ENTERTAINMENT
The University Daily KANSAN
November 11, 1983 Page 6
German art from Renaissance on display
By PAMELA THOMPSON Staff Reporter
At its heyday during the 16th and early 17th centuries, Nuremberg, Germany, was a crossroads for new religious and aesthetic ideas.
As an influential signpost at that crossroad, artist Albrecht Durer, Nuremberg's most famous son, directed fame to his city by making use of his own printing and the graphic arts for all of Europe.
The brilliance of that century is captured in a
It is no coincidence that Durer lived during Nuremberg's cultural, economic, political and social peak, which has historically been labeled "the city of the arts," which was at the center of much of its artistic activity.
"The Apple Cup," of gilt silver, is from the Germanischen National Museum in Nuremberg. It was made by Ludwig Krug around 1510 and is 21.5 centimeters tall.
comprehensive exhibit titled "Nuremberg: A Renaissance City 1500-1618," which opened this week at the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art.
THE SHOW FEATURES 213 prints, paintings,
sculptures and decorative works by 45 Nuremberg artists. The exhibit will continue through Dec. 31.
The Nuremberg show was organized by Jeffrey Chipps Smith, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, for the Huntington Art Gallery, where the exhibit opened in September. It is supported by the Federal Council on the Arts and Sciences, the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, Twenty of the pieces are on loan from Germany.
Jan Howard, curator of prints and drawings for Spencer Museum, said that Smith started studying the work of Durer and then discovered Renaissance artists in art, arts, and culture during that time period.
Although the works range from paintings of biblical scenes to a silver chalice shaped like an apple to a set of eight decorative playing cards, the highlight of the exhibition is a set of 31 Durer works.
"Durer was one of the first major artists to take full advantage of the print media." Howard
DURER AND HIS lesser-known printmaking colleagues virtually transformed Northern European art with the hundreds of woodcuts, engravings and etchings they produced during the 1930s. The man's work with the process of block printing was emulated by artists from Italy to England.
"In a woodcut the artist works with the grain of the wood," Howard said. "In an engraving the wood."
Because Durer was so adept at tapering and swelling his lines in his woodcuts, Howard said, his works were usually discernable from the works of his many student imitators.
"Durer developed a system for his woodcuts and engravings," she said. "The manner in which other artists responded to that system may sometimes seem awkward."
Howard said that three of Durer's finest engravings from his Master Works series of 1513-1514, show the degree of detail, high quality impression and technical skill inherent in his art.
THE SUBJECT IN "Knight, Death and the
Devil" could be seen as any character from the hero to the thief, she said. The other engravings in the classic series include "St. Jerome in His Study" and "Melenecolia L."
"Instead of looking at things just as black lines on a sheet of white paper, he tried to achieve a tonality to the lines with a grey hatching that looks like brush strokes," Howard said.
While much of the exhibit seems to concentrate on Durer, it is really the golden age of Renaissance art.
The show is divided into eight sections which cover many different aspects of life in Nuremberg during the city's unprecedented commercial and artistic growth.
Since there was such a high proportion of artists to the population of 40,000 inhabitants in Nuremberg, Durer associated with a group of intellectuals who frequently discussed their ideas on the present state of art, science, literature and culture, she said.
BECAUSE OF DURER'S interest in classical scenes, ideals and forms, which he learned from studying as a young artist in Italy, many of his works are illustrated references to classical or
"Durer was always very concerned with the correct proportions of the human body," she said, "and even used the notebooks of Leonard da Vinci as a guide to measurement."
Howard said that Durer's "Four Heads in Profile", which is one of his few pen-and-ink drawings included in the show, was a representation of his different proportions and angles of mug's faces.
But not all of Durer's works are as mathematically ridid.
The mystical quality of some of his woodcuts and engravings, such as "Seven Angels with the Trumpets" and "The Babylonian Whore" from images Durer had dreamed of, she said.
Although many of Durer's works concern religious subjects, he was a supporter of Lutheranism after it was made Nuremberg's official religion.
After the Reformation in 1525, the religious upheaval which was lead by Martin Luther, many artists saturated the Roman Catholic images and resulted in the establishment of holy Catholic images in their works.
"The Lutheran Church did not destroy any religious art." Howard said. "They just didn't permit any more devotional symbols to be made. They were conservative in its adoption of new policies."
This print from an engraving by Albrecht Durer titled "Knight, Death and the Devil" is a gift to the Spencer Museum of Art from the Max Kade Foundation. The Kade Foundation has given about 150 works to the Museum, including several Durer prints. The Prints and Drawing Room at the Museum will be re-named the Max Kade and Erich H. Markel Department of Graphic Art in a ceremony today.
SPARE TIME
ON CAMPUS
UNIVERSITY THEATRE Series will present "Hair" at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow in the Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall. Tickets for students are $2. $3 and $4 apiece.
UFS WILL show the movie "Patton" at 7 p.m.
and 9:45 p.m. today and tomorrow in Downs
Auditorium in Dyche Hall. Tickets are $1.75 each.
SUA FILMs will show "The Deer Hunter" at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. today and tomorrow for $1.50, and "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But You Were Afraid to Ask)" at 1:45 p.m. and tomorrow for $2. The movies will be shown in and tomorrow in the Kansas Union.
KAREN DAY will perform a student Master's recital on piano at 8 tonight in Sawback Recital Center.
AN OLD-TIME Community Square Dance will be from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries Center. Admission is $2. Musicians get in free.
NEAL PURVS will give a senior recital on Tuesday at 8 p.m. tomorrow in Swarthout Recital Hall.
THE COLLEGIUM Musicum, directed by
Mitchell Brauner, will present its fall concert Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Spencer Museum of Art.
VINSON COLE, tenor, and Wilhelmina Fernandez, soprano, will perform as part of the Concert Series at 8 p.m. Sunday in the Bristol Theatre. Tickets for students are $3 and $4 aurea.
RICHARD WEBB will present a Master's organ recital at 8 p.m. Sunday in Saworthout
PHOTOGRAPHS BY Diane Convert are on display in the gallery in the Art and Design Building. The gallery is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for展览, Friday and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday.
A WORKSHOP for those aged 8 years to adult called "Going 'Fur' Afield" will be presented by the Museum of Natural History tomorrow from 9 a.m. to noon in Dyche Hall. Admission is $5.
LAWRENCE
A DELI BRUNCH will be offered Sunday at noon at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Dr. Admission is $3.25 for children; $4.25-$5 for adults.
VCRs make residence halls theaters
By LYNN HUMPHREY Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
"Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" unfolds on the screen, mesmerizing a large group of KU students who anxiously munch on popcorn.
As the film comes to its climactic close, the lights go up, revealing not a cavernous theatre, but a small living room full of pillows and barefooted movie-guys.
The location is Lewis Hall, and the event will be growing popularity on campus of video movies.
According to Allen Robertson, manager of *Sylventrom* in Lawrence, the video movie *Sylventrom* is a sequel to *Asterix*.
**FRATERNITIES WILL RENT video cassette recorders for parties, and the dorms all have
KU's residence halls not only have the recorders, or VCRs, as they are commonly called, they even have a student group to handle rentals and distribution among the different halls.
He said that Oliver Hall bought its VCR recently, specifically to show movies. Many of the other residence halls also purchased their video cassette recorders within the last year.
John White, Ft. Lewis, Wash., junior, is president of that group, the Inter-Hall Video
Jeff Greenberg of Tape City, Inc., a New York
video distribution company, said that college students all over the country have discovered the convenience and low cost of renting video movies to show at home.
GREENBERG, WHO IS A sales manager for the firm, said that the sale and rental of video footage are essential.
"First of all, more people are purchasing the VCRs so they have the capacity to show the movies. Secondly, the release date from theatre to video tape is becoming earlier. A film like '48 Hours' is now accessible on tape, yet it's still playing in some theatres.
"The third reason is more people are becoming 'hobbyists'. They're almost addicted, like record collectors. They look for movies with high production values." And the matter how bad the film might be, they buy it."
Paul Rea, Ralston, Neb., senior and
chairman of the organization's optima-
tion about the popularity of online movies.
Rea said, "We had a great turnout in September when the group sponsored an event in September."
An important factor in the success of video movie-showing at the residence halls is the presence of a camcorder.
With rental fees from mail-order businesses under seven dollars for a tape, the cost of showing a film can be as low as ten cents per person, said Rea.
HOWEVER, STUDENTS do not pay each time they go to one of the films. They have already
paid, for the money comes from a discretionary party fund from residence hall fees, said Dave Barnes, resident director of Hashingh Hall. The group also will provide this year to allocate $205 for video tape rental.
The cost of buying a movie is about $15 to $40;
renting varies from $3 to $7.
Cheryl West, St. Louis freshman, agree
Rea said, "No other event can provide that much entertainment at that low a cost."
"College students never have money, so it's nice not to have to pay so much. It's good not to have to go out of the way to see a movie," she said
WITH AT-HOME movies gaining in popularity, one might expect movie theater attend-
According to Elden Harwood, head of Commonwealth Theatres District Office in Lawrence, this doesn't appear to be the case — yet.
For despite the benefits of residence hall movie showings, students still enjoy going out to
West, who lives in Hashinger, said, "You can't really buy popcorn and stuff" at residence hall movies, and "you usually have to sit on the floor."
"Besides, I be dulled if my date asked me
if I wanted to go over to Lewis to see a movie —
Opera singers strive for top
By GUELMA ANDERSON Staff Reporter
Think of opera singers.
Images of fat ladies and ranting male prima donnas often come to mind along with the glamour and acclaim from a select group of the well-to-do.
Then think of Wilhelmia Fernandez and Vinson Cole. The new kids on the block who typify today's up and coming opera stars — no fat, no pretension and no old money.
The producers of the film approached her while she was working with the Paris Opera, she says, and she was not interested at all until the director explained the role.
FERNANDE2 GAINED her reputation among opera buffs and theatre-goers when she portrayed an opera star in the French film "Diva."
Pernandez, a soprano, and Cole, a tenor, will perform at 6 p.m. Sunday in the Crafton-Preyer
They are hard-work singers who strive to reach the top of the opera world and may even be the stars.
"It was going to use the film as an instrument to introduce people to opera," she said. "It has opened a great many eyes and a great many minds to the art. People are so quick to put something down because they can't understand it."
A young man develops a "groupe" infatuation for her, repeatedly listening, enraptured, to an object she doesn't like.
James Seaver, director of the department of Western Civilization and the writer and narrator
Fernandez, a Philadelphia native, listened to her mother play classical music on the piano as a little girl. She said her mother had studied music but did not have enough money to continue.
for the KANU show "Opera Is My Hobby," said that both were very talented singers.
"COLE HAS A very beautiful quality. And as for Fernandez, she has an outstanding voice. I saw her perform in "Aida" last year in Kansas City, and she was the best thing in it."
She went on to study at the Jillard School of Music, and made her professional debut in 1977 in the Houston Opera production of "Porgy and the Witch," then returning to New York City Opera and the Paris Opera.
While Fernandez attended school, teachers discovered that she had a good voice, so she spoke confidently.
Vinson Cole performed in his first opera when he was 10 years old in his hometown of Kansas City.
"A WOMAN WHO heard me sing at church thought I had a pretty good voice, so she
He studied for a year at the Philadelphia Music Academy and began singing professionally in 1976. He has performed with the opera companies in San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, St Louis, Seattle, Santa Fe, N.M., and Vancouver, British Columbia, but he gained great reputation for his New York City Opera debut in "La Boheme."
Breaking into opera, as any form of show business, is not easy, but Fernandez and Cole can do it.
Cole is making his Paris Opera debut this year, but his goal is to sing with the Metropolitan Opera. He said that traveling with different companies was the only way to get his goal.
Cole said, "I've had very few hurdles. I've been in the right place at the right time and I've had wonderful voice teachers."
"Unless you're Mr. Pavarotti, Miss Price or Domingo, you don't have much say in what company you sing with as a young artist," he said.
"I have been lucky." Fernandez said. "Being a black female is a little difficult, but I haven't met much prejudice. People like Marion Anderson, Leontyny Price, Shirley Verrett and Grace Bumby have opened the doors for me and for other black artists like Leona Mitchell."
BY BERKE BREATHED
SHE SAID THAT the greatest influence on her career had been the support she was given while she was growing up.
"If I had not had encouragement from my family and my teachers, I'd probably be a sensual."
"Classical music is on the upweep and people want to discover the beauty of the art," she said.
BLOOM COUNTY
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