美国国家公共电台 NPR A Painting Stored Away And The Artist Who Wants It To See The Light Of Day

 

RAY SUAREZ, HOST:

A painting that's been called a contemporary masterpiece has spent the better part of the past three decades in storage. It's only now making the rounds of museums across the country. It's called "The Fulbright Triptych." It's nearly 14 feet wide and features near life-size portraits of the artist, Simon Dinnerstein, and his family. Reporter Jon Kalish has our story.

JON KALISH, BYLINE¹: It's the details that get you. In the right panel sits the artist - in the left, his wife holding their infant daughter and, in the middle, his workbench covered with engraving² tools. On the walls behind - carefully reproduced paintings, postcards and photographs and, in between, two windows looking out on a small town, all rendered in a hyper-realistic kind of folk art style.

PETER TRIPPI: There is a sense of, what the heck is this? And then you recover from that, and you start falling into it.

KALISH: Peter Trippi is editor of Fine Art Connoisseur³ magazine.

TRIPPI: You back up away from it because you need to kind of give yourself some distance. And you think, this is slightly mad but also completely wonderful.

KALISH: The artist began the triptych in Germany while on a Fulbright scholarship, hence the title. Simon Dinnerstein finished it four years later in his Brooklyn studio. While it was still a work in progress, Dinnerstein says a prominent Manhattan gallery owner - the late George Staempfli - came to see it with an assistant.

SIMON DINNERSTEIN: They looked at this painting for maybe a half hour - didn't say one word, no questions. I couldn't make out what was going on. At the end of the half hour, George Staempfli said to me, I think this is a great painting, and I'd like to own it.

KALISH: Staempfli sent Dinnerstein a monthly stipend⁴ for two years as payment. When "The Fulbright Triptych" debuted⁵ at the Staempfli Gallery in 1975, "The New York Times" raved⁶ about it.

DINNERSTEIN: I went up in the elevator, and people had "The New York Times." And they were reading the paper, and they were talking about my painting. And when I got into the gallery, I met the former director of the Whitney Museum and the then-director of the Guggenheim Museum. And it was kind of like a fairytale.

KALISH: Seven years later, in 1982, Staempfli sold the painting to the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State. The museum didn't display the work for two years and then hung it for just two months before putting it back into storage. It's only been shown a handful of times since then, none of them at Penn State.

The painting's checkered⁷ life has frustrated⁸ its creator, so in an effort to raise its profile, Simon Dinnerstein corralled more than a dozen prominent figures in the arts to write about the work for a book he compiled. One of them is Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Anthony Doerr.

ANTHONY DOERR: You know, if you're a writer and you want to revisit your work, you can bring it up on your screen or grab it off a shelf quite easily. And for Simon, you know, this is years of his life. Back when you have that energy in your 20s and 30s to make work - a painting like this, those are thousands of hours compressed into a small space. And to have that be in a warehouse⁹ must be really, really hard.

KALISH: Now, just about all museums have works that spend a lot of time in storage but are sometimes taken out for specific shows. "The Fulbright Triptych's" immense size and unusual style might make it a difficult fit for a general exhibition. But no one associated with the Palmer Museum will explain the painting's life in darkness. The curator who acquired the triptych for the Palmer is dead, and both his retired¹⁰ successor and current museum officials declined to comment for this story. But the artist is persistent¹¹.

DINNERSTEIN: It seems to me that the purpose of museums is not just to safeguard art, but it is also to share the art. It's a very difficult situation. I mean, this is like a giant baby, and the baby's being locked away in the basement.

KALISH: Simon Dinnerstein's "Fulbright Triptych" is on view now in Columbia, Mo., as part of a touring exhibition of the artist's work. It then travels to Elmira, N.Y., and Reno, Nev., before eventually going back into storage. For NPR News, I'm Jon Kalish.

(SOUNDBITE OF MATISYAHU'S "LOVE BORN")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 engraving   

n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
• Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句

3 connoisseur   

n.鉴赏家，行家，内行

参考例句：

• Only the real connoisseur could tell the difference between these two wines.只有真正的内行才能指出这两种酒的区别。
• We are looking for a connoisseur of French champagne.我们想找一位法国香槟酒品酒专家。

4 stipend   

n.薪贴；奖学金；养老金

参考例句：

• The company is going to ajust my stipend from this month onwards.从这一个月开始公司将对我的薪金作调整。
• This sum was nearly a third of his total stipend.这笔钱几乎是他全部津贴的三分之一。

5 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

6 raved   

v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说

参考例句：

• Andrew raved all night in his fever. 安德鲁发烧时整夜地说胡话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They raved about her beauty. 他们过分称赞她的美。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 checkered   

adj.有方格图案的

参考例句：

• The ground under the trees was checkered with sunlight and shade.林地光影交错。
• He’d had a checkered past in the government.他过去在政界浮沉。

8 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。