Tag Archives: William Powell Frith

karl marx: sunday outings

…In 1843 Marx had married Jenny von Westphalen, the beautiful daughter of a neighbor in Trier, a Prussian government official. When they came to London, there were already three children, Jenny, Laura and Edgar. Shortly after their arrival Guido was … Continue reading

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the coxcombs move on

The late Victorian period for the Royal Academy was really the end , succumbing after a long and chronic respiratory illness. Frith’s The Private View from 1881, showed that the Summer Exhibition could still take a hold on the public, … Continue reading

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every picture tells a golden story

It can be said that the backbone of the Royal collection began with Henry VIII, though the anti-papal sentiments tended to associate art patronage with the Vatican and therefore the early works of the royals tended to anti-pope allegories mixed … Continue reading

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moments of pathos

Abstract aesthetic values were way beyond the public who purchased Salon art which finally died out at the beginning of the twentieth-century, Picasso’s Demoiselles D’Avignon being the coup de grace. But before, a long run of the French salon, and … Continue reading

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matters of taste and waste

Artistic dependency on money? Art as a cash crop, growing money and not the fertility of artistic endeavor. The effects of urban , cosmopolitan culture on the arts probably stretched back to the Renaissance, but it may have been Watteau … Continue reading

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conspicuous posturing

The lessons we learn today from Victorian painting are primarily of a documentary order; and the works in question should perhaps not be considered under the heading of painting at all, but rather as adjuncts and auxiliaries of the Victorian … Continue reading

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those furry little fellas

As we conclude 2011, the story of the lemmings can serve as a cautionary tale… Fit for a cliff. Are you a lemming? Blindly, intoxicated with the herd mentality of following the lead of the crowd over the cliff. An … Continue reading

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kitsch of genius: the old campaigners

Hard to believe people are willing to invest so deeply in art that is almost bereft of any importance. Strictly a commodity with exchange value? Perhaps. Clement Greenberg was likely too harsh on Repin, although he was correct in questioning … Continue reading

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george stubbs tears: putting a good face upon trade

The jockey with his invincibly English face is from a canvas by George Stubbs ( 1724-1806 ) who is so well known for his portraits of horses as to obscure the fact that he painted their owners and handlers with … Continue reading

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liberal bias: in-conscience of a liberal

The quintessential bleeding heart liberal, the kind of perverse sensibility guided by blinders and unwilling and ineffective in bringing about meaningful change. The establishment liberal , who according to Joseph Conrad, was a “moralist who betrayed rather than revealed the … Continue reading

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