l'arte parla

painting and the 9-5 work lifestyle

2007-12-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

My most recent start has sat on the easel for quite some time now. I experience artistic highs and lows. Or so I think. Maybe the real reason is that I have to work a 9-5 job to pay the bills and purchase more art supplies. As I peruse through the web, I stumble across artists whose work is oozing out of my keyboard keys. Automatic envy. Then self-doubt. What is wrong with me that I don't have hundreds of canvases stretched and covered in oils? Could it be that I work full time? What a novel idea. But one I have not thought much about. I wake up at 8. At work at 8.30. On a good day I leave work at 5. Most days are more like 5.30. The commute home is never simple. Traffic cops aid in congesting the rush hour streets. Home at 6. What to eat? Clean socks for tomorrow? The cat pan needs to be changed. A few hours later, I am exhausted anxiously awaiting my pillow and soft comforter. To bed I go. Then it is another day.
Maybe it isn't lack of motivation, inspiration, even natural light. Maybe I am just busy.

on the easel

2007-11-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

Started this about 2 weeks ago. Still thinking about roses. Spirals. Motion. Some black in there which is rare for me.

2007-11-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

Talking about his own highly eclectic, highly protean style, Picasso once said to his mistress Françoise Gilot: “Of course if you note all the different shapes, sizes and colors of models he works from, you can understand his confusion. He doesn’t know what he wants. No wonder his style is so ambiguous. It’s like God’s. God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style. He just keeps on trying other things. The same with this sculptor. First he works from nature; then he tries abstraction. Finally he winds up lying around caressing his models."

From a recent NYT article reviewing the newest installment in a Picasso biography.

Seurat

2007-10-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

MOMA is currently exhibiting Seurat's drawings. The show is up until the new year.

current inspiration

2007-10-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

2007-08-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

The other night I picked up my pencil and started drawing. First the cabinet across from me. Then parts of my hand. Then a plant on the cabinet. It felt good. It is sometimes difficult for me to just pick up and draw. I envy the freedom that a lot of artists have and I would like to work some of that freedom into my own work.

2007-08-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

During my years home-based about twenty minutes outside of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Museum or Art was a frequent weekend trip. After many visits, the open staircase felt like home as did the galleries on galleries of artwork. Cezanne's bathers were there, splashing it up and catching the shade. My favorite Picasso still life hung in the Cubist gallery for years. Duchamp's early work untouched by Dada and its anti-war, anti-art sentiment. Brancusi's "Bird in Space" lined up next to other soft, organic sculpture. The voluptuous ladies of Renoir - creamy, rosy skin peeking out from plants and flowers.
The piece above hangs in a very central location. In front of it, rows of wooden chairs. A small group of classical musicians seated in front of the painting once, played for the guests seated in front of the dismal scene of Christ and the Madonna.
We all know the scene. Christ, hanging on the cross, lifeless. His mother, overcome with grief and sadness laying, kneeling at his feet. This painting is done as two panels. Could one be shown without the other? Physically it is possible of course. Would there be a purpose in showing them separately? Not in my opinion. The connecting element in this painting or paintings is the fabric of Mary's gown. It works as an arrow, coaxing the viewer as he moves from left to right. It is night but yet there is an incredible light, illuminating the scene. Does it come from above? No shadows are cast. Then there is the wall creating a sense of isolation, abandonment. Mary's head is bowed and Christ's bowed head answers it. Another connection over the two panels.
Is the wind blowing? The scene feels still, quiet, but yet the fabric of Christ's covering is moving with the breeze. The painting is sparse but very powerful, proving that sometimes the most minimal of scenes can convey the greatest emotion and feeling.

what could have been

2007-08-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

This painting is stuck. A few weeks ago, I started on it, working from the basil plant and african violet on my window sill. My love of plants grew. Another african violet, mint. . .where does that leave the painting? This has happened before. Not always when working from life. But something or the lack of, prevents a piece from being finished. It is somewhat sad. A premature death. The only option I feel is to begin again, fresh white, new set-up. Mint and all.

name dropping

2007-07-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Do we decide whether or not we like a piece of art based on the artist's name? Our familiarity with the artist's name? Our familiarity with the artist's work?

artist survey

2007-07-12T09:46:00.001-07:00

If you are an artist, please take a moment and fill out this survey. If you are not an artist, please forward it to someone who is. Painters, in particular, are the target. Thanks!
Cheers!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=uaaDEe76ktPgQzJEOOthmQ_3d_3d

2007-06-08T13:01:00.000-07:00

I spent a day museum-going the other week. First I stopped by the Baltimore Museum of Art. Their sculpture garden which holds a fabulous Calder is the perfect city escape. Sitting on a garden bench, I watched the other visitors and contemplated the sculpture pieces around me. Inside the museum, I visited the early Renaissance works. A miniscule Durer print of the Crucifiction was hung with other pieces of the same subject on a wall in the modern area. It was quite a treat. After the BMA, I stopped at the Walters. The Walters has an amazing collection of ancient art. Egyptian, Islamic, Greek, Roman. Each time I visit the galleries it is as if I am arriving with a new set of eyes. There is so much to see in these pieces from thousands of years ago. My own painting has been on hold. There are a few ideas floating around in my mind, but it is often difficult for me to sit down with a blank canvas. Inspiration will resurface soon, I hope.

Morandi

2007-04-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

There is something magical about Morandi. His palette, which at first appears limited, is really rather varied and unique.
The bottles do not feel like only bottles. They seem to be active, breathing, thinking. They recede in space yet they are right there in front of you, taking you in, inquiring about you. They are direct. Even in your face. You are forced to question them and them you.

virgin mary

2007-04-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

Two virgin mary s housed at the Princeton Art Museum in Princeton NJ. The first vm reacts a bit fearfully as she takes part in the annunciation. The second vm s head and neck create such a unique shape of their own. She is very angular and somewhat flat. She appears to be content sitting with her son, with a mix of happiness and sadness.

2007-03-29T00:12:00.000-07:00

This is a quick little drawing I did from Etude No. 11 (Interior) by Theo van Doesburg. I would have liked to spend more time on it but there were quite a few curious museum-goers and I am never one to have viewers over my shoulder.

2007-03-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday afternoon. It is sunny and warm. The days are longer and when the days are longer, the light stays longer. Perfect for painters relying on natural light. I hope to start some new paintings soon, different versions of the the two recent ones I've completed. Soon there will be something else on my easel to post.

I saw the Pissarro show again this past weekend. Going back to it, I think I realized that some of the paintings weren't as striking as the first time I went. I still favor the painting with the tree in the dead center, however, while it may be rare and noteworthy for Pissarro to place something in the dead center of the painting, it is not for other past artists who have taken that risk over and over again. Perhaps it is more of a risk when you are an Impressionist; who knows. I appreciate his work a little more and as I've mentioned before it is always nice to explore things further but I think for now that is all. I would rather try to catch Cezanne's apples falling off the table than wait for Pissarro to do the next gutsy thing.

2007-03-26T11:27:00.001-07:00

Pissarro

2007-03-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I visited the Pissarro show at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Impressionist painters seem to get a bad rap. Reproductions found on mouse pads, calendars, coasters. Gallery-goers who enjoy the spring time pastels, garden scenes and haystacks. The paintings are pretty. Easy on the eye and often have no underlying form or structure. Or so it seems. And so it has seemed to me the past few years. I mention haystacks because years ago, I attended a lecture about Monet's haystacks. In a way I forced myself to attend it, which is something I have done more and more in the past few years, however I no longer consider it forcing. I attended the Monet lecture because I wanted to understand Monet. I was familiar with his work but what was there behind those waterlilies? I did not take much away from the lecture and the details now escape me but I did leave with a certain respect and admiration for the haystack paintings. Monet painted the haystacks in different seasons and focused on the light (as an impressiont would) that hit them. I admire the paintings still and have seen one or two in the flesh since then and they were quite lovely.
Fast forward a few years to the Pissarro show. What was it about this painter and his work that attracted people? In my mind, he was a certain second rate impressionist but why? I walked through the show and tried to spend time on each painting. There is definitely something under those trees. There are shapes there and there is a bit of abstraction and there is depth. That were certain places in the paintings that feel like a whole other painting. A sort of abstract study of form and planes. I was impressed. One particular painting that stands out in my mind and one which I was immediately drawn to is a painting in which he uses a tree to mark the vertical center. On either side of the tree is a house. While the viewer stands and looks at the tree dead on, we see one house as only frontal-one plane. On the other house we see the side wall in addition to the front of the building. It was an amazing little play on space and distance. I will return to the show in the upcoming weeks. It often takes a few visits for me to process the work completely and I hope to leave with something else but until then, I can say that I am glad I saw the show and glad that I left with a new admiration.

2007-03-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Giacometti shadow

2007-03-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Seen at the Baltimore Museum of Art
3/11/07

Joan Snyder

2007-03-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

And Always Searching for Beauty, oil, acrylic, papier mache, herbs on linen, 2001

There is no way to truly experience any painting via computer. The same might also be said for a book or magazine reproduction. Joan Snyder's work however must only be experienced in the flesh. Her paintings, full of natural ingredients such as sticks, mud, herbs and so on, come off the canvas. Literally. I've seen Joan Snyder's paintings in person before and they are beautiful. I saw them again this past Thursday at the Betty Cunningham Gallery in Chelsea and this time picked up a catalogue. I am very interested in how she goes about a painting. Her inspiration and her process. Her pieces have an otherworldliness feel to them and for me, I think that may be because of the elements she directly takes from nature. As I read the book, I hope to post more on her work, but if you have the chance I definitely recommend seeing her work in person.

on the easel

2007-02-26T05:49:00.000-08:00

A photo of the painting I wrote about in the last post. Phase 1.

2007-02-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

The other night I started a new painting. It felt good, as it always does when I have spent some time away from the brushes and oils. I am beginning to work with circles and curves, something I have only really thought about in the last year or so. It is freeing in a way. I am intrigued now, as I have been for many years, the hard straight line. My paintings and drawings spilled over with triangles, rectangles, squares. Diagonals reaching back into space or maybe forward. The curved line is something completely different. It is soft. It is organic. Years after working with organic forms using the straight line, I am now thinking about the curved line, which in some ways is the more natural line of those forms. In some ways. There still continues to be much to be said about the straight line and I could never give up the fascination I have with it. It is nice to begin a new relationship.

4.52p Tuesday

2007-02-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

Cubism will never die. Even today, it still serves as the basis of many works of art. Painting is about reinventing but it is also about looking to the past. The great artists of the world have done that and the great artists continue to do so. Artists today may be unable to hike up the hills with Cezanne but they can look at what he has left behind. Painters leave art. Even if they never think to do so, they do and isn't it the responsibility of those in the present to learn about the past? Where have we come from? That is a question that crosses all platforms. And, if we are to look at the past, no doubt we will be influenced by it in some way. As humans, we are influenced by everything we see. Trees, the sky, a rock, the wrapper of a candy bar tossed on the ground. We see these things and for a split second or two, we think about these things. Maybe longer. Then it leaves. Or so we think. But does it really? Or is it merely tucked away somewhere - a memory of sorts. Should we stop painting trees? Should we no longer paint the sky? It has been done before. For those artists who claim that certain movements are dead, cubism among that lot, I ask them this - why aren't the artists of today totally reinventing subject matter. Forget about movements. What about subject.

Leave a thought if you are passing through.

2007-02-01T07:38:00.000-08:00

Princess of Power, 1988, lithograph, 36x25 in
Grace Hartigan

A few months ago, I received a letter from mica, a Maryland art school, inviting me to come for an interview for application to the MFA program. I had contacted them regarding summer classes so I suppose they dug my name and address out of their computer and decided to invite me in. At first I was hesitant but then thought, why not go see what it is about. I scheduled my interview and was told that I would meet with the director of the program, Grace Hartigan. I made duplicates of my slides, I updated my resume (which I was told to bring) and I set out last Friday for the interview. When it was time, I was brought into the office of G. Hartigan who already had begun looking over my slides. She told me I couldn't draw hands and feet. She told me that I knew everything I needed to from cubism and to stop breaking up my planes. She told me that my copies from the masters were better than my original work and at the end told me that I couldn't draw. She recommended a post-bac program. The odd little man who had brought me in to meet with her coordinated a visit with the director of the post-bac program later in the day. I went and had an enjoyable lunch, stopped at a local thrift store and returned to the school. Upon entering the building, I walked past a group of cookie-cutter students all listening intently to their guide. I got on the elevator and made my way upstairs. I met with the director of the post-bac program who talked about the program. I asked what the classes were like. He told me that they were mainly undergraduate classes with a few graduate topics also included. Wait right there. I have an undergraduate degree. I don't need to return to undergraduate school. He then went on to tell me that it was a mix of people in the program, particularly biologists who hung out around the art department a lot in school. Oh and there were some people who just decided to be a better artist. And some were even doing installation. I was disgusted and insulted. I left, pretty upset, telling myself that art school is for followers. And so as my rage continues but is beginning to subside, I give you a piece by G. Hartigan, the woman who told me that I could not draw. Enjoy.

Courbet's landscapes

2006-11-29T08:57:00.000-08:00

Currently on view at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, MD is an exhibit of Courbet's landscapes. The exhibit, arranged by season, begins with Spring. The paintings are strong. Immediately I was reminded of Cezanne's landscapes. It is evident by looking at Courbet's work that Cezanne was an admirer. Cezanne's views of Aix-en-Provence are reminiscent of Courbet's landscapes, particularly the Spring group, shown in this exhibit. Walking into the next room of the exhibit, you are greeted by Fall. Particularly of note in this section are the paintings he composed of caves. His exploration of depth is very interesting and his use of line to create divisions is exquisite. After Fall comes Winter. The Winter canvases are lit uniquely with light falling only on the snow covered canvases themselves and not anywhere else in the room. It truly feels that you are walking into some sort of Winter Wonderland but this light trick may do a disservice to the paintings. The whiteness of the snow glows in the light but I feel this set-up does not allow the viewer to see the paintings as a whole. Instead, only the white of the paintings is emphasized. The last room and season is Summer. Summer is represented by a group of paintings of the shore. The color is amazing but in my opinion these paintings are lacking composition wise. I highly recommend this exhibit to anyone who has never been very interested in landscape. The first two rooms truly blew me away and definitely made me think twice about this subject matter of painting. Courbet could be called modern. Courbet could even be called a cubist. It is obvious from some of these paintings, that he was thinking those thoughts years before anyone else.

a birthday wish

2006-11-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

On this day in 1775, Marie Antoinette was born. I just recently picked up the biography, written by Antonia Fraser, on which the now playing movie is based on. I am enjoying the book so far and already Ms Fraser has alerted her readers to the inaccuracy of the "Let them eat cake" statement. A statement, she claims, that was said to come off the lips of various other princesses and queens throughout history - all accounts inaccurate and used as a way to tarnish their reputations. It is a biography in which queens, kings, counts and so on are mentioned as casually as dick and jane and it is sometimes a bit difficult to keep everyone in order, but so far it has proved to be a very interesting read.

you are invited

2006-10-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

I will be showing my work at:

BIG ART SHOW PHILADELPHIA #6
Saturday, November 4th
@ The Rotunda
4014 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Doors @ 7 ~ $5 donation (non-participants) ~ all ages
www.bigartshow.com for more details

Theo van Doesburg

2006-10-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Simultaneous Counter-Composition, 1929-30

from the Guggenheim website:

b. 1883, Utrecht, The Netherlands; d. 1931, Davos, Switzerland
Christian Emil Marie Küpper, who adopted the pseudonym Theo van Doesburg, was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on August 30, 1883. His first exhibition of paintings was held in 1908 in the Hague. In the early 1910s he wrote poetry and established himself as an art critic. From 1914 to 1916 van Doesburg served in the Dutch army, after which time he settled in Leiden and began his collaboration with the architects J. J. P. Oud and Jan Wils. In 1917 they founded the group De Stijl and the periodical of the same name; other original members were Vilmos Huszár, Piet Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, and Georges Vantongerloo. Van Doesburg executed decorations for Oud’s De Vonk project in Noordwijkerhout in 1917.

In 1920 he resumed his writing, using the pen name I. K. Bonset and later Aldo Camini. Van Doesburg visited Berlin and Weimar in 1921 and the following year taught at the Weimar Bauhaus, where he associated with Raoul Hausmann, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Hans Richter. He was interested in Dada at this time and worked with Kurt Schwitters as well as Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara, and others on the review Mécano in 1922. Exhibitions of the architectural designs of Gerrit Rietveld, van Doesburg, and Cor van Eesteren were held in Paris in 1923 at Léonce Rosenberg’s Galerie l’Effort Moderne and in 1924 at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture.

The Landesmuseum of Weimar presented a solo show of van Doesburg’s work in 1924. That same year he lectured on modern literature in Prague, Vienna, and Hannover, and the Bauhaus published his Grundbegriffe der neuen gestaltenden Kunst (Principles of Neo-Plastic Art). A new phase of De Stijl was declared by van Doesburg in his manifesto of “Elementarism,” published in 1926. During that year he collaborated with Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp on the decoration of the restaurant-cabaret L’Aubette in Strasbourg. Van Doesburg returned to Paris in 1929 and began working on a house at Meudon-Val-Fleury with van Eesteren. Also in that year he published the first issue of Art concret, the organ of the Paris-based group of the same name. Van Doesburg was the moving force behind the formation of the group Abstraction-Création in Paris. The artist died on March 7, 1931, in Davos, Switzerland.

Piet Mondrian

2006-10-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

Piet Mondrian, Tableau 2, 1922. Oil on canvas, 21 7/8 x 21 1/8 inches. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

thoughts of last friday this friday

2006-10-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

I try to step out at least once during the work day. I feel that I benefit from the fresh city air and I adore watching the passers-by. Last Friday, I set out on my mid-day lunch like I sometimes do and asked myself if I could really walk to the nearest art museum, about 8 blocks or so away, run in and up to the third floor and sit with a piece or two of medieval art for a minute and then head back to work. All this in my given lunch hours. There was a chill in the air as I started out but as I walked and my blood began to circulate I took the day for what it really was, a clear, beautiful October day. It is fascinating to spend time walking in any city I think. To notice the buildings, the new ones compared to the old. The people scurrying about. The construction workers creating traffic jams. Walking gives you a totally different perspective. I got to the museum, a tiny bit exhausted but excited of the idea of stopping in the museum just for a few to clear my head and see some beautiful things. I got there, walked in and up to the medieval section, prayed that the security guard who must have lost out on a job for a tour guide, wouldn't corner me and lead me to a statue of the museum's founder like he did last time and then began to look. No I didn't look for hours. Time wouldn't allow me but I did wander around the galleries for about 10 good minutes. When I thought I should head out and start my walk back to work, I felt refreshed, cleansed if you will. I had never done something like that in the middle of the work day and it felt reallly good.

Art teacher suspended

2006-10-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

This angers me so much. I couldn't even read the complete article. Having worked in schools/art centers where the other staff is more "conservative" I know that this is a real issue. It is sad to think that an art teacher is out of a job for teaching what she feels so passionately about and what is history.

Please leave a comment.

Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing

Michael Stravato for The New York Times
Sydney McGee, a teacher in Frisco, Tex., led fifth graders through European and contemporary galleries of the Dallas Museum of Art last April.

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: September 30, 2006
FRISCO, Tex., Sept. 28 — “Keep the ‘Art’ in ‘Smart’ and ‘Heart,’ ” Sydney McGee had posted on her Web site at Wilma Fisher Elementary School in this moneyed boomtown that is gobbling up the farm fields north of Dallas.

But Ms. McGee, 51, a popular art teacher with 28 years in the classroom, is out of a job after leading her fifth-grade classes last April through the Dallas Museum of Art. One of her students saw nude art in the museum, and after the child’s parent complained, the teacher was suspended.

Although the tour had been approved by the principal, and the 89 students were accompanied by 4 other teachers, at least 12 parents and a museum docent, Ms. McGee said, she was called to the principal the next day and “bashed.”

She later received a memorandum in which the principal, Nancy Lawson, wrote: “During a study trip that you planned for fifth graders, students were exposed to nude statues and other nude art representations.” It cited additional complaints, which Ms. McGee has challenged.

The school board suspended her with pay on Sept. 22.

In a newsletter e-mailed to parents this week, the principal and Rick Reedy, superintendent of the Frisco Independent School District, said that Ms. McGee had been denied transfer to another school in the district, that her annual contract would not be renewed and that a replacement had been interviewed.

The episode has dumbfounded and exasperated many in and out of this mushrooming exurb, where nearly two dozen new schools have been built in the last decade and computers outnumber students three to one.

A representative of the Texas State Teachers Association, which has sprung to Ms. McGee’s defense, calls it “the first ‘nudity-in-a-museum case’ we have seen.”

“Teachers get in trouble for a variety of reasons,” said the association’s general counsel, Kevin Lungwitz, “but I’ve never heard of a teacher getting in trouble for taking her kiddoes on an approved trip to an art museum.”

John R. Lane, director of the museum, said he had no information on why Ms. McGee had been disciplined.

“I think you can walk into the Dallas Museum of Art and see nothing that would cause concern,” Mr. Lane said.

Over the past decade, more than half a million students, including about a thousand from other Frisco schools, have toured the museum’s collection of 26,000 works spanning 5,000 years, he said, “without a single complaint.” One school recently did cancel a scheduled visit, he said. He did not have its name.

The uproar has swamped Frisco school switchboards and prompted some Dallas-area television stations to broadcast images of statues from the museum with areas of the anatomy blacked out.

Ms. Lawson and Mr. Reedy did not return calls. A spokeswoman for the school district referred questions to the school board’s lawyer, Randy Gibbs. Mr. Gibbs said, “there was a parent who complained, relating the complaint of a child,” but he said he did not know details.

In the May 18 memorandum to Ms. McGee, Ms. Lawson faulted her for not displaying enough student art and for “wearing flip-flops” to work; Ms. McGee said she was wearing Via Spiga brand sandals. In citing the students’ exposure to nude art, Ms. Lawson also said “time was not used wisely for learning during the trip,” adding that parents and teachers had complained and that Ms. McGee should have toured the route by herself first. But Ms. McGee said she did exactly that.

In the latest of several statements, the district contended that the trip had been poorly planned. But Mr. Gibbs, the district’s lawyer, acknowledged that Ms. Lawson had approved it.

“This is not about a field trip to a museum,” the principal and superintendent told parents in their e-mail message Wednesday, citing “performance concerns” and other criticisms of Ms. McGee’s work, which she disputes. “The timing of circumstances has allowed the teacher to wave that banner and it has played well in the media,” they wrote.

They took issue with Ms. McGee’s planning of the outing. “No teacher’s job status, however, would be jeopardized based on students’ incidental viewing of nude art,” they wrote.

Ms. McGee and her lawyer, Rogge Dunn, who are exploring legal action, say that her past job evaluations had been consistently superior until the museum trip and only turned negative afterward. They have copies of evaluations that bear out the assertion.

Retracing her route this week through the museum’s European and contemporary galleries, Ms. McGee passed the marble torso of a Greek youth from a funerary relief, circa 330 B.C.; its label reads, “his nude body has the radiant purity of an athlete in his prime.” She passed sculptor Auguste Rodin’s tormented “Shade;” Aristide Maillol’s “Flora,” with her clingy sheer garment; and Jean Arp’s “Star in a Dream.”

None, Ms. McGee said, seemed offensive.

“This is very painful and getting more so,” she said, her eyes moistening. “I’m so into art. I look at it for its value, what each civilization has left behind.”

School officials have not named the child who complained or any particular artwork at issue, although Ms. McGee said her puzzlement was compounded when Ms. Lawson referred at times to “an abstract nude sculpture.”

Ms. McGee, a fifth-generation Texan who has a grown daughter, won a monthly teacher award in 2004 from a local newspaper. She said the loss of her $57,600-a-year job could jeopardize her mortgage and compound her health problems, including a heart ailment.

Some parents have come to Ms. McGee’s defense. Joan Grande said her 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, attended the museum tour.

“She enjoyed the day very much,” Ms. Grande said. “She did mention some nude art but she didn’t make a big deal of it and neither did I.” She said that if Ms. McGee’s job ratings were high before the incident, “something isn’t right” about the suspension.

Another parent, Maijken Kozcara, said Ms. McGee had taught her children effectively.

“I thought she was the greatest,” Ms. Kozcara said. But “knowing Texas, the way things work here” she said of the teacher’s suspension, “I wasn’t really amazed. I was like, ‘Yeah, right.’ ”

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A walk with geniuses

2006-10-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

Georges Braque. (French, 1882-1963). Still Life with Tenora. (summer or fall 1913). Cut-and-pasted printed and painted paper, charcoal, chalk, and pencil on gessoed canvas, 37 1/2 x 47 3/8" (95.2 x 120.3 cm).

I am currently reading The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, written by Gertrude Stein. I must admit that Ms. Stein is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. She has a way with words that is intriguing and captivating. Her arrangement of words to complete sentences sometimes throws one off, requires a second view but always conveys the point, the moment, in a new way. Alice B. Toklas was Gertrude Stein's companion for many years. The book begins with their early days. Both women, originally from California, end up in Europe and arrive promptly at a time when some of the greatest artists in modern art are putting their thinking caps on. Stein invites you to the table where Pablo and Fernande just arrive, late because she was shopping for a new dress. She brings you into a world where cubism is coming about (the Spanish note cards she claims, had been designed in the ways of cubism for years and years before its arrival). She allows you to sit with Matisse and enjoy fried eggs, the only thing Stein's housekeeper would serve him when he would show up at the house unexpectedly. It is a fabulous world and makes one long for the simplicity and intellectualism that is at its heart.

Henri Matisse

2006-08-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I visited the Baltimore Museum of Art once more. I purchased a membership so I can come and go as I please without fee so soon I imagine they will tire of seeing me. I spent a great deal of time looking at the Matisses in the Cone Collection again and also looked at the Jazz pieces on exhibit. The Matisses are really quite extraordinary. What he does with space and depth is breathtaking. Take, for example, the piece above. The pink flowered carpet. That yellow line. The viewer knows the woman is sitting but barely. The carpet appears very flat. There is barely a plane change creating depth (in fact, it may not even be noticeable in this repro). Could we really sit the way she is sitting? What is keeping her there? Yet, he convinces us and at first glance we are unaware of the flatness of the painting. Matisse is a master of twisting and turning space. He does it so that it is almost not noticeable and his paintings, because of that, are kept in a state of flux. The space is believable but there is something just a bit off if you look closer. A bit off and a bit magical.

Matisse in the heat

2006-08-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I picked up a copy of Matisse's Jazz at a used bookstore. It wasn't an original printing of course but a later edition reissued by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I think it was three dollars at the most but I thought it was quite a find. This past Wednesday, I visited the Baltimore Museum of Art where Jazz is currently on exhibit. It was quite a treat to see it there and it was unexpected as I didn't know it was on view until I arrived at the museum. The day I visited was extremely hot, Baltimore was in the midst of a heat wave that lasted a good part of last week, and my energy level was at a lower level than I would have preferred for a museum going day. It was my first visit to the BMA and unfortunately, although I was greatly impressed with the collection, I was too tired to spend more than a brief hour and a half there but even my brief visit left me very excited to return.

something for friday

2006-07-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

revisit

2006-06-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

A piece completed in 2000. Acrylic on paper.

Paul Klee in America

2006-06-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday I saw the Paul Klee exhibit currently on view at The Phillips Collection in DC. I have to admit, the show is a bit overwhelming. There is so much to see and while I tried to take in as much as I could, I know that I will return to soak up some more of Klee's magical work. The painting New Harmony, above, is much larger than I had originally thought and is gigantic compared to the majority of his other works. I think to understand Klee is to understand a fantastic world in which space is refigured over and over. He is constantly dealing with depth in various ways. I cannot wait to get back to the Phillips to look again.

I would like to say thank you to all of my readers out there. I know I've been slacking a bit on the blog but life has been in full gear these past few weeks. I am in the process of moving and settling in to a new and somewhat challenging job. As soon as I am settled in my new place, which hopefully will be in a few weeks, I hope to start painting and drawing more and posting some work on the blog. I will have my own studio space which I am so very excited about it! Until then, I'll try to post when I can. Thanks for reading!

Georgia O'Keefe

2006-06-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

I picked up a biography of Georgia O'Keefe the other week. Other than being able to recognize her work, I know nothing of O'Keefe's life, influences or her thoughts on her work. I decided that taking a peek into this artist's life might be a good idea.
I am curious to know what other artists think of her and if their work has been influenced by hers in any way. And if you don't consider yourself an artist, I'd love to know as well. Leave a comment or two.

Guggenheim and Ernst

2006-06-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

I am at the end of Peggy Guggenheim's autobiography. It has been an interesting read and her life appears to have been pretty crazy. She had intimate relationships with a number of artists and writers. She slept with Duchamp, which she claimed was incestuous because they were like brother and sister. Mondrian kissed her when he was in his 70s, proving he was still full of passion. She was married to Max Ernst for a few years, which while she tried to prove there was some happiness, seemed downright awful. In honor of Ms. Guggenheim and the recent Dada exhibit at the National Gallery which it was a part of, I give you Elephant Celebes.

for a hot Wednesday afternoon

2006-05-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

Fallen Figure
Jean Helion

Saturday

2006-05-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I visited the Phillips Collection in DC. I've been wanting to go and am excited about their upcoming Paul Klee exhibition but I decided I couldn't hold off until then. At the current moment their feature exhibit is "The Renoir Returns" in celebration of Luncheon of the Boating Party. The exhibit features many of the collection's best works and I was quite amazed at the display.
The museum has an exquisite collection and there was really nothing that I was disappointed to see (except perhaps a baseball painting which I believe was by Mr. Phillips' wife. Luckily it was hung in a stairway so it did not steal a prime spot away from something more deserving and beautiful). The Renoir exhibition had such beautiful things and I am not exactly certain where the exhibit began and ended because the other works hanging were as notable so I will tell you what I saw in no particular order. There were Picassos. Still-lifes mostly. Also cubist still-lifes by Braque and Gris. Matisses. Kandinskys and Mondrians. A Vierra de Silva (I think this was the first I've seen in the flesh). A wonderful Cezanne still-life. A small Ingres bather which was hanging slightly crooked. How I so wanted to reach out and straighten it! Two Bonnards, one of which I drew from. A Dufy which was lovely to see as I just posted one of his works on my blog last week. Rothkos, which were quite overpowering as they were hung in a very small room. Two small Klines which were rather nice. After my tour of the Phillips I decided to head over to the National Gallery to see if I could find a parking spot. I did and started out in the main building. I walked through the exhibit of Venetian drawings. I then headed over to the modern building. More Rothkos, saw Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross. I saw these at the Philadelphia Museum but I thought differently about them this time. Sat for a while in the Calder room. Walked through the exhibit of small French paintings. More Bonnards, Corots.
There were a few things that stood out in my mind when I finally finished my museum-going for the day and sat to collect my thoughts.
In the Calder room there is a mobile which is attached to the top of a canvas. If I remember correctly, the canvas is really two canvases (squares perhaps?) put together to form a rectangle. I thought it was very interesting that this 3 dimensional mobile was casting its shadows on a canvas, and in the process producing a 2 dimensional piece of art. I sat for a while and looked at the Calder, thinking about the shapes he uses in his works and how they related to one another. Line becoming plane, plane becoming line. It was very fascinating. Another thing that interested me greatly was a grouping of fruit in one of Cezanne's still-lifes. Cezanne always arranges his objects, including his fruit, so meticulously, however there is always the possibility that an apple is just about to roll of the table. In this particular still life, he groups what appears to be 4 pieces of fruit together, but because of the way he groups them, they appear to be one strange object. I am constantly amazed by Cezanne's work and this still life was very amazing. As museum days go, it was a great one. I definitely feel that I got many things out of it and to anyone who is able to visit, I highly recommend the Phillips Collection.

work in progress

2006-05-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

One of the paintings I am currently working on.

wednesday midday

2006-05-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

more words to come in the near future.
until then, feast your eyes on this beauty.

Raoul Dufy for your Tuesday afternoon

2006-05-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

my other blog

2006-05-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

www.goodvintagefun.blogspot.com

drawing on the easel

2006-05-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Finished this sometime last week. I was a bit surprised at the final result.

Chardin on a Wednesday morning

2006-05-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

Matisse and Nice on a Friday afternoon

2006-05-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

The French Riviera is one of my favorite places. A few years back, my beau and I visited Nice, then drove through the countryside of Provence. We stayed at a lovely little bed and breakfast in St. Remy. Visited Aix and walked along the streets Cezanne may have once passed through. Sat on the stone covered beach and sunned ourselves on the riviera. One of the things we did on the trip, was visit the Matisse Museum as well as Matisse's grave. The museum was fabulous but it was amazing walking down the path that led to his grave. The grass was so green, the sunlight was beautiful and there at the end of the path, lay one of the most magnificent artists of all time. His grave was far from the sounds of cars passing on the street. It was a peaceful, quiet area surrounded by lush vegetation, blooming flowers in fuschias creating a sort of wall against the outside world. I believe that in my travel journal, I have one of those fushia flowers pressed between the pages. I can't wait to go home and see it.

Picasso gets 95 million

2006-05-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

Picasso painting sells for $95 million

Portrait of mistress fetches second-highest auction price ever. Sotheby's also sells off Renoir and Monet owned by high-living CEO.

By The Associated Press

A portrait by Pablo Picasso of the woman who influenced him in the late 1930s and early 1940s sold for $95.2 million, the second-highest amount ever paid for a painting at auction, the auction house Sotheby's said.

"Dora Maar au chat," which depicts Picasso's mistress, went to an anonymous buyer in the room who was competing with telephone bidders during Wednesday's auction in New York.

Its selling price ranked second only to another Picasso piece, "Garcon a la pipe," which sold at Sotheby's for more than $104 million in May 2004, the auction house said.

Also sold were paintings by Monet and Renoir that once hung in a lavish Fifth Avenue apartment used by former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski.

Tyco loot also auctioned
The two paintings, Monet's "Pres Monte Carlo" and Renoir's "Fleurs et Fruits," were among items from the apartment listed in documents filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, where Kozlowski was convicted last year of grand larceny and other charges.

"Pres Monte Carlo," an Impressionist landscape of sea, sky and lush greenery, went to an anonymous buyer for about $5.1 million, Sotheby's said.

"Fleurs et Fruits," a still life of peaches and other fruits arranged around a blue vase holding bright orange flowers, fetched $2.8 million. A Sotheby's spokeswoman said no buyer information for the piece was available.

Prosecutors said it was unclear to them whether the canvases were owned by Tyco International or Kozlowski. Any money that is due Kozlowski would almost certainly be used to pay fines, restitution and possible civil judgments, they said.

________________
Thanks E for the forward.

J'accuse

2006-04-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

To accompany the Dada exhibit currently being shown at the National Gallery of Art, the museum had a showing of the 1919 silent film, J'accuse. Director and writer, Abel Gance, created a masterpiece which beautifully conveys his anti-war message. The Dada movement began as a response to the horrors and inhumanity of World War I. Artists such as Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Hans Arp, Otto Dix and Hannah Hoch created works of art that they felt went against the classic art forms. In their opinion, how could a world so occupied with death and destruction have any need for any sort of classic art. Their idea was to go against the idea of art and the results produced an assortment of paintings, sculpture, and graphic works, among other things, that is emotional, beautiful and political. J'accuse is a love story set during World War I. The three main characters, Edith, Jean and Francois, form a sort of bizarre love triangle against the backdrop of the evils of the war. Edith, played by actress Maryse Dauvray, is torn between Jean, her poet lover and Francois, her uncaring and often cruel husband. Francois is sent off to war and Jean is soon to follow. The men form a sort of bond due mainly to the fact that they are both in love with the same woman. The film follows the lives of these characters throughout the war and the film's ending is one which is truly unforgettable. This film is a beautiful piece of art as well as a commentary on the unnecessary horrors of war.

Marcel Duchamp's readymades

2006-04-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

Because I've been thinking a lot about the Dada show at the National Gallery, I've decided to post this, one of Marcel Duchamp's readymades. I would love to hear some thoughts and opinions on this piece and the idea of the readymades.

Lee Krasner

2006-04-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Lee Krasner
Gothic Lanscape, 1961

Sonia Delaunay

2006-04-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

A quick painting

2006-04-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Last night, I started and finished a painting. It was a quick painting and when I finally sat back to look at it when I was finished, I said out loud, that's not a bad little painting. And the morning after I completed it, I am still tremendously happy with the results. I took the basic idea from a painting I did in college. I have worked with roses and their form for years now and the idea never ceases to inspire me. The rose paintings began out of a few things, but mainly Islamic art. I am fascinated with the idea of the spiral the rose creates as well as the flower's changes as it opens up. In this painting, I chose to show the rose at three different stages, ending with the full blossoming of the flower. I feel that I am beginning to think more about brush stroke and different ways of applying the paint. I feel that this painting, done in acrylic, gave me some sort of freedom. Perhaps the fact that it was a fast painting also played a part. Typically, I work in oils and although I love the look and feel of the oils, the acrylic is much lighter and more transparent. I feel that this painting brought me to a different sort of place with my painting and I like that very much.

Kurt Schwitters

2006-04-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

I went to see the Dada exhibit again this past weekend.
Above is a collage piece by Kurt Schwitters, one of the artists featured in the show.

Pierre Bonnard

2006-04-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Nude in the Bath and Small Dog
1941-46
oil on canvas
48 x 59 1/2 "

Pierre Bonnard painted the magical in the everyday. His paintings are windows into a world that seems only likely to exist in the imagination. The nude is a recurring subject for Bonnard, especially those painted in the bathtub. In the painting, Nude in the Bath and Small Dog, above, the bathtub melts into the wall, which melts into the floor which all swirl around Marthe, Bonnard’s wife and model, resting peacefully in a small sea of water. The pattern of the tile on the floor becomes the pattern of the larger tile on the wall. The dog, resting on the small square rug in front of the tub acts as an entrance to the painting, all while echoing the pattern of the tile on the wall behind the tub. Bonnard has a gift to give us and that gift is space. He challenges our ideas about it while creating a dream-world we wish we were capable of moving through, even if the world is as ordinary as a bathroom.

Cezanne

2006-04-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Cezanne paints his apples the moment before they roll off the table. Or at least that is what he would like us to believe. His tables are uneven. Either his floors are extremely slanted or his tables have been curiously made with back legs higher than the front. His fabric sometimes spirals, often becoming a geometric form. My first study by a master painter was a Cezanne. A still life bursting with apples and cloth. The painting is abstract, I thought as I drew out my diagonals. Triangles, created by the folds in the cloth, the placement of the apples, the wall behind the table, work together to form the painting as a whole. A painting that is alive with color, rhythm, push and pull. Cezanne in Provence, the exhibit currently showing at The National Gallery in Washington DC, is mainly a landscape show, focusing on Cezanne’s native Aix and the nearby areas of Provence. His landscape palette, which is consistent throughout most of the works, is an array of browns, blues and greens. The landscapes are interesting but the few still lifes in the show have a different feel to them, a warmth that the landscapes sometimes lack, perhaps due to a sort of repition. Each still life seems to create its own landscape where fabric folds act as mountains and roads, apples and jugs pepper the landscape as if mimicking buildings. At times this landscape is flat against the picture plane and at times it retreats in space, creating depth and shadows. Cezanne’s still lifes are in a category all their own. Well before cubism erupted, he saw objects for not merely what they were but for the magic that could be found hidden in their colors and shapes.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp

2006-04-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

I’ve never thought too much about Dada. My training in painting focused more on individual artists than movements. In my opinion, Duchamp was always thought of as the leader of that movement and I never felt much for him. I understood what he was doing. I understood the ready-mades but my training was based more in “classical” modern art among other things. Form. Color. Line. My paintings have always been based on these ideas so you can imagine how an artist like Duchamp wouldn’t mean much to me, but last weekend I took part in a guided tour of the Dada exhibit at the National Gallery. The exhibit was divided into different rooms, each focusing on a different city where Dada was being created. The exhibit began with Zurich. The first pieces of art that met my eye were created by Sophie Taeber-Arp. I have long admired Taeber-Arp and have had little direct exposure to her pieces. I was thrilled, even though the gallery was packed with a Saturday afternoon crowd, to just be in the same room as her pieces. It was difficult to get close to some of the works but I listened intently as our knowledgeable guide spoke about her artwork and her relationship to Dada. There it all was. Form. Color. Line. Her work exploring these themes is beautiful, thoughtful and real. We moved through the rest of the exhibition, viewing works by Kurt Schwitters, Otto Dix, Max Ernst and Man Ray. The rest of the exhibit was interesting but I would have been content to stay in the first room with Taeuber-Arp’s work for hours. I left the exhibit with a better understanding of Dada, the thoughts and emotions behind it, the anger many of the Dada artists had towards the first world war but nothing I learned that day struck me as much as being in that first room.

Lucas Cranach

2006-03-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

Adam and Eve, 1531

Fra Angelico

2006-03-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

The Annunciation
ca. 1450

Henri Matisse

2006-03-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

Two Figures Reclining in a Landscape

Giotto

2006-03-24T05:50:00.000-08:00

Those angels are something else.

Duccio

2006-03-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

A magnificent Duccio I saw recently at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Eve

2006-03-22T08:22:00.000-08:00

Cathedrale St-Lazare in Autun France
Not my own photo but she was on my mind.

italia

2006-03-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

italia

2006-03-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

Inside the Pantheon.