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Why Can’t We Be Just Like The Italians
The Italians have always been known for their many artistic qualities. They have been and still are remarkable for their sense of art and opera, their sense of style and their concern over preserving the past. Now they have combined their concern over preserving the past with their sense of style and panache and they have done it in an operatic fashion that is con brio.
An anonymous protest group has been producing shock ads to alert the nation to cuts to preservation budgets. The ads feature classic images such as Michelangelo’s David, disfigured in some way to illustrate the end result of preservation budget slashing. In David’s case the doctored photograph shows him missing a leg.
The premise behind the ad campaign is that the Italian government can be embarrassed into taking action. Given that art and art monuments play a larger role in Italy than perhaps in any other country, this just might work.
The pity is that such a campaign would never succeed in Canada where the government has shown itself incapable of being embarrassed. Still one can but hope, the National Library, to take just one example, needs a new roof, and the Houses of Parliament are still crumbling.
Harris Sets Record
On a brighter note prices for Canadian art at auction keep rising for both established stars like members of the Group of Seven and for those who haven’t reached icon status with the general public. At the spring auction of Important Canadian Art held by Joyner Waddington’s the audience is reported to have broken out into thunderous applause when a Lawren Harris sketch was hammered down for more than half a million dollars.
Harris’ oil painting, Lake in Temagami, Northern Sketch IX was sold for $524,500 to a bidder from the crowd. Auctioneers usually pitch their estimates low so that the final price will appear that much more fantastic. That being said Lake in Temagami sold for more than five times its estimated value, setting a real record along the way. The painting by the way is a fine piece of work. Joyner Waddinton’s reports that the sketch was one of ten lots that sold for over $100,000 and that the total realized was well above last year’s sale of Important Canadian Art.
It should be noted also that in the recent honours awarded by the Governor General, abstract artist Rita Letendre was made a member of the Order of Canada. One of her works, Antares also brought in more than five times its estimated price, being sold under the hammer for $41,000.
Martin Murray
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English Version
