Aesthetics for Birds

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art for Everyone

Darren Hudson Hick on Ward Kimball

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This is entry #19 in our ongoing 100 Philosophers, 100 Artworks, 100 Words Series.

Philosopher: Darren Hudson Hick (Texas Tech)

Artwork: Ward Kimball, Art Afterpieces (1964)

Words: In this slim volume my wife found at a library sale, Ward Kimball (master Disney animator, responsible for Jiminy Cricket) paints amendments to dozens of classical works, turning Altdorfer’s Martyrdom of St. Florian into a scene from West Side Story, making Botticelli’s Venus a Playboy Bunny and his Man with a Medal a member of the Mickey Mouse Club. Gainsborough’s Blue Boy becomes a surprising doppelgänger of Andrew Kania. This is 1964, at the height of Pop Art, a year before Sturtevant’s first show, and 13 years before the “Pictures” exhibition that launched the career of appropriation artist Sherri Levine. 

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