A note from me

A busy but happy family time described in the last Newsletter was followed up by – another busy but happy family time!

We’ve been caring for my mum for several years now. She is 92 years old and not that mobile any more, but our home is set up with stairlifts and multiple wheelchairs.  On the downside, she damaged her back a few weeks ago and has been more-or-less bedridden but, on the upside, she is slowly getting better and needing less of our help.  That’s why we felt we could leave her in the hands of other members of our household as we took a few days in France with our L.A.-based daughter and her partner, Fiona.  

Before we met up, they spent a few romantic days visiting Paris.  They have quirky tastes in romance so really enjoyed their trip to the catacombs.  There, amidst the bones of 6 million people, Fiona proposed to Gracie, and now we have a wedding to plan! The other tourists in the catacombs thought the venue and the proposal were wonderful and, no doubt, many photos were taken.  We celebrated greatly with the joyful couple once we all got together.

Looking out for each other in times of both joy and hardship is part of what it means to be a community.  Indeed, the joys and the hardships are often intermingled.  Fiona is also doing a lot of heavy lifting with Gracie currently in the midst of a couple of years in a wheelchair or walking with a stick as she undergoes multiple operations to repair her pelvis.  

The last Newsletter looked at roles we can all play as individuals in contributing to the common good of accelerating energy transitions, one of my areas of expertise.  For a bit of variety, in this Newsletter I thought I’d riff a little on individual roles in an area I’m a novice in but trying to learn more about – Art History and Appreciation.  I’ll be very grateful for any input or guidance. 

Enjoy!

My Bi-Weekly Guide

Individuals, art and community:

In the past few Newsletters, we have been considering different aspects of Energy Transitions, a serious topic for all of us.  We considered the significance of re-perceiving transitions and, in the last Newsletter, I introduced 5 individual roles that most of us can play to promote constructive change.  This has been guiding more of my attention to individual perspectives and how we all, as people, see the world.  

Even though this takes us well outside my own arenas of experience and expertise, I thought Newsletter readers may be interested in something I picked up from the course I am following on Art History and Appreciation. This concerns enriching our personal experience of a painting through considering the perspectives of 5 different contributors to the experience.  Perhaps there are lessons we can learn together from this as we also consider the serious societal or organisational challenges we are facing?

When my wife and I visited Florence last year to embrace the cradle of Renaissance art, one of the wonderful places we visited was the Ospedale_degli_Innocenti.  If you are ever in Florence, I highly recommend a visit to this jewel as it is not overrun with sightseers.  Designed by Brunelleschi, it is considered to be the first pure Early Renaissance structure. It was originally – and until relatively recently - a children's orphanage, and houses several wonderful artworks.  One of these is Ghirlandaio’s “Adoration of the Magi”, which continues to adorn the high altar of the orphanage church.  

You will find a copy of the painting below:

As mentioned, we have 5 individual contributors to our experience of a work of visual art: 

1. The artist:
   It goes without saying that the skill and intent of the artist is central to our experience of a painting.  This can be highly personal, but will also be shaped by the circumstances, culture, society and communities in which they have been immersed.  Ghirlandaio was a highly respected artist, but also in competition for commissions with the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli.  He was undoubtedly influenced by their works on the same subject.  In this painting, he includes a self-portrait (the fourth figure from the left, looking out at the viewer) to let everybody know this is a masterpiece from him!
   

2. The viewer:
   Obviously, we, as the viewer, bring our own highly personal histories and top-of-mind thoughts as we look at a painting.  Hence, it is always valuable to be aware of these as we reflect on our reactions to a particular work, and how these may be conditioning our reactions.  How do we feel about the subject matter? Or the harmonious deployment of a rich colour palette of blue, red and yellow spreading out from Mary and the Christ-child at the centre of attention? Or the multiple detailed portraits?  In addition, it is valuable to consider the original viewers of the painting.  These might be nurses from the orphanage, or the families of the wealthy Guild of the Silk Workers that financed it, or even the children themselves.  How might they have reacted to this monumental work - which was almost 3 metres tall and 2.5 metres wide?
   

3. The subject:
   When we view a portrait, we are seeing something of how the subject wants to be seen or how the artist wants him or her to be seen.  This is not only the case for obvious individual portraits, but also in paintings that include individual portraits within a scene that may be about something else entirely.  In this painting we see Ghirlandaio but also, next to him in black, the prior who commissioned the work.  On our right, there are portraits of some of the most powerful members of the Guild of Silk Workers.  At the front, there are two blessed children being presented to Jesus along with the gifts of the Magi, which fall in stark contrast to the scene of the slaughter of innocent children in the background.
   

4. The commissioner:
   When a work of art is commissioned, “He who pays the piper calls the tune”.  For most of history, artists depended on the patronage of wealthy individuals or institutions.  These directed artists on subject matter and even style, so their influence is often evident and interesting.  In Renaissance Florence, the famous Medici family were the most powerful and active patrons in the city, but they were not the only ones.  As noted, the orphanage was financed by the Guild of Silk Workers, and this painting was commissioned by prior Francesco di Giovanni Tesori for the orphanage church.  Religious, child, and fabric themes are fairly evident!
   

5. The collector or curator:
   We generally see a work of art in a context designed by someone else and not in some kind of splendid isolation.  That context inevitably influences our experience whether intentionally or not.  Art collectors can be hugely significant for individual artists, and are vital for the very existence of dealers, galleries and auction houses.  The majority of artworks housed in museums and galleries are donated by collectors.  Curators use their knowledge of a subject and organizational skills to coordinate exhibitions at museums, galleries or public spaces.  Together, they influence what we experience, and recognising this can enhance our understanding and experience.  Seeing Ghirlandaio’s painting in its original setting in a wealthy Italian city, in a church orphanage established for the common good of the most vulnerable of its citizens, adds much to my appreciation.

Question of The Fortnight

Every fortnight I’ll be asking a thought-provoking question in hopes of sparking interesting and enlightening discussion.

I’d love to hear your response! You can do so by simply responding to this email.

Today’s question is:

Does musing about art history and appreciation add anything to your own day-to-day thinking about the world around you and how this may be enhanced?

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