![]() The Painter aged 92 £100 Completed shortly before he diedĨ. The Red Chair* £500 * This has been submitted to the Royal Academy.ħ. It is hoped that those who profess an interest will take the trouble to read the leaflets that accompany the collection.ġ. NOTE Amusing or not, the present exhibition is a joke. May 6 to JBlenheim Gallery 21 Cork Street W1 Ironically, Lenkiewicz's journal records that the painting went unsold but passed into the care of one of the artist's patrons who then sold it on the artist's behalf through a gallery "without my agreement" and that it was "now in Australia". The centrepiece of 'The Masterpiece Museum' was the painting Plymouth Mourning Over its Unfortunates, an allegory of the social effects of alcohol. Of special interest was the article ‘The Uses of Bad Art’ by Geoffrey Grigson, with the note: “It is said that the painter died with this paper clutched to his heart.” Few share the distinction of achieving so complete an obscurity in so short a space of time.”Ī cabinet containing various artefacts of the ‘deceased’ painter stood by the entrance. “There are many similar personalities in the colourful pageant of provincial ‘art-heroes’. The Exhibition was presented as though the painter had been dead for some years. Lenkiewicz wrote: The ‘masterpiece’ can be seen as an abstracted extension of the ‘hero’, and its function in Society operates as an amulet or talisman.” Such images develop like institutions or minor religions imbued with qualities that we conspire with. If the item has been purchased, then we are reminded of a slave-trader wily enough to buy ‘good stock’. “The innuendo of the ‘masterpiece’ is that it’s creator has transcended both himself and Society that it is in some sense, prophecy. The second part of Project 6, called ‘The Masterpiece Museum’, considered another aspect of salesmanship/art. Ethics and aesthetics was an issue again. Lenkiewicz wrote that one clear distinction between the ‘image’ of ‘Diogenes’/philosopher-rogue and ‘Diogenes’/Edwin Mackenzie in the real world, is that the ‘image’ of him is far more acceptable in the average household, than the man himself. ‘Diogenes’ was a well-known tramp who lived in a barrel at Chelson meadow. Even Rembrandt painted such images for Russian and European collectors as a sure income. From early portrayals of St Jerome to today’s Father Christmas Cards, the be-whiskered, harmless philosopher-rogue has always been a money-spinner. The ‘Diogenes Con Show’ displayed 35 studies of ‘Diogenes’ all of which were titled: This study took 27 minutes, This study took 43 minutes etc. This collection parodied some attitudes towards ‘Art’.
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