Category Archives: art

Mary and Child (1490) – Gérard David

Mary and Child (1490) – Gérard David

Gérard David (c. 1455, Oudewater – August 13th 1523, Bruges) was an early Dutch Renaissance artist known for his brilliant use of colour. He was born in Oudewater, now located in Utrecht. Most of his career took place in Bruges, where he was a member of the painters’ guild. Upon the death of Hans Memling in 1494, David became Bruges’ leading painter.–http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard David [Sept 2006]

See also: painting – Northern Renaissance

Grisaille

Standflügel des Helleraltars von Matthias Grünewald, ausgeführt in Grisaille

In the summer of 2006 I saw my first grisaille, by Flemish Primitive Jan Provoost at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels. I had been thinking about what I had seen, I could not figure out why artists would paint in monochrome in an age where black and white – so I believed – had not yet been invented. Furthermore, it was one of these enigmas where a simple Google search would not suffice. I thought of contacting someone at the museums of Brussels or Antwerp. The day before yesterday I decided to post it on the talk page of Jan Provoost’s entry at Wikipedia. Wetman answered my query in two hours. One more testimonial to the efficiency of Wikipedia and the phenomenal knowledge of Wikipedia editor Wetman.

Here are the answers I was looking for:

Grisaille (Fr. gris, grey) is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome, in various shades of grey, particularly used in decoration to represent objects in relief.–http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grisaille [Sept 2006]

Grisaille first appeared in the late thirteenth century, but was especially popular from the second half of the fourteenth through the fifteenth c. —http://www.geocities.com/cjfearon/ [Sept 2006]

In the Middle Ages grisailles were often painted on the outer panels of altarpieces. This was to suggest stone sculpture. Around 1700 grisailles became the height of fashion. Later in the eighteenth century, the vogue for grisailles declined. —http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_encyclopedia/00046966?lang=en [Sept 2006]

See also: painting – Matthias Grünewald

I was seeking a soul resembling mine

I was seeking a soul resembling mine, and I could not find it. I searched throughout the seven seas; my perseverance proved of no use. Yet I could not remain alone. I needed someone who’d approve of my nature; there had to be somebody out there with the same ideas as me. –Stanza 13 of Maldoror via Dennis Cooper who has a series of posts concerning Les Chants de Maldoror (1869) – Comte de Lautréamont in a version illustrated by Salvador Dalí.

Ocean of Sound (1995) – David Toop

Ocean of Sound (1995) – David Toop [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Its parallels aren’t music books at all, but rather Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, Michel Leiris’s Afrique Phantôme, William Gibson’s Neuromancer … David Toop is our Calvino and our Leiris, our Gibson. Ocean of Sound is as alien as the 20th century, as utterly Now as the 21st. An essential mix. –The Wire magazine.

An incredible breadth an depth of knowledge. Recommended 10/10

See also: David Toop – 1995 – music journalism

Karel Thole (1914 – 2000)

Illustration of German pulp fiction novel by Karel Thole

Carolus Adrianus Maria Thole (1914, Netherland – 2000, Italy) is a Dutch painter. He is one of the best-known european illustrators of science fiction and the fantastique. Influenced by painters like Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí or René Magritte his style is instantly recognizable.

Via The Groovy Age of Horror.

See also: le fantastique

Barrington pickpocket

George Barrington robs Prince Orlov.

George Barrington (May 14, 1755 – 1804) was an Irish pickpocket. A book on him was mentioned in the 1959 film Pickpocket by Robert Bresson. —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Barrington

At one point in the film, Jeanne asks Michel if he “believes in nothing” and he replies, “I believed in God, Jeanne, for three minutes.” — Culture?Ugh!

The absences and overall minimalism in Bresson are accentuated by repetitions. (In Pickpocket: repeated scenes in Michel’s room, the Metro, the racetrack, of staircases, writing in his journal etc. ) Paradoxically, this combination creates a sort of hollowed-out, emptied-out vessel into which we pour….our own projections, ideas, feelings, and (very important) spiritual yearnings. But we don’t see the spiritual in his films; we see the material. Concrete surfaces are paramount here; and yet they are the portal to the spiritual. We intuit an inner life, a metaphysical life, via our immersion in the material. Quandt has called Bresson’s cinema both minimalist and maximalist for this reason.  —Girish Shambu