MASTERPIECES LOST DURING WORLD WAR II – Beauty Bellezza Beauté

Gustave Courbet, “The Stone Breakers”, 1849 – destroyed during World War II when a transport vehicle moving the pictures to the castle of Königstein, near Dresden, was bombed by A…

Source: MASTERPIECES LOST DURING II WORLD WAR – Beauty Bellezza Beauté

First Night Design | Apples and Pears in a Hallway #Art

Apples And Pears In A Hallway Framed Print from Fine Art America

The photograph I used as my starting point was taken a year ago at an erstwhile (and that’s another story to be told when I’m ready) friend’s hallway. I threw together a couple of books — vintage copies of Jane Austen’s Emma and Northanger Abbey that I bought from the shop attached to Chawton House in Steventon — a bottle of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey whisky and a wooden ‘bothy’ bowl that I bought from Garden Trading; I’ve since bought several more! The lilies were already on the hall table.

As is my way, I added a couple of textures from Design Cuts and some apples from an image by Leti Kugler at Unsplash.

Oh, I nearly forgot. Some of you might recognise the print on the wall. Yes, it’s Copper Pear.

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Crated
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

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!