Doves with Messages of Peace & Goodwill

A friend of mine Mary from Malaysia emailed me this beautiful story “Take My Son” & suggested that I might adopt it in my blog. No doubt many of you may have read the story, but a good story such as this is well worth repeating.

A Chinese proverb has this to say: “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I might remember. Involve me and I will understand.”

This beautiful but sad story will involve you & awaken your understanding like “a picture that paints a thousand words.” Remember how at times something hits you hard & strong upon later reflection. “Life” as said by Soren Kierkegaad, “can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

Here goes the story: (Source: Unknown)

Take My Son

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael . They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.

When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas,there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.

He said, ‘Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly. He often talked about you, and your love for art.’ The young man held out this package. ‘I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.’

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture.. ‘Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift.’

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. ‘We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?’

There was silence.

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, ‘We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.’

But the auctioneer persisted. ‘Will somebody bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?’

Another voice rang angrily. ‘We came to see the Van Gogh’s, the Rembrandts. Get on with the . . . (agitated words) Real bids!’

But still the auctioneer continued. ‘The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?’

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the long-time gardener of the man and his son. ‘I’ll give $10 for the painting . . .’ Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

‘We have $10, who will bid $20?’

‘Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters.’

The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son.

They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. ‘Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!’

A man sitting on the second row shouted, ‘Now let’s get on with the collection!’

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. ‘I’m sorry, the auction is over.’

‘What about the paintings?’

‘I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.

The man who took the son gets everything!’

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on the cross. Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: ‘The son, the son, who’ll take the son?’

Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

“FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, WHO SO EVER BELIEVETH, SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE . . .” (John 3:16) THAT’S LOVE!

It was love, not nails, that kept Jesus on the cross.

As a gesture of goodwill, just pass this on to two other friends & tell them to do likewise to only two others each. By sheer geometric progression, this message of salvation will outreach globally to every nook & corner.

]]> http://emotioninart.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/lepouvante-de-balthasar-et-ses-invites-rembrandt/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:45:35 +0000 franck gintrand http://emotioninart.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/lepouvante-de-balthasar-et-ses-invites-rembrandt/

Come sarebbero stati i personaggi della famiglia più famosa d’America, i Simpson, se fossero nati ai tempi di Rembrandt, Dalì o Van Gogh?

David Barton di LimpFish ha provato ad immaginarseli e, a dipingerli.

Complimenti a David per l’idea originale e per la mano.

Always on the lookout for features available for free on-line viewing, I found Peter Greenaway’s Rembrandt’s J’Accuse (2008).

The movie is an addendum to “Nightwatching,” Mr. Greenaway’s 2007 fictional feature about the painting that was part of a larger project of the same title that he created for the yearlong 2006 celebration of Rembrandt’s 400th birthday in the Netherlands. That project included an opera and a “re-presentation” of the painting. Mr. Greenaway was also the author of a handsome accompanying museum catalog. The “Nightwatching” project was, in turn, the first in an ambitious series Mr. Greenaway has undertaken titled “Nine Classical Paintings Revisited” that has, to date, included inquiries into Leonardo’s “Last Supper” and, as part of this year’s Venice Biennale, Paolo Veronese’s “Wedding at Cana.” (from “The Man Who Watched the Watchers” by Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, 10/21/09)

The film’s thesis:  the composition of “The Night Watch” shows that Rembrandt used the work to accuse the Amsterdam militia of murder within their own ranks. Throughout the analysis, Greenaway—who narrates the film, often seen as a talking head in a little box on the screen (Dargis  compared the sight to that of Jambi the Genie on Pee-wee’s Playhouse)—weaves in European history of many strands: political, religious,  and artistic.

See “As Mentioned in the Post”  or “On-Line Viewing Options” in the sidebar for a link to the film.

When it initially opened, art critics blasted Tate Britain for its decision to remove many of its masterpieces, as the national gallery abandoned the classics in order to display less serious pieces to appeal to the “new art history.”  However, director Stephen Deuchar, who is leaving to take over the Art Fund after a decade-long run as the man in charge, has proved successful in quelling (and even exciting) the critics, while simultaneously keeping the masses happy. Tate Britain has achieved this balance by masterfully displaying the newest art it can find, along with pieces relevent to Britain’s cultural history, exceptional permanent (and semi-permanent) collections and various dazzling exhibitions.

An article from the Guardian praises Tate Britain’s exhibition ”Turner and the Masters,” stating:

Turner and the Masters is a tremendous climax to this run of shows. It has been seen as a show about competition – about Turner’s savage desire to outdo others, epitomised by the splash of red with which he once trounced Constable. Yet I didn’t really find myself thinking of it as a competition at all. Undoubtedly, Turner holds his own in the sometimes quixotic battles he fights – the only artist who slaughters him is Rembrandt.

Yet by bringing in European masterpieces, such as Rembrandt’s marvellous The Mill, what this exhibition really does is let us see the story of art through 19th-century eyes. It’s not a competition. In almost all the juxtapositions, you find yourself making nuanced comparisons rather than judging…

This exhibition, on display through January 2010, should not be missed – especially by those who value traditional art history and the masters.

Damien Hirst says in his interview in the Guardian that given time, dedicated study and learning how to look, we can all paint as good as the masters. I go along with that up to a point but what you would need is incredible faith in your ability to allow yourself the time for that to happen.

I dont think Damien Hirst is one of those with a lack of self belief!

Here in an extract:-

“I gave up painting by 16,” he says. “I secretly thought I would have been Rembrandt by then.”

I give him a look. But Rembrandt was a genius?

He shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt.”

Hirst is a master of the potty soundbite. I wait for a smile or wink, but it doesn’t come. Instead, he gets into his philosophical stride. “Picasso, Michelangelo, possibly, might be verging on genius, but I don’t think a painter like Rembrandt is a genius. It’s about freedom and guts. It’s about looking. It can be learned. That’s the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe. With practice, you can make great paintings.”

Here is the interview.

Am întâlnit o carte în librăria de la colţul străzii pe care o parcurg destul de des, cărticică care este un album de artă dintr-o colecţie despre pictură. Până acum nu am apucat să o răsfoiesc decât pe aceasta, despre Baroc, semnată Andreas Prater şi Hermann Bauer. Foarte bine prezentate, clar şi inteligibil, picturi din baroc şi cei mai importanţi pictori ai acelei perioade.
Barocul s-a numărat mereu printre mişcările culturale preferate de mine, Epoca identificată cu  “absolutismul”, epoca lui Brueghel cel Bătrân, Rubens şi Rembrandt se caracterizează prin exces, de o parte, iar de cealaltă parte, de clar- obscur, amândouă variantele lăsând impresii puternice privitorului. Tot în aceeaşi perioadă s-au stabilit noi standarde pentru epoca de aur olandeză.
Pictura pe care am pus-o, este expuse în prezent (noivembrie 2009) în muzeul Louvre din Paris, şi este Saint Joseph charpentier de Georges de la Tour.

Chez les musulmans et les juifs, la représentation est interdite, ce sont les textes qui prônent. L’image, selon eux, véhicule toujours soit la luxure, l’érotisme, le désire, l’idolâtrie ou l’inceste comme dans : « La Nudité de Noé et La Malédiction de Canaan (Genèse 9:18-29) ». On lit : « Cham, le père de Canaan, vit son père nu et sortit pour le raconter à ses frères. Pendant que Sem et Japhet refusèrent d’entrer, Cham n’a eu aucunes hésitations à propos d’entrer dans la tente. Quelque ait été la faiblesse de Noé, il était à l’intérieur de sa propre tente. C’était comme ça que Sem et Japhet le voyaient. Cham y est entré, violant le principe d’intimité, pourtant, pas pour l’aider mais à se divertir à ses dépends. Cham n’a rien fait pour préserver la dignité de son père. Il n’a rien fait pour être sûr que Noé soit proprement couvert. A la place, il est sorti, alla vers ses deux frères et graphiquement décrit ce qu’il vu à l’intérieur. Il me semble que Cham ait put encourager Sem et Japhet à entrer dans la tente pour qu’ils puissent voir d’eux-mêmes. L’un d’eux prit la tunique, celle dont Noé aurait du être couvert, sur leurs épaules, ils marchèrent à reculons dans la tente. Sans regarder leur père, ils le couvrirent et sortirent de la tente. »

La représentation n’est aucunement interdite par le Coran, mais plutôt par un hadit qui dit que toute représentation s’apparente à une forme d’idolâtrie. On peut y lire : « nous ne sommes pas créateurs, seul Dieu a ce pouvoir, de ce fait nous n’avons pas le droit de représenter. » Dans la Torah, lorsque Moise est revenu avec la table des 10 commandements, il découvrit que son peuple avait commencé à vénéré le veau d’or. Il détruisit immédiatement cette statue en la faisant fondre et jeté à la mer. Chez les chrétiens, on peut lire dans la Bible que Dieu est représenté par le feu lorsque Jésus lui parle. On sait également que Jésus, fils de dieu, entité invisible s’est incarné en humain pour être visible aux yeux de tous. Dans l’évangile selon Saint- Jean il rapporte ces termes : « Celui qui m’a vu, a vu le Père.» On traduit par : « Je suis l’image, la représentation de Dieu. » C’est grâce à ce texte qu’il y a eu légitimation de la création iconographique en occident. Chez les peuples Bouddhistes, on a la table des 32 caractéristiques d’un bouddha. Chaque bouddha est facilement reconnaissable, grâce à des caractéristiques dont ne sont jamais pourvus les êtres humains ordinaires. Il existe 32 caractéristiques qui sont propres à tous les bouddhas omniscients. Ces caractéristiques sont déjà toutes présentes au moment de leur naissance, et ne changent jamais, jusqu’au parinibbána. Nous, nous attarderons donc sur les deux peuples qui autorisent les représentations et les créations d’images. On exposera le thème du miroir en occident et en orient. Dans un premier temps, on verra comment le spectateur passe d’un mode « passif » à « actif ». Dans un second temps, on expliquera comment les œuvres asiatiques ont habitué le spectateur a une vision «  active » et à évoluer celui-ci en « acteur ».

Une des œuvres occidentale importante dans l’histoire du miroir est celle de la « La jeune fille assoupie ».

Une Jeune Fille assoupie (Het Slapende Meisje) au Metropolitan Museum de New York Johannes Vermeer, 1657, Huile sur toile.

Si l’on analyse ce tableau ; on peut voir que la lumière provient de la fenêtre située à la place du spectateur qui donne des tons ocres à l’œuvre. Au premier plan, on observe un amoncellement d’objets. Un semblant de désordre règne. Une chaise à bras de lion se trouve en bas à gauche. Ce rapprochement « grossi » crée une bannière entre la jeune fille et le spectateur. On est proche d’elle presque inclus dans la scène, mais en même temps elle reste inaccessible. Les critiques conviennent généralement que de soi-disant le tableau dans le tableau est censé donner le commentaire sur la scène qui a lieu ci-dessous. L’interprétation de cette image a été particulièrement problématique. On suppose que l’inclusion du masque dans la peinture de cupidon a illuminé le thème avec une référence typique ; la désillusion amoureuse. Le masque tombé signifie la fin de la duperie, plutôt qu’étant ivre, la jeune fille peut simuler le sommeil à son amoureux qui est sur le point d’apparaître. En fait, Vermeer avait par le passé peint un cavalier debout dans la pièce arrière, vue à travers la porte, mais il a par la suite décidé de l’effacer. Au 3ème plan, on peut reconnaitre un miroir plat qui ne reflète rien. Ce rien peut faire référence à l’absence.

Depuis des siècles, les artistes ont formé le spectateur à la vision « passive ». Une simple vision monoculaire suffit à déterminer la perspective linéaire ainsi que le point de fuite comme le démontre le livre d’Alberti. Ces idéaux seront bousculé à l’époque contemporaine par des artistes tels que Monet et sa série de nymphéas.

Nous ne pouvons pas analyser une Monet comme un Vermeer. Nous n’avons pas de repère, pas de point de fuite, pas de perspective linéaire. Nous n’avons aucun référent à l’art de la peinture comme chez Alberti. Les nymphéas, ces délicates fleurs d’eau, font partie des sujets de prédilection de l’artiste qui voulait, à la manière de la photographie naissante, saisir l’instant et, surtout en restituer la lumière particulière. Nous ne pouvons que suivre les couleurs vaporeuses. Notre regard se perdant dans cet infini de tons bleus, verts et blancs. Le reflet du Saul et du ciel dans l’eau nous amène à considérer l’eau comme un miroir.  Les nénuphars se déclinent en plusieurs verts plus bleutés que les feuilles de saule. Les artistes occidentaux ont abordé le miroir sous différentes formes. Tout d’abord ils l’ont représenté en peinture, en sérigraphie puis il est devenu comme si dessus un simple reflet, et finalement, une matière de support à l’art. C’est ainsi que le spectateur a évolué sa vision. Il est passé d’une vision « passive » (monoculaire) à celle d’ « active » que les asiatiques maitrisent depuis des siècles déjà.

En effet, les arts asiatiques ont habitué le spectateur à suivre le récit des œuvres. Le regard du spectateur oriental, est en mouvement constant. L’artiste guide le spectateur à travers les couleurs, et les personnages. L’eau des œuvres de Fugaku Sanjurokkei est comme un miroir vide. Il absorbe totalement le paysage. Notre regarde divague aux grès des couleurs à la recherche de repères, mais se retrouve face à une image plate, sans perspective. L’endroit semble être Ninomiya actuel, une ville près de la côte de la préfecture de Kanagawa entre Kozu et Odawara. L’œuvre montre un groupe de grues dans le premier plan avec deux autres le vol au loin vers Fuji. De la série la plus célèbre de Hokusai : Sanjurokkei de Fugaku, les « trente-six vues du Mont Fuji. » L’ensemble de 46 copies éditées par Eijudo c 1830-32. C’est une des conceptions les plus admirées de l’ensemble et une des plus difficiles à trouver dans l’état tôt (comme Kajikazawa). Alternativement, ceux-ci tendent également à être les conceptions qui sont imprimées presque seulement dans les tonalités de bleu et de vert. Elles ont été les premières à être conçues pour montrer au loin le nouveau bleu prussien.

Katsushika HOKUSAI, Fugaku Sanjurokkei, 1830-1832, bois.

A partir des années 1930, une grande artiste va s’intéressée plus au miroir que n’importe quel autre artiste asiatique. A travers sa série « Miroited years», Yayoi Kusama, créa une installation aux multiples murs miroités. On observe des sculptures orangées aux points blancs qui se reflètent partout dans le cube miroité. Lorsque nous rentrons à l’intérieur c’est comme si nous somme passé dans un autre monde, un peu comme Alice qui traverse le miroir (cf. : Alice aux pays des merveilles). L’ingénieux système de miroir, réfléchit à l’infini une couleur orangée parsemée de points blancs. Une sensation d’être perdus, petits nous envahi, puis lorsque nous sortons, c’est comme un retour à la morosité. Le spectateur asiatique devient alors acteur dans ses œuvres car lui-même est reflété partout, sur tous les miroirs.

Walking in My Mind, Yayoi Kusama

Cette morosité est dépassée dans certaines villes où l’on est envahi de gratte-ciels miroités. Nous nous retrouvons donc dans une ville de miroir où le sol ne peut rien refléter, ainsi qu’un ciel trop haut pour être réfléchit. Nous sommes dans un monde où nos buildings reflètent le vide. Les immeubles sont placardés d’images, de photos, de publicité, d’écrans télévisés. Le spectateur ne sait plus où il doit regarder. Il devient donc acteur. Il fait parti de cette œuvre à grande échelle. Il occupe une place importante en tant que spectateur de la vie quotidienne. Nous sommes tous passé d’un rôle de spectateur à un rôle d’acteur, car nous faisons parti intégrante des « shows » de la vie. Tous les jours les médias quotidiens nous présentent les informations comme des « mini shows » c’est donc à partir de cela que nous devenons des acteurs dans ce spectacle de la vie. On peut finir par se demander si : l’acteur, finira dépassé par ce spectacle aux multiples visages, aux milliers de miroirs ?

TORINO FILM FESTIVAL:
Torino – 11/13/2009 -11/21/2009
The world renowned international metropolitan Festival showcases feature films, documentaries, shorts and a space dedicated to artists from Piedmont . The schedule includes different events such as 93Festa Mobile 94, 93Onde 94, 93Figli e amanti 94 and additional sections that offers viewers the opportunity to enjoy the year 92s most wonderful movies. Torino Film Lab is part of the Torino Film Festival.

SUPER – NEOBAROQUE ITINERARIES AMONG ART AND DESIGN
Lecce – 05/01/2009 -12/31/2009
A series of exhibitions and performances are scheduled that offer to the public undiscovered cultural itineraries in the Salento, from its baroque architectural treasures, to its vision of contemporary art and design.

DANTE’S INFERNO IN THE CAVES IN PERTOSA
Salerno – 06/01/2009 – 12/31/2009
Grotte dell’Angelo in the Cilento National Park are a natural and most charming stage for Dante’s Inferno, repeated through 11. Every weekend Dante leads the audience through tunnels in the mountain, going from cave to cave, to meet Paolo and Francesca, Ulysses, Minos, Count Ugolino, and many others. This is an extraordinary show, with unpublished music and new installations that stretches for a kilometer through the Grottedi Pertosa and Dante’s imaginary world.

ROME – CARAVAGGIO/BACON
Rome – 02.10.2009 – 24.01.2010
Rome’s Galleria Borghese celebrates 400 years since Caravaggio’s death with Caravaggio-Bacon, an exhibition displaying masterpieces by two extreme artists. Both painters are known for digging into the mystery of existence to produce visually provoking representations of human torment.

REMBRANDT, GAIGUIN, PICASSO
March 14th 2010 – CASTEL SISMONDO, Piazza Malatesta, 47900 Rimini
Boston in Rimini. Sixtyfive masterpieces , from Rembrandt to Velasquez, Van Dyck, Tiepolo, Manet, Gauguin, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Matisse amongst the most admired of the beautiful “Collection of european arts” from the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, will be exceptionally be housed in Rimini in Castel Sismondo, the Rocca Malatestiana in the heart of the city.

I rode a bike around a bog for five days and enjoyed it. Mind you, we’re talking about a world-class bog here; there can’t be many nicer ones than the Groene Hart (Green Heart) region of the Netherlands.

The Groene Hart, the area directly south of Amsterdam, is the Dutch landscape of the postcards – lush green fields where cows and sheep graze, old windmills turn slowly, ducks dabble on canals and barges glide under willows along the rivers. It’s the largest ‘preserved land’ area in the country; 1500 square miles of farms and nature reserves, dotted with little villages.

Poking up around its edges are the surprisingly interesting cities of Leiden, Rotterdam and Utrecht, so whenever my backside had had enough I could pull off the cycle path and check out a museum. Or I could research a local café, which in this part of the world means ‘bar’.

This was my sort of cycling – flat, safe, and with regular access to food, drink and beds. I hardly needed the gears on my basic touring bike and, even with my unreliable knees, averaging 35miles a day was a breeze, at least when the breeze was behind me.
It was vaguely disconcerting to pedal out of Amsterdam, perched on the dyke beside the Amstel River and notice that the surrounding countryside was several metres below the water level.

Until the Middle Ages, this was all swamp. Decaying vegetation formed a soggy peat layer several yards thick. So when the growing industries of brewing, weaving and brick-making demanded fuel, there it was in the Groene Hart, just waiting to be dug, dried and burned.

Turf-cutting was relatively lucrative work for mediaeval peasants, but it had a major downside. Drying the land caused subsidence, thus requiring more drainage canals, which in turn led to more drying, more sinking and more flooding, hence the windmills needed to pump the water back up to the rivers.

Now only the dykes are keeping the rivers honest and I hoped I wouldn’t have to stick my finger into one. Incidentally, the author of that classic 19^th century tale about the brave little boy who saved the land by putting his finger in a hole was Mary Mapes Dodge, a New Yorker who never saw a Dutch dyke.

Farming here is now barely economical, and environmentally friendly activities are subsidized. So the Groene Hart is becoming an area of lakes and bird sanctuaries, its old farms turned into homes for city commuters, mini-campgrounds and B&Bs. Agriculture’s loss is the cyclist’s gain.

I reached Leiden, famous for cheese studded with cumin seeds. It also boasts the oldest university in the Netherlands, whose most notable alumnus probably dropped out around 1625. He was a young tearaway called R.H. van Rijn, later known just as Rembrandt. The bridges arching over the canal offered an excellent lunch stop.

Then I went rolling down towards Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest harbour. By reputation it’s a no-nonsense commercial centre, devoid of appealing old buildings. On May 14^th 1940, as punishment for Dutch resistance, Hitler’s Luftwaffe bombed it flat, killing 800 Rotterdammers. The event is recalled by Ossip Zadkine’s powerful sculpture by the waterfront, The Destroyed City.

But Rotterdam bounced back. Instead of rebuilding in the old style, the city went for radical modern architecture, and very impressive it is too.

Most extraordinary are Piet Blom’s Cube Houses of 1984. His row of yellow boxes, set on their points, spans a bridge over a busy road. They look award-winning from the outside but could anyone actually live in a house with no vertical walls? One cube is open to the public, so I saw how they ingeniously solved the problem of where to put the bookcases and wardrobes.
Bars by the old Rotterdam harbour were uninviting, but I found one attractive cafe. ‘Can I get good coffee here?’ I asked the waitress. ‘They have better coffee machine next door,’ was the answer. I appreciated the honesty, so I stayed. She was right – the coffee was indeed average, but the food and service were worth tipping.

At the signpost outside the city I had a choice to make. I could fight my way into the gale blowing off Kinderdijk, where World Heritage windmills line a canal, or I could ride with the wind at my back towards Gouda. It started to rain. Suddenly cheese seemed very interesting.

Gouda has perhaps the most beautiful town square in Holland, dominated by a seventeenth century town hall in the middle. A wedding party arrived in a horse-drawn carriage, which sent tourists scrabbling for the cameras. The bride posed for us, then went inside for a very short ceremony – she was married in less time than it took me to eat a cheese sandwich.

30miles further across the Groene Hart I came to Utrecht. It features one of the world’s quirkier museums, with the cumbersome name Het Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement. It’s a museum of mechanical music.

I joined the free tour, as guide Pieter explained the instruments in Dutch and English.
We listened to delicate French musical clocks, pianolas and mighty pierements, the Dutch street organs.

My favourite exhibit was a musical cabbage. When Pieter wound it, tinkly music played, and a fluffy white rabbit emerged to make chewing movements above a cabbage leaf. That was it. Kids were apparently easier to entertain in the pre-Nintendo age, though the young members of tour group enjoyed the bunny too.

Most over-the-top item had to be the grand Heizmann Orchestrion, the 19^th century predecessor to the jukebox. It’s a massive structure of polished wood, formerly housed in an expensive café. Insert a coin and you get the sound of a full brass band blaring out. Unfortunately it only ever played one short tune, its internal cylinder being too clumsy and expensive to replace. Not surprisingly, the novelty soon wore off and customers left to find another café, with live music maybe?

Utrecht also claims to have Europe’s only Museum of Aboriginal Art. Kathleen Petyarre of Utopia was the featured artist when I visited and I enjoyed the guide’s thoughtful presentation for a group of Dutch primary school students, who had already been well prepped on Australian Aboriginal culture.

I’d planned to test out a Dutch farmer’s campsite for my final night on the road, so I could report on that experience. I really did mean to do it. My tent and sleeping bag were rolled up in the bike’s panniers.

But the rain was still around, so instead I tested two beers (both good), a Turkish meal (excellent) and put the bike on the train to Amsterdam (easy). From my second-class seat (padded, comfortable) I had a final view of Holland’s Groene Hart sinking in the twilight (very beautiful!)

TRIP NOTES:

Bicycles can be hired at most Dutch railway stations for around EUR8-10 a day. A day pass to take the bike on the train outside peak hours costs EUR6.

There are frequent daily train services from Amsterdam to Leiden – 33 minutes, EUR14.40 return, Rotterdam – 57 minutes EUR23.60, Gouda – 24 minutes, EUR18.10 and Utrecht – 24 minutes, EUR 12.10.

Getting in: Entry to Rotterdam’s Cube House is EUR2.
Entry to Utrecht’s Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement costs EUR8.

Entry to the Museum of Aboriginal Art costs EUR8.

Tip: A museumkaart (museum card) costs EUR40 and gives free entry to most Dutch museums. It can be bought in the museums mentioned, as well as many others, and is valid for a year. Visit over five museums and you’ll be ahead.

Guidebook: Fietsen rond het Groene Hart (Cycling round the Green Heart) is in Dutch, but with self-explanatory maps and a useful campground list. It is available at tourist information offices.

This is an eight part series written and narrated by Simon Schama. Schama looks at some of history’s most notorious and ground-breaking artists such as Caravaggio, Van Gogh and Picasso. This is not the most relevant video resource for BTEC Art & Design students but is none-the-less enlightening and exciting even for people from non-artistic fields.

The series follows the lives of eight famous artists. Famous for revolutionising art in their own field, be it religious painting, sculpture, landscape painting or abstract art, and infamous in their personal lives. The series features many reconstructions of scenes from the artist’s lives (for example where Caravaggio, forced into exile murdered another man in a brutal sword fight over a woman) interlaced with Schama’s own analyses and interpretations of the works produced by each artist.

Schama is articulate and exciting to listen to as he guides you through the lives of these eight notorious artists and his analyses and interpretations of the art works are absorbing. You will not look at these art works (as you have probably seen them many times before) in the same way again after watching this series. A true masterpiece in education and entertainment.

Simon Schama’sThe Power Of Art: The Complete BBC Series [DVD]

*

Ch’io fossi allora – o sia: tu muovi sopra

di me, infinita tenebra di luce.

E il Sublime che nello spazio appresti, io irriconoscibile

sul mio volto che veglia lo accolgo.

Notte, sapessi come io ti guardo,

come il mio essere nella rincorsa arretra

per osare slanciarsi fino a te;

e come potrò credere che bastino due cigli a contenere

questi fiumi di sguardi che s’incalzano.

(R. M. Rilke)

*

} Terça-feira a entrada é franca @ MASP!

Masp apresenta hoje a retrospectiva completa de Walker Evans. Conheça mais de 120 imagens através do olhar de Evans sobre o século 20, início dos anos 70. Fotos sobre a Grande Depressão, o cotidiano de Nova York e imagens de Havana sob o comando do ditador Machado. A mostra cobrirá os 50 anos da carreira de um dos maiores nomes da fotografia no mundo.

Para quem ainda não conferiu, as obras permanentes do acervo do Masp, essa é uma ótima oportunidade.

A exposição, Olhar e ser visto,  celebra a arte do retrato e auto- retrato no século 16 aos dias de hoje.  São fotografias, telas, esculturas e gravuras . Entre as obras estão os mais conehcidos nomes da arte como Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Goya, Portinari, Velázquez, Picasso, Modigliani, entre outros.

Assim como Olhar e ser visto, a exposição Arte do Mito, faz parte do acervo do Masp, esta mostra  propõe uma reapropriação sensível destas fábulas que continuamos a tratar como realidades.

Tivemos mais um café da manhã gostoso e reforçado para dar pique às nossas andanças.

Hoje além do frio também tivemos a companhia da chuva. No começo do dia estava fraca, não atrapalhou nossa ida ao Van Gogh Museum… ai que emoção!

Chegamos logo que abriu e já estava uma fila enorme. Mas não demorou muito e logo pudemos entrar… Me deu um aperto no coração que eu não sei explicar.

Meu Deus, o museu é a coisa mais impressionante. Aliás a arte de Van Gogh é impressionante. Esse é o museu que reúne o maior número de obras, nessa exposição (até 03 de Janeiro de 2010) são mais de 300 trabalhos entre pinturas, desenhos/rascunhos, cartas e cartas com os rascunhos de suas obras. É mágico perceber a sensibilidade de um artista e o cuidado que tinha com aquilo que planejava pintar.

Por vezes achamos que os grandes artistas simplesmente receberam um dom divino e que sentam em frente à uma tela e pronto a pintura deslumbrantemente é feita…. como um passe de mágica. Nessa exposição foi possível acompanhar o processo de criação de Van Gogh. Ele estudava as cores, escrevia ao irmão sobre seus pensamentos e intenções, fazia pequenos desenhos na carta demonstrando o que pensava fazer…

Além de todo esse cuidado, o que mais me emocionou, e emocionou de verdade (por vezes fiquei com os olhos cheios de lágrima), é a intensidade de sua obra: as cores, os contornos, as pinceladas grossas, as feições, sua letra nas cartas… foi muita emoção.

O ápice foi quando cheguei aos Girassóis. É lindo, intenso, marcante, genuíno, triste e puro (ao me lembrar desse momento para escrever esse post fico com os olhos marejados… Que delícia descobrir que algumas coisas são ainda mais importantes em nossas vidas do que imaginávamos que fossem).

Depois de algumas horas percorrendo o museu, chegamos à loja. Escolhemos a réplica da obra  Still life with quinces and lemons de 1887 (a que Van Gogh pintou para estudar as cores amarelo e ocre antes de pintar os Girassóis) e uma montagem com algumas de suas cartas.

Para a minha surpresa o Dú não tinha visto duas de suas obras e… tivemos que voltar. O melhor é que a sessão que ele não viu estava bem pertinho dos Girassóis, conclusão: plantei novamente na frente e fiquei lá flutuando por mais alguns minutos

Tomamos um lanche na lojinha do museu mesmo e quando saímos começou uma chuva ainda mais forte. Mudamos de idéia e fomos para a fila do Rijksmuseum Museum… para fugir da chuva. É um museu enorme e todo mundo fala dele, mas não é muito o nosso estilo favorito de arte, então não curtimos muito.

O que valeu foi ver a tela The Night Watch de Rembrandt. Datada de 1642, Rembrandt levou um ano para concluir a obra de 363 x 437 cm… ela é realmente enorme. O triste da história é saber que em 1715 quando removeram a obra de lugar cortaram-na para que ela coubesse no novo lugar, dessa forma, duas pessoas foram cortadas! Rembrandt deve ter se revirado no caixão.

E a chuva? Só aumentava lá fora. Ficamos um tempão conversando em um dos bancos do museu para passar o tempo e ver se a chuva diminuia. Que nada. Tomamos coragem e corremos para achar um café, bar, restaurante, o que fosse. Na mesma rua achamos um Ristorant Italiano interessante. No cardápio só cortes argentinos de carne, de entrada empanadas, achamos estranho, mas tudo bem! heheh

Depois de um tempo três colegas da turma do Dú apareceram, um indiano, um macedônio e um esloveno. Rimos muito com eles. Depois fomos à uma casa que tocava Salsa. E não é que o povo dança mesmo. Foi divertido descobrir que quem dava aula eram brasileiros, no folder divulgavam até Samba de Gafieira. Pena que não tocou!

Que dia longo. Amei. Ainda fecho os olhos e vejo as telas de Van Gogh…

Harmensz van Rijn Rembrandt, Il reverendo Johannes Elison, 1634 olio su tela, cm 174 x 124,5 Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

Prosegue a Rimini la mostra Da Rembrandt a Gauguin a Picasso. Nel contesto di Castel Sismondo sono esposti sessantacinque capolavori della pittura europea dal Cinquecento al Novecento, provenienti dal Museum of Fine Art di Boston. La mostra rimarrà aperta dal 10 ottobre 2009 al 14 marzo 2010 negli orari da lunedì a giovedì e domenica dalle 9 alle 19, venerdì e sabato dalle 9 alle 20. Chiuso 24, 25, 31 dicembre 2009. 1 gennaio 2010 orario dalle 11 alle 19.
Per ulteriori informazioni, Tel. 0422/429999, fax: 0422/308272, oppure visitare il sito: www.lineadombra.it

*****

Deposizione della croce, Cattedrale di San Lorenzo, Perugia (1569).

A Siena, presso il Complesso museale di Santa Maria della Scala è ospitata la mostra Federico Barocci. L’incanto del colore. Una lezione per due secoli.
Per l’evento asono state raccolte 134 opere tra pittura, disegno e incisione, al fine di far conoscere meglio al grande pubblico un artista di grande sensibilità e talento, il cui fascino ha influenzato due secoli di pittura, modello fondamentale per molti artisti del Seicento e del Settecento. Accanto alle opere del maestro, tra le quali la Deposizione del Duomo di Perugia e il Perdono di Assisi, proveniente da Urbino, sono presenti i capolavori di altri artisti come Rubens, Van Dyck, i Carracci, Guido Reni, fino a Fragonard e Rosalba Carriera, in un percorso che va dal Cinquecento al Settecento.
La mostra è aperta dall’11 ottobre 2009 al 10 gennaio 2010, tutti i giorni, compresi i festivi dalle 10,30 alle 19,30 (chiusura della biglietteria alle 18,30). Per informazioni e prenotazioni tel. 0577/286300 oppure 02/43353522.
e-mail: federicobarocci@operalaboratori.com/b-ticket/Vernice

Courbet "Baigneuses" (detail - only one baigneuse)

The combination of  day job, blog, and endless post-season baseball games, have made it difficult to do decent yoga and/or get to the gym of late.  (Hard to blog in downward dog.)   This, plus some brownies that I made for a visiting nephew, have left me feeling very chubby this Friday morning.   To compensate for those feelings, I’m posting “Courbet”, an homage to the wonderful sensitivity of  Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) to the womanly  physique.

Courbet

All I can say is that
it’s a good thing we have
museums hanging Courbets,
Rubens,
Rembrandts,
the occasional Italian,
with their depictions of swelling bellies,
dimples gathered around spines, flesh rippling
like Aphrodite’s birth foam,
the creep of pubic hair juxtaposed by coy hands
whose curved digits
pudge, slightly sunken cheeks (above, below),
spidery blood vessels
rooting beneath the patina.
All I can say, as
I catch my face in the
glass, glance down at
my folio of torso,
is that it’s a good thing.

All rights reserved.  Karin Gustafson.

♥ Cappuccino with cinnamon – The best way to improve your day!

♥ Converse – boy, I can’t leave without mine’s!

♥ Marcelino/Bella (Andra), Valeria (Andra), Rosmarin (Elena), Rembrandt (Amalia), Louie (Alina) and DC. – what would be my life and my school breaks without them? )

♥ Lefko – I can’t imagine my ‘unLefko’ life!

♥ My blog – What other way to relax then writing on my blog, right?

♥ English – And again, one of the reasons I’m writing in english )

♥ My cell – Not just a cell, a part of me!

♥ Music – Aghtaghtagt =P~ (for the ones who don’t know – The Simposons, Homer’s react at delicious food)

♥ Swimming – I am still searching for a better pool, a pool that has heating and no windows in the changind room

♥ Colours – What would be our lifes without them?

! This is NOT a top!

“Before I started working with him, he was described to me as ‘a director who prepares like Rembrandt and executes like Picasso,’ and I felt that was pretty insightful.”Dion Beebe ASC ,Aug.2004 American Cinematographer Hell On Wheels

Dante Spinotti, Mann’s cinematographer on four of his films, described the director’s visual processes in the following way. “It’s a little like being in front of a Caravaggio scene and changing it into a Kandinsky painting.” [25] The Kandkinsky-like qualities Spinotti is evoking are Mann’s intoxicating passion with the painterly, expressive, plastic possibilities of the cinema, with the way that framing, colour and light can transform a room in a house or a street at night. But while images in Mann’s films can sometimes be abstracted, expressive or surreal they are almost always tied to a character’s point of view, or the mood of the narrative, and always linked to emotion and affect.
MICHAEL MANN Cinema of images by Anna Dzenis

The Keep-The Last of Moichans

Manhunter-Heat-Collateral-Miami Vice

The Keep-The Insider-Public Enemies

Jericho Mile-Thief-ALI

My friend Stephen Lawhead has made a career writing popular novels set in old Britain—novels taking up the Arthurian legends, Viking invasions, and Robin Hood mythology, among other settings. Look in the fantasy/science fiction section of just about any bookstore, and you will find half a dozen of Steve’s books.

I would describe Steve’s writing as “gently Christian.” I’m sure most of his readers have never noticed, but Christian faith is part of the landscape (fittingly, in Europe of these periods) and a mostly positive influence. There’s nothing doctrinaire, didactic or confrontational about the way Steve writes. The novels just make space and a fair climate for people of faith.

I don’t think Steve has ever encountered any resistance to his perspective among non-Christian editors. He has had problems with Christians. One of his publishers was deeply troubled that two of his characters had a traditional, non-church wedding—jumping over a sword, if I remember correctly, as a pledge of faith before they went to bed. The publisher wanted to put a warning sticker on the book, to protect tender consciences.

There’s a lot of such “watchdog” religion, careful to detect and warn against anything doctrinally or morally questionable. Maybe it’s justified, in some times and places. But certainly it is the enemy of people involved in the arts. They are constantly going into unfamiliar places, and probing the ambiguous spaces of the human heart. They must experiment. They have to embrace that which exists, rather than the ideal that ought to exist. To do this kind of experimental work, they can’t be watching over their own shoulders.

I don’t mean that artists live in their own universe, beyond judgment. Certainly they are subject to all kinds of criticism—doctrinal, moral and esthetic. I just mean that they have to be allowed the freedom to make mistakes.

The ultimate ground for that freedom is grace.  Tim Keller made this point when I interviewed him last year. He pointed to people who work in media or drama or finance, who have to put in years of apprenticeship before they can originate content. During those years they may be involved in work that is morally dubious, even while it is carried out with great skill. If they only have a “watchdog” faith, they will not last long enough to develop those skills themselves, and they will never be given the chance to originate.

Many promote freedom in the arts based on a no-fault ideology. If something is done for the sake of art it gets an automatic pass. I call that cheap grace. “There can be nothing to forgive, so we forgive it.” Real grace goes deeper: it allows that terrible things go on in the arts (as in all human endeavors) and yet loves the artists and their art all the more. Such love allows for all kinds of accountability, while opening up a space in which art can grow.

I think of Rembrandt’s late self-portraits. (See here for some samples.) The face is weary, knowing, skeptical of itself. The flashy young artist of the early portraits is gone forever. And yet: knowing what he knows, seeing what he sees, Rembrandt paints. He paints what he sees and knows, which is neither ideal nor uplifting, but which God loves. “You are the God who sees me,” as Hagar put it in Genesis 16:13. This seeing love sets the portraits ablaze.

On Saturday I went to see “Turner and the Masters” at Tate Britain, which seems to have unanimously glowing reviews so far, and I am completely in agreement with them. I took pages of notes so will attempt to condense them here! The premise of the exhibition is that Turner engaged publicly with other “masters”, learning from them, building upon their work, testing the conventions of art and even competing with his contemporaries. His paintings are displayed alongside those of other artists including Rembrandt, Poussin, Claude and Constable, to name but a few, and the effect is remarkably enlightening.

Where Turner paints intentionally from a similar subject as another artist, such as Dutch Boats in a Gale, a companion piece for van d Velde’s 1672 Ships in a Stormy Sea, he demonstrates a modern-seeming boldness of light and colour which gives the picture not only its appeal but also a unique appearance of Turner-ness. Not that he always improves on the original; his companion piece to de Loutherbourg’s Glorious First of June, The Battle of Trafalgar, whilst emanating a sombre tone appropriate to the loss of life of the battle, also contains less life and movement than the original.

Even when actually copying a painting (the traditional Royal Academy method of learning) Turner’s versions remain entirely Turner’s. The exhibition is arranged so that one can see the effect of, for example, Rembrandt’s use of lit areas in gloom, in Turner’s works, and I was particularly struck by the pairing of Rembrandt’s The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (right) with Turner’s Moonlight: A study at Millbank (top left).

The exhibition shows, more than anything, Turner’s development as an artist, something which would not be possible without the inclusion of the picutres which influenced him. From Piranesi he learned perspective, we see; from Claude, classical structuring of his work, and from his contemporaries, he learned the importance of colour and simplicity. Turner was well-known for use the “varnishing days” at the RA to slightly alter his paintings, which is clear from the pairing here of Turner’s Helvoetsluys (left) with Constable’s The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, exhibited together in 1832 and reunited here for the first time, where it becomes obvious that Turner’s restrained use of colour (including the red spot in the foreground added at the last minute) and clean lines triumph over Constable’s detail. As he said himself, “atmosphere is my style”.

Conscious of the art of past masters, the work of his contemporaries, and even of his legacy, this is an exhibition which shows Turner the working artist in a new light. As John Ruskin, possibly his biggest fan, wrote, “consider for yourself whether there was ever any other painter who could strike such an octave. Whether there has been or not, in other walks of art, this power of sympathy is unquestionably in landscape unrivalled….”

This is a bit long over-due really but its been quite a hectic time recently – I haven’t posted for like 2 weeks! I don’t really even know what I’ve been doing instead… but back to business!

The Etching Process!

Step one: CLEANING

Clean your plate with cream cleaner and a clean rag. Make sure you do not touch the surface of the plate again because you will get grease on it and the wax won’t stick as well as it should, so grip the edges with your nails/fingertips.

Step two: WAXING

Not like you think, I mean applying the wax really! After warming the hot plate, place your copper plate into the middle and wait for it to heat a bit. Then using either hard or softground wax, rub a small amount onto the surface of the plate. You will know if it is warm enough because if it is then the wax will kind of melt onto it

Step three: ROLLING

Using a roller, spread the wax out evenly onto the surface of the plate. You have to press quite hard, but then do a final skim of the plate using a tiny amount of pressure and very quickly to remove any excess.

Remove your copper plate from the hot plate using 2 pieces of cardboard, being careful not to touch it because it will be hot of course! It should look nice and even like this ^

Step four: SMOKING

No, not the dirty, filthy habit you are thinking of! Once your plate has had time to cool a bit, light a candle and attach your plate to a clamp. Use the flame along the surface of your plate to evenly smoke it. We got Neil to do this for us because of the flame etc

You CAN now touch the surface of your plate because the wax will protect it!

Step five: ETCHING

I forgot to take pictures of this in progress, but basically I used the end of a compass to draw my design onto the plate.
Here is my final design, a typographic face:
 

Step six: MASKING

Mask the back of your plate with some tape, to stop the acid from affecting it.

Step seven: ACID-ING

Place your plate face up in the acid bath using gloves and goggles

Step eight: STROKING

Use a feather to stroke any bubbles away from the surface. This allows the acid to bite the plate evenly!

Step nine: WAITING

Wait about 20 – 30 mins for the acid to bite into the plate and etch your design onto it.

Step ten: INSPECT

Using a magnifying thingy, check that the acid has bitten into your plate far enough. You can also test this by brushing your fingernail across the surface and feeling an indent.

Sophie, Tom, Bobbins and I didn’t have time to print our plates because the rest of the class was being slow so hopefully we will be doing that tomorrow – the first lesson back after half term!

Thanks to Kirsty for being my lovely assistant and helping me take the step by step pictures!

Weegee, Unemployed Television Actor, ca. 1954

Weegee, [Man wearing costume], ca. 1954

Weegee, A Boy, 1954

Weegee, Artist Bill Dorr, as a Java Temple God, ca. 1954

Weegee, Rembrandt, ca. 1954

These are details of one of the paintings in the stash that inspired Barbara Levine (former director of exhibitions, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) to write ‘Finding Frida Kahlo‘. The trunks of materials (diaries, letters, recipes, paintings, stuffed hummingbirds, and so on) have been called forgeries by some interested parties in Mexico (ArtSlant article, NY Times article, Christopher Knight’s take), and I am curious to see how this all plays out.

Detecting forgeries is a difficult art, because the science can be faked (although sometimes people are so sure of their ‘eye’ that they refuse to believe scientific evidence to the contrary, e.g. de Groot insisting that ‘Merry Cavalier‘ was by Frans Hals despite the fact that some of the paints used were not developed until long after Hals had died), and of course mistakes are made both ways (a collector of Rembrandt burned one of his paintings thinking it was a forgery, later it turned out it probably wasn’t).

Both those claiming these were Frida Kahlo’s belongings and those crying fraud have a stake in the outcome, influencing the way they see these pretties.

I do love Frida as a deer, a friend almost bought this version years ago, but didn’t, because it would have been a quite a stretch financially – of course looking back he thinks it would have been worth the sacrifice. So often in life it would be nice to have the benefit of hindsight ahead of time, eh?

Click the link below to see more:

“Finding Frida Kahlo” by Barbara Levine from Princeton Architectural Press on Vimeo.