Victorian Painting: Frederic Edwin Church – El Río de Luz (The River of Light), 1877

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El Río de Luz, Frederic Edwin Church, victorian painting

In addition to my visit to the Chigusa Tea exhibition in the Sackler Gallery, I whiled away the hours at one of my all-time favorite museums, the National Gallery of Art. I always spend a great deal of time in the 18th and 19th century sections of the gallery and after spending some time with some old friends in British landscapes (J.M.W. Turner is a longtime companion), I found myself wandering into the American galleries and gazing dumbstruck at the above painting. It’s by Frederic Edwin Church, an American landscape painter from Connecticut, and was painted in 1877 on oil on canvas.

I first became acquainted with his work in an amazing exhibition at the American Art Museum back in 2012 called “The Civil War and American Art“, which featured many of his landscapes in a Civil War context. I was struck by the staggering beauty of his art, and the immensity and power of the works. As the above painting shows, his style “used extraordinary detail, romanticism, and luminism” in its depiction of a wild, idealized, uncorrupted, uninhabited nature, all of which was characteristic of the Romantic painters of the time.

There are many parts of this painting that I adore, but if I had to pick a favorite section, it might be the flock of birds in flight in the lower right side of the painting. It is actually breathtaking how realistic the birds seem in person; it’s more like a photograph than anything. Then your eyes move to the left to admire the translucent gleam on the ferns and fronds in the lower half of the painting and the varying greens on the moss and vines creeping up the trees. The ruby red throat of the bird sitting on the palm overlooking the vast river. The tiny, tiny boatman way in the distance, either coming or going from our idyllic paradise. The lushness of the whole scene is dominated by the perfect beams of light from the sun, giving the painting its name: El Rio de Luz, or the River of Light. I must have stood in front of this painting for nearly 20 minutes and could have stayed an hour more finding new things to love and appreciate about it. (Sorry, everyone: I am THAT person in the galleries who hogs up the space in front of the paintings for ages at a time. Just gently shoo me along.)

I’ll definitely be featuring more of his works in the future: he’s an art obsession of mine and he deserves to be one of yours as well, Dear Reader. See the enormous full size of the painting here or simply click on the image itself. Be careful: you might get lost in it for a time.

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Victorian Painting: “Early Snow”, John Francis Murphy

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john francis murphy, mads mikkelsen, suddenly mads mikkelsen, victorian painting

My dear ones, forgive the lack of regular posting from yours truly, but between our recent influx of snow and being completely and totally obsessed with the Winter Olympics in Sochi, I’ve fallen a bit behind (I was screaming in my house today at the results of the ice dancing, truly. Anyone else??). Currently, our landscape looks much like the one above, “Early Snow”, painted by American painter John Francis Murphy in 1884. Anyone else buried along with us poor souls? Anyone else as SICK OF IT AS WE ARE? UGH.

Apropos of nothing, I’m also COMPLETELY obsessed with NBC’s Hannibal, which feeds my far older obsession with Mads Mikkelsen. So, here’s a pic of him as Dr. Johann Friedrich Struensee from the 2012 film A Royal Affair. Yes, I know that the movie takes place in the 18th century. I don’t care. Because Mads. Because Mads in period clothing. Because ponytails. Because I can.

Victorian Painting: Shipping on the Clyde – John Atkinson Grimshaw, 1881

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John Atkinson Grimshaw, victorian painting

How gorgeous is this? I saw this today and it just took my breath away. This lovely oil painting is called Shipping on the Clyde by John Atkinson Grimshaw and can be found at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Grimshaw, born in 1836, was known for his land- and cityscapes and nighttime paintings. Heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, his works featured realistic representations of urban life, bustling shipping areas and docks, and scenes featuring a transition from light to darkness or vice-versa.

As one well acquainted with the night (Thank you, Mr. Frost), I’m always drawn to night paintings, especially ones with such strikingly warm lighting as this one. The fading light of the sunset to the right of the image contrasts with the bright light of the shops and storefronts; a new sun rises as another sets. The strong lines of the masts also mirrors the lines of the buildings, creating a complimentary symmetry in this dock scene. The hues of blue used in this particular painting speak to me on a spiritual level; it’s like he knew all my favorite blues and joined them together on a single canvas. According to Wikipedia, “Whistler remarked that “I considered myself the inventor of Nocturnes until I saw Grimmy’s moonlit pictures.” (I have to say, I always love finding out that yes, in fact, all the famous people did know and hang out with each other.) You can see another wonderful sampling of his paintings here and I’m sure I’ll feature them again.

Coronation Photobomb

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queen victoria, stop that that's silly

Click to enlarge!

Exeunt, Photobombed by a Bear, late-1890s

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daguerrotypebombs, stop that that's silly

This is very much the sort of thing Katherine and I would do. Credit to Jack Mord.

Victorian Painting – Hatred and Madness, Vucetic and Kovacic

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hatred and madness, macabre, Pasko Vucetic, victorian painting, Viktor Kovacic

My apologies for the sporadic posting, but an extremely dear family member of mine went through serious surgery late last week and I was otherwise occupied with assisting the family. In some ways, this may seem like an inappropriate time for an image like this, but with the chaos and stress of the last few days….well, Dark Romanticism seems somewhat fitting, non?

This unique painting is called “Hatred and Madness” and was painted by Serbian artist Pasko Vucetic (1871 – 1925) and framed by Croatian artist Viktor Kovacic (1874 – 1924).  According to Sotheby’s, it was done in 1898/1899 in oil on an octagonal canvas with the frame being added several years later. The painting itself looks like it’s framed with fragments of human bone. Most interesting of all, there is an inscription in the lower center of the frame: “L’odio/ quondo tu dormirai … Stecchetti” or translated, “Hatred/As you shall sleep…”, and signed with the last name of the poet Lorenzo Stecchetti (aka Olindo Guerrini). To zoom around the image and enjoy (?) the details, visit this page.

The image and expression on the horrified man’s face is striking but the composition of the image, including the framing narrative of bones and subsequent inscription intrigues me even more. It indicates a man surrounded by death: the bones of his lover, scattered in his desecration? You can identify the rib cage, hip bones, and hands of the woman in the frame itself; a hint to the woman’s deconstructed and abused body and sexuality by the spurned grave-digger. In the poem, he also mentions something about “protruding” his “claw into your shameless womb!”, which indicates an emotional, spiritual, and physical violation of the female body. His fingering of her eye socket also serves this point and makes the viewer uncomfortable in its symbolism.

According to this site, the image was inspired by a poem by Stecchetti called “Il Canto dell’Odio”, or “The Song of Hate”, written in 1877, about a man who vows to torment his lover after her death because she (apparently) took a turn on Whore Island and decided that hanging out with soldiers and drunks was preferable to his company.  In his mind, the only logical reaction to her betrayal is to dig up her bones, mess with them, and excoriate her in verse, making sure to soil her reputation in perpetuity. In short: “I shall forever dwell/A specter of vengeance and sin, a/monstrosity from hell.” Charming stuff right? Read the translation to hear about all the other horrible things he promises to do to his once-beloved (or enjoy it in the original Italian here). This line is particularly choice: “Why did you say no, when crawling at your/feet I implored your mercy/while your pimps out in the street awaited/for the next batch of Brits?” HILARious. Oh, you batches of Brits, corrupting these perfect Italian ladies with your tea and Brit-ness. Anyway, she probably friend-zoned him and he decided to go ballistic and did the 19th century equivalent of online bullying and/or Facebook public shaming. The inscription on the frame is the haunting first words of the opening line from the poem, the painting itself visually demonstrating what the lover plans to do as she attempts to rest in peace.

I hope to do more posts on this macabre trend in painting, identified as a branch of Romanticism called Dark Romanticism (into which literary category Poe already falls, natch). I studied the Symbolists in school and thoroughly enjoyed some of the nightmarish subject matter and bizarre compositions of some of the works of Redon, Munch, and other artists of the Decadent period. Sweet dreams everyone?

Macabre Monday: Eminem and A Stack of Skulls

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daguerreotype, macabre

…C’mon, it looks like him, doesn’t it? Will the Real Slim Shady, ESQ please stand up? It also sounds like an Agatha Christie mystery. “The Physician and the Case of the Stack of Skulls”.

In all seriousness, this is a daguerreotype called Man with Skulls, ca. 1850, from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. I rather love it, but the screaming skull in the center is creeping me out a little. Does our mystery man have a special sense of humor?

Jean-Jacques Henner Liked Pale Red Heads

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Jean-Jacques Henner

Jean-Jacques Henner was a French painter who lived from 1829 to 1905.  I saw a painting by him over the weekend in a museum, and I was struck by the beautiful and almost ghostly contrast between the subject’s skin and the dark background.  Looking at other works from his collection, this seems to be a common theme; he also might have had a thing for redheads.  I wanted to share a few of his works that I could find online because I think they are all so striking.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an image of the painting I saw in the museum.  Find out more about Monsieur Henner at the website for the Musee National.

Melancholie

La liseuse

Reclining Nude

Solitude, or “Me from 6th to 9th grade”

Still Life in Bacon, 1894

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bacon, daguerreotype, stop that that's silly

Presented without comment.

Terror Tuesday: Headless Portraits from the Victorian Era

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daguerreotype, Early photography, headless portraits, macabre, terror tuesday

I love surfing the internet and finding all sorts of WTFery. Case in point, this article about headless photography. It appears that as much as we adore Photoshopping Robert Downey Jr’s head onto cats (I shouldn’t have to tell you that it’s worth the click), the Victorians enjoyed their own sort of novelty illusions. Apparently, one could create such an effect through layering of multiple negatives or selective use of blocking or double exposure to create the desired effect. I have no idea why this seems to have been a popular thing to do, but holding ones own head in hand (or on a plate, or putting it on a baby or uh…) became something of an ancient meme.

I appreciate the Headless Horseman quality of this one from around 1875. Katherine and I would totally put this on our invites for our annual Halloween party.

This reminded me of this sketch from The Young Ones (please tell me that there are still those who remember the Young Ones!) where the headless ghosts come round (serious hilarity starts at the :30 mark).

This is some Children of the Corn business here. I might be legit freaked out by this one. The dead eyes on “Mom” and the neck bone are particularly choice.

This guy, however, I love. Cheers, mate! But the true winner is…

 

Credit: Coll. Michael G. Jacob

 

As the gesture in the portrait indicates, Q.E.D. *mic drop*