Whenever I go to Detroit I like to go adventuring with my cousin Craig. I let him pick the adventure. He keeps up better. This time we visited the Detroit Institute of Arts to see the Richard Avedon retrospective. As you might guess, haute couture is not a big priority at the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. However, art, design, and insight into broader cultural considerations are compelling subjects, and Avedon had a lot to say about all of them. Craig and I meandered through fifty years of images from Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, along with original markups and magazine layouts, pondering notions of beauty and messages about social stratification.
Time for treats and debriefing at CaféDIA. (I choose a table near the donkey sculpture. I love that donkey.) I argue for the proposition that fashion is beside the point, Craig argues that it makes the point. I grump that it can’t be about the clothes—in half the photos it’s impossible to even see the clothes. Craig says the clothes and other accoutrements are emblematic, the point is how we organize the culture and each person’s place in it. What about the prince and the pauper? Doesn’t that prove the boxes are meaningless? No, it only proves that in fairytales we can jump from one to the other . . . . We have a wonderful time.
Between bites of supper and brilliant insights, we watch little kids pat the donkey. This is especially amusing for two reasons. First, there is this poster at the entrance to the museum:
Second, there is my confession to Craig that I always patted the donkey when I visited the DIA, which was very often as Rob the Firefighter was growing up. This marks me as a hopeless Philistine. We decide to create an image for this post. Craig will pat the donkey and I will capture him in the act. OK, he won’t really pat the donkey, as he is not a donkey-patting Philistine, but he will appear to pat the donkey.
Can’t you just hear the bullhorn? Do not touch the art! Well . . . maybe not. Take a closer look.
The Detroit Institute of Arts knows when to hold ’em and knows when to fold ’em. The donkey is pattable. The tiny tots are not felons. Craig pats, I pat, we proceed to the Rivera Court to listen to the Hot Club of Detroit pay homage to Django Reinhardt.
It was a completely satisfactory evening. The whole visit was like that. Autumn is lingering in the city. There’s still a little color here and there, and the lawns are emerald in Lafayette Park. Rob the Firefighter and the Lady Alicia have a seasonal view of the Renaissance Center from their front step.
We had Thanksgiving dinner with Alicia’s side of the family and a Saturday brunch with friends from the old neighborhood and walks with the dogs everywhere. As I drove home last night I listened to WDET until the signal faded. One of the day’s sponsors was Stuart Trager wishing Barbara his beloved a happy anniversary, and I let out a happy yelp, startling the dogs. Have I mentioned that Detroit is the world’s biggest small town?
Then we were home. Miss Sadie and the Cowboy bounded out of the car and snuffled about, checking out who dropped by while they were away. I unpacked and made amends to the cat, who is even more pattable than the donkey. This morning I got up and made toast from a delicate fruit bread from Hamtramck, in the toaster Stuart and Barbara gave me as a housewarming present.
All of this is pretty much my central notion of beauty, and definitely my understanding of my place in the world. Hope your Thanksgiving was equally joyful.
p.j. grath
November 29, 2009
It has always been my fondly held opinion that sculpture wants to be touched, and my artist husband confirms my view.
Gerry
November 29, 2009
Ah, but David is a painter. Henry Moore probably believed paintings wanted to be touched . . . In any case, I’m positive the donkey wants to be patted. Also the horse outside the Children’s Museum and the sculpture at the entrance to the Dennos Museum in Traverse City.
flandrumhill
November 30, 2009
Gerry I can’t tell you how many times I was reprimanded at the Louvre for touching Michelangelo’s statue of The Dying Slave. Maybe I was subconsciously trying to bring him back to life! I don’t know.
Sometimes textures can be so compelling. The same thing happens at quilt shows. Having to wear those white gloves they hand you at the door seems so… clinical.
As for fashion, the older I get, the more it seems to be besides the point. If what Exupery said is true, that what is essential is invisible to the eye, then I clearly have others things to worry about than my jeans being the right type. They’re blue by the way 🙂
Gerry
November 30, 2009
Oh my, another Philistine. Of course, Craig would say that your jeans are a fashion statement, a message about your place in the world. And he would point out that the very availability of jeans for women–and their precise shade of blue at various price points–is the result of decisions made by the fashion industry. I think in order to truly sabotage the whole system we’d have to go back to making all our own clothes . . . and then their very eccentricity would be a dead giveaway about who we are. Mostly it’s hard to tell what I’m wearing for all the pet hair clinging to it, which I suppose is another kind of fashion statement entirely. Ah well.
Cindy Lou
November 30, 2009
Sounds like a perfectly wonderful weekend!
Gerry
November 30, 2009
Oh it was! And it’s good to be home.
Cheri Sell
November 30, 2009
I enjoyed reading about your Thanksgiving.
Gerry
November 30, 2009
I’m glad! You would have enjoyed the DIA very much. And everything else too. Hard to assemble our farflung family isn’t it?
giiid
December 1, 2009
Thank you for a nice account of a journey, I enjoyed both photos and words, of wich I once again learned some new and usefull, as for instance “pattable”. A good word!
Gerry
December 1, 2009
Good morning, Birgitte! I’m delighted to have provided you with a useful word. Warning: I make up words the way a toolmaker fashions a piece of metal into the precise odd shape that will get the job done. Some of the words you meet here will be dictionary words and some will be . . . Gerry words. I don’t always know the difference myself, but I’m pretty sure “pattable” is a conventional word. If it isn’t it should be.
La Mirada Bob
December 7, 2009
“Because I believe a little incompatibility is the spice of life, particularly if he has income and she is pattable.”
Ogden Nash
Ain’t Google Grand.
Our giant Webster’s dictionary did not have the word in the main section nor in the Addenda.
Gerry
December 8, 2009
If Ogden Nash made it up it’s good enough for me. So Birgitte? It may not be a conventional word, but it is an Ogden word. Excellent.
Reggie
February 17, 2010
How in the world can one NOT want to touch the donkey?! I felt like HUGGING it, actually. Gently, of course, as I don’t want any ears to break off!
And besides – as the poster says, the donkey was originally bumpy and dark brown, and now it’s shiny wherever people have touched it. Surely, that is a good thing? 😉
I always think that’s the BEST part about sculptures and three-dimensional art – touching it and feeling the texture under your fingertips. It DOES make it come alive.
Gerry
February 17, 2010
Thanks, Reggie. What can I say–you, too, are a donkey-patting Phillistine.