We are en route to the Vatican. As is sometimes the case in Rome, the transporters workers union decided to call a strike this morning. The city is a mess, but we are effectively navigating the back streets of the Eternal City. All the boys are happy and well. This morning we visited San Pietro in Vincoli to see Michelangelo's Moses. Christopher W. reflecting on the Moses says "It was amazing and Michelangelo made many smart decisions." How so, I asked. "In his representation of Moses, it was all new-a new way."
Yesterday evening, independent scholar and critic Michelle Marder Kamhi ( www.mmkamhi.com ), co-editor with husband Louis Torres of Aristos , an online review of arts; author of Who Says That's Art? A Commonsense View of the Visual Arts ; and grandmother of two Saint David's boys, gave a thought provoking talk on art for our grandparent community. An advocate of objective standards in arts scholarship and criticism, Ms. Kamhi focused her talk on the ways in which art critics such as Clement Greenberg promoted the shift from representational art to abstraction. Kamhi argues that the abstract and post-modern art prevalent today, which often requires explanation by docents in order to be understood, goes against art's purpose. Taking issue with Greenberg's contention that representation is an expendable convention of painting, she quoted the late art critic John Canaday: "Art is the tangible expression of the intangible values that men live by." ...
Comments
Post a Comment