LWD Art Appreciation ~ August 2024

Welcome to the August edition of the LWD Art Appreciation series! We will explore the talents of Anton Chekhov, Rene Magritte, and Alice Coltrane. Then we’ll enjoy the incomparable Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers in a delightful but perhaps under-appreciated comedy from 1938.

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ART APPRECIATION
AUGUST 2024

What have been your favorite art appreciation selections so far this year? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

SHORT STORY

The House With the Mezzanine by Anton Chekhov

Chekhov was a renowned Russian playwright and short story writer. He plumbed the depths of human nature in his works. This month I’ve selected one of his works for our monthly short story.

In this story, there are two sisters: one introverted, frail, and bookish; the other dominant, opinionated, and politically active. In meeting them, an accomplished artist seems to be confronted with a dilemma. Should art subordinate itself to the project of creating a just society? Or should it focus on serving more spiritual needs? (Art and Action in Chekhov’s “The House with the Mezzanine”)

You may read it online (free) here:

The House With the Mezzanine

If you’d like to read more Chekhov stories, check out:

The Greatest Stories of Anton Chekhov

ARTIST

RENE MAGRITTE

René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his thought-provoking and whimsical imagery. His work often featured ordinary objects in unusual contexts, challenging viewers’ perceptions of reality and encouraging them to question their assumptions.

Magritte’s paintings, such as “The Treachery of Images” and “The Son of Man,” are characterized by their meticulous detail and clever use of visual puns and paradoxes. Through his art, he explored themes of identity, reality, and the nature of representation, making a significant impact on the surrealist movement and modern art as a whole.

Rene Magritte

From men in bowler hats, floating in the sky, to a painting of a pipe above the caption “this is not a pipe”, René Magritte (1898–1967) created an echo chamber of object and image, name and thing, reality and representation.

Like other Surrealist works, Magritte’s paintings combine a precise, mimetic technique with abnormal, alienating configurations which defy the laws of scale, logic, and science: a comb the size of a wardrobe, rocks that float in the sky, clouds that drift through an open door. The result is a direct yet disorientating realm, often witty, often unsettling, and always prompting us to look beyond the visible, to “what is hidden by what we see.”

This introductory book explores Magritte’s vast repertoire of visual humor, paradox, and surprise which to this day makes us look and look again, not only at the painting, but at our sense of self and the world.

JAZZ COMPOSER

ALICE COLTRANE

Alice Coltrane was an influential American jazz musician, composer, and spiritual leader known for her work as a pianist, harpist, and organist. The wife of legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, she made significant contributions to the jazz genre both during and after her husband’s career.

Her music seamlessly blended jazz with spiritual and Eastern influences, creating a unique and transcendent sound. Albums like “Journey in Satchidananda” and “Ptah, the El Daoud” showcase her innovative use of the harp and her deep exploration of spiritual themes. Beyond her musical achievements, Alice Coltrane also founded an ashram and became a spiritual teacher, furthering her impact on both music and spirituality.

Alice Coltrane: Journey in Satchidananda

5 Minutes That Will Make You Love Alice Coltrane

SCREWBALL COMEDY

David, Chris and I all watched this month’s screwball comedy selection last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie starring Jimmy Stewart that I didn’t enjoy and this film was no exception.

Vivacious Lady

Ginger Rogers requested and received the perfect man for the job when she was paired with James Stewart for this riotous romance between a sizzling nightclub singer and a buttoned-down botany professor. Sent into town to retrieve an errant sib (James Ellison), Prof. Peter Morgan (Stewart) meets and marries show-stopping chanteuse Francey (Rogers) over the course of a single evening. But the stars start crossing against the newlyweds when they travel to Morgan’s moss-backed college town to break the news to Morgan’s Mater and Pater (Beulah Bondi and Charles Coburn) and two soon finds themselves conducting a marriage incognito style. With Francey stuck posing as his brother’s girl, a fiance left behind, a prim and proper college dean father and a mother with a heart condition arrayed against them, their marriage might be sunk before they can even announce it! Director George Steven’s first outing as a producer is a delight.