{"id":16821,"date":"2024-05-21T17:30:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T21:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=16821"},"modified":"2024-05-21T17:30:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T21:30:37","slug":"episode-590-jim-moske","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-590-jim-moske","title":{"rendered":"Episode 590 – Jim Moske"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 590:
\nJim Moske<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_590_-_Jim_Moske.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“One of the major themes in the book is the dichotomy in the artistic field between fame \u2013 leaving a lasting mark on the culture \u2014 and oblivion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>With his amazing new book, DEATHS OF ARTISTS<\/a> (Blast Books), archivist Jim Moske<\/a> explores art, mortality, media, fame and our secret lives. We talk about his chance discovery in the Met Museum’s archives of century-old scrapbooks filled with artists’ obituaries<\/a>, his attraction to the obits’ brutal tabloid poetry, and how he fell down the rabbit-hole of figuring out the scandalous, redemptive life of their compiler, Arthur D’Hervilly. We get into what these obits \u2014 and D’Hervilly’s life \u2014 can teach us about art and artistic reputation, the challenges of working with 100+-year-old newsprint, the aesthetic pleasure of historical records, and why Jim considered doing this project as a ‘zine (just like last week’s guest<\/a>!). We also discuss how he got started as an archivist, his favorite phases of the Met’s history, how artists have responded to his book, his archive of illegible historical documents (!), the impact of digitization and electronics on the archivist field, what we lose when materiality goes away, the oblique influence of Bola\u00f1o’s 2666<\/a> on Deaths of Artists<\/em>, and how D’Hervilly’s art-obit collection became a chronicle of the democratization of art. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read Deaths of Artists<\/a>!<\/p>\n

“I’m often asked about what’s the coolest thing I’ve ever found in an archive I’ve worked in, and I never really had a good answer to that, until now.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n