Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 Postcard | Zazzle #Sold!

Orientation: Postcard

• Dimensions: 4.25″ x 5.6″ (portrait) or 5.6″ x 4.25″ (landscape)
• Full color CMYK print process
• Double sided printing for no additional cost
• Postage rate: $0.34

Paper Type: Matte

The most popular paper choice, Matte’s eggshell texture is soft to the touch with a smooth finish that provides the perfect backdrop for your chosen designs.

• Light white, uncoated matte finish with an eggshell texture
• Paper is easy to write on and won’t smudge
• Made and printed in the USA

Source: Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 Postcard | Zazzle

Take care and keep laughing!

American Gothic by Grant Wood Poster | Zazzle #Sold!

American artist Grant Devolson Wood (1891-1942) painted American Gothic in 1930. It is held by the Art Institute of Chicago.

Source: American Gothic by Grant Wood Poster | Zazzle

N.B. I’m not currently responding to comments or visiting blogs because of ill-health but I much appreciate your support.

Take care and keep laughing!

Exhibition review: Vanessa Bell | Culture and Anarchy

I first encountered Vanessa Bell’s work when I was a student at the Courtauld, where I saw A Conversation and Arum Lilies, and fell in love with them. In fact, I haven’t seen that much more of her work since, so went to Dulwich Picture Gallery‘s new exhibition of Bell’s work as soon as I could. Bell is primarily known today as part of…

Source: Exhibition review: Vanessa Bell | Culture and Anarchy

KURT SCHWITTERS | Beauty Bellezza Beauté

Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948).

Source: KURT SCHWITTERS | Beauty Bellezza Beauté

First Night Design | Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 #Cards #Prints | First Night Design

FROM THE ARCHIVE 28 August 2015

The Russian designer and painter Léon Bakst (1866–1924), born Lev Samuilovich Rozenberg, is more generally known for his luscious costume and set designs for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes as witness S…

Source: First Night Design | Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 #Cards #Prints | First Night Design

Take care and keep laughing!

ART QUOTES: What is an Artist? | THE REMODERN REVIEW

Romare Bearden “Dream of Exile”

If you’re any kind of artist, you make a miraculous journey, and you come back and make some statements in shapes and colors of where you…

Source: ART QUOTES: What is an Artist? | THE REMODERN REVIEW

ARTISTS: Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning in Arizona | THE REMODERN REVIEW

Max Ernst “The Entire City”

“Painting is not for me either decorative amusement, or the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.”

– Max Ernst

In the late 1930s and early 1940s there was a mass exodus of artists out of Europe, fleeing expanding Nazi power. Many came to America and settled in New York City, and went no further. They kept aloof from the local art scene and showed little interest in learning anything about their host country.

Surrealism was the dominant movement at the time, and most…

Source: ARTISTS: Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning in Arizona | THE REMODERN REVIEW

Irene Raspollini – On Art and Aesthetics

But She Wanted to be a Sailor by Irene Raspollini. Used with permission.

“The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter,” wrote the Victorian novelist Charlotte Brontë, “- often an unconscious but still a faithful interpreter – in the eye.” Perhaps t…

Source: Irene Raspollini – On Art and Aesthetics

Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun at the Met | A Scholarly Skater

While I was in New York City for the New York Antiquarian Book Fair last week, I took the opportunity to visit the Met to see Vigée Le Brun: Woman Artist in Revolutionary France. This exhibition ha…

Source: Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun at the Met | A Scholarly Skater

Long-Lost Caravaggio Possibly Found in France – artnet News

Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes (circa 1598-1599). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The long-lost second version of Caravaggio’s “Judith Beheading Holofernes” might have emerged in a private collection in France. But is it the real deal?

Source: Long-Lost Caravaggio Possibly Found in France – artnet News

Markino returns: alone in this world

The recent Christmas post I did about Yoshio Markino, the Japanese artist who lived in Chelsea, reminded me that there were still some images I hadn’t used in a post, even though I wrote four…

Source: Markino returns: alone in this world

First Night Design | One Man and His Dog #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 21 February 2014. I’m reblogging this post as a follow-up to yesterday’s Magnificent Mongrel image.

This exquisite watercolour of one man and his dog was a special commission. The artist is Janet Weight Reed. The subject is Mr FND with our dog Pisch.

In the twenty years we have been together, we have rarely been able to give each other birthday presents. Let us say it has been the norm more often than not to let the occasions pass us by with barely a nod; finding money for food and utility bills has taken precedence.

I determined that last winter would be different because our circumstances were changing. Mr FND was in London selling our flat and as soon as we exchanged contracts, I emailed Janet asking if she would be able to paint a watercolour in time for 19th December if I sent her a photograph.

She could, she would and she did!

It was at this point that…

Source: First Night Design | One Man and His Dog 

First Night Design | Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 #Cards #Prints

Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 © First Night Vintage

The Russian designer and painter Léon Bakst (1866–1924), born Lev Samuilovich Rozenberg, is more generally known for his luscious costume and set designs for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes as witness Schéhérazade. When I discovered his magnificent portrait of Rachel Strong, the future Countess Henri de Buazhelen, on Wikimedia, I was entranced and knew I had to sell it on First Night Vintage.  What I wouldn’t do to be dressed thus — such elegance. If I had the means and the money, I would get gifted photographer James Hall of Just Add Pictures, whose recreations of classics I have enjoyed, to recreate this portrait with me and my dog! I can dream.

Who was Rachel Strong? Apart from marrying Count Henri de Buazhelen, I have been able to find nothing of note about either of them, which is a shame. If anyone comes across a snippet of information, do let me know.

Available at the following galleries:
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America
Fine Art England

Take care and keep laughing!

8 Things that Will Change the Way You Think About Egon Schiele – artnet News

Originally posted on artnet News.

Egon Schiele.
Photo: Imagno/Getty Images

Known for his envelope-pushing paintings as well as his anguished self-portraits, the artist Egon Schiele has remained a controversial figure in art history for his erotic images.

Despite his infamy, Gustav Klimt became one of Schiele’s biggest supporters as well as his mentor; the elder Secessionist artist introduced Schiele to the Wiener Werkstätte, the fine arts society founded by Secessionists Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser.

June 12 marks the artist’s 125th birthday. Here are some things you need to know about one of the leading figures behind Austrian Expressionism, who once wrote in his diary, “I do not deny that I have made drawings and watercolors of an erotic nature. But they are always…

via 8 Things that Will Change the Way You Think About Egon Schiele – artnet News.

First Night Design | One Man and His Dog

No change in internet connection!

One Man and His Dog by @ Janet Weight Reed

This exquisite watercolour of one man and his dog was a special commission. The artist is Janet Weight Reed. The subject is Mr FND with our dog Pisch.

In the twenty years we have been together, we have rarely been able to give each other birthday presents. Let us say it has been the norm more often than not to let the occasions pass us by with barely a nod; finding money for food and utility bills has taken precedence.

I determined that last winter would be different because our circumstances were changing. Mr FND was in London selling our flat and as soon as we exchanged contracts, I emailed Janet asking if she would be able to paint a watercolour in time for 19th December if I sent her a photograph.

She could, she would and she did!

It was at this point that my old MacBook Pro died, as some of you know, and I was reduced to data roaming on my mobile which is not conducive to work or approving Janet’s painting before she sent it to Crete. I sent Janet a message, via a friend, with our address and said that I trusted her talent and instinct enough to ‘approve’ without seeing a scan!

The pleasure and excitement that the painting was coming and that Mr FND knew nothing about it was indescribable.

Except that it didn’t arrive before 19th December. Nor did Mr FND as there had been endless problems on the journey from London, not least the Anek Lines Ferry driver who broke the hand brake on our small van, and the impossibility of finding the new Piraeus ferry terminal in Venice. Signposts might be a good idea, especially as it still looks like an unmanned building site!

Mr FND arrived on 20th December but the painting went AWOL in the Greek postal system and did not arrive until after Christmas.

In spite of the delay, our joy in the watercolour is infinite. Janet has done a superb job, capturing a likeness of man and dog that is quite, quite remarkable, and every brush stroke expresses the loving bond between the two.

Janet, you really have made us immeasurably happy and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

If anyone reading this is considering commissioning a painting for a special occasion, I cannot recommend Janet more highly.

I end this post with some of Janet’s magical hummingbirds.

Take care and keep laughing!