This is kind of like Sister Wendy meets Law & Order
The OTHER Frick in New York (hehehe) hosts members of the NYPD for a training course to sharpen their detective skills. The Henry Frick collection is ideal for this exercise because of the type of art he collected. I suspect, though, that art of any period could hold some forensic keys that police and CSU-folks might also find valuable. I mean, heck, some of Warhol's paintings could help them understand, ummm, splatter patterns of, ummmm, bodily fluids.
I've included after the parts I excerpted images of the paintings so you can see what they are talking about.
Capt. Ernest Pappas frowned in concentration as he stood before Vermeer's "Mistress and Maid" in the Frick's plush West Gallery and was asked to describe the painting.
"This woman is right-handed, of well-to-do means, and the pen appears to be in the dropped position," Mr. Pappas said, assessing the mistress. Unsure about the other figure in the picture, the maid, the 42-year-old asked his colleagues whether they thought she was delivering bad news. "Is she assuming a defensive position? Do you think that's a smirk?"
Though he hadn't so carefully analyzed a painting before, Mr. Pappas immediately saw how it related to his detective work in Queens: "Crimes -- and art -- can be solved by looking at the little details."
The article also describes a situation where the art educator's knowledge of the painting helped, that this is not just a summarize all the details you see experience.
Capt. Kevin Hurley, 53, scrutinized a 1742 Hogarth painting called "Miss Mary Edwards." He studied the seated woman in a red dress, trying to determine how to best explain the portrait to the rest of the group.
"We decided she wanted to show off the fact that she's educated and wealthy," Mr. Hurley told the other officers, pointing out her straight posture, her jewels and the letter she held, which they guessed was from her rich husband. The hunting dog in the picture puzzled Mr. Hurley. "That doesn't seem like a dog that woman would have," he told the group. "Shouldn't it be a poodle or something?"
Ms. Herman explained that the portrait reflected the independent nature of Miss Edwards, an educated woman who divorced her extravagant husband and regained control of her household. "We had come up with a really good story for it, but everything wasn't as it appeared," Mr. Hurley concluded. "I now know how to look for more than what you first see."
And in the Teaching is a Two-Way street department
The course has also given Ms. Herman new perspective on her day job. Though she has a master's degree in art history and is well versed in the Frick's art collection, she says that working with the officers has given her insight and appreciation of the art she sees every day. When leading a discussion about J.M.W. Turner's dramatic sea scene "Fishing Boats Entering Calais Harbor," an officer remarked that it seemed like a race. "I've always looked at that urgency in terms of impending danger, but he could see that same tension in a sporting context," she says. "Now, every time I see the painting, I look at it a little differently.
Comments