"Cy Twombly is my bete noir"

That not so inspiring comment was made yesterday by the instructor  at my Olli course  titled "Enriching Your Modern Art Experience." The carrot was that it is being taught at the Morris-Frelinghusen House in Lenox, a mid-century trove of fantastic art and iconic architecture.

At one point the instructor asked us to consider why paintings have grown so large in the last century. I think an equally important question is why do apples grow on trees instead of on the ground?

Thank god Judy was there and I could bitch the whole way back  on the beautiful path to the cars.

There was a nice Picasso etching on the wall of the teaching studio that was unmatted, foxed, warped and generally treated like a print on a dorm wall. I offered to help Kinney Frelinghusen with some rematting and archival presentation - he said they have some 6000 prints at the house that are sitting in boxes.

I did speak up several times with disagreements and was reminded once again that the instructors in these classes so often underestimate the experience and intelligence of the audience. Or maybe they are just dumb and out of touch narrow minded fools with degrees. Pity the poor student at RPI being taught that Cy Twombly is just a bunch of scribbles.

By the way, if you want to appreciate Cy Twombly, go the MFA in Philadelphia where there is a whole room of  ten large narrative  canvases ( Fifty Days at Illiam) and you will probably fully appreciate his enormous talent as I did on a visit there a couple of years ago. They don't translate well in reproduction.

There was also a great deal of thinly disguised derision over a slide of one of Felix Gonzalez-Torres candy spills. Later, I found this interesting review: Biennale '07. Perhaps I'll learn more after the end of each class when I go to the trusty internet to counteract the narrow minded views of the professor emeritus of cultural history at RPI. Love that "cultural history" denotation - right up there with "gender studies" and "communications". My major was in  "Risk Taking Behaviors". Just kidding.

Just returned from the Berkshire International Film Festival - in G.B. and Pittsfield. Saw a new  good film on Jean-Michel Basquiat. He seemed to be undone by the death of Andy Warhol and the critics' dismissal of much of his work (that and a little too much heroin).  I was just thinking - this modern art class could have been directed on critics, the role they have played and which criticism has been borne out by time. Hilton Kramer says something very nasty about what an infinitesimal place in history Basquiat's paintings will occupy. In retrospect, how huge a part racism must have played in the criticism. Quick: name one influential african american artist of the twentieth century.