19th century food porn

Cauliflower and Pomegranates -- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1890

arthur's august moon

Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) was an artist and teacher whose theories on composition and form are often noted as being strongly influential. Hilton Kramer feels he's a tad overrated, and he slipped in a nice zinger in his review Major Show for Minor Guy: "Georgia O'Keeffe made a point of acknowledging Dow's influence as a teacher on her own early artistic development. But we needn't hold that endorsement against him." I just happen to like this August Moon by Dow, especially because we're presently under another August full moon, and because it also kind of reminds me of another Arthur's work, i.e., Arthur Dove who painted Me and the Moon. And then there's always the Arthur who got caught between the moon and New York City.

painting of the month

Travelling Carnival, Santa Fe -- John Sloan, 1924 (Smithsonian American Art Museum)

on the half shell

This week's Free Will Astrology column by Rob Brezsny had an interesting horoscope for Aries, working in the French Impressionists:

In the 18th century, the French Academy laid down rules about the differences between professional and amateur paintings. For example, it was decreed that true artists must create a "licked surface," hiding all evidence of their brushstrokes. The illusion was more convincing that way; viewers could sink their attention fully into the image without being distracted by thoughts about the artist's process. When the Impressionists barged into the scene in the 1870s, one of their rebellions against convention was to reject the licked surface. By making some of their brushstrokes visible, they declared they weren't interested in upholding the artifice. They wanted their audience to get involved in their subjective interpretation of the scene that was portrayed.

This plate of oysters by Gustave Caillebotte looks more interesting and appetizing (at least to me) because of the visible brushstrokes and the artist's process, which probably involved being increasingly hungry and hoping to finish painting soon and eat his models.

summer morning

Charles Burchfield (1893 – 1967) was an American artist who preferred to work in watercolors and at varying points in his career created uniquely intense nature studies. 1917 was one of his most prolific years with an output that included the pictured Summer Morning, from the Midwest Museum of American Art. Charles also designed wallpaper in Buffalo as a day job for a while, and he later expressed his firm opinion that Pablo Picasso was the "evil genius of modern art" who "wittingly or unwittingly, brought about a decadence that is really terrible to behold."

arrangement in grey, black and tallulah

The less I behave like Whistler's mother the night before, the more I look like her the morning after. (Tallulah Bankhead)

canadian moonscape

Pictured: Hot Summer Moonlight -- Tom Thomson, b. August 5, 1877 - d. July 1917 (National Gallery of Canada)