In this issue:
We review the life and work of Frida Kahlo in a sixteen page feature with reviews on her latest show in London and Milan and an interview with the co-curator of the Victoria & Albert Show ‘Making herself Up’ Circe Henestrosa.
The Genius of Pablo Picasso by Jane Allen and Derek Guthrie
Too much of Luis Jacob in Toronto
Monet’s tanks on manœuvres with NATO as seen by Pendery Weekes
Frottage as you have never seen him before by Maxine in Cornwall
Minimalist respite in Pittsburgh
Erich Maria Remarque’s ‘Splendour in Paradise’ reviewed by Frances Oliver
Reviews from: Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Milan, New York, Virginia and Cornwall.
We are now faced with “Ecstasy” on the top of each and every page, but no article to compliment it, one of the most important personal moments in our lives and now immortalized in art. Couldn’t New Art Examiner have at least written a review of Alexandra Brock’s work first, instead of leaving us unsatisfied in this way? What about Ecstasy; why the choice of this powerful force as an ad, or is it rather a statement of the more recent views of the New Art Examiner? I am somewhat astounded.
Alfred,
The work of Alexandra Rutsch Brock reminds me of Gianlorenzo Bernini’s sculpture of St. Teresa depicting ecstasy.
https://www.sartle.com/sites/default/files/images/artwork/cqyjywuwgaa7jf5.jpg
Hi Beatrix,
I much prefer Picasso’s interpretation of ecstasy with “Two Women Running on the Beach” here below.
http://www.ansamed.info/webimages/foto_large/2017/1/2/bc75f921f8d34278e7058ebaae3bccd2.jpg
Thank you very much for the generous comparison! ARB
The Maenad dancers in ancient Greece showed their ecstasy as they worshiped Dionysus, as can be seen from this beautiful fragment of a vase. Dance together with music can be a very intense form of ecstasy.
http://www.carnaval.com/saturnalia/revelry.gif
Thank you for your thoughts on my work – ARB
Hi Alfred,
I think you have given the answer to your question yourself, as no article was necessary to complement “one of the most important personal moments in our lives and now immortalized in art”….with the “choice of this powerful force as an ad”. Advertising is also a statement of views of a magazine or newspaper because the publishers can select what they choose to advertise, no?
“Art and Religion are, then, two roads by which men escape from circumstance to ecstasy. Between aesthetic and religious rapture there is a family alliance. Art and Religion are means to similar states of mind.”
(from Clive Bell)
Artists, where are you? I would have thought that Ecstacy would have done it for you, but no, almost no comments – one of the hottest topics ever in the field of art, but here only apathy, or is it egoism? What do you artists think today? I’m not an artist but am on the other side of it all, perhaps an antagonist for most of you, an art dealer. I, too, am passionate about art and not as monetary as you might think. However, the topic of ecstasy is an invitation to go further, further into our passion of not only art, but also religion and what leads us to being inspired.
Studying the images here on ecstasy, I noticed that in all of them, and in other artworks not present here, that the women tilt their heads backwards in almost the same exact position. It’s as though they are looking towards the heavens.
At first glance “In this issue” appears to be just a boring list of some of the articles present in this edition of the New Art Examiner, instead a subtle form of satire runs through it and shouldn’t be overlooked:
Too much of Luis Jacob in Toronto
Frottage as you have never seen him before by Maxine in Cornwall
Minimalist respite in Pittsburgh
Hi Steve,
I recently saw the film “The Illusonist”, making me think about perceptions in art. Are our perceptions on an artwork influenced by the title of it, or is this totally irrelevant? The same concept could also apply to the title of an article. Is it that the New Art Examiner is satirizing the contents of an article by imposing a title, influencing our perception of the contents? Going a bit further, we can apply this to our perception of ecstasy. What is ecstasy, if not just an illusion?
Rather than satirizing, the New Art Examiner is sanitizing.
I look in wonder at the photo of the cover of this edition of the New Art Examiner that is interestingly placed here beside the advertisement of Alexandra Brock’s Ecstacy and see a similarity between the two women. Both images are very powerful and have a very passionate connection.
Could it possibly be one and the same woman?