Frankenstein chapter 10

Chapter 10 and the epilogue of Frankenstein cultural history details the comparisons made between cloning and the monster as well as some of the laws allowing family to copyright an actor's image after they die (such as Karloff's Frankenstein and Lugosi's Dracula).

Frankenstein cultural chapter 9

Chapter 9 of the Frankenstein Cultural History discusses Hammer and the camp versions such as Munsters, Young Frankenstein, Rocky Horror, and cartoons. The only thing I've not seen was "Frankenstein meets the Space Monster" which inadvertently started the camp trend. I was confused by her assertion at the end of the chapter about Alice Cooper "disappeared from the music scene for more than a decade after his 1971 hit record Love it to Death". This just isn't so. I'm not familiar enough to know if he stopped doing his infamous concerts for a time, but he released an album at least every second  year for that entire period.

Pinhole and more sculpture and Frankenstein

Read first portion of "Pin Hole Cameras, a do-it-yourself guide" by Chris Keeney, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2011).  So far it is a personal account of interest plus great technical advice. I like his note "we are human and imperfect" as a means to situate non-perfect art practices. Some important notes on paper iso on page 27-28.  I used pinhole to create my video today. http://vimeo.com/34692634

Frankenstein Cultural History, chapter 8 has interesting notes on the Hammer films which I love but have not read about or studied in depth. I especially like the idea that the novel was ignored when writing the first movie, the only thing necessary was that it not resemble the Universal in the least.

Essay in "The Original Copy": "From Sculpture in Photography to Photography as Plastic Art" by Tobia Bezzola. Of interest: I'm interested in the writings of Heinrich Wolffin from 1896 on his very limited view of how to photograph sculpture based on there being one definitive angle corresponding to the artist's conception. His views are compared to Baudelaire and his hypothesis of the viewer finding infinite entry points into art (page 29). Page 30 cites Artschwarger "it is pointless to compete with God or NASA".   Discusses 2 photo approaches to sculpture: to display or to create sculptuer that exists only in the photograph. Page 31 declares that the best surrealist sculptures are photographs. Page 32 says that objects surpass paintings and gain "semantic autonomy" due to photography's influence. The Surreal, Bahaus, and Straight photographers are compared. Tropes of modernism listed on page 33. Yesterday's video included a sculpture which I shot due to things in this book: http://vimeo.com/34643878

Frankenstein culture chapter 7 and Hockney documentary

Just a light reading day today; chapter 7 of the Frankenstein book. Again, mostly history but I would like to follow up on an illustrator who did one of the versions of the book in the 30s and who is described as working on early graphic novels: Lynd Ward.
I watched a documentary about David Hockney (A Bigger Picture from 2009). I liked the idea that he was creating a painting per day for a three year period (Margaret points out that he had two assistants and I don't). He also said "We always see with memory" and I think that this is important to all the identity and diary work I do.

Frankenstein and intro to "Original Copy"

In chapter 6 of the Frankenstein culture book, the 1931 Karloff film was the primary discussion topic. There were a couple of points of trivia I'd not heard before but overall it was an unchallenging read. I picked up "The Original Copy: photography of sculpture, 1839 to today", which is a large hard covered 2010 MOMA catalog Margaret gave me last year but that I'd not spent any quality time with. I read the introduction essay by the editor, Roxana Marcoci. I generally don't like reading introductions; they always cover too much, list too many names, and say too little. This one was no exception. The basic idea of the book is to chronicle how photography and sculpture are tied together in current study, stating quite bluntly that the study of art is "the child of photography" (quoting Donald Preziosi, page 12). On page 18, she discusses how "the idea that the camera can at once extend a sculptural activity into performance and a performance into sculpture" I did find the explanation of the root of montage to be intriguing, that the word comes from the German montieren which means "to engineer" (page 16).

Frankenstein chapter 5

This morning I continued reading the same Frankenstein book. This chapter was primarily about the 1910 Edison film adaptation of the story, the first Frankenstein film ever made. It was thought lost but then a copy was discovered to be in a man's collection but he refused to archive it, showing it publicly for money for many years. He eventually released it to DVD and he died in 2005. The film has Frankenstein create the monster in a huge vat and the filmmkaer used reverse fire to create the effect of chemical construction. It is available now on Youtube. I watched it today (it is only 10 minutes) and felt inspired to try out this effect. I created my daily film; "Thomas Edison and the Stitchpunk Frankenstein Monster". It took me much of the day.

Frankenstein a cultural history chapters 3-4

I read chapters three and four of "Frankenstein, a cultural history" (Susan Tyler Hitchcock, W.W. Norton, New York, 2007) (one chapter yesterday, one before I go to bed this evening, less than two hours into this sabbatical). This book is not highly critical but contains numerous interesting things to consider regarding Frankenstein, the book, the mythology, and the treatment of it over time. I am interested in re-engaging with Frankenstein over the next couple of years as its bicentennial is approaching. I was intreaged by the idea that the monster developed more as a theatre performance than a novel in its early years with the monster having long hair and blue skin. I'm also amazed that a satire calling him Frankenstitch had already emerged by 1823 in "Another Piece of Presumption" by Richard Peake (page 87). Chapter 4 focuses more on how Frankenstein began to be altered and used as a metaphor for changes and fears of changes within the 19th century. An early interpretation of the monster as a machine came in 1924 with Frank-in-steam (page 101). An 1854 political cartoon by Tenniel shows the monster as made from munition parts as representing the Russian army (page 110). It mentions scientific advancements such as Leyden jars which I'd like to follow up on.