Comments for Studio Matters

Comment on Picturing Mary Magdalene by Studio Matters

Studio Matters — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:48:43 +0000

That is a good question, Alberti's Window, but no, not a grant. There are more routes into art history than that for a writer enamored of the West's patrimony of sacred art. As he acknowledges, his father was an artist. His own love of Italian art was sparked by a week in Florence while on return from active duty in 1956. He went into the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine to get out the rain and stumbled into the Brancacci Chapel: "I had never seen anything like it. I had never heard of Masaccio. . . . But I did know that I was in the presence of something rare, a profoundly moving witness to life . . ." Kiely had been a student of literature and, as he admits, knew nothing of art history. In 1991, he was invited to be a Visiting Professor at Villa I Tatti, the Harvard U. Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. He came again in 2009. The book was a long-simmering project of love.

Comment on Picturing Mary Magdalene by H Niyazi

H Niyazi — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:23:06 +0000

Thank you for this recommendation Maureen, I very much look forward to seeing more of Mr Kiely’s work on the saints.

It is not uncommon to have non-art historians writing about art. This being said, the focus of Early Modern art history has changed it seems. The legacy of Panofsky, Wind, even Freedberg still looms large over the genre and many that are not familiar withmore recent publications will think the modus operandi has not changed.

Published only in 2011, volumes by Marcia Hall and Alexander Nagel have largely gone unnoted outside scholarly circles, despite their great approachability and fascinating summation of patterns and concepts in Renaissance art in a modern, fresh manner – no elaborate nomenclature in Latin and French, no internal ahistorical (Friedian) musing. It’s all good stuff, and not enough people are reading about it!

Kind Regards
H

Comment on Picturing Mary Magdalene by Alberti's Window

Alberti's Window — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:24:25 +0000

Sounds like a lovely book. Thank you for the recommendation. I wonder what compelled a scholar of modern literature to undertake a book like this? A grant?

Comment on Picturing Mary Magdalene by Studio Matters

Studio Matters — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:31:40 +0000

Thank you, Joan. Yes, you are right. Regard for manual labor, for the way hands serve (or disserve) sensibility, is a running theme here. Not so covert either. A good way into the topic, one that that bypasses prejudices about art as a higher activity than others, is Matthew B. Crawford’s Shop Class as Soul Craft. It could make spiritual reading for art history majors, too.

Comment on Picturing Mary Magdalene by Joan C.

Joan C. — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 15:58:28 +0000

The work of one’s hands is a significant part of the Benedictine Way. Whatever else it might be in addition, painting is as much manual labor as sculpting. Or boot making. We can wonder what effect it would have on discussions of art if more art historians had a Benedictine regard for the physically—the stuff—of painting and its relation to a trained hand. (If I’m not mistaken, this has been a covert thread running through various posts on this site.)

Comment on Picturing Mary Magdalene by Don Balken

Don Balken — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:06:48 +0000

Robert Kiely is, indeed, a man with an exceptional sensibility. He is also a Benedictine oblate—secular but committed to making life and work acts of prayer. That accounts, I think, for the thoughtfulness that informs his writing.

Comment on Things to Read with Caravaggio in Mind by Rozlo

Rozlo — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:38:04 +0000

Perhaps I have not read the right material, but I have often wondered why no one seems to have commented on the uncanny similarity between Caravaggio’s painting (now lost, but a copy of it is reproduced in Frielander) of a penitent Magdalene and Bernini’s St. Teresa. One is in an ecstasy of remorse, the other of celestial love. But the pose and expression are identical.

Comment on Things to Read with Caravaggio in Mind by Jack.Dobbyn

Jack.Dobbyn — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:46:36 +0000

By all means, Creighton Gilbert. “Caravaggio and the Two Cardinals,” written in the mid-1990s, places Caravaggio squarely and luminously within the religious politics of the Counter Reformation era. Add to the list.

Comment on Things to Read with Caravaggio in Mind by H Niyazi

H Niyazi — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:12:50 +0000

Cheers for adding this Maureen! I simply included the references whose concepts were directly referenced in the piece. Friedländer’s text is a recommended addition to anyone interested in Caravaggio, I’d add the same for Creighton Gilbert as well.

Not all art historians are insular, some commented on that very post and many of the regulars at 3PP are from this ‘rarified priesthood’ I think the newer generation of art historians are starting to realise the wonderful potential of the web to spread information and allow collaboration between disciplines. There will always be those who prefer to remain cloistered, though you can find this in any profession.

Many Kind Regards
H

Comment on Navigating the Cognitive Philosophy of Michael Fried by H Niyazi

H Niyazi — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:51:31 +0000

Many thanks to all for the insightful comments.

@Dionisio/Beatrice – Fried’s style is overblown and rhetorical in passages – if we are to add “academic” it should be qualified that it is the language of an academic of another genre and approach to art (as Alberti’s Window highlighted). Anyone can easily pick up and read John Shearman’s “Only Connect” or Marcia Hall’s “The Sacred Image in the Age of Art” (two sterling Early Modern academics) and not be ambushed by academic language. It seems to come down to a conscious choice by the author. As we see in the descriptions of the paintings themselves, Fried can be crisp and concise if he wants to…though his interest seems to be in the internal (cognitive) processes related to creating and viewing art – an interesting topic but unfortunately obscured in dense language.

@Ed – ha! even if you did not append your name to that comment I would have known it was you. Many thanks for reading, and the characteristically wonderful insight!

@From.the.stacks – I would venture to say that type of thing is not isolated to the academic publishing industry! Many catalogue volumes are valuable resources for students and scholars alike. The NGA exhibition volume on the Venetian Renaissance, or the NGLondon catalog on Renaissance portraits are great examples. Overall, this one is pretty good – I focused on Fried’s piece for this post because it did seem out of place, or at best, experimental (from a publisher perspective).

@Mickey D – cheers for the mention – there are in fact even more posts on this topic from 2010 – since described as “the year of Caravaggio” – as my site has a Renaissance/Baroque focus – it was unavoidable. They can all be accessed from this link:
http://www.3pipe.net/search/label/Caravaggio

@Rob – The genre you speak of is explored in greater depth in the catalog proper. Fried does go into more detail, but is less concerned with sources. You can actually listen to Fried’s presentation on the Carravagisti – which his catalog entry is based on – at the NGA Washington podcast site (free): http://www.nga.gov/podcasts/freedberg/index.shtm

@Albertis Window – I wonder if more Early Modern publications will be so daring and throw in another dense theoretical essay among the social history stuff? We’ll have to wait and see!

Many thanks to Maureen for the opportunity to post at Studio Matters. It was an honour and delight.
H