A terrible beauty is born

9/4/2024

W.B. Yeats coined the expression “A terrible beauty is born” amid the Irish Easter Rising of 1916. Its hopeful sentiment has accompanied war art ever since. 

Scott Charles Ross’ paintings for his Ukraine Project were made from photos of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He concentrated on the terrible swift sword’s wrath on churches, schools, cemeteries. The project raised $20,000 on its first evening at Moberg Gallery a year and a half ago. It moved on to the art museums of Grinnell College and University of Northern Iowa where it raised an additional $100,000. 

Because of that, no Ukrainian students in Iowa were unable to prolong their educations here. Applications for visa extensions cost $1,000, and the federal government refused emergency waivers. Drake Law School donated services. All Ukrainian students in Iowa graduated high school; eight received full scholarships to UNI and one to Grinnell. The paintings in Ross’ project have now moved to their permanent home in the National Ukrainian Museum in Chicago. 

Teo Nguyen’s “Politics of Worthiness” at the Minneapolis Museum of Art imagined famous photos of the Vietnam War without helicopters, weapons, violence, victims and fallen bodies. Sheer, stunning beauty remained. 

For the photorealist, that was a deep dive — an impressionist reimagining of war stripped naked. The son of a poet, Nguyen also contributed words worthy of mankind’s better angels. That project comes to Moberg Sept. 13 with an artist event on Oct. 5. Nguyen can’t make the opening because he’s busy in Vietnam on a similar project.

Moberg artists b. Robert Moore and Sarah Grant also exhibited personal expressions of war this year. Moore’s were of innocence lost in war games; Grant made Custer’s Last Stand a whirlwind stripped of dust, smoke and blood. Consciously or not, Moberg has become a war gallery, in a good way. 

 

Gunning for Napoleon 

Two pistols once owned by Napoleon Bonaparte sold last month for a little short of $2 million. Yet, the guns may be stuck in France — the government declared them national treasures. Made by Louis-Marin Gosset, the pistols are decorated with gold and silver as well as an engraved image of the little big man. They are stored inside their original case, alongside a powder horn and tamping rods.  

 

Old souls

The portraits in R. J. Kern’s “Divine Animals” were snapped in Iceland, Norway, Germany, Ireland and Minnesota and then conjured into transcendental mysteries. His subjects appear possessed by very old souls. I am not sure if Kern is confessing or taking their confessions. Either way, enchantment is happening at Olson Larsen through Oct. 5. 

 

Kensington Barbie’s gift shop bonanza 

“Barbie: The Exhibition” at London’s Design Museum celebrates the 65th anniversary of the Mattel brand. The progression of dolls, cars, outfits and dreamhouses is recalled in 250 displays. PC Barbie highlights “milestones related to inclusivity, including the first Barbie with Down syndrome, the first to use a wheelchair, and the first to be designed with a curvy body shape.” The Guardian called the show “a riot of pink that makes you think.” Though Feb. 23. 

 

Omaha exhales, finally

Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum reopens Sept. 10 after a two-year shutdown for construction and renovation. That’s an eternity in museum years but a pittance compared to Ingersoll’s redesign. A 42,000-square-foot addition, expanded art collection, new gardens and “reimagined amenities” await. 

The museum recruited a show by native son Ed Ruscha, American lover of roadside attractions, consumer products and corporate logos. The exhibition celebrates Ruscha’s wry use of text and image and his inventive approach (like gunpowder) to media and technique.

Shows by sculptor/installation artist Eva LeWitt and film maker Clément Cogitore also feature in the grand reopening. General admission is now free, something Omaha copied from Des Moines Art Center. ♦