Two years ago, I have to say there was no problem. Two years ago, I knew exactly what an icon looked like. It looks like this. Everybody's icon, but also the default position of a curator of Italian Renaissance paintings, which I was then. And in a way, this is also another default selection. Leonardo da Vinci's exquisitely soulful image of the "Lady with an Ermine." And I use that word, soulful, deliberately. Or then there's this, or rather these: the two versions of Leonardo's "Virgin of the Rocks" that were about to come together in London for the very first time. In the exhibition that I was then in the absolute throes of organizing. I was literally up to my eyes in Leonardo, and I had been for three years. So, he was occupying every part of my brain. Leonardo had taught me, during that three years, about what a picture can do. About taking you from your own material world into a spiritual world. He said, actually, that he believed the job of the painter was to paint everything that was visible and invisible in the universe. That's a huge task. And yet, somehow he achieves it. He shows us, I think, the human soul. He shows us the capacity of ourselves to move into a spiritual realm. To see a vision of the universe that's more perfect than our own. To see God's own plan, in some sense. So this, in a sense, was really what I believed an icon was.
Pre dve godine, nije bilo problema. Pre dve godine, znao sam tačno kako treba da izgleda slika. Ovako. Svačiji izbor, ali takođe i izbor kustosa italijanskih renesansnih slika, što sam tada bio. I ovo je takođe još jedan uobičajen izbor. Izvanredno osećajna slika Leonarda da Vinčija "Dame sa hermelinom". Namerno koristim reč "soulful" (osećajan). Onda, tu je ova ili "ove" dve verzije Leonardove "Bogorodice među stenama" koje je trebalo da stignu u London po prvi put na izložbu koju sam se tada mučio da organizujem. Bio sam do guše u Leonardu tokom tri godine. Okupirao je svaki deo mog mozga. Leonardo me je naučio tokom te tri godine šta slika može da učini. Da vas prenese iz vašeg materijalnog sveta u duhovni svet. Rekao je da veruje da je posao slikara da slika sve što je vidljivo i nevidljivo u svemiru. To je ogroman zadatak. Pa ipak, nekako ga postiže. Pokazuje nam ljudsku dušu. Pokazuje nam naš kapacitet da se prebacimo u carstvo duha. Da vidimo sliku univerzuma koji je savršeniji od našeg. Da vidimo božiji plan, u neku ruku. Tako da je ovo bilo ono kako sam mislio da treba da izgleda slika.
At about that time, I started talking to Tom Campbell,
I negde u to vreme, počeo sam da razgovaram sa Tomom Kempbelom,
director here of the Metropolitan Museum, about what my next move might be. The move, in fact, back to an earlier life, one I'd begun at the British Museum, back to the world of three dimensions -- of sculpture and of decorative arts -- to take over the department of European sculpture and decorative arts, here at the Met. But it was an incredibly busy time. All the conversations were done at very peculiar times of the day -- over the phone. In the end, I accepted the job without actually having been here. Again, I'd been there a couple of years before, but on that particular visit. So, it was just before the time that the Leonardo show was due to open when I finally made it back to the Met, to New York, to see my new domain. To see what European sculpture and decorative arts looked like, beyond those Renaissance collections with which I was so already familiar. And I thought, on that very first day, I better tour the galleries. Fifty-seven of these galleries -- like 57 varieties of baked beans, I believe. I walked through and I started in my comfort zone in the Italian Renaissance. And then I moved gradually around, feeling a little lost sometimes. My head, also still full of the Leonardo exhibition that was about to open, and I came across this. And I thought to myself: What the hell have I done? There was absolutely no connection in my mind at all and, in fact, if there was any emotion going on, it was a kind of repulsion. This object felt utterly and completely alien. Silly at a level that I hadn't yet understood silliness to be. And then it was made worse -- there were two of them. (Laughter) So, I started thinking about why it was, in fact, that I disliked this object so much. What was the anatomy of my distaste? Well, so much gold, so vulgar. You know, so nouveau riche, frankly. Leonardo himself had preached against the use of gold, so it was absolutely anathema at that moment. And then there's little pretty sprigs of flowers everywhere. (Laughter) And finally, that pink. That damned pink. It's such an extraordinarily artificial color. I mean, it's a color that I can't think of anything that you actually see in nature, that looks that shade. The object even has its own tutu. (Laughter) This little flouncy, spangly, bottomy bit that sits at the bottom of the vase. It reminded me, in an odd kind of way, of my niece's fifth birthday party. Where all the little girls would come either as a princess or a fairy. There was one who would come as a fairy princess. You should have seen the looks. (Laughter) And I realize that this object was in my mind, born from the same mind, from the same womb, practically, as Barbie Ballerina. (Laughter) And then there's the elephants. (Laughter) Those extraordinary elephants with their little, sort of strange, sinister expressions and Greta Garbo eyelashes, with these golden tusks and so on. I realized this was an elephant that had absolutely nothing to do with a majestic march across the Serengeti. It was a Dumbo nightmare. (Laughter)
ovdašnjim direktorom Metropoliten muzeja, o tome koji bi mogao da bude moj sledeći korak. Korak unatrag, u stvari, u raniji period kada sam počinjao u Britanskom muzeju, natrag u trodimenzionalni svet skulpture i dekorativne umetnosti, da preuzmem odeljenje evropskog vajarstva i dekorativne umetnosti ovde u Met-u. To je bio period sa neverovatno puno posla. Svi razgovori su bili obavljani u vrlo čudna doba dana - preko telefona. Na kraju sam prihvatio posao, a da u stvari nisam bio ovde. Bio sam par godina pre toga, ali ne zbog toga. Neposredno pre nego što je Leonardova izložba trebalo da se otvori, stigao sam u Met, u Njujork da vidim moje novo polje rada, da vidim kako evropsko vajarstvo i dekorativna umetnost izgledaju, van ovih Renesansnih zbirki koje su mi već poznate. I pomislio sam, tog prvog dana, da je možda bolje da obilazim galerije. Pedeset sedam ovih galerija, kao 57 vrsta pasulja. Prošao sam ih i počeo u svojoj oblasti - italijanskoj renesansi. I onda sam postepeno išao dalje i osećao sam se izgubljeno na momente. Moja glava, još puna Leonardove izložbe, koja je trebalo da se otvori, i naleteo sam na ovo. I pomislio sam: šta sam to, dođavola, uradio? Nisam video apsolutno nikakvu vezu i ako sam osetio ikakvu emociju, to je bila neka vrsta odbojnosti. Ovaj predmet mi je bio potpuno stran. Besmislen do nivoa koji još nisam poznavao. A onda je postalo još gore - bilo ih je dve. (Smeh) I tako sam počeo da razmišljam zašto mi se ovaj predmet toliko nije svideo. Kakva je bila anatomija moje odbojnosti? Toliko zlata, tako vulgarno. Tako snobovski, iskreno. Sam Leonardo je bio protivnik upotrebe zlata, Tako da je to bilo apsolutno neprihvatljivo u tom trenutku. Onda, te male lepe grančice sa cvećem na sve strane. (Smeh) I na kraju, ta roze boja. Ta prokleta roze. Neverovatno veštačka boja. Ne mogu da se setim da se može videti bilo šta u prirodi što je u toj nijansi. Predmet čak ima svoju baletsku suknju. (Smeh) Ovaj mali naborani, blistavi deo na dnu vaze. Podsetilo me je, na čudan način, na žurku za peti rođendan moje sestričine. Gde su sve devojčice došle obučene kao princeze ili vile. Bila je jedna koja je došla obučena u princezu vilu. Da ste videli te izraze lica. (Smeh) I shvatio sam da je taj predmet, po mom shvatanju, rođen u istom umu, iz iste utrobe kao i Barbika balerina. (Smeh) A tu su i slonovi. (Smeh) Ti neobični slonovi sa svojim malim, nekako čudnim zlokobnim izrazima i Greta Garbo trepavicama, sa zlatnim surlama itd. Shvatio sam da je ovo slon koji nema apsolutno nikakve veze sa veličanstvenim maršem preko Serengetija. On je Dambova noćna mora. (Smeh)
But something more profound was happening as well. These objects, it seemed to me, were quintessentially the kind that I and my liberal left friends in London had always seen as summing up something deplorable about the French aristocracy in the 18th century. The label had told me that these pieces were made by the Sèvres Manufactory, made of porcelain in the late 1750s, and designed by a designer called Jean-Claude Duplessis, actually somebody of extraordinary distinction as I later learned. But for me, they summed up a kind of, that sort of sheer uselessness of the aristocracy in the 18th century. I and my colleagues had always thought that these objects, in way, summed up the idea of, you know -- no wonder there was a revolution. Or, indeed, thank God there was a revolution. There was a sort of idea really, that, if you owned a vase like this, then there was really only one fate possible. (Laughter)
Ali i nešto dublje od toga se dešavalo. Ovi predmeti su, kako mi se činilo, suštinski bili od one vrste koju smo ja i moji liberalni prijatelji u Londonu uvek videli kao simbol nečeg skandaloznog u vezi sa francuskom aristokratijom 18. veka. Oznaka mi je rekla da su ovi komadi napravljeni u manufakturi u Sevru (Francuska), od porcelana, kasnih 1750-ih i dizajnirao ih je Žan Klod Duplesi, neko sa velikom reputacijom kako sam kasnije saznao. Ali, za mene su one bile oličenje one potpune beskorisnosti aristokratije 18. veka. Moje kolege i ja smo oduvek mislili da su ovi predmeti, na neki način, oličenje ideje da nije ni čudo što je bila revolucija. Ili, hvala bogu da je bila revolucija. Otprilike da, ako ste imali ovakvu vazu, onda je samo jedna sudbina bila moguća. (Smeh)
So, there I was -- in a sort of paroxysm of horror. But I took the job and I went on looking at these vases. I sort of had to because they're on a through route in the Met. So, almost anywhere I went, there they were. They had this kind of odd sort of fascination, like a car accident. Where I couldn't stop looking. And as I did so, I started thinking: Well, what are we actually looking at here? And what I started with was understanding this as really a supreme piece of design. It took me a little time. But, that tutu for example -- actually, this is a piece that does dance in its own way. It has an extraordinary lightness and yet, it is also amazing balanced. It has these kinds of sculptural ingredients. And then the play between -- actually really quite carefully disposed color and gilding, and the sculptural surface, is really rather remarkable. And then I realized that this piece went into the kiln four times, at least four times in order to arrive at this. How many moments for accident can you think of that could have happened to this piece? And then remember, not just one, but two. So he's having to arrive at two exactly matched vases of this kind. And then this question of uselessness. Well actually, the end of the trunks were originally candle holders. So what you would have had were candles on either side. Imagine that effect of candlelight on that surface. On the slightly uneven pink, on the beautiful gold. It would have glittered in an interior, a little like a little firework.
Tako da sam bio u grču užasa. Ali prihvatio sam posao i nastavio da gledam ove vaze. Nekako sam morao jer se nalaze na prolazu kroz Met. Tako da, gde god krenuo, one su bile tu. Bio sam fasciniran njima na neki čudan način, kao saobraćajnom nesrećom. Nisam mogao da prestanem da gledam. I kako sam to radio, počeo sam da razmišljam: u šta, u stvari, gledamo ovde? Ono što sam prvo shvatio, bilo je da je to zaista izvanredan dizajn. Trebalo mi je malo vremena. Ova baletska suknja, na primer - ovo je delo koje pleše na svoj način. Ima izuzetnu lakoću, pa ipak, neverovatno je skladna. Ima one sastojke skulpture. Pa onda, igra između pažljivo raspoređene boje i pozlate, i površine skulpture, je zaista izvanredna. Onda sam shvatio da je ovaj komad stavljan u peć najmanje četiri puta da bi se stiglo do ovoga. Možete li da zamislite koliko je bilo momenata u kojima je mogla da se desi neka nezgoda ovom predmetu? I onda, setite se, nije samo jedan već ih ima dva. Znači, on mora da dobije dve ovakve potpuno identične vaze. A onda, pitanje neupotrebljivosti. Pa, u stvari, krajevi surli su napravljeni da budu svećnjaci. I tako biste imali sveće na obe strane. Zamislite efekat svetlosti sveće na toj površini. Na blago neujednačenoj roze, na divnoj zlatnoj. Sijala bi u zatvorenoj prostoriji kao mali vatromet.
And at that point, actually, a firework went off in my brain. Somebody reminded me that, that word 'fancy' -- which in a sense for me, encapsulated this object -- actually comes from the same root as the word 'fantasy.' And that what this object was just as much in a way, in its own way, as a Leonardo da Vinci painting, is a portal to somewhere else. This is an object of the imagination. If you think about the mad 18th-century operas of the time -- set in the Orient. If you think about divans and perhaps even opium-induced visions of pink elephants, then at that point, this object starts to make sense. This is an object which is all about escapism. It's about an escapism that happens -- that the aristocracy in France sought very deliberately to distinguish themselves from ordinary people.
I u tom trenutku, vatromet je bljesnuo u mom mozgu. Neko me je podsetio da reč "fensi" - koja mi je na neki način zatvorila ovaj predmet - u stvari, potiče od istog korena kao i reč "fantazija". I da je ovaj predmet, na neki način - isto kao i slika Leonarda da Vinčija - kapija koja vodi negde drugde. Ovo je predmet mašte. Ako pomislite na ludačke opere iz 18. veka, radnje smeštene na Orijentu. Ako pomislite na divane i opijumske vizije ružičastih slonova, u tom momentu ovaj predmet počinje da ima smisla. Ovaj predmet je eskapistički. U vezi je sa eskapizmom koji se dešava - koji je aristokratija u Francuskoj tražila namerno da bi se razlikovala od običnih ljudi.
It's not an escapism that we feel particularly happy with today, however. And again, going on thinking about this, I realize that in a way we're all victims of a certain kind of tyranny of the triumph of modernism whereby form and function in an object have to follow one another, or are deemed to do so. And the extraneous ornament is seen as really, essentially, criminal. It's a triumph, in a way, of bourgeois values rather than aristocratic ones. And that seems fine. Except for the fact that it becomes a kind of sequestration of imagination. So just as in the 20th century, so many people had the idea that their faith took place on the Sabbath day, and the rest of their lives -- their lives of washing machines and orthodontics -- took place on another day. Then, I think we've started doing the same. We've allowed ourselves to lead our fantasy lives in front of screens. In the dark of the cinema, with the television in the corner of the room. We've eliminated, in a sense, that constant of the imagination that these vases represented in people's lives. So maybe it's time we got this back a little. I think it's beginning to happen. In London, for example, with these extraordinary buildings that have been appearing over the last few years. Redolent, in a sense, of science fiction, turning London into a kind of fantasy playground. It's actually amazing to look out of a high building nowadays there. But even then, there's a resistance. London has called these buildings the Gherkin, the Shard, the Walkie Talkie -- bringing these soaring buildings down to Earth. There's an idea that we don't want these anxious-making, imaginative journeys to happen in our daily lives. I feel lucky in a way, I've encountered this object. (Laughter) I found him on the Internet when I was looking up a reference. And there he was. And unlike the pink elephant vase, this was a kind of love at first sight. In fact, reader, I married him. I bought him. And he now adorns my office. He's a Staffordshire figure made in the middle of the 19th century. He represents the actor, Edmund Kean, playing Shakespeare's Richard III. And it's based, actually, on a more elevated piece of porcelain. So I loved, on an art historical level, I loved that layered quality that he has. But more than that, I love him. In a way that I think would have been impossible without the pink Sèvres vase in my Leonardo days. I love his orange and pink breeches. I love the fact that he seems to be going off to war, having just finished the washing up. (Laughter) He seems also to have forgotten his sword. I love his pink little cheeks, his munchkin energy. In a way, he's become my sort of alter ego. He's, I hope, a little bit dignified, but mostly rather vulgar. (Laughter) And energetic, I hope, too. I let him into my life because the Sèvres pink elephant vase allowed me to do so. And before that Leonardo, I understood that this object could become part of a journey for me every day, sitting in my office. I really hope that others, all of you, visiting objects in the museum, and taking them home and finding them for yourselves, will allow those objects to flourish in your imaginative lives. Thank you very much. (Applause)
To nije eskapizam sa kojim smo danas naročito zadovoljni. I opet, nastavljajući da mislim o ovome, shvatam da smo svi žrtve neke vrste tiranije trijumfa modernizma, gde forma i funkcija predmeta treba da prate jedna drugu ili bi to trebalo da rade. A nepotrebni ornament se karakteriše kao zločin. To je trijumf buržoaskih vrednosti, pre nego aristokratskih. I to izgleda u redu. Osim što onda to postaje sužavanje mašte. Tako da su i u 20. veku, mnogi ljudi imali ideju da se njihova sudbina desila na Sabat, a ostatak života - njihovih života mašina za veš i popravljanja zuba - se desio drugog dana. Mislim da smo i mi počeli da radimo isto. Dozvolili smo sebi da vodimo živote fantazije ispred ekrana. U mraku bioskopa, sa televizorom u uglu sobe. Eliminisali smo onu konstantu mašte koju su ove vaze predstavljale u životima ljudi. Možda je vreme da vratimo ovo malo. Mislim da počinje da se dešava. U Londonu, na primer, sa ovim sjajnim građevinama koje su nicale u poslednjih nekoliko godina. Mirišu, na neki način, na naučnu fantastiku pretvarajući London u igralište iz mašte. Neverovatno je pogledati sa visoke zgrade danas tamo. Ali čak i pored toga, postoji otpor. London je nazvao ove zgrade: Gerkin, Šard, Voki-toki spuštajući time ove visoke zgrade na zemlju. Postoji ideja da ne želimo ova uznemirujuća, imaginativna putovanja u svojoj svakodnevici. Osećam da sam imao sreće. Ja sam našao ovaj predmet. (Smeh) Našao sam ga na internetu kad sam tražio reference. I on je bio tu. i za razliku od ružičaste vaze sa slonovima, ovo je bila ljubav na prvi pogled. U stvari, oženio sam se njim. Kupio sam ga. I sada krasi moju kancelariju. To je figura iz Stafordšira napravljena sredinom 19. veka. Predstavlja glumca Edmunda Kina koji igra Šekspirovog Ričarda III. Postavljen je na jednom uzdignutijem delu porcelana. Svideo mi se, na nivou istorije, taj slojeviti kvalitet koji ima. Ali više od toga, svideo mi se on. Na način koji ne bi bio moguć bez ružičaste vaze iz Sevra iz moje Leonardo faze. Volim njegove narandžasto-ružičaste bermude. Volim to što izgleda kao da je krenuo u rat pošto se upravo okupao. (Smeh) Izgleda takođe da je zaboravio svoj mač. Volim njegove ružičaste obraze, njegovu patuljastu energiju. Postao je, na neki način, moj alter ego. Malo je dostojanstven, ali uglavnom je prilično vulgaran. (Smeh) I energičan, takođe, nadam se. Pustio sam ga u svoj život jer mi je vaza iz Sevra to dozvolila. A pre toga Leonardo. Shvatio sam da bi ovaj predmet mogao da postane deo moje svakodnevice, postavljen u mojoj kancelariji. Nadam se da će drugi, i svi vi, gledajući predmete u muzeju i odnoseći ih kući, dozvoliti ovim predmetima da se rascvetaju u vašoj mašti. Hvala vam mnogo. (Aplauz)