MSNBC's Ari Melber's remark today talking about "Monet's pointilism."

[CTyankee]

He was trying for a political analogy. I said "WHAT???" to the TV, but didn't think the audience caught his art error. But sure enough, at the next break he was talking about all the texts and emails the show got informing him that it was Seurat (which he kind of mangled) that painted in pointillism.

It was fun and nice that his error did not go unnoticed...

[TeamPooka]

1. He studied law, not art history. But I appreciated the attempt.

[CTyankee]

3. I know he is there to talk about the legality of certain actions by Trump et. al.

and the fact that he did promptly correct on air.

I have to laugh at myself. I once did an essay on a famous work by Edouard Manet where I misidentified a Caillebotte for a Manet. Since my daughter is helping me self publish my art essays in a book, I had to go back and delete the reference in the original copy on my PC files. Then I realized that even great art historians have occasionally misidentified art.

But I still blushed a lot

[TeamPooka]

7. I bought a Kandinsky print once that a gallery had been stamped KLEE on the back.

I tried telling them they were wrong but they wouldn't listen so I bought it and got a great deal.

[LisaM]

26. Sure, but that is a very understandable error.

Caillebotte is so much less known, and his work is frequently shown in Impressionist exhibits. If they don't sort it by artist, as many curators don't, I'm sure his work has been misidentified a lot. When I got to Impressionist exhibits, if I don't recognize the work I try to stand back and figure out the artist, and he stumps me more than anyone.

I digress, but it's so interesting.

[FSogol]

2. LOL, did he mean, Lady Monet?

Ok, I'm just kidding. You know I'm kidding, right?

[CTyankee]

4. Actually, Monet and Seurat were not too distant in time from each other...

but in fact, Seurat stole a pose from 13th century Piero della Francesca for his man on the beach...bent knee and all...

[ProfessorGAC]

5. For My Next Witness. . .

. . .i call Miss Mona Lisa Vito! (I love that movie!)

[CTyankee]

6. sorry, I don't get the reference (sounds cute tho)...

[genxlib]

9. My Cousin Vinnie

Line by Joe Pesci referring to the character played by Marisa Tomei.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. My Fault, Yank

Because i love that movie so much, i assumed everybody knew that line. Too presumptuous on my part.

If you haven't seen though, you should check it out. It's a very entertaining movie. A court room comedy, and deftly done because it's a murder trial and they never seem to treat the crime lightly. But, he's the defense attorney trying to acquit two guys who didn't do it.

[CTyankee]

15. I think I saw it! But with my memory issues of late...

[tblue37]

16. Two innocent yutes. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Did You Say Yute?

What's a yute? We better quit. Could hijack the thread.

[tblue37]

18. Heh heh heh heh. nt

[genxlib]

8. That movie

Is one of the few that I will watch unlimited times. I just stop on it every time I see it.

[eleny]

19. Lol!

Loved her biological clock ticking! But her positraction assertion always warms my heart. Maybe because we speak with a similar accent. So there's always that. Being a Brooklyn girl she had to nail it.

[malaise]

10. Love it

[CTyankee]

11. "Never make an art to politics analogy if you don't know how to identify either."

I knew you'd appreciate it.

[demmiblue]

12. I saw that, too!

I cringed when he tried to pronounce Seurat with a hard t.

He totally owned it, though (with help from Twitter).


Everyone needs more art! A Detroit Institute of Arts commercial from my childhood:

[CTyankee]

13. I remember seeing that room (pic only, never been to Detroit)

I found it impressive!

[longship]

29. Diego Rivera murals.

They are wonderful. I grew up in Detroit. Just sitting in that room is an extraordinary feeling. One can almost hear and smell the machinery depicted operating.

Here they are.

North wall mural:


South wall mural:


The setting:

[CTyankee]

30. fabulous! I remember being blown away by it.

But there was, IIRC, a political angle injected into all this controversy: Rivera was an active Communist, so that had to get folks ire up...

[longship]

31. No controversy in Detroit, that I know of.

There was talk of selling the murals a few years ago. How that would be managed, I don't know. They'd have to tear down the entire building to remove them. Needless to say Detroiters put a quick end to such an idea.

I lived within the city for my first 40 years and visited the Detroit Institute of Arts on many, many occasions. I never heard a peep of anything but love for those murals and Rivera. The people of the city are proud to have them.

Go figure.

[CTyankee]

32. I remember, at the time it devastated me even to think about Detroit having

to give up its city art museum. I was in despair for a long time...

[eleny]

20. Did they wind up selling a lot of the art?

I remember when Detroit was in the deepest debt and there was that effort discussed to sell off art from the Institute. That was awful.

[CTyankee]

23. memory I have is that the city didn't have to do that...

the city declared bankruptcy. But it was heart stopping at the time...

[RandomAccess]

22. Uh, how is it pronounced?

Loved the video. Are you still in the area? How has the museum fared through the intervening years?

[CTyankee]

25. Seurat? It's pronounced "Soorah" but the "soo" part has that little French accent

that is "different" from "soo."

[RandomAccess]

27. LOL -- okay.

Thanks.

Turns out the "soo" part is the hardest. Go figure.

[renate]

21. I'm sure that if the mistake had been made on Fox, viewers would have noticed and written in too....

But really, it tickles me that I watch a channel whose viewers notice and care about things like that. And I especially like that I get much of my news from there instead of from a channel whose hosts talk about cheeseburger emojis during Manafort's indictment.

[OnDoutside]

24. Poor Ari gets nailed for trying to broaden his horizon beyond hip-hop !

[CTyankee]

28. I think a little google might have helped him. I like the metaphor, actually, but

the Google is so easy...really, just a quickie check on his smart phone, would have made it all so much smoother...