It's About Time

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Earth, Water, Air, & Fire - The Elements - Henri II Bonnart (French artist, 1642-1711)

Henri II Bonnart (French artist, 1642-1711) The Elements - Air

Henri II Bonnart (French artist, 1642-1711) The Elements - Earth

Henri II Bonnart (French artist, 1642-1711) The Elements - Fire

Henri II Bonnart (French artist, 1642-1711) The Elements - Water

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Proust on Taking Tea in the Winter

Edward George Handel Lucas (English artist, 1861-1936) Silent Advocates of Temperance 1891

From Remembrances of Things Past (À la recherche du temps perdu 1913-22), here is Proust's young memory of taking tea...

"When one day in winter, on my return home, my mother, seeing that I was cold, offered me some tea, a thing I did not ordinarily take. I declined at first, and then, for no particular reason, changed my mind. She sent for one of those squat, plump little cakes called petites madeleines, which look as though they had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell.

"And soon, mechanically, dispirited after a dreary day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shiver ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin.

"And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory - this new sensation having had the effect, which love has, of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me, it-was-me.

"I had ceased now to feel mediocre, contingent, mortal. When could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy? I sensed that it was connected with the taste of the tea and the cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savors..."

Marcel Proust 1871-1922.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) painted Carmen Gaudin

Often the portraits of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) take a back seat to his popular poster art. As we saw with his portraits of Suzanne Valadon, he created serious paintings of those he encountered in Montmartre. One of his favorite models, in addition to Suzanne Valadon, was another laundress named Carmen Gaudin (1866?–1920).

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin , 1885

My favorites of his portraits, by far, are his early paintings of Carmen Gaudin.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin Red-Headed Woman in a White Blouse in the Artist's Studio

The model for this series of Lautrec paintings Carmen Gaudin apparently made her living as a laundress, model, and prostitute.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin

It is reported that Lautrec spotted Carmen, as she was leaving a Montmartre restaurant sometime in the summer of 1885.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin The Red-Headed Woman

Lautrec was reportedly infatuated with red-headed women. He seemed to be attracted to Carmen both for her beauty & her tawdriness. He had been born into a traditional, well-to-do family.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin Lowered Head 1885

Lautrec is supposed to have intended to improve her lot in life by making her his model, but it appears that she had already posed for the Belgian painter Alfred Stevens, and later worked as a model for artist Fernand Cormon as well. Cormon was Lautrec's art teacher.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin At Montrouge. 1886-87.

In autumn 1885, Lautrec wrote to his aristocratic mother, that he was "painting a woman whose hair is absolute gold," referring to Carmen. Tucked deep into the artist's community at Montmartre was the garden of Monsieur Pere Foret, where Toulouse-Lautrec executed a series of pleasant plein-air paintings of Carmen Gaudin

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin Red-Headed Woman in the Garden of M. Foret, Summer 1887

He was able to portray Carmen in realistic poses and situations which he would not have been able to do with client friends from his family.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin 1889

Throughout his voluminous body of work his models were often prostitutes, commonly the only source of female models willing to bare more than their face or hands.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin Woman in a Garden 1889

Lautrec did not portray his models in a demeaning way, he seemed to want to capture the spirit of his models. And, with them, he could play with light and shadows, as he could not with traditional portraits.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin as The Laundress. 1889, although some say that the model for this particular painting, and perhaps the following portrait, was Suzanne Valadon, during a period when her hair was dyed red.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Carmen Gaudin Red-Haired Woman The Toilette. 1889.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) - Andre Utter (1886-1948) Model, Lover, Husband, & Business Manager

We should not leave artist Suzanne Valadon's (1865-1938) life without mentioning her relationship with her son's friend, painter Andre Utter (1886-1948).

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) Adam and Eve 1909

In 1906, her son Maurice Utrillo introduced her to his friend Andre Utter. At that time, she was married to stockbroker Paul Mousis, whom she had married in 1896.

Suzanne Valadon (1867-1938) Andre Utter and his Dogs

She fell in love with André Utter, 21 years her junior. He became the love of her life, her business manager, and her husband.

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) The launch of the 1914 net

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) Self Portrait with her Family c 1910 Self-portrait with Maurice Utrillo (1883-1955), husband Andre Utter (1886-1948) and Utter's mother

Andre Utter (1886-1948) Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938)

Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938) Maurice Utrillo, born Maurice Valadon (1883-1955), and Andre Utter (1886-1948) 1919

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Jean Édouard Vuillard 1868-1940 adored model & muse Misia Godebska Sert Natanson

Jean Edouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Said to be a painting of Misia Natanson 1895

Jean Edouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Misia Sert Natanson at the Piano 1895

Jean Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940) Misia Seated in an Armchair, Affecting Nonchalance (1901)

Jean Edouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Artist Vallotton chez les Natanson 1897

Jean Edouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Nape of Misia's Neck 1897

1899 Jean Édouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Valloton and 1897 Jean Édouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Valloton with Misia Sert Natanson in the Dining Room at Rue Saint Florentin

Jean Edouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Misia Sert Natanson au piano, 1897-98

Jean Edouard Vuillard (French artist, 1868-1940) Tapestry or Embroiderers La Tapisserie ou Les Brodeuses. 1895. (Model reported to be Misia Godebska Sert Natanson.)