The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1981 Page: 7 of 28
twenty eight pages : ill. ; page 20 x 14 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Art
MFA shows Boston Americana
The Boston Tradition
The Museum of Fine Arts
Feb. 6-Mar. 29
"The Boston Tradition" reflects
an artistic heritage which is
uniquely American. The
exhibition includes Boston
paintings and portraits completed
between 1729 and 1921. For an
artist's work to qualify as a
"Boston" painting, he must have
either lived or trained in or near
Boston. Other works sneaked into
the show because they have been
"adopted" by that city as its own.
Ironically, only two of the
landscapes (marine views) portray
Boston at all: Fitz Hough Lane's
"Boston Harbor" and Frederick
Hassam's "Charles River and
Beacon Hill".
What "The Boston Tradition"
doesn't show is the rift between
New York's artistic taste and
Boston's. Although New York by
1825 had become America's art
center (as it is today), Theodre
Stebbins, Curator of American
Paintings at Boston's MFA states:
"the best American painters were
simply the Boston painters,"at
least through 1828. However, after
1850, Boston's artists developed a
regional purpose distinct from
New York's Ruskinian aesthetics.
This recognizably Bostonian
typology was based on European
painting (specifically on French
painting) and the works of Titian,
Pussin and Millet especially. Also,
the value of educational and moral
purpose permeated Boston art.
Not surprisingly, it is apparent
today that Boston lost much of its
eminence as an important art
center after the American
On Shipboard by Henry Bacon
Records
Revolution with the departure
from the city of John Copley,
Boston's foremost painter. But
Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828),was
active in Boston between 1805 and
1828, profiting from his training in
England with Benjamin West and
his study of Gainsborough. He
brought to this country a talent
which would not be stifled in the
Young Republic of Post-
Revolutionary America.
Yet many Americans during the
late 18th and 19th centuries were
concerned about the connection
between art, luxury, the
aristocracy (as in England and
Europe) and a corrupt society.
Thus, the voices of many were
echoed in John Adam's
apprehensive statement: "Are we
not in too great a hurry in our zeal
for the Fine Arts?" Some may have
felt that zeal for the Arts was all
but nonexistent at that time.
Boston did not host regular art
exhibitions unti 1827—much later
than either New York or
Philadelphia—even though the
city had already produced one of
this country's greatest artists, John
Singleton Copley.
Copley (1738-1815), who ranks
among the two or three most
brilliant artists in American
history, began his career as a
portrait painter. After tiring of
that style of work, he wrote, "was it
The Clash has grown since '76
Sandinista!
The Clash
The Clash have been reading
since their first album that they are
the greatest rock and roll band in
the world. At first, it was limited to
just the British press. But after a
U.S. tour, American critics were
sold too. (In 1978, their first
album, The Clash, was voted
among the top 25 rock albums ever
when it was the only album they
had ever made.) After a good,
although not great, second album,
they released London Calling last
year. London Calling was easily
the year's best album (sorry,
Springsteen fans). Suddenly it
became fashionable to quote Clash
lyrics in other reviews, or to
compare an album to the Clash's.
Moreover, the press' love seems to
have spread to American public—
CREEM readers voted them the
best group award, beating Led
Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.
Now The Clash have a new
album, Sandinista!, a three-record
set that sells for $2 less than The
River, and has more good songs. (I
don't mean to criticize Bruce here,
I think he's fantastic.) Sandinista!
is simply the most diverse album
ever made. There's funk, jazz,
bongo jazz, gospel, soul, dub,
reggae (but not much of that, they
exhausted reggae pretty much on
the last album), and "normal"
rock. Sandinista! is the next step
after London Calling, getting
away from the same oid three-
chord punk songs. If London
Calling signaled the end of punk,
then Sandinista! is a sign that New
Wave these days is very alive, very
imaginative, and very innovative.
"Washington Bullets" is perhaps
the key song to the album. It is a
simple description of The Clash's
leftist politics—not simply anti-
American, but anti-Big Power
Imperialist ("If you can find an
Afghan rebel that the Moscow
bullets missed/ Ask him what he
thinks of voting Communist").
This is The Clash's most lyrical
album, you can understand the
words. The Clash have grown a bit
since 1976.
There are too many songs (36) to
write about them all. There are
some bad songs. The experiments
with tape loops ("Mensforth Hill")
and dub ("One More Dub", "The
Equalizer", and most of the sixth
side) are boring. Side six is
incredibly dull—it is all mostly
dub-instrumental versions of other
songs on the album. There is one
mildly interesting song on the side:
"Career Opportunities", from the
first album, sung by two little kids.
The rest is garbage.
Yet it is easy to forget about
these after just listening once to
"The Magnificient Seven" or
"Police on My Back" or "The Call
Up".This is The Clash at their best
ever. The gospel song, "The Sound
of Sinners" is almost as fun and
enjoyable as the country-fiddle
song "Lose This Skin", with Ellen
Foley on vocals. The good songs
outnumber the bad and mediocre
by at least two to one. While this
may be disheartening for diehard
Clash fans, it is a lot beter than
anything anybody else is doing,
with the possible exception of the
Talking Heads.
—Tom Snook
•t^>vsl°V
cF V e, oPo>°
a?5 kV'
COLLEGIATE CLEANERS
Students 10% Discount on
Drycleaning and Alterations
2430 Rice Blvd. 523-5887
Straight up the street in the village
William McGregor Paxton's The New Necklace
not for preserving the resemblance
of particular persons, painting
would not be known in this place."
Soon, Copley would hear from
friends in England that painting
historical subjects was indicative
of a higher art, so he sailed for
Europe at the beginning of the
Revolution to test his remarkable
skills against the English masters.
"The Boston Tradition" is an
intriguing collection of American
works because in this art from the
New World multiple combinations
of style from European landscape
and portrait painting synthesize a
form which is uniquely American.
Maxim Karolik (1893-1963), a
Russian-born Jew, was (perhaps
ironically) the most significant
single collector of American
painting—twelve works from his
collection appear in this show. His
favorite painter, Martin Johnson
Heade, whom he considered "the
genius of our collection," is also
mine. Heade's "Approaching
Storm: Beach Near Newport" is by
itself worth the walk to see.
— Chris Castaneda
sy ki
HCXAJTW
PlAH Of ATTACK..LfT'S A
Bi-rt TB eAT sep<*e
IT'S kltfT DQcyGT1
TAK.6 WT.VUI;
Filths sune
IT ttovgp!
SA-HJRAt weAUTHfW
AtiVf 7H
I've at-vct so
close "to since x\i
cmt see A ww4ep
THrfft.CoKSe THIS wltWSTIlUR
tv\RKN£<>s! SWITCH oh me
HEAOuCrHTS, fcHSlfcrt
LET'S PicrMT oltfi
m
Aft Bayv* CS BEAU-*
THE rice gay/lesbian
support group cordially
invites you to be our guest
for pot luck dinner
in celebration of
valentine's day
plan to join us
at &00 on
saturday, the 14
rsvp to
annise 524-2788
rick 524-5467
The Rice Thresher, February 12, 1981, page A7
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dees, Richard. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 68, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 12, 1981, newspaper, February 12, 1981; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245463/m1/7/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.