 |
1929 IN RETROSPECT By Angus Trumble “Mohandas K. Gandhi was arrested in Calcutta for burning foreign cloth, tried before the British chief presidency magistrate, and (wisely) fined only one rupee. The flag of India was unfurled in Lahore and an early date set for “independence.” Rudy Vallee achieved enormous popularity as a “crooner.” The concepts of “the Memphis blues” and “boogie-woogie” emerged, for which the innovations of popular artists such as Cow Cow Davenport, Roosevelt Sykes, and Clarence “Pine Top” Smith are now thought to have been responsible.“ The year 1929 saw the global economy collapse, but performers, perfumers, princes, and protesters went about business as usual. A regular feature. Angus Trumble is Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, CT. His book, A Brief History of the Smile, was published by Basic Books in 2004. The Finger: A Handbook, will be published later this year by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
|
Esopus 10 (Spring 2008)
CONTENTS:
CONTENTS:
