Rendering - Week 5

This article was published By Dominic Cavendish on 19 Mar 2013 on the website "www.telegraph.co.uk" and tells us about John Logan's professional work and though in demand in Hollywood,  he tells Dominic Cavendish why he is focused on his new play about the 'real’ Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.

The author points out , that John Logan marvels in awestruck tones as he recalls the Royal Command premiere of Skyfall at the Royal Albert Hall last October, given in the presence of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, telling the author, that he never seen anything like it in his previous life. The author also adds, that having played an instrumental role, as screenwriter, in one of the most talked-about movies for ages and the biggest-grossing Bond film of all time, Logan, 51, would be forgiven for not yet having come down to earth. ( and it would be accurate to mention about his major works and credits, credits combining distinction with daring, whether it be Gladiator, The Aviator, Sweeney Todd, Coriolanus (starring Ralph Fiennes), Hugo, or indeed Bond number 23, which has so far raked in more than $1.1 billion.

The author admits, that the play that made his name over here – and which sent his reputation sky-high Stateside after it won six Tony Awards on Broadway – was Red, his fictionalised portrait of the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko circa 1958-9.

  It would be unfair for Cavendish , not to mention, that before any further work takes place on that, though, his time is amply taken up with his new play, which springboards off a real-life, little-known encounter in June 1932 between Peter Llewelyn Davies and Alice Liddell Hargreaves – the inspirations for JM Barrie’s Peter Pan and Lewis Carroll’s Alice.

 Moreover , analysing the situation in the word it is necessary to emphasize that as with Red, the idea for which hit him on encountering Rothko’s Seagram murals at Tate Modern in 2007, so Peter and Alice was prompted by a chance find, he explains and thumbing through a copy of a biography called The Real Alice, Logan came across a mention of a meeting at Bumpus bookshop, Oxford Street, between Alice (then 80) and Peter (then 35), and gave him. The a multi-character drama that will interweave fact and fiction and take wing across the worlds of Neverland and Wonderland.

 The author tell us, that the play will inevitably focus on how its two principal characters came to be overshadowed by their ever-youthful literary incarnations and by the men who moulded them into fiction -  Logan is after universal themes too, though.

The authors draws a conclusion saying, that one thing’s clear in advance: some Disneyfied or sickly sentimental treatment this ain’t. and that Logan is extremely  interested in writing plays (moreover in plays, that are about anguish in a way). Cavendish says, that Logan believes in sacred power of stage and if something is to be truly stage-worthy, then it has to be unafraid to deal with the biggest, darkest themes and for Peter and Alice, the stakes really were life and death.

In my opinion, it's a great ability to switch between the world of cinema and the world of theater - but you should choose the right way of your creative life, to feel the magnetism of your favorite work - only then a true masterpiece would be born .

Pleasure Reading . "A Tale of Two Cities" by Dickens. Preface and Chapters 1-6

The story begins in the year of 1775 during the paradoxical period ( “the best of times and worse of times”)  in the decade of the struggle between crowns of France and England. That was the time of robberies and criminal bloom, the governmental ignorance to the state of affairs – typical for that century.  It was a foggy November evening and a group of people, travelling from the city of London to Dover with a message, had to be very suspicious and provident – because of times of thieves, assassins and other Dirt. After some time of climbing up the hill, outside the carriage ( it was overloaded with goods and other miscellaneous items) they had met a horse-rider with a special delivery ( it wasn’t a robber, like the thought, but Jerry, an odd-worker from Dover ) to Mr. Jarvis Lorry. The note that Jerry passed him was from Tellson and said to wait at Dover at Mam’ selle . Lorry instructs Jerry to return to Tellson’s with this reply: “Recalled to Life.” Confused and troubled by the “blazing strange message”. After that, their mail coach continued its way and our hero Lorry went inside his mind with a deep leap drifting in and out of dreams, most of which revolve around the workings of Tellson’s bank, but he also had another mysterious image inside his head, the notion that he made his way to dig someone out of a grave. He imagined repetitive conversations with a specter, who told Lorry that his body had lain buried nearly eighteen years. He  sometimes claimed that he would die were he to see a woman too soon; at other times, he wept to see her immediately. After the arrival at Dover, Lorry decided to visit Lucie, the key figure in this deal. That afternoon, a waiter announced that Lucie Manette had arrived from London ( a young 17-years old woman, “short, slight and pretty nice”). Finishing his business duties at the bank, Mr. Lorry decided to break a seal of hidden truth to young Lucie, telling her, that Tellson had summoned her, because her father, once a reputed doctor, had been found alive ( he was jailed in France for a long time and at that time was released  and was taken to house of an old servant in Paris ) . And our heroes decided to go there to find Lucie’s father. The further events took place in Saint Antoine, a suburb of Paris, dirty and self-destructed from the power of times and cruel “society”. The went to wine shop, owned by Monsieur Defarge and his wife  .The men had a talk and then went to a filthy landing, where the three men from the wine shop stand staring through chinks in the wall and finally Defarge opened the door to reveal a white-haired man busily making shoes.  Because of his long imprisonment, Doctor Manette entered a form of mental damage with making shoes, a trade he had learned while in prison. At first, he couldn't recognize his daughter  but then he eventually compared her long golden hair with her mother's which was in the amulet and the he finally noticed their similar blue eye colour. And after some time of agony of mind and resurrection of feelings , Lorry and Lucie took her father back to London.

Rendering - Week 4

You Had to Have a Veronese

The article was published  on ARTNews.com, by Ann Landi on 01/23/13 and discusses the theme, which states "A survey at the Ringling chronicles the career of the Renaissance painter American collectors coveted." The first thing that needs to be said is , that Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) was a painter who delighted in highly charged storytelling, grandiose architecture, sumptuous fabrics, and occasionally daring improprieties (he was hauled before the Inquisition for including buffoons, drunken guests, and dwarves in his 1573 tableau The Feast in the House of Levi). The author adds, that Veronese was also extremely popular among American collectors during and after the Gilded Age. The author points out the fact, that That massive canvas, nearly eight feet tall, became the starting point for “Paolo Veronese: A Master and His Workshop in Renaissance Venice,” an overview of Veronese’s long and prolific career, at the John and Mable Ringling Museum (through April 14), that was organized by Virginia Brilliant, associate curator for European art, who arrived at the museum in 2008 and was charged with curating shows inspired by its impressive collection of Old Masters. Analyzing the situation, it's necessary to admit  that one of the reasons Americans found Veronese accessible, Brilliant says, was because his paintings are not overtly religious. And Ann Landi adds, that many collectors, such as Isabella Stewart Gardner in Boston, were building their houses in the Venetian style, and Veronese “became one of those standard artists”. It's a noticeable fact that the number of Veronese’s drawings and paintings in American collections, including several examples from the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., allowed Brilliant and her chief collaborator, Frederick Ilchman, curator of paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, to assemble a show that tells “the whole story of how these masterpieces went from the artist’s very first doodles, his first ideas for a composition, and how he worked those up into very highly finished drawings” and from there to paintings. It wouldn't be unfair for the author not to say, that Henry James called Veronese the “happiest painter” of the Renaissance, one who enjoyed a reputation for vivid color and the creation of a festive mood even when his subject wasn't a celebration. To draw the conclusion, the author says that Veronese is so often dismissed as a decorative painter, Brilliant and her colleagues included examples of actual Venetian fabrics from the period, of which the MFA in Boston has an exemplary collection , saying, that We wanted to show that these are real things that people had and could use.” In Veronese’s hands, “they were an advertisement for the Venetian luxury lifestyle.”  In my personal opinion, Veronese is one of the most genius artist of Renaissance period. His massive painting “The Wedding at Cana (or The Wedding Feast at Cana)” is a work of a great master. It is on display in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, where it is the largest painting in that museum's collection. I can understand those people, who really want to have such works at their homes, because they have enough material possessions to obtain it – but the works of art are made for people, not only for one family of official who made a fortune unfairly – but for ordinary mass – just to make this mass not so ordinary with magnetic power of esthetics .

Rendering - Week 3.

Stuttgart museum returns looted medieval masterpiece


This article was published by on the TheArtNewspaper site by David D’Arcy (web-only)
on 05 March 2013 and tell us about fundamental questions about the return of "Virgin and Child" painting.
The author says, that The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart has returned Virgin and Child, a 15th-century painting attributed to the Master of Flémalle (1375-1444), to the estate of Max Stern, a German-born Jewish dealer who fled the Nazis and later operated the Dominion Gallery in Montreal.   In addition to that, the author says, that the return of Virgin and Child marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Galerie Julius Stern in Düsseldorf and the tenth anniversary of the Max Stern Art Restitution Project at Concordia University in Montreal, which estimates that at least 400 works that once belonged to Stern are still unrecovered. The author points out , that Virgin and Child was sold with other works after Stern had fled to London, to raise 25,000 Reichsmarks to buy a passport for his mother to leave Germany. Analyzing the situation it’s necessary to admit, that , the painting came into the hands of the Frankfurt art dealer Alexander Haas, who sold it to a Dr Scheufelen in 1939 and that, Scheufelen sold eight paintings to the planned Führermuseum in Linz in 1943, at least one of which came from Haas. Moreover, the reader should not forget that author clearly gives us a thought that tracing the picture’s provenance was complicated by the destruction of Stern’s business records when his London flat was bombed during the Blitz.  It's necessary to admit the fact, that before it is shipped to Canada, the painting will be studied by experts; researchers do not rule out a reattribution and  D'Arcy adds -no plans for exhibition or sale have been announced. The article draws the conclusion that Canada has just assumed the chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which could result in increased funding and more staff for Nazi Era provenance research in Canadian museum collections. In my opinion the Nazi Era was the time of great creative oblivion and annihilating storm for the whole art world. The period of destruction and hidden art treasures had gone, but now we just should use our mind to find some echoes of lost wealth - art wealth.

Rendering: Week 2 - Damien Hirst.

The article, which was published on New Republic Paper site on December 12, 2013  and called " Damien Hirst's Transition from Artist to Luxury Brand Is Complete" by Jason Pargo and tells us about the transformation of one of the best and Britain's richest living artist from just a man of art to national brand. It's necessary to point out, that author tells us, that one of the richest artists in the world severs his ties with the world’s most powerful art dealer, after 17 years of working together. Pargo  emphasizes the fact, that they were a perfect pair, Damien and Gogo: the impudent British trickster and the smooth American wheeler-dealer, each of them in his way elevating the art of the deal above art itself.  He also adds, that It was less than a year ago that Hirst and Gagosian foisted onto the world their enormous, absurd eleven-gallery exhibition of Hirst’s “complete” spot paintings, with the artist’s innocuous abstractions filling every one of the dealer’s spaces in what seemed less a presentation of Hirst’s work than an advertisement for Gagosian’s reach. Furthermore, one should not forget that author clearly gives us a thought, that Hirst really did have a major impact in the days of Young British Art, enough so that it’s of secondary importance whether anyone actually likes his later work.Moreover, Pargo proves the fact, that Mr. Hirst is simply there, a big shark in a small tank, forcing even those who aren’t interested to pay attention and even those who don’t like the work to put in on their walls and that Hirst has always been impervious to critical attacks or even to his collectors’ own distaste; he is, like a shark, in perpetual motion.  In addition to that, the author can't deny the fact, that the market for Hirst is going south—depressed, so the consensus goes, by his massive straight-from-the-factory auction of 223 works at Sotheby’s on the very day that Lehman Brothers collapsed. The author tell us, that the other side of the coin is the fact, even after the loss of patronage Hirst will still be represented by White Cube, the gallery based in London but with outposts in two of the four BRICs; they’re mounting a Hirst show in Hong Kong next February, and at Art Basel Miami Beach last week they quietly presented a few Hirsts, with mixed fortunes. It's necessary to admit the fact, that but then again, Ferraris and dog food are both not art, and Hirst, not just critically but economically, is no longer an actor in anything recognizable as artistic practice.The author draws a conclusion saying that Hirst is much closer to the luxury fashion houses or jewelry companies that glom onto the art world in search of collectors’ remaining millions, and he probably doesn’t need a gallery any more than Louis Vuitton does. and adds - a depressed market can always be mitigated through volume, we are learning, and his transition from artist to luxury brand is less a retreat than an apotheosis. So, ,my opinion, that the artist's vein is very fragile structure, and every thrombus, giving us a backstab from a real world, trying to change our behaviour, to mix our thoughts, to entangle our way сan lead to some incurable situation for the artist's mentality - we just can self-destruct our creative potential , to bet our talant just to pick up a poker pot of vanity and wealth - forgetting about your first art headspring.

Rendering - Week 1

This article was published on the January 28, 2013, by  Megan Gannon, on th FoxNews site , which is called "Nearly 400-year-old secret painting in Rembrandt masterpiece revealed" and tells us, that scientists may be one step closer to revealing a hidden portrait behind a 380-year-old Rembrandt painting.

It is undeniable fact for the author, that the masterpiece, "Old Man in Military Costume" by Dutch painter Rembrant Harmenszoon van Rijn, resides at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Cannon also adds, that scientists had noticed the painting bears faint traces of another portrait beneath its surface

What is more, new studies with more sophisticated X-ray techniques that can parse through the painting's layers give art historians hope that they may finally get to see who is depicted in the secret image.

The author can't deny the fact, that Alfeld ( key scientist ) and an international team used macro X-ray fluorescence analysis to examine a mock-up of Rembrandt's original, created by museum intern Andrea Sartorius, who used paints with the same chemical composition as those used by the Dutch master.

 Moreover, the reader should not forget that author clearly gives us a thought, that the scientists targeted four elements of the paint to fluoresce, including calcium, iron, mercury and lead, and got much better impressions of the hidden painting in the mock-up than they were able to before.

It's necessary to admit the fact, that the results of these studies will enable us determine the best possible approach to employ in our planned upcoming study of the real Rembrandt painting.

 To draw the conclusion, the author says that, that wasn't the first time scientists have delved into Rembrandt's paintings, becayse previous research revealed why his art possesses such calming beauty, finding the artist may have pioneered a technique that guides the viewer's gaze around a portrait, creating a special narrative and "calmer" viewing experience.

In my opinion, with the power of modern technologies people have a great chance to ressurect some poor old paintings, to explore the legend of unknown masterpieces and just to be able rapidly and accurately to help art not to fall into world of obscurity.

Albrecht Dürer: Self-Portrait .

In its directness and apparent confrontation with the viewer, the self-portrait is unlike any that came before. It is half-length, frontal and highly symmetrical; its lack of a conventional background seemingly presents Dürer without regard to time or place. The placement of the inscriptions in the dark fields on either side of Dürer are presented as if floating in space, emphasizing that the portrait has a highly symbolic meaning. Its sombre mood is achieved through the use of brown tones set against the plain black background. The lightness of touch and tone seen in his earlier two self-portraits has been replaced by a far more introverted and complex representation. In this work, Dürer's style seems to have developed into what art historian Marcel Brion described as "a classicism like that of Ingres. The face has the inflexibility and impersonal dignity of a mask, hiding the restless turmoil of anguish and passion within." Geometric analysis of the composition demonstrates its relatively rigid symmetry, with several highlights aligned very close to a vertical axis down the middle of the painting. However, the work is not completely symmetrical; his head is slightly right of centre, his hair not quite in the middle——the strands of hair fall differently on either side while his eyes look slightly to the left. The hardest thing for man without any special art education is to describe the painting, and especially a portrait-work, because you should have a very rich artistic vocabulary and to be ready to share some ideas, using art-terminology and creative vision. This self-portrait is the ideal image of art-mastery, where Dürer , a  German master,  portrayed himself in a remarkably sophisticated composition.The seeming calmness of a man сonceals a rebellious spirit and a storm of inner emotions. And with all this precise gestures, this creation of a master, brings us to the image of Christ - with a religious gesture, the uniqueness of the soul, showing us the  innermost thoughts  of the artist.