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"Mona Lisa's Mustache: A Dissection Of Modern Art" 1947 ROBSJOHN-GIBBINGS, T.H.

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"Mona Lisa's Mustache: A Dissection Of Modern Art" 1947 ROBSJOHN-GIBBINGS, T.H.ROBSJOHN GIBBINGS, T. H. [265] pp. Alfred A. Knopf 1947 First Edition 8 3 4" x 6" VG VG Jacket drawing by Mary Petty MODERN art's pendulum has really swung, and it's about time. Twenty years ago the author of this book would have been on the bandwagon, judging by his temperament and general approach to a subject. Hereabout, in the gullible Twenties, a latent discontent had given encouragement to the so called "modern" art, simply because it was in

ROBSJOHN-GIBBINGS, T.H.

[265] pp.

Alfred A. Knopf

1947

First Edition

8 3/4" x 6"

VG/ VG

Jacket drawing by Mary Petty

MODERN art's pendulum has really swung, and it's about time. Twenty years ago the author of this book would have been on the bandwagon, judging by his temperament and general approach to a subject. Hereabout, in the gullible Twenties, a latent discontent had given encouragement to the so-called "modern" art, simply because it was in revolt against whatever powers that were then running a rather smug esthetic set-up. The hobgoblins of expressionism and the tortured geometry of nonobjective painting attracted the sympathetic and unquestioning sympathies of bright young minds, who were willing to kick the slats from under any self-appointed referee's armchair. Now the picture has begun to change, for now the modern art referee has been in there too long, and the incipient rebels are now beginning to rally around a new loyal opposition, which is, if not conservative, at least more critical of the shammier parts of our advanced contemporary art.

The author of this book-an English-born designer who came to this country in 1929 and made a remarkable career-had a previous side-saddle hayride in debunking antiques-collecting fallacies in "Good-bye Mr. Chippendale." He would now like to make it "Good-bye Mr. Dali." Not that he has any special animosity toward Salvador Dali. Indeed, Señor D. is merely the high man on a totem pole of Oceanic and African magic that begins with Gauguin and has a dirty look at every misadventure in high European politics and erratic philosophy, not to mention magic again. And not to mention magic in a review of this book would be a travesty, for the author has almost a fixation on the word. It, or its synonym, appears on every page. Magic, voodoo, incantation, the confusion of the bourgeoisie, the mystery of origins, unintelligibility on a condescending scale, the use of distortion and tribal immolation all occur as well-defined attempts to subordinate the individual and his dignity to the all-important state. Out of this, with due recognition to Italian futurism, remittance-men Bolsheviks who went to Germany, other crackpots, and incipient Fascists, came the maliciously planned destruction of nature in art.

Have we rounded up all the culprits yet? Not at all. The story begins way back with the pre-Raphaelites, seemingly a sinister group who thought (like Thoreau, Emerson and Brook Farm) that something was wrong with the highly touted industrial progress of the nineteenth century. It is a most ingenious story because almost all the protagonists for the newer art were self-confessed scamps, and, oddly enough, most of the rising political movements of the time accepted these strange dogmas, only to jettison them as the political movements achieved comparative permanence.

By quoting from convenient sources, such as Pissarro, or by searching assiduously among the manifestos of the Dadaists, or the loose mouthings of the lunatic fringe, Mr. Robsjohn-Gibbings has brought damaging evidence to the cause of the implicit believers in modern art. This, at this time, is no doubt all to the good, because for twenty years no literate and plausible attacker has appeared—and the author's conclusion has both wit and point:

Who is to say, after all, that Dali, using the magic of surrealism for window-dressing and peepshows at the New York World's Fair. has not found the only possible use for such magic in the twentieth century? And who is to say that the symbolist poets, with their occult jargon, and Gertrude Stein, with her esoteric literary stammering, have not been carried to their ultimate conclusion in bobby-soxers lustily singing "Mairsie Doats" and Danny Kaye giving out with "Git Gat Gittle"? Could it be that the volcano after all was one of Horace's mountains, which, as you doubtless remember, labored and came up with "a single laughable little mouse"? It would almost seem so thank God.

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Good quality shelves for the price. Happy with the purchase. They give you assorted hardware to mount each shelf. Wall anchors for masonry or brick and anchors for drywall as well as screws to affix shelf to the wall bracket. The installation was fairly easy but it can be a bit difficult to get the bracket leveled on the wall. The “level” they give you is useless, it is only the tube - not in a housing, so 1 1/2” long. You will need a better level. Basically you place the bracket where you want the shelf to go then make sure it is level and take a pencil to mark the holes. We ended up using a heavier quality wall anchor so only needed 2 anchors instead of the four they send you. Once the bracket is on, slide the shelf onto the bars coming from the bracket and use the 2 set screws to secure it in place. Check for level and if it isn’t you can remove shelf and loosen bracket screws and wiggle the bracket while still attached while retightening screws. We had to re-level one of our shelves this way. Hope this helps and that it makes sense. As for weight capacity I wouldn’t want to put more than a couple of pounds on a shelf. As it is secure, it is hollow inside and too much weight would probably either cause the shelf to sag or damage your wall
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Excellent product with height recommendation
Size: 24 Inch, Color: White, Size: 24 Inch, Color: White
My bathroom renovation is turning out great. These shelves are beautifully stable and show no visible assembly. The idea of ​​these floating shelves is brilliant.
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Beautiful and sturdy
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Excellent quality shelves. All hardware came with them and also the stickers to cover the screws. I also placed a plant on one of the shelves and it’s not leaning and again very nice and secure.
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Easy to assemble and comes with everything you need for drywall or wood. Nice color and texture and comes with stickers to hide the holes underneath. I bought two sets of three. These are very long, so I recommend just using two at a time.
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Color: Walnut, Size: 2 Pack
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