LWD Art Appreciation ~ July 2024

Welcome to the July edition of the LWD Art Appreciation series! This month we will read a short story by one of my favorite authors, watch a fast-paced screwball comedy, explore the art of a Renaissance master and enjoy the music of a jazz organist.

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ART APPRECIATION
JULY 2024

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

SHORT STORY

Home For the Day ~ by Rosamunde Pilcher

I’m a big fan of Pilcher’s novels so I’ve selected one of her short stories for this month. “Home For the Day” was originally published in Good Housekeeping magazine, as “Louisa” in the February 1979 issue. I’ve tried to find it online for you but haven’t been able to. It’s one of the short stories in:

The Blue Bedroom and Other Stories

You may be able to find a copy in your local library. Or perhaps you’ll run across it in a used book store like I did.

In any case, it’s a charming, old-fashioned story about a man who finds out what his wife “does all day”.

ARTIST

Michelangelo

Michelangelo Buonarroti, a Renaissance master, was an artist whose genius spanned various disciplines, including sculpture, painting, architecture, and poetry. Born in 1475 in Caprese, Italy, Michelangelo’s talent became evident at an early age, leading to his apprenticeship under the renowned Domenico Ghirlandaio. His early works, such as the “Pietà,” a breathtaking sculpture depicting the Virgin Mary holding the lifeless body of Christ, demonstrated his extraordinary ability to infuse marble with both delicate beauty and profound emotion.

Michelangelo’s contributions to the art world were not limited to sculpture. His frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, commissioned by Pope Julius II, are celebrated as some of the greatest achievements in Western art. Painted between 1508 and 1512, these frescoes depict scenes from the Book of Genesis, including the iconic “Creation of Adam,” where the fingers of God and Adam almost touch, symbolizing the spark of life.

Michelangelo: 1475-1564: Universal Genius of the Renaissance

Italian-born Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564) was a tormented, prodigiously talented, and God-fearing Renaissance man. His manifold achievements in painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, and engineering combined body, spirit, and God into visionary masterpieces that changed art history forever. Famed biographer Giorgio Vasari considered him the pinnacle of Renaissance achievement. His peers called him simply “Il Divino” (“the divine one”).This book provides the essential introduction to Michelangelo with all the awe-inspiring masterpieces and none of the queues and crowds. With vivid illustration and accessible texts, we explore the artist’s extraordinary figuration and celebrated style of terribilità (momentous grandeur), which allowed human and biblical drama to exist in compelling scale and fervor. Through the power hubs of Renaissance Italy, we take in his major commissions and phenomenal capacity for compositional schemes, whether the famous Medici library in Florence, or the extraordinary 500-square-meter ceiling (1508–1512) in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.From the towering David to the aching grief and faith of The Pietà and the vivid drama of the Sistine Chapel’s Last Judgment, this is a succinct, dependable reference to a true giant of art history and to some of the most famous artworks in the world.

JAZZ COMPOSER

Jimmy Smith

Jimmy Smith, a pioneering jazz organist, revolutionized the genre with his innovative techniques and dynamic performances. Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1925, Smith began his musical journey on the piano before transitioning to the Hammond B-3 organ, an instrument that would define his career. His mastery of the organ allowed him to create a sound that was both soulful and electrifying.

Smith’s groundbreaking approach melded bebop, blues, and R&B influences, effectively bringing the organ to the forefront of jazz. His 1956 album, The Champ, marked his emergence as a major force in jazz, showcasing his technical prowess and improvisational flair.

Smith’s influence extended far beyond the jazz world, leaving an indelible mark on various genres, including rock and funk. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he recorded prolifically for the Blue Note and Verve labels, producing a series of seminal albums such as Back at the Chicken Shack and The Sermon!.

Jimmy Smith Boxed Set

SCREWBALL COMEDY

His Girl Friday

One of the fastest, funniest, and most quotable films ever made, His Girl Friday stars Rosalind Russell as reporter Hildy Johnson, a standout among cinema s powerful women. Hildy is matched in force only by her conniving but charismatic editor and ex-husband, Walter Burns (played by the peerless Cary Grant), who dangles the chance for her to scoop her fellow newswriters with the story of an impending execution in order to keep her from hopping the train that s supposed to take her to Albany and a new life as a housewife. When adapting Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur s smash hit play The Front Page, director Howard Hawks had the inspired idea of turning star reporter Hildy Johnson into a woman, and the result is an immortal mix of hard-boiled newsroom setting with remarriage comedy.