Declarations (4/156) Addendum --- Day 4/160

Walk: Day of Rest (and reading about contemporary art gallery scene, stay tuned)
Distance: 0, small home yoga

Ciwt misses Roger Ebert.  Here's part of his review 12/8/96  of The Third Man:

Of all the movies I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies. I saw it first on a rainy day in a tiny, smoke-filled cinema on the Left Bank in Paris. It told a story of existential loss and betrayal. It was weary and knowing, and its glorious style was an act of defiance against the corrupt world it pictured. Seeing it, I realized how many Hollywood movies were like the pulp Westerns that Holly Martins wrote: naive formulas supplying happy endings for passive consumption. I read the other day that they plan to remake "The Third Man." Do you think Anna will cave in to Holly --or will she remain true to her bitter cynicism and unspeakable knowledge?

Say it With Color --- Day 4/159

Walk: JCC, Van Ness
Distance: 2.8 miles and yoga class


JMW Turner, Peace: Burial at Sea, exhibited 1842.

Would you say the artist of this painting was expressing happiness or grief?  Trick question of course because the deep black sail and the the body of the ship disintegrating into particles and slowly merging with the air and sea speak perfectly of witnessing a sad passing.  In this case, that of Turner's friend, the artist, David Wilkie who died at sea.

Turner was under severe criticism when the painting was exhibited for straying from the facts (one being that the boat's sails were canvas, not black) and not 'finishing' the work.  It is a visual tone poem that completely captures the moment and is, of course, entirely finished. But not yet to 19th century eyes.  And, as for the facts, Turner's reaction was to proclaim in essence "If only there were a darker black I could have used!"

This, Not That.. --- Day 4/158

Walk: JCC, Trader Joe's
Distance: 2 miles and yoga class



Roy Lichtenstein, Interior with Mirrored Closet, 1991, 118 x 144", oil and magna on canvas*



All Ciwt has needed this cold, windy  
San Francisco summer  is her turtlenecks and down coat.  So, ruthless closet caper in progress.


*To be continued....

Top Performances --- Day 4/157

Walk: SF Opera House (The Marriage of Figaro)
Distance: 4.5 miles and small yoga/stretch

Ciwt was torn: stay for the end of the opera or leave after an intermission and go home to see the last hour of the U.S. Soccer match?   But, then the pre-opera lecturer solved her problem:

According to him The Marriage of Figaro is the Best Opera Ever.  But he did allow for personal preference on that.  Not so on the finale of the 2nd Act.  Mozart actually set out to create a synthesis of musical and theatrical complexity beyond anything any theater or opera-goer had ever experienced.  And, according to our lecturer, it is universally acknowledged that he succeeded and the finale of the second act is The supreme operatic (40 minute) moment.  So, when Ciwt left to walk home after the second intermission, she felt a bit sad, but also that she had been able to see uniquely superior operatic accomplishment.

And, when she got home, she was able to witness another uniquely superior moment when the U.S. Women's Soccer Team won the 2015 World Cup!  

Declarations of Independence --- Day 4/156

Walk: Sundance Kabuki (Magic Mike XXL - Fresh Air: good. Ciwt: C)
Distance: 2 miles and small home yoga 



Apropos of not much on the is Fourth of July except that Ciwt saw the restored version of The Third Man yesterday,  here is one of the greatest movie endings ever.  Including one of the main stars of the movie, that beautiful, cold zither.

 Happy Independence Day

Off the Hook After All --- Day 4/155

Walk: Opera Plaza Cinema (The Third Man), Trader Joe's
Distance: 5 miles, home yoga


JMW Turner, Study of Fish: Two Tench, A Trout and A Perch, ca 1822-4, graphite, watercolor and bodycolor on paper

After 'sleeping on' the evidence:

1. The massive amount of Turner artwork (oils, watercolors, drawings, etchings,...)
2. The paucity of dates and signatures on any of the works
3.The number of forgeries, beginning in his lifetime
4. The fact that he often took extended trips abroad and around Great Britain without telling anyone he was leaving or giving any indication of his itinerary
5. His lifelong sense of privacy and strong desire for independence (both of which, btw, Ciwt finds entirely understandable)

Ciwt has decided it to take Turner's executors and the museums that ended up with the main body of his work (National Gallery, Tate) off the/her hook*.

Why? Well, given his wish to be elusive, it is hardly conceivable that Turner made much effort to organize his oeuvre before his death.  It is more likely that his executors and others who came to his home studio to help sort out his estate encountered a sprawl of paintings, drawings, notebooks. The works would have been in various conditions: some of the paint Tuner used was shockingly poor quality and began drying, cracking and falling off the canvas shortly after completion.  As mentioned, most would have been undated, unsigned with sites unspecified.

Nor does Ciwt now imagine that Turner's finances were in easily discernible order, or any order at all.
Whether there were actually enough funds to build that Turner Gallery and the Almshouse he specified in his will now seems questionable to Ciwt. (There are others who have spent time studying his will and working with the monies he probably earned in his lifetime who also question the sum he could have left).  And Ciwt can see that sorting out forgeries, situating, dating, and other museum and auction house tasks involved in creating accurate provenance for Turner's is an on-going and ever-evolving process.

So, it's off Ciwt's hook for those trying to pin down the facts on this intentionally enigmatic man and his work:  
                 JMW Turner, Dog Fish, Sketchbook, c 1832, graphite on paper

*On the Hook: Days 4/144, 145, 150, 153, 154

Signature Mystery - Unsolved --- Day 4/154

Walk: To and from car (it's Thursday, driving day)
Distance: a few blocks and home yoga practice

A friend wrote about whether Turner signed his works and another mystery about this deeply elusive and secretive artist began. This time with no solution.

  Clearly, this is too god to be true - and wrong.

 But, what about this?

   Or this 'T' carefully buried under the paint and varnish?

There are those who believe that the wildly prolific Turner signed every one of his works - including sketches which he made sometimes at the rate of 20-30 in a single day.  Basically he never stopped making art.  There are others who go further and say all his signatures were in cryptic form, like the buried 'T' above. Present day Turner authenticators probably turn to an array of forensic methods.

Ciwt speculates that, in fact, Turner left many, many of his works completely unsigned. The small sketches because he would have been more interested in simply recording (and who signs every page of their diary?).  He may have left the larger, completed paintings unsigned as a way to remain elusive, not entirely known to anyone.  Secrecy was part of his nature.  He avoided entangling friendships, rejected any matrimonial involvement, frequently used assumed names, and sometimes concealed where he was living.

Mystery Unsolved.

Signed, Ciwt

Petworth Mystery 'Solved' --- Day 4/153

Walk: Van Ness, JCC, Post Street Hardware
Distance: 5.6 miles


JMW Turner, Interior at Petworth, 1837, oil on canvas, 35 3/4 x 48" 

More on Petworth - Maybe. Ciwt was researching the above painting she found in her 1976 Abrams book on Turner.  There the painting is assigned to the Tate Gallery, London. and described by the Turner scholar and former director of our National Gallery in Washington, D.C., John Walker.  Walker calls it "one of the most beautiful and baffling of all Turner's works."

JMW Turner, Interior of a Great House: The Drawing Room, East Cowes Castle, c. 1830, oil on canvas

But when Ciwt went to the Tate website, she found the same painting with a different title and a different  year of execution.

Hmmm.  What does Ciwt make of this?  If Ciwt is navigating the Tate site correctly, it appears that museum  re-attributed the painting after the publication of Ciwt's book. Off the top, she believes the mix up could be due to the fact that the Tate was never supposed to have had any of Turner's work if the artist's will had prevailed.  As indicated in CIWT 4/144, there was great mismanagement of Turner's works and funds upon his death.

Secondly Ciwt believes the painting re-attribution is incorrect, and the painting is indeed of Petworth House - not East Cowes Castle as in the second painting designation.  Further, she is quite sure the room painted is the White Library which he sketched at Petworth in 1827:

JMW Turner, The White Library, Looking Down the Enfilade from the Alcove, 1827, watercolor, bodycolor and pen and ink on paper

The style is clearly entirely different, but Ciwt sees the same piano moved slightly to the right, an echo of the portrait on the back wall, and an overall echo of the arched ceiling.  Probably she would find many other White Library details upon more examination.

Finally, the Petworth titled painting was done in 1837, the year Lord Egremont died. (See CIWT 4/151) Finished or unfinished as the painting might be, it seems entirely in character for Turner to be reacting to the dissolution of Egremont's life and his own happy friendship with him and his tranquil, beloved years at Petworth.  Turner's life and heart were in complete disarray as is the "beautiful and baffling painting."