Nine Nudes by Warren B. Davis

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1865-1928
Media: Oils on canvas 


I just discovered this artist's work and I think it's really nice.  I'm re-posting yesterday's painting by Davis here as well.  I suspect these works depict the same model.

Warren B. Davis' "Beside the Forest Pool"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1865-1928
Size: 20 x 13 in (50.8 x 33.02 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas 
Location: Private Collection

László Tóth's "Mind"

Nationality: Hungarian
Born-Died: 1869-1895
Creation Date: c. 1883
Size: 93.9 x 47.7 in (238.5 x 12.5 cm)*
Media: Oil on canvas 
Location: The Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest, Hungary*

* This information might be wrong.

This painting is part of a series called "Beauty, Money, Mind" and I only found it by stumbling across it in the Wikimedia commons.  I like the idea of this painting, but the execution isn't anything special in my opinion.  The reproduction isn't great which doesn't help.  In any case, I like the idea.  

Thomas Dewing "A Reading"

Nationality: American

Born-Died: 1851-1938

Creation Date: 1897

Size: 20.25 x 30.25 in (51.3 x 76.8 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, USA

Antonio de La Gandara's "Madame Pierre Gautreau"

Nationality: French

Born-Died: 1861-1917
Creation Date: 1898

Size: 29 x 24.5 in (74.9 x 62.2 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Fans of John Singer Sargent's "Madame X" might enjoy this portrait of the same woman.

Henry Ryland's "Rachel at the Well"

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1856-1924

Creation Date: c. 1890

Media: Watercolor on paper

Location: Private collection (?)

I just discovered this artist.  Although I think his work is sometimes hit-or-miss, this is a beautiful painting.

White Artists Painting 25 Beautiful Skin Tones

This post is a response to recent controversies involving the racist professor, Derrick Bell, and numerous discussions I have had with artist-friends of mine regarding the topic of race.  There is a horrible and utterly ignorant view in the minds of many that all white people are automatically racist.  Some even hold that all members of all races are automatically racist--that we are all tainted with the "original sin" of racism from birth.  These are views that only racists can hold and there is no excusing such views under any circumstances.  Lack of education does not make such views "okay" and neither do PhD's.  These days, anti-white views are unfortunately all-too-common in the arts industry.  Such views reveal an ominously "concrete-bound" mentality in a group that prides itself on independent, rational thinking.  I would like to draw attention to this disconnect.

Racism is a concept, and as such it's meaning is communicable and it's application can be appropriate in many contexts independent of historical, cultural and economic factors.  The concept "racist" is appropriately applied to anyone of any race independent of any other factors about his own race.

To contrast the false views above I am posting 25 details of paintings all made by white artists that show an incredible appreciation for--and even love for--skin tone variety.  Many of these paintings are well over 100 years old. The oldest is about 400 years old.

It is more than okay to appreciate these skin tones.  It is more than okay to think, "I love the look of this very dark skin" or "I love the look of this very pale skin" and everything in between.  It is no more necessary to criticize pale skin as "pasty" or "blindingly white" than it is to criticize some other skin-tone for being it's shade. 

I can only hope that this post will help combat those hurtful, irrational and indefensible ideas.

I hope you enjoy these beautiful skin-tones as much as I do!

All the best,
- Justin 

Johannes Vermeer's "The Guitar Player"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: c. 1672
Size: 20.8 × 18.2 inch (53 × 46.3 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Kenwood House, London, UK

This was another Vermeer painting that was at one time stolen.  The thieves held the painting "hostage" demanding that two convicted IRA bombers be moved from an English prison to an Irish one.  They even cut off a strip of the painting and sent it to the police with a letter criticising capitalism, threatening to burn the painting.  However, it was later discovered in a churchyard, unsinged and wrapped in a newspaper.  Apparently the thieves demands were not met either.  What idiotic, loser bastards.

Johannes Vermeer's "The Love Letter"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: c. 1669
Size: 17 × 15.2 inch (44 × 38.5 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

I think the efficacy of this wonderfully benevolant view of life comes from the fact that it doesn't shy away from including some hint of the possibility of unhappiness.  The girl has a worried look on her face as if she is unsure whether the letter brings good or bad tidings.  However, the woman delivering it is smiling, indicating that it's good news and thereby giving the final word on the entire narrative.

Johannes Vermeer's "Mistress and Maid"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: c. 1667
Size: 35.5 × 30.9 inch (90.2 × 78.4 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Frick Collection, New York City, New York, USA

I just love that yellow color.

Johannes Vermeer's "A Lady Writing a Letter"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: c. 1665-1670
Size: 18 × 15.7 inch (45 × 39.9 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA

Johannes Vermeer's "Woman with a Pearl Necklace"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: c. 1662-1665
Size: 21.6 × 17.7 inch (55 × 45 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany

I think the figure in this painting looks stiff.  Also, I am not entirely sure if her right arm is correct--it looks a little low on the body.  I love the way her coat is painted, however.  Nothing says happy like a yellow coat.

Starting the Year with Johannes Vermeer: "The Procuress"

Nationality: Dutch
Born-Died: 1632-1675
Creation Date: 1656
Size: 56 × 51 inch (143 × 130 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany

It has been speculated that this scene which depicts a "music hall" (a kind of bar/brothel) with a man picking up a prostitute also includes a self-portrait of Vermeer on the left.  I would hate to think of that drunk with the dirty grin on his face was the brilliant and subtle artist Johannes Vermeer!  That being said, this painting has many, many visual virtues. 

It might seem strange to us to see carpeting on a table, but that was commonplace in Delft at that time.  Also, although much speculation has been written about it, it is unknown why the blue jug is so precariously placed on the edge of the table. 

William Holbrook Beard's “Santa Claus”

Nationality: American
Born-Died:1824 -1900

Creation Date: c. 1862

Media: Oil on canvas (?)

Location: RISD Museum of Art, Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Merry Christmas!

Art I Hate and Why: Lovis Corinth's "Samson Blinded"

Nationality: German
Born-Died: 1858-1925

Creation Date: 1912

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: Nationalgalerie, Berlin , Germany

This is not merely an illustration of Samson, a character from the Old Testament.  Its value as art lies in the fact that what it represents is much more fundamental: a view of man—an opinion about the nature of all men embodied in the image of one man.  The view of man offered in this painting is the following: man is weak, groping blindly, crushed, sickly, incapable, brutish, and (at best) formerly powerful. 

Justin Wisniewski's "Nude Sketch"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1978 -

Creation Date: 2010

Media: Oil on primed masonite

Location: Private collection

A little oil sketch that I like.

Pietro Rotari's "A Sleeping Girl"

Nationality: Italian
Born/Died: 1707-1762

François Clouet's "Elisabeth of Austria"

Nationality: French
Born/Died: 1510-1572

Creation Date: c. 1571
Size: 54 x 25.25 x 37 in. (14.2 × 10.2 cm)
Media: Oil on panel
Location: The Louvre, Paris, France

I have always loved clothing with a high collar--it really emphasizes the head and the mind. If I were to design clothing my designs would definitely make use of high collars.

Rembrandt van Rijn's "Aristotle with a Bust of Homer"

Nationality: Dutch
Born/Died: 1606-1669
Creation Date: 1653
Size: 56.5 × 53.7 in. (143.5 × 136.5 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

Arthur Hacker's "Imprisoned Spring"

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1858-1919
Creation Date: 1911
Size: 36.2 x 28.1 in. (92 x 71.5 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Private Collection

The shadows and sunlight on the table and the way the figure looms out of the darkness are particularly striking.