Happy Birthday Maurice de Vlaminck!!
French artist Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) was one of the main figures of the Fauve movement. The Fauvists included Andre Derain and Henri Matisse amongst their members. The Fauvists (‘wild beasts’) were known for their use of intense colour which at the time, was quite innovative (1904 – 1908).
Vlaminck was a very interesting artist and personality and led a vibrant life, as one of my earlier posts about this artist and the Fauves shows Here
Image and more info Here
Hats Off!
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 analysis of his paintings can be found at This site
More of my posts Surreal thing! Happy Birthday Salvador Dali!
And Happy Eccentric Birthday Salvador Dali!
Also
Happy Birthday Salvador Dali Eccentric Individualist!
Image from Here
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 piece- then publish 🤔? No doubt I shall find out. Liking it so far. A good way of updating and promoting your blog.
Too much has already been written about British Textile designer William Morris. He was a huge influencer and contributor for the revival of the British textile arts, and also its traditional production methods. A social innovator, activist, poet and supporter of the Arts and Crafts movement, Morris is considered as a significant social cultural figure in Britain.
The William Morris Society founded in 1955 is dedicated to his legacy.
More about William Morris, his work and his life can be found Here
Happy Birthday Juan Gris!
Today is the birthday of Spanish artist Jose Victoriano (Carmelo Carlos) Gonzalez-Perez (known as Juan Gris). He was born in Madrid 1887-1927) but his career was based in France where he mostly lived. His work is mostly associated with the Cubist movement, but he started out as a sartorial cartoonist before developing his own distinctive Cubist style.
Gris’s contemporaries were Matisse, Picasso and Braque, amongst other famous artists. He approached cubism in a style he called Analytical Cubism, but become converted to Synthetic Cubism in which he incorporated collage.
He painted in bright colours, unlike Braque and Picasso whose work at that time was mostly monochromatic. In her book The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Gertrude Stein wrote ‘Although Gris regarded Picasso as a teacher , Juan Gris was the only artist who Picasso wished away’. Gris is an interesting artist. More can be found about his life and work here-
Room Full of Mirrors (Part One)
“I used to live in a room full of mirrors
All I could see was me
Then I take my spirit and I smash my mirrors
And now the whole world is here for me to see”
It seems that we have always lived in a room full of mirrors. Our fascination with our own reflection has never diminished and seems to burn brighter by the day.
We gaze Narcissus like into our Iphones pouting, posing and taking selfies of ourselves, and if we don’t like the reality, then we can always change it by airbrushing our image, de wrinkling, whitening our teeth etc or even magically transforming ourselves into little fluffy pink rabbits with floppy ears and pink twitching noses if we so wish.
Are we in danger of the ‘myth’ of Narcissus becoming our reality? Or we all just destined to fade to grey, never to become one of those shining golden daffoldils?
Narcissus, the Greek hunter, reknown for his beauty, unfortunately he only had eyes for himself. One day Echo, a young nymph, pursued him through the woods. Realising he was being followed, Narcissus called out “who is there?” But the nymph just echoed his question back. When she eventually made herself known, Narcissus snubbed her. Poor Echo spent the rest of her life heartbroken, fading to only an echo.
Nemesis, the Goddess of revenge wasn’t very happy with Narcissus’s treatment of Echo, so she lured him to a pool where he fell deeply in love with his own reflection (I dont think that he took much persuasion). Alas, such was his passion for himself, he eventually burnt himself out, dying of unrequited love until at last, he too faded away – this time into a flower. A pretty flower of course.
There are variations of this myth. Pre Raphaelite John William Waterhouse (1847-1917) painted a lot of paintings with classical themes – ‘Echo and Narcissus’ being an especially wonderful example.
Out flew the web and floated wide –
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,”
cried the Lady of Shalott
Fellow Pre-raphaelite John William Waterhouse (b.1849-1917) was so inspired by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s 1932 poem that he painted ‘The Lady of Shalott’ three times 1888, 1894, 1915.
The lady in question, confined to her room by a curse, was not allowed outside and could only view the world through a mirror. Yearning for love, through her mirror she caught sight of of the knight Lancelot. She took three steps towards the window – the mirror cracked. Realising the curse had befallen her, she sailed away to Camelot and lonely death singing a lamentable lament.
And down the river’s dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance
With glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shallot.
The Lady of Shallot poem here
The Lady of Shallot painting here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_and_Narcissus_(Waterhouse_painting)
Dorian Grey? Not in this attic
Note: This is a W.A.R. Post. What is it good for? ….Worth Another Blog)
They say women are vain – but when it comes to artists it seems that men never get tired of looking at their own reflection – and painting them. Van Gogh was one of the most prolific self-portrait artists, (and one of the most least artists) as was Rembrandt and Picasso. It is interesting to look at the way age creeps into these self portraits, and is also a tribute to some of the artists lack of vanity and pursuit for truth that makes the ageing process unflattering in some cases.
This gentle film takes a look at some famous self-portrait painters. Some like Rembrandt chronicled his age throughout life, some stop short at youth. Here is part of a list of the artists featured, the rest are here. See how many you can recognise.
Artists in order of appearance:
0:08 – Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519
0:15 – Francisco Goya 1746-1828
0:22 – Albrecht Dürer 1471-1528
0:29 – Sir Joshua Reynolds 1723-1792
0:35 – Rembrandt 1606-1669
0:42 – Andy Warhol 1928-1987
0:48 – William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1825-1905
0:55 – Henri Matisse 1869-1954
1:02 – Eugène Delacroix 1798-1863
1:09 – Jean-François Millet 1814-1875
1:15 – Jan van Eyck 1395-1441
1:22 – Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640
1:28 – James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903
1:35 – John Singer Sargent 1856-1925
1:42 – Kazimir Malevich 1878-1935
1:49 – Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665
Video and list from eggman913 and info from by Philip Scott Johnson
500 Years of Male Self Portraits in Western Art
with thanks!
Echostains Blog 
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