Monthly Archives: September 2006

Momus on thin models

Audrey Marnay

Momus:

I find calls to ban “unrepresentative” or “abnormal” models from the catwalk farcical not only because I’m a thin person myself, or because I’m an artist whose work is often about beauty, and who doesn’t think that art should restrict itself to merely average levels of beauty. It’s also because I’m fundamentally anti-rockist. In other words, I’m against “keeping it real”, and I think that claims that a catwalk show, or even a street fashion shoot, are only valid when they’re “based on a true story” are overblown. (If rockism is Stanislavskian, all about realism, anti-rockism is Brechtian, about drawing attention to the fact that all spectacle produces illusion.) —Momus

Digression #1: Vanessa Beecroft Google gallery

See also: heroin chic – fashion

Notice the words love and hate …

The Night of the Hunter (1955) – Charles Laughton
Notice the words love and hate have been tattooed across his knuckles.

The Night of the Hunter is a 1953 novel by American author Davis Grubb. The book was a national bestseller and was voted a finalist for the 1955 National Book Award. In 1955 the book was adapted by Charles Laughton and James Agee as the film The Night of the Hunter.

The story concerns an ex-convict who, acting on a story told him by his now-dead cellmate, cons the cellmate’s widow into marrying him in hopes that her children will tell him where their father hid the money from his last robbery. After killing their mother, he embarks on a hunt for the children, who have sensed his evil and are running from him.

The plot was based on the true story of Harry Powers, who was hanged in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children in Clarksburg, West Virginia. —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night of the Hunter [Sept 2006]

See also: serial killer – American cinema – 1955

In the beginning there was the Word

In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

In den beginne was het Woord en het Woord was bij God en het Woord was God.

Au commencement était la Parole, et la Parole était avec Dieu, et la Parole était Dieu.

Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und das Wort war Gott.

EN el principio era el Verbo, y el Verbo era con Dios, y el Verbo era Dios.

—Gospel of John (KJV) 1:1-4

Mary and Child (1490) – Gérard David

Mary and Child (1490) – Gérard David

Gérard David (c. 1455, Oudewater – August 13th 1523, Bruges) was an early Dutch Renaissance artist known for his brilliant use of colour. He was born in Oudewater, now located in Utrecht. Most of his career took place in Bruges, where he was a member of the painters’ guild. Upon the death of Hans Memling in 1494, David became Bruges’ leading painter.–http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard David [Sept 2006]

See also: painting – Northern Renaissance

Grisaille

Standflügel des Helleraltars von Matthias Grünewald, ausgeführt in Grisaille

In the summer of 2006 I saw my first grisaille, by Flemish Primitive Jan Provoost at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. I had been thinking about what I had seen, I could not figure out why artists would paint in monochrome in an age where black and white – so I believed – had not yet been invented. Furthermore, it was one of these enigmas where a simple Google search would not suffice. I thought of contacting someone at the museums of Brussels or Antwerp. The day before yesterday I decided to post it on the talk page of Jan Provoost’s entry at Wikipedia. Wetman answered my query in two hours. One more testimonial to the efficiency of Wikipedia and the phenomenal knowledge of Wikipedia editor Wetman.

Here are the answers I was looking for:

Grisaille (Fr. gris, grey) is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome, in various shades of grey, particularly used in decoration to represent objects in relief.–http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grisaille [Sept 2006]

Grisaille first appeared in the late thirteenth century, but was especially popular from the second half of the fourteenth through the fifteenth c. —http://www.geocities.com/cjfearon/ [Sept 2006]

In the Middle Ages grisailles were often painted on the outer panels of altarpieces. This was to suggest stone sculpture. Around 1700 grisailles became the height of fashion. Later in the eighteenth century, the vogue for grisailles declined. —http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_encyclopedia/00046966?lang=en [Sept 2006]

See also: painting – Matthias Grünewald

I was seeking a soul resembling mine

I was seeking a soul resembling mine, and I could not find it. I searched throughout the seven seas; my perseverance proved of no use. Yet I could not remain alone. I needed someone who’d approve of my nature; there had to be somebody out there with the same ideas as me. –Stanza 13 of Maldoror via Dennis Cooper who has a series of posts concerning Les Chants de Maldoror (1869) – Comte de Lautréamont in a version illustrated by Salvador Dalí.

Electronic soul music

Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing [YouTube] (1982)

The S.O.S. Band’s “Just Be Good To Me” [YouTube] (1983)

Both built around the Roland TR-808.

Digression number one: Night Nurse [YouTube] (1982).

Digression number two: Cutty Ranks and the Sleng Teng riddim [YouTube] (1985)

Digression number three: Dawn Penn’s No No No [YouTube] (1992)

No No No is the original Queen Majesty rhythm out of Studio One (then for Steely & Clevie – which is the version with the “Wake The Town” sample)

See also: eighties groove

Rarities from Dennis Cooper’s record collection

Dennis Cooper, whose blog I recently discovered, posts prolifically, and here the entries from the rarities of his record collection, some items of which he found in 1974 (when he was 21). It has been a special interest of mine to discover what the collections are (music, art, books) of artists I know.