The Crowd

 

This week's featured artist is Edward Middleditch (1923-1987).  This painting is called "Crowd, Earls Court" and it is part of the collection at the Tate Britain  in London.  

Middleditch was born in Chelmsford, Essex and after serving in the army during WWII, he attended classes at the Royal College of Art.  His early works tended to use a lot of water and reflective scenes but later in is career, his work took on a more abstract nature with repeating patterns present.  

This painting caught my eye because it seemed to mimic rush hour traffic at many tube stations in London.  

The Rebel

 

This painting is called The Rebel (Elizabeth Ruskin) and was painted by Lew Davis (1910-1979).  

Davis was born in Jerome Arizona but left Arizona when he was 17 to study art in New York City.  He became adept at painting human figures and often depicted women laboring in oppressive conditions.  

The Phoenix Art Museum describes the painting this way:

"This painting features one of his fellow students, Elizabeth Ruskin.  Although she stares directly at the viewer with an unsettling intensity, we know very little about her story except that she was a student in one of his classes.  That  she was attractied to Davis is suggested by the two apples on the plate on the floor that allude to Adam's temptation of Eve."

I love seeing this painting whenever it is on display at the museum.  

Painting Nature

 

This week's featured artist is someone local.  Frank Gonzales was born in Mesa Arizona and raised in Tempe Arizona and his interest in art began early in life.  He was encouraged to apply for a scholarship which he received.  He graduated from the Laguna College of Art & Design.  

His stay in California turned into 6 years and then in New York for another 6 years before returning to his roots in Arizona. 

His signature "raindrops of color" is something I recognize right away.  This painting was featured in an exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden but I've seen his work in other locations as well.  I did a post about that exhibit at the garden on my Phoenix Daily Photo blog.

New Light, Reclaimed by Silence

 

I discovered this paining a little closer to home.  It was on display at the Heard Museum here in Phoenix.  The artist is Shonto Begay an indigenous, Navajo artist.   He grew up on the reservation in northern Arizona herding sheep and watching his mother weave rugs. His father was a medicine man.  His art captures the striking beauty of Navajo land along with the realities of modern reservation life.

This painting is called "New Light, Reclaimed by Silence". I think what drew me to this particular painting was that little, decaying trailer.  It gave me a feeling of nostalgia for my childhood when I would travel all over the United State with my parents and sisters always camping in a either a trailer or camper.  I have many fond memories of those family trips.  The little disintegrating trailer made me wonder what ever happened to our old trailer.  That was so long ago, I bet it might look something like this depiction if it exists at all.

You can see more of Shonto Begay's magical works at this link.

Bronze Ballet

 

This is a painting that fascinated me when I visited the Tate Britain Museum in London.  It has such an abstract surrealistic look to it.  Naturally, I took a photo so I could investigate it and learn more.  The artist is Edward Wadsworth (1889-1949) and the painting is called "Bronze Ballet".  Wadsworth was part of a modernist art movement called "Vorticism" which had been formed in 1914 by Wyndham Lewis.  

Wadsworth's mother died of sepsis nine days after he was born.  His father was devastated and had a hard time relating to his son.  He had an aunt who cared for him and left him with a yearly income allowing hime to pursue a career in art.  Wadsworth's most famous painting is called "Dazzle Ships in Drydock at Liverpool." It can be found in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.  

While researching this artist, I found another of his paintings called "Triangles" painted in 1948.  I love this painting.  I wish I knew where I could see it in person.   It might be in a private collection because I wasn't able to find a museum location in my searches. 

On The Road....

 

I was recently drawn to this painting in an exhibit of Asian art at the Phoenix Art Museum.  This painting is called "On The Road To Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib" and it was painted by artist Saira Wasim.  The painting depicts a group of people joyfully heading to the temple or Gurdwara.  For many years the temple at Kartarpur was not accessible to Sikhs in India since the partition of 1947.  In 2019 that changed with the opening of the Kartarpu Corridor a pilgrimage route that allows Sikhs to cross about 3 miles into Pakistani territory to visit the site.  The artist is celebrating the opening with this painting.  

Saira Wasim was born in Lahore Pakistan but now resides in the Chicago area.  She is a contemporary artist who uses a miniature style of painting making primarily political and cultural art.  You can see more of her art on her instagram site.  Her works all pop with color and vividness. 

Flaming June

 

In 2016, I visited the home of Sir Frederic Leighton (1830-1896), an English artist known for his Victorian paintings and sculptures.  His work often depicted biblical and classical subject matter.  The painting he is most known for is this one called Flaming June.  It is now owned by the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico.  The photo above was taken by a friend when it was on display at an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  It visited Leighton's home for a short period of time in 2016 but the timing of my trip there was off by a month and I missed seeing it.  I was also unable to go to New York when It was there for a short period of time but luckily my friend saw it and sent me this photo.  I wish I could have seen it at Leighton's home where it was originally painted.

It is a beautiful painting with an interesting history that can be seen here.  It was missing from view for a period of 30 years and was seen in a shop window in 1960.  That was a period of time when Victorian era paintings were not popular.  It sold at auction to the museum in Puerto Rico for $140.00 the equivilent of $1,126.00 in today's money.  If it looks familiar, it's because it is widely reproduced in posters and other media.

Everyday Moments

 

I saw the work of this artist way back in 2019 at an exhibit at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.  Shizu Saldamando was born and raised in the San Francisco Mission District but she now lives and works in Los Angeles.  Her paintings are portraits of peers, friends and loved ones and honors the connections that happen throughout daily life.  Clicking the link above will take you to a site showing more of the beautiful faces she has painted.  

Ms. Saldamando's work can be found in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum, the Smithsonian American Museum of Art and the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture as well as many more museums and private collections.

I was truly impressed by her beautiful portraits. 

Inspired by the Desert Southwest

 Jim Waid is an Arizona artist who was born in 1942 in Elgin Oklahoma but has lived most of his life in Tucson Arizona.  His artistic style is abstract but it's a type of abstract that is clearly influenced by the natural surroundings in the desert southwest.  I found this painting in the Tucson Museum of art and fell in love with the bright colors in the painting.  Jim's works can be found in museums all over the United States including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Denver Art Museum. Locally, he has works in the collections of the Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and the  Arizona State University Art Museum. He is one of Arizona's most celebrated artists but one many people have not heard of.  

The Dust Bowl

 

I saw this painting at the University of Arizona Art Museum two years ago.  I remember studying it carefully trying to figure out what was going on in the painting.  The painting's title is "Avalanch by Wind" and it was painted by Alexandre Hogue (1898-1994).  

Hogue was born in Missouri but raised from a very young age in Texas.  His mother taught him about "Mother Earth" which became a theme in his artwork.  Today we would call him an environmentalist because of his steadfast dedication to preservation of the land.  This painting was part of a series he painted that was called the Erosion Series.  Those paintings all had to do with the dust bowl era, a period during the Great Depression where the land was laid bare from over use and drought which Hogue believed was driven by human actions.

In this painting you see a storm building up that has caused heavy winds that have forced the dirt and sand over the railroad tracks. In the background we see a train coming and a lone man trying desperately to warn the engineer of trouble ahead.

There is a five minute video discussing this painting here.

The Future & The Past

 

I saw this painting at the Scottsdale Ferrari Art Fair a few weeks ago.  The artist is Dennis Numkena (1941-2010), a Native American architect and artist.  As a child, Numkena attended the Phoenix Indian School and graduated from Scottsdale High School.  After serving in the US Military, he lived for a short period in New York City.  A visit to the Guggenheim Museum inspired him to become an architect.  He graduated from Arizona State University and formed the first Native owned architecture firm.  His artworks can be found in collections all over the world.

This painting caught my eye because to me it looked both futuristic and historic at the same time.  It looks very much like a Hopi pueblo site while also looking like it could be a scene from a Star Wars movie.  

The painting was for sale from Savvy Collectors for $30,000.00

Batman

 

I saw this art piece in the window of a building somewhere near 43rd and 6th Ave, midtown Manhattan.  It aroused my curiosity so I snapped a photo hoping to learn more about it. It took a bit of research but I found the artist is Tomaso Albertini.

Albertini was born in 1984 a native to Milan Italy.  He moved to New York City in 2015 and began working with three-dimensional art assembled with pieces of cardboard creating sculptures on canvas.  

After 8 years in New York, he and his family moved to Naples Florida where he uses art to collaborate and support a variety of non-profit organizations.

You can see more of his work on his Instagram site. 

The Cholmondeley Ladies

 Even though the artist for this painting is unknown, I wanted to research it because it is so unusual.  I saw this painting at the Tate Britain in London and it caught my attention right away. The description explains that the two ladies are sisters who were born on the same day, married on the same day and gave birth on the same day.  In fact, there is a barely visible inscription on the lower left of the painting that reads:  "Two Ladies of the Cholmondeley Family who were born on the same day, married on the same day, and brought to bed on the same day."

Although the two ladies appear identical, there are numerous differences in the details of their clothing and facial characteristics.  In fact, their eyes are different colors indicating that they were not identical twins.  The painting is known as "The Cholmondeley Ladies" and Cholmondeley is pronounced "Chum - lee".  It is believed to have been painted sometime between 1600 and 1610 and it remained in the Cholmondeley family until it was donated anonymously to the Tate in 1955.

Still Life Reviving

 

Today I have another work of art that I saw at the Art Institue of Chicago.  I took a photo of this one because I knew I wanted to research it when I got home.  It's such an unusual image.

This work was created by Remedios Varo, a woman born in Catalonia in 1908.  Her father was an engineer and he taught her to draw.  She attended school in Madrid. 

Varo arrived in Mexico in December of 1941 as an artist seeking refuge from the Spanish Civil War and WWII.

Upon her untimely death in 1963, it was given to her mother in remembrance of her daughter.  

This was the perfect choice of art for mourning Varo because in addition to being the last painting she created, its message is one of regeneration and new life.  

Another artist I would never have known if I hadn't been inspired by her work to learn more.

Red Sleigh House

 

I haven't posted to this blog in over six years.  The blog started out as place to post photos of different art work that I had created.  I changed the name slightly and will use it now as a place to post photos of art that I have admired. I hope to post something weekly. 

I saw the painting above at the Art Institute of Chicago when I visited last September.  There was something about the painting that attracted me.  I loved the way the artist framed the view of the house with tree branches.  The artist is Lawren Stewart Harris and it was painted in 1919.  I had never heard of the artist and I was curious about him.  He's a Canadian artist whose early career focused on landscapes mostly around Toronto.  He gradually moved his creative style to more modern or abstract viewpoints.  He was a founding member of the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian painters who shared the same artistic vision.  His modern paintings are more well known than the landscapes like this one.  

Here is a link to a great YouTube video of the actor and art lover Steve Martin introducing an exhibit of his modern works at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.