Dylan/Ensor: More Info
Bob Hudson
quite out yet. Due in a couple weeks.
Check out: http://www.getty.edu/publications/titles/dylan
for information on the new book THE SUPERHUMAN CREW, which combines the
lyrics to "Desolation Row" with images from a James Ensor painting in the
collection of the Getty Museum. The book, which includes a CD of Dylan's
recording of the song (the familiar "Hwy 61" version), provides a unique
visual/verbal experience. The book can be ordered from the publisher or from
Amazon.com. or bn.com (by the way, those last two on-line sources are
offering a 20% discount on the book). Here's the blurb from the Getty
Publications press release:
"Works by James Ensor and Bob Dylan Paired in Unusual Art Book
"'A compelling mix not only for their continued vitality as works of art
but for their example of an artist's ability and power to critique
contemporary culture.'--Gadfly
"The Superhuman Crew (J. Paul Getty Museum, $24.95 cloth) brings together
two visionary masterpieces: James Ensor's 'Christ's Entry into Brussels in
1889' (painted in 1888) and Bob Dylan's haunting 'Desolation Row' (from his
1965 album, Highway 61 Revisited). Created nearly eighty years apart on
different continents and in different media, these two works of art share a
surprisingly similar vision of an alienated society: jarring, grotesque, and
anarchic. Ensor's colossal painting, now in the collection of the Getty
Museum, shocked nineteenth-century viewers and could not be publicly
exhibited until 1929. Dylan's song did not have to wait so long to be
recognized as one of his major achievements: a sardonic portrait of a vast
cast of absurdist characters who inhabit--or are trapped in--the strange
place he called 'Desolation Row.'
"The book includes numerous details from and a reproduction of Ensor's
painting in its entirety, the complete lyrics of 'Desolation Row,' a CD with
Dylan's recording of the song, and brief biographical sketches of both
artists. Unusual and provocative, 'The Superhuman Crew' presents readers
with extraordinary, visionary works by two modern masters.
"About the artists: James Ensor (1860-1949) was born and lived most of his
life in Belgium. He studied painting in Brussels and in 1883 joined an
avant-garde art movement known as Les Vingt (The Twenty). Much of his mature
work--vibrantly colorful and filled with private, sometimes obsessional,
symbols and references--expresses a savagely satirical world view. Christ's
Entry into Brussels in 1889 is widely recognized as his masterpiece. This
year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Ensor's death. The Royal Museums of
Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels will host a major retrospective of his work
from September 24, 1999 through February 13, 2000.
"Bob Dylan--one of the most prolific and influential singer-songwriters of
his generation--was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941. Beginning with his
debut album, Bob Dylan (1962), and including his 1997 release Time Out of
Mind, which received the Grammy award for Record of the Year, his remarkable
recording career has spanned nearly forty years. 'Desolation Row' contains
the kind of apocalyptic, intensely personal imagery that was the hallmark of
his mid-60s career.
"About the editor and designer: John Harris is senior editor at the J. Paul
Getty Museum. He has developed several children's books, such as A is for
Artist, Where's the Bear?, and 1 to 10 and Back Again; his writing has
appeared in Atlantic Monthly and Esquire.
Markus Brilling is senior designer at Getty Trust Publications. He has
worked on a variety of cultural and commercial projects, including for
clients ranging from Rowohlt and Piper book publishers to Greenpeace and
Philip Morris. His appreciation of American pop culture and his experience
as a European living in America have inspired and informed his graphic
ability to create connections between the two distinctive, yet complementary
artists.
"Publication Information:
The Superhuman Crew
Painting by James Ensor
Lyric by Bob Dylan
48 pages, 11-3/4 x 9-5/8 inches
48 color illustrations, 1 foldout, 1 compact disc
Publication date: October 1999
ISBN 0-89236-552-8, $24.95 cloth
Published by the J. Paul Getty Museum. Available through Getty Trust
Publications (800-223-3431). Distributed to the trade in the U.S. by Oxford
University Press and in the United Kingdom and Europe by Windsor Books
International.
For more information about the James Ensor retrospective, please contact
Liliane Opsomer, Press and Public Relations Manager, Belgian Tourist Office,
(212) 758-8130, ext. 17. Stacey Abarbanel: publicist for Getty Museaum.
Visit our website at:
Bob Hudson
mitch...@my-deja.com
450.HARPERCOLLINS>,
(Clip)
Aside from the selling of publications, this posting grabbed me. Back
in collegiate days, now pushing 20 years ago, I recall in my art text
book, "History Of Art" (second edition)by H.W. Janson, there was a
black and white plate of a painting by Ensor (page 627 if you are
following along in your own copy ;-)) entitled "Intrigue" (1890). My
notation next to the plate, along with way too much yellow highlighting
on the text below, still says "Desolation Row". The description in the
Janson book of the artist and painting are as follows:
"In the art of the Belgian painter James Ensor (1860-1949), this
pessimistic view of the human condition reaches obsessive itensity.
"Intrigue (fig. 796) is a grotesque carnival, but as we scrutinize
these masks we become aware that they ae the mummers' true faces,
revealing the deparvity ordinarily hiddne behind the facade of everyday
appearances."
There seem to be a few thematic similiarities between this Belgian
painter and the American minstrel, Bob Dylan.
The painting appears to be a masquerade pary image, but the characters
are don't quite appear to be wearing masks, as much as being the masks.
Can anyone discern any other artists whose painted or sculpted work has
links to our man from Minnesota?
Best, fellow bobcats all,
Mitch Rath
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