Said Ronald Perelman, quoted in "Judge Rejects Ronald Perelman’s Claim That His Art Had Lost Its ‘Oomph’/The collector’s holding companies had sued his insurers for $400 million to cover paintings that they say had been damaged in a fire. The insurers said they had survived untouched" (NYT).
The OED traces "oomph" — "The quality of being exciting, energetic, or sexually attractive; energy, vigour" — back to 1937: "With actors, the 'it' quality has to do with their visual personality—sex appeal, magnetism, or whatever you care to call it. Back of the camera, we refer to the ingredient as 'umphh.'" The etymology is "An imitative or expressive formation." I presume what it is imitative of is sexual intercourse.
Meanwhile, you know Cy Twombly — pencil-scribbly things like this:
If the collector sensed oomph and the oomph is now gone — it's like the spark gone out of a love affair — how can he convey his anguish to the judge? His anguish, if any. Who's to believe it ever existed? How can you insure something so ineffable?
పోస్ట్లు
38 కామెంట్లు:
"How can you insure something so ineffable."
You eff it.
Some people expect a lot out of life, don't they?
If living as an aesthete on that level is a serious pursuit, is the man (of considerable means) living in heaven or in hell?
Color me skeptical.
Fine art is a money laundering and tax avoidance scam. Insurance fraud seems appropriate.
"I presume what it is imitative of is sexual intercourse."
I don't think so. It is just the sound that one makes during any strenuous exertion, especially pushing with the arms and upper body. "Give it some Ooomph!".
Ron is just upset that he didn't give the artwork Ellen Barkin as part of their divorce. She got lots of jewels and sold lots of them.
The market price of this so-called artwork has probably declined as the Greater Fool Theory is coming into play.
Ron should have bought Impressionists and other Acknowledged Masters; they hold their value and appreciate.
In October 2006, "Magnificent Jewels from the Collection of Ellen Barkin" were sold for $20,369,200 at Christie's, New York.
"I don't think so. It is just the sound that one makes during any strenuous exertion, especially pushing with the arms and upper body. "Give it some Ooomph!""
You should read all the entries at the OED. The word arose in the film industry and there was a whole thing of referring to certain actresses as "oomph girls." It's a way to talk about sex, not construction work. It may have moved into other things over the years. I'm talking about the origin of the word.
***
1935 She [sc. Lucille Page] also adds a bit of hip-tossing and torso-heaving in her first number which is plenty oomph—but plenty. Billboard 25 May 16/3Citation details for Billboard]
1937 With actors, the ‘it’ quality has to do with their visual personality—sex appeal, magnetism, or whatever you care to call it. Back of the camera, we refer to the ingredient as ‘umphh’. Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia) 10 April 55/2Citation details for Saturday Evening Post (Philadelphia)
1942 Lucie Coindreau, you know, is the oomph-girl of the Romance Language Department. ‘W. B. Johnson’, Widening Stain 30Citation details for ‘W. B. Johnson’, Widening Stain
He shouldn't have admitted that it "lost its oomph" and tried to palm it off on another "collector" of high priced artworks ripped straight from the pages of a junior high notebook.
That would look great in a public toilet.
How is there no "before and after" photos - unless the "fire" did nothing to the "art."
Please forgive my bad grammar...
Ah this is Ronald Perelman the banker, not Ron Perlman the actor. Was wondering where Hellboy came up with $400M for art.
That is the unmistakable trail of Pigpen left on that canvas!
I say again:
ART IS SHIT.
…some of them look like they do need zhuzhing up..
‘It didn’t have spark’. Heh…the one client at that level of collecting had fakes made to hang in the houses and kept the real ones in vault..
were they damaged or not, if every profession full of hot garbage,
if its like the garbage daryll hannah displayed in wall street, then probably it was worthless,
'The word arose in the film industry and there was a whole thing of referring to certain actresses as "oomph girls."'
Well, OK. If the OED says so. The difficulty I am having, is that in my experience, most of the ooomphing in that situation is done by the male. Does the OED say anything about "ooomph boys"?
"Perelman's first major business deal took place in 1961 during his Freshman year at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He and his father bought the Esslinger Brewery for $800,000, then sold it three years later for a $1 million profit."
See! In America anyone can make it. Look at Ron, he worked himself up with his boot straps. The Free Market baby.
If only my Dad had given me $5 million to buy that waterfront Factory when I was 12.
I will once again call attention to the fact, that when women are referred to as "girls", it is because they are being considered as sexual commodities. There are showgirls, and showmen. But no showwomen or showboys. I find this noteworthy because it is so obviously sexist, and yet writers who clearly consider themselves feminist use the term without any apparent irony.
'"If those laws require obligation of the money, and if Congress has not by rescission or other action relieved the Executive of that duty, then the Executive must comply," Kagan wrote in a dissent joined by fellow liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.'
Nobody is calling them "The Girls".
Ann Sheridan was a popular 1940s actress and pin-up known as The Oomph Girl
"A widening stain of ineffable oomph."
Please consider that for the next motto.
Wow. I haven't seen the name Twombly since grammar school. Kevin Twombly was a thin guy with a big head. So we called him "Tweety-bird", of course.
He's realized that he's the sucker left stuck with the art, and he can't bear to be wrong about it - so he sues. Nice try, Daddy Warbucks. You own it. Enjoy it now!
He's the guy who dumped Ellen Barkin shortly before the prenup would have entitled her to a massive share of his money. Also, the guy I keep confusing with Barry Diller.
Wasn't it Walter Benjamin who claimed that in the age of mechanical reproduction, all art lost its oomph? I can see that it happened in this case. They used too much oobleck to put out the fire.
The insurance company doesn’t care about oomph, nor should it. If the fire didn’t physically damage them, then there are no damages. Perelman hasn’t lost anything insurable.
The results of carbon dating can be thrown off by a later fire which deposits carbon on bones, in ice and on cloth as in the case of the Shroud of Turin. So an argument exists that an unseen carbon film icould be dulling the paint. But Perelman never showed that there was a later carbon film. Maybe he found out that smog and pollution had been depositing on the paintings all along.
If you want to invest, you can buy skilled representational art that lasts. Otherwise, you get what you deserve. A rotting shark. A balloon dog? A duck-(not duct)-taped banana?
These people are just laundering money. What would it take for dilettantes to see this?
If you like a picture, buy it. Otherwise, don't pretend.
It was worth nothing to begin with and it’s still worth nothing.
You don't think what, Althouse? It takes geinus and years of dedication to produce real art. That isn't a debate about oomph. Give it up. You have no legal argument.
You don't think what, Althouse? It takes geinus and years of dedication to produce real art. That isn't a debate about oomph. Give it up. You have no legal argument.
doesn't it seem everything is a scam writ large, the BLS the murky maneuvers of the Fed, the revolt against common sense reform of critical agencies, the denial of basic science
all of these scam artists on wall street, in the academy on think tanks funded by circuitous parties,
It's a shame the American legal system doesn't have some sort of process for weeding out bogus, frivolous, and borderline crazy lawsuits like this. Like say, competent judges.
Tape a banana to it, Ron.
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