A Scholarly Skater
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Etretat by Henry A. Bacon
Right now, the weather is pretty crummy where I live, so I definitely picked this painting for reasons of escapism. I also thought it was a watercolor until I read the description. I’m always amazed by oil paintings that manage to convey something of watercolor’s characteristic lightness. Henry A. Bacon (1839-1912) was an American painter…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Chartres Cathedral
This grotesque is on the west portal of Chartres Cathedral – among the grandest and most famous of all French Gothic churches. While its close cousin in Paris is famous for its gargoyles, Chartres is celebrated for its beautiful stained glass and profuse sculptural decoration. Much of this sculptural work is clustered around its nine arched doors (portals);…
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Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun at the Met
My experience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s major 2016 exhibition of works by Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun. Vigée Le Brun French Neoclassical and Rococo portrait painter and one of the first women to succeed as a professional portrait painter on a grand scale.
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Bethlehem Chapel, Saint-Jean-de-Boiseau, France
The Bethlehem Chapel is a little medieval French church that was restored in a very unusual manner. In the 1990s, a movement began to repair the decaying chapel, which had once played host to a series of now-lost grotesques on the building’s four pinnacles. The architect and stone carver, supported by the town’s youth, decided to…
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World’s Columbian Exposition by Theodore Robinson
Theodore Robinson (1852-1896) was one of the first American impressionist painters, and he painted at the Giverny, France artists’ colony alongside Claude Monet.* This particular painting, one of his late works, is perhaps not as characteristic of his usual style as his earlier rural landscapes. However, I chose it because of its subject matter – the…
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More Gargoyle and Grotesques of Notre Dame de Paris
Today’s grotesque is a true classic. The gargoyles of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris are neither the oldest nor the most interesting of their kind, but they have certainly become the most famous. The interior and exterior of this church, which was a major milestone in the history of Gothic architecture, were both rather creatively restored by Gothic Revival proponent…
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Girl with Japanese Lanterns by Everett Shinn
There’s something so beautifully mysterious about this painting by Ashcan School artist Everett Shinn (1876-1953). I think it’s the contrast between the dark background and bright lights from the lanterns, combined with the loose, painterly brushwork making up the main shapes. You get just enough sense of the scene to be draw in by it, but details of…
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Modern-day gargoyle carver Walter Arnold
Not much is known about the medieval stone carvers responsible for the gargoyles and grotesques on Gothic edifices, but there are many equally-skilled and talented artists making gargoyles today. Walter S. Arnold is one such carver, and he has been making gargoyles, grotesques, and other stone statuary for a several decades. He created over ninety…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Hughes High School, Cincinnati
Continuing with last week’s theme of academic gargoyles and grotesques, let’s take a look at the grotesques of Hughes High School in Cincinnati. This grand building is home to over 90 grotesques representing a wide variety of subjects and skills relating to science, mechanics, fine arts, humanities, and liberal arts (1). Pictured above is the grotesque of athletics in the…
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Camel Grazing at Mosque by Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) is world famous for his works in stained glass and other decorative arts, as well as for founding Tiffany Studios. However, did you also know that he was an accomplished painter? While that doesn’t come as a complete surprise to me, of course, I had never really focused on that fact until one…
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Grotesques of William Rainey Harper Memorial Library, Chicago
I have recently become obsessed with gargoyles and grotesques who are reading. (Possibly I feel kinship to them.) While doing research on collegiate gargoyles and grotesques a few months ago, I realized how many colleges and universities have at least one sculpture of someone reading a book. Both people and animals are shown in this studious pursuit, and they are…
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Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney by Robert Henri
Robert Henri’s stunning portrait of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Whitney was a sculptor, collector, and founder of the Whitney Museum. Henri was an important American portraitist.
