Splendid and Simple

Detail from Portrait of a Lady in Turkish Fancy Dress (1790) by Jean-Baptiste Greuze


It's been a long while since last we celebrated the birth date of an "old master" type of painter. So, let's take a brief opportunity to appreciate the works of Jean-Baptiste Greuze. He's not the most famous of ancien regime painters, but I like his work nearly just as much as his more famous contemporaries.

And, of course, I'm loco for rococo. ;-)

Rather than focusing on his more popular works, I've posted up some works from the local Los Angeles collections.

Detail from The Laundress (1761) by Jean-Baptiste Greuze

He was born on August 21, 1725. Let's appreciate the conjunction of splendor and "simplicity" within Greuze's aesthetic vision.

Five Young Women

Five Statues of Young Women at the Getty Villa
(Reproductions of Roman bronze sculptures from the first century A.D. found at the Villa dei Papiri)

Nothing much for today. But here's a photo of the Getty Villa that I recently visited.

It was a wonderful trip. And an awesome day.

Enjoy!!!

Never Twice the Same

Three Squares Gyratory (1971) by George Rickey, with the Getty Museum in the background.

Why do I so love visiting museums, art galleries, and botanic gardens?

The easy answer would be that I like looking a beautiful objects. That's true, but there's more to my adoration. Perhaps, it's about change. The concept is pretty easy to grasp when you think about the gardens; each month has a different set of flowers, different colors, and different scents. Although it's the exact same place that I might have visited a few weeks back, the subtle changes make for a vivid new experience.

Likewise, the way in which art galleries cycle through exhibits, it requires effort to see the same show twice. Yet, with most museums, asides from temporary exhibitions, the collection doesn't really change. So, why do I get such a thrill from visiting and revisiting such venues?

Detail of Dancer Taking a Bow (1877) by Edgar Degas


Because I and my circumstances change, the cultural venues speak to me in different ways, capture my imagination afresh with novel insights. My moods and interests shift from day to day, week to week, altering me in subtle but significant manners. Just as the changing of flowers makes it so that a botanical garden is never twice the same, so too is it that my personal changes make each viewing of a stable museum collection a unique experience.

The Progress of Love

Detail of Happy Lovers (1760) by Jean-Honore Fragonard


My love for Rococo art is well documented. Frequently, during museum excursions, my friends have sighed with resignation or rolled their eyes in disdain when I gleefully exclaim, "I'm loco for Rococo!!!"

Perhaps my favorite Rococo master is Jean-Honore Fragonard, born on April 5, 1732. The vibrant colors, soft figures, dreamy landscapes, these all make for a delightful fantasy realm of lighthearted eroticism and whimsical play. If, by magic, I were pulled into the environs of any painter's aesthetic settings, I would want to travel to Fragonard's pastoral and abundant world of beauties.

The local museums don't have many of his works, but the few that they do have are fun pieces. The Happy Lovers at the Norton Simon is one of my favorite paintings in the collection.

Detail of the Fountain of Love (1785) by Jean-Honore Fragonard

So, let's spend a few moments appreciating the gentle grace of Fragonard's lyrical images, the poetic prettiness of his art.

Painted on the Ceiling

Detail of the Triumph of Virtue and Nobility over Ignorance (1750) by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

More Venetian baroque for today.

This time we celebrate the paintings of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, born on March 5, 1696. He is best known for his amazing ceiling frescoes, which feature the elaborate staging of figures floating in luminous spaces over the viewer's head. They convey a powerful sense of space, a feeling of ascendance.

Out here in LA, we're lucky enough to have a nice sampling of Tiepolo's work. At the Norton Simon Museum, it is always a pleasure to see the Triumph of Virtue and Nobility over Ignorance. It commands the view of the Baroque wing. Likewise, the Getty and LACMA have a few nice works as well.

But to really appreciate Tiepolo, you need to see the works in their original context and site. Alas, I haven't the time or resources to take a trip to Italy any time soon. ;-)

Detail of the Miracle of the Holy House of Loreto (1743) by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

So, lets look at some vids instead.

En Plein Air

Wheatstacks, Snow Effect, Morning (1891) by Claude Monet, Getty Museum


Yeah, I know that we've been hitting the art topics with high frequency this last weekend. There are many wonderful people to discuss today, but I couldn't ignore Claude Monet, born on this date in 1840.

My feelings about Monet are complex, but all highly positive. Perhaps, the most important way in which he has influenced the development of my own personal aesthetic base is in the "plein air" technique. The concept behind "en plein air" is to work quickly on a piece, assessing the subject's salient features, composing the aesthetic structure, and expressing the authentic experience. By practicing this method, both in pictorial and verbal styles, I feel that my skill as both an artist and a critic of art has been enhanced.

As regards Impressionism, I have a deep love for this style. Fortunately, the local museums have wonderful examples on display, even a few Monet's. It is always a thrill to visit these "old friends" that I've been admiring for over three decades. Maybe I'll finally pay that visit to the Getty that I've been planning for a few weeks now. ;-)

The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil (1881) by Claude Monet, Norton Simon Museum

In any case, let's take a moment to reflect on how amazing human beings are that we could produce an artist like Claude Monet.

friday flowers: iris

blue iris at the madrona marsh


IX (from sonnets - unrealities)
(by e.e. cummings)

this is the garden:colours come and go,
frail azures fluttering from night's outer wing
strong silent greens serenely lingering,
absolute lights like baths of golden snow.
This is the garden:pursed lips do blow
upon cool flutes within wide glooms, and sing
(of harps celestial to the quivering string)
invisible faces hauntingly and slow.

This is the garden.     Time shall surely reap
and on Death's blade lie many a flower curled,
in other lands where other songs be sung;
yet stand They here enraptured,as among
the slow deep trees perpetual of sleep
some silver-fingered fountain steals the world.



today we celebrate the birth date of e.e. cummings, born in 1894. yeah, i know that cummings wasn't against the use of proper capitalization. i'm just in a playful mood. ;-)

white iris at the madrona marsh

but why irises? well, i could come up with some mumbo-jumbo about the iris symbolizing "messengers" and the role of the poet as a type of messenger, but actually it has no reason beyond my whimsy. i wanted to attend a lecture on irises yesterday, but time and travel constraints vetoed the plan. so i dug through my flower photo collection and dug out some irises as a salve to my frustrated desire.

i turn to the treasures of "an angel named imagination."