Friday, January 25, 1980
9
Symbolist art escapes materialism
By KEVIN MILLS
Kansan Reviewer
While the rest of America was looking onward and upward at the end of the 19th century, a minority of artists sought escape from the materialistic here and now.
The symbolists, as they came to be known, relied on their imagination and shunned reality. Their paintings embodied their disenchantment with the times; they dealt with themes of death and drowning, death and dreaming, mysticism and mythology.
The American symbolism era has never been widely acknowledged, despite the inclusion of such artists as Georgia
O'Keeffe, Elihu Vedder and Albert P Ryder.
But there is a resurgence of interest in this "neglected chapter in accounts of American art history," according to Charles Riley, director of the Spencer Museum of Art.
Eldredge conceived and arranged the "American Imagination and Symbolic Painting" exhibition, which opened last month at the Museum of Modern Art in Kress Gallery of the Spencer Museum.
Eldredge said certain parallels in society between the end of the 19th century and today had contributed to a renewal in interest of the symbolist era.
The show debuted in October in New York. An art critic for the New York Times
called it "a very curious show with lots of weird stuff."
"Symbolism deals with the visionary rather than with the real, with private rather than social concerns," Eldredge said.
Then, as now, Americans were turned to drugs, alcohol and Eastern religions as an escape from the pressures of a materialistic society. Eldredge said.
JEFF HARRING/Kansan Staff
Imagination is what distinguishes the symbolists from other artists of their time, Eldredge said. The topics of their paintings
Mystical escape
Charles Eldredge, director of the Spencer Museum of Art, explains a painting in the "American Symbolist Art" exhibition, the exhibition runs through March 2.
range from mermaids to angels to "conqueror worms."
The genesis for Erdridge's exhibit came a decade ago while he was trying to understand the early works of Georgia O'Keeffe.
Edridge said he was struck by the similarities of O'Keefe's paintings to those of Albert P. Ryder, whose work was "different on surface, but similar in spirit."
Eldredge said his show was well received in New York, although one painting was called "the worst painting ever put on view in a gallery exhibition" by an art critic.
"You won't find a unity of style in these paintings," Eldredge said. "What ties them together is not concern for the surface, but for the meaning of the picture."
"Her remarkable watercolors and drawings of 1915-1916 owed little to the so-called realist tradition in American art," Eldrede said.
Subsequent comparisons of turn of the century artwork revealed more similarities in theme. Eldridge said. Introspection and prevailed in the paintings of many artists.
Eldredge said the painting, "Porcelain Towers," by Pinkney Marcius-Simons, was not one of his favorites, either.
The museum has planned many special events in conjunction with the exhibit;
On Sunday, Jan. 27, a program on Wagnerian Symbolism will be presented at the museum by George Lawner, professor of ensembles.
On Feb 3, a gallery tour of the exhibition will be led by J. Theodore Johnson, professor of French and Italian, and Stuart Levine, professor of English.
A children's workshop led by Saralyn Reece Hardy, formerly on the staff of the Musing in Museums program, will emphasize fantasy in art.
On Feb. 10, Jack Winerock, associate professor of music performance, will discuss "American Music of the Symbolist Era" and play piano selections.
A symposium on "Imagination and Purpose" on June 22, featuring the guest speakers two specialists in American art and culture. The speakers are Elizabeth Johnston of the Observation Museum; the Observer Museum; Wanda Corman, Smithsonian Institute; and Robert Rosenbloom, New York
The exhibition and related programs are made possible by grants from the National Science Foundation, the University Endowment Association and the Corporate and Business Membership Fund.
Two local groups beat record system
Kansan Reviewer
By RICK HELLMAN
It's tough for a rock band to get a recording contract these days. Inflation has forced even the major labels to trim artist rosters and extraneous management.
One way for a group that is becoming more and more popular to get on vinyl is to produce and finance a recording itself and release the product on its own label.
Independent labels have been springing up like wildfire here and in England in the last few years. Many labels are formed by artists to retain complete control over their creations; they are merely vehicles to showcase their hopes of attracting major label interest.
EP on their own National Recording Artist label.
The Regular Gays, a Lawrence group, have been playing together for about two years. They recently released a four-song
EP stands for extended play, meaning there are four songs rather than the usual two on the seven-inch disc. This EP also spins at 33 and a third, not 45 rpm.
Once you figure out how to play it, you'll probably like the sounds on this record. There are two contributions each from guitarists John O'Bell and Mark Gilman.
Gilman has left the group since they made this record, but his compositions here really shine.
The Regular Guys have humor, style and great cover art coming for them. The way they continue to improve with each live performance there's no telling how good they could be.
"Too Dumb" is a nice pop song with its rising harmony part and British Invasion fever. In fact, the whole EP that nasst two pop classics from the Byrds to Fleetwood Mac.
Thumbs, another Lawrence group, also seems to get better each time they out. They have released their first album, simply "Thumbs," on their Rancho Records label.
All 10 songs are originals and there are some real winners among them. "Rags to Rags" shows what Thumbs can do with a
good riff and Steve Wilson's sneering vocals give the same a nice sarcastic edge.
One of the keys to Thumbs' sound is the keyboard work of Marty Olson. Olson has that garage band/rollr rink organ style down perfectly. It really helps to fill out the
Another high spot is guitarist Kevin Smith, who always has something interesting to offer. His style is traditional but he can play anything; often steals the show with his guitar breaks.
The punchy bass of Karl Hoffman is a delight as well, and new drummer Dee Dee Moiser is enthusiastic and on the money.
That brings us to Steve Wilson's vocals.
You can't help but wonder what Wilson
would sound like if he had never heard Bol Dylan. Where it works *Art History*. In the Family. The Dylan-like phrasing sounds good, but in other spots it wears thin.
This shouldn't take away from the fact that both Thumbs and the Regular Guts have taken a big step in making their first records.
These groups have taken some risks in committing their visions of rock'n'roll to vinyl and they generally succeed. A town of such size is lucky to have two such bands.
Thumbs will be appearing tonight and tomorrow at the Lawrence Opera House, 642 Massachusetts St.
'The Dead Zone a confusing failure
University Dolly Kansan
"THE DEAD ZONE," Stephen King (Viking, $11.95)
By DALE EWING Contributing Reviewer
"The Dead Zone," a new novel by Stephen King, represents a departure from his usual work.
King, a talented author of macabre fiction, is in his best when depicted the evil of poor choices made in an environment that has been transformed by the possibilities of supernatural horror.
King has always proven to be a writer with a sharp, objective sense of characters, place and timing. His earlier works, which are often used in court cases, are evidence of his ability to create a balance between these elements. When a reader finishes a typical King novel such as "The Road"
King, like the film director Sam Peckinpain, has a knack for making horrifying behavior seem necessarily justified.
"The Dead Zone" chronicles the adventures of a young schoolteacher named Johnny Smith who is something of a psychic because of a childhood hockey accident. He teaches high school in a small Maine community in 1970, and by the second year he affectionates of a pretty girl named Sarah.
"The Dead Zone" is told in the intimate manner of a mainstream Sarah. Sarah is at first reluctant to get involved with Johnny because she has just broken off a disappointing love affair. But when she finally meets her boyfriend, she becomes the victim of an automobile smash-up that places him in a four-and-a-half-year coma.
Johnny awakens to discover Sarah has married someone else while he lays catmates. As he broods on this in his recovery room at the hospital, he comes to the realization that his psychic powers have told him to the extent he can forecast the future.
the author for the novel to open in October 1970 and have Johnny awaken from his coma in 1975 is just King's excuse to be a humanist. What's important is something important to say about the curious shirts in American culture. But his character, Johnny Smith, is little more than a bewildered humanist. He regards his remarkable psychic abilities as a curse and a burden. He is unhappy and anguished with the Vietnam War are completely lacking in any kind of intuition or depth.
Unike King's other works, "The Dead Zone" is confined and unqueen. King is out of his element when not writing pure horror so the book lacks a central focus.
King should stick to the literary genre he knows best. As a contemporary writer of the supernatural and horror, King is a craftsman without peer. It is due precisely to this fact that "The Dead Zone" by John Hodgson lies between the horror genre King writes convincingly in, and the school of mainstream fiction with which he has no familiarity at all.
'Kramer vs. Kramer a heartbreaking hit
"Kramer vs. Kramer," directed by Robert Benton, starring Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Justin Henry.
With stars like Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, the players have been Benton has managed to pull out their best performances ever in this story of child custody, father's abuse and the assorted failings that cripple the career.
"Kramer vs. Kramer" is a bit late getting to Lawrence, but the wait is well worth it. Probably the best offering of the Christmas powerplay, understated, elegant and powerful powerplay.
the plot is fairly straightforward. Streep plays Joanna, a woman who has been daughter, wife and mother but who never had children. She is dependent of those roles. She is frustrated and so leaves her husband, Ted (Hoffman), Billy (Henry), to find a life for herself.
The main segment of the movie revolves around Ted's attempts to change his life to be happier, smarter and dearing and usually funny. Joanna reappears wanting her son back and the fun is over. She has gone to another segment, a serious, gut-wrenching fight between mother and father over the custody battle.
Hoffman is the best he's ever been as the girl he's loved, and she is forced to revive him again. I Streep haunted and haunting in her amazing real transformation from mother-child to-infant.
Henry is simply delightful, a remarkably unaffected child actor. You'll wish you could take him home.
It would have been easy in a story such as this to make one character the heavy, be it Joanna for leaving her husband and son, or Jack for making her husband Benton refuse to take the easy out. Instead, he creates a completely understandable real-life situation in which every participant shares the guilt. The results are as unpredictable as human emotions and just as
The custody trial is the master scene of the film. Joanna virtually recreates her life and makes us understand why she had to leave and why she thinks she deserves her son. Holfman is equally effective. It's no decision as to who should have the boy.
"Kramer vs. Kramer" is a beautiful film. It will appeal to your mind and to your emotions. See it.
Redford, Fonda light 'Electric Horseman'
"The Electric Horseman" is a light, funny movie that is a Hollywood staple 30 years ago. The movie's plot offers no surprises. What makes it worthwhile is the Robert Redford Jane film, which is full of twists.
terrific together in the same style of Bogart and Bacall or Heeburn and Tracy.
Reford plays a dissipated e-odor star,allen to the level of pushing breakfast breakthrough pearances. Fonda plays a sharp television report not unlike her character from "The
When Redford discovers that the prizwinning race horse he's supposed to ride at a company meeting has been mistreated and pumped full of sedatives and steroids, he meets the animal free and then proceeds to ride the horse out of Las Vegas toward Utah.
mary jo howard
While the corporation that owns the horse frantically tries to manipulate the media, it wants to get the attention of Redford and the horse. At first staying with them for the story, Fonda ends up romantically involved with Redford as she would from the beginning of the film.
'1941' first delights but finally bombs
Steven Spielberg's '1941' opens with one of the film's best moments, a parody of his earlier film, "Jaws." A young woman dives from an airborne by an intruder from the depth. Only this time it's not a shark but a submarine. From this promising start, the film shifts to a less subtle form, taking on a rapid, slapstick tone. It is also a day in the Los Angeles area in late 1941.
The film's premise is based on some true incidents. After Pearl Harbor, the southern coast was besieged for months of panic in fear that it was the next target of the Japanese forces. Add a lone Japanese sub trying to attack Hollywood for the sake of honor and you have the scenario for yourself.
Although "1914" boasts a remarkable cast, the movie's characters are given only cursory treatment. The very size of the cast precludes only minimal exposure for character development, so wherever possible the principal cast is put into familiar roles.
John Belushi is still playing the manic slob type he did in "Animal House." Christopher Lee plays the villain, Capt. Klemschmidt Slim Pimks continues to show his skills at Madame Micheles, the Belushi, is reprising his role from "Animal House" as 'Ll Birkhead.
Although "1941" is enjoyable and amusing, it is somewhat disappointing. The editing is disorganized in parts.
FRIDAY
MOVIES: "The Jerk," Cinema Twin, 11th and Iowa '1941,' Cinema Twin,' Kramer vs. Kramer,' Granada, 1020 Massachusetts,' Electric Horseman,' Hillcrest, Ninth and Iowa.' Going in 'Hillcrest,' The Warner Library, Hirrestre, The Room, Vanity, 1015 Massachusetts,' Autumn Sonata,' Woodruff Auditorium,' Blank Generation,' Woodruff Auditorium.
THEATRE: Again, Sam,' Lawrence Arts Center, Ninth and Vermont, through Jan. 27.
MUSIC: "The Secrets," Lawrence Opera House, Seventh and Massachusetts, Saxophone recital, Tim Timmons, 8 p.m., Murray University, master piano, 9:30 a.m and 1:30 p.m., Swarthout, Timothy Leary, Upnight Theater, 3700 Broadway, K.C. Mo.
ART: "American Symbolist Painting," Kress Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art, through March 2,' Human DNA museum of Art,' biography, Kansas City Museum of History and Science, through Feb. 22, Photography by Oral Hixon, 9:30 a.m-5 p.m., Kansas Union Gallery, Brownsville, 8 p.m., Pettyter by Carmen Kittel, jewelry by Julie Fluker, 10:5, The Gallery in the Marketplace, 745 New Hampshire, through Feb. 1, Scripture by Maria Olde Booker, James Holmes, Mark Gallery Lawyer Area, Centre North and Vermont, Weaving by Crystal Cunningham, East Gallery Lawrence Art Center, 645 Vermont, 10:5, Drawing by Lois Greene, 7E7 Gallery, through Feb. 6.
MUSIC: "The Secrets," Lawrence Opera House, Seventh and Massachusetts, Carillon recital, Albert Gerken, 3 p.m., Memorial Carillon, Murphy piano quartet, 3:30 p.m., Swarthout.
SUNDAY
MUSIC: "Screaming Ursus," Lawrence Opera House, Seventh and Massachusetts, Bob Dyan, 8 p.m., Uptown Theater, through Jan. 29.
LECTURE: "Wagarian Symbolism," George Lawner, 2 p.m., Center Court Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art.
MONDAY
MUSIC: "Screaming Ursus," Lawrence Opera House, Seventh and Massachusetts.
TUESDAY
MOVIES: "Fallacies of Hope," 7:30 p.m., Room 3, Lippincott Hall.
MUSIC: "Screaming Ursus," Lawrence Opera House, Seventh and Massachusetts, Trumpet recital, Jon Burgess, 8 p.m., Swarthout.
WEDNESDAY
MUSIC: 40s/80s music festival, Lawrence Opera House, Seventh and Massachusetts, Carillon recital, Albert Gerken, 7 p.m., Memorial Carillon, Visiting artists series, Leon Russell, 8 p.m., Memorial Hall, 600 N. Seward, K.C. Mo.
THURSDAY
MUSIC: Worlds of Fun auditions, 3 p.m., Kansas Union.
spare time