| | Museum People.
So I'm reading this biography of A. Everett Austin, Jr, who, at 26, became the director of the Wadsworth Atheneum museum in Hartford. In the 1930s, he hosted the first ever public exhibition of Picasso in the US and along with his other skills as museum director, artist, socialite, stage magician, playwright, set designer, architect, and educator introduced New England and the modern US to avant garde art and performance. Known by his nickname, "Chick," he also staged a monumental opera by Gertrude Stein and later would pave the way for George Balanchine in bringing modern ballet to America.
All this information I have garnered most of this information from the inside jacket of this book, Magician of the Modern, by Eugene R. Gaddis, from the contents of the first chapter, and from personal recollections from an exhibit featuring Chick Austin's art deco/ Bauhaus mansion that was at the Atheneum in February. I am excited to read more. Also, I saw a fish-themed costume that Chick wore while moonlighting as The Great Osram during the times he'd express his stage magician elements. This only made me want to read the book in its entirety even more.
I suppose that somewhere inside his biography lies further evidence at the creation and acceleration of new knowledge generated by the intersection of several seemingly un-related areas of knowledge.
But obtaining knowledge from biographies is very different than obtaining wisdom from biographies, or at least, from the purchasing of biographies.
When I bought the book, the girl behind the counter, whose name was either Kristen or Krista or Kirsten, exclaimed very loudly that "That's a great book!"
At this point, I thought it would be appropriate if I permitted the wisdom of my profound remarks to radiate unto the world and contributed this gem: "Yes. It's one of the only comprehensive books about him."
You know sometimes when you re-envision and rewind a statement you made earlier in the day and instead of seeing yourself, you see a wiley haired, pompous octogenarian waving a finger in air as if the wisdom of the known universe depended on it?
"Debit or credit?" Kristen/Krista/Kirsten replied threateningly.
Her face was now suddenly wearing an expression as if I had just told her that her cat had died and that I thought it was hilarious that her cat had died.
She was then paged on the museum shop phone about whether or not a monograph of Gaugin was in stock.
And I left as quickly as possible.
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| | Posted 4/14/2008 8:48 PM - 1 comments
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