A show of Renaissance Prints. may not sound all that exciting but just imagine being alive in the early 1500s when images of the ancient myths and religious miracles were mostly in your imagination. The Judgement of Paris, The Massacre of the Innocents, and The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence , where Larry asks his tormentors to “Turn me over, I’m done on this side,” are just some of the fantastic stories depicted in the Memorial Art Gallery’s current exhibit of Renaissance Prints. The show is mind blowing.
MAG Curatorial Assistant Lauren Tagliaferro did a Zoom talk for MAG members the day the show opened and it is now up on YouTube. Peggi and I just watched it a second time. Lauren is a dynamo and she brings art history to life. How we created a beautiful Christ, even eroticized him and the saints to sell the concept, suffering in peace for eternal salvation. How we depict the old as ugly because we are afraid of dying. Tagliaferro is drawn to ugliness as much beauty and she admits a lot of her ideas come from “On Ugliness” by Umberto Eco. She is an adjunct professor at RIT. They should give her tenure now.
Great video. I agree the professor has a nice laughing touch. May she get indeed get tenure! I think often of this fairy tale I loved as a girl. Due to malicious meddling by witches, a princess was born wonderfully beautiful but incredibly dull. At the same time, a prince was born wonderfuly quick witted but terribly ugly — Ricky o’ the Tuft — that’s what it is called. When the two loved each other for both their beauty and their ugliness, they Both became Both beautiful and smart. So many tales depend on the eye that perceives beauty or ugliness, yes? “And I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again,” — Frank O’Hara