Roamings of a Leo

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Newcomb Gallery at Tulane University)

Last week, my friend Mary and I visited the Newcomb Gallery on the campus of Tulane University in New Orleans. The nearly 90 piece exhibit is entitled "Early Modern Faces European Portraits 1480-1780." This period of Renaissance and Baroque painting included many portraits commissioned by churches, royals, and wealthy bankers and merchants. The program states "there is always a fundamental tension between the drive to record the actual person's appearance and the desire to document a social, historical, or ideal persona." Of course if you were paying an artist to paint yourself or a member of your family...you would go for the ideal persona.

Here are some of my favorites:

"The Bagpipe Player," 1624 from the Workshop of Hendrick ter Brugghen, Dutch, 1588-1629

"Self-Portrait," 1711 by Nicolas de Largillere, French, 1656-1746

"Saint Paul Writing His Epistles," 1618-1620 by Valentin de Boulogne, French, 1590-1632

"Pope Gregory The Great," by Circle of Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian, 1581-1647

"The Mocking of Christ," 1585-1590 by Jacopo Tintoretto

"Saint Sebastian," 1615-1620 by Simon Vouet, French, 1590-1649

"Portrait of Antoine Triest, Bishop of Ghent, 1627 by Sir Anthony van Dyck, Flemish, 1599-1641

"Louis XIV of France," 1670 by Claude Lefebvre, French, 1632-1675

"Henry VIII, Mary I, and Will Sommers The Jester" 1504-1503 by The English School

"Merry Company," 1630 by Dirck Hals, Dutch, 1591-1656

"Portrait of a Woman As Saint Agnes," by Paolo Veronese, Italian, 1528-1588

"Portrait of a Lady, Sometimes Called Cecilia Gallerani," 1518-1520 by Bartolomeo Veneto, Italian, 1502-1546

"A Young Woman Playing a Lute, 1570 by Parrasio Micheli, Italian, 1516-1578

Monday, June 16, 2014

The Arts District Galleries Treasures

We enjoyed a couple of galleries in the New Orleans Arts District on Julia Street before we grabbed a cab and retreated from the rain. The first paintings were at the LeMieux Gallery at 332 Julia Street. Here are a few favorites:

"Deliverance," acrylic on board by Vidal Blankenstein

"The Journey Has Reached an Impasse," acrylic on panel, by Kathleen Lolley

"Rising Water," oil on canvas by Kate Trepagnier

"Red-Winged Blackbird on Oyster Grass, Horn Island," oil on canvas by Billy Solitario

"Bayou La Lontre," oil on canvas by Aron Belka

"Oysters on Half Shells," oil on canvas by Billy Solitario

"Lightning over Chandeleur Island Boats," oil on canvas by Bill Solitario

"The Gift," mixed media by Shannon Landis Hansen

"Our Home," by Shannon Landis Hanson

"Ancient Sea II," oil on board by Alan Gerson

This painting on tin was at the Soren Christensen Gallery at 400 Julia entitled "Cathedral II," by Drew Galloway.

Sazerac at the Sazerac Bar, Roosevelt Hotel

Last Sunday we enjoyed a great respite at the Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. This historic hotel off of Canal Street has been beautifully restored by the Hilton folks with all the chandeliers gleaming. I have wonderful memories of a date with Julia Ann in the Blue Room of the Hotel with Julie London singing and slinking around the room in 1968.

The Sazerac Bar is a quiet temple for imbibing and casual conversations. The paneled walls and mirrors are punctuated with large murals by Paul Ninas (1903-1964) who lived in New Orleans the last half of his life. He painted these murals for the hotel in 1939 after the hotel owner saw his work for public buildings for the W.P.A.

Paul Ninas was born in Missouri and attended the University of Nebraska where his father taught. He and a friend dropped out of school and hitchhiked across the U.S., visited Mark Twain's home in Hannibal and rowed a boat down the Mississippi to New Orleans. He traved to Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa and Germany. He studied art in Vienna and lived on Montparnasse in Paris along with other artists and writers like Ernest Hemingway. After selling a coconut and lime plantation on the island of Dominica, he moved to New Orleans where he painted using a Caribbean style. He later moved to a Cubism style of painting.

His daughter Paula lives in New Orleans and is creating interesting pottery. These and some of Paul Nina's paintings are at the LeMieux Gallery at 332 Julia Street in the Arts District.

By the way, I enjoyed the Sazerac drink which is made from 3 oz of rye whiskey, 3/4 oz. of simple syrup, Peychaud bitters, Absinthe, and a lemon twist for garnish.

Here are some of Paul Ninas paintings. The first ones are his murals from the Sazerac Bar. By the way, an employee filed a lawsuit because she saw the murals as degrading to African Americans, especially women. Others say it reflects the 1930's in New Orleans. What do you think?

The paintings are by Paul Ninas and are for sale at the LeMieux Gallery. The last picture is of the pottery made by his daughter, Paula Ninas. The pitcher on the right now has home with us in Los Angeles.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Friday June 6th with Expressionists at LACMA

On Friday morning I had my first look at the Van Gogh to Kandinsky - French and German Expressionists exhibit at LACMA. The exhibit is exciting as it shows the bright and beautiful work of the Post Impressionists and Fauvists "Wild Beasts" as they were called because of their use of bold colors. The paintings of Van Gogh, Matisse, Gauguin, and Cezanne are included with other French and German artists from the 1880's to the 1920's. They make up the groups of painters that were formed in Germany and France who are now all called Expressionists.

One group was founded in Berlin around 1900 when the city was the center of the county's commerce, finance and industry pulling cultures together from the East and the West. Exhibits of Impressionists and Neo-Impressionists were shown and influenced local artists. An 1899 exhibit was called the Berlin Secessionists. This attracted German and Swiss painters as well as French.

A group of artists in Dresden formed Der Brucke (The Bridge) in 1905 linking the past, present and future art. They were inspired by Van Gogh's spontaneous and vivacious brushwork and deep emotional engagement expressed through color.

Another prominent Expressionists group in Germany was the Blau Reiter (Blue Rider) group formed in Munich around 1911. The group's name refers to the horse and rider in Kandinsky's works.

Here are a few paintings from these groups that I enjoyed:

"Bather" 1906 by Henri-Edmond Cross, French, 1856-1910

"Restaurant of the Sirene at Asnieres" 1887 by Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch, 1853-1890

"Samois, the Bank, Morning," 1901 by Paul Signac, French, 1863-1935

"Haystacks in Brittany," 1890 by Paul Gauguin, French 1848-1903

"The House of Pan-Du," 1890 by Paul Gauguin

"The Pile Drivers," 1902-3 by Maximilien Luce, French, 1858-1941

"Beach at Low Tide, Ambleteuse, Evening," 1900 by Theo van Rysselberghe, Belgian, 1862-1926

"Woman in a Striped Dress," 1895 by Edouard Vuillard, French 1868-1940

"Portrait of the Violinist Emil Wittwer-Gelpke," 1905 by Cuno Amiet, Swiss, 1868-1961

"The Elbe at Dresden," 1905 by Erich Heckel, German 1883-1970

"Sand Diggers on the Tiber," 1909 by Erich Heckel

"Mother and Child in the Garden," 1903 by Cuno Amiet

"Gartenstrasse Early in the Morning," 1906 by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German, 1884-1976

"The Farmer," 1905 by Maurice de Vlaminck, French 1876-1958

"Open Window, Collioure," 1905 by Henri Matisse, French, 1869-1964

"Boats in Chatou," 1904-5 by Andre Derain, French, 1880-1954

"Landscape at La Clotat," 1907 by Georges Braque, French, 1882-1963

"The Canal at Anvers," by Othon Friesz, French, 1879-1949

"Young Girl," 1908 by Max Pechstein, German, 1881-1955
"Proudly we consider ourselves carries of a mission artistically related to the Dutchman Van Gogh and the Norwegian Edvard Munch," Max Pechstein 1906