Friday, February 27, 2015

Now nothing is how it used to be . . . (the art of Edouard Manet)

Manet not Monet (tis an old joke)

Today's music selection is Kylie Minogue's "Slow."

NPR had a story this morning on the Manet exhibit in Los Angeles...so Manet!

Wikipedia entry for Edouard Manet.

NPR article on the Manet exhibit in Los Angeles.







Thursday, February 26, 2015

I bore the sins of my father . . . (the art of Pieter Brueghel the Younger)

Today's music selection is Course of Empire's "Sins of the Fathers."

Sometimes professions stay in the family...and sometimes, sons copy blatantly from their father.

Wikipedia entry for Pieter Brueghel the Younger








Wednesday, February 25, 2015

The sky is everywhere . . . (the art of Pieter Bruegel the Elder)

Today's musical selection is Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons."

Yesterday introduced me to Bruegel's Hunters in the Snow.  I have never heard of him (though I had seen many of his works) before - so today's paintings are a few more of his works.

Wikipedia entry for Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

A website devoted to his works.











Tuesday, February 24, 2015

You're as cold as ice . . . (art for a cabin fever day)

Music selection for today is Foreigner's "Cold as Ice."

Today's paintings deal with snow and winter days while the woodcut from Gustave Dore deals with the last circle of Hell and its frozen landscape.

Wikipedia entry for Gustave Dore

Dore's woodcuts of Dante's Inferno.






Friday, February 20, 2015

You know, you can't hold me . . . (the art of Caravaggio's Narcissus)

Musical selection for today is Air Supply's "Lost in Love."

Today's selection comes from a passing observation about Dallas wives at the Byron Nelson golf tournament.

Wikipedia entry for Caravaggio

Wikipedia entry for the Narcissus myth.

Wikipedia entry for Caravaggio's Narcissus


(Just different resolutions)





Thursday, February 19, 2015

Come on, get down with the sickness . . . (the art of pestilence)

Musical selection is Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness"

Horrid few months for colds and flu this year so something disease themed.

A Time piece on epidemics (here).

Since they left out the destruction of the Americas, here is a piece on that.

<whistles innocently> Yes, that might be a velveteen rabbit in the mix.








Wednesday, February 18, 2015

The devil is trying to break me down . . . (the art of Lent - the Temptation of Christ)

Today is Ash Wednesday, so a Lent themed selection.

Today's musical selection is Kanye West's "Jesus Walks"

Wikipedia entry for the Temptation of Christ

Wikipedia entry for Lent











Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Fond of fun as fond can be . . . (the art of Thomas Eakins)

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Music selection for today is the folk song, "Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay"

After yesterday a friend suggested Thomas Eakins and upon reflection, he seems a perfect counterpoint. The Met refers to Eakins as "America's greatest, most uncompromising realist . . . ." (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/eapa/hd_eapa.htm accessed on February 17, 2015)

Wikipedia entry for Thomas Eakins







And to compare the painting against the subject . . . 




Sunday, February 15, 2015

NSFW: You will not believe your eyes . . . (the art of Luis Ricardo Falero)

Music selection for today is The Tubes' "She's A Beauty"

I found a Falero painting doing a blog on damnation. I had thought the painting from a more modern period, but Falero painted in the late 1800s.

The paintings are meant to emphasize the subject's sexuality and titillate - as a guy, I like this, but as someone from the modern era, I have a broader understanding of the ills of this type of art. Can anyone suggestion some painters who treated males in the same manner (not the nudity - but the almost aggressive sexuality) so I can present a contrast?

Wikipedia entry for Luis Ricardo Falero












Saturday, February 14, 2015

NSFW: When she's pressed she will undress and then she's boxing clever . . . (art for St. Valentine's Day)

Happy Valentine's Day - The music selection is Placebo's "Pure Morning"

Mostly Cupid and Psyche...but a few other works at the bottom.

Wikipedia link for Boris Vallejo (Vallejo's website)

Wikipedia link for Cupid and Psyche