Characters on Canvas: Gertrude Stein

Gertrude Stein by Red Grooms

Red Grooms (born Charles Rogers Grooms on June 7, 1937) is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. Grooms was given the nickname "Red" by Dominic Falcone (of Provincetown’s Sun Gallery) when he was starting out as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Provincetown and was studying with Hans Hofmann.

Gertrude Stein also appears in this photograph by Man Ray, with her Picasso-painted portrait in the background.

Joni Mitchell Spoofs Joni Mitchell

With a little help from Van Gogh.

This self-portrait by Joni Mitchell was used as the cover to her 1994 release Turbulent Indigo.

National Poetry Month - e.e. cummings

"Poetry and every other art was and is and forever will be strictly and distinctly a question of individuality."    
~ e.e. cummings

e.e. cummings biography

Self-portrait by e.e. cummings

The Paintings of e.e. cummings

All in green went my love riding
on a great horse of gold
into the silver dawn. 

four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
the merry deer ran before. 

Fleeter be they than dappled dreams
the swift sweet deer
the red rare deer. 

Four red roebuck at a white water
the cruel bugle sang before. 

Horn at hip went my love riding
riding the echo down
into the silver dawn. 

four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
the level meadows ran before. 

Softer be they than slippered sleep
the lean lithe deer
the fleet flown deer. 

Four fleet does at a gold valley
the famished arrow sang before. 

Bow at belt went my love riding
riding the mountain down
into the silver dawn. 

four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
the sheer peaks ran before. 

Paler be they than daunting death
the sleek slim deer
the tall tense deer. 

Four tell stags at a green mountain
the lucky hunter sang before. 

All in green went my love riding
on a great horse of gold
into the silver dawn. 

four lean hounds crouched low and smiling
my heart fell dead before.

Ruby Tuesday Goes To Zurich, Switzerland

NOTE:  See also this post which features my photo on the cover of a professional journal and witness my 15 seconds of fame! 

And now for an explanation of my Ruby Tuesday offering. My Significant Other WP had an extended stay of a business trip to Zurich due to the volcanic ash affecting European air travel, so he decided to make the most of it. On one of the weekends of his two week stay, he was around for the parade portion of the Sechseläuten: Burning the Böögg, ( means ringing of the six'o clock (bell), Zurich's annual Spring event. 

The so-called Böögg is a giant three-metre [10 ft] high effigy of a snowman made from straw and cotton wool and charged with explosives, sitting on top of a bonfire. Burning the snowman doll symbolizes putting an end to winter.

Following their parade, guild members on horseback ride around the pyre while the bands are playing the official Sechseläutenmarsch tune. Of russian origin, the melody probably found its way to Zurich during the Napoleonian wars. Zurich's guild members, opposed to the revolution depriving them from their privileges, must have liked it for political reasons as much as for its musical quality.

The pyre is set on fire exactly at 6 o'clock p.m. Legend has it, that the quicker the the poor Böögg "dies" (i.e. his head explodes), the sooner summer will come, the hotter it will be and the longer it will last. Depending on the humidity of the air, the riders, the photographers and the crowd may have to wait between 6 and more than 40 minutes.

 WP didn't stick around for the burning of the Böögg, which, had I been with him, I would have absolutely insisted upon, of course. Zurich is a really nice small city, which WP and I visited together in 2006. I would have loved to have been there for the colorful parade full of adorable children and wagons decorated with flowers. 

Enjoy! I certainly did.

Ruby Tuesday is hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet

Thanks, Mary!

Monochrome Weekend and Window Views

I'd like to share with you a photograph which I've featured before on possibly both Monochrome Weekend (formerly Monochrome Monday) and Window Views. This time, however, there is a little twist. The photograph below was chosen for the April cover of a trade journal published by RCI, 
an international association of professional consultants, architects, and engineers.
Here is the original photo, taken by me, looking out from a window at MoMA out toward the many windows of New York City.

Good week everyone!

Pagan Sphinx Photo

Monochrome Weekend

Window Views and Doorways