Curio Cabinet

If you, like me, saw Incredibles 2 the moment it hit the big screen last week, then you probably know that Toy Story 4 comes out one year from today. It is reportedly a love story between Bo-Peep and Woody, voiced as always by Tom Hanks. Well, not always. Over the years, Pixar executives have let it slip that sometimes Woody is voiced by Tom's brother, Jim Hanks. Not in the main three films, but in the myriad of promos, video games, toys, video shorts, and offshoots. Using "soundalike" or "voice double" actors is actually common practice in Hollywood. Often they are used in post-production, when dialogue has to be re-recorded because of set noise or microphone problems. Called additional dialogue replacement sessions (or ADR), voice actors are summoned to dub over flubbed lines or clean up language for plane- and TV-friendly versions. Sometimes the original actors come back for ADR sessions, but since it can be months after filming, they are often not around. Others hate ADR so much that their contracts forbid them from doing it. And once in a while, the original actors have died. Regardless, professional voice-matchers are able to step in and sound like the original actor. While it seems like the job calls for an impressionist—as evidenced by this voice matcher promo reel—they say it has as much to do with matching the lips perfectly, getting into the head of the actor, and making the tone sound right. Which must be especially easy for Jim Hanks, since it's an animated character voiced by his brother. So I guess there is actually room for more than one sheriff in Woody's town?

 
Image credit & copyright: Disney/Pixar
 

Hijinx may not be the first thing word that comes to mind when describing the often moody compositions of the Romantic era (late 18th to early 20th century in Europe), yet few words better describe Jacques Offenbach's Can Can. In his 1858 short operetta Orphée aux enfers ("Orpheus in the Underworld"), Offenbach's takes the tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice, and turns the two into characters who can't be bothered to play out the events of their myth—so much that Public Opinion is a personified character who constantly harangues them for straying from the plot. With all the goofiness going on, it's no wonder that Can Can, or Galop Infernal, became the most popular song in Hades. The tune has two primary melodies, the first with short notes played in strings and woodwinds, and the second, which brings in the brass for a heel-kicking can-can dance. These days, Offenbach is mostly remembered for his 100-plus operettas, which were forerunners to Broadway musicals. But for those of us who remain kids at heart, the Can Can will always be the sound of Bugs Bunny leading Elmer Fudd into another disarmingly silly scenario!

 

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Image credit & copyright: Warner Bros.
 

Title: Gateway, Tangier
Artist: Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)
Created: 1912
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 18.4 x 15.3 in (46.7 x 38.9 cm)
Current location: St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
 

Henry Ossawa Tanner could not be stopped. When the African-American artist and son of a former slave faced racism in the U.S., he moved to France and quickly gained a foothold in the Parisian art world. This led to several trips to north Africa, which was then partly under French control; the above work, Gateway, Tangier, was painted in the northern Moroccan city on his first visit there in 1912. The hooded figure on the right side is bathed in the city's notoriously bright sunlight as it falls through the gateway to the casbah (the older part of town). Born this week in 1859, Tanner consciously experimented with color. Here, he set up a striking contrast between the teal wood panel inside the gateway, and the lighter cement walls outside. Tanner also employed loose brushstrokes, making the human figures appear archetypal. Celebrated in France with one of the country's highest honors in 1923, the artist never returned to the U.S. But some of his paintings did: in 1996, Tanner's landscape, Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City, became the first work by an African-American artist displayed at the White House's permanent collection. The other door certainly opened up for this artist after all.
 

Below: More of Tanner's landscapes, including The Arch; The Seine; and Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City.
 

Image credit & copyright: St. Louis Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, National Gallery of Art, The White House Historical Association
 

At first glance, this photo could be an early ethnographic studio portrait—from the patterned fabric to the way the garments are draped to the use of black and white. Closer inspection shows an important detail: a price tag hanging from the woman's belt. Photographer Stephanie Syjuco examines the callous, acquisitive attitudes many Westerners have toward so-called exotic places—and the people who are paid a pittance to make the low-cost clothing produced there. The photographer combed through stores like Forever 21, H&M, and The Gap for "ethnic" patterns, then turned her purchases into backdrops and outfits she modeled herself. In Head Bundle, above, Syjuco wears an Urban Outfitter bag on her head and a choker made from a Target sock; a USB cable encircles her arm. Some images include calibration charts as a way of poking fun of the American companies that borrow patterns from developing countries. Calibration charts are used by photographers to correct color and shading; by including them, Syjuco, who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines, questions whether there is a way to fix these ethical imbalances. Syjoco's photos are lovely in their own right—and they'll make us think twice the next time we head for the mall!
 

Syjuco's work is included in the exhibit, Being: New Photography 2018 at New York MoMA through August 19th .
 

Below: Cargo Cults (Basketwoman), and Cargo Cults (Cover Up), by Stephanie Syjuco.
 

Image credit & copyright: Stephanie Syjuco
 

School may be out for summer, but this hilarious class is very much in session! The above image was taken recently at a laughing class in Tehran. Hundreds of teachers throughout Iran offer such courses to promote health and wellness. In the classes, students are encouraged to laugh on command. The one-hour classes start with forced laughter, but soon give way to spontaneous snorts and guffaws. Teachers then guide students into deep belly laughs, which are intermixed with positive sayings and other words of wisdom to lift the spirits. The classes are held at health clinics and sports clubs, and draw upon the tradition of hasyayoga, or laughing yoga, which grew popular in India in the 1990s. Laughing helps Tehran residents handle the strain of busy urban life, including pollution, bad traffic, and the unpredictability of Iranian politics. "After a big laugh, we take a big breath," one teacher named Mahro Sameni said. "This cleanses our minds, so we go home with lots of good feeling." Sounds like just what the doctor ordered!
 

Image credit & copyright: Paolo Woods
 

Title: Rising Green
Artist: Lee Krasner (1908 - 1984)
Created: 1972
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 84 x 69 in (209 x 176 cm)
Current location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York
 

Ch-ch-ch-changes! It isn't easy to identify one of Lee Krasner's paintings, because over her long career, the artist kept trying new styles. Krasner, who died on this day in 1984, is known as an abstract expressionist, but her early work was largely figurative. Krasner had already shifted to abstraction when she met artist Jackson Pollock in 1941 (they would marry a few years later); he influenced her to explore the unconscious in her work. In the 1970s, in paintings like Rising Green, above, Krasner made another shift, using bright colors to make sweeping, almost geometric forms that were bold and sharp-edged. Over the course of her career, she also experimented with collage, shredding used canvases and re-assembling the pieces for works like City Verticals. Were these changes signs of evolution—or an artist struggling to find herself? Not only was Krasner married to one of the most celebrated artists of the time, whose work she supported and promoted, she was part of an art scene crowded with towering male egos. The New Yorker said of Krasner, "It's as if she could never escape having to prove herself." Whatever it was that drove her—competitiveness, artistic vision, sheer love of painting, or all three—Krasner left behind a remarkable legacy.
 

Below: Krasner's Self Portrait,1929; Still Life on a Table; 1938, City Verticals,1953; and Night Creatures,1965.
 

Image credit & copyright: Metropolitan Museum; Art Stack
 

Talk about shedding light on the patriarchy. From 1948-1950, German-Argentinian transnational Grete Stern visually represented the dreams of housewives with her surreal photography. She crafted the series, titled Sueños ("Dreams"), for a popular women's magazine, Idilio. Women submitted anonymous recountings of their dreams to the publication's column, El Psicoanálisis le Ayudará ("Psychoanalysis Will Help"); it was Greta's job to psychoanalytically interpret them. Shown above is Sueño No. 1: Artículos eléctricos para el hogar, or "Dream No. 1: Electrical Appliances for the Home." It shows a miniature woman whose body has been reappropriated as a base for a lamp. A man's hand, gigantic in proportion, reaches around her, feeling about for an off switch. No.1's themes of female objectification, depersonalized domesticity, and sexual inequity are prevalent throughout Sueños. Like any woman in the late '40s, Stern was no stranger to misogyny: after running a studio alongside friend Ellen Auerbach, it's alleged that her photographer husband Horacio Coppola, who died June 18, 2012, showcased some of her work as his own. Whatever the case, the test of time proves Stern to be the better, and more imaginative, half of the power couple. Dream big, ladies!
 

Below: more of Grete Stern's zany photos.
 

Image credit & copyright: Grete Stern / Galería Jorge Mara-La Ruche / Museum of Modern Art / Estate of Horacio Coppola / Collection Eduardo F. Costantini
 

Title: Rampaging Hulk #9
Artist: Earl Norem (1923-2015)
Created: 1978
Dimensions: printed 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.3 in (27.7 x 21 x 0.7 cm)
 

Well, these aren't the Avengers we've become familiar with—why does Iron Man look like a bloated thimble? While the style of Earl Norem's illustrations may not stand the test of time, they still manage to captivate decades after their publication. Shown above is a mockup for the cover of the ninth issue of Marvel's Rampaging Hulk comic book series, which ran from 1977–1978. It depicts Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp carrying around the Hulk, who's in a state of paralysis. But is it the real Hulk? In the issue, a race of dastardly aliens uses its cutting-edge technology to impersonate the Avengers. These far-out scenes were Norem's forte: by the late '70s, he had firmly established himself as a master of illustrating pulp, a genre of sensational—and typically shoddy—writing that flourished throughout the '50s and '60s. Norem's later repertoire included Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian, and He-Man. The wacky artist passed away just three years ago on June 19, but thankfully, his colorful scenes remain with us. Now, someone lend us a hand—we've got a long ways to go carrying the Hulk back to Earth!
 

Below: more of Norem's over-the-top illustrations.
 

Image credit & copyright: Earl Norem / Marvel Comics / Random House
 

The monument to lasting love has witnessed—and survived—pivotal moments in history.

Don't be fooled by the graceful minarets; the Taj Mahal is one sturdy beast. Built by over 20,000 laborers during the reign of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the 1600s, the monument has since become a timeless symbol of Indian culture. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site that draws eight million annual visitors. But the Taj Mahal hasn't been completely immune to shifts of power, environmental problems, and other challenges Shah Jahan could never have foreseen.

 
It all started with a love story. The monument was built as a tomb and memorial for Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan's second wife, who had 14 children before she died in childbirth on this day in 1631. Shortly after he came out of his formal grieving period, the emperor commissioned the temple. Soon enough, thousands of workers were bringing marble from the Rajasthan region in western India, much of it carried on elephants. They didn't stop there: the emperor sent men to collect jade and crystal stones from China, turquoise from Tibet, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and sapphires from Sri Lanka—all before the advent of planes and trains!
 
Project costs totaled about $827 million in American dollars today, showing the wealth of the Mughal Empire during Shah Jahan's reign. But the empire's days were numbered; when it fell in the mid-1800s, it was quickly replaced by British rule. This caused immediate problems for the monument; during an 1857 conflict, British soldiers chiseled out some of the precious stones embedded in the monument's walls.
 
The British later left another mark, albeit a less destructive one. The Taj Mahal’s grounds were originally packed with trees and other plants to emulate a teeming "heavenly garden" concept many mosques and mausoleums still follow. During restoration in the late 19th century, the British removed some of the trees to widen the lawns and make the gardens a bit more restrained, proper, and, well, British. Those changes are still apparent in the gardens today.
 
By the 20th century, the Taj Mahal had become a popular tourist destination, attracting everyone from foreign dignitaries to celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Oprah, and George Harrison—who famously snapped a few selfies there in 1966. The Taj Mahal is also a functioning mosque which closes to tourists on Friday for Muslim prayer. In recent years, it's gotten caught up in Hindu-Muslim political clashes; Hindu leaders have disparaged the monument and in 2017, the Taj Mahal was conspicuously left out of the tourism booklet of the state government of Uttar Pradesh, the region where it's located. Air pollution presents another threat. The monument has become noticeably yellower over time because of smog from traffic and nearby housing developments. But if the Taj Mahal has survived the fall of two empires and two World Wars, we trust this beautiful but tough monument has another few centuries in her yet.
 

Below: the Taj Mahal's dome protected by scaffolding during World War II to distract Japanese bombers; the change in the stone's color is visible between Princess Diana's visit in 1992 and the visit of her son, Prince William and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, in 2016.
 

Image credit & copyright: Adrian Pope, Tim Graham / Getty, Shabaz Khan / Press Trust of India
 

Title: Jean As A Huntsman
Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Created: 1910
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 68 x 35 in (172.7 x 88.9 cm)
Current location: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
 

When it comes to the Renoirs, the family resemblance goes beyond appearance! Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir made the above portrait of his son (16-year-old Jean) dressed as a hunter. Created later in the painter's career, the work shows his return to a classical style; he has his son dressed in the outfit of a nobleman, a tribute to a portrait by 17th-century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. The painting also showcases Renoir's talent at depicting natural elements like the dog at his son's feet and the swirling green background. Renoir's interest in nature influenced his son, who would go on to release dozens of films between the 1920s and 1960s; the 1959 film Picnic on the Grass contains several shots highlighting the movie's natural setting. The painter also contributed to his son's career financially. When Jean Renoir was a young, unknown filmmaker, he sold a few of his father's works to cover expenses. Jean Renoir never let go of the above painting, however; it remained in a visible spot in his living room throughout his life. This Father's Day, we hope dads will keep that respectful tribute in mind the next time their kids hit them up for cash!
 

Below: Diego Velázquez's painting Prince Balthasar Charles As A Hunter, which inspired Jean As A Huntsman; the painting The Two Sisters by Auguste Renoir, and a still from Picnic on the Grass, the film by Jean Renoir. The still shows the film's main actress wearing bright red, a shade that appeared in Two Sisters and many other Renoir paintings.
 

Image credit & copyright: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago; The Barnes Foundation
 

Decorative flowers, lighters, tiny toys—so many small, colorful bits of plastic we use a few times, then throw away. In photos like SOUP—Ruinous Remembrance, above, British photographer Mandy Barker shows how these items linger in oceans long after we're finished with them. Barker works with scientists and organizations like Greenpeace to collect refuse from beaches around the world; she even traveled with a research team to track the trash that spread through the Pacific after Japan’s 2011 tsunami. Creating collages of the refuse she retrieves, Barker uses Photoshop to make it appear that the items are suspended—much like they would in the ocean. In Ruinous Remembrance, Barker assembled plastic flowers, leaves, and fishing line, and added bones and feathers. In other works, she arranges lighters, plastic balls, and random fragments to create images that are arresting, even lovely—until the viewer considers what they mean. Barker hopes her work will raise public awareness about plastic waste that kills an estimated one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year. Maybe not so pretty after all?  

Barker’s photos are included in the exhibit, [ENTER], at the Triennial of Photography Hamburg, through August.
 

Below: More of Barker’s images including: Hong Kong Soup 1826 - Lighter; PENALTY - Europe;
and SOUP - Alphabet.
 

Image credit & copyright: Mandy Barker
 

Title: He has surprised himself
Artist: Soo Kim (b. 1969)
Created: 2014
Medium: Hand-cut inkjet print, acrylic lacquer
Dimensions: 17 × 25.7 in (43.5 x 65.25 cm)
 

Woah—did Soo Kim take a baseball bat to this panorama of Los Angeles? The artist, who recently showed in the J. Paul Getty Museum's exhibit Cut! Paper Play in Contemporary Photography, crafts mind-boggling collages. Shown above is He has surprised himself, a photograph of Los Angeles' urban backdrop that Kim inflicted with a tangled latticework of incisions. To create the piece, she hand cut two photographic prints, sliced pieces from them, and layered them between sheets of Plexiglas. Gifted with a discerning eye, she managed to utterly fracture the original photo, leaving behind the illusion of multiple perspectives. (Picasso would be proud!) As the Professor and Program Director of Photography at Otis College in Los Angeles, Kim seeks to push photography to its limits. We just hope she doesn't completely shatter the art form along the way!
 

Below: more works by Soo Kim, including: (At the last moment before they enter – wistfully), 2014; (Approaches him - quieter), 2014; (Suddenly sees her, surprised), 2012; and (Disappearing behind his wife), 2012.
 

Image credit & copyright: Soo Kim / J. Paul Getty Museum
 

Scientist David Ho appears to be examining the terrain of a distant, unfamiliar planet; in fact, it's a landscape far closer to home. The researcher is studying a magnified image of a T-cell in the human bloodstream. The cell is infected with HIV, shown as bright red shapes that are reflected in Ho's glasses. The portrait was taken by photographer Gregory Heisler for the cover of TIME magazine in 1996, when Ho was named "Man of the Year." Geisler’s remarkable portrait tells us much more about Ho than a more predictable shot (of the scientist standing stiffly in his laboratory, for example), might have done. Ho, who immigrated with his family from Taiwan when he was just 12, is a pioneering HIV/AIDS researcher, and has been studying the virus since it was first detected in the 1980s. Geisler captures Ho's intense focus as he engages in a prolonged battle against a disease that kills approximately one million people around the world every year. His scientific team developed antiretroviral treatments to reduce HIV in patients' blood, allowing many to live far longer. Ho remains on the front lines today as he and his team continue the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine.  

The portrait is included in an exhibit of recent acquisitions on view at the National Portrait Gallery through November 4, 2018.
 
Below: more recent acquisitions at the National Portrait Gallery: portraits of violinist Sarah Chang and filmmaker Spike Lee, both by photographer Jesse Frohman.
 

Image credit & copyright: Gregory Heisler, TIME; Jesse Frohman, National Portrait Gallery
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this father-themed favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

Artist: Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata
Created: 2017
Medium: stop-motion animated film
 

While some sons bond with their fathers while playing catch or building model airplanes, some do it packing suitcases. In the stop-motion animated film Negative Space, an unnamed protagonist looks back on the unusual hobby he shared with his exacting father—a stiff traveling salesman particular about packing his belongings efficiently. Co-directors and animators Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata spent months creating the film's sets and props, including countless articles of tiny clothing made from real fabrics. Though the characters' proportions are cartoonish, the artists wanted the clothes—central to the activity of packing—to feel like realistic, tangible artifacts. The only narration in the film is a 150-word poem by Ron Koertge, which transcends its original medium when paired with Porter and Kuwahata's expert pacing and evocative visuals. The thoughtful, imaginative, and surprisingly humorous final result was one of this year's five Oscar nominees for Best Short Animated Film. Though it didn't take home the golden statue, it won the hearts of audiences for its unique portrayal of ritualized relationship-building—and for highlighting the importance of making space (and time) for those we love.

Below: some stills from the film; a making-of video with insight on the artists' process.
 

 
Image credit & copyright: Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this father-themed favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

Children light up our lives, and for President Lincoln and his son, Tad, this was especially true. In the final years of his life, Lincoln was preoccupied with the Civil War; he was also mourning his son, Willie, who died of typhoid in 1862. Tad also sorely missed his brother. His mother, Mary Lincoln, was too grief-stricken to care for the child. Lincoln found consolation in the boy's companionship; the two were said to be inseparable. The portrait doesn't show Tad's high spirits and penchant for mischief. Free to roam the White House, he sat in on Cabinet meetings and played pranks on White House guests. He also made a pet of a turkey given to the First Family for Christmas dinner, begging his father to let the bird live. Lincoln relented, thus inspiring the presidential "pardoning" of a turkey every Thanksgiving. This photograph, taken in February 1865, captures a bittersweet moment between father and son—and one of their last. Lincoln was assassinated just two months later.  

Below: Tad Lincoln in a Union officer's uniform, taken about 1864.
 

Image credit & copyright: Library of Congress; White House Historical Association
 

We knew Finland could be a great place to see some aurora borealis, but we never knew the sky could look this majestic. Photographer Mikko Lagerstedt shoots photos amid the ethereal spaces of his homeland, with the above sea, ship, and stars taken on a 2017 trip to Yyteri Beach. Lagerstedt is a largely self-taught photographer, who took up the hobby-turned-profession while he was working as a graphic designer. To get the above final image, Lagerstedt sets up his Nikon cameras to take two images of landscapes before merging them into one. Firstly, he captures an exposure of the sky, then a much longer exposure of the ground, to capture all of the rich details which are usually too dark to capture with quick snapshots. Those pictures are then edited together in Lightroom, producing breathtaking views which make it hard to decide whether we want to visit Finland's beaches, or sail the stars!
 

Below: more of Lagerstedt's images from Yyerti Beach.
 

Image credit & copyright: Mikko Lagerstedt
 

Title: Women washing clothing
Artist: Veijo Rönkkönen (1944-2010)
Medium: concrete
Current location: Parikkala Sculpture Park, Parikkala, Finland
 

Some people are satisfied with plastic flamingos or garden gnomes, but not Veijo Rönkkönen. The Finnish artist filled his garden with close to 500 wonderful—and weird, in some cases—life-size sculptures. Most of the figures keep busy, like the grinning washerwomen above; others dance ballet, perform gymnastics, or line up to greet visitors; 200 strike yoga poses. Rönkkönen began making the sculptures as a young man after he got a job at a paper mill, and earned enough money to afford materials. He remained at the job for 41 years and in his spare time the self-taught artist added to his concrete family. The sculpture garden, located in south east Finland, is now a popular tourist attraction: 25,000 people visit every year. When Rönkkönen was still alive, he welcomed visitors, but seldom talked to them. He was famously reclusive: when he was awarded the Finlandia prize in 2007, he skipped out on the ceremony and sent his brother in his place. His statues are apparently homebodies, too. Whenever Rönkkönen was asked if he would lend them to a museum or show, he would say he had to ask the statues first. They apparently always declined; none have ever left their garden home.  

Below: more of Veijo Rönkkönen's sculptures.
 

 
Image credit & copyright: Mike Ancient, Big in Finland; Minna Haveri, Spaces