Some Art Works b

I won't get to New York this month, but I still get my magazines with art.

Gustav Klimt.  "Lady with a Fan."  1918.  Austria.

This was Klimt's last painting and found on an easel in his studio

in Vienna, when he died at age 55.  It sold recently at auction

in London for $110 million.

Ceramics began in America as a functional craft.  But by the late 19the century,

many ceramic artists aimed for something higher.  Walter Scott Lenox in New Jersey

created this beautiful porcelain "Decanter Set" in 1905, based on Irish Belleek

porcelain.  It is in a show at Charlotte's Mint Museum.

Another example of Belleek style porcelain is this pitcher from 1895.

A Belleek porcelain style coffee pot with

enamel overlay and special ivory coloring.

Inka Essenhigh is new to me.  She combines fantasy and flowers.

"The Last Party."  2020, enamel on canvas, 24x24

Inka Essenhigh.  "Yellow Breath"  2022.  50x40

Inka Essenhigh.  "The Flower King."  2022

enamel on canvas, 76x62

Currently there is an exhibit in Vienna of the work of the German Expressionist,

Gabriele Munter.  She is usually relegated to a side note beside her more famous

partner, Vassily Kandinsky.  The exhibit shows she clearly deserves to be regarded

with the same respect.  Her use of simplified forms, strong outlines, and intense colors

in "The Blue Lake" of 1934 are typical.

Gabriele Munter.  "Kandinsky at Tea Table."  1910

Her portrait of the famous artist at their breakfast table.

He was clearly as influenced by her style as she

was by his.

Gabriele Munter.  "Evening Landscape with White Moon."  1940.

Kandinsky simply walked out and left.

In Paris and now New York, there is a show of works of

Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas, friends and rivals.  The two of them

laid the foundations for modern art and were looked upon as radicals in

their time.  The is "The Absinthe Drinker" by Degas from 1875.

While everyone else was painting perfect goddesses in the center of

canvases, Degas sits in a real Parisian cafe, right behind the

marble table top we see.  The walls are tilted to suggest an enclosed\room, 

the floor is tilted to bring us right in, and the real shop girl is exhausted

from standing up all day and drinks the highly alcoholic drink.

Edouard Manet also cuts a slice of real life, two of his friends out on a boat in the

Bois de Boulogne.  The sail and the lady are cut off, as if we are looking so close

we cut out the background.  And his tee shirt and pants are painted flatly, with

only slight shading, so they seem to jump out and be right in our space.

Edgar Degas.  "The Cotton Office in New Orleans." 1873

He again uses the angled walls to suggest an enclosed room, the tilted floor to bring us

into the picture, and that is his uncle sitting in front.  He cuts off the right

and lower portions so we feel we are peeking in on a real scene.

But Edouard Manet's "Olympia" of 1863 really aroused the critics and politicians.  It was

condemned as immoral, filthy, unfit to be looked at, etc.  The painting was surrounded

at the exhibit by hundreds of paintings of nude goddess and mythological figures.

But "Olympia" was real.  We know what she was.  (The model was actually a famous

actress and painter.)  Manet flattens out the areas of color instead of making

infinite gradations of shadow.  She is right there at the front of the canvas, no apologies.

An art exhibit in Albuquerque this month has works by the English sculptor,

Henry Moore, and the American painter, Georgia O'Keeffe, both of whom were

very much influenced by nature, as their subject matter.  This is Moore's

"Reclining Figure"  of 1951.

Georgia O'Keeffe's "Red Cannas" of 1927 simplified and

abstracts nature in a different way.

Georgia O'Keeffe's "Ram's Head, Blue Morning Glory" of 1938

shows her use of bone-like forms, akin to Moore's.

Robert Duncanson was one of the great Black artists of the 19th

century.  Before the Civil War he made an extended trip through

the Southeast, painting landscapes in the style of the Hudson Valley

School.  "Sketching Lookout Mountain" in 1851 captures the

atmosphere of the area, as well as has two black figures in the

foreground.  This was very unusual.  These are among

40 paintings in a show in Fredericksburg, VA.

Robert Duncanson.  "Bend in the Shenandoah Valley" in 1856 captures the light

so beloved of the Hudson Valley School, as well as a self-portrait of himself 

and his wife in the foreground.

Dennis Lee Mitchell.  "Flower."  48x48

Mr. Lee creates his works with smoke.  He uses a blow torch near the

large sheet of paper and achieves unusual shading effects.

Emeralds and Diamond Earrings

Amethyst and Diamond Ring

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On My Walk This Morning 3q

"Cassia / Senna" Tree

The city has planted 300 small decorative trees along the St. Genevieve Canal, which

runs beside my building - crepe myrtles of various color and several kinds of cassia.

This is a young "Cassia / Senna" tree, which was only planted a few months ago.

Several others are blooming, but with only a few flowers.  This one has gone wild.

It's at the edge of the canal and can be seen from the walking path I use on the other

side of the canal.

"Cassia / Senna Flowers" Close-up.  The leaves on all the Cassias are similar.

"Peachy Keen Croton"

"White Crepe Myrtle" by the Childrens' Playground.

All of the Crepe Myrtle, in every color, are blooming more and more with all the

rain we are getting.  They have never been this full before.

"Lavender Crepe Myrtle" by the Tennis Courts

New bed of "Double Purple Ground Orchids" from spreading plants at original site.

They grow and multiply very quickly, and they seem to stay true to size.

Close-up of "Double Purple Ground Orchids"

"Tecoma Stans / Yellow Bells."  These were new plants this year.  They are

bushes/small trees which bloom continuously from spring to late fall.  They

are very colorful.

"Tecoma Stans / Yellow Bells" close-up

"Soraya" Deep Magenta Curcumas.  These are again in the German lady's yard.

They are quite striking; I have seen them only in pink and white until these.

This is a vey late blooming "Queen Crepe Myrtle."  The color was almost

a pale blue, rather than purple.

For a year, I have seen this cascade of long stems and green leaves pour out of

a crotch in a tree.  Then this morning, I saw this.  There are dozen of small

"Pigeon Orchids / Dendrobiums."

Each "Pigeon Orchid" is about one inch in diameter.

"Lucrezia Borgia" is one of the most splendid Vanda Orchids I have seen.  I have been 

waiting as it fills out.  There are now nine flowers.  They are large; the one in front

is five inches in diameter.

This flower is five inches in diameter, and the one behind it is six inches

in diameter.  They are gorgeous.  "Lucrezia Borgia."

Here they are.  They are also developing "Double Yellow Ground Orchids."

Shortly after I took the earlier picture of the "Chenille" bush, the gardeners came through

and pruned it severely, leaving only a messy bunch of stems.  But it has now grown back,

quickly, and new stems of "Chenille" are draped all over.

The view from my "resting bench," half way through my morning walk.

This morning, a Great Blue Heron joined me.  There are several that live along

the Ste Genevieve Canal here.  He was fishing for breakfast.

A lovely bunch of "Pink Ixora."

"Pink Ixora" Cluster

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I shall continue taking my daily walks, but I think this will be the end of the

flower photographs.  I hope you have enjoyed them.

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On My Walk This Morning 3p

"Urn Plants / Bromeliads"

These Bromeliads are also Epiphytes - they live on another plant.  They do not hurt the

tree or eat from it, but they like the neighborhood.  Usually one or two flowers appear,

but this year, because of all the rain, we get lots of flowers.

 

"Queen Crepe Myrtle"

The "Queen Crepe Myrtle" comes in a variety of shades from deep purple to lavender

to blues.  This one actually looked sky blue this morning, but here in the picture, it

is more lavender.

 

After I saw the "Double Purple Ground Orchids," I wondered if they would produce

the other varieties.  Today I found the first answer - a "Double Mardi Gras

Ground Orchid."    Instead of the usual three or four flowerlets, there are clusters.

Now I shall watch for the yellow and white varieties.

"Orange Popsicle Heliconia."

They are planted in a shady spot beneath a giant ficus tree.  But as I came by, the

sun shone through the branches and lit up the flowers so they look like neon

The branches of this "Royal Poinciana" got so heavy from the masses of flowers that

they bent down far enough that I could get a good view of them.

The German lady is buying again.  These are three "Curcumas," which have just

begun blooming.

"Sweet Adeline" Phalaenopsis Orchid continues to open more flowers;

here we have six on the stalk.

I had not seen this before.  "Golden Showers" bloom before the leaves appear,

and this tree was splendid.  Then the golden petals dropped and leaves appeared.

But now the tree is putting out more cluster of "Golden Shower Flowers!"

This blessing of some rain every day does wonders.

Clusters of "Coral Pink Mussaenda"

"Aztec Gold Ixora"

A bush of "Yellow Alamanda."  The German lady has pink and red alamanda.

"Summer Daydreams" Orchids keeps putting out more flowers. and

a second stalk is adding new blossoms.

"Lucrezia Borgia" Vanda Orchid.  The orchids look like a dress Lucrezia is wearing

in a famous Renaissance painting.

"Pinwheel Jasmine" with lovely aroma

"Pinwheel Jasmine"

"Chinese Windmill Palm" in center.  It is a very decorative small palm.

"Samba Mama Croton"

"Red Ixora Hedge."  As long as they don't prune it, the hedge will look like this.

"Red Ixora Hedge."  A wall of almost solid flowers.  But gardeners will come by

in a few days and trim off all the red, and we will have a green hedge of leaves.

But the sidewalk will be clear.

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