Souren dixit

Souren Melikian on art objects:

Objects are a better gauge of the true collectors' frame of mind because, unlike paintings, they do not lend themselves to hype as easily as pictures, where world-famous names give auction press offices something that can be celebrated in simple terms.

If someone has never looked at Augsburg and Nuremberg silver gilt vessels of the 17th century, it is impossible to describe in two snappy sentences what makes the greatness of a cup and cover done in Nuremberg around 1630 by Leonhard Vorchammer. By the time you have said that this kind of object is known in German as a Dürer Pokal because its design goes back to Albrecht Dürer in the 15th century, and that this piece of abstract sculpture paradoxically seems to be swirling thanks to its twisted motifs in the central area, you have lost your listener's attention. Add that it is a 17th-century example of Gothic Revivalism, and you will wither under the stare of contemptuous boredom.

I have written extensively about this elsewhere: the unjust hyper-recognition of painting and the hypo-recognition of other decorative arts.