I found Nina Paley's computer-generated animated film, Sita Sings the Blues (the ancient Hindu epic the Ramayana + the breakup of Paley's 21st-century marriage) + the imaginative format @ http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2008/04/sita brilliant.
Useful links:
www.ninapaley.com
www.tribecafilmfestival.org
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The Journalist And The Whistle Blower
I found Chaim Even Zohar's reflections on investigative journalists dilemmas when dealing with materials provided by whistle blowers + the impact @ http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullEditorial.asp interesting and insightful.
Arnold Lulls
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
In the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London there is a most remarkable album depicting jewels that date from about 1550 to 1610. This is Arnold Lull’s record of the treasures of Queen Anne of Denmark. Some of the drawings were intended as a record of jewels acquired by Anne from 1603 to 1625 after her marriage to King James I of England. To some extent, the album is a pictorial inventory (similar to Mielich’s Kleinodienbuch) of the jewels delivered by Lulls and his collaborators. Some of the pieces are believed to be Lull’s own designs.
Arnold Lull himself was a Dutch jeweler and dealer who appears to have moved to London in 1585, but retained his Dutch nationality. His drawings illustrate a wide range of historic diamond cuts, mostly Table Cuts, square, rectangular and lozenge-shaped, but also a large number of fancy outlines. It is fascinating to find a number of diamond cuts that were obselete by about 1600 and, rather surprisingly, two different Stellar Cut Tables, predecessors of the Brilliants of a later period. The three Chequer Cut diamonds are equally interesting to a diamond historian. There are also two jewels containing Table Cut diamonds of gradually decreasing size set in a row, the earliest known example of this style, now popular with modern designers.
In the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London there is a most remarkable album depicting jewels that date from about 1550 to 1610. This is Arnold Lull’s record of the treasures of Queen Anne of Denmark. Some of the drawings were intended as a record of jewels acquired by Anne from 1603 to 1625 after her marriage to King James I of England. To some extent, the album is a pictorial inventory (similar to Mielich’s Kleinodienbuch) of the jewels delivered by Lulls and his collaborators. Some of the pieces are believed to be Lull’s own designs.
Arnold Lull himself was a Dutch jeweler and dealer who appears to have moved to London in 1585, but retained his Dutch nationality. His drawings illustrate a wide range of historic diamond cuts, mostly Table Cuts, square, rectangular and lozenge-shaped, but also a large number of fancy outlines. It is fascinating to find a number of diamond cuts that were obselete by about 1600 and, rather surprisingly, two different Stellar Cut Tables, predecessors of the Brilliants of a later period. The three Chequer Cut diamonds are equally interesting to a diamond historian. There are also two jewels containing Table Cut diamonds of gradually decreasing size set in a row, the earliest known example of this style, now popular with modern designers.
Post-Impressionism, Cubism, And Futurism
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
2
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) also learnt painting from Camille Pissarro, whose style he copied closely in his early work, but at least he was never a Realist. His father was a Breton, but his mother was a Peruvian Creole, and a passion for the Tropics was in his blood. As a boy he ran away and went to sea, but after several voyages in various parts of the world he returned to Paris and entered business life. One day in a shop window he saw some pictures which brought back memories of the light and color he had seen in the Tropics; he made inquiries as to the authors, and so became acquainted with Pissarro. Gauguin was thirty at this time, and though he began painting now as a amateur, it was not till two years later, in 1880, that he began to exhibit, and another year passed before he decided to give all his time to art. Gauguin soon broke away from the dogmas of the neo-Impressionists, though his debt to them is confessed in the splendor of his color—and for a time he was influenced by Cézanne, this influence showing itself in a tendency towards simplification. Gauguin made certain innovations of his own, he deliberately simplified forms and reintroduced the fashion of binding them with heavy dark outlines, and while his style grew more decorative his subjects became more imaginative.
In one of his letters Van Gogh records that while Gauguin was living with him at Arles he (Van Gogh) was for a while ‘led into working from imagination.’
The association of Gauguin and Van Gogh was unfortunate, for their aims and temperaments were too distinct to mingle with ease. Van Gogh was all humility, Gauguin was proud and haughty, and though the warm-hearted Dutchman venerated his friend, the latter’s cold cynicism often got on his nerves and contributed to his depression. Van Gogh wanted to devote his life to suffering humanity; Gauguin wanted to forget the suffering and dwell in an ‘enchanted land.’ After Van Gogh’s mental collapse at Arles, Gauguin went to Brittany and established himself at Pont Aven, where he found ‘big, simple mortals and an unspoilt Nature.’ But even rural France was too sophisticated for a man whose romantic temperament found its ideal among the unspoilt barbarians of the Pacific. In 1891 Gauguin sailed for Tahiti, where he fulfilled his intention to paint a primitive folk in a primitive style. Admitting the technical interest and decorative merit of Gauguin’s Brittany pictures, it remains doubtful whether he would have been so great a figure in modern art had he not, like R I Stevenson, been fascinated by the life and manners of the Kanakas. His Tahitian pictures with their exotic subjects made a wide appeal to the popular imagination, though they did not become generally known till after the artist’s death in 1903. But if he complained bitterly at the lack of purchasers for his pictures, Gauguin delighted in his new home, and never regretted having left Europe. ‘I have escaped everything that is artificial, conventional, customary. I am entering into truth, into Nature.’ Nevertheless he idealized the Nature he found in the Pacific; he dwelt in a land of dreams and his pictures were charming conventions. When a literary friend in Paris quarrelled with his ideal, Gauguin replied: ‘Your civilization is your disease, my barbarism is my restoration to health.’
Post-Impressionism, Cubism, And Futurism (continued)
2
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) also learnt painting from Camille Pissarro, whose style he copied closely in his early work, but at least he was never a Realist. His father was a Breton, but his mother was a Peruvian Creole, and a passion for the Tropics was in his blood. As a boy he ran away and went to sea, but after several voyages in various parts of the world he returned to Paris and entered business life. One day in a shop window he saw some pictures which brought back memories of the light and color he had seen in the Tropics; he made inquiries as to the authors, and so became acquainted with Pissarro. Gauguin was thirty at this time, and though he began painting now as a amateur, it was not till two years later, in 1880, that he began to exhibit, and another year passed before he decided to give all his time to art. Gauguin soon broke away from the dogmas of the neo-Impressionists, though his debt to them is confessed in the splendor of his color—and for a time he was influenced by Cézanne, this influence showing itself in a tendency towards simplification. Gauguin made certain innovations of his own, he deliberately simplified forms and reintroduced the fashion of binding them with heavy dark outlines, and while his style grew more decorative his subjects became more imaginative.
In one of his letters Van Gogh records that while Gauguin was living with him at Arles he (Van Gogh) was for a while ‘led into working from imagination.’
The association of Gauguin and Van Gogh was unfortunate, for their aims and temperaments were too distinct to mingle with ease. Van Gogh was all humility, Gauguin was proud and haughty, and though the warm-hearted Dutchman venerated his friend, the latter’s cold cynicism often got on his nerves and contributed to his depression. Van Gogh wanted to devote his life to suffering humanity; Gauguin wanted to forget the suffering and dwell in an ‘enchanted land.’ After Van Gogh’s mental collapse at Arles, Gauguin went to Brittany and established himself at Pont Aven, where he found ‘big, simple mortals and an unspoilt Nature.’ But even rural France was too sophisticated for a man whose romantic temperament found its ideal among the unspoilt barbarians of the Pacific. In 1891 Gauguin sailed for Tahiti, where he fulfilled his intention to paint a primitive folk in a primitive style. Admitting the technical interest and decorative merit of Gauguin’s Brittany pictures, it remains doubtful whether he would have been so great a figure in modern art had he not, like R I Stevenson, been fascinated by the life and manners of the Kanakas. His Tahitian pictures with their exotic subjects made a wide appeal to the popular imagination, though they did not become generally known till after the artist’s death in 1903. But if he complained bitterly at the lack of purchasers for his pictures, Gauguin delighted in his new home, and never regretted having left Europe. ‘I have escaped everything that is artificial, conventional, customary. I am entering into truth, into Nature.’ Nevertheless he idealized the Nature he found in the Pacific; he dwelt in a land of dreams and his pictures were charming conventions. When a literary friend in Paris quarrelled with his ideal, Gauguin replied: ‘Your civilization is your disease, my barbarism is my restoration to health.’
Post-Impressionism, Cubism, And Futurism (continued)
HyperShot
(via Wired) HyperShot is a unique application developed by computer graphics genius Henrik Wann Jensen + it uses a proprietary photon-mapping technique to simulate complex lighting situations ranging from reflected sunlight to spots beamed through colored gels to create ultrarealistic images, like the diamonds @ http://www.wired.com/software/coolapps/multimedia/2008/04/st_render?slide=2&slideView=2
Amazing!
Useful link:
http://graphics.ucsd.edu/~henrik
Amazing!
Useful link:
http://graphics.ucsd.edu/~henrik
This Is Dubai
I found the article on Derek Khan @ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/fashion/17CROOK.html interesting because in the jewelry industry it's very difficult for a comeback if you have had a heavily included/blemished career, but here he is, as a stylist to the stars, in Dubai, on his feet. Good luck!
I thought I’d never see jewelry again.
- Derek Khan
I thought I’d never see jewelry again.
- Derek Khan
Contemporary Botanical Artists
Contemporary Botanical Artists: The Shirley Sherwood Collection by Shirley Sherwood + Victoria Matthews is an inspiring book of dazzling beauty.
Useful link:
www.kew.org
Visitors will be able to see the world's first gallery dedicated entirely to botanical art at Kew Gardens in London.
Useful link:
www.kew.org
Visitors will be able to see the world's first gallery dedicated entirely to botanical art at Kew Gardens in London.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Panyu + DMCC
Panyu (China) + DMCC (Dubai) = Diamonds + Colored stones trade. Dubai + Panyu are the new emerging gem and jewelry capital (s) of the world.
Useful links:
www.panyu.gov.cn
www.dmcc.ae
Useful links:
www.panyu.gov.cn
www.dmcc.ae
Heard On The Street
You must practice your skills, study your opponents and work hard + same with the markets.
Cell Phone Movie
Filmmaker Spike Lee + Nokia = a cell phone movie from everyday people. According to Spike Lee with a simple mobile phone, almost anyone can now become a filmmaker. You can submit text, music, video or images at certain times between now and Aug. 21, 2008 to www.nokiaproductions.com
Useful links:
www.nokiaproductions.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Lee
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000490
Useful links:
www.nokiaproductions.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Lee
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000490
Hans Mielich
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
In 1937, Erna von Watzdorf, a research worker at the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, published a detailed article on Hans Mielich. She furnished proof that after he had finished his studies at the Regensburg Academy of Art, he went to Italy and Spain and there concentrated on the study of crafts such as armor and jewelry. He soon realized that reproducing objects required the same concentration on personality, light and shade as the portrayal of the human face.
He began painting large pièces de résistance at the Bavarian Court and was soon commissioned by Albrecht V Duke of Bavaria, to produce a color inventory of his wife’s jewelry collection. Mielich took over four years to complete the Kleinodienbuch, a vivid work of absolute precision and detail, in which even the interior light reflections in the Pyramidal Point Cut diamonds were depicted. It is possible that he may also have created some original pieces of jewelry , but no drawings of these appear to have been documented. Most of Mielich’s jewelry ‘portraits’ have been acquired by either the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek or the Bayerishces Nationalmuseum, both in Munich.
In 1937, Erna von Watzdorf, a research worker at the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, published a detailed article on Hans Mielich. She furnished proof that after he had finished his studies at the Regensburg Academy of Art, he went to Italy and Spain and there concentrated on the study of crafts such as armor and jewelry. He soon realized that reproducing objects required the same concentration on personality, light and shade as the portrayal of the human face.
He began painting large pièces de résistance at the Bavarian Court and was soon commissioned by Albrecht V Duke of Bavaria, to produce a color inventory of his wife’s jewelry collection. Mielich took over four years to complete the Kleinodienbuch, a vivid work of absolute precision and detail, in which even the interior light reflections in the Pyramidal Point Cut diamonds were depicted. It is possible that he may also have created some original pieces of jewelry , but no drawings of these appear to have been documented. Most of Mielich’s jewelry ‘portraits’ have been acquired by either the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek or the Bayerishces Nationalmuseum, both in Munich.
Post-Impressionism, Cubism, And Futurism
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
From Paris Van Gogh went to Arles in the South of France, where he exposed himself to the risks of sunstroke by frequently painting in blazing sunshine without any headcovering. A curious incident made public the fact that he was becoming abnormal. Teasing him for a present, a girl in a café once playfully said to him, ‘Well, if you can’t give me anything else, give me one of your big ears.’ Shortly before Christmas this little waitress, whom the artist admired, was horrified to receive a parcel which was found to contain a freshly severed human ear. Van Gogh was found in bed with his head bleeding and with raging brain fever. Subsequently he was taken to an asylum, but his portrait of himself with a cap on his head and a pipe in his mouth, painted after this breakdown, proves that his hand had not lost its steadiness nor his eye its power to see essentials with brilliant intensity.
In the summer of 1889 he was well enough to leave Arles, and after a short stay in Paris, his brother arranged for him to live in the house of a doctor at Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh appeared to be in the best of health and spirits, and there is no doubt that he fough bravely against the clouds which threatened his keen intellect. But the day came when he felt himself to be a doomed man, with nothing but mental darkness ahead, and on July 28, 1890, in a fit of depression he shot himself fatally. The fact that his mind eventually became unhinged, so that some of the pictures of his last years betray an abnormal vision, does not invalidate the splendid sanity of the bulk of Van Gogh’s productions. Technically Van Gogh got his modelling by sweeping contours, instead of by a series of petty planes, and so gave weight to objects, while cleanly preserving their silhouettes as co-ordinated parts of a decorative design. We are impressed by his strength, as we are by that of Cézanne; but it is not physical strength alone, but also moral force. His color is of a high order and pitch, showing a fine sensibility for the splendor of pigment, but Van Gogh was too seriously absorbed in life and humanity for his paintings ever to degenerate into mere decorations. One of the pictures in which he most completely expressed himself was ‘The Prison Yard’, in which he conjures up wtih forcible economy the tragic aspect of these prisoners pacing their monotonous round, makes the high walls eloquent of the impossibility of escape, and without a touch of sentimentality contrives to express his compassionate pity for these dregs of humanity who are yet ‘men and brothers.’
Post-Impressionism, Cubism, And Futurism (continued)
From Paris Van Gogh went to Arles in the South of France, where he exposed himself to the risks of sunstroke by frequently painting in blazing sunshine without any headcovering. A curious incident made public the fact that he was becoming abnormal. Teasing him for a present, a girl in a café once playfully said to him, ‘Well, if you can’t give me anything else, give me one of your big ears.’ Shortly before Christmas this little waitress, whom the artist admired, was horrified to receive a parcel which was found to contain a freshly severed human ear. Van Gogh was found in bed with his head bleeding and with raging brain fever. Subsequently he was taken to an asylum, but his portrait of himself with a cap on his head and a pipe in his mouth, painted after this breakdown, proves that his hand had not lost its steadiness nor his eye its power to see essentials with brilliant intensity.
In the summer of 1889 he was well enough to leave Arles, and after a short stay in Paris, his brother arranged for him to live in the house of a doctor at Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh appeared to be in the best of health and spirits, and there is no doubt that he fough bravely against the clouds which threatened his keen intellect. But the day came when he felt himself to be a doomed man, with nothing but mental darkness ahead, and on July 28, 1890, in a fit of depression he shot himself fatally. The fact that his mind eventually became unhinged, so that some of the pictures of his last years betray an abnormal vision, does not invalidate the splendid sanity of the bulk of Van Gogh’s productions. Technically Van Gogh got his modelling by sweeping contours, instead of by a series of petty planes, and so gave weight to objects, while cleanly preserving their silhouettes as co-ordinated parts of a decorative design. We are impressed by his strength, as we are by that of Cézanne; but it is not physical strength alone, but also moral force. His color is of a high order and pitch, showing a fine sensibility for the splendor of pigment, but Van Gogh was too seriously absorbed in life and humanity for his paintings ever to degenerate into mere decorations. One of the pictures in which he most completely expressed himself was ‘The Prison Yard’, in which he conjures up wtih forcible economy the tragic aspect of these prisoners pacing their monotonous round, makes the high walls eloquent of the impossibility of escape, and without a touch of sentimentality contrives to express his compassionate pity for these dregs of humanity who are yet ‘men and brothers.’
Post-Impressionism, Cubism, And Futurism (continued)
Art Museums In The Middle East
I found the art museums in the Middle East educational + interesting.
Egyptian Museum
- www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg
Coptic Museum
- www.copticmuseum.gov.eg
Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil and Wife Museum
- www.mkhalilmuseum.gov.eg
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
- www.tehranmoca.com
Darat al Funun Home for the Arts
- www.daratalfunun.org
Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts
- www.nationalgallery.org
Tareq Rajab Museum
- http://trmkt.com
Istanbul Modern
- www.istanbulmodern.org
Egyptian Museum
- www.egyptianmuseum.gov.eg
Coptic Museum
- www.copticmuseum.gov.eg
Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil and Wife Museum
- www.mkhalilmuseum.gov.eg
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
- www.tehranmoca.com
Darat al Funun Home for the Arts
- www.daratalfunun.org
Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts
- www.nationalgallery.org
Tareq Rajab Museum
- http://trmkt.com
Istanbul Modern
- www.istanbulmodern.org
Oum Kalsoum Collection
A necklace (nine rows of pearls with multicolored enamel + white stones) belonging to Oum Kalsoum (a.k.a. The Shining Star of the Middle East), one of the greatest singers of the Arab world, given to the Egyptian singer by the founding president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, will be auctioned by Christies in Dubai, on April 29, 2008.
Useful links:
www.christies.com
www.oumkalthoum.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_Kulthum_(singer)
Useful links:
www.christies.com
www.oumkalthoum.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_Kulthum_(singer)
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Concert Film
U2 3D: Digital 3D imagery + 5.1 Surround Sound = Immersive theatrical experience @ http://www.u23dmovie.com/?section=trailer
Random Thoughts
Creating a meaningful experience requires thoughtful attention to your customers at every point of contact—what I call the 360-degree experience. There are four components to consider when designing the 360-degree experience: Know where you are in the innovation cycle + Know your DNA + Make emotional connections + Design for the complete experience.
- Sohrab Vossoughi, Founder/President, ZIBA Design
www.ziba.com
- Sohrab Vossoughi, Founder/President, ZIBA Design
www.ziba.com
China Pearls and Jewelry City
It has been reported that Man Sang Holdings Inc. has opened its market center in China's Pearls and Jewellery (CP and J) City in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, China + it's amazing to note the huge investment the Zhuji Government has undertaken to promote pearl and jewelry trade in the region.
Useful links:
www.man-sang.com
www.cpjcity.com
Useful links:
www.man-sang.com
www.cpjcity.com
Nudge
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler + Cass R. Sunstein is a great book that conveys important lessons (decision making /choice architecture) in an entertaining way + I really liked this book.
Useful link:
www.nudges.org
Useful link:
www.nudges.org
Thomas Cletscher
(via Diamond Cuts in Historic Jewelry:1381-1910) Herbert Tillander writes:
Very fortunately, the majority of the sketches by Thomas Cletscher (1598-1668) have been preserved, and are now in an album in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam. The drawings themselves date from 1625 to about 1647. They cover a period of rapid development in the evolution of diamond cutting, and include illustrations of actual diamonds of newly introduced types and thus supplement the drawings of contemporary artists.
Cletscher, the son of a wealthy wine merchant, gained much of his experience from his brother-in-law, Jao Colen of Coole, Dean of te Guild of Goldsmiths. In 1650 Cletscher became a professional jeweler and was appointed to the Court of Orange. He became a gem-setter and a specialist in diamonds, and was thus in a position to reproduce with great accuracy the different diamond cuts and their facetings. His drawings and comments five exact details of outline, size, weight, faceting, provenance, and so on. Even those drawings not actually by Cletscher himself are of comparable precision and quality. What he was doing, in fact, was producing a detailed illustrated diary of his family business.
Cletscher eventually became Dean of the Guild of Gold and Silversmiths and Mayor of The Hague. He also had connections with banks and pawnbrokers, as an evaluator and an intermediary in important transactions, such as the pawning and eventual sale in Amsterdam of the British Crown Jewels by Queen Henrietta Maria.
Very fortunately, the majority of the sketches by Thomas Cletscher (1598-1668) have been preserved, and are now in an album in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam. The drawings themselves date from 1625 to about 1647. They cover a period of rapid development in the evolution of diamond cutting, and include illustrations of actual diamonds of newly introduced types and thus supplement the drawings of contemporary artists.
Cletscher, the son of a wealthy wine merchant, gained much of his experience from his brother-in-law, Jao Colen of Coole, Dean of te Guild of Goldsmiths. In 1650 Cletscher became a professional jeweler and was appointed to the Court of Orange. He became a gem-setter and a specialist in diamonds, and was thus in a position to reproduce with great accuracy the different diamond cuts and their facetings. His drawings and comments five exact details of outline, size, weight, faceting, provenance, and so on. Even those drawings not actually by Cletscher himself are of comparable precision and quality. What he was doing, in fact, was producing a detailed illustrated diary of his family business.
Cletscher eventually became Dean of the Guild of Gold and Silversmiths and Mayor of The Hague. He also had connections with banks and pawnbrokers, as an evaluator and an intermediary in important transactions, such as the pawning and eventual sale in Amsterdam of the British Crown Jewels by Queen Henrietta Maria.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)