Botticelli and Art Academy

A few years ago, when I was waiting for subway in San Francisco, I read a new artist monograph I just bought. A young woman with a large portfolio approached me and introduced herself as an art student from Israel. At that time, there are many such Israeli art students roaming in the city with portfolios trying to make some quick sales.

After I told her that I was not able to buy any of her works, she asked about the large art book I was reading. I told her that it was on Botticelli but she showed no recognition of the name. I wondered if the name should have difference sound in Hebrew so I showed her several images as iconic as Venus de Milo and Leonardo's Mona Lisa, such as Birth of Venus and Primavera. To my amusement, she recognized none of these images either.

I asked her about the education she received from her art academy and to my dismay, they didn't deem necessary to enlighten their students of the masterpieces in the past. Understandably, one don't want to become Botticelli the Minor, but being ignorant of these old masters only limited art student's vision and knowledge. Many times, when a "new" thing was made, it could be very well traced to the old creations. Quite often, I was startled by how modern an old painting was.

Artworks are not just interesting patterns. It should have layers and layers of meanings, like drama and sonnets of William Shakespeare, however big or small the format. Without the solid understanding of the things past, one must struggle to express anything meaningful and new, to the vast sediment of human history.

It's hard to image that if a person wants to be a writer but has not learned the existence of Goethe or Shakespeare. Is fine art so inferior? I hope not.


Nascita di Venere (Birth of Venus), Sandro Botticelli


Primavera


Venus and Mars

Art Gallery of Luxun Art Academy in Shenyang, China

When I visited my home city, Shenyang, China, last month, I stopped by Art Gallery of Luxun Art Academy. Unfortunately, it was closed. During my last three visits, only once I was able to see some artwork there.

Most of the galleries and museum in China don't seem to have a consistent hours or curating philosophy. Not a single one of the museums I've visited there ever sold any reproductions of their works. When I visited the National Gallery in Beijing, I found no permanent oil painting collections on display. Such visits were often disappointing.

From the abundant of graffiti on the walls of the Art Gallery of Luxun Art Academy, I guessed that it had not been operating for a long time. The graffiti are not interesting. However, a group of insolent young people in front of them were intriguing. They were making some strange fighting poses and one of them was busying shooting videos of themselves and the graffiti.

That turned out to be the only art experience of this visit to my home city, which has never been known as art mecca anyway.















Note: Lu Xun (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936) is one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century and had introduced Käthe Kollwitz into China.