Guercino

This is the humble beginning
of what I hope
will eventually
be a large catalog
of great Guercino drawings.


Every exhibit of master Italian drawings
seems to have a few,
but I haven't, yet, been able to find
very many at the library






























This one was in the Goldman collection
that was shown at the A.I.C. earlier this year.

If only he could have carried this
dramatic immediacy
into his paintings.

Portrait of the Artist as a Reprobate

Eric Hebborn (1934-1996)
as he portrayed himself in 1952






And here's how he earned his living
(much to the discomfort
of the reputable dealers
and the British Museum who
eventually bought this drawing
as if it were by Van Dyck.)









He was a superior mimic.

Not only could he make a great copy of historical work,
as he did with that "Corot" in my last post
(similar to what Classical musicians do when they perform),

But he could compose very good drawings
in the manner of other artists.




Sometimes,
his "discoveries"
were weak, though passable.
(which would describe 90% of the Old Master drawings
that I've ever seen on exhibit)





But, incredibly enough,
sometimes he could really bring it off.

I've seen a lot of Cambiaso drawings in exhibits,
and many of them are not as good as this one.






He was also a pretty good sculptor.





If you're looking for it,
perhaps you can feel
the 20th Century
in his phony drawings.
(especially that "Van Dyck")

There's a kind of hopeless, despairing aggression,
like you might in Francis Bacon,
his contemporary.


But this poor lowlife
could just not imagine himself
as an honest man,
and as his autobiography tells us,
he took great pleasure
in fooling and cheating those
who might claim to be his betters.


Though, it must be noted,
that he never spent a day in jail,
indeed, legal charges were never brought against him,
allowing him, like Richard Nixon, to claim
"I am not a crook"

He even quotes Gombrich's "Art and Illusion":

"Logicians tell us, and they are not people who can be easily gainsaid, that the terms 'true' and 'false' can only be applied to statements, propositions. And whatever may be the usage of critical parlance, a picture is never a statement in that sense of the term. It can no more be true or false than a picture can be blue or green. Much confusion has been caused in aesthetics by ignoring this simple fact."

He spent the last 30 years of his life
living in Rome,
continuing to sell drawings which dealers
could then re-sell as the drawings of various old masters,
even after he had been "unmasked" in 1978.

Where, eventually,
he was found face down in an alley
with his head bashed in.

Which is Fake?

One of these drawings is "The Portrait of Henri Leroy"
by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot,
in the collection of the
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University




The other is a copy of same,
done by the notorious forger,
Eric Hebborn,
whose story has been recently told
by philosopher Denis Dutton
in his popular book, "The Art Instinct"

How can one tell the difference?




As Hebborn writes in his own book, "Drawn to Trouble",
"seek the hesitant line of the copyist,
as opposed to the strong, sure line of Corot"

The drawing in the Fogg collection
may be found reproduced in the book,
"Modern Prints and Drawings" by Paul J. Sachs.

Beneath which, Sachs has written:

"I illustrate his genius in black and white not by one of his romantic etched landscapes, but by this serious, moving pencil portrait, a drawing in which there is a complete absence of any calligraphic trick; a drawing which renders a mood miraculously... To appreciate this drawing there is no need to consult x-ray or any other modern scientific aids often used to bolster insensitive vision. However, with ultra-violet light... one can read an inscription on the reverse of the blue mount which enframes the drawing. The sentence not only identifies the little sitter but expresses the wish that the drawing remain in the family, never to be sold"


So, which one is fake?


Hebborn shows them side-by-side
in his book,
and eventually identifies
the top one as the original,
as you notice

"how poor my version is, how faulty the construction, how harsh the modeling, and all sorts of ghastly errors which escaped your notice before"


But,
he also suggests that
you locate a copy of the Sachs book,
just to make sure.


Which I did.
(it's in the River Forest Library)


and lo and behold,
but the second drawing
is the one in the Fogg.

It's the first drawing,
the stronger one,
which is the fake.

Although,
that doesn't mean
that the other one is not a fake as well.

I would suspect that the owners of the original
kept their word about never selling it,
and sold a copy of it instead.

And when you look again at the first,
after looking at the rest of Hebborn's work,
you can see
how it expresses his rather vigorous
visual character
just like many of his other drawings.
(which I will show in the next post)






(note: another comparison of Fake/not-Fake
is shown here
regarding a "Piranesi" that has proven quite embarrassing
for a Danish art museum. But here, you may notice
that the Fake feels looser, less angular, and more whimsical than the original)

Supper at Emmaus

(A unpublished review for New City)




Caravaggio’s “Supper at Emmaus” and other “Caravaggesque” paintings, at the Art Institute of Chicago, through Jan. 31


1600 was a big year for Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), and for the history of European painting, as that young man became famous for a dramatic realism that would develop a style for the counter-Reformation and begin to visualize the world of the street instead of the palace. One year later, he painted the “Supper at Emmaus” which is currently hanging in Gallery 211 at the Art Institute, surrounded by the works of those who followed him in the 17th. Century. And it has to be seen to be believed. Not so much for its fine detail, as for its size, and the way the figures project themselves into the viewer’s space, as it realizes that moment when God, through the Holy Ghost, dramatically entered human history. Which is to say, this is a very effective liturgical painting, and makes almost everything else in the room feel merely picturesque, especially the otherwise excellent painting by his rival, follower, chronicler, and bitter enemy, Giovanni Baglione (1566-1643).




Here's the Baglione
St. Francis








And here's a version
that Caravaggio did
about 5 years earlier




Why is it so effective? Certainly the drawing is important. Caravaggio drew directly on the canvas, unlike so many others who could only make great drawings on paper (Il Guercino, for example, whose “Entombment” hangs on the opposite wall).








Guercino




And here, in the actual painting, you can feel the careful modulation of tonal values that escaped so many of his followers (especially Bartolomeo Manfredi and Cecco del Caravaggio, whose works now hang on the same wall),








Manfredi


Ceccio






and escape all of the reproductions. (especially those transparencies that visited L.U.M.A. a few years ago) But overall, you just have to credit this tormented young man’s prophetic vision, which seems to have needed the power and beauty of divine grace much more than the rest of us.

Chicago Antiques Fair - Autumn 2009

My first destination
in this exhibit
was the gallery
with the Francis Chapin show

Chapin (1889-1965)
taught at the Art Institute
for about 2 decades beginning in 1930.


And when I finally found the Chapin display,
it was such a bold, noisy contrast
to the quieter things that filled
the adjacent rooms



The pieces felt a little like textbook examples
of how to design a modern painting
but they do seem to catch the excitement
of a big city




big, loud, affable, and goofy



He also painted
the vacation areas
where art colonies
popped up over the Summer
and he taught classes

I think he was having a fun life












This is one of his earlier paintings
done in the 1920's
showing that he
could just as well
have become an illustrator



























Here's another early painting
that seems to have some narrative
other than
"boy, is this a fun view"






this is one of his later watercolors,
probably from the 1950's
looking out of somebody's studio
in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Ave.

Every square inch is packed with
some kind of turbulence
but it still feels
like a touristy postcard




Robert Tolman (b. 1886)

The lady in the underwear
with the paintbrush
is the artist's wife.

(the gallerist said that she
was becoming better known then him,
but not according to Google)

A very sweet scene,
I almost wish
I'd married an artist













These chubby fellows
from the Ming Dynasty
remind me of the model
we've been using the past month.

I wish this kind of figurative
architectural detailing
was used more today











Here's a famous Chicago landmark,
the Bahai temple
as it was seen about 60 years ago
by Walter Burt Adams
(note: it was still under construction)








I love these
little Tang fellows.

So happy to serve.











Stokley Webster (1912-2001)
was an American Impressionist
who also started several
small businesses
in his spare time.

This one grabbed my eye,
and it seems much better
than several of the other images
found on the internet






Hovep Pushman (1877-1966)
has been a favorite
of mine since I saw
his work in the Union League Club
a few years ago.

He specialized in still lifes
that included Chinese ceramics.

And I think he did them justice.

When 20th C. American painting
finally gets re-evaluated
after the age of Modern/Contemporary
is declared finished,
he will be rated near the top.








Paul Trouillebert (1829-1900)

The landed gentry
of 19th C. Cincinnati used to collect
Corot, so I grew up with him
in the local museums.

That's why I find this inferior hommage
so fascinating.

The quiet mystery is gone.





Hugh Kapel (1910-1982)
caught my eye
with this little breakfast nook


That painting of his
has the same effect
as ten cups of coffee





George Josimovich (1894-1986)
is mostly
an abstract
hard-edge painter.

But clearly,
he had once been to art school.

And I'm afraid
that none of my comrades
at the art club
draws this well.












Edward Gay (1837-1928)
was apparently
a very successful
painter in his day.

And I can see why.











Ming architectural ceramics
must be in fashion this year.

I can't remember any
from previous shows.











Charles Warren Mundy (b. 1945)
is a near contemporary of mine
so it was fun
to find his work
showing in an antiques fair.

He gets a little too loose for me,
but this one was my favorite of his.

The Confucian Scholar

Nukina Kaioku (1778-1863)
was a Confucian scholar
who lived in Japan.

Which meant that he was destined
to be a teacher instead of a high official.

And apparently
these screens were used
in his school
to exemplify higher learning


(the text are poems by Li Bo and Su Xiang)




Until I saw the Bamboo Forest
these were my favorite screens in the soon-to-close exhibit
at the Art Institute.

But, it's not really fair to compare them.

In the Bamboo Forest, every mark contributes to a spatial illusion.

But the only space on these screens
is that which surrounds each separate character.

They may be wonderfully arranged on the page
(they are)
but it's still just a collection of (wonderful) details


It's like the difference between a symphony
and a sequence of jazz improvisations.





or maybe "wonderful"
is not a strong enough word?

The fat and the thin of it.

It's all too exciting.



The characters are Chinese,
but can't you hear the Japanese accent?

(i.e.-- a flair for elegant drama)





If you wanted to learn Chinese culture in Japan,

wouldn't you want to study with this man?






at least,

you would have fun.

When is paint more than paint?

Ben Tinsley "Furniture Store on Whyte"


(an unpublished review for New City)






McCormick Gallery “Dirty Dozen” through Oct. 24

We can all admire fine craftsmanship – but that’s the first thing that comes to mind when standing before most of the paintings and sculptures in this survey of 12 contemporary artists at the McCormick Gallery. And shouldn’t painting demand attention to something more important? As Ben Tinsley does in “Furniture Store on Whyte”, a vignette of urban life that is “fixed in an artifice of eternity” (to quote Edward Snow regarding Vermeer). It’s half boarded up and definitely out of business, but unlike those melancholy Hopper scenes of New York, this abandoned little Chicago storefront sings with joy. Every detail is perfectly drawn and measured, especially the calligraphic graffiti that seems to have been applied by a wandering poet rather than gangbanger.

(note: Here's the painting of his I found at Art Chicago last May)


John Santoro



Also exceptional in this exhibit are the two suburban cityscapes by John Santoro. No meticulously painted brickwork here – instead, these are meticulous paintings of paint. But they also present places the artist likes to live (his yard, front and back), rather unkempt, but no less timeless than the “10,000 years” mentioned in the titles he gave them. All the other abstract paintings in this exhibit just seem to be about paint.

My fellow Academicians

Larry Paulsen

(an unpublished review for the New City)





Palette and Chisel Academy, through September 27

With it’s 50 hours/week of figure model sessions, the Palette and Chisel Academy is mostly about traditional European figure drawing, and nobody there does it better than Lawrence Paulsen, who seems to be time traveling back to the Royal Academy of Sir Joshua Reynolds, as he executes the deftly drawn contour line around the hips of a zoftig model. His portrait paintings also seem to date from that era, though they are much more subdued, not as powerful, and sometimes a bit ambivalent about the person being presented. Would that make him a Post-Modernist?








Jim Hajicek







The Palette and Chisel is also a center for plain air painters, and James Hajicek is one its best, as he makes so many happy simplifications in that brief period of time in which an on-site painting can be done. He also does impressionistic oil figure sketches in that manner of Nicolai Fechin which has been so popular at the P&C ever since Richard Schmid was President in the 1980’s. This style can show excitement, but works all too well as a metaphor for modern life, with a hectic central figure that seems cut and pasted onto a neglected background.




(more pictures can be found here )