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A Near Infinity of Meaning
| Article
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19729 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1991 |
2,120 Words |
| Author
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Eric Gibson
Eric Gibson, art critic for the Washington Times, last wrote
on Henry Ossewa Tanner in the September 1991 issue of The
World & I. |
Late last year, Washington was fortunate in having two superlative exhibitions on view at the same time--even in the same institution. I refer to the Titian and Van Dyck retrospectives at the National Gallery of Art. [For coverage of the Titian exhibition, see "The Grand Old Master of Venice," The World & I, November 1990, p. 220.] Much has been written about the connections between the two artists, in particular Van Dyck's having been influenced by Titian (in his portraits, primarily), and of his having been overshadowed, in the centuries since his death, by the achievements of Titian and Rubens.
A less widely noted observation about the two exhibitions is also worth making. By now it's commonplace to note that the "blockbuster" show--the lavish special exhibition--has become a staple of the museum business. Blockbusters have been very much a mixed blessing: they draw in the public and bring great riches to the public's doorstep, but, in their frequent reliance on glitz rather than substance, they in some ways cheapen the aesthetic experience museums exist to offer.
Both the Titian and Van Dyck exhibitions are exceptional in the high quality of the work on view, the difficulty of securing the paintings on loan, and the rarity with which retrospectives of these artists are mounted. All this might have turned these two shows--the Titian, especially--into the King Tuts of Old Master painting: exhibitions where the publicity factors outweighed their considerable aesthetic merit. Yet this has not happened, and the reason, it seems to me has to do with their being exhibited at the National Gallery of Art. These two shows feel completely at home in that institution. The National Gallery's superb permanent collection is a yardstick against which all great painting is measured. What more appropriate setting for retrospectives of two the greatest painters who ever lived than an institution that embodies the standards their art helped to define?
One difference between the two exhibitions is worth noting. It does no injustice to Van Dyck to say that in the Titian show we are presented with an almost preternaturally gifted artist who seems to have sprung fully formed from his association with Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione, whereas with Van Dyck--prodigy though he was--we see him grappling with and mastering new idioms.
With Titian we find ourselves in the presence of a talent of such grandeur and breadth that it is humbling to witness. With Van Dyck, though there is no shortage of talent, there is the equally fascinating experience of
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