MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY S, 1961
THE SHAPE OF THINGS
Art Boom Started
With Hungry Myth
- By RICHARD HIRSCH
Director
Allentown Art Museum
Leonardo da Vinvi, Floren
tine, did not die poor. Praxi
teles, sculptor, did not die
poor in ancient Athens. Wat
teau made a living. Delacroix
was comfortable. Corot was
well off. Rubens was rich.
-Van Gogh died in poverty.
So did Gauguin.
-Why?
Art historians have end
lessly pointed out that Van
Gogh and Gauguin died poor
because they were ahead of
the taste of their times. They
died poor because they were
different and, because they
were different (and gifted),
their works are now univer
sally revered, desired and
fought for at auctions. '
Over and over and over
this has been repeated.
The result: a Van Gogh sold,
In London, for $350,000 not
long ago. It was, rather, a
poor picture. A Gauguin did
much better than that last
year.
The beautiful, beautiful
boom is on.
'Starving Artist' Myth
It all started with "the
starving artist" myth. Actual
ly, it has only been in the last
125 years that artists with
fine talents and much to say
have had any difficulty, dur
ing their lifetime, in making
a comfortable or handsome
living. But the cold garret and
the struggling "artist make
good copy for historians and
critics. Further, the starving
artist myth was most satis
factory for a few recent gen
erations of artists. It gave
them the feeling that, since
they were poor, inevitably
I, CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE J
HEMSyg
. Station K-BOY
Sundays 9:45 A.M.
they must be possessors of su
perior talent.
For the art market it has
proved helpful that the gifted
artists of the last century
died though rarely of starva
tion. The melancholy event
clearly put a limit on the
production of-their brushes.
Thus, they currently fetch
five and six figures on Madison-
Avenue and on streets
running into it above 57th,
in the borough of Manhattan.
It was pretty predictable,
probably.
Less predictable was the
unconsidered enthusiasm and
the ignorance which has occa
sioned the boom. Nothing of
the sort has happened, in this
country, since the Florida
real estate bubble of the 20's.
Florida real estate in the 20's
had positive value and posi
tive growth potential. Never
theless speculators brought
ruin in the wake of their
frenzy.
, Something of the sort also
occurred in Holland, in an
otherwise reasonable seven
teenth century, when the
thought of a black tulip made
sensible burghers buy and buy
and outbid each other in the
hope that someone had de
veloped a glorified onion into
a bulb that would bloom as a
jet-black five petalled flower
without fragrance.
In the visual arts, right
now, the same aberration is
being exploited.
Destined to Appreciate
Since a minor Van Gogh
brings a third of a million and
the artist never sold a hun
dred dollars worth of painting
in his entire lifetime, our art
market has suggested, con-
JFK Reveals Program
To Aid Refugees
Washington -fllPD- President
Kennedy has set up a million
dollar -a-month program to
help 66,000 Cubans who fled
oppression under the Fidel
Castro regime only to find
hardship in the United States.
Kennedy Friday night un
veiled a $4 million four-month
program to provide jobs, hous
ing, jobs, health care and
schooling for the refugee Cubans.
vincingly, that all art is de
stined to appreciate in money
value.
As a result, we have an
unbelievable boom concerning
work by living artists,
spurred to an alarming extent
by this supposition that all of
our DeoDle who arp purrentlv
armed with brushes and paint
will provide goldmines for
their patrons In future years.
This could be a dangerous as
sumption. Reminiscent of the tulip
craze in Holland, serious busi
nessmen, right now, are ham
mering at the doors of gal
leries to get in "on a good
thing." Quite recently, as a
very typical example, a well
known New York crallprv an
nounced an exhibition of 15
paintings by Franz Kline. By
4 p.m., when the show opened,
only one picture remained to
be sold. The first sale had
been made at 8:30 in the
morning. The prices, reported
ly, were between $8,500 and
$14,000.
One could cite 50 such
examples within recent
months.
The critics have helped in
this inflation o f the living
artist. So have the art maga
zines. A shocking case in
point is the inclusion in a re
cent issue of a supposedly
serious art quarterly of a new
feature. It is titled: "Market
Letter." It is designed to look
like the business trend out
lines in some of our national
business weeklies, even to
facsimile typewritten copy.
It starts off "Capital gains
continue to be enjoyed by
holders of Jackson Pollock."
It introduces Andrew Wyeth
with: "Living American
painter sets new record." (It
was $35,000 for a slim visual
message.) This amazing "art"
feature goes on: "Look for up
swing in prices of Max Ernst."
It also presents the "find-of-the-year."
(a lady who does
things in leather and canvas).
"Marketwise," the Old Mas
ters will continue to increase
in value because the buying
public has enormously broad
ened while the number of
canvases by departed artists
remains, obviously, constant.
There is logic in this market
The Family Council
Edltor'i Note: The Family Comu'lt consists of a Jtnlee, a psychia
trist, three clergymen, three editors and a women's editor. t:at-h article
Is a summary of an actual ease history. The council reports on prob
lems that have been dealt with by responsible agencies and counselors.
(Copyright 1961 General Features forp.)
TYPICAL OF ART Typical of the art that has attracted
many speculators is this canvas, entitled "Ritual" by Elaine
Hamilton, contemporary American painter. When such works
are bought for the pleasure of living with them no one can
complain. When they are bought because of the boom, there
is cause for fear.
rise of tested masters.
For the living artist the
same logic need not neces
sarily apply.
In the realm of the spirit, to
which living art should be
long, the dollar sign might
prove a poor guide.
(Copyright 1961.
General Features Corp.)
Bradford S Mv ivlfn
doesn't want to work in my
lusiness.
Hallie S.-I've always want
ed to try catering.
Bradford S.-Hallie is still a
young woman and, now that
our younger child is a high
school junior, she wants to ac
cept an outside job and get
started on a real career for
herself.
I have a small paint and
lacquer store and if Halli'd
help me there, I could branch
out. She could learn the stock
and how to sell and order.
Then I might leave ,her in
charge, while I go out on ac
tual decorating and refuush
ing jobs.
But she says no. She'd rath
er start at the bottom in some
thing completely different. If
she worked with me, though,
she'd make things easier for
me, add to our income, and
get to know an interesting
business, all at the same time.
I don't want to force her to
do this, but I can't understand
her refusal.
a
Hallie S. - Brad and I have
been happily married for 18
years and I'd like to keep it
mat way. Ana . I tmnk we
should continue as husband
and wife, friends and sweet
hearts to each other, rather
than boss and helper, or even
business partners.
In the first place, I've al
ways had a yen to be a pro
fessional caterer, and now I
have a chance to serve as an
apprentice with a concern
which specializes in children's
parties. I'm eager to learn the
little touches and tricks that
make all the difference be
tween a plain meal and a fes
tive celebration.
Honestly, I don't feel any
real "call" to become a paint
salesman! Of course if I really
had to, I could and would. But
her at his side day and night,
with visions of what-might-have
been constantly in her
head. And who knows? The
paint and lacquer game may
A 3
look awfully good to her, af
ter a few years of radish roses,
melon bails, and drunks who
dip shrimp into the cherry
mousse.
PLAN AHEAD
Brad can break in a man to
assist him. And that way,
we'd both have a chance to
grow.
The Council: - Hallie ought
to have her fling. She's bided
her time, meanwhile filling
her commitments and enjoy
ing her role as wife and moth
er. Now she's eager to turn
her interest in gracious enter
taining into a remunerative
vocation, and Bradford should
cheer her on, rather than
make her feel guilty and re
miss as a helpmate.
For a husband and wife to
work happily together in the
same business enterprise, one
or two pre-existing conditions
must obtain. Either the wife
has no special business or pro
fessional preference and can
give her full enthusiasm to the
job at hand, or it just happens
they're both in the same line
from 'way back when. Thus
Miss RN helps out as Mrs.
MD and Alfred Lunt joins
Lynn Fontanne for a smooth-as-silk
theatrical partnership.
Or Miss Post-Deb marries a
furniture dealer, and then be
gins to bone up on Hcpplc
while and Chippendale, to be
helpful.
Even then, being together
24 hours a day can lake the
sheen off a romantic relation
ship. There can be few sur
prises, no illusions. Yet, these
are often the stuff from which
the freshness and adventure of
marriage can be renewed. For
this and oilier reasons, some
universities and corporations
which employ husbands and
wives, insist that they work in
unrelated departments.
It's better for Brad to join
Hallie at the end of a day in
which each has found some
real fulfillment and is burst
ing to share it, than to have
PRE-SEASON
igk PAY
lEggf MAY 1
9 1
FIRST CLASSES
St. Louis - Kindergartens
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