#FridayPainting: Berthe Morisot “The Artist’s Daughter, Julie, with her Nanny”

“I do not think any man would ever treat a woman as his equal, and it is all I ask because I know my worth.” Berthe Morisot (1841-1895)

Berthe Morisot, French, 1841 – 1895; The Artist’s Daughter, Julie, with her Nanny Minneapolis Institute of Art

Berthe Morisot, born January 14, 1841, was before her time, the only woman to show at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Her work hung beside pieces by artists such as Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Claude Monet.

While Berthe Morisot was surrounded by men, she rarely painted them. Instead she focused her creativity on women and children in domestic scenes that featured everyday French life. When I look into her world, I am welcomed by the extraordinary life she lived and the people who gave joy to her days.

Berthe Morisot’s creative endeavours may have been undervalued for over a century, but she is now considered one of the greats of Impressionist painters.

#FridayPainting: Amedeo Modigliani “Portrait of the Painter Frank Haviland”

Who was Frank Haviland?

Frank Burty Haviland, born in 1886 Limoges, France, was a French Cubist painter.  

From an early age, Frank Haviland was influenced by his family’s creative professions.  He was the grandson of Philippe Burty, art collector and critic who gave us the artistic term, “japonisme.” He was the son of Charles Haviland, owner of Haviland and Company, a producer of porcelain. His brother, Paul was a photographer and writer.

Frank Haviland’s friends were the who’s who of the artist world of his time. Along with Amedeo Modigliani, he was a friend and early client of Pablo Picasso, and Georges Braque.

Amedeo Modigliani “Portrait of the Painter Frank Haviland” 1914 – Public Domain The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202.

In 1910, Frank Haviland and sculptor, Manolo and De Séverac, moved to Céret, a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.   He purchased a monastery which become known at the School of Céret. 

I can only imagine the creative energy that occurred when Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Georges Braque, Max Jacob and Auguste Herbin came together at School of Céret.

In 1914, Frank Haviland married Joséphine Laporta, a girl from Céret.

Frank Haviland was a noted collector and dealer of cubism.  I encourage you to read The Met’s brief biography of his life.

Happy Lunar New Year 2022 Celebrating The Year of the Tiger

Gong hei fat choy!

Happy New Year Cantonese Greeting

Victory or Defeat by Hu Zaobin
Museu de Arte de Macau Exhibit

ChasingART is celebrating Lunar New Year 2022 with Hu Zaobin, who was an early 20th-century Chinese painter, famous for painting tigers.

Tiger by Hu Zaobin (1897–1942) National Palace Museum

Today on February 1, 2022, The Lunar New Year of the Tiger is celebrated worldwide by almost two billion people. It is a huge celebration that can go on for more than two weeks.  History.com notes that “China’s Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival or Chūnjié in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết.

According to ChineseNetYear.net, “Tigers are courageous and active people who love a good challenge and adventure in life. Like their eponymous zodiac animal, people born in years of the Tiger are vigorous and ambitious, daring and courageous, enthusiastic and generous, self-confident with a sense of justice and a commitment to help others for the greater good.”

May our hearts be filled with love, happiness, and contentment as we welcome this new year.

#FridayPainting: Peter Paul Rubens “The Triumphal Chariot of Kallo”

Sir Peter Paul Rubens is one of the most important painters in European art history. He created 2,500 compositions and approximately 10,000 works of art: paintings, drawings, book illustrations and even tapestries.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) The Triumphal Chariot of Kallo, 1638

Rubens’s compositions reference classical and Christian history. His Baroque style accentuated movement, colour, and sensuality, all of which are found in “The Triumphal Chariot of Kallo.”

While I knew that Rubens was an incredibly versatile artist, I discovered that he was also a renowned diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England.

Rubens is known for such works as “The Descent from the Cross,” “Wolf and Fox Hunt” and “The Garden of Love.” It seems that “The Triumphal Chariot of Kallo” is less known.

Who was Kallo? I have no idea.

When I viewed the painting on Wednesday with all its pomp and circumstance, I felt certain that a simply internet search would present the answer. Alas, the search continues. If anyone has any information on Kallo and why he was on a Triumphal Chariot, I would be most grateful.

The Triumphal Chariot of Kallo reside at The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.

#FridayPainting: Paul Cézanne “Still Life with Fruit Dish”

Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse were in accord in their estimation of Paul Cézanne when they remarked Paul Cézanne “is the father of us all”.

In history, there are pivotal moments. Paul Cézanne forged the pathway for the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a radically different world of art for the next century.

Art historians have called him the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the emergence of Cubism in the early 20th century.

Nature Morte au Compotier (MoMA)

“Still life was an important genre to Cézanne, who made approximately two hundred such paintings over the course of four decades. In Still Life with Fruit Dish he created a shallow, compressed space that flattens the sculptural volumes of dish, glass, and fruit. This painting was a prized possession of the artist Paul Gauguin, who described the picture as “an exceptional pearl, the apple of my eye.” It was only when he needed money for medical care that Gauguin unhappily parted with it.” MOMO

Serendipity came calling this week, when I visited Marina Kanavaki’s blog “Art for a Happy Day” on January 19, 2022 to celebrate Paul Cézanne birthday.

Please join Marina and me in paying tribute to this great artist by visiting her post.

#FridayPainting: Paul Signac “The Papal Palace in Avignon”

“The art of the colourist has in some ways elements of mathematics and music.”

Paul Signac

Paul Signac was studying architecture when he had a better idea. Why not become a painter? With that decision, his life evolved. He met Georges Seurat in 1884.

Georges Seurat developed the technique of applying small strokes or dots of colour to a surface which would blend together when looked at from a distance. Paul Signac was fascinated by Seurat’s theory of colours as well as his systematic working methodology.

Paul Signac (1863-1935) The Papal Palace in Avignon 1909 Oil on Canvas

The two artists became life-long friends. Together they developed what was to become known as pointillism, which became the basis of Neo-Impressionism.