Left Image: Painter Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait with Felt Hat, Winter 1887-1888, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
The Egyptian authorities are still searching for the US $50 to $55 million floral still-life painting by Van Gogh that has gone missing since Saturday, August 21, from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo, Egypt. This is the second time that this painting has been stolen.
Egypt's culture minister Farouq Hosni said the $50 to $55 million painting by Dutch post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh identified as "Poppy Flowers" or "Vase with Flowers" was cut from its frame and smuggled out after the museum opened Saturday morning, August 21. He had said that the museum was visited by only 10 people that day and that two Italians have been arrested at Cairo airport with the painting; however, Hosni later backtracked and said he had been given incorrect information about the painting's recovery. It has since been reported that the arrested Italian couple have been released.
Italy's ANSA news agency had said the two Italians were with a group of Spanish and Russian tourists when they had visited the museum.
Associated Press, citing Egypt's top prosecutor, reported that none of the alarms were working and only seven out of 43 surveillance cameras were functional at the time the Van Gogh painting was stolen. Prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud told Egypt's state news agency Sunday that the thieves used a box cutter to cut the painting from the frame. He blamed the art heist on the lax security at the museum. He said the museum guards' daily rounds at closing time were also inadequate and did not meet the necessary security requirements to protect renowned works of art.
Mr. Mahmoud also said that 15 Egyptian officials, including the director of the Mahmoud Khalil Museum, Reem Bahir, and the head of the fine arts department at the Ministry of Culture, Mohsen Shaalan, have been barred from leaving the country until a full investigation into the art theft has been completed.
Officials have stepped up security at Egypt's borders to try to keep the artwork from leaving the country.
Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said no one would be able to easily sell or conceal the painting because of its size, 63 by 57 centimeters.
This is the second time this painting has gone missing. It was first stolen in 1978 and was recovered two years later at an undisclosed location in Kuwait. The circumstances surrounding this first theft remain unclear, as officials have never released the full details.
Painted around 1887, the missing "Poppy Flowers" work measures 63 cm by 57 cm (25.2 in by 22.8 in) and is a still-life of a vase with yellow flowers and red poppies. It is believed that Van Gogh painted this work three years before his death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
See following video report for more details and a photo of the missing painting.
Watch video: "Egypt searches for $50m painting" - Ayman Mohyeldin from Al Jazeera English News reporting from Cairo, 22 August 2010.
New exhibit highlights rarely seen abstractions by Georgia O'Keeffe: February 6 - May 9, 2010 Thought I'd share this good news article and video with you from VOA News.
Be sure to watch the video ... plenty of good images of O'Keefe's abstractions ... click on the <> symbol to copy the video onto your clipboard or to paste the HTML code to your site or to share. Enjoy!
Source: VOA News (30 April 2010, Julie Taboh | Washington, DC) - "Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Goes on Display" Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the most distinguished American artists of the 20th century. She is best known for her vibrant paintings of flowers, leaves, landscapes and other images in nature.
Now, a new exhibit at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., features more than 100 paintings, drawings and watercolors by O'Keeffe and 12 photographic portraits of her taken by her late husband, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz.
But the highlight of the collection - which includes items dating from 1915 to the late 1970s - includes a rare selection of O'Keeffe's less familiar abstract art. Georgia O'Keeffe as abstract artist
Georgia O'Keeffe is best known for her sensuous paintings of flowers and desert landscapes of the American southwest. But many people may not know that she was also a gifted abstract artist.
The new exhibit features abstractions that O'Keeffe herself didn't exhibit in her own lifetime, says Elsa Smithgall, associate curator at The Phillips Collection.
According to Smithgall, O'Keeffe broke into abstraction with a set of charcoal drawings that she created in 1915.
"They are exquisite gestural drawings, very organic in form, and no recognizable reference to a known subject," she says. Water colors and oils
By the 1920s, O'Keeffe had moved on from pure abstract drawings to water colors and oil paintings of subjects that seem more familiar.
But according to Smithgall, O'Keeffe continued to use abstraction as the foundation in all her artwork.
"You're going to find in her work this constant back and forth between very purely abstract form and perhaps a flower or a leaf or a landscape," she says.
Sexual overtones
It was also during this period when critics described O'Keeffe's oil paintings as being sexually suggestive.
While Smithgall acknowledges that some of O'Keeffe's forms do evoke sexual connotations, she emphasizes that the exhibition "is not about that."
She adds that O'Keeffe herself passionately resisted the notion that her art was sexually suggestive and, in fact, made a concerted effort "to shift her focus in her work towards more recognizable subject matter as a way to try to steer the critics towards another kind of reading of her work."
New Mexico - a new chapter
Beginning in 1929, O'Keeffe started spending time in New Mexico where she felt more at home than she had in New York where her career had taken root. Her experiences in the vast open spaces of the New Mexico desert inspired her to move there permanently in 1949.
According to Smithgall, it was a new chapter in her career:
"She's very much responding to that ocean of space in New Mexico where they have this amazing clarity of light and very wonderful, breathtaking kind of exhilarating sensation that she feels there that is extremely inspiring to her, and it brings up a whole new body of subject matter," she says.
It was during these transformative years when her paintings took on a different feel as well, says Smithgall.
O'Keeffe started depicting flowers "increasingly large in format and increasingly greater in magnification and so you start to see a major change in her scale, in her viewpoint taking these unusual birds and bees-eye perspectives," she says.
According to Smithgall, O'Keeffe created magnified images of her subject matter as a way of "inviting the viewer in." She wasn't copying an object so much as expressing how she felt about painting it, she says. Coming full circle
By the late '50s and '60s, O'Keeffe's art turned once again to the pure abstractions of her earlier years.
"This is not a work that you probably would see on the wall and say, 'Oh, yes, an O'Keeffe,'" says Smithgall, "so there's that surprising aspect to them."
"What's so exquisite about them is that she has - with very spare compositions - created these exquisite forms that are extremely expressive and that do recall those earliest charcoal drawings in that respect," she says.
From those early charcoal drawings to the huge, bold canvases of her later years, few would argue that the work of Georgia O'Keeffe has had a far-reaching influence on American art and culture, and continues to impress and inspire art lovers throughout the world.
Source: VOA News (30 April 2010, Julie Taboh | Washington, DC) - "Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Goes on Display"
It usually happens during conversations about art that someone would ask me who or which artists I like. There is no simple answer because so many names come to mind. Not only have great artists from the past influenced me, but also local artists and artisans inspire me in many ways.
Flowers are in my life. I have a simple flower garden, and sometimes I'm given a special bouquet (or, I treat myself). Many artists paint flowers or show flowers within their paintings . . . some names may surprise you. Remember those colorful crayon "masterpieces" you brought home from grade school? And remember those collage flower projects made with dyed cotton balls, crumpled tissue paper, beads or dried pasta shapes? A gift of fresh flowers convey friendship, love, and happiness. Whenever words fail us, we send flowers during times of sadness and loss. The English critic, artist, and writer John Ruskin (1819-1900) said: "Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity."
Li Di literally produced blooms with vivid realism. Li Di was a Chinese imperial court painter during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279) era. He produced two exquisite hibiscus flower paintings (Pair of album leaves) in the year 1197.
"Red Hibiscus," by Chinese artist Li Di. Dated 1197 ( Southern Song Dynasty). Ink and colors on silk, each 25.5 x 25.8 cm. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo.
"White Hibiscus," by Chinese artist Li Di. Dated 1197 (Southern Song Dynasty). Ink and colors on silk, each 25.5 x 25.8 cm. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo.
This iris painting is from my favourite artist, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Van Gogh's "Irises" dance, with the blossoms and leaves imbued with energy and life. It shows his tremendous love for nature's pure beauty. He sets up a visual vibration by using complementary colors with the cool blues/purples against the warm orange/yellows. Amongst all these blossoms is a single white iris, standing alone, upright, and steadfast.
"Irises" by Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy, May, 1889, oil on canvas, J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California.
One of the first art books I bought was titled Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers. O'Keeffe's large-scale paintings at close range, as if seen through a magnifying lens, of flower blossoms and natural forms are sensuous and eye-catching. American painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is best known for her iconic representations of flowers, rocks, shells, landscapes, and animal bones, as well as her abstract work which is as bold and breathtaking as that of her European contemporaries Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky. Georgia O'Keeffe is one of America's most important artists.
Enjoy these images of O'Keefe's sensuous flowers. My thanks to bluemoon093 for creating this video tribute Georgia O'Keeffe: Flowers
I have included the Belgian painter and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840), who excelled with his botanical paintings and illustrations.
"Rosa Gallica Aurelianensis" by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, printed illustration engraving.
French painter Edouard Manet (1832-1883) was known mainly for his strong portraits and some landscapes. Although Manet included flowers as supporting detail in his portraits, there were several paintings in his total oeuvre where flowers are the main subject matter.
"Peonies in Vase Still Life" by Edouard Manet, 1864-65, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay.
One of my prized books is The Last Flowers of Manet which illustrate the 16 flower paintings that Manet painted during his last months of life. Manet had been ill for several years, and he had been working on a smaller scale. His last major composition had been "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère," which had been completed in time for the Salon of 1882, a year before his death.[1]
"So these flower paintings belong to a period of decline and, one must imagine, of occasional despair. But even at his most bitter moments Manet's spirits would revive at the sight of flowers, "I would like to paint them all," he would say."[2]
"White Lilacs in Glass Vase" (Lilas blancs dans un vase de verre) by Edouard Manet, 1883, oil on canvas, Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Berlin.
The following three examples could be considered portraits, with the painted flowers acting as the counterbalance or counterweight, which play equally important roles in the paintings. One of my favourites is "The Time of the Lilacs" by French-born, British artist Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823-1903), who specialized in painting children and women, usually in rural settings.
I have fond memories of lilacs. At my childhood home, there grew two huge blue-purple lilac bushes by the front door; and every spring the intoxicating fragrance of those lilac blooms drifted into the house . . .
"The Time of the Lilacs" by Sophie Gengembre Anderson, oil on canvas.
Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) painted "Large Bouquet of Flowers with Tahitian Children" (Te Tiare Farani). In 1891, Gauguin had moved to Tahiti in the French Polynesia. Gauguin's use of warm vibrant colors energized this painting with the feeling of the exotic tropics. He used bold and flat areas of pure color to construct the forms, with dark contour lines separating the forms. "Cloisonnism" is the post-impressionist term for this style of painting.
"Large Bouquet of Flowers with Tahitian Children" (Te Tiare Farani) by Paul Gauguin, 1891, oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
"Sunflowers on An Armchair" by Paul Gauguin, 1901, oil on canvas. Private Collection, Zurich.
Another wonderful portrait painting full of spring flowers is "The Flower Arrangement" by German painter Otto Scholderer (1834-1902). As well as portraits, Scholderer also painted landscapes and beautiful still life. He often included flowers or fruits with his portraits of women.
"The Flower Arrangement" by Otto Scholderer.
Here's something different . . . Cubist painter Juan Gris (1887-1927) created a painting titled "Roses (Flowers)." Gris was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked mostly in France. He is credited for creating several of the Cubism movement's most distinctive and well-known works.
"Roses (Flowers)" by Juan Gris dated 1914.
I need to include French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954), who freely added floral designs to his paintings. Matisse had a life-long fascination with textiles. He was born in Bohain-en-Vermandois, a town in Northern France known for its production of luxury silks and taffetas. His family had been involved with textiles for generations, and Matisse developed an affection for and collected fabrics at an early age. Throughout his life, wherever he travelled, he added to his collection of textiles. Matisse was known to cover his studio in fabric, draping sheets over chairs, hanging material from wire rods attached in the ceiling, setting up patterned backdrops for his models. Matisse used these fabric designs in his paintings, often changed in some way, with either the designed shapes exaggerated or with altered colors.[3] As shown in the following painting "The Dessert Harmony in Red (The Red Room)," Matisse would intentionally confuse the background and foreground patterning.
"The Dessert Harmony in Red (The Red Room)" by Henri Matisse, 1908, oil on canvas, State Heritage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Below is Matisse's 1948 painting "The Plum Blossoms" which is part of the last series of oil paintings created by the artist before he died in 1954.
"The Plum Blossom" painting, measuring nearly 3 feet by 4 feet, depicts a woman, her face left blank and featureless, sitting at a table against a heavily saturated rust-red and yellow-ochre background, with a tall vase of blooming plum blossom branches dominating the foreground. It is among seven interiors that Matisse painted in 1947 and 1948 in his studio in Vence, in southern France.[4]
"The Plum Blossoms" by Henri Matisse, 1948, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.
The allure and quiet language of flowers are universal, appealing to the young and old. Only with calmness and in serenity do we perceive their beauty.
Reference Sources: [1] Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, The Last Flowers of Manet, translated by Richard Howard (New York: Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999), p.5.
[2] Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, The Last Flowers of Manet, translated by Richard Howard (New York: Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999), p. 5.
[3] National Post, newspaper article by Julia Dault titled "Matisse's Material World," published August 18, 2005.
[4] The New York Times, newspaper article by Carol Vogel titled "The Modern Acquires a 'Lost' Matisse," published September 8, 2005.
"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment." -- Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), American painter
One of the first art books I bought was titled "Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers." O'Keeffe's large-scale paintings at close range, as if seen through a magnifying lens, of flower blossoms and natural forms are sensuous and eye-catching. American painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is best known for her iconic representations of flowers, rocks, shells, landscapes, and animal bones, as well as her abstract work which is as bold and breathtaking as that of her European contemporaries Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky. Georgia O'Keeffe is one of America's most important artists.
"Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction" exhibition February 6 to May 9, 2010 at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
See the following video for examples of her work and highlights of the O'Keeffe exhibition. If you're in the Washington D.C. area, the O'Keeffe exhibit shows this American legend in a whole new light. Included in the exhibition are more than 100 paintings, drawings, and watercolors by O'Keeffe, dating from 1915 to the late 1970s, and 12 photographic portraits of her by her husband, Alfred Stieglitz.
My thanks to bluemoon093 for creating this beautiful video tribute - Georgia O'Keeffe: Flowers
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