von brunn = artist? is this a hoax?

[Hannah Bell]

http://www.askart.com/askart/v/james_w_von_brunn/james_w_von_brunn.aspx.

[pepperbear]

1. so was hitler.

which is only to say that mania is not devoid of artistic talent or intelligence.

[grantcart]

2. nope, apparently he was also in Mensa.

[Hannah Bell]

3. yes, i found more info. who knows how much is true. pt-boat, ad exec, artist - but according to

report, had only social security to live on & lived in group housing...son of upper middle class family....

from his bio posted on askart.com:

"The von Brunn/Wenneker families migrated from Germany/Austria c. 1845, settling in St. Louis, Missouri. James von Brunn's father, Elmer, was superintendent of Scullin Steel Mill. During WWII he designed, and supervised a 40mm shell plant for the U.S. government in Houston, Texas. His wife Hope Wenneker von Brunn, educated at Hosmer Hall, was a homemaker and accomplished pianist.

They had two children, James (JvB) and Alyce. The family spent summer months at Piasa. Illinois, where JvB roamed the limestone bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, hunted snakes and turtles in the willows along its banks, and collected Indian artifacts. His grandmother Wenneker (grossemutter) gave him an oil paint set for his 7th birthday. His inspiration to paint came from Scribner Illustrated Classics and painters such as Pyle, Schoonover, and Wyeth. But his painting, because of his love of athletics, was confined to days of inclement weather. During the hiatus between high school and college he hitchhiked through Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico."


excerpt supposedly from website bio, holywesternempire.org:

"James W. von Brunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE and played varsity football.

During WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, receiving a Commendation and four battle stars. For twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. He is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.

In 1981 von Brunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore."

[lapfog_1]

5. Has anything about his background been proved?

He was/is a self-described member of mensa (which really isn't that difficult).

He claims to not only be a WWII vet, but a PT commander (Ok, barely possible, JFK would be 92 this year and was a PT commander, this guy is only 88, 4 years younger than Kennedy).

[Why Syzygy]

4. That painting reflects

a shattered mind. Dissociative disorder aka multiple personalities.

[Gwendolyn]

6. Lol, how do you come to that conclusion?

[coyotespaw]

10. Not to speak for the poster you responded to...

but having dated several artists who pontificated on the meaning of various paintings that I couldn't remember for the life of me, I notice a couple things that seem to validate that poster's points. The more realistic woman is in blurrier, and fading towards the bottom of the painting, while the more abstract woman is in more vivid colors, and more clearly defined. Also, of the several cross images in the painting, the most clearly defined ones are on the abstract side of the painting. Finally, while I'm not sure if it's because of the Picasso styling, but it appears that the abstract woman is observing the woman in yellow, while the woman in yellow is indifferently studying her book. This definitely appears to be the work of someone struggling with issues of what is and isn't real. While I'm incapable of understanding his stated ideology, or forgiving his actions; I have to acknowledge that this painting made an interesting statement.

[Why Syzygy]

12. Good points.

I've done some study on dissociative disorder and know a bit about the inner workings as currently understood.
There are three different points of view. There are at least ten frames. And, yes, the watcher. Both of the main figures are holding books. Other minor details...

Thanks for your reply!

[Gwendolyn]

19. Sorry, but what a load of hooey.

Tell us how you interpret any one of Dali's oeuvres. And what do those insipid water colors of Hitler's tell you?

[Why Syzygy]

21. I can read you loud and clear.

Ugly. Go find someone else to spit on.

[Gwendolyn]

26. You made a bad call. Wanting to find something sick or depraved in every little detail...

of the man's life is just an example of closed mindedness.

People do that all the time when they go on witch hunts after innocent people they "just don't like" as well.

[Why Syzygy]

27. I stated my opinion.

Why is it so threatening to you? Sounds like you have issues.
I'm guilty of nothing here. You, otoh, are guilty of posting rude comments.

[Gwendolyn]

33. Not really. You're just being ultra-sensitive and really defensive.

I even posted an LOL to indicate that I was amused.

Most people who have no issues laugh when people catch them at a funny error. They don't pout. So why not lighten up. It's a sunny day and for what it's worth, you've gotten to know two works by rather famous artists.

[Why Syzygy]

35. oh um kay

If it comes out at his trial that he has a history or newly diagnosed mental illness, you can look me up. :hi:

[Gwendolyn]

38. That would be an interesting discussion, and I would love it.

:)

[surrealAmerican]

15. "Issues of what is isn't real" are, in fact, a vital ...

... topic explored by painters for centuries. If that is a criteria for mental illness, you might as well just define painting as a symptom of mental illness.

This painting looks a whole lot more like "art about art" to me.

[Gwendolyn]

20. Me too. n/t

[Matariki]

28. It's actually a very clever painting

I like it. It's very difficult to separate the art from the artist though.

[Gwendolyn]

22. From this interpretation one can divine mental illness?

Okay, sure. Why not. The Surrealists must have all been batshit crazy then.

Reading, or holding a book is actually a common pose in many paintings of yore. The abstract is a reproduction of a Picasso work which in this case works as a painting within a painting. The Picasso figure isn't actually reading though, she's looking out from her framed prison at the woman who is intently reading and oblivious to her. That the woman in the forefront is actually engrossed in her book - you could extrapolate that she's emancipated, intellectually superior, while the Picasso modern cubist version of a woman is merely a decorative wall hanging. The juxtapositioning of the cubist painting hanging on the wall of an 18th century woman's home (another famous painting btw) could suggest that he thought realism would outlast modern art or that it dwarfs it. A typical Nazi opinion. Or maybe it's just a clever painting within a painting within a painting. Or he likes pastiche, as someone else said.

[Why Syzygy]

30. I get it now.

You consider yourself the only one qualified to comment on art work.

I guess you're sore because I got here before you.

[Heidi]

37. I agree. There's lotsa evidence that he hated most contemporary art, especially expressionism.

From von Brunn's self-authored bio at askart.com:

At the University JvB was in the Liberal Arts program. He enrolled in art classes where he learned that Marxist/Liberal concepts dominated the program. Anatomy studies were discarded along with perspective, drawing and old master techniques. Western Culture was replaced by "expressionism." We see the results today in expensive art produced by monkeys, elephants, Pollack and pianists who play with their elbows. <snip> Pusillanimous Eastonians, hiding behind political correctness refuse to display JvB's paintings, nor will they engage in business with him. However, von Brunn continues to exhibit under assumed names away from the Shore.

In small towns across America the blind and cowardly scramble, push and shove getting and spending while their homes are burning and their complexions grow progressively darker.

Von Brunn paints and plots.
http://www.askart.com/askart/v/james_w_von_brunn/james_w_von_brunn.aspx

[Gwendolyn]

39. Pusillanimous Eastonians!!

:rofl: Not lacking in artistic drama, was he?

[zbdent]

11. yeah, really ... if that is his, he is far more talented a painter than I ...

and probably a much better shot, too, but that's not a good thing.

The painting, though not redeeming him, looks outstanding ... WHOEVER painted it, has talent ...

[d_b]

7. the woman in yellow

represents the purity of the white race. the wannabe piccaso shit going on in the background represents the always lurking zog machine out to kill us all.

[moggie]

9. Or a mind which disapproves of cubism

Or a desire to demonstrate artistic flexibility. Or he just likes pastiche.

Remember, the Nazis regarded most modern art as "degenerate" and Jewish-influenced, and banned it. A painting by a Nazi which uses contrasting styles could simply be an attempt to portray the entartete Kunst as inferior to wholesome Aryan realism.

[ColbertWatcher]

14. It's kind of interesting, but not spectacular. n/t

[Marr]

16. I think it speaks of either paint-by-numbers, or copying the work of

others.

Painters used to do that "picture in a picture" stuff all the time-- it was a way of saying, "see? I'm even better than the original painter, because I stick their work in here as a simple background". Foreground's copied, too.

I'd expect that sort of thing from someone who's interested in joining MENSA.

[Tanuki]

17. Actually, he has just copied two famous paintings and juxtaposed them.

The one at the top is one of many variations by Picasso on the theme of a woman reading, while the one at the bottom is one of Fragonard's most famous paintings(see below). Interesting to see so much projection around here, though.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

18. Exactly. It's a mix of Fragonard's - The Reader and Picasso's - Woman With a Book.

An interesting blending of Renaissance and Modernist.

[Why Syzygy]

23. It is still an original composition.

Feel free to disregard my opinion. I know I will your's.

[Forkboy]

40. Beat me to it.

:thumbsup:

[QueenOfCalifornia]

25. Oh come on....

what a load of crap.

[Why Syzygy]

29. Am I to surmise

from all the negative comments about my (studied) OPINION, that only those complaining deem themselves worth to critique art?

What then?

[QueenOfCalifornia]

34. Look - It isn't about the "art."

It is about you deciding that the guy has multiple personalities. What a fucking bunch of crap your diagnosis is --- And you know it.

[Why Syzygy]

36. We'll see.

Stay tuned for his trial.

[Forkboy]

41. Your post reflects something as well.

:rofl:

[Why Syzygy]

43. I'm running a special today.

People who make asinine comments go on ignore. :hi:

[Forkboy]

44. Aw, I'm crushed.

:hi:

[grantcart]

42. Actually the painting is a combination of two other famous

paintings, one of Picasso and the other well known;


I heard somebody talking about it on cable.


Actually I find the painting very interesting.

[JustinL]

8. check out his biography

...He enrolled in art classes where he learned that Marxist/Liberal concepts dominated the program. Anatomy studies were discarded along with perspective, drawing and old master techniques. Western Culture was replaced by "expressionism." We see the results today in expensive art produced by monkeys, elephants, Pollack and pianists who play with their elbows.

...

JvB moved to New York City in 1947. He studied figure painting at the Central Park School of Art, located on Madison Ave at 57th Street, Manhattan. To make ends meet he worked in a bank vault at night. He attempted to crack into the newspaper business but all doors were closed to conservatives.

Too bad Rush Limbaugh wasn't around to convice those newspapermen that "JvB" was really a leftist.

[lunatica]

13. I know artists who are unstable

What some may call passion or moodiness may be mental instability. I know at least one artist who is a full blown manic depressive who refused to take medication because it would interfere with his artistic drive. I know a few who suffer from depression, or who go into rages when they can't paint.

I'm an artist so I've been around quite a few in classes and groups. Some artists can be so self-involved that it's difficult to be around them. It's like standing in a thunderstorm with the wind lashing at you.

[Mari333]

24. LOL I know them too

and quite a few actors/actresses with the same passionate brouhaha.
I am also an artist and I hung around when I was young with a lot of them, when I was into my ego at ridiculous levels of ego..we all took ourselves far too seriously. Thank God for old age.

[Why Syzygy]

31. What about the critics!

Those doing the criticizing of personal critique here are beyond EGO. (not you)

[Mari333]

32. ah well one thing i discovered is that 'art' is subjective

and thats why i dont critique anything...its everyones personal call.
:P