Not so here. This painting is suffering from an almost tragic degree of neglect. The paint itself has worn away; the quality of such restoration as the painting has undergone is poor in the extreme – see where that raggedy line of green ends, just above the city's tallest tower. For all that – and perhaps, in part, because of it – it is still wonderful.
This noblewoman, suspended gracefully above the easily recognisable silhouette of Renaissance Siena, looming hugely and magnificently, skirt billowing over its finicky tininess, has a lovely sense of weightlessness about her. Her legs are drawn back, as if blown into that shape by currents of air. She seems to be carried back and away from us even as we stare at her. She is entirely at her ease here, we feel, as if in someone's comfortably dependable arms.
Her graceful feet, pointily shod in the red of the city itself, seem to be pushing her along. She seems more sacred than secular, virgin-like or angelic, and yet in spite of all that, she also looks entirely human. Almost nothing suggests that she is other than human – except, perhaps, for one tiny, miraculous-looking detail, the snowball she holds out, quite loosely, in her right hand, which is a glancing reference to a sacred painting by Sassetta called Madonna delle neve ("Virgin of the snows").
The painter, in the depiction of the face and the treatment of the hair, seems to have gone out of his way to make sure that she will be recognised for the great beauty that she undoubtedly was at the time that she was painted. There is a solemnity, a real gravity, about the expression on her face, which may represent the twin burdens of being a symbol of beauty and nobility. And yet the painting is also, simultaneously – and this is surely part of its enduring appeal – utterly light and fanciful at the same time, even a little Mary Poppins-ish, snatched, if you like, from the pages of a children's book.
Not a bad guess, you might say. This very small painting, housed in a library in Florence, is indeed the frontispiece to a book, a book of poetry. The painting does have qualities of naivety. Look at how those puffed-out trees are painted below the walls of the city, for example. Their representation is simplified in a child-like way. The book itself is a secular hymn of praise addressed to Bianca herself, who was a prized contemporary embodiment of Sienese beauty.
About the artist: Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501)
The extraordinarily industrious Francesco di Giorgio Martini, architect, painter, sculptor and engineer, was a man whose talents were much in demand in the second half of the Sienese Quatrocento. He decorated coffered ceilings, made secular and religious paintings for public and private patrons, and was also in charge of the city's water supply. At the end of his fourth decade he was wooed to Urbino, where he served as architect to a court that also had Piero della Francesca in its employ. His last decade saw a return to Siena, where he became engaged in works of military engineering.
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Painting a canvas of community voices - Oregonian
How could we best use the space to reflect the interests and concerns of a community defined by its agricultural history and dynamic growth? How could we assure regular readers of the Argus we would be mindful of the newspaper's long record of community leadership and its right-of-center political perspective? How could we reach out to occasional readers and non-readers to bring them into the discussion?
These were among the questions I asked myself when I began at the Argus in late January. With respect for the past, a sense of urgency about the present and musings about the future, I grabbed my brushes and went to work.
Now, four months later, I'm writing my first signed column on this page to report back to you, readers, and solicit your feedback. This isn't a report card, per se. Rather, it's a restatement of what we set out to do, a summary of what we've done, and an invitation to engage with us -- in print every Friday and anytime online.
Our goal is simple: to hold up a mirror to the greater Hillsboro community so that people from different neighborhoods, workplaces and walks of life see their issues and concerns reflected on this page. For some, those topics involve taxes, traffic and municipal services; parenting; politics; crime, health care, poverty, demographic change; education and school funding; jobs and economic development; land-use planning and quality-of-life issues.
Presenting a variety of viewpoints is central to that goal. That is why we have been proactive in soliciting guest opinions from regular citizens, along with elected officials and community leaders. That is why we created an Argus Community Writers program, currently featuring a retired teacher, a stay-at-home mom, and an information technology specialist, to assure a flow of grassroots perspectives. That is why we have continued to publish columns by longtime political commentator Jayne Carroll.
As promised, we have occasionally gone without a staff editorial in this space in order to devote more room to community voices. We did so most recently in early May, when we presented excerpts of more than two dozen commentaries on K-12 budget cuts and proposed solutions to Oregon's school finance crisis.
We also have conducted online reader polls to get a sense of community opinion on several issues, including support for minor league baseball in Hillsboro; the elimination of Native American mascots at Oregon high schools; and what to do about the composting "stink" near North Plains. We have excerpted online interviews with Oregon's First Lady, Cylvia Hayes, on poverty and hunger, and with Olympic soccer star Tiffeny Milbrett, a Hilhi graduate, on Title IX. And we have continued to publish letters to the editor, giving our critics room to sound off.
Knowing that space in the print newspaper is finite, we introduced the "On The Web" feature on this page to provide a distillation of guest opinions found on the Argus' web pages. And, to better connect with readers in real time, we poured new energy into reviving the Argus' Twitter feed and created an Argus Facebook page to make sharing of our editorial content as easy as possible.
Finally, I've ventured out four times in these four months to meet readers on their own turf. These "Fourth Friday" events have taken me to local coffee shops whose customers and overall vibes are as diverse as you might imagine: the Starbucks at the Civic Center Plaza, Insomnia Coffee Co., Maggie's Buns in Forest Grove, the Hillsboro Pharmacy & Soda Fountain. Obviously, these are but a handful of the micro-communities that make up the greater Hillsboro area.
Yet, it's been helpful to chat face-to-face with local officials, business owners, government workers, educators and retirees, especially those who've spent much of their life here. Aside from the opportunity to hear directly from area residents, I planted the seeds for at least two guest opinions that later appeared in the Argus.
As I look back at the 18 weekly issues published since late January, I see 18 canvases that I hope signal our commitment to community engagement. Are there areas where we could be doing more or doing better? Certainly. Are there topics we haven't yet addressed? Probably so. In either case, that's your cue to talk back to us. Write a letter to the editor. Submit a guest opinion, or steer us to a colleague. Send me an email or a tweet.
Each week presents a fresh canvas. With your help, we'd like to get paintbrushes in the hands of more people who have something timely and important to contribute to the community conversation.
-- George Rede, Argus Opinion editor
grede@hillsboroargus.com; @georgerede
Source: www.oregonlive.com
Woman who punched, scratched and rubbed her buttocks on $40m painting avoids jail time - Daily Mail
Sentenced: Carmen Tisch has been sentenced to a two-year probation after damaging a $40million Clyfford Still painting in December
A 37-year-old woman who punched, scratched and rubbed her buttocks against a $40 million painting causing $10,000 worth of damage has avoided a jail sentence.
Carmen Tisch, from Denver, has been sentenced to two years of probation, and will have to undergo mental health treatment after she damaged the work by abstract expressionist Clyfford Still at a Denver museum, recently opened in the artist’s name.
Tisch pleaded guilty earlier this month to felony criminal mischief for striking at and leaning against the oil-on-canvas painting '1957-J No. 2' at the Clyfford Still Museum last December, the Denver District Attorney's Office said.
After causing an estimated $10,000 worth of damage to the painting, a drunken Tisch then pulled down her pants, slid her buttocks against the painting and urinated on the museum floor, prosecutors said.
'It comes across as pretty inconceivable that somebody would do that in the context of a museum,' Ivar Zeile, the gallery owner, told NBC news in January.
A judge ruled that Tisch must also receive help for alcohol dependency as a condition of her sentence and she may still face a restitution hearing.
After Tisch was arrested in December her mother said that Tisch was an alcoholic.
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Probation: Tisch, seen here in court in January, will also have to undergo mental health and alcohol addiction treatment as part of her probation
Painting: The iconic Clyfford Still oil-on-canvas, called 1957-J no. 2, which was damaged by Tisch on December 29
Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney's Office, said Tisch pulled down her trousers and rubbed her buttocks against the painting while urinating on December 29.
'You have to wonder where her friends were,' said Ms Kimbrough in January.
The police report said Tisch struck the painting repeatedly with her fist and that the scratches and other damage were visible.
Scene: Clyfford Still Museum which opened last November to house thousands of the artist's works
The painting, which is nearly nine-and-a-half-feet tall and 13-feet wide, is estimated between $30 million and $40 million by the museum, according to the Denver Post.
CLYFFORD STILL
Born in North Dakota in 1904, Clyfford Still was an American painter, and one of the leading figures of Abstract Expressionism.
He was considered one of the most influential of the American post-World War Two abstract expressionist artists, although he was not as well known as others such as Jackson Pollock.
Still died in 1980, and the city of Denver worked for years with his widow, Patricia, to secure the single-artist museum.
Born in North Dakota in 1904, Still was considered one of the most influential of the American post-World War Two abstract expressionist artists, although he was not as well known as others such as Jackson Pollock.
Still died in 1980, and the city of Denver worked for years with his widow, Patricia, to secure the single-artist museum.
She died in 2005, and her husband's collection was bequeathed to the city.
Four of Still's works were auctioned by Sotheby's last year for $114 million to endow the Denver museum, which opened with much fanfare in November 18.
The museum's collection includes about 2,400 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures, much of which have never been on public display before.
Because Still closely guarded his works, most of the pieces at his namesake museum had not previously been displayed.
Court records show that Tisch was arrested in January 2011 on an armed robbery charge.
She was freed on $50,000 bond, then the charge was dropped on December 16 2011.
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Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
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