Tamara Natalie Madden: An Artist Remembered

Tamara Natalie Madden (1975 –2017) was a Jamaican-born mother, mixed-media artist, and professor of art and visual culture at Spelman College in Atlanta. On November 4, 2017, she died at her home in Snellville, Georgia, only two weeks after being diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.  She was 42.  “Out of Many, One People” Though Tamara…

Read More

Henri Martin: Venise, palais et gondoliers sur le Grand Canal

Impressionism Evolves French artist Henri-Jean Guillaume Martin (1860 – 1943) mastered impressionist techniques early in his career, but after time spent studying in Italy, he began “painting works full of poetry using a special technique with swift short …parallel brushstrokes giving them a vaporous touch.” (Findlay Galleries) According to Christie’s,  Henri Martin found particular inspiration…

Read More

Nakazawa Hiromitsu: Touching, Daughter from Beautiful Women and the Senses (1905)

Touching: Daughter from the series Beautiful Women and the Senses Shoku: Musume from the series Bijin to kankaku, 触（娘）　美人と感覚よ Japanese, Late Meiji era, 1905 Nakazawa Hiromitsu (Japanese, 1874–1964) Publisher Sunbikai Place of Creation: Japan Dimensions: Overall: 13.8 x 8.8 cm (5 7/16 x 3 7/16 in.) Medium or Technique: Color woodblock and stencil; organic and…

Read More

James Tissot’s Animals

By The Hammock   Did James Tissot paint animals because they appealed to Victorian sensibilities, because they were part of the life around him that he recorded so faithfully, or because they enhanced his subjects with symbolic meaning? Numerous artists of Tissot’s time achieved great success as animaliers – animal painters – including Sir Edwin…

Read More

Henri Martin: L’Eglise de Labastide-du-Vert

“Rare As Precious Stones” “If I look at a fragment of Henri Martin’s canvas… I immediately recognize it. I see a great number of dots of different colors, as precious and rare as precious stones.  His palette is an enchantment. Many different interminglings of colors make a rare and rich harmony… And it is much more difficult…

Read More

Balalaika: Art and Music

“The balalaika has its origins in Russian folk music and is often used to articulate a quick, repetitive rhythm, and both musicality and rhythm typify Hellesen’s painting.” Øystein Ustvedt   Why Paint a Balalaika? Although we do not know why Thorvald Hellesen chose to depict a balalaika in this painting, musical instruments in general were…

Read More

Leon Kroll: Appletrees, Woodstock (1922)

Leon Kroll first visited Woodstock in the summer of 1906 to study at the Byrdcliffe art colony. In 1920, Kroll returned to Woodstock, as it was a popular destination for artist’s to spend the summer. In Kroll’s autobiography, A Spoken Memoir, he describes hosting dinners for fellow artists who would summer in Woodstock, including the…

Read More

Edouard Vuillard: The Pot of Flowers (1900)

Edouard Vuillard: The Pot of Flowers (1900) I love everything about this painting by Edouard Vuillard — color, composition, and especially the texture. If it is, indeed, a snapshot of his studio, then it must have been a lovely place to paint.Vuillard selected much of his subject matter;;;

Maurice Utrillo: La rue du Mont-Cenis sous la neige (1935)

La rue du Mont-Cenis sous la neige As World War 1 began, Maurice Utrillo moved into a small studio overlooking the rue du Mont-Cenis in Montmartre –  the street which became one his favorite subjects. “He would depict it in countless variations over the course of his career, under different weather conditions and lighting. With…

Read More

Edouard Vuillard: Marcelle Aron, Madame Tristan Bernard, (1914)

      Click for enlarged view:   Details Title: Marcelle Aron (Madame Tristan Bernard) Creator:Edouard Vuillard Date: 1914 Physical Dimensions: w156.5 x h181.3 cm (without frame) Credit Line: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Credit: gift of Alice C. Simkins in memory of Alice N. Hanszen Type: Painting Medium:Distemper on canvas Via Google Arts…

Read More

A Kiss and a Concerto

Haydn’s Cello Concerto #1 in C Major, 3. Allegro molto I never tire of the pure joy surrounding this whole group of talented musicians. Isserlis is a masterful performer – a treat! Do you see the magnificent mural on the wall behind the orchestra?  Read more about the mural in Edvard Munch and The Suns …

Read More

Edward Hicks: Peaceable Kingdom (1833)

Note: Image galleries do not display properly in WordPress Reader. Best Viewed At Sunnyside. Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the…

Read More

Diego Rivera: Two Women (1914)

“I know now that he who hopes to be universal in his art must plant in his own soil. Great art is like a tree, which grows in a particular place and has a trunk, leaves, blossoms, boughs, fruit, and roots of its own. The more native art is, the more it belongs to the…

Read More

Federico Andreotti: Gypsy Beauty

This One, I Like! Florentine artist Federico Andreotti’s usual painting style of “elaborate period dress and affected airs… sometimes described as Rococo Revival” [1] does NOT appeal to me in general.  However, Gypsy Beauty, is undeniably captivating and is the creation of a talented artist. Andreotti successfully captures the quiet joy of this dark haired…

Read More

Gyula Benczúr: Reading Woman in the Forest (1875)

  A Popular Motif Gyula Benczúr (1844 – 1920) was a Hungarian painter and art teacher who specialized in portraits and historical scenes. Around 1874-1875, Benczúr tried to capture the form-dissolving effect of light in several compositions, but he resumed his course by wholly discarding plein air painting. As his letter reveals, he exhibited the first…

Read More

The Breath of the Forest

Ancient Skies   I sometimes forget to walk within my healing, boundaries not withstanding  often preferring the purity of winter, the breath of the forest, and hawk wings balancing on my shoulders. Scars? What scars?       Poetry and Image © Copyright 2019, ancient skies View original post

The Tree of Life: 17th century

  “This association with the Tree of Life in Revelations is reinforced by the curling grape vine wrapped around the trunk of the tree, which is symbolic of the Passion of Christ and the promise of eternal life.” TheMet     This unique image of a miraculous tree bearing multiple species of fruits and vegetables…

Read More

Lilla Cabot Perry: The Blue Kimono (1915)

Who Is Lilla Cabot Perry? Lilla Cabot Perry (1848 – 1933), an American artist and writer, is best known as an Impressionist painter, but she also published four volumes of original poetry and a translation of classical Greek verse.  According to National Museum of Women in the Arts, “Although she had no formal art training until age 36,…

Read More

Edvard Munch: ‘The Sun’ (1910-11), Part 1

Edvard Munch, The Sun 1910-1911  (The Oslo University Mural) (image via Wikiart.org) “Good Morning!” These are the words this painting shouts to me. 🙂 I want to know more. Because there are numerous variations in paintings labelled ‘The Sun by Edvard Munch’,  I decide to find and compare the many versions of Munch Suns.. As usual,…

Read More

László Mednyánszky: Iron Gate on the Danube (1890-95)

  Video   Baron László Mednyánszky (1852 – 1919) Hungarian artist Baron László Mednyánszky or Ladislaus Josephus Balthasar Eustachius Mednyánszky, a Hungarian painter-philosopher, is one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Hungarian art. Despite an aristocratic background, he spent most of his life moving around Europe working as an artist. Wikipedia Born:…

Read More

Endre Penovác: Silence

  “The way of watercolor painting is like our world. The predictable, plannable and the unpredictable, unexpected happenings make it complete. Therefore, I apply watercolor technique in a way that allows paint and water to create miracles on the paper.” Endre Penovác   ***all image copyrights belong to artist and/or owner Thanks for Visiting! 🙂…

Read More

Edgar Degas: The Entrance of the Masked Dancers (1879)

Connection: Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ According to ClarkArt.edu, “Unlike many of Degas’s ballet scenes, which combine details from sketches made at different times, this pastel relates to a specific production of Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’. The viewpoint is that of an abonné, a subscriber with privileged access, like the top-hatted gentleman on the far side of the…

Read More

Edgar Degas: The Singer in Green (c.1884)

A sale catalogue in 1898 described the dancer pictured in Edgar Degas’ pastel, The Singer in Green: “Skinny and with the graceful moves of a little monkey, she has just sung her ribald verses and, with a gesture that conceals an entreaty behind her smile, is inviting applause.” With her small eyes, high cheeks, and…

Read More

Gustave Loiseau: Le Quai du Pothuis à Pontoise (1905)

    Click For Enlarged Detail:   Detail Gustave Loiseau (1865-1935) French Post-Impressionist painter, remembered above all for his landscapes and scenes of Paris streets. Le Quai du Pothuis à Pontoise signed and dated ‘G. Loiseau 1905’ (lower left) oil on canvas 21 3/8 x 25 ¾ in. (54.1 x 65.3 cm.) Painted in 1905…

Read More

Renoir: Dance at Bougival (1883)

Another Favorite Dance at Bougival (French: La Danse à Bougival) is an 1883 work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir currently in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts,  Sebastian Smee  of The Boston Globe writes that this Renoir painting is “one of the museum’s most beloved works“. (Smee 2014). The Museum of Fine…

Read More

Charles Leroy Saint Aubert: Au Dessus Du Boulevard De Sebastopol, Paris

  Click For Enlarged Detail:       Details Charles Leroy Saint Aubert 1852-1907 FRENCH AU DESSUS DU BOULEVARD DE SEBASTOPOL, PARIS signed Leroy. Saint. Aubert. lower right oil on canvas 73 by 88.5cm., 28¾ by 34¾in. Source: Sotheby’s Link: http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.143.html/2009/19th-century-european-paintings-including-german-austrian-central-european-paintings-the-orientalist-sale-spanish-painting-and-the-scandinavian-sale-l09661   Thanks for Visiting! 🙂 The End

Albrecht Dürer: Tuft of Cowslips or Primula (1526)

Who Is Albrecht Durer? Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528) was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation across Europe for high-quality woodcut prints while still in his twenties. Durer communicated with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da…

Read More

Updated: The Painting Life of Vincent van Gogh

  ENGELS: A unique tv documentary of the life and the works of Vincent van Gogh. For 60 minutes we are travelling with Vincent in a geographical reconstruction of his life. The documentary shows beautiful pictures of which Van Gogh has drawn his inspiration for his works. A lot of the buildings still exist. Through…

Read More

Johann Heinrich Vogeler: Reverie

“People who believe they are ignorant of nothing have neither looked for, nor stumbled upon, the boundary between what is known and unknown in the universe.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry      

Chaim Soutine: View of Cagnes (c.1925)

“Someone Has Killed Soutine!” Chaim Soutine once horrified his neighbours in Paris by keeping an animal carcass in his studio to model for his painting called, not surprisingly, Carcass of Beef. The stench drove them to send for the police, whom Soutine promptly lectured on the relative importance of art over hygiene. There’s a story…

Read More

Van Gogh & Japan: Part 1

What did Van Gogh learn from Japanese prints? Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo had an extensive collection of Japanese prints. I want to understand how Japanese art changed van Gogh’s painting. Van Gogh Museum states, “Van Gogh’s encounter with Japanese printmaking played a decisive role in the direction he took as an artist….

Read More

Marie Spartali Stillman: Beatrice (1895)

Marie Spartali Stillman’s Earthly Beatrice Loosely inspired by the writings of the early Renaissance poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), this painting by Marie Spartali Stillman depicts Dante’s beloved Beatrice who appears in both the Vita Nuova and Purgatory. “While Dante’s Beatrice is described in terms of the divine, Stillman paints a more earthly beauty, lost in…

Read More

Emile Claus: Winter Orchard (1911)

“Go Home Quickly” Emile Claus, a Belgian painter, draughtsman, pastellist, and print-maker, became one of the leading artists in Belgium supporting the movement of “Luminism.”  Influenced by French Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism after viewing the works of Henri Le Sidaner and Claude Monet, Emile Claus changed his painting style to “brighter colors and pleinairisme.” in an…

Read More

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky: Symphony (1920)

Well, No Wonder! For most of this year, I have searched for good quality images of Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky’s paintings. His work deserves close study, which demands images of the highest resolution. Furthermore, many of us won’t find his works in museums near us for scrutiny.  Symphony is one of my favorites. Sotheby’s writes, “Bogdanov-Belsky studied…

Read More

John Everett Millais: ‘Mariana’ (1851)

Who is John Everett Millais? John Millais (1829–1896) was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of English artists who united in 1848 hoping to renew British painting. They idealized the sincerity of purpose and clarity of form of the early Italian Renaissance artists—before Raphael—finding art that they sought to emulate. The Pre-Raphaelite…

Read More

William-Adolphe Bouguereau: Girl With a Pomegranate (1875) updated

“One has to seek Beauty and Truth, Sir!” These are the words of William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1895.  He continues, As I always say to my pupils, you have to work to the finish. There’s only one kind of painting. It is the painting that presents the eye with perfection, the kind of beautiful and impeccable…

Read More

Cynthia Gregory and Ivan Nagy: “In A Rehearsal Room”

The Story – Seven Minutes of Magic According to shippermd, this video is  “An EXTREMELY RARE, 1976 film-short of a romantic Pas de Deux Ballet to Pachelbel’s Canon In D Major.”  Produced by David Hahn and choreographed by William Carter, this film highlights the talents of dancers Cynthia Gregory and Ivan Nagy. About ‘In A…

Read More

Odilon Redon: Etruscan Vase With Flowers (1900-1910)

Odilon Redon, “Etruscan Vase With Flowers”, (1900-1910), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Maria DeWitt Jesup Fund, 1951; acquired from The Museum of Modern Art, Lillie P. Bliss Collection Quotes from Odilon Redon “I have often, as an exercise and as a sustenance, painted an object down to the smallest accidents of its visual appearance; but the…

Read More

Emily Carr: Who Is She?

Emily Carr: A Compelling Story I started this post intending only to feature one interesting and beautiful totem watercolor, but I rapidly discovered the compelling story of the artist herself. As stated in summary by the Vancouver Art Gallery, “Her independence as a woman when domesticity was expected, her resolve to travel frequently and unaccompanied…

Read More

Who Am I?

The Story: Sunnyside was born many years ago, the name of my fictional home for orphaned children and animals in a story for Mrs. Watson’s eighth grade writing class.  A medical degree and six biologic homeschooled children later, Sunnyside became the name of my classical education website, Sunnyside Classical Christian School.   Now entering a new…

Read More

Be Near Nature And Change Your Life

Originally posted on Plants and Beyond:
~ Have you ever felt peace, rejuvenation, calmness when you find yourself next to Nature? ✨🌳☀️🌿✨ How about taking in the view of breathtaking greenery behind your window? The refreshing and relaxing effect of Green color making a positive effect on our brains. There is a multitude of scientific…