Comments on: Rubens in London http://berkshirereview.net/2011/07/rubens-london/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rubens-london Classical Music, Opera, Theatre, Photography, Art, Books, Travel, Food & Drink - Long-Form Reviews, Previews, and Interviews Sat, 10 Sep 2011 23:54:58 -0400 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Steven Kruger http://berkshirereview.net/2011/07/rubens-london/#comment-5038 Steven Kruger Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:57:00 +0000 http://berkshirereview.net/?p=12410#comment-5038 Rubens may suffer from the fact that, if you deliberately set-aside the asymmetrical rolls of flesh and lumpiness within some of the figures depicted--indeed pretend they are just shapes---and concentrate on the external curves and outlines, you see that almost every one of these highlighted swoops of the hand has a mirror image curve on the other side of the canvas. The paintings are frequently almost over-balanced as pattern, like wallpaper. An interesting history lesson, too, regarding the degree of sincerity in various depictions, and the need to fawn. One of the amusing features of art in our time, of course, has been just the reverse when a work is commissioned by a committee--the virtual requirement that it hideously disparage the sponsor. I was reminded of this the other day, passing by the Bank Of America building in San Francisco. The sculpture in front is a ten-foot-high pile of black marble, curved and shaped to look like a slightly "marbleized" human heart. Needless to say, for forty-three years it has been known as "The Banker's Heart". Rubens may suffer from the fact that, if you deliberately set-aside the asymmetrical rolls of flesh and lumpiness within some of the figures depicted--indeed pretend they are just shapes---and concentrate on the external curves and outlines, you see that almost every one of these highlighted swoops of the hand has a mirror image curve on the other side of the canvas. The paintings are frequently almost over-balanced as pattern, like wallpaper.

An interesting history lesson, too, regarding the degree of sincerity in various depictions, and the need to fawn. One of the amusing features of art in our time, of course, has been just the reverse when a work is commissioned by a committee--the virtual requirement that it hideously disparage the sponsor.

I was reminded of this the other day, passing by the Bank Of America building in San Francisco. The sculpture in front is a ten-foot-high pile of black marble, curved and shaped to look like a slightly "marbleized" human heart. Needless to say, for forty-three years it has been known as "The Banker's Heart".

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