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Posts Tagged ‘Art at Princeton University’

Art on campus. Princeton Univ. April, 2015 By Paul Goldfinger ©

Art on campus. Princeton Univ. April, 2015 By Paul Goldfinger ©  Click to enlarge

 

Friends meet inside Nassau Gate. By Paul Goldfinger © 2015

Friends meet inside Nassau Gate. By Paul Goldfinger © 2015  Click to enlarge

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor @Blogfinger

Sometimes we get requests to use one of our photographs for some purpose.  The usual protocol is to ask the photographer for permission to use an image which they found, often on the Internet.  They also are asked to attribute the image by placing my name with the photograph or as a footnote.  A few  years ago my shot of the Eiffel Tower was used in an ad throughout Europe.

But I got some extra pleasure recently when a Princeton freshman contacted me.  In a letter immaculately written, he said that he was working on a paper about the relationship of the University to slavery.   I didn’t know that we had slaves in New Jersey or exactly what relationship he would write about, but he asked to use a black and white image* of mine taken on campus of Nassau Hall (1756).  He wanted the photograph to headline his paper, and just to be sure I understood which image he was interested in, he attached the photo to his email.

Of course I said OK. This is one way to get into Princeton without even submitting one’s SAT scores.  I hope we get an A.

Nassau Hall by Paul Goldfinger.

Nassau Hall  ©   by Paul Goldfinger.  *

 

NATASHA PATAMAPONGS  with a song for our freshman friend who, as a first year, is still a bit green. But it sounds like he is making a grand first impression.

 

 

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“Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe.” (Lunch on the grass 1995)  oil on canvas by Yue Minjun. Photographed by Paul Goldfinger at the Princeton University Art Museum.

Yue Minjun (b. 1962) grew up during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960’s in China.  As an artist, he is a member of the “cynical realism” school. Yue Minjun lives in Beijing and decided to create a laughing matter out of Manet’s 1862 work of the same name.  This painting sold for $1.2 million recently.  It is currently on display at the Princeton U. Art Museum. It’s rare that I find myself laughing while viewing serious art.

That is until later lightening struck twice.  I picked up a copy of the Daily Princetonian on Nassau Street where a front page photo shows a campus art display with some unusual accoutrements attached by mischievous students. The caption read, “An unknown group of students has placed hundreds of condoms on the student art project known as “The Nest.”

princetonian

I wonder if they received an art grant to pay for those decorations. Who says that sky-high SAT scores might diminish the tendency for college students to engage in low humor?

SPEARHEAD  “Say Hey (I Love You)”  From the soundtrack of the movie Valentine’s Day

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