Wednesday, April 04, 2007

GWEETINGTH ART LOVERTH! (Part 2)

A day at the art museum with Uncle Eddie! We don't stand on formalities here, let's plunge right in!

Here's (above) Gainsborough's "Blue Boy." Cartoonists love it because it's the ultimate depiction of a sissyfied Lord Fauntleroy-type. The painting wasn't based on the Fauntleroy novel, and the boy in the novel wasn't a sissy, but the public remembers him that way and who am I to dispute it? Anyway, this painting and I have history.

One halloween I went out and bought a Fauntleroy/Blue Boy suit. I raced home with it, chuckling all the way, thinking of all the gags I could play with it. Breathlessly I put it on in the bathroom, carefull not to look in the mirror till the ensemble was complete. At long last I finished adjusting the lace collar, put the hat on, and proudly stared into the mirror, expecting to erupt with laughter.

Well... it was a looooong look and I felt like doing anything but laughing. I struggled to identify the emotion I was feeling. To my surprise it was...no use trying to hide it...violence. I wanted to hit the figure in the mirror. I couldn't figure out why. I wasn't a gay-basher in real life, why the sudden impulse to destroy? Puzzled, I walked into the living room to see what my family thought. I thought I'd get a laugh from at least one of them. Instead they all turned white with horror. My wife finally said in a tembling voice: "Eddie, that suit...it makes me want to...to hit you." That did it. I packed up the suit and retired it.

I'm convinced that what I felt had nothing to do with resentment against gays. Even gays would have wanted to hit the person in the mirror. The suit is simply the most potent lure to violence ever created. It would have turned Ghandi into a bully. It just has bad juju.



Moving along, here's (above) the "Mona Lisa." I have to say that it looks funny to me and I sometimes wonder if that was Leonardo's intention. I thought that seeing it in person might give me an insight but when I stumbled across it in the Louvre it was roped off, covered with glass, heavily guarded and surrounded by the backs of tall tourists. I couldn't see a thing. Ah, well.


Here's (above) the Venus di Milo, beloved by cartoonists everywhere because they're always trying to think of dirty things her arms might be doing. Of course Venus isn't the most revered scupture. That honor belongs to the plaster hood ornament-type figure that you always see on pedestals in the homes of the cartoon rich. I wonder if that scupture ever really existed. It looks a little like a famous black Donatello (or is it Cellini) figure but that's not quite the same.

On this wall (above) we find "Whistler's Mother," another cartoonist favorite. Boy, she keeps a clean home! It always strikes me as funny when people sit with their shoulder against a wall even if it's in a reataurant. I mean the natural thing is to sit with the wall at your back. How odd it is to press yourself against a man-made cliff with all the pictures on one side diminishing in railroad perspective infront of you.

Last but not least, Grant Wood's "American Gothic." You can laugh at this picture but it'll be around when all of us have turned to dust. There's something so primal and funny about it. It's how every adolescent regards his parents, how every writer regards his editors, how every employee regards his boss. If you're a painter, and all you want is to be remembered, then pick a primal emotion and depict the ultimate distillation of it.





30 comments:

Brubaker said...

Venis de Milo...Heh. There was a Gene Deitch-directed "Tom and Jerry" that shows the duo in ancient Greece.

During one of the chase scenes, Tom accidently bumped the statue and broke the arms off.

Also, there's this syndicated one panel comic called "Off the Mark" by Mark Parisi and there was one comic that may also explain why the arms came off. Apparently, Venis was playing around with firecrackers and...well, you can guess what happened next.

It's somewhere over at www.offthemark.com

Anonymous said...

The paintings I like are by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge. I know it seems silly. The subject matter of dogs playing poker always seemed funny to me.

murrayb said...

I love blue boy!
If I ever have a mansion, I'd commision a self portrait as blue boy and tell guests its my great great great grandfather. it would also have an eyehole slot/secret passage where I would excuse myself and stare at them. Id also ride through the hallways on a pennyfarthing(oldtimey bike) and have a taxidermied monkey that I would cheers whistfully to with my brandy;
"It was a pleasure to know you, Mister excitment"

also icons
I also am nuts about magritte, "son of man"(the apple faced man)

dali's persistence of memory
-the melting clocks and ants, which is at the MOMA and is amazingly small,about a foot across. it seems to be THE cartoon cliche of wacky dreamscape.

Lester Hunt said...

What a great topic for a post: paintings that have become overworked cliches.

The only one of these I really like is "American Gothic." It is also the only one that is intended ironically: not a coincidence, I think. That helps a lot, if a painting is going to survive being turned into a cliche. Its like the picture is in on the joke. We're laughing with it, not at it. The title, BTW, refers to the building behind the two figures. Note the peaked-arch window. Not too many paintings are named after a style! That's one thing that helps to hold the figures at an ironic arm's-length, I think.

Max Ward said...

That Flaunteroy costume story is hilarious. But, what about leaning against a wall in a restaurant? I don't follow.

Charlie said...

hey Eddie!

Did the reflection in the mirror look anything like this?

http://pics.livejournal.com/afrobot_comix/pic/0000f3t0

Stephen Worth said...

What, no unfinished portrait of George Washington?!

See ya
Steve

LeoBro said...

Your reaction of wanting to do violence to the figure in the mirror without knowing why was funny and fascinating. I'm sure you're right that it was nothing to do with gay-bashing. I suspect it was more to do with "sissiness" ("sissy" and "gay" being quite different).

Once I was walking down a sidewalk and this little dog on the other side of the fence starting barking at me. I looked in its eyes and, for some reason, I wanted to bash it. I was amazed at my reaction, because it was just a dog. It wasn't even scaring me. It was as if the dog was screaming "Hit me! Hit me!" It projected an air of helplessness and fear. It didn't make sense, but it made a big impression on me. I realized I've seen that in some people. They project a sense of worthlessness and self-pity and an expectation that they will be abused so strongly that it makes people want to abuse them.

Maybe your costume created the impression of someone who is so coddled they can't do anything for themselves.

Or else it just had bad juju.

Ryan G. said...

Some art historians think the Mona Lisa was Davinci himself. They say he was a little fruity. I also thought I read that there was a big fuss about the actual house Wood painted in American Gothic, was going to be demolished to make room for a parking lot, (or something like that) Did anyone hear about that too?

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Charlie: Good grief!

Leo: True enough!

Max: Drop "railroad perspective" and substitute "drastic" perspective. The closer you get to a plane the more contrasty the perspective gets.

Lester: Good call!

AB: Thanks for reminding me about that guy!

Murray: People's fantasy mansions would make a great subject for a book. You should write it!

You're right about the Dali picture.

steve: That's a serious painting!

William said...

I saw an hourlong PBS (or something) special waybackwhen about tracking down the identity of the Mona Lisa. They came to the conclusion it was half merchant's wife, half davinci's face- the eyeline is at the same level, the hairline is the same, the basic facial construction strongly mirrors Davinci. This was really fascinating to me at the time.

At the time. But now I see that every artist puts elements of themselves in all their work, and it doesn't seem so mysterious. That most of the construction would be so, maybe, but perhaps Leo just got even more vain in his latter days.

Kali said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kali Fontecchio said...

Robin Boy

Astro Boy

I love that one Charlie J. did!!! Eddie- you're so photogenic!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

What about Edvard Munch's 'The Scream.' I recall a painting by Chuck Jones with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck arguing in the background while Elmer Fudd was in the foreground with a forelorn, shocked look.

Stephen Worth said...

That's (Geo Washington) a serious painting!

No! THESE are serious paintings!

See ya
Steve

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

k8Kali: LOL! I'm gonna keep that Robin picture. It's bound to come in handy someday.

Steve: Haw! OK, they're serious!

diego cumplido said...

hey. ... what do you think of grant wood's landscapes?

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Diego: Wood's landscapes are great! You have good taste!

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised there were so many variations on Dogs playing poker that Coolidge did.

I always think John K could make a great short (or series of shorts) based on those paintings, even though it is a crowded character scene that makes it hard to keep the audience focused.

Did ANYONE ever suggest passing homage to the Dogs playing Poker, in any animated short? It seems that it is something that could have easily have happened during WBs or MGMs golden age.

Maybe something that already attains that level of kitsch gets a hands off treatment, either reverence or avoidance.

Anonymous said...

Que est mas macho? Joe Besser, or Uncle Eddie as Lil Lord Fauntleroy?

Anonymous said...

Don't forget, Arthur Sarnoff.
He painted dogs too. They played pool and golf.

Anonymous said...

He could paint beautiful women folk. The dogs played "craps" too, in the painting "High Roller".

Anonymous said...

>What about Edvard Munch's 'The Scream.' I recall a painting by Chuck Jones with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck arguing in the background while Elmer Fudd was in the foreground with a forelorn, shocked look.

I`m sorry, but that sounds REALLY pretentious. Besides, that was from Looney Tunes: BIA.

I like the one with three brothers taking an oath to protect the young maidens, it was the Brothers...something.

Oh, an anything with battle, like Liberty leading the revolution, or something like that, and horses, swords, guns, cowboys, and epicness.

And boobies!

Anonymous said...

Yes, I`m immature.

Soos said...

Maybe it's just because the painting is so great, but I think the Blue Boy looks kind of rad.

Lester Hunt said...

Wood's landscapes -- oh yes! And he did a fair number of wonderful lithographs, some satirical, but some austerely beautiful midwestern landscapes. You can see a bunch of them at

http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/2aa/2aa551.htm

Stephen Worth said...

t got a dogs playing poker gag into Cool World. It's in the scenes where the live action people in the casino are flashing to doodle. We had an inverse gag where a cartoon Barney Google in the Slash Club flashed to being a live action midget in a top hat, but that scene got cut.

See ya
Steve

Elliot Cowan said...

I'm a little late here, but if you're curious and go visit here
http://sandwichbag.blogspot.com/2007/03/inglund.html
you can find a picture of the grave of Whistler himself - it's the fourth image down.
Apparently when he was first buried, the angels on each corner of the tomb were stolen regularly.
They are currently welded in.
Cheerio.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Elliot: Interesting pictures! Holst had a graet view from his house but I'll bet he had to suffer a lot of cold, buffeting winds coming in off the river.

Elliot Cowan said...

It's ENGLAND.
Everything's cold and buffeting.
Especially the food.