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Archive for the ‘Trivia’ Category

It’s Never Too Late To Start…

Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged Art Show by President Bush, George W. Bush paintings on April 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Blair by George W. Bush

Putin by George W. Bush

Most of you know that I came to painting later in life. I was almost 30 before I ever started. A week or so ago I saw an interview that was most interesting about another painter that started after retirement. He was 65 before he picked up a brush. And no matter your politics this is an interesting story for many reasons. He said he was looking for something that would “fill the last chapters of his life and fill the extra space in his time and open his mind”. “A whole new world opened up when he picked up a brush”, he said. This new painter is President George W. Bush who is having his first show at his Presidential Library. He has painted portraits of many world leaders with whom he has worked. What I find most interesting is that after only two years of painting he has challenged himself to painting this show. For those of you who paint you will understand.

Take a look at this interesting interview last week on the Today Show where he discusses the show and gives a tour of his studio.

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Happy Birthday Leonardo da Vinci

Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged da Vinci flying machine drawing, Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa on April 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Born on April 15, 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was truly a “Renaissance” man. Primarily known as a painter, he was also a mathematician, sculptor, scientist, musician, engineer, architect, writer, botanist and the list goes on.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Design for a Flying Machine

He painted the most famous portrait of all time, The Mona Lisa, as well as the most reproduced religious painting, The Last Supper. There was a renewed interest in many of his drawings and inventions because of a book/movie released a few years ago – The Da Vinci Code.

He is an intriguing figure to study. You can learn more about him here.

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Presidents Who Painted

Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged Presidential painters on February 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Landscape by Dwight D. Eisenhower

As we celebrate President’s Day did you know that there are 4 Presidents who were/are painters? Grant, Eisenhower, Carter, and Bush 43.

Take a look at this to read about them and see their work.

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Berthe Morisot’s “Reading”

Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged Berthe Morisot, impressionism on February 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Berthe Morisot
French, 1841-1895
“Reading (La Lecture) 1888

I continued cleaning up files this weekend and ran across this one from a museum trip of Berthe Morisot’s wonderful work.

She was one of the few female members of the early Impressionists movement in France. Learn more about Morisot here.

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Happy Birthday Georgia O’Keeffe

Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged Georgia O'Keeffe, O'Keeffe, poppy on November 15, 2013| 1 Comment »

Georgia O’Keeffe

O’Keeffe Poppy

Born November 15, 1887, Georgia O’Keeffe was an American artist who became known for her large floral blossom paintings, bone paintings, and landscapes around her New Mexico home. She is often called the “Mother of American Modernism”. Her vision was unique and she stood by it often saying that her work spoke for her and it didn’t need her words to enhance it.

Almost everyone will recognize an O’Keeffe painting when seeing one as it has a distinct look and style. She lived until 1986. You can learn more about her by visiting the O’Keeffe Museum website here.

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Happy Birthday Claude Monet!

Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged Claude Monet, Giverny, Monet on November 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Self Portrait in His Atelier

Monet (right) in his garden

Born on November 14, 1840 in Paris, France, Claude Monet was a founder of Impressionism and is probably it’s best known artist.

The term “impressionism” came from his painting, Impression Sunrise. He may also be the most prolific of the Impressionist painters producing many plein-air impressionist paintings.

Many people think immediately of Giverny and his garden when thinking of Monet. His water-lily paintings are some of his most famous. Read more about Monet here and see his works.

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41 Years Ago Today in Montreal

Posted in Little Known Facts, Travel, Trivia, tagged Montreal Art theft, Montreal Museum of Art on September 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Stolen Delacroix

41 years ago today the largest art heist in Canadian history took place including this Delacroix. Armed thieves made off with $2 million (approximately $11 million in today’s dollars) in art from the Montreal Museum of Fine Art including works by Rembrandt, Corot, and Gainsborough. The three thieves set off an alarm or they would have made off with even more art. No one has ever been arrested for the crime. You can read more about it here.

When I read stories like this I always wonder where is all that art??? Is someone enjoying it somewhere or is it stuck in a storage unit??? What a shame.

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Tiffany & Co. Magnolia Vase

Posted in daily painter, Little Known Facts, Travel, Trivia, tagged Magnolia Vase, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tiffany & Co. on May 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Magnolia Vase
Tiffany & Co., ca. 1893
Metropolitan Museum of Art

I finally took a little time to edit some of the photos that I took on my recent visit to the Met in New York City so that I can share some of the wonderful things that I saw. One thing I enjoy is just wandering from gallery to gallery in large museums and seeing what appears. While doing just that I came across this marvelous Tiffany Vase on display. It was designed by John T. Curran (1859-1933) in New York City in 1893. And it made of silver, gold, enamel and opals. Here’s what the description card said: The Magnolia Vase was the centerpiece of Tiffany & Co.’s display at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago – a display Godey’s Magazine described as “the greatest exhibit in point of artistic beauty and intrinsic value, that any individual firm has ever shown.” The design of the vase was a self-conscious expression of national pride. The vegetal ornament refers to various regions of the United States: pinecones and needles symbolize the North and East; magnolias, the South and West; the cacti, the Southwest. Representing the country as a whole is the ubiquitous goldenrod, fashioned from gold mined in the United States. The work was heralded by the editor of the New York Sun as “one of the most remarkable specimens of the silversmith…art that has ever been produced anywhere.” You can read more about the vase here.

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Little Dancer by Degas

Posted in Little Known Facts, Travel, Trivia, tagged Ballet, Degas, Edgar Degas, Little Dancer, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Met, Travel on May 5, 2013| 1 Comment »

Little Dancer – Edgar Degas

Over the years I have posted many times about Edgar Degas and his dancers. The Little Fourteen Year Old Dancer that he sculpted in 1880 is just beautiful. Degas exhibited the original version of this sculpture at the 6th Impressionist exhibit in 1881. The wax original was tinted to simulate flesh, clothed in a fabric bodice, tutu, and ballet slippers and topped with a horsehair wig tied behind with a silk ribbon. Can you imagine seeing that???!!! Did you know that this sculpture was not cast in bronze until after Degas died. His family had it done and 69 sculptures survived the bronzing process. (You can read and see more about it here and at the link at the end of this post.)

Degas Dancer from the back

The wonderful thing about seeing the sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently is that they have it displayed right in the middle of a gallery where you can walk all the way around it. Wonderful! And there are many Degas Dancer paintings hanging in the gallery with it. A dancer would be in heaven!

There is much known and written about Degas and his dancers. Check it out here.

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A Look at Hopper at the Met

Posted in Travel, Trivia, tagged Edward Hopper, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Modern Art on April 17, 2013| 1 Comment »

There is so much to see at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as I have been sharing over the last few days, that it’s hard to know where to look. I narrowed down my time there to some galleries I have never had a chance to visit. One was the “Modern Art” galleries.

I found two Edward Hopper paintings there that were interesting in that they showed the range of his subject matter. The first is called “Tables for Ladies, painted in 1930, oil on canvas. It is a good example of the observations he made of everyday life.

The second one is “Office in a Small City” painted in 1953, oil on canvas. He often painted solitary figures that seemed emotionally detached from other people or their surroundings. This is a good example. You can learn more about Hopper by clicking here.