A Visit to Kelvingrove
of 3
-
Upload
laura-lapovita -
Category
Documents
-
view
214 -
download
0
Transcript of A Visit to Kelvingrove
-
8/10/2019 A Visit to Kelvingrove
1/3
A Visit to KelvingroveAuthor(s): Merlin JamesSource: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 150, No. 1264, American Art and Architecture (Jul.,2008), pp. 477-478Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40479805.
Accessed: 01/11/2014 13:32
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access
to The Burlington Magazine.
http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bmplhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40479805?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40479805?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bmpl -
8/10/2019 A Visit to Kelvingrove
2/3
BARNETT
NEWMAN AT BETTY
PARSONS
GALLERY,
NEW
YORK
firstime n
more han
hree
ears,
reston ould
cknowledge
he
artist s ole
in
the
rise of Abstract
xpressionism.
ight
appeared
as
No.
7 )
in
Ten
years,
n
exhibitiono
celebrate
he
enth
anniversary
f the
Betty
arsons
Gallery.
restonwrote: nce a
far
utpost
f
the advance
guard
nd now a
secure
errain,
his
gallery
as
promoted
dventurousalent hich ater eceived
ide
recognition.
ans
Hofmann,
arnett
ewman,
ackson
ollock,
Ad Reinhardt, arkRothko and the ateBradley omlin all
represented
ere)
re omeofhe
painters
ho havefashionedhe
nowfamous
tyle
f bstract
xpressionism,
he hosen
tyle
f
most
contemporary
merican
on-figurative
rtists .32
By
1955
twas much
asier oconsiderAbstract
xpressionism
as shorthand or
group
endeavour han s an umbrella erm
for ndividual
rojects.
t is consistent ith
the ncommensur-
ability
f
Newman swork nd the
critical
anguage
fthe
early
1950s
that
Newman s
reputation
mprovedmarkedly
etween
October
1952
and
December
1955,
during
which ime
he exhi-
bited
nothing.
32
dem:
Year-end
xhibitions ,
bid.
25th
December
955),
.X14;
Ten
years
an
from
9th
ecember
955
o
15th
anuary
956.
Letters o the Editor
A
visit o
Kelvingrove
sir,
Your
November
007
Editorial
pp.
47-4
),
to which
Mark
O Neill s etter
bjected
n
yourMay
ssue
p.
0),
onlybegan
o
touchon the
failings
f the
fine rt
displays
t the
Kelvingrove
Art
Gallery
nd
Museum,
Glasgow.
write s
a
Glasgow
esident
and
frequent
isitoro theMuseum. he
overwhelmingroblem
t
Kelvingrove
sthat he
bility
o
concentratendreflects
compro-
mised
by
ntrusive,
rude nformationcrambles
nd an insistent
parading
f
enhanced isitor
xperience
hats
ultimately
ounter-
productive.
The main
allery
fwonderful
odern rench
aintings
as hil-
dren s
ctivity
slands few
teps way
from he
works,
reating
playschool
ubbub.
Flip-chart
abels for each
paintingFig.
1)
demand hatviewers uddlewithinnches f thecloselyhung
works.A
Picasso
nd
a
Dufyhang
t knee
height,
nlit,
ehind
computer-screen
nimation
whose voice-over
broadcasts,
n
a
charming
rench
ccent,
tale of
Monsieur
ufy s
Day
Out .
Simultaneously
soundtrackrom he
djacent
talian enaissance
gallery xplains
he rudimentsf
perspective
nd
iconography.
When
you
reach he
talian
ictures
Bellini,
otticelli,
itian)
our
view s
clutterednd
obstructed
ygiant
raphic
oards nd
by
ases
of
rmour,
rtefacts
nd
explanations
f
paint
manufacture
Fig.
).
The
clunky
often
malfunctioning)
ight
how
projected irectly
onto the
Botticelli
Annunciations
particularly
hocking.
hen
come strains f
Josquin
es
Prs from side
chapel
complete
with
mini-pews,big
nformation
anel
bout
ltarpieces,hefty
hand-placard
ith
yet
more
facts,
nd a
painting
rom he
work-
shop
fPesellino.
he music
available
n disc
romhe
hop,
abel
tells s) s a rather
pproximate
istorical atchwith he
painting
and erves
nly
s mood
Muzak
n
a
caricaturef hekind
f olemn
contemplation
hats
actually
o
difficulto
achieve
n
this
Museum.
The
next oom fDutch rt estores
ome
dignity,
arred
nly
by
obtrusive
tory-boards;
ut too often
t
Kelvingroveny
ense
of
art s
niquequalities
nd the
venerationt
might
eserve ave
been
acrificed,
resumably
s
being
ynonymous
ith
xclusivity
and
elitism.When rt s
reciousness
r
emotive
ower
re
heeded
at all
they
re not
given pace
o
make heir
ffectut
nstead re
pedantically
nd rather
ondescendingly
thematised ,
s
in
the
Pesellino
hapel
r n
zones bout
onservationnd
restorationr
Scottish
dentity
n Art
cue
the
bagpipes).
n
the
ground
loor
major
ndminorworks like
re used as
examples
n
pedagogic
ensembles,
gain verpoweredygimmickyaraphernalia.
ertain
works re
entirely
nlabelled
a
print y
S.W.
Hayter,
seven-
teenth-century
utch
nterior),
xistingnly
s visual timulae
n
a
learning
rea.
The caffranchisesn theentrance alland the okeyclown
heads
hanging
n
the tairs
designed
y
a communications
irm)
set
the tone that xtendsnto the
galleries.
ouch-screen nd
interactive
nterfaces
bound;
one
painting
as
funnythought
bubbles attached o
it;
mobile
phones
are used
freely
n the
galleries;
oise evels reoften
igh;
ndthe
omputer
onitorsn
theResource
Centre how earch
istorieslmost
ntirely
fchat
rooms,
rivia ideo ites r
online
hopping.
It is
in
this
ontext the
dmystification
f artto the
point
of
disrespect
that
he
very
ow
hanging
f
many
works
does,
contrary
o
O Neill s
claims,
epresent
ncreased isk
o the
physi-
cal
afety
f he
ollections. f course
heres a thrilln
being iven
intimate ccess to works
f
art,
s
long
as
there s also a sense
of curatorial
are.But without hat
uraof
reverenceheeffects
to devalue hework
nd eave t more
vulnerableo
casual buse.
Indeed, bronze yZadkine, ree-standingnan activitiesench,
51.
Flip-chart
abels n either ide f
Charles amoin s lace e
Clichy,
aris,
Kelvingrove
useum ndArt
Gallery, lasgow,
008.
THE
BURLINGTON MAGAZINE
CL
JULY
28
477
This content downloaded from 92.22.61.243 on Sat, 1 Nov 2014 13:32:40 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp -
8/10/2019 A Visit to Kelvingrove
3/3
LETTERS
TO
THE EDITOR
52.
talian enaissance
allery, elvingrove
useum ndArt
Gallery, lasgow,
008.
53.
A Zadkine ronze n a
hands-on
nvironment,
Kelvingrove
useum ndArt
Gallery, lasgow,
008.
in one
corner,
hows lear
igns
f
having
een
shoved round
(Fig.
)
A
painting
rom he
tudio fRibera
hung
wo feet rom
the
ground
ironically
n a
display
bout
onservation)
s
dappled
with
fingerprints.
onstable s
ow-hungHampstead
eath has
similar
ingerprints
n its
lip
frame. laced close to
many
works
are
heavy
nformation-placards
r other isual r tactile
ids that
visitorsre nvited o
pick up
and
manipulate.
his is
courting
disaster,
specially
s
warding
s at anabsoluteminimum. n
my
last isit
spent
n hour n
the hreemain
ainting
oomswithout
seeing
warder.When
actively
earched found sole member
of
staff,
istantly
tationed n a central
anding, esponsible
or
all twelve
galleries
f the whole
upper
floor.
A
very
ew,
mall
CCTV cameras
eem o be
in
place,
but
many
works re
n
blind
spots e.g. the Dutch nteriormentionedbove,unalarmed nd
mirror-plated
o a
partition
y
three ommon ross-head
crews;
Fig.
).
As
I
write,
ne
painting
which
had
hung
on the same
partition
s Turner sModern
taly), ohn
Michael
Wright s
rances,
daughterf
Oliver romwell
c.1658),
hasbeen removed or estora-
tion fter
eceiving ajor
cratch
amage.
In
spite
f theblack
picture paint,
t would take
uite imple
steps
o achieve
better alance etween
opulism
n the ne hand
54.
Art
iscovery
entre,
elvingrove
useum ndArt
Gallery, lasgow,
008.
and,
on the
other,
rofessional
rotection
nd
presentation
f
art nd
respect
or ts
realvalue.There
needbe no U-turn r oss
offace or he
mastermindsf
theMuseum s elaunch:
lear
way
some of the
clutter,
ivemajor
works
ome
breathingpace,
ban
mobile
hones
nd
create n airof
quiet
n
certain
alleries,
rop
public
ddress
oundtracksr
replace
hemwith
headphones
nd
bring
n
vigilant
arding.
We can
onlyhope.
MERLIN
JAMES
A
portrait y
Canini?
sir,
n
Arnold .Witte s rticle
Paying
or rescosn
stone: inan-
cial
aspects
f the
decoration f S. Martino n
Rome ,
in
your
March ssue
pp.
82-86),
here s
reproducedas
Fig.
0)
a Portrait
of
GiovanAntonio
ilippini y
an
unknown rtist
165
;
Casa
generalizia
ei
Carmelitani,
ome).
In
theBritish
ibrary
otebooks f he irtuoso
nd
royalist
xile
Richard
ymonds
1617-60)
he
records hat e visited
. Martino
on four
ccasions
uring
is imenRome
(1649-5 ).1
The artist
Giovanni
Angelo
Caniniwas
Symonds s
entor hilehe was
n
the
ity
nd
Filippini
as a friend orat east
patron
of Cani-
ni,
whose
altarpiece
The
Holy
THnity
with Sts
Bartholomewnd
Nicholas
f
Ban
163 )
s still
n
the hurch.2
On one ofhis
visits o the hurch
ymonds s
otes ndicate hat
he
was
ccompanied y
Canini.On that ccasion
hey
were hown
the mitre nd crown of
Pope
Silvester
reg.
14-15)
and other
curiosities
y
the Prior f the
Carmelites ,
ymonds s
erm or
Filippini.
s the
portrait
s dated
1651,
timewhen
Filippini
nd
Caniniwere
evidently
till n
contact,
t seems
ery ossible
hat
he is the
painter
f the
portrait
hich s
stylisticallyomparable
with
Canini s ther nown
works.
ANNE
BROOKES
1
See
London,
British
ibrary,
gerton
MS
1635,
fols.iv-
r;
Harley
MS
942,
fols.iov-nv;
ols.79r-v;
nd
Add.MS
17919,
ol.77r.
2
See A. Brookes:
Richard
ymonds s
ccount fhisVisit oRome n
1649-51 ,
The
Walpoleociety
9
(2007),
p.1-183.
478
JULY
2OO8 CL
THE
BURLINGTONMAGAZINE
This content downloaded from 92.22.61.243 on Sat, 1 Nov 2014 13:32:40 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
