1786- the year of a lost Turner Watercolor

1796 was an incredibly interesting year.

It was the year American painter, Asher Durand, was born in New Jersey. Durand (not Duran Duran… ‘90s music lovers!) would go on to become one of the major proponents of the Hudson River school style of painting, celebrating, realism in landscape art, and its connection to the divine.

It was the year Catherine the Great died after decades ruling Russia and expanding the Russian empire.

It was also the year than a twenty-one year old English painter, J. M. W. Turner, painted this watercolor. It was forgotten about for years in the attic of a rural country estate in England, Kinsham Court.

Turner watercolor, Hampton Court Castle, Herefordshire, courtesy of Minster Auctions

It’s going on auction in March, so if you have some spare milk money, ( the estimate is running between £30,000 to £60,000), and love Turner, then this is your chance to pick up what could be a relative bargain.

The fifth Earl of Essex hired Turner to paint Hampton Court Castle in Herefordshire after he inherited it. Herefordshire, famous for its beautiful countryside and its Hereford cows, is in the West Midlands. Hampton Court then became the property of the Arkwright family at the start of the 19th century.

After a hundred years or so, John Arkwright sold Hampton Court and then relocated to Kinsham Court. Most likely the Turner sketch made the trip along with everything else. It was discovered by Arkwright’s descendants in the attic amongst a bunch of watercolors that had been up there for decades. That makes me feel not-so-bad about not having been in my attic for months, while at the same time making me realize I should go up there and check out what’s hanging around…even though I am 100% certain I will not find a long lost Turner watercolor.

Now, while the watercolor wasn’t signed, one of Minster’s experts, James Pearn, is positive that it’s a Turner, because of the stylistic elements that Turner was known for, including the way he laid down his brushstrokes.

Patterdale, With Ullswater beyond, Turner, courtesy of Sotheby’s

It’s interesting to note that just a few days ago on January 31, at auction at Sotheby’s, two different watercolors by Turner found new owners. One, Loch Lomond, West Scotland, sold right within its estimate range of $50-$80 grand at just under $61,000 while the second piece, Patterdale with Ullswater beyond, generated a bit more interest and sold over the estimate, bringing down the gavel at a little over $95,000. In light of these numbers, Minster’s auction estimate ( 38 to 72 thousand USD) isn’t too far off what the market seems to be willing to pay. We’ll see what happens in the first of minsters three annual fine art auctions in March.

Meanwhile, go check your attics, people!

This weeks free classes: from Irving Penn to Massaccio

Happy Sunday morning to everybody!

I hope this weekly hello finds you happy and enjoying a beautiful sunny, albeit hot and soupy, day.

I am doing a few programs this week that I’d like to share with you via zoom . They are all free and open to everyone.

The first one is tomorrow morning with Peninsula public library at 11 AM and will be focusing on important Jewish artists of the 20th century

Irving Penn Self portrait; Photo courtesy Irving Penn Foundation

. 

ZOOM: Jewish Artists in the Contemporary Art World

Join Prof Val Franco, for a look at some of the tremendous Jewish artists of the twentieth century. The history behind their lives and work, and a comparison of their various styles. We’ll be focusing on artists whose work has pushed the boundaries while also bringing important issues to the forefront of popular culture. 

Registration is not required.

Click the link below to join the Zoom Meeting:

Meeting ID: 721 207 3003

Passcode: PenPubLib

                                 🎨🖌️🎨

My second class this week is Tuesday night at 7 pm with the Crestwood Library – again via zoom, free and open to everyone. We’ll be doing slow looking, focusing on a few select masterpieces and discussing the works as a group. 

San Giovenale Triptych, Masaccio, 1422

Virtual -Tuesday, June 27, 2023. 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Event Details

Join Prof. Val Franco as we find a new way to view art. By taking our time and getting to the heart of a painting or sculpture, we can get in touch with what the artist was trying to share with us about the world around them and their subject. By looking at a few select masterpieces from Renaissance art and the Impressionist period, we’ll discuss all the elements that make an artwork great as well look at paintings in a slow, meaningful way.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://ypl-org.zoom.us/j/87381066479?pwd=UFhTL2FEMGFSQ282R0Y3ZzYwTGdiZz09

Meeting ID: 873 8106 6479
Passcode: 443085

Contact Info

Name:  Z BairdEmail: z@ypl.orgPresenter: Val Franco

🎨🖌️🎨
The third one of the week is our regular Wednesday night Art zoom, sponsored by me,ProfValFranco, for free at 7 pm on Wednesday. We’ll be looking at Renaissance artist Massaccio and discussing the important aspects of dimensional painting and how Masaccio’s practice changed painting forever.

Masaccio self portrait from Brancusi Chapel Fresco

The lecture is free and open to everyone everywhere, and starts at 7 pm. Zoom is my standard Art zoom : Topic: ProfValFranco’s Armchair Art

Zoom 
Meeting ID: 878 0879 9248
Passcode: 683628

🎨🖌️🎨

Finally, back by popular demand, we are doing our monthly museum visits in person! The next trip is Monday, July 10 in New York and you can send an email for further info if you are interested!

This week’s art & film posts will go up in a few days and will focus on the art collection of Catherine the Great & the incredible film Eadweard about the man behind the beginnings of the modern moving image!

Looking forward to seeing you this week.

Regards

ProfValFranco

Preemptive closure at the Gardner Museum

As you know, Friday, March 17 was the 33rd anniversary of the robbery of the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston. 13 works were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990.

The museum closed early because of possible actions by climate activists from the group Extinction Rebellion, who were going to do some type of a guerrilla art action inside the museum.

As you recall, we’ve spoken about different climate protests in various European museums the past several months, and the trend has come to the US.
The museum released a statement regarding the early closure. In it they cited the museum: “ as a safe place of sharing art, community and conversation. Isabella was an advocate of all forms of art, as well as the environment, especially horticulture. While it is our mission to uphold Isabella’s values, we do not support this type of tactic that targets art institutions and could possibly put the Museum’s collection, staff and visitors at risk.”

empty frame which held Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee prior to robbers cutting it out and removing it. Courtesy Josh Reynolds/AP

What, if any, actions do you think museums should take in the face of possible protests inside their institutions?

What do you think about this closure of the museum in response to possible vandalism?

Do you think the art works stolen from the museum 33 years ago will ever be recovered?

Do you think they are irretrievably lost or damaged?

How do you feel about the blank spaces the museum keeps to honor the stolen pieces?

From Billionaires, Scottish Dukes, Rothschilds, Dutch Masters & American Watercolorists: My Rembrandt & Jerry Pinkney

Hello All & a happy December to you! 

Thanks to all for a great discussion this past Friday on the intriguing documentary MY REMBRANDT. This film, with its incredible insider access to some of the most glorious Rembrandt paintings in the world, explores why people are so fascinated with the Dutch Golden Age painter, centuries after he created incredible, world-changing images. The inner machinations behind the joint Louvre-Rijksmuseum $160 million purchase of a pair of portraits from current Baron de Rothschild were especially fascinating. 

The life size portraits that Rothschild had on either side of his bed for years were created in 1634 and depict Amsterdam trader Marten Soolmans and his wife Oopjen Coppit. 

Notice the texture, palette, expression & emotion…when compared to Rembrandt’s portrait of her husband, she seems to have a bit more spirit and brightness in her image. Was Rembrandt a bit more taken by her personality, or does this reflect the difference in purpose of representation between the pair of portraits: the husband, serious, a force to be reckoned with in his contemporary society; the wife, embodying the hallmarks of a good Dutch wife of her class?

Consider this: If you owned a Rembrandt as part of your massive collection of centuries of art from the Old Masters through to the twentieth century, would you lend it (or any of your collection, for that matter) out to museums around the world, or would you keep them in your residence for your personal, private enjoyment?

The film explores this question in presenting various private collectors and public institutions, including American collector Thomas Scott Kaplan, who owns the largest privately held collections of Rembrandts (15) and Dutch masterworks ( 250) in the world; and Richard Scott, the Duke of Buccleuch, whose his 80,000 acres of ancestral lands in Scottland houses a massive collection of Old World masterpieces, including Rembrandt’s Old Woman Reading from 1665.

Kaplan believes it is his responsibility to lend these masterworks out to public institutions so they can be enjoyed by the world at large, while The Duke, like other Uber wealthy collectors, keeps various works by the Old Masters in his private residence for his enjoyment only.

Portrait of Opjen Coppit, 1634 by Rembrandt courtesy of the Rijksmuseum 

It’s an interesting question to consider, and I’m quite sure, a much better one to actually have irl.

Next week we’ll discuss the work of Jerry Pinckney and his beautiful, striking important water colors on view at the Katonah Museum in New York.

Go, She Cried, from Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman, 1996, by Jerry Pinkney. Watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paper. 12 3/8 in. x 20 3/8 in.

We’ll also look at the work of the incredible Winslow Homer and his use of various media in creating his awe inspiring images of America and her various, glorious landscapes.

Nor’easter, Winslow Homer, 1895/1881 courtesy of the Met

What I learned this morning…

Almost every morning before I start my day I do a little exploration on line…it’s a few minutes spent following random connections between subjects & it tickles & enlightens me much more than reading violent or cranky threads on Facebook, so I find it an enjoyable almost addicting, pursuit. I’ve gone from strings of royalty to Greek philosophers, into screamo while passing through Dadaism, so I thought I should share the morning routes my mind virtually explores…

Today, a trailer on the film Northfork ( I thought it would be a pleasant doc on Long Island wineries, but it’s actually a film on the coercion and shenanigans involved in imminent domain relocation of hold-out families during the construction of a massive dam project in 1955 nNrthfork, Montana. 

Courtesy Paramount Pictures

In actuality, the Glacier View Dam, which was initially proposed at the North Fork site of the Flathead River along the Western border of Montana’s Glacier National Park, faced fierce opposition from various conservation groups and as well as the National Park Service. The massive 416-foot tall dam, would have flooded in over 10,000 acres of parkland, and was never built. 

Proposed Dam, Courtesy U.S.Army Corps of Engineers

It stands ( symbolically, not literally…) as an example of the importance of environment conservancy, and is an interesting contrast to China’s completed Three Gorges dam. The largest hydroelectric dam in the world, it was officially built to stall the periodic flooding of the Yangtze River, but it’s main raison d’etre is to fuel China’s massive need for electric power. It has wreaked incredible havoc with the lives of millions of displaced people as well as destroying incredible natural environments and habitats.

China’s Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, image courtesy of France24

For an in-depth look at this 21st Century industrial megalith and the destruction of traditional farming life in rural areas of China that it has caused, consider watching Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang’s wonderful, gut-wrenching documentary, Up the Yangtze.

From Up the Yangtze, courtesy EyeSteelFilm 2007

After the trailer for Northfork, a doc on the incomparable Josephine Baker jumped on.  Josephine Baker: The First Black Superstar, a BBC Wales/ForgetAboutIt Films co-production, explores the incredible life of this maverick at a time of suppression in the U.S. of both women and African-Americans. (Note to self: learn more about Josephine Baker, and explore why there hasn’t been a biopic on her life since the 1991 Josephine Baker Story, starring Lynn Whitfield…) 

Josephine Baker, courtesy BBC

After researching a bit into the socio-political climate in the States and Europe when Baker made her move across the Atlantic, I had to jump into the Jazz Age and then jump back into Dada…which led to a deeper exploration of Magritte’s eponymous painting, The Treachery of Images … ( art is always at the root of everything, somehow…) 

Rene Magritte, 1928-29, La Trahison des Images, courtesy of LACMA

The whole concept of representation versus reality ( this is nota pipe…) led to canadian Robert Gentleman’s development of the free software R, as well as being one of the brilliant brains behind the free software Bioconductor that analyzes data on genomes that results from specific kinds of molecular biology experiments. 

Courtesy Bioconductor.org

R, by the way, is a free, open source language and environment ( or system) that is rooted in GNU/Linux ( Linux is the original free open source software ) and is used for graphics and statistical computing. 

And you have to love an entity/organization/concept that leads off in its Help section with this advice: “Before asking others for help, it’s generally a good idea for you to try to help yourself” 

Wow! Talk about encouraging true independence! I’m at once extremely intimidated, and utterly enamored with R and the concepts behind Gnu/Linux and free, open-source computing. 

Courtesy r-project.org, 2016 c 

So far, my morning’s mental wandering made my wish that I had paid more attention back in the day to my required undergrad class on introductory computer programming. Dr. Hsu very patiently tried to guide us through binary basics, zeros and ones, and I still feel that had I paid more attention to really understanding the concepts of preliminary coding, my life today would be very different. 

Note to self: add “learn basic coding” to my bucket list.

…and that’s how my morning started off.

Leap into Italian heritage month- il divo

So- since October is Italian heritage month-let’s talk about some fantastic Italian films- all with English subtitles -so no excuses for not watching!!

This week’s film –il Divo – incredible depiction of events leading up to the trial of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, senator for life & all around lil Jack Horner . When you talk about back-door politics, political intrigue & corruption, he’s you’re go-to guy.

This 2008 fast moving gem directed by Paolo Sorrentino & shot with an incredible eye by director of photography Luca Bigazzi is a must-see if you want an inside look at the underbelly of Italian politics.

In fact, do a double-header with Nanni Moretti’s 2006 election year game changer il Caimano/em> on the career of another former Italian P.M. Silvio Berlusconi, and you have yourself a quick education into just how hard politicians with integrity in Italy have it when working against these guys. Makes the U.S.election season seem like a farm team training season in comparison.