ARTES MAGAZINE

Editor’s Letter: February, 2012

Posted on 1 February 2012 | By Richard Friswell

“Art plucks its material, otherwise unexpressed, in the garden of life.” ~Henry James, The Ambassaors

It seems fitting, during Presidents’ Birthday month, here in the U.S., to feature the last photograph taken of Abraham Lincoln before his assassination in April 1865 (left). The burdens and losses brought on by civil strife and personal loss are writ large on the face of a man who was only 56 years old at the time Matthew Brady captured this image in his Washington, D.C. studio. This is also the month that we honor the memory of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. and the many who risked life and limb to move our country out of a sustained period of race inequality and discrimination. The lives of these two men, ironically, now seem inextricably bound.

With the course of our history very much in mind, ARTES readers will find two recently-posted articles that attest to the struggle and the opportunities for black Americans that emerged from the crucible of those contests of will and dissent. The current exhibition mounted by the Maryland Historical Society, Divided Voices, speaks powerfully to the issues that tore a nation apart, pitting brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor and exacting such a dramatic toll on the clear-spoken man from the woods of Illinois, as he wrestled with the issues of the time. In a review by Avi Decktor, head of the Jewish Museum in Baltimore—and no stranger to the issues of prejudice—the crucial role of the battle of Antietam Creek, fought on Maryland soil, is one focus of the exhibit. Remarkably, Lincoln prayed for victory in an encounter that would take 24,000 American lives in a single day, vowing that with a Confederate defeat he would go public with a document that he had only recently drafted. Pictured (above), with Allan Pinkerton (founder of the like-named security company and precursor to the Secret Service) And Gen. McClemand at Antietam on October 3, 1862, two weeks after driving Lee’s troops back to Virginia. It would be the following day that the public would first encounter his Emancipation Proclamation in the pages of Harper’s Weekly, a widely-read publication.

One hundred years later, in 1964, African-American artist, Romare Bearden would begin experimenting with a technique of image-making that would set him on a course to fame and notoriety. His collages, known, in part, as Photomontages or Projections would have a defining and determinative impact on the black civil rights movement of the day. In an article by ARTES managing editor, Richard Friswell, the life and work of this brilliant and inventive artist are examined in the context of other creative idioms that formed the cradle of the post-war African-American intellectual movement in Harlem—literature and music. With his ethnic roots planted deeply in North Carolina soil and his artistic focus honed by life in the urban north, Bearden was able to meld folk tradition and ritual with the plight of blacks in mid-century American cities. Not only did he invent a complex visual language for understanding this variegated history, but he succeeded in moving beyond a prejudicial view of black contributions to mainstream artistic movements of the day to become a principle spokesperson for modern art in the late 20th century.

Above left: Romare Bearden, Profile/Part II, The Thirties, Harlem Brownstone (1980). Private collection

Thanks for making ARTES fine arts magazine a part of your busy life. Visit us and please ‘Like’ us on Facebook, or post a comment on Twitter.

Warm regards,

Richard Friswell, Publisher & Managing Editor

January, 2012

Posted on 2 January 2012 | By Richard Friswell

“Pictures must not be too picturesque.”  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Illustration (left): Pablo Picasso, Grande Tete de Femme au Chapeau Orne (1962), block print. Private collection

Eye on the Future: The Pottery Wheel-of-Fortune

Click on image to enlarge

All of us at ARTES, fine arts magazine, wish you a happy and healthy New Year. There has been so much strife and discord in the world in recent years, we can only hope-against-hope that those deep political divisions, cultural and ethnic biases will ameliorate in the months to come. This is an election year in the U.S. and we can certainly count on the vitriol and accusations to be flying in every direction. One consolation is that some politicians speak for only a small minority of us when they stake out their extreme positions on various issues. With claims from the right and the left proclaiming that the country faces ruin unless they are elected, remember this: they are wrong. The solid middle ground remains the ‘high ground’ when it comes to anticipating a meaningful fix for our economy and our future as a nation. Shovel-ready, labor-based infrastructure jobs are a short-term band aid; high-tech training for another segment is useful in the long run, although it will never be a sufficient replacement for the loss of vast numbers of manufacturing jobs to foreign markets. Self-reliance and personal initiatives aimed at creating and building your own future, developing your own business, product or service—working at the edge of pure creative inspiration and self-sufficiency—has never been more crucial.

Take heart in the fact that American cultural enterprises are alive and well. Understand that the odds of ‘trickle-down’ economics affecting your future are remote to none! Wall Street is out for itself; Capitol Hill is mired in partisanship; Main Street has moved to the Big Box stores at the suburban mall. Our job is to put aside our indignation and rage and roll up our creative sleeves: paint, decoupage, design and build, spin, weave, bake something wild and delicious that everyone will want to taste. Come on…turn on your creative juices!

ARTES has noted that museums are redefining themselves in the face of a constrained economy: artists are responding to declining markets for experimental work and returning to more traditional, studio-based methods of painting; auction houses are noting that mid-range art and antiques are now more affordable than ever; Magnet schools are thriving, in part because an emphasis on reading, music and art offerings enrich their daily curriculum; New York’s Broadway is booming; art fairs are springing up all over the world and are heavily attended; high-quality artisanal crafts—from cheese to silver earrings to lighting fixtures—are finding new markets on the Internet and with recession-fatigued consumers (Web sales up 16% for Christmas `11! ).

Let’s learn from the past.  Between the two world wars, precious raw materials were in scant supply for European furniture designers and architects. From this dearth of supplies came some of the most timeless designs for chairs, tables and the spare, beautiful building designs that we now associate with the Internationalist Movement. Molded plywood, woven , spare bicycle parts and other surplus goods became the raw materials of Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair (right), Alvar Aalto’s stacking stools and curvaceous Paimo chair and Hans Coray’s bent-metal, hole-punched side chair.  As they say: “necessity is the mother…”

The cultural scene tends to thrive when times are rough and people are looking to feel better about themselves and the world. When all is said and done, we will be economically leaner and meaner and we’ll be choosing to embrace the people and things that enrich our lives spiritually and aesthetically.

So, put on your creative hat, have a seat at the ‘pottery wheel-of-fortune’ and become a part of that economic revival!

Looking Good!

Thanks to the hard work of new ARTES advocate Mark Johnson and intern, Katya Popova, our Facebook page has grown to become a state-of-art gathering place for friends from all over the world. There are lots of great reasons to check in to the site and check it out! We’re now offering special incentives if you ‘friend’ us. And there you’ll find our new QR code that lets you instantly download ARTES to your tablet or smart-phone device. ARTES is compatible with all of these tools and will continue to search out ways to improve your reading enjoyment of the regular features of the magazine.

Go to: https://www.facebook.com/ARTESmagazine

Or our Twitter site: https://twitter.com/#!/ARTESmag

Thanks for reading and again, a happy and healthy New Year,

Richard Friswell, Publisher & Managing Editor

Illustration (above, left): soon-to-be-released Sky Lanterns, Art Sea Street Fair, Lincoln City, Oregon

December, 2011

Posted on 1 December 2011 | By Richard Friswell

“Art is either plagiarism or revolution.” ~Paul Gauguin

Image, left: Mary Cassatt, Maternal Caress (1890-91), dry point. Private collection

Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

ARTES, the fine arts magazine, looks back on another busy year. We have grown beyond expectations in 2011. Readership is up exponentially, our writers write and readers read in record numbers. Yet, this is also a time to reflect—yes, on our accomplishments and unfulfilled ambitions—but also as we take a moment to consider what is precious around us, outside the material realm. Art and other objects of beauty appear here on the pages of ARTES magazine and in the world around us as a reminder that, with all the grief and hardship to be found ‘out there,’ our lives must occasionally be nurtured by the sublime and the awesome. Through the discovery of beauty we maintain perspective.

As I write this, my studio is filled with the thoughtful piano arrangements of George Winston’s Winter CD. He masterfully weaves subtle musical strains—like blue winter solstice light, entwined like a cat’s cradle in bare treetop branches—together with delicate chords of holiday carols. I can clearly see myself as a child now, standing in the backyard, all bundled and triple-wrapped in scarves, arms akimbo and tongue extended, feeling the snow fall on my face. I would also catch a few tumbling flakes on the back of my gloved hand for closer inspection, amazed at their complexity.

Finding balance in a chaotic world means sometimes being able to close your eyes, while putting your ambitions on hold for a few minutes, as you tilt you face sky-ward, letting your own favorite music and memories wash over you. Our mantra this year, as it should be every day of every year, is thankfulness for good health and family, good health and family—good health and family.

Let us know what you think on our FaceBook and Twitter pages.

Happy Holidays and a joyous New Year from the staff at ARTESmangazine.com

Richard Friswell, Publisher & Managing Editor

November, 2011

Posted on 1 November 2011 | By Richard Friswell

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”  ~Aristotle

Illustration: Hans Hoffmann, Squirrel Eating Hazel Nuts, w/c on vellum (1578)

ARTES is Building its Social Network…Join Us!

The Rembrandt Peale Family: ALL Facebook 'Friends!'

ARTES, the fine arts magazine, is looking to make a difference. We invite you to join our network of Facebook ‘Friends.’ Our site is a Web-based destination where visitors can read full-length, interesting articles on a broad range of topic related to art, architecture and design. The growing popularity of ARTES, in a field dominated by headline specialists and print publication spin-offs, is to provide meaningful on-line content, comparable to the finest of the market’s print magazines, museum catalogues and journal articles. Many feature stories are, in fact, written by those very experts that produce content to accompany exhibitions, major gallery and public events.

In order to expand our horizons and let more people know about ARTES, I have requested the voluntary services of an extraordinarily gifted and hard-working museum studies specialist, Ekaterina Popova. ‘Katya’ Popova has managed to balance a busy schedule in the art and museum world to agree to build and manage the ARTES Facebook and Twitter sites. Her diligence and devotion to the task has meant that ARTES can join the ranks of other web sites, where social networking is such a critical link in the chain of outreach and good will. In addition to her on-line responsibilities to the magazine, she is also honing her skills as a painter and critical writer, making regular contributions to the editorial pages of the magazine with museum exhibition reviews (Note: search her name under our Author Index).

I want to thank Katya for her hard work, as she stands on the shoulders of Adrienne Katz, the energetic volunteer who came before her; continuing to lay the groundwork in an Internet arena that, I confess, I have little understanding of. The ‘i-future’ may belong to the young—iphones, ipads, ipods, etc. Have confidence in the fact that, if you want a computer problem solved, go directly to the new generation of tech-savvy wiz-kids. About the future of our country, I am optimistic, however, as long as bright and energetic women like Katya are there to lend a hand for a project that can potentially add so much to the cultural landscape in which she, and others like her, seem to be so invested.

Visit our social networking sites and please ‘Friend’ us at:

https://www.facebook.com/ARTESmagazine

https://twitter.com/#!/ARTESmag

Thanks for reading,

Richard Friswell

Publisher & Managing Editor

_______________________

October, 2011

“An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world.” ~George Santayana

Illustration (left): George Catlin, Buffalo Bull, Great Pawnee Warrior (1832)

New Content Explores Cultural History

An Anniversary Gift to Readers

ARTES, a fine arts magazine, is celebrating its second anniversary as an on-line resource for art lovers. In the past two years, 175 feature articles have appeared and over 2500 images have accompanied those text. We strive to bring our readers a richly-detailed, comprehensive view of the worlds of art, architecture and design. Working with our cadre of writers, editors and technical experts has turned this experiment in virtual publishing an extraordinary adventure for me, as publisher and managing editor. Reaching out to museum curators, directors, gallery owners and collectors for their vast expertise and cultural perspective in their fine arts fields of expertise makes this project doubly-rewarding.

As an artist, writer and cultural historian with a long-standing interest in modernism (in all its iterations), I have also been fortunate enough to become part of an exciting post-graduate program at Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut. This will be my third college degree (focus on the Humanities, after two degrees in psychology). I think of it as my encore career and a chance to immerse myself in the topic I love so much—fine art and its historical corollaries. Along those lines, I will plan, from time-to-time, to includes a feature article, or a link to another site, where readers who share my interest in “The Big Picture.” There, you can read in areas associated with or integrally related to art movements, as they have evolved over the decades since the Modern Era began to unfold in the early 19th century.

Drawing in material from my in-depth examination of the birth of modern art will add a lively and informative component (I hope!) to the pages of ARTES. It will also allow us to branch out a bit, taking into account the full impact of literature, film, music and Western European history on the development of abstract art and the modernist idiom.

As a start, please let me introduce Herb Jeffries, the last surviving member of the Duke Ellington Band and a 1930s cinema cowboy hero with a fascinating story to tell…Meet the Bronze Buckaroo!  http//:herbertjeffries.weebly.com

Thanks for following ARTES. Please ‘friend’ us on our new Facebook page and Tweet us at the icon posted in the column to the right.

Warm regards,

Richard Friswell

Publisher & Managing Editor

_________________________

September, 2011

“Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does, the better.”

 -André Gide

Illustrations: Banner (detail), Egidius Lining, Ship, John H. Elliot (Antwerp, 1856). Collection, Essex, CT Library; Portrait, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Girl in a Red Scarf (c. 1790). Private Collection.

Tell Us a Story…

CALL FOR WRITERS!

ARTES fine arts magazine is being read the world over. With nearly a third-of-a-million hits in the month of July alone, the virtual content of the magazine is being accessed by nearly 125,000 international readers, 24/7. The ‘Feature Articles’ section of ARTES is a powerful and attractive means to tell the story of your museum, up-coming exhibition, gallery event or collection. With so many routine notices arriving each day, go beyond the standard press release, call or send a written proposal for consideration by the staff. This will increase the likelihood that your institution or organization will succeed

With 170 feature stories currently posted and archived, the editorial board is always open to proposals for new content. We share your compassion for fine art, architecture and design. Collections with an historical focus, challenges involving conservation, lighting and display and novel programs aimed at bringing the public together with the elements of a museum collection or show make for great reading—and ARTES readers are eager to spend the time and immerse themselves in topics that are integral to the quality of their lives. The demographics show that the magazine is attracting a unique, sophisticated reader. This is your museum visitor. This is your collector/client. This is your fine art friend, fan and colleague! Please explore this exciting platform for reaching out to them.

Let us hear from you. Tweet us or drop me a line directly at rfriswell@comcast.net

Our Twitter site: http://twitter.com/ARTESmag#

Thank you for your enthusiastic interest in ARTES

Richard Friswell, Publisher & Managing Editor