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Vollard Suite « P.21 these prints, the artist resembles a classical hero — nude, bearded, wearing an ivy wreath. A young woman who resembles Picasso’s model and mistress at the time, Marie-Thérèse Walter, often accompanies him. Though intimate and sensuous, these works are also contemplative. Some are even humorous. Picasso’s hand is steady and economical, setting scenes with simple line drawings and judicious cross-hatching. It’s just a step from these tableaux to more openly erotic works featuring satyrs and minotaurs. While some depict sexual aggression, others are playful — such as “Minotaur With a Goblet in His Hand and a Young Woman,” in which the reclining creature seems to be considering the qualities of his wine. And some are tender, if voyeuristic — “Minotaur Caressing a Sleeping Woman.” Some of Picasso’s minotaurs party with naked humans in a Dionysian artist studio, but the mythical beast is also central to far darker scenes. In a number of Goya-inspired works, Picasso substitutes the minotaur for a bull in the ring. Many of these works are heart-wrenching. In “Dying Minotaur,” the creature clutches his speared chest in agony as a female spectator reaches out to him from the viewing stand, as if to soothe him in his final moments.
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“Picasso: The Vollard Suite,” Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. Through Decembert 20. Info, 603-646-2808. hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu
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likely to find value in those blow-byblow passages. And even urbanites can appreciate Mitchell’s account of trying to sell strangers on the notion of picking his garlic mustard as a “Silent Fasting Retreat”; or the conclusions at which he arrives about nature and human intervention. Creating a habitat for endangered critters, it turns out, is no walk in the park. If you build it, will bats come? Read the book to find out — or ask Mitchell this Thursday at Phoenix Books Burlington.
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Don Mitchell discusses Flying Blind on Thursday, October 24, 7 p.m., at Phoenix Books Burlington. Free. Flying Blind: One Man’s Adventures Battling Buckthorn, Making Peace With Authority, and Creating a Home for Endangered Bats by Don Mitchell, Chelsea Green, 208 pages. $24.95.
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over his acres that reminded him uncomfortably of both the Old Testament God and his authoritarian father. “[W]as this the way I would have chosen to relate to nature?” he writes. “Hell, no.” But, for both selfish and selfless reasons, he forged ahead. Flying Blind traces that process in a chatty, humorous style, alternating — as Mitchell did in his daily outdoor work — between practical matters and larger contemplations, both personal and philosophical. From a casual reader’s perspective, the book suffers from detail and digression bloat, and could have used a more stringent edit. Once Mitchell starts to unearth the dark history behind his dad’s domineering attitude, however, his narrative gains enough momentum to get us through the lengthy descriptions of forest management and chain-saw use. Any landowner considering embarking on a similar endeavor is
Picasso was deeply disturbed by the political turmoil escalating in Europe by the mid-’30s, particularly the Spanish Civil War. Thus the embattled minotaur becomes allegorical, representing “irrational, unconscious forces and uncontrolled sexual aggression and violence,” as Taylor writes in his description of the exhibit. The Vollard Suite also underscores Picasso’s fear of blindness, as in several iterations of “Blind Minotaur Led by a Little Girl in the Night.” In “Minotauromachy,” which Taylor says was “arguably the greatest print made in the 20th century,” the bison-headed figure is again sightless and helpless, guided by a young girl holding a candle. Bigger than the other prints, this one was actually not included in the Vollard box set, but it is on view in the Hood exhibition, and it is riveting. It’s remarkable to be able to see such important, world-class works — and for free! — outside of museum-rich cities. Though intended to benefit Dartmouth students at this teaching institution, the Harrisons’ donation is a gift for all of us. m
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