Jun

11

Book ‘Em: Don’t Know Much About Art…

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

June 11, 2007 |

Scandals, vandals, and Da Vincis : a gallery of remarkable art tales
By Harvey Rachlin
(Penguin Books, 2007)

Sometimes as you’re walking through a museum you probably often think, “What makes this picture interesting or special? What’s the story behind it?” Harvey Rachlin’s book Scandals, vandals, and Da Vincis : a gallery of remarkable art tales takes a number of famous art works and does exactly that. The author of Lucy’s Bones, Sacred Stones, & Einstein’s Brain and its sequel Jumbo’s hide, Elvis’s ride, & the tooth of Buddha Rachlin writes engaging stories about both the origins of paintings and, in many cases, things that happened to the paintings. John Ruskin, for instance, received a painting he loved and had written about, Turner’s Slave Ship as a gift from his father, but would find himself liking the painting less and less because it was a reminder of the horrors of the slave trade. And of course he writes about the history of Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, including the 1911 theft of the painting. Each chapter is devoted to a specific painting, and most begin with a brief introductory paragraph, such as the one for A Convalescent by James Tissot, which begins, “Like astrology or the Tarot or other methods of augury, art can sometimes be eerily prescient.” The book does have a couple of disadvantages. For one thing the paintings in question are scattered throughout the world, so while it’s broad in its scope, you couldn’t, unfortunately, use it as a guide in any specific museum. In fact it would be nice if museum curators would get authors like Rachlin to write similar guidebooks for visitors. Also, all the reproductions are in black and white, so more than a little of the detail of some works is lost (particularly works by Caravaggio and Whistler). And finally the artists are all male. This may seem like political correctness, but there are fascinating stories behind the paintings of artists such as Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo, and Dorothea Tanning. The book is seriously entertaining, though, so hopefully Rachlin will write a sequel that will cover even more artists and their works.


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