Last weekend while in Wisconsin I saw a painting of a historical nature that resembles one I saw in Ottawa. I was pleased as punch I was correct it was a painting by Benjamin West. The one in WI shows Charles II arriving at Dover; the other one (in Ottawa) is The death of General Wolfe. Both paintings are examples of ‘photo shopping”: some if not most of the people in them were not present at the times of the events. Mostly likely Mr. West was paid by patrons to do so.
I still don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I see history repeating itself. It supports the notion people don’t change which is both alarming and a comfort. People nowadays are all up in arms about fake photos and such but artwork has been putting up ‘fake news’ from the get-go. I don’t know if paintings like Mr. West’s were taken as literally truth. Did people believe the contents of paintings are how things actually happened? I remember as a boy going to art museums in which I saw Biblical characters dressed in 15th-18th century attire (usually Flemish) and smelling a rat. I guess even then I was looking for proper representation in the media!
Although I know Mr. West’s painting contents are BS I suppose historical representation is not the point. As I sit at my office desk I look across the desk to a print of Wolfe. It hangs there as I like it and it reminds me of the good times I had in Ottawa to finally see the real McCoy.
Art isn’t the news but something else. As I type this out I realize in my youth one of the reasons I liked ‘proper paintings’ was they are told a specific story. I don’t have to think much. In contrast I found modern art infuriating as “I don’t know what it is supposed to be about, will someone tell me what it means?”. Nowadays I am leaning away from The Old Masters whom I suspect were as dastardly as present day pharmaceutical representatives towards the abstract. Abstract/modern art allows me my own thoughts and emotions. Who would have thunk it?
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June 24, 2019 at 10:04 AM
rjjs8878
I’ve always preferred abstract art over representational.
June 24, 2019 at 10:55 AM
Urspo
I so enjoy reading your blog one reason it shows me art I would not otherwise seen. Most of the times I like what I see but not always. However is far more than my younger self would have liked.
June 24, 2019 at 11:23 AM
rjjs8878
Thanks for your feedback.
June 24, 2019 at 11:15 AM
larrymuffin
Benjamin West being a Court Painter to King George III did many tableaux on order depicting usually propaganda art. Death of General Wolfe in September 1759 on the Plains of Abraham at the Gates of Quebec City is a good example of propaganda art. All arranged by HM government and reflecting government policy. The idea the tableau will help raise taxes after the Seven Year War. Well it did not work that way because of the Colonists in New England revolting. The arrival of Charles II is another one supporting the Royalist cause, I think Samuel Pepys should be in that painting. As for modern or contemporary art, it is a statement the artist is making on a state of mind or human condition and it is up to you in your reaction to it to find meaning. Of course you may find nothing or disagree with the artist, it really does not matter. It does not need to have meaning.
June 24, 2019 at 12:22 PM
Urspo
Thank you for writing all this out, especially the last part. So often I (most people?) want ‘meaning’ in art and when we can’t find any/it isn’t told to us this makes us peeved.
June 24, 2019 at 12:04 PM
Parnassus
There is a whole study of iconography, involving what can and cannot be trusted in old paintings. For example, mediaeval paintings may show musical instruments for which there are no extant examples.
When I worked in Cleveland, I used to go each wednesday night to the Cleveland Museum of Art, and I saw every exhibit. I came to like and appreciate quite a bit of modern art–I think the issue is one of enough exposure of good examples in the right settings.
–Jim
June 24, 2019 at 12:23 PM
Urspo
How nice for you to have done such viz. every exhibit at an art museum.
This is a good idea worth checking into locally.
June 24, 2019 at 1:50 PM
Debra She Who Seeks
When paintings and sculptures were available only to the wealthy and powerful, they usually peddled some propaganda or another.
June 24, 2019 at 9:58 PM
Urspo
I remember a New Yorker cartoon of a king looking at a half-finished painting as he says “gimme more angels and make’em more happy to see me “
June 24, 2019 at 3:35 PM
Todd Gunther
Don’y get me started on that subset of Renaissance art when the Virgin Mary was learning how to read using books…which wouldn’t exist for another 500 years with the invention of the Guttenberg press!
Or consider poor Michelangelo
June 24, 2019 at 9:57 PM
Urspo
I hadn’t thought of that anachronism!
June 24, 2019 at 6:55 PM
Ravager619
I don’t know if comic book sketches count, but I’m a fan of those.
June 24, 2019 at 9:56 PM
Urspo
Yes they count. There is some great artwork therein.
June 24, 2019 at 7:56 PM
Old Lurker
Are you permitted to say such things about pharmaceutical reps?
June 24, 2019 at 9:56 PM
Urspo
No. It’s only a matter of time I’m hauled away. But it’s worth it.
June 25, 2019 at 2:27 AM
David Godfrey
Was art created to entertain, or to communicate with a largely illiterate mass? Much has been written on that question. No definitive answer. I look for enjoyment first, then maybe, if I feel like it, a message.
June 25, 2019 at 7:45 AM
Urspo
Good for you. I tend to look for meaning/message first, which often does me no good.
June 25, 2019 at 3:35 AM
Moving with Mitchell
Just like when I read online, I look at art as someone else’s take on something. However, just as now, many people have always believed what they’ve been told without question.
June 25, 2019 at 7:47 AM
Urspo
I have a memory (possibly false) of being in grade school and going on a field trip to the art museum. I remember seeing a painting of violence (maybe the rape of the Sabines) and asking my teacher what it was. She told me what is meant but it wasn’t what it really was about. Even then I smelled a rat I was being told a fib.
June 25, 2019 at 8:16 AM
mcpersonalspace54
I enjoy modern/abstract art too. And the older I get, the more I appreciate it. I am even planning an art activity with my students in September with modern art as a way to introduce a concept that I teach.
June 25, 2019 at 9:39 AM
Ron
I like watercolors