Page Tw'
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Thursday, September 1A, 1 712
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, September 14, 1972
art
Gosmin
collec tion
/9-'
frKaleidoscope
questions and
answers in the
world of art
- y .Ks r
Problems with musical instru-
ments, photography, painting,
macra e. food preparation, etc.
KALEIDOSCOPE to the rescue.
The Daily Arts page plans to
iitiate this new column as a
ser ice to answer your questions
about problems in the world of
art. Inqiriesarmay concern any
aspect of artistic technique,
equipment care, or local cultural
events.
If you have a question that
you would like answered, write:
KALEIDOSCOPE, c/o Arts Edi-
tor, The Michigan Daily.
Daily Photo by DENNY GAINER
A sampling from the Gosman collection
f1
By RICK PARKS
There is something to appeal
to the taste of everyone, with
the possible exception of un-
wavering devotees of Pop Art,
in the Gosman Collection of mod-
ern art currently on display at
the University's Museum of Art.
Selections in the , collection,
which does not appear to be or-
ganized around any central
theme or style, range from the
most basic, straightforward wa-
tercolor scene to enormous can-
vasses featuring the striking
textural effects which result
from the use of plastics and
acrylics.
A modest collection of sculp-
ture is included, running the ga-
mut from the traditional bronze
figure to the use of rusted iron
and wooden timbers.
Along with a single pastel and
crayon sketch by Joan Miro of
Spain, the most pleasing portion
of the collection for those with
more traditional tastes are the
watercolor scenes by American
painters such as Arthur Dove
and John Marin.
The simple scenes of sea and
sky and the broad suggestions of
figures and objects are done in
soft, muted colors shaded to
blend, one into another, in a
manner which gives the works a
feeling of unity, tightness and
the expression of a full, com-
plete thought in the act of con-
ception.
These works of the 30's and
40's provide a stark contrast to
thd loud colors and harsh, im-
pressionistic designs in the
works by Danish painter Asger
Jorn andethe simple, yet distort-
ed, tortured figures of Jean Du-
buffet of France.
Done in the early 1960's, these
European works project a feel-
ing of agony, anxiety and the
presence of strong psychological
forces which are absent in the
more placid American watercol-
or selections.
Works from the middle and
late sixties period feature the
use of various plastic and other
synthetic materials on the tra-
ditional canvas background.
The use of acrylics produces a
particularly interesting surface
phenomenon, something 1 i k e
those old relief maps that you
used to run your fingers over. in
gradetschool which represented
mountains, plains and valleys
with little plastic bumps, burps
and depressions. The acrylic
works are very impressionistic
and often do not seem to express
a clear theme or idea.
Two of the most interesting
works in the collection are
"Notes Toward a Definition of a
Nobody," a 1961 work by Amer-
ican Ronald Kitaj consisting of a
series of paintings in a single
canvas, and a mixed-media two
canvas project by Robert Raus-
chenburg. These selections op-
enly invite speculation concern-
ing the author's intended mes-
sage or marshalling theme, a
*,TG
N USIGMA NU
MEDICAL FRAT.
FRI., SEPT. 15
7.30-10:00
1912 GEDDES
BEER & BAND
Girls free-Guys $2.00
quality which is missing in much,
of the collection.
The exhibit is the property of
Dr. Joseph and Mildred Gosman
of Toledo, Ohio and is a part of
a series of exhibitions of con-
temporary art from local col-
lections which will be shown at
the Museum this fall. Much of
the collection has been assem-
bled over the past ten years
and includes samplings of the
work of such artists as Larry
Poons, Willem de Kooning, Ken-
neth Noland, Jules Olitski, Mor-
ris Louis, Helen Frankenthaler,
David Smith and Jean Arp.
The exhibit will be on display
until October 15.
Subscribe to The Daily
Phone 764-0558
I
cinema
I
Ron ne
By BRUCE SHLAIN
Movin 'on down to Nevada in
a beat-up white Cadillac, pulling
his horse in a trailer, the urban
cowboy with the wise, craggy
face returns to his hometown for
another rough ride on the rodeo
circuit. His ribs are heavily taped
from his last encounter with a
bull that tossed him, but he
sports his bandage like a badge.
He would be the perfect model
for one of those macho Madison
Avenue cigarette advertisements
except for the fact that, being
the true "rugged individualist,"
he rolls his own.
. He is Junior Bonner, played by
Steve McQueen, the stoic pro-
tagonist of director Sam Peck-
inpah's latest foray into male
mythology. Like The Wild Bunch
and Straw Dogs, Bonner is pre-
dicated upon Peckinpah's philo-
sophical obsession with male as-
sertion. But, while previous to
this film, the only true outlet in
sight for one's manhood was the
inevitable shedding of blood (and
a lot of it), this movie shies
away from the goriness.
Unlike Paul Newman's H u d
(i.e. most unsettled film cow-
boys), Bonner is not a rebel or
one-man assault on small-town
morals. He has a deep-seated af-
fection for his separated parents
(Robert Preston and Ida Lupino),
and, in the movie's only barroom
brawl, he backs off. In short,
it is not a violent western, but
rather one of subtle crisis, the
crisis being that Bonner must
win the rodeo prize money in his
hometown to keep his own sense
of self esteem. As his brother
Curly admonishes him: "Hell,
Junior, I'm working on my first
million, and you're still workin'
on 8 seconds." The animal he
must ride for that harrowing 8
seconds is, believe it or not, that
time-told symbol of male sexual-
ity, the bull - proving, if noth-
ing else, that Peckinpah is no
slouch when it comes to cine-
matic chutzpah.
So then, what we have is a
combination John Wayne-Jack
Kerouac at the brink of middle-
age, a sort of western Five Easy
Pieces with a bucking bronc in-
stead of a piano to fall back on
or off as the case may be. The
Man or myth?
trouble is that McQueen simply
cannot dramatically sustain two
hours of looking forlorn yet some-
how satisfied, doing nothing while
the audience is to imagine all of
the seething emotion he must be
suppressing. Especially when the
deepest insight one gets as to
what makes him tick is his line
"Gotta rodeo," a selection from
a screenplay that is at times
hackneyed.
Coupled with Peckinpah's al-
most sterile treatment of sexual-
ity (he must have looked at thou-
sands of girls to find one as
beautifully vacuous as the one in
Bonner, one is tempted to ser-
iously advise Peckinpah to bury
his camera and satisfy his obses-
sion with balls by investing in a
bowling alley - but then comes
restraint. For Junior Bonner,
although not as powerful a state-
ment as Straw Dogs, nor as en-
tertaining for . that matter, is
nonetheless the smoothest, least
ambiguous film Peckinpah h a s
made. In dealing with the nature
of aggressiveness and the in-
scrutable, mysterious need to
flirt with danger, he demonstrat-
es that, perhaps more than any
modern film-maker, he has more
of an inkling as to what drives
a psyche to climb El Captain
just for kicks, race cars, or even
win chess championships. For
the action footage, especially the
slowed-down filming of Junior's
triumphant ride, lends a feel of
the transcendant nature of such
a ride, the senses letting ran-
dom images in, the crowd cheer-
ing, the memory of past defeats
-the feel is almost that of try-
ing to cram one's life into an 8-
second victory. The onus was on
Peckinpah to explain Junior's
refusal of all the lucrative of-
fers he turned down in the course
of the movie so he could stay
on the rodeo circuit. He just did
not get past the stylized, tough,
superficial expression on his
star's face to a real explanation.
TONIGHT ONLY
AMERICAN UNDERGROUND
RETROSPECTIVE SERIES
PROGRAM I
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
SILENT EARLY
EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
1
I
V
r
NI'S
-7
loo
/
The Place to Meet
INTERESTING People
BACH CLUB
presents,
Debra Fayroian
cello
Deborah Berman
piano
performing BACH
unaccompanied cello
Suite 1 in G
BEETHOVEN Sonata 3 in
C Major
Refreshments served afterwards
Thurs., Sept. 14, 8 p.m.
South Quad Lounge
Everyone invited! No
musical knowledge needed!
Further info-
769-1605 & 663-4875
1
I
RHYTHMUS 21 & 23, direc-
tor Hans Richter, 1921. LE
SANG d'un Poete, dir. Jean
Cocteau, 1930. - ENTRACTE,
dir. Rene Clair, 1924. MENIL-
MONTANT, dir. Dimitri Kirsan-
off, 1924.
Every Thursday night until No-
vember 2, Cinema Guild will be
showing representative f i i m s
from the American experimental
film movement.
ARCHITECTURE
AUDITORIUM
7:00 & 9:05
75c
t './
i
.r
, /
i
r
i
z
!
:
c
_._.,.
3rd Fun Week
DIAL 5-6290
4
SHOWS AT
1:30 3:20 5:10
And. 9:05
7:05
"A HILARIOUS
MOVIE! A LAUGH
RIOT!"
CBS-TV
s r a -
"A VERY FUNNY "A MARVELOUS
FILM!" MOVIE!"
N.Y. Times NBC Today Show
"FULL OF
N.Y. Daily News
LAUGHS!"
, R .,
r9 rA I'A , 1 f1
,i
' Gsnmoun~t .cWr.. .r...n.,
An Arthur P. Jacobs Production in association
with Rollins-Joffe Productions
"1DLAY IT AIUAIN. SAM"