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Today's Featured Aricle. December, 2007
The Golden Age
The XVIIth century was a golden age for still life painting in Northern European countries from which two themes emerged: table settings and floral compositions. The paintings of the XXIIth century Northern Schools have proven a profitable refuge, with price levels rising by +85% in a decade. It is also a field of informed collectors who are hugely selective. The breakfast pieces, known as 'ontbijt', appeared in Haarlem and Antwerp around 1610 with Pieter CLAESZ, Willem Claesz. HEDA, Nicolaes GILLIS, Floris Claesz DYCK van or Floris Gerritsz. SCHOOTEN van. The handful of works by Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz Heda to change hands at auction every year go for between USD 100,000 and 800,000 on average. The significant variation in prices arises not so much from size as from the overall harmony of the composition and the quality of the light in which the work is bathed. Thus, despite its large format (105.9 x 136.4 cm) a dark ontbijt by Pieter Claesz, depicting a table overflowing with food, was purchased at Kroller for just SWF 150,000 or around USD 127,000 in September 2007. Two months later, a small painting by him, Still Life with an overturned silver Tazza, a silver Plate (39.8 x 56 cm), stripped of objects but in which the light is skilfully handled, effectively setting off texture and material, was snapped up for GBP 420,000, nearly USD 850,000 at Sotheby’s on 4 July 2007.
After this successful sale, the record for Pieter Claesz since 1999, the auction house presented a sombre still life by Willem Claesz Heda estimated at GBP 80,000-120,000, which remained unsold. Collectors were keeping their fire power for the following lot: a still life by the same artist, smaller in scale but more luminous and depicting a more sumptuous banquet, entitled Still Life with a Roemer, a silver Tazza, a wine glass, which changed hands for GBP 310,000, close to USD 625,000...
Couple
Dr. Schlachet, a New Yorker who received a doctorate in psychology in 1966, has written academic papers against the institution of marriage. She avowed that she wouldn’t buy a refrigerator if she couldn’t read the contract.
“How do I reconcile my beliefs?” she added. “I don’t.”
She was married to the father of her 2 sons. By the late 1960s she was a single parent rearing her boys on a diet of war protests & civil rights marches.
She was tear-gassed before she could walk, said her younger son, Daniel Schlachet, 40. He confirmed that his mother was not the marrying, or remarrying, type. When he told her of his own engagement 12 years ago, she said something like she just want you to know there are other options, he said.
So the last thing anyone expected was that she & William Mitchell, companions for 15 years, would marry. No one would have expected them to be a couple in the first place.
Mr. Mitchell, a robust man of 63, received a football scholarship in 1963 to Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa. He later coached. He said that if they had met then she probably would have thrown tomatoes at him.
But they didn’t meet until 1991.
Mr. Mitchell yearned for a career he could be equally passionate about. Likewise, Dr. Schlachet, after decades as a psychotherapist, was seeking a more expressive vocation.
They independently decided to become actors. She used the stage name Barbara Bleier. He Liam Mitchell. They happened to join the same acting class in New York.
He had just moved to the city from Pennsylvania and had recently divorced, and she had just ended a relationship with a man she had lived with for 19 years. Between classes and auditions, each offered a sympathetic ear.
“We comfort each other,” Mr. Mitchell said.
“He blew all my stereotypes,” she said. “Here was this jock, but there was this kindness and warmth to him.”
Their first date was Halloween 1992 and they quickly fell into a steady rhythm. But Mr. Mitchell was new to the city, newly single and acting the part. After six months, Dr. Schlachet could no longer ignore what they both described as his heavy drinking and an unwillingness to make an exclusive commitment. She reluctantly broke off the relationship. It got his attention.
“I realized what I was losing,” said Mr. Mitchell, who was determined to show her how important she was to him.
“He stopped drinking cold,” Dr. Schlachet said. “I don’t know how he did it.” It took six months to regain her trust, and he said he has been sober and devoted to her since.
Still, as the relationship deepened, she remained protective of her independence and they kept separate homes. “I was in love with him, but I wasn’t determined to live with him,” Dr. Schlachet said. He, too, resisted taking the next step.
“I didn’t want to give up my apartment,” he said. “In New York, you can never get it back again.”
But in 2004, after 12 years of dating, he moved into her West Village brownstone. “We realized the nights we didn’t spend together we weren’t as happy as the nights we did,” she said.
Last June, while lazing on a beach in Puerto Rico, the conversation turned to a friend’s wedding. While congratulating themselves on avoiding marriage, he admitted it would be nice to celebrate their relationship. “Are you asking me to marry you?” Dr. Schlachet asked.
He responded by getting down on one knee.
On Dec. 8, Dr. Schlachet, a slender woman with regal posture, descended the century-old staircase at the Players club in New York with Mr. Mitchell by her side.
The Rev. Jane Brenon, an evangelical minister and a cousin of Mr. Mitchell’s, led the couple in their vows to live and laugh together.
If they were somewhat dazed by their decision, their friends and family were dumbfounded. “One of my sons said, ‘Can I speak to my real mother?’” Dr. Schlachet said with a laugh.
“I can’t tell you why I’m doing it other than the pure joy of it,” she said.
They do not downplay their differences. He enjoys action movies and televised sports. She prefers reading and is a member of the Raging Grannies, an activist group.
“There doesn’t need to be common interests,” he said. “Uncommon is better.”
Christie
The same could happen with Christie's remarkable performance as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's in "Away From Her." The Oscar buzz began more than a year ago when the movie debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, continued after the movie hit theaters last May, & remains as strong as ever with the Golden Globe nomination she received Thursday. A best-actress Oscar winner as a model who sleeps her way to the top in 1965's "Darling," Christie quickly became choosy about films. She found plum roles that earned her 2 more nominations, for 1971's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and 1997's "Afterglow." A homebody who prefers to stay on her small farm in Wales, the 67-year-old Christie dreads the thought of being back in Oscar contention. "Deep anxiety. Huge anxiety," Christie said of the awards rigamarole, which drags on for months until the Oscars finally are handed out February 24. In an interview with The Associated Press at a luxury beach-front hotel, Christie described how out of place she feels when publicists & awards handlers plot strategy to keep her in the minds of voters for the Oscars & other film honors. Christie said that she's like, 'You may have to go to Mars & pretend to be a Martian.' She thinks, she doesn't know any Martians... The O-word was inevitable for Christie's performance in "Away From Her," the directing debut of actress S. Polley, who adapted the screenplay from Alice Munro's story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain." Christie plays Fiona, a woman whose long, sometimes shaky marriage to a once-adulterous but now steadfast husband, Grant, goes into decline as her memory fades from Alzheimer's. To ease Grant's pain, Fiona checks herself into an institution. She still retains most of her faculties. She deteriorates so quickly that she no longer recognizes Grant, who suffers through quiet jealousy as his wife transfers her affections in a flirtation with another aging patient. Christie remains as luminous as in her "Darling" days, radiating the effervescence of the woman Fiona once was even amid her mental decline. Christie said that she thinks a lot already about her own mortality. It made her think much more practically. She said that thinking about mortality is an extremely practical thing to do. It made her think, she has got to get down to some really serious thinking when she writes her will about what she wants to happen and what not happen. She would never do what Fiona did, she's pretty sure. She wouldn't have the guts. ... She can't see many people having the fiber or the backbone to actually check themselves into an institution in order to save the pain of the person they love. She thinks she'd rather take pills, herself. Why bother with institutions? Somebody's got to pay for it. Christie had firsthand experience with Alzheimer's. With people living longer nowadays, acquaintances & parents of many of her friends developed the disease. She said that a dear friend of her in Wales, a farmer, she was about 80 years old. She was her neighbor. She taught her a lot about farming, like how you call a pig when you've lost the pig. The noise you make. Christie said that anyway, she eventually got ill in this way, and she spent some time with her. Quite intense time. She was in a home. Convincing Christie to take the role was a challenge for Polley, who first read Munro's story flying home to Canada from Iceland, where she had just finished the 2002 film "No Such Thing," in which Christie had a small part. Polley immediately imagined Christie as Fiona. Christie has made as much of a career turning down films as she has acting. After "Darling" & her followup, "Dr. Zhivago," Christie started declining high-profile offers in favor of smaller, less commercial films such as "Fahrenheit 451" & "Far From the Madding Crowd." As the years passed, Christie became less inclined to work & found fewer parts that interested her. Polley said that he knew it would be difficult, because she's not the most ambitious of actors in the world. She's not that interested in working all the time. She really liked the script & spent about 2 months agonizing over it, then gave a very definite, 'No.' It took months of arm-twisting before Christie finally agreed. Polley said that once she did, it kind of became clear why it's so hard to get a yes out of her. Because she gives all of herself to what she does. Once she said yes, she was more committed than anybody. Christie continues to take small parts in such films as "Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban," "Troy" & "Finding Neverland," saying the workload is slight & the paychecks help cover the upkeep of her centuries-old farm. Polley & Christie share a desire to do interesting, unusual work, which generally means staying away from Hollywood. Christie said that it's been a kind of greed & a kind of egotism, but it's not necessarily wanting to avoid the Hollywood thing. It incorporates wanting to avoid the Hollywood thing, because the Hollywood thing is so inevitably not original. It's avoiding non-originality, so that means you're really down to a very small choice. Christie now has nothing on her schedule/ She said she's in no hurry to go back to work. She might never make a film again. Maybe that 10-year thing won't happen. Or maybe it'll be 40 years & the call will come in, & she'll have just had her heart attack & go, 'God, she missed it.' Janet Reno & American Songs
While her nephew-in-law, producer Ed Pettersen, may have done a lot of the heavy lifting on "Song of America," which features new interpretations of seminal songs like "Dixie's Land" & "The Times They Are A Changin'," the set reflects Reno's vision. Through 50 songs, reinterpreted by artists including John Mellencamp, the Black Crowes, Martha Wainwright, Devendra Banhart, the story of America & the different challenges it has faced, from war to racism to the Depression, is retold for today's audiences. Though Reno, 69, is slowed these days by Parkinson's disease, she is forceful and passionate. She's been working on this project for a while.
Her niece was visiting Janet with her husband, Ed Pettersen. Ed played two pieces that he had help compose, or composed himself, that talked about various parts of American history and Janet said, "Ed, why don't you write a song of America, a history of America?" He went after it, & it was just amazing to see what he did. They attracted artists who were willing to spend their time, give their time to perform, create a piece for the project, which Janet thinks is just tremendous.
Janet Reno could have just gotten archival recordings of these songs. But she wanted to give them a new interpretation. Ed with his colleagues contributed so significantly to this project. They wanted something that represented a real sense of the song & what is involved. They found a new version of "Dixie" that could illuminate the fact that you've got to have "Dixie" as part of a project like this if you're going to tell the history of America because that is one of the essential pieces of that history. The basic reason why Reno thinks these songs are going to make a difference is that that they show that they are constantly new and changing ideas. It is important to keep up with what has happened. It is important to inspire people. If you are defeated and you accept defeat & wallow in it, you're not going to do very well. If you pick yourself up, motivated & inspired by song, you move forward. Song can be a vast motivator. "John Brown's Body" is one of the more inspiring songs to you in Reno's life, she said. It's a beautiful piece. That with the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" are two songs that spell out what the war was about, & what we tried to do here is divide it into segments of united we stand, divided we fall, she added. If America can come together with its history explained as in these songs, we have a better chance of moving ahead for the future, Janet Reno said. Songs are going to appeal to people & what they are interested in. If we can tell the story of the challenges that lie ahead, if we can forecast what we are going to have to deal with, we can do it in a clearer, more objective way if we are motivated by song that is not diminished by bickering between people. If the strength of the song can come out above partisan politics, the song is going to have a much clearer, resonant message for all concerned, Reno added. Reno thinks that people can learn more about their country, can be inspired by what they hear, from some of these songs. People can remember when they are facing adversity that they were able to overcome terrible situations in their life & in the history of USA. When people think about it, the Depression, which this project talks about in clear detail, was such a dark cloud over this nation. Janet remembers her mother's stories of the Depression. If her mother could carry a tune she would have composed one of these songs that talks about the Depression, because it was so much a part of her life. And then to come out of the Depression into World War II, into the greatest war U.S. have ever had, & to face the challenge of the atomic bomb, ever present after that war, gives people a sense of the challenge we face. But it's also there to say, "Look, we did it, we can overcome, we can get past this time in our history..."
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