henri celebration

Today in 1869 the great Henri Matisse was born in northern France, although later in life he would seek out the distinct light and color of the southern part of the country.  He eventually became a master of color and deceptively simple form and shape, and if you do enjoy his work it can have a curiously both enlivening and calming effect.

I discover the quality of colors in a purely instinctive way. -- Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954)

Pictured by Henri Matisse:  Interior with Goldfish Bowl (1914); The Music Lesson (1917); Conversation Under the Olive Trees (1921); Self-Portrait (circa 1900)

painting of the month

Sunburst in December -- Charles Burchfield (1915)

street scene, christmas morn

Childe Hassam -- 1892 (Smith College Museum of Art)

paris is always beautiful

Pictured:  A Parisian Balcony -- Konstantin Korovin (1908); Pont Neuf, Paris -- Xavier Martinez (1900); Summer Evening, Paris -- Childe Hassam (1889); Paris -- Raoul Dufy (1934); Paris Through the Window -- Marc Chagall (1913)

black cat power

Cats have inspired many a painting but this time of year belongs to the black cats, sometimes sleek and mysteriously beautiful, sometimes just as chubby and/or quirky as any other feline.  Black cats have a ridiculous reputation for bad luck...but not in Britain or Japan, where they're considered to bring good fortune.  So here's to celebrating these gorgeous creatures, during Halloween and beyond.

Pictured:  The Black Cat -- Hishida Shunso (1910); Two Black Cats Reclining -- Franz Marc (1913); Girl with Black Cat -- Giovanni Boldini (1885); The Black Cat -- Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1926); The Black Cat -- Gino Severini (1910/11)

the secret recipe

Good painting is like good cooking; it can be tasted, 
but not explained.
 

-- Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958)

Pictured:  The Table (Still Life with Almonds) -- 
Maurice de Vlaminck, 1907

painting of the month

Sails and Pines -- Paul Signac, 1896

old new orleans

The passing of Hurricane Katrina's 10th anniversary this summer brought back memories of New Orleans' living nightmare of disaster, with first the initial impact of the storm and then the horrific flooding that followed.  A city like no other, New Orleans has always had its own creative community and has inspired many visiting artists as well.  Edgar Degas, for example, visited his brothers in New Orleans in 1872, stayed for six months and produced some very interesting paintings, as well as becoming the only French Impressionist to make a trip to the United States.  Another Frenchman, Hippolyte Sebron (1801-1879), journeyed to the U.S. in 1848 and stayed for several years, spending time in New Orleans where he painted his Giant Steamboats of the Levee in 1853.  Yet a third native of France, Marie Adrien Persac, depicted  scenes of Louisiana and New Orleans, including his Port and City of New Orleans and French Opera House of 1859.  The French Opera House hosted many a spectacular production during its heyday but sadly was destroyed by fire in 1919.  And finally, Illinois-born artist George Overbury Hart (1868-1933) enjoyed traveling and working in watercolors because of their portability, and circa 1917 Hart seemed to have made his way to New Orleans, as evidenced by his Old French Market.

All nationalities, all religions, all civilizations, meet and mingle to make up this city, which, upholding the cross to indicate its religion, still, in its municipal character, accepts the Mohammedan symbol of the crescent. Added to the throng which comes and goes upon the levee, merchants, clerks, hotel runners, hackmen, stevedores, and river men of all grades, keep up a general motion and excitement, while piled upon the platforms which serve as a connecting link between the water-craft and the shore, are packages of merchandise in every conceivable shape, cotton bales seeming to be most numerous.

Willard W. Glazier -- Peculiarities of American Cities, 1883

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Pictured:  Giant Steamboats at the Levee in New Orleans -- Hippolyte Sebron (1853); Port and City of New Orleans -- Marie Adrien Persac (1858), French Opera House -- Marie Adrien Persac (1859); The Cotton Exchange -- Edgar Degas (1873);  Old French Market -- George Overbury Hart (ca. 1917)

harvest time

Zucchini, Tomatoes and Eggplant -- Pierre Auguste Renoir (1915)

the quiet world of gustave

 It's been noted here before that today was the birthday of artist Gustave Caillebotte (b. August 19, 1848 - d. 1894), and how Caillebotte was part of the French Impressionist circle and is probably best-known for the damp umbrellas and cobblestones of his 1877 masterpiece Paris Street, Rainy Day.  Caillebotte also liked to garden and had a strong interest in photography -- both pursuits that influenced his artwork -- and he had a keen eye for unusual perspectives or subject matter that made his paintings more intriguing.

 

Pictured:  The Orange Trees (1878), White and Yellow Chrysanthemums, Garden at Petit Gennevilliers (1893), Fruit Displayed on a Stand (1881/82), Garlic Cloves and Knife on the Corner of a Table (1870s), Laundry Drying (1892)

painting of the month

Beach in Moonlight -- Mc Clelland Barclay, 1930 (Laguna Art Museum)

interestingly disinterested paint

Some intriguing commentary from Clement Greenberg in the 1950s Pocket Library of Art series' Matisse volume -- the painting is Matisse's 1919 White Plumes and the model was Antoinette, one of Matisse's favorites at that time:

The good looks of the girl, the bizarre splendor of her hat, and the rich simplicity of design and color are at first sight almost cloying.  Yet, even though Matisse has turned out his share of superficial work, this is not part of it...Antoinette's sex appeal is so solemn as to contradict itself, what with the fixed stare of her eyes and the rigid set of her features that make her more effigy than woman.  What is really seductive are the appurtenances, the Indian red background, the pearly whites and grays in the features--that is, the paint, the disinterested paint.

Matisse was still alive when this particular small pocket book series was published (he died the following year in 1954) and if he ever read Greenberg's critique, it would be interesting to know what he thought of it.


Pictured:  White Plumes -- Henri Matisse, 1919 (Minneapolis Institute of Art)

painting of the month

   View at Folly Cove, Rockport, Massachusetts, 
The Artist's Garden

Ellen Day Hale (1855 - 1940)

 

(Image from www.the-athenaeum.org)

frida and salma

July 6th was the birthday of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 - July 13. 1954), whose unique talent and celebrated yet troubled life became the subject of the 2002 biopic Frida.  Directed by Julie Taymor and starring Salma Hayek as Kahlo, Frida won two Academy Awards and was generally praised by critics -- particularly for Hayek's interpretation of Kahlo's complex character.  This month's American Airlines' Spanish language magazine Nexos has a spotlight piece on Salma Hayek, in which she reflects upon Frida Kahlo and how though the artist wasn't a conventional beauty, she was nonetheless charismatically and singularly beautiful.  That despite her being an invalid and having what might be perceived as less than perfect features ("tenía una ceja" or a unibrow, and "un poco de bigote" or a bit of a moustache), she was confident and brave and always her own person.  She also embraced her cultural heritage proudly in her personal style and in her vivid paintings. "Como ella no hay dos," Salma concludes. "Y para mí siempre fue hermosa."

I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought 

there are so many people in the world, there must be someone
just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do.  
-- Frida Kahlo

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Pictured:  Frida Kahlo; Salma Hayek in Frida; and The Two Fridas -- Frida Kahlo, 1939

painting of the month

The Rabbit's Meal -- Henri Rousseau, 1908 (The Barnes Foundation)

artist birthday

Today was once the birthday of British artist John Linnell (June 16, 1792 - 1882), known for his portrait work and landscape painting.  Linnell studied with Benjamin West and John Varley and entered the Royal Academy at the impressive age of just thirteen.  Linnell was also a friend and patron of William Blake, and unlike more conservative artists was supportive of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood when they first came upon the scene.  His career was prolific and successful, and he was additionally prolific as the father of nine children.

Pictured:  John Linnell -- Self Portrait (1860); St. John the Baptist (1867); A River Landscape, Sunset; Lady Torrens and Her Family (1820); William Blake Portrait (1825).  

All images from Wikimedia Commons

painting of the month

Seaside at Agay -- Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927)