Monday, April 25, 2005

BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

I know nothing about art: But like Justice Stewart I know it when I see it. Buying on line? I don't know. Even when you buy from the biggest auction houses in the world errors in attribution are made.

Myfriend Muggsy Feldstein, the plumber, attributed one of his daughter's finger paintings to George Braque and I paid him half a month's salary for it thinking that I was stealing it from him. Muggsy had the lastlaugh.

Now in re the feminized painting of St Michael and the Dragon. that you are thinking of purchasing...I can tell you that that painting the hero of a painting as anadolescent, androgynous figure was very popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth century.

Recently I saw a slide of Andrea Del Verrocchio's David, the one in Florence that was restored a few years ago. Magnifico!

David appears hand on hip, Goliath's sword in his other. He wears a short skirt, and the detail of his musculature is very soft. His hair is curled and comes down to his neck. His face is feminine,one hip is thrust to the side.

If a woman were in this pose you wouldsay she was flirting. He has a bonnet on his head, flowered, definitely a woman's head covering.

The Medici's contracted for the statue and placed in in a privatewalled garden so that the hoi polloi (Joel and me -- not you Lew & Stella) would not be shocked by it.
BusterStronghart@Gmail.com

A few months ago I noticed that an index listing in the NY Public library was incorrect.
Man Ray was listed as "Ray, Man," as though his last name was Ray. ..

Man Ray created his name and considered it as one piece. MAN RAY.

The listing should be "Man Ray." I reported this to the NY Public Librarian at 42nd Street, and was told that it was not under their control, but rather under the control of the Library of Congress (LOC). I followed up with a letter to the "Name Authority File," of the LOC, in Washington, D.C.

Yesterday I received an email from them. “After a month of research we have discovered that you are correct. The change has been made. Thank you for your message."

This change will affect thousands of college and town libraries all of which use the LOC system as well as some commercial libraries.

I was elated! I finally made my mark.. Now on to the Dewey decimal system.