Thursday, November 27, 2014

P. D. James – Tuesday 3 August 1920 Oxford to Thursday 27 November 2014 Oxford


Phyllis Dorothy James was born in Oxford in the Twentieth century and died in Oxford in the Twenty-first century. Over the course of her life in these two centuries, P. D. lived in the realm of the mysterious and murderous, primarily populated by Adam Dalgliesh and his New Scotland Yard stories. I had the pleasure of meeting P. D. James at a book signing in Bath, England. It was the only time I saw her, but I am grateful to have had the privilege. P. D. James was one of the women writers presented in this blog in March 2010. I’ve met Adam Dalgliesh via television productions of James’ mysteries, but not through the original source. Time to rectify that oversight. Hope P. D. James is inhabiting whatever place pleases her mystery and murder inclinations – it is sure to be special.


P. D. James from the website funny-pictures.picphotos.net

Monday, November 25, 2013

Monday Morning Museum: Ukiyo-e Printmaking


Ukiyo-e Printmaking – Japan during the Edo period from the 1600s to 1867
Ukiyo-e (浮世絵 literally "pictures of the floating world"?) (Japanese pronunciation: [ukijo.e] or [ukijoꜜe]) is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (or woodcuts) and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan. – Wikipedia.org
In addition to Ando Hiroshige (see art example below), other Ukiyo-e printmakers are Hishikawa Moronnobu, Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro and Toshusai Sharaku

Tsubo Plain at Susaki, Fukagawa by Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858)

Last Monday’s Art – Tonalism

Top of post: “Ukiyo-e Printmaking” graphic created by Adrean Darce Brent
Below: “Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday, November 18, 2013

Monday Morning Museum: Tonalism


Tonalism – America from 1880 to 1910
Tonalism was an artistic style that emerged in the 1880s when American artists began to paint landscape forms with an overall tone of colored atmosphere or mist. Between 1880 and 1915, dark, neutral hues such as gray, brown or blue, often dominated compositions by artists associated with the style. During the late 1890s, American art critics began to use the term "tonal" to describe these works. – Wikipedia.org
In addition to George Inness (see art example below), the other prominent Tonalist is James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

Sunset at Etretat, 1875, by George Inness (1825-1894)


Last Monday’s Art – Symbolism
Next Monday’s Art –

Top of post: “Tonalism” graphic created by Adrean Darce Brent
Below: “Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday, November 11, 2013

Monday Morning Museum: Symbolism


Symbolism – Late Nineteenth Century
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil, 1857) by Charles Baudelaire. The works of Edgar Allan Poe, which Baudelaire admired greatly and translated into French, were a significant influence and the source of many stock tropes and images. – Wikipedia.org
In addition to Odilon Redon (see art example below), the art of Symbolism also includes Gustav Moreau and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes

Le Char d’Apollon, circa 1910, by Odilon Redon (1840-1916)

Last Monday’s Art – Surrealism
Next Monday’s Art – Tonalism

Top of post: “Symbolism” graphic created by Adrean Darce Brent
Below: “Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent

Monday, November 4, 2013

Monday Morning Museum: Surrealism


Surrealism – Europe from 1924 to the 1950s
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality." Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself. – Wikipedia.org
In addition to Joan Miró (see art example below), other Surrealists are Max Ernst, Giorgio de Chirico, Jean Arp, Man Ray and René Magritte.

The Gold of the Azure, 1967, by Joan Miró (1893-1983)

This painting show’s Miró’s continued use of the signs and symbols of the forties as an expression of his poetic concept of painting. Stars, planets, the elementary configurations of the ever-present figures (man and woman, the masculine principle and the feminine principle) and on top of them a curving line – probably a bird that reinvents the horizon – all contribute to the definition of this space and offer a new vision of Miró’s cosmology. - Fundación Joan Miró de Barcelona.

Last Monday’s Art – Romanticism
Next Monday’s Art – Symbolism

Top of post: “Surrealism” graphic created by Adrean Darce Brent
Below: “Monday Morning Museum” logo created by Adrean Darce Brent