Word: apollonians
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...time when Phillips felt the need to approve of all Modernism. He was making a record of his own taste, not trying to reflect whatever was there. German Expressionism, or any other movement whose main aim was to record conflict and misery rather than celebrate a degree of Apollonian pleasure, was foreign to his nature. Dada and Surrealism hardly raise a blip on his radar. All efforts to "subvert" painting were beside the point. In his view, the Modernist impulse really began amid the sensuous delights of Renaissance Venice--Giorgione being the first "Modern" artist...
...reworking leaves an impression of curiosity, not indecision. The paintings are broadly brushed and then "tuned" by passages of fine, but not fidgety, detail. The color, glazed or discreetly scumbled, is luminous--now diffuse like sea fog, now hard and bright as direct sun. The Ocean Parks radiate an Apollonian calm, an uncoercive authority. They are the creations of a man with a fully integrated temperament, candid but not showy. There is nothing else quite like them in modern painting, in America or the world...
...Adams House prepared for its annual stab at Dionysiac frenzy, more Apollonian-minded students--or, perhaps, just those whose parents were in town for freshman parents' weekend--assembled at Sanders Theatre for an evening with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO). The attendance at the two events was probably about equal--Sanders was packed to capacity with at least 800 attendees, a number that even Martin Feldstein would envy--but the average age at HRO was probably a good 30 years older, as beaming parents and plain old Cantabridgians turned out for an evening of aesthetic elevation...
...least, that's what they thought they were in for. In fact, thanks to a distinctly odd choice of works for this first concert of the season, HRO presented more of a caricature of the Apollonian: lots of tuxedos, not much excitement. The program lacked a major, wellbeloved anchor work; the closest thing to a classical Top 40 hit was Beethoven's Leonore No. 3 Overture, which is popular but too short to build a concert around. It was followed by the distinctly sub-average Triple Concerto of Beethoven, and the interesting but comparatively obscure Symphony No. 1 of Shostakovich...
...these aren't included either. Isamu Noguchi doesn't figure in a show that is laden to the gunwales with 1960s Minimal sculpture; later its curators find space for Jeff Koons' twerpy silver train and floating basketball, but none for Richard Diebenkorn's figurative paintings or even his superbly Apollonian Ocean Parks...