post-Labor Day links

Stressed from spending an extra half hour in traffic due to everyone being back at work after vacation?  Decompress with some links:

- The Smart Set offers a defense of aesthetic dilettantism.  I only skimmed it, and it seems a little repetitive, but some points of interest nevertheless--plus some cheap shots at dear old Brown.

- Everyone's been talking about the Clark and Mass MoCA getting together.  A natural, I suppose, and certainly better news for the contemporary art museum than what's more typically been in the news lately.  Still, if the Clark uses the space for more than storage, it's hard to imagine what anything they do there will feel like in terms of their institutional atmosphere as opposed to Mass MoCA's.  I mean, I enjoy them both, but the Clark is really special; this, combined with their ongoing expansion means a massive change in the character of a museum with a very distinct identity.

- Big RED and Shiny issue 68 is chock full of good stuff: a look at the Serra show at MoMA, Charles Giuliano on the Sara and Gerald Murphy exhibit at Williams College, not to mention that BRS gives us this day Our Daily Red.  Excellent news, and a sidebar link coming soon.  The only thing I'm not so sure about is this review of Elizabeth Currid's book The Warhol Economy.  I mentioned Currid's blogging at Gawker the other day, and plan to have more to say soon, so not much right now except maybe this art dude shouldn't be pretending he's hip to social science or whatever.

- Terry Teachout spent part of the summer going around New England.  I hope Terry marks his calendar for the reopening of the Currier Museum of Art in New Hampshire whenever it gets scheduled next year.  I'd have a hard time thinking of a collection that hits his aesthetic sweet spot so well, and Manchester can be a surprisingly fun place to spend a day or two.  I know I'll be making it up there as soon as they open the doors.

Comments

[mark]

Made it to the Monet exhibit yesterday, very nice show. I think the two institutions are total opposites. The Clark would be taking a huge chance with their endowment.

[JL]

I think the two institutions are total opposites.

They are, which is part of what makes visiting that area so much fun. But I wouldn't worry about the Clark's endowment--it's a very wealthy institution, which draws on its connections to Williams and to the well-heeled Berkshires vacation crowd for a very nice stream of support. While the arrangement with Mass MoCA seems to involve some sort of endowment donation and then ongoing payments for the use of the space, I doubt this is the sort of deal that could put the Clark in jeopardy. More likely they're thinking that along with the extra storage space, they might use the Mass MoCA site as a way to branch out and attract a younger audience. As I noted last year, the Clark seems to attract a distinctly mature audience, and the thrust of the old NY Times article on the graying of the Berkshires' tourists probably weighs especially heavy on it. Engaging more closely with contemporary art and the audience at Mass MoCA could be a step in changing those demographics. So while I wish both institutions luck, I'd say my primary worry isn't about the money, but if in taking this step the Clark finds itself watering down its identity. It's a strong one, though, so we shall see what develops.

[mark]

Funny, I Thought it was a day care center. I don't think there was anyone under 75, which is not a bad thing mind you. It was a relief to see the students jogging as we left. It's a good thing for them to work together in some way, fingers crossed. I hope MOCA find it's way.

[JL]

I don't know if I've mentioned this here before, but one of my earliest memories of getting excited by art came from the Clark. For years after I started going to museums and paying attention to art, I had this vague disappointment every time I went to the Boston MFA and looked at one of the Monet Rouen Cathedrals. They were great and all, but I kept being reminded of seeing what I thought was the same painting in the same space as a child and feeling giddy with excitement about it then. I always chalked it up to one of the disappointments of aging, that I could no longer react so strongly or so naively to the painting. Then several years ago, we went to the Clark. As we walked into the Renoir Room, and I saw the Rouen Cathedral across the space, all of a sudden the same feeling hit me as when I was a child, and I realized that all this time I had been mistaken in my memory--it wasn't of Boston, but of childhood trips to the Clark that had faded in my mind except for that one painting. A very powerful sensation, one that leads me to think of the museum as a youthful place even if the visitors aren't always themselves so young (myself included these days, alas.)

[Candy]

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