Pollock and fractals

["Clive Murray-White" <clivemw@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Dear Norman,

One of the glorious things about this list is the fantastic randomness of
postings, I'm an early riser and turn my computer on as part of daily
"waking up" routine, often the overnight postings trigger new thoughts for
me. Something I value dearly.

Your Pollock story is a perfect case. All through the history of art there
have been an uncanny symbiotic relationship between what the artists do and
what the scientists of a time are trying to fathom. In a way it is not
surprising because we are always "of our time".

The teaching of Art History in Universities has changed  great deal in the
last 20-30 years. One of the core studies prior to that was Connoisseurship
which did not mean learning to become a connoisseur although the outcome
could have been so.

It was the study of artist's intuitive marks and as aid to recognising any
artist's work, I've heard it called the study of earlobes and fingers
because most older figurative artists developed an intuitive way of dealing
with these, they were spontaneous signature marks which would be almost
impossible to copy, an expert in the field could recognise a Rembrandt from
a square centimetre of earlobe!

I can't remember the name of the book but it is fairly recent, 6months or
so, written by the head of the Met in NY. As I remember it is in the form of
a recognition test, worth following up if this topic interests you.

Best regards Clive

Sculptor Clive Murray-White
Cowwarr Art Space
Cowwarr Gippsland Vic. Aus.
Ph: 03 51489321 Fax 03 51489498
E-mail: clivemw@---------------
Web: http://www.cowwarr.com/CliveMurray-White/