European Jewelry: Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries

(via 5000 Years of Gems and Jewelry) Frances Rogers and Alice Beard writes:

1. Rococo

Long after the death of Louis XIV the ‘Grand Monarque style’ continued to influence the world of fashion, spreading into many other lands besides France.

Now there had been certain rules of proportion and composition of design drawn up by the purists of the Renaissance; nevertheless, when the jeweler broke a few of these mandates and introduced a carefree twirl of golden ribbons or a forbidden scallop there was undoubted charm in the result. But as time went on the propensity to ignore all fundamental rules of design increased, in some instances, to the point of absurdity. Scrolls, curlicues, ill-proportioned masses and gimcrack detail invaded many fields of art and craft besides that of jewelry. This fantastic style of design is known as rococo, and it lasted well into the eighteenth century, with reverberations in the nineteenth century.

Since the new method of faceting diamonds had centered interest in this gem, quantities of diamonds had reached England; these and other large stones were mounted by the goldsmith in rococo settings, while the artist in fine metalwork played only second fiddle.

Reversing the fable of the ugly duckling, the once charming fledgling known as rococo, grew into a lumpish and ungainly maturity during the next half century.

European Jewelry: Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries (continued)

Natural Landscape

(via The Outline of Art) William Orpen writes:

3

Another great landscape painter who during his lifetime never took the place in the world that his genius warranted was John Crome, frequently called ‘Old Crome,’ to distinguish him from his son, who also became a painter. Crome, who was born at Norwich on December 21, 1769, was the son of a poor weaver and began life as an errand boy, carrying bottles of medicine for a doctor, but when he was about fourteen or fifteen his love of art led him to apprentice himself to a house and sign painter. While following his trade during his apprenticeship, Crome took every opportunity of sketching the picturesque scenery which surrounds his native city. He was very, very poor, but he persevered and his perseverance gained him friends.

Chief among these friends was Mr Thomas Harvey, of Catton in Norfolk, who possessed a fine picture gallery and encouraged Crome to study and make copies of the pictures he had collected. Mr Harvey’s collection included landscapes by Richard Wilson—by whom Crome was greatly influenced—Gainsborough’s ‘Cottage Door,’ and many fine examples of the Dutch painters of the seventeenth century, notably Hobbema, for whose art Crome then conceived a passionate admiration which lasted all his life. Mr Harvey not only introduced Crome to other Norwich amateurs, but also obtained him some pupils to whom he taught drawing, though at this time the artist was only an awkward, uninformed country lad, whose deficiencies of education were to some extent compensated for by his great gifts and his natural shrewdness.

Meanwhile Crome had formed an intimate friendship with a lad of his own class, Robert Ladbrooke (1770-1842), then a printer’s apprentice, but also ambitious to become an artist. After living together for some two years, Crome and Ladbrooke married sisters, and abandoning their original trades they established themselves in partnership as artists, Ladbrooke painting portraits at five shillings apiece, and Crome selling his landscapes for what they would fetch—which was not always as much as five shillings! But for Crome’s practice as a drawing-master he could hardly have kept himself, let alone a family, in these early years, but gradually he acquired a local reputation and his landscapes found occasional purchasers, though at pitifully low prices.

In February 1803 Crome gathered round him the artists of his native city for their mutual improvement, and from this beginning arose the Norwich Society of Artists, founded in 1805. The Society held annual exhibitions to which Crome was a large contributor, for he rarely sent his pictures to London for exhibition and consequently was little known there. Crome’s pupils and associates, among whom the most distinguished were John Sell Cotman, James Stark (1794-1859), George Vincent, and his eldest son John Bernay Crome, formed what is known as the ‘Norwich School.’ The inspiration of this school was derived chiefly from Crome, but also from the Dutch painters by whom he was influenced.

Natural Landscape (continued)

Perspective

Watches and jewelry are categories that you can hold back on. It's really a luxury in the sense of it's not a necessity whatsoever. And that's its vulnerability in more challenging times.
- Milton Pedraza, CEO, The Luxury Institute
www.luxuryinstitute.com

I think he is right + we are living in interesting times.

Philanthropy Movement

According to Giving USA, U.S charitable giving in 2006 totaled $295 billion, up from $183 billion in 2003 + the total non-profit sector has grown faster than the business sector in terms of dollars and the number of organizations + as they say the best teachers are practitioners + talk to people you know.

Useful links:
www.aafrc.org
www.bridgespangroup.org
www.gatesfoundation.org
www.hewlett.org
www.clarkfoundation.org
www.robinhood.org
www.tigerfoundation.org
www.philanthropyroundtable.org
www.foundationstrategy.com
www.givingforum.org

Saffront Art Online Auction

The Saffronart spring online auction of modern Indian art works will take place March 12-13, 2008 and feature 140 works by 55 artists + paintings of Surendran Nair/Atul Dodiya /A Balasubramaniam/Subodh Gupta ++++

Useful link:
www.saffronart.com

Contemporary Art In The Mekong Region

Kamol Sukin writes about a historic contemporary-art event in Bangkok, a two-year process to introduce the art-curator profession into Mekong countries + the process of selecting artists and art pieces in their home towns and discussing each piece with the others, both online and in person + other viewpoints @ http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/02/10/headlines/headlines_30064932.php

Gold Market

According to World Gold Council + Shanghai Gold Exchange, China has overtaken the United States to become the second biggest market in the world for gold and gold jewelry + the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) report shows sales of gold and gold products on the Chinese mainland, a record high in 2007 at 316.49 trillion yuan (£22.68 trillion) + it's the world's top gold producer, ending South Africa's 102-year reign.

Useful links:
www.gold.org
www.sge.sh
www.gfms.co.uk

The Three Gorges Dam

Find out more about The Three Gorges Dam @ www.ctgpc.com + it's one of the great official modernisation projects in China, for the sake of energy +++++