Ballet Workers

I'll be going to this exhibit at The Phillips Collection more than once, I know. I remember a reproduction of a Degas painting & some (repro) drawings at my maternal grandmother's house. I never had the reaction that others did of "oooh pretty." I liked them very much but I remember saying/thinking: They're working so hard that it might hurt. And also it might be boring sometimes. I learned not a few years later (through a sister & later on, friends) that this could often be the case. Not that they would trade their training for anything. So there you are.

There's also a Degas exhibit on in Boston (nudes) & one at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. There are some good articles in the New York Times & a good slideshow on The Guardian. Here's the Degas label on The Guardian, too, so you can see all the article titles at once.

I hope to post more regularly as autumn marches on. But I've said that before. Part of the problem is deciding how to use the space. I've not been writing from prompts as much as I did at the beginning. Maybe I don't have to define what I'm doing but it feels like I should.

(Dancers at the Barre/Phillips Collection via Wikipedia)

Fragmented Flowers

Singaporean photographer Fong Qi Wei went deeper than just taking photos of flowers and created an amazing series of Exploded Flowers – images that show the radial symmetry of flowers.--from DeMilked (via Illusion)

A lovely & clever art project. See the entire series, here.

I had these on GG blog but I really like them so now they're here....and...I just noticed that I still have on nightclothes. Oops. *Damn you, Twitter*

Light Painting

A technique by Man Ray & utilized by many, light painting has been realized in the most beautiful (& therapeutic) manner by Denis Smith. See the article & links at Illusion. I can't do a better job than they do.

Have a great start to the new week!

(via Illusion)

My Business, With the Cloud

There is a new exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art & I will see it (the title is same as post, I'm not that clever). I don't like to say anything until I have done so, but the reasons are vented below. (So you can stop reading if you're sick of venting. However, it is not political venting.) Here's the review in The Washington Post. Update: Really, really click through the first link. Spencer Finch is such a wonderful artist & the little video is well-done.

The above wasn't in the plan (such as it is) but Strasbourg & environs photo searches have made it clear that the new-to-me printer must be installed to scan personal ugly old photographs. Too many online are quite nice--too nice. They do not capture the way it was then; it's too cleaned up, too fancy. Isn't there something between falling apart & overly groomed artifice? Yes, of course.

I inside-my-head shrieked as dishevelled people ambled by an Amnesty Int'l table (where I was turned down more than once by Muslim-phobe liberals & left wingers about petition signing, so there ya go, oof. No one "side" has purchase on idiocy, though it leans heavily...oh I said, no political venting.). I felt a paragon of style in jeans, a clean linen shirt, & sandals. Seriously. My hair was brushed. What is it with Americans walking about in pajamas & disgusting, stinky footwear? I thought, wow, if we were in the poorest neighborhood in Rome, it wouldn't look like this. The junkies clean up more than these people. Believe me, there are a lot of slobs in Rome. But during a festival or on Sunday, people do put on clothes before leaving home.

So it would seem, Haughty Madame, that you are advocating shabbiness in towns, but not people? No, of course not. But some places I lived, visited quite often have spiffed up so much that it's off-putting, sterile. I can almost (almost!) understand people who visit those theme parks (& Las Vegas) & pretend that they're Europe.

There are a couple of good shots of what I want & I'll post those later. Seems that if I write poems & prose (not travel writing) about Strasbourg & Alsace, I'll have a market, if I can create it. (Tim Walker photograph via the Telegraph)

The Museum Goer

Prepare to gag, personnes unfamiliar with Giulia Geranium. That's where I get my twee on. I keep hearing from others who are under-the-weather & beyond. this week. I share your pain; feel better, take good care. I like these photographs & there are some posts over at GG about Phillips Collection love. (For the uninitiated, it's a lovely little museum in DC; its influence is larger than its size. Sort of like The New Yorker's base subscription level. God, I'm a wonk. Shriek.) So the conceit is that I am GG's editor & complete servant. She wants to go to the Phillips & start a salon in the café. If I type more, I'll chicken out. So for those who were subjected to this yesterday, all apologies. (But really--what were you thinking falling for this nonsense, twice?)

************
Tuesday at the Phillips with GG

GG is having a righteous rumpus. Her feline heart is set on becoming a patroness of the arts, particularly at the Phillips Collection. The day may come when we'll have to rent the café & throw her a big party. The Phillips Collection was voted Washington's best museum AND art gallery by City Paper readers recently. Some young'uns--the hordes of mid-20s-30ish folks recently descended upon our city--think they discovered it. Au contraire, nos amis. (Though we're happy to have you on board.)

The Phillips was a hang-out for GG's editor when she was still an official teenager, recently returned from France. "Meet you under the Matisse" meant she could be found sitting on a lumpy bottle-green velvet sofa in the music room (under a Matisse). We'd love to see GG sleeping on that sofa; we miss it terribly--including the lumps. The jewel-box space has become too manicured for our taste; but like an old friend--you still love them, even with (too much) Botox.

Some favorite paintings at the Collection are by Bonnard. Above, The Palm & La Côte d'Azur, respectively. The museum goer (looking just like GG's editor) is by Nina Leen. She's trying to divine from an egg-shaped objet d'art, "What will the Easter Bunny bring GG?"

ciao-meow/GG's art curator & party planner

[Bonnard images via artchive.com & Nina Leen photograph via LIFE archives]

Sylvie in Silhouette

Tina Tarnoff sent this original papercut of French ballerina Sylvie Guillem in a package as a surprise. Isn't it beautiful? (I don't know how Tina still has her eyesight.) More tomorrow night, but I thought this would be pretty for anyone wandering over here on a Sunday night. Then they can just wander on over to see Tina's blog & shop & exhibition news. I don't know if she is full-up with holiday orders, though she is really busy--that I do know. Ah, a new post on Thought Patterns is up, so signs of life in her San Francisco studio. (Thank goodness!) Good night...

Another Roman storm approaches...

Museo della terme, Roma. Fun making it look like it felt--humid, electric expectation, yellow, thrilling (saturation, tint, & who knows what else I did to this, can't remember, doesn't matter...) Leaving in the clickability feature, whatever feedburner says. It's weirder in larger size. ciao.

Villa Giulia in Sepia

...an October storm was on its way. Villa Giulia, Etruscan museum, Rome. (for later)

Matisse/Mattress

Just so that I don't miss a day. I know, weird, dumb. Exhausted. I have to be to allow that title to run...

Moans all over DC (& elsewhere) today due to lack of invites to last night's WH poetry/jazz evening. I know a few who were there & they were very surprised to have been invited. I figure four (8! 8!) more years for a chance..though I'm not working it at all. Should I start now? I really don't feel up to it (I mean Washington-workin' it...totally up to going).

Some upset folks are really pretty young & they feel so left out; I do understand & feel sorry. But I wanted to say: how do you think so & so feels? They've toiled this soil for years before you were even born. But that is never a compelling or comforting thought, I know. Hurt feelings, hurt feelings. Everywhere you turn.

Looking for a silly photograph, like the goofy sleep mask photo in 'running on empty' & up pops my friend Henri in bed. (in Nice)..still working. And what do I espy in the slightly too-dark print (by Dmitri Kessel/LIFE archives)? A darling tabby. So of course, it was meant to be. In the notes to the shot, it says that Henri is sculpting a nude female figure. But of course...that scamp. [You can't click on a lot of these photos because I get "feedburner" alerts about the html code; for close-up, go here.]

bacini

Overexposures

...literally.

By Gjon Mili from the LIFE archives. (Mili photos of Françoise Gilot & Henri Matisse are in earlier posts) & here is Picasso drawing a vase of flowers in 1949. The others are from the Stravinsky Festival in 1972. Oddly, they remind me of The English Patient's (film) "fresco scene in Arezzo" with Juliette Binoche & the cute Kip (I know he's on that Lost thing, Naveen Andrews? Not looking it up now.) Spending quite a bit of (unwelcome) downtime figuring out pieces of personal Italian-Tunisian-rest-of-MEastern puzzle. Also preoccupied drawing a version of Matisse's flower-petal letters. This is where fever-pain & lack of calories gets you. Not too far. (Here's a link to a quick Lightwriting from Picasso to Lichtfaktor article; it refers to Mili & Picasso.)

Re: The English Patient (see here for The Clever Pup's excellent post on Theme Thursday "Fire" -- it's what set this whole thing off, really). I noticed in a still shot of Hana's flowered dress...that it's the same (or so close there's barely a difference) pattern as the top I wear almost every day. A French friend gave it to me for what I shall refer to as my period of avoirdupois. It's the most inconsequential (but pretty) top & I am asked quite often "where did you get that? Is it European?!" So funny. Now I know I should say: it's a frumpy floral from the forties. But that would not be nice, so I won't. Honestly, I'm much more polite than I seem on this site.

I would post those TEP photos but I think it's too much for Picasa at moment....& since I'm down for the count, I ought to leave something, anything for tomorrow. Clever Pup is spouting excellent haiku to VVG. All the sites in the right side-bar are doing something interesting. I just can't get to all of them to comment or even download 'til later. [The fun Tina Tarnoff tag can't be done until/unless it receives a bit more thought than I can bring to it now. Fun is serious business!]

bacini

Henri drawing in the light & dark...

Not much rhyme (or reason) but when has that stopped me? Last night, Gilot's book (see yesterday's post) beckoned. But 'me toof' is feeling uncomfortable, so merely looked at the lovely letters Matisse drew/wrote to Françoise (& Picasso)...adorned with flower/marguerite shapes. Really sweet. I'm going to write one using a similar design (& will credit HM).

Reading The Clever Pup's post yesterday (& today) on Van Gogh, Gaugin, & "The Ear" controversy/mystery keeps me thinking about the friendship & rivalries between & amongst artists (including writers/poets)...If one would have to choose a friend in this group, I would definitely choose Matisse. I'll be overly familiar & call him Henri.

Gilot writes that he was a kind man, even if he liked gossip (the "news" really), she never heard him be nasty. Liked juicy tidbits like anyone--particularly when he was laid up so terribly with his arthritis, I suppose. He was always busy soliciting art works for auctions to help Jewish children survivors & so on. Look at the Giulia Geranium blog even once & you'll know, if I didn't love him before (I did), now I swoon. I forgot that he was so involved. Partly this overly-emotional reaction is because I'm preparing to perish in a sweet-but-still-sadistic dentist's chair tomorrow. Sniff. Posting a photo tonight of Suzy Parker from a Coty ad...for fun. After midnight so technically I won't miss a day of posting. Oh roll your eyes, that's fine! Also I want to do Tina Tarnoff's tag but it will have to be on the weekend. Have a demonstration to attend (am I pest or what?) on Saturday, but Sunday should be free from rabblerousing.

These are from the LIFE archives (where else? I really need a camera). The light drawing is by Gjon Mili, in 1949. Must be from the same trip south to see Françoise & Pablo P. Mili took one or two with Picasso doing same. It's Mili playing with exposures....worse ways to spend some time, eh?

The b&w is by Dmitri Kessel in 1950 in Vence (Matisse is working on drawings for the chapel there. It reminds me of his letter-drawings to Gilot. The chapel & Vence are related to one of my writing projects... I just thought of it. That's why the blood oranges, figs, & photos of Vence from, a month or so ago? Just realized it.)

Françoise in Light & Dark

So many people send me that American Girl in Italy postcard by Ruth Orkin. Some people (still) use a song's lyrics, too, & think they're complimenting me. It is one of my favorite Dylan songs but please. I was thinking about it when I saw these pix. [She's got everything she needs/she's an artist, she don't look back/ (She Belongs to Me)]

Françoise Gilot, annoyingly referred to only as "Picasso's mistress," in a multi-exposure by Gjon Mili. In the second she is drawing with light. Also by Mili. This was during a 1949 visit to Picasso & Gilot in Vallauris, France. Every time I see similar dates in Europe or Asia on a letter or photograph, I think this is but [ _ ] years after the cataclysm we call WWII. Reading Gilot's books & many accounts of other artists, writers, poets, philosophers, & intellectuals (not to mention everyone--but most did not write memoirs) who stayed -- or were trapped -- in France during the war is harrowing, sobering, & inspiring.

We have Picasso to thank for saving so many of Matisse's works. Of course, there was no small amount hilarity in the old bull's machinations; finally, a worthy use for his extraordinary powers of manipulation: confusing the Gestapo officers on a Matisse canvas hunt. (Picasso hid them in a complicated story. Which is how he tricked the Gestapo.) A synopsis of that some day...unless, hey Pup, Pup? You want to do it? I'm tired. My toof hurts. Well, at least everyone interested in the intersection of art-artists-the-world-in-crisis should (I think) read Gilot's excellent Matisse & Picasso: A Friendship in Art.

Can't get to the TTT tag today but will tomorrow (or ?). It's rainy, drippy, & oof. A creative & peaceful evening to all.

ciao, buona notte

Flaming June in April

Horridly hot here, still. I've a reproduction of this (the original is in the museum in Ponce, Puerto Rico). Interesting story. Too tired to tell it now. (Both why I've got a copy & why the painting ended up in Puerto Rico.) This is really The Clever Pup's area of expertise, though I could do it. Just too darn hot. And Mme. Pup is rolling around on her kitchen floor in a most scandalous manner (we hear). Blimey! By the by, the image is saturated on some sites, bleached out in others. I had my print framed in a red-gold metal & it hangs against a terracotta wall, so it pops quite a lot. (image credit)

Café latté l'arté

So cute. Especially on a Monday a.m. Not correct Italian but no matter. Just for fun. (quick credits, here, & here, more when I can do more than cite GG 's The Art of Coffee). baci, bisou

Celestial Ceiling

Another kind of starry night. (only alice, marrakesh.)