I discovered the artworks of French painter Marcel Dyf whilst viewing the social media of an art blogging site. A warm thank you to all creators and supporters of our mutual enjoyment for international Art.
Please enjoy a video of Marcel Dyf’s artworks courtesy of Learn from Masters on Youtube, video above. I’ve also created a poem inspired by Marcel’s artworks to share with you entitled Sacré Ciel.
“Sacré Ciel” a poem by Matt The Unfathomable Artist:
Number 36, Scenes from the Life of Christ: Number 20, Lamentation – The Mourning of Christ [c1304 – 1306] by Giotto di Bondone, fresco at the Scrovegni Chapel – Padua, Italy, (H) 200cm x 185cm
Today in the month of December 2018 I’d like to share with you ‘Number 36, Scenes from the Life of Christ: Number 20, Lamentation – The Mourning of Christ’ [c1304 – 1306] by Giotto di Bondone.
“In his own time, people wrote of Giotto ‘first he put “goodness” into the expression of human heads’.” – words by Van Gogh quoting Vasari, from the book by Jules Michelet ‘L’amour’, [produced 1859] page 381.
‘Light and Colour (Goethe’s Theory) – the Morning after the Deluge – Moses Writing the Book of Genesis‘ [1843] by Joseph Mallord William Turner, Oil on canvas, 78.5 cm × 78.5 cm (30.9 in × 30.9 in).
Today I discovered a new work of abstract art, please see the above dated 1843.
You can download either of these same-said links for further research at your own leisure. I would passionately art-urge you to do so as the contents are a glorious delight to read 📜.
‘Christ in the Wilderness‘ [1872] by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi, Oil on canvas, 180cm × 210cm.
“… nothing more than a person.” quotation by Kramskoi.
A person like you and me.
‘Laughter! Hail, King of the Jews‘ [1877-82] by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi, Oil on canvas, The Depth vs The Height.
“Imagine, really: there is a guy who says – only I know where salvation is. Well … fine, let’s dress him up as a jester-king … and seeing this show, everyone, everyone who was there roared with laughter … ” quotation by Kramskoi himself.
“I used to cry in the most Northern Place of My People. They would see me and they would cry heavily with me in their hearts. My People are in the East and the South Places too. I have My People in the Islands throughout the Divers Places and in the Western Places where the Elk calls out like the Angel that made them strong.”
The Unfathomable Artist holds no specific political or religious affiliation other than with the individual retaining the utmost moral regard for life and freedom from persecution.
‘Wintry Sparrows‘ [latter half of the 11th century] by Cui Bai, Ink and colours on Silk, 23.5 cm (9.2 in) height x 101.4 cm (39.9 in) width, displayed at The Palace Museum, Beijing, China.
Let’s begin by imagining that any quote I include in this article is being spoken to you in an unemotional voice like that of a fully functioning mechanised Robot.
For instance…
– *Hello, my name is Kuǐlěi Móxiàng*
Please familiarize yourself with this Wikipedia link about superlative 11th Century Chinese painter Cui Bai [link here].
Also excitedly view the extraordinary mechanical genius of Japan’s 19th Century engineer and inventor Hisashige Tanaka:
[Video published by The Asahi Shimbun Digital, Japan – ]
Further detail about Tanaka’s ingeniously made creations can be activated by clicking this link regarding The Myriad Year Clock [here]. I will feature The Myriad Year Clock again later whilst reading this article.
On the morning of 6th September 2018, after I walked upstairs into a first-floor bedroom, why look, several sparrows were sunbathing on my window ledge. Brown wings fanned outwards, squat like Sumo’s upon the Earthling-moulded platform supporting their well-fed bodies.
Perceivingmy close proximity through the ledge window, they all took flight with one accord.
In the past I’ve watched sparrows completely ignore my Labrador dog in the garden, both oblivious of interest toward each other. I’ve watched greedy Wood pigeons fly directly over ground feeding sparrows, a matter of mere inches to hoover up the available food. Again, oblivious to each other.
They perceive, understand. My mind fathoms such things all the time, each day.
Did I ever tell you, *I love Art* <= electronic statement without question.
In the stories of Chinese legend the very real historical person King Mu of Zhou [link here] of the 10th Century BCE is presented with an automaton made by a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an artificer.
The story reads this way in English:
*”The king stared at the figure in astonishment. It walked with rapid strides, moving its head up and down, so that anyone would have taken it for a live human being. The artificer touched its chin, and it began singing, perfectly in tune. He touched its hand, and it began posturing, keeping perfect time…
As the performance was drawing to an end, the robot winked its eye and made advances to the ladies in attendance, whereupon the king became incensed and would have had Yen Shih [Yan Shi] executed on the spot had not the latter, in mortal fear, instantly taken the robot to pieces to let him see what it really was.
And, indeed, it turned out to be only a construction of leather, wood, adhesive and lacquer, variously coloured white, black, red and blue. Examining it closely, the king found all the internal organs complete—liver, gall, heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach and intestines; and over these again, muscles, bones and limbs with their joints, skin, teeth and hair, all of them artificial…
The king tried the effect of taking away the heart, and found that the mouth could no longer speak; he took away the liver and the eyes could no longer see; he took away the kidneys and the legs lost their power of locomotion.
The king was delighted.“*
My opening introduction is to applaud imaginative human concepts of art and physical craft dating back aeons ago.
Those Cui Bai – ‘Wintry Sparrows’ could have easily been perched upon my window ledge; and despite a thousand years of time his sparrows would look no different to the aptly named House sparrows I joyously visaged that same said morning.
*raises eyebrows open mouthed in sheer euphoric delight* <= my face when I saw those amusingly adventurous sparrows.
*Erm*, chewing non-descriptively on a carrot, *you are still playing the Robot voice game, right?*
Cui Bai’s sparrows are typically busy, playful little birds. Scouting food. Encouraging congregation as if resplendent branches are offices, homes or la-la-larders.
*silly cat, silly cat why can’t you find us?* – they tweet melodically, Robotically, in our fun game.
As friends.
We can think of sparrows like ‘antiquitous’ carriages in construction, for there are many kinds. Wood being one of their most favoured sitting positions, mostly in the high places.
The individual species of sparrows are listed immediately below, with modern Chinese sparrow species highlighted in bold.
You can quickly ISBN scan *bloop.. bloop..* over these species to continue reading my article happily thereafter:
‘Magpies and Hare‘ [circa 1061] by Cui Bai, Ink and colours on Silk, 193.7 cm (76.2 in) height x 103.4 cm (40.7 in) width. Currently at National Palace Museum, Taipei.
We see both personality and interpersonal communication within ‘Magpies and Hare’ by Cui Bai, who was also known as Cui Bo.
Goodness, everything is alive in Cui Bai’s artworks. True animated mastery. It looks as though we could roll down the hillside like children. The oriental breeze meets delicate leaves. The Magpies appear to be at odds with the hare, squawking their disapproval at Hare’s presence.
Hare is bemused by their intolerance, *I just want to eat my greens, Magpies, for my belly is yet full.*
The branch work sinuously interesting. The furrows provide depth. Right-sided shadows, particularly on Hare, turn 2D imagery into three dimensional painted realities. Sporadic grasses likely hint at Hare’s immutable softness. Positional height and strength of the dominant tree shrub explains the harsh vantage point of the Magpies.
It could also be said the Magpies are defending their nearby home with vigour.
Either way, Hare isn’t harming anyone.
Hare, Tortoise, Turtle, Giant Panda, Sparrow, Crane or Gibbon.
The magnificent one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
I’d like to conclude this article for you with a very special arrow, “The Arrows That Entertain Us“:
[Video clip courtesy of NHK Japan, about modern Japanese watchmaker Masahiro Kikuno].
‘A Woman And A Girl Driving’ [1881] by Mary Stevenson Cassatt, Oil on canvas, 35 5/16 × 51 3/8 inches (89.7 × 130.5 cm).
Featured here in the painting entitled ‘A Woman And A Girl Driving’ [1881] by Mary Stevenson Cassatt we have the bracing posture of Odile Fèvre, niece to artist Edgar Degas. The lady is Lydia the artist’s sister with the groom riding along facing the rear and sitting behind our two main subjects.
# Interesting fact – Do you know the names of any horse carriages by their constructed style and purpose?
Okay, well here is the name of some popular carriages during the latter 19th Century including a few modernly represented carriages too:
To be honest I only knew fourteen of these carriage names.
In her painting we see the lesser detailed fauna of the Bois de Boulogne. A heavily cropped composition of horse and carriage to showcase the occupants. The steadied seating of young Odile and Lydia’s concentration to drive carefully whilst holding horse-drawn reins.
Yes, a woman actually driving in the late nineteenth century. Although now it’s the early 21st Century and we should all be hovering about on magically carpeted skateboards pretending its 1985.
Flux capacitor fully charged, of course.
– “Times are a changin’ like the dog and it’s tail.” – chimed the Coachy, who had clearly seen the various where-with-alls of the known ages come and go.
Purraps ye olde Coachy is proper ‘edless and has seen ye time and times thee only throws a stick at?
Hey, I wonder if ole’ Coachy knows Charon, the ferryman? They’d get along swimmingly together.
Lydia looks responsible. The groom is contemplating bachelor life passing by. I have to laugh that Cassatt has wondrously captured the man with all his intrepid apprehension. Although posing in a horse drawn carriage for goodness knows how long must be quite challenging.
Beautiful too.
I do love her painting.
‘Sara Wearing A Bonnet’ by Mary Stevenson Cassatt.
‘Sara Wearing A Bonnet’ by Mary Stevenson Cassatt is a masterpiece.
Sara’s origin is currently a mystery to me.
Cassatt sketched and painted Sara around fifty times from circa 1900/1 through to, at least, 1907. Cassatt’s determined efforts to replicate same subject person’s in different compositions was likely influenced upon seeing works by Peter Paul Rubens and Antonio Allegri da Correggio.
Mary is exceptionally thorough in her artistic training and study of past Masters.
What intensity do you need to enjoy composing the same person fifty times? Look at Sara, she is divinely beautiful at such a delicate young age. It’s a testament to Mary Cassatt that she also finds Sara’s inner qualities of grace, patience and charm time and again in her compositions.
Sara has an incredible sense of purity that radiates through her adorable complexion. Personally I think Mary viewed her expression so perfectly painted here that she hastily put down her brushes.
The artwork is just so.
‘The Tea’ by Mary Stevenson Cassatt [c1880-81], Oil on canvas, 64.77 cm x 92.07 cm (25 1/2 ins x 36 1/4 ins).
Anyone for tea?
‘The Tea’ by Mary Stevenson Cassatt, shown above, is a true delight to behold. To our left Lydia Cassatt, the aforementioned carriage driver, appears deep in thought. Hair shining, superbly posed, revealing her personality to us in a new way – a friendly looking lady.
The tea drinker, cup to lips, is dainty and prim. We are able to glean her nature in this fleeting movement to sup, along with the pretty societal decorum of her era.
The tea service belonged to Mary Stevenson, the Cassatt’s Grandmother whom Mary herself is named after. Likely the tea service is expensive as this was made specifically for their Grandmother. Therefore in this painting we have direct connections to the artist’s family heritage. Notwithstanding that the silverware itself is beautifully envisaged for us by Mary.
Honest portrait replication is where Mary Cassatt’s art excels. Without question this is her primary objective in portraiture, irrespective of the background. Mary understood exactly what the fashionable art market wanted. ‘The Tea’ painting shown here was included in two Impressionist Exhibitions, 1880 and ’81.
Mary Cassatt was also lifelong friend to the exceedingly wealthy Louisine Waldron Elder Havemeyer, who was instrumental to the Early 1900’s Suffrage Movement . Louisine herself was a high profile art collector and an active feminist. Proven through the pages of a book entitled ‘Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector’ by Louisine W. Havemeyer.
Women of the early 1900’s were not all shy, retiring types.
However, I’d like to mention that whilst Mary Cassatt was certainly unafraid to voice her opinions, she did respect the global business of art. Her friendships show Mary to be pleasantly malleable and eager to accept positive career direction, regardless of gender.
‘Picking Flowers In A Field’ by Mary Stevenson Cassatt [1875], Oil on panel, height 26.6 cm (10.4 ins) x width 34.3 cm (13.5 ins).
If I owned ‘Picking Flowers In A Field’ vibrantly alive above by Mary Stevenson Cassatt it would never leave my possession.
‘Cruce del en pasarela sobre el rio Mayer’, Santa Cruz, Patagonia.
From the website of Eliseo Miciu [Eliseo’s Website] we read that Eliseo who was born in Uruguay ‘grew up in the hills of Cordoba between the paint brushes of his grandfather, Konstantino, and the palette knives of his father, Georg.’
Eliseo himself is a master Fine Art Photographer – one of the very best I’ve seen.
When I personally look at photographs my analytical thinking is brought to the fore. Immediately I begin to define compositional structure, artistic level, technical merit, method, subject material and inherent meaning.
It’s fair to write that Eliseo Miciu is the Monet of modern photography. Please take a super-quick-for-now preview of Eliseo’s Instagram page.
Next, please see, in Spanish ‘Cruce del en pasarela sobre el rio Mayer’ translated as ‘Crossing the walkway on the river Mayer’ in English, shown above.
In this superb photograph Eliseo draws upon his vast technical abilities. We’re talking about a seriously skilled photographer within this article. Capable of effortlessly photographing dignitaries and Royals.
When the bucket of a water well descends the earthen depths, the object becomes smaller, less comprehensible to us. Angles, Perspective and Light.
Perhaps read The La Thangue Angle to learn more about how artists might choose to construct their works.
‘lenga aguntando el viento en paine con cielo nuboso’
‘lenga aguntando el viento en paine con cielo nuboso’ translates as the ‘Lenga Beech Endures The Wind In Pain with The Cloudy Sky‘ in English – please see the windswept tree photo, above.
n.b. The Latin name of the Lenga Beech is Nothofagus pumilio.
Phonetical thinking from the Latin almost seems to transform the tree into a large mountainous cat roaring against the sky.
Defiant and Proud.
Or perhaps this represents the Southern hemisphere meteorologically warring against the destructive elements cast upon it? What does this photo make you personally feel?
For all its pain ‘there is light approaching, for the dawn settles many a dispute with the night’.
‘Don Anacleto of the El Chacay ranch in Lago Posadas’, province of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina.
In ‘Don Anacleto of the El Chacay Ranch‘ shown immediately above we see an elderly man, his mouth obscured by his moustache, eyes speaking to us of hope.
Do we see in photographs what we wish to see?
For that matter do we believe what we want to believe, excluding certain facts to suit our preconceived ideas or to avoid inconvenience?
If you think about this photograph perhaps it’s saying to us that this elderly man’s work is done. His hard work, all his secular efforts to the fruition. Clearly he has lived a long life, and yet his viewpoint still sparkles beyond the artificial light glinting upon his eyes.
Don Anacleto is tough, weather hardened. His aged furrows reflect the means of his outdoor job.
A macro style lens has likely been utilized in the Don Anacleto shot. You can bring shutter speeds down to 1/125, 1/60 or below for portraiture. If you’re learning the craft of photography a mix of natural aptitude along with imagining the shot you want is best.
Focus your mind, first.
Eliseo has decades of photographic experience, his work has been exhibited over 30 times in Argentina, Uruguay, USA and France. Student Apprenticeships are not easy to attain, however, if you can work with a master photographer like Eliseo you would learn at a commensurate rate.
Practical and Theory all in one.
‘Manadas salvajes en las mesetas Cercanas a Bajo Caracoles’ del libro Tierra del Viento, serie Ariscos.
The photograph above in English translates as ‘Wild horses in the plateaus Near Bajo Caracoles‘ from the book Tierra del Viento, series Ariscos.
Horses are immensely spirited animals. Experienced horses can know your feet are not placed in the stirrups, rearing up to warn you of the impending danger. Most all horses will test you, see if you’re worthy. They will ignore you if you’re not or draw near to you if you are.
For the Battle and Order they have thrown themselves into the fray.
Eager. Faithful.
The photograph above called ‘Wild horses in the plateaus Near Bajo Caracoles‘ offers a new perspective, angles. Natural light richly cascades the horses’ flanks. Grey, black and white horses all together.
Horses as one in unity. Curious.
Eliseo has expertly photographed scores of people, fauna and wildlife including work for the world renowned National Geographic. His tree, mountain, sea, river and landscapes abound with beauty. Eliseo’s style is a mixture of monochrome, colour and black and white.
With his artistic heritage of family painters Eliseo is all about the Art. I’d already chosen to include Eliseo on my blog even before I had read about his artistic background. The Art was leaping out, almost demanding of itselfto be seen. Eliseo is quiet-natured, strong and creatively astute. Economical with his time. Professional.
His website displays a self portrait in very brief time lapse.. his eyes blinking like the shutters of a camera.
What this speaks is that Eliseo is playing with you. Inviting you into his artistic world.
For you to think, mull and digest his Art like fine food that is good for you.
Truthfully it’s no exaggeration to call Eliseo Miciu the Monet of modern photography. Monet became so exceptionally skilled with paint brush and canvas that everything he produced is Art.
The skill, creativity and indomitable effort required to produce a Masterpiece is a combination of experiences.
185cm
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