Hotspur🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦

https://social.vivaldi.net/@Vagrarian

Middle-aged gay nerd. A country boy currently based in #Baltimore, currently working in public transit advocacy. A poet with a mean right cross. Reads too much, wonders where life will go from here. Anxiety sufferer. He/him.

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Last Notes

2026-01-20 01:05:09 GMT

"Girl in a Green Cap," Laura Wheeler Waring, 1930.
Waring (1887-1948) was THE great portraitist of the Harlem Renaissance, painting many of the notable Black people of the era.
Born in Hartford, CT, the daughter of a minister, her family was educated and cultured, and her ancestors had been part of the Underground Railroad. She attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, graduating in 1914. She traveled briefly in Europe, returning home when WWI started, but returned in the 20s, where she honed her style and exhibited in Paris galleries.
Returning to the US in 1927, she was commissioned to do portraits of figures of the Harlem Renaissance; this project, along with her work teaching at Cheyney University, an HBCU outside Philadelphia, was to consume the rest of her life. Her work is now featured in some of the country's top museums and galleries.
The subject of this portrait is unknown, but her calm confidence and self-assurance, and that knockout outfit, are beyond question.
Happy Portrait Monday!
From the Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
#Art #LauraWheelerWaring #Portrait #PortraitMonday #HarlemRenaissance #BlackHistory #MLKDay #BelieveInYourself
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/924/661/041/058/652/original/20e87008ba067ccf.png

2026-01-16 01:21:17 GMT

"Country Doctor (Night Call)," Horace Pippin, 1935.
I've talked about Pippin (1888-1946) before; he was a self-taught Black American artist who took up art as a sort of therapy after being injured in WWI. He painted scenes of everyday Black American life, and what he lacked in formal training, he made up for with passion, depth, a remarkable eye for design, and a flair for storytelling and depicting people's lives.
Here we have a scene in a wooded area in the midst of a snowstorm....but a man is slowly leading a horse, pulling a wagon, through the storm. It's not just a mere depiction of a winter scene, but a tribute to the resilience and dedication of a rural doctor, trudging through the storm to someone in need.
Pippin's most popular work are his depictions of Black life, many drawn from his childhood. He also did religious paintings and some historical paintings, mostly of his WWI experiences, but also a noted depiction of John Brown going to his execution, based on descriptions from his grandmother, who witnessed it. I find his work delightful.
From the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
#Art #HoracePippin #BlackArtists #Primitive #SelfTaught #OutsiderArt #BlackHistory #AmericanArt
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/902/066/646/936/504/original/44fd8c466f89b9fb.png

2026-01-06 16:46:07 GMT

Just got a punch in the gut. My landlord will not be renewing my lease. I have 60 days to find someplace else to live.

2025-11-22 02:00:57 GMT

"Woman with Morning Glories," Katsushika Ōi, c. 1820s.
Katsushika (c. 1800 - c. 1866) was the daughter of the great Hokusai, by his second wife, but also an accomplished artist in her own right.
Not a lot about her life is known for sure, except she was her father's apprentice and assistant, and married another artist...but divorced him three years later. She moved back in with her father and never remarried, the two of them always busy with their art.
This print is intriguing; at first glance the woman seems to be simpering at the bowl of morning glories (on a tray that absurdly resembles a bathroom scale to modern eyes), but a closer look shows what may be a sheet of paper hidden behind the fan. Is she reading a clandestine letter? A poem from a lover? A naughty print? Who knows?
Sadly, not much of her art is known to survive to this day, but it is known that she was highly regarded in her lifetime. It's possible that some of her work is misattributed to others, including her father. But she remains the object of study and admiration.
Happy Flower Friday!
From the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
#Art #KasushikaOi #JapaneseArt #AsianArt #ukiyo_e #MorningGlory #WomenArtists #WomenInArt #FlowerFriday
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/590/744/582/302/435/original/018bbbc94f793c4c.png

2025-11-13 19:04:55 GMT

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Heh...good luck to them!
And I just got word....it was a bad auto accident, like really bad.

2025-11-13 18:38:40 GMT

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Not sure....the closure was just before a highway exit, not a densely populated area, which makes me think it was an accident that I couldn't see.

2025-11-13 14:54:39 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! Chilly, clear sky, a wee bit warmer. The police were barricading part of my route to work today, for reasons I could not discern. I guess it's all a part of a plot to make me late for work, because I am the main character here. (Oh gawd, how many people do we know like that?)
Seriously, it was strange, made me wonder if there was a horrible accident or something. But I couldn't see a thing. Shrug.
How're all my friends & followers this morning?
#GOodMorning #ThursdayTHoughts

2025-11-06 00:01:39 GMT

"Cats, Red and White," Franz Marc, 1912.
Marc (1880-1916) was a painter and graphic artist who was a major figure in German Expressionism.
Deeply engaged with Munich's avant-garde scene, he started a journal, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) which sought to diverse artistic styles under a single, almost spiritual pursuit. His circle included Kandinsky and other major figures.
Many of his works are of animals in a natural environment, usually with bright colors, like we have here. I don't think there's ever been a cat in that particular shade, but that vibrant green background really makes it pop.
Marc was drafted into the German military during WWI, and died at the Siege of Verdun, only 36. Under the Nazi regime, his work was declared "degenerate" and officially banned; thankfully his body of work survived and is the centerpiece of many museum and gallery collections today, and fetching high prices at auction.
From a private collection.
#Art #Expressionism #FranzMarc #BannedByTheThirdReich
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2025-11-05 01:06:12 GMT

Musical Interlude: The recent talk of resuming atomic bomb tests brought this song to mind...this is unreleased track from Philadelphia-based singer Fay Simmons, who recorded on a number of local labels (now defunct); this is from 1964.
"You Hit Me Baby Like an Atomic Bomb," performed by Fay Simmons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNY8_P0O-Xk
#MusicalInterlude #FaySimmons #Suggestive #AtomicBomb #Boom

2025-09-25 00:15:55 GMT

"One Thousand and One Nights," (portion), Vittorio Zecchin, 1914.
Zecchin (1878-1947) is best remembered as a designer for Murano glass; in fact, he's hailed as the first Modernist glass designer in Italy.
He worked in other media as well, including glass mosaics (in a very Vienna Secessionist style), but this is from his brief flirtation with painting. In 1914 he was commissioned to create a mural for the dining room of Venice's Terminus Hotel. Alas, the Terminus fell victim to bombings in WWII, but the murals were removed and are now in museums and private collections.
The style is an important transition from more traditional to more modern. It's plainly representational but done in a very 2-D way, with objects and people's clothes being flat patches of pattern, like a collage or applique project. It's intensely pleasing to the eye and I wish I could see the whole work together again in a single room. Reportedly it's a scene from the tale of Aladdin, with courtiers bringing gifts in preparation for the wedding.
From a private collection.
#Art #VittorioZecchin #ArtNouveau #ViennaSecession #Mural
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/262/009/242/302/382/original/3a0f7c94f2f6f290.png

2025-09-18 23:50:55 GMT

"A Centennial of Independence," Henri Rousseau, 1892.
Rousseau (1844-1910) was a self-taught French painter, technically of the Post-Impressionist school, but usually classed as a Naive or Primitive artist. I prefer "Visionary" myself. He was ridiculed in his lifetime for his style but not long before Rousseau's death, he was discovered by Picasso who declared him a genius. When he passed he was finally starting to get the attention and acclaim that had been his due. To this day he's a major influence on avant-garde artists.
The First French Republic was declared on September 21st, 1792, and although it only lasted until 1804, it was still considered a significant day to be celebrated. Here we have peasants dancing, and what look like picnickers in the background. The two women in the center of the circle, carrying flags representing the First and Third Republics (the Third Republic lasted from 1870 to 1940), may be allegorical figures, along with the folks to the right in 18th century dress. Or they're in costumes for the occasion. It's hard to tell with Rousseau, which is what makes him fascinating.
From the Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
#Art #HenriRousseau #VisionaryArt #ViveLaFrance #ViveLaRevolution #HurrahForFreedom #LiberteEgaliteFranternite
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/227/903/770/371/998/original/f68533e721d4cb7f.png

2025-09-06 00:45:11 GMT

"Still Life with Flowers and Butterflies," Maria van Oosterwijck, 1668.
Van Oosterwijck (1630-93) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of florals and still lifes. She was a significant painter for her time, in part because she was also a crafty businesswoman who marketed her paintings to various noble houses, generating quite a demand.
Historians are sometimes unkind to her; she never married, but raised an orphaned nephew, and taught one of her servants to paint and to be self-sufficient. As she never married she's sometimes seen as "incomplete" while fellow painter Rachel Ruysch, who married and raised ten children, is usually depicted very sympathetically.
I like to think of her as a dedicated professional, taking joy in her art and in her autonomy, as one of the few women who were professional artists at the time. I love that she elevated one of her servants to be her own person. Not many upper-class women would do that.
Happy Flower Friday!
From the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
#Art #MariaVanOosterwijck #DutchGoldenAge #FlowerFriday #StillLife #WomenArtists
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/154/527/630/997/040/original/a271e64bcdc53d28.png

2025-09-04 23:14:12 GMT

Musical Interlude: We had rain today! It's been something of a drought locally, so it's welcome, although not enough. But it's also a good excuse to post this song, one of my favorites. I've posted it before, but what the hey, it's appropriate.
"September in the Rain," performed by Dinah Washington.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk-jh3xocd0
#MusicalInterlude #DinahWashington #Jazz #SeptemberSongs #ComfortMusic

2025-09-01 14:51:36 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! Yeah, it's Labor Day here in the US, I've got the day off. Am gonna run some errands and go out for lunch; that's my thrilling schedule.
Also, I turned sixty yesterday. I have mixed feelings about that but hey, at least I'm still here.
How're all my friends & followers this morning?
#GoodMorning #MondayMotivation #LaborDay #HappyBirthdayToMe

2025-08-29 19:25:27 GMT

"Blue Irises," Ohara Koson, 1900-30.
Up at Mom's for a couple of days. Happy Flower Friday!
#art #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #Shin_hanga #OharaKoson #FlowerFriday
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/113/664/902/185/168/original/faaf0d9542b7f3e5.jpg

2025-08-29 00:42:31 GMT

Musical Interlude: OK, so I went to a baseball game today, a Board of Directors outing that was also a bit of an early birthday party for me. I ate too much, got bored, joked about touchdowns and such, and ended up leaving early (but not the first). I tried to think of baseball-oriented songs that I didn't hate (yes, I dislike "Center Field" and "Talkin' Baseball," and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" should be buried with a stake through its heart...), but then i remembered this song, which is technically about softball, but still, it echoes my experiences of being a non-athletic kid roped into team sports...ugh...
"Ballad of a Ballgame," performed by Christine Lavin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmM4399E5yc
#MusicalInterlude #ChristineLavin #Softball #Humor

2025-08-29 00:16:26 GMT

"Temma Bridge at Settsu Province," Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1834.
Hokusai (c. 1760-1849) is THE great Japanese artist; I recall learning about him as a child, from a book that also taught about Leonardo da Vinci and Pieter Brueghel the Elder.
Temma Bridge (also called Tenman or Tenma) once stood over the Yodo River in Osaka, which was an important waterway at the time. Here it is depicted at the height of the Tenjin Festival, a huge affair that involves a river procession followed by fireworks.
This was part of Hokusai's series of prints, "Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces" and may have been based on an earlier print that emphasized its semicircular shape.
I may have to look up this series; there's something about the idea of a collection of views of bridges that I find enormously charming.
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
#Art #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #Hokusai #ukiyo_e #Bridges #Prints
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/109/114/904/722/460/original/c3e0d2327c2cf932.png

2025-08-27 23:47:43 GMT

Musical Interlude: The weather is cooler, the sun sets earlier...spooky season is just around the corner...here's a tune to get you into the mood.
"Skeleton Goes to Town," performed by the Unextraordinary Gentlemen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAij1Npyv1M
#MusicalInterlude #UnextraordinaryGentlemen #SteampunkMusic #DarkVictoriana

2025-08-26 14:32:22 GMT

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Like I often say, there is such a thing as nuance. So many people forget that a person can be awful in some ways and glorious in others. Like any human being, Newsom is a mixed bag. We can cheer on his trolling and criticize his policies at the same time. Supporting his trolling does not mean voting for him in the next POTUS race.

2025-08-12 22:58:17 GMT

"Valley of the Yosemite," Albert Bierstadt, 1864.
Prussian-born Bierstadt (1830-1902) became one of America's most acclaimed artists for his visual chronicles of the American West, in a time before it was opened up by railways.
He studied painting in the Dusseldorf school, then joined the Hudson River School before taking his first journey west in 1859. From then on, he became famous for his paintings of the untouched frontiers to the west, most of which were fairly romanticized, but at the same time, he was trying to preserve an idea of what the land was like before the influx of travelers, as railroads were built.
He had a lot of commercial success, but after the Civil War ended, his work began to be viewed as overly theatrical, and by the 1890s he had fallen out of favor; a fire in his studio destroyed a number of his paintings as well. When he passed away he was nearly forgotten.
In the 1960s, though, he was rediscovered, & there's still some controversy...some still regard his work as "soulless" and overly theatrical and romantic, while others view his work as supporting the early conservation movement and the creation of the national park system. I kinda like the romanticism myself.
From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
#Art #AlbertBierstadt #HudsonRIverSchool #Yosemite #Luminism #Landscape #ROmanticism
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/115/018/188/996/076/988/original/d7bcd784c14e3384.png

2025-08-11 23:54:33 GMT

Musical Interlude: Ever wonder what a mad scientist would sing? Wonder no longer...
"Skullcrusher Mountain," performed by Jonathan Coulton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omKMoRyW-EU
#MusicalInterlude #JonathanCoulton #Comedy #EvilGenius #MadScience #SuperVillain

2025-07-30 23:43:53 GMT

"The Ten Largest, No. 7, Adulthood," Hilma af Klint, 1907.
Y'all know Hilma af Klint by now, the REAL progenitor of Abstract art.
This is one of a series of monumentally large paintings that she felt commanded by a higher being to create (she got her orders during a seance). The series of 193 (!) paintings was meant to be displayed together, which could be a challenge as almost all of them are enormous. This one is a whalloping 10 feet by 8 feet.
The series represents the stages in human development; this is part of the series that depicts adulthood. The yellow shape resembles a flowering bud, and some of the forms looks like leaves. It would be fascinating to see this in context.
Af Klint's art was meant to depict her spiritual visions, and she claimed to have been led by otherworldly beings to create these pioneering works of art.
From a private collection.
#Art #AbstractArt #WomenArtists #hilma_af_klint #VisionaryArt
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2025-07-23 21:29:15 GMT

"Portrait of Josette Gris," Juan Gris, 1916.
I've talked about Gris before, so I'll skip any biography.
But I will reiterate that I generally don't care for Cubism, unless it's Gris. Here we see a turning point in the style; rather than simple experimentation for its own sake, we have Cubism actually attempting to achieve some continuity with traditional painting. Gris here actually paints a recognizable portrait of his wife, here in a pose reminiscent of earlier artists like Corot.
It's still experimental, especially with its use of black and gray, with only one or two bits of actual color...but it's a memorable image. And for my money, worth more than any other Cubist's work. (Heresy, I know.)
From the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.
#Art #Cubism #Portraits #JuanGris #MyFavoriteCubist
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/904/637/834/261/647/original/dd7365b991db98c1.png

2025-07-22 23:54:54 GMT

"Olive Trees," Vincent Van Gogh, 1889.
Y'all know Van Gogh.
This is one of a series of 15 paintings he did of olive trees near Saint-Remy, where he was being treated in an asylum there.
Painted in June, this is olive trees in full summer bloom, leaves out and the flowers dotting the meadow. The grass seems to be flowing, as if mowed that way or just in that pattern. He used small, quick strokes to depict the leaves and the light filtering through them. It's an image redolent of lazy sunny summer days.
From the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO.
#Art #PostImpressionism #VincentVanGogh #OliveTrees #Summer
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2025-07-16 23:09:10 GMT

"Portuguese Woman (The Large Portuguese)," Robert Delaunay, 1916.
Delaunay (1885-1941) was a French painter who started as a Post-Impressionist, then founded the Orphism movement, before moving on to Abstract art. Such was the lot of an artist in the turbulent early years of the 20th century!
Today we have an example from his Orphist years. Orphism is an offshoot of Cubism, and focuses on bright colors and images broken into geometric shapes. Many Orphists use the motif of the circle with colorful concentric rings, as you see here.
Delaunay was certainly breaking things down here, but it's still recognizable as a human figure with some tropical plants, but what she's carrying is unclear. Still, this painting is about the colors and shapes more than it's telling a story. Orphism pretty much died during WWI, and afterwards Abstraction became popular.
From the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid.
#Art #Orphism #RobertDelaunay #Colors
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/865/370/341/455/408/original/2356cb6afb2e47c9.png

2025-07-09 17:31:46 GMT

YAY I'm now a Certified Community Transit Manager!

2025-07-09 00:10:05 GMT

"The Thousand and One Nights," Vittorio Zecchin, 1914.
Zecchin (1878-1947) is mostly remembered today as an innovative glassmaker, but he also painted and made tapestries.
Born in Venice, to a glassmaking family, he worked some in glass but abandoned it for a time to study art. He became fascinated by the work of the Viennese Secession movement and later by Art Nouveau, and traveled to Vienna and befriended Gustav Klimt.
In 1914 he released a series of paintings, illustrating the story of Aladdin and his entourage as they travel to the Sultan to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. This is now regarded as his best work as a painter. A series of 12 paintings, it was meant to decorate a hotel dining room (!) but now is broken up, half of them in the Ca' Pesaro Palace in Venice, and the rest in private hands.
Zecchin later returned to glassmaking and became artistic director of the Venetian glass firm V.S.M. Cappellin Venini & C., winning acclaim for his works with clean lines and simple shapes, but exquisite color.
An interesting aspect of this image is how it could be taken for a collage, or applique, or a patchwork quilt; his treatment of pattern is very two-dimensional.
From a private collection.
#Art #ArtNouveau #VittorioZecchin #Aladdin #ArabianNights
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2025-07-07 23:11:09 GMT

"Noisy: A Young Woman of the Kansei Period with a Purring Cat," Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1888.
Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) was the last great master of the ukiyo-e woodblock print, and an innovator of the style, at a time when Japan's culture was rapidly modernizing and leaving traditional arts and styles behind.
He was coming off a period of severe depression after his fame for producing bloody prints of violence faded...he was reflecting the violence in Japanese culture at the time. However, he found a career resurrection in producing images of actors in various dramas, and the eternal ukiyo-e subject, beautiful women.
The identity of this woman is unknown; although she's shown in the dress and style of the Kansei period (1789-1801), it's likely that the subject was a geisha or courtesan. Her snuggling of the cat is an unconventional pose, but charming. The cat even has the requisite bell on its collar.
Sadly, Yoshitoshi's physical and mental health began to deteriorate. He was hospitalized for a while, but was released and died of a cerebral hemorrhage at 53.
From the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
#Art #JapaneseArt #AsianArt #TsukiokaYoshitoshi #Ukiyo_e #WomenInArt #CatsOfMastodon
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/814/404/935/348/457/original/c47f4c33b8802194.png

2025-07-03 23:42:14 GMT

"Rooster, Hen, and Chicken with Spiderwort," Katsushika Hokusai, 1830-3.
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/791/932/022/774/017/original/a542faf9b02c4b80.jpg

2025-07-02 23:00:02 GMT

"Sunset on the St. Lawrence," Oscar Bluemner, 1927.
Bluemner (1867-1938) was a Prussian-born painter who came to the US in his 20s. Here, he started off as an architect, but had many problems, including how his design for the Bronx Borough Courthouse was accepted, but credited to another architect, leading to a scandal.
Taking up painting, he struggled to make sales, and his family often lived in poverty. He did a number of works for the Federal Arts Project but was forced to quit due to failing health, and ended up dying by suicide, evidently choosing to end his life on his own terms.
Bluemner was much overlooked in his day and even after his death, but he's been re-evaluated in recent years as a seminal figure in American Modernism. While many of his works are recognizable, they're often still done in a way that lets them be seen as mere images and pattern, such as this. Is is a sunset done in an abstract manner? Or is it an abstract that happens to resemble a sunset? I'm sure, if given a different title, or no title at all, we may come to different conclusions, you and I.
From a private collection.
#Art #AmericanArt #OscarBluemner #Modernism #ModernArt #Sunset
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/786/067/612/832/464/original/9dc3580706582219.png

2025-06-21 00:25:45 GMT

"Small Pear Tree in Blossom," Vincent van Gogh, 1888.
Y'all know Van Gogh by now.
I recently mentioned his love of Japanese prints...here can you can the influence of them. The style of this blooming pear tree is very much taken from Japanese art.
The color choices are interesting...the tree's trunk, and the dabbled ground, have patches of blue; I wonder if this was meant to be frost....or perhaps just a trick to draw the eye? He would do a little patch of green by his eyes in his self-portraits to draw attention...he was sharp like that.
Happy Flower Friday!
From the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
#Art #PostImpressionism #VincentVanGogh #FlowerFriday
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2025-06-18 23:42:28 GMT

"The Ten Largest, Group IV No. 2, Childhood," Hilma af Klint, 1907.
Here's our old friend Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), doing what she does best...giving us beautiful if enigmatic Abstract art.
She painted her own intense spiritual and occult visions, and didn't leave behind much interpretive material, so we're left only to guess at what she was getting at. The title refers to childhood, and the flower images perhaps echo a child's fascination with nature.
I'm amused by the two flower images formed of teardrop shapes, something that became a hugely popular design in the 1960s, here over a half-century ahead of its time!
Klint left her art to a nephew when she died, with instructions to not open them or look at them for 20 years. He had no clue what to expect when he looked at her work, which by then was fully in the Abstract tradition. Now she is regarded as the first true Abstract painter.
From a private collection.
#Art #WomenArtists #HilmaAfKlint #AbstractArt #MysticalArt #VisionaryArt
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/706/945/331/878/350/original/3fc8f4818e915ec3.png

2025-06-16 23:14:15 GMT

Musical Interlude: Here's a nice song to close out your day. It's a very new song from an old pro, and I just heard it for the first time last night and fell in love with it.
"At the End of the Day," performed by John McCutcheon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8yqxfM_NmQ
#MusicalInterlude #JohnMcCutcheon #Folk #EveningMusic

2025-06-12 00:39:39 GMT

"Tree of Paradise," Séraphine Louis, 1926.
Louis (1864-1942) was a self-taught painter inspired by her own intense religious faith, and stained-glass windows in her local church.
A domestic servant, first at a local convent and later by assorted bourgeois families in the town of Senlis, she painted privately on various objects until 1912, when one of her employers, an art collector, stumbled on her work and was greatly impressed. He encouraged her to work more and supplied paints and canvases for her to work on. She was launched into a world of critical and financial success...but was ill-equipped to handle it and lost most of the money she made.
By 1932 her mental health, which was always wobbly, deteriorated to the point that she had to be institutionalized. She spent the rest of her life in an institution, sadly denied any sort of artistic outlet. Today she is remembered as a significant outsider artist.
From the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
#Art #WomenArtists #OutsiderArt #SeraphineLouis #SelfTaught #SadStory
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2025-06-11 00:04:47 GMT

"Three Women Playing Musical Instruments," Katsushika Ōi, 1850.
Katsushika Ōi (c. 1800 - c. 1866) was the daughter of the great Hokusai and a very talented painter in her own right. Little about her life is known, not even her exact dates. It is known that she married unhappily in 1824, and divorced her husband three years later. She never remarried, remaining with her father to tend to his workshop and work alongside him.
She was especially talented in the bijin-ga genre, or "paintings of beautiful women," of which this is an example. We have three ladies (one with her back turned to us, a daring stylistic choice for the time) playing assorted traditional Japanese instruments( (sorry, my education doesn't cover what these may be). I'm not sure if these are meant to be geishas or court ladies or what, but it is kind of charming to see these ladies sitting and playing music, facing each other rather than an audience....which makes me lean toward them being court ladies, playing for the joy of it.
From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
#Art #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #WomenAritsts #KatsushikaOi #Ukiyo_e #Bijin_ga #Music
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2025-06-06 23:47:16 GMT

"Roses in a Crystal Vase," Pierre-Auguste Renoir, c. 1879.
Y'all know Renoir by now. And if you don't you should.
He loved painting flowers, and used them as an excuse to experiment with color and shading. He also enjoyed being able to just PAINT something lovely, rather than being expected to tell a story. This also hearkens back to his beginnings, when as a 13-year-old he painted flowers on plates in a Sevres factory.
The roses will be blooming before long, if not already, so this is a perfect painting for this time of year. I'm a bit intrigued by the vase, and assume it's just a pitcher that was pressed into service. But that lends to the Impressionists' shabby-chic charm.
Happy Flower Friday!
From a private collection.
#Art #Impressionism #PierreAugusteRenoir #Roses #FlowerFriday
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2025-05-29 01:54:10 GMT

"The Street Enters the House," Umberto Boccioni, 1911.
Boccioni (1882-1916) had a brief life but was a seminal figure in the Futurist movement. He started off as a Neo-Impressionist, but with this painting he kicked off a transition into Futurism, both in painting and sculpture.
Futurism, mostly an Italian movement emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane, and the industrial city, as we see here with the woman looking over her balcony at the noisy goings-on. A general interpretation is that the images represent the sounds coming in through the window.
Boccioni also did a few canvases centered on bicycles and some sculptures that focused on suggesting movement rather than simple presenting a body at rest.
Boccioni was drafted into the Italian Army during WWI and was killed during a training exercise; he fell off his horse and was trampled by it.
From the Sprengel Museum Hannover.
#Art #UmbertoBoccioni #Futurism #TheBirthOfFuturism #Synesthesia
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2025-05-21 22:27:22 GMT

"Succession," Wassily Kandinsky, 1935.
Y"all know Kandinsky by now.
This is an interesting painting by him, where instead of just having random shapes, he seems to be trying to do something specific. The four horizontal fields make this look like sheet music, and some of the shapes resemble musical notes and symbols. But others seem to indicate assorted living things, ranging from amoebas to insects to fantasy creatures.
Kandinsky was fascinated with natural history and scientific drawings. Perhaps he's viewing all forms of life as a great piece of music?
No matter what, I find this an extremely colorful and appealing work of art. There's a sense of fun and play here that I don't always see in Kandinsky.
From the Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.
#Art #AbstractArt #WassillyKandinsky #LifeIsMusic
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2025-05-14 23:28:22 GMT

"Guitar with Inlays," Juan Gris, 1925.
And hello again to my favorite Cubist, Juan Gris (1887-1927). I've talked about him before so I won't repeat myself. He's been described as perhaps the purist Cubist; he died young and thus never moved away from the style.
Like many Cubists, he was fascinated by musical instruments, and being a Spaniard, it seems natural he'd be drawn to the guitar. Here we have a still life that's fairly representational but still undeniably Cubist, with a bowl of grapes, a pipe, a book (or is it sheet music?), and of course, the inlaid guitar.
This is an example of what became known as Synthetic Cubism, where they became more representational, but would also depict objects as being broken into component shapes, often asymmetrical and out of perspective, so while they're recognizable, they're still off-kilter. Gris does a good job with it.
From the Museo Nacional Centro Des Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.
#Art #Cubism #SyntheticCubism #JuanGris #Guitar #StillLife
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2025-05-08 15:09:11 GMT

I'm proud of my mom right now. I was talking to her last night and she told me about how she went out to a restaurant by herself for the first time ever.
She turns 91 on Saturday!
I'm cheering on her independence but at the same time....yikes, lady, took you long enough. But better late than never!
#ToughOldBroad #OldBroadsKickAss #Independence

2025-05-08 13:32:41 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! Another clear lovely one, if a bit warmer. Our big General Meeting/Maintenance Forum is next week...need to start getting badges ready! But I just want to be outside, even though pollen is still a demon.
How're all my friends & followers today?
#GoodMorning #ThursdayThoughts

2025-05-01 13:45:07 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! A warm one, and I actually slept last night, so yay for that much. No dancing 'round the maypole for me this morning, though. I hope someone's doing that somewhere. I need to know someone's being happy and hopeful and optimistic out there.
How're all my friends & followers today?
#GoodMorning #ThursdayThoughts #MayDay2025

2025-04-29 23:27:40 GMT

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LOL I was just being flippant. I'm in a mood today.

2025-04-29 23:23:31 GMT

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You think I am?

2025-04-29 23:16:22 GMT

"The Death of Hyacinthus," Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1752-53.
I once heard Rococo as "Baroque being frivolous" and while this painting is pretty tragic, it's also unintentionally funny.
Tiepolo (1696-1770) was a prolific Venetian painter who also worked in Spain and Germany, with examples of his art being found all over the place. After his death, the rise of severe Neoclassicism meant his style was no longer in vogue, but today he's regarded as an exceptional decorative painter, perhaps not of great depth, but with exceptional technique.
Here we have a scene from Greek myth. Apollo loved the beautiful youth Hyacinthus, and one day, while playing with a discus, either Hyacinthus botched a throw, or Apollo botched a throw, or an errant wind from a jealous Zephyrus caused the discus to hit Hyacinthus, killing him. Apollo, in his grief, turned him into the hyacinth flower, which we see in the lower right corner...next to a tennis racket. Yup, in this painting they were playing tennis! Supposedly a translation of Ovid of the time changed "discus" to "tennis" which seems bizarre today.
From the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
#Art #GiovanniBattistaTiepolo #Rococo #Mythology #HyacinthusPlayingTennis
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2025-04-29 00:01:53 GMT

Musical Interlude: I was always a sucker for Basia, the Polish-born pop artist of the 80s and 90s, whose samba-influenced music always delighted my soul. I love this track...but I have a thing for descending chords. And this is the song she's proudest of, and considers her best work.
"Yearning," performed by Basia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMmY70RPI24
#MusicalInterlude #Basia #Samba #90sMusic

2025-04-17 00:19:17 GMT

"Sunday Afternoon in the Country," Florine Stettheimer, 1917.
Stettheimer (1871-1944) was a Modernist painter and theatrical designer, as well as a pioneering feminist, poet, and salonniere.
While at first glance this seems rather mundane, the colors are strange; check out the red tree. Some of the characters seem to be doing bizarre, random things, and some appear to be sitting in upholstered armchairs.
In reality, this is her memory of a picnic she held; in the upper right, hardly visible, she paints herself working at her easel. In the lower left, photographer Edward Steichen points his camera at Dada founder Marcel Duchamp. leaning on a table, while Ettie Stettheimer (the artist's sister) stands behind him in the red coat. Other real-life people are depicted, but in a strange style reminiscent of Chagall.
Stettheimer refused to identify with any group or school; her work is Modernist by default for the time she worked in and her style. Not taken seriously in her liftetime, her work was donated to museums and rediscovered in the 1990s, and now she is hailed as a great American artist.
From the Cleveland Museum of Art.
#Art #FlorineStettheimer #Modernism #WomenArtists #AmericanArt
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2025-04-04 13:59:16 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians!
Ugh...we ordered some Portajohns for tomorrow's Roadeo. I asked the company to call me so I could be there when they're ready for dropoff so I could show them where to put them. So they called.
At 6:30 am.
I AM IN BED.
I throw on some sweats and get down there as soon as I can, and they call again, a bit testy, and while I try to be polite and professional, I do inform them that this is extremely early and they took us by surprise.
Anyway, I get them placed, shake their hands, and then go home to take a shower and dress and get something in me because I'm caffeineless and hungry.
So now I'm at the office, tired and cranky. It's gray and rainy. I better get out of here early.
How're all my friends & followers today?
#FridayFeeling

2025-04-01 14:43:09 GMT

So we've all heard about the Calexit movement...they're collecting signatures to authorize a ballot initiative for California to secede from the US.
I've since learned that other secession movements are gathering steam. The Cascadia movement wants Washington and Oregon to join with CA and form a new nation. A New York/New Jersey movement is brewing, and there's a campaign for a Republic of New England, to incorporate MA, VT, NH, ME, CT, and RI.
Interestingly, the Texas secessionists, who raise their heads every so often, seem to be quiet. And there's likely others that I am unaware of.
A Balkanization of the US is scary, to be sure, but at the same time, many have predicted it for a while. A common thread is taxation...not that taxes are too high, but that these states, which are among those that pay the highest in taxes, get little in return, and some are angry over what they feel is subsidizing the rest of the country.
Is it coming? I'm not sure, but if the country continues to destabilize, it may be inevitable.
Cheery thoughts for a Tuesday morning...
#Politics #Secession #Balkanization #Cascadia #RepublicOfNewEngland #Scary

2025-04-01 13:27:26 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! Rain and thunder swept through last night, washing away the pollen and clearing the air, thank goodness. After yesterday's heat, the brisk clear air and the chilly 46 degrees makes a difference!
How're all my friends & followers today?
#GoodMorning #TuesdayTiger

2025-03-23 00:37:28 GMT

So, my day so far...
Up early to help the boss film some video for an upcoming event. Over by 10:30.
Go to a fish market for fish.
Go to a bookstore for books.
Go to a brewery/pizzeria for beer and pizza.
Go to a pen store for ink.
Go home for a nap/lazy time.
Now wondering if I should go out or stay in tonight...after having some fresh rockfish for dinner...

2025-03-11 23:42:30 GMT

"Tête á Tête on the 968th Floor of a Skyscraper," Moriz Jung, 1911.
Jung (1885-1915) was an Austrian artist, graphic designer, and caricaturist best known for his work with the Wiener Werkstätte, a Viennese art and design collective.
Noted for his satirical flair, he had quite a few illustrations published in various magazines, and also a lot of humorous postcards like this one, which pokes fun at the stylish fad for aviation.
I've written about the Wiener Werkstätte before; their output is fascinating and their work a forerunner of the Bauhaus and the Art Deco movement. Postcards were the lest pricy or luxurious of their output, but images like there were popular.
Jung's career, though prolific, was brief. He was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army in 1914, and was killed in action near the village of Łubne, in modern-day Poland, as part of the Carpathian Battle.
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
#Art #Lithograph #MorizJung #Postcard #WeinerWerkstatte #ProtoArtDeco #Satire #Caricature
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2025-03-08 01:25:26 GMT

Pen show loot. L to R: Pilot Prera pen, a unique handmade pen from GW Penworks in NJ, an Aurora pen, and a vintage Eberhard. All fountain pens!
#FountainPen #PenFancier
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2025-03-01 00:40:11 GMT

"Still Life with Flowers," Rachel Ruysch, 18th century.
I've talked about Ruysch before, but to recap quickly, she was the best-documented woman painter of her time, with an enormously successful career, getting commissions from many wealthy and influential clients. Poets wrote elegies in honor of her death in 1750, and despite the fact that she specialized in florals, her work was highly praised and fetched high prices after her passing; she even outsold Rembrandt!
The daughter of a scientist and professor of botany, Ruysch depicted plants and flowers with meticulous detail, developing her own style that straddled the line between Baroque and Rococo. Even today, she is regarded as one of the most talented still life artists of all time, bar none.
Happy Flower Friday!
From the Hallwyl Museum, Stockholm.
#Art #DutchArt #WomanArtists #Baroque #Rococo #RachelRuysch #FlowerFriday #Floral #StillLife
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2025-02-27 23:59:46 GMT

"Work Table," Pierre Bonnard, 1926/37.
I love Bonnard, and I love the Nabis.
The Nabis, if you've missed my gushing about them before, were an art movement that was a transition from Impressionism to more modern, abstract art. The Nabis were also fond of intimate scenes of everyday life and objects, just as they are, and presented with loving care and focus.
I love this work table, scattered with books and papers, and the cat and dog sitting on the couch. Bonnard began this painting in 1926, but then revisited it in 1937 to fine-tune the rosettes on the rug, which is why it has such an odd date.
A work table like this is a sign of an active and busy mind, right?
From the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
#Art #LesNabis #PierreBonnard #Intimism #CatsOfMastodon #DogsOfMastodon
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2025-02-22 21:03:49 GMT

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Home and showered. It was still cold, the trail muddy in spots, but I persevered. Got in a couple of miles, nothing major, but I'm proud of myself.
Now to relax and maybe a nap before dinner...
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/049/560/188/826/833/original/d9de47850335b75c.jpg

2025-02-22 18:08:15 GMT

Finally out in nature.
https://social-cdn.vivaldi.net/system/media_attachments/files/114/048/872/417/958/206/original/d655f09942d0a4d3.jpg

2025-02-21 00:11:07 GMT

"Zebra Family," Morris Hirshfield, 1942.
Born in Poland, Hirshfield (1872-1946) emigrated to the U.S. in 1890 and from then until his 60s he worked in the garment industry, including owning businesses that made women's coats and slippers. After his retirement in 1935, he took up painting.
Completely self-taught, his paintings (primarily of animals and women) were rich with pattern, perhaps a holdover from his work in the garment industry. These zebras, for instance, could almost be crewel embroidery, especially the trees in the background.
He had some fame in his lifetime, including a show at the Museum of Modern Art...but it got bad press and the MoMA's director was demoted as a result. Still, now he's regarded as one of the great American outsider artists.
From a private collection.
#Art #AmericanArt #OutsiderArt #MorrisHirshfield #SelfTaught #Zebras
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2025-02-18 00:30:46 GMT

"Girl and Pug in an Automobile," Gerda Wegener, 1927.
Wegener (1885-1940) is someone I've featured before, but she's always worth featuring. I love this Art Deco painting, which on the surface is mild and inocuous...a woman and her dog in a car, on what seems to be an early spring day. What could be more everyday?
All is not what it appears. The woman is Lili Ilse Elvenes, aka Lili Elbe, Wegener's partner, who was trans and one of the earliest known successful recipients of gender-affirming surgery, in 1930. However, for a couple of decades Wegener had been painting haunting portraits of a sexy, almond-eyed femme fatale...and it was a bit of scandal when it emerged in 1913 that this gorgeous woman was assigned male at birth.
Elbe sadly passed away in 1931, from complications of an attempt to transplant a uterus into her body. Wegener remarried briefly, and her painting style fell out of fashion. She died poor and half-forgotten, but her work has been rediscovered and acclaimed.
From a private collection.
#Art #DanishArt #GerdaWegener #LiliElbe #QueerHistory #TransHistory #QueerArt #PortraitMonday
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2025-02-11 20:55:38 GMT

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Twice. I'm negative.

2025-02-11 14:48:49 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! I'm still languishing on my bed of pain today...well, to be fair, I'm doing better, but still am not out the woods. The coughing has slowed significantly but my throat and ears are sore, I've got a bit of a headache, and still feel a tiny bit feverish. A tiny bit more energy than yesterday, too, but almost zero appetite.
Oh well, any improvement is welcome when you're sick, right?
We're supposed to have snow tonight, anywhere from 1-6 inches, depending on who you listen to. So who knows, I may have another day off tomorrow....although I doubt it...
How're all my friends & followers today?
#GoodMorning #AnotherSickDay #TuesdayTiger

2025-01-30 16:45:53 GMT

Religious groups sue the Trump admin, saying that offering sanctuary and turning away ICE & Homeland Security are covered by religious liberty.
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2025/0130/sanctuary-first-amendment-religious-liberty-immigration

2025-01-30 16:34:42 GMT

Progress.
Colombia bans child marriage.
Paternity leave has doubled in Finland.
In Malawi, new solar-powered tools are aiding dairy farming.
In Southeast Asia, nonaggressive Siamese Crocodiles, once thought extinct, are making a comeback in the wild.
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Points-of-Progress/2025/0129/family-children-Colombia-Finland

2025-01-29 00:11:06 GMT

"Regimental Band," Darsie Japp, 1918.
Japp (1883-1973) was a British artist and soldier; this is his best-known work.
He attended Oxford, worked in his father's shipping company, and took night classes in art. He was a good friend of Stanley Spencer (an artist I will never feature because I cannot stand him or his art, sorry, I have my limits) and took up landscapes and figure paintings. He later exhibited with the New British Art Club.
He joined the British Army in WWI and became major in the Royal Field Artillery. He and his friend Spencer (also serving) had been tapped to work on a British national hall of remembrance that was stillborn. After the war, Japp gave up art and bred race horses.
This was purportedly to be a design for a poster, but we're not sure for what. It's an interesting image, to be sure. Is the sky a circus tent, or is it being lit by explosions?
From the Imperial War Museum, London.
#Art #BritishArt #DarsieJapp #WarArt #WWI
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2025-01-27 15:19:47 GMT

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I think an exception should be made for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall....

2025-01-24 00:12:18 GMT

"Painting of the Sun, Moon, and Five Peaks," Unknown Korean Artist, 19th or early 20th Centuries.
The product of an unknown artist from Korea's Joseon Dynasty, this painting is also known as a Irworobongdo, and normally was a folding screen that stood behind the Emperor's throne, as a symbol of his majesty and power. The actual meaning of the symbolism here is forgotten and can only be guessed at. It's worth noting that the concept of five peaks has long been important to the royal houses of Korea.
Many of these were produced in the heyday of the Joseon Dynasty, but today only about 20 are extant, none of which are signed. While frequently done as multipanel folding screens, this particular example is done as a single panel. Versions of this always had the sun, moon, and five peaks, but could vary in details, color scheme, and arrangement.
From the National Palace Museum of Korea, Seoul.
#Art #KoreanArt #AsianArt #UnknownArtist #Irworobongdo #Joseon
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2025-01-22 23:43:18 GMT

"Untitled (Man Carrying Dog on Object)," Bill Traylor, c. 1939-1942.
Traylor (1853-1949) is someone I've talked about before...to give a quick summary, he was a Black man born into slavery, was a sharecropper most of his life, and only took up art at the age of 85, when he was an unhoused person on the streets of Montgomery, AL. He started to draw on scrap cardboard just to pass the time, but his work gathered notice and he actually had a show before he died. His work was rediscovered in the early 1980s and now he's hailed as one of the great self-taught Naive/Outsider artists.
Traylor's work can be bewildering; I've seen simple drawings of people and horses and then elaborate pictures of I-Don't-Know-What. Here we have a man carrying a dog on his head, on top of what looks like an urn. Maybe. What is it? What is the significance of the dog? Only Traylor would know....but then again, sometimes artists will just create and not think of meaning. Even David Lynch has said that the meanings of works like ERASERHEAD are unknown to him.
From the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
#Art #BlackArtists #BillTraylor #OutsiderArt #NaiveArt #VisionaryArt
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2025-01-22 00:24:15 GMT

"The Old Faun," Santiago Rusiñol, 1911.
Rusiñol (1861-1931) was a leader of the Catalan "Modernisme" movement, which pushed for a unique artistic voice for Spain's Catalonia region. He was also a poet, journalist, and playwright.
Born into a textile manufacturing family, he married young but abandoned his family and children to study art, a rift that lasted over a decade. His family generously took him back in so he could cope with a morphine addiction, and then later became a mainstay of Barcelona's art world.
This is one of many paintings he did of beautiful scenery in Spain. This, for instance, is of the royal gardens in the town of Aranjuez, at the time a neglected community. Now it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
From the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid.
#Art #SpanishArt #SantiagoRusinol #Aranjuez #Garden #Parterre #Modernisme
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2025-01-21 00:22:28 GMT

"Pare Watene," Gottfried Lindauer, 1878.
Back to posting regularly!
Lindauer (1839-1926) was born in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) but moved to New Zealand in 1874. He became a popular artist with the Maori and received many commissions from the chieftains, in large part because of his accurate, non-sensational, unromanticized depiction of their tattoos, clothing, ornaments, and weapons. Today he is regarded as one of New Zealand's great artists and a major Western chronicler of Maori culture.
Not much is known of Pare Watene, except that she was a noted beauty among the Maori.
From the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.
#Art #Portrait #GottfriedLindauer #Maori #IndigenousHistory #PareWatene
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2025-01-10 00:40:35 GMT

Musical Interlude: Bonnie Raitt was recently honored by the Kennedy Center, and it's time I featured her again. Here's a lesser known but addictive track.
"I Can't Help You Now," performed by Bonnie Raitt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0NVykyTKYQ
#MusicalInterlude #BonnieRaitt #AmericanClassic #KennedyCenterHonoree

2025-01-04 00:12:22 GMT

"Pot of Flowers," Édouard Vuillard, c. 1900-01.
Vuillard and his Nabi cohorts are great favorites of mine. I take great delight in Vuillard's work; his love of pattern and skill in depicting it appeal to me greatly. I remember just standing in awe in front of one of his paintings at the Met, to the point that the security guards were starting to eye me suspiciously...
The Nabis loved intimate scenes, and this fits. What's a standout is that this isn't a formally arranged still life...it's just a scene from his studio, painted as is, almost like a casual photograph.
First #FlowerFriday of 2025!
From the National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.
#Art #FrenchArt #LesNabis #EdouardVuillard #FlowerFriday
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2024-12-27 21:30:14 GMT

"Still Life, or, La Table Garnie," Henri Fantin-Latour, 1866.
Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) was a Realist in the period of Impressionism. Although that may make him seem out-of-step and stuffy, he wasn't.
He produced a series of self-portraits early in his career, but in the 1860s began to focus mostly on still lifes, like this one. This was partly because they showed his strengths at depicting color and texture, but also, like Impressionism, it was a rebellion against the academic standards of art (that one must follow the classical masters, and that art should focus on historical, religious, or mythical themes, and have Meaning), that held still lifes in disdain and considered them a minor genre. And despite not being an Impressionist, he still exhibited with his friends Manet, Monet, and Renoir. So while his still lifes may seem rather conventional and conformist to modern eyes, in context they were actually rebellious and avant-garde.
So, enjoy these flowers as an act of rebellion!
From the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.
#Art #FrenchArt #Realism #HenriFantinLatour #FlowerFriday #StiiLife #Rebellion
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2024-12-26 22:56:37 GMT

"Jilted," Briton Rivière, 1887.
Rivière (1840-1920) was a British painter and illustrator known mostly for his paintings of animals. He started doing academic historical paintings, but later moved on to specialize in animals, as he simply enjoyed doing it more.
In an interview with a children's magazine, he spoke of how he spent enormous amounts of time at the London zoo, sketching the animals, and also working in dissection rooms to study their anatomy and musculature. Early in his career, he also worked as an illustrator for the humor magazine Punch.
From the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
#Art #BritishArt #VictorianArt #AnimalsInArt #DogsOfMastodon #BritonRiviere
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2024-12-24 23:32:33 GMT

"We are here, in the Christmas tree forest," Willem Wenckebach, 1898. A watercolor work by one of the era's greatest illustrators.
From the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
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2024-12-18 01:07:25 GMT

"Hall of the Ambassadors, Alhambra, Granada," Joaquin Sorolla, 1909.
Sorolla (1863-1923) was THE great Spanish Impressionist. Early in his career he did a number of historical and allegorical works, but as he matured he also mellowed somewhat, and did many paintings of either Spaniards enjoying themselves (often at the beach) or scenes capturing the beauty of his homeland.
Much of his later career was taken up by a project called "Vision of Spain," a series of monumental murals that captured the clothing, customs, and traditions of the various regions of Spain. These 14 murals can be seen at the Hispanic Society of American in NYC...but this is not one of them.
Here we have a combo of his Impressionism with Luminism, which explored the play of light, especially light on water. The Alhambra is a huge palace/fortress that is one of the best examples of Islamic architecture existing in the world today. Begun in 1238, it had fallen into partial ruin by the 1800s & when this was painted had been restored to its former glory.
From the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
#Art #SpanishArt #Impressionism #JoaquinSorolla #Alhambra
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2024-12-17 00:37:23 GMT

"Self-Portrait," Abraham Ángel, 1923.
Ángel (1905-24) had a tragically short life and a brief career, but he shone brightly. Born Abraham Ángel Card Valdés, he dropped his surnames when his older brother kicked him out of the family for defying his wishes and studying art.
Ángel was mentored by the great Mexican muralist Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, and the two became lovers. Ángel had an intense three-year painting career, producing fewer than 30 works...but they are much in demand today. Not long after this was completed, Ángel and Lozano broke up, and Ángel was found dead shortly their after from an overdose of cocaine. Whether it was suicide or accidental is unknown. He was only 19.
The ferocity of the colors, and his expression, are arresting.
From the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City.
#Art #MexicanArt #AbrahamAngel #QueerArtists #SelfPortrait #Modernism
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2024-12-13 00:12:34 GMT

"Gate in the Rocks," Karl Freidrich Schinkel, 1818.
Schinkle (1781-1841) was a painter, of course, but also an architect, urban planner, and a designer of furniture and theatrical sets. One of his set designs was the oft-reproduced starry set for Mozart's "The Magic Flute" which you've probably seen somewhere. He also helped chape Berlin from being a small provincial city to a major capitol.
As an architect, he mostly worked in a Neoclassical style until turning to Neo-Gothic in his later life; artistically, he was solidly a Romantic. This dramatic canvas seems to have been influenced by a trip to Friulia, a region of Italy by the German border. If it looks anything like this, I want to go.
From the Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
#Art #GermanArt #Romanticism #KarlFriedrichSchindel
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2024-12-05 23:58:15 GMT

"Earth Warming," Marsden Hartley, 1932.
Hartley (1877-1943) was America's preeminent Modernist painter in the first part of the 20th century. His technique borrowed from Cubism but he was generally very representational in his work, even if sometimes it seemed abstract.
Here we have the rugged landscape in Mexico, where Hartley went to work and study for a year after receiving a Guggenheim fellowship in 1931.
From the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
#Art #AmericanArt #Mexico #MarsdenHartley #Modernism
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2024-12-03 00:15:08 GMT

Musical Interlude: OK, time to kick off the holiday season....I love this version of a song that deserves to be better known.
"Christmas Time is Here," performed by Moshe Zuchter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX1LjvnQqLY
#MusicalInterlude #ChristmasMusic #Accordion #CharlieBrown

2024-11-26 23:39:50 GMT

"Caesar at the Rubicon," Wilhelm Trübner, 1878.
Trübner (1851-1917) was a German Realist painter. Although never a major name (many of his paintings were too somber to really be popular) he did achieve a few humorous paintings with his dog, Caesar, that have endured.
He also did a lot to advance the idea of "art for art's sake," that is that a work of art should not just depict something beautiful, but be beautiful in and of itself, and that art should be free of utilitarian and didactic concerns. This was a reaction to a generation of artists who felt their art had to have a message and make a stand.
Eh...there's more than enough room for both, I say.
From the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna.
#Art #GermanArt #Realism #DogsOfMastodon #WilhelmTrubner #ArtForArtsSake
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2024-11-23 00:01:26 GMT

"Flowers in a Wan-Li Vase," Jan Brueghel the Elder, c. 1610-15.
Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) was a member of the Brueghel family of artists, which produced some exceptional ones. He operated in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and was something of a pioneer in the floral painting genre, as few artists of the period had done them before him.
There's an interesting economic take on this that I'm seeing...the Chinese vase is an indicator of the Dutch trading prowess on one hand, but on the other...the tulips are prominently featured, and the Dutch tulip mania was just starting to come to life when he painted this, becoming history's first recorded speculative bubble and a byword for any market where the prices of something outstrip their intrinsic value.
But hey, it's Flower Friday!
From the Mauritshuis, the Hague.
#Art #DutchArt #FlemishArt #FlowerFriday #JanBrueghelTheElder #TulipMania
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2024-11-21 17:46:05 GMT

Gaetz withdraws his AG nomination. We already knew heinous things about him...what was about to come out? And who will be next? Sidney Powell?

2024-11-21 14:40:44 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! Our first cold morning of the season...I actually had to break out a winter coat. Talk of snow tomorrow morning, but nothing sticking....we'll see. Yay! No more heat! At least for a while...
How're all my friends & followers today?
#GoodMorning #ThursdayThoughts

2024-11-16 00:41:40 GMT

"Flowers in a Vase," Henriëtte Geertruida Knip, 1830.
Knip (1783-1842) was a Dutch floral painter. She learned a lot from her brother Joseph, who was also a painter, but when he and their father lost their eyesight, she was able to support her family through her art, selling pleasant florals like this one.
It was an artistic family; her niece was Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, famous for her cute paintings of cats that prefigured the modern rage for cute cats on the internet.
From a private collection.
#Art #DutchArt #Floral #WomenArtists #HenrietteGeertruidaKnip #FloralFriday
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2024-11-14 16:39:29 GMT

Me. Today.
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2024-11-08 23:39:47 GMT

"Flowers in a Glass Vase on a Marble Table," Rachel Ruysch, 1690.
I've talked about Ruysch before, so she needs no introduction except maybe a reminder that she achieved international fame in her lifetime and is the best-documented artist of the period.
This is typical of her work; the flowers are meticulously rendered and could almost be scientific illustrations. At the same time, the mass of roses, irises, lilies, tulips, and others don't all bloom at the same time, so this bouquet is a piece of fantasy.
Flowers for Friday!
From a private collection.
#Art #DutchArt #WomenArtists #DutchGoldenAge #RachelRuysch
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2024-11-07 15:09:08 GMT

Good morning,, Mastodonians. I'm really trying over here to improve my mood...part of my problem is I was wakened around 3:30 by horrendous leg cramps. How I'm still walking is a mystery to me. So I'm at the office, all bleary-eyed, wondering what the day will bring.
I'm gonna try, folks. Gonna fake it till I make it.
How're all my friends & followers today?
#GoodMorning #ThursdayThoughts

2024-11-07 00:03:31 GMT

"Feminine Wave," Katsushika Hokusai, 1845.
OK, I don't know what's "feminine" about this, but this is a great dramatic work by that master of the Ukiyo-e style, Hokusai, who also gave us another famous wave, that one with Mt. Fuji in the background, that's reproduced everywhere.
This is my way of saying to all my women/femme followers....don't forget, you still have power. You are still leaders. Don't let today derail you. Fight harder. Be that wave that pounds the rocks into sand. I will fight with you.
From the Sumida Hokusai Museum, Tokyo.
#Art #AsianArt #JapaneseArt #Ukiyo_e #Hokusai #BlueWave #WomensRights #ContinueTheFight
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2024-11-06 16:47:46 GMT

"Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say and do. Let me do right to all, and wrong no man."
The Doc Savage Oath, created in 1933 by author Lester Dent, who wrote almost all the Doc Savage adventures. Ironic that something from so long ago, and, OK, being imperfect and a product of its time, will still seem "woke" today.
I carry this in my wallet.
#Pulps #DocSavage #WordsToRemember

2024-11-05 23:33:35 GMT

"Votes for Women," Bertha Margaret Boyé, 1911.
There's not much information about Boyé (1883-1930) except that she was a California native who entered this as part of a competition to design a poster to help for the campaign for women's suffrage in California. The Art Nouveau/Arts and Crafts style is lovely, and that's the Golden Gate behind her, so it makes it a uniquely Californian image. And California gave women the vote in 1911, so the poster was successful.
This appears to be her only notable work; she died at the age of 47 in Europe, having gone there to continue her studies.
From the Arthur & Elizabeth Schlesinger Library, Cambridge, MA.
#Art #AmericanArt #WomenArtists #WomenInArt #ArtNouveau #ArtsAndCrafts #WomensSuffrage #Vote
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2024-11-05 00:33:21 GMT

"A Tale of a Girl and a Peacock," Petro Kholodny, 1916.
Ukrainian Kholodny (1876-1930; sometimes spelled Kholodnyi) was also a prominent chemist who experimented with paints and tints.
This is an early work, heavily influenced by Impressionism but with a unique Ukrainian style. Although the image might seem hazy, it's actually intricately detailed if you zoom in. The exact meaning of the scene is unknown, but it shows young woman comparing a flower and a peacock feather, while the peacock stands before her. Is she contemplating beauty, or a transitory existence as opposed to temptation by the peacock? One could speculate all day.
Later in life, his style became heavily influenced by Byzantine icons. His son, also named Petro, became a noted artist, who left Ukraine soon after the October Revolution and eventually came to the U.S. in 1950.
From the National Art Museum of Ukraine, Kyiv.
#Art #UkrainianArt #PetroKholodny #Impression #ArtNouveau #Peacock
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2024-10-31 22:17:17 GMT

"Be Cheerful, Enjoy Your Life," Unknown Artist, 3rd Century BCE.
This cheerful skeleton was unearthed in 2016 in the Greek/Roman city of Antiocheia, in modern-day Turkey. While the lettering is commonly translated to mean, "Be cheerful; enjoy your life," some sources claim it actually says, "You get the pleasure of the food you eat hastily with death."
Happy Halloween, friends!
#Art #RomanArt #Skeleton #Halloween #Mosaic
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2024-10-29 22:44:09 GMT

"Young Man in the Costume of a Majo," Edouard Manet, 1863.
Manet hardly needs an introduction. But here he paints his brother in the costume of a majo, or lower-class Spanish dandy. Majos and majas would dress in exaggerated versions of traditional Spanish dress (like that impossibly broad sash!), be well mannered but cheeky, and sometimes would pick fights with the "Frenchified" upper classes who were abandoning traditional Spanish styles.
Dressing up as a majo or maja was a thrill for upper-crust Spaniards, though; Goya would paint a number of portraits of noblewomen as majas. The maja image itself, with comb and mantilla, flouncy dress and fan, became so iconic that it outlasted the majo style and became a cliche in its own right. The majo, sadly, has been replaced with the bullfighter.
I love his pose, and that snazzy outfits as a whole...but these days folks would be puzzled by a majo outfit at Halloween...
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
#Art #Realism #EdouardManet #Portraits #Majo
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2024-10-28 21:14:19 GMT

"The Garden of Death," Hugo Simberg, 1896.
Another Finnish painter, Simberg (1873-1917) was a student of Akseli Gallen-Kallela, who was featured last week.
The Symbolists can sometimes be puzzling, but it's very common for them to be macabre, and we see that here. Simberg gives us a garden tended by skeletons in black robes. It's a great paradoxical scene...a garden usually symbolizes life and rebirth, but here it's tended by Death, who instead of being menacing or imposing, seems gentle. Look at the one holding a flower to his chest!
One source says that this reflect Simberg's view of a sort of Purgatory, but instead of having your sins purged, your soul is nurtured to grow into what it could be, before moving on to a final reward. In that case, Death becomes a gentle nurturer. Interesting take.
Simberg died young, only 44, from what might have been syphilis. Some believe the disease may have been responsible for the dark, macabre themes in his work.
From the Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki.
#Art #FinnishArt #Death #HalloweenArt #HugoSimberg
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2024-10-26 00:30:04 GMT

"Death and Life," Edvard Munch, 1894.
Norwegian Munch (1863-1944) is almost insanely famous for one painting, "The Scream," (which has become one of the art world's most parodied and marketed images) but there's so much more to him and his work.
His early life was often touched by illness and death, and he himself feared inheriting a mental illness that ran in his family. He took to painting to deal with his dreads.
He traveled around Europe, meeting people like Van Gogh, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and even playwright August Strindberg. When WWII came, his work was banned by the Nazi party, and some of it seized, but most survived (a handful are still missing), securing his legacy.
He experienced mental health troubles, exacerbated by drinking, but with therapy and treatment he powered through and became more optimistic and bright in his outlook. He died during the Nazi occupation of Norway, and the party orchestrated his funeral and tried to hint that he had become one of them at the end, but nobody bought it.
This vision of a woman and a skeleton embracing reflects one of his common themes, the mingling of love and death, Eros and Thanatos. And it's seasonal.
From the Munch Musem, Oslo
#Art #NorwegianArt #EdvardMunch #Expressionism #ErosAndThanatos
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2024-10-23 23:31:07 GMT

"Interior with Three Figures in a Cafe," Erma Bossi, c. 1910.
Bossi (1875-1952) was Italian-born but her style was German Expressionism, with some influence, I think, from the Nabis.
There's not much biographical info about her, other than how she learned art in Munich, fled to Paris at the outbreak of WWI, and then returned to Milan but continued to exhibit with the avant-garde artists in Paris. She was one of the few women to participate in the Venice Biennales in 1930 and 1935.
I like how the figures communicate through posture, given that they have no faces, and the patches of color and pattern remind me very much of Vuillard, whose work is so dear to me.
From the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich.
#Art #ItalianArt #Expressionism #WomenArtists #ErmaBossi #NabiInfluence
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2024-10-22 23:46:33 GMT

"Lake View," Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1901.
I've talked about Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931) before; he's one of the great Finnish national artists, a major figure in Finland's struggle for independence both politically and culturally, from Imperial Russia.
Here we have a gorgeous tribute to Finland's natural beauty. Gallen-Kallela's work was often in the "Romantic Nationalist" genre, which involved tributes to his homeland's natural beauty, with perhaps a small touch of idealization.
That island reminds me of a view of the Susquehanna that I like to visit from time to time...
From the Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki.
#Art #FinnishArt #AkseliGallenKallela #RomanticNationalism #Finland
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2024-10-17 22:54:05 GMT

"Mountains in the Rising Fog," Caspar David Friedrich, c. 1835.
Friedrich (1774-1840) seems perfect for spooky season; his Romantic landscapes, once nearly forgotten, have been rediscovered by a new generation of Romantics....although it was a bumpy ride, with his work being briefly co-opted by the Nazi party, then dismissed in the face of growing modernism, and then being exploited by Disney and horror-movie makers. In the 1970s he began to be taken seriously again and now is the subject of many a museum exhibit.
The view is of the Rosenberg, in Bohemian Switzerland. Makes the imagination go wild, eh? Dark castles, swordfights, mad scientists, curses, witches...whatever your mind can dream up...
From the Städel Museum, Frankfurt.
#Art #GermanArt #Romanticism #CasparDavidFriedrich #Switzerland #Alps
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2024-10-16 22:40:25 GMT

"Aurora Borealis," Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, 1881-82.
Trouvelot (1827-95) has a mixed legacy. Born in France, he and his family fled to the US after a coup by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte in 1851. He was earning a living as an artist and illustrator, but also had an interest in entomology. He was studying moths and had imported eggs of the spongy moth to his home...which proceeded to escape and devastate the hardwood forests here. Spongy moths (formerly called gypsy moths) are still a problem today and the story is an early example of how invasive species get introduced.
After that debacle, he switched to astronomy, and soon joined the staff of Harvard as their resident astronomical illustrator, and worked at the US Naval Observatory, making early observations of sunspots. He returned to France in '82, where he spent the rest of his life.
His illustrations are still well regarded today and have a decorative power of their own; I had a few masks with his illustrations during COVID.
From the collection of the New York Public Library.
#Art #ScientificArt #scientific_illustrators #AuroraBorealis #EtienneLeopoldTrouvelot #Astronomy
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2024-10-16 13:18:27 GMT

Good morning Mastodonians! It's genuinely cold this morning; I think there was frost on the car, but by the time I got out to go to work it had melted. Still...wowza.
All alone in the office; the boss is presenting at a workshop elsewhere, and I have a bit of bookkeeping to do. Gotta keep the accounts all clear!
How're all my friends & followers today?
#GoodMorning #WednesdayWisdom