|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
State of the Art
| Article
# : |
11090 |
|
|
Section : |
THE ARTS
|
| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1986 |
1,050 Words |
| Author
: |
Gregory Speck
Gregory Speck is a freelance arts writer based in New York
City. |
Although firmly rooted within the traditions of European culture, America is regarded by many here and abroad as the denouement in the decline of Western civilization. What we know of history is in large measures due to the artistic legacy bequeathed us in the visual art forms of architecture, sculpture, painting, and drawing, for apart from the central role of the plastic arts in recording events, they invariably reflect the age in which they are created.
Such is the relevance of the fading appreciation for the classical ideal, that expression of divinity in human form which speaks to us today as clearly as to Plato then about the quest for perfection. Two exhibitions recently on view around America offered a striking juxtaposition of exactly how far we of today have descended from the aesthetic achievements of only several centuries back, and in contrast signify the immense gap between what was once required of art and what now passes for it.
One of the world's finest and most comprehensive archives of Old Master drawings. Vienna's Albertina Collection, was in 1985 loaned to two of America's leading museums, first the National Gallery in Washington, and then The J. Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City. The traveling exhibition, one of highlights of the year for art historians, was undertaken in honor of 200 years of diplomatic relations between Austria and America.
The collection was formed through a lifetime of enlightened research and dedicated acquisition by a gifted connoisseur, Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen (1738-1822), who married Empress Maria Theresa's favorite daughter, the Archduchess Marie-Christine. Albert had been
... (1998 of 6429 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
