slog

Hey!

The (Seattle) Stranger's Jen Graves, a viz arts journalist I admire a lot (she does visual arts podcasts!), has been posting an "Impressionist Fact of the Day" in honor of the Seattle Art Museum's pretty, pretty Impressionist show.

Interjection: The Impressionist paintings have so much lustre now that people forget, or rather never are taught unless they major in art history or something, how radical and hostile to the establishment were the Impressionists. Yeah, they're pretty paintings. They're also about a dramatically shifting time, prostitution, the horrors of a newly razed and re-boulevarded Paris, the Industrial Revolution and so much more. But more on that some other time.

Point is, I commented on her post yesterday. And she kindly reposted my comment along with a call for help. My comment was a bit ... um ... sarcastic. Though not entirely. (I like in the post how Jen calls me "an arts journalist in Oregon" — I'm thinking Eugene is off the radar for the Slog readers?) Anyway, here's me:

The UO’s museum (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art) is opening a show called “Faster, High, Farther: The Spirit of Track-and-Field Sports,” and I don’t think there’s a single book or piece of information about running or javelin-ing that I want to convey to the overwhelmed-with-Olympic-Trials-trivia Eugene public. But if you know of any good sporty art history books, I guess I could give it a try.

Nobody has suggested anything yet. Ya got anything, viz arts readers? Frankly, I think of Leni Riefenstahl. Which, to quote my new BFF Buffy, gives me the wiggins.

(Speaking of the J-Schnitz, I interviewed the new director for this week's paper. Also, Chuck reviewed "Faster, Higher, Farther" and other Trials-related art last week. Go, read, enjoy.)

Meanwhile: Sports in art history? Anyone got books for me?