Gustav Igler's "The Newborn"

Nationality: German

Born-Died: 1842-1908

Size: 29.33 × 34.6 in. (74.5 × 88 cm)

Creation Date: 1872

Media: Oil on canvas 

Location: Private collection

I don't recall ever seeing it before but it was in my files so I must have seen it.  When I saw it this morning, I though, "Wow, that's beautiful."  I was really struck by the color, the value contrast (meaning light and dark, not philosophical values), the gestures of the figures and the overall arrangement of the shapes.  Then, I started noticing the various narrative elements such as the cat NOT playing with the ball of string and instead staring at the boy drinking milk.  The little girl is lovingly gazing into the face of her new sibling and it seems as if the maid(?) is trying to return the child to the mother.  However, the mother isn't looking so good--she is quite shadowy.  The more I look at this image, the more questions I have.  What is the significance, if any, of the clock's time?  What is the basket above the bed?  Is the mother going to die?  I'm going to look at it a while longer.

Georges de la Tour's "The Education of the Virgin"*

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: French

Born-Died: 1593-1652

Creation Date: c. 1600 to 1652

Size: 33 x 39 1/2  in (83.8 x 100.3 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas 

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

I don't know for sure but it's possible that the image here is actually from a copy in France, but it is extremely similar to the painting in the Frick nonetheless.  The anatomical rendering here is slightly awkward--it reminds me of George Tooker--but the light is great (as I would expect.)  In any case I'd like to see this painting.

* the authorship of this painting has been questioned.

Seven Paintings by Suzanne Eisendieck

Nationality: German

Born-Died: 1908-1998

Eisendieck is an artist that most people have never heard of and a great many people will not like.  I like some of them.  I just discovered her name and work very recently despite the fact that I had the first painting here in my “Unknown Artist” file for many years.   I kept it until I could properly identify it because I thought it had something interesting to it.  I was shocked to discover that she died in the 1990's, and not in the 1920's.

For the most part I appreciate her unique approach to impressionism—it seems to me like she used the impressionist method for expressive ends, not merely for the sake of “capturing the transient nature of light” or something like that, which is artistically pointless.  However, her approach seems like merely a good start.  I think a superior artist could have taken her style and developed it into something that was much more compelling.

Despite all this, her work seems to have elements that many young artists would want to adapt and I am surprised that more contemporary art students don’t admire her work.

The first two paintings here are the ones I like best.

John William North's "Halsway Court, Somerset"

Nationality: English

Born-Died: 1842-1900

Media: Watercolor

A very nice painting for spring.

Cecilia Beaux's "Dorothea and Francesca"

Nationality: American

Born-Died: 1857-1931

Creation Date: 1898

Size: 80.125 x 46 inch (203.5 x 116.8 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 6: A Variety of Carvings and Architectural Details

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Marble
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Norman Rockwell's "The Gift"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1882-1925

Creation Date: 1935

Media: Oil on illustration board (?)

Robert Duncan's "Way Up North"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1952-
I assumed this was a painting of Santa Claus but now that I really look at it I don't know if that's who it's supposed to be.

George Bellow's "Boy in a Blue Coat"

Nationality: American
Born-Died: 1882-1925

Creation Date: 1915

Size: 36 × 24 inch (91.5 × 61 cm)

Media: Oil on canvas

Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Henry Raeburn's "Portrait of Master George John Fraser of Reelig"

Nationality: Scottish
Born-Died: 1756-1823Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Private Collection

Peter Paul Rubens' "Venus Frigida"

Nationality: Flemish
Born/Died: 1577-1640

Creation Date: 1614
Size: 72.4 x 55.9 in. (183.89.5 x 141.98 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: Koninklijk Museum Voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belegium

Just yesterday I participated in a life-drawing session which was based on this painting.  We projected the painting behind the model and posed her in this manner.  It was fun.

John Michael Wright's "Mrs. Salesbury with her Grandchildren"

Nationality: English-Scottish
Born/Died: 1617-1694
Creation Date: c. 1676
Size: 88 in. (129.5 x 133.6 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Tate Collection, London, UK

I can only guess what she's going to do with those children! Happy Halloween!

Bust by Roman Sculptor

Nationality: Roman

Media: Marble
Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Théodore Chassériau "Aline Chassériau, The Artist’s Sister, At The Age of 13"

Nationality: French
Born/Died: 1819-1856

Creation Date: 1835
Size: 36 x 29 in. (92 x 73 cm)
Media: Oil on canvas
Location: The Louvre, Paris, France

Justin Wisniewski's "Megan"

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1978

Creation Date: 2007
Size: 13 x 9.75 in. (33 x 24.8 cm)
Media: Oil on MDF panel
Location: Resipole South Gallery, Suffolk, UK

Albert Herter's "Young Girl"

Nationality: American
Born/Died: 1870–1950

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.

Unknown Portrait by Thomas Sully

Nationality: English
Born/Died: 1783-1872

Location: Private Collection

This is an image of a Thomas Sully painting that I saw being sold at an online auction for a very low price. Since Sully is still a relatively famous artist the low price might seem strange...until you see the painting. This painting is in absolutely awful condition. I think it is interesting to see a work that was probably very expensive and cherished at one time only to be abandoned in an attic or basement for a couple hundred years.


This second image has been digitally manipulated by me.

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.

Figure Sketches by Jean and Paul Ulen

Nationality: American
Born/Died: Jean: 1900-1988, Paul: 1894-1976

Media: Graphite on paper
Location: The Cleveland Artists Foundation, Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Jean and Paul Ulen were also artists from the Cleveland area who are hardly well known today. Their drawings were incredibly sensitive and their standards have certainly influenced my studio practice.

I believe that the most common criticism of their work was that they were merely technically skilled and lacked a unique artistic style. I would agree with this criticism to some extent, but many of their "figure studies" included many interesting and subtle stylistic decisions. I consider myself lucky to have had the privilege to catalog and photograph their work for the Cleveland Artists Foundation's archives. Below are some of my photographs of their work.