More pictures to ponder...

[D. Allan]

Quote:

How very Islamic!

Rather than just three times a day, for Islam it is five times a day the devout must pray. Dali considered himself of Arabic descent, perhaps that is why he put five praying ladies in this painting.

[Nan]

Quote:

The Angelus was a Catholic devotion time. When the church bell rang, people stopped their work and said a prayer. This happened three times a day; morning, noon, and evening.

How very Islamic!

Daniel prayed three times a day, basically by the clock. Bells were poor people's clocks. It is something that seems common to the Judaic roots of these religions.

[D. Allan]

Let's look at some portraits for a change. This first one is of Russian Royalty; painted when the Empress was about 33 years old.

[D. Allan]

More Russian Royalty (portrait of a dead ruler):

[D. Allan]

Today's portrait is of a Scottish (or Irish?) Lady by American painter. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to have portraits of family members in oil such as this! - rather than just our usual snapshots.

[Amelia]

She is gorgeous!

[D. Allan]

Quote:

She is gorgeous!

Anyone would be gorgeous painted by such an artist!

The next lady is of the type that Mr. Sargent really liked. Not quite as gorgeous but full of personality, wouldn't you say? Notice how the icon on the wall echos the shape of her head and flouncey shoulders.

[monica]

I found her more beautiful than the other one. She seems very stubborn and intelligent.

[D. Allan]

that is just what i thought too, monica - not gorgeous but beautiful. beautiful trumps gorgeous. beauty trumps glamour.

[D. Allan]

Here are drawings of a famous couple,two beautiful people, who happen to be parents of Queen Elizabeth of England, and great-grandparents to William and Harry.

[D. Allan]

.

[D. Allan]

And here is the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, Elizabeth Alexandria Mary, current Queen of the United Kingdom. In this painting she is seven years old.

[Amelia]

Wow, she was a strawberry blonde?

[D. Allan]

Evidently she was a blonde. My girls were until about age 10 - now they are brunettes.

Here is a photo of Queen Elizabeth's mother (also an Elizabeth) when she was seven. And a oil sketch of her by Lazslo at the age of 31.

[D. Allan]

"Manuel Anoro was born into post-war Barcelona. The city was void of art. Luckily for Manuel, his mother was a dress maker, so he grew up surrounded by colorful textured fabrics. Color was very present in his life. His grandfather was a sculptor, and although he never met him, he was fascinated by stories of his life.

Summers were Manuel’s favorite time of year. Each June 13th marked the day he received a new box of color pencils, which he devoured with passion. Although he had an obvious artistic talent, he perused careers in Agricultural Engineering, Economics, and was a Systems Engineer at IBM for 15 years. He eventually began the slow transition of becoming a painter. He developed a vibrant style, based on Fauvist principles, that defies tradition. Since 1984 he’s been flourishing as an artist, exhibiting works all over the world. Today, he works out of his studio in Costa Brava, in the heart of Catalunya, Spain, as a full time painter." - http://www.austingalleries.com/artist_bio.asp?ID=728

[D. Allan]

This picture reminds me of a church potluck dinner. It is rather a collective farm 'celebration,' no doubt idealized, as I understand collective farming was not very lucrative since the Russian Goverment paid the farm like 18 rubles for what they sold in their state stores for 300 rubles. Still the picture itself is charming,... ja?

[D. Allan]

"Sergei V. Gerasimov was one of the most important of all Soviet Artists. A student of Konstantin Korovin as a young artist he later went on to join the Makovets group. His early watercolors are considered masterpieces and show a tendency toward modernism that is less pronounced in his later work. In the twenties and thirties he designed posters and painted works sympathetic to the new communist government in a style later known as Socialist Realism. Despite this he was known throughout the Russian art world to be a liberal thinker whose paintings showed the influences of Impressionism and other modern movements. Under Stalin these tendencies placed him in aesthetic opposition to his arch nemesis (and ironic namesake) Alexander Gerasimov. During the Stalin era Sergei Gerasimov was demoted from his position of director of the Russian Artists' Union and replaced by Alexander Gerasimov. During the period of World War II Sergei Gerasimov, along with most of the faculty and student body of the Surikov Art Institute were moved from Moscow to the ancient caravan city of Samarkand. Some of Sergei Gerasmiov's most famous works were painted during this period and show scenes of the oriental old city in Samarkand. Many of these paintings are on display to this day at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. With the death of Stalin and the rise of Khruschev Sergei Gerasmimov was re-instated as the head of the Russian Artists' Union- a position he held until his death in 1964." - from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Vasilyevich_Gerasimov

[D. Allan]

Cezanne was a French post-impressionist much admired by Matisse and Picasso. "He is the father of us all," they said.

[D. Allan]

"Cézanne's work demonstrates a mastery of design, colour, composition and draftsmanship. His often repetitive, sensitive and exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognisable. He used planes of colour and small brushstrokes that build up to form complex fields, at once both a direct expression of the sensations of the observing eye and an abstraction from observed nature. The paintings convey Cézanne's intense study of his subjects, a searching gaze and a dogged struggle to deal with the complexity of human visual perception." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cezanne

[Gail]

I like Cézanne...

:)

[D. Allan]

another one then...

[Gail]

I wonder if there is a reason that none of the branches of the pines are in front of the trees...

[Gail]

I like the outlines of the subjects. Van Gogh did that a lot, too, only in black

[D. Allan]

Some pines lose lower branches as they grow tall in pursuit of sunlight. Loblolly pines here in Florida. Also in northern state parks I've noticed such naked pines wearing only a hat of leaves.

[Gail]

That makes sense, but on this picture even the higher ones are facing the other way. It looks like ALL the branches are heading THATAWAY