in the car to come to just one place and not be offered a range of things to do once they get there.”
Working closely with the Connecticut Department of Culture and Tourism, Sandy and her team determined that many families travelling for fun or couples getting away for a weekend expressed a desire to have a ‘cultural experience’ be part of that journey. What the ‘Trail’ then did was to: group institutions that were part of the association by state region, combine them with other experiences (dining, attractions, lodging, sporting venues) and put mileage designations between these attractions (GPS co-ordinates are on the drawing board for the near future). Travel packages were then created, with hotel discounts and suggested itineraries. A dynamic Web site, featuring links to all of the museums and historical stops along the way is being regularly updated. “We want the museum experience to be fun and enlightening. We suggest that the museum staff take a step back and look at their facility from the visitor’s point-of-view. While museums used to be visual experiences, they are now more interactive. Our goal is to offer something of interest for all ages.”
The on-line visitor has the option to purchase an Art Pass for $25. This represents a $75 value and allows the purchaser to visit all 15 museums on the trail for any two-month period they choose. Children under 12 are free, when accompanied by an adult. Art Passes can be purchased on line at www.arttrail.org. “There is strength in numbers,” Sandy says. “We’ve known that basic fact for a long time. We have had good results applying that concept to the state’s wide range of world-quality museums.”
Here, Spit on This! Art, Music and ‘Modern’ Language Traced to Earliest Human History
The latest science shows that our long-established view of the role of art—serving as it does as a visible marker for cultural evolution—should now be broadened to include the place of early Paleolithic Man in its narrative.
Sociologists and anthropologists have long contended that our oldest recorded ancestors pretty much lived hand-to-mouth: hunting, gathering, constructing shelters, fashioning utilitarian clothing and spear heads and hunkering down around a fire to consume plants, milled seeds, animal flesh and significant quantities of insects. Basic stone tools, woven and clay containers, cultivation and artifact-strewn graves were thought to be the earliest evidence, dating back some 30,000 years, that human intelligence was evolving in the direction of forming rudimentary communities. The prospects of an afterlife, where the ‘art’ of burial included tools, amulets, food stuffs, and perhaps a shaman’s prayers–offered on behalf of the deceased to enable their long, imagined journey—served as early evidence of rituals for the dead, a rudimentary awareness of the sanctity of human life and, by extension, an emerging concern for the quality of their daily lives. artes fine arts magazineMore
