A Rather Red Royal Portrait

The official portrait of King Charles III has been unvelied.

 

It's certainly something. For an official portrait, I daresay it's lacking a certain gravitas.

But, if instead viewed as art, rather than as a stately portrait, it does make one think.

The thinking, however, goes like this:

"Charles Rex III, the Scourge of Carpathia, the Sorrow of Moldavia….";

"People were saying that it would be a dumpster fire after Queen Elizabeth II passed away, and they were right!";

"Hey, there was a sale on red pigment at Ye Olde Royal Art Supply Shoppe.";

"This is fine."

"Well at least it beats Obama's official portrait."

So, what do you think?

Ah, Detroit Uglification Strikes Again

The nature of Detroit doesn't really change.

For $425,000.00, Detroit got the following sign and a couple others like it installed along Highway 94 in time for the NFL draft - note the difference between the original conception and execution:

A tad less grand than expected.  It's rather underwhelming, and with a coloration that blends into the grass and barely stands out from the background along the highway. In short, score another one for Detroit uglificaiton rather than beautification.

The Detroit News: Gmac Cash on Detroit's new 'Hollywood' sign: 'You can take it back'

One must wonder at the amount of grift and kickbacks that may have involved in the contracting for this sign for the city to spend so much to get so little, and for it to be so ugly as well. Expect any criticism to be that one doesn't understand art, or something similar.

As one anonymous wag on the Internet dryly noted:  "This is what happens when you order your Hollywood-style sign from Temu."

Will It Stay Or Will It Van Gogh?

The Van Gogh at the DIA case continues.

In Federal District Court in Detroit, the Judge dismissed the case by the Brazilian collector against the DIA. The judge ruled against his claim that the DIA need to surrender the artwork by Van Gogh, “The Novel Reader” on the basis that it had been stolen from the collector under still unclear circumstances.

The Court properly ruled that the Immunity from Seizure Act prevented the work from being seized from the museum.

Interestingly, the Brazilian Collector had apparently failed to even report the $3.5-$5 million dollar painting had been stolen.  The story of the dismissal of the case doesn't reveal if there is even any record that he had purchased it in the first place. The collector has filed an appeal.

So, it would seem that now the painting could indeed Gogh on its way now that the exhibit is coming to a close.

But wait, there's more.

The 6th Court of Appeals has just released an order that The Novel Reader is to remain at the DIA pending the appeal: The Detroit Free Press: Appeals court to DIA: Hold onto disputed Van Gogh painting, despite end of exhibit

While great art moves you, this piece of great art isn't moving for now.

A Van Gogh That's Likely Not Going Anywhere

Remember the Van Gogh exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts?

There's now a lawsuit as to the ownership of one of the paintings now on display there.

The Detroit News: Judge blocks DIA from concealing Van Gogh in international fight

A federal judge Wednesday blocked Detroit Institute of Arts officials from moving or hiding a painting by Vincent van Gogh, less than 24 hours after a company that claims ownership sued the museum, saying the artwork had been missing for nearly six years until it was discovered on display as part of the museum's "Van Gogh in America" exhibition.

It's a rather curious case as after paying $3.6 million for the painting in 2017 the claimed owner and Plaintiff in the lawsuit then for some reason

transferred possession, but not title, to an unidentified third party, the lawsuit alleges. No additional details are provided in the six-page lawsuit, filed in federal court in Detroit.

A little more detail as to who he transferred it to and why would probably be interesting and likely more will come out in the case as it moves along.

In any case this particular Van Gogh is likely not going anywhere soon.

So I Van Went To Van Gogh

The Detroit Institute of Arts is hosting a special "Van Gogh In America" exhibit, bringing together multiple works of Van Gogh for public display at the DIA.

Security was rather tight and they're not allowing bags in. 

I had planned to see the exhibit and then do some work in their courtyard after seeing the exhibit, but due to vile progs defacing art in the name of Global Warming Climate Change, you can't bring bags in anymore including laptop bags. So, we decided to just see the exhibit and then head back to do work afterward.

This is not the immersive traveling Van Gogh exhibit, but rather the actual paintings on a special exhibit. There are 74 Van Gogh paintings and sketches on display in the exhibit brought in from numerous institutions to be put on for this exhibition.

Including the very one first purchased by the DIA in 1922, which was the first purchase of a Van Gogh by an American Art Museum.

This one:

One of his rather famous self-portraits.  

He did a lot of self-portraits, being unable to afford models much of the time. Quite neat to see it in person along with the other art works. Apparently, the DIA caught quite a bit of flack back then for buying it as Van Gogh's art wasn't considered quite artsy enough at the time.

Lots of his works have olive trees:

 

This is because they were outside the windows of the asylum he checked himself into for mental issues.

He had a mental condition that we would likely diagnose as Bi-Polar today.

In his final days, he produced 75 paintings in 70 days.  Can you say manic episode?

Van Gogh died at a young age from suicide in 1890 at the age of 37. A lot of talent that sadly burnt out at so young an age.

His art took some time after his death to catch on in America. It finally started to become popular here in 1935 due to a the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition of his work which caught peoples attention and led to its popularity.

Quite a nice exhibit and a nice morning break from the office and the usual day-to-day. 

If you're near the Detroit area, I'd recommend taking the time to go see it.  There are tickets required with set viewing times, as they want to limit the number of people who are in the exhibit to allow people to be able to enjoy it and be able to easily view the art without it being crowded.

Florence - Michelangelo's David

Our tour group was split into two with a new guide joining and taking away half the group in order to enter the Academia Gallery. We stayed with the original guide.

Since we had booked the tour through the cruise line, our tickets for entry were already purchased as part of the tour with a designated time. 

 The line for those who did not yet have tickets was immense and pretty much unmoving - if you want to go in, plan ahead and be sure to have tickets ready before you get there or book a tour that arranges it ahead of time.

Some security and bag check to get in - even since a nutbar attacked the statue with a hammer, they've been rather careful about what you bring into the building.

After the main entrance you enter into smaller rooms filled with amazing art:

 

You then turn a corner and there it is, right in front of you in a room all to itself:

 Michelangelo's David inspires awe when you see it like that in person.  Simply breathtaking for a moment.  

Hard to explain why, but the masterpiece seemed to have that effect on everyone who entered the room and first saw it.

 

A true masterpiece in marble, 17 feet tall, completed in 1504 and perhaps the finest work of Renaissance sculpture. Placed on a pedestal it towers above the visitors.

After seeing David, you can see many unfinished sculptures created by Michelangelo on display:

 

There's also a plethora of amazing Renaissance art to view, most, if not all, with religious themes.  But, it is David that is the main attraction of the Academie and well worthy of being seen in person as one of the greatest works of art. 

Certainly this was a highlight of the trip and truly awe-inspiring.

We then got some free time to explore Florence and then boarded the tour bus and headed to Pisa.

The Woke Eat Their Own, Expensively

Progressives must always keep the wheels of progress moving, even if that means eating their own.

The New York Times: San Francisco Will Spend $600,000 to Erase History

The best part? They're spending $600,000 to destroy a mural painted by a communist back in the day as a critique of America as an evil, slave ownin', Indian killin' colonial country, but that critique is too "triggering" for the delicate progressive sensibilities of today:

Victor Arnautoff, the Russian immigrant who made the paintings in question, was perhaps the most important muralist in the Bay Area during the Depression. Thanks to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration, he had the opportunity to make some enduring public artworks. Among them is “City Life” in Coit Tower, in which the artist painted himself standing in front of a newspaper rack conspicuously missing the mainstream San Francisco Chronicle and packed with publications like The Daily Worker.

Arnautoff, who had assisted Diego Rivera in Mexico, was a committed Communist. “‘Art for art’s sake’ or art as perfume have never appealed to me,” he said in 1935. “The artist is a critic of society.”

This is why his freshly banned work, “Life of Washington,” does not show the clichéd image of our first president kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge. Instead, the 13-panel, 1,600-square-foot mural, which was painted in 1936 in the just-built George Washington High School, depicts his slaves picking cotton in the fields of Mount Vernon and a group of colonizers walking past the corpse of a Native American.

A Communist mural designed to denigrate America, ironically paid for by American taxpayers, is now too triggering for the left to endure.

Just like the Taliban, for the progressives left this can't just be covered up, this affront to the modern day progressive religion must be utterly destroyed:

Mark Sanchez, the school board’s vice president, later told me that simply concealing the murals wasn’t an option because it would “allow for the possibility of them being uncovered in the future.” Destroying them was worth it regardless of the cost, he argued at the hearing, saying, “This is reparations.”

That $600,000 could have gone a long way for the School Board to use for educating students, but instead, the proggy left must waste it by destroying an anti-American mural while claiming the destruction of admittedly crappy commie art, previously paid for at taxpayer expense of course, with the destruction paid for at taxpayer expense, is somehow an act of "reparations".

Get That Art In A Burqa, Stat!

The Times: Saatchi Gallery covers up SKU artworks after complaints by Muslims

The artwork itself is now covered in what very well looks like a burqa, as can be seen in the linked article.

The art, being a critical commentary on Islam and its interaction with the west, had Arabic script overlaid on some nude images. If you couldn't predict what was going to happen when you did that. . .

Well, just like the real life interaction between Islam and the West, there's been a rather fractious and vociferous uproar of blasphemy and offense from the Muslim community.

Rather provocatively, the artist included the Shahada, or Muslim declaration of faith, on the image and that's where the outrage began, including comparison to the Satanic Verses. Note the author of the Satanic Verses got a fatwa and multiple and very real death threats and attmepts on his life, so the artist in this case is likely also in a bit of trouble too.

Offensive? Most certainly.

However, clearly no more offensive than for example Piss Christ or Mary in Elephant dung, and Banksy's anti-semitic art display at Art Basel in Miami -- all of which were on prominent display in art galleries without fear, nor were they ever covered up. This is because Christians and Jews, while they may get annoyed and consider it offensive, and even write letters to the editor complaining about it, in the West they don't kill people over offensive art these days.

If you're going to display provocative art, knowing it is provocative, retreating after there's a reaction to the provocation is rather weak indeed, and it tends to reinforce and reward threatening behavior. Setting a policy that offensive art is ok, just as long as it doesn't offend Islam, has some very bad consequences.

Definition of Baroque: When You're Out Of Monet

Picasso, 2 Monets among works stolen at Dutch museum

The Detroit Free Press:

Thieves who broke into a Dutch museum during the night made off with 7 paintings, including a Picasso, a Matisse, and 2 Monets worth "considerable value."

The paintings were taken from Rotterdam's Kunsthal Museum, which is showing its own works as well as paintings from the Triton Foundation collection of avant-garde art.

The performance may have been captured on videotape but the thieves are currently on the loose. The paintings are worth millions of dollars and it appears to be a major failure of the museum's security.