How do I love you, Mary Cassatt, let me count the ways.

I love your paintings of mothers with their children.  The mother’s glance, the child’s expression, both seem so spontaneous, so momentary.  However did you capture that in oil, which takes so long and is so painstaking?

I adore your portrait of your mother reading Le Figaro in your Paris garden.  What can I say, I can see your affection for her.

I am bewitched by  your striking, elegant woman at the theatre. Your beautiful canvas is layered by your humor, as you present her being spied upon by a man, perhaps an admirer?  In your composition and color palette, I can see how much you admired the paintings of your friend, Edgar Degas.

I am very fond of your images of infants at the bath. You sure don’t take the easy way out when it comes to pattern.

I idolize your depictions of art lovers in a gallery.  I feel as if I can see the wheels turning in the mind of  the woman in the tobacco-brown suit.  Does her companion have a secret, or has she just read something new in her brochure?

I so appreciate your images of ladies at tea. Who else would portray a lady with her teacup covering part of her face?  You so captured moments of real life. While the scene seems so genteel, I sense an underlying tension between the two women.  I wonder what was said that caused these people to be so stressed. Am I reading in too much?  Maybe.

I am besotted with your images of little girls being little girls.  All arms, legs and plenty of insouciance. I think I might love you for this one most of all.

I am enchanted with your masterful prints that testify to your love of Japanese woodblock prints.

I can’t get enough of your painting of a baby reaching for an apple.

And I just have no words for this child in her straw hat, because I love it so much.  There can be no question, I love you most of all for this painting.

Assurement, Mary Cassatt, je t’aime!

Au revoir!

Today’s featured American painter is Whistler.

Born in the United States, Whistler attended West Point Military Academy, where, of all things, he excelled in art.  When he turned 21, he left America for Europe to pursue his artistic studies and he never returned.  So, let me pose the question:  what is American about Whistler?  Not much, as it turned out, except that his parents and his birth were both American.  This is a constant tension in the field of American art history.  What is American about American art?  I’ll return to this issue in later blogs.

In Europe, Whistler was exposed to all the new, contemporary art of the late 19th century.  He also encountered Japanese prints for the first time. Japonisme was all the rage in avant-guarde art circles.  Soon he was painting canvases such as the one above.

Even this painting of a London bridge was influenced by Japanese prints.  Whistler was also highly influenced by music in Europe and started painting “nocturnes” as above.  This canvas is further informed by French Impressionism.

 If we compare Whistler’s work with some of the famous Hiroshige prints as this one, above, we see that bridges like this one were a favorite motif in Japanese prints and many late-19th century Western artists utilized bridges as subject matter.  Not only do we see it here in the Whistler Nocture, but look back to my post of April 9 and see that Winslow Homer used the motif of a bridge as well.  He was also aware of the Japanese woodblock prints.

And yes, he painted this famous portrait of his mother.  If Americans know one painting, perhaps it is this one.  And I am 100% sure people don’t know why this painting is important in the development of Western art.  You can’t understand how revolutionary this work was without knowing something about French painting at the fin de siecle, as well as recognize what aspects Whistler borrowed from Japanese prints.

Like many late 19th century artists, Whistler was interested in the arts of interior design as well as oil paintings on canvas. Here is a shot of the “Peacock Room” which was created for a mansion in England, but saved and moved to the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Here’s another shot of that incredible interior.  Check out the sunflower andirons, as well as the full-length portrait above the fireplace, which is the same picture shown 3rd  in my blog today.  I adore this room.  It is surprising to recognize how versatile peacock blue/green is for decorating.  I have used it in art museum galleries to give great drama to paintings and other objets.

But really, isn’t Whistler amazing!  I may blog another day about the law suit that he filed against the famous and influential British art critic, John Ruskin. Whistler charged that Ruskin committed liable in his criticism of Whistler’s entry in an exhibit.  Modern art didn’t have an easy birth.  There was much consternation and frustration in the “delivery room” if you will.  Anyhow, you can Google this legal battle between Whistler and Ruskin (and the playwright, Oscar Wilde as well)  if you need to know now!

Au revoir!

A new friend from another country recently asked me which artists were my favorite within the field of American art. I had to think for a bit, not to name my favorites, but to think of an artist whom my friend would have heard of. It is striking that the field is still so little known outside of specialists, even among Americans.  Sure, lots of people know Norman Rockwell or N.C. Wyeth, but what about the real masters, such as Homer, St. Gaudens, Eakins, LaFarge, and  so many others?

So maybe I can help change that problem with my little blog.  With that idea, here are four paintings by one of  my favorite American artists, Winslow Homer.

I am going to start a survey to find out what American artists the average person knows.  This should be interesting!

In the mood for a little sip of something Italian?  You can’t do better than this great red vermouth,  Carpano Antica Formula dal 1786, as an aperitivo.  This smooth liquid is a highly-sought after spirit, made in small batches, from an original recipe by Antonio Benedetto Carpano, the person credited with creating modern vermouth in Turin in 1786.

Carpano originally developed vermouth  (vermut in italiano) by mixing herbs, spices (including wormwood, from which the name vermut comes), and spirits such as vodka or gin with a sweet base wine. His new drink proved so popular, or so the story goes, that his shop had to stay open 24 hours a day to satisfy demand.

Originally, vermouth was used medicinally (kinda like Coca-Cola), but by the 19th-century, its medicinal properties were forgotten as sophisticated palettes came to appreciate the rich complexities of the formula for its own sake.  For a while wormwood was banned in the US and elsewhere, but now the rich formula is again available.

The best way  that I know to drink this delightful beverage is before dinner, on the rocks with the zest of an orange, after first rimming of your glass with the oils from the orange peel. Cin cin!

Fantastico!

Our Italian words for the day:  vermut, cin-cin

Ciao tutti!