Friday, January 14, 2011

Happy Birthday Eva Hesse

(January 11, 1936 - May 29, 1970)

Eva Hesse biography at the artchive

Note: The photos that follow were taken by me at MoMA, NYC in 2009. The photos of others will be attributed to their respective websites.

Untitled,

Enamel paint, string, papier-mâché, elastic cord,

1966

(MoMA)

To listen to an analysis of the above piece, click here

(it's kind of amusing)

Expanded Expansion

1969

Reinforced fiberglass poles and rubberized cheesecloth. Overall: 122 x 300 inches.

Contingent

Allegra's Art Gallery

Sources:

The Telegraph: Eva Hesse: her dark materials

The Estate of Eva Hesse

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Taken through the window with the zoom less than an hour ago. I had a strange dream the night before last that involved an owl in flight (and I did see this one take flight toward the river), a very large horse and a tiger. Is anyone into dream interpretation? Leave your email address in the comment and I won't publish it. It would be cool to describe that dream in as much detail as I can recall, to someone ~~interesting~~ interested in listening to it.

Happy Birthday John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American painter, and a leading portrait painter of his era.

One of my favorite American painters, only two of the selections featured below are my own photos.The others are culled from various sources on the 'net and represent paintings I've actually seen up-close and personal at their respective permanent museums. I felt really lucky when I realized this! :-)

Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose

1887

Tate Britain

Fumee d'ambre gris (Smoke of Ambergris)

1880

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA

Madame X

(Virginie Avegno Gautreau)

1884

The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit

1882

Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Note:The large, grand vases portrayed in the painting above are also displayed in the same room and I was able to photograph them. I also photographed the painting below. Unlike my attempts to photograph the portrait of the two little girls playing, this one below didn't give me nearly as much trouble.

Mrs. Fiske Warren and her daughter Rachel

1903

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

ABC Wednesday - Z

Z is for Francisco de Zurbarán

(November 7, 1598 – August 27, 1664)

I think I started my first round of ABC Wednesday somewhere around letter H and the time has flown by so quickly that we are now at Z. Again, my search for an artist whose name begins with the featured letter, netted me one that I was previously unfamiliar with.

I'm not very knowledgeable about religious painters of that period but his work reminds me of Caravaggio, one of the old masters. Here are a few paintings chosen by me with no particular knowledge of what exactly is representative of the painter. I like the paintings of the female saints best and being a fan of still life, I chose a couple of those as well.

St. Casilda
c. 1630-1645

St. Apollonia

The Virgin

ABC Wednesday
join us, won't you?

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Feng Shui

Longtime blogger and blogger friend Liberality, inspired me to seek the rooms of my dreams. If only virtually, I have been viewing images of rooms I would have if only I were wealthy, wasn't a pack-rat and didn't live with someone who saves the household a ton of money by working on our cars when they need repair and who routinely comes into the house from outside dripping with grease as a result. Oh and if I lived in Southern California where the climate is such that all one has to do is close those wooden shutters lead to the outdoor bed and sleep soundly on raw silk sheets all night long. Sigh.

Here is the bedroom.