painting of the month

Mae West (Face of Mae West Which Can Be Used As An Apartment) -- Salvador Dali, 1934 @ The Art Institute of Chicago

violet femme

Long-ago birthday girl Berthe Morisot was born January 14, 1841, and during her artistic career she would become associated with the French Impressionists. She was good friends with Edouard Manet and there may have even been more to their relationship; Manet was married, however, and Berthe herself later wed Manet’s brother Eugene. Edouard was a guiding and occasionally overbearing influence, but this black-hatted portrait he did of Berthe in 1872 (Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets) is really lovely and shows his fondness for her and the unique character of her face.

august born in january

August Macke is definitely on my list of favorite artists, born January 3, 1877 in Meschede, Germany. A key member of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter, Macke was an amazing colorist whose death at the age of twenty-seven in World War I was such a huge loss. Macke was drafted and it's doubtful that he wanted to go off to fight, and he perhaps even had a premonition of impending tragedy which he conveyed in Farewell, one of his last works. This painting is called Turkish Cafe II and was done on a trip Macke made to Tunisia, just before reluctantly joining the German armed forces. His good friend and fellow Blaue Reiter member Franz Marc was also killed in World War I in 1916, about two years after August's death.

happy new year

Roses in a Champagne Glass -- Edouard Manet

hopper probably would have eaten at the orange garden

Every time I see Edward Hopper's 1929 Chop Suey (pictured here) I think of an old-school Chicago Chinese restaurant called The Orange Garden, which was retro before retro was even a concept. The painting has more windows and light than The Orange Garden does, but there's still a shared days-gone-by Chinese restaurant atmosphere, with lots of rich red tones in the decor. And chop suey on the menu, along with the classic CHOP SUEY sign out front.

The Journey of the Magi -- James Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1894 (Minneapolis Institute of Arts)

painting of the month

Snow in New York -- Robert Henri, 1902 (National Gallery of Art)