A Debut with Firdawsi

Journal entry for 26 Jul 2010 | Link

This past week my first review appeared in the print edition of the Weekly Dig, covering three Shahnama-themed exhibitions going on simultaneously here in Boston. I also did a micro-review of the ICA show of Charles LeDray for the Dig website. That, and exchanges with readers alternately more conservative and more liberal than I am expressing their consternation at last week's journal entry, used up the my writing energies, pleasantly enough, but used them all the same. Images pertinent to the articles follow below, and are followed in turn by some additional notes.

Afrasiyab Embraces Siyavush, folio from a manuscript of the Tahmasp Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, Tabriz, c. 1520s-30s. Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, 2002.50.13. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The Beheading of Afrasiyab before Kay Khusraw, folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, Shiraz, 1560-61. Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, 2002.50.161. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Isfandiyar’s Third Course: He Slays the Dragon, folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, Shiraz, c. 1570. Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing Fund, 1955.12. Photo: Peter Siegel © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Iskandar's Iron Cavalry Battles King Fur of Hind, folio from the Great Mongol Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, Tabriz, 1330s. Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Edward W. Forbes, 1955.167. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Murder of Iraj by Tur and Salm, folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, c. 1600-10. Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Edwin Binney, 3rd Collection of Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums, 1985.234.2. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Rustam and the Iranian Army Besiege the Fortress of Kafur the Cannibal, folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, Shiraz, 1341. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1960.195. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Rustam Carries Suhrab’s Casket, folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, Shiraz, c. 1570s. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, 2002.50.131. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Rustam Mourns the Dying Suhrab, folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi. Iran, Shiraz, c. 1570s. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, 2002.50.32. Photo: Katya Kallsen © President and Fellows of Harvard College

Sudabha's Shalegem: two dead babies of Ahreman and the witch are shown to Kai Kaus. Indian, Sultanate period, Late 15th century. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Denman Waldo Ross Collection. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Zal and Rudaba. Indian, Sultanate, Sultanate period, late 15th century. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Denman Waldo Ross Collection. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Manizha Entertains Bizhan. Persian, Late 15th century. Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of John Goelet. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Chalres LeDray: Charles, 1995, fabric, thread, metal, plastic, paint, 19 x 14 x 4 1/2 inches, Collection of Barbara and Leonard Kaban, courtesy of Sperone Westwater

Charles LeDray, Hole, 1998, fabric, thread, plastic, wood, metal, 19 1/4 x 13 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches, the Cartin Collection, courtesy of the artist

Charles LeDray, MENS SUITS (installation view), 2009, commission for Artangel, London, courtesy of the artist and Sperone Westwater, New York

I'll Show You Mine

My application for the Governors Island Art Fair was accepted. Consequently my revised exhibition calendar for this fall, in chronological order, is as follows:

September 4-26: Governors Island Art Fair, Governors Island, NY

October 1 - late October or early November, opening reception October 1: group exhibition, title TBA, at The Bridge in Charlottesville, VA

November 4 - December 19, opening reception November 18: The Talk That Walked, a solo exhibition at Main Library, Downtown Miami

Dates TBA but open during the first week of December: Good and Plenty, a group exhibition at Artcenter South Florida, Miami Beach, FL

At this time I do not intend to go to Art Basel Miami Beach this year, and instead stay up in Boston for our very own Hyde Park Open Studios. Consequently, if you'd like to see ABMB coverage, please consider giving to Joanne Mattera's deserving campaign to send her to Miami. Joanne has been doing the most dependable and complete coverage of the Miami fair season, and the most focused upon the art, of anybody, including the print publications. Word from the proprietress is that the campaign is going well, but more donations are needed and appreciated. And if she'll pardon me for saying so, deserved.

A Reading

Verlyn Klinkenborg:

By the calendar, summer is only a third gone. But there has been something headlong about this summer, something other than the heat. Perhaps it's simply that what I’m seeing at the farm is the accumulation of all its past summers, as if shade could pile up, like leaves, under the sugar maples and hickories year after year.