He designed this powerfully evocative necklace for his second wife, Augustine-Alice Ledru, around the turn of the century. The repeats of the main motif — an attenuated female nude whose highly stylized curling hair swirls around her head and whose arms sensuously curve down to become a border enclosing enamel-and-gold swans and an oval cabochon amethyst — are separated by pendants set with fire opals mounted in swirling gold tendrils.

Dragonfly woman corsage ornament, c. 1897-1898
By René Lalique
gold, enamel, chrysoprase, moonstones, and diamonds
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon

At the end of the nineteenth century, jewelry underwent a radical transformation--the Frenchman René Lalique was at the heart of it.Unlike traditional jewelers, who relied almost exclusively on precious stones for effect, Lalique used a variety of materials to create incredibly rich sculptural objects that are works of art in their own right. For the head and body of the woman in this glittering brooch, he chose semiprecious apple-green chrysoprase; the dragonfly wings are made of enamel set with gold and irregular moonstones, ringed with diamonds to convey the iridescent character of insect wings. Notice how the wings are hinged in four places and the tail bends, allowing this enormous brooch to adjust to and move with the body of the person who wore it.

The brooch embodies many of the themes that characterize the Art Nouveau style. Nature, metamorphosis, and eroticism are all expressed in this disturbing, fantastical image of a bare-breasted woman emerging from a large dragonfly. When it was shown at the Paris World s Fair of 1900, one English visitor to the fair commented, "Very remarkable and startling to the observer, but is it jewelry?"

Metamorphosis, or change from one physical form to another, was a major theme for many Art Nouveau artists. Here, woman and insect are fused into an almost menacing creature with golden claws. The idea of the femme fatale, or dangerous woman, was a recurrent theme in many Art Nouveau creations.

"Victoire" hood ornament Francec. 1928
Manufacturer: Lalique et Cie, Cristallerie French, founded 1909
Designer: René Jules Lalique French, 1860 - 1945
Molded glass
Dallas Museum of Art

Following the success of the automobile exhibit at the 1925 Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris, the Citroen Company commissioned René Lalique to design a series of over twenty-five "mascots," or radiator cap ornaments. Victoire (Victory), dubbed "Spirit of the Wind" by British customers, features an androgynous head with a plume of sharply tapered, geometric hair intended to evoke the automobile's speed and power. Purchasers had the option of illuminating it from within by means of a light controlled by the automobile's engine. As the car accelerated and decelerated, the intensity of the light would change correspondingly

"Tourbillons" Vase, ca. 1925
By René Jules Lalique (French, 1860–1945)
Glass and enamel; 8 x 8 1/2 in. (20.3 x 21.6 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Want to know more? Please visit...
World Collectors Net

Recommended reading;

Jewels of Lalique (Hardcover)
Publisher: Flammarion (July 15, 1999)
ISBN-10: 2080136321 ISBN-13: 978-2080136329

The Master Jewelers (Paperback)by A. Kenneth Snowman (Editor)
Publisher: Thames & Hudson; New Ed edition (November 2002)
ISBN-10: 0500283869 ISBN-13: 978-0500283868

Lalique Glass (Hardcover)Publisher: Crown; 1st ed edition (March 13, 1986)
ISBN-10: 0517558351 ISBN-13: 978-0517558355

Buyer beware...before choosing to invest do your homework! There are many fakes on the market.

******

Local News...

Don't get caught and convicted of prostitution-related offenses in the City of El Cajon Ca.
The El Cajon Police Department will post your picture along with the prostitute you were trying to solicit on their web site in hope it will put an end to criminal solicitation in their community.

Hmm, see anyone that you recognize?

I have often wondered why men and women choose to go out and get a prostitute. Is it because it is exciting and offers more variety in their lives? Do they feel bored or trapped in their personal relationships? Or is it because they know for a fact that they are going to score and there will be no emotional attachment? Perhaps it is because they want or need to have a secret life that is exhilarating or that they enjoy breaking the law?

Comments are always appreciated. Have a wonderful day.

Labels: Art, misc

N Posted by Rain at 11/14/2007 12:06:00 AM

5 comments from:  Anonymous,  Anonymous,  Rain,  Marie,  Handsome B. Wonderful,

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Pirate Plaque

September 19th
Talk Like A Pirate Day

I want t' show ye some true gentleman o' fortune bountiful booty, arrg!

With cat-like tread, Upon our prey we steal
Watercolor by W. Russell Flint.

One of eight watercolors by Mr. Flint illustrating Pirates of Penzance.
From the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive -- Pirates of Penzance Picture Gallery

Pirate, Early and Late (two orginals)

Two separate, but related original paintings sold as a set,

"Early Pirate" and "Late Pirate" copyright © 2006

By Alan M. Clark.

Medium: Acrylic on board. Size each: 12"x16".

These paintings were produced to be combined in a “changing portrait” for Haunted Memories. Published by Haunted Memories.

Pirates Cove 12" x 18"
By Rob Alexander
Mixed Media on mounted paper

© 2004 Rob Alexander

Available for Purchase. Please contact the Artist for details

********
Seafarin' heartys always be havin' a wee wenches in ever' port, Ya horn swogglin' scurvy cur!

Artist Unknown
Thank you for the image Benita!

Famous female seafarin' heartys o' all time:

Anne Bonny (1719-1720) Female Pirate of the Caribbean
Mary Read - Famous English Female Pirate of the Caribbean
Lady Killigrew (1530-1570)
Grace O’Malley - Famous Irish woman pirate who commanded three galleys and 200 men
Mrs. Peter Lambert of Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Jacquotte Delahaye - Female Pirate of the Caribbean
Anne Dieu-le-veut - Female Pirate of the Caribbean
Charlotte de Berry - Woman pirate
Mrs Ching - Chinese wife of a pirate who turned to Piracy after his death
Mary Crickett (or Crichett) was a female pirate who was hung

Top Ten Pickup Lines for the Lady Pirates

By popular demand ... Via: International Talk Like A Pirate

10. What are YOU doing here?
9. Is that a belayin' pin in yer britches, or are ye ... (this one is never completed)
8. Come show me how ye bury yer treasure, lad!
7. So, tell me, why do they call ye, "Cap'n Feathersword?"
6. That's quite a cutlass ye got thar, what ye need is a good scabbard!
5. Aye, I guarantee ye, I've had a twenty percent decrease in me "lice ratio!"
4. I've crushed seventeen men's skulls between me thighs!
3. C'mon, lad, shiver me timbers!
2. RAMMING SPEED!
...and the number one Female Pirate Pick-up Line:
1. You. Pants Off. Now!

Here are some simple rules to follow when you are wooing a wench. VIA: International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Rule #1 Never appear to be "needy." Wenches will have no respect for a pirate who begs for it. Present an aloof (but fresh smelling) air. Give her the impression that you could do without her or her kind. As a show of your aloofness, kiss a fancy lad full on the mouth and let her see you do it. Nothing screams "come-hither" like the woman who thinks ye may fancy the lads a bit too much.

Rule #2 Get in touch with the comic inside you. Wenches love to laugh. Try walking into the mizzenmast while looking another direction or slipping in chum spillage. Humor is the best knicker-removal system known to man. With the right joke or anecdote, you will have her bloomers under your bunk in no time.

Rule #3 Above all, act like you've been thar before. This is not something you learn in one of them fancy schmancy "books" with the charcoal drawings. (Although, the books are more easily put away when you are done with them.) Experience is not so nearly important as the "appearance of experience."

*****

Swashbuckler Poetry fer me heart.....

Love Pirates
by Joseph Millar

I follow with my mouth the small wing of muscle
under your shoulder, lean over your back, breathing
into your hair and thinking of nothing. I want
to lie down with you under the sails of a wooden sloop
and drift away from all of it, our two cars rusting
in the parking lot, our families whining like tame geese
at feeding time, and all the bosses of the earth
cursing the traffic in the morning haze.
They will telephone each other from their sofas
and glass desks, with no idea where we could be,
unable to picture the dark throat
of the saxophone playing upriver, or the fire
we gather between us on this fantail of dusty light,
having stolen a truckload of roses
and thrown them into the sea.

Source:

From Overtime

By Joseph Millar

Publisher: Eastern Washington University Press (November 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0910055742
ISBN-13: 978-0910055741

*****

Recommended readings fer Gentleman o' fortunes o' all ages

Stencil Pirates: A Global Study of the Street Stencil
Published July 2004
Soft Skull Press (http://www.softskull.com/)
Distributed by Publishers Group West (http://www.pgw.com/)
ISBN: 1-932360-15-8

A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates
Author(s): Captain Charles Johnson Creator(s): David Cording
Publisher: The Lyons Press Publication Date: June 01, 2002
ISBN: 1585745588
ISBN-13: 978-1585745586

Treasure Island
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher: Various
ISBN: 1416500294

*****

Don't forget t' visit these wonderful ports o' call, arrg!

Funny Pirate Captain & Crew Art Prints from drawings & paintings by Don Vernon

The Pirate Report

Famous Elizabethan Pirates~ The Elizabethan era be th' Age o' Exploration from which emerged th' Famous Elizabethan Swashbucklers an' th' Golden Age o' Swashbucklers!

Grace O'Malley~ Grace O`Malley (also called Granuaile) be a famous buccanneer, seafarer, trader an' chieftain in Ireland in th' 1500`s

The Pirate Code of Conduct~ ARTICLE I - Every man shall have an equal vote in affairs of moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure unless a scarcity may make it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted.

Charleston South Carolina Pirates~ Hear about th' antics an' exploits o' these nefarious characters, as well as th' ingenious tactics they employed t' commandeer ships, evade capture, an' strike fear in th' hearts o' the'r victims.

Nassau, the capital of piracy,home of Black Beard~ Nassau be well suited as a sea dog base o' operations, its waters be too shallow fer a large man-o'-war but deep enough fer th' fast shallow draft vessels favoured by sea dogs. From the'r snug harbour they could employ the'r hit an' run tactics t' full effect; they devastated merchant shippin' that plied th' trade routes jus' a short sail away. The'r sea dog dubloon an' goods formed th' basis o' a thrivin' community that attracted rogues, merchants an' wild lasses from far an' wide.

Pirates of The Bahamas~ From th' late 1600`s t' th' early 1700s, Th' Bahamas be a ha'en fer seafarin' heartys an' goverment-sanctioned privateers. They preyed on Spanish galleons laden wi' dubloon from th' New World, an' port behind tales o' ruin, revelry, an' o' course, buried booty...

Dead Men Tell No Tales~Have we got booty! Worthy of a king’s ransom these items are, an’ at cutthroat rates that’re sure ta please any thievin’ scoundrel. Even Blackbeard hisself would drool o’er this treasure trove!

Studio City Tattoo~ Welcome aboard! Be seein' fer yersef one o' th' best tattoo & piercin' shops on th' map! We aim t' earn yer trust & give ye th' finest workmanship available. We be a modern facility usin' state o' th' art sterilization procedures & autoclaves t' ensure th' safest methods. All artists be Cal- O.S.H.A certified annually in th' latest blood-bourne pathogen standards fer handin' equipment & anti-cross contamination techniques.

Pirate Art~O'er 25 voyages ago, Shipmate: contemporary art opened in Denver, Colorado as an audacious an' eclectic alternative, cooperative gallery.

Pirate Speak~Arrr, so ye be wantin' t' go to sea an' ye don't be wantin' t' end up in Davy Jones' Locker. Then ye best be learnin' t' be talkin' like a buccaneer.

******

Have a wonderful Talk Like A Shipmate Tide! Dasn't be drinkin' yer rum an' drivin'!Ya swabbie who ortin' t' be keel hauled!

Thanks for the image Benita

Labels: Art, misc, pirates

N Posted by Rain at 9/19/2007 12:30:00 AM

5 comments from:  Anonymous,  Anonymous,  Unknown,  Handsome B. Wonderful,  Rain,

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Arts and Madness

Ophelia
by
John Everett Millais 1829-1896

Ophelia by Millais is the most popular postcard sold by the Tate and yet the subject is not a happy one. Ophelia is a character in Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. She is driven mad when her father, Polonius, is murdered by her lover, Hamlet. She dies while still very young in grief and madness. The events shown in Millais's Ophelia are not actually seen on stage. Instead they are referred to in a conversation between Queen Gertrude and Ophelia's brother Laertes. Gertrude describes how Ophelia fell into the river whilst picking flowers and slowly drowned, singing all the while.

Laertes Drowned! O, where?

Queen Gertude There is a willow grows askant the brook,

That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.

Therewith fantastic garlands did she make

Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples

That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,

But our cold maids do dead-men's-fingers call them.

There on the pendent boughs her crownet weeds

Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke,

When down her weedy trophies and herself

Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide,

And mermaid-like awhile they bore her up;

Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes,

As one incapable of her own distress,

Or like a creature native and indued

Unto that element. But long it could not be

Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,

Pulled the poor wretch from her melodious lay

To muddy death

Laertes Alas, then she is drowned?

Queen Gertrude Drowned, drowned

Most of the flowers in Ophelia are included either because they are mentioned in the play, or for their symbolic value. Millais observed these flowers growing wild by the river in Ewell. Because he painted the river scene over a period of five months, flowers appear next to those that bloom at different times of the year.

Crow flowers in the foreground look similar to buttercups and symbolise ingratitude or childishness
The weeping willow tree leaning over Ophelia is a symbol of forsaken love
The nettles that are growing around the willow's branches represent pain.
The daisies floating near her right hand represent innocence. Ophelia also mentions 'There's a daisy' in act 4, scene 5.
The purple loosestrife on the upper right hand corner of the painting, near the edge of the frame, alludes to 'long purples' in the play. Shakespeare actually meant the purple orchid.
The pink roses that float by her cheek and her dress and the white field roses growing on the river bank, may refer to Act IV, Scene V when Laertes calls his sister, 'rose of May'. They are also included for their many symbolic meanings such as youth, love and beauty.

The crownet weeds mentioned in the text refer to garlands of weeds. They may
symbolise entanglement, choking, death and decline.
The garland of violets around Ophelia's neck refer to Act IV, Scene V. 'I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died: they say he made a good end.' Violets are a symbol of faithfulness and they can also symbolise chastity and death in the young.

Some people believe there is a skull hidden within the painting. Before the location is revealed, have a look and see if you can see it (once it is pointed out, it is hard not to see it). Look to the left of the forget-me-nots on the right of the painting, a nose and two hollow eyes can just be made out. This may well be just the light and shade in the foliage or the skull may be a reminder of death and hint at what is about to happen.

Millais's model was a young woman aged 19 years called Elizabeth Siddall. She was discovered by his friend, Walter Deverell, working with a needle in a milliner's, and would later become the wife of one of Millais's friends, Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1860. This was the only time Elizabeth posed for Millais. She was described as "tall and slender, with red, coppery hair and bright consumptive complexion."

She was Rossetti's muse, inspiring his artistic production. He painted her as an enigmatic woman who never looks straight at the spectator unlike the directness of her own self-portrait. They married in 1860, but; "The marriage turned into a catastrophe. Siddall's melancholia and illness prevailed.She was anxious, restless, in part because of Rossetti's infidelities, heavily addicted to laudanum, to release her from the pain of both disease and distress." (Over Her Dead Body: Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic by Elisabeth Bronfen, 1992, p.176)

In 1862 she died from an overdose of laudanum; "perhaps accidental or perhaps a suicide; in either case the overdose may have been related to post-natal depression after the birth of her stillborn child the previous year." (The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites by Elizabeth Prettejohn, Tate, London, 2000, page 74).

Suggested Reading:
Over her Dead Body: Death, Femininity and the Aesthetic by Elisabeth Bronfen 1992
The Art of the Pre-Raphaelites by Elizabeth Prettejohn, Tate, London, 2000

Sources:

Tate Britain

Ophelia

Rossetti

*******

Have a wonderful day everyone! Take care.

Labels: Art, Arts and Madness, Hamelt

N Posted by Rain at 8/29/2007 11:09:00 AM

3 comments from:  Anonymous,  Anonymous,  Anonymous,

Thursday, August 16, 2007

By The Sea

Impressionists by the Sea...I hope you enjoy these paintings as much as I do!

The Sea-Arch at Etretat
By
Gustave Courbet 1869
Oil on canvas
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, The University of Birmingham

The Regatta at Sainte-Adresse, 1867
By Claude Monet
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Boats on the Beach, Etretat, 1885
By Claude Monet
Oil on canvas
The Art Institute of Chicago

By the Seashore 1883
By Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shadows on the Sea. The Cliffs at Pourville
By Claude Monet, 1882
Oil on canvas
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

The Beach at Trouville - The Empress Eugenie, 1863
By Eugene Boudin
Oil on wood
Glasgow City Council Museums

It has been 319 days since the last time I hugged my son and three weeks since his last letter came in the mail. My instincts tell me that he has gotten himself in trouble again. Being a 'prison mamma' is not easy and I am really trying to keep my faith in 'the system.' I really miss him. Sigh.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Labels: Art, Rusty

N Posted by Rain at 8/16/2007 10:19:00 AM

7 comments from:  Marie,  mikster,  Anonymous,  Unknown,  Politically Homeless,  RR Johnson Jr.,  tomshideaway,

Friday, July 13, 2007

For the Love of Tools

As some of you already know, I collect antique advertisements and my house is filled with many fine antique furnishings. What most of you don’t know is that I have an appreciation for antique tools. Tools are the parents of all other antiques and provide a glimpse into human development and cultural preferences though history. I appreciate the handcrafting that went into their manufacture, their rarity and I perceive most tools as works of art. For those folks who join me in the appreciation of hand tools to power tools we are sometimes called galoots.

Today I want to share with you one of the best examples of antique tools and chest that I have ever seen. This chest made by Henry Sutdley.

Studley Tool Chest
Photo by: Eric Long
Date: 7/10/1991

Massachusetts piano maker Henry Studley built his magnificent tool chest over the course of a 30-year career at the Poole Piano Company. The chest lived on the wall near his workbench, and he worked on it regularly, making changes and adding new tools as he acquired them. Using ebony, mother-of-pearl, ivory, rosewood, and mahogany -- all materials used in the manufacture of pianos -- he refined the chest to the point that now, some 75 years after his death, it remains in a class of its own. Considering how many tools it holds, the famous chest is really quite small; when closed, it is just 9 in. deep, 39 in. high, and just more than a foot and a half wide. Yet it houses so many tools -- some 300 -- so densely packed that three strong men strain to lift it. Studley was well into his 80s before he retired from the piano company. Before he died in 1925, Studley gave the tool chest to a friend. That man's grandson, Peter Hardwick, loaned the chest to the Smithsonian in the late 1980s and later sold it to a private collector in the Midwest. The current owner loans the chest to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. from time to time.

I received a letter from Rusty and he is a lot happier up in Chino. Rusty tells me that the food is much better in state prison. He gets fresh fruits and veggies on a daily basis, and he actually has a ‘real’ mattress to sleep on. Rusty has a job in the prison kitchen; he says it makes the day go by faster for him. Rusty also told me that he has been out to the yard and he finally got some sun after almost a year! That makes this prison mamma very happy!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone....

Labels: Art, misc, Rusty

N Posted by Rain at 7/13/2007 11:05:00 AM

5 comments from:  Politically Homeless,  Anonymous,  jules,  Anonymous,  blogsurfer,

Friday, July 06, 2007

Angels and Lust

Mysterious, sensuous and beautiful - angels have been an eternal inspiration to artists.

The Annunciation, ca. 1644
byPhilippe de Champaigne

(French, 1602–1674)Oil on wood

Angel holding a crown of thorns
ByGian Lorenzo Bernini

The large marble Angel with Crown of Thorns that Bernini carved in the years 1667-1669 shows his late style. The statue was conceived as part of a large group of figures, each holding a symbol of the Passion of Christ. The angel's face is pained, but in these late works it is the drapery that becomes the major vehicle for the emotions. No longer is there any interest, as there was with the Apollo and Daphne, in realistic textures. Instead, the robe is transformed into a series of thin ridges whose sharp, insistent rhythms lick around the body like flames. The expressive intensity of works such as this reflects Bernini's own deepening mysticism at the end of his life.

The Dream of St Ursula
By
Vittore Carpaccio 1495

Tempera on canvas

The Birth of the Virgin , 1480

By Altorfer Albrecht
1525

The Virgin of the Rocks
Leonardo da Vinci1503-1506

Martyrium des Matthaeus, 1598

Caravaggio

The party that I co-hosted on the Fourth of July was a complete success! A friend of mine Misty decided to play matchmaker during the party and introduced me to her boss, C. Now Misty has been trying for more than a couple of years to get us together and always for some reason or another it just never worked out. When she came into the kitchen and told me that C. and his sister had arrived I took a sneak peek out the window just to see what he looked like. My first thought was dayum...He. Is. Fuckin. Hot! Just then, he turned around to speak to someone and there it was...The best man ass I have seen on a guy in a very long time. So high and firm just waiting to be squeezed! Oh sorry..where was I?

C. and I hit it off instantly and I spent the better part of the evening talking to him. Unfortunately he had to leave early because his sister had a flight out of LAX on the red eye to New York so we did not get to watch the fireworks together. As he was leaving he asked for my number and he said he would like to see me again. To my surprise he called three hours later saying that he really enjoyed our time together and asked if I was available to go to the theater with him on Saturday night! Now you know I said yes...Let the lust begin! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Labels: Art, misc, Regionalist Arts

N Posted by Rain at 7/06/2007 01:30:00 AM

9 comments from:  Anonymous,  Anonymous,  Politically Homeless,  Anonymous,  David,  Anonymous,  Damiel,  jules,  Dana,