Putting the "Goth" back in Gothic

There are reasons to love the New York Times every day (+ be cowed by its mostly sharp writing), but this Friday's Arts section is a thing of beauty.

In particular, a review of the Met's: Prague: The Crown of Bohemia, 1347-1437. Even described in list form the show would be profoundly fascinating (the middle ages just are) but written with such wisdom + wit, the show itself must be flattered, and its curator walking ten feet off the sidewalk.

On Prague: The Crown of Bohemia (1347-1437), by Holland Cotter.

Statue of a slender virgin, "bows like a melting taper."

Of Charles IV: "The addition of Holy Roman Emperor to his resume, made him a political superstar."

Of the objects assembled: "...so many of the show's 160 objects look idiosyncratic, self-invented, unacquainted with their neighbors, even though almost everything was made in the same place during more or less the same time."

"...Byzantine prophets with thundercloud scowls"

How can you not have fun writing about a bloodline that includes Ludmila, grandmother of (good king) Wenceslas and a Kafka-land run through with the forces of, "cruelty, grief and sardonic humor?"


C - briefly bohemia-n