2/12

I had a chance to see some art last Thursday as I went to the MFA in Boston for the first time since the residency. I decided to look at Contemporary Outlook: German Photography again and came away as unimpressed as I did when I saw it back in the summer. With the exception of a photo by Andreas Gursky and the usual by the Becher's, nothing stayed with me at all. It all felt academic and unemotional. Just because something is enormous doesn't mean it's interesting.

I also got a chance to view the SMFA Traveling Scholars show which featured six paintings by Laurel Sparks, which I enjoyed.

There was also a smaller show called Drawing a Broader Definition which was really cool. It had the obvious drawings on paper, but also drawings on ceramics and other art forms which incorporated drawing. I liked the idea of putting a number of different uses of drawing all together in one exhibit.

The best thing I saw was Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939. A wonderful collection of posters, advertisements, linocuts etc that were just beautiful. I particularly liked the Futurist prints of factory workers and some others about World War 1 which were terrifying. If you've ever read any of Pat Barker's World War 1 trilogy (Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, The Ghost Road) you will never think of war, or World War 1 in the same way again.

The following day I had my eyes (instead of my head) examined and afterwards I ducked into the Fogg Museum. I particularly loved the sculptures in the Modern Art, 1865-1965 exhibit; especially Matisse's 'The Serf' and Brancusi"'s 'Caryatid II'. There were also tremendous pieces by Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly (I thought of Stuart), Miro, Franz Kline, Braque, Pollock and Alberto Burri.

In addition there was a small exhibit of Max Beckman paintings which were great.

2/4

There was an interesting piece in the NY Times last Sunday (1/27) about a lost cache of negatives from photographer Robert Capa that had been found by someone in Mexico City. They had been been hidden in cardboard suitcases, but were presumed lost when Capa fled Europe for America in 1939. It was the contents of his Paris darkroom and apparently contains thousands of negatives shot during the Spanish Civil War. They had gone from Paris to Marseille to Mexico City where they were held by a Mexican general and diplomat.

What's amazing is that although they've been lost for over 50 years and were stored in flimsy cardboard valises, they are, apparently, in excellent condition. Curators at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York are working to catalogue the 3,500 negatives. I'm looking forward to see what they've found since although I've appreciated Capa's work, there was never that much to look at (he died in 1954 in Vietnam).

That discovery reminds me of a recording of the Thelonious Monk Quartet w/ John Coltrane that was found a few years ago. A live recording from Carnegie Hall in 1957 was found at the Library of Congress in 2005. No one had ever heard the recording, and although the pairing of Monk and Coltrane was legendary, they left behind very little recorded material. The performance was released as Thelonious Monk Quartet w/John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall in 2005 and was immediately picked as one of the best jazz records of the year. It's fantastic.