Action Tableaux

I just came across
this remarkable ensemble
made in 1994 for Pamplona, Spain,
by Rafael Huerta (b. 1929)
(and updated - presumably with more figures - in 2007)

How it feels when standing in that square --
well, I have no idea.

But the pictures look pretty thrilling,
and the individual men and bulls quite vigorous.



This is the sculptor's self portrait
(he got into trouble adding the portraits of
a few local politicians)
and I think it shows him as a Classicist --
i.e. -- he's looking for eternal stillness
even as he covers the street with rampaging bulls



I'd like to see this duet
all by itself in my museum.

It's kind of how I feel about life
at this moment.



Here's how it looks
to meet your destiny!


The artist's self portrait again,
somehow at peace
amidst the chaos.


There's not very many
of these monumental,
multi-figure tableaux
to be found in the world
(at least -- outside the old USSR)

But we have one in our
nation's capitol:

Henry Merwin Shrady's
Ulysses S. Grant Memorial in Washington D.C.


(these excellent photos
taken by Kimberly Faye )




Shrady's background is
almost the complete inverse
of Huerta's.


Shrady was an academic outsider,
a self-taught
sculpture maniac
who devoted his entire professional life
to this one monument
(and died before it was dedicated)

While Huerta,
the son of a distinguished sculptor,
has been a life-long professor at an art academy,
with this monument,
coming at the end of his career,
being his greatest achievement.

Shrady was more like an expert in the Civil War,
Huerta an expert in sculpture.




But despite his lack of a beaux arts education,
Shrady's piece
is as exciting as it can be.







He really had a taste for drama


and action.

If he had made movies,
he would have been John Ford.


It's as if....
he loved this subject so much,
he forced himself to learn sculpture
by sheer force of will.

Deutsche Kunst, Kunstpalast Düsseldorf 1928

Ruth Horadam


Here's a wonderful document from history,
the
illustrated catalog
of an exhibit of German contemporary art
from the year 1928.

(making a nice contrast to
this collection
of things done ten years later.)

Can you feel the impending catastrophe?


The thing about this work ....
is that, to me, it feels a few cuts above the
Annual exhibit of American art
that the Art Institute of Chicago was showing during the same year.

Maybe it's just that the German catalog
was showing a lot more sculpture,

Or -- maybe it's because the German artists
have lived with so much Medieval sculpture.

As is evident -- in the "three Marys" shown above.

(and, BTW, this artist
has utterly dropped out of sight)




Hermann Haller

What a wonderful head!





Herbert Garbe

"I am lost - where am I going ?"

And -- whatever happened to this sculptor ?
Not every artist who joined the NAZI party
enjoyed a big career.

Garbe died in a POW camp in 1945,
and he's now principally known as
another sculptor's husband.






Josef Enseling


Another great head!

(and this poor artist
had the distinction of being credited
as the teacher of Joseph Beuys --
so that's the only way
he can be found on the internet)





Edwin Scharff



These portraits really come alive



Franz Xaver Lindl


A nice little riff,
more Romanesque than Art Deco,
but whatever happened this guy ?



Richard Langer


Quite an accomplished designer
who never made it to my list.

This piece can be found on Wikipedia,
but apparently he died in 1927,
at the age of 40



Fritz Koelle

Here's the first artist
that was already on my list.

Another great head,
how I envy his ability.

We won't go into his career
with the Third Reich,
but it appears that his descendants
have made a site for him here





Georg Kolbe

The great one --
what a wonderfully
lost figure.






Another lost figure
(or maybe -- she's just day dreaming)
from another one of my favorite sculptors,
Anton Hanak


Johannes Knubel


I never heard of this elegant sculptor either,
but his rather clumsy
architectural work
is all over Wikipedia



Bernhard Sopher


I'm guessing that he was Jewish
(since he was born in Palestine and
moved to the U.S. in 1935)

I wish I could find more of his work.



Hans Wissel


I usually don't go in for the
ugly figure school,
but this one does
feel compelling



Josef Daniel Sommer

I find him listed
in a 1936 catalog,
but other than that,
this guy has entirely disappeared.

This piece feels a little small,
but I'm hoping he got better



Otto Schliessler

And... another great head!

But I'm afraid he gets listed in
"Artists for the Reich"
as one of the fellows who
took the jobs
of the politically/culturally/ethnically
incorrect
artists who were purged from the academies.



Jupp Rubsam

Not really to my taste,
but it does bear a strong
resemblance
to a Ruben Nakian piece
in the Chicago American exhibit
from the same year.





Max Esser

A very tight sense of form
that feels so Germanic

It has to be ancient

In December of 1963,
this handsome dude
was pulled off the bottom of the Mediterranean,
about 300 meters off the coast of Valencia.

Scholars pondered it origins,
and decided that it was Greek, 4th C. B.C.
(or a Roman copy thereof)

And -- of course -- it's ancient,
because this is simply not the way
a male figure would present itself
in any subsequent civilization.

This is a male bathing beauty ---
i.e. --- it's way too gay.


The insouciant pose...
as well as the sensual way
that beautiful right leg and foot has been drawn.







That's why I find figure sculpture so fascinating ---

because design choices change over time and place,
even if human anatomy is always the same.

A Gallery Re-Opens

Otto Dix (1891-1968) "North German Girl", 1920



After being closed for 10 years
(to make space for a coat check room)
the Print and Drawing galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago
have finally re-opened with an exhibit called:

Collecting for Chicago: Prints, Drawings, and Patronage

to feature some recent acquisitions
as well as the donors who gave them.


Since most of it was collected
to exemplify Modernism rather than exceptional visual quality
little of it interests me.
(i.e., it's as mediocre as Andy Warhol)

But following my last post
about figure drawing,
I thought I'd include
some relevant examples from this show.

Otto Dix could do beautiful when he wanted ,
and there's something ominous about going in the other direction,
but still, let's face it,
he's in control.



Ernst Kirchner (1880-1938) "Portrait of Gustav Schliefler", 1922


So was Kirchner (in control)
in this little pen drawing
that seems to have been made
in about 10 minutes.

(Where multiple lines do the job
that heavy lines did for Dix)






Emil Nolde ( 1867-1956 ) "Hamburg Harbor" 1910

So you don't have to be Asian
to make a good brush drawing






Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1665-1745), self portrait, c. 1730-39


Exhibition notes tell us that JR specialized in
character study.

At the museum, I was rather underwhelmed
by this little drawing,
but all alone with this reproduction
I do feel the presence of
an interesting person






Egon Schiele (1890-1918) - 1907 , the artist's mother

Quite a talented teenager, wouldn't you say ?

On top of all that skill in rendering and design,
that poor woman is suffering!

Done any other artworld reputation
sit so high
exclusively on the basis
of figure drawing ?


******** and yet ********


other, far less famous, people
have drawn their own mothers,

and I think the results are no less impressive.

Like this one
by the blogger known as
Suburban Life

I love figure drawing

Paul Cadmus, 1970 (born 1904)


I love good figure drawing.





I like it tight....


Primo Conti, 1970 (born 1900)


.... and I like it loose


But I don't like it
when it loses its page/space/force
and just records the details of a subject.

Like each and every drawing
in this
exhibit
of neo-academics.

Is there some unwritten rule
that everyone born after 1940
has to treat figure drawing
as either a tedious inventory of details
or a desparate opportunity for self expression ?

*****

Note concerning Primo Conti:
I discovered him on this
incredible website of Fascist/Communist art from the 1930's.

Alas -- Primo worked for the Fascists,
perhaps, like many Futurists,
finding their dynamic spirit invigorating.

But he spent the decade after the war as a Franciscan,
so perhaps he repented his evil ways.

I go to Sao Paulo

Victor Brecheret (1894-1955)


No, I didn't really go to Sao Paulo,
I've just been following the footsteps
of the "Art Explorer" who lives there
and who has never seen a sculpture
which he did not photograph.

Brecheret seems the most remarkable



Victor Brecheret (1894-1955)


for having developed his own happy world
of fulsome, tropical figures,
but there's so many more.



Alfredo Ceschiatti (1918-1989)

Lacking the political idealism
that motivated so much European sculpture
in the last century,
the Brazilians seem attracted to two principal themes:

RELIGION

(and what a magnificent church that must be)




Alfredo Ceschiatti (1918-1989)


... and SEX

(or -- something like sex,
since these nude figures are embracing
but they seem more like Olympic athletes
hugging after someone has just cleared the high bar)







Edgar Duviver (1916-2001)


Some more nude figures embracing,
but it's not all that erotic, is it?

They seem kind of ... exhausted ?
(maybe it's too darn hot)




Luiz Morrone (1906-1998)


Lots of fine portraiture, too.
This one could have come from the Capitoline hill,
indeed, most of these sculptors came from Italy
as the civic leaders of Sao Paulo actively
recruited Italian immigrants
around the turn of the century



Claude Dunin (active 1960's)


Here's a more modern style of portraiture,
and he is quite a striking character,
isn't he?



Amadeo Zani (1869-1944)

Somehow,
Italian-Brazilians stayed
about 30 years behind
their counterparts back in Europe.
(which is not a bad thing)







Amadeo Zani (1869-1944)

And, yes,
they have their extravagant monuments





But I also like the earlier work.
Since we don't name of the sculptor,
this has to be called "folk art",
but I think he's the equal of
any sculptor shown above.



Valentim da Fonseca e Silva

Mestre Valentim is 18th C.,
but there's certain inner strength in this piece
that was considered quite modern around 1900
as in the work of Joseph Bernard








Sandra Semeghini


Now... we move into the 21st Century.

I've been told that
the figurative tradition in Brazilian art schools
has been thrown out - or marginalized.
(just like in the U.S.)




Cicero Davila


But some people just can't stop
trying to make classical sculpture.

(this guy reminds me a lot of Bruno Lucchesi )



T. C. Carneiro

So... I'm hoping that more such statues
will keep popping up in Sao Paulo,
and that Art Explorer
will be there to broadcast them
to the world.

Orchids of Chen Wu

The best exhibits at the Art Institute of Chicago
are often the ones
I didn't expect to find....

Like the apparently random
rotation of things in the Chinese room.

The red bug,
pictured above,
was what first caught my eye








This painting was done by two well educated sisters
in the Qing Dynasty

(did they live in Prospect Garden with Lin Daiyu ?)

This piece feels so feminine,
as space collapses
in favor of precious detail.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful
silk embroidered design?




and then there's
this Ming dynasty floral,
"Flowers of the Four Seasons" from 1625 -
by Chen Jiayan (born 1539)

Space has returned,
as well as
a dynamic transition
of energy from left to right (or right to left)







But it's these 6 orchids (1832)
by Chen Wu
that made my day.





They're just breath taking.






Each one
a compact, balanced
self contained design,
like a character in calligraphy

and so ... so... spacious








Here's a wonderfully goofy detail





Sometimes
I feel these depictions of flowers
are more erotic
than any figure drawing can be






What a swoon!

I wish I knew more about this artist,
but "Chen Wu" is too common to Google.

Final Words

R.C. Miller


***************************************************
Thankfully, funerals have played a very small role in my long life.

Everyone has died when they should,
i.e., when they were real old and feeble,
so the last rites have been about as pleasant
and informal as a solemn occasion could be.

Below is the text that I prepared for reading at the R.J. memorial yesterday.

I mostly stuck to it,

but following an acapella rendition of
"Green Green Grass of Home"


by Dexter, a boxer, and former model, who also told the story

of how RJ encouraged a shy, young female student
to go ahead and model his capacious male anatomy,
how could I stick to my script, any script?

(plus -- I've noticed
that good speakers never read from a prepared text -
unless they have a teleprompter)

********************

My original plan for our little memorial -- was to have everyone write a 200 word essay on "my most unforgettable character" -- with Dick Miller as the subject, whether he really was such a person or not - and then i would read the essay I wrote on that theme - from about 50 years ago.To summarize: : he had lots of cool pets , he didn't worry about money, and he liked to shock his neighbors and annoy door-to-door salesmen. I concluded that he was "second to none"

Well...nobody wants to write a 200 word essay - so that idea went out the window. Then I thought I'd address a more serious topic - the place of Richard J. Miller in the history of art - since I have compiled a catalog of about a thousand 20th Century figure sculptors in what I'd call the Modern Classical tradition - beginning with Aristide Maillol and Adolph Von Hildebrand.


But Mom begged me not to be longwinded, so I better leave that discussion to the first academic symposium on that topic - if I ever live long enough to attend it.

So instead -- I'd like to pay tribute to the three great influences in Dick's life: his father, R.C. Miller , his teacher, Milton Horn, and finally, his drinking buddy, Leo Underhill.

Dick's father, R.C., was a professor of agricultural engineering - and I think that's where Dick picked up his love for applied science -- as exemplified by his mastery of the Norden bombsite when he was 19 (which I think is what got him the Distinguished Flying Cross ) and his adoption of Computer aided design when he was 79-- which is quite an accomplishment for an old guy. And Dick picked up something else from his father, too --- a stubborn enthusiasm for being right while the rest of the world was dallying down the primrose path -- with a strong conservative bent for championing old-fashioned techniques and values in the face of modern foolishness. For those of you who never heard about RC -- he professed agriculture as a family value rather than a big business - so he taught his students to stay out of debt by using simpler technologies that would allow a farm to flourish from one generation to the next. The wise farmer would use horses instead of tractors -- and grow his own seeds rather than buy hybrids. And sticking to his guns, in face of strong opposition -- -- he was fired from Ohio State University -- only to be re-hired after his students organized a protest. A true family hero -- and a true "professor" - which as RJ would quickly tell you, is defined as "one who professes"

Milton Horn (self portrait)

Dick's next great influence was another "true professor", Milton Horn, who connected him to the great sculptural traditions of the world -- which was the trendy thing in the first half of the 20th C. -- as expressed by writers like Elie Faure and Andre Malraux - both of whom are still in Dick's library. It's very difficult for me, in just a few words, to describe just how extraordinary this "true professor" was. - he resembled Max Von Sydlow in Bergman's film, "The Magician". Born in Russia in 1906 , brought to America when he was 7, he never graduated high school, but managed to get an education from the some of the leading sculptors and architects of his day -- and along the way, amassed one of the greatest collections of medieval sculpture outside of a public art museum. He was among the founders of the New York Sculptor's Guild back in the thirties - that was dedicated to the modern revival of figure sculpture --and especially direct carving - not as public entertainment - but as a vehicle for the human spirit -- as the great sculpture of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian eras had been. When Dick first met him, Milton was only 34 -- still a young man -- and the important part of his career was yet to come - where he would attempt to create a Jewish liturgical figurative sculpture - in direct defiance of the second commandment. And for a few decades - he succeeded! Not far from our house in Forest Park, is the first, and only, depiction of the Shekinah -- the mystical female aspect of the Creator - on the facade of a Jewish house of worship.

To quote a line from one of his early catalogs: "The function of sculpture is not to decorate but to integrate, not to entertain but to orientate man within the context of his universe."

And Dick meeting Milton was something of a coincidence (just like Tom Tsuchiya later meeting Dick) -- because Milton was not a career academic, he only taught at one school -- Olivet College (where the faculty did not need to have degrees) - and he was there for the ten years from 1939 to 1949. Meanwhile, Dick went off to college in 1940, without any special intention of becoming an artist - and he graduated in 1946 (with 2 two years off, spent in the army) . Dick would be Milton's only real student -- the only one whom he let work on his own pieces -- and only one who would spend his life making sculpture. But they didn't really have a lot else in common. Milton was a Jew and a communist, romantically if not devotedly, and he had strong ideas about the proper life of an artist -- which included avoiding the terrible burden of having children. (and thank goodness my parents ignored him!) So it was a relationship that gradually withered away -- even though neither of them personally knew any other sculptor whom they admired more.

A highlight in both of their careers was the 1951 exhibit of 101 pieces of contemporary American sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- as curated by Robert Beverly Hale, well-known to everyone with an interest in artistic anatomy -- and both of their pieces were among the 45 selected for the catalog.







Milton's piece was his life size bronze of "Job" -- which would begin his career in religious public art,



... and Dick's piece was a bull (more sacred than naturalistic) that he had carved from stone. (which was then bought by his father-in-law, my grandfather) Unfortunately that was the last such exhibit the Met would ever have -- and the last time that both of them would receive that kind of national recognition. And it was kind of a last hurrah for idealistic but not cartoonish figure sculpture in America -- at least for the next 50 years.



Finally - the last great influence on RJ Miller was that colorful radio personality - the morning disc jockey from WNOP --Radio Free Newport -- Leo Underhill -- who served as something of a Falstaff to my father's Prince Hal -- except, of course, that Falstall was an indiscetion of Prince Hal's youth, not his maturity. When you remember some of RJ's distinctive speach patterns -- the drawing out of vowels in impressive, multi-syllable words - to mock them with a cynical, world weary attitude -- that was Leo speaking. And when RJ would blithely declare "I'm a born liar" -- that was Leo speaking (though unlike RJ, Leo really was a liar) And even RJ's most memorable aesthetic principle "it don't mean a thing, if it ain't go that swing" - that was also Leo -- the world weary hipster -- where nothing really means anything - so, Bartender, fill the glasses, and let's just keep on swingin' .

Other than hearing his voice every morning in the sixties -- I don't really know much more about Leo. What did he do before he went on WNOP in 1962 ? I just don't know. There's a 1974 interview with him on the internet -- where he talks about breaking his leg while trying to climb up the statue in Fountain Square at 1 in the morning -- and for $10 you can buy a 1962 program of him bickering with some other DJ's -- and that's about it. But clearly he was a talented raconteur (a word he would have loved to pronouce) - an early pioneer of shock jock radio.

And that's it. I know I've talked much longer than Mom wanted -- but I do think this is the last time this entire collection of family, friends, and students will ever be getting together - and I wanted to stretch this moment out -- as long as I could-- while, if at all possible - avoiding the dread of sentimentality.

****************************************************

And here is the text
of the song my cousin Greg
had written sometime in the nineties,
and recited that afternoon.

*****************************************************

No Sin In Cincinnati

There's a chiseler down Cincy way who chisels stone and models clay
His graven images portray both man and beast of pray and prey
The motley hues he wears around add color to his shaven crown
Those monk's bad habits on his back betray a somewhat holey cat

He'll "no" your "yes" or "yes" your "no" to further a debate
He'll even take both sides for you if you should hesitate
[should you equivocate]
He's lured Jehovah's Witnesses into his learned lair
And neutralized their catechism quoting their own fare

He's scrutinized the scriptures, dissected every stricture
Transformed them into pictures for his monastery walls
He quotes the Bible virgins and he quotes the Bible studs
He's neutralized the first string, now they're bringin' in the scruds

There's no sin in Cincinnati - he's neutralized it all
There's no sin in Cincinnati - I read it on the wall
There's no sin in Cincinnati - there's nowhere left to fall
With no sin in Cincinnati

Now Chris and Eric, Mary Joan, they've tallied up the score
Combined they've known this Richard cat a hundred years and more
They know this cat's approach - they recognize this cat's technique
They've seen him dodge both poles to keep a fracas at its peak

He'll bounce that Adam's Apple when he's ready to anoint
Another soul who'll listen while he chisels out a point
Don't need no Dan'l Webster with his art for compromise
'Cause we got Richard Miller - he prefers to neutralize

There's no sin in Cincinnati - he's neutralized it all
There's no sin in Cincinnati - I read it on the wall
There's no sin in Cincinnati - there's nowhere left to fall
With no sin in Cincinnati

("You're wrong, my friend, I disagree
Now what was it you said to me?
I hate to be so contrary
But I can't hush and let it be

"I might not preach a point of view
But take a stand - I'll counter you
Don't quibble over 'false' or 'true'
Those words mean nothing once I'm through...")
[Those words dissolve in Richard's stew]