It's the birthday of the artist best known for a painting of his mother: James Abbott McNeill Whistler, born in Lowell, Massachusetts (1834). His most famous painting was titled Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 (1871), but it's more commonly known as "Whistler's Mother." It's a portrait of Anna Matilda McNeill Whistler in a black dress, seated in profile against a gray wall. When Whistler's scheduled model didn't show up for a sitting, he decided to paint his mother instead.
"And in the end, I think we don't need to do anything to be loved.
Clyde Butcher's clouds are art.
Nature has always had a profound ability to heal me, and the water, in particular, has been my sanctuary. My time in the Everglades helped me heal in ways I never imagined, and now, in Venice, I've found the same comfort in the gentle flow of the Myakka River.To see more of my images from Myakka and be inspired just as I have been: https://bit.ly/3S6Ytsw
He also has a web site clydebutcher.com
Beyond photography, Butcher is an active environmentalist. He has been instrumental in raising awareness about the importance of preserving natural habitats, particularly the Florida Everglades. Through his galleries, exhibitions, and public speaking engagements, he advocates for conservation and educates the public on environmental issues.
Maurice Sendak was born on June 10, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents. His childhood was shaped by the struggles of the Great Depression and the stories of relatives lost during the Holocaust. As a sickly child, he spent much of his time indoors, developing a love for drawing and storytelling. Inspired by Disney films and comic books, he decided early on to pursue a career as an illustrator.
%20Self%20Portrait%20with%20Red%20Cap.jpg)
Ottilie W. Roederstein (German/Swiss, 1859-1937)
Selbstbildnis mit Roter Mütze Self Portrait with Red Cap
Tempera on wood
36 x 44 cm
Kunstmuseum Basel
Ottilie Wilhelmine Roederstein was a German-Swiss painter. She was the long-time companion of Elisabeth Winterhalter, one of the first female doctors in Germany.
She was first attracted to painting when the now-forgotten Swiss painter Eduard Pfyffer came to their home to do family portraits. This interest grew with visits to local museums. For a woman, training as a painter would have gone against contemporary social conventions. In 1876, she was allowed to study with Pfyffer, so she would be close to home.
Her talent for portrait painting soon became obvious and she quickly outgrew Pfyffer's studio. Her opportunity came when her sister Johanna married a businessman from Berlin. Johanna and her husband agreed to let her live with them there, and she found a place as a student in a special women's class given by Karl Gussow. In 1882, she had her first exhibition with an art dealer in Zürich and it was well received. That same year, she followed a friend to Paris, where she found a position in the studios of Carolus-Duran and Jean-Jacques Henner. By 1887, she was able to support herself with sales and commissions and no longer had to depend on her parents. She was a participant in the Salon and won a Silver Medal at the Exposition Universelle. She exhibited her work at the Woman's Building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois.
After 1890, she moved to Frankfurt to be with her lover, Elisabeth Winterhalter; although she travelled widely (including a trip to Africa in 1913). She never lost track of her Swiss roots, however, and became an Honorary Citizen of Zürich in 1902. Five years later, she and Elisabeth settled in Hofheim am Taunus (a suburb of Frankfurt). Amongst her models was Gwen John who was intrigued that Roederstein wore a shirt, jacket and a fob watch. Roederstein's painting of her as "The Letter" was exhibited at the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1908. That same year Roederstein and her partner helped to create the Schillerschule Frankfurt's first school for girls. After the war she did a number of portraits of women widowed by the war. She continued to exhibit regularly until 1931.
Roederstein died on 26 November 1937 in Hofheim am Taunus.
Source: Facebook page of Maryellen Brown for Pride Month (June)
June is Pride Month, where we celebrate the lives of many LGBTQ+ people.
Let's look at some sculpture:
When asked about his religious or spiritual views, Seeger replied: "I feel most spiritual when I’m out in the woods. I feel part of nature. Or looking up at the stars. [I used to say] I was an atheist. Now I say, it’s all according to your definition of God. According to my definition of God, I’m not an atheist. Because I think God is everything. Whenever I open my eyes I’m looking at God. Whenever I’m listening to something I’m listening to God."
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer-songwriter, musician and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, notably their recording of Lead Belly's "Goodnight, Irene," which topped the charts for 14 weeks in 1950. Members of the Weavers were blacklisted during the McCarthy Era.
In the 1960s, Seeger re-emerged on the public scene as a prominent singer of protest music in support of international disarmament, civil rights, workers' rights, counterculture, environmental causes, and ending the Vietnam War.
Among the prolific songwriter's best-known songs are "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" (with additional lyrics by Joe Hickerson), "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)" (with Lee Hays of the Weavers), "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (also with Hays), and "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)", which has been recorded by many artists both in and outside the folk revival movement. "Flowers" was a hit recording for The Kingston Trio (1962); Marlene Dietrich, who recorded it in English, German and French (1962); and Johnny Rivers (1965). "If I Had a Hammer" was a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary (1962) and Trini Lopez (1963) while The Byrds had a number one hit with "Turn! Turn! Turn!" in 1965.
Seeger was one of the folk singers responsible for popularizing the spiritual "We Shall Overcome" (also recorded by Joan Baez and many other singer-activists), which became the acknowledged anthem of the civil rights movement, soon after folk singer and activist Guy Carawan introduced it at the founding meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In the PBS American Masters episode "Pete Seeger: The Power of Song", Seeger said it was he who changed the lyric from the traditional "We will overcome" to the more singable "We shall overcome".
---------- Wikipedia
I've read more about Pete Seeger's life elsewhere, and invite you to learn more about this talented man.
The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Beacon, New York that seeks to protect the Hudson River and surrounding wetlands and waterways through advocacy and public education. Founded by folk singer Pete Seeger with his wife Toshi Seeger in 1966, the organization is known for its sailing vessel, the sloop Clearwater, and for its annual music and environmental festival, the Great Hudson River Revival.
For this week's Saturday's Critters
Today' quote:
Exercise teaches us to be present, focusing on the rhythm of our breath and the synergy of our movements — grounding us in the here and now.
I'm quite a fan of Norman Rockwell. He has several April First paintings, which entice me to look thoroughly to find all that is topsy turvy in them.
I thought I had another one...
Vincent Willem van Gogh(Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləɱ vɑŋ ˈɣɔx]
30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterised by bold colours and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was only beginning to gain critical attention before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot at age 37.[5] During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.
Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful, but showed signs of mental instability. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a missionary in southern Belgium. Later he drifted into ill-health and solitude. He was keenly aware of modernist trends in art and, while back with his parents, took up painting in 1881. His younger brother, Theo, supported him financially, and the two of them maintained a long correspondence.
Van Gogh's early works consist of mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the artistic avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were seeking new paths beyond Impressionism. Frustrated in Paris and inspired by a growing spirit of artistic change and collaboration, in February 1888 Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France to establish an artistic retreat and commune. Once there, his paintings grew brighter and he turned his attention to the natural world, depicting local olive groves, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh invited Gauguin to join him in Arles and eagerly anticipated Gauguin's arrival in late 1888.
Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions. He worried about his mental stability, and often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he mutilated his left ear. Van Gogh spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. His depression persisted, and on 29 July 1890 Van Gogh died from his injuries after shooting himself in the chest with a revolver.
Van Gogh's work began to attract critical artistic attention in the last year of his life. After his death, his art and life story captured public imagination as an emblem of misunderstood genius, due in large part to the efforts of his widowed sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger.[6][7] His bold use of colour, expressive line and thick application of paint inspired avant-garde artistic groups like the Fauves and German Expressionists in the early 20th century. Van Gogh's work gained widespread critical and commercial success in the following decades, and he has become a lasting icon of the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings ever sold. His legacy is celebrated by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.
Source: Wikipedia
