A Friend In Need
May 16, 2018 9:13 PM Subscribe
The Chrysler Museum Of Art has announced a new series of acquisitions to showcase one of the most reproduced and yet least known American artists of the last century.
Ok, not really, though his originals go for tens of thousands of dollars. But Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's series Dogs Playing Poker (and doing other things) and the omnipresent A Friend In Need are significant in their own right
this post was inspired by The Lonely Palette's episode #26: C.M. Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker (1903), discussing avant-garde and kitsch.
BAD KITSCH – Dogs Playing Poker
A Point of View: The strangely enduring power of kitsch
'"If works of art were judged democratically--that is, according to how many people like them--kitsch would easily defeat all its competitors," observed Thomas Kulka.
'The term kitsch, deriving from the German word verkitschen meaning "to make cheap," is usually used to describe objects or art that are considered to be in poor taste. Thomas Kinkade has often been referred to as the “King of Kitsch,” which seemed, to me, like a negative label for him as an artist.'
How Kitsch Conquered The World
Also, C.M. Coolidge invted the "comic foreground,"i.e. those illustrated stands with holes for faces.
Dogs playing poker, previously: 2005, 2003, 2002,
Ok, not really, though his originals go for tens of thousands of dollars. But Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's series Dogs Playing Poker (and doing other things) and the omnipresent A Friend In Need are significant in their own right
this post was inspired by The Lonely Palette's episode #26: C.M. Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker (1903), discussing avant-garde and kitsch.
BAD KITSCH – Dogs Playing Poker
A Point of View: The strangely enduring power of kitsch
'"If works of art were judged democratically--that is, according to how many people like them--kitsch would easily defeat all its competitors," observed Thomas Kulka.
'The term kitsch, deriving from the German word verkitschen meaning "to make cheap," is usually used to describe objects or art that are considered to be in poor taste. Thomas Kinkade has often been referred to as the “King of Kitsch,” which seemed, to me, like a negative label for him as an artist.'
How Kitsch Conquered The World
Also, C.M. Coolidge invted the "comic foreground,"i.e. those illustrated stands with holes for faces.
Dogs playing poker, previously: 2005, 2003, 2002,
The Chrysler thing's apparently an April Fool's joke that they left up to fool us year round? Bit of a shame; maybe they should start that collection, for the sheer hell of it.
posted by jackbishop at 4:56 AM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by jackbishop at 4:56 AM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Aww, an April Fool's joke? I was excited! I was hired by an interim director who was brought over from the sciences to, as he put it, sign the checks until a permanent director was hired. His favorite joke was that we needed to hang Dogs Playing Poker in his office because he didn't know art but he knew what he liked. He'd get a big giggle out of this.
posted by PussKillian at 7:21 AM on May 17, 2018
posted by PussKillian at 7:21 AM on May 17, 2018
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posted by little onion at 9:19 PM on May 16, 2018