--- Julia Clark <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> But the visitor is told 'Nah, just look at it, that is what
> it is about.' That seems to me to be somewhat disingenuous. What do others
> think?

This reminds me of one of the best art exhibits I have ever seen. It was at the
National Portrait Gallery in London back in 1997 that I happened to bimble
across purely by chance.

The exhibition revolved around Holbein's "The Ambassador's" which is the one of
the English and Italian ambassador's standing next to a mantle with a bunch of
scientific instruments on it and a funky, elongated skull at the bottom.
Everyone's probably seen it.

The coolest thing about this exhibit is that you got to the painting *last*.
The exhibit walked you through all the scientific instruments and other
assorted do-dads in the picture. There were historical replicas as well as
actual artifacts from the time that were depicted in the painting with
explainations about what they were and why there were significant. There was
even a breakdown of the paint and pigments used to paint the picture as well as
several sketches done before the painting.

At the end of the exhibit was the painting pretty much by itself except for a
couple of blocks on each side. If you stood on them, you could see the skull
pop out in 3-D. It was AMAZING. I must have done that for like 5 minutes. You
didn't even need 3-D goggles. To get that effect was sheer genius and he did it
in an age without 3-D computer graphic software. The exhibit also had a section
on perspective and how that Holbein achieved that effect. I had always wondered
what was at the bottom of that picture since I could never figure it out. I
thought it was a dinner plate or something weird like that.

So the gist of it is that the painting itself didn't need that much
interpretation because the whole exhibit was devoted to the interpretation of
the piece of art. Now when I look at it, I don't just think, "Oh look, another
guy who looks like Henry the 8th," but understand all the gizmos and gadgets
that are shown. And I will always remember the skull popping out at me.

But on the flip side, no matter how much interpretation there is, I will always
think that Rothko's "Blue #3" is a Sherman-Williams paint chip. :)

Deb

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