Evening star., 1961-01-01
HE SHAPE or THINGS
Painting LobeI MoIds
Public Response
BY RICHARD HIRSCH. Director
Allentown Art Museum

4AB6NAks 1AAO0eVe
It Museum
Of power to communicate,
should not be transformed
into uncriticai admiration
just because the label says
that the work is by . great"
master. The obscures what
art can do tor Us. Il blunts
experience.
Berenson's View
Bernard Berenson spent Q
lifetime unfayeling the fnys-
teries cfsauthorship Of Italian
paintings. He created meth 8
DDS and set new standards
for attributing with certainty
q given painting to q given
artist. The enormous famili-
af1ty which he gained be-
fore he died. at %. last year.
made him take Q radically
different view towards the
great masters from that Of
many casual museum visitors.
Berenson was quite free to
speak Of Rembrandt having
at times produced ''unpala-
table daubs." Berenson, who
knew by heart every paint
ing Of the great names" In
Italian art and knew each
canvas intimately, inch by
inch, was Just as ready to
suggest that these masters Of
the Golden Age Of painting
did not always produce
"fiawless masterpieces"
This Judgment by one Of
the greatest experts should
be important In helping the
casual museum visitor to
understand why he fails to
get o thrill from o given
uork. The visitor should re-
fleet that the fault may lie
with the painter. regardless
Of. what eminence the Label
suggests for the artist.
In one, Of his essays, Ber-
ensoii speaks Of Q Venus In
the Dresden museum which
was ignored by hundreds and
hundreds Of thousands Of
viewers until. one day. o
friend Of his was able to
prove that the work was by
q great Venetian, 0iorgione.
Suddenly. on the strength Of
this new label the admiration
OF the crowd became vocal
and unanimous.
They Were Influenced
Sadly. one must reflect that
the picture was not more
beautiful than before. its
statement was not clearer.
For those with eyes 1t was
still what Il had always been.
The label.readers, however,
had been given sudden assur-
ance that they ought" to like
1t. They did. rapturously.
The accompanying illustra-
ton is Of q picture which
hangs In o gallery filled with
famous names" It. was
painted in Milan about 1870.
It Is . sumptuously colored
work by o painter whose name
Is In doubt. About 40 Of his
works have been identified.
At one time It was thought
that this artist might have
been Boccaccio Boccaccino.
but this was disproved. He
now Is known. for lack of
better name. as "the pseudo
Boccaccino" and 1t would be
unfair to state that one has
to push through the throng
to get to see the jewel-like
color Of this delightful work.
It has. nevertheless, much to
recommend 1t, o personal
touch with overtones from
Leonardo. Solario and Mila-
nese painters Of the time.
Sculptor and Painter
The draughtm o nship
Is handsome: the mood. one
Of great silence. An unprov.
able theory is this writer Is
that 1t also contains the self
portrait Of the artist, In the
figure at the LEFT. Looking at
his hand you win notice that
he was probably q sculptor
as well as O painter. "a
In any event here is b work
Of individuality and great
charm. Think what would
happen to its popularity II,
by some mistake. 1t were to be
labelled as by Leonardo do
Vinci. It's q frightening
thought.
Museum people vince when
some well-meaning person
says that they don't know
much about art but they
know what they like" We
vince because, generally. this
cliche is not true. It could be
and 1t should be: in fact
museums would be more USE
full places II the public would
get to know what they truly
like,
Perhaps this wonderful dis
covery could only be made in
o museum without labels. It
might be worth trying.
(Copyrisht 1850,
General Features corp.)