Rembrandt van Rijn's "Jan Lutma the Elder"

Seven works of art I would like to see at the Frick

I recently visited New York and seeing the Frick was part of my plans, but due to time constraints I couldn't do it.  Anyway, in an effort to turn lemons into lemonade, I'm going to post seven works of art from the Frick that I wish I could have seen.  

Nationality: Dutch

Born-Died: 1606-1669

Creation Date: 1656

Size: 7.75 x 5.825  in (19.7 x 14.9 cm)

Media: Etching ink on paper 

Location: The Frick Collection, New York City, New York, USA

Konrad Dielitz's "Wotan Takes Leave of Brunhild"

Nationality: German
Creation Date: 1892
Media: Typogravure(?) on Paper

Unknown Printmaker's "The Planet of Herschel"

Nationality: FrenchCreation Date: c. 1781-1850
Size: 1.25 x 2.25 inch (3.2 x 5.7 cm)Media: Engraving (?) on paper
Location: My collection

This is an old print that I am proud to own.  It is a depiction of William Herscehl looking through a telescope, presumably discovering the planet which later became known as Uranus.  I think the star with the beams coming out of it is supposed to be the planet.  It's not a great work of art by any stretch of the imagination, but I still like it.  

 

Alphonse Mucha's "Winter"

Nationality: Czech
Born-Died: 1860-1939

Creation Date: 1896

Media: *

Location: Private Collection

* On Wikimedia (the source of this image) the medium is listed as "Oil on panel" which doesn't seem right at all to me.  I was always under the impression that this was a lithograph.  When I saw a similar Mucha poster in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, it was definitely a print of some kind and I suspect this is a print as well.

Utagawa Hiroshige's "Night Snow at Kambara"

Nationality: Japanese
Born-Died: 1797-1854

Creation Date: 1834

Media: Woodblock print (ink on paper)

From the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido.

Adolphe Mouron Cassandre's "Nord Express"

Nationality: Ukrainian-French
Born/Died: 1901-1968

Creation Date: 1927
Size: 41.375 x 29.5 in. (105.09 x 74.93 cm)
Media: Color Lithograph
Location: Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Xavier-Alphonse Monchablon's "Victor Hugo"

Nationality: French
Born/Died: 1835-1907

Creation Date: 1883
Size: 54 x 25.25 x 37 in. (14.2 × 10.2 cm)
Media: Photogravure of an Engraving (?)

So awesome. You can buy prints of this image on eBay for very little money.

Gustave Doré's "First Ascent of the Matterhorn"

Nationality: French

Born/Died: 1832-1883

Creation Date: 1865

Media: Lithograph on paper

Hiroshige's "Clear Weather After Snow at Kameyama"

Nationality: Japanese

Born/Died: 1797-1858

Media: Woodblock print on paper

James Bay's "Interior 2"

Size: 8 x 4 in. (10.2 x 20.3 cm)
Media: Mezzotint

I wish I knew more about this fantastic print and artist.

"The Street Girl's End" by an Unknown Printmaker

Nationality: English?
Media: Engraving

Adolphe Mouron Cassandre's "L'Atlantique"

Nationality: French-Ukranian
Born/Died: 1901-1968

Unknown Print by Unknown Artist

Media: Etching Ink on Paper



I saw this nice Ex Libris print for sale on eBay, but other than that I know nothing about it. I can't quite make out the signature unfortunately.

Various Works by Theresa Schmotzer

Nationality: American

Media: Etching (drypoint) on paper (?)
Location: The Cleveland Artists Foundation, Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Theresa Schmotzer's "For the Innocent"

Nationality: American

Size: 10.75 x 8.5 in. (49 x 77 cm)
Media: Etching in (drypoint) on paper
Location: The Cleveland Artists Foundation, Lakewood, Ohio, USA

While not all of Theresa Schmotzer's work is great she did make a good quantity of prints, drawings and watercolors that were quite nice. In particular I remember once seeing a relatively large etching she made of several figures that I thought was wonderful. I remember noting that Schmotzer liked to include interesting and intricate patterns on the outfits that her young women wore and that those patterns looked particularly nice in drypoint. I also enjoyed that her work had a unique style and compositional approach despite it's occasional shortcomings. Unfortunately I have not seen very many works by her although I am sure that I have seen more than most people since I have had the opportunity to work with CAF permanent collection at length. Although I like this piece I wish I had more images of her work in my image library. This particular print is what she is best known for, but it is generous of me to say "known" in this circumstance.

I personally would be very interested to see a thorough, well-presented exhibition of her work. I suspect that such an exhibition could only happen at CAF yet I seriously doubt this idea will ever come to pass. Instead of going out on a limb and doing something new and perhaps a little daring, CAF will probably continue it's dusty parade of "Cleveland Goes Modern" and "Recent Acquisitions" shows for the enjoyment of the same board members year after year. Cleveland has much more to offer than the same home-town heroes (who are practically unknown as far away as Pittsburgh) whose works are shown year after year and it was always bittersweet to see works in their collection that will never see the light of day despite the fact that they had merit.

Atlas Week: William Cunningham's "Atlas with an Armillary"

On this Day in the History of Art: Paolo Veronese died (1588), Lord Byron died (1824)

Because the Atlas Shrugged movie came out recently I thought it would be fun to post a week of images of Atlas by various artists from history.

Nationality: English

Creation Date: 1559
Media: Engraving ink on paper (?)
Location: London, UK

This engraving is unusual because instead of depicting Atlas supporting the heavens and earth he is shown supporting an armillary sphere--a model of the earth and heavens. This image was the frontispiece for an English scientific text called The Cosmographicall Glasse from 1559 and this image reflects many ideas about the cosmos that were held during the Renaissance(1)--a time when scientific observation and religious belief were often blended.

I suspect that the text "primum mobile" refers to God as the "first cause" and that the text on the next layer, "cristalline firmament," refers to the substance known as "the ether" which was believed to fill the space beyond the terrestrial plane. According to Christian mythology, this was the location of heaven. (2) Next comes fire and air, then "ye earth" (here shortened to "yearth") and water reside at the center. It is also noteworthy that there are ten rings which separate the earth from the heavens, which may be an allusion to the ten-ringed worlds of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Atlas' ribbon-like label reads "Atlas supporting the heavens," and strangely Atlas is crowned. I think this comes from his mythology because in The Aeneid he is described as "with piny forests crown'd" although I'm sure that refers to forests held above his head. Perhaps he is made out to be a king with his castle in the background or perhaps kings were seen as Atlas-like.

I am told that the Latin text at the bottom refers to the following lines from The Aeneid:

Unusual Depictions of Jesus Week: Claude Mellan's "Sudarium of Saint Veronica"

(Special thanks to Angelia for her donation!)

Throughout history Christan mythology has been depicted with great variety. Because images of Jesus are so common in the history of art, I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the more unusual works.Although I consider this piece to be a mediocre work of art, this engraving is one of the most technically proficient, and in that regard, visually spellbinding works I have ever seen. It is a depiction of a depiction--an image of Veronica's veil that, according to the myth, was said to bear the likeness of Jesus after he wiped his face on her cloth. Playing off the "miraculous" nature of that image, Mellan used it as an opportunity to demonstrate his "miraculous" skill. I'm fortunate to have seen a print from this block in person. You really have to see the close-up image of it to appreciate it and I suggest clicking on the full image below as well to really experience the artist's technique and the "optical" effect that occurs while looking at it.

Unusual Depictions of Jesus Week: Jesus in Soviet Russia

Throughout history Christan mythology has been depicted with great variety. Because images of Jesus are so common in the history of art, I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the more unusual works.

Hiroshige's "Dyers' Quarter, Kanda"

After about five minutes of research, I learned that this image depicts the cloth hanging out to dry at a shop where it has been dyed. While this is very interesting, I loved it before knowing that.

Great Art-Bad Philosophy Week: Rembrandt van Rijn's "Adam and Eve"

If I was going to be trapped in an elevator with any single artist's body of etchings I would pick Rembrandt.