Page Two

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Wednesday, March 25, 1972

Pope Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Weeda, ach29 17


A Romantic renaissance

in America

By JOHN HARVITH
The burgeoning "Romantic
Revival" in all aspects of our
daily life is rapidly assuming
revolutionary proportions.
Sprouting mustaches and beards
and "unconventional" combina-
tions of colors and patterns in
clothes, which would have pro-
voked incredulous stares on Ann
Arbor thoroughfares a mere five
years ago, are now the norm. In
a spiritual linkage with its mid-
19th century forbears, this gen-
eration has finally decided to
break out of the unadventurous
conformist mold of its crew-cut,
clean shaven parent, and express
the diversity of its membership.
Far from limiting itself - to
life-styles, the Romantic renais-
sance of the last half-decade has
permeated the arts as well. En-
terprising pianists have resusi-
tated interest in the formerly
ridiculed virtuoso keyboard lit-
erature of Franz Liszt and Xav-
er Scharwenka, while connois-
seurs of architecture no longer
sneer at the extravagant eclecti-
cism of 19th-century American
Gothic Revival structures.
A trail-blazer in re-interpret-
ing the romantic visual arts,
University Prof. David Hunting-
has made a searching explora-
tion of the United States in its
pre-Civil War Romantic Age,
recording his discoveries in a
University Museum of Art ex-
Creative Arts
Workshop
What was once only an imag-
inative idea to create a place
where people could learn and
expand their artistic and craft
skills is gradually becoming a
reality - the Creative Arts
Workshop.
Operating in the basement of
the Ozone people's center on 502
E. Washington St., the Work-
shop will sponsor an art sale on
April 9 in conjunction with the
center's Open House.
The Workshop Is asking for
community support and is so-
liciting donations of any arts
and crafts that can be spared.
Pedple can also help by donat-
ing time, money and art sup-
plies - all of which are now
desperately needed.
When fully established, the
Workshop plans to offer free
sessions in painting, photogra-
phy, pottery, ceramics, jewelry,
candlemaking, leatherworking,
material crafts, dance, theatre,
and "anything else people want
to get into."
The current workshop sched-
ule includes:
Sundays, 7:00: Open poetry
readings (Writer's Workshop)
Tuesdays, noon: Jewelry and
copper enameling workshop
Wednesdays, 7:00: Drawing
and painting workshop
Thursdays, noon: Leathr
workshop; 3:00: Yarn and Ma.
 terial' crafts workshop; 7:0:
Writer's Workshop
Saturdays, 4:00; Radio-media
workshop
ALL SEATS 75c
I1
WILLYr
it00-a

hibit which is as bracingly vi-
brant and alive as its subject
matter. Entitled "Art and the
Excited Spirit: America in the
Romantic Period," the show fea-
tures not only the usual gallery
line-up of paintings, prints and
sculpture, but also such unex-
pected items as period advertise-
ments, furniture, heating stoves,
phrenological heads and ana-
tomical models.
This shouldsnot give the im-
pression that the exhibition is a
hodge-podge of assorted para-
phernalia senselessly thrown to-
gether. On the contrary, Hunt-
ington has thoughtfully as-
sembled these disparate ele-
ments as vehicles to pursue the
various major themes of the
American romantic movement.
For instance, the elaborate
chairs and stoves are expressions
of the age's optimistic exuber-
ance, while the contrasted Shak-
er stove and chair reflect the,
spiritual nature of this out-of-
the-mainstream celibate sect.
An advertising poster for stoves,
stresses the emotional gamut of
lettering, which ranges from
flighty giddiness;to earthbound
sobriety. And A. J. Davis' suc-
cessive architectural studies for

"Lyndhurst" illustrate the neo-
Gothic style's ideal accommoda-
tion to the Romantic's itch for
expansive movement.
Huntington has meticulously
documented the period's preoc-
cupation with anthropocentrism,
and its resulting attribution of
human trepidations and joys to
animals, plants and inanimate
objects. Thus, Edward Hicks in-
tended the varied animal spe-
cies portrayed in his "The
Peaceable Kingdom" to repre-
sent the four human tempera-'
ments, while even the chair
seems to be cackling derisively
at the cheated, dying miser in
John Quidor's "Wolfert's Will".
in reverse psychology, artists
strove to enshrine national he-
roes with Biblical haloes by lik-
ening them to especially revered
animals. Horatio Greenough's
profile drawing of George
Washington more than hints at
an eagle-like presence, though
further sketches of George evoke
cries of Manifest Destiny with
their Olympian bearing. Joseph
Chandler's "Webster at Bunker
Hill," on the other hand, is a
study of the Orator as Lion.
Even more imaginative than
Huntington's choice of works,

however, is his juxtaposition of
them, especially his placement
of Post-Romantics like Thomas
Eakins and Winslow Homer
within inches of representative
Romantics such as Quidor and
Greenough. The expedient ob-
jectivity of Eakins' anatomical
drawings spell a chilling con-
trast to Greenough's expressive
essays in musculature and bone
structure. For Eakins, a thigh
is a thigh, no more than a part
of the body, a means to an end,
not a Grenough-esque rhapsodic
ode to beauty.
The exhibit further pinpoints
the drive for objectivity as an
inevitable consequence of tech-
nological demands for more ef-
ficient transportation in an ex-
panding nation. David McKay's
streamlined ships are the specif-
ic examples set out, but the logi-
cal extremes of civilized man's
broad quest for better machines

ever since. For instance, this
continuing trend of non-sub-
jective functionalism has hit
architecture to such a degree
that noted art historians such
as Nicholas Pevsner have re-
ferred to contemporary buildings
as brutal.
In reflecting the genesis of
this latter development, Prof.
Huntington's exhibit serves a
double purpose. It offers an in-
depth look into the Romantic
sensibility, but, at the same
time, it explains how contem-
porary art has swung off onto
a sterile tangent. Viewers inter-
ested in either of these vital top-
ics cannot afford to miss "Art
and the Excited Spirit." The
show runs through May 14.

TV & Stereo Rentals
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More Than Your Eyes Have Ever Seen an the Screen!

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has been reflected in his

art

Forest fires barm
MOre than trees

starring
CNITN YO ANE IWARNG. YVONNE DEBRAJON
HIESTON "BRYNNER - BAXT[R "ROBINSON " B[ CAR[O " PACEJ. O[R[
sumOmm
NAROICK " OCN SCU "MOUR " RIC

3PEN 12:45
SHOWS AT
1 P.M.-4:30-8 P.M.
MATINEES $1.50
Mon.-Thurs. eve. $2.00
Fri. & Sat, eve. $2.50
603 E. Liberty
DIAL 665-6290

ONE SHOW DAILY
7:30

SATURDAY NIGHT, APiRIL 1,9:00 P.M.
Bursley Hall Enterprizes Presents
MICHAEL CAINE and SHELLY WINTERS
in the Baudy & Sordid
5c popcorn charge (at door)
FOR ALL THE POPCORN YOU CAN EAT!:
Admission Complimentary--Bursley Hall West Cafeteria

f

-Daily-Tom Gottlieb
"The Mare 'Josephine' Ecorche" by Eakins

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COMING IN APRIL
THE NEW
1912 MICHIGANENSIAN.
ON SALE NOW
TEN YEARS FROM NOW
HAVE A BLAST
LOOKING AT PICTURES
'FROM THE PAST
SEND $8.00* AND COUPON BELOW to:
MICHIGANENSIAN
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104
-- - - - - - - - - - ---- ---

U of M Folklore Society presents
POWER BLUES
SON HOUSE, MANCE LIPSCOMB,
ROBERT LEE WILLIAMS
at the POWER CENTER
April 15-8:00 P.M.
RESERVED SEATS-$3.00
Tickets available daily at Michigan Union 11 A.M.-2 P.M.

KRIS
KRISTOFFERSON
APRIL 21, FRIDAY

Hill Auditorium

$1.50-$3.00-$4.50

Reserved seats now available: Michigan Union
12-6 p.m. and Salvation Records, Maynard Street

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AUDITIONS
FOR
"ONCE UPON ,A MATTRESS"
dir. by JOHN REID KLEIN
Thursday, March 29 - 7:30-10:00 p.m.

11

Eastern Michigan University
presents:
Wiliam F. Buckley
. aBuke*.debating faculty-student panel
Followed by lengthy question
period from the audience.
MONDAY, APRIL 17
PEASE AUDITORIUM
3-4:30 p.m.
General Admission Tickets: $2.00
On Sale at McKenny Union

AACT B

uilding

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PHONE
MICHIGANENSIAN, 420 Maynard, Ann Arbor, Mich. 48104
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OPENS TONIGHT

Arthur Kopit
INDIANS

csnaotayaEo AM W6ur C
"Out Disneys Disney"
-Tony Mastroianna,
Cleveland Press
'A classic in the tradition of
Wizard of Oz' and will be
played annually thirty years
from now."
-L:A. Herald Examiner
MATINEES ONLY--1:00-3:30

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Man Adapting to the Small Planet
SEMINAR SERIES
presents
DR. ALAN WATTS
A Philosophy for a Culture in Harmony
with the Environment

Power Center-
MARCH 29-APRIL 1st
CURTAIN 8 P.M.!
Box office'open daily
at 12:30
TICKETS: Wednesday, Thursday $1.50, $2.50
Friday, Saturday $2.00,,$3.00

THURSDAY, MARCH 30-7:30 P.M.
RACKHAM AUDITORIUM
ADMISSION FREE
Sponsored by: Enact Ecology Canter, Community Organic Garden, and U of
M School of Natural Resources

m

Vanessa
Redgrave
Cannes Festival
BEST ACTRESS

Loves of
Isadora
"wonderful ... brilliant
... a superb story,
superbly realized."
-LIFE