Mary Frank

Experience Oil and acrylic on panel, 1999. Triptych, closed: 40 x 24 in. , open: 40 x 48 in. Private collection.

Experience triptych (continued)

Presence-Absence Oil, acrylic and collage on board, 1991-92. 48 x 96 in. Collection of Edward G. Shufro

Red Ship, oil and acrylic on board 1995. 24 x 30 in. Linda Lee Alter collection of Art by Women

Mary Frank in her studio, NYC, 1989

Known for her intensity of feeling and eloquence of expression, Mary Frank's work speaks to our deepest and broadest emotions. Having established her reputation in the late 1960s and 70s as a figurative sculptor in clay, the artist has increasingly turned to painting as her primary medium. The large-scale triptychs are reminiscent of the classic Christian altarpiece. For the past 30 years, Frank's work has had many lyrical and mythical figures, manifestations of the natural world and ambiguous spaces. (Linda Nochlin)

Mary Frank was born in London in 1933 - her mother was a painter and father was a musicologist. (Eleanor and Edward Lockspeiser) In 1940, she moved to the US (Brooklyn) with her mother. In the mid- 1940's she studied dance with Martha Graham. She studied drawing with Max Beckmann at the American Art School in NYC. She has been a prolific painter and exhibitor in the US. I joyfully discovered her art on a trip to the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art several years back.

Veduta

Antonio Canaletto, Basin of San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore, 1740. Oil on canvas, Wallace Collection, London.

Well-to-do British tourists were flooding Venice during this time and looking for souvenirs to take home. Scenes of the Grand Canal were especially popular and these paintings usually began as plein air sketches and finished in his studio. He was known for his beautiful detail as well as expert light and shadow.

A type of naturalistic landscape and cityscape painting popular in 18th century Venice. Literally, 'view' painting. (Gardner)

Cecil Beaton

Irving Berlin and Mrs. Berlin by Beaton

Vanity Fair photograph with the caption: Marilyn Miller and Clifton Webb could have been seen any day this summer baking in the un-winking sun that beats on the Cap d'Antibes.

Gary Cooper by Beaton

Kathrine Hepburn by Beaton

1920's Vanity Fair photograph of champagne dinner in Antibes, France

Cecil Beaton: 1904-1980. English photographer whose elegant and sophisticated fashion pictures and society portraits often employed exotic props and settings. He adopted a more simple style for his wartime photographs of bomb-damaged London. He also worked as a stage and film designer, notably for the musicals Gigi 1959 and My Fair Lady 1965. (Brockhampton)

What a fabulous era of style!

Lettres Frizees

Humorous way of writing affected by some writers and engravers, especially in the16th and 17th centuries. (Rose Folsum)


New Blog: I've been invited to join a new blog that brings together the printmakers of Etsy. Each printmaker has an Etsy shop and their own art blog. There's a great list of artists on there, check it out at: www.printsy.blogspot.com. Thanks to Viza at www.VIZArt.etsy for letting me know about this wonderful blog.

Beaux Arts

The Ball by James Tissot, 1879. Oil on canvas 35 x 19 in. Musee D'Orsay, Paris. (This painting is shown as an example for the definition of beaux arts)

(Or fine art) Art that exists primarily to create beauty, as opposed to the decorative or applied arts, which exist primarily for day-to-day use. They include painting, sculpture, some graphic art, and despite its function, architecture. Music and poetry are sometimes called fine arts. (Brockhampton)

Black and Red Figure Amphoras

Corinthian black-figure amphora with animal friezes, from Rhodes 625-600 B.C. British Museum, London.

Ankokides Painter, Ajax and Achilles playing a game (Attic bilingual amphora) from Orvieto, c. 525-520 B.C. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Black-figure side

Red-figure side

Black-Figure Technique: In early Greek pottery, the silhouetting of dark figures against a light background of natural, reddish clay.

Red-Figure Technique: In later Greek pottery, the silhouetting of red figures against a black background; the reverse of the black-figure technique. (Gardner)

These images and techniques are great inspiration for printmaking and even embroidery and even fiber art work (ie sashiko in my musings blog). Martha Miller had a nice example of Blackwork and lino cutting on her blog at http://www.marthamillerart.blogspot.com/. (look for her blackwork post.)

(sorry the photographs are a little fuzzy today)

Quote by Dorothea Lange

Kitchen Sink

"One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind," said Dorothea Lange. "To live a visual life is an enormous undertaking. I have only touched it, just touched it."

***I'll be gone for a few days but back on Monday, happy weekend!***