[audiobook] The Corriganville Movie Ranch Filmography by Jerry L Schneider in Arts-Photography

Review

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Eminently Readable Popular Art HistoryBy drkhimxzHenry Adams has provided the general reader with an interesting picture of Thomas Hart Benton; the most notable of the American Regionalists; and the major influences on his work. Recent generations of art-lovers need to be reminded of those who established an American art inter-penetrated by the vigorous traditions of Italy; France; Germany and the Low Countries as well as the more recent impact of Asian and African techniques. Particularly welcome is documentation of the influence of Morgan Russell and Stanton MacDonald-Wright on Bentons concept and methods. (Aficionados of the American detective story will be interested in the review of the art historical role of Stantons brother; Willard; who; under the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine; created the first modern American Sherlock Holmes; Philo Vance; in best selling novels and popular films.) In his treatment of Benton; MacDonald-Wright; and Pollock; Adams suggests the important role of writers; critics; patrons; dealers;museum curators and mass media; in the making of art celebrity and success. Willard Wright was very useful to Benton in thsi regard as Greenberg was to Pollock later. In dealing with Benton; Adams is on firm ground; having written books and scholarly articles; and having been involved in a Ken Burns documentary on the subject. With Bentons artistic and personal character established; he turns to the complex figure which is Jackson Pollack. Here I feel the reader must be aware of the degree to which Adams is retailing documented facts as opposed to hypothesized causality and personal interpretation. He is openly opposed to some noted students of Pollock; and often must venture into the always shaky ground underlying the analysis of personality and intimate interrelationships. The story is well-told for the layman until he engages with structural analysis of picture making and psychological analysis of personality. These tend to be at a higher level of abstraction than the story telling and; therefore; for a layman; are more difficult to follow and more in need of the skeptical; "maybe hes right but I dont know enough to say". In so far as Adams discussion of the relationship of Pollocks fundamental "rules" of picture making and those of Benton; one need approach with particular caution (as Adams warns us). In what is considered the best of his pictures; Pollock followed the (unwritten) rule for writing books that admirably suit the demands of a social movement to find guidance in all possible situations; write it long; make it very complex; endow it with a high degree of ambiguity; and spread the net of your canvas of words over as many possibilities as you can. His so-called "great" paintings have the visual components of such an approach and; therefore; lend themselves to an infinity of "interpretations". In addition; as a matter of logic; the greater the abstraction of a verbal or visual stimulus; the greater the number of concrete situations it may refer to. At any rate; Adams concludes that Pollock was never the complete abstractionist; that all his major works contain within them the core of figuration; and that this figuration and the manner in which the whole is ordered; is a direct (and; of course; legitimate by a student with regard to a teacher) extension of what he learned from Benton.All in all; a book that can be recommended to the general reader; interested in how people live; and the more specialized reader who wants to see what is the latest on the ever-developing mythology of Jackson Pollock.17 of 18 people found the following review helpful. Masculinity and artBy Charles S. HouserIn TOM AND JACK; Henry Adams; one of the creative contributors to the documentary Ken Burns America: Thomas Hart Benton; takes a close look at the influence of Thomas Hart Benton on perhaps the greatest American artist of the twentieth century; Jackson Pollock. In this rich and insightful dual portrait; Adams first must rehabilitate Bentons reputation as a prolific; dynamic; and socially progressive realist who rose to fame as a WPA mural painter. Adams looks at Bentons expatriate experiences in Paris; the influence of the now forgotten school of Synchromism on his sense of dynamism; and examines Bentons eventual decline (dismissal really) in the eyes of fellow artists and east coast intellectuals. As a teacher at the Art Students League in New York; Benton enjoyed being an iconoclastic influence on his mostly male students. Pollock and Pollocks brothers; also artists; were part of this group. Although Benton and Pollock were quite different in many ways (Benton was quite learned and well read while Pollock was inarticulate; if not exactly illiterate); they were both highly driven artists who never really felt themselves to be artworld insiders. Adams is at his best when analysing the mens artwork; but he is equally comfortable exploring the psychology of their relationship. Since Pollock spent a good deal of time in psychotherapy; Adamss marshalling of Freudian and Jungian psychoanalytical theories as practiced in mid-century America is not out of place; and his presentation of Pollocks relatiohip with Benton and Bentons wife Rita as classically Oedipal is convincing.In the first part of the book; Adams reveals the abstraction within Bentons realistic paintings; in the second part; he exposes the figurative and orderly elements hidden in Pollocks masterpieces. "Its telling;" Adams writes; "that Pollock considered Einstein and Freud the two most important figures of modern times: one delved into the structure of the universe; the other into the structure of the unconscious. The power of Pollocks great drip paintings is that they seem to explore both these mysterious realms" (p. 324).The book contains 16 pages of color reproductions; but I found it helpful to also consult Ellen Landaus Jackson Pollock; with its exquisite color plates of all of Pollocks major works. (I couldnt find anything comparable for Benton.) TOM and JACK also helped me to better understand Ed Harriss well-made but often elliptical film Pollock. Adams packs a lot into his 400-page dual biography. Its scholarship is well-considered and never bogs down the narrative; TOM AND JACK is a book Im sure Ill return to again and again as I continue to study and enjoy the work of these two great American artists.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A thoughtful window into history.By CustomerThis is a very well-written; academic; highly readable; integrated; historical character study of two men; the times they lived in and the psychological dynamics of their worlds and personalities.