Art and Film

The Environs of Paris, 1909.  Henri Rousseau.  18" x 22".  Detroit Institute of Arts. 

This odd little cityscape is one of two paintings by Rousseau in the DIA (the other is a flower still life), and it was painted one year before his death.  Nature has been reduced to some trees, the river, the sky and clouds, and some sand.  Industrial Paris dominates the scene, with smokestacks and chimneys rising to the sky.  The mast of the lone sailboat seems almost ludicrous by comparison.  The odd geometry of the buildings, as well as the use of flat colours, almost takes the picture into fantasy.  The silhouetted figures add a very inadequate human touch to the proceedings.  It's somewhat fitting that this picture ended up in Detroit, a city whose own industrial defamation of a great river is only now being rectified.  Watch out for some more cityscapes in the days to come.

There are several new exhibitions at the DIA, and a small exhibit on our painting by Bruegel will open soon as well.  We haven't enjoyed a Detroit day in far too long, and must get there soon to see the holiday lights and decorations, which are truly astounding.  Our weather of late, being cold, dark, damp, and dreary, has not been conducive to outdoor activities.

For this week's film I have chosen two shorter works.  Tonight we watched an episode of Adventures On The New Frontier, a TV documentary show from 1961.  This first episode is the only one available on Criterion, and is a 52' b & w look at a busy day in the oval office for the newly elected president John F. Kennedy.  It is a fascinating look into one of the most liberal and idealistic leaders the free world has ever produced.  Tomorrow we take on another film by Chantal Akerman, this one just over one hour long.  We'll see how that goes.  I am looking forward to it.

Having just finished my Atlantis/Stonehenge book by Harry Harrison and Professor Leon Stover, I learned more about those two subjects that I ever knew before.  How Stonehenge was built is no longer a mystery, nor why it was built, nor why there is an incised bronze Mycenaean dagger on one of the monoliths.  It certainly is not a calendar.  According to the professor, in an essay following the fictional story, due to chance there should be up to 48 solar and lunar predictions, accurate within 2 degrees.  And in fact, there are only 25 such line ups.  Similarly, there is no mystery to Atlantis, though due to an error in translation, the island was said to have been destroyed 9000 years earlier, when in fact it should have read 900 years (at the time, which was about 500 B.C.).  The island is Thera, which most people in the know have recognized for some time.  Anyway, the story is based on history and science, and was a great one.  No pansy Druids or fake crystals here.  It would be pretty difficult to argue with Professor Stover and his bibliography.

M.