i saw the villard exhibit in new york and really liked it. well, bits of it anyway. it's pretty funny to think that this guy was selling van gogh and gave him up before he realized that he had missed out on kazillions of dollars of business!
I was wondering if it had been at the Met or was going to be. I saw they were involved, but I couldn't remember reading about it.
But, yeah, I found the focus on commercialism kind of fascinating. Almost every bit of wall text had the original price in francs, and some even had the price Villard turned around and sold the thing for. That aspect of art history is almost always absent from museum presentation, so it was interesting to have it so front and center. Heck, in its way, that's what the whole thing was about, huh?
I should look again at Bonnard. I too have always found him a little chocolate-boxy (the "doggone Impressionist" angle, I fear). The Musée d'Art Moderne made a huge Bonnard splash when it reopened last year but I wasn't blown away. Ooo and hurrah! for TO's "London Eating & Drinking"!!
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But, yeah, I found the focus on commercialism kind of fascinating. Almost every bit of wall text had the original price in francs, and some even had the price Villard turned around and sold the thing for. That aspect of art history is almost always absent from museum presentation, so it was interesting to have it so front and center. Heck, in its way, that's what the whole thing was about, huh?
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