Month: April 2016

Paul Gustave Dore

Paul Gustave Dore, “The Neophyte (First Experience of the Monastery)”, Oil on Canvas, 1866-68, 57 x 107 Inches, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia

Gustave Doré is famous for his drawings for books like The Bible, Don Quixote, The Raven, Paradise Lost, Divine Comedy and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He also produced several paintings. This is a rather haunting painting by Doré. On the painting we can see a group of monks, probably singing or praying together. In the middle there is a young monk. He is a neophyte, someone who has just joined the group. The contrast between the older monks and the young monk enhances the known inexperience of the neophyte.

James Guppy

James Guppy, “Sycorax”, Acrylic and Varnish on Linen, 2010

Since his early life in England, James Guppy has never been far from a brush or drawing pen.  Fifteen years as a mural artist taught him how to paint and the importance of engaging and speaking to the viewer.

He emigrated to Australia in 1982 and in 1989 he began exhibiting his own work as a fine artist.  Besides his regular exhibitions in Sydney and Brisbane, he has exhibited in New York and Houston, Texas.  His work has won many awards and is held in public and private collections both here and abroad.

James has an M Litt in Visual Art from Lancaster University in the UK.  He began teaching in 1979 and has since lectured in universities in the UK, the USA and Australia.

Please credit James Guppy when re-blogging this image. Thanks.

Pierce Brown: “The Words Wake the Mind”

Photographer Unknown, (White Tiles and a Man)

“I look at him for a moment. Words are a weapon stronger than he knows. And songs are even greater. The words wake the mind. The melody wakes the heart. I come from a people of song and dance. I don’t need him to tell me the power of words. But I smile nonetheless.”

-Pierce Brown, Red Rising

Michelangelo

Michelangelo, “The Crouching Boy”, Marble, 1530-34

Despite its small size, this sculpture creates an impression of monumentality, unity and inner force. The image of the crouching boy is suffused with sorrow, a mood which suggest that this sole work by Michelangelo in the Hermitage was intended for the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo, Florence.

The figure is exceedingly expressive; though the head is bowed and the face hardly visible, the taut muscles of the body produce a striking impression of the great inner strength that enables one to withstand the pain.

Some scholars see here an allegory for the unborn soul, while others see the figure as a wounded soldier or a spirit of mourning. Yet others believe that this sculpture is a reflection of the depression suffered by many Florentine citizens during the years of the Spanish invasion.

James Joyce: “He was Unheeded, Happy, and Near to the Wild Heart of Life”

His Ass on the Gray Pillow

“He was alone. He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life. He was alone and young and wilful and wildhearted, alone amid a waste of wild air and brackish waters and the seaharvest of shells and tangle and veiled grey sunlight.”

― James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Titian

Titian, “Polyptych of the Resurrection: St Sebastian”, Oil on Canvas, 1520-22, Santi Nazaro e Celso, Brescia, Italy

In 1520 to 1522, Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian, painted the “Polyptych of the Resurrection”, also known as the Averoldi Polytych, for the Catholic church Santi Nazaro e Celso, located in Lombardy region of Itlay. The work was commissioned by Alberto Averoldi, the papal legate to Venice. The use of a compatmentally-divided polytych, rather old-fashioned for that time, was likely a specific request from Averroldi. The work was delivered in 1522 and placed behind the high altar, replacing the existing altarpiece by Renaissance painter Vincenzo Foppa.

The five panels in the polyptych are: “The Resurrection of Christ”, “Saints Nazarius and Celsus with Donor”, “Saint Sebastian”. “Angel of the Annunciation”, and “The Annunciation of the Virgin”. Titian unified the panels of the polyptych to a certain degree by chromatic-dynamic, converging the sense of light towards the central scene of the Christ.

The panel showing St Sebastian (bottom right panel of the polyptych) was finished by 1520. Jacopo Tebaldi, the representative of the Duke of Ferrara, was so impressed by the painting when he saw it in Titian’s workshop that he urged his master buy it. Tebaldi offered to pay Titian 60 ducats for this single panel – Averoldi was paying him only 200 ducats for the entire altarpiece. In the end, however, the Duke of Ferrara shied away from making the purchase, probably afraid of annoying the powerful legate Averoldi.

Titian approximates sculpture in the figure of St Sebastian, taking inspiration from one of the slave of Michelangelo’s tomb for Julius II. He shows as much of the saint’s back and front as he can and endows his flesh with a richly tinted marble-like sheen that both absorbs and reflects the light.

William Martin: “The Wonder and the Marvel of an Ordinary Life”

A Collection: Ten Guys in Ordinary Life

“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”

― William Martin, The Parents’s Tao Te Ching