—Brigitte Bardot
Honi ha-M’agel
oil on canvas
Courtesy Yeshiva University Museum
Marion Davies, 1929
Georgia Hamilton in dress by Balenciaga, Harper’s Bazaar, 1953
Earth Art
Fork, Paris, 1928
Untitled, Subway, New York, 1980
Dye transfer print; printed later
20 × 24 in
“Occasionally I think of my death … then I think, how could I ever bear to take a final breath; while living a life like this, how could I leave it? There is, I feel, so much more for me to do — I keep feeling I have lived so little yet. Then I become thoughtful, but not sad. It was from such a feeling that Ikiru arose.“
—Kurosawa, quoted in Akira Kurosawa: Interviews
Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, 1862
oil on canvas
Dovima close up , 1956
Earth Art
Mai-Mai Sze in a Fortuny gown, 1934
De Joodse Begraafplaats
The Jewish Cemetery
circa 1654/1655
oil on canvas
142.2 × 189.2 cm (56 × 74.5 in)
Detroit Institute of Arts
—Myrna Loy
Earth Art
for Chiara Boni, 2014
The colors on Lebrun’s palette are taken from her dress and hat.
Circus, Berlin, 1931
Olga Picasso
1923
oil, canvas
97 x 130 cm
A Mother Delousing her Child’s Hair, Known as ‘A Mother’s Duty’, c. 1658 – c. 1660 – Rijksmuseum
Based on “Sergeant York: His Own Life Story and War Diary” 1928, by Tom Skeyhill, Alvin C. York
Reuven, from the 12 Tribe Series
acrylic on wood panel
12″ x 16″ X 1.5
The leaf-pattern photo is great.
The Myrna Loy photo reminds me of how women plucked their eyebrows to draw narrow ones on with eyebrow pencil. My mother did so.
The Mai Mai Sze photo makes me think of the character “May May” in Clavell’s novel, “Tai Pan.”
It’s hard to imagine Picasso painting like that.
On the van Ruisdael item: I keep being baffled by dates I see listed like 1628/1629: quite often dates from several centuries ago appear as two, one year apart. It doesn’t seem to be a case of “we don’t know”. And I can’t make sense out of it as Julian vs. Gregorian calendar dates, either. Do you have any idea?
Robert (or someone else) can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the calendar issue is related to the difference between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendar. The Hebrew calendar begins in March/April of the Gregorian calendar and it ends in February/March of the following (Gregorian) year, so the Hebrew year doesn’t exactly match the Gregorian calendar. If, for example, I reference the Hebrew year of 5388, I could be referring to an equivalent date in 1627 or 1628 on the Gregorian calendar.
For the most part, when there are multiple dates, circa dates, or a date range, it’s just an estimate, typically based on certain events or other factors. For example, when the date is based on the painting’s first appearance in an exhibition there might be a slashed pair of years representing the possible years of painting/show. Just treat the slash as an “or” and realize that it’s an estimate if the year isn’t painted somehow, e.g., near the painters signature or right in there with the subject as Holbein the Younger did in his portraits.
I wonder what Myrna Loy meant by her quote?
I have always felt a bit sad for Marion Davies. Charlie Chaplin considered her one of the top comediennes. Hearst kept pushing her to dramatic roles which for the most part she was ill-suited. (look at Marianne). You want to see her in a hilarious role – gently poking fun at herself – look at Show People.
Then she saves Hearst’s company from bankruptcy and isn’t even invited to his funeral.
BB and Myrna… TGIF!
Robert, I meant to ask: I see a similarity between this week’s Reuven and last week’s Silent Picture #4. Are these your paintings, or are they your photographs of someone else’s work?
These are my paintings.