The Art of War

Rag Time

"Ragtime might have been percolating throughout the black ghettos since the mid-1890s, but the style's first million-seller was achieved by Irving Berlin, with his 1911 hit 'Alexander's Ragtime Band.' It took a white man to really sell black music, as previously subterranean styles hit the mainstream as exploitable crazes. That was the deal: the new method of exchange.

"Ragtime's crossover success excited unfavorable comment, not the least because of its appeal to youth. The Musical American thought that ragtime was like an addictive drug. In 1913, the Musical Courier stated that America was 'falling prey to the collective soul of the Negro through the influence of what is popularly known as 'rag time' music.' This was nothing less than 'a national disaster,' as ragtime was 'symbolic of the primitive morality and perceptible moral limitations of the Negro type. With the latter sexual restraint is almost unknown, and the wildest latitude of moral uncertainty is conceded.'
"Ragtime might have been percolating throughout the black ghettos since the mid-1890s, but the style's first million-seller was achieved by Irving Berlin, with his 1911 hit 'Alexander's Ragtime Band.' It took a white man to really sell black music, as previously subterranean styles hit the mainstream as exploitable crazes. That was the deal: the new method of exchange.
“The link between music, race, and sexuality was confirmed in the moralists' eyes by the 'animal dances' that flooded the inner cities after the success of 'Alexander's Ragtime Band.' Beginning with the success of the turkey trot, a very fast and animated dance that evolved out of the nineteenth-century communal cakewalk, a whole bestiary erupted onto the nation's dance floors to the accompaniment of ragtime: dances like the bunny hug, the grizzly bear,the monkey glide, the possum trot, the kangaroo dip. As Irving Berlin noted in his 1911 hit, 'Everybody's doing it now.'
"In the animal dances, participants made up their moves as they went along. Instead of decorously holding each other at arm's length in the formality of the waltz and the polka, dancers whirled around the floor with their arms and legs intertwined. In the turkey trot, the lower half of the woman's body, from waist to knee, was enfolded in the legs of her male partner. The grizzly bear involved a total-body hug that went way beyond previous standards of propriety. This gliding and shimmying was an activity associated with burlesque performers and Negroes, not proper young whites. America's young didn't care. ...
"The craze went uptown. Life magazine reported in February 1912 that animal dances were flourishing 'above, below, and between. The dancing set in our town must be half a million strong.' ... Headlines like 'Movement Begins to Bar 'Turkey Trot' and 'Grizzly Bear' from Fifth Avenue' tapped into a wider panic about plummeting moral standards.
"This was summarized by a hysterical article in the August 1913 issue of Current Opinion, which seethed, 'It has struck Sex O'Clock in America: a wave of sex hysteria and sex discussion seems to have invaded this country.' Animal dances were associated with the increase in blatant prostitution and the prevalence of the white slave trade: the kidnapping and drugging of young girls for sexual purposes. ...
"The reformers and the authorities did their best to police the craze. Unable completely to close down the halls or to extirpate this dancing mania, they began to target the urban zones from which all this vice had originated. Just at the time when black American music was finding a greater national and international audience, red-light districts in San Francisco and St. Louis were segregated and then totally shut down.
"But it was too late as, in defiance of the reformers and the legislators, thousands of American youths continued to throng the dance halls every night of the week."


Jon Savage, Teenage, Viking ,Pages: 124-126

Weissmann

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

"Standing above all other giftedness legends, of course, [is] that of the mystifying boy genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, alleged to be an instant master performer at age three and a brilliant composer at age five.

His breath-taking musical gifts were said to have sprouted from nowhere, and his own father promoted him as the 'miracle which God let be born in Salzburg. The reality about Mozart turns out to be far more interesting and far less mysterious. His early achievements - while very impressive, to be sure -actually make good sense considering his extraordinary upbringing. And hislater undeniable genius turns out to be a wonderful advertisement for the power of process. Mozart was bathed in music from well before his birth, and his childhood was quite unlike any other.






His father, Leopold Mozart, was an intensely ambitious Austrian musician, composer, and teacher who had gained wide acclaim with the publication of the instruction book A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing. For a while, Leopold had dreamed of being a great composer himself. But on becoming a father, he began to shift his ambitions away from his own unsatisfying career and onto his children - perhaps, in part, because his career had already hit a ceiling: he was vice-kapellmeister (assistant music director); the top spot would be unavailable for the foreseeable future.
"Uniquely situated, and desperate to make some sort of lasting mark on music, Leopold began his family musical enterprise even before Wolfgang's birth, focusing first on his daughter Nannerl. Leopold's elaborate teaching method derived in part from the Italian instructor Giuseppe Tartini and included highly nuanced techniques. Then came Wolfgang. Four and a half years younger than his sister, the tiny boy got everything Nannerl got - only much earlier and even more intensively. Literally from his infancy, he was the classic younger sibling soaking up his big sister's singular passion. As soon as he was able, he sat beside her at the harpsichord and mimicked notes that she played. Wolfgang's first pings and plucks were just that. But with a fast-developing ear, deep curiosity and a tidal wave of family know-how, he was able to click into an accelerated process of development.
"As Wolfgang became fascinated with playing music, his father became fascinated with his toddler son's fascination - and was soon instructing him with an intensity that far eclipsed his efforts with Nannerl. Not only did Leopold openly give preferred attention to Wolfgang over his daughter; he also made a career-altering decision to more or less shrug off his official duties in order to build an even more promising career for his son. This was not a quixotic adventure. Leopold's calculated decision made reasonable financial sense, ... Wolfgang's youth made him a potentially lucrative attraction. ...From the age of three, then, Wolfgang had an entire family driving him to excel with a powerful blend of instruction, encouragement, and constant practice. He was expected to be the pride and financial engine of the family,and he did not disappoint. In his performances from London to Mannheim between the ages of six and eight, he drew good receipts and high praise from noble patrons. ...
"Still, like his sister, the young Mozart was never a truly great adult-level instrumentalist. He was highly advanced for his age, but not compared with skillful adult performers. The tiny Mozart dazzled royalty and was at the time unusual for his early abilities. But today many young children exposed to
Suzuki and other rigorous musical programs play as well as the young Mozart did - and some play even better. Inside the world of these intensive, child-centered programs, such achievements are now straightforwardly regarded by parents and teachers for what they are: the combined consequence of early exposure, exceptional instruction, constant practice, family nurturance, and a child's intense will to learn. Like a brilliant souffle, all of these ingredients must be present in just the right quantity and mixed with just the right timing and flair. Almost anything can go wrong. The process is far from predictable and never in anyone's complete control."

David Shenk, The Genius in All of Us
Doubleday

John Callahan

John Callahan (February 5, 1951, Portland, Oregon – July 24, 2010), was a cartoonist, artist, and musician noted for dealing with macabre subjects and physical disabilities.

Callahan became a quadriplegic in an auto accident at 21.The accident happened in Callahan's car after a day of drinking alcoholic beverages. His car was being driven by a man with whom he was bar hopping. Following his accident, he became a cartoonist, drawing by clutching a pen between both hands. His visual artistic style was simplistic and often rough, although still legible. It has been likened to that of William Steig, James Thurber, Richard Condie, and Ben Wicks.

Callahan's cartoons dealt with subjects often considered taboo. His black humor may be exemplified by the title of his "quasi-memoir", Will the Real John Callahan Please Stand Up?. The subject matter and treatment of his cartoons shares something with the work of Charles Addams, Gahan Wilson, and especially Charles Rodreguis, although it is much more aggressive than even the Playboy cartoons by these cartoonists.

Two animated cartoon series have been based on Callahan's cartoons: Pelswick, a children's show on Nickelodeon; and Quads, a Canadian-Australian co-production, which retains the violence, joie de vivre, and political incorrectness of his cartoons. The main character, who "walked out of a bar and into a car," as the theme song relates, is a quadriplegic who won a large settlement from the rich driver who ran over him, and lives in a mansion with his buxom girlfriend, gay Australian physical therapist, and a cast of fellow handicapees. Their outrageous adventures infuriate the neighbours, which include an angry nun, the milquetoast millionaire who originally ran over the main character, and his domineering, Joan Riversesque wife.

Friends said Callahan realized that his cartooning was a form of counseling, which led to him pursuing a master's degree in counseling at Portland State University. However, his deteriorating health prevented him from finishing his first term.

Callahan died on July 29, 2010, following surgery for chronic bed sores.

Piero Dorazio

The great end of art

The great end of art is to strike the imagination with the power of a soul that refuses to admit defeat even in the midst of a collapsing world. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

In every person

In every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong; honor that; try to imitate it, and your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes.-- John Ruskin (1819-1900) English Art Critic

Loving what I'm doing

We all get report cards in many different ways, but the real excitement of what you're doing is in the doing of it. It's not what you're gonna get in the end - it's not the final curtain - it's really in the doing it, and loving what I'm doing. -- Designer Ralph Lauren

The Empire State Building in Black and White

The Shalimar in Wildwood New Jersey 1962

Kitchen of the future, 1959 version

Gas Station, design by Frank Lloyd Wright...really, no joke

Pop

Lichtenstein

Jazz music

"Jazz music was the classic American art form that had accompanied virtually every "glorious" era of mobsterism in the United States since the end of the nineteenth century. In Storyville, the legendary turn-of-the-century red-light district of New Orleans, ragtime gave way to a freer, more blues influenced form of jazz as practiced by the likes of Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, and Louis Armstrong. The music had its roots in the African-American experience; it was also the music of the bordello, the speakeasy, and Mob-owned nightclubs from Boston to Los Angeles. Jazz was race-mixing music, through which rich and poor alike came together out of a desire to skirt the placid white-bread veneer of American life (that is, until jazz itself was co-opted by white-bread America).

"It is probable that jazz would have been born without the influence of the Mob, but it is unlikely the music would have grown and flourished as it did without the economic framework provided by organized crime. Particularly in the era of the Roaring Twenties (i.e., Prohibition), when jazz became an international obsession, money from bootlegging rackets made it possible for nightclubs to hire large orchestras. Jay McShann, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington all created world renowned orchestras that were financed by Mob-controlled nightclubs. These orchestras spawned many legends of jazz who developed their talents and headlined in smaller clubs, some of which were also Mob owned.

"In Chicago, Al Capone adored the music and fostered an entire generation of musicians. In Harlem, the Mob-owned Cotton Club had as its house band the sophisticated Duke Ellington Orchestra. Kansas City had an entire district of jazz clubs and after-hours joints that spawned their own version of the music known as 'dirty jazz,' a Delta blues-influenced sound that gave birth to McShann, Basie, and Charlie 'Bird' Parker, among others. This flourishing jazz district in Kansas City - which existed from the early 1920s into the 1930s - was made possible by a corrupt political machine that served as a model for the Havana Mob as constructed by Meyer Lansky, Fulgencio Batista, et al., and which itself spawned Afro-Cuban jazz. "
T.J. English, Havana Nocturne, Morrow, Copyright 2007, 2008 by T.J. English, p. 244.

Links to larger Art Museums in the US

Ana Gorta Mor Collection


http://www.thegreathunger.org/html/collection/Angortamorart.html



Addison Gallery of American Art

http://www.addisongallery.org/



Amon Carter Museum

http://www.cartermuseum.org/



Art Gallery of the University of Rochester

http://mag.rochester.edu/



Art Institute of Chicago

http://www.artic.edu/aic/



Block Museum of Art

http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/



Brooklyn Museum

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/



Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

http://www.carnegiemuseums.org/



Cleveland Museum of Art

http://www.clemusart.com/educef/distance/index.aspx



Currier Museum of Art

http://www.currier.org/



Dallas Museum of Art

http://www.dm-art.org/index.htm



Dayton Art Institute

http://www.daytonartinstitute.org/



Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

http://www.famsf.org/



Fleming Museum

http://www.uvm.edu/~fleming/



Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art

http://www.ou.edu/fjjma/home.html



Harvard University Art Museums

http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/



Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

http://hirshhorn.si.edu/



Honolulu Academy of Arts

http://www.honoluluacademy.org/cmshaa/academy/index.aspx



Hyde Collection

http://www.hydecollection.org/



Johnson Museum of Art

http://www.museum.cornell.edu/



Maier Museum of Art

http://www.maiermuseum.org/





Montclair Art Museum

http://www.montclair-art.com/



Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

http://www.mfah.org/home.asp?par1=1&par2=1&par3=1&par4=1&par5=1&par6=1&par7=&lgc=0&eid=¤tPage=



National Gallery of Australia

http://nga.gov.au/Home/Default.cfm



National Portrait Gallery

http://www.npg.si.edu/



Nevada Museum of Art

http://www.nevadaart.org/



Norton Museum of Art

http://www.norton.org/



Oklahoma City Museum of Art

http://www.okcmoa.com/



Orange County Museum of Art

http://www.ocma.net/index.html?page=index



Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

http://www.pafa.org/

http://www.pafa.org/ (Link)





The Phillips Collection

http://shop.phillipscollection.org/phillips/



Pierpont Morgan Library

http://www.themorgan.org/home.asp



Pomona College Museum of Art

http://www.pomona.edu/museum/



San Diego Museum of Art

http://www.sdmart.org/



Sheldon Art Gallery

http://www.sheldonartgallery.org/



Smithsonian American Art Museum

http://americanart.si.edu/



Springfield Museum of Art

http://www.springfieldart.museum/



Tacoma Art Museum

http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/



Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum

http://www.museothyssen.org/



University of Kentucky Art Museum

http://www.uky.edu/ArtMuseum/





Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

http://www.virginiamuseum.blogspot.com/



Walker Art Center

http://www.walkerart.org/index.wac



Westmoreland Museum of American Art

http://www.wmuseumaa.org/



Whitney Museum of American Art

http://whitney.org/



Yale University Art Gallery

http://artgallery.yale.edu/

The Art Work of Colleen Cannon