The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| New York art exhibit celebrates centennial of iconic 1913 show Posted: 09 Oct 2013 09:39 PM PDT A century after the controversial 1913 Armory Show in New York challenged America's perception of art, a new exhibition is celebrating the event with works from the original including masterpieces by Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia. The Armory Show at 100: Modern Art and Revolution opens at the New York Historical Society Museum & Library tomorrow and runs through February 23 next year. The exhibit recreates, on a smaller scale, the experience of the 1913 show that shocked New Yorkers and introduced them to the European avant garde. "We couldn't let the 100-year anniversary go by without doing something. The Armory Show was probably the most important art exhibition in America," Marilyn Satin Kushner, the co-curator of the exhibition, said in an interview. "This is a landmark time in terms of the history and in terms of the history of art in America." The exhibition includes 100 works from the original show by artists such as Duchamp, whose masterpiece Nude Descending a Staircase was mocked and compared at the time to an explosion in a shingle factory, and Matisse's Blue Nude, considered depraved for its distortion of the female form. Francis Picabia's Dances at the Spring was likened to a patchwork quilt. Using artefacts, historical documents and archival photographs and films, the exhibition puts the works in the context of 1913 New York. "It will introduce people to what was going on in New York in 1913 because one can't understand the Armory Show completely unless one understands that New York at that time period was the age of discovery, the age of freedom, the age of independence, the age of youth marching in the streets for women's rights," said Kushner. Threatened by the art The 1913 show, officially known as The International Exhibition of Modern Art, was organised by a small group of young American artists called the Association of Painters and Sculptors. They were looking to showcase their work, as well as that of other artists. It was considered a turning point because it introduced Americans, accustomed to classical art, to the European avant-garde. The show, which attracted thousands of visitors, shocked some viewers and sparked harsh criticism. "They were very threatened by the art," said Kushner. "There were people on both sides of the fence but the noisiest people didn't get it, didn't want to get it and couldn't understand it." The exhibition includes photos of the original show and a chart showing how it was organised so modern-day viewers can get an idea of what visitors saw 100 years ago. Many of the paintings and works on paper were by American artists, such John Sloan's Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair and Landscape with Figures by Maurice Prendergast. Other galleries feature Impressionist works, which were already accepted by Americans in 1913, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Algerian Girl, and paintings by the precursors to modernism, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh. But it was the avant-garde work, which is featured in the final galleries, that was thought to be the most scandalous. "They were befuddled by the Nude Descending and they were angered by the Blue Nude," said Kushner about viewers in 1913, adding the art was a threat to their ideals of traditionalism and beauty. – Reuters, October 10, 2013. |
| Aircraft noise linked to higher risk of heart disease and stroke Posted: 09 Oct 2013 05:25 PM PDT Researchers in London studied noise and hospital admissions around London Heathrow airport, while a separate team analysed data on six million Americans living near 89 US airports. Both studies, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) yesterday, found that people living with the highest levels of aircraft noise had increased risks of stroke, coronary heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases. In the Heathrow study, the risks were around 10% to 20% higher in areas with highest levels of aircraft noise compared with the areas with least noise. Stephen Stansfeld, a professor at Queen Mary University of London who was not part of either research team but provided a commentary on their findings, said the results suggested that "aircraft noise exposure is not just a cause of annoyance, sleep disturbance, and reduced quality of life" but may also increase sickness and death from heart disease. City and town planners "need to take this into account when extending airports in heavily populated areas or planning new airports", he said. Other experts said the studies raised important issues about aircraft noise and health, but did not establish a causal link. "Both of these studies are thorough and well-conducted. But, even taken together, they don't prove that aircraft noise actually causes heart disease and strokes," said Kevin McConway, a professor of applied statistics at Britain's Open University. The British research team set out to investigate the risks of stroke and heart disease in relation to aircraft noise among 3.6 million people living near Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in the world. They compared hospital admissions and death rates due to stroke and heart disease from 2001 to 2005 in 12 areas of London and nine further districts to the west of London. Levels of aircraft noise for each area were obtained from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and factors that could have affected the results, such as age, sex, ethnicity, social deprivation, smoking, air pollution and road traffic noise were also taken into account. Their results showed increased risks of stroke, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease – especially among the 2% of the study population exposed to the highest levels of daytime and night time aircraft noise. "The exact role that noise exposure may play in ill health is not well established," said Anna Hansell of Imperial College London, who led the British study. "However, it is plausible that it might be contributing, for example by raising blood pressure or by disturbing people's sleep." The researchers noted that discussions on possible expansion plans for London's airport capacity have been on and off the table for many decades, with demand for air travel expected to double in Britain to 300 million passengers per year by 2030. "Policy decisions need to take account of potential health related concerns, including possible effects of environmental noise on cardiovascular health," they wrote. In a second study also published in the BMJ, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Boston University School of Public Health looked at data for more than 6 million Americans aged 65 or over living near 89 US airports in 2009. The research – the first to analyse a very large population across multiple airports – found that, on average, zip codes with 10 decibel (dB) higher aircraft noise had a 3.5% higher cardiovascular hospital admission rate. The results showed that people exposed to the highest noise levels – more than 55 dB – had the strongest link with hospitalisations for heart disease, and the link also remained after adjustment for socioeconomic status, demographic factors, air pollution and proximity to roads. Conway said that because of the kind of data used, the studies could only "suggest very strongly that we should find out much more about aircraft noise and circulatory disease". – Reuters, October 10, 2013. |
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