Return to Newsletter Table of Contents

Borsheim Art Newsletter: by Kelly Borsheim copyright 5 May 2010 CONTENTS: New Work Exhibits in Italy: Villa Bardini and Sei Divino USA Venues: Indiana, Texas, and Oklahoma ARC Award: 2 Drawings Made Finalist List Pastels in Paradise - Hawaiian Art Journey Museo Stefano Bardini Subscription Info. Sign-up to receive FREE e-news or printed mail. (Your personal information is never sold or given away.)

Stone planter - three portraits Museo Bardini - Florence, Italy

Dear Art Lover, Well, this transition took me a while. How are you? I have now been back in Italy for over a month and am working to create new art for another solo exhibit here in Florence in June. I enclose here a small thumbnail image of the pastel painting "Still Life: Fiesole" inspired by one of my friend's home in the hills above Florence. Click on the image to see more.

--------------------- Museo Stefano Bardini - Florence, Italy Florence, Italy, recently celebrated its "Notte Bianca" (White Night). This is a night in which all of the famous central part of the city comes out to play, even more than usual. Street performers are out, wine and music are flowing, and there was a wonderfully dynamic video installation projected over (and using) the architecture of the Uffizi Gallery's Corridor. One of the other perks is that some of the museums stayed open late and were free to enter. So, I want to share with you some of the jewels inside the Museo Stefano Bardini. Stefano Bardini was an avid art collector and is said to have had a natural ability to successfully display together works from different time periods. The first thing that one must notice is that the walls are a soft blue, very unlike the typically warm Tuscan yellows. But the blues perfectly enhance the creamy colors in the stone sculptures. Perhaps I should admit one of my weaknesses: I rarely remember the names of the artists or the titles of the works. I realize that is perhaps unhealthy for a professional artist. However, especially in a museum, I find myself overwhelmed with what I AM looking for, that the labels often seem unimportant. Even as a child I was interested in the idea more than the source, unless that source was essential to that idea. So, if you want to know more about the artwork that I am showing you, please visit the Museo Stefano Bardini. They also have more clear images on their site than the ones that I have shot here.

I just love the two animals in the upper right corner of the image on the right. My favorite are the ears!

I first became interested in bas-relief sculpture after spending two days working with it in a sculpture workshop with Eugene Daub many years ago. I learned then its potential and have since stopped calling it "Puffy Painting." However, it has been Italy where I began to appreciate the full range of what one can do in relief. Sculptors know that we must carve for the light and we only can assume, for the most part, that that light will come from above. Look at the detail shot of the pulpit - can you see how the artist maximized the use of undercuts to create the shadows necessary to distinguish the form. If you really look at this stone carving in relief, you will notice just how many different tones are there, based soley on the way the stone was carved or how deep or angled an undercut (narrow and angled creating a darker shadow). Brilliant! And lovely.

Oh, the expressiveness. Oh, the creativity. Oh, the technique. Without electricity, these forms were cut from stone. Do you know how difficult this really is?

Such magnificient and imaginative creatures. These carvings seem a bit crudely created to me and yet, they have their own charm.

Really, I was so enchanted not only by the blue, but the way in which busy carvings were put together with a harmony of line and simplicity.
These stairs remind me of Michelangelo's Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, also here in Firenze.

"The drawings in Bardini's collection were mainly ascribed to Giovan Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770) and his son Lorenzo (1736-1776)."
(I photographed the sign . . . )

"These bronze statuettes are ascribed to Severo da Ravenna's workshop. They are really expressive and represent sea monsters, pagan gods, winged dragons, lamps, acrobats and little naked angels, licentious satyrs, candle holders and other profane subjects." [sic, on the grammar] "There is another lamp representing a licentious subject, so as to instigate laughter when it was lit. These kinds of objects were requested above all by humanists, often fond of studying nature. That's why the bases were frequently cast on real animal legs, such as the cock's foot on this lamp."

I found this crucified figure intriguing because his body did not fit the shape of a cross. Perhaps I am crude to say that
the abstract shape appeals to me as having a graceful flow to it.
From the museum: "Over them [two figures not shown here] is hung a Crucified Thief, of which the cross has been lost. In the 1918
New York auction catalogue, Bardini presented the bronze as a work of Zaccaria da Volterra, based on Michelangelo's design."
I do not understand how they can place this figure on a cross -- would not both feet have been secured? The lower arm was dangling
from a rope on the arm of the cross? The figure's back is as well formed as the front. I am certainly no expert, but many
sculptors only shape the parts that will be seen. On the other hand, perhaps a slender cross would allow spaces in which the
body could be viewed. In that case, a sculpture in the round would be much easier to create and better for a thorough viewing.

Now, here is a happy fellow in this center image! And displayed among other bronze reliefs of madonnas and religious figures (not shown).
[I do apologize for the refection of my camera in this shot!]

It is sad to see the damage done to this wooden vessel. But what a glory piece she is!

While I am not personally much interested in weaponry, the part of me that loves science fiction and fantasy art was intrigued
by these spear shapes. Perhaps the holes were made to make the metal lighter, but they are still beautifully crafted.

Gotta love this: Naked guy angel on a gun? Just look at the size of those thighs! Mamma mia!

Stone, metal, wood: Sculpture is da bomb!

Oh, I wish that I had gotten a better image of this lion in restoration - this area was behind a locked glass door.
I know a tour guide for Florence who recently posted on Facebook that although the Florentines used the lion as
their symbol before they adopted the current fleur-di-lis (different from France's), the artists had never
even seen a lion, other than looking at ancient artworks. However, this lion is so much more elegant in form that
it makes me wonder . . . For example, I love that graceful triangular taper from the rib cage to the hips.

Giambologna's frightful creature Diavolino (little devil) gives me a theory about where Dr. Seuss came up with "The Grinch that Stole Christmas".

I must say that I enjoyed this idea of wallpaper (in truth a fresco) turning out to be a curtain.

Maybe these works are not famous (the sculpture on the right is a fountainhead), but I hope you recognize the artistry in them.
And I hope that I have left you wanting more.