On Apr 8, 2009, at 2:16 PM, Chris Miller wrote:
And these are the kinds of things (either personal responses or
reports about the opinions of specific scholars) that I'd like to
hear from you, William, anybody (although the more I know about the
person reporting a personal experience, the more interested I could
be)
I really don't care what you want to hear from me or anybody else.
When you say that, after all these years, it sounds like you're
setting up a trap. "What do you like?" "Well, I like X, Y, and Z."
"Whaddya mean, you like X? X is crap? Geez, only curators like X,
because they're bought and paid for! Yadda yadda yadda."
It's too bad you have nothing to say about Titian.
Why? I already said I don't know his work that well. Why offer my very
superficial comments to this list? What is served by that? I prefer to
let my initial reaction to a painting evolve slowly into a more
studied reflection, and then to a nexus of taste, perhaps--and only
later, after longer contemplation and study--do I accord it the status
of a full-blown judgment. Lacking any significant familiarity with
Titian's work, what could I say? "Love the blue"?
You're an old guy now, Michael, and it seems that you've spent your
adult life working as an artist and art teacher.
This is the perfect example of your boorish behavior. You could have
begun this sentence with the work "it," but you had to add the
introductory phrase that comes across as just plain rude or snide. If
I'm not mistaken, you're in your late 50s or early 60s (judging from
the gray hair).
Your responses to Titian are just as valuable as your responses to
El Greco (whom you are less shy about discussing)
Really? I feel so validated.
-----------------------------------
If you want to be taken seriously, do several things:
1. Be courteous. Get rid of the snarky comments and glib put-downs.
Don't impugn the art careers of others as fellow travelers or
collaborators in some great conspiracy. Give a topic a decent time to
develop and the writer a fair hearing before you speak out (in
*reasoned* and cogent opposition); don't just shoot the birds on the
ground.
2. Start by exalting the things you, well, exalt on your
Ilovefiguresculpture.com website, the things you clearly love and hold
in high esteem. You've done a yeoman's job of building that site, but
I don't remember any occasion when you actually spoke with familiarity
and knowledge about any of them. Oh, you've tossed out a name or two
of artists whom you've seen as martyrs slain by Modernism, and yes,
you've frequently remarked on the demise of figural work in the 20th
century, and you've referred to your sculpture site, but you haven't
ever attempted to extol any artist with critical attention, at least
on this list. Instead, you have spent almost all of your energy
pillorying others for their interest in Modernist art and have struck
out against every thread on the topics of modern art and aesthetics.
Lead by showing us what you value, not what you despise.
3. Speak and explicate the Asian art you value, rather than merely
throwing references into your disputes about some topic of Modern art
or theory. When you do that, it sounds trivial and merely a rhetorical
tactic. If you really do appreciate Asian art, speak intelligently
about it, alone, as its own thing, not as a debating maneuver.
And another thing: You write extensively, as indexed on your Blogger
"About Me" page.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/09575033275184403015
That's to be commended.
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Michael Brady
[email protected]
