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| Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust |
The BBC News article reports that an anonymous buyer's bid of $119.9 million for Munch's pastel surpasses the previous record paid for an artwork, Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust. The article notes that this pastel work is one of four versions of The Scream created by Munch, and the only one not in a Norwegian museum. It is also unique in having a poem written by the painter on its frame. According to the BBC News, the former owner, Petter Olsen, whose father had known Munch, decided to sell it so that more people could see "and appreciate this remarkable work" (¶ 14). The Sotheby's auctioneer who oversaw the record breaking sale describes it as "a moment that I cherish" (¶ 19) while firmly asserting that it was worth the record price because it is one of the most famous and iconic images in popular culture.
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| The Scream |
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| Boy with Pipe |
As far as artistic value goes, I don't think it's nearly as good as the two Picasso works mentioned in the BBC article, copies of which I've included here. Picasso seems to me to be one of the truly great artists of all time. His work shows a deliberateness, a degree of control, and especially emotional control, that I think makes the Munch work look a bit like the excessive and uncontrolled melodrama of a soap opera or B grade action movie. Now, I very much like some of those very crappy B grade films, things like the Terminator films, or the film version of Dan's Brown's truly awful The da Vinci Code, but I would never claim that they have much value as art; their artistic value is approximately zero, and in the case of Dan Brown's writing, well below zero. Perhaps the Munch isn't that bad, and I concur with Sotheby's auctioneer in wishing its new owner every satisfaction with his very expensive new wall hanging.
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References
We're reading the BBC News because although well written, the articles are mostly short and written in relatively easy language. But there is also a downside as you've probably already noticed: almost every "paragraph" is really only one sentence. And this means that when we're counting down the paragraphs to correctly cite a quotation, the numbers quickly become a bit large, and it's a very tedious business. I found it a challenge counting down to ¶ 19 for this post.
ReplyDeleteThere is a solution: you may, if you prefer, read and respond to an article in any other source on the "Looking for Something to Read?" list on the right. But if you choose a source from Dilbert, we want a very substantial response.
However, for these first response writing exercises, I think that it's better to stick to the relatively short and easy-to-read BBC News articles. A reasonable aim for someone planning to take TOEFL or an equivalent is to be able to comfortably read The New York Times or The Economist. If you have a bit of free time over the weekend, you might like to browse those publications and compare the writing in them with that of the BBC News - the links are on the right.