A bit of Maryville's storied horse-breeding past returned home last week when former residents Steve and Joyce Piveral, now retired to Gilbert, Ariz., donated a painting of Oak Hill Chief to the Nodaway County Historical Society Museum.
Oak Hill Chief was a magnificent spotted chestnut gelding sired in 1935 at Faustiana Farm on the western edge of Maryville. Trained by the legendary Lester Swaney, the horse won the five-gaited American Saddlebred World Grand Championship in 1943, 1945 and 1946.
Swaney died this spring at age 97, and left instructions to Steve Piveral, his nephew, that the painting was to be donated to the museum. The image was rendered in oil from a photograph by Kansas City artist Sally McClure Jackson.
During a brief ceremony at the museum on Friday, the Piverals presented the painting to the society's Tom Carneal.
Born in Hopkins in 1915, Swaney first worked with saddlebreds at age 12, when he was a groom for J.H. "Jim" Tapp, a well-known trainer.
In 1938 he struck out on his own and opened a training stable in Lincoln, Neb., where he started encountering horses from Maryville's Faustiana Farm, which was owned by Ferdinand M. "Ferd" Townsend, a wealthy businessman who had founded a successful grocery store chain.
Townsend soon hired the young trainer, who returned to Nodaway County and spent the next 30 years managing Faustiana and raising champions. Oak Hill Chief, which Swaney at one time owned and showed as a junior gaited horse under the name "Bambino," was one of the first.
As the horse developed into a world-class competitor, Swaney sold the animal, which, under a somewhat grander name, went on to make show ring history.
According to documents preserved by the Historical Society, Swaney expanded the Faustiana operation during the 1940s and '50s to include breeding, showing and selling horses as well as training them. Other notable animals produced there included Autumn Serenade, Supreme Moment and Dream Date.
In addition to saddlebreds, the farm also handled standardbreds and Percherons, a powerful draft horse originally bred in France.
Standardbred horses are frequently used for harness racing, and in 1958 Swaney raced the pacer McPhergus to more heat wins than any harness horse in the United States.
Swaney's equine career, along with the future of Faustiana Farm, was truncated when a standardbred horse fell on him in 1964.
Seriously injured, he was forced to stop riding and training but continued to manage the operation until it was sold in 1970. He found a second career as a farm agent with Jackson Insurance, where he worked for 16 years.
The farm was eventually split into residential lots that now comprise Maryville's Faustiana Subdivision.
After retirement, Swaney continued to live in Maryville with his wife, Leola, who died in 2010. He was long active in numerous civic organizations, including the Historical Society, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Men's Forum.
Source: www.maryvilledailyforum.com
Painting of president underscores South Africa’s lingering racial divide - Washington Times
JOHANNESBURG — A handwritten sign that says “whites hate blacks” carried by one of more than 2,000 protesters in Johannesburg on Tuesday shows that a fierce national debate about a painting depicting the president’s genitals is about more than art and the constitution.
Mapule Kgomo, a black woman from the outskirts of Johannesburg who made the sign, said she drew her conclusion about fellow South Africans who are white after seeing the painting, titled “The Spear,” of President Jacob Zuma, who is black, made by a white South African.
“I hate whites passionately after that painting,” she added. “I’m so hurt.”
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Goodman Gallery said it has agreed to remove images of the painting from its website. The painting itself already had been removed from the gallery after it was defaced last week.
But the passionate feelings about the painting don’t seem ready to subside. If anything, the protests and comment have been amplified because much of it is taking place on social network sites.
The debate is part of an ongoing discussion in this young democracy about whether white South Africans are insensitive and to what extent black South Africans still feel they are treated as second-class citizens even though the country is governed by Mr. Zuma’s African National Congress. The ANC led the fight against apartheid before becoming a political party.
Mr. Zuma has asked the High Court to rule that his constitutional right to dignity was violated when the gallery put the painting on display earlier this month. The gallery and artist Brett Murray argue that they are defending the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
“I am not a racist,” Mr. Murray said in an affidavit filed in the court case, which is still under way. “I do not produce art with an intention to hurt, humiliate or insult.”
Liza Essers, owner of the Goodman Gallery, said she regrets “the divisiveness that the exhibition has caused.
“It was never my intention to cause hurt to any person,” Ms. Essers said in a statement last week.
The issue is not black and white.
Black artists filed affidavits supporting Mr. Murray. And a white man and a black man entered the gallery to deface the painting, saying they were acting independently of each other and wanted to defend Mr. Zuma. The two were arrested and face trespassing charges.
Mr. Murray said in his court affidavit that the intention of his Zuma painting, part of a show that criticized the ANC, was to express a sense of betrayal that some post-apartheid leaders were greedy or corrupt. He also said details of Mr. Zuma’s sex life had become part of the public debate in South Africa.
Mr. Zuma, 70, has been married six times — he currently has four wives, as his Zulu culture allows. He has 21 children and acknowledged in 2010 that he fathered a child that year with a woman who was not among his wives.
Tuesday’s protest wound about a half mile from a usually quiet park in an upscale Johannesburg neighborhood to a corner just south of the gallery. Along the way, black women in maid’s aprons and black men in gardener’s overalls stood on the balconies of homes in the largely white residential neighborhood to cheer on the marchers.
View Entire StorySource: www.washingtontimes.com
FPB: It's our duty to classify 'The Spear' - and suppress criticism - Mail & Guardian Online
While meeting over "The Spear", the Film and Publications Board has astonishingly seemed to imply it is obliged to suppress political criticism.
Source: mg.co.za
Antique Textiles & Vintage Fashions Attract Crowds & Buyers For Zukas - Antiques and Arts Weekly
:Linda Zukas sold out her 22nd annual Antique Textile and Vintage Fashion Show and Sale, filling all the available exhibit space at Sturbridge Host Hotel and Exhibit Center on Monday, May 7. Offering this show three times a year to coincide with Brimfield week, Zukas said that "this show had about a dozen first-time dealers replacing a couple absentees and several who have retired since last year." She said that attendance was strong and "dealers reported great sales again this May."
The entrance of Host Hotel's exhibition hall was surrounded by dealers offering some segment of the variety in this popular collecting niche. To the left of the door was Susan Simon with her latest collection of draperies and table covers. Simon also had a selection of table linens and ladies' garments, but on a stand, there was a gentleman's straw hat everyone was trying to fit under.
In a new place in the big room, the Textile Trunk was showing its collection of early drapes, most in white with either a red or blue print. The dominant material was toile with French country scenic prints.
From London, Maria Niforos was offering Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century fashions and accessories. All very glamorous, her collection also included several purses with intricate handwork designs sewn onto them.
Brentwood, N.H., antiques dealer Sandy Elliott was there for the first time with textiles from her collection. Features included children's clothing from the Nineteenth Century, hand sewn and decorated coverlets and quilts and some raw textiles. She also had a large assortment of sewing tools, accessories and notions.
Phyllis Carlson, Carlson and Stevenson, Manchester Center, Vt., sold a large collection of lace curtains. She had acquired them years ago, always planning to hang them in her own house. Recently she came across them and decided they were not going to be used at home, so they became inventory, and sold early in the show.
Among the first time exhibitors was Twisted Vintage Textiles from Memphis, Tenn. Mary Aubrey Landrom, owner and manager, had a collection of ladies' accessories from the Twentieth Century, covering several design style periods. There were hats from the 30s with nets, broad-brimmed affairs from just after World War II and a variety of pillboxes, circa 1960, in soft pastel colors. Landrom also had a collection of shoes to match the hats in many styles and forms, such as platforms and open-toe alligator numbers.
More and More, New York City, is Steve Mohr's business, with an oversize space filled with so many parts of a lady's wardrobe needs, he could outfit a style-setter from head to toe. He also offered fine jewelry, which was selling quickly.
When this show opened, there were a great many of the patrons who were running to be first in their favorite booth. Heller's Café, Seattle, Wash., was one of the first hit by several buyers from Asia. They were after the cotton shirts with various logos and school markings, the club and sports jackets and just decorated tee shirts.
The Cat's Meow, Midland, Texas, was offering an assortment of Nineteenth Century ball gowns and more. Monica's Vintage Fashions, Greenwich, Conn., had a more sophisticated offering with a turn-of-the-century wedding dress as foremost in her collection.
Kelter Malcé, Bridgehampton, N.Y., has been holding court here for many years with its specialty, Hudson Bay blankets in many color variations. This is in addition to the collection of folk art that has a textile hint to it.
Quilts and coverlets of superior workmanship were easily found at this show from several specialists. Massachusetts dealer Martha Perkins seems to always have a very large fresh collection. Piqué, Stone Mountain, Ga., filled its exhibit with Southern quilts and homespuns. Koval's was selling quickly from its collection dominated by Amish quilts from its native Pennsylvania.
Hooked rugs and mats were covering the walls in Lynne Weaver's exhibit. From Wenham, Mass., this dealer sells only hooked pieces in excellent condition, whether restored or as found.
One exhibit space was shared by three experts in specialized textile fields. Ulrike Montigel from Stuttgart, Germany, and John Gillow from Cambridge, U.K., both specialize in identifying textiles from around the world and have written books about them. They were with DeWitt Mallary, a New Yorker who is a Persian rug expert. They were selling from their collections and also copies of their books.
The show was, according to many dealers just an hour after the opening, a success, and it is clearly great fun for them and the customers to see and experience.
The show will open twice again this year at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Conference Center: July 9 and September 3, both the Mondays of Brimfield Week. For more information, 207-363-1320 or www.vintagefashionandtextileshow.com .
Source: antiquesandthearts.com
Protest against Zuma 'penis painting' in South Africa - Modern Ghana
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - About 1,000 supporters of South Africa's ruling ANC marched on an art gallery Tuesday to protest a painting depicting President Jacob Zuma's genitals.
The African National Congress which mobilised the protest against one of the most controversial artworks in the country's post-apartheid history, said the gallery has agreed to pull the painting from its website.
Decked out in the black, green and gold of the ANC, they marched about two kilometres (1.2 miles) along one of the city's busiest roads to the gallery in the upmarket neighbourhood of Parkwood, where riot police formed a barrier between them and the gallery.
"The Goodman Gallery has agreed to remove the painting from the website," ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe told protesters.
The row erupted when the gallery put up a collection of works by satirical artist Brett Murray taking a harsh look at the ANC.
But the piece that sparked the greatest outrage was the painting of Zuma mimicking a pose by Vladimir Lenin in a Soviet-era propaganda poster -- but with his penis exposed.
Critics branded it racist and a violation of Zuma's right to dignity, arguing it is deeply offensive in African culture to expose an elder's genitals.
The ANC claimed victory after two vandals last Tuesday smeared the work with red and black paint, prompting the gallery to pull it from its walls.
The saga surrounding the painting appeared not only to underline some racial tensions and cultural misunderstanding, but also worked to galvanise support for Zuma, analysts said.
"One should not forget that South Africa is a conservative society, despite our liberal constitution. A painting like this could offend people of all races," said Olmo von Meijenfeldt, an analyst with the Institute for Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA).
Frans Cronje of South African Institute of Race Relations, said although there was nothing racial about the painting, the reaction by the ANC which could be attributed to "huge" cultural misunderstanding, "does seem to underline racial tension."
Two women protestors held a sign that read: "Whites hate blacks" and "Whites are rude".
Mantashe hailed one of the vandals of the painting -- who was on stage with him Tuesday dressed in a black hoodie -- as a hero who "covered" Zuma's shame.
The gallery, which was closed last week, had on Tuesday taken down all materials from the exhibition.
"Goodman Gallery respect your right to protest," read a sign posted on the gallery's shop windows in big capital letters.
Protesters sported T-shirts with messages such as "President has the right to human dignity and privacy" and "We say no to abuse of artistic expression".
Meijenfeldt said the outcry sparked by the painting could hand Zuma some points among his loyalists.
"Victim is a strong political strategy. I think he (Zuma) is using it to rally support behind him," said the analyst.
The ANC had also applied for an injunction compelling the gallery and Sunday newspaper City Press to remove all public images of the work.
City Press had covered the painting in an art review, but on Monday gave in to pressure to remove an image of it from the newspaper's website, following calls to boycott the paper.
Mantashe on Tuesday said ANC supporters could buy the paper again.
"You can also buy the City Press now, just not last week's copy," he said.
Source: www.modernghana.com
No comments:
Post a Comment