Artists, Lovers And Art Lovers
September 9, 2002 5:44 PM   Subscribe

Artists, Lovers And Art Lovers or Amadeo, Anna and Olga: I was astonished to find such a thorough Modigliani gallery as this on the Web, complete with a charming piece on his love affair with the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. It's part of Olga's Gallery, an entirely amateurish affair mounted by Olga and Helen Mataev with the intention of opening their children's eyes to the wonders of the (art) world. Its innocence and guilelessness are obvious, but its enthusiasm for painting - and its anxiety to share what's unsettling and magnificent about art - did much to renew my faith in the good ship Internet and in so many who sail in her. Long live amateurishness and its real root, love! OK, so it's a bit raw around the edges... Who cares? It may be unprofessional, uncool and even awkward - but it's truly lovely.
posted by MiguelCardoso (8 comments total)
 
that's funny, i just ran across that site today while looking up some info on jean paul marat - the subject of one of my favorite paintings. it's amusing how they interject their personal opinions into their analysis of a work. according to them marat was one worthless human being. heh.
posted by centrs at 7:16 PM on September 9, 2002


Are you saying the website is amateurish? I thought it interesting. A fabulous collection.
The eyes of many Modigliani's models look so similar.
Wonder if the crooked look is from the Hashish? And the portrait of Picasso. well. thats just ugly.
I thought the poems by Anna were achingly bittersweet.
posted by redhead at 7:21 PM on September 9, 2002


Thanks Miguel, it's great to see (almost) all of Modigliani's work in one place. I had always understood that it was impossible to find a book with good prints of all of his work because so much of it was in private collections of people who refused to authorize reproductions. So is this Web site illegal? Who owns the right to reproduce paintings like this?
posted by fuzz at 7:22 PM on September 9, 2002


Redhead: in Portuguese (and French) amateurish means (excuse the neologism) loverish. It doesn't mean incompetent or lacking in some way. It means (can you say this?) made from love. Or even love-made. Arising from passion; unmotivated by anything else; pure. I was trying to tie together an artist's love with the love for art, as something harmonious and unself-conscious. i.e. good. Centrs's remark points to its shortcomings - but the point, as it were, still stands.

Aimant and Amateur are almost the same word. It's quite sad that "amateurish" should be understood as "not quite good enough". Specially if "good enough" is a cold, professional criterium. I love this site!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:44 PM on September 9, 2002


No Klimt or Ernst, darn, but a fair choice of Sargent and thick with Russian painters whose names are new to me, like Isaac Levitan, a painter of light. Shame about the casino ads.
posted by y2karl at 8:31 PM on September 9, 2002


Miguel- Thankyou for explaining. I understand what you are saying.

fuzz- I wonder that too, because I want a print of this painting real bad.
posted by redhead at 8:33 PM on September 9, 2002


that's a different artist, redhead. you can find mondrian prints similar to the one you like here.
posted by centrs at 10:37 PM on September 9, 2002


Modigliani at Artcyclopedia
posted by mikhail at 1:04 PM on September 10, 2002


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