Art History Is Not Linear

Art History Is Not Linear  |  Ryan McGinness  |  Page Bond Gallery, Richmond  |  Art In America  |  2011

This very graphic statement by Ryan McGinness caught my eye recently, not just because it's a striking design, not just because Mason Williams' Classical Gas started playing in my head, but also because the title really resonates with me.

Years ago I taught illustration to high school graduates at an art institute. As I made references to artists, paintings and styles of the past, I was usually met with blank stares. It finally dawned on me that these young people, who aspired to be professional artists, knew virtually nothing of art history. How could that be!? Has our way of teaching history become so dry and date-heavy that even art students shy from picking up books on art history? The answer is, apparently — yes.

My class evolved into a Liberal Arts course as I continually explained that, while we tend to think of history in a timeline, all art is contemporaneous. It might still be true that a lot of young artists look to whatever is current for inspiration and direction, but the totality of art is a never-ending circle of inspiration.

Pompeian frieze, c. A. D. 79   |   Picasso plate, 1956, Christie's

Alchemy symbol, Middle Ages   |   Joan Miro, 1960

Etruscan figures, c. 750 B. C.   |   Alberto Giacometti, c. 1960, cabanahome.com

Art Nouveau initials, c. 1910   |   Fillmore poster, 1967

Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1500   |   Salvador Dali, 1931

York Minster stained glass, c. 1150   |   Georges Rouault, 1937

I hope you enjoy these comparisons.

I intend to make this posting a page in my sidebar,

and I'll continue to add comparative images.

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George Washington's Will

One hundred years ago today (August 5, 1911), the United States Senate published the Last Will and Testament of George Washington. I own that document in the form of a thin book of 66 pages. Forty-three pages constitute the actual will, and it's quite interesting reading.

As you may know, though George Washington was orphaned at an early age, he came from a wealthy planter family, was a physically impressive figure, an extremely shrewd businessman, and he married well. By the time he died, he was not only wealthy, but if his estate were to be valued in today's market, he would undoubtedly be the wealthiest of all our presidents.

Washington began his career as a surveyor and he liked to own land. He gladly took land in lieu of cash payments and at his death he owned tens of thousands of acres in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, the Northwest Territory (which comprised a number of present-day states) and the City of Washington (Washington, D.C.). He owned stocks in the Potomac Company, the James River Company, the Bank of Columbia and the Bank of Alexandria.

Washington owned 36 horses, 15 asses, 57 mules, 329 head of horned cattle, 640 head of sheep, and a large stock of hogs that he didn't bother to count.

It's painful to recount that George Washington owned slaves as well. He was conscious that he would be judged for that and therefore wrote in his will that, upon the death of his wife, all his slaves would be set free. An alarmed Martha Washington, not wishing to hurry that day, freed them all immediately.

Washington's will is particularly interesting in the disposal of personal possessions. General Lafayette received two steel pistols, Washington's brother Charles received a gold-headed cane that had been a gift from Benjamin Franklin, a Doctor Craik received Washington's wartime spy glass, and a Doctor Stuart received Washington's shaving table.

The Smithsonian

One paragraph of George Washington's will reads as follows:

"To each of my nephews — William Augustine Washington, George Lewis, George Steptoe Washington, Bushrod Washington, and Samuel Washington — I give one of the swords or cutteaux of which I may die possessed, and they are to choose in the order they are named. These swords are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheathe them for the purpose of shedding blood except be it for self defence of their Country and its rights, and in the latter case to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands to the relinquishment thereof."

Samuel Washington, who was a military man himself,  chose the sword seen above. The story of the sword and other Revolutionary War memorabilia can be seen at the Smithsonian website, here.
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A Great Victorian Tin

As a graphic designer, I'm always inspired by the colorful, exuberant packaging designs of the 19th century. The tobacco industry had some of the best designs and that's why, though I've never smoked, I've collected lots of tobacco advertising.

 

This is one of my favorite tins, Buckingham Bright Cut Plug Smoking Tobacco. While the design is from the 1800s, the actual tin is probably from the late 1920s. It's in remarkable condition.

The product was produced by the American Tobacco Company, which was founded by J. B. (James Buchanan) Duke in 1890. Duke acquired more than 200 competitors, in part because he quickly embraced a mechanical cigarette-rolling machine that other tobacco companies had shied away from. Within 20 years of its founding, the American Tobacco Company controlled approximately 80% of tobacco products in the United States. Then, in a process which began in 1907, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act reduced Duke's company to four separate tobacco companies.

In 1924, J. B. Duke endowed Trinity College of Durham, North Carolina with such a substantial gift that the college changed its name to Duke University in honor of J.B.'s father, Washington Duke.

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Enjoy the Weekend

Mark D. Ruffner, 2011

It's been a busy, hot week, and if you're like I am, you're probably ready for a relaxing weekend. So no art, antiques or history today, just this serene view from my dining room window. Have an enjoyable, peaceful weekend, blogging friends, and I'll have a new posting on Monday.
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Greg Jones: Carver of Birds

In my last posting, I showcased the bird paintings of my friend, Greg Jones. When I first met Greg, he was experimenting carving slate, which is a rather unforgiving medium.

Blue Heron

Greg preferred carving wood, and exhibited his wood carvings in shows and galleries around the country. I'm so glad he documented these pieces, so that I can share them with you.

Future Flights of the Phoenix

Soaring

These two pieces, Future Flights of the Phoenix and Soaring, as well as Eagle, below, were carved in mahogany. Greg's signature style has been to carve motion, as well as the bird.

Eagle

Unison Call

In this piece, Greg depicted two cranes going through a ritual of unison calling. One rises to call as the other lowers, and then they repeat the call in reverse. This is what mahogany looks like when it's bleached.

Spring

Spring, a carving of two egrets, was one of Greg's most popular carvings, and he produced a number of variations.

Mark D. Ruffner  |  St. Petersburg Times  |  2001

Ten years ago, I was asked to design a cover for a Times Christmas gift guide. The newspaper wanted the design to suggest a "Florida holiday," so my solution was to use red and green in this manner, putting the warm colors in the foreground and cool, Florida colors in the background. The focal point is Greg's egrets, a quintessential Florida view, and the one element that really makes this piece pop.

Today, Greg Jones has retired from wood carving, but he continues to paint.

Every artist benefits from a trusted friend who will give honest and insightful critiques, and over the years, I've been lucky to have Greg as that voice for me.

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Greg Jones: Painter of Birds

Occasionally I mention my dear friends Sandy and Greg in this space. Sandy was a coworker of mine, and her husband, Greg Jones, is a fine artist. Greg retired from a very successful advertising career in New York to paint and carve in sunny Florida. In this posting, I'm going to feature his bird paintings, images I've grown to love through years of visiting, and many delightful dinners.

Click to enlarge

This painting, Toucan and Papayas, is one of my favorites. It's so evocative of things tropical and exotic, and I like the atmospheric quality it has. When I paint, I tend to bring everything into sharp focus and I want to give everything a sharp edge. Greg, however, paints images as our eye actually sees them. Look at the leaves in this painting and you'll see the brushwork of someone who has spent a lot of time observing nature.

Blue Jay 1

The blue jay reappears throughout Greg Jones' paintings. The feisty bird is a member of the crow family and is common in Florida. Greg has shared an interesting fact with me about the blue jay, which is that it actually isn't blue! The blue jay has gray feathers that refract light so that they appear blue.

Blue Jay 2

This painting of a blue jay captures the bird's attitude so well, we really could call it a portrait. A whole class in composition could be taught around this painting — look at the interaction and balance of the pot's ellipses, how the watering can spout is mirrored by the leaf next to it, how the bird is framed in a darker negative space, how the most intense color of the furthermost pot approximates the complimentary color of the bird and points to it — and I could go on. A great painting of rhythm and balance!

Mourning Dove

The high-contrast background of this painting is atypical of Greg's paintings, but it really highlights the soft green leaves that were the inspiration for the work.

Spectacle Owls (Panama)

Click on this painting to enlarge it and appreciate the detail. It's another painting of great atmosphere, and always gets the most comments from visitors to Sandy and Greg's.

But I've only shown you one side of Greg Jones' work! In my next posting, we'll look at Greg's bird carvings.
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Keeping a Log

When I was in my early twenties, I fell in love with a beautifully bound, gilt-edged book. I had to have it, to keep a journal! Then a funny thing happened; I was intimidated by the beauty of the book and worried that my journaling might seem trite with time, and essentially ruin the book. And while I wouldn't entertain such thoughts today, I never did use that book.

That notwithstanding, I've always had an urge to keep track of time, and so began 32 years ago to keep a daily log. Long before personal computers, it started out hand-typed and richly illustrated. As you can imagine, that was cumbersome and too time-consuming, and only lasted several months.

The log-keeping of the next 20 years was on sheets of legal paper. Entries were short, detailing in abbreviated form, events of the day, places of the day, meetings, projects and phone numbers. That's all. No bits of conversation, no emoting or introspection, just a synopsis of each day. It would take about five minutes out of every evening and was easy.

Eventually, about twelve years ago, my logging became computerized, and as you can see from this screen-save of the past month, each day is a maximum of only about seven lines. At the end of the year, I make a hard copy of the log and add a title page.

The benefits of keeping a daily log are many. It's a good idea in any event to review one's day, and to contemplate how you've lived it. A daily log is also a tremendous reference book for remembering names, reconstructing events (when talking to customer service, for example), and checking against (telephone) billing or credit card debits. I regularly consult my logs when filling out forms that require job histories, and I use my log as a reference at tax time. Interestingly, friends have consulted me when they needed to remember their own information for form-filling. Beyond that, logs can be a sort of scrapbook, and occasionally I'm simply curious to know what I was doing a year ago.

I like to use an appointment book, one which allows me to see the whole month at a glance. I keep them all, especially since they sometimes hold information the daily logs do not.

Of course I have some sketchbooks, and I update other books as well. Above, in respective order, is a dream log that resides bedside, a book of family history to which I add yearly chapters, a book of home renovation, a book of collected quotations, a little black book of holiday lists, and a small book of designs. As a lover of paper, I haven't yet succumbed to the lure of the iPad, though I certainly wouldn't discount that possibility for future logging.

How about you? Blogging aside, do you journal or keep logs in this Information Age?
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