Simon Schama Gets 'Stubbed'
Philadelphia:-- Simon Schama, University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University, formerly of Harvard, a graduate of Cambridge, and all-round eminence grise, started out his review in the 5 March number of The New Yorker about the George Stubbs collection, currently on at the Frick Gallery in New York, by noting that, never mind, knowing a 'gaskin' from a 'fetlock' -- what, that's a definitional issue, pray? -- is not important in an appreciation of the artist's works.
Last week, at the Institute of Contemporary Art, at the University of Pennsylvania, the Master brought forth a similar message in a lecture wherein he spoke of the 'beast' -- be it horse or other -- in art.
Stubbs, again, was at the core of his discussion.
For more on George Stubbs, my essay for the Broad Street Review will follow.
Oh, yes. If you must know, gaskin and fetlock are parts of a horse's leg. Look it up.
--- RDC