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Wednesday, October 27. 2010

Only one artwork per day

It's taken me many years to realize that I can really only take in one piece of art per day. One painting - not a gallery-full. One poem, not a collection of poetry. One dance, not a whole dance concert. One piece of classical music, not a whole concert. One Chippendale highboy, not a room full of Chippendale.


Maybe it's my limitation in what I am able to process. Maybe it's my ADD, or maybe I am slow, but to me a wonderful thing is like a found jewel, or like finding an ancient coin washed up on a beach.


I assume that the people who make these things put a lot into them, and they can demand the same of me.


Thus one very special thing per day is plenty for me. I do not like to linger in museums - I prefer to hit and run.


 


Correggio, Venus with Mercury and Cupid, c. 1520

Posted by Bird Dog in Our Essays, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 16:20 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

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There must be an exception for the discovered piece that you play over and over.

I played John Blow's Ode on the Death of Purcell over and over as a kid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZCwxVqb-mU

only a Alfred Deller version. My first stereo record.
#1 rhhardin (Link) on 2010-10-27 21:04 (Reply)
Maybe it's my limitation in what I am able to process. Maybe it's my ADD, or maybe I am slow
- - - - - - - - - - -
... or maybe you're actually looking.

In every great museum there are dozens of people mentally checking off masterpieces as they consult the floorplan.

I used to see this at the Met in NY, now see the same thing in the Israel Museum.

Dead Sea Scrolls?
Check.
That drawing by Leonardo behind bulletproof glass?
Check.

Keep looking.
#2 Ben David on 2010-10-28 03:15 (Reply)
Well, if you are say, on vacation, you have to soak up as much as you can in a short time. One does not travel to Toledo, Spain, for the day and look at only one El Greco, or one vista. The Thyssen Museum in Madrid is loaded with fabulous paintings; you take a day and do the best you can.

Also, I guess staying for one piece of a concert program is okay if you are on your own, the venue is close, and you don't mind paying. A well-designed program can be manageable, even if it's not necessarily ideal. You can always listen at home.
#3 D on 2010-10-28 07:41 (Reply)
It's like buying 'standing room only' tickets at an opera performance, which I did quite often during my college years, when I had more staying power. Saw some great performances at the Met, and when the seat holders got up to go to the lobby during intermission, we standers got to sit down on the floor in the bigger aisles, until the bell rang for the restart of the next act.

It's all a matter of endurance, and love of the art.

Marianne
#4 Marianne Matthews on 2010-10-28 16:35 (Reply)

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