LIFE IS A CARNIVAL

THE PHOTOGRAPHS WERE TAKEN OVER A 45 YEAR PERIOD. THE DECISION OF WHICH TO INCLUDE AND WHICH TO LEAVE OUT WAS A DIFFICULT ONE. EACH PHOTOGRAPH REPRESENTS A STORY AND A MEMORY FROM THAT 45 YEAR JOURNEY.

ISABELLE’S ART SHOW : 9/11/14

My daughter, Isabelle is having an art show at St. George’s School beginning tomorrow, with an artist’s reception on September 11, 2014 at 6:30 pm at the Drury Art center.

TORONTO TODAY

Toronto is a wonderful city full of life. The traffic however made New York City seem modest. The Food and Art are wonderful. Like everything, one has to make choices. I felt that the Eskimo art was the thing I was least likely to find in the lower 48.

LACMA AND THE SILVERLAKE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

PORTRAIT OF LUTHER BURBANK BY FRIDA KALLO

If the highlighted words are true; this is a truly significant painting; beyond the association with Luther Burbank. Imagine if this was indeed a pivotal change in Frida Kallo’s style. Just the fact that these two met each other is remarkable by itself.

Portrait of
Luther Burbank

1931

Luther Burbank was a horticulturist best known for his unusual vegetable and fruit hybrids. In this portrait Frida shows Burbank himself as a hybrid: half man, half tree. When Burbank died in 1926, his body was buried under a tree on his California property.

In this painting her work has turned away for the first time from the straightforward representation of external reality. Since this portrait was painted in San Francisco, her contact with Surrealism in San Francisco could partly account for the change in style. Or, it could be straight from her Mexican culture, where the metamorphosis of humans into plants or animals is a common theme in art.

Burbank is shown holding an uprooted plant, no doubt one of his hybrids, but instead of planting it, he himself is planted. His lower legs are transformed into a tree trunk whose roots are fed by what Frida said was his own corpse. This painting is the first statement of a favorite Kahlo theme that would appear in many future paintings: “the fertilization of life by death“.

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Oil on masonite
34 ¼” x 24 ¼”
Dolores Olmedo Patiño Museum
Mexico City, Mexico

Óleo sobre fibra dura
87 x 62 cm.
Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño
Ciudad de México, México

ISABELLE’S ART SHOW

THE POWERFUL HAND OF GOD

Today we visited the MUSEUM OF RUSSIAN ICONS in Clinton Massachusetts. To have so many icons in one place is a little off-putting. It will take another visit to review and digest.

HARMONY

I saw the Everly Brothers in Greenwich Village in the early sixties. Their popularity may have been derailed by the emergence of the Beatles. Their songs certainly touched a cord and their harmony was unmatched.

SHADOWS OF THE PAST

One can find them all over the world, abandoned ships; from star boats and lightnings; to schooners and square riggers. The legacy of the sea. Even the majestic “J” class could be found for years in the mud. The last Oracle IACC is to be broken up. “Independence” the 12 meter was cut up many years ago; as was Thomas Lawson’s “Independence” was launched in May and cut up in September.

MASTER OF LIGHT MASTER OF WHITE

I have lost count of the number of Sergeant exhibits I have now seen. (more than 6) He is perhaps best know for his portraits and rightfully so. I have learned so much each time I walk into a museum. It all started with “Fumee D’Amber Gris” at the Clark Institute. The first time I realized his treatment of white was genius.

Many consider him the master of light. I consider him the master of white.

Another odd event today was the discovery of the Roxbury High Fort. I have never seen or heard of this.

Portrait of Luther Burbank

Portrait of
Luther Burbank