Ronald Ringsrud has the latest information on emerald production from Colombia's premier mines, Muzo, La Pita and Coscuez + emerald proportions @ www.emeraldmine.com
I found the article on proportions educational + insightful. I learned something new. Thanks, Ron.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Marketing Metaphoria
Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers by Gerald Zaltman + Lindsay H. Zaltman is a great book + I think metaphors/analogies are the best medium to connect the dots, and the book says it all.
Useful link:
www.marketingmetaphoria.com
Useful link:
www.marketingmetaphoria.com
The Art Of Today
(via The Outline of Art) Frank Rutter writes:
From John S Sargent To Augustus John
1
The art of today is a cosmopolitan business. Rapidity of communications and the interchange of international ideas have broken down the old frontiers of thought, so that while painters of various styles can now be found in all civilized countries, the styles throughout the world are very much alike, and it is difficult to make out a case for any distinctive national art. If it be hazardous, however, to assert that there exists at present a ‘British School’, distinct from the schools of painting in France, Spain, Italy, and other countries, it may nevertheless be said with sufficient confidence and today, in the words of Sir Robert Witt, ‘British art stands second to none in the world.’
Writing nearly fifteen years ago, the late Sir Walter Armstrong said: ‘The Pre-Raphaelite revolt is the last great movement which really belongs to the history of British Art. Those developments which have taken place since are more cosmopolitan than British. They have been moves towards assimilating our insular ideas to those of the Continent, which, in painting, means the ideas of France and Holland. Being all moves in one direction, they have had considerable similarity one with another, and it is scarcely worth while to dwell much on the differences which separate the neo-Scots school from that of Newlyn, or both from those franker disciples of Paris who have been so greatly encouraged by the genius of two Americans, Whistler and Sargent.’
Mr John Singer Sargent, R.A, who has been perhaps the greatest influence in portrait painting in our time, was himself Paris-trained. Born at Florence in 1856, the son of American parents—his father being a physician at Boston, USA—Mr Sargent was educated in Italy and Germany, studied paiting under Carolus Duran at Paris, and finally settled in England during the eighties. In his own person, therefore, Mr Sargent represented in the most marked manner the cosmopolitan experiences which go to the making of a modern painter. A word may be said here as to his master, Carolus Duran, who was born at Lille in 1837, for though this painter won the coveted Prix de Rome and spent four years in Italy, he became the leading French portrait painter of his time by reason of his later study of Velazquez in Madrid. Carolus Duran, then, was one of the pioneers who turned away the thought of his contemporaries and pupils from the Italian and Flemish to the Spanish schools of painting, and his art, like that of his still more famous pupil Mr Sargent, is largely derived from Velazquez. The English portraiture of the eighteenth century, as has already been shown, was modelled firstly on the practice of Van Dyck and secondly on that painting towards the middle of the nineteenth century, and still dominant at the present day, is based on the work of Velazquez and Goya.
While many have drawn inspiration from this common source, the results obtained from the following, in the main, the Spanish tradition, have varied considerably according to the individual temperaments of the artists. In Mr Sargent’s painting we see the irrepressible energy which we associate with Transatlantic business enterprise; he was a ‘hustler’ in paint who swept us off our feet by the amazing vivacity of his brushwork and by the almost uncanny actuality with which he set a living being before us. A vigorous draughtsman, using sweeps of paint with economic mastery, Mr Sargent developed powers of psychological penetration which made him supreme in the rendering of character. Some of his male portraits have been so merciless in their unmasking of the real minds of his sitters that they have justified the amusing but apt comment of ‘Mr Dooley’:
‘Stand there,’ he sez, ‘while I tear the ugly black heart out av ye.’
At the same time his ‘Lord Ribblesdale’ proves how noble a rendering of human dignity the artist can achieve when he is in complete sympathy with his sitter, while his brilliant group of ‘Ena and Betty Wertheimer’ is a masterpiece in which warm, living beings are presented with perfect naturalness yet with stately grandeur. The wonderful series of Wertheimer portraits, now in the National Gallery, is at once a revelation of the artist’s power in the expression of different characters and a souvenir of his long association with the astute and esteemed art dealer who, from his earliest days, stoutly affirmed his belief in the genius of Mr Sargent.
Since he first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879, Mr Sargent’s career was one of a steady upward progress. It was not till 1894 that he was elected an A.R.A, but before this he had exhibited with distinction both at the Academy and at the New English Art Club. His early portraits show traces of the influence of the Impressionists, but Mr Sargent’s connection with this school is less obvious in his portraits than in his landscapes and watercolors.
In watercolor Mr Sargent created a new and distinct style which had a great effect on his contemporaries. How skilfully he used it as a brilliant sketching medium may be seen in ‘The Piazzetta, Venice’. Here, like Manet, he saw ‘no lines in Nature,’ but built up a vivid impression of the scene before him by brilliant touches of color and strong contrasts of light and shade. It is a broad, vigorous style which, despite its summariness, gives a marvelous sense of actuality in the hands of a master. Though pre-eminent as a portrait painter and as a sketcher in watercolor, Mr Sargent executed notable works in a variety of styles and media. He painted important decorative works for public buildings in the United States, and he also did some scuplture, notably his ‘Crucifixion’ for the Boston Library, U.S.A, a bronze study for which may be seen in the Tate Gallery.
The Art Of Today (continued)
From John S Sargent To Augustus John
1
The art of today is a cosmopolitan business. Rapidity of communications and the interchange of international ideas have broken down the old frontiers of thought, so that while painters of various styles can now be found in all civilized countries, the styles throughout the world are very much alike, and it is difficult to make out a case for any distinctive national art. If it be hazardous, however, to assert that there exists at present a ‘British School’, distinct from the schools of painting in France, Spain, Italy, and other countries, it may nevertheless be said with sufficient confidence and today, in the words of Sir Robert Witt, ‘British art stands second to none in the world.’
Writing nearly fifteen years ago, the late Sir Walter Armstrong said: ‘The Pre-Raphaelite revolt is the last great movement which really belongs to the history of British Art. Those developments which have taken place since are more cosmopolitan than British. They have been moves towards assimilating our insular ideas to those of the Continent, which, in painting, means the ideas of France and Holland. Being all moves in one direction, they have had considerable similarity one with another, and it is scarcely worth while to dwell much on the differences which separate the neo-Scots school from that of Newlyn, or both from those franker disciples of Paris who have been so greatly encouraged by the genius of two Americans, Whistler and Sargent.’
Mr John Singer Sargent, R.A, who has been perhaps the greatest influence in portrait painting in our time, was himself Paris-trained. Born at Florence in 1856, the son of American parents—his father being a physician at Boston, USA—Mr Sargent was educated in Italy and Germany, studied paiting under Carolus Duran at Paris, and finally settled in England during the eighties. In his own person, therefore, Mr Sargent represented in the most marked manner the cosmopolitan experiences which go to the making of a modern painter. A word may be said here as to his master, Carolus Duran, who was born at Lille in 1837, for though this painter won the coveted Prix de Rome and spent four years in Italy, he became the leading French portrait painter of his time by reason of his later study of Velazquez in Madrid. Carolus Duran, then, was one of the pioneers who turned away the thought of his contemporaries and pupils from the Italian and Flemish to the Spanish schools of painting, and his art, like that of his still more famous pupil Mr Sargent, is largely derived from Velazquez. The English portraiture of the eighteenth century, as has already been shown, was modelled firstly on the practice of Van Dyck and secondly on that painting towards the middle of the nineteenth century, and still dominant at the present day, is based on the work of Velazquez and Goya.
While many have drawn inspiration from this common source, the results obtained from the following, in the main, the Spanish tradition, have varied considerably according to the individual temperaments of the artists. In Mr Sargent’s painting we see the irrepressible energy which we associate with Transatlantic business enterprise; he was a ‘hustler’ in paint who swept us off our feet by the amazing vivacity of his brushwork and by the almost uncanny actuality with which he set a living being before us. A vigorous draughtsman, using sweeps of paint with economic mastery, Mr Sargent developed powers of psychological penetration which made him supreme in the rendering of character. Some of his male portraits have been so merciless in their unmasking of the real minds of his sitters that they have justified the amusing but apt comment of ‘Mr Dooley’:
‘Stand there,’ he sez, ‘while I tear the ugly black heart out av ye.’
At the same time his ‘Lord Ribblesdale’ proves how noble a rendering of human dignity the artist can achieve when he is in complete sympathy with his sitter, while his brilliant group of ‘Ena and Betty Wertheimer’ is a masterpiece in which warm, living beings are presented with perfect naturalness yet with stately grandeur. The wonderful series of Wertheimer portraits, now in the National Gallery, is at once a revelation of the artist’s power in the expression of different characters and a souvenir of his long association with the astute and esteemed art dealer who, from his earliest days, stoutly affirmed his belief in the genius of Mr Sargent.
Since he first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1879, Mr Sargent’s career was one of a steady upward progress. It was not till 1894 that he was elected an A.R.A, but before this he had exhibited with distinction both at the Academy and at the New English Art Club. His early portraits show traces of the influence of the Impressionists, but Mr Sargent’s connection with this school is less obvious in his portraits than in his landscapes and watercolors.
In watercolor Mr Sargent created a new and distinct style which had a great effect on his contemporaries. How skilfully he used it as a brilliant sketching medium may be seen in ‘The Piazzetta, Venice’. Here, like Manet, he saw ‘no lines in Nature,’ but built up a vivid impression of the scene before him by brilliant touches of color and strong contrasts of light and shade. It is a broad, vigorous style which, despite its summariness, gives a marvelous sense of actuality in the hands of a master. Though pre-eminent as a portrait painter and as a sketcher in watercolor, Mr Sargent executed notable works in a variety of styles and media. He painted important decorative works for public buildings in the United States, and he also did some scuplture, notably his ‘Crucifixion’ for the Boston Library, U.S.A, a bronze study for which may be seen in the Tate Gallery.
The Art Of Today (continued)
Monday, May 05, 2008
Invention Session
I thoroughly enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's article In the Air @ http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all. It was brilliant + insightful. He was spot on.
Useful link:
www.gladwell.com
Useful link:
www.gladwell.com
Tan Dun
(via Wiki) Tan Dun is a Chinese contemporary classical composer, most widely known for his Grammy and Oscar-award winning scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.
I've always enjoyed his music.
Useful links:
www.tandunonline.com
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/04/arts/04dunt.php
I've always enjoyed his music.
Useful links:
www.tandunonline.com
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/04/arts/04dunt.php
BarberOsgerby
I really liked BarberOsgerby's designs because it's simple, has energy and consistent elegance.
Useful link:
www.barberosgerby.com
Useful link:
www.barberosgerby.com
Canadian Diamonds
Canada is now on the top of the pyramid as a rough diamond producer. Martin Irving is an expert on Canadian diamonds. He knows inside out the location and the available infrastructure which is crucial in determining the economic viability of the project.
Useful link:
www.diamondconsultants.ca
Useful link:
www.diamondconsultants.ca
Call Of The Mall
Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping by the Author of Why We Buy by Paco Underhill is an interesting retail research book on consumer behavior + tricks of the trade. I liked it.
Useful link:
www.envirosell.com
Useful link:
www.envirosell.com
Art During The Great War
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
The artisitc activity of Great Britain was at its height in 1917. In March the Imperial War Museum was instituted, and during the summer the Canadian War Memorials Fund was founded by Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere, who, acting under competent expert advice, accumulated a notable collection of pictures. When the collection was exhibited at Burlington House, prior to its dispatch to Canada, the work of the younger artists revealed to a significant degree the new spirit that was abroad in art. Nevinson and Nash were no longer alone; other artists of their own generation exhibited war pictures in which similar tendencies could be discerned. Conspicuous among those who stressed the Cubist point of view, presenting soldiers as automata and emphasizing the mechanism of war, were Messrs. P Wyndham Lewis and William Roberts; still more numerous were those who adopted a post-Impressionist simplication of statement, among the most prominent members of this school being the brothers Stanley and Gilbert Spencer, Messrs. Paul and John Nash, and Mr Henry Lamb. Pictures by all these artists and many others were also acquired for the Imperial War Museum.
Mr Henry Lamb, another member of the New English Art Club who had attracted attention before the War by his powers of drawing and the emotional force in his pictures, was a comparative late comer; for having been formerly a medical student he was fully accupied with Red Cross work up to and following the Armistice. When he resumed the brush, however, it was seen that he had taken notes during his services in Macedonia, and his picture ‘Advanced Dressing Station on the Struma, 1916’, now in the Manchester Art Gallery, is a notable contribution to the pictorial exposition of the psychology of war. It is not the excitement or frenzy of fighting that Mr Lamb shows us, but the boredom and dreariness of the men who are waiting for untterable things to happen. Precisely drawn, wonderfully clear and simple in its design, this painting depicts a quiet moment in the campaigner’s life, a moment when the weariness of all concerned finds abundant expression.
To deal with all the artists who painted war pictures between 1914 and 1918 is obviously beyond the scope of this chapter, and therefore the work of many eminent painters—several of whom will be referred to subsequently—must be passed over in silence for the moment. Turning to a new subject does not necessarily change an artist’s style, and it is the evolution of a new style rather than the discovery of a new subject which vitally affects the history of art. The number of Official Artists appointed was evidence of the curious way in which the War persuaded a ‘Business Government’ to treat art with more seriousness and consideration than it had yet received in Great Britain. While many artists, like Sir John Lavery and Mr Muirhead Bone, continued their former style and practice when engaged on these new subjects, other artists, as we have seen, were fired by their experiences in the trenches to the invention of new styles for the expression of new emotions. This direct or indirect influence of the War on art was not limited only to the artists who had served abroad; occasionally it made itself felt in the work of the men who stayed at home.
The most remarkable war picture in the Royal Academy of 1918 had for its subject a London ‘Tube’ station during an air raid. Mr Walter Baye’s great canvas ‘The Underworld’ is a vigorous and haunting painting which in its style approaches the new manner of post-Impressionism. Designed as a mural decoration, the picture shows an appropriate monumental treatment of the alien figures who sprawl about the platform. The faces are not English faces, but on occasions such as the artist depicts London’s underworld was full of these types. Mr Bayes ably commemorates in their characteristic attitudes and dishevelled condition the dreary languor of these semi-orientals waiting in safety for the ‘All clear’ signal which will tell them it is safe to return to the surface of the Metropolis. Mr Walter Bayes, who is the Head of the Westminster School of Art and a member of a well-known family of artists, had long been known as a decorative painter of great talent, but he had never previously produced a painting so precious as a human document.
The public, as well as the technical expert, can appreciate good drawing, attractive color, and well balanced design; but these things alone will not serve to capture its imagination. It demands rightly that a picture should contain an idea or an emotion that can be clearly grasped. To some artists—mostly of the younger generation—the War afforded the most astounding experience they had ever undergone, and, overwhelmed by it, they burst through the barriers of school-taught orthodox painting to express with a primitive ferocity the intensity of their own sensations. By placing on permanent record, not only the scenes caused but the emotions evoked by the War, they have rendered services to both History and Art which posterity will know how to value.
The artisitc activity of Great Britain was at its height in 1917. In March the Imperial War Museum was instituted, and during the summer the Canadian War Memorials Fund was founded by Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere, who, acting under competent expert advice, accumulated a notable collection of pictures. When the collection was exhibited at Burlington House, prior to its dispatch to Canada, the work of the younger artists revealed to a significant degree the new spirit that was abroad in art. Nevinson and Nash were no longer alone; other artists of their own generation exhibited war pictures in which similar tendencies could be discerned. Conspicuous among those who stressed the Cubist point of view, presenting soldiers as automata and emphasizing the mechanism of war, were Messrs. P Wyndham Lewis and William Roberts; still more numerous were those who adopted a post-Impressionist simplication of statement, among the most prominent members of this school being the brothers Stanley and Gilbert Spencer, Messrs. Paul and John Nash, and Mr Henry Lamb. Pictures by all these artists and many others were also acquired for the Imperial War Museum.
Mr Henry Lamb, another member of the New English Art Club who had attracted attention before the War by his powers of drawing and the emotional force in his pictures, was a comparative late comer; for having been formerly a medical student he was fully accupied with Red Cross work up to and following the Armistice. When he resumed the brush, however, it was seen that he had taken notes during his services in Macedonia, and his picture ‘Advanced Dressing Station on the Struma, 1916’, now in the Manchester Art Gallery, is a notable contribution to the pictorial exposition of the psychology of war. It is not the excitement or frenzy of fighting that Mr Lamb shows us, but the boredom and dreariness of the men who are waiting for untterable things to happen. Precisely drawn, wonderfully clear and simple in its design, this painting depicts a quiet moment in the campaigner’s life, a moment when the weariness of all concerned finds abundant expression.
To deal with all the artists who painted war pictures between 1914 and 1918 is obviously beyond the scope of this chapter, and therefore the work of many eminent painters—several of whom will be referred to subsequently—must be passed over in silence for the moment. Turning to a new subject does not necessarily change an artist’s style, and it is the evolution of a new style rather than the discovery of a new subject which vitally affects the history of art. The number of Official Artists appointed was evidence of the curious way in which the War persuaded a ‘Business Government’ to treat art with more seriousness and consideration than it had yet received in Great Britain. While many artists, like Sir John Lavery and Mr Muirhead Bone, continued their former style and practice when engaged on these new subjects, other artists, as we have seen, were fired by their experiences in the trenches to the invention of new styles for the expression of new emotions. This direct or indirect influence of the War on art was not limited only to the artists who had served abroad; occasionally it made itself felt in the work of the men who stayed at home.
The most remarkable war picture in the Royal Academy of 1918 had for its subject a London ‘Tube’ station during an air raid. Mr Walter Baye’s great canvas ‘The Underworld’ is a vigorous and haunting painting which in its style approaches the new manner of post-Impressionism. Designed as a mural decoration, the picture shows an appropriate monumental treatment of the alien figures who sprawl about the platform. The faces are not English faces, but on occasions such as the artist depicts London’s underworld was full of these types. Mr Bayes ably commemorates in their characteristic attitudes and dishevelled condition the dreary languor of these semi-orientals waiting in safety for the ‘All clear’ signal which will tell them it is safe to return to the surface of the Metropolis. Mr Walter Bayes, who is the Head of the Westminster School of Art and a member of a well-known family of artists, had long been known as a decorative painter of great talent, but he had never previously produced a painting so precious as a human document.
The public, as well as the technical expert, can appreciate good drawing, attractive color, and well balanced design; but these things alone will not serve to capture its imagination. It demands rightly that a picture should contain an idea or an emotion that can be clearly grasped. To some artists—mostly of the younger generation—the War afforded the most astounding experience they had ever undergone, and, overwhelmed by it, they burst through the barriers of school-taught orthodox painting to express with a primitive ferocity the intensity of their own sensations. By placing on permanent record, not only the scenes caused but the emotions evoked by the War, they have rendered services to both History and Art which posterity will know how to value.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Bordeaux Wine Tasting
The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux organizes wine tasting for professionals (by invitation only) during the first week of April every year, but on each May, the group also puts on a big tasting event that's open to the public, called 'Le Weekend des Grands Amateurs.'
Sign up @ www.wga-ugcb.com
Useful link:
www.ugcb.net
Sign up @ www.wga-ugcb.com
Useful link:
www.ugcb.net
Random Thoughts
(via Fortune) Even when we started Google, we thought, "Oh, we might fail," and we almost didn't do it. The reason we started is that Stanford said, "You guys can come back and finish your Ph.D.s if you don't succeed." Probably that one decision caused Google to be created. It's not clear we would have done it otherwise. We had all this internal risk we had just invented. It's not that we were going to starve or not get jobs or not have a good life or whatever, but you have this fear of failing and of doing something new, which is very natural. In order to do stuff that matters, you need to overcome that.
- Larry Page, President, Google
I think he was spot on.
- Larry Page, President, Google
I think he was spot on.
Iron Man Movie
(via Wiki) Iron Man is a 2008 superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Iron Man. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film is about Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a billionaire industrialist who is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan. Ordered to build a missile for them, Stark uses his resources instead to build a powered exoskeleton to make his escape. Returning to the United States, Stark improves his armor and becomes the technologically advanced superhero Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays jet pilot James Rhodes, and Jeff Bridges plays Obadiah Stane.
I think Iron Man is a solid film that will appeal to a wide audience + a talented cast and crew have created a great movie.
Useful links:
http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhgzIM-9lfA
I think Iron Man is a solid film that will appeal to a wide audience + a talented cast and crew have created a great movie.
Useful links:
http://ironmanmovie.marvel.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhgzIM-9lfA
Nathaniel's Nutmeg
Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History by Giles Milton is a great book on the history of spice trade by the Dutch and English trading companies + the courageous and tragic characters + this book definitely brings the period to life.
Heard On The Street
A person's character is determined by the things he does when no one is watching.
Paraiba Tourmaline Controversy
David Federman writes about the pros and cons with the origin name Paraiba + provenance issues and the impact @ http://www.colored-stone.com/stories/may08/paraiba.cfm
I think Dave Federman was spot on.
I think Dave Federman was spot on.
Art: The Best And The Rest
Carol Vogel writes about the multibillion dollar art market and the speculators + the gamble/face-saving strategies by the auction houses and the impact + other viewpoints @ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/arts/design/04voge.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
$25 Billion And Counting
Eileen Kinsella writes about the exponentially larger private art markets (Russia, Asia, the Middle East) + other viewpoints @ http://www.artnewsonline.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=2487
Art During The Great War
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
4
Some two months after these last appointments, a small collection of water colors of ‘The Ypres Salient’ was exhibited at the Goupil Gallery. They were the work of a young soldier, Mr Paul Nash, who then was practically unknown, though he and his brother John Nash had already exhibited at the New English Art Club water colors which had attracted attention among connoisseurs by reason of their unsophisticated simplicity and naive charm. Though enthusiastically welcomed by some of the leading art critics, Mr Nash’s first exhibition passed almost unnoticed by the public, but a second exhibition of his war drawings, held later at the Leicester Galleries, aroused widespread interest, and the publication by Country Life of a book of his water colors established his reputation as an original artist who had and could express poignantly his own vision of the War. In the introduction to this volume of reproductions, Capt C E Montague wrote:
In drawing strange places so strangely Mr Nash contrives to bring back to the mind the strange things felt by men who were there at moments of stress. One does not see with the eyes alone, but with brain and nerves too, and if these are worked upon in unusual ways, then the messages brought in by the little waves of light that break on delicate shores in the eye are changed—some may say disturned or blurred; others may say refined into an uncommon rightness, not to be had at other times. If an artist succeeds in expressing effects of such changes, his works may well delight some of those who have felt the changes go on in themselves.
A picture like ‘Sunrise: Inverness Copse’, may not be ‘true’ as the camera sees truth; but it is true to the memory of a nerve-racked fighting man. Granted that it contain exaggerations, they are exaggerations of significant elements in the scene. The lumps and holes in the foreground are a pointed commentary on the deeply pit-marked earth exposed to constant shelling. Mr Paul Nash paints his subjects as seen by the mind’s eye, and the mind of man ever enlarges that which it has cause to fear. A sensitive and emotional artist, Mr Nash paints in these water colors not only what he has seen, but what he has felt. As a landscape painter, what he felt most deeply was the abomination of desolation caused by war. Whereas Nevinson showed us soldiers as cogs in the war machine, Nash presented the Earth as a tortured and violated entity. These two painters, the first realist, the second imaginative, each formed and inspired by the War, were the complement of each other. Nevinson showed the complicated, man-driven machinery of war; Nash its devastating effects. Many other artists of great skill and talent painted pictures of the War which were perhaps more pleasant to look upon; but none exhibited its inner ghastliness with more power, originality, and intensity of feeling. By midsummer 1917 the best judges of modern painting were convinced that the two men who had most to say about the War in paint were C R W Nevinson and Paul Nash. Representations were made to the proper authorities, with the result that during the next few months a new batch of ‘Official Artists’ included Messers C R W Nevinson, Paul Nash, Eric Kennington, and Sir John Lavery. As became his age and position, Sir John Lavery—who was born at Belfast in 1857—was enlisted, so to speak, for ‘home service’. ‘The Royal Naval Division, Crystal Palace, 1916’ is an excellent example of the war pictures—charming in their delicate color and atmosphere—which Sir John was able to paint without crossing the seas. Happy in its Whistlerian impressionism, in which Sir John is an adept, this picture is entirely worthy of the reputation of one of our leading portrait painters, but it is no new revelation either of the spirit of the times or of the significance of war.
Art During The Great War (continued)
4
Some two months after these last appointments, a small collection of water colors of ‘The Ypres Salient’ was exhibited at the Goupil Gallery. They were the work of a young soldier, Mr Paul Nash, who then was practically unknown, though he and his brother John Nash had already exhibited at the New English Art Club water colors which had attracted attention among connoisseurs by reason of their unsophisticated simplicity and naive charm. Though enthusiastically welcomed by some of the leading art critics, Mr Nash’s first exhibition passed almost unnoticed by the public, but a second exhibition of his war drawings, held later at the Leicester Galleries, aroused widespread interest, and the publication by Country Life of a book of his water colors established his reputation as an original artist who had and could express poignantly his own vision of the War. In the introduction to this volume of reproductions, Capt C E Montague wrote:
In drawing strange places so strangely Mr Nash contrives to bring back to the mind the strange things felt by men who were there at moments of stress. One does not see with the eyes alone, but with brain and nerves too, and if these are worked upon in unusual ways, then the messages brought in by the little waves of light that break on delicate shores in the eye are changed—some may say disturned or blurred; others may say refined into an uncommon rightness, not to be had at other times. If an artist succeeds in expressing effects of such changes, his works may well delight some of those who have felt the changes go on in themselves.
A picture like ‘Sunrise: Inverness Copse’, may not be ‘true’ as the camera sees truth; but it is true to the memory of a nerve-racked fighting man. Granted that it contain exaggerations, they are exaggerations of significant elements in the scene. The lumps and holes in the foreground are a pointed commentary on the deeply pit-marked earth exposed to constant shelling. Mr Paul Nash paints his subjects as seen by the mind’s eye, and the mind of man ever enlarges that which it has cause to fear. A sensitive and emotional artist, Mr Nash paints in these water colors not only what he has seen, but what he has felt. As a landscape painter, what he felt most deeply was the abomination of desolation caused by war. Whereas Nevinson showed us soldiers as cogs in the war machine, Nash presented the Earth as a tortured and violated entity. These two painters, the first realist, the second imaginative, each formed and inspired by the War, were the complement of each other. Nevinson showed the complicated, man-driven machinery of war; Nash its devastating effects. Many other artists of great skill and talent painted pictures of the War which were perhaps more pleasant to look upon; but none exhibited its inner ghastliness with more power, originality, and intensity of feeling. By midsummer 1917 the best judges of modern painting were convinced that the two men who had most to say about the War in paint were C R W Nevinson and Paul Nash. Representations were made to the proper authorities, with the result that during the next few months a new batch of ‘Official Artists’ included Messers C R W Nevinson, Paul Nash, Eric Kennington, and Sir John Lavery. As became his age and position, Sir John Lavery—who was born at Belfast in 1857—was enlisted, so to speak, for ‘home service’. ‘The Royal Naval Division, Crystal Palace, 1916’ is an excellent example of the war pictures—charming in their delicate color and atmosphere—which Sir John was able to paint without crossing the seas. Happy in its Whistlerian impressionism, in which Sir John is an adept, this picture is entirely worthy of the reputation of one of our leading portrait painters, but it is no new revelation either of the spirit of the times or of the significance of war.
Art During The Great War (continued)
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Find Of A Lifetime
Geologists prospecting for diamonds off the coast of Namibia were lucky enough to find a 500-year-old shipwreck (Portuguese/Spanish) with tons of copper ingots, elephant tusks, gold coins ++ I think the leaky vessel may have caught up in a storm or the cargo (treasures) may have been too heavy, tipping the ship.
Useful links:
www.namdeb.com
www.noaa.gov
Useful links:
www.namdeb.com
www.noaa.gov
Art During The Great War
(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:
3
‘Often,’ says a character in one of Sundermann’s novels, ‘Art leads us astray because she has deliberately tried to reflect something quite different from the spirit of her time.’ Many visitors to the Royal Academy and other exhibitions in 1915 and 1916 felt vaguely that the pictures they saw there were leading them astray. Mr Kennington’s picture and the paintings of Mr Nevinson acted on them differently, because these seemed truer to the spirit of the time. The outworn conventions of the older artists seemed powerless to convey an adequate expression of the clash of the world conflict, and possibly it was the general failure of well-known and eminent painters to deal with the War that led the British Government to select a black-and-white artist as the first ‘Official Artist.’ In addition to the useful propaganda work accomplished by poster artists and cartoonists, it was felt that the nation should possess permanent records of typical scenes and episodes in the greatest war the world had ever known. The outcome of this feeling was the appointment in August 1916 of Mr Muirhead Bone as an official artist on the Western Front. The appointment was eminently appropriate, for Mr Bone’s known ability to make memorable designs from scaffolding and the demolition of buildings argued that he was the right man to depict the havoc of war.
Born at Glasgow in 1867, Mr Muirhead Bone came to London in 1901, and was a prominent member of the New English Art Club long before the War. His masterly etchings and drawings of architectural subjects have long been highly prized by connoisseurs. In 1915-16 Mr Bone had devoted much of his time to the interpretation of British war industries, sketching ‘The Building of a Liner’, ‘The Yards on the Clyde,’ and similar subjects. After his new appointment the regular publication in parts, from the Office of Country Life, of reproductions of Mr Bone’s drawings made on the Western Front, opened a new era in the pictorial treatment of the War. Drawings like the ‘Sketch in Albert’ show with what economy and distinction Mr Bone achieved his task of presenting with pictorial dignity and actual truth the aspect of ravaged buildings and wasted landscape. Though Mr Bone’s reputation was made before the War, these portfolios increased his admirers a hundredfold, and the unexpected popularity and wide demand for his books of sketches soon convinced the authorities that there was room and to spare for another official artists.
In April 1917 Mr James McBey, another Scottish artist, born in Aberdeenshire in 1883, who was akin in style to Mr Bone, and also chiefly known for his etchings and drawings, was appointed the Official Artist for Egypt and Palestine. The same month Sir William Orpen, R.A, was sent to France as an official artist. A large collection of the paintings he made there was freely presented by the artist to the nation and may be seen in the Imperial War Museum.
Art During The Great War (continued)
3
‘Often,’ says a character in one of Sundermann’s novels, ‘Art leads us astray because she has deliberately tried to reflect something quite different from the spirit of her time.’ Many visitors to the Royal Academy and other exhibitions in 1915 and 1916 felt vaguely that the pictures they saw there were leading them astray. Mr Kennington’s picture and the paintings of Mr Nevinson acted on them differently, because these seemed truer to the spirit of the time. The outworn conventions of the older artists seemed powerless to convey an adequate expression of the clash of the world conflict, and possibly it was the general failure of well-known and eminent painters to deal with the War that led the British Government to select a black-and-white artist as the first ‘Official Artist.’ In addition to the useful propaganda work accomplished by poster artists and cartoonists, it was felt that the nation should possess permanent records of typical scenes and episodes in the greatest war the world had ever known. The outcome of this feeling was the appointment in August 1916 of Mr Muirhead Bone as an official artist on the Western Front. The appointment was eminently appropriate, for Mr Bone’s known ability to make memorable designs from scaffolding and the demolition of buildings argued that he was the right man to depict the havoc of war.
Born at Glasgow in 1867, Mr Muirhead Bone came to London in 1901, and was a prominent member of the New English Art Club long before the War. His masterly etchings and drawings of architectural subjects have long been highly prized by connoisseurs. In 1915-16 Mr Bone had devoted much of his time to the interpretation of British war industries, sketching ‘The Building of a Liner’, ‘The Yards on the Clyde,’ and similar subjects. After his new appointment the regular publication in parts, from the Office of Country Life, of reproductions of Mr Bone’s drawings made on the Western Front, opened a new era in the pictorial treatment of the War. Drawings like the ‘Sketch in Albert’ show with what economy and distinction Mr Bone achieved his task of presenting with pictorial dignity and actual truth the aspect of ravaged buildings and wasted landscape. Though Mr Bone’s reputation was made before the War, these portfolios increased his admirers a hundredfold, and the unexpected popularity and wide demand for his books of sketches soon convinced the authorities that there was room and to spare for another official artists.
In April 1917 Mr James McBey, another Scottish artist, born in Aberdeenshire in 1883, who was akin in style to Mr Bone, and also chiefly known for his etchings and drawings, was appointed the Official Artist for Egypt and Palestine. The same month Sir William Orpen, R.A, was sent to France as an official artist. A large collection of the paintings he made there was freely presented by the artist to the nation and may be seen in the Imperial War Museum.
Art During The Great War (continued)
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