painting of the month

Mars and Venus -- Mabel Frances Layng (circa 1918),
Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery, U.K.

wild strokes and tinny figures

To many such in this country modern art is still a closed book; its point of view is so different from that of the art they have been brought up with, that they refuse to have anything to do with it. Whereas, if they only took the trouble to find out something of the point of view of the modern artist, they would discover new beauties they little suspected ... If anybody looks at a picture by Claude Monet from the point of view of a Raphael, he will see nothing but a meaningless jargon of wild paint-strokes. And if anybody looks at a Raphael from the point of view of a Claude Monet, he will, no doubt, only see hard, tinny figures in a setting devoid of any of the lovely atmosphere that always envelops form seen in nature. So wide apart are some of the points of view in painting.  -- The Practice and Science of Drawing (Harold Speed, 1913)


Pictured:  Allegory (The Knight's Dream)  -- Raphael (circa 1504), National Gallery - London; and Irises -- Claude Monet (circa 1914), National Gallery - London

year of the monkey

The Chinese Zodiac has circled around to the clever and crafty Monkey again...and though I doubt that these artworthy subjects actually calmed down enough to pose for any of the works below, it seems like once you do put a monkey in a painting, you've really got something unique going on.

Pictured:  The Little Monkey -- Franc Marc (1912); Flowers and Fruit of the Mangosteen, and a Singapore Monkey -- Marianne North (1876); Still Life with Monkey and a Guitar -- Antoine Vollon (1864); The Merry Jesters -- Henri Rousseau (1906); The Monkey Painter -- Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps (1833); Feast of Monkeys -- Jan Brueghel the Elder (1621)


(all images courtesy of www.the-athenaeum.org)