Filling in the gaps

One of the artworks discussed during the gallery educator training in the recently-reopened Yale University Art Gallery was this unfinished oil sketch by Carlo Maratta.  I was fascinated to listen to the group’s discussion, led by an art historian supported by one of the education curators, as they deduced what might be depicted in the mysterious bottom right of the canvas.  By analysing the figures present (including the rather sickly woman and an angel clutching an unknown object, a sort of oversized chesspiece as one student said), the body language, the composition and the possible narrative, they concluded that the artist intended there to be a saintly figure interceding between God and a community afflicted by a plague.  They were then shown a photocopy of the final finished altarpiece which confirmed that Maratta filled the bottom section with bodies of plague-victims while a standing Saint Rosalia gazed upward to an angel sheathing a sword (the chesspiece being the hilt) – symbolising defeat of the deadly pestilence.  I was particularly struck by the skilful questioning which guided the trainee educators through their analysis and deductions – demonstrating not only how vital preparatory drawings, sketches and experiments are in understanding paintings, but also how compelling a blank space can be.

There have been too many gems to mention in the last few days in New York’s museums.  The Faking it: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop exhibit at the Met was not just a brilliant display of technical innovation, creativity and audacity in cutting, pasting and rephotographing, painting onto negatives and so on, but it also highlighted the close relationship between photography, print, power and propaganda.  Stalin was a well-known advocate of image manipulation. One striking series showed an early group photograph ‘reproduced’ over two decades - the number of his companions dwindled in each imprint (the first and last of which are shown here), as individuals were written out of the official story.  More telling empty spaces.