Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Sun Halo
The Sun Halo in Ethiopia, which is the ring of light caused by sunlight refracted by ice crystals hung in the sky @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7346133.stm was beautiful + the photograph reminded me of inclusions in Corundum (rubies + sapphires).
A Win-Win Business Model
The article on Specialisterne@ http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5869.html
was interesting because I haven't heard of autism spectrum disorder + the after-effects, but what's intriguing is that someone had found an industry niche, along with a commitment to raising the profile of hidden talents of individuals with ASD.
Brilliant!
Useful link:
www.specialisterne.com
was interesting because I haven't heard of autism spectrum disorder + the after-effects, but what's intriguing is that someone had found an industry niche, along with a commitment to raising the profile of hidden talents of individuals with ASD.
Brilliant!
Useful link:
www.specialisterne.com
Glasgow's Art Festival
Glasgow International (founded in 2004) is now set to become a regular biennial + it has the most developed arts scene outside London + the city supports a number of commercial galleries + the event will run until April 27, 2008.
A must-visit. You will always learn something new.
Useful links:
www.glasgowinternational.org
www.glasgowmuseums.com
www.themoderninstitute.com
www.sorchadallas.com
www.marymarygallery.co.uk
A must-visit. You will always learn something new.
Useful links:
www.glasgowinternational.org
www.glasgowmuseums.com
www.themoderninstitute.com
www.sorchadallas.com
www.marymarygallery.co.uk
Confessions Of A Shopaholic
The book Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella is funny + refreshing because at times you realize that we all have spending habits, a lot of us do + I think that most males / females will find themselves in Rebecca Bloomwood.
Useful links:
www.sophiekinsella.co.uk
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093908
Useful links:
www.sophiekinsella.co.uk
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093908
Two Flat-Bottomed Sancy Cut Diamonds
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
Two diamonds from Mazarin’s collection, numbers 17 and 18, are of similar shape and faceting, but differ radically from ordinary Sancy Cuts in being flatbacks. If the two halves were rejoined on their flat sides, they would form a single Sancy Cut diamond. The original crystal, which must have been either a macle or a dodecahedroid stone, was probably cleaved into two halves before being given the same faceting as the Grand Sancy. A close inspection of the gems in their settings revealed that not only were the two stones identical in outline, but also in their slightly brownish tint. There is no question of their not being originally the same stone.
In the 1691 inventory the two diamonds were described as being ‘faceted and heart-shaped’, but in 1791, following contemporary nomenclature, they were called ‘Rose Cuts’, and were said to weigh 21 3/19 ct. At one time they were dress buttons, first for Louis XIV and then for Louis XV. Louis XVIII had them set in a broadsword, later worn by Bapst in 1885 for the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon I, and are in the Galerie d’Apollon, Musée du Louvre. Between the twin Mazarins, Bapst place two very old lozenge-shaped diamonds, and below them an equally old pentagonal one. All three are trihedrally faceted. The large drop in the center, which is almost a Sancy Cut, could, in fact, be Tavernier’s number 10, very slightly symmetrized. It is larger than the stone depicted in Tavernier’s book but is very similarly fashioned. Under this is an unusual long hexagon with very narrow facets. I believe this to be the cut called, in old French inventories, Tombstone (en façon de tombeau).
Two diamonds from Mazarin’s collection, numbers 17 and 18, are of similar shape and faceting, but differ radically from ordinary Sancy Cuts in being flatbacks. If the two halves were rejoined on their flat sides, they would form a single Sancy Cut diamond. The original crystal, which must have been either a macle or a dodecahedroid stone, was probably cleaved into two halves before being given the same faceting as the Grand Sancy. A close inspection of the gems in their settings revealed that not only were the two stones identical in outline, but also in their slightly brownish tint. There is no question of their not being originally the same stone.
In the 1691 inventory the two diamonds were described as being ‘faceted and heart-shaped’, but in 1791, following contemporary nomenclature, they were called ‘Rose Cuts’, and were said to weigh 21 3/19 ct. At one time they were dress buttons, first for Louis XIV and then for Louis XV. Louis XVIII had them set in a broadsword, later worn by Bapst in 1885 for the Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon I, and are in the Galerie d’Apollon, Musée du Louvre. Between the twin Mazarins, Bapst place two very old lozenge-shaped diamonds, and below them an equally old pentagonal one. All three are trihedrally faceted. The large drop in the center, which is almost a Sancy Cut, could, in fact, be Tavernier’s number 10, very slightly symmetrized. It is larger than the stone depicted in Tavernier’s book but is very similarly fashioned. Under this is an unusual long hexagon with very narrow facets. I believe this to be the cut called, in old French inventories, Tombstone (en façon de tombeau).
Realism And Impressionism In France
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
3
If we look at all the bottles in ‘A Bar at the Folies—Bergère’ we shall notice that the treatment of detail here is totally different from the treatment of detail, say, in Millais’s ‘Ophelia’. In his picture Millais looked at each leaf, flower, and branch separately, and set them down separately on his canvas like a sum in addition. But all the bottles in Manet’s picture are seen simulataneously in relation to each other: it is a synthesis, not an addition. Impressionism, then, in the first place, is the result of simultaenous vision that sees a scene as a whole as opposed to consecutive vision that sees Nature piece by piece. Let us suppose, for a moment, that we are staying at a house on the banks of the Seine opposite the church at Vernon. Let us suppose that, having arrived there in darkness the previous evening, we jump out of bed in the morning, open the window, and put out our head to see the view. Monet’s picture ‘The Church at Vernon’ shows us what we should see at the first glance; the glance, that is to say, when we see the scene as a whole, before any detail in it has riveted our attention and caused us unconsciously to alter the focus of our eye in order to see that detail more sharply. Another way of putting the matter is to say that in an Impressionist picture there is only one focus throughout, while in a Pre-Raphaelite picture there is a different focus for every detail. These two methods of painting represent different ways of looking at the world, and neither way is wrong, only whereas the Pre-Raphaelite looks particularly at a series of objects, the Impressionist looks generally at the whole.
This way of viewing a scene broadly, however, is only a part of Impressionism. It was not a new invention, for Velazquez saw and painted figures and groups in a similar way, therefore Impressionists like Whistler and Manet (in his earlier works), who adopted this broad style, were in this respect developing an existing tradition rather than inventing a new one. But a later development of Impressionism which was a complete innovation, was the new palette they adopted. From the time of Daubigny, who said, ‘We never paint light enough,’ the more progressive painters had striven to make the colors in their pictures closer to the actual hues of Nature. Delacroix was one of the pioneers in the analysis of color. When he was in Morocco he wrote in his Journal about the shadows he had seen on the faces of two peasant boys, remarking that while a sallow, yellow-faced boy had violet shadows, a red-faced boy had green shadows. Again, in the streets of Paris, Delacroix noticed a black and yellow cab, and observed that, beside the greenish-yellow, the black took on a tinge of the complementary color, violet. An advertisement issued by a well-known soap firm will have made many readers familiar with the phenomenon of complementary color. The name of the soap was printed in bright red letters on a white paper, and we were asked, after gazing at this steadfastly for a few moments, to look up at a white ceiling, when we should see the name of the soap in green letters. Every color has its complementary, that is to say, an opposing color is evoked by the action of the human eye after we have been gazing at the said color; consequently all colors act and react on one another. Delacroix discovered that to obtain the full brilliance of any given hue it should be flanked and supported by its complementary color. He did not attain to full knowledge; it was left for a later generation to make nicer complementary for a greenish-yellow, an orange-yellow requires a turquoise blue, and so on.
Realism And Impressionism In France (continued)
3
If we look at all the bottles in ‘A Bar at the Folies—Bergère’ we shall notice that the treatment of detail here is totally different from the treatment of detail, say, in Millais’s ‘Ophelia’. In his picture Millais looked at each leaf, flower, and branch separately, and set them down separately on his canvas like a sum in addition. But all the bottles in Manet’s picture are seen simulataneously in relation to each other: it is a synthesis, not an addition. Impressionism, then, in the first place, is the result of simultaenous vision that sees a scene as a whole as opposed to consecutive vision that sees Nature piece by piece. Let us suppose, for a moment, that we are staying at a house on the banks of the Seine opposite the church at Vernon. Let us suppose that, having arrived there in darkness the previous evening, we jump out of bed in the morning, open the window, and put out our head to see the view. Monet’s picture ‘The Church at Vernon’ shows us what we should see at the first glance; the glance, that is to say, when we see the scene as a whole, before any detail in it has riveted our attention and caused us unconsciously to alter the focus of our eye in order to see that detail more sharply. Another way of putting the matter is to say that in an Impressionist picture there is only one focus throughout, while in a Pre-Raphaelite picture there is a different focus for every detail. These two methods of painting represent different ways of looking at the world, and neither way is wrong, only whereas the Pre-Raphaelite looks particularly at a series of objects, the Impressionist looks generally at the whole.
This way of viewing a scene broadly, however, is only a part of Impressionism. It was not a new invention, for Velazquez saw and painted figures and groups in a similar way, therefore Impressionists like Whistler and Manet (in his earlier works), who adopted this broad style, were in this respect developing an existing tradition rather than inventing a new one. But a later development of Impressionism which was a complete innovation, was the new palette they adopted. From the time of Daubigny, who said, ‘We never paint light enough,’ the more progressive painters had striven to make the colors in their pictures closer to the actual hues of Nature. Delacroix was one of the pioneers in the analysis of color. When he was in Morocco he wrote in his Journal about the shadows he had seen on the faces of two peasant boys, remarking that while a sallow, yellow-faced boy had violet shadows, a red-faced boy had green shadows. Again, in the streets of Paris, Delacroix noticed a black and yellow cab, and observed that, beside the greenish-yellow, the black took on a tinge of the complementary color, violet. An advertisement issued by a well-known soap firm will have made many readers familiar with the phenomenon of complementary color. The name of the soap was printed in bright red letters on a white paper, and we were asked, after gazing at this steadfastly for a few moments, to look up at a white ceiling, when we should see the name of the soap in green letters. Every color has its complementary, that is to say, an opposing color is evoked by the action of the human eye after we have been gazing at the said color; consequently all colors act and react on one another. Delacroix discovered that to obtain the full brilliance of any given hue it should be flanked and supported by its complementary color. He did not attain to full knowledge; it was left for a later generation to make nicer complementary for a greenish-yellow, an orange-yellow requires a turquoise blue, and so on.
Realism And Impressionism In France (continued)
Jewelry Update
According to the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, India's total gem and jewelry exports provisionally stood at $20.9 billion in the year to March 2008
Random Thoughts
'The bright new financial system for all its talented participants, for all its rich rewards, has failed the test of the marketplace.'
- Paul Volcker, the former Fed chairman
I think he was spot on.
- Paul Volcker, the former Fed chairman
I think he was spot on.
Delphine Boël
Delphine Boël is a Belgian artist who specializes in papier maché sculpture + I liked her works because the colors and objects relate to unique concepts that are so subjective yet natural in its own way. That's her otherness.
Useful link:
www.delphineboel.com
Useful link:
www.delphineboel.com
Monday, April 14, 2008
Mona Hauser + XVA Gallery
I found the article about Mona Hauser and her XVA gallery @ http://www.newsweek.com/id/131729 interesting + insightful because to me it's amazing to see the rapid emergence and openness of Dubai (land of surprises + opportunities) becoming the contemporary art center of the Middle East.
Useful link:
www.xvagallery.com
www.cultures.ae
Useful link:
www.xvagallery.com
www.cultures.ae
Michael McDonough
Bamboo + Creativity: I really liked environmentalist-architect Michael McDonough's sustainable housing concepts: e-House + ArcHouse + the designs are beautiful and natural.
Useful link:
www.michaelmcdonough.com
Useful link:
www.michaelmcdonough.com
T Boone Pickens
T Boone Pickens, an American businessman, who made his fortune in oil has turned his attention to wind power + over the next four years he intends to erect 2,700 turbines across 200,000 acres of the Texan panhandle (five times bigger than the world's current record-holding wind farm), a perfect location for wind-generated energy + studies proved him right -- people call it the Wind West.
He is thinking big + going to make a lot of money.
Useful links:
www.boonepickens.com
www.bpcap.net
He is thinking big + going to make a lot of money.
Useful links:
www.boonepickens.com
www.bpcap.net
Vipassana
It wouldn't be a bad idea to encourage members of the gem/jewelry + art sector, gemologists, and CEOs to mirror their inner conscience (total internal reflection) by taking a vow of silence for few days or weeks every year because I think Vipassana could be an excellent + natural vehicle for cleansing one's inclusions and blemishes quietly, though difficult in the beginning, with some practice you will emerge as a more clear-headed person.
Useful links:
www.dhamma.org
www.globalpagoda.org
Useful links:
www.dhamma.org
www.globalpagoda.org
Cibjo Update
The World Jewelry Confederation (CIBJO) has launched an upgraded version of its website to coincide with the 2008 CIBJO Congress, opening in Dubai on April 14-16, 2008.
Useful link:
www.cibjo.org
Useful link:
www.cibjo.org
Brain Scanner + Real-Life Decisions
(via Wired) I was intrigued by a study published in Nature Neuroscience about researchers using brain scanners to predict people's decisions seven seconds before the test subjects were even aware of making them--though I have my doubts, but it was an interesting study + I would love to see researchers do similars tests on diamond and colored stone graders, and artists to study their sensory integration/shifting neural patterns so that we could learn something new and analyze the impact.
Useful links:
www.nature.com/neuro
www.mpg.de
www.nih.gov
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/04/mind_decision
Useful links:
www.nature.com/neuro
www.mpg.de
www.nih.gov
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/04/mind_decision
The Beau Sancy
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
The dominating feature of the Beau Sancy (documented 31 January 1589) is a central star composed of eight pentagonal facets round a very small octagonal table. Between the points of the stars are eight squares or lozenges, each divided into two triangles. Together, these twenty four facets form two large interlacing squares. The remaining thirty facets (eight lozenges and twenty-two triangles) all touch the girdle. The reverse side of the gem is almost an exact replica, as far as one can judge from an examination of the diamond in its setting. That means that there are 108 faces plus the table and culet. What an incredible masterpiece of precision and artistic inventiveness! The few small irregularities and inclusions do not in the least detract from its beauty.
The light effects of the Beau Sancy itself are wonderful. The facets on the reverse reflect brilliant rays of light through the front. It was given the name ‘Beau’ Sancy to distinguish it from the Grand Sancy, and it truly deserves its title. The measurements are:
Height: 22.4mm
Width: 19.5mm
Thickness: 11.5mm
It weight has been estimated at 33-34 ct, but I suggest that 35-36 ct would be nearer the truth.
It is documented that Queen Maria de’ Medici bought the Beau Sancy from Sancy himself. The transaction is dated 1604, and she is said to have paid ‘XXVm escus’ for it. For her coronation in 1610, the diamond was set at the top of the crown which she wears in her portrait. Maria died poverty-stricken and in exile, and her creditors disposed of any jewels she still possessed. The Beau Sancy was bought by Frederick Henry of Orange, and then passed to his descendants; it has never again been put up for sale. William III of Orange gave it to his bride, Mary, and after her death it went to Frederick, the future King of Prussia.
In the late 1960s, I knew that the Grand Sancy was in England, still at that time in the possession of the Astors. I also knew that the Beau Sancy had once formed part of te Prussian Crown Jewels. Through a series of chance meetings, I learned that Viscount Astor had deposited the head of the Hohenzollern family, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, grandson of William II, the last German Emperor. Having discovered the whereabouts of the two diamonds, I decided to try to reunite them—in Finland! There was already a Finnish connection: Paul Demidoff, who inherited the Grand Sancy in 1836, gave it as a wedding present to his bride Aurora Karamzin, a Finnish-born lady-in-waiting at the Russian court.
Years of preparatory work, correspondence and persuasions of the relevant authorities followed, until finally, in October 1972, Prince Louis Ferdinand himself came to Helsinki to open the exhibition ‘Two Historic Diamonds’. The two brothers, the Grand Sancy and the Beau Sancy, were reunited after a separation of some 370 years.
The dominating feature of the Beau Sancy (documented 31 January 1589) is a central star composed of eight pentagonal facets round a very small octagonal table. Between the points of the stars are eight squares or lozenges, each divided into two triangles. Together, these twenty four facets form two large interlacing squares. The remaining thirty facets (eight lozenges and twenty-two triangles) all touch the girdle. The reverse side of the gem is almost an exact replica, as far as one can judge from an examination of the diamond in its setting. That means that there are 108 faces plus the table and culet. What an incredible masterpiece of precision and artistic inventiveness! The few small irregularities and inclusions do not in the least detract from its beauty.
The light effects of the Beau Sancy itself are wonderful. The facets on the reverse reflect brilliant rays of light through the front. It was given the name ‘Beau’ Sancy to distinguish it from the Grand Sancy, and it truly deserves its title. The measurements are:
Height: 22.4mm
Width: 19.5mm
Thickness: 11.5mm
It weight has been estimated at 33-34 ct, but I suggest that 35-36 ct would be nearer the truth.
It is documented that Queen Maria de’ Medici bought the Beau Sancy from Sancy himself. The transaction is dated 1604, and she is said to have paid ‘XXVm escus’ for it. For her coronation in 1610, the diamond was set at the top of the crown which she wears in her portrait. Maria died poverty-stricken and in exile, and her creditors disposed of any jewels she still possessed. The Beau Sancy was bought by Frederick Henry of Orange, and then passed to his descendants; it has never again been put up for sale. William III of Orange gave it to his bride, Mary, and after her death it went to Frederick, the future King of Prussia.
In the late 1960s, I knew that the Grand Sancy was in England, still at that time in the possession of the Astors. I also knew that the Beau Sancy had once formed part of te Prussian Crown Jewels. Through a series of chance meetings, I learned that Viscount Astor had deposited the head of the Hohenzollern family, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, grandson of William II, the last German Emperor. Having discovered the whereabouts of the two diamonds, I decided to try to reunite them—in Finland! There was already a Finnish connection: Paul Demidoff, who inherited the Grand Sancy in 1836, gave it as a wedding present to his bride Aurora Karamzin, a Finnish-born lady-in-waiting at the Russian court.
Years of preparatory work, correspondence and persuasions of the relevant authorities followed, until finally, in October 1972, Prince Louis Ferdinand himself came to Helsinki to open the exhibition ‘Two Historic Diamonds’. The two brothers, the Grand Sancy and the Beau Sancy, were reunited after a separation of some 370 years.
Realism And Impressionism In France
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
Prior to the Salon des Rufusés Edouard Manet had little or no knowledge of Claude Monet, who was seven years his junior, but now the similarity between their names and the abuse showered upon both drew the two men together. Through Monet, Manet came to know Renoir and Sisley, who had been fellow-students with Monet in the studio of Gleyre, Whistler’s master, and this group was joined, among others, by two older artists, Camille Pissaro and Degas. As in the case of the Pre-Raphaelites, it was friendship and unjust derision which created the solidarity of the Impressionists, though the individual painters had by no means identical aims. Manet, we now realize, was far more a Realist than an Impressionist, and it is important to remember that he passed as an innovator years before Impressionism existed or was even thought of. Itr was more then ten years after the Salon des Refusés before Manet became influenced by the new ideas of color evolved by Pissaro, Monet, and Renoir. In his fine portrait ‘Le Bon Bock’, painted in 1873, Manet still reveals himself as the heir, not only of Courbet, but of Velazquez, Hals, and Goya. Nothing could be further from the once popular notion of an ‘Impressionist’ picture as a daub hastily put together, than this careful, if unconventional, portrait of his friend the engraver Belot enjoying a glass of beer. M Belot gave Manet no less than eighty sittings before this portrait was finished. It is freer than Courbet, with a greater simplifying of planes and values, but it is no revolution, it is a continuation and development of Courbet’s realism.
Quite different in style is ‘A Bar at the Folies—Bergère’, painted in 1882. We may say at once that the chief difference between the two pictures is in the color, for—to borrow a term from the wine-list—the color in ‘Le Bon Bock’ is ‘still’, while that in the ‘Bar’ picture is ‘sparkling’, sparkling especially in the wonderful painting of the bottles and glasses as we may see even in a photograph. Both pictures are magnificent, both are marvelously lifelike, but in the second there is a more searching pursuit of color, in shadow as well as in light, and a more vivacious statement of its actuality. In a word, it is a typical ‘Impressionist’ picture: and here we may well pause to inquire what is meant by ‘Impressionism’.
Realism And Impressionism In France (continue)
Prior to the Salon des Rufusés Edouard Manet had little or no knowledge of Claude Monet, who was seven years his junior, but now the similarity between their names and the abuse showered upon both drew the two men together. Through Monet, Manet came to know Renoir and Sisley, who had been fellow-students with Monet in the studio of Gleyre, Whistler’s master, and this group was joined, among others, by two older artists, Camille Pissaro and Degas. As in the case of the Pre-Raphaelites, it was friendship and unjust derision which created the solidarity of the Impressionists, though the individual painters had by no means identical aims. Manet, we now realize, was far more a Realist than an Impressionist, and it is important to remember that he passed as an innovator years before Impressionism existed or was even thought of. Itr was more then ten years after the Salon des Refusés before Manet became influenced by the new ideas of color evolved by Pissaro, Monet, and Renoir. In his fine portrait ‘Le Bon Bock’, painted in 1873, Manet still reveals himself as the heir, not only of Courbet, but of Velazquez, Hals, and Goya. Nothing could be further from the once popular notion of an ‘Impressionist’ picture as a daub hastily put together, than this careful, if unconventional, portrait of his friend the engraver Belot enjoying a glass of beer. M Belot gave Manet no less than eighty sittings before this portrait was finished. It is freer than Courbet, with a greater simplifying of planes and values, but it is no revolution, it is a continuation and development of Courbet’s realism.
Quite different in style is ‘A Bar at the Folies—Bergère’, painted in 1882. We may say at once that the chief difference between the two pictures is in the color, for—to borrow a term from the wine-list—the color in ‘Le Bon Bock’ is ‘still’, while that in the ‘Bar’ picture is ‘sparkling’, sparkling especially in the wonderful painting of the bottles and glasses as we may see even in a photograph. Both pictures are magnificent, both are marvelously lifelike, but in the second there is a more searching pursuit of color, in shadow as well as in light, and a more vivacious statement of its actuality. In a word, it is a typical ‘Impressionist’ picture: and here we may well pause to inquire what is meant by ‘Impressionism’.
Realism And Impressionism In France (continue)
The Battle For The Soul Of Capitalism
The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism by John C. Bogle is an essential book for all + he gives an interesting perspective on moral capitalism and community ownership + the book also has a lot of ideas and solutions for the corporate/financial institutions + I think it will take a lot of effort on our part to change the inert system (s) that's simulated worldwide due to globalization.
Useful links:
http://johncbogle.com
www.vanguard.com
Useful links:
http://johncbogle.com
www.vanguard.com
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Pendants + Charms
I really liked the simple + innovative designs @ www.bittyblock.com They looked great!
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