(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
2
Among the artists of the nineteenth century Whistler holds a unique position. He was the first great painter of American birth to win universal renown. His life was a long struggle against hostile criticism and misunderstanding, and he defended his art and his ideals with the pungent brilliancy of a wit and with the undaunted pugnacity of a soldier. By example and precept he eventually revolutionized English ideas about art and interior decoration. He compelled people who stubbornly repeated ‘Every Picture tells a Story,’ to realize at long last that every picture ought to sing a tune, that is to say, it ought to utter forth a melody of line and harmony of color; in a word, he compelled all England and the United States to recognize the decorative as well as the illustrative element in painting. More than any other English-speaking man Whistler opened our eyes to the true value of Velazquez and Hokusai, and he invented a new style of portraiture in which Spanish realism was exquisitely wedded to a Japanese sense of decoration. A stranger within our gates, he revealed England to the English and recorded both in his etchings and in his paintings poetic aspects of London’s riverside, aspects to which hitherto all artists had been blind, aspects the beauty of which all can now see.
Whistler was born on July 10, 1834, at Lowell, in Massachusetts, and was baptized there with the Christian names of James Abbott. This second name he dropped in later life and substituted for it his mother’s maiden name, McNeill. His father, Major George Washington Whistler, after leaving the United States army, became a railway engineer, and in 1842 journeyed to Russia with his wife and family: he had been appointed chief adviser of the railway under construction between Moscow and Petrograd. The most important consequence to James Whistler of this boyhood stay in Russia was that in Petrograd he learnt to speak French fluently. His father died in 1849, when the widow returned with her children to the United States.
Following in his father’s footsteps, James Whistler in 1851 entered the military college of West Point, but after three years of desultory study he was dismissed, chiefly owing to his deplorable failure in chemistry. The first question in his oral examination floored him completely, and later in life Whistler humorously said, ‘If silicon had been a gas I might have become a general in the United States army.’ Even from his Russian days Whistler had shown a remarkable capacity for drawing, and his delight in sketching prompted his relatives, after his West Point failure, to obtain for him a post as draughtsman in the Government Coast Survey Department at Washington, thinking that this occupation might be more congenial to him. To some extent it was, for here he learnt to engrave and etch, and he executed an excellent plate of a view taken from the sea, of cliffs along the coast; but the fancy heads and figures which he irrelevantly added in the margin showed that he could not take his topographical studies seriously as a preliminary to map-making, but only as an excuse for sketching. In February 1855 he resigned his position, and the end of the year found him an art student in Paris.
Many painters have spent joyous student-days in Paris, but few of them bear the traces of it in their lives as Whistler did. He had barely turned twenty-one when he arrived in Paris, and his high-spirited temperament and sense of fun delighted in all the antics which then distinguished the Bohemians of the Latin Quarter. In those days the art students lived a life apart, making themselves noticed by wearing unorthodox clothes, playing all sorts of practical jokes, affecting to despise the common mortal, and never so happy as when they succeeded in shocking and bewildering what they called the ‘bourgeois’. Whistler plunged hot-foot into this way of life, and, as the distinguished French critic M Théodore Duret, who knew him well, has remarked, there was grafted on him ‘the habit of a separate pose, whimsical attire, a way of despising and setting at defiance the ‘vulgur herd’ incapable of seeing and feeling like an artist. This combination of the distinctive chaaracteristics of a French art student and the manner of an American gentleman, in a man otherwise full of life, spirit, and individuality, made of Whistler a quaint original who could not fail to be remarked everywhere.’
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Every Disaster Tells A Tale We Can Learn From
(via HBS Working Knowledge) I found the article Sharpening Your Skills: Disaster! @ http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5881.html brilliant + useful.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Ancient Gold Jewelry Made In The Americas
It has been reported that the earliest known gold jewelry with either greenstone or turquoise, made nearly 4,000 years ago, has been found in a burial site near Lake Titicaca, Peru + the experts believe the gold was probably wrapped around a piece of wood and pounded until it was folded into small tubes to look like jewelry.
I think it's an interesting find + it also highlights the status-consciousness of the early people.
Useful link:
www.pnas.org
I think it's an interesting find + it also highlights the status-consciousness of the early people.
Useful link:
www.pnas.org
The New Face Of The Music Industry
According to industry analysts, Live Nation, world's biggest concert promoter, owns 170 plus venues of various sizes worldwide + due to piracy and declining CD sales, artists are now realizing that the money lies in touring and merchandising + in the coming years we are going to see new business models via band merchandising, digital and branding rights.
Useful link:
www.livenation.com
Useful link:
www.livenation.com
The Magical Chorus
The Magical Chorus by Antonina Bouis offers a unique perspective + an insider's insight on writers, musicians, artists, dancers, theater and film directors, each an important masterstone in the social and political dynamics of Russian culture.
Old English And Old European Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
In gemological literature, the terms Old English and Old European are used for the same type of round cut. This is confusing,and I should like to suggest that the two names be retained but be given separate definitions: Old English for the fine products of the English master cutters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and Old European for the poorer-quality diamonds with proportions of all kinds, produced by the major cutting factories elsewhere.
Small and medium-sized Brilliants were, on the whole, haphazardly fashioned. Almost all the exceptions are high-class English jewels. A striking example of a jewel with Old European Cuts is the large Bouquet made in 1760 for the Empress Catherine II, now in the Treasury of the Diamond Fund in Moscow. If such a mixture of different Brilliant Cuts was acceptable to this exacting imperial court, what must not lesser mortals have been satisfied with? Most customers were unfamiliar with the splendor of well-made Brilliants. The emphasis was on the style and execution of the ensemble rather than on the perfection of individual stones. This is why the English cutters were hard put to find customers for their superb—but expensive—products, and eventually went out of production altogether. However, by the late nineteenth century, jewelers were once again realizing that there was a market for well-cut stones and were refusing to buy poor-quality ones, so that Tolkowsky found a great many Brilliants in London as fine in quality as his ‘mathematically calculated’ ideal cut.
For this type of Brilliant cut I should like to suggest the term Early Circular Fine Cut. This would cover the first precision cuts fashioned with mechanical devices and introduced in about 1900, possibly by Morse himself. Crystals could be divided without difficulty by motor-driven circular saws, and the two parts could equally easily be bruted or rounded up into circular outlines on a lathe or cutting machine. The classical high 45° proportions were abandoned; by trial and error, cutters developed modern proportions and an attractive combination of brilliance and fire with the minimum of leakage of light through the pavilion facets.
The table below indicates the limits of variation in the proportions of Early Victorian or Old English round Brilliants.
Table size: 45 – 60%
Crown height: 20%
Crown angles: 36 - 45°
Girdle: very thin
Pavilion depth: 40%
Pavilion angles: c.40°
Culet size: max. 5%
By trial and error the London cutters must have discovered the correct angle for the main facets of the pavilion—an angle which is still applied today. It seems that they retained the old vertical proportions of a crown height equal to half the pavilion depth. However, they continued to try different ways of fashioning the crown, in an attempt to strike a balance between brilliance and fire. There is still no general agreement on the best way to achieve this, but today most Brilliants are fashioned for maximum brilliance and restricted dispersion of color.
Most authors of the nineteenth century, and even some later writers, repeat the definitions given by Jeffries and Mawe. However, one frequently comes across illustrations of incorrect and even impossible proportions. Clearly, the cutters took advantage of the ignorance of most of their customers. They had to compete with low-priced but ill-fashioned diamond of which there were plenty on the market. This is why, sadly, most of the old Brilliants, even the finest, were eventually refashioned.
In gemological literature, the terms Old English and Old European are used for the same type of round cut. This is confusing,and I should like to suggest that the two names be retained but be given separate definitions: Old English for the fine products of the English master cutters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and Old European for the poorer-quality diamonds with proportions of all kinds, produced by the major cutting factories elsewhere.
Small and medium-sized Brilliants were, on the whole, haphazardly fashioned. Almost all the exceptions are high-class English jewels. A striking example of a jewel with Old European Cuts is the large Bouquet made in 1760 for the Empress Catherine II, now in the Treasury of the Diamond Fund in Moscow. If such a mixture of different Brilliant Cuts was acceptable to this exacting imperial court, what must not lesser mortals have been satisfied with? Most customers were unfamiliar with the splendor of well-made Brilliants. The emphasis was on the style and execution of the ensemble rather than on the perfection of individual stones. This is why the English cutters were hard put to find customers for their superb—but expensive—products, and eventually went out of production altogether. However, by the late nineteenth century, jewelers were once again realizing that there was a market for well-cut stones and were refusing to buy poor-quality ones, so that Tolkowsky found a great many Brilliants in London as fine in quality as his ‘mathematically calculated’ ideal cut.
For this type of Brilliant cut I should like to suggest the term Early Circular Fine Cut. This would cover the first precision cuts fashioned with mechanical devices and introduced in about 1900, possibly by Morse himself. Crystals could be divided without difficulty by motor-driven circular saws, and the two parts could equally easily be bruted or rounded up into circular outlines on a lathe or cutting machine. The classical high 45° proportions were abandoned; by trial and error, cutters developed modern proportions and an attractive combination of brilliance and fire with the minimum of leakage of light through the pavilion facets.
The table below indicates the limits of variation in the proportions of Early Victorian or Old English round Brilliants.
Table size: 45 – 60%
Crown height: 20%
Crown angles: 36 - 45°
Girdle: very thin
Pavilion depth: 40%
Pavilion angles: c.40°
Culet size: max. 5%
By trial and error the London cutters must have discovered the correct angle for the main facets of the pavilion—an angle which is still applied today. It seems that they retained the old vertical proportions of a crown height equal to half the pavilion depth. However, they continued to try different ways of fashioning the crown, in an attempt to strike a balance between brilliance and fire. There is still no general agreement on the best way to achieve this, but today most Brilliants are fashioned for maximum brilliance and restricted dispersion of color.
Most authors of the nineteenth century, and even some later writers, repeat the definitions given by Jeffries and Mawe. However, one frequently comes across illustrations of incorrect and even impossible proportions. Clearly, the cutters took advantage of the ignorance of most of their customers. They had to compete with low-priced but ill-fashioned diamond of which there were plenty on the market. This is why, sadly, most of the old Brilliants, even the finest, were eventually refashioned.
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Hokusai is now generally regarded as one of the world’s great artists, worthy to rank with Rembrandt, Durer, and other giants. His ‘River Scene’, with the great bridge over the water and Fujiyama in the distance, shows his unsurpassed skill in the technique of his art, the largeness of his view, and the intense human interest with which he invested every scene he painted. A master of the first order as a draughtsman, Hokusai was also a daring pioneer as a colorist, being the first to combine the particular greens, blues, yellows, and browns which distinguish his famous series ‘Thirty six Views of Fujiyama,’ to use the telling contrast of red, bright blue, and brown seen in his ‘Views of te Loochoo Islands’, and to harmonise with infinite tenderness a whole gamut of greens and blues in his great designs based on carps. Hokusai lived to a great age, his death occurring when he was approaching his ninetieth birthday, and shortly before he expired he murmured, ‘If Fate had given me but five more years, I should have been able to become a true painter.’ He was not only one of the greatest and most poetic of the world’s artists, he was one of the most modest.
The beginning of the artistic influence of Japan on Europe is generally dated from the International Exhibition held at London in 1862, when the examples of Japanese art there shown made a profound impression on all who studied them. Seidlitz, in his History of Japanese Color Prints, gives the same date, but this authority traces the first discovery of Japanese art in Europe to a Japanese shop in the Rue de Rivoli, Paris. This shop, known as ‘La Porte Chinoise’ and owned by a dealer name Soye, was frequented by a number of artists who delighted in the color prints by Hokusai, Hiroshige, and others which they found there. To this shop came Manet, Degas, Monet, and other French artists afterwards to become famous, and to it also came a young American artist, James McNeill Whistler. The Japanese have a perfect instinct of decoration and consequently these color prints made an immediate and powerful appeal to a young artist who already had within him the instinct of decoration. In the work of Hokusai and Hiroshige, Whistler recognized those qualities which above all he desired to have in his own work.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Hokusai is now generally regarded as one of the world’s great artists, worthy to rank with Rembrandt, Durer, and other giants. His ‘River Scene’, with the great bridge over the water and Fujiyama in the distance, shows his unsurpassed skill in the technique of his art, the largeness of his view, and the intense human interest with which he invested every scene he painted. A master of the first order as a draughtsman, Hokusai was also a daring pioneer as a colorist, being the first to combine the particular greens, blues, yellows, and browns which distinguish his famous series ‘Thirty six Views of Fujiyama,’ to use the telling contrast of red, bright blue, and brown seen in his ‘Views of te Loochoo Islands’, and to harmonise with infinite tenderness a whole gamut of greens and blues in his great designs based on carps. Hokusai lived to a great age, his death occurring when he was approaching his ninetieth birthday, and shortly before he expired he murmured, ‘If Fate had given me but five more years, I should have been able to become a true painter.’ He was not only one of the greatest and most poetic of the world’s artists, he was one of the most modest.
The beginning of the artistic influence of Japan on Europe is generally dated from the International Exhibition held at London in 1862, when the examples of Japanese art there shown made a profound impression on all who studied them. Seidlitz, in his History of Japanese Color Prints, gives the same date, but this authority traces the first discovery of Japanese art in Europe to a Japanese shop in the Rue de Rivoli, Paris. This shop, known as ‘La Porte Chinoise’ and owned by a dealer name Soye, was frequented by a number of artists who delighted in the color prints by Hokusai, Hiroshige, and others which they found there. To this shop came Manet, Degas, Monet, and other French artists afterwards to become famous, and to it also came a young American artist, James McNeill Whistler. The Japanese have a perfect instinct of decoration and consequently these color prints made an immediate and powerful appeal to a young artist who already had within him the instinct of decoration. In the work of Hokusai and Hiroshige, Whistler recognized those qualities which above all he desired to have in his own work.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
No Dirty Gold
In a new report released by Earthworks + Oxfam America irresponsible mining continue to pollute air and water, and in some parts of the world, fuel violent conflict, at a time when metal prices are soaring, driving new mining development worldwide.
I think consumers can make a big difference by insisting mining companies to implement best practices that can be independently verified.
Useful links:
www.nodirtygold.org
www.earthworksaction.org
www.oxfamamerica.org
I think consumers can make a big difference by insisting mining companies to implement best practices that can be independently verified.
Useful links:
www.nodirtygold.org
www.earthworksaction.org
www.oxfamamerica.org
Money Laundering And Financial Crimes
I found the 2008 report on Money Laundering and Financial Crimes by numerous U.S government/international agencies @
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/vol2/ interesting + insightful + I really don't know how effective the AML/CFT compliance programs are worldwide.
Useful links:
www.state.gov
www.imf.org
www.fincen.gov
www.worldbank.org
http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2008/vol2/ interesting + insightful + I really don't know how effective the AML/CFT compliance programs are worldwide.
Useful links:
www.state.gov
www.imf.org
www.fincen.gov
www.worldbank.org
Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel is a prolific French architect + he has designed a number of notable buildings across the world + he has been awarded his profession's highest honor--the 2008 Pritzker Prize.
I think his designs are different + connects the dots in a natural way.
Useful links:
www.jeannouvel.com
www.pritzkerprize.com
I think his designs are different + connects the dots in a natural way.
Useful links:
www.jeannouvel.com
www.pritzkerprize.com
Monday, March 31, 2008
Heard On The Street
Usually in the market when someone says I've never seen anything like this before, it means he/she is losing.
Vermeer's Hat
Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World by Timothy Brook is a great book + the writer takes one piece of porcelain in a painting by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer and uses it to explain 17th-century trade with China + he reflects on the cultural impacts of global commercial trade, an important era in the opening up of the world + I highly recommend the book.
Tanzanite Gem Miners Feared Dead
(via BBC) It has been reported that about 65 miners are feared dead after rainfall triggered the collapse of mines in the Mererani region, about 40km (25 miles) south-east of Arusha in north-eastern Tanzania + the area mines Tanzanite, a valuable violet-blue to blue gemstone found only in a small area near Arusha + Tanzania is also rich in diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires and is Africa's third-largest gold producer.
I think there will be some price adjustments in Tanzanite in the coming days due to unexpected events in Tanzania.
I think there will be some price adjustments in Tanzanite in the coming days due to unexpected events in Tanzania.
The Jubilee, Or Twentieth-Century, Cut
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The short-lived Jubilee Cut is said to have been created in the United States in honor of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Jubilee itself was in 1897 but the cut did not appear until the beginning of the twentieth century. It is variously described, but appears to have been applied mainly to rough which was too thin for a well-made Brilliant. The illustrations are based on an actual gem weighing 2.63 ct, with a diameter of 8.85 x 8.95 mm and an overall height of 5.45 mm. It is slightly tinted J (Crystal) and somewhat scratched and abraded by wear. It could, however, be restored to flawless condition with very little loss of weight.
This cut may be described as an elaborate extension of the historical Pointed Star Cut, with five concentric rows of interlocking facets. The crown and the pavilion, though possessing forty facets each, are of totally different design from each other.
The short-lived Jubilee Cut is said to have been created in the United States in honor of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The Jubilee itself was in 1897 but the cut did not appear until the beginning of the twentieth century. It is variously described, but appears to have been applied mainly to rough which was too thin for a well-made Brilliant. The illustrations are based on an actual gem weighing 2.63 ct, with a diameter of 8.85 x 8.95 mm and an overall height of 5.45 mm. It is slightly tinted J (Crystal) and somewhat scratched and abraded by wear. It could, however, be restored to flawless condition with very little loss of weight.
This cut may be described as an elaborate extension of the historical Pointed Star Cut, with five concentric rows of interlocking facets. The crown and the pavilion, though possessing forty facets each, are of totally different design from each other.
The Influence Of The Far East
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Japanese Color-prints And The Art of Whistler
1
To attempt any historical survey of the art of the East is beyond the scope of this Outline, but since several of the most distinguished Western painters of the nineteenth century were profoundly influenced by the art of China and Japan, it is necessary to make some brief mention of the wonderful art of the Far East and to record the genesis of its appreciation in Europe in order that we may perceive the part it played in shaping the style of certain modern masters.
Painting in water-colors on silk, or less often on paper, was practised in China from the earliest years of the Christian era. One of the oldest Chinese pictures known to exist is a scroll-painting called ‘Admonitions of the Instructress’ in the British Museum. This has been pronounced by experts to be a work of the fourth century, but has none of the characteristics of a primitive work executed when an art is in its infancy. The mastery of natural attitude and of the relation of figures to each other and the delicate expressiveness of the drawing prove that behind the art which produced it is a long history of development.
Chinese painting attained its highest excellence during the Sung Dynasty, i.e approximately between A.D 950 and 1250, and to this period belongs the masterly painting of ‘Two Geese’ in the British Museum. The exquisitely refined drawing and simple naturalism in this dignified bird painting show the high state of civilization in China at a time when Europe was only painfully emerging from the Dark Ages. We have only to turn back to the first chapter of this work and to compare the paintings of Cimabue or of Giotto with this still earlier picture from the East, to realize how superior was the naturalism of the Chinese artist to that of the most gifted of the earliest Europen painters. The art of the Sung period excelled in landscape and animal painting, and it was ‘inspired a mystical feeling for Nature (akin to that expressed by Wordsworth’s poetry) which gives a serious beauty to its treatment of simple or seemingly insignificant subjects.’
It is only in quite recent times, however, that Western artists have been attracted by the nobility of early Chinese art. In the nineteenth century Chinese paintings were scarce and little known in Europe, and the first examples of Oriental art made familiar to Europe were color prints from Japan. Though te Japanese today have a deservedly high reputation as an artistic nation, China was their intructress in all the arts. The art of printing in colors from a number of wood blocks in succession was practised in China in the seventeenth century, perhaps earlier, but it was not till the eighteenth century that it flourished in Japan. In that country the demand for a popular art had fostered a school of painting devoted to themes of daily life, and the woodcut provided a cheap means of multiplying designs. At first, in the early part of the eighteenth century, these woodcuts were colored by hand, then prints were made in two colors, rose-red and green, and in 1764 the first full-colored prints, known as ‘brocade prints,’ were issued. Harunobu (1705-72) was the first master to use te new invention, which during the next hundred years was to produce the most beautiful examples of color printing that the world has seen.
From the time of Harunobu to the death of Utamaro in 1806, a succession of artists poured forth a series of these popular pictures, which were sold for the merest trifle, chiefly to the working classes of Japan. The painters of Japan catered for aristocratic tastes and were patronized by the wealthy and eminent, but the makers of color-prints were democratic both in origin and aim and were regarded socially as artisans rather than artists. The aristocratic painters of Japan, like those of China, were symbolists, whose work conveyed subtle allusions to educated Orientals; but the designers of color prints were realists, who rendered the common life of everyday people. Among the Japanese this art, despised by the higher classes, was named the ‘Mirror of the Passing World.’ With the common people of Japan the drama was an overwhelming passion, and consequently the subjects of innumerablle color prints are taken from the stage, which provided endless themes. In all the earlier Japanese color prints figures predominate, but after the death of Utamaro a great artist arose in Hokusai (1760-1849), who invented a new landscape style. Hokusai was followed by other great landscape artists, Hiroshige (1796-1858) and his successor Hiroshige II, who worked c. 1840-65, and the splendid landscape designs by these artists were the first to make their influence felt in Europe.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Japanese Color-prints And The Art of Whistler
1
To attempt any historical survey of the art of the East is beyond the scope of this Outline, but since several of the most distinguished Western painters of the nineteenth century were profoundly influenced by the art of China and Japan, it is necessary to make some brief mention of the wonderful art of the Far East and to record the genesis of its appreciation in Europe in order that we may perceive the part it played in shaping the style of certain modern masters.
Painting in water-colors on silk, or less often on paper, was practised in China from the earliest years of the Christian era. One of the oldest Chinese pictures known to exist is a scroll-painting called ‘Admonitions of the Instructress’ in the British Museum. This has been pronounced by experts to be a work of the fourth century, but has none of the characteristics of a primitive work executed when an art is in its infancy. The mastery of natural attitude and of the relation of figures to each other and the delicate expressiveness of the drawing prove that behind the art which produced it is a long history of development.
Chinese painting attained its highest excellence during the Sung Dynasty, i.e approximately between A.D 950 and 1250, and to this period belongs the masterly painting of ‘Two Geese’ in the British Museum. The exquisitely refined drawing and simple naturalism in this dignified bird painting show the high state of civilization in China at a time when Europe was only painfully emerging from the Dark Ages. We have only to turn back to the first chapter of this work and to compare the paintings of Cimabue or of Giotto with this still earlier picture from the East, to realize how superior was the naturalism of the Chinese artist to that of the most gifted of the earliest Europen painters. The art of the Sung period excelled in landscape and animal painting, and it was ‘inspired a mystical feeling for Nature (akin to that expressed by Wordsworth’s poetry) which gives a serious beauty to its treatment of simple or seemingly insignificant subjects.’
It is only in quite recent times, however, that Western artists have been attracted by the nobility of early Chinese art. In the nineteenth century Chinese paintings were scarce and little known in Europe, and the first examples of Oriental art made familiar to Europe were color prints from Japan. Though te Japanese today have a deservedly high reputation as an artistic nation, China was their intructress in all the arts. The art of printing in colors from a number of wood blocks in succession was practised in China in the seventeenth century, perhaps earlier, but it was not till the eighteenth century that it flourished in Japan. In that country the demand for a popular art had fostered a school of painting devoted to themes of daily life, and the woodcut provided a cheap means of multiplying designs. At first, in the early part of the eighteenth century, these woodcuts were colored by hand, then prints were made in two colors, rose-red and green, and in 1764 the first full-colored prints, known as ‘brocade prints,’ were issued. Harunobu (1705-72) was the first master to use te new invention, which during the next hundred years was to produce the most beautiful examples of color printing that the world has seen.
From the time of Harunobu to the death of Utamaro in 1806, a succession of artists poured forth a series of these popular pictures, which were sold for the merest trifle, chiefly to the working classes of Japan. The painters of Japan catered for aristocratic tastes and were patronized by the wealthy and eminent, but the makers of color-prints were democratic both in origin and aim and were regarded socially as artisans rather than artists. The aristocratic painters of Japan, like those of China, were symbolists, whose work conveyed subtle allusions to educated Orientals; but the designers of color prints were realists, who rendered the common life of everyday people. Among the Japanese this art, despised by the higher classes, was named the ‘Mirror of the Passing World.’ With the common people of Japan the drama was an overwhelming passion, and consequently the subjects of innumerablle color prints are taken from the stage, which provided endless themes. In all the earlier Japanese color prints figures predominate, but after the death of Utamaro a great artist arose in Hokusai (1760-1849), who invented a new landscape style. Hokusai was followed by other great landscape artists, Hiroshige (1796-1858) and his successor Hiroshige II, who worked c. 1840-65, and the splendid landscape designs by these artists were the first to make their influence felt in Europe.
The Influence Of The Far East (continued)
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Art + Commerce + Technology Model
I like the concept of pairing art with commerce and technology because artists are amorphous and have an inquisitive mind + when you have an open-minded environment with the right attitude, there will be spontaneous interaction between the faculties of mind, resulting in natural synthesis and orderly crystallization of ideas into functional formats.
Useful links:
http://shl.stanford.edu
www.julie9.org
http://montalvoarts.org
www.aec.at
Useful links:
http://shl.stanford.edu
www.julie9.org
http://montalvoarts.org
www.aec.at
Energy Update
The article The Clean Energy Scam by Michael Grunwald @ http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html was informative + spot on because no one knows the long term pros and cons of diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks + with billions in investment capital via multinational companies worldwide the biofuels boom/bust are going to haunt us for generations like the dot-com era.
Useful links:
www.wetlands.org
www.wfp.org
www.conservation.org
www.whrc.org
www.edf.org
www.nrdc.org
www.earth-policy.org
www.cargill.com
www.carlyle.com
www.ge.com
www.bp.com
www.grupomaggi.com.br
www.ford.com
www.shell.com
www.georgesoros.com
www.richardbranson.com
Useful links:
www.wetlands.org
www.wfp.org
www.conservation.org
www.whrc.org
www.edf.org
www.nrdc.org
www.earth-policy.org
www.cargill.com
www.carlyle.com
www.ge.com
www.bp.com
www.grupomaggi.com.br
www.ford.com
www.shell.com
www.georgesoros.com
www.richardbranson.com
Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi + in my view the expressive drawings in Hergé's signature ligne claire style is engaging, in a variety of genres + I'm a big fan of TinTin , and now Thomas Sangster, from south London, has been chosen by Steven Spielberg to be his Tintin for a three-movie adaptation of the boy reporter's adventures.
Useful links:
www.tintin.com
http://tintinmovie.org
Useful links:
www.tintin.com
http://tintinmovie.org
Ultra Fast Lasers
I found the article on Ultra Fast Lasers + properties @ http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10918079 informative + in adddition to its applicatons in engineering, computing and medicine, I must add that they have become very important in analytical gemology, especially with detecting gemstone treatments and synthetics.
Edward Weston
Edward Weston was an American photographer + he is generally recognized as one of the greatest photographic artists of the 20th century + The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson houses a full archive of Edward Weston's work.
I like the tone of black/white photographs, and Edward Weston's works have that natural look and clarity.
Useful links:
www.edward-weston.com
www.creativephotography.org
I like the tone of black/white photographs, and Edward Weston's works have that natural look and clarity.
Useful links:
www.edward-weston.com
www.creativephotography.org
Two Multi-Faceted Split Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
I once analyzed an exceptional diamond in the surviving top section of an Order of the Golden Fleece made for Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, in about 1750. The diamond is oval, a Brilliant Cut with fifty six facets round its sixteeen-sided table, far more than on the Tiffany diamond. The star facets and the two different types of girdle facets are split, and the main facets do not even extend to the girdle. In contrast, the pavilion is simply divided into eight main facets round a small octagonal culet. The gem is exceptionally well proportioned, and this, combined with its perfect symmetry, makes it equally brilliant all over. Unfortunately, it is distinctly flawed and I graded it as an I (first Piqué). The surrounding gems are all normal Brilliants. The diamond measured approximately 20 x 17 mm and I calculated its weight as being about 50 ct.
A seventeenth-century experimental Brilliant with radially split facets is illustrated in the catalogue of Philip Hope’s famous collection, Pearls and Precious Stones (1893). Herz describes the gem simply as ‘a brilliant of a square shape, with rounded corners, weighing 5¼ ct.’ In addition to an octagonal table, the gem has forty-eight facets in the crown. There is one inner row of short main facets, and another row, split radially, touching the girdle. There are also normal star and girdle facets. The pavilion is not described.
I once analyzed an exceptional diamond in the surviving top section of an Order of the Golden Fleece made for Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, in about 1750. The diamond is oval, a Brilliant Cut with fifty six facets round its sixteeen-sided table, far more than on the Tiffany diamond. The star facets and the two different types of girdle facets are split, and the main facets do not even extend to the girdle. In contrast, the pavilion is simply divided into eight main facets round a small octagonal culet. The gem is exceptionally well proportioned, and this, combined with its perfect symmetry, makes it equally brilliant all over. Unfortunately, it is distinctly flawed and I graded it as an I (first Piqué). The surrounding gems are all normal Brilliants. The diamond measured approximately 20 x 17 mm and I calculated its weight as being about 50 ct.
A seventeenth-century experimental Brilliant with radially split facets is illustrated in the catalogue of Philip Hope’s famous collection, Pearls and Precious Stones (1893). Herz describes the gem simply as ‘a brilliant of a square shape, with rounded corners, weighing 5¼ ct.’ In addition to an octagonal table, the gem has forty-eight facets in the crown. There is one inner row of short main facets, and another row, split radially, touching the girdle. There are also normal star and girdle facets. The pavilion is not described.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Nevertheless it is important to note that there is not the same note of romanticism in pictures he painted only two years earlier. In 1868 Matthew joined his brother James in Paris, and we may see in the National Gallery a little picture he painted there in 1870. ‘Montmartre,’ as it is called, shows us dust-carts tipping rubbish on the side of a hill which has a windmill at the top. It is beautifully painted, perfect in its refined realism, but it is not romantic.
When the Franco-Prussian war broke out, James Maris returned to Holland. Matthew remained, went through the siege of Paris, and, like other residents, was enrolled in the Municipal Guard and called out for duty. His post was on the fortifications, opposite Asniéres and just under Mont Valérien, and he suffered considerably from the bitter cold during night duty. Military life was not congenial to this gentle artist, and the thought of killing anybody was abhorrent to him. He confessed afterwards, ‘I never put a bullet in my gun, but only pretended to do so!’
His war experiences certainly did Matthew Maris no good; they saddened him and tended to make him shrink into himself, so that he became more and more of a recluse. After the siege Matthew Maris came to London in 1872, and there he remained to the end of his days. He had rooms at first in the house of an art decorator named Daniel Cottier in St James’s Terrace, Regent’s Park, and Cottier, a strong active business man, had much influence over him, telling him what sort of pictures he ought to paint. Although Cottier, an admirer of Rossetti, undoubtedly encouraged the romantic element in the Dutch artist. Matthew Maris rebelled at painting under his direction and professed that he was thoroughly unhappy in his house. Yet between 1872 and 1875, when he was under the spell of Cottier, Matthew Maris painted what are generally considered to be his finest pictures. Among them we may mention ‘The Girl at the Well’ and ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872; ‘The Christening’ and ‘Enfant Couchée’, in 1873; ‘He is Coming’—in 1874; and ‘The Sisters’ in 1875. Yet even these works, full of indescribable poetry and romantic beauty, failed to satisfy the artist, who in after years would speak of them as ‘potboilers’ which he had compelled to paint by a tyrannical taskmaster.
Though discontended and professedly unhappy, Matthew Maris was slow to leave what he regarded as a house of bondage, and it was not till 1887—and then chiefly because Mrs Cottier was in ill-health—that he finally left. He went to 47 St John’s Wood Terrace, intending to remain there only a fortnight, while he looked around for a more convenient studio, and he stayed there nineteen years. In 1906 he found a home at 18 Westbourne Square, Paddington, in a half-flat with a small painting room, and in this modest abode, tended by a faithful housekeeper, he remained till he died on August 17, 1917. He seldom went out and he had few visitors, the most intimate friends of his later years being the Dutch picture-dealer, Mr E J Van Wisselingh and his wife, a Scottish lady, daughter of Mr Craibe Angus, of Glasgow, who had been one of the earliest British patrons of Matthew Maris. His later paintings became more and more mysterious; instead of the clear outlines of his earlier pictures, forms were seen dimly as through a mist, and these pictures he would work over and over many times, each re-painting seeming to cast a new veil over faces and figures that became more and more spiritual. Had he wished, Matthew Maris might have had fortune as well as fame, for there were ardent collectors in many countries eager to secure examples of his works, but his means were straightened largely because he could with difficulty bring himself to part with a picture and desired to keep them all in his painting room. In 1911 a Dutch admirer of his work, Mr Thomsen, of The Hague, offered to the compatriot of whom he was proud a small pension. This the painter accepted, and the pension was continued till his death.
An abnormal being, Matthew Maris was ‘alone in the world’ because he chose of his own accord to live the life of a hermit shut up with his dreams.
Nevertheless it is important to note that there is not the same note of romanticism in pictures he painted only two years earlier. In 1868 Matthew joined his brother James in Paris, and we may see in the National Gallery a little picture he painted there in 1870. ‘Montmartre,’ as it is called, shows us dust-carts tipping rubbish on the side of a hill which has a windmill at the top. It is beautifully painted, perfect in its refined realism, but it is not romantic.
When the Franco-Prussian war broke out, James Maris returned to Holland. Matthew remained, went through the siege of Paris, and, like other residents, was enrolled in the Municipal Guard and called out for duty. His post was on the fortifications, opposite Asniéres and just under Mont Valérien, and he suffered considerably from the bitter cold during night duty. Military life was not congenial to this gentle artist, and the thought of killing anybody was abhorrent to him. He confessed afterwards, ‘I never put a bullet in my gun, but only pretended to do so!’
His war experiences certainly did Matthew Maris no good; they saddened him and tended to make him shrink into himself, so that he became more and more of a recluse. After the siege Matthew Maris came to London in 1872, and there he remained to the end of his days. He had rooms at first in the house of an art decorator named Daniel Cottier in St James’s Terrace, Regent’s Park, and Cottier, a strong active business man, had much influence over him, telling him what sort of pictures he ought to paint. Although Cottier, an admirer of Rossetti, undoubtedly encouraged the romantic element in the Dutch artist. Matthew Maris rebelled at painting under his direction and professed that he was thoroughly unhappy in his house. Yet between 1872 and 1875, when he was under the spell of Cottier, Matthew Maris painted what are generally considered to be his finest pictures. Among them we may mention ‘The Girl at the Well’ and ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872; ‘The Christening’ and ‘Enfant Couchée’, in 1873; ‘He is Coming’—in 1874; and ‘The Sisters’ in 1875. Yet even these works, full of indescribable poetry and romantic beauty, failed to satisfy the artist, who in after years would speak of them as ‘potboilers’ which he had compelled to paint by a tyrannical taskmaster.
Though discontended and professedly unhappy, Matthew Maris was slow to leave what he regarded as a house of bondage, and it was not till 1887—and then chiefly because Mrs Cottier was in ill-health—that he finally left. He went to 47 St John’s Wood Terrace, intending to remain there only a fortnight, while he looked around for a more convenient studio, and he stayed there nineteen years. In 1906 he found a home at 18 Westbourne Square, Paddington, in a half-flat with a small painting room, and in this modest abode, tended by a faithful housekeeper, he remained till he died on August 17, 1917. He seldom went out and he had few visitors, the most intimate friends of his later years being the Dutch picture-dealer, Mr E J Van Wisselingh and his wife, a Scottish lady, daughter of Mr Craibe Angus, of Glasgow, who had been one of the earliest British patrons of Matthew Maris. His later paintings became more and more mysterious; instead of the clear outlines of his earlier pictures, forms were seen dimly as through a mist, and these pictures he would work over and over many times, each re-painting seeming to cast a new veil over faces and figures that became more and more spiritual. Had he wished, Matthew Maris might have had fortune as well as fame, for there were ardent collectors in many countries eager to secure examples of his works, but his means were straightened largely because he could with difficulty bring himself to part with a picture and desired to keep them all in his painting room. In 1911 a Dutch admirer of his work, Mr Thomsen, of The Hague, offered to the compatriot of whom he was proud a small pension. This the painter accepted, and the pension was continued till his death.
An abnormal being, Matthew Maris was ‘alone in the world’ because he chose of his own accord to live the life of a hermit shut up with his dreams.
Random Thoughts
(via Seeking alpha, Fashion Industry: Move Over Money Men, The Biz Men Are Back, March 28, 2008) Lauren Goldstein Crowe writes:
I think that fashion schools really owe it to their students to start offering basic classes in business. The designers who land big corporate jobs seem to lack understanding of how those structures work to enable them such freedom. Life without the corporate suits system may seem ideal -- and if you can finance your own business, it probably is. But if you've got to go hat in hand to others for money, you might be surprised what a cold hard place the world of business is. No matter how big your name recognition, no matter how great your talent, no one worth getting money from is going to give a designer money without asking for control. I mean, would you?
Brilliant! She was spot on.
I think that fashion schools really owe it to their students to start offering basic classes in business. The designers who land big corporate jobs seem to lack understanding of how those structures work to enable them such freedom. Life without the corporate suits system may seem ideal -- and if you can finance your own business, it probably is. But if you've got to go hat in hand to others for money, you might be surprised what a cold hard place the world of business is. No matter how big your name recognition, no matter how great your talent, no one worth getting money from is going to give a designer money without asking for control. I mean, would you?
Brilliant! She was spot on.
China's Growing Luxury Market
I found the article on China’s growing luxury market @ http://www.investorideas.com/articles/032608a.asp intriguing because understanding China’s consumer needs require special skills, unlimited patience and excellent local network support + long-term commitment to stay put + the reality is only a very few outsiders succeed in China + it's shocking, but that's the truth!
Useful link:
www.investorideas.com
Useful link:
www.investorideas.com
The Theory Of The Leisure Class
The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen + Robert Lekachman is considered one of the great works of economics + Veblen argues that economic life is driven not by notions of utility, but by social vestiges from pre-historic times (true!) + what's amazing to me is this book although written over 100 years ago is still valid + being brought up in a consumercentric society I see a heavily included portrait of myself in this book--a unique total internal reflection + it's a must-read book.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
A Famous Opal
The extraordinary opal dubbed, 'Flame Queen' (263.18 carats), was discovered in 1914 at the Bald Hill Workings in Lightning Ridge, Australia by three partners: Jack Phillips, Walter Bradley and Joe Hegarty + and now International fine arts auctioneers Bonhams & Butterfields will offer in its June 22, 2008 sale the most famous and recognizable opal in the world.
Useful link:
www.bonhams.com
Useful link:
www.bonhams.com
Run Fatboy Run
Run Fatboy Run is one-of-a-kind gentle comedy movie with its own message + I liked it.
I think you'll enjoy the movie.
Useful links:
www.runfatboyrunmovie.com
www.runfatboyrunmovie.co.uk
I think you'll enjoy the movie.
Useful links:
www.runfatboyrunmovie.com
www.runfatboyrunmovie.co.uk
U.S. Government Views On Laundering In The Diamond Industry
Chaim Even Zohar writes about the just-released report on money laundering and financial crimes by the U.S Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) + the country profile (s) + other viewpoints @
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp
The Tiffany
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The golden-yellow Tiffany is not only a typical Stellar Cut Brilliant with a star-like arrangement of small facets round the culet, but the crown is stepped, which consequently involves splitting the main facets. This was a standard procedure. The pavilion, however, received three steps: between the regular two steps a third shallow step was applied, which was probably unique. This involved the splitting of the lower main facets into two triangular and one flat keystone-shaped facet. Consequently the Tiffany diamond received forty actual facets on the crown and forty eight facets on the pavilion, plus the compulsory table and culet—in all, ninety facets compared with the fifty-six plus two facets of the standard Brilliant Cut.
No one has ever explained why such a bulky step cut was applied to this diamond. It seems that priority was given to weight retention, since the prestige of a diamond dependend at that time primarily on its weight. Dr Kunz stated ‘that this unprecedented number of facets was given the stone not to make it more brilliant, but less brilliant. The stone was of yellow color, and it was thought better to give it the effect of a smothered. Smouldering fire than one of flashing radiance.’ The stone has the unusual feature, in a yellow diamond, of retaining its color by artificial light. The designers decided to ignore the modern rules of proportioning (such as those introduced to America by Morse) since these would have produced a Brilliant of well below the magic figure of 100ct, which entitles a diamond to the name ‘Paragon’. Here, even the classic proportions would not have done—a Brilliant with the width and length of this stone (27mm and 28.25mm) with 45° angles would have barely weighed 100ct.
In the end, a number of solutions were found. Obviously, the diameter of the finished gem was weighed against a symmetrical outline. But the height of the crown, the thickness of the girdle and the depth of the pavilion could all be substantially increased. In fact they managed to retain a vertical measurement of 81.5 per cent (22.2mm) as compared with Jeffries 68 per cent and the modern 60 per cent.
The convex silhouette shows not only the weight saved through stepping but also an exceptionally high crown and deep pavilion. Other measures were taken in order to produce desired light effects. An exact calculation was made of the angles of reflection and refraction of light and the culet was given a size which made it act as a reflector. Until the Tiffany diamond is professionally examined two queries remain unsolved: the four extra facets on the pavilion, adjacent to the girdle, and the often mentioned seventeen polished spots on the girdle which, according to a check-up at the premises of Tiffany in 1945, are ‘no true facets’.
We know that the rough, a fine octahedron weighing 287.42 ct, was found in about 1878 in what appears to have been the French-owned part of the De Beers mines. It was shipped to Paris where it was shown to the Tiffany representatives. The firm’s eminent gemologist, George F Kunz, was commissioned to help plan the fashioning of it into the most magnificent gem possible. The result was extraordinary, as we have seen. The finished gem has the amazing weight of 128.51ct. It was, until recently, the largest golden-yellow diamond in the world. According to the official invoice from a Paris office, the Tiffany diamond was shipped to New York on the City of Chester on 15 June 1880, and was listed with a number of other gems ‘on consignment’ at 100,000 French francs.
The golden-yellow Tiffany is not only a typical Stellar Cut Brilliant with a star-like arrangement of small facets round the culet, but the crown is stepped, which consequently involves splitting the main facets. This was a standard procedure. The pavilion, however, received three steps: between the regular two steps a third shallow step was applied, which was probably unique. This involved the splitting of the lower main facets into two triangular and one flat keystone-shaped facet. Consequently the Tiffany diamond received forty actual facets on the crown and forty eight facets on the pavilion, plus the compulsory table and culet—in all, ninety facets compared with the fifty-six plus two facets of the standard Brilliant Cut.
No one has ever explained why such a bulky step cut was applied to this diamond. It seems that priority was given to weight retention, since the prestige of a diamond dependend at that time primarily on its weight. Dr Kunz stated ‘that this unprecedented number of facets was given the stone not to make it more brilliant, but less brilliant. The stone was of yellow color, and it was thought better to give it the effect of a smothered. Smouldering fire than one of flashing radiance.’ The stone has the unusual feature, in a yellow diamond, of retaining its color by artificial light. The designers decided to ignore the modern rules of proportioning (such as those introduced to America by Morse) since these would have produced a Brilliant of well below the magic figure of 100ct, which entitles a diamond to the name ‘Paragon’. Here, even the classic proportions would not have done—a Brilliant with the width and length of this stone (27mm and 28.25mm) with 45° angles would have barely weighed 100ct.
In the end, a number of solutions were found. Obviously, the diameter of the finished gem was weighed against a symmetrical outline. But the height of the crown, the thickness of the girdle and the depth of the pavilion could all be substantially increased. In fact they managed to retain a vertical measurement of 81.5 per cent (22.2mm) as compared with Jeffries 68 per cent and the modern 60 per cent.
The convex silhouette shows not only the weight saved through stepping but also an exceptionally high crown and deep pavilion. Other measures were taken in order to produce desired light effects. An exact calculation was made of the angles of reflection and refraction of light and the culet was given a size which made it act as a reflector. Until the Tiffany diamond is professionally examined two queries remain unsolved: the four extra facets on the pavilion, adjacent to the girdle, and the often mentioned seventeen polished spots on the girdle which, according to a check-up at the premises of Tiffany in 1945, are ‘no true facets’.
We know that the rough, a fine octahedron weighing 287.42 ct, was found in about 1878 in what appears to have been the French-owned part of the De Beers mines. It was shipped to Paris where it was shown to the Tiffany representatives. The firm’s eminent gemologist, George F Kunz, was commissioned to help plan the fashioning of it into the most magnificent gem possible. The result was extraordinary, as we have seen. The finished gem has the amazing weight of 128.51ct. It was, until recently, the largest golden-yellow diamond in the world. According to the official invoice from a Paris office, the Tiffany diamond was shipped to New York on the City of Chester on 15 June 1880, and was listed with a number of other gems ‘on consignment’ at 100,000 French francs.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
It was not till he was nearing thirty that James Maris changed his manner of painting and acquired the style which eventually brought him fame. In 1865 he went to Paris, where he remained for six years, and there, under the influence of the Barbizon masters, he gradually broadened his style, abandoning his former intimacy of detail and now aiming at a more general effect of grandeur. Henceforward he devoted himself almost exclusively to landscape, and though the change of his style was brought about by French painting, his mature work is akin to that of Ruysdael in the nobility and majesty of its outlook. We can hardly escape thinking of Ruysdael’s ‘Mill’ when we see ‘The Stone Mill’ by James Maris in the Mesdag Museum; a picturesque stone mill, with an open gallery round it, makes a stately figure against a sky with white drifting clouds. In the foreground are sandhills, in the distance the red roofs of a village, but though the accessories taken together make up a scene quite distinct from that shown in Ruysdael’s famous picture, both pictures have a touch of sublimity in the dignity of their design. Equally characteristic of the way in which this artist subordinates particular objects to the general effect is his painting of ‘Dordrecht’. All details are merged in these masses of light and shade, yet everyone who has seen this town at eventide will agree that the painter has given us the essential characteristic of the ‘Venice of the North’, its Groote Kerke, its shipping, its wide canals, and the rolling grey sky overhead, and has presented these with incomparable dignity and grandeur.
William Maris is more limited in his range than either of his brothers, and though in their early days the work of all three showed a certain similarity of style, William’s work altered least in style and in subject. He is nearer to Roelofs than either of his brothers, and his favorite subjects were landscapes with cattle, which he painted, as a rule, in full daylight, so that his pictures are rather brighter and gayer in color than those of his brothers. A meadow extending along the border of the sandhills, in which are seen a few stunted trees and some cows, a pond perhaps in the immediate foreground, and a cloudy sky overhead, this is a typical William Maris subject. Less poetic than Mauve, less grand than his brother James, and less romantic than his brother Matthew, William Maris was a happy realist whose rich colored pictures are full of sunshine and mirror the luxuriant greens of Holland’s pasturelands.
Matthew Maris stands apart from his brothers and from all the Dutch artists of his generation. He was different in his temperament, different in his life, and different in his art. Tracing it to his foreign extraction, to his Austrian, or, as we should now say, to his Czecho-Slovak blood, Professor Muther says there broke out in Matthew Maris a ‘Teutonic medieval mysticism’ from which his brothers were free. Matthew no doubt possessed that he was influenced by the romantic mediavalism of Rossetti. It was in England that Matthew Maris painted his most charcteristic pictures, and in England, where he lived for forty five years, he drifted apart from his brethren in his art as in his life.
The beginnings of Matthew were almost parallel with those of James. The two brothers studied, as we have seen, at The Hague and Antwerp, and they were together in Paris. One incident must be chronicled which appears to have had far more influence on Matthew than on James. In 1858 the two brothers were back from Antwerp at The Hague, and three years later, having made some money by copying pictures, the two set out together on a tour through the Black Forest to Switzerland, returning through France by Dijon to the Puy-de-Dôme. Matthew was tremendously impressed by the romantic castles and buildings he saw in Central France; to his poetic imagination they were enchanted palaces. The recollection of this tour never faded from his mind, and in pictures painted years afterwards we catch echoes of the turrets and battlements which remained fixed in his memory. We may see evidence of this in the background of ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
It was not till he was nearing thirty that James Maris changed his manner of painting and acquired the style which eventually brought him fame. In 1865 he went to Paris, where he remained for six years, and there, under the influence of the Barbizon masters, he gradually broadened his style, abandoning his former intimacy of detail and now aiming at a more general effect of grandeur. Henceforward he devoted himself almost exclusively to landscape, and though the change of his style was brought about by French painting, his mature work is akin to that of Ruysdael in the nobility and majesty of its outlook. We can hardly escape thinking of Ruysdael’s ‘Mill’ when we see ‘The Stone Mill’ by James Maris in the Mesdag Museum; a picturesque stone mill, with an open gallery round it, makes a stately figure against a sky with white drifting clouds. In the foreground are sandhills, in the distance the red roofs of a village, but though the accessories taken together make up a scene quite distinct from that shown in Ruysdael’s famous picture, both pictures have a touch of sublimity in the dignity of their design. Equally characteristic of the way in which this artist subordinates particular objects to the general effect is his painting of ‘Dordrecht’. All details are merged in these masses of light and shade, yet everyone who has seen this town at eventide will agree that the painter has given us the essential characteristic of the ‘Venice of the North’, its Groote Kerke, its shipping, its wide canals, and the rolling grey sky overhead, and has presented these with incomparable dignity and grandeur.
William Maris is more limited in his range than either of his brothers, and though in their early days the work of all three showed a certain similarity of style, William’s work altered least in style and in subject. He is nearer to Roelofs than either of his brothers, and his favorite subjects were landscapes with cattle, which he painted, as a rule, in full daylight, so that his pictures are rather brighter and gayer in color than those of his brothers. A meadow extending along the border of the sandhills, in which are seen a few stunted trees and some cows, a pond perhaps in the immediate foreground, and a cloudy sky overhead, this is a typical William Maris subject. Less poetic than Mauve, less grand than his brother James, and less romantic than his brother Matthew, William Maris was a happy realist whose rich colored pictures are full of sunshine and mirror the luxuriant greens of Holland’s pasturelands.
Matthew Maris stands apart from his brothers and from all the Dutch artists of his generation. He was different in his temperament, different in his life, and different in his art. Tracing it to his foreign extraction, to his Austrian, or, as we should now say, to his Czecho-Slovak blood, Professor Muther says there broke out in Matthew Maris a ‘Teutonic medieval mysticism’ from which his brothers were free. Matthew no doubt possessed that he was influenced by the romantic mediavalism of Rossetti. It was in England that Matthew Maris painted his most charcteristic pictures, and in England, where he lived for forty five years, he drifted apart from his brethren in his art as in his life.
The beginnings of Matthew were almost parallel with those of James. The two brothers studied, as we have seen, at The Hague and Antwerp, and they were together in Paris. One incident must be chronicled which appears to have had far more influence on Matthew than on James. In 1858 the two brothers were back from Antwerp at The Hague, and three years later, having made some money by copying pictures, the two set out together on a tour through the Black Forest to Switzerland, returning through France by Dijon to the Puy-de-Dôme. Matthew was tremendously impressed by the romantic castles and buildings he saw in Central France; to his poetic imagination they were enchanted palaces. The recollection of this tour never faded from his mind, and in pictures painted years afterwards we catch echoes of the turrets and battlements which remained fixed in his memory. We may see evidence of this in the background of ‘Feeding Chickens’, painted in 1872.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
Friday, March 28, 2008
The Highest Altitude Vineyard On The Planet
Swiss entrepreneur Donald Hess's Colomé ranch/winery/luxury resort in Argentina is emerging as the next must-visit destination for wine-loving adventurers + the grapevines at 9,849 feet above sea level is believed to be the highest altitude vineyard on the planet.
Useful link:
www.bodegacolome.com
Useful link:
www.bodegacolome.com
Martin Scorsese’s Concert Movie
Shine a Light is a 2008 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese that chronicles two 2006 performances from rock and roll band The Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang tour + the film takes its title from the song of the same name, featured on the band's 1972 album Exile on Main St.
Useful links:
www.shinealightmovie.com
www.scorsesefilms.com
Useful links:
www.shinealightmovie.com
www.scorsesefilms.com
Entrepreneurship Update
The artilce on innovation + entrepreneurship @ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1926.cfm was brilliant + very useful.
Rob Glaser: innovation + timing + good idea + luck = success
Glenn A. Britt: consumer orientation + technology + viable financial model + branding + creative thinking = success
Rob Glaser: innovation + timing + good idea + luck = success
Glenn A. Britt: consumer orientation + technology + viable financial model + branding + creative thinking = success
Azalea
Azaleas are called the royalty of the garden + they always remind me of the colors in tourmaline + in my view flowers are like colored gemstones and they are delightful to watch.
Useful link:
www.azaleas.org
Useful link:
www.azaleas.org
Gemstone Enhancement Disclosure Update
A discussion featuring Robin Spector of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Cecilia Gardner of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) and Christopher Smith of American Gemological Laboratories Inc (AGL) is now available on video @ Aglgemlab.com
In my view disclosure of gemstone treatments should be mandatory at all levels but the point is many colored stone + diamond dealers and jewelers don't know how to disclose without losing a sale + I have seen endless presentations by experts of all hues saying the same thing, yet it's getting more difficult to enforce.
Useful links:
www.ftc.gov
www.jvclegal.org
www.aglgemlab.com
In my view disclosure of gemstone treatments should be mandatory at all levels but the point is many colored stone + diamond dealers and jewelers don't know how to disclose without losing a sale + I have seen endless presentations by experts of all hues saying the same thing, yet it's getting more difficult to enforce.
Useful links:
www.ftc.gov
www.jvclegal.org
www.aglgemlab.com
Art Gambler's Market
Seth Mydans article on the peculiar state of the Indonesian art market titled, Buyers jump on Indonesia as next Asian art tiger @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/26/arts/indoart.php?page=2 was intriguing because in the world of paintings-to-order/I-don't-know-what-I-want, investors are looking in all directions to make money while at the same time immature artists are busy painting for the market to meet the high demand, losing character and soul + in my view, it looks like an art stampede, killing themselves + I hope the speculators/artists will learn their lessons quickly before it's too late.
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
To celebrate the tercentenary of Benjamin Franklin's birth, Paris (Musée des Arts et Métiers + Musée Carnavalet) is hosting two exhibitions exploring his life and his connection with France.
Useful links:
Musée Carnavalet
www.paris.fr
Musée des Arts at Metiers
www.arts-et-metiers.net
Benjamin Franklin tercentenary
www.benfranklin300.org
Useful links:
Musée Carnavalet
www.paris.fr
Musée des Arts at Metiers
www.arts-et-metiers.net
Benjamin Franklin tercentenary
www.benfranklin300.org
Stepped And Split Brilliants
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
In diamond literature we often come across illustrations of a split-facet Brilliant, sometimes entitled the Lisbon Cut. The term has perhaps come from a Portuguese publication which has used it, like the term Brazilian Cut, to describe those fancy cuts so often applied when the cutter was aiming at retaining the greatest possible weight. Other terms are used as well: Max Bauer described it as ‘a Brilliant Cut with elongated facets’. Sperison (1961), and Hertz (1839) simply said ‘with a great number of facets’. Dr Kunz (1890) gave no description at all of this type of cut, not even with reference to the golden yellow Tiffany diamond.
As far as I can ascertain, no author seems to have realized that splitting facets lengthwise necessarily involves stepping. A facet edge can obviously not be applied to a flat surface, and the two sections of a bisected facet must always meet at an angle, no matter how blunt that angle may be. Watermeyer interprets this as ‘probably an attempt to flatten the very steep angles of these facets in an attempt to produce more light reflection from inside. This could be proof that certain cutters might have been aware of the prismatic effect of the cut diamond.
In diamond literature we often come across illustrations of a split-facet Brilliant, sometimes entitled the Lisbon Cut. The term has perhaps come from a Portuguese publication which has used it, like the term Brazilian Cut, to describe those fancy cuts so often applied when the cutter was aiming at retaining the greatest possible weight. Other terms are used as well: Max Bauer described it as ‘a Brilliant Cut with elongated facets’. Sperison (1961), and Hertz (1839) simply said ‘with a great number of facets’. Dr Kunz (1890) gave no description at all of this type of cut, not even with reference to the golden yellow Tiffany diamond.
As far as I can ascertain, no author seems to have realized that splitting facets lengthwise necessarily involves stepping. A facet edge can obviously not be applied to a flat surface, and the two sections of a bisected facet must always meet at an angle, no matter how blunt that angle may be. Watermeyer interprets this as ‘probably an attempt to flatten the very steep angles of these facets in an attempt to produce more light reflection from inside. This could be proof that certain cutters might have been aware of the prismatic effect of the cut diamond.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
4
Three of the most famous and most interesting of the modern Dutch painters were members of one family, all born at The Hague and the sons of a struggling printer. This printer, Maris by name, was of foreign extraction, being the son of a Bohemian soldier of fortune who left his native city of Prague, married a Dutch wife, and settled in the political capital of Holland. The printer also had some experience of fighting, for in 1830 he was called up as a conscript to fight on the side of Netherlands in the war which resulted in the independence of Belgium. After this war the printer returned to a life of unbroken toil, married, and had three sons. Of these the eldest was Jacob (or James) Maris, born in 1837, next came Matthys (or Matthew), born in 1839, while the youngest, Willem, was born in 1844. In speaking of these brothers we shall here use the English equivalents of their names by which they are usually known in Great Britain and the United States.
All three sons showed at an early age remarkable talents for drawing, and notwithstanding his poverty their father appears to have realized the wisdom of allowing each to follow his artistic bent. In their early years James and Matthew were closely associated. In 1855 the talent of the latter came to the notice of Queen Sophie of Holland, who made him an allowance, and the thrifty father considering that this allowance was enough for two, both James and Matthew were able to spend a year studying and painting at the Antwerp Academy. At Antwerp the two brothers lived in the same house as Alma-Tadema, and through him they got to know his relative Mesdag, the banker-painter, Josef Israels, and other Dutch artists. But in these early days neither brother was much affected by the art of immediate contemporaries. They labored strenuously to master the technicalities of their art, and James was guided in his first efforts by a master named Van Hove. This artist, though of mediocre ability, was a very conscientious draughtsman, and under his influence James Maris produced pictures remarkable for the minuteness of the details. One of his early pictures, ‘Interior of a Dutch House,’ painted when the artist was twenty-three, is in the Mesdag Museum, and is quite in the style of Pieter de Hoogh. In the middle distance, on the left, is a sunny nook; in the foreground is the figure of a servant-girl standing in the entrance hall, holding in her right hand a basket and in her left a pewter can. All these details are painted with scrupulous exactness, and the same characteristics may be found in other domestic scenes and interiors which he painted in these early years.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
4
Three of the most famous and most interesting of the modern Dutch painters were members of one family, all born at The Hague and the sons of a struggling printer. This printer, Maris by name, was of foreign extraction, being the son of a Bohemian soldier of fortune who left his native city of Prague, married a Dutch wife, and settled in the political capital of Holland. The printer also had some experience of fighting, for in 1830 he was called up as a conscript to fight on the side of Netherlands in the war which resulted in the independence of Belgium. After this war the printer returned to a life of unbroken toil, married, and had three sons. Of these the eldest was Jacob (or James) Maris, born in 1837, next came Matthys (or Matthew), born in 1839, while the youngest, Willem, was born in 1844. In speaking of these brothers we shall here use the English equivalents of their names by which they are usually known in Great Britain and the United States.
All three sons showed at an early age remarkable talents for drawing, and notwithstanding his poverty their father appears to have realized the wisdom of allowing each to follow his artistic bent. In their early years James and Matthew were closely associated. In 1855 the talent of the latter came to the notice of Queen Sophie of Holland, who made him an allowance, and the thrifty father considering that this allowance was enough for two, both James and Matthew were able to spend a year studying and painting at the Antwerp Academy. At Antwerp the two brothers lived in the same house as Alma-Tadema, and through him they got to know his relative Mesdag, the banker-painter, Josef Israels, and other Dutch artists. But in these early days neither brother was much affected by the art of immediate contemporaries. They labored strenuously to master the technicalities of their art, and James was guided in his first efforts by a master named Van Hove. This artist, though of mediocre ability, was a very conscientious draughtsman, and under his influence James Maris produced pictures remarkable for the minuteness of the details. One of his early pictures, ‘Interior of a Dutch House,’ painted when the artist was twenty-three, is in the Mesdag Museum, and is quite in the style of Pieter de Hoogh. In the middle distance, on the left, is a sunny nook; in the foreground is the figure of a servant-girl standing in the entrance hall, holding in her right hand a basket and in her left a pewter can. All these details are painted with scrupulous exactness, and the same characteristics may be found in other domestic scenes and interiors which he painted in these early years.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
Gold Bullion Story
I found the article How to Buy Gold Bullion at a 41% Discount by Tom Dyson @ http://www.dailywealth.com interesting because if everyone's rushing to sell their jewelry for cash + the pawnshops have the resources to stay put, then investing in a pawnshop may not be a bad idea + I guess, the pawnshops in Asia must be making tons of money.
Useful links:
www.cashamerica.com
www.ezcorp.com
Useful links:
www.cashamerica.com
www.ezcorp.com
Natural Fashion
Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa by Hans Silvester is an interesting book about the young and beautiful inhabitants of Ethiopia's Omo valley + the stunning images reminded me of the attributes of gemstones: beauty + rarity + durability + portability + fashion, I mean the concept. As always beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Chanel Mobile Art
In my view Chanel Mobile Art is irresistible + the exhibition in Hong Kong, the first stop of a two-year world tour, opened February 27, 2008 and runs until April 5, 2008 and showcases the works of 20 international contemporary artists.
A unique alchemy of luxury brands + artists!
Useful links:
www.chanel-mobileart.com
www.zahahadidblog.com
A unique alchemy of luxury brands + artists!
Useful links:
www.chanel-mobileart.com
www.zahahadidblog.com
The Writing On The Wall
The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century by Will Hutton is an interesting and informative book + I think he was spot on with his analysis of the world + economics of the 21st century will belong to China.
The Regent
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The main facets of both the crown and the pavilion of the magnificent Regent Diamond (now in the Galerie d’Apollon, Musée du Louvre, Paris) are similar in width and shape to those of the Wittelsbach. However, the Regent has fourfold symmetry which is reflected in its culet facets as well as in the split star facets. Both types of facet appear to have been applied in pairs. The Regent, fashioned in London between 1704 and 1706 by a master cutter named Harris, eventually became one of the French Crown Jewels. Because of its excellent proportions and exceptional symmetry, it was regarded for centuries as unrivalled in every respect. Incredible as it may seem, by the application of a deliberately wavy girdle the ingenious cutter produced almost identical angles of inclination of the main facets all round the gem. This obviously resulted in uniform brilliance—virtually unheard of in cushion-shaped diamonds.
The main facets of both the crown and the pavilion of the magnificent Regent Diamond (now in the Galerie d’Apollon, Musée du Louvre, Paris) are similar in width and shape to those of the Wittelsbach. However, the Regent has fourfold symmetry which is reflected in its culet facets as well as in the split star facets. Both types of facet appear to have been applied in pairs. The Regent, fashioned in London between 1704 and 1706 by a master cutter named Harris, eventually became one of the French Crown Jewels. Because of its excellent proportions and exceptional symmetry, it was regarded for centuries as unrivalled in every respect. Incredible as it may seem, by the application of a deliberately wavy girdle the ingenious cutter produced almost identical angles of inclination of the main facets all round the gem. This obviously resulted in uniform brilliance—virtually unheard of in cushion-shaped diamonds.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
3
Of the landscape painters of modern Holland, the nearest to Corot—nearest in the delicacy of his coloring and in the lyrical note that rings out clearly in all his work—is Anton Mauve (1838-88). The son of a Baptist minister, Mauve was born at Naandam and brought up in a strict Protestant home, where art was not encouraged. It was much against the will of his parents that he eventually took up art, and he made little progress under his first master, Van Os, a dry academic painter whose stiff style had little attraction for his sensitive, rather dreamy pupil. The earliest paintings of Mauve were tightly drawn and highly finished, but later, after he had made the acquaintance of Israels, Willem Maris, and other artists in Amsterdam, he completely changed his style, his handling became looser and broader, and he restricted his palette to delicate greys, greens, light fawns, and pale blues. When he was thirty he exhibited at the Free Society in Brussels, and he was influenced by the French artists who exhibited there, particularly by Corot and by Daubigny, whose works he saw in the house of Mr Mesdag and other places in Holland. Mauve soon began to excel in landscape, rendering the soft hazy atmosphere that lingers over the meadows of Holland with infinite tenderness and poetic truth. The sand dunes near Scheveningen were for many years his favorite sketching-ground, and it was there that he painted one of the most popular of his pictures, ‘The Sand Cart’. It is a painting that captivates us at once by its winning simplicity, its entire truth, and the atmosphere of repose which it exhales; and this reposefulness is a general characteristic of the art of Mauve, though his subjects are usually taken from workday life. We do not think of him primarily as an animal-painter, though his love of animals is made clear by the frequency with which he introduces them into his pictures. But Mauve’s animals never seem to have been painted solely for their own sake; they are part and parcel of the landscape, in which they take a natural place, fulfilling their allotted function as aids to human activity. Each of Mauve’s landscapes has the animals appropriate to it. He painted horses—for many years his ‘Watering Horses,’ belonging to Mr J C J Drucker, was lent to the National Gallery—but he also painted donkeys on the seashore, cows in meadows and on the road, sheep at pasture and in their pens. The fine collection of Mauve’s work in the Mesdag Museum atThe Hague contains examples of all these subjects. Towards the end of his life Mauve painted sheep more frequently than any other animals, the reason being that after living at Amsterdam and The Hague he settled at Laren, which is in the heart of the sheep country to the north-east of Amsterdam. Mauve took all rural and seashore life for his province: he painted fishermen and fishwives at a fish auction on the beach, he painted groups of peasants gathered together at a timber sale, drawing the various types of faces with great insight and humor, but in all his pictures life is pleasant and work proceeds placidly in an atmosphere of peace and contentment.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
3
Of the landscape painters of modern Holland, the nearest to Corot—nearest in the delicacy of his coloring and in the lyrical note that rings out clearly in all his work—is Anton Mauve (1838-88). The son of a Baptist minister, Mauve was born at Naandam and brought up in a strict Protestant home, where art was not encouraged. It was much against the will of his parents that he eventually took up art, and he made little progress under his first master, Van Os, a dry academic painter whose stiff style had little attraction for his sensitive, rather dreamy pupil. The earliest paintings of Mauve were tightly drawn and highly finished, but later, after he had made the acquaintance of Israels, Willem Maris, and other artists in Amsterdam, he completely changed his style, his handling became looser and broader, and he restricted his palette to delicate greys, greens, light fawns, and pale blues. When he was thirty he exhibited at the Free Society in Brussels, and he was influenced by the French artists who exhibited there, particularly by Corot and by Daubigny, whose works he saw in the house of Mr Mesdag and other places in Holland. Mauve soon began to excel in landscape, rendering the soft hazy atmosphere that lingers over the meadows of Holland with infinite tenderness and poetic truth. The sand dunes near Scheveningen were for many years his favorite sketching-ground, and it was there that he painted one of the most popular of his pictures, ‘The Sand Cart’. It is a painting that captivates us at once by its winning simplicity, its entire truth, and the atmosphere of repose which it exhales; and this reposefulness is a general characteristic of the art of Mauve, though his subjects are usually taken from workday life. We do not think of him primarily as an animal-painter, though his love of animals is made clear by the frequency with which he introduces them into his pictures. But Mauve’s animals never seem to have been painted solely for their own sake; they are part and parcel of the landscape, in which they take a natural place, fulfilling their allotted function as aids to human activity. Each of Mauve’s landscapes has the animals appropriate to it. He painted horses—for many years his ‘Watering Horses,’ belonging to Mr J C J Drucker, was lent to the National Gallery—but he also painted donkeys on the seashore, cows in meadows and on the road, sheep at pasture and in their pens. The fine collection of Mauve’s work in the Mesdag Museum atThe Hague contains examples of all these subjects. Towards the end of his life Mauve painted sheep more frequently than any other animals, the reason being that after living at Amsterdam and The Hague he settled at Laren, which is in the heart of the sheep country to the north-east of Amsterdam. Mauve took all rural and seashore life for his province: he painted fishermen and fishwives at a fish auction on the beach, he painted groups of peasants gathered together at a timber sale, drawing the various types of faces with great insight and humor, but in all his pictures life is pleasant and work proceeds placidly in an atmosphere of peace and contentment.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
Starting A Gem Collection
Many collectors of gemstones like to keep their specimens uncut (in the rough), while others cut and polish to bring out their color, character and beauty + one way to collect is to specialize in a particular family of gem species first, and the add more species and varieties gradually + beginners also will find that more experienced collectors are always ready with advice and assistance on the field + what's amazing is many now-popular gemstones were passed over by early prospectors as being of no commercial value.
Business Blogs
(via Fortune) I found these business blogs interesting + educational.
- Paul Kedrosky
http://paul.kedrosky.com
- Michelle Leder
www.footnoted.org
- Matt Marshall
http://venturebeat.com
- Paul Jackson
www.housingwire.com
- Business Tabloid
http://dealbreaker.com
- Paul Kedrosky
http://paul.kedrosky.com
- Michelle Leder
www.footnoted.org
- Matt Marshall
http://venturebeat.com
- Paul Jackson
www.housingwire.com
- Business Tabloid
http://dealbreaker.com
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Statens Museum, Copenhagen
(via budgettravel) The Statens Museum for Kunst is the best source for free art in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Useful link:
www.smk.dk
Useful link:
www.smk.dk
Borghese Gallery
(via Wikipedia) The Borghese Gallery (Italian: Galleria Borghese) in Rome is an art gallery housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana, a building that was from the first integral with its gardens, nowadays considered quite separately by tourists as the Villa Borghese gardens. The Galleria Borghese houses a substantial part of the Borghese collection of paintings, sculpture and antiquities, which was begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the nephew of Pope Paul V (reign 1605–1621). The Villa was built by the architect Flaminio Ponzio, developing sketches by Scipione Borghese himself, who used it as a villa suburbana, a party villa at the edge of Rome.
Scipione Borghese was an early patron of Bernini and an avid collector of works by Caravaggio, who is well represented in the collection by his Boy with a Basket of Fruit, St. Jerome, Sick Bacchus and others. Other paintings of note include Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael's depiction of the Entombment of Christ and works by Peter Paul Rubens and Federico Barocci.
Useful link:
www.galleriaborghese.it
Scipione Borghese was an early patron of Bernini and an avid collector of works by Caravaggio, who is well represented in the collection by his Boy with a Basket of Fruit, St. Jerome, Sick Bacchus and others. Other paintings of note include Titian's Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael's depiction of the Entombment of Christ and works by Peter Paul Rubens and Federico Barocci.
Useful link:
www.galleriaborghese.it
Siberian Ivory Trade
The Russian exports of mammoth ivory is up--thanks to global warming: The article Trade in mammoth ivory @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/25/europe/mammoth.php was educational + interesting + I think there will be always demand for ivory in Asia, for personal uses despite the international ban on ivory trade.
How To Be Human
The book How to be Human by Deirdre Nansen McCloskey is thought-provoking + a great read.
Useful link:
http://deirdremccloskey.org
Useful link:
http://deirdremccloskey.org
The Wittelsbach
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The magnificent 36.56 ct Wittelsbach diamond, whose color has been compared to that of a deep blue aquamarine, was first recorded in 1664 as part of the dowry of the Spanish Infanta, Margareta Teresa, who in 1667 married the Emperor Leopold. In this way the gem came to Vienna. It was part of ‘a new aquisition of precious stones from India and Portugal’ and was possibly fashioned in Paris, since the Sancy, the French Blue, the Hortensia and a number of other important diamonds were cut or refashioned there during the seventeenth century.
Refashioning of obselete cuts was the specialty of the Paris cutters, and it is even possible that the Wittelsbach was originally a Pointed Star Cut. The Wittelsbach Brilliant is a Stellar Cut with radially bisected girdle facets. The star facets (round the table) are also radially bisected. Both the table facet and the culet are exceptionally large. The extra facets were most certainly applied to increase the gem’s brilliance, since the stone itself is shallow and dark.
The magnificent 36.56 ct Wittelsbach diamond, whose color has been compared to that of a deep blue aquamarine, was first recorded in 1664 as part of the dowry of the Spanish Infanta, Margareta Teresa, who in 1667 married the Emperor Leopold. In this way the gem came to Vienna. It was part of ‘a new aquisition of precious stones from India and Portugal’ and was possibly fashioned in Paris, since the Sancy, the French Blue, the Hortensia and a number of other important diamonds were cut or refashioned there during the seventeenth century.
Refashioning of obselete cuts was the specialty of the Paris cutters, and it is even possible that the Wittelsbach was originally a Pointed Star Cut. The Wittelsbach Brilliant is a Stellar Cut with radially bisected girdle facets. The star facets (round the table) are also radially bisected. Both the table facet and the culet are exceptionally large. The extra facets were most certainly applied to increase the gem’s brilliance, since the stone itself is shallow and dark.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
It may be said, therefore, that the art of Josef Israels, though he received his training in Paris, was far more the fruit of his own experience of life than the outcome of French influence. We feel that even if Millet had never existed, Israels would not have painted otherwise than he did, and though the subject matter of their respective pictures are akin, there are considerable differences between them. Millet painted his peasants out-of-doors in the light of the sun; Israels pictured his fisher-folk by preference indoors, in dim interiors. Hence his pictures are usually more subdued in color than those of Millet. Israels painted low life in low tones and built up his visions of life, whether in oil paintings, water-colors, or etchings—and he worked in all three mediums—by broad masses of light and shade. Further, his tendency is to be more tragic than Millet, and many of his picture have not inaccurately been described as ‘piercing notes of woe.’ One of his most famous pictures, ‘Alone in the World’, contains the essence of his art. In the treatment, in the rays of light dimly illuminating the gloom which befits the subject, we see the influence of Rembrandt; while in the bowed figure of the lonely widow, with her open Bible by her side, we have a poignant expression of the artist’s deep feeling for the daily tragedy of life.
In 1870 Josef Israels left Amsterdam and moved to The Hague, where he lived till he died on August 12, 1911, respected, honored, and world-famous. He was a painter who appealed equally to the general public and to connoisseurs and though so many of his works are tragic, this never interfered with his popularity, because he pictured the tragedies of common life which all have experienced and all can understand. Further, if he reached his highest intensity of expression in rendering sorrow, suffering, endurance, and the pathos of old age, Israels was not wholly tragic in his art. Pictures like ‘A Frugal Meal’ and ‘A Happy Family’ show the reverse of the medal, the compensations of poverty, and the happiness of the humble. But even in these scenes of domestic contentment there is something touching, and the philosophy of Israels seems to bid us to ponder on the life of people who can be happy with so little.
When Josef Israels was a young man, working as a clerk under his father, one of his frequent duties was to take a money bag to the bank of a Mr Mesdag. This banker had a son Hendrik Willem Mesdag, born at Groningen on February 25, 1831, who also became a famous painter. For many years H.W. Mesdag practised art as a amateur, and it was not till he had amassed a considerable fortune in business that he retired from banking and devoted himself entirely to painting. Thus Mesdag was not only in the independent position of being able to paint what he pleased, without thinking of the taste of buyers, but he was also wealthy enough to help his brother artists whose works he admired.
In 1886, when he was thirty-five years of age, Mesdag went to Brussels, where his friends and relative Alma-Tadema was then residing. Roelofs also was living in Brussels, and it was under his guidance that the banker began the serious studies which should fit him to make art henceforward his profession. Mesdag stayed three years at Brussels and returned in 1869 to The Hague, no longer an active man of business but an artist. He was not only a painter himself but a collector of paintings, and in course of time he formed a very important collection of modern pictures, chiefly of the Barbizon and Modern Dutch Schools, which in 1903 he generously presented to the public. The Mesdag Museum at The Hague is a lasting monument of his own taste and of the genius of his contemporaries. As a painter Mesdag gave himself almost exclusively to the painting of the sea, and his marines are remarkable for thier luminosity, truth, and the vigor of their handling. ‘A Seascape’ is a good example of his power of suggesting the life and movement of the waves and of his skill in placing shipping, so that his picture is at once absolutely natural and yet decorative in design.
The numerous painters of the Modern Dutch School—almost as numerous as the ‘Little Masters’ of the seventeenth century—may broadly be divided into two classes, the figure of genre painters for whom Israels was the chief influence, and the landscape painters who were inspired by Roelofs and the French painters of Barbizon. Among the genre painters we may mention Albert Neuhuys, born at Utrecht in 1844, who approaches closely to Israels in his grave tender renderings of humble interiors; David Adolf Constant Artz (1837-90), who, in addition to interiors, painted the fisher-folk of Scheveningen out-of-doors, frequently at moments when they were resting on the sandhills; and Bernardus Johannes Blommers, born at The Hague in 1845, who developed in his own way the lighter side of the art of Israels. There is nothing tragic in the pictures of Blommers, whose favorite subjects are children playing on the sands at Scheveningen or paddling in the water. ‘On the Beach’ is a typical example of the happy seaside scenes in which the artist displays alike his love of children and his knowledge of sea and sky.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
It may be said, therefore, that the art of Josef Israels, though he received his training in Paris, was far more the fruit of his own experience of life than the outcome of French influence. We feel that even if Millet had never existed, Israels would not have painted otherwise than he did, and though the subject matter of their respective pictures are akin, there are considerable differences between them. Millet painted his peasants out-of-doors in the light of the sun; Israels pictured his fisher-folk by preference indoors, in dim interiors. Hence his pictures are usually more subdued in color than those of Millet. Israels painted low life in low tones and built up his visions of life, whether in oil paintings, water-colors, or etchings—and he worked in all three mediums—by broad masses of light and shade. Further, his tendency is to be more tragic than Millet, and many of his picture have not inaccurately been described as ‘piercing notes of woe.’ One of his most famous pictures, ‘Alone in the World’, contains the essence of his art. In the treatment, in the rays of light dimly illuminating the gloom which befits the subject, we see the influence of Rembrandt; while in the bowed figure of the lonely widow, with her open Bible by her side, we have a poignant expression of the artist’s deep feeling for the daily tragedy of life.
In 1870 Josef Israels left Amsterdam and moved to The Hague, where he lived till he died on August 12, 1911, respected, honored, and world-famous. He was a painter who appealed equally to the general public and to connoisseurs and though so many of his works are tragic, this never interfered with his popularity, because he pictured the tragedies of common life which all have experienced and all can understand. Further, if he reached his highest intensity of expression in rendering sorrow, suffering, endurance, and the pathos of old age, Israels was not wholly tragic in his art. Pictures like ‘A Frugal Meal’ and ‘A Happy Family’ show the reverse of the medal, the compensations of poverty, and the happiness of the humble. But even in these scenes of domestic contentment there is something touching, and the philosophy of Israels seems to bid us to ponder on the life of people who can be happy with so little.
When Josef Israels was a young man, working as a clerk under his father, one of his frequent duties was to take a money bag to the bank of a Mr Mesdag. This banker had a son Hendrik Willem Mesdag, born at Groningen on February 25, 1831, who also became a famous painter. For many years H.W. Mesdag practised art as a amateur, and it was not till he had amassed a considerable fortune in business that he retired from banking and devoted himself entirely to painting. Thus Mesdag was not only in the independent position of being able to paint what he pleased, without thinking of the taste of buyers, but he was also wealthy enough to help his brother artists whose works he admired.
In 1886, when he was thirty-five years of age, Mesdag went to Brussels, where his friends and relative Alma-Tadema was then residing. Roelofs also was living in Brussels, and it was under his guidance that the banker began the serious studies which should fit him to make art henceforward his profession. Mesdag stayed three years at Brussels and returned in 1869 to The Hague, no longer an active man of business but an artist. He was not only a painter himself but a collector of paintings, and in course of time he formed a very important collection of modern pictures, chiefly of the Barbizon and Modern Dutch Schools, which in 1903 he generously presented to the public. The Mesdag Museum at The Hague is a lasting monument of his own taste and of the genius of his contemporaries. As a painter Mesdag gave himself almost exclusively to the painting of the sea, and his marines are remarkable for thier luminosity, truth, and the vigor of their handling. ‘A Seascape’ is a good example of his power of suggesting the life and movement of the waves and of his skill in placing shipping, so that his picture is at once absolutely natural and yet decorative in design.
The numerous painters of the Modern Dutch School—almost as numerous as the ‘Little Masters’ of the seventeenth century—may broadly be divided into two classes, the figure of genre painters for whom Israels was the chief influence, and the landscape painters who were inspired by Roelofs and the French painters of Barbizon. Among the genre painters we may mention Albert Neuhuys, born at Utrecht in 1844, who approaches closely to Israels in his grave tender renderings of humble interiors; David Adolf Constant Artz (1837-90), who, in addition to interiors, painted the fisher-folk of Scheveningen out-of-doors, frequently at moments when they were resting on the sandhills; and Bernardus Johannes Blommers, born at The Hague in 1845, who developed in his own way the lighter side of the art of Israels. There is nothing tragic in the pictures of Blommers, whose favorite subjects are children playing on the sands at Scheveningen or paddling in the water. ‘On the Beach’ is a typical example of the happy seaside scenes in which the artist displays alike his love of children and his knowledge of sea and sky.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Preannotation Technique
(via Wired) A new facial-recognition algorithm created by Allen Yang, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley's College of Engineering is able to recognize faces with 90-95 percent accuracy, even if the eyes, nose and mouth are obscured + according to Shankar Sastry, the dean of UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, Yang's new facial-detection method also renders years of research in the field obsolete.
I think the new technique will pave the way for new business (startups) models + privacy issues + security concerns.
Useful links:
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~yang
http://perception.csl.uiuc.edu/recognition/Home.html
I think the new technique will pave the way for new business (startups) models + privacy issues + security concerns.
Useful links:
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~yang
http://perception.csl.uiuc.edu/recognition/Home.html
Feathers In Amber
The article Dino-Era Feathers Found Encased in Amber @ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080311-amber-feathers.html was fascinating and educational + an interesting spin would be the exotic collectors: they will be looking for dinosaur feathers in amber worldwide + who could afford the prices?
Buyer beware! There will be plenty of imitations in the market very soon!
Buyer beware! There will be plenty of imitations in the market very soon!
Diamond Source
According to industry analysts, Botswana is the largest producer of diamonds in the world, accounting for 25% of the production followed by Russia (22%), Canada (12%), South Africa (12%), Angola (10%) and Namibia (6%) + India is the world’s largest importer of rough diamonds and exporter of cut and polished diamonds with over 90% per cent market share.
Understanding French
A Guide to the French: Handle with Care by Elaine Sciolino @ http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/24/travel/23sciolino.php was brilliant + it was educational + gem dealers, jewelers, artists, businessmen should read it several times.
Randy Pausch
Here is an inspiring story of Randy Pausch + his last goodbye is making millions rethink life.
Useful links:
www.randypausch.com
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/randy-pausch-the-dying-man-who-taught-america-how-to-live-800182.html
Useful links:
www.randypausch.com
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/randy-pausch-the-dying-man-who-taught-america-how-to-live-800182.html
Graphic Books
I found the Newsweek article Everything is Illuminated @
http://www.newsweek.com/id/128537 interesting and insightful because in my view illustrated images are attention-grabbing and the best way to teach a concept + you are able to connect with people of all ages + you remember the story forever.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/128537 interesting and insightful because in my view illustrated images are attention-grabbing and the best way to teach a concept + you are able to connect with people of all ages + you remember the story forever.
The Prince
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is an insightful book + a great psychology tool + provides valuable lessons on strategy and power + I highly recommend this book.
Useful link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli
Useful link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli
The Hortensia
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The Hortensia, which was not actually given this name until the reign of Napoleon I, was initially mentioned in the French Crown inventory as being pink and pentagonal and weighing 21ct, but it is far more interesting than this bald description implies. IN 1787, Brisson described its outline as ‘a square with one corner off’, which was taken to mean that the rough from which it was originally fashioned was an octahedral crystal.
However, judging from the sixfold symmetry, it is quite obvious that the rough was dodecahedral. In fact, after a close inspection of the crown facets, I am now almost certain that the Hortensia Brilliant is a refashioned Naville Cut. This conviction is strenghthened by the knowledge that Parisian diamond cutters at the end of the seventeenth century specialized in refashioning obsolete cuts, in particular Tailles en Seize and larger Navilles, which is why these two cuts disappeared so rapidly.
The master cutter Alvarez may well have been responsible for recutting the Hortensia in 1678. With its dimensions of 19.5 x 21.6 x 8.7 mm, the stone was far too shallow to reflect light properly. By adding two rows of starlike facets round the culet, the cutter conjured beautiful reflections from the pavilion. The Polar Star, so highly praised for its magnificent reflections, is similarly fashioned.
The Hortensia, which was not actually given this name until the reign of Napoleon I, was initially mentioned in the French Crown inventory as being pink and pentagonal and weighing 21ct, but it is far more interesting than this bald description implies. IN 1787, Brisson described its outline as ‘a square with one corner off’, which was taken to mean that the rough from which it was originally fashioned was an octahedral crystal.
However, judging from the sixfold symmetry, it is quite obvious that the rough was dodecahedral. In fact, after a close inspection of the crown facets, I am now almost certain that the Hortensia Brilliant is a refashioned Naville Cut. This conviction is strenghthened by the knowledge that Parisian diamond cutters at the end of the seventeenth century specialized in refashioning obsolete cuts, in particular Tailles en Seize and larger Navilles, which is why these two cuts disappeared so rapidly.
The master cutter Alvarez may well have been responsible for recutting the Hortensia in 1678. With its dimensions of 19.5 x 21.6 x 8.7 mm, the stone was far too shallow to reflect light properly. By adding two rows of starlike facets round the culet, the cutter conjured beautiful reflections from the pavilion. The Polar Star, so highly praised for its magnificent reflections, is similarly fashioned.
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
2
The debt of te modern Dutch painters to France cannot be ignored, but we must remember that Holland possessed in Rembrandt one of the greatest of the Old Masters, and though his influence seemed to slumber for two centuries in his own country, it was shortly to prove itself to be alive once more. The greatest figure in this school is Josef Israels, and his art must be regarded as a blending of the influence of Rembrandt with that of Jean Francois Millet, plus the remarkable personality of the painter himself. Israels was one of the earliest as well as one of the greatest of the modern Dutch painters. He was born on January 27, 1824, at Groni ngen, of Hebrew parents, his father being a money-changer and broker. As a boy his first ambition was to be a rabbi; at an early age he studied Hebrew and buried himself in the Talmud, and he was well in his ‘teens before he displayed a marked leaning towards art. Meanwhile his father intended Josef for a business career, but while working under his father as a stockbroker’s clerk, Josef Israels surreptitiously obtained lessons in painting from local artists, and though their talent was but mediocre their pupil soon began to display such unmistakable gifts that parental opposition was overcome and he was allowed to go to Amsterdam to study art. He lodged with an orthodox Jewish family in the Ghetto, and all that he saw in the Jewish Quarter himself, combined with the religious paintings and etchings of Rembrandt based on the life in that quarter—which had altered so little since Rembrandt’s time—made a profound impression on him, and had a more lasting influence than anything he learnt from his master, Jan Kruseman, who, though a successful portrait-painter of his time, was a dry and uninteresting artist. In 1845 Israels left Amsterdam to study in Paris, but here again he was not very fortunate in his master. He entered the studio of Picot, who had been a pupil of David, and so far from being in touch with the ideals of the ‘men of 1830,’ he was brought up to admire historical paintings in the classical style. When Israels returned to Amsterdam in 1848 he was chiefly influenced by the French historical painter Delaroche, and he began painting historical and dramatic subjects in which, beneath the French polish, the influence of Rembrandt was nevertheless discernible. But Israels had not yet found himself, and it was some years before he did. The critical period in the artistic career of Israels was about 1856. In 1855 he showed in the Paris Salon a historical picture ‘The Prince of Orange for the first time opposing the Execution of the Orders of the King of Spain’; in 1857 his exhibits at the Paris Salon were ‘Children by the Sea’ and ‘Evening on the Beach,’ two tender impressions of commonplace, everyday scenes on the coast neat Katwijk. These last pictures are by the Israels we know; the pictures of 1855 might have been by almost any historical painter of the period. How did this change come, and what brought it about?
It was life, not art nor any artist, that changed the whole spirit of Israels painting. He had a serious illness while he was living at Amsterdam, and when convalescent went to Zantvoort, a little fishing village close to Haarlem, to recruit his health. He lodged there with a ship’s carpenter, and living the life of these simple, kindly seafaring folk, Israels was struck by the drama, pathos, and tragedy in the common lot. At Zantvoort he made the same discovery that Millet had made at Barbizon, namely that to a sympathetic and understanding spectator the common life of the people even in a remote, secluded village is as full of romance, thrills, and tragedy as the pages of any history book. Israels discovered that ‘the events of the present are capable of being painted and the sorrows of the poor are as deep as the tragic fate of ancient heroes.’ A new vein of artistic expression was now opened to him, and henceforward he painted the life of the poor and humble, and found in typical, everyday episodes motives for expressing with peculiar intensity his wide human sympathy.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
2
The debt of te modern Dutch painters to France cannot be ignored, but we must remember that Holland possessed in Rembrandt one of the greatest of the Old Masters, and though his influence seemed to slumber for two centuries in his own country, it was shortly to prove itself to be alive once more. The greatest figure in this school is Josef Israels, and his art must be regarded as a blending of the influence of Rembrandt with that of Jean Francois Millet, plus the remarkable personality of the painter himself. Israels was one of the earliest as well as one of the greatest of the modern Dutch painters. He was born on January 27, 1824, at Groni ngen, of Hebrew parents, his father being a money-changer and broker. As a boy his first ambition was to be a rabbi; at an early age he studied Hebrew and buried himself in the Talmud, and he was well in his ‘teens before he displayed a marked leaning towards art. Meanwhile his father intended Josef for a business career, but while working under his father as a stockbroker’s clerk, Josef Israels surreptitiously obtained lessons in painting from local artists, and though their talent was but mediocre their pupil soon began to display such unmistakable gifts that parental opposition was overcome and he was allowed to go to Amsterdam to study art. He lodged with an orthodox Jewish family in the Ghetto, and all that he saw in the Jewish Quarter himself, combined with the religious paintings and etchings of Rembrandt based on the life in that quarter—which had altered so little since Rembrandt’s time—made a profound impression on him, and had a more lasting influence than anything he learnt from his master, Jan Kruseman, who, though a successful portrait-painter of his time, was a dry and uninteresting artist. In 1845 Israels left Amsterdam to study in Paris, but here again he was not very fortunate in his master. He entered the studio of Picot, who had been a pupil of David, and so far from being in touch with the ideals of the ‘men of 1830,’ he was brought up to admire historical paintings in the classical style. When Israels returned to Amsterdam in 1848 he was chiefly influenced by the French historical painter Delaroche, and he began painting historical and dramatic subjects in which, beneath the French polish, the influence of Rembrandt was nevertheless discernible. But Israels had not yet found himself, and it was some years before he did. The critical period in the artistic career of Israels was about 1856. In 1855 he showed in the Paris Salon a historical picture ‘The Prince of Orange for the first time opposing the Execution of the Orders of the King of Spain’; in 1857 his exhibits at the Paris Salon were ‘Children by the Sea’ and ‘Evening on the Beach,’ two tender impressions of commonplace, everyday scenes on the coast neat Katwijk. These last pictures are by the Israels we know; the pictures of 1855 might have been by almost any historical painter of the period. How did this change come, and what brought it about?
It was life, not art nor any artist, that changed the whole spirit of Israels painting. He had a serious illness while he was living at Amsterdam, and when convalescent went to Zantvoort, a little fishing village close to Haarlem, to recruit his health. He lodged there with a ship’s carpenter, and living the life of these simple, kindly seafaring folk, Israels was struck by the drama, pathos, and tragedy in the common lot. At Zantvoort he made the same discovery that Millet had made at Barbizon, namely that to a sympathetic and understanding spectator the common life of the people even in a remote, secluded village is as full of romance, thrills, and tragedy as the pages of any history book. Israels discovered that ‘the events of the present are capable of being painted and the sorrows of the poor are as deep as the tragic fate of ancient heroes.’ A new vein of artistic expression was now opened to him, and henceforward he painted the life of the poor and humble, and found in typical, everyday episodes motives for expressing with peculiar intensity his wide human sympathy.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
Eisch
A innovative German stemware company, Eisch, has developed an oxygenated glass that it claims can aerate wine in just two minutes.
Remarkable!
Useful link:
www.eisch.de
Remarkable!
Useful link:
www.eisch.de
Arts + Letters Daily
I found Arts & Letters Daily + BookForum inspiring, in fact, it was an intellectual treasure trove.
Useful links:
www.aldaily.com
www.bookforum.com
Useful links:
www.aldaily.com
www.bookforum.com
Travel Share
(via budgettravel) I found Ideo Eyes Open extremely useful + The Wapping Project @ thewappingproject.com was brilliant + I liked it.
Rough Diamond Imitations In The Market
According to lab gemologists, natural (quartz/phenakite/topaz) or man-made colorless to near-colorless (glass/syn. cubic zirconia/YAG/GGG/strontium titanate/lithium niobate) rough gem materials have been found in natural diamond parcels in the marketplace to confuse the unwary + if in doubt always consult a reputed gem testing laboratory.
Lab Alert!
http://www.gemlab.net/website/gemlab/fileadmin/user_upload/Research/Gemlab-Newsletter-04-2008-forPDF.pdf
Useful link:
www.gemlab.net
Lab Alert!
http://www.gemlab.net/website/gemlab/fileadmin/user_upload/Research/Gemlab-Newsletter-04-2008-forPDF.pdf
Useful link:
www.gemlab.net
Monday, March 24, 2008
Perfumes: The Guide
Perfumes: The Guide by Luca Turin + Tania Sanchez is one-of-a-kind book on fragrances + it's a unique reading experience.
Useful link:
www.perfumestheguide.com
In my view, colored stones + diamonds + wine + perfumes = elegance + beauty + rarity. I think you need special touch + experience + passion to enjoy them.
Useful link:
www.perfumestheguide.com
In my view, colored stones + diamonds + wine + perfumes = elegance + beauty + rarity. I think you need special touch + experience + passion to enjoy them.
Random Thoughts
'What's the most important thing in finance?' J P Morgan was asked.
'Character', he replied.
I think gem and jewelry merchants + art dealers should take note.
'Character', he replied.
I think gem and jewelry merchants + art dealers should take note.
Tord Boontje
Tord Boontje is a Dutch-born, London-based product designer + he blends advanced technologies with artisanal techniques to create exquisite glassware, lighting and furniture + I think, experimentation + speed = new ideas!
Beautiful designs!
Useful link:
www.tordboontje.com
Beautiful designs!
Useful link:
www.tordboontje.com
The Polar Star
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The historic Polar Star diamond was so named because of the double star-like arrangement of its interlocking culet faces, which can be clearly seen through its large table facet. Although fairly small, it has been one of the world’s most famous diamonds since it was acquired by Joseph Bonaparte in about 1806. It belonged to the Russian ducal family of Youssoupoff for more than a hundred years before passing to Henry Deterging and his Russian-born wife, Lydia. It made world headlines in 1980, when it was auctioned and sold at a record price per carat to a buyer from Sri Lanka.
The fame of The Polar Star is due to three factors: its unsurpassed brilliance, the precision of its cut (it can be balanced on its tiny culet) and its limpidity. According to the late Hans Nadelhoffer of Christie’s in Geneva, who auctioned the stone, the rough was found in the bed of the Krishna river, India, at the end of the eighteenth century. Nadelhoffer also suggests that it was fashioned in Amsterdam, but since London was at that time the world center for precision cutting it seems more likely that it was there that it was given its exquisite faceting.
The Gubelin Laboratory in Switzerland has given a very detailed report on this diamond. It weighs 41.28 ct (41.285), which is considerably less than a Brilliant of this size with classic 45° proportions would normally weigh. In fact, it is equal in size to a classic well-made Brilliant of 52.5 ct. The reason for this surprising lightness is the flatness of the crown with its large table. The clarity of the gem has suffered over the years from careless handling. The girdle is slightly abraded and there are other small scratches, but the loss of weight that would be involved in restoring it to its original flawless condition would be negligible. Its color is of the second highest grade, E (River), with a trace of pink. A distinct blue fluorescence was noticed under ultraviolet light (UV 365), and spectrophotometry revealed that the diamond was of extremely rare type known as IIa. It is virtually impossible to assess how far the exceptionally attractive light effects are due to the trace element boron in type Iia diamonds, and how far they are due to the unusual faceting of the pavilion.
Measured dimensions and approximate median proportions:
Diameter: 21.77 – 20.63mm – 100%
Table: 14.5 – 14.2mm – 67%
Crown: >12.2mm – 29.3° - 40.8° - 12.5% - 37°
Pavilion: > 12.2mm – 41.2° - 48° - 45% - 45°
Culet: 2.20 – 2mm – 10%
The historic Polar Star diamond was so named because of the double star-like arrangement of its interlocking culet faces, which can be clearly seen through its large table facet. Although fairly small, it has been one of the world’s most famous diamonds since it was acquired by Joseph Bonaparte in about 1806. It belonged to the Russian ducal family of Youssoupoff for more than a hundred years before passing to Henry Deterging and his Russian-born wife, Lydia. It made world headlines in 1980, when it was auctioned and sold at a record price per carat to a buyer from Sri Lanka.
The fame of The Polar Star is due to three factors: its unsurpassed brilliance, the precision of its cut (it can be balanced on its tiny culet) and its limpidity. According to the late Hans Nadelhoffer of Christie’s in Geneva, who auctioned the stone, the rough was found in the bed of the Krishna river, India, at the end of the eighteenth century. Nadelhoffer also suggests that it was fashioned in Amsterdam, but since London was at that time the world center for precision cutting it seems more likely that it was there that it was given its exquisite faceting.
The Gubelin Laboratory in Switzerland has given a very detailed report on this diamond. It weighs 41.28 ct (41.285), which is considerably less than a Brilliant of this size with classic 45° proportions would normally weigh. In fact, it is equal in size to a classic well-made Brilliant of 52.5 ct. The reason for this surprising lightness is the flatness of the crown with its large table. The clarity of the gem has suffered over the years from careless handling. The girdle is slightly abraded and there are other small scratches, but the loss of weight that would be involved in restoring it to its original flawless condition would be negligible. Its color is of the second highest grade, E (River), with a trace of pink. A distinct blue fluorescence was noticed under ultraviolet light (UV 365), and spectrophotometry revealed that the diamond was of extremely rare type known as IIa. It is virtually impossible to assess how far the exceptionally attractive light effects are due to the trace element boron in type Iia diamonds, and how far they are due to the unusual faceting of the pavilion.
Measured dimensions and approximate median proportions:
Diameter: 21.77 – 20.63mm – 100%
Table: 14.5 – 14.2mm – 67%
Crown: >12.2mm – 29.3° - 40.8° - 12.5% - 37°
Pavilion: > 12.2mm – 41.2° - 48° - 45% - 45°
Culet: 2.20 – 2mm – 10%
The Modern Dutch School
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
The Art of Joseph Israels, Roelofs, Mauve, Mesdag, Blommers, And the Brothers Maris
1
For more than a hundred years after the deaths of Hobbema and Willem van de Velde, Holland produced no painter of European importance. The Dutch School, which during the seventeenth century had risen, as we have seen, to the highest eminence, sank during the eighteenth century into trivial virtuosity. Pictures became conjuring feats rather than true works of art, for they evoked neither tender sentiments nor noble thoughts, but only excited wonder by their manual dexterity. In craftsmanship many of these paintings were remarkable in their meticulous detail, and while some painters—like Wellem van Mieris (1662-1747), whose ‘Fish and Poultry Shop’ is in the National Gallery—carried on the traditions left by Jan Steen and Gerard Dou, still more made a reputation among their contemporaries by their minute renderings of fruit and flowers. These they painted with the patient skill of miniaturist, and they delighted in introducing into their pictures flies and other small insects whose tiny, but marvelously realistic forms, had to be discerned with the aid of a magnifying-glass. Among the artist who excelled in this style of painting may be mentioned the woman-painter of Amsterdam, Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), and her contemporary, Jan van Huysum (1682-1749), both of whom are represented in the National Gallery. Here we may see how skillfully they both painted flowers, how cunningly the one introduces a butterfly, the other a snail; but we soon weary of this pettifogging cleverness, which may amuse our eyes for a few moments, but can never touch our hearts.
It was not till towards the middle of the nineteenth century that any great revival of painting showed itself in Holland. One who helped to prepare the ground for the new generation was Johannes Bosboom (1817-91), who painted impressive pictures in oils and water-colors of the interiors of Dutch Churches and cathedrals. He was influenced by the seventeenth-century painter Emanuel de Witte (1607-92), who had also painted these subjects not only with great accuracy of linear perspective but with broad effects of light-and-shade; Bosboom painted these interiors still more broadly and invested them with a dim atmosphere of grave grandeur and solemnity.
Bosboom always gives us a more or less generalized vision, and contrasted with the particularity of the painters who immediately preceded him, he may be said to have given a new direction to Dutch painting.
Another pioneer and forerunner of the modern movement was Willem Roelofs, who was born at Amsterdam in 1822, and went to France, where he made the acquaintance of Corot and other members of the Barbizon School. For some time Roelofs lived with these artists in the now famous village, and painted the forest of Fontainebleau in their company; then he returned to the Netherlands, taking with him new ideals of landscape painting. Though he lived chiefly in Brussels, Roelofs had a considerable influence on Dutch painting. He was never an imitator of Corot, Daubigny, or Troyon, though he learnt something from all of them, as we may see in his picture ‘A Summer’s Day, and it was through him that a knowledge and appreciation of their paitings first spread through Belgium and Holland. Roelofs helped to found at Brussels in 1868 the Société Libre des Beaux Arts (Free Society of Fine Arts), of which Corot, Daubigny, and Millet became honorary members, and to this exhibition both Dutch and Belgian artists contributed. It became the rallying-point of the younger generation and of those painters who were beginning to be affected by the Barbizon pictures which so many of them had seen in Paris. After living in Brussels for forty years Roelofs moved to The Hague, where he died in 1897.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
The Art of Joseph Israels, Roelofs, Mauve, Mesdag, Blommers, And the Brothers Maris
1
For more than a hundred years after the deaths of Hobbema and Willem van de Velde, Holland produced no painter of European importance. The Dutch School, which during the seventeenth century had risen, as we have seen, to the highest eminence, sank during the eighteenth century into trivial virtuosity. Pictures became conjuring feats rather than true works of art, for they evoked neither tender sentiments nor noble thoughts, but only excited wonder by their manual dexterity. In craftsmanship many of these paintings were remarkable in their meticulous detail, and while some painters—like Wellem van Mieris (1662-1747), whose ‘Fish and Poultry Shop’ is in the National Gallery—carried on the traditions left by Jan Steen and Gerard Dou, still more made a reputation among their contemporaries by their minute renderings of fruit and flowers. These they painted with the patient skill of miniaturist, and they delighted in introducing into their pictures flies and other small insects whose tiny, but marvelously realistic forms, had to be discerned with the aid of a magnifying-glass. Among the artist who excelled in this style of painting may be mentioned the woman-painter of Amsterdam, Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), and her contemporary, Jan van Huysum (1682-1749), both of whom are represented in the National Gallery. Here we may see how skillfully they both painted flowers, how cunningly the one introduces a butterfly, the other a snail; but we soon weary of this pettifogging cleverness, which may amuse our eyes for a few moments, but can never touch our hearts.
It was not till towards the middle of the nineteenth century that any great revival of painting showed itself in Holland. One who helped to prepare the ground for the new generation was Johannes Bosboom (1817-91), who painted impressive pictures in oils and water-colors of the interiors of Dutch Churches and cathedrals. He was influenced by the seventeenth-century painter Emanuel de Witte (1607-92), who had also painted these subjects not only with great accuracy of linear perspective but with broad effects of light-and-shade; Bosboom painted these interiors still more broadly and invested them with a dim atmosphere of grave grandeur and solemnity.
Bosboom always gives us a more or less generalized vision, and contrasted with the particularity of the painters who immediately preceded him, he may be said to have given a new direction to Dutch painting.
Another pioneer and forerunner of the modern movement was Willem Roelofs, who was born at Amsterdam in 1822, and went to France, where he made the acquaintance of Corot and other members of the Barbizon School. For some time Roelofs lived with these artists in the now famous village, and painted the forest of Fontainebleau in their company; then he returned to the Netherlands, taking with him new ideals of landscape painting. Though he lived chiefly in Brussels, Roelofs had a considerable influence on Dutch painting. He was never an imitator of Corot, Daubigny, or Troyon, though he learnt something from all of them, as we may see in his picture ‘A Summer’s Day, and it was through him that a knowledge and appreciation of their paitings first spread through Belgium and Holland. Roelofs helped to found at Brussels in 1868 the Société Libre des Beaux Arts (Free Society of Fine Arts), of which Corot, Daubigny, and Millet became honorary members, and to this exhibition both Dutch and Belgian artists contributed. It became the rallying-point of the younger generation and of those painters who were beginning to be affected by the Barbizon pictures which so many of them had seen in Paris. After living in Brussels for forty years Roelofs moved to The Hague, where he died in 1897.
The Modern Dutch School (continued)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Richard Dadd's Paintings
I found the Economist article Blood On The Tracks @ http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/artview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10904659 interesting + in my view Richard Dadd's paintings show customary care with details, creating a powerful picture with natural looks that connect the dots.
Useful links:
http://www.noumenal.com/marc/dadd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dadd
Useful links:
http://www.noumenal.com/marc/dadd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dadd
Toxic Elements In Jewelry
The California Department of Toxic Substance Control is enforcing a new state law that regulates lead in jewelry, especially piercing jewelry, effective March 1, 2008.
I hope other countries will do the same. If in doubt always consult a reputed gem and jewelry testing laboratory.
Useful links:
www.dtsc.ca.gov
www.epa.gov
I hope other countries will do the same. If in doubt always consult a reputed gem and jewelry testing laboratory.
Useful links:
www.dtsc.ca.gov
www.epa.gov
Ivory Coast
According to Global Witness, Ivory Coast's northern rebels are still operating a war economy of illegal taxes on cocoa and diamonds which is hindering peace plan + affecting regional stability and economy.
I think the vested interests have a genuine reason to keep the region unstable for obvious reasons + as long as diamonds and cocoa are available it's show time for the rebels.
Useful link:
www.globalwitness.org
I think the vested interests have a genuine reason to keep the region unstable for obvious reasons + as long as diamonds and cocoa are available it's show time for the rebels.
Useful link:
www.globalwitness.org
Jewelry Update
With gold prices going yo-yo, we are seeing a new trend: people are selling gold jewelry they no longer wear opposed to buying. Signs of the time!
The Loire Valley
(via Wiki) The Loire Valley wine region includes the French wine regions situated along the Loire River from the Muscadet region near the city of Nantes on the Atlantic coast to the region of Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé just southeast of the city of Orléans in north central France. In between are the regions of Anjou, Saumur, Bourgueil, Chinon, and Vouvray. The Loire Valley itself follows the river through the Loire province to the river's origins in the Cévennes but the majority of the wine production takes place in the regions noted above. The area includes 87 appellations under the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), Vin Délimité de Qualité Superieure (VDQS) and Vin de pays systems. While the majority of production is white wine from the Chenin blanc, Sauvignon blanc and Melon de Bourgogne grapes, there are red wines made (especially around the Chinon region) from Cabernet franc. In addition to still wines, rosé, sparkling and dessert wines are also produced. With Crémant production throughout the Loire, it is the second largest sparkling wine producer in France after Champagne. Among these different wine styles, Loire wines tend to exhibit characteristic fruitiness with fresh, crisp flavors-especially in their youth. The Loire Valley has a long history of winemaking dating back to the 1st century. In the High Middle Ages, the wines of the Loire Valley were the most esteemed wines in England and France, even more prized than those from Bordeaux.
They are delicious! Don't miss it!
Useful link:
www.loirevalleywine.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire_Valley_%28wine%29
They are delicious! Don't miss it!
Useful link:
www.loirevalleywine.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire_Valley_%28wine%29
Daniel Day-Lewis
I think Daniel Day-Lewis is a superb actor + his chilling performance as Daniel Plainview, a ruthless silver-miner-turned-oil man in the movie There Will Be Blood was so vivid and natural, it was great, a real American masterpiece + the milkshake analogy was memorable, the best revenge scene in a long time:
Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, [He holds up his index finger] that's a straw, you see? [He turns and walks away from Eli and turns around] You watching? And my straw reaches acrooooooossssss [walking back toward Eli] the room, and starts to drink your milkshake: I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThZI-p8SKe0
Brilliant!
Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Day-Lewis
www.imdb.com/name/nm0000358
www.dd-l.net
www.therewillbeblood.com
Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, [He holds up his index finger] that's a straw, you see? [He turns and walks away from Eli and turns around] You watching? And my straw reaches acrooooooossssss [walking back toward Eli] the room, and starts to drink your milkshake: I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThZI-p8SKe0
Brilliant!
Useful links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Day-Lewis
www.imdb.com/name/nm0000358
www.dd-l.net
www.therewillbeblood.com
Gregorian Music
Heiligenkreuz Abbey is a Cistercian monastery on the territory of the town of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Wienerwald, eight miles north-west of Baden bei Wien in Lower Austria + now the brothers from the Monastery of the Holy Cross have wowed the Universal Music group with their magical and evocative sound, and later this year their first (Gregorian chant) album will be released for the international market + I believe the sudden popularity has to do with the soundtrack to the best-selling computer game Halo.
Useful links:
www.stift-heiligenkreuz.org
www.music.princeton.edu/chant_html
www.enigma.de
www.enigmamusic.com
Useful links:
www.stift-heiligenkreuz.org
www.music.princeton.edu/chant_html
www.enigma.de
www.enigmamusic.com
Double Stellar Cuts
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The French Blue has already been dealt with in great detail. It is included here primarily on the basis of its being a Double Stellar Cut diamond. It was fashioned by Louis XIV’s diamond cutter Pitau in 1673 from a next to rough diamond purchased by the king from the French traveler Tavernier in 1669. Eventually, it was refashioned into an oval Brilliant, the Hope diamond, now in Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
The Bazu diamond, the second largest diamond on the Golden Fleece of King Louis XV of France, was delivered to the king of Bazu, a lapidarian and dealer, in 1669. It has disappeared and any information about it is inconsistent.
The French Blue has already been dealt with in great detail. It is included here primarily on the basis of its being a Double Stellar Cut diamond. It was fashioned by Louis XIV’s diamond cutter Pitau in 1673 from a next to rough diamond purchased by the king from the French traveler Tavernier in 1669. Eventually, it was refashioned into an oval Brilliant, the Hope diamond, now in Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
The Bazu diamond, the second largest diamond on the Golden Fleece of King Louis XV of France, was delivered to the king of Bazu, a lapidarian and dealer, in 1669. It has disappeared and any information about it is inconsistent.
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