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Posts Tagged ‘Japanese Prints’

Waves

Posted in Favorite Things, tagged , , , , on November 5, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Hokusai- First Cargo Boat Battling the Wave

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You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.

—-Henry David Thoreau

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Really felt like looking at some of my favorite Japanese prints from the 19th century this morning, mainly from Hokusai and Hiroshige. There are a couple here, including the one above, that led to the iconic Great Wave from Hokusai, shown just below.

With their great rhythm, harmony, and force, I could look at these pieces continuously and never feel like I’ve looked enough.

As for the symbolism of the wave today, you can plug in whatever meaning pleases you.

I know what it means for me today. And, with a bit of hope, tomorrow.

Hokusai- The Great Wave

Hokusai- Feminine/Male Wave Kammachi Festival Float Ceiling Panels

Feminine Wave – From Float Panel Hokusai

Hokusai

Hokusai

Hiroshige- Navaro Rapids

Hiroshige- Sea Off Satta Point

HiroshigeThe Wave 1859

Hokusai- View of Honmoku off Kanagawa

19th Century Japaneses Woodblock -Artist Not Indicated

 

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Another Homer in Cooperstown

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 31, 2014| 2 Comments »

 

Winslow Homer- Watching the Breakers

Winslow Homer- Watching the Breakers

When you say homer in Cooperstown, you would normally think of the Baseball Hall of Fame located there.  But until August 24th, the Fenimore Art Museum has an exhibit of paintings from American master Winslow Homer from the Arkell Museum collection.

We took a quick jaunt out to Cooperstown yesterday to see this exhibit and were pleased with the scope of the show which showed fine examples from all the phases of his career.  It had some of his illustration paintings from the Civil War, seascapes in oil and watercolor and his  light filled tropical watercolors.  It really gave you an idea of how talented he was across mediums and how well he controlled the  light in his work.

My personal favorite was  On the Beach, featured below.  It was panned critically in its time, generally for all the things that make it feel vibrant in a contemporary sense– primarily its almost abstract composition of bands of color.

Japanese Prints at the Fenimore

Japanese Prints at the Fenimore

However, for as much as we liked the Homer show, it was group of Japanese woodblock prints that really caught our eyes.  It hung in the same space that held my 2012 show and it transformed the space completely.  Inspired by the local but widely renowned Glimmerglass Opera‘s production of Madame Butterfly, this group of prints,  some from Hiroshige and Hokusai, shows Japan as it made the transition into modernity at in the latter half of the 19th century.   It’s enlightening and elegant at once.

There is also a fine group of historically based paintings of New York state from painter L.F, Tantillo.  They are extraordinarily detailed and luminous in the way they are painted.  A really unexpected delight as you head down to see the Thaw Collection, the museum’s famous collection of American Indian art masterpieces.

So, if you are in central NY any time soon, I really urge you to take a side trip to Cooperstown.  There’s baseball and great art in one lovely lakeside village.  What more could you ask?

Winslow Homer- On the bEach

Winslow Homer- On the bEach

L.F. Tantillo- Manhattan Sunset

L.F. Tantillo- Manhattan Sunset

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Gymnopédie

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , on January 5, 2014| 3 Comments »

Hiroshige -Clear Winter Morning at KameyamaIt just feels like one of these Sunday mornings.  It’s clear and crisp, the colors of the sky outside my studio looking very much like something from a Hiroshige print.  Quiet outside.  Hardly a rustling through the forest as I made my way to the studio this morning.  In my head, I begin to hear those simple quiet notes from the first of  the Gymnopédies, that elegant group of quiet and moody music from composer Erik Satie.

Hearing this music always slows me down, makes me breath.  Ponder  things, both big and little.

But despite all my pondering, don’t ask me the meaning behind the word gymnopédie.  My little bit of research turns up no clear consensus on the meaning from any number of sources.  It could mean almost anything actually.  And maybe that is why Satie chose it– it sounds likes so much more but is vaporous and edgeless.

It fits the music.

Here’s a snip of Gymnopédie #1 to start your first Sunday of 2014.  I think it is interesting that the maker of this video chose images of the universe to illustrate this music.  Big things.   I think an image of a snow flake falling gently against a slatey sky would fit as well. Small things.

Have a good day.

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