Pan The Greek God

Exhibit at Frick Art & Historical Center gives glimpse into psyche of late ...

In choosing traveling exhibitions for the Frick Art & Historical Center, Sarah Hall looks for works that illuminate the Gilded Age contemporary with the Frick family who gave the campus its name.

The exhibition now on display at the Point Breeze museum, "PAN -- Fin de Siecle Prints: Art Nouveau on Paper," fits the Frick's mission today, but the works it showcases were revolutionary in their time. While the Frick family enjoyed their wealth in Pittsburgh, a group of intellectuals led by Otto Julius Bierbaum and Julius Meier-Graefe were shocking the establishment with the magazine they published in Berlin.

A publication of poetry, prose and art, PAN printed only five volumes between 1895 and 1900, circulating only 1,100 copies of each issue, and remains esoteric even to art historians, said Ms. Hall, director of curatorial affairs at the Frick.

Still, the short-lived project of Bierbaum, who would go on to become an influential poet and novelist, and Meier-Graefe, who would rise to prominence as a critic and art historian, was home to revolutionary, iconic and stunning images of Art Nouveau and its contemporary movements.

The exhibition at The Frick Art Museum, which continues through Sept. 11, contains 80 images by 54 artists. They comprise portraits of contemporary artists and intellectuals featured in the magazine, page ornaments, and exquisitely decorated pages of writing -- a paragraph from Nietzsche, for example -- as well as artwork.

"I describe putting this show together as unrolling, unraveling spaghetti," Ms. Hall said.

The publication's title paid homage to Pan, the Greek god of fertility and passion whose face decorates its covers, posters and pages and whose name is also Greek for "all." Its founders saw PAN as a font of creativity and a place to gather international ideas. They solicited work from artists in Germany, France, England, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland and the United States.

The first room of the exhibition houses its most somber pieces: black-and-white etchings and lithographs by German Social Realist artists alongside printed portraits of contributors to the magazine and some of the first issue's pages.

In a print by William Liebel, "Portrait of an Old Woman (Bildnis einer Alten Frau)," the grimness of Realism seems to have sunk in the lines of the subject's face. A quotation attributed to Liebel hangs below: "I paint people the way they are. Their soul is already there anyway.

The Pajama Monoblogs: PAN – the Greek god of cooking

Oh sure I love gyros and baklava just like most folks, but I draw the line at being associated with that weird little half goat / half dude Greek God of mythology! I don’t dispute my hairy legs, hooves, and the fact that I can play a mean 3 octave scale on a flute? I can’t help the horny head and satanic similarities either, but I swear the only Greek God I follow on Facebook is “Pita Pan”, the portly paladin of peanut butter. Despite cruel rumors to the contrary, the perforated pan that I find most godly does NOT reside within my lack of videographic ability, or a less than flattering blog review. No in fact, my favorite pan is a 100% flute-free, tin Frisbee that will never witness Jehova unless he needs a perfect pizza or a tray of tasty choco-chip cookies expertly browned every time. Its ‘hole-y’ presence aside, don’t kid yourself, my pan is tough and it faces the oven’s dominion of fiery purgatory every day just like it owns the place. I have only had trouble with it once and that was in an unfortunate polka dot tanning incident which I attribute primarily to that hot-head practical joker, Apollo. It’s not handy protection either when Zeus blows his nose overhead, but on the other hand it strains a pot o’ pasta like nobody’s business. So take my advice, if you want cooking salvation, grab the holiest pan you can and plan to become a fan. You’ll soon learn the only dough you KNEAD to be happy is made of pizza flour, and life’s golden brown parachutes are best unfurled on hot aluminum and covered in GREECE. As high-brow Greek gods go, my PAN may not seem like much except to Paula Deen ’s hillbilly baking family tree. But no matter, I’m still am a ‘PAN-TASTIC’ true believer of the one and only, tried and true cooking ‘god’ which remains closest to my heart . . . and hopefully furthest away from UNDER my bed.

You're too funny, and thanks for stopping by, but I must say you can not put boots on a mermaid nor would I want to put a mermaid costume on my grandson, but if you'll try it on first... Have a wonderful day! ~snicker-snicker~ By the way, we have Thursday's Recipe Swap Meet if you'd like to join us with your Pizza recipe. We'd love to have ya!!!

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