Steven Spielberg's 'War Horse' Premiere

I'm really excited about this film. And it comes during Christmas break so I'll have some down time to enjoy it with my family.

At New York Post, "‘War Horse’ Weepers."

Did Van Gogh Commit Suicide?

Until now, most of the world simply presumed that he did, but that presumption is being questioned in a new book alleging that he was accidentally shot and killed either by the teenage brother of one of his friends, who enjoyed tormenting the mentally ill artist, or by a couple of local kids who were playing with a malfunctioning pistol. The Pulitzer Prize-winning duo of Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith make this claim in their new book, Van Gogh: The Life (Random House 2011). Perhaps they should have called it Van Gogh: The Death for all the attention being paid to the issue of his demise, as if it has any bearing on the artist's life, his art, or his reputation. Jonathan Jones, at his On Art Blog for The Guardian.com (here) raises questions about the new claims and argues that, ultimately, it just doesn't matter whether Van Gogh offed himself. Even if he didn't kill himself, he wanted to, and for Jones that is what counts. I'm not so sure. I mean, just because a guy cuts off his own ear, why should that lead anyone to believe he'd have suicidal tendencies. This brave new book by Naifeh and White Smith casts grave doubt on the entire "Van Gogh Suicide Industry," which would have us believe that the man was a great artist because he committed suicide. The only thing that is clear now is that, if Van Gogh did not kill himself, he can no longer be considered a great artist.

The Inanity of Ranking Composers

Long-time readers of this blog will know that I despise numerical rankings of qualitative goods. They are nothing more than exercises in vanity and hubris, designed to attract attention (and sell copy) much like car-wrecks. We are now in the midst of awards season, during which various "experts" will inform the Hoi polloi which are the "best" film, actors (male and female), hip-hop album, etc., of the past year. Other "experts" will dispute the results.

One ranking I did not expect to see this year, and which is even more distressing and depressing than the usual fare, appears in this morning's New York Times (here), where the Times' chief music critic, and lone voter, Anthony Tommasini humbly reveals to his readers his ranking of the 10 greatest composers of music (excluding those still living). He notes that there are many close calls, issues apologies to some composers and their fans, and even wishes he could have chosen a top 20 instead of a top 10 (he cannot, in good conscience, expand the list because he had previously promised his adoring readers a ranking of just ten).

Tommasini's ranking confirms my long-held suspicion that arts critics are really no different in kind from sports writers. Their techniques and sensibilities are similar; only the players are different.

On This Date

January 19 is a day notable for premiers of masterpieces: in 1829 - Goethe's Faust Part I; in 1853 Verdi's opera Il Trovatore; and in 1893 Ibsen's The Master Builder.

Happy Birthday Paul Klee (1879-1940)

A great Swiss painter, whose work is easily identifiable, even though it varied from abstract expressionism, to surrealism and cubism. Klee was also a art theorist, who published on the theory of color, and a teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar.

Here is Klee's delightful "The Twittering Machine":

Happy 88th Birthday Lucian Freud

One of the great portraitists of the last century, whose works are so arresting, sometimes grotesque, it is impossible to pass them by  without looking closely.

Here is his The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer (2004-2005).

Happy Birthday Georges Seurat (1859-1951)

A wonderful post-impressionist painter most famous for developing the pointillist technique, whereby the painting consists in thousands (or more) meticulously placed points of color.

Seurat's iconic "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte" (1884-86) inspired Stephen Sondheim to develop an entire musical play based on the characters of various social classes who fill the painting.