Artiste
Dora Maar (born November 22, 1907, Paris, France—died July 16, 1997, Paris) is a French photographer and Surrealist artist. Born Henriette Theodora Markovitch to a French mother and a Croatian architect father. The artist was raised between Argentina and France. She spent her early years in Buenos Aires, where her father went to practice. Fluent in both French [...]
"I have spent my whole life in revolt against convention, trying to bring colour and light and a sense of the mysterious to daily existence. One must have a hunger for new colour, new shapes and new possibilities of discovery." Eileen Agar Eileen Agar has, like many women artists, sometimes been defined by the (male) [...]
“Time flies by, and carries away Our tender caresses for ever. Time flies far from this happy oasis And does not return.” Offenbach, Les Contes d’Hoffmann The Tales of Hoffmann is an opéra fantastique by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, who is the protagonist of the story. It was Offenbach's final [...]
“Genius has no gender” - Eugénie de Montijo Hailed by her contemporaries as the most popular animal-painter, male or female, of the nineteenth century, the French artist Rosa Bonheur (1822-99) lived to see her name become a household word. In a century that did its best to keep women" in their place," Bonheur, like George [...]
"Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his blood." Nietzsche I am currently reading Lovers of Philosophy by Warren Ward and I am completely enjoying it. I am fascinated by relationships of notable people and how it affects their work; painters, poets, musicians and yes, philosophers, hence I [...]
METAMORPHOSIS We've plodded through a weird and weary time, Called Winter by the calendar alone; We have beheld an earth pool-deep in slime, Image a heaven of stone. We've found life hid between the folds of mire, Sensed life in every place, heard life in tune. The earth-shell cracks with underneath desire; Spring crawls from [...]
“My soul would sing of metamorphoses. But since, o gods, you were the source of thesebodies becoming other bodies, breathe your breath into my book of changes: may the song I sing be seamless as its way weaves from the world's beginning to our day.” Ovid, Metamorphoses Featured image is a collage by Marie H. Sirois [...]
"Former model, single, independent woman, Victorine Meurent is one of the many forgotten women artists neglected by history." Valeryia Morozov Victorine-Louise Meurent (also Meurant; February 18, 1844 – March 17, 1927) was a French painter and a model for painters. Although she is best known as the favorite model of Édouard Manet, she was an artist in her own right who regularly [...]
"A man's made by patience and the odds against him." - Phil Burbank, The Power of the Dog The Power of the Dog is a 2021 Western psychological drama film written and directed by Jane Campion. It is based on Thomas Savage's 1967 novel of the same title. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Shot mostly within rural Otago, the film [...]
“Just imagine living in a world without mirrors. You'd dream about your face and imagine it as an outer reflection of what is inside you. And then, when you reached forty, someone put a mirror before you for the first time in your life. Imagine your fright! You'd see the face of a stranger. And [...]
YARILA BY SERGEY GORODETSKY First to sharpen the ax-flint they bent, On the green they had gathered, unpent, They had gathered beneath the green tent. There where whitens a pale tree-trunk, naked, There where whitens a pale linden trunk. By the linden tree, by the young linden, By the linden tree, by the young linden, [...]
Painting : Madonna and Child, 1907–08 Text is taken from Wikepidia Marianne Stokes (née Preindlsberger; 1855–1927) was an Austrian painter. She settled in England after her marriage to Adrian Scott Stokes (1854–1935), the landscape painter, whom she had met in Pont-Aven. Stokes was considered one of the leading women artists in Victorian England. Preindlsberger was born in Graz, Styria. She first studied [...]
Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962) is a strange, atmospheric and unforgettable low-budget horror film. Source A young woman (Candace Hilligoss) in a small Kansas town survives a drag race accident, then agrees to take a job as a church organist in Salt Lake City. En route, she is haunted by a bizarre apparition that compels [...]
As a continuity with last week's post about the book Letters of Note, here is a much smaller book, without images this one, Letters of Note : Love, a collection of love letters compiled by Shaun Usher. "First published in 2020, Letters of Note: Love is a compulsive collection of the world's most entertaining, inspiring and powerful letters with [...]
THEN ...Then came the night and brought your dream In the quiet blaze of stars. And the smiling day went marching by Where the wild, breathless roses are. I long now for a May of dreams, The moment when your love appears. I'd like to blaze upon your mouth A dream-time of a thousand years. [...]
"Artists live with God – but give their little finger to Satan. I sleep with the angels and dream of the devil." - Villa-Lobos Rudepoêma is Heitor Villa-Lobos’s paramount masterpiece for solo piano, and one of the most impressive and difficult compositions in the entire piano literature. It was completed while Villa-Lobos was in Paris [...]
I saw this painting (up here) online that completely mesmerized me : Bacchanalian Scene by Agnes Tait. I had never heard of this artist and decided to do a little research and present her here. Not much is to be found on the internet, as is often the case with women artists, the most information [...]
"When we love someone, who do we love? That person, or our idea of that person?" Roger Ebert Solaris is a 1972 Soviet science fiction art film based on Stanisław Lem's 1961 novel of the same name. The film was co-written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, and stars Donatas Banionis and Natalya Bondarchuk. The electronic music score was performed by Eduard Artemyev and features J.S. Bach chorale prelude for organ Ich [...]
Letters of Note is a collection of one hundred and twenty five of the world's most entertaining, inspiring and unusual letters, based on the seismically popular website of the same name - an online museum of correspondence visited by over 70 million people, compiled by Shaun Usher. From Virginia Woolf's heart-breaking suicide letter, to Queen Elizabeth [...]
Painting by Hieronymus Bosch : The Extraction of the stone of Madness THE BIG WORDS [For Antonio Porchia] it is not yet now now is never it is not yet now now and forever is never SILENCES Death always at my side. I listen to what it says. And only hear myself. I ASK FOR [...]
"true art lies in a reality that is felt." Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (1840-1916), an individualist who believed in the superiority of the imagination over observation of nature, rejected the Realism and Impressionism of his contemporaries in favor of a more personal artistic vision. After a discouraging experience studying academic painting in Paris, he returned [...]
“when i sleep, i know no fear, no, trouble no bliss. blessing on him who invented sleep. the common coin that purchases all things, the balance that levels shepherd and king, fool and wise man. there is only one bad thing about sound sleep. they say it closely resembles death.” Mirror is a 1975 art film directed by Andrei [...]
in the dream we sleep, the mouth speaks true. Corona Autumn eats its leaf out of my hand: we are friends. We shell time from the nuts and teach it to walk: time returns to the shell. In the mirror is Sunday, in the dream we sleep, the mouth speaks true. My eye goes down [...]
« I stood high upon the agony of the living and looked upon men, upon the pity of men who had love and who cast love away. This year, I was a man and looked about me. And I saw my brothers and my sisters, they who in all the common blackness of their lot [...]
“Mirrors are the doors through which Death comes; look long enough in a mirror and you will see Death at work.” Orpheus a 1950 French film directed by Jean Cocteau and starring Jean Marais. It is the central part of Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy, which consists of The Blood of a Poet (1930), Orpheus (1950), and Testament of Orpheus (1960). Over the course of thirty years, [...]
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace I finished reading War and Peace today. I think I can affirm that it is the best novel I have yet read in my life. Definitely in my top 5... I am not sure what [...]
1-5. Erect no monument. Allow the rose to unfurl each year on his behalf. For it's Orpheus. His metamorphosis in this, in that. We needn't bother with other names. Once and forever it's Orpheus, when there's song. He comes and goes. Isn't it grace enough when now and then he stays on a few days, [...]
"In order to create there must be a dynamic force, and what force is more potent than love?" Igor Stravinsky Orpheus was the brain-child of Lincoln Kirstein who specifically wanted a companion-piece for Apollo to grace the second season of his new venture, Ballet Society. Stravinsky was not normally responsive to being told what sort of music [...]
"'Where does our story take place, and when?' asked Cocteau at the start of Orphée. 'It's the privilege of legends to be ageless. Comme il vous plaira. As you please.” Ann Wroe, Orpheus: The Song of Life (Painting : Edward John Poynter, Orpheus and Eurydice) In the upcoming weeks, I will be studying the myth of Orpheus [...]
“Faith is a torment, did you know that? It is like loving someone who is out there in the darkness but never appears, no matter how loudly you call.” The Seventh Seal is a 1957 Swedish historical fantasy film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It is considered a classic of world cinema, as well as one of the greatest [...]
Our clothing is an unspoken language that tells stories of our selves. I am always interested in exploring artists environnement and work. I bought this book, What Artists Wear, thinking it could be a fun and new way of delving into the subject. "In What Artists Wear, style luminary Charlie Porter takes us on a journey [...]
“Et je ne t'appartiens pas.Tous deux à présent nous nous plaignons.” Dire l'obscur Comme Orphée je joue sur les cordes de la vie la mort et de la beauté de la terre et de tes yeux qui règnent sur le ciel je ne sais dire que de l'obscur. N'oublie pas que toi aussi, soudain, ce [...]
« The piano as a medium for expression is a whole world by itself. No other instrument can fill or replace its own say in the world of emotion, sentiment, poetry, imagery and fancy » Leopold Godowsky was born in the village of Soshly near Vilna (then Russian Poland) on February 13, 1870, and died in New [...]
"The world doesn't like independent woman, why, I don't know, but I don't care." Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), born in Springfield, Ohio, American photographer, best known for her documentary images of New York City in the 1930s and 1940s. After graduating from Lincoln High School in Springfield, the young Abbott had a barber cut off the long, thick [...]
“To be immortal and then die” Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard has always considered himself as much a critic as a filmmaker -indeed, the two functions are inseparable for him- and in both areas he has made it his mission to shake up established formulas as radically as possible. "We have to fight the audience," he told [...]
“I've never done anything but dream. This, and this alone, has been the meaning of my life. My only real concern has been my inner life.” The Book of Disquiet is a work by the Portuguese author and poet Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935). Published posthumously, The Book of Disquiet is a fragmentary lifetime project, left unedited by the author, who [...]
“Greenish water on my face: I will drink from you until the night opens. No one can save me. I'm invisible even to myself.” A Musical Hell (Excerpt) 1. THE SHAPES OF A PREMONITION COLD IN HAND BLUES and what is it you're going to say i'm just going to say something and what's this [...]
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." Isaac Albeniz Iberia Iberia is a collection of twelve independent works for piano solo by Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909). It was composed in London, paris, and Nice in the years 1905-1907. Iberia is considered not only its composer's masterpiece, but also the "corner-stone, the Koran, of the modern [...]
"Limitation makes the creative mind inventive." Walter gropius While I was doing the reaserch for Tuesday's post, about André Breton and Philippe Soupault's "Les Champs Magnétiques", I read that Soupault was married to an artist, now called Ré Soupault. I had never heard of her and she seemed to be quite interesting. Hence I decided [...]
“And then, one day, my love, you come out of eternity.” Hiroshima mon amour is a 1959 French New Wave romantic drama film directed by French film director Alain Resnais with a screenplay by Marguerite Duras. Resnais' first feature-length work, the film is a co-production between France and Japan, and documents a series of intensely personal nonlinear conversations over a 36-hour long period between a [...]
"There is nothing more marvelous or madder than real life." E. T. A. Hoffmann Today I should be writing about James Joyce's Ulysse as it is the author's birthday but it is a book I have yet to read, I have it in my library, waiting for me to discover it's treasures. I told myself [...]
“Ecrivez vite sans sujet préconçu, assez vite pour ne pas retenir et ne pas être tenté de vous relire.” André Breton, Manifeste du surréalisme L'ÉTERNITÉ Ouverture des chagrins une deux une deux Ce sont les crapauds les drapeaux rouges La salive des fleurs L'électrolyse la belle aurore Ballon des fumées des faubourgs Les mottes de [...]
"The dream was marvellous but the terror was great; we must treasure the dream whatever the terror; for the dream has shown that misery comes at last to the healthy man, the end of his life is sorrow." The Epic of Gilgamesh Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter) is among the most famous orchestral works [...]
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"Moon of lost memories shining down on the dark landscape, bright in the stillness of my imperfect understanding. My being feels you vaguely, as if it were an invisible belt encircling you. I bend over your white face reflected in the nocturnal waters of my disquiet, but I will never know if you hang in [...]
"Death is close enough at hand so we do not need to be afraid of life." FREDERICH NIETZSCHE Death and life is an oil on canvas painting by Gustav Klimt. It is one of Klimt’s central works and is regarded as one of his greatest allegories, in which he used a bold composition to address [...]
“I am the man whose life and soul are torment” The Color of Pomegranates is a 1969 Soviet Armenian art film written and directed by Sergei Parajanov. The film is a breathtaking fusion of poetry, ethnography, and cinema that tells of the life of 18th-century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat-Nova. Sergei Parajanov’s masterwork overflows with [...]
"And with dream awakened eyes she saw all the beauty around her, saw the sea, felt the sun, and knew she had to vanish for a while from the human surface and make every sacrifice in order to create her world anew out of the depths. And from that came Life or Theatre???" When German [...]
“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.” Pessoa as Ricardo reis : Crown Me with Roses Crown me with roses, Crown me really With roses Roses which burn out On a forehead burning So soon out! Crown me with roses And with fleeting leafage. That will do. (I2.6.14) The Roses of the Gardens [...]
« Rien ne se crée, rien ne se perd, tout se transforme. » (Lavoisier) Metamorphosen is a composition by Richard Strauss for 23 solo strings : ten violins, five violas, five cellos, and three double basses, typically lasting 25 to 30 minutes. It was composed in the last days of WWII. Strauss saw the world he knew in ruins around him. Germany was occupied by [...]