Happy Birthday Max Ernst!!

Max Ernst born 1891- 1976 was a Surrealist artist. Born in Germany, he became a Naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958. He was prolific in painting, sculpture, poetry and graphic art and a leading light and pioneer in his artistic approach to Surrealism and Dadaism. A lot of information about the artist and

Happy Birthday William Morris (1834-1896)

I thought that I would test the new ‘story’ facility on WordPress with this tryout on William Morris’s birthday. It works well. What I’d like to know is: if the story should be published first and – then writing added on (like I’m doing here) OR do the story and save, add to the written

Art I LOVE – Pierre Bonnard

French artist and printmaker  Pierre Bonnard (1867 – 1947) was  one of the founding members of Les Nabis.  Les Nabis were a group of avant-garde Post Impressionists who distorted colour and composition to  decorative effect.  Bonnard was interested in unusual and unexpected angles and aerial perspectives – greatly influenced by Japanese prints. It is this which links him with Vuillard and the

Happy Birthday J M W Turner – Grand Master of the Elements – not all at Sea

Today is the birthday of British Romantic Landscape, seascape, watercolourist and printmaker  Joseph Mallord William Turner(b. London 1775 – 1851).  Turner understood the elements, for example when in 1834 parliament caught fire, Turner witnessed it.  He also sketched shipwrecks, storms and other natural phenomena like fog, rain, storms and above all the light and strove to capture it .  He was fascinated by the way

Art Quotes – Monet – into the light

 ‘Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. To such an extent indeed that one day, finding myself at the deathbed of a woman who had been and still was very dear to me, I caught myself in the act of focusing on her temples and automatically analyzing the succession of appropriately graded colors which

‘How’s it going? here’s an update’

     Time for a little update.  ‘Echostains’ itself is going well, many are reading but, not many are commenting – don’t be shy come forward and show yourselves!  ‘Bookstains’ my other blog is coming along alright, its early days yet, but I am enjoying doing it.  Although I keep saying it, I really do need to

Toulouse Lautrec Tracked…Maybe and Life in Sync

Puerto Rica actor Jose Ferrer 1912 -1992 was, I think may have been the actor I was trying to remember played Toulouse-Lautrec in the 1952 film biopic  ‘Moulin Rouge’ by John Houston.  Don’t ask me where Peter Finch came from…… It’s always frustrating when you can’t remember something for the life of you.  This happens with quizes a

Watched: Hollywood Diva’s; Tamara de Lempicka, BBC 4

I watched this programme the other nights, wrote about it, then ‘lost’ the post! Art Deco artist, as she is often referred to, Tamara de Lempicka has always been a bit of a favourite of mine since I was at Uni. She has many fans, amongst them the artiste Madonna, a keen collector of her