Bird on a Guitar Wire.
Controversy about the origins of one of the most important symbols of the Woodstock generation. The logo used on posters and publicity for the Woodstock Music and Art Festival is credited to Arnold Skolnick. The iconic dove sitting on a guitar neck. In the book, The Road to Woodstock, festival co-creator Michael Lang claims to have given instructions to Skolnick on what to execute for his illustration. Skolnick, denies being nourished with an idea beforehand and claims complete originality in the design.
” I gave Arnold the copy and told him the main message was ‘ three days of peace and music ‘ and that I wanted a dove perched on a guitar as our image”.( Michael Lang, Road to Woodstock ). ‘‘ As for the logo, Skolnick said he had seen a Matisse show in Manhattan with works in cut paper and had been drawing catbirds on Shelter Island. ‘ So when I sat down to do the poster I just cut out the shape of a catbird , People assume its a dove’ ”. The elements in the poster of both abstract and figurative do lend credence to the Matisse influence.
Matisse, did indeed create vibrant paper cut-out art the last 14 years of his life after being diagnosed with cancer. He termed this art, ‘‘painting with scissors”. It involved freehand cutting of colored papers into beautiful shapes , first pinned to walls and later glued to large white paper backgrounds or canvasses. In 1947, these were presented in an illustrated book called Jazz. ‘‘ The title Jazz evoked for Matisse the idea of a structure of rhythm and repetition broken by the unexpected actions of improvisation.”
Its possible that Skolnick, an erotic photographer was attracted to the Matisse series of cut-out termed the blue nudes. These were the liberation of figurative drawing from paper. Most of the cut-outs reflect a renouncement of drawing, a synthesis within a synthesis where the artist draws directly in the colour. What was termed, ‘‘a constant return to childhood”.
Skolnick’s adaptation of the cat-bird is also relevent. It is a phrase popularized by author James Thurber( In the Cat-Bird Seat ) and broadcaster Red Barber as a metaphor for sitting pretty. The cat-bird seeks out the highest perches in trees and is known as an adept mimic.
Tristeza do Rei, 1952
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