SINDROM

Thought of You

2013-12-26T22:18:00.000+01:00

AWARD Winning 2d Animated Film By Ryan J Woodward Feat.in Sketchozine_com Vol.8.
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Breathtaking, fantastic and inspiring short film which explores the theme of love through expressive figure drawings and contemporary dance.

Thought of you (2010) 03:05 | 2D Animation - Romance & Musical
Produced Independently by ryanwoodwardart.com

CREDITS: Ryan J. Woodward (Director & Animator)

Jackson Pollock

2013-10-18T18:12:00.000+02:00

.Paul Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956), known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his unique style of drip painting.
During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety, a major artist of his generation. Regarded as reclusive, he had a volatile personality, and struggled with alcoholism for most of his life. In 1945, he married the artist Lee Krasner, who became an important influence on his career and on his legacy.
Pollock died at the age of 44 in an alcohol-related, single-car accident; he was driving. In December 1956, several months after his death, Pollock was given a memorial retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. A larger, more comprehensive exhibition of his work was held there in 1967. In 1998 and 1999, his work was honored with large-scale retrospective exhibitions at MoMA and at The Tate in London.
In 2000, Pollock was the subject of the film Pollock, directed by and starring Ed Harris, which won an Academy Award.

Living inside a Pollock

Early life

Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912,
the youngest of five sons. His parents, Stella May (McClure) and LeRoy Pollock, grew up in Tingley, Iowa. His father had been born with the surname McCoy but took the surname of his adoptive parents, neighbors who adopted him after his own parents had died within a year of each other. Stella and LeRoy Pollock were Presbyterian; they were of Irish and Scots-Irish descent, respectively. LeRoy Pollock was a farmer and later a land surveyor for the government, moving for different jobs. Jackson grew up in Arizona and Chico, California.
While living in Echo Park, California, he enrolled at Los Angeles' Manual Arts High School, from which he was expelled. He already had been expelled in 1928 from another high school. During his early life, Pollock explored Native American culture while on surveying trips with his father.
In 1930, following his older brother Charles Pollock, he moved to New York City, where they both studied under Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League. Benton's rural American subject matter had little influence on Pollock's work, but his rhythmic use of paint and his fierce independence were more lasting.From 1938 to 1942, during the Great Depression, Pollock worked for the WPA Federal Art Project.
Trying to deal with his established alcoholism, from 1938 through 1941 Pollock underwent Jungian psychotherapy with Dr. Joseph Henderson and later with Dr. Violet Staub de Laszlo in 1941-1942. Henderson engaged him through his art, encouraging Pollock to make drawings. Jungian concepts and archetypes were expressed in his paintings. Recently historians have hypothesized that Pollock might have had bipolar disorder.

The Springs period and his technique

Pollock signed a gallery contract with Peggy Guggenheim in July 1943. He received the commission to create Mural (1943), which measures roughly 8 feet tall by 20 feet long, for the entry to her new townhouse. At the suggestion of her friend and advisor Marcel Duchamp, Pollock painted the work on canvas, rather than the wall, so that it would be portable. After seeing the big mural, the art critic Clement Greenberg wrote: "I took one look at it and I thought, 'Now that's great art,' and I knew Jackson was the greatest painter this country had produced."

Marriage and family

In October 1945, Pollock married the American painter Lee Krasner. In November they moved out of the city to the Springs area of East Hampton on the south shore of Long Island. With the help of a down-payment loaned by Peggy Guggenheim, they bought a wood-frame house and barn at 830 Springs Fireplace Road. Pollock converted the barn into a studio. In that space, he perfected his big "drip" technique of working with paint, with which he would become permanently identified.

New techniques

1095 × 781 - ibiblio.org

Pollock was introduced to the use of liquid paint in 1936 at an experimental workshop in New York City by the Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. He later used paint pouring as one of several techniques on canvases of the early 1940s, such as Male and Female and Composition with Pouring I. After his move to Springs, he began painting with his canvases laid out on the studio floor, and he developed what was later called his "drip" technique.
He started using synthetic resin-based paints called alkyd enamels, which, at that time, was a novel medium. Pollock described this use of household paints, instead of artist’s paints, as "a natural growth out of a need". He used hardened brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes as paint applicators. Pollock's technique of pouring and dripping paint is thought to be one of the origins of the term action painting. With this technique, Pollock was able to achieve a more immediate means of creating art, the paint now literally flowing from his chosen tool onto the canvas. By defying the convention of painting on an upright surface, he added a new dimension by being able to view and apply paint to his canvases from all directions.
A possible influence on Pollock was the work of the Ukrainian American artist Janet Sobel (1894–1968) (born Jennie Lechovsky). Peggy Guggenheim included Sobel's work in her The Art of This Century Gallery in 1945. With Jackson Pollock, the critic Clement Greenberg saw Sobel's work there in 1946.In his essay "American-Type Painting," Greenberg noted those works were the first of all-over painting he had seen, and said that "Pollock admitted that these pictures had made an impression on him".
While painting this way, Pollock moved away from figurative representation, and challenged the Western tradition of using easel and brush. He used the force of his whole body to paint, which was expressed on the large canvases. In 1956, Time magazine dubbed Pollock "Jack the Dripper," due to his painting style.

My painting does not come from the easel. I prefer to tack the unstretched canvas to the hard wall or the floor. I need the resistance of a hard surface. On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.

I continue to get further away from the usual painter's tools such as easel, palette, brushes, etc. I prefer sticks, trowels, knives and dripping fluid paint or a heavy impasto with sand, broken glass or other foreign matter added.

When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.

—Jackson Pollock, My Painting, 1956

1095 × 786 - ibiblio.org

Pollock observed Indian sandpainting demonstrations in the 1940s. Referring to his style of painting on the floor, Pollock stated, “I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk round it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. This is akin to the methods of the Indian sand painters of the West.” Other influences on his drip technique include the Mexican muralists and Surrealist automatism. Pollock denied reliance on "the accident"; he usually had an idea of how he wanted a particular piece to appear. His technique combined the movement of his body, over which he had control, the viscous flow of paint, the force of gravity, and the absorption of paint into the canvas. It was a mixture of controllable and uncontrollable factors. Flinging, dripping, pouring, and spattering, he would move energetically around the canvas, almost as if in a dance, and would not stop until he saw what he wanted to see.

Pollock's Studio in Springs, New York

In 1950, Hans Namuth, a young photographer, wanted to take pictures (both stills and moving) of Pollock at work. Pollock promised to start a new painting especially for the photographic session, but when Namuth arrived, Pollock apologized and told him the painting was finished.
Namuth's said that when he entered the studio:

A dripping wet canvas covered the entire floor … There was complete silence … Pollock looked at the painting. Then, unexpectedly, he picked up can and paint brush and started to move around the canvas. It was as if he suddenly realized the painting was not finished. His movements, slow at first, gradually became faster and more dance like as he flung black, white, and rust colored paint onto the canvas. He completely forgot that Lee and I were there; he did not seem to hear the click of the camera shutter … My photography session lasted as long as he kept painting, perhaps half an hour. In all that time, Pollock did not stop. How could one keep up this level of activity? Finally, he said 'This is it.'
Pollock’s finest paintings… reveal that his all-over line does not give rise to positive or negative areas: we are not made to feel that one part of the canvas demands to be read as figure, whether abstract or representational, against another part of the canvas read as ground. There is not inside or outside to Pollock’s line or the space through which it moves…. Pollock has managed to free line not only from its function of representing objects in the world, but also from its task of describing or bounding shapes or figures, whether abstract or representational, on the surface of the canvas.
—Karmel, 132

In the 21st century, the physicists Richard Taylor, Micolich and Jonas studied Pollock's works and technique. They determined that some works display the properties of mathematical fractals. They assert that the works expressed more fractal qualities as Pollock progressed in his career. The authors speculate that Pollock may have had an intuition of the nature of chaotic motion, and tried to express mathematical chaos, more than ten years before "Chaos Theory" was proposed. Their work was used in trying to evaluate the authenticity of some works that were represented as Pollock's.
Other contemporary experts have suggested that Pollock may have imitated popular theories of the time in order to give his paintings a depth not previously seen.

1950s

Pollock's most famous paintings were made during the "drip period" between 1947 and 1950. He rocketed to fame following an August 8, 1949 four-page spread in Life magazine that asked, "Is he the greatest living painter in the United States?" At the peak of his fame, Pollock abruptly abandoned the drip style.
Pollock's work after 1951 was darker in color, including a collection painted in black on unprimed canvases. He later returned to using color and reintroduced figurative elements. During this period, Pollock had moved to a more commercial gallery; there was great demand for his work from collectors. In response to this pressure, along with personal frustration, his alcoholism deepened.

From naming to numbering

Continuing to evade the viewer's search for figurative elements in his paintings, Pollock abandoned titles and started numbering his works. He said about this: "...look passively and try to receive what the painting has to offer and not bring a subject matter or preconceived idea of what they are to be looking for". Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner, said Pollock "used to give his pictures conventional titles... but now he simply numbers them. Numbers are neutral. They make people look at a picture for what it is—pure painting."

Death

Jackson Pollock's grave in the rear with Lee Krasner's grave in front in the Green River Cemetery

In 1955, Pollock painted Scent and Search, his last two paintings. He did not paint at all in 1956, but was making sculptures at Tony Smith’s home: constructions of wire, gauze, and plaster. Shaped by sand-casting, they have heavily textured surfaces similar to what Pollock often created in his paintings.
On August 11, 1956, at 10:15 pm, Pollock died in a single-car crash in his Oldsmobile convertible while driving under the influence of alcohol. One of the passengers, Edith Metzger, was also killed in the accident, which occurred less than a mile from Pollock's home. The other passenger, Ruth Kligman, an artist and Pollock's mistress, survived.
For the rest of her life, his widow Lee Krasner managed his estate and ensured that Pollock's reputation remained strong despite changing art-world trends. The couple are buried in Green River Cemetery in Springs with a large boulder marking his grave and a smaller one marking hers.

The Pollock-Krasner House and Studio is owned and administered by the Stony Brook Foundation, a non-profit affiliate of Stony Brook University. Regular tours of the house and studio occur from May through October.
A separate organization, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, was established in 1985. The Foundation functions as the official Estate for both Pollock and his widow Lee Krasner, but also, under the terms of Krasner's will, serves "to assist individual working artists of merit with financial need". The U.S. copyright representative for the Pollock-Krasner Foundation is the Artists Rights Society (ARS).
Lee Krasner donated his papers in 1983 to the Archives of American Art. They were later archived with Lee Krasner's papers. The Archives of American Art also houses the Charles Pollock Papers, which includes correspondence, photographs, and other files relating to his brother Jackson Pollock.

Authenticity issues

In 2003, twenty-four Pollock-esque paintings and drawings were found in a locker in Wainscott, New York. An inconclusive debate continues about whether or not these works are Pollock originals. Physicists have argued over whether fractals can be used to authenticate the paintings. This would require an analysis of geometric consistency of the paint splatters in Pollock's work at a microscopic level, and would be measured against the finding that patterns in Pollock's paintings increased in complexity with time. Analysis of the synthetic pigments shows that some were not patented until the 1980s, and therefore that it is highly improbable that Pollock could have used such paints.
In 2006 a documentary, Who the *$&% Is Jackson Pollock? was made concerning Teri Horton, a truck driver who in 1992 bought an abstract painting for five dollars at a thrift store in California. This work may be a lost Pollock painting but its authenticity is debated.

In pop culture and media

In 1960, Ornette Coleman's album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation featured a Pollock painting as its cover artwork.
The British indie band The Stone Roses were heavily influenced by Pollock; they have cover artwork made of pastiches of his work.
In the early 1990s, three groups of movie makers were developing Pollock biographical projects, each based on a different source. The project that at first seemed most advanced was a joint venture between Barbra Streisand's Barwood Films and Robert De Niro's TriBeCa Productions (De Niro's parents were friends of Krasner and Pollock). The script, by Christopher Cleveland, was to be based on Jeffrey Potter's 1985 oral biography, To a Violent Grave, a collection of reminiscences by Pollock's friends. Streisand was to play the role of Lee Krasner, and De Niro was to portray Pollock.
A second was to be based on Love Affair (1974), a memoir by Ruth Kligman, who was Pollock's lover in the six months before his death. This was to be directed by Harold Becker, with Al Pacino playing Pollock.
In 2000, the biographical film Pollock, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Jackson Pollock: An American Saga, was released. Marcia Gay Harden won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Lee Krasner. The movie was the project of Ed Harris, who portrayed Pollock and directed it. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The Pollock-Krasner Foundation did not authorize or collaborate with any production.
In September 2009, the art historian Henry Adams claimed in Smithsonian Magazine that Pollock had written his name in his famous painting Mural (1943) The painting is now insured for $140 million. In 2011, the Republican Iowa State Representative Scott Raecker introduced a bill to force the sale of the artwork, held by The University of Iowa, in order to fund scholarships, but his bill created such controversy that it was quickly withdrawn.

Critical debate

Pollock's work has been the subject of important critical debates. The critic Robert Coates once derided a number of Pollock’s works as “mere unorganized explosions of random energy, and therefore meaningless.”
In a famous 1952 article in ARTnews, Harold Rosenberg coined the term "action painting," and wrote that "what was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event. The big moment came when it was decided to paint 'just to paint.' The gesture on the canvas was a gesture of liberation from value—political, aesthetic, moral." Many people assumed that he had modeled his "action painter" paradigm on Pollock.
Clement Greenberg supported Pollock's work on formalistic grounds. It fit well with Greenberg's view of art history as a progressive purification in form and elimination of historical content. He considered Pollock's work as the best painting of its day and the culmination of the Western tradition via Cubism and Cézanne to Manet.
Reynold's News in a 1959 headline said, "This is not art—it's a joke in bad taste."
The Congress for Cultural Freedom, an organization to promote American culture and values, backed by the CIA, sponsored exhibitions of Pollock's work. Certain left-wing scholars, most prominently Eva Cockcroft, have argued that the U.S. government and wealthy elite embraced Pollock and abstract expressionism in order to place the United States in the forefront of global art and devalue socialist realism.Cockcroft wrote that Pollock became a "weapon of the Cold War".

Peter Paul Rubens

2013-03-02T20:38:00.000+01:00

Peter Paul Rubens

1577 - 1640

Early years and Italy

Peter Paul Rubens

Rubens was a remarkable individual. Not only was he an enormously successful painter whose workshop produced a staggering number of works; but he also played an important diplomatic role in 17th-century European politics. He was clearly a charming and attractive companion, described as having 'a tall stature, a stately bearing, with a regularly shaped face, rosy cheeks, chestnut brown hair, sparkling eyes but with passion restrained, a laughing air, gentle and courteous'.

Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen in Germany, but from the age of 10 he lived and went to school in Antwerp. His first job, at the age of 13, was as court page to a countess. It was a prestigious position for a young man, but Rubens found it stifling and began training as an artist.

As soon as he had completed his training, he set out for Italy in order to see for himself the great Renaissance and classical works that he knew from copies. For eight years, he travelled and worked in Spain, copying and incorporating the techniques of Renaissance and classical art.

Antwerp

In 1608 news came that Rubens's mother was dying. He left immediately for Antwerp, but by the time he arrived she had died. Once home, Rubens decided to stay in the city. His reputation had preceded him, and in 1609 at the age of 33 he was appointed court painter to the rulers of the Netherlands, the Archduke Albert and his wife Isabella.The following year, he married his own Isabella - Isabella Brandt.

Rubens could now afford to buy a grand house in a fashionable part of Antwerp. He built a large studio to accommodate his pupils and assistants (he received far too many commissions to complete them all single-handedly). He designed it himself in an Italian style. He also added a circular sculpture hall, based on the Pantheon, to the house.

Rubens's major business was altarpieces, particularly suitable for an artist who enjoyed working on a grand scale. A diligent and disciplined man, he rose at 4am each day and worked until 5 in the evening before going out riding to keep himself physically fit. While painting, he would have someone read to him from a work of classical literature. An enthusiastic collector of gems, ancient sculpture and coins, and other curiosities (including an Egyptian mummy), Rubens's collection became a well-known attraction for visiting dignitaries.

The diplomat

In 1622 Rubens was commissioned to carry out a huge project in Paris for the notoriously difficult Maria de Medici, widow of King Henry IV of France. Two entire galleries were to be decorated with scenes from the lives of the queen and her late husband. The commission was a fraught one. Maria was awkward and changeable; and her favourite, Cardinal Richelieu, saw Rubens as a political threat. After years of wrangling, the project was abandoned half completed when Maria was banished from court.

In 1625 the plague reached Antwerp. Rubens moved his family to Brussels until the worst of it had passed. They then moved back to Antwerp where, to Rubens's horror, his wife became ill and died, probably of plague. Usually a man who prided himself on his stoicism, Rubens was devastated by the loss of 'one whom I must love and cherish as long as I live'.

Rubens threw himself into his diplomatic work in order to distract himself. He spent several months in England where he carried out several commissions for Charles I who was a passionate collector of art. One of the commissions that Rubens was to carry out for Charles was the decoration of the roof of his new Banqueting House at Whitehall.

Court artist

From the mid-1620s Rubens become increasingly busy with diplomatic duties. Antwerp, in the southern Netherlands, was part of an empire ruled by Catholic Spain. The Protestant northern Netherlands were united under Dutch rule. Both sides hoped to unite the Netherlands under their own regime.

In 1610, a 12 year truce between the Dutch and the Spanish had allowed the Archdukes Albert and Isabella to continue their Catholic rule in peace and stability. In 1621 the truce came to an end and just at this crucial time, the sovereign Archduke Albert died. His consort, Isabella, continued as governor but her situation was a precarious one as Spain, France and England tried to decide who they should ally themselves with, and against whom.

Rubens was called upon to negotiate in France and England on behalf of Isabella as the representative of the Spanish Netherlands. Because painters often had reason to travel to foreign courts, he was well placed to carry out secret or delicate visits without his presence arousing suspicion. He became a close confidante of Isabella and she valued his advice.

In 1624 Rubens was granted a patent of nobility by Isabella's nephew Philip IV and in 1627 she moved him even further up the social scale by making him a 'gentleman of the household'.

Last years

After 18 months abroad, Rubens had had enough of the thankless task of politicking. He returned to Antwerp to see his children and to look after his domestic affairs. He could also dedicate himself entirely to painting. One of his most important patrons in the 1630s was King Philip IV of Spain who commissioned over 80 paintings.

In 1630, at the age of 53, Rubens married again. To everyone's surprise he did not marry into the nobility, but chose Hélène Fourment, the 16 year-old daughter of a respectable merchant family. Rubens was clearly bowled over by his new wife with whom he had five children, and she figures in numerous portraits, including a version of 'The Judgement of Paris' in which she appears as Venus.

During his last years Rubens spent increasing amounts of time with his new young family in his country house, the Chateau de Steen. He began to paint more landscapes, often for his own enjoyment, rather than for sale.

Having suffered painfully from gout for several years, in 1639 a particularly bad attack left Rubens unable to paint and he died a few months later in May 1640.

Edvard Munch

2012-12-12T08:20:00.000+01:00

Edvard Munch (Norwegian: [ˈɛdvɑʁd ˈmʉŋk]; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intensely evocative treatment of psychological themes built upon some of the main tenets of late 19th-century Symbolism and greatly influenced German Expressionism in the early 20th century. One of his most well-known works is The Scream of 1893.

Childhood

Edvard Munch was born in a rustic farmhouse in the village of Ådalsbruk in Løten, to Christian Munch, the son of a priest. Christian was a doctor and medical officer who married Laura Catherine Bjølstad, a woman half his age, in 1861. Edvard had an elder sister, Johanne Sophie (born 1862), and three younger siblings: Peter Andreas (born 1865), Laura Catherine (born 1867), and Inger Marie (born 1868). Both Sophie and Edvard appear to have inherited their artistic talent from their mother. Edvard Munch was related to painter Jacob Munch (1776–1839) and historian Peter Andreas Munch (1810–1863).

The family moved to Christiania (now Oslo) in 1864 when Christian Munch was appointed medical officer at Akershus Fortress. Edvard's mother died of tuberculosis in 1868, as did Munch's favorite sister Johanne Sophie in 1877. After their mother's death, the Munch siblings were raised by their father and by their aunt Karen. Often ill for much of the winters and kept out of school, Edvard would draw to keep himself occupied, and received tutoring from his school mates and his aunt. Christian Munch also instructed his son in history and literature, and entertained the children with vivid ghost-stories and tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

Christian's positive behavior toward his children was overshadowed by his morbid pietism. Munch wrote, "My father was temperamentally nervous and obsessively religious—to the point of psychoneurosis. From him I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born. Christian reprimanded his children by telling them that their mother was looking down from heaven and grieving over their misbehavior. The oppressive religious milieu, plus Edvard's poor health and the vivid ghost stories, helped inspire macabre visions and nightmares in Edvard, who felt death constantly advancing on him.One of Munch's younger sisters was diagnosed with mental illness at an early age. Of the five siblings, only Andreas married, but he died a few months after the wedding. Munch would later write, "I inherited two of mankind's most frightful enemies—the heritage of consumption and insanity.

Christian Munch's military pay was very low, and his attempts at developing a private side practice failed, keeping his family in perennial poverty. They moved frequently from one sordid flat to another. Munch's early drawings and watercolors depicted these interiors, and the individual objects, such as medicine bottles and drawing implements, plus some landscapes. By his teens, art dominated Munch's interests. At thirteen, Munch had his first exposure to other artists at the newly formed Art Association, where he admired the work of the Norwegian landscape school. He returned to copy the paintings, and soon he began to paint in oils.

Studies and influences

Self Portrait with Skeleton Arm, 1895

In 1879, Munch enrolled in a technical college to study engineering, where he excelled in physics, chemistry, and math. He learned scaled and perspective drawing, but frequent illnesses interrupted his studies. The following year, much to his father's disappointment, Munch left the college determined to become a painter. His father viewed art as an "unholy trade", and his neighbors reacted bitterly and sent him anonymous letters. In contrast to his father's rabid pietism, Munch adopted an undogmatic stance toward art, writing in his diary his simple goal: "in my art I attempt to explain life and its meaning to myself.

In 1881, Munch enrolled at the Royal School of Art and Design of Christiania, one of whose founders was his distant relative Jacob Munch. His teachers were sculptor Julius Middelthun and naturalisticpainter Christian Krohg. That year, Munch demonstrated his quick absorption of his figure training at the Academy in his first portraits, including one of his father and his first self-portrait. In 1883, Munch took part in his first public exhibition and shared a studio with other students. His full-length portrait of Karl Jensen-Hjell, a notorious bohemian-about-town, earned a critic's dismissive response: "It is impressionism carried to the extreme. It is a travesty of art. Munch's nude paintings from this period survive only in sketches, except for Standing Nude (1887), perhaps confiscated by his father.

During these early years in his career, Munch experimented with many styles, including Naturalism and Impressionism. Some early works are reminiscent of Manet. Many of these attempts brought him unfavorable criticism from the press and garnered him constant rebukes by his father, who nonetheless provided him with small sums for living expenses. At one point, however, Munch's father, perhaps swayed by the negative opinion of Munch's cousin Edvard Diriks (an established, traditional painter), destroyed at least one painting (likely a nude) and refused to advance any more money for art supplies.

Munch also received his father's ire for his relationship with Hans Jæger, the local nihilist who lived by the code "a passion to destroy is also a creative passion" and who advocated suicide as the ultimate way to freedom.Munch came under his malevolent, anti-establishment spell. "My ideas developed under the influence of the bohemians or rather under Hans Jæger. Many people have mistakenly claimed that my ideas were formed under the influence of Strindberg and the Germans…but that is wrong. They had already been formed by then. At that time, contrary to many of the other bohemians, Munch was still respectful of women, as well as reserved and well-mannered, but he began to give in to the binge drinking and brawling of his circle. He was unsettled by the sexual revolution going on at the time and by the independent women around him. He later turned cynical concerning sexual matters, expressed not only in his behavior and his art, but in his writings as well, an example being a long poem calledThe City of Free Love. Still dependent on his family for many of his meals, Munch's relationship with his father remained tense over concerns about his bohemian life.

After numerous experiments, Munch concluded that the Impressionist idiom did not allow sufficient expression. He found it superficial and too akin to scientific experimentation. He felt a need to go deeper and explore situations brimming with emotional content and expressive energy. Under Jæger's commandment that Munch should "write his life", meaning that Munch should explore his own emotional and psychological state, Munch began a period of reflection and self-examination, recording his thoughts in his "soul's diary". This deeper perspective helped move him to a new view of his art. He wrote that his painting The Sick Child (1886), based on his sister's death, was his first "soul painting", his first break from Impressionism. The painting received a negative response from critics and from his family, and caused another "violent outburst of moral indignation" from the community. Only his friend Christian Krohg defended him:

He paints, or rather regards, things in a way that is different from that of other artists. He sees only the essential, and that, naturally, is all he paints. For this reason Munch's pictures are as a rule "not complete", as people are so delighted to discover for themselves. Oh, yes, they are complete. His complete handiwork. Art is complete once the artist has really said everything that was on his mind, and this is precisely the advantage Munch has over painters of the other generation, that he really knows how to show us what he has felt, and what has gripped him, and to this he subordinates everything else.

Munch continued to employ a variety of brushstroke technique and color palettes throughout the 1880s and early 1890s, as he struggled to define his style. His idiom continued to veer between naturalistic, as seen in Portrait of Hans Jæger, andimpressionistic, as in Rue Lafayette. His Inger On the Beach (1889), which caused another storm of confusion and controversy, hints at the simplified forms, heavy outlines, sharp contrasts, and emotional content of his mature style to come. He began to carefully calculate his compositions to create tension and emotion. While stylistically influenced by the Post-Impressionists, what evolved was a subject matter which was symbolist in content, depicting a state of mind rather than an external reality. In 1889, Munch presented his first one-man show of nearly all his works to date. The recognition it received led to a two-year state scholarship to study in Paris under French painter Léon Bonnat.

Paris

Munch arrived in Paris during the festivities of the Exposition Universelle (1889) and roomed with two fellow Norwegian artists. His picture, Morning (1884), was displayed at the Norwegian pavilion. He spent his mornings at Bonnat's busy studio (which included live female models) and afternoons at the exhibition, galleries, and museums (where students were to make copies).Munch recorded little enthusiasm for Bonnat's drawing lessons—"It tires and bores me—it's numbing"—but enjoyed the master's commentary during museum trips.

Munch was enthralled by the vast display of modern European art, including the works of three artists who would prove influential: Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec—all notable for how they used color to convey emotion. Munch was particularly inspired by Gauguin's "reaction against realism" and his credo that "art was human work and not an imitation of Nature", a belief earlier stated by Whistler. As one of his Berlin friends stated later about Munch, "he need not make his way to Tahiti to see and experience the primitive in human nature. He carries his own Tahiti within him.

That December, his father died, leaving Munch's family destitute. He returned home and arranged a large loan from a wealthy Norwegian collector when wealthy relatives failed to help, and assumed financial responsibility for his family from then on.Christian's death depressed him and he was plagued by suicidal thoughts: "I live with the dead—my mother, my sister, my grandfather, my father…Kill yourself and then it's over. Why live?"Munch's paintings of the following year included sketchy tavern scenes and a series of bright cityscapes in which he experimented with the pointillist style of Georges Seurat.

[edit]Berlin

By 1892, Munch formulated his characteristic, and original, Synthetist aesthetic, as seen in Melancholy (1891), in which color is the symbol-laden element. In 1892, Adelsteen Normann, on behalf of the Union of Berlin Artists, invited Munch to exhibit at its November exhibition, the society's first one-man exhibition. However, his paintings evoked bitter controversy (dubbed "The Munch Affair") and after one week the exhibition closed. Munch was pleased with the "great commotion", and wrote in a letter: "Never have I had such an amusing time—it's incredible that something as innocent as painting should have created such a stir.

In Berlin, Munch involved himself in an international circle of writers, artists and critics, including the Swedish dramatist and leading intellectual August Strindberg, whom he painted in 1892. During his four years in Berlin, Munch sketched out most of the ideas that would comprise his major work, The Frieze of Life, first designed for book illustration but later expressed in paintings. He sold little, but made some income from charging entrance fees to view his controversial paintings. Already, Munch was showing a reluctance to part with his paintings, which he termed his "children".

His other paintings, including casino scenes, show a simplification of form and detail which marked his early mature style. Munch also began to favor a shallow pictorial space and a minimal backdrop for his frontal figures. Since poses were chosen to produce the most convincing images of states of mind and psychological conditions, as in Ashes, the figures impart a monumental, static quality. Munch's figures appear to play roles on a theatre stage (Death in the Sick-Room), whose pantomime of fixed postures signify various emotions; since each character embodies a single psychological dimension, as in The Scream, Munch's men and women now appear more symbolic than realistic. He wrote, "No longer should interiors be painted, people reading and women knitting: there would be living people, breathing and feeling, suffering and loving.

The Scream

Main article: The Scream

The Scream (1893)

The Scream exists in four versions: two pastels (1893 and 1895) and two paintings (1893 and 1910). There are also several litographs of The Scream (1895 and later).

The 1895 pastel sold at auction on 2 May 2012 for US$119,922,500, including commission. It is the most colorful of the versions and is distinctive for the downward-looking stance of one of its background figures. It is also the only version not part of the collection of a Norwegian museum.

The 1910 painting was stolen in 2004, from The Munch Museum in Oslo, but recovered in 2006 with limited damage. The 1893 version (shown here) was likewise stolen and recovered from the National Gallery in Oslo in 1994.

The Scream is Munch's most famous work and one of the most recognizable paintings in all art. It has been widely interpreted as representing the universal anxiety of modern man. Painted with broad bands of garish color and highly simplified forms, and employing a high viewpoint, the agonized figure is reduced to a garbed skull in the throes of an emotional crisis.

With this painting, Munch met his stated goal of "the study of the soul, that is to say the study of my own self". Munch wrote of how the painting came to be: "I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature. He later described the personal anguish behind the painting, "for several years I was almost mad… You know my picture, 'The Scream?' I was stretched to the limit—nature was screaming in my blood… After that I gave up hope ever of being able to love again.

In summing up the painting's impact, author Martha Tedeschi has stated: "Whistler's Mother, Wood's American Gothic, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch's The Scream have all achieved something that most paintings—regardless of their art historical importance, beauty, or monetary value—have not: they communicate a specific meaning almost immediately to almost every viewer. These few works have successfully made the transition from the elite realm of the museum visitor to the enormous venue of popular culture

Frieze of Life – A Poem about Life, Love and Death

In December 1893, Unter den Linden in Berlin held an exhibition of Munch's work, showing, among other pieces, six paintings entitled Study for a Series: Love. This began a cycle he later called the Frieze of Life – A Poem about Life, Love and Death. "Frieze of Life" motifs such as The Storm and Moonlight are steeped in atmosphere. Other motifs illuminate the nocturnal side of love, such as Rose and Amelie and Vampire. In Death in the Sickroom, the subject is the death of his sister Sophie, which he re-did in many future variations. The dramatic focus of the painting, portraying his entire family, is dispersed in a series of separate and disconnected figures of sorrow. In 1894, he enlarged the spectrum of motifs by adding Anxiety,Ashes, Madonna and Women in Three Stages (from innocence to old age).

Around the start of the 20th century, Munch worked to finish the "Frieze". He painted a number of pictures, several of them in larger format and to some extent featuring the Art Nouveau aesthetics of the time. He made a wooden frame with carved reliefs for the large painting Metabolism (1898), initially called Adam and Eve. This work reveals Munch's preoccupation with the "fall of man" myth and his pessimistic philosophy of love. Motifs such as The Empty Cross and Golgotha (both c. 1900) reflect a metaphysical orientation, and also echo Munch's pietistic upbringing. The entire Frieze showed for the first time at the secessionist exhibition in Berlin in 1902.

"The Frieze of Life" themes recur throughout Munch's work but find their strongest outpouring in the mid-1890s. In sketches, paintings, pastels and prints, he taps the depths of his feelings to examine his major motifs: the stages of life, the femme fatale, the hopelessness of love, anxiety, infidelity, jealousy, sexual humiliation, and separation in life and death. These themes find expression in paintings such as The Sick Child (1885), Love and Pain (1893–94), Ashes (1894), and The Bridge. The latter shows limp figures with featureless or hidden faces, over which loom the threatening shapes of heavy trees and brooding houses. Munch portrayed women either as frail, innocent sufferers (see Puberty and Love and Pain) or as the cause of great longing, jealousy and despair (see Separation, Jealousy and Ashes).

Munch often uses shadows and rings of color around his figures to emphasize an aura of fear, menace, anxiety, or sexual intensity. These paintings have been interpreted as reflections of the artist's sexual anxieties, though it could also be argued that they are a better representation of his turbulent relationship with love itself and his general pessimism regarding human existence. Many of these sketches and paintings were done in several versions, such as Madonna, Hands and Puberty, and also transcribed as wood-block prints and lithographs. Munch hated to part with his paintings because he thought of his work as a single body of expression. So to capitalize on his production and make some income, he turned to graphic arts to reproduce many of his most famous paintings, including those in this series. Munch admitted to the personal goals of his work but he also offered his art to a wider purpose, "My art is really a voluntary confession and an attempt to explain to myself my relationship with life—it is, therefore, actually a sort of egoism, but I am constantly hoping that through this I can help others achieve clarity.

Still attracting strongly negative reactions, in the 1890s Munch did begin to receive some understanding of his artistic goals, as one critic wrote, "With ruthless contempt for form, clarity, elegance, wholeness, and realism, he paints with intuitive strength of talent the most subtle visions of the soul. One of his great supporters in Berlin was Walther Rathenau, later the German foreign minister, who greatly contributed to his success.

Paris and Christiania

The Sick Child (1907)

In 1896, Munch moved to Paris, where he focused on graphic representations of his "Frieze of Life" themes. He further developed his woodcut and lithographic technique. Munch's Self-Portrait With Skeleton Arm (1895) is done with an etching needle-and-ink method also used by Paul Klee. Munch also produced multi-colored versions of "The Sick Child" which sold well, as well as several nudes and multiple versions of Kiss (1892) Many of the Parisian critics still considered Munch's work "violent and brutal" but his exhibitions received serious attention and good attendance. His financial situation improved considerably and in 1897, Munch bought himself a summer house, a small fisherman's cabin built in the late 18th century, in the small town of Åsgårdstrand in Norway. He dubbed this home the "Happy House" and returned here almost every summer for the next 20 years.

Munch returned to Christiania in 1897 where he also received grudging acceptance, where one critic wrote, "A fair number of these pictures have been exhibited before. In my opinion these improve on acquaintance. In 1899, at the age of thirty-four, Munch began an intimate relationship with Tulla Larsen, a "liberated" upper-class woman. They traveled to Italy together and upon returning, Munch began another fertile period in his art, which included landscapes and his final painting in "The Frieze of Life" series, The Dance of Life (1899). Larsen was eager for marriage, and Munch begged off. His drinking and poor health reinforced his fears, as he wrote in the third person, "Ever since he was a child he had hated marriage. His sick and nervous home had given him the feeling that he had no right to get married. Munch almost gave in to Tulla, but fled from her in 1900, also turning away from her considerable fortune, and moved to Berlin. His Girls on the Jetty, created in eighteen different versions, demonstrated the theme of feminine youth without negative connotations. In 1902, he displayed his works thematically at the hall of the Berlin Succession, producing "a symphonic effect—it made a great stir—a lot of antagonism—and a lot of approval.^] The Berlin critics were beginning to appreciate Munch's work even though the public still found his work alien and strange.

The good press coverage gained Munch the attention of influential patrons Albert Kollman and Max Linde. He described the turn of events in his diary, "After twenty years of struggle and misery forces of good finally come to my aid in Germany—and a bright door opens up for me. However, despite this positive change, Munch's self-destructive and erratic behavior involved him first with a violent quarrel with another artist, then with an accidental shooting in the presence of Tulla Larsen, who had returned for a brief reconciliation, which injured two of his fingers. She finally left him and married a younger colleague of Munch. Munch took this as a betrayal, and he dwelled on the humiliation for some time to come, channeling some of the bitterness into new paintings. His paintings Still Life (The Murderess) and The Death of Marat I, done in 1906-7, clearly reference the shooting incident and the emotional after effects

In 1903-4, Munch exhibited in Paris where the coming Fauvists, famous for their boldly false colors, likely saw his works and might have found inspiration in them. When the Fauves held their own exhibit in 1906, Munch was invited and displayed his works with theirs. After studying the sculpture of Rodin, Munch may have experimented with plasticine as an aid to design, but he produced little sculpture. During this time, Munch received many commissions for portraits and prints which improved his usually precarious financial condition.After an earlier period of landscapes, in 1907 he turned his attention again to human figures and situations.

Breakdown and recovery

However, in the autumn of 1908, Munch's anxiety, compounded by excessive drinking and brawling, had become acute. As he wrote later, "My condition was verging on madness—it was touch and go." Subject to hallucinations and feelings of persecution, he entered the clinic of Dr. Daniel Jacobson. The therapy Munch received for the next eight months included diet and "electrification" (a treatment then fashionable for nervous conditions, not to be confused with electroconvulsive therapy). Munch's stay in hospital stabilized his personality, and after returning to Norway in 1909, his work became more colorful and less pessimistic. Further brightening his mood, the general public of Christiania finally warmed to his work, and museums began to purchase his paintings. He was made a Knight of the Royal Order of St. Olav "for services in art". His first American exhibit was in 1912 in New York.

As part of his recovery, Dr. Jacobson advised Munch to only socialize with good friends and avoid public drinking. Munch followed this advice and in the process produced several full-length portraits of high quality of friends and patrons—honest portrayals devoid of flattery.He also created landscapes and scenes of people at work and play, using a new optimistic style—broad, loose brushstrokes of vibrant color with frequent use of white space and rare use of black—with only occasional references to his morbid themes. With more income, Munch was able to buy several properties giving him new vistas for his art and he was finally able to provide for his family.

The outbreak of World War I found Munch with divided loyalties, as he stated, "All my friends are German but it is France that I love. In the 1930s, his German patrons, many Jewish, lost their fortunes and some their lives during the rise of the Nazi movement. Munch found Norwegian printers to substitute for the Germans who had been printing his graphic work. Given his poor health history, during 1918 Munch felt himself lucky to have survived a bout of the Spanish Flu, the worldwide pandemic of that year.

Later years

Munch spent most of his last two decades in solitude at his nearly self-sufficient estate in Ekely, at Skøyen, Oslo. Many of his late paintings celebrate farm life, including many where he used his work horse "Rousseau" as a model. Without any effort, Munch had a steady stream of female models, some of whom he may have had sexual relations with, and who were the subjects of numerous nude paintings. Munch occasionally left his home to paint murals on commission, including those done for the Freia chocolate factory.

To the end of his life, Munch continued to paint unsparing self-portraits, adding to his self-searching cycle of his life and his unflinching series of snapshots of his emotional and physical states. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazis labeled Munch's work "degenerate art" (along with Picasso, Paul Klee, Matisse, Gauguin and many other modern artists) and removed his 82 works from German museums. Adolf Hitler announced in 1937, "For all we care, those prehistoric Stone Age culture barbarians and art-stutterers can return to the caves of their ancestors and there can apply their primitive international scratching.

In 1940, the Germans invaded Norway and the Nazi party took over the government. Munch was seventy-six years old. With nearly an entire collection of his art in the second floor of his house, Munch lived in fear of a Nazi confiscation. Seventy-one of the paintings previously taken by the Nazis had found their way back to Norway through purchase by collectors (the other eleven were never recovered), includingThe Scream and The Sick Child, and they too were hidden from the Nazis.

Munch died in his house at Ekely near Oslo on 23 January 1944, about a month after his 80th birthday. His Nazi-orchestrated funeral left the impression with Norwegians that he was a Nazi sympathizer.The city of Oslo bought the Ekely estate from his heirs in 1946 and demolished his house in May 1960

Legacy

Munch's art was highly personalized and he did little teaching. His "private" symbolism was far more personal than that of other Symbolist painters such as Gustave Moreau and James Ensor. Nonetheless, Munch was highly influential, particularly with the German Expressionists, who followed his philosophy, "I do not believe in the art which is not the compulsive result of Man's urge to open his heart. Many of his paintings, including The Scream, have universal appeal in addition to their highly personal meaning.When Munch died, his remaining works were bequeathed to the city of Oslo, which built the Munch Museum at Tøyen (it opened in 1963). The museum hosts a collection of approximately 1,100 paintings, 4,500 drawings, and 18,000 prints, the broadest collection of his works in the world. The Munch Museum currently serves at Munch's official Estate, and has been active in responding to copyright infringements, as well as clearing copyright for the work, such as the appearance of Munch's The Scream in a 2006 M&M's advertisement campaign. The U.S. copyright representative for the Munch Museum and the Estate of Edvard Munch is the Artists Rights Society.

Munch's works are now represented in numerous major museums and galleries in Norway and abroad. After the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China ended, Munch was the first Western artist to have his pictures exhibited at the National Gallery in Beijing. His cabin "the Happy House" was given to the municipality of Åsgårdstrand in 1944 and is now a small Munch museum. The inventory is still exactly as he left it.

One version of The Scream was stolen from the National Gallery in 1994. In 2004, another version of The Scream, along with one of Madonna, were stolen from the Munch Museum in a daring daylight robbery. All were eventually recovered, but the paintings stolen in the 2004 robbery were extensively damaged. They have been meticulously restored and are on display again. Three Munch works were stolen from the Hotel Refsnes Gods in 2005; they were shortly recovered, although one of the works was damaged during the robbery.

In October 2006, the color woodcut Two people. The lonely (To mennesker. De ensomme) set a new record for his prints when it was sold at an auction in Oslo for 8.1 million NOK (1.27 million US$). It also set a record for the highest price paid in auction in Norway. On 3 November 2008, the painting Vampire set a new record for his paintings when it was sold for 38.162 million US$ at Sotheby's New York.

Munch appears on the Norwegian 1,000 kroner note, along with pictures inspired by his artwork.

In February 2012, a major Munch exhibition, "the Modern Eye", opened at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt; the exhibition was opened by Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway.

In May 2012, "The Scream" sold for $119.9 million, becoming the most expensive artwork ever sold at an open auction

Auguste Rodin

2012-11-17T20:09:00.000+01:00

from wikipedia~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rodin was born in 1840 into a working-class family in Paris, the second child of Marie Cheffer and Jean-Baptiste Rodin, who was a police department clerk. He was largely self-educated,^[4] and began to draw at age ten. Between ages 14 and 17, Rodin attended the Petite École, a school specializing in art and mathematics, where he studied drawing and painting. His drawing teacher,Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, believed in first developing the personality of his students so that they observed with their own eyes and drew from their recollections. Rodin still expressed appreciation for his teacher much later in life.^[5] It was at Petite École that he first met Jules Dalou and Alphonse Legros.

Rodin's The Thinker (1879–1889) is among the most recognized works in all of sculpture.

In 1857, Rodin submitted a clay model of a companion to the Grand École in an attempt to win entrance; he did not succeed, and two further applications were also denied.^[6] Given that entrance requirements at the Grand École were not particularly high,^[7] the rejections were considerable setbacks. Rodin's inability to gain entrance may have been due to the judges' Neoclassical tastes, while Rodin had been schooled in light, 18th-century sculpture. Leaving the Petite École in 1857, Rodin would earn a living as a craftsman and ornamenter for most of the next two decades, producing decorative objects and architectural embellishments.

Rodin's sister Maria, two years his senior, died of peritonitis in a convent in 1862. Her brother was anguished, and felt guilty because he had introduced Maria to an unfaithful suitor. Turning away from art, Rodin briefly joined a Catholic order, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. SaintPeter Julian Eymard, founder and head of the congregation, recognized Rodin's talent and, sensing his lack of suitability for the order, encouraged Rodin to continue with his sculpture. He returned to work as a decorator, while taking classes with animal sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye. The teacher's attention to detail – his finely rendered musculature of animals in motion – significantly influenced Rodin.^[8]

In 1864, Rodin began to live with a young seamstress named Rose Beuret, with whom he would stay – with ranging commitment – for the rest of his life. The couple had a son, Auguste-Eugène Beuret (1866–1934).^[9] That year, Rodin offered his first sculpture for exhibition, and entered the studio ofAlbert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, a successful mass producer of objets d'art. Rodin worked as Carrier-Belleuse' chief assistant until 1870, designing roof decorations and staircase and doorway embellishments. With the arrival of the Franco-Prussian War, Rodin was called to serve in the National Guard, but his service was brief due to his near-sightedness.^[10] Decorators' work had dwindled because of the war, yet Rodin needed to support his family; poverty was a continual difficulty for Rodin until about the age of 30.^[11] Carrier-Belleuse soon asked Rodin to join him in Belgium, where they would work on ornamentation for Brussels' bourse.

Rodin planned to stay in Belgium a few months, but he spent the next six years abroad. It was a pivotal time in his life.^[11] He had acquired skill and experience as a craftsman, but no one had yet seen his art, which sat in his workshop, since he could not afford castings. Though his relationship with Carrier-Belleuse deteriorated, Rodin found other employment in Brussels, displaying some works at salons, and his companion Rose soon joined him there. Having saved enough money to travel, Rodin visited Italy for two months in 1875, where he was drawn to the work of Donatello and Michelangelo. Their work had a profound effect on his artistic direction.^[12] Rodin said, "It isMichelangelo who has freed me from academic sculpture."^[13] Returning to Belgium, he began work on The Age of Bronze, a life-size male figure whose realism brought Rodin attention but led to accusations of sculptural cheating.

[edit]Artistic independence

Rose Beuret and Rodin returned to Paris in 1877, moving into a small flat on the Left Bank. Misfortune surrounded Rodin: his mother, who had wanted to see her son marry, was dead, and his father was blind and senile, cared for by Rodin's sister-in-law, Aunt Thérèse. Rodin's eleven-year-old son Auguste, possibly developmentally delayed, was also in the ever-helpful Thérèse's care. Rodin had essentially abandoned his son for six years,^[14] and would have a very limited relationship with him throughout his life. Father and son now joined the couple in their flat, with Rose as caretaker. The charges of fakery surrounding The Age of Bronze continued. Rodin increasingly sought more soothing female companionship in Paris, and Rose stayed in the background.

Rodin earned his living collaborating with more established sculptors on public commissions, primarily memorials and neo-baroque architectural pieces in the style of Carpeaux.^[15] In competitions for commissions he submitted models of Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Lazare Carnot, all to no avail. On his own time, he worked on studies leading to the creation of his next important work, St. John the Baptist Preaching.

Camille Claudel (1864–1943)

In 1880, Carrier-Belleuse – now art director of the Sèvres national porcelain factory – offered Rodin a part-time position as a designer. The offer was in part a gesture of reconciliation, and Rodin accepted. That part of Rodin which appreciated 18th-century tastes was aroused, and he immersed himself in designs for vases and table ornaments that brought the factory renown across Europe.^[16]

The artistic community appreciated his work in this vein, and Rodin was invited to Paris Salons by such friends as writer Léon Cladel. During his early appearances at these social events, Rodin seemed shy;^[17] in his later years, as his fame grew, he displayed the loquaciousness and temperament for which he is better known. French statesman Leon Gambetta expressed a desire to meet Rodin, and the sculptor impressed him when they met at a salon. Gambetta spoke of Rodin in turn to several government ministers, likely including Edmund Turquet, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Fine Arts, whom Rodin eventually met.^[17]

Rodin in 1893

Rodin's relationship with Turquet was rewarding: through him, he won the 1880 commission to create a portal for a planned museum of decorative arts. Rodin dedicated much of the next four decades to his elaborate Gates of Hell, an unfinished portal for a museum that was never built. Many of the portal's figures became sculptures in themselves, including Rodin's most famous, The Thinker and The Kiss. With the museum commission came a free studio, granting Rodin a new level of artistic freedom. Soon, he stopped working at the porcelain factory; his income came from private commissions.

In 1883, Rodin agreed to supervise a course for sculptor Alfred Boucher in his absence, where he met the 18-year-old Camille Claudel. The two formed a passionate but stormy relationship and influenced each other artistically. Claudel inspired Rodin as a model for many of his figures, and she was a talented sculptor, assisting him on commissions.

Although busy with The Gates of Hell, Rodin won other commissions. He pursued an opportunity to create a historical monument for the town ofCalais. For a monument to French author Honoré de Balzac, Rodin was chosen in 1891. His execution of both sculptures clashed with traditional tastes, and met with varying degrees of disapproval from the organizations that sponsored the commissions. Still, Rodin was gaining support from diverse sources that propelled him toward fame.

In 1889, the Paris Salon invited Rodin to be a judge on its artistic jury. Though Rodin's career was on the rise, Claudel and Beuret were becoming increasingly impatient with Rodin's "double life". Claudel and Rodin shared an atelier at a small old castle, but Rodin refused to relinquish his ties to Beuret, his loyal companion during the lean years, and mother of his son. During one absence, Rodin wrote to Beuret, "I think of how much you must have loved me to put up with my caprices...I remain, in all tenderness, your Rodin."^[18]Claudel and Rodin parted in 1898.^[19] Claudel suffered a nervous breakdown several years later and was confined to an institution by her family until her death.

[edit]Works

The Age of Bronze (1877).

In 1864, Rodin submitted his first sculpture for exhibition, The Man with the Broken Nose, to the Paris Salon. The subject was an elderly neighbourhood street porter. The unconventional bronze piece was not a traditional bust, but instead the head was "broken off" at the neck, the nose was flattened and crooked, and the back of the head was absent, having fallen off the clay model in an accident. The work emphasized texture and the emotional state of the subject; it illustrated the "unfinishedness" that would characterize many of Rodin's later sculptures.^[20] The Salon rejected the piece.

[edit]Early figures: the inspiration of Italy

In Brussels, Rodin created his first full-scale work, The Age of Bronze, having returned from Italy. Modelled by a Belgian soldier, the figure drew inspiration from Michelangelo's Dying Slave, which Rodin had observed at the Louvre. Attempting to combine Michelangelo's mastery of the human form with his own sense of human nature, Rodin studied his model from all angles, at rest and in motion; he mounted a ladder for additional perspective, and made clay models, which he studied by candlelight. The result was a life-size, well-proportioned nude figure, posed unconventionally with his right hand atop his head, and his left arm held out at his side, forearm parallel to the body.

In 1877, the work debuted in Brussels and then was shown at the Paris Salon. The statue's apparent lack of a theme was troubling to critics – commemorating neither mythology nor a noble historical event – and it is not clear whether Rodin intended a theme.^[21] He first titled the work The Vanquished, in which form the left hand held a spear, but he removed the spear because it obstructed the torso from certain angles. After two more intermediary titles, Rodin settled on The Age of Bronze, suggesting the Bronze Age, and in Rodin's words, "man arising from nature".^[22] Later, however, Rodin said that he had had in mind "just a simple piece of sculpture without reference to subject".^[22]

Its mastery of form, light, and shadow made the work look so realistic that Rodin was accused of surmoulage – having taken a cast from a living model. Rodin vigorously denied the charges, writing to newspapers and having photographs taken of the model to prove how the sculpture differed. He demanded an inquiry and was eventually exonerated by a committee of sculptors. Leaving aside the false charges, the piece polarized critics. It had barely won acceptance for display at the Paris Salon, and criticism likened it to "a statue of a sleepwalker" and called it "an astonishingly accurate copy of a low type".^[22] Others rallied to defend the piece and Rodin's integrity. The government minister Turquet admired the piece, and The Age of Bronze was purchased by the state for 2,200 francs – what it had cost Rodin to have it cast in bronze.^[22]

St. John the Baptist Preaching(1878).

A second male nude, St. John the Baptist Preaching, was completed in 1878. Rodin sought to avoid another charge of surmoulage by making the statue larger than life: St. John stands almost 6' 7"'' (2 m). While The Age of Bronze is statically posed, St. John gestures and seems to move toward the viewer. The effect of walking is achieved despite the figure having both feet firmly on the ground – a physical impossibility, and a technical achievement that was lost on most contemporary critics.^[23] Rodin chose this contradictory position to, in his words, "display simultaneously...views of an object which in fact can be seen only successively".^[24]

Despite the title, St. John the Baptist Preaching did not have an obviously religious theme. The model, an Italian peasant who presented himself at Rodin's studio, possessed an idiosyncratic sense of movement that Rodin felt compelled to capture. Rodin thought of John the Baptist, and carried that association into the title of the work.^[24] In 1880, Rodin submitted the sculpture to the Paris Salon. Critics were still mostly dismissive of his work, but the piece finished third in the Salon's sculpture category.^[24]

Regardless of the immediate receptions of St. John and The Age of Bronze, Rodin had achieved a new degree of fame. Students sought him at his studio, praising his work and scorning the charges of surmoulage. The artistic community knew his name.

[edit]The Gates of Hell

The Gates of Hell (unfinished),Kunsthaus Zürich

A commission to create a portal for Paris' planned Museum of Decorative Arts was awarded to Rodin in 1880.^[15] Although the museum was never built, Rodin worked throughout his life on The Gates of Hell, a monumental sculptural group depicting scenes from Dante's Inferno in high relief. Often lacking a clear conception of his major works, Rodin compensated with hard work and a striving for perfection.^[25]

He conceived The Gates with the surmoulage controversy still in mind: "...I had made the St. John to refute [the charges of casting from a model], but it only partially succeeded. To prove completely that I could model from life as well as other sculptors, I determined...to make the sculpture on the door of figures smaller than life."^[25] Laws of composition gave way to the Gates' disordered and untamed depiction of Hell. The figures and groups in this, Rodin's meditation on the condition of man, are physically and morally isolated in their torment.^[26]

The Gates of Hell comprised 186 figures in its final form.^[26] Many of Rodin's best-known sculptures started as designs of figures for this composition,^[8] such as The Thinker, The Three Shades, and The Kiss, and were only later presented as separate and independent works. Other well-known works derived fromThe Gates are Ugolino, Fugit Amor, The Falling Man, and The Prodigal Son.

The Thinker (originally titled The Poet, after Dante) was to become one of the most well-known sculptures in the world. The original was a 27.5-inch (700 mm)-high bronze piece created between 1879 and 1889, designed for the Gates' lintel, from which the figure would gaze down upon Hell. While The Thinker most obviously characterizes Dante, aspects of the Biblical Adam, the mythological Prometheus,^[15] and Rodin himself have been ascribed to him.^[27]^[28] Other observers de-emphasize the apparent intellectual theme of The Thinker, stressing the figure's rough physicality and the emotional tension emanating from it.^[29]

The Burghers of Calais (1884–ca. 1889) in Victoria Tower Gardens, London, England.

[edit]The Burghers of Calais

Main article: The Burghers of Calais

The town of Calais had contemplated an historical monument for decades when Rodin learned of the project. He pursued the commission, interested in the medieval motif and patriotic theme. The mayor of Calais was tempted to hire Rodin on the spot upon visiting his studio, and soon the memorial was approved, with Rodin as its architect. It would commemorate the six townspeople of Calais who offered their lives to save their fellow citizens.

During the Hundred Years' War, the army of King Edward III besieged Calais, and Edward ordered that the town's population be killed en masse. He agreed to spare them if six of the principal citizens would come to him prepared to die, bareheaded and barefooted and with ropes around their necks. When they came, he ordered that they be executed, but pardoned them when his queen, Philippa of Hainault, begged him to spare their lives. The Burghers of Calais depicts the men as they are leaving for the king's camp, carrying keys to the town's gates and citadel.

Rodin began the project in 1884, inspired by the chronicles of the siege by Jean Froissart.^[30] Though the town envisioned an allegorical, heroic piece centered on Eustache de Saint-Pierre, the eldest of the six men, Rodin conceived the sculpture as a study in the varied and complex emotions under which all six men were laboring. One year into the commission, the Calais committee was not impressed with Rodin's progress. Rodin indicated his willingness to end the project rather than change his design to meet the committee's conservative expectations, but Calais said to continue.

In 1889, The Burghers of Calais was first displayed to general acclaim. It is a bronze sculpture weighing two tons (1,814 kg), and its figures are 6.6 ft (2 m) tall.^[30] The six men portrayed do not display a united, heroic front;^[31] rather, each is isolated from his brothers, individually deliberating and struggling with his expected fate. Rodin soon proposed that the monument's high pedestal be eliminated, wanting to move the sculpture to ground level so that viewers could "penetrate to the heart of the subject".^[32] At ground level, the figures' positions lead the viewer around the work, and subtly suggest their common movement forward.^[33]

The committee was incensed by the untraditional proposal, but Rodin would not yield. In 1895, Calais succeeded in having Burghers displayed in their preferred form: the work was placed in front of a public garden on a high platform, surrounded by a cast-iron railing. Rodin had wanted it located near the town hall, where it would engage the public. Only after damage during the First World War, subsequent storage, and Rodin's death was the sculpture displayed as he had intended. It is one of Rodin's best-known and most acclaimed works.^[30]

[edit]Commissions and controversy

Monument to Balzac (1891–1898)

Rodin in mid-career

Rodin observing work on the monument to Victor Hugo at the studio of his assistant Henri Lebossé in 1896

Commissioned to create a monument to French writer Victor Hugo in 1889, Rodin dealt extensively with the subject of artist and muse. Like many of Rodin's public commissions, Monument to Victor Hugo was met with resistance because it did not fit conventional expectations. Commenting on Rodin's monument to Victor Hugo, The Times in 1909 expressed that "there is some show of reason in the complaint that [Rodin's] conceptions are sometimes unsuited to his medium, and that in such cases they overstrain his vast technical powers".^[34] The 1897 plaster model was not cast in bronze until 1964.

The Société des Gens des Lettres, a Parisian organization of writers, planned a monument to French novelistHonoré de Balzac immediately after his death in 1850. The society commissioned Rodin to create the memorial in 1891, and Rodin spent years developing the concept for his sculpture. Challenged in finding an appropriate representation of Balzac given the author's rotund physique, Rodin produced many studies: portraits, full-length figures in the nude, wearing a frock coat, or in a robe – a replica of which Rodin had requested. The realized sculpture displays Balzac cloaked in the drapery, looking forcefully into the distance with deeply gouged features. Rodin's intent had been to show Balzac at the moment of conceiving a work^[35] – to express courage, labor, and struggle.^[36]

When Balzac was exhibited in 1898, the negative reaction was not surprising.^[27] The Société rejected the work, and the press ran parodies. Criticizing the work, Morey (1918) reflected, "there may come a time, and doubtless will come a time, when it will not seem outre to represent a great novelist as a huge comic mask crowning a bathrobe, but even at the present day this statue impresses one as slang."^[8] A modern critic, indeed, indicates that Balzac is one of Rodin's masterpieces.^[37]

The monument had its supporters in Rodin's day; a manifesto defending him was signed by Monet,Debussy, and future Premier Georges Clemenceau, among many others.^[38] In the BBC series Civilization, art historian Kenneth Clark praised the monument as "the greatest piece of sculpture of the 19th Century, perhaps, indeed, the greatest since Michelangelo."^[39] Rather than try to convince skeptics of the merit of the monument, Rodin repaid the Société his commission and moved the figure to his garden. After this experience, Rodin did not complete another public commission. Only in 1939 was Monument to Balzac cast in bronze.

[edit]Other works

The popularity of Rodin's most famous sculptures tends to obscure his total creative output. A prolific artist, he created thousands of busts, figures, and sculptural fragments over more than five decades. He painted in oils (especially in his thirties) and in watercolors. The Musée Rodin holds 7,000 of his drawings and prints, in chalk andcharcoal, and thirteen vigorous drypoints.^[40]^[41] He also produced a single lithograph.

Portraiture was an important component of Rodin's oeuvre, helping him to win acceptance and financial independence.^[42] His first sculpture was a bust of his father in 1860, and he produced at least 56 portraits between 1877 and his death in 1917.^[43] Early subjects included fellow sculptor Jules Dalou (1883) and companion Camille Claudel (1884).

Later, with his reputation established, Rodin made busts of prominent contemporaries such as English politician George Wyndham (1905), Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1906), Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (1909), former Argentinian president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and French statesman Georges Clemenceau (1911).

[edit]Aesthetic

A famous "fragment": The Walking Man

Rodin was a naturalist, less concerned with monumental expression than with character and emotion.^[44] Departing with centuries of tradition, he turned away from the idealism of the Greeks, and the decorative beauty of the Baroque and neo-Baroque movements. His sculpture emphasized the individual and the concreteness of flesh, and suggested emotion through detailed, textured surfaces, and the interplay of light and shadow. To a greater degree than his contemporaries, Rodin believed that an individual's character was revealed by his physical features.^[2]

Rodin's talent for surface modeling allowed him to let every part of the body speak for the whole. The male's passion in The Kiss is suggested by the grip of his toes on the rock, the rigidness of his back, and the differentiation of his hands.^[8] Speaking of The Thinker, Rodin illuminated his aesthetic: "What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes."^[45]

Sculptural fragments to Rodin were autonomous works, and he considered them the essence of his artistic statement. His fragments – perhaps lacking arms, legs, or a head – took sculpture further from its traditional role of portraying likenesses, and into a realm where forms existed for their own sake.^[46] Notable examples are The Walking Man, Meditation without Arms, and Iris, Messenger of the Gods.

Rodin saw suffering and conflict as hallmarks of modern art. "Nothing, really, is more moving than the maddened beast, dying from unfulfilled desire and asking in vain for grace to quell its passion."^[28] Charles Baudelaire echoed those themes, and was among Rodin's favorite poets. Rodin enjoyed music, especially the opera composer Gluck, and wrote a book about French cathedrals. He owned a work by the as-yet-unrecognized Van Gogh, and admired the forgotten El Greco.^[47]

[edit]Method

The Shade, High Museum of Art, Atlanta

A plaster of The Age of Bronze

Instead of copying traditional academic postures, Rodin preferred his models to move naturally around his studio (despite their nakedness).^[8] The sculptor often made quick sketches in clay that were later fine-tuned, cast in plaster, and forged into bronze or carved in marble. Rodin's focus was on the handling of clay.^[48]

George Bernard Shaw sat for a portrait and gave an idea of Rodin's technique: "While he worked, he achieved a number of miracles. At the end of the first fifteen minutes, after having given a simple idea of the human form to the block of clay, he produced by the action of his thumb a bust so living that I would have taken it away with me to relieve the sculptor of any further work."^[49]

He described the evolution of his bust over a month, passing through "all the stages of art's evolution": first, a "Byzantine masterpiece", then "Berniniintermingled", then an elegant Houdon. "The hand of Rodin worked not as the hand of a sculptor works, but as the work of Elan Vital. The Hand of God is his own hand."^[50]

After he completed his work in clay, he employed highly-skilled assistants to re-sculpt his compositions at larger sizes (including any of his large-scale monuments such as The Thinker), to cast the clay compositions into plaster or bronze, and to carve his marbles. Rodin's major innovation was to capitalize on such multi-staged processes of 19th century sculpture and their reliance on plaster casting.

Since clay deteriorates rapidly if not kept wet or fired into a terra-cotta, sculptors used plaster casts as a means of securing the composition they would make out of the fugitive material that is clay. This was common practice amongst Rodin's contemporaries, and sculptors would exhibit plaster casts with the hopes that they would be commissioned to have the works made in a more permanent material. Rodin, however, would have multiple plasters made and treat them as the raw material of sculpture, recombining their parts and figures into new compositions, and new names.

As Rodin's practice developed into the 1890s, he became more and more radical in his pursuit of fragmentation, the combination of figures at different scales, and the making of new compositions from his earlier work. A prime example of this is the bold The Walking Man (1899–1900), which was exhibited as his major one-person show in 1900. This is composed of two sculptures from the 1870s that Rodin found in his studio – a broken and damaged torso that had fallen into neglect and the lower extremities of a statuette version of his 1878 St. John the Baptist Preaching he was having re-sculpted at a reduced scale.

Without finessing the join between upper and lower, between torso and legs, Rodin created a work that many sculptors at the time and subsequently have seen as one of his strongest and most singular works. This is despite the fact that the object conveys two different styles, exhibits two different attitudes toward finish, and lacks any attempt to hide the arbitrary fusion of these two components. It was the freedom and creativity with which Rodin used these practices – along with his activation surfaces of sculptures through traces of his own touch and with his more open attitude toward bodily pose, sensual subject matter, and non-realistic surface – that marked Rodin's re-making of traditional 19th century sculptural techniques into the prototype for modern sculpture.

[edit]Later years (1900-1917)

A portrait of Rodin by his friendAlphonse Legros

By 1900, Rodin's artistic reputation was entrenched. Gaining exposure from a pavilion of his artwork set up near the 1900 World's Fair (Exposition Universelle) in Paris, he received requests to make busts of prominent people internationally,^[27] while his assistants at the atelier produced duplicates of his works. His income from portrait commissions alone totalled probably 200,000 francs a year.^[51] As Rodin's fame grew, he attracted many followers, including the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and authors Octave Mirbeau, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and Oscar Wilde.^[31]

Rilke stayed with Rodin in 1905 and 1906, and did administrative work for him; he would later write a laudatory monograph on the sculptor. Rodin and Beuret's modest country estate in Meudon, purchased in 1897, was a host to such visitors as King Edward, dancer Isadora Duncan, and harpsichordist Wanda Landowska. Rodin moved to the city in 1908, renting the main floor of the Hôtel Biron, an 18th-century townhouse. He left Beuret in Meudon, and began an affair with the American-born Duchesse de Choiseul.^[52]

[edit]America

While Rodin was beginning to be accepted in France by the time of The Burghers of Calais, he had not yet conquered the American market and because of his technique and the frankness of some of his work, he did not have an easy time selling his work to American industrialists. Fortunately, he came to knowSarah Tyson Hallowell (1846–1924), a curator from Chicago who visited Paris to arrange exhibitions at the large Interstate Expositions of the 1870s and 1880s. Hallowell was not only a curator but an adviser and a facilitator who was trusted by a number of prominent American collectors to suggest works for their collections, the most prominent of these being the Chicago hotelier Potter Palmer and his wife, Bertha Palmer (1849–1918).

The next opportunity for Rodin in America was the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.^[53] Hallowell wanted to help promote Rodin's work and he suggested a solo exhibition, which she wrote him was beaucoup moins beau que l'original but impossible, outside the rules. Instead, she suggested he send a number of works for her loan exhibition of French art from American collections and she told him she would list them as being part of an American collection.^[54] Rodin sent Hallowell three works, Cupid and Psyche, Sphinx and Andromeda. All nudes, these works provoked great controversy and were ultimately hidden behind a drape with special permission given for viewers to see them.^[55]

Fortunately, Bust of Dalou and Burgher of Calais were on display in the official French pavilion at the fair and so between the works that were on display and those that were not, he was noticed. However, the works he gave Hallowell to sell found no takers, but she soon brought the controversial Quaker-born financier Charles Yerkes (1837–1905) into the fold and he purchased two large marbles for his Chicago manse;^[55] Yerkes was likely the first American to own a Rodin sculpture.^[56]

Other collectors soon followed including the tastemaking Potter Palmers of Chicago and Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) of Boston, all arranged by Sarah Hallowell. In appreciation for her efforts at unlocking the American market, Rodin eventually presented Hallowell with a bronze, a marble and a terra cotta. When Hallowell moved to Paris in 1893, she and Rodin continued their warm friendship and correspondence, which lasted to the end of the sculptor's life.^[57] After Hallowell's death, her niece, the painter Harriet Hallowell, inherited the Rodin's and after her death, the American heirs could not manage to match their value in order to export them, so they became the property of the French state.^[58]

[edit]Great Britain

Rodin in 1914

After the start of the 20th century, Rodin was a regular visitor to Great Britain, where he developed a loyal following by the beginning of the First World War. He first visited England in 1881, where his friend, the artist Alphonse Legros, had introduced him to the poet William Ernest Henley. With his personal connections and enthusiasm for Rodin's art, Henley was most responsible for Rodin's reception in Britain.^[59] (Rodin later returned the favor by sculpting a bust of Henley that was used as the frontispiece to Henley's collected works and, after his death, on his monument in London.^[60]

Through Henley, Rodin met Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Browning, in whom he found further support.^[61] Encouraged by the enthusiasm of British artists, students, and high society for his art, Rodin donated a significant selection of his works to the nation in 1914.

After the revitalization of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890, Rodin served as the body's vice-president.^[62] In 1903, Rodin was elected president of the International Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers. He replaced its former president, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, upon Whistler's death. His election to the prestigious position was largely due to the efforts of Albert Ludovici, father of English philosopher Anthony Ludovici.

During his later creative years, Rodin's work turned increasingly toward the female form, and themes of more overt masculinity and femininity.^[27] He concentrated on small dance studies, and produced numerous erotic drawings, sketched in a loose way, without taking his pencil from the paper or his eyes from the model. Rodin met American dancer Isadora Duncan in 1900, attempted to seduce her,^[63] and the next year sketched studies of her and her students. In July 1906, Rodin was also enchanted by dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, and produced some of his most famous drawings from the experience.^[64]

Fifty-three years into their relationship, Rodin married Rose Beuret. The wedding was 29 January 1917, and Beuret died two weeks later, on 16 February.^[65] Rodin was ill that year; in January, he suffered weakness from influenza,^[66] and on 16 November his physician announced that "congestion of the lungs has caused great weakness. The patient's condition is grave."^[65] Rodin died the next day, age 77, at his villa in Meudon, Île-de-France, on the outskirts of Paris.^[6]

A cast of The Thinker was placed next to his tomb in Meudon; it was Rodin's wish that the figure serve as his headstone and epitaph.^[67] In 1923, Marcell Tirel, Rodin's secretary, published a book alleging that Rodin's death was largely due to cold, and the fact that he had no heat at Meudon. Rodin requested permission to stay in the Hotel Biron, a museum of his works, but the director of the museum refused to let him stay there.^[68]^[69]

[edit]Legacy

Rodin's signature on The Thinker

The grounds of Musée Rodin

Rodin willed to the French state his studio and the right to make casts from his plasters. Because he encouraged the edition of his sculpted work, Rodin's sculptures are represented in many public and private collections. The Musée Rodin was founded in 1916 and opened in 1919 at the Hôtel Biron, where Rodin had lived, and it holds the largest Rodin collection, with more than 6,000 sculptures and 7,000 works on paper.

The relative ease of making reproductions has also encouraged many forgeries: a survey of expert opinion placed Rodin in the top ten most-faked artists.^[70] Rodin fought against forgeries of his works as early as 1901, and since his death, many cases of organized, large-scale forgeries have been revealed. A massive forgery was discovered by French authorities in the early 1990s and led to the conviction of art dealer Guy Hain.^[71]

To deal with the complexity of bronze reproduction, France has promulgated several laws since 1956 which limit reproduction to twelve casts – the maximum number that can be made from an artist's plasters and still be considered his work. As a result of this limit, The Burghers of Calais, for example, is found in fourteen cities.^[30]

In the market for sculpture, plagued by fakes, the value of a piece increases significantly when its provenance can be established. A Rodin work with a verified history sold for US$4.8 million in 1999,^[72] and Rodin's bronze Eve, grand modele – version sans rocher sold for $18.9 million at a 2008Christie's auction in New York.^[73] Art critics concerned about authenticity have argued that taking a cast does not equal reproducing a Rodin sculpture – especially given the importance of surface treatment in Rodin's work.^[74]

During his lifetime, Rodin was compared to Michelangelo,^[28] and was widely recognized as the greatest artist of the era.^[75] In the three decades following his death, his popularity waned with changing aesthetic values.^[75] Since the 1950s, Rodin's reputation has re-ascended;^[47] he is recognized as the most important sculptor of the modern era, and has been the subject of much scholarly work.^[75]^[76] The sense of incompletion offered by some of his sculpture, such as The Walking Man, influenced the increasingly abstract sculptural forms of the 20th century.^[77]

Though highly honoured for his artistic accomplishments, Rodin did not spawn a significant, lasting school of followers. His notable students includedAntoine Bourdelle, Charles Despiau, the American Malvina Hoffman, and his mistress Camille Claudel, whose sculpture received praise in France. The French order Légion d'honneur made him a Commander, and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford.

Rodin restored an ancient role of sculpture – to capture the physical and intellectual force of the human subject^[76] – and he freed sculpture from the repetition of traditional patterns, providing the foundation for greater experimentation in the 20th century. His popularity is ascribed to his emotion-laden representations of ordinary men and women – to his ability to find the beauty and pathos in the human animal. His most popular works, such as The Kiss and The Thinker, are widely used outside the fine arts as symbols of human emotion and character.^[78] To honour Rodin's artistic legacy, the Google search engine homepage displayed a Google Doodle featuring The Thinker to celebrate his 172nd birthday on November 12th, 2012.^[79]

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer

2012-09-28T14:51:00.002+02:00

Born Baptized 31 October 1632
Delft, Dutch Republic (now Netherlands)
Died 15 December 1675 (aged 43)
Delft, Dutch Republic (now Netherlands)
Nationality Dutch
Field Painting
Training Carel Fabritius?
Movement Dutch Golden Age
Baroque
Works 34 works have been universally attributed to him
Influenced by Carel Fabritius,
Leonaert Bramer,
Dirck van Baburen?
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer (Dutch pronunciation: ;1632 – December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He seems never to have been particularly wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings.
Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for cornflower blue and yellow. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work.
Vermeer painted mostly domestic interior scenes. As Koning points out: "Almost all his paintings are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women".
Recognized during his lifetime in Delft and The Hague, his modest celebrity gave way to obscurity after his death; he was barely mentioned in Arnold Houbraken's major source book on 17th-century Dutch painting (Grand Theatre of Dutch Painters and Women Artists), and was thus omitted from subsequent surveys of Dutch art for nearly two centuries.In the 19th century Vermeer was rediscovered by Gustav Friedrich Waagen and Théophile Thoré-Bürger, who published an essay attributing sixty-six pictures to him, although only thirty-four paintings are universally attributed to him today. Since that time Vermeer's reputation has grown, and he is now acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.

Delft in 1652, by cartographer Willem Blaeu
Relatively little is known about Vermeer's life. He was baptized in Delft on 31 October 1632 as Joannis, and buried in the same city under the name Jan on 15 December 1675. He seems to have been exclusively devoted to his art, living out his life in the city of Delft. The only sources of information are some registers, a few official documents and comments by other artists; it was for this reason that Thoré Bürger named him "The Sphinx of Delft".
Youth
On 31 October 1632, Johannes was baptized in the Reformed Church. His father, Reijnier Janszoon, was a middle-class worker of silk or caffa (a mixture of silk and cotton or wool). As an apprentice in Amsterdam, Reijnier lived on fashionable Sint Antoniesbreestraat, then a street with many resident painters. In 1615 he married Digna Baltus. The couple moved to Delft and had a daughter, Gertruy, who was baptized in 1620. In 1625 Reijnier was involved in a fight with a soldier named Willem van Bylandt, who died from his wounds five months later. Around this time Reijnier began dealing in paintings. In 1631 he leased an inn called "The Flying Fox". In 1641 he bought a larger inn on the market square, named after the Flemish town "Mechelen". The acquisition of the inn constituted a considerable financial burden.[Huerta 1] When Vermeer's father died in October 1652, Vermeer assumed operation of the family's art business.
[edit]Marriage and family

View of Delft (1660–61) "He took a turbulent reality, and made it look like Heaven on earth." [12]
In April 1653 Johannes Reijniersz Vermeer married a Catholic girl, Catharina Bolenes (Bolnes). The blessing took place in a nearby and quiet village, Schipluiden. For the groom it was a good match. His mother-in-law, Maria Thins, was significantly wealthier than he, and it was probably she who insisted Vermeer convert to Catholicism before the marriage on 5 April.[Note 3] Some scholars doubt that Vermeer became Catholic,[citation needed] but one of his paintings, The Allegory of Faith,[13] made between 1670 and 1672, placed less emphasis on the artists’ usual naturalistic concerns, and more on religious symbolic applications, including the sacrament of the Eucharist. Walter Liedtke in Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art suggests it was made for a learned and devout Catholic patron, perhaps for his schuilkerk, or "hidden church."[Liedtke 1] So, whether it represents Vermeer’s own beliefs or only those of his patron is left to speculation. At some point the couple moved in with Catharina's mother, who lived in a rather spacious house at Oude Langendijk, almost next to a hidden Jesuit church.[Note 4] Here Vermeer lived for the rest of his life, producing paintings in the front room on the second floor. His wife gave birth to 14 children, four of whom were buried before being baptized, but were registered as "child of Johan Vermeer".[Note 5] From wills written by relatives, the names of ten of Vermeer's children are known: Maria, Elisabeth, Cornelia, Aleydis, Beatrix, Johannes, Gertruyd, Franciscus, Catharina, and Ignatius.[Montias 1] Several of these names carry a religious connotation, and it is likely that the youngest, Ignatius, was named after the founder of the Jesuit order.
Career
The Milkmaid (c. 1658)
The Astronomer (c. 1668)
It is unclear where and with whom Vermeer apprenticed as a painter. Speculation that Carel Fabritius may have been his teacher is based upon a controversial interpretation of a text written in 1668 by the printer Arnold Bon. Art historians have found no hard evidence to support this.[Montias 2] The local authority, Leonaert Bramer, acted as a friend but their style of painting is rather different. Liedtke suggests Vermeer taught himself, using information from one of his father's connections.[Liedtke 2] Some scholars think Vermeer was trained under the Catholic painter Abraham Bloemaert. Vermeer's style is similar to that of some of the Utrecht Carravagists, whose works are depicted as paintings-within-paintings in the backgrounds of several of his compositions. In Delft, Vermeer probably competed with Pieter de Hooch and Nicolaes Maes, who produced genre works in a similar style.
On 29 December 1653, Vermeer became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke, a trade association for painters. The guild's records make clear that Vermeer did not pay the usual admission fee. It was a year of plague, war and economic crisis; Vermeer was not alone in experiencing difficult financial circumstances. In 1654 the city suffered the terrible explosion known as the Delft Thunderclap, which destroyed a large section of the city. In 1657 he might have found a patron in the local art collector Pieter van Ruijven, who lent him some money. In 1662 Vermeer was elected head of the guild and was reelected in 1663, 1670, and 1671, evidence that he (like Bramer) was considered an established craftsman among his peers. Vermeer worked slowly, probably producing three paintings a year, and on order. When Balthasar de Monconys visited him in 1663 to see some of his work, the diplomat and the two French clergymen who accompanied him were sent to Hendrick van Buyten, a baker, who had a couple of his paintings as collateral.
In 1671 Gerrit van Uylenburgh organised the auction of Gerrit Reynst's collection and offered thirteen paintings and some sculptures to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. Frederick accused them of being counterfeits and had sent twelve back on the advice of Hendrick Fromantiou.Van Uylenburg then organized a counter-assessment, asking a total of 35 painters to pronounce on their authenticity, including Jan Lievens, Melchior de Hondecoeter, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout and Johannes Vermeer.
In 1672 a severe economic downturn (the "Year of Disaster") struck the Netherlands, after Louis XIV and a French army invaded the Dutch Republic from the south (known as the Franco-Dutch War). During the Third Anglo-Dutch War an English fleet and two allied German bishops attacked the country from the east causing more destruction. Many people panicked; courts, theaters, shops and schools were closed. Five years passed before circumstances improved. In the summer of 1675 Vermeer borrowed money in Amsterdam, using his mother-in-law as a surety.
In December 1675 Vermeer fell into a frenzy and, within a day and a half, died. He was buried in the Protestant Old Church on 15 December 1675. Catharina Bolnes attributed her husband's death to the stress of financial pressures. The collapse of the art market damaged Vermeer's business as both a painter and an art dealer. She, having to raise 11 children, asked the High Court to relieve her of debts owed to Vermeer's creditors.[Montias 3] The Dutch microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who worked for the city council as a surveyor, was appointed trustee. The house, with eight rooms on the first floor, was filled with paintings, drawings, clothes, chairs, and beds. In his atelier there were two chairs, two painter's easels, three palettes, ten canvases, a desk, an oak pull table, a small wooden cupboard with drawers and "rummage not worthy being itemized".[Montias 4] Nineteen of Vermeer's paintings were bequeathed to Catharina and her mother. The widow sold two more paintings to Hendrick van Buyten in order to pay off a substantial debt for delivered bread.
Vermeer had been a respected artist in Delft, but almost unknown outside his home town. The fact that a local patron, Pieter van Ruijven, purchased much of his output reduced the possibility of his fame spreading. Several factors contributed to his limited oeuvre. Vermeer never had any pupils and therefore there was no school of Vermeer. His family obligations with so many children may have taken up much of his time as would acting as both an art-dealer and inn-keeper in running the family businesses. His time spent serving as head of the guild and his extraordinary precision as a painter may have also limited his output.
Style

The Girl with the Wine Glass (c. 1659)
Girl With a Pearl Earring (1665), considered a Vermeer masterpiece
The Music Lesson or A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman, c. 1662-65; Vermeer
A row of houses on the Market in Delft, with the inn Mechelen, but made circa 1730 by Leonard Schenk after a drawing by Abraham Rademaker
Like most painters of his time, Vermeer probably first executed his paintings tonally, using either only shades of gray ("grisaille"), or a limited palette of browns and grays ("dead coloring"), over which more saturated colors (reds, yellows and blues) were applied in the form of glazes. Vermeer produced transparent colours by applying paint to the canvas in loosely granular layers, a technique called pointillé (not to be confused with pointillism). No drawings have been positively attributed to Vermeer, and his paintings offer few clues to preparatory methods.
David Hockney, among other historians and advocates of the Hockney–Falco thesis, has speculated that Vermeer used a camera obscura to achieve precise positioning in his compositions, asserting that this view is supported by certain light and perspective effects. The often-discussed sparkling pearly highlights in Vermeer's paintings have also been linked by advocates to the possible use of a camera obscura, the primitive lens of which would produce halation. It was also postulated that a camera obscura was the mechanical cause of the "exaggerated" perspective seen in Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman (London, Royal Collection).
However, Vermeer's ownership of and dependence upon the camera obscura is disputed by historians. Aside from the accurately observed mirror reflection above the lady at the virginals, there is no historical evidence regarding Vermeer's interest in optics. The detailed inventory of the artist's belongings drawn up after his death does not include a camera obscura or any similar device. Philip Steadman has found only six Vermeer paintings that are precisely the right size if they were inside a camera obscura where the back wall of his studio was where the images were projected.
There is no other seventeenth-century artist who early in his career employed, in the most lavish way, the exorbitantly expensive pigment lapis lazuli, or natural ultramarine. Vermeer not only used this in elements that are naturally of this colour; the earth colours umber and ochre should be understood as warm light within a painting's strongly-lit interior, which reflects its multiple colours onto the wall. In this way, he created a world more perfect than any he had witnessed.[Liedtke 3] This working method most probably was inspired by Vermeer’s understanding of Leonardo’s observations that the surface of every object partakes of the colour of the adjacent object. This means that no object is ever seen entirely in its natural colour.
A comparable but even more remarkable, yet effectual, use of natural ultramarine is in The Girl with a Wineglass. The shadows of the red satin dress are underpainted in natural ultramarine,[citation needed] and, owing to this underlying blue paint layer, the red lake and vermilion mixture applied over it acquires a slightly purple, cool and crisp appearance that is most powerful.
Even after Vermeer’s supposed financial breakdown following the so-called rampjaar (year of disaster) in 1672, he continued to employ natural ultramarine generously, such as in Lady Seated at a Virginal. This could suggest that Vermeer was supplied with materials by a collector, and would coincide with John Michael Montias’ theory of Pieter van Ruijven being Vermeer’s patron.
His works are largely genre pieces and portraits, with the exception of two cityscapes and two allegories. His subjects offer a cross-section of seventeenth-century Dutch society, ranging from the portrayal of a simple milkmaid at work, to the luxury and splendour of rich notables and merchantmen in their roomy houses. Besides these subjects, religious, poetical, musical, and scientific comments can also be found in his work.

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky

2012-09-06T21:03:00.002+02:00

'Почему все не так? Вроде все как всегда:
То же небо - опять голубое,
Тот же лес, тот же воздух и та же вода,
Только он не вернулся из боя.
Мне теперь не понять, кто же прав был из нас
В наших спорах без сна и покоя.
Мне не стало хватать его только сейчас,
Когда он не вернулся из боя.
Он молчал невпопад и не в такт подпевал,
Он всегда говорил про другое,
Он мне спать не давал, он с восходом вставал,
А вчера не вернулся из боя.
То, что пусто теперь, - не про то разговор,
Вдруг заметил я - нас было двое.
Для меня будто ветром задуло костер,
Когда он не вернулся из боя.
Нынче вырвалась, будто из плена, весна,
По ошибке окликнул его я:
- Друг, оставь покурить! - А в ответ - тишина:
Он вчера не вернулся из боя.
Наши мертвые нас не оставят в беде,
Наши павшие - как часовые.
Отражается небо в лесу, как в воде,
И деревья стоят голубые.
Нам и места в землянке хватало вполне,
Нам и время текло для обоих.
Все теперь одному. Только кажется мне,
Это я не вернулся из боя.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
art by Lois Greenfield

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Russian: Влади́мир Семёнович Высо́цкий; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980) was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street jargon. He was also a prominent stage and screen actor. Though his work was largely ignored by the official Soviet cultural establishment, he achieved remarkable fame during his lifetime, and to this day exerts significant influence on many of Russia's popular musicians and actors who wish to emulate his iconic status.
Vladimir Vysotsky was born in Moscow at the 3rd Meshchanskaya St. (61/2) maternity hospital. His father, Semyon Volfovich (Vladimirovich) (1915–1997), was a Jewish colonel in the Soviet army, originally from Kiev His mother, Nina Maksimovna, (née Seryogina, 1912–2003) was Russian, and worked as a German language translator. Vysotsky's family lived in a Moscow communal flat in harsh conditions, and had serious financial difficulties. When Vladimir was 10 months old, Nina had to return to her office in the Transcript bureau of the Ministry of Geodesy and Cartography of the USSR (engaged in making German maps available for the Soviet military) so as to help her husband earn their family's living.
Vladimir's extraordinary theatrical inclinations became obvious at a very early age, and were supported by his paternal grandmother Dora Bronshteyn, a theater fan. The boy used to recite poems, standing on a chair and "flinging hair backwards, like a real poet", often using in his public speeches expressions he could hardly have heard at home. Once, at the age of two, when he had tired of the family’s guests’ poetry requests, he, according to his mother, sat himself under the New-year tree with a frustrated air about him and sighed: "You silly tossers! Give a child some respite!" His sense of humor was extraordinary, but often baffling for people around him. A three-year-old could jeer his father in a bathroom with unexpected poetic improvisation ("Now look what's here before us / Our goat’s to shave himself!") or appal unwanted guests with some street folk song, promptly steering them away. Vysotsky remembered those first three years of his life in the autobiographical Ballad of Childhood(Баллада о детстве, 1975), one of his best-known songs.
Vladimir (bottom left) with 'aunt Zhenya' (next), father Semyon Vysotsky (standing, to the right) with brother Alexey, his wife and child.
As WWII broke out, Semyon Vysotsky, a military reserve officer, joined the Soviet army and went to fight the Nazis. Nina and Vladimir were evacuated to the village of Vorontsovka, in Orenburg Oblastwhere the boy had to spend 6 days a week in a kindergarten and his mother worked for 12 hours a day in a chemical factory. In 1943, both went back to their Moscow apartment at 1st Meschanskaya St., 126. In September 1945, Vladimir joined the 1st class of the #273 Moscow Rostokino region School.
In December 1946, Vysotsky's parents divorced In 1947 Vladimir went to live for two years with Semyon Vladimirovich and his Armenian[8] wife, Yevge′nya Stepanovna Liholatova, whom the boy called "aunt Zhenya". "We decided that our son would stay with me. Vladimir came to stay with me in January 1947, and my second wife, Yevgenia, became Vladimir's second mother for many years to come. They had much in common and liked each other, which made me really happy," Semyon Vysotsky later remembered.[9] Vladimir spent 1947–1949 with his father (then an army Major) and "aunt Zhenya" at a military base in Eberswalde in the Soviet-occupied section of post-World War II Germany (later East Germany). Here living conditions, compared to those of Nina's communal Moscow flat, were infinitely better; the family occupied the whole floor of a two-storeyed house, and the boy had a room to himself for the first time in his life. In 1949 along with his stepmother Vladimir returned to Moscow. There he joined the 5th class of Moscow's School #128 and settled at Bolshoy Karetny, 15 (where they had to themselves two rooms of a 4-roomed flat), with "auntie Zhenya" (then just 28), a woman of great kindness and warmth whom he later remembered as his second mother.In 1953 Vladimir Vysotsky, now much interested in theater and cinema, joined the Drama courses led by Vladimir Bogomolov. "No one in my family has had anything to do with arts, no actors or directors were there among them. But my mother admired theater and from the earliest age... each and every Saturday I've been taken up with her to watch one play or the other. And all of this, it probably stayed with me," he later reminisced. The same year he's got his first ever guitar, a birthday present from Nina Maksimovna; a close friend (and future well known Soviet poet and bard), Igor Kohanovsky, taught him basic chords. In 1955 Vladimir re-settled into her mother's new home (at 1st Meshanskaya, 76). In June of the same year he graduated from school with five A's.
[edit]Professional career
In 1955, Vladimir enrolled in the Moscow Institute of Civil Engineering (МИСИ), but dropped out after just one semester to pursue an acting career. In June 1956 he joined Boris Vershilov's class at theMoscow Art Theatre Studio-Institute. It was there that he met the 3rd course student Iza Zhukova (who four years later became his wife); soon the two lovers settled at the 1st Meschanskaya flat, in a common room, shielded off by a folding screen. It was also in the Studio that Vysotsky met Bulat Okudzhava for the first time, an already popular underground bard. He was even more impressed by hisRussian literature teacher Andrey Sinyavsky who along with his wife often invited students to his home to stage improvised disputes and concerts. In 1958 Vysotsky's got his first MAT(Moscow Art Theatre) role: that of Porfiry Petrovich in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 1959 he was cast in his first cinema role, that of student Petya in Vasily Ordynsky's The Yearlings (Сверстницы). On June 20, 1960, Vysotsky graduated from the MAT theater institute and joined the A. S. Pushkin Moscow Drama Theater (led by Boris Ravenskikh at the time) where he spent (with intervals) almost three troubled years. These were marred by numerous administrative sanctions, due to "lack of discipline" and occasional drunken sprees which were a reaction, mainly, to the lack of serious roles and his inability to realise his artistic potential A short stint in 1962 with the Moscow Theater of Miniatures (administered at the time by Vladimir Polyakov) ended with him being fired, officially "for a total lack of sense of humour".
Vysotsky's second and third films, Dima Gorin’s Career and "713" Requests Permission to Land, were interesting only for the fact that in both he had to be beaten up (in the first case by Aleksandr Demyanenko). "That was the way cinema greeted me," he later often joked. In 1961 Vysotsky wrote his first-ever proper song, called "Tattoo" (Татуировка), which started a long and colourful cycle of artfully stylized criminal underworld romantic stories, full of undercurrents and witty social comments. In June 1963, while shooting Penalty Kick (directed by Veniamin Dorman and starring Mikhail Pugovkin), Vysotsky used the Gorky Film Studio to record an hour-long reel-to-reel cassette of his own songs; copies of it quickly spread and the author's name became known in Moscow and elsewhere (although many of these songs were often being referred to as either "traditional" or "anonymous"). Just several months later Riga-based chess grandmaster Mikhail Tal was heard praising the author of "Bolshoy Karetny" and Anna Akhmatova (in a conversation with Joseph Brodsky) was quoting Vysotsky's number "I was the soul of a bad company..." taking it apparently for some brilliant piece of anonymous street folklore. In October 1964 Vysotsky recorded in chronological order 48 of his own songs, his first self-made Complete works of... compilation, which boosted his popularity as a new Moscow folk underground star.
[edit]1964–1970

Vladimir Vysotsky as Khlopusha in Pugachov.
In 1964, director Yuri Lyubimov invited Vysotsky to join the newly created Moscow Theatre of Drama and Comedy on the Taganka. "'I've written some songs of my own. Won’t you listen?' – he asked. I agreed to listen to just one of them, expecting our meeting to last for no more than five minutes. Instead I ended up listening to him for an entire 1.5 hours", Lyubimov remembered years later of this first audition.On September 19, 1964, Vysotsky debuted in Bertholt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan as Second God (two minor roles besides). A month later he came on stage as a dragoon captain (Bela's father) in Lermontov's A Hero of Our Time. It was in Taganka that Vysotsky started to sing on stage; a new War theme having now became prominent in his musical repertoire. After having appeared in the experimental Poet and Theater (Поэт и Театр, February 1965) show, based on Andrey Voznesensky's work and then in Ten Days that Shook the World (afterJohn Reed's book, April 1965), Vysotsky was commissioned by Lyubimov to write songs exclusively for Taganka's new II World War play. The Dead and the Living (Павшие и Живые, premiered in October 1965) included Vysotsky's Stars (Звёзды), The Soldiers of Heeresgruppe Mitte (Солдаты группы "Центр") and Penal Battalions (Штрафные батальоны), the striking examples of a completely new kind of a war song, never heard in his country before. As veteran screenwriter Nikolay Erdman put it (in conversation with Lyubimov), "Professionally, I can well understand howMayakovsky or Seryozha were doing it. How Volodya Vysotsky does it is totally beyond me". With his songs – in effect, miniature theatrical dramatizations (usually with a protagonist and full of dialogues), Vysotsky instantly achieved such level of credibility that real life former prisoners, war veterans, boxers, footballers etc. simply refused to believe that the author himself had never served his time in prisons and labour camps, or fought in the War, or been a boxing/football professional, etc. After the second of the two concerts at the Leningrad Molecular Physics institute (that was his actual debut as a solo musical performer) Vysotsky left a note for his fans in a journal which ended with words: "Now that you've heard all these songs, please, don't you make a mistake of mixing me with my characters, I am not like them at all. With love, Vysotsky, April 20, 1965, XX c." Excuses of this kind he had to make throughout his performing career.At least one of Vysotsky's song themes – that of alcoholic abuse – was worryingly autobiographical, though. By the time his breakthrough came in 1967, he'd suffered several physical breakdowns and once was sent (by Taganka's boss) to a rehabilitation clinic, a visit he on several occasions repeated since.
Brecht's Life of Galileo (premiered on May 17, 1966), transformed by Lyubimov into a powerful allegory of Soviet intelligentsia's set of moral and intellectual dilemmas, brought Vysotsky his first leading theater role (along with some fitness lessons: he had to perform numerous acrobatic tricks on stage). Press reaction was mixed, some reviewers disliked the actor's overt emotionalism, but it was for the first time ever that Vysotsky's name appeared in Soviet papers at all. Film directors now were treating him with respect. Victor Turov's war film I Was Born in Childhood where Vysotsky got his first ever 'serious' (neither comical nor villainous) role in cinema, featured two of his songs: a spontaneous piece called Cold Weather (Холода) and a dark, Unknown soldier theme-inspired classic Common Graves (На братских могилах), sung behind the screen by the legendary Mark Bernes.
Stanislav Govorukhin's Vertikal (1967), a mountain climbing drama, starring Vysotsky (as Volodya the radist) brought him all-round recognition and fame. Four of the numbers used in the film (including Song of a Friend (Песня о друге), released in 1968 by the Soviet recording industry monopolist Мелодия flexi disc to become an unofficial hit) were written literally on the spot, nearby Elbrus, inspired by professional alpinists' tales and one curious hotel bar conversation with a German guest who 25 years ago happened to climb these very mountains in a capacity of an Edelweiss division fighter.[27] Another 1967 film, Kira Muratova's Short Liaisons featured Vysotsky as the geologist Maxim (paste-bearded again) with a now trademark off-the-cuff musical piece, a melancholy improvisation called Business... (Дела). All the while Vysotsky continued working hard at Taganka, with another important role under his belt (that of Mayakovsky – or, rather one the latter's character five different versions) in an experimantal piece called Have a Listen! (Послушайте!), and was more and more regularly giving semi-official concerts where audiences greeted him as a cult hero.
In the end of 1967 Vysotsky got another pivotal theater role, that of Khlopusha in Pugachov (a play based on a poem by Sergei Yesenin), often described as one of Taganka’s finest. "He’s given this play all things that he’s been excelling at and, on the other hand, it was Pugachyov that made him discover his own potential," – Soviet critic Natalya Krymova wrote years later. In a matter of weeks, though, infuriated by the actor’s increasing unreliability triggered by worsening drinking problems, Lyubimov fired him – only to let him back again several months later (and thus begin the humiliating sacked-then-pardoned routine which continued for years).[33] In June 1968 a Vysotsky-slagging campaign was launched in the Soviet press. First Sovetskaya Rossiya commented on the "epidemic spread of immoral, smutty songs", allegedly promoting "criminal world values, alcoholism, vice and immorality" and condemned their author for "sawing seeds of evil". ThenKomsomolskaya Pravda linked Vysotsky with black market dealers selling his tapes somewhere in Siberia.Composer D. Kabalevsky speaking from the Union of Composers Committee tribune criticised Soviet radio for giving an ideologically dubious, "low-life product" like Song of a Friend an unwarranted airplay. Playwright A. Stein who in his Last Parade play used several of Vysotsky’s songs, was chastised by a Ministry of Culture official for "providing a tribune for this anti-Soviet scum". The phraseology prompted commentators in the West to make parallels between Vysotsky and Zoschenko, another Soviet author who'd been officially labeled "scum" some 20 years ago.

Vladimir Vysotsky in Two Comrades Were Serving.
Two of Vysotsky's 1968 films, Gennady Poloka’s Intervention (premiered in May 1987) where he was cast as Brodsky, a dodgy even if highly artistic character, and Ye. Karelov's Two Comrades Were Serving (a gun-toting White Army officer Brusentsov who in the course of the film shoots his friend, his horse, Oleg Yankovsky's good guy character and, finally himself) – were severely censored, first of them shelved for twenty years.Small wonder Vysotsky's 1968 songs were crushingly heavy and ultra depressive. At least four of them, though – Save Our Souls (Спасите наши души), Wolveshunting(Охота на волков), Nothing’s Right (Всё не так; better known by the opening line – "В сон мне желтые огни...") and Steam-bath in White (Банька по-белому) – were later hailed as his masterpieces. Meanwhile, at least one "proper" love song appeared in Vysotsky's repertoire for the first time, documenting the beginning of his passionate love affair with French actress Marina Vlady.
In 1969 Vysotsky starred in two films: The Taiga's Master (directed by V. Nazarov) where he played a villainous Siberian timber-floating brigadi and somewhat more entertaining Dangerous Tour (George Bengalsky, a kinky revolutionary using his Odessa variety theater stage persona as a cover-up to spread banned literature behind the curtains) by film director G.Yungvald-Hilkevich. The latter was criticised in the press for having taken rather a farcical approach to the (historical fact-based) subject matter, but for a wider Soviet audience much more important was the second (after Vertical) opportunity to enjoy the charismatic (and still in many ways enigmatic) actor's presence on big screen full-time. In 1970 Vysotsky (assisted by the disgraced Soviet ex-leader's grand-daughter Yulia) visited Nikita Khrushchev at his dacha and had a lengthy conversation, revolving mostly round Stalin and Beria figures toured Ukrainian sites linked to Nestor Makhno's history, embarked on a massive (and, in those times' terms, dangerously "commercial") Central Asian concert tour, then took Marina Vlady to director (and now good friend) Victor Turov's place to help his French fiancée investigate her Belorussianroots. The pair finally wed on December 1, 1970 (causing furore among the Moscow cultural and political elite) and for a honeymoon went for Georgia where they met Paradzhanov and friends.
[edit]1971–1973
1971 started promisingly: Lyubimov gave Vysotsky the long sought-after leading role in his groundbreaking Hamlet play. A drinking spree-related nervous breakdown, though, brought the actor to the infamous Moscow Kaschenko psychiatry clinic. By this time Vysotsky had been suffering from alcoholism. Many of his songs from the period deal – either directly or metaphorically – with alcoholism and insanity. Partially recovered (much due to the encouraging presence of Marina, now well-settled into the real life role of a guardian angel, ever on the alert, ready to fly out to Moscow and lend a helping hand), Vysotsky embarked on a successful Ukrainian concert tour (there he wrote a cluster of songs and later referred to those days as his personal Boldino Autumn). But it was Taganka's Hamlet (premiered on November 29, 1971) that finally provided Vysotsky with his worthiest reason for celebration. A role – that of a lone intellectual rebel, rising to fight the cruel state machine – became an instant hit with the Soviet intelligentsia and in retrospect is seen as one of Soviet theater's all-time classic. This was huge psychological triumph too, over Lyubimov's skepticism, among other things.
Then came another blow: Vysotsky's got the role in (and wrote some songs for) The Sannikov Land, an adaptation of Vladimir Obruchev's science fiction, then got the boot – only for the reason of his face "being too scandalously recognizable", as a state official had put it. One of the songs written for the film, a doom-laden epic allegory of death-approaching called Capricious Horses, gained life of its own and became one of the singer's signature tunes. Two of Vysotsky’s 1972 film roles were somewhat meditative: an anonymous American journalist in The Fourth One (after Konstantin Simonov's play, directed by A.Stolper) and the 'righteous guy' von Koren in The Bad Good Man (based on Anton Chekov's Duel, directed by I. Kheifitz and starring Oleg Dahl). The latter brought Vysotsky the Best Male Role prize at the V Taormina Film Fest. This philosophical slant rubbed off onto some of his new musical poems of the time: A Singer at the Microphone, The Tightrope Walker, and The Misery (a sad folky tale of a girl who became victim of circumstance, later recorded by Marina and covered by countless female performers) and others. More popular, though, proved to be his 1972 humorous songs: Mishka Shifman (satirizing the leaving-for-Israel routine), Victim of Television (ridiculing the concept of "political consciousness" as such) and grotesquely funny The Honor of the Chess Crown about an ever-fearless "simple Soviet man" challenging the much feared American champion Bobby Fisher to a match, as well as the new "war" songs: We Spin the Earth and Black Pea-Coats.
In April 1973 for the first time since his 1947 East Germany venture Vysotsky went abroad to Poland and France. Imminent official permission difficulties were sorted out instantly after the French Communist party leader Georges Marchais's personal phone call to Leonid Brezhnev (who, according to Marina Vlady's memoirs, rather sympathized with the stellar couple). Having found on return a potentially dangerous lawsuit brought against him (concerning 'illegal' concerts in Siberia the year before), Vysotsky wrote a defiant letter to Minister of Culture Pyotr Demichev where he stated his right to perform officially. As a result, he was given the official status of a philharmonic artist, 11.5 roubles (an equivalent to the price of 3 bottles of vodka) per concert now guaranteed. Still the 900 rubles fine had to be paid according the court decision, which was substantial, considering his monthly salary at the theater was ~110 rubles.. That year Vysotsky wrote a brilliant 30 song cycle for "Alice in Wonderland," an audioplay, where he himself was given several minor roles. His biggest hits of 1973 were: I Walked out on a Deal, The Others' Track, The Flight Interrupted, and The Monument (all pondering on his achievements and legacy).
[edit]1974–1977
Unable to completely ignore his musical phenomenon, Melodiya in 1974 released the 7” EP, featuring four of his war songs (He’s Never Returned From a Battle, The New Times Song, Common Graves, and The Earth Song, which represented a tiny portion of his creative work, which millions already owned on tape and knew by heart. I.In September 1974 Vysotsky’s been officially merited for the first time ever – by the UzSSR government’s Honorary Diploma (along with four other actors of Taganka, which toured this Central Asia Soviet Republic). Coupled with the USSR Union of Cinematographers’ membership that had been granted to him a year before, this modest Uzbek gift meant a lot. Now Vysotsky was an "anti-Soviet scum" no more; rather, an unlikely link between the official Soviet cinema and the "progressive-thinking artists of the West". More films followed, among them The Only Road (a Soviet-Yugoslav joint venture, premiered on January 10, 1975 in Belgrade) and a science fiction movie The Flight of Mr. McKinley (1975). The latter was viewed by Vysotsky as a failure, because out of nine superb ballads that he wrote for this movie, only two made the soundtrack, and he blamed the director for it. This was the height of his popularity, when, as described in Vlady's book about her husband, walking down the street on a summer night, one could hear Vysotsky's recognizable voice coming literally from every open window.

Vladimir and Marina at their home in France.
Creatively, Vysotsky's catalog was enriched by such gems as humorous The Instruction before the Trip Abroad and At the Customs, lyrical Of the Dead Pilot, and philosophical The Strange Houseand Train to Heaven.
In 1975 Vysotsky made his third trip to France where he rather riskily visited his former teacher (and now a celebrated dissident emigre) Andrey Sinyavsky. Artist Mikhail Shemyakin, his new Paris friend ('bottle-sharer, rather, in Marina's terms), recorded Vysotsky in his home studio.After a brief stay in England a Transatlantic trip followed which resulted in his first Mexico concerts in April. Back in Moscow, there were changes at Taganka: Lyubimov went to Milan's La Scala on a contract and Anatoly Efros has been brought in, a director of radically different approach. His project, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, caused a sensation. Critics praised Alla Demidova (as Ranevskaya) and Vladimir Vysotsky (as Lopakhin) powerful interplay; in retrospect this short-lived duet is regarded to be easily one of the most dazzling in the history of the Soviet theater. Lyubimov, however, hated it wholeheartedly, and accused Efros of giving his actors 'stardom malaise'. 1976 Taganka’s visit to Bulgaria resulted in Vysotskys’s interview there being filmed and 15 songs recorded by Balkanton record label, leaving the boss again rather disgruntled. On return Lyubimov made a move which many thought outrageous: declaring himself "unable to work with this Mr. Vysotsky anymore" he's given the Hamlet role to Valery Zolotukhin, the latter's best friend. That was the time, reportedly, when Vysotsky, totally stressed out, started using amphetamines for the first time.
Having had another Belorussian voyage completed, Marina and Vladimir went for France, then (official permission neither given nor asked for) flew to North America: Canada and US. In New York (where he met, among other people, Baryshnikov and Brodsky), in the course of a televised one-hour interview with Dan Rather, he declared himself to be "not a dissident, just an artist, who never had any intentions to leave his country where people loved him and his songs."At home this unauthorized venture into the Western world bore no repercussions: by this time Soviet authorities were divided by the "Vysotsky controversy" up to the highest level; while Suslov detested the bard, Brezhnev loved him to such an extent that once, while in hospital, was listening to his songs performed live into a telephone, in daughter Galina's home.1975 brought some of Vysotsky most dazzling philosophical creations: The Domes, The Rope, and the entire "medieval" cycle, including breath-taking The Ballad of Love, Free Archers, and Children of Books.
In September Vysotsky made a trip to Yugoslavia with Taganka (Hamlet there won the annual BITEF festival's first prize) and then to Hungary for a two-week concert tour. Back in Moscow in another ambitious Lyubimov’s venture, The Master & Margarita, he got the rather meager Ivan Bezdomny role, recompensed by an important Svidrigailov slot in Yury Karyakin's take on Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment Of Vysotsky's new songs of this period several stand out: a semi-biographical one-two punch of Medical Records: A Grand Mistake (a superb semi-paranoid assessment of Vysotsky's medical woes) and History of Illness (a sober take on the same subject), humorous Why Did the Savages Eat Captain Cook, and also the first version of Two Fates (a chilling delusional fable of the hero being hunted by two malevolent witches).
In 1977 Vysotsky’s health deteriorated (problems were multiple: heart, kidneys, liver failures, jaw infection and nervous breakdown) to such an extent that in April he found himself in Moscow clinic's reanimation center in the state of total physical and mental collapse.. His writing, however, hasn't withered yet: A Rush to Escape (about Soviet prison camps), My Destiny to the Finish Line, The Life Was Flying by (about nationalistic discord among the peoples of the USSR), and satirical A Letter to a TV Program from the Mental Asylum are still among his best and most mature accomplishments.
[edit]1977–1980
In 1977 Vysotsky made an unlikely appearance in New York City on the American television show 60 minutes, which falsely stated that Vysotsky had spent time in the Soviet prison system, the Gulag. That year saw the release of three Vysotsky’s LPs in France (including the one that’s been recorded by RCA in Canada the previous year); arranged and accompanied by guitarist Kostya Kazansky, the singer for the first time ever enjoyed the relatively sophisticated musical background. In August he performed in Hollywood before members of New York, New York film cast and (according to Vladi) was greeted warmly by the likes of Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro. Some more concerts in Los Angeles were followed by the appearance at the French Communist paper L’Humanité annual event. In December Taganka left for France, its Hamlet (Vysotsky back in the lead) gaining fine reviews.
External videos
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed film fragment.
Sharapov (Vladimir Konkin) is outraged with the way Zheglov (V.Vysotsky) planted a purse into a thief’s pocket to get evidence by blackmail. "A thief belongs in prison. Whichever way I get him there is beside the point," Zheglov retorts.
1978 started with the March–April series of concerts in Moscow and Ukraine. In May Vysotsky embarked upon a new major film project: the The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (Место встречи изменить нельзя) about two detectives fighting crime in late 1940s Russia, directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. The film (premiered on November 11, 1978 on the Soviet Central TV) presented Vysotsky as Zheglov, a ruthless and charismatic cop teaching his milder partner Sharapov (actor Vladimir Konkin) his art of crime-solving. Vysotsky also became engaged in Taganka’sGenre-seeking show (performing some of his own songs) and played Aleksander Blok in Anatoly Efros' The Lady Stranger (Незнакомка) radio play (premiered on air on July 10, 1979 and later released as a double LP).
In November 1978 Vysotsky took part in the underground censorship-defying literary project Metropolis, inspired and organized by Vasily Aksenov. In January 1979 Vysotsky again visited America with highly successful series of concerts. That was the point (as biographer V.Novikov argues) when a glimpse of new, clean life of a respectable international actor and performer all but made Vysotsky seriously reconsider his priorities.What followed though, was a return to the self-destructive theater and concert tours schedule, personal doctor Anatoly Fedotov now not only his companion, but part of Taganka's crew. "Who was this Anatoly? Just a man who in every possible situation would try to provide drugs. And he did provide. In such moments Volodya trusted him totally", Oksana Afanasyeva, Vysotsky's Moscow girlfriend (who was near him for most of the last year of his life and, on occasion, herself served as a drug courier) remembered. In July 1979, after a series of Center Asia concerts, Vysotsky collapsed, experienced clinical death and was resuscitated by Fedotov (who injected caffeine into the heart directly), colleague and close friend Vsevolod Abdulov helping with heart massage. In January 1980 Vysotsky asked Lyubimov for a year's leave. "Up to you, but on condition that Hamlet is yours," was the answer. The songwriting showed signs of slowing down, as Vysotsky began switching from songs to more conventional poetry, yet still crafting such masterpieces as White Waltz, The Hunt with Helicopters (a widely popular sequel to The Wolfhunt), and Aeroflot 10 Years Later.
On January 22, 1980, Vysotsky entered the Moscow Ostankino TV Center to record his one and only studio concert for the Soviet television. What proved to be an exhausting affair (concentration missing, he had to plod through several takes for each song) was premiered on the Soviet TV eight years later. Last six months of his life saw Vysotsky appearing on stage sporadically, fueled by heavy dosages of drugs and alcohol. His performances were often erratic. Occasionally Vysotsky paid visits to Sklifosofsky institute's ER unit, but would not hear of Marina Vlady's suggestions for him to take long-term rehabilitation course in a Western clinic. Yet he kept writing, mostly poetry and even prose, but songs as well. The last song he performed was the agonizing My Sorrow, My Anguish and his final poem, written one week prior to his death was A Letter to Marina: "I'm less than fifty, but the time is short / By you and God protected, life and limb / I have a song or two to sing before the Lord / I have a way to make my peace with him."
[edit]Death

Vysotsky's grave
Although several theories of the ultimate cause of the singer's death persist to this day (including a few rather sinister ones), given what is now known about cardiovascular disease, it seems likely that by the time of his death Vysotsky had an advanced coronary condition brought about by years of tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as by the stress of persecution and of the grueling work schedule. Towards the end, most of Vysotsky's closest friends had become aware of the ominous signs and were convinced that his demise was only a matter of time. A clear evidence of this can be seen in a video ostensibly shot by the Japanese NHK channel only months before Vysotsky's death, where he appears visibly unwell, breathing heavily and slurring his speech. What follows in the rest of this section is based on accounts by Vysotsky's close friends and colleagues compiled in the book by V. Perevozchikov
Vysotsky suffered from alcoholism for most of his life. Sometime around 1977, he started using amphetamines and other prescription narcotics in an attempt to counteract the debilitating hangovers and eventually to rid himself of alcohol addiction. While these attempts were partially successful, he soon found himself with a severe drug dependency that was fast spiraling out of control. He was reduced to begging some of his close friends in the medical profession for supplies of drugs, often using his acting skills to collapse in a medical office and imitate a seizure or some other condition requiring a painkiller injection. On July 25, 1979 (a year to the day before his death) he suffered a cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes during a concert tour of Uzbekistan, after injecting himself with a wrong kind of painkiller he had previously obtained from a dentist's office.
Fully aware of the dangers of his condition, Vysotsky made several attempts to cure himself of his addiction. He underwent an experimental (and ultimately discredited) blood purification procedure offered by a leading drug rehabilitation specialist in Moscow. He also went to an isolated retreat in France with his wife Marina in the spring of 1980 as a way of forcefully depriving himself of any access to drugs. After these attempts failed, Vysotsky returned to Moscow to find his life in an increasingly stressful state of disarray. He had been a defendant in two criminal trials, one for a car wreck he had caused some months earlier, and one for an alleged conspiracy to sell unauthorized concert tickets (he eventually received a suspended sentence and a probation in the first case, and the charges in the second were dismissed, although several of his co-defendants were found guilty). He also unsuccessfully fought the film studio authorities for the rights to direct a movie called The Green Phaeton. The relations with his wife Marina were deteriorating, and he was torn between his loyalty to her and his love for his mistress Oksana Afanasyeva. He had also developed a severe inflammation in one of his legs, making his concert performances extremely challenging.
In a final desperate attempt to overcome his drug addiction, partially prompted by his inability to obtain drugs through his usual channels (the authorities had imposed a strict monitoring of the medical institutions in order to prevent illicit drug distribution during the 1980 Olympics), he switched back to alcohol and went on a prolonged drinking binge (apparently consuming copious amounts of champagne due to a prevalent misconception at the time that it was better than vodka at countering the effects of drug withdrawal).
On July 3, 1980, Vysotsky gave a performance at a suburban Moscow concert hall. One of the stage managers recalls that he looked visibly unhealthy ("gray-faced", as she puts it) and complained of not feeling too good, while another says she was surprised by his request for champagne before the start of the show, as he had always been known for completely abstaining from drink before his concerts. On July 16 Vysotsky gave his last public concert in Kaliningrad. On July 18, Vysotsky played Hamlet for the last time at the Taganka Theatre. From around July 21, several of his close friends were on a round-the-clock watch at his apartment, carefully monitoring his alcohol intake and hoping against all odds that his drug dependency would soon be overcome and they would then be able to bring him back from the brink. The effects of drug withdrawal were clearly getting the better of him, as he got increasingly restless, moaned and screamed in pain, and at times fell into memory lapses, failing to recognize at first some of his visitors, including his son Arkadiy. At one point, Vysostsky's personal physician A. Fedotov (the same doctor who had brought him back from clinical death a year earlier in Uzbekistan) attempted to sedate him, inadvertently causing an asphyxiation from which he was barely saved. On July 24, Vysotsky told his mother that he thought he was going to die that day, and then made similar remarks to a few of the friends present at the apartment, who begged him to stop such talk and keep his spirits up. But soon thereafter, Oksana Afanasyeva saw him clench his chest several times, which led her to suspect that he was genuinely suffering from a cardiovascular condition. She informed Fedotov of this, but was told not to worry, as he was going to monitor Vysotsky's condition all night. In the evening, after drinking relatively small amounts of alcohol, the moaning and groaning Vysotsky was sedated by Fedotov, who then sat down on the couch next to him but fell asleep. Fedotov awoke in the early hours of July 25 to an unusual silence, and found Vysotsky dead in his bed with his eyes wide open, apparently of a myocardial infarction, as he later certified. This was contradicted by Fedotov's colleagues, Sklifosovsky Emergency Medical Institute physicians L. Sul'povar and S. Scherbakov (who demanded the actor's instant hospitalization on July 23, but were, allegedly, defied by Fedotov), who insisted that Fedotov's incompetent sedation combined with alcohol was what killed Vysotsky. An autopsy was prevented by Vysotsky's parents (who were eager to have their son's drug addiction remain secret), so the true cause of death remains unknown.
No official announcement of the actor's death was made, only a brief obituary appeared in the Moscow newspaper Vechernyaya Moskva, and a note informing of Vysotsky's death and cancellation of the Hamlet performance was put out at the entrance to the Taganka Theatre (the story goes that not a single ticket holder took advantage of the refund offer). Despite this, by the end of the day millions had learned of Vysotsky's death. On July 28, his body was laid out at the Taganka Theatre. After a mourning ceremony involving an unauthorized mass gathering of unprecedented scale, Vysotsky was buried at the Vagankovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.The attendance at the Olympic events dropped noticeably on that day, as scores of spectators left to attend the funeral. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of his coffin.
[edit]Controversy surrounding circumstances of death
Some people felt that part of the blame for his death lay with the group of associates who surrounded him in the last years of his life. This inner circle were all people under the influence of his strong character, combined with a material interest in the large sums of money his concerts earned. This list included Valerii Yanklovich, manager of the Taganka Theatre and prime organiser of his non-sanctioned concerts; Anatolii Fedotov, his personal doctor; Vadim Tumanov, gold prospector (and personal friend) from Siberia; Oksana Afanas'eva (later Yarmol'nik), his mistress the last three years of his life; Ivan Bortnik, a fellow actor; and Leonid Sul'povar, head of division at the Sklifosovski hospital responsible for much of the supply of drugs.
Vysotsky's associates had all put in efforts to supply his drug habit, which kept him going in the last years of his life. Under their influence he was able to continue to perform all over the country, up to a week before his death. Due to illegal (i.e. non-state-sanctioned) sales of tickets and other underground methods, these concerts pulled in sums of money unimaginable in Soviet times, when almost everyone received nearly the same small salary.The payouts and gathering of money were a constant source of danger, and Yanklovich and others were needed to organise them.
Some money went to Vysotsky, the rest was distributed amongst this circle. At first this was a reasonable return on their efforts; however, as his addiction progressed and his body developed resistance, the frequency and amount of drugs needed to keep Vysotsky going became unmanageable. This culminated at the time of the Moscow Olympics which coincided with the last days of his life, when supplies of drugs were monitored more strictly than usual, and some of the doctors involved in supplying Vysotsky were already behind bars (normally the doctors had to account for every ampule, thus drugs were transferred to an empty container, while the patients received a substitute or placebo instead). In the last few days Vysotsky became uncontrollable, his shouting could be heard all over the apartment building on Malaya Gruzinskaya St. where he lived amongst VIP's. Several days before his death, in a state of stupor he went on a high speed drive around Moscow in an attempt to obtain drugs and alcohol – when many high-ranking people saw him. This increased the likelihood of him being forcibly admitted to hospital, and the consequent danger to the circle supplying his habit. As his state of health declined, and it became obvious that he may die, his associates gathered to decide what to do with him. They came up with no firm decision. They did not want him admitted officially, as his drug addiction would become public and they would fall under suspicion, although some of them admitted that any ordinary person in his condition would have been admitted immediately.
On Vysotsky's death his associates and relatives put in much effort to prevent a post mortem being carried out. This despite the fairly unusual circumstances: he died aged 42 under heavy sedation with an improvised cocktail of sedatives and stimulants, including the toxic chloral hydrate, provided by his personal doctor who had been supplying him with narcotics the previous three years. This doctor, being the only one present at his side when death occurred, had a few days earlier been seen to display elementary negligence in treating the sedated Vysotsky.On the night of his death, Arkadii Vysotsky (his son) who tried to visit his father in his apartment, was rudely refused entry by Yanklovich, even though there was a lack of people able to care for him. Subsequently the Soviet police commenced a manslaughter investigation which was dropped due to absence of evidence taken at the time of death.
[edit]Marriages

Vysotsky's first wife was Iza Zhukova. They met in 1956, being both MAT theater instutite students, lived for some time at Vysotsky's mother's flat in Moscow, after her graduation (Iza was 2 years older) spent months in different cities (her – in Kiev, then Rostov) and finally married on April 25, 1960.
He met his second wife, Lyudmila Abramova, in 1961, while shooting the film "713" Requests Permission to Land. They married in 1965 and had two sons, Arkady (b. 1962) and Nikita (b. 1964).
While still married to Ludmila Abramova, Vysotsky's got romantically linked with Tatyana Ivanenko, a Taganka actress, then, in 1967 fell in love with Marina Vlady, a French actress of Russian descent, who was working at Mosfilm on a joint Soviet-French production at that time. Marina had been married before and had 3 children, while Vladimir had two. Fueled by Marina's exotic status as a Frenchwoman in the Soviet Union, and Vladimir's unmatched popularity in his country, their love was passionate and impulsive. They were married in 1969. For 10 years the two maintained a long-distance relationship as Marina compromised her career in France in order to spend more time in Moscow, and Vladimir's friends pulled strings in order for him to be allowed to travel abroad to stay with his wife. Marina eventually joined the Communist Party of France, which essentially gave her an unlimited-entry visa into the Soviet Union, and provided Vladimir with some immunity against prosecution by the government, which was becoming weary of his covertly anti-Soviet lyrics and his odds-defying popularity with the masses. The problems of his long-distance relationship with Vlady inspired several of Vysotsky's songs.
[edit]Legacy

In the Autumn 1981 Vysotsky's first-ever collection of poetry was officially published in the USSR, called The Nerve (Нерв). Its first edition (25.000 copies) was sold out instantly. In 1982 the 2nd one followed (100.000), then the 3rd (1988, 200.000), followed in the 1990s by several more. The material for it was compiled by Robert Rozhdestvensky, an officially-laurelled Soviet poet. Also in 1981 Yuri Lyubimov staged at Taganka a new music and poetry production called Vladimir Vysotsky which was promptly banned and officially premiered on January 25, 1989.
In 1986 the official Vysotsky poetic heritage committee was formed (with Rozhdestvensky at the helm, theater critic Nina Krymova being both the instigator and the organizer). Despite some opposition from the conservatives (Yegor Ligachev was the latter's political leader, Stanislav Kunyaev of Nash Sovremennik represented its literary flank) Vysotsky was rewarded posthumously with the USSR State Prize. The official formula – "for creating the character of Zheglov and artistic achievements as a singer-songwriter" was much derided from both the left and the right. In 1988 the Selected Works of... (edited by N.Krymova) compilation was published, preceded by I Will Surely Return... (Я, конечно, вернусь...) book of fellow actors' memoirs and Vysotsky’s verses, some published for the first time. In 1990 two volumes of extensive The Works of... were published, financed by the late poet's father Semyon V. Vysotsky. Even more ambitious publication series, self-proclaimed "the first ever academical edition" (the latter assertion being dismissed by sceptics) compiled and edited by Sergey Zhiltsov, were published in Tula (1994–1998, 5 volumes), Germany (1994, 7 volumes) and Moscow (1997, 4 volumes).

Vladimir Vysotsky's museum in Moscow
In 1989 the official Vladimir Vysotsky Museum opened in Moscow, with the magazine of its own called Vagant (edited by Sergey Zaitsev) devoted entirely to Vysotsky’s legacy. In 1996 it became an independent publication and was closed in 2002.
In years to come, Vysotsky's flower-adorned grave became a site of pilgrimage for several generations of his fans, the youngest of whom were born after his death. His tombstone also became the subject of controversy, as his widow had wished for a simple abstract slab, while his parents insisted on a realistic gilded statue. Although probably too solemn to have inspired Vysotsky himself, the statue is believed by some to be full of metaphors and symbols reminiscent of the singer's life.
On July 25, 1995, in Moscow the Vladimir Vysotsky monument was officially opened at Strastnoy Boulevard, by the Petrovsky Gates. Among those present were the bard's parents, two of his sons, first wife Iza, renown poets Yevtushenko and Voznesensky. "Vysotsky had always been telling the truth. Only once he was wrong when he sang in one of his songs: "They will never erect me a monument in a square like that by Petrovskye Vorota", Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov said in his speech.
In 2011, a controversial movie Vysotsky. Thankful for Being Alive was released, script written by his son, Nikita Vysotsky. The actor Sergey Bezrukov portrayed Vysotsky, using a combination of a mask and CGI effects. The film tells about Vysotsky's illegal underground performances, problems with KGB and drugs, and subsequent clinical death in 1979.

Orbit of Vladimir Vysotskij asteroid
The asteroid 2374 Vladvysotskij, discovered by Lyudmila Zhuravleva, was named after Vysotsky.
Shortly after Vysotsky's death, many Russian bards started writing songs and poems about his life and death. The best known are Yuri Vizbor's "Letter to Vysotsky" (1982) and Bulat Okudzhava's "About Volodya Vysotsky" (1980). In Poland, Jacek Kaczmarski based some of his songs on those of Vysotsky and dedicated to his memory the song ”Epitafium dla Włodzimierza Wysockiego” (Epitaph for Vladimir Vysotsky).
Every year on Vysotsky's birthday, festivals are held throughout Russia and in many communities throughout the world, especially in Europe. Vysotsky's impact in Russia is often compared to that of Bob Dylan in America, or Brassens and Brel in France. In Germany, he has been compared to Wolf Biermann, who — although more overtly political — came from a similar ethnic background and played a similar outsider's role.
[edit]Books on Vladimir Vysotsky
After her husband's death, urged by her friend Simone Signoret, Marina Vlady wrote a book called The Aborted Flight about her years together with Vysotsky. The book paid tribute to Vladimir's talent and rich persona, yet was uncompromising in its depiction of his addictions and the problems that they caused in their marriage. Written in French (and published in France in 1987), it was translated into Russian in tandem by Vlady and a professional translator and came out in 1989 in the USSR. Totally credible from the specialists' point of view, the book caused controversy, among other things, by shocking revelations about the difficult father-and-son relationship (or rather, the lack of any), implying that Vysotsky-senior (while his son was alive) was deeply ashamed of him and his songs which he deemed 'anti-Soviet' and reported his own son to the KGB. Also in 1989 another important book of memoirs was published in the USSR, providing a bulk of priceless material for the host of future biographers, Alla Demidova's Vladimir Vysotsky, the One I Know and Love. Among other publications of note were Valery Zolotukhin's Vysotsky’s Secret (2000), a series of Valery Perevozchikov's books (His Dying Hour, The Unknown Vysotsky and others) containing detailed accounts and interviews dealing with the bard's life’s major controversies (the mystery surrounding his death, the truth behind Vysotsky Sr.'s alleged KGB reports, the true nature of Vladimir Vysotsky's relations with his mother Nina's second husband Georgy Bartosh etc.), Iza Zhukova's Short Happiness for a Lifetime and the late bard's sister-in-law Irena Vysotskaya's My Brother Vysotsky. The Beginnings (both 2005)
[edit]Music

The multifaceted talent of Vladimir Vysotsky is often described by the term "bard" (бард) that Vysotsky has never been enthusiastic about. He thought of himself mainly as an actor and poet rather than a singer, and once remarked, "I do not belong to what people call bards or minstrels or whatever." With the advent of portable tape-recorders in the Soviet Union, Vysotsky's music became available to the masses in the form of home-made reel-to-reel audio tape recordings (later on cassette tapes).
Vysotsky accompanied himself on a Russian seven-string guitar, with a raspy voice singing ballads of love, peace, war, everyday Soviet life and of the human condition. He was largely perceived as the voice of honesty, at times sarcastically jabbing at the Soviet government, which made him a target for surveillance and threats. In France, he has been compared with Georges Brassens; in Russia, however, he was more frequently compared with Joe Dassin, partly because they were the same age and died in the same year, although their ideologies, biographies, and musical styles are very different. Vysotsky's lyrics and style greatly influenced Jacek Kaczmarski, a Polish songwriter and singer who touched on similar themes.
The songs—over 600 of them—were written about almost any imaginable theme. The earliest were outlaw songs. These songs were based either on the life of the common people in Moscow or on life in the crime people, sometimes in Gulags. Vysotsky slowly grew out of this phase and started singing more serious, though often satirical, songs. Many of these songs were about war. These war songs were not written to glorify war, but rather to expose the listener to the emotions of those in extreme, life threatening situations. Most Soviet veterans would say that Vysotsky's war songs described the truth of war far more accurately than more official "patriotic" songs.

A Russian stamp honoring Vladimir Vysotsky, 1999.
Nearly all of Vysotsky's songs are in the first person, although he is almost never the narrator. When singing his criminal songs, he would adopt the accent and intonation of a Moscow thief, and when singing war songs, he would sing from the point of view of a soldier. In many of his philosophical songs, he adopted the role of inanimate objects. This created some confusion about Vysotsky's background, especially during the early years when information could not be passed around very easily. Using his acting talent, the poet played his role so well that until told otherwise, many of his fans believed that he was, indeed, a criminal or war veteran. Vysotsky's father said that "War veterans thought the author of the songs to be one of them, as if he had participated in the war together with them." The same could be said about mountain climbers; on multiple occasions, Vysotsky was sent pictures of mountain climbers' graves with quotes from his lyrics etched on the tombstones.
Not being officially recognized as a poet and singer, Vysotsky performed wherever and whenever he could – in the theater (where he worked), at universities, in private apartments, village clubs, and in the open air. It was not unusual for him to give several concerts in one day. He used to sleep little, using the night hours to write. With few exceptions, he wasn't allowed to publish his recordings with "Melodiya", which held a monopoly on the Soviet music industry. His songs were passed on through amateur, fairly low quality recordings on vinyl discs and magnetic tape, resulting in his immense popularity. Cosmonauts even took his music on cassette into orbit.
[edit]Musical style
Musically, virtually all of Vysotsky's songs were written in a minor key, and tended to employ from three to seven chords. Vysotsky composed his songs and played them exclusively on the Russian seven string guitar, often tuned a tone or a tone-and-a-half below the traditional Russian "Open G major" tuning. This guitar, with its specific Russian tuning, makes a slight yet notable difference in chord voicings than the standard tuned six string Spanish (classical) guitar, and it became a staple of his sound. Because Vysotsky tuned down a tone and a half, his strings had less tension, which also colored the sound.
His earliest songs were usually written in C minor (with the guitar tuned a tone down from DGBDGBD to CFACFAC), using the following chord shapes:

Dire Straits - Private Investigations.

2012-08-28T11:22:00.000+02:00

SEABISCUIT

2012-08-23T18:46:00.001+02:00

Seabiscuit was foaled on May 23, 1933, from the mare Swing On and sired by Hard Tack, a son of Man o' War.[1] Seabiscuit was named for his father, ashardtack or "sea biscuit" is the name for a type of cracker eaten by sailors.[2]
The bay colt grew up on Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, where he was trained. He was undersized, knobby-kneed,[1] and given to sleeping and eating for long periods.
Initially, he was trained by Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, who had taken Gallant Fox to the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Fitzsimmons saw some potential in Seabiscuit, but felt the horse was too lazy. He devoted most of his time to training Omaha, who won the 1935 Triple Crown.
Seabiscuit was relegated to a punishing schedule of smaller races. He failed to win his first seventeen races, usually finishing back in the field. After that, Fitzsimmons did not spend much time on him, and the horse was sometimes the butt of stable jokes. Seabiscuit began to gain attention after winning two races at Narragansett Park and setting a new track record in the second. As a two-year-old, Seabiscuit raced thirty-five times (a heavy racing schedule),[1] coming in first five times, and finishing second seven times. These included three claiming races, in which he could have been purchased for $2500, but he had no takers.[1]At the end of the racing season, he was occasionally used as an outrider horse.
While Seabiscuit had not lived up to his racing potential, he was not the poor performer that Fitzsimmons had taken him for. Many thoroughbred racehorses never break into racing their maiden year and fail to win even one race. The next season, the colt was less than spectacular. His owners sold the horse to the automobile entrepreneur Charles S. Howard for $8000.[1]
[edit]1936/37: The beginning of success

Seabiscuit with trainer Tom Smith
Howard assigned Seabiscuit to a new trainer, Tom Smith[1] who, with his unorthodox training methods, gradually brought Seabiscuit out of his lethargy. Smith paired the horse with the Canadian jockey Red Pollard (1909–1981), who had experience racing in the West and in Mexico. On August 22, 1936, they raced Seabiscuit for the first time. Improvements came quickly and, in their remaining eight races in the East, Seabiscuit and Pollard won several times, including Detroit's Governor's Handicap (worth $5,600) and the Scarsdale Handicap ($7,300) at Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York.
In early November 1936, Howard and Smith shipped the horse to California by rail. His last two races of the year were at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, California. The first was the $2,700 Bay Bridge Handicap, run over one mile (1.6 km). Despite starting badly and carrying the top weight of 116 lb (53 kg), Seabiscuit won by five lengths. At the World's Fair Handicap (Bay Meadows' most prestigious stakes race), Seabiscuit led throughout.
In 1937, the Santa Anita Handicap, California's most prestigious race, was worth over $125,000 ($2.1 million in 2010) to the winner; it was known colloquially as "The Hundred Grander." In his first warm-up race at Santa Anita Park, Seabiscuit won easily. In his second race of 1937, the San Antonio Handicap, he suffered a setback; bumped at the start and then pushed wide, Seabiscuit came in fifth, losing toRosemont.
The two met again in the Santa Anita Handicap just a week later, where Rosemont won by a nose. The defeat was devastating to Smith and Howard, and was widely attributed in the press to a jockey error.[1]a[›] Pollard, who had not seen Rosemont over his shoulder until too late, was blind in one eye due to an accident during a training ride, a fact he had hidden throughout his career. Seabiscuit was rapidly becoming a favorite among California racing fans, and his fame spread as he won his next three races. With his successes, Howard decided to ship the horse East for its more prestigious racing circuit.
Seabiscuit's run of victories continued unabated. Between June 26 and August 7, he ran five times, each time at a stakes race, and each time he won, despite steadily increasing handicap weights (imposts)of up to 130 lb (59 kg). On September 11, Smith accepted an impost of 132 lb (60 kg) for the Narragansett Special at Narragansett Park. On race day, the ground was slow and heavy, and entirely unsuited to "the Biscuit," even without the heaviest burden of his career. Smith wished to scratch, but Howard overruled him. Never in the running, Seabiscuit trudged home in third place. His streak was snapped, but the season was not over; Seabiscuit won his next three races (one a dead heat) before finishing the year with a second place at Pimlico.
In 1937, Seabiscuit won eleven of his fifteen races and was the year's leading money winner in the United States. War Admiral, having won the Triple Crown that season, was voted the most prestigious honor, the American Horse of the Year Award.
[edit]The best horse in America

George Woolf on Seabiscuit
In 1938, as a five-year-old, Seabiscuit's success continued. On February 19, Pollard suffered a terrible fall while racing on Fair Knightess, another of Howard's horses. With Pollard's chest crushed by the weight of the fallen horse, and his ribs and arm broken, Howard had to find a new jockey. After trying three, he settled on George Woolf, an already successful rider and old friend of Pollard, to ride Seabiscuit.
Woolf's first race was the Santa Anita Handicap, the "hundred grander" that Seabiscuit had narrowly lost the previous year. Seabiscuit was drawn on the outside, and from the start, was impeded by another horse, Count Atlas, angling out. The two were locked together for the first straight and, by the time Woolf had his horse disentangled, they were six lengths from the pace. The pair battled hard, but were beaten in a photo finish by the fast finishing Santa Anita Derby winner, Stagehand (owned by Maxwell Howard, not related to Charles), who had been assigned 30 pounds (13.6 kg) fewer than Seabiscuit.
Throughout 1937 and 1938, the media speculated about a match race between Seabiscuit and the seemingly invincible War Admiral (also sired by Man o' War, Seabiscuit's grandsire). The two horses were scheduled to meet in three stakes races, but one or the other was scratched, usually due to Seabiscuit's dislike of heavy ground. After extensive negotiation, the owners organized a match race for May 1938 at Belmont, but Seabiscuit was scratched.
By June, Pollard had made a recovery and on June 23 agreed to work a young colt named Modern Youth. Spooked by something on the track, the horse broke rapidly through the stables and threw Pollard, shattering his leg, and seemingly ending his career.
Howard arranged a match race for Seabiscuit but not against War Admiral. Instead, it was against Ligaroti, a highly regarded horse owned by the Hollywood entertainer Bing Crosby and Howard's son,Lindsay, through Binglin Stable in an event organized to promote Crosby's resort and Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. With Woolf aboard, Seabiscuit won that race, despite persistent fouling from Ligaroti's jockey. After three more outings, with only one win, he was scheduled to go head to head with War Admiral in the Pimlico Special in November in Baltimore, Maryland.[3]
Sent to race on the East Coast of the United States, on October 16, 1938, Seabiscuit ran second by two lengths in the Laurel Stakes to the filly Jacola who set a new Laurel Park Racecourse record of 1:37.00 for one mile.[4]
[edit]Match of the century
George Woolf always said he never had more fun on a racehorse than he did that day in '38 at Pimlico, when Tom Smith, the horse's trainer, lifted Woolf aboard Seabiscuit for the big match race against War Admiral.[3]
William Nack, Sports Illustrated, November 29, 1999
On November 1, 1938, Seabiscuit met War Admiral and jockey Charles Kurtsinger in what was dubbed the "Match of the Century." The event was run over 1 and 3/16 miles (1.91 km), and thePimlico Race Course, from the grandstands to the infield, was jammed solid with fans. Trains were run from all over the country to bring fans to the race, and the estimated 40,000 at the track were joined by some 40 million listening on the radio. War Admiral was the favorite (1–4 with most bookmakers) and a nearly unanimous selection of the writers and tipsters, excluding the California faithful.
Head-to-head races favor fast starters, and War Admiral's speed from the gate was well known. Seabiscuit, on the other hand, was a pace stalker, skilled at holding with the pack before pulling ahead with late acceleration. From the scheduled walk-up start, few gave him a chance to lead War Admiral into the first turn. Smith knew these things, and had been secretly training Seabiscuit to run against this type, using a starting bell and a whip to give the horse a Pavlovian burst of speed from the start.
When the bell rang, Seabiscuit ran away from the Triple Crown champion. Despite being drawn on the outside, Woolf led by over a length after just 20 seconds and soon crossed over to the rail position. Halfway down the backstretch, War Admiral started to cut into the lead, gradually pulling level with Seabiscuit, and then slightly ahead. Following advice he had received from Pollard, Woolf had eased up on Seabiscuit, allowing his horse to see his rival, and then asked for more effort. Two hundred yards from the wire, Seabiscuit pulled away again and continued to extend his lead over the closing stretch, finally winning by four clear lengths despite War Admiral's running his best time for the distance.
As a result of his races that year and the victory over War Admiral, Seabiscuit was named American Horse of the Year for 1938, beating War Admiral by 698 points to 489 in a poll conducted by the Turf and Sport Digest magazine.[5] Seabiscuit was the number one newsmaker of 1938.[6] The only major prize that eluded him was the Santa Anita Handicap.
Injury and return

Seabiscuit was injured during a race. Woolf, who was riding him, said that he felt the horse stumble, when the stallion hit the ground hard with one leg. The injury was not life threatening, although many predicted he would never race again. The diagnosis was a ruptured suspensory ligament in the front left leg. With Seabiscuit out of action, Smith and Howard concentrated on their horse Kayak II, an Argentine stallion.
Pollard, still convalescing, and Seabiscuit recovered together at Howard's ranch, with Pollard's new wife Agnes, who had nursed him through his initial recovery. Slowly, both horse and rider learned to walk again (Pollard joked that they "had four good legs between" them).[7] Poverty and his injury had brought Pollard to the edge of alcoholism. A local doctor broke and reset Pollard's leg to aid his recovery, and slowly Red regained the confidence to sit on a horse. Wearing a brace to stiffen his atrophied leg, he began to ride Seabiscuit again, first at a walk and later at a trot and canter. Howard was delighted at their improvement, as he longed for Seabiscuit to race again, but was extremely worried about Pollard, as his leg was still fragile.
Over the fall and winter of 1939, Seabiscuit's fitness seemed to improve by the day. By the end of the year, Smith was ready to confound veterinary opinion by returning the horse to race training, with a collection of stable jockeys in the saddle. By the time of his comeback race, Pollard had cajoled Howard into allowing him the ride. After the horse was scratched due to the soft going, the pair finally lined up at the start of the La Jolla Handicap at Santa Anita, on February 9, 1940. Compared to his previous races, it was an unremarkable performance for the stallion (Seabiscuit was third, bested by two lengths), but it was an amazing comeback for him and his jockey. By their third comeback race, Seabiscuit was back to his winning ways, running away from the field in the San Antonio Handicap to beat his erstwhile training partner, Kayak II, by two and a half lengths. Burdened by only 124 pounds (56 kg), Seabiscuit equalled the track record for a mile and 1/16.

Seabiscuit winning the Santa Anita Handicap in 1940
One race was left in the season. A week after the San Antonio, Seabiscuit and Kayak II both took the gate for the Santa Anita Handicap and its $121,000 prize. 78,000 paying spectators crammed the racetrack, most backing the "people's champion" to complete his amazing return to racing. Pollard found his horse blocked almost from the start. Picking his way through the field, Seabiscuit briefly led. As they thundered down the back straight, Seabiscuit became trapped in third place, behind leader Whichcee and Wedding Call on the outside.
Trusting in his horse's acceleration, Pollard steered a dangerous line between the leaders and burst into the lead, taking the firm ground just off the rail. As Seabiscuit showed his old surge, Wedding Call and Whichcee faltered, and Pollard drove his horse on, taking the Hundred Grander by a length and a half from the fast-closing Kayak II. Pandemonium engulfed the course. Neither horse and rider, nor trainer and owner, could get through the sea of well-wishers to the winner's enclosure for some time.
Seabiscuit is the Horatio Alger hero of the turf, the horse that came up from nothing on his own courage and will to win.[1]
The Saturday Evening Post, April 27, 1940
On April 10, Seabiscuit's retirement from racing was officially announced. When he was retired to the Ridgewood Ranch near Willits, California, Seabiscuit was horse racing's all-time leading money winner. Put out to stud, Seabiscuit sired 108 foals, including two moderately successful racehorses: Sea Sovereign and Sea Swallow. Over 50,000 visitors made the trek to Ridgewood Ranch to see Seabiscuit in his seven years there before his death. His burial site is to this day a secret, known only to the immediate Howard family.
Legacy and honors

A statue of Seabiscuit sits outside the main entrance of The Shops at Tanforan, former site of the Tanforan Racetrack
A statue of Seabiscuit was installed at Santa Anita Racetrack.
On June 23, 2007, a statue of Seabiscuit was unveiled at Ridgewood Ranch.

Djordje Balasevic - Naposletku (After all) - english

2012-07-20T20:48:00.002+02:00

Naposletku (After all)
by Đorđe Balašević

After all...
You knew very well who am I
Where did those tears come from, my dear?
You said that ivy wouldn't grow on a wheel
Silk is crumpled in vain...

That's the way it is...
Don't make a doctrine out of sorrow...
Lure some light on the next hill..
My print on your pillow will fade,
don't worry...
Like an angel in snow..

I'll shatter the guitar
It is filled with darkest dark..
My poem fears me from a long ago..
It moves the Danube genes inside me..
So even when I stand, I flow..

But then again..
Would you ever be mine
If I was just a soldier in army of men?
You said i'm no good at counting money
And that nothing is all I have to offer.

After all...
You always knew that I'm musician
Brooch, which is hard to pin...
I can be blown away by the mildest wind..
I'll stop in the middle of the word
And never look back..
Again.

You're lining nice porcelain world up the showcase..
But I'm figurine without a stamp...
Look out..
It's a fairy tale..what comes to your mind..
Are you missing just this gypsy?
No honey...

Only in the autumn treetops show their colors..
In summer they're all alike..
After all...
You knew very well who am I
What are the tears for, beautiful women?

My dear, you always knew that I'm a jester...
My hat is mobile tent..
Lips.. of a mockingbird..
And hush in the eye..
I'm coat with two faces..
Mister bum..
Ordinary.

After all...
You always knew that I'm musician
And that skies are my meadows...
I can be blown away by the mildest wind..
I'll stop in the middle of the word
And never look back..
Again.

Утомленные солнцем HD I + II

2012-07-20T20:20:00.003+02:00

Утомленные солнцем HD (1994)

Утомленные солнцем 2 Предстояние HD (2010)

Dordje Balasevic - Galicija

2012-07-06T20:37:00.001+02:00

‎"Pred zoru je sa njine strane obicno muk
pod velom magle zvecka osmi kozacki puk
i svu noc mi inje kamuflira sinjel
uz polegli brest

U inat cu i ovo pismo poslati
znam, ime i adresa nisu poznati
dok tikvan-postar ne skonta
ko to ceka sa fronta, kakvu dobru vest

I tek da znas, ovo na slici je
naoko pitomi pejsaz Galicije
al' mira ni cas, sve zivo pali na nas
fotograf jedini metkove spara

Oberst kao lud olovo rasipa
fotograf jedva katkad okine sa nasipa
na nadosloj Visli se soldati stisli
i svima su nam pomisli, daleko

U sumrak je sa njine strane obicno zal
zatuzi adjinokaja k'o ranjeni zdral
al' postane krotka kad drmne je votka
onako na belo

Pod mojom sapkom lavovi se baskare
u snu mi pletes beli sal za maskare
sva se pobrka predja kad te obgrlim s' ledja
kao violoncelo

I tek da znas, mesec u zici je
zvone na vecernje zvona Galicije
i neka mi to ne uzme nebo za zlo
al' ti si jedino cemu se molim

Brinucu vec ja, nemoj ti brinuti
ma, da sam 'teo, vec sam sto put mog'o ginuti
dok otice Visla, natraske, van smislai krecu jata pokisla, daleko"

Aesthesys ~ A Cage Went In Search Of A Bird

2012-04-25T16:46:00.001+02:00

ILLUSTRATIONS By Gustave Dore & led zeppelin - stairway to heaven

2012-04-21T20:19:00.001+02:00

Mikhail Vrubel

2012-03-16T15:40:00.000+01:00

Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel (1865-1910) is a Russian artist of remarkable talent and an unusual outlook on life. His paintings were produced in alternately hostile and sympathetic atmosphere. In his lifetime, he knew both praise and disdain, the spectator’s opinions ranging from “wild ugliness” to “fascinating symphonies of a genius”. Gradually, however, Vrubel’s painting came to be viewed as an integral part of Russian culture. Some scholars were inclined to relate his painting directly to the Early Renaissance or Late Byzantine art and looked upon Vrubel as a proud artistic individual who held aloof from contemporary trends. On the other hand, many art historians of today tend to consider Vrubel as the founder of Russian Art Nouveau.

Seraph

The Prophet-Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin

Longing for spiritual springs,
I dragged myself through desert sands ...
An angel with three pairs of wings
Arrived to me at cross of lands;
With fingers so light and slim
He touched my eyes as in a dream:
And opened my prophetic eyes
Like eyes of eagle in surprise.
He touched my ears in movement, single,
And they were filled with noise and jingle:
I heard a shuddering of heavens,
And angels' flight on azure heights
And creatures' crawl in long sea nights,
And rustle of vines in distant valleys.
And he bent down to my chin,
And he tore off my tongue of sin,
In cheat and idle talks aroused,
And with his hand in bloody specks
He put the sting of wizard snakes
Into my deadly stoned mouth.
With his sharp sword he cleaved my breast,
And plucked my quivering heart out,
And coals flamed with God's behest,
Into my gaping breast were ground.
Like dead I lay on desert sands,
And listened to the God's commands:
'Arise, O prophet, hark and see,
Be filled with utter My demands,
And, going over Land and Sea,
Burn with your Word the humane hearts.'

Born into the family of a military lawyer, Vrubel first finished the St. Petersburg University (in 1880) to become a lawyer, but the same year entered the Academy of Arts. In his autobiography, written in 1901, Vrubel referred to his Academy years as the happiest in his life as an artist. For that he was indebted to professor Pavel Tchistyakov, who was famous for his method of teaching painting and drawing. Among Tchistyakov’s pupils were such outstanding painters as Vasily Surikov, Viktor Vasnetsov and Vasily Polenov who all thought very highly of their teacher. Vrubel owed much to the Academy and never shared the distaste felt by many advanced painters of the time. Vrubel’s art, academic in a sense, was based on the cult of the model and drawing. His Academy drawings on classical subjects are striking for their elegant workmanship.

However, even during his training, Vrubel never was a devoted follower of the Academy style. Along with an expressiveness and rich imagination, his works, already at this period, reveal a taste for improvisation, fragmentary composition, his characteristic “unfinished” manner peculiarly fused with classical style and monumentality. In 1884, the famous art historian Adrian Prakhov, who supervised the re-construction of the old and construction of the new cathedrals in Kiev, invited Vrubel to take part in the restoration of the Old Russian murals and mosaics in the 12th century Church of St. Cyril. The knowledge Vrubel acquired in the process of this work contributed to the perfection of his style as a painter. In St. Cyril’s Church, Vrubel executed new murals in place of the lost ones, The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (Pentecost) and Three Angels over the Body of Christ. Later, he was commissioned to paint icons for the iconostasis of the church, which he did in Venice where he spent several months in the years 1884-85. In Venice, Vrubel was particularly impressed by the medieval mosaics in the Church of San Marco and the Early Renaissance paintings by Giovanni Bellini and Cima da Conegliano. It was in Venice that Vrubel’s palette acquired new strong saturated tones resembling the iridescent play of precious stones. In Venice, Vrubel produced four large icons, including The Virgin. He drew the face of the Virgin from the studies of E. Prakhova, wife of A. Prakhov.

Back in Kiev, Vrubel started a series of watercolor studies for the recently built Cathedral of St. Vladimir, among them several versions of The Lamentation (1887) and The Resurrection (1887). The jury rejected all his projects. In Kiev Vrubel started to work on the theme of the Demon. The Kiev versions of the Demon, both the pictures and sculptures, have not survived. In fact, Vrubel did not take pains to preserve his works, being more interested in the process of creation than in the result.

Other works of the Kiev period include the large canvas Portrait of a Girl against a Persian Carpet and The Oriental Tale (1886), the latter inspired by The Arabian Nights, Hamlet and Ophelia (1884) and numerous watercolors with flowers. The murals, canvases, or small watercolors done in Kiev have none of the Art Nouveau style, which was to appear only in Vrubel’s works of the Moscow period.

Vrubel planned to stop in Moscow for a few days during his business trip, but the acquaintances from Moscow's artistic life kept him in Moscow for years. During his first year in Moscow, Vrubel went on working on the paintings he had conceived in Kiev. Among others are The Seated Demon (1890) and a series of illustrations for Mikhail Lermontov’s poem The Demon (1890) and his novel A Hero of Our Time (1890-1891). The illustrations made his name known to the public but brought him notoriety rather than fame: too unusual for the tastes of 1880s, they caused bewilderment and derision. But in the artistic circles of Russia, Vrubel was received favorably. He found support from Savva Mamontov, a famous Moscow patron of arts, who invited the artist to work at the pottery shop on his estate in Abramtsevo near Moscow and commissioned him to paint the scenery for his Private Opera in Moscow. Mamontov also built up a clientele commissioning Vrubel to paint decor for mansions. Together with Mamontov and his family Vrubel traveled in Europe.

Later on, Vrubel tried himself at various artistic media such as applied art (ceramics, majolica, stained glass), architectural masks, stage set and costume design, and even architecture. His talent proved truly universal: in everything he did, and he could do almost everything, was the search for a lucid beautiful style. This search eventually made Vrubel the true founder of Russian Art Nouveau, a style that partially grew out of Russian neo-romanticism.

The most characteristic feature of this style is its cult of beauty – melancholic, enigmatic and refined – and its tendency to the synthesis of arts in everything, be it an illustrated book, a theater performance, or décor. Art Nouveau never was confined to easel painting or sculpture alone. It found its way into people’s households becoming an essential part of interior decoration. The somewhat affected mannerism generally typical of the style, also manifested itself in Vrubel’s works of the Moscow period. His panels, ceramic dishes, stylized furniture, costumes, and vignettes, perfect as they are, are at the same time superficial, as if intended for a fancy ball.

Vrubel’s best Moscow works include the Fortune-Teller (1895), Lilac (1900), At Nightfall (1900), Pan (1899), The Swan Princess (1900) as well as the portraits of Savva Mamontov (1891), his business partner K. Artsybushev (95-96), and Painter’s Wife in Empire Dress (1898).

In 1896, in an opera in St. Petersburg, Vrubel heard the singer Nadezhda Zabela, he fell in love with the voice immediately. After the performance they got acquainted and, half a year later, married. At the time Vrubel was referred to as the husband of the famous opera singer Nadezhda Zabela. They settled in Moscow, and Nadezhda started to sing in Mamontov’s Private Opera.

In the last years of the 19th century, Vrubel was preoccupied with motifs of the Russian epic and fairy tales, this largely under the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operas, e.g. The Snow Maiden, The Tale of Tzar Saltan, and others, where his wife sang the parts of the Snow Maiden, the Swan Princess, princess Volkhova, etc. He designed dresses for his wife, both for the stage and for real life, he drew stage sets, designed costumes.

Later, he resumed work on the Demon theme. In 1901, he started his large canvas Demon Downcast. Exhibited in 1902, the painting overwhelmed the audience and won real fame for the artist. The painting, charged with motion, is strongly decorative. Striving to create the astounding effect, Vrubel, who at the time, was already unbalanced, repainted the Demon’s face, his sinister eyes, his lips, twisted by pain. He repeatedly repainted the picture even when it was on display until he had one of his breakdowns.

Having recovered, Vrubel never again returned to this theme. While in the hospital, he painted a great deal from life – portraits, landscapes, still lifes, as if in hope to rejuvenate the faded palette of his art through painstaking study of nature. Most of these late works were painted from life. They include numerous portraits of Vrubel’s wife, a portrait of his little son (1902), several self-portraits, and, at last, his remarkable Pearl Oyster (1904) where the mystifying play of the mother-of-pearl is rendered with the virtuosi brush of the artist.

Alongside these works, Vrubel produced many versions of the prophet, inspired by the famous Pushkin’s poem. In one of the versions, the Prophet’s face is actually a self-portrait while the figure of the six-winged Seraph is apparently Azrael, the angel of death. Azrael (1904), though not so famous as the Demon Downcast, is one of Vrubel’s best achievements. In his many variations on the Prophet theme, Vrubel relates a tragedy of the artist who, as he believed, failed to fulfill his mission to “sear the hearts of men with righteous word”.

Unfortunately, many of Vrubel’s works have changed with time; he used to add bronze powder to his oils to give them a glistening effect. Bronze darkened, and Vrubel’s paintings lost their initial coloring.

In 1906, when Vrubel was hospitalized in Dr. Usoltsev’s mental clinic, he continued to make studies for the Prophet and even his rapidly developing blindness did not prevent him from doing this. At the same time, Vrubel executed the Portrait of the Poet Valery Briusov, destined to be his last work.

During the last four years of his life Vrubel lived in complete mental decline.

Milena Pavlović Barili

2012-03-16T14:40:00.000+01:00

Milena Pavlović-Barili (alt. Barilli) (Serbian Cyrillic: Милена Павловић-Барили) (November 5, 1909, Požarevac, Serbia – March 6, 1945, New York City, New York, United States of America) was a Serbian painter and poet.

Her Italian father Bruno Barilli was an influential composer, her Serbian mother, a distant relative of the Karađorđević dynasty, studied art. Milena herself studied at the Royal school of arts in Belgrade, Serbia (1922–1926) and in Munich (1926–1928).

In the early 1930s she left Serbia and returned only for brief visits until the outbreak of World War II. During her stays in Spain, Rome, Paris andLondon, where she socialised with Jean Cocteau and André Breton, she was influenced by many western schools and artists, notably Giorgio de Chirico. After 1939 she stayed in New York only, where she died in a horse riding accident in 1945.

The topics of her work varied from portraits to imaginative interpretations of biblical stories. The motifs often included dream-like situations, veils, angels, statues of Venus goddess, and Harlequins. Many of her works are parts of permanent exhibitions in Rome, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art (Belgrade), and her hometown of Požarevac, where the house in which she was born has been converted into a museum in her honor.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1
Милена Павловић Barilli, сликарка, песникиња,
костимографкиња, сарадница чувених модних
часописа, рођена је у Пожаревцу, 5. новембра
(23. октобра по старом календару) 1909. године,
као једино дете у браку угледне Пожаревљанке
Данице Павловић из породице Карађорђевића и
италијанског композитора, песника, музичког
критичара и путописца, Бруна Барилија (Bruno
Barilli). Бруно Барили, кога је Даница упознала
током студија музике на Конзерваторијуму
у Минхену, био је изузетно занимљива и
сензибилна боемска личност, позната у
европским уметничким круговима.
Од најранијег детињства Милена је с
родитељима путовала Европом, враћала се у
родни Пожаревац и поново одлазила у свет:
боравила је у Пезару 1912. и 1913.; преко
Солуна, Палерма и Напуља дошла у Рим на
почетку Првог светског рата 1915. године.
У Бергаму је уписана у први разред основне
школе, а у Риму други: учи и енглески на Istituto
БИОГРАФИЈА
Милена Павловић Barilli (1909-1945.)
www.milenapavlovicbarilli.rs
Босиљка Павловић са малом Миленом, Bruno Barilli, Даница Barilli и Стојан Павловић.
2
Italiano-Inglese. У Ници је учила француски
језик.
У Риму је са седам година написала своју прву
песму 12. новембра 1916.год.
Преко Крфа и Дубровника, крајем рата, враћа
се у земљу: у Пожаревцу 1919. године завршава
малу матуру и започиње гимназију, коју ће
завршити јуна 1925. у Београду (Другу женску
гимназију). У међувремену, 1921. сa мајком
одлази у Линц на школовање, путује Корушком
и током 1921/1922. похађа Der Ordensfrauen
vom heiligen Herzen Jesu (“Sacrecoeur”).
Основно сликарско образовање добила је у
Београду: на Краљевску уметничку школу
примљена је са тринаест година, најпре на
припремни течај (од јесени 1922. до лета
1923.); дипломирала је 11. јуна 1926. године и
први пут излагала на изложби ђачких радова
своје Школе, будуће Академије. У то време
њена мајка Даница је запослена у Канцеларији
Краљевских ордена при Двору.
ПЕРИОД
1926 – 31.
Студије сликарства наставила је 1926-1928.
године у Минхену, на Blocherer Bosshardt-у,
затим у Knirr Schulе код познатог академског
сликара Хајнриха Книра (Heinrich Knirr) који
ће касније постати близак нацизму, а потом
и на ауторитативној Akademie der bildenden
Künste. Професори су јој били, између
осталих, Франц фон Штук (Franz von Stuck)
и Хуго фон Хаберман (Hugo von Habermann)
– сва тројица цењени и угледни, али већ тада
конзервативни, превазиђени. Милена је кратко
остала у Минхену, незадовољна тим, “глувим
и рекционарним немачким амбијентом”, како је
говорила. Био је то тренутак када је почела да
осећа озбиљне здравствене проблеме – замор
срчаног мишића, тахикардију и аритмију.
Покушала је да то отклони одмором са мајком
на француској Азурној обали, у Ници и Кану
лета 1927., а наставила да се лечи и у Минхену
следеће године. Са мајком обилази музеје
Париза – посебно Лувр.
Редовно долази у Пожаревац, а дуже борави
од јуна 1928. ради припреме своје прве
самосталне изложбе: 16. децембра исте године,
у просторијама београдског Новинарског
дома, приказала је 20 радова из београдског
и минхенског периода школовања. Критика
и јавност су је дочекали с интересовањем,
охрабрујући је у њеним почецима и
предвиђајући јој велику каријеру. Критичар
београдске Политике (18. децембар 1928.),
цењени вајар Сретен Стојановић пише о њеним
озбиљним декоративним и илустративним
Прва песма, 1916.
Sevilla, 1928.
Женски акт, 1928.
3
радовима, о њиховој чистоти и мекоћи линија,
док Дора Пилковић истиче њене портрете,
егзотичне мотиве, елеганцију, суптилност и
љупкост њених декоративних дела (Венац,
Београд, св.4 и 5, јануар 1929.). Најпохвалније
се изражавају и Густав Крклец, Бранко
Поповић и други критичари. Упркос тим
успесима - њен материјални положај је тежак,
а она не успева да добије запослење ни у Србији
ни у Македонији.
Године 1929. примљена је у чланство Ладе.
Ређају се нове изложбе – самосталне и групне
– пролећне и јесење изложбе, у Уметничком
павиљону Цвијета Зузорић у Београду, у
Крстиној кући у Пожаревцу ... Наступа
заједно са нашим најпознатијим уметницима
- Јованом Бијелићем, Миланом Коњовићем,
Лазаром Личеноским, Васом Поморишцем,
Иваном Радовићем, Марином Тартаљом, Томом
Росандићем, Ристом Стијовићем...
Лето 1929. проводи у Словенији, у Рогашкој
Слатини, Језерском и на Бледу, затим обилази
Праг, али тамо обољева од тифуса и настају
проблеми с кичмом.
Уместо даљег студирања, одлучује да у
пролеће 1930. године с мајком, преко Италије
и Француске, отпутује за Шпанију, да изучава
дела Веласкеза и Гоје у Праду. Са собом је
понела школске и поједине касније радове. Три
месеца је путовала од Барселоне и Валенсије, до
Севиље, Малаге, Кордобе, Гранаде и Мадрида,
где је морала да буде подвргнута хируршкој
операцији, поновљеној у Паризу јуна 1930.
Месец дана касније (јула 1930.) Милена је у
Лондону где ће боравити годину и по дана, вредно
радити и створити нова, зрелија и експресивнија
дела. Припремила је самосталну изложбу
са надом да ће продајом побољшати своје
финансијско стање. Изложба је отворена 27.
фебруара 1931. године у једној од најзначајнијих
лондонских галерија - Bloomsbury Gallery, у
присуству бројних званица и штампе. Каталог,
истовремено и позивница за изложбу наводи
51 изложено дело, међу којима су били
Аутопортрет и портрети њене мајке Данице,
краљице Марије Карађорђевић, Алберта
Моравије, др Бранислава Петронијевића,
затим андалузијски мотиви, као и бројни
декоративни радови романтичарских тема
везаних за маштовити свет Арабије, Мексика,
Турске, Персије, Индијанаца, Јапана, Буде,
Шекспирових ликова и сл.
Био је то Миленин веома успешан друштвени
наступ: окружена је угледним личностима,
појављују се – између осталог - текстови у
Daily Telegraph-у и Daily Express-у, о њој пише
Драга Илић у београдском листу Време (24.
марта 1931.). Изложба је истовремено значила
и дефинитиван раскид са традиционалним,
академским ликовним поступком и наслућивање
путева нових визуелних форми - имагинарног и
фантазмагоричног.
Немир њеног духа и номадски карактер стечен
од најранијег детињства је прате: у јесен 1931.
Милена напушта Лондон – одлази за Париз и
Језерско, 1929.
4
ту остаје, с прекидима, све до 1939. године. На
Монпарнасу, тадашњем уметничком средишту
света, пред њом се дефинитивно отварају ти
предосећани простори иреалног, магичног,
сновиђеног; њено сликарство добија одлике
сложене, необичне и интимне исповести. Она
налази свој ликовни исказ, компатибилан
са духом времена где су се препознавали
најдубље зрачење актуелног и заводљивог
надреалистичког начина мишљења и слободан
креативан поступак. Ту је имала прилику да
се креће у круговима познатих и значајних
личности јавног и културног живота: упознаје
многе уметнике, музичаре, књижевнике,
критичаре, глумце...
Познанство са сликарима - браћом Ђорђом
де Кириком (Giorgio de Chirico) и Албертом
Савинијем (Alberto Savinio), затим омиљеним
професором многих европских и посебно
југословенских ђака - Андреом Лотом (André
Lhote), чувеним историчарем уметности
Жаном Касуом (Jean Cassou), песником
Полом Валеријем (Paul Valéry), критичарем
Антониом Анијантеом (Antonio Aniante),
оснивачем надреализма Андреом Бретоном
(André Breton), Жаном Коктоом (Jean Cocteau),
Филипом де Пизисом (Filippo de Pisis) и
бројним другим ствараоцима из целог света
које је Париз магнетски привлачио, свакако је
имало пресудан значај на њено стварање и њен
успешан статус у уметничком свету.
Она, ипак, не одустаје ни од југословенске
сцене: марта 1932. учествује на XV изложби
Ладе у Београду када критика констатује да
њена дела представљају «најмодернији правац
на овој изложби».
Од 29. априла до 10. маја 1932. наступа
самостално у познатој париској галерији
Jeune Europe, у којој ће излагати и новембра
исте године. О Милениним изложбама пишу
дописници из Париза, њене слике купују
одабрана публика и званичне институције...
Југословенско посланство јој ускраћује
подршку, а Италијанска амбасада откупљује
неколико њених дела. Овековечена је на бројним
фотографијама Пола Баласа (Paul Balassa) које
представљају драгоцене изворе информација о
њеном раду и животу. Између осталих, сачуван
је снимак с кубанским пијанистом Рејнолдсом
Гонзалесом (Reynolds Gonsalez) за кога је
неколико година била веома емотивно везана и
кога је портретисала.
Mилена води интензивну преписку са мајком
из које читамо све њене сумње, финансијске
тегобе, битке за уметнички статус.
ПЕРИОД
1932 – 38.
У Рим стиже на очев позив у лето 1932. године
и одмах у јесен, од 15 - 25. октобра 1932.
самостално излаже у Galleria d’Arte di Roma -
Via Veneto: и овде је критика позитивна, готово
еуфорична. Критичар Ефизио Чипријано Опо
(Efisio Cipriano Oppo), пријатељ њеног оца
Бруна Барилија, пише у римском листу La
Tribuna (19.октобра 1932.) о оригиналности
Милениног стила ослобођеног академских
Девојка ѕа гитаром, 1932.
5
назора, о елеганцији и интелигенцији њене
уметности. O њеној изложби читамо позитивне
рецензије и у листовима Il Tevere, Il Lavoro
Fascista, Italia Letteraria, Il Popolo di Roma, а
Ренато Гутузо (Renato Guttuso), касније познати
сликар леве оријентације, у палермитанском
гласилу L’Ora (26. октобра 1932.) пише о
Миленином метафизичком и надреалистичком
изразу којим је храбро заронила у суштину
емоција.
Пармска Пинакотека откупила је портрет
Бруна Барилија и још једну слику.
Априла следеће, 1933. године, наступа у
Sala d’Аrte della Nazione у Фиренци, заједно
са Маријом Сињорели (Maria Signorelli) и
Адријаном Пинкерле (Adriana Pincherle).
Милена је изложила своје надреалистичке
композиције и неколико карикатура оца Бруна
са сценама његовог афричког путовања.
Лето 1933. проводи у Србији, обилази породицу
у Великом Градишту, слика портрете својих
рођака, мртве природе и аутопортрете. Тим
радовима се окончава њен линеарно-антички
период стварања.
Од октобра 1933. pоново je у Паризу и
прате је здравствени проблеми – срчана
инсуфицијенција и велики замор.
Од 14. маја до 17. јуна 1934. учествује на XII
Salon des Tuileries у Паризу са четири слике,
и тај период означава нова трагања и нове
ликовне исказе.
Фебруара 1935. излаже поново у Риму, на
другом Quadriennale d’Arte Nazionale и поново
је одлично примљена: о њој пишу Il Giornale
d’Italia, a u више наврата лист Quadrivio, који је
пратио културна дешавања у Италији и у свету,
објављује њене песме: пет песама децембра
1934., четири песме - јуна 1935.; осам песама
- фебруара 1936. Захваљујући свом учешћу
на Квадријеналу Милена је имала прилику да
се упозна са Бенитом Мусолинијем (Benito
Mussolini), његовим министром спољних
послова грофом Галеацом Ћаном (Galeazzo
Ciano), чију је понуду да добије италијанско
држављанство Милена одбила, као и са
градоначелником Рима Ботаијем (Botai) који
јој се захвалио на учешћу на изложби.
У лето 1935. долази у Пожаревац и ту остаје
годину и по дана, припремајући велику
La lettura II, 1935.
Девојка са свитком,
1935.
Тишина, 1937
6
самосталну изложбу, да би се крајем децембра
1936. вратила у Рим. Живи у тадашњем
боемском кварту, у Via Margutta. У Пожаревцу
настају нека од њених ремек-дела, сачувана
данас у Галерији њеног имена и у Музеју
савремене уметности у Београду: Венера са
лампом или Дама са петролејком, Девојка и
анђео, Женско попрсје у вази, Аутопортрет са
стрелцем, Старица са лептиром, Аутопортрет
са античком главом, Носталгија, Фантастична
композиција са женским актом и змајем и др.
Априла-маја 1937. излаже у Риму у Galleria
della Cometa, око 40 слика и цртежа насталих
током њеног последњег боравка у Југославији.
Медији су јавили да је изложбена сала била
претесна да прими све званице које су дошле на
свечано отварање њене самосталне изложбе.
То је врхунац њеног стварања, њен ренесансни
одн. метафизички период који траје до
одласка у Америку. О Милени и њеној зрелој
стваралачкој фази пишу Емилио Чеки (Emilio
Cecchi), Ефизио Чипријано Опо, Паоло Ричи
(Paolo Ricci), истичући њену сензибилност,
деликатну технику рада, велику маштовитост и
интуитивност...
Из Рима одлази за Дизелдорф, а потом за Париз.
Следеће године има два париска наступа: од
21. јануара до 3. фебруара 1938. самостално
излаже поново у галерији Quatre Chemins, на
Јелисејским пољима и о њој пишу знаменита
имена француске и светске уметности, а априла
учествује у Galerie Billiet са групом Nouvelle
génération. Између тога – самостална изложба
марта месеца у Тирани, са сликама које је њена
мајка Даница донела из Рима.
Лето 1938. проводи са оцем у Венецији а
28. септембра месеца са мајком присуствује
премијерном извођењу очеве опере Medusa
у Бергаму, у извођењу миланске La Scala-e.
Oперу је Бруно посветио Даници.
Венера са лампом.
7
ПЕРИОД
1939 – 45.
Касну јесен 1938. и део зиме 1939. борави
у норвешкој престоници Ослу, потом се
враћа у Париз, у коме марта месеца у Galerie
Pittoresque учествује на историјски значајној
манифестацији - L’exposition nouvelle de
surréalisme и истовремено један је од излагача
у галерији Bernheim Jeune са југословенским
уметницима из Париза. Иста изложба ће
бити приређена и у Хагу (Холандија) од 17.
јуна до 17. јула 1939. Поводом ове изложбе,
критичар Политике М. Петровић је забележио
да се Милена инспирише старим италијанским
мајсторима и да остварује модернистичку
стилизацију старог класичног сликарства.
У Паризу настају Миленина последња европска
дела - Помона (Пејзаж са лампом) и Анђели у
зору.
Од новца добијеног за слику Композиција из
1938. године (која је била излагана у Хагу,
а сада се налази у збирци Народног музеја у
Београду), коју је продала песнику, сликару и
дипломати Сибету Миличићу, купује карту за
прекоокеански брод De Grasse: укрцава се у
Авру 18. августа 1939. и стиже у Њујорк 27.
августа. Милена је у Београду 1936. године
насликала веома успешан, поетичан портрет
Јосипа Сибета Миличића.
Због почетка рата у Европи, остаје у Њујорку,
где у борби за материјалну егзистенцију
сарађује са модним часописима и великим
модним кућама, илуструје и часописе за
уређење ентеријера и екстеријера: Harper’s
Bazaar, Town & Country, Charm, Glamour,
Vogue, McCall,s, House Beautiful...
Ради велики број реклама, посебно за фирму
Textron и бројне портрете угледне њујоршке
клијентеле (Marquis de Cuevas, Daphne Bool,
Betty Finan, Rosamund Frost, Moffet, Gianсarlo
Menotti), чланове краљевских породица - краља
Петра II Карађорђевића, надвојводу Франца
Јозефа Хабзбуршког (Franz Josef Habsburg),
раније је већ сликала краљицу Марију и др.
Модел плаве венчанице, 1940.
Little pink angel, 1944. Poetic pinks and reds, 1941.
М О Д Н И Д И З А Ј Н
8
24. децембра 1943. венчава се у Гринсбороу,
у Северној Каролини са Робертом Томасом
Астором Госелином (Robert Thomas Astor
Gosselin), младим америчким официрoм
авијације, чији је портрет сликала тога лета, а
којег је упознала на отварању своје изложбе у
Вашингтону.
У пролеће 1944. приликом пада, повређује
пршљен на кичми и лечи се у болници. Након
опоравка, поново интензивно ради. У то време,
у јесен 1944, посебно је значајна њена сарадња
са младим, касније чувеним композитором
Ђанкарлом Менотијем (Gianсarlo Menotti), за
чији је балет Sebastian у извођењу њујоршке
трупе Ballet International израдила костиме.
Почетком јануара 1945. Милена настоји да
преко Монтреала и добијања имиграционе визе
реши свој статус у Сједињеним америчким
државама, у чему је свесрдно помаже
југословенски амбасадор Иван Франгеш.
Милена добија нову наруџбину - да изради
костиме за Шекспиров Сан летње ноћи у
извођењу балетске трупе Guild.
6. марта 1945. године изненада умире од срчаног
удара у њиховом новом апартману у Њујорку,
у Hаmpshire House 150, Central Park South. О
њеној смрти пишу најтиражнији амерички
листови, а вeст преноси и италијанска штампа.
Mилена мајци и оцу пише о свим детаљима свога
америчког живота и о борби за опстанак.
19. марта 1940. самостално излаже у Julien
Levy Gallery у Њујорку, чији је власник
препознавао младе перспективне снаге, посебно
уметнике пристигле из Европе почетком Другог
светског рата. Њене метафизичке композиције
ренесанских реминисценција привлаче пажњу
најугледнијих америчких критичара. Критичари
Town & Country-a, The New York Sun-a, Art
News-a, New York Herald Tribune-a, New York
Times-a, Тime-a, Newsweek-a и других гласила
поздрављају њену маштовитост, надреалне
визије, везу са старим мајсторима, носталгичност
атмосфере, са ове и каснијих њених изложби.
Повремено (1941., 1942.) борави на имању
Блејкфорд породице Мофет (Моffet) у
Квинстауну, Мериленд, где ради портрете својих
домаћина.
Од 9. јануара до 15. фебруара 1943. излаже
у United Yugoslav relief Fund у Њујорку –
Фондацији за заједничку помоћ америчких
пријатеља југословенским заробљеницима
у логорима Италије и Немачке, а маја исте
године излагала је у чувеној Corcoran Gallery
у Вашингтону. Излагала је углавном сликe
америчког периода, укључујући по први пут и
дела религиозне тематике (18.Псалам, Игнације,
Анђели на мору).
Монахиња, 1945. Robert Thomas Gosslen, 1943. Росамунд Фрост, 1940.
9
1947. године, урна са Милениним посмртним
остацима пренета је у Рим, где је 5. августа
1949. године похрањена у породичној
гробници на Тестачу, Cimitero acattolico per
gli stranieri; за то гробље је речено да је једно
од најпоетичнијих места, јер тамо «птице увек
певају и цвеће увек цвета». Касније ће ту бити
сахрањени и Миленини родитељи, отац Бруно
(1880-1952.) и мајка Даница (1883-1965.).
У знак сећања на Милену, Ђанкарло Меноти
је написао оперу The Saint of Bleecker Street; на
кутији дуплог албума била је репродукција у
боји Миленине слике Монахиња. То луксузно
издање Меноти је послао Даници у Пожаревац
1955. године.
У Пожаревац, захваљујући упорности,
организованости, а пре свега посвећености и
љубави према Милени, њена мајка Даница је
успела да пренесе велики број њених дела и
личних предмета. Заједно са кућом у којој је
Милена рођена, Даница је оставила драгоцену
заоставштину која данас чини основни фонд
Галерије Милене Павловић Барили, отворене
за публику 24. јуна 1962. године. Током
каснијих година Галерија се богатила и другим
даровима који су стизали са разних крајева
света, углавном из Америке, од Милениних
пријатења, родбине и поштовалаца.
Године 1997, 28. фебруара, формирана
је Фондација Миленин дом при Галерији
у Пожаревцу који има за циљ бригу око
Милениног уметничког наслеђа.
Ф О Т О Г Р А Ф И Ј А & С Л И К А
(1909-1945)

Yuima Nakazato

2012-03-16T01:18:00.000+01:00

autumn and winter

yuimanakazato.com

CEKAJ ME - ARSEN DEDIC ZORAN PREDIN (1989)

2012-02-29T00:31:00.000+01:00

Sad je mojih pet minuta,
bez kravate raskopčan.
Ako zbrišeš trag mi s puta
plesač sam koji pleše sam.
Sad je mojih pet minuta,
puškama straže pjevaju.
A zora kada noć proguta
one im pjesme vraćaju.

Izdaju me moje misli
koje su zabranjene znam.
Al kad se vratim bit ću onaj isti
na stanici što pjeva:čekaj me,čekaj me...

Danas su mi blizu zvijezde
stanem na prste i već su tu
da u džepu ih ponesem
sklona je sreća vitezu.

I mislim samo takve misli
koje su zabranjene, znam,
kad se vratim bit ću onaj isti
na stanici što pjeva:čekaj me,čekaj me...

Onda ću biti heroj tvoj
i za naše vječne sate,
otirač,sjena tvoga psa
i bit ću vješalica,posuda za djecu,
kava u postelji i ljubavnik sa dna.

Mislim samo takve misli
koje su zabranjene, znam,
kad se vratim bit ću onaj isti
na stanici što pjeva: čekaj me, čekaj me...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zoran Predin & Matija Dedic

2012-02-19T10:13:00.001+01:00

Zoran Predin i Matija Dedic - Te noci kad umrem

SONNY ROLLINS-St.TOMAS~~~DRAWINGS BY TAT ART VIDEO BY TAT

2012-02-17T20:59:00.002+01:00

DRAWINGS BY TAT

ART VIDEO BY

TAT

MUSIC -Sonny Rollins-St.Tomas

ENJOY

Russian Film Soundtrack Ruthless Romance 1984Пономарёва Валентина "А на последок я скажу"

2012-02-17T06:48:00.001+01:00

Пономарёва Валентина -"А на последок я скажу"

А напоследок я скажу

Прощай, любить не обязуйся.

С ума схожу.

Иль восхожу к высокой степени безумства.

Как ты любил?

Ты пригубил погибели.

Не в этом дело.Как ты любил?

Ты погубил.

Но погубил так неумело.

А напоследок я скажу...

Работу малую висок еще вершит.

Но пали руки,И стайкою, наискосок,Уходят запахи и звуки.

А напоследок я скажу:

Прощай, любить не обязуйся.

С ума схожу.

Иль восхожу

К высокой степени безумства.

Так напоследок я скажу...

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

2012-02-03T10:12:00.000+01:00

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French pronunciation: [?~?i d? tuluz lo't??k]) (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern and sometimes decadent life of those times. Toulouse-Lautrec is known along with Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin as one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist period. In a 2005 auction at Christie's auction house a new record was set when La blanchisseuse, an early painting of a young laundress, sold for $22.4 million U.S.

Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa was born at the chateau de Malromé near Albi, Tarn in the Midi-Pyrénées région of France, the firstborn child of Comte Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa and Adèle Tapié de Celeyran. He was therefore a member of an aristocraticfamily (descendants of the Counts of Toulouse and Lautrec and the Viscounts of Montfa, a village and commune of the Tarn department of southern France). A younger brother was also born to the family on 28 August 1867, but died the following year.Early life

After the death of his brother his parents separated and a nanny took care of Henri through this time. At the age of 8, Henri left to live with his mother in Paris. Here he started to draw his first sketches and caricatures in his exercise workbooks. The family quickly came to realise that Henri's talent lay with drawing and painting, and a friend of his father named Rene Princeteau visited sometimes to give informal lessons. Some of Henri's early paintings are of horses, a speciality of Princeteau, and something that he would later visit with his 'Circus Paintings'

In 1875 Henri returned to Albi because his mother recognised his health problems. He took thermal baths at Amélie-les-Bains and his mother consulted doctors in the hope of finding a way to improve her son's growth and development.

Disability and health problems

The Comte and Comtesse themselves were first cousins (Henri's two grandmothers being sisters and Henri suffered from a number of congenital health conditions attributed to this tradition of inbreeding.

At the age of 13, Henri fractured his right thigh bone, and at 14, the left.The breaks did not heal properly. Modern physicians attribute this to an unknown genetic disorder, possiblypycnodysostosis (also sometimes known as Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome),or a variant disorder along the lines of osteopetrosis, achondroplasia, or osteogenesis imperfecta.[Ricketsaggravated with praecox virilism has also been suggested. His legs ceased to grow, so that as an adult he was only 1.54 m (5 ft 1 in) tall,having developed an adult-sized torso, while retaining his child-sized legs, which were 0.70 m (27.5 in) long. He is also reported to have had hypertrophied genitals.

Jules Chéret and Lautrec with poster

La Toilette, early painting

Physically unable to participate in most of the activities typically enjoyed by men of his age, Toulouse-Lautrec immersed himself in his art. He became an important Post-Impressionist painter,art nouveau illustrator, and lithographer; and recorded in his works many details of the late-19th-century bohemian lifestyle in Paris. Toulouse-Lautrec also contributed a number of illustrations to the magazine Le Rire during the mid-1890s.

After initially failing his college entrance exams, Henri passed upon his second attempt and completed his studies. During his stay in Nice, his progress in painting and drawing impressed Princeteau, who persuaded Henri's parents to let him return to Paris and study under the acclaimed portrait painter Léon Bonnat. Henri's mother had high ambitions and, with aims of Henri becoming a fashionable and respected painter, she used the family influence to get Henri into Bonnat's studio.

Paris

Toulouse-Lautrec was drawn to Montmartre, an area of Paris famous for its bohemian lifestyle and for being the haunt of artists, writers, and philosophers. Studying with Bonnat placed Henri in the heart of Montmartre, an area that he would rarely leave over the next 20 years. After Bonnat took a new job, Henri moved to the studio of Fernand Cormon in 1882 and studied for a further five years, here making the group of friends he would keep for the rest of his life. It was at this period in his life he first met Émile Bernard and Van Gogh. Cormon, whose instruction was more relaxed than Bonnat's, allowed his pupils to roam Paris, looking for subjects to paint. In this period Toulouse-Lautrec had his first encounter with a prostitute, reputedly sponsored by his friends, and this led him to paint his first painting of the prostitutes of Montmartre, a woman rumoured to be called Marie-Charlotte.

With his studies finished, in 1887 he participated in an exposition in Toulouse under the pseudonym "Tréclau", an anagram of the family name 'Lautrec'. He later exhibited in Paris with Van Gogh and Louis Anquetin.[The Belgian critic Octave Maus invited him to present eleven pieces at the Vingt (the Twenties) exhibition in Brussels in February. The brother of Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh bought 'Poudre de Riz' (Rice Powder) at the price of 150 francs for the Goupil & Cie gallery.

From 1889 until 1894, Henri took part in the "Independent Artists' Salon" on a regular basis. He made several landscapes of Montmartre. It was in this era that the 'Moulin Rouge' opened.Tucked deep into Montmartre was the garden of Monsieur Pere Foret, where Toulouse-Lautrec executed a series of pleasant plein-air paintings of Carmen Gaudin, the same red-head model who appears in The Laundress (1888). When the nearby Moulin Rouge cabaret opened its doors, Toulouse-Lautrec was commissioned to produce a series of posters. His mother had left Paris and while Henri still had a regular income from his family, making posters offered him a living of his own. Other artists looked down on the work, but Henri was so aristocratic he did not care.Thereafter, the cabaret reserved a seat for him, and displayed his paintings.Among the well known works that he painted for the Moulin Rouge and other Parisian nightclubs are depictions of the singer Yvette Guilbert; the dancer Louise Weber, known as the outrageous La Goulue ("The Glutton"), who created the "French Can-Can"; and the much more subtle dancerJane Avril.

London

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec came from a family of Anglophiles, and while he wasn't as fluent as he pretended to be, he spoke English well enough to travel to London.The business of making posters led Henri to London, gaining him work that led to the making of the 'Confetti' poster,and the bicycle advert 'La Chaîne Simpson'

It was during his time in London that he met and befriended Oscar Wilde, and when Wilde faced imprisonment in Britain, Henri was a very vocal supporter. Toulouse-Lautrec's portrait of Wilde was done the same year as Wilde's trial

Alcoholism

Lautrec was often mocked for his short stature and physical appearance, and this led him to drown his sorrows in alcohol.[15] At first this was just beer and wine, but his tastes quickly expanded. He was one of the notable Parisians who enjoyed American style cocktails, France being a nation of wine purists. He would have parties at his house on a Friday night and force his guests to try them.The invention of the cocktail "Earthquake" or Tremblement de Terre is attributed to Toulouse-Lautrec; a potent mixture containing half absinthe and half cognac (in a wine goblet, 3 parts Absinthe and 3 parts Cognac, sometimes served with ice cubes or shaken in a cocktail shaker filled with ice).

1893 saw Lautrec's alcoholism begin to take its toll, and as those around him began to realise the seriousness of his condition there were rumours of a syphilis infection.Finally, in 1899, his mother and a group of concerned friends had him briefly institutionalised. He had even gone to the length of having a cane that he could hide alcohol in so he could have a drink on him at all times.

Death

An alcoholic for most of his adult life, Toulouse-Lautrec was placed in a sanatorium shortly before his death. He died from complications due to alcoholism and syphilis at the family estate in Malromé at the age of 36. He is buried in Verdelais, Gironde, a few kilometres from the Château Malromé, where he died.

Toulouse-Lautrec's last words reportedly were: "Le vieux con!" ("The old fool!", although the word "con" can be meant in both simple and vulgar terms. This was his goodbye to his father. Although another version has him saying, using the word "hallali" which is used by huntsmen for the moment the hounds kill their prey, "I knew, papa, that you wouldn't miss the death." ("Je savais, papa, que vous ne manqueriez pas l'hallali").

After Toulouse-Lautrec's death, his mother, the Comtesse Adèle Toulouse-Lautrec, and Maurice Joyant, his art dealer, promoted his art. His mother contributed funds for a museum to be created in Albi, his birthplace, to house his works. The Toulouse-Lautrec Museum now owns the world's largest collection of works by the painter.

Art

Self-portrait in the crowd, At the Moulin Rouge,Art Institute of Chicag

Throughout his career, which spanned fewer than 20 years, Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 canvases, 275 watercolours, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, some ceramic and stained glass work, and an unknown number of lost works. His debt to the Impressionists, in particular the more figurative painters Manet and Degas, is apparent. His style was also influenced by the classical Japanese woodprints which became popular in art circles in Paris. In the works of Toulouse-Lautrec can be seen many parallels to Manet's detached barmaid at A Bar at the Folies-Bergère and the behind-the-scenes ballet dancers of Degas. He excelled at capturing people in their working environment, with the colour and the movement of the gaudy night-life present but the glamour stripped away. He was masterly at capturing crowd scenes in which the figures are highly individualized. At the time that they were painted, the individual figures in his larger paintings could be identified by silhouette alone, and the names of many of these characters have been recorded. His treatment of his subject matter, whether as portraits, scenes of Parisian night-life, or intimate studies, has been described as both sympathetic and dispassionate.

Toulouse-Lautrec's skilled depiction of people relied on his painterly style which is highly linear and gives great emphasis to contour. He often applied the paint in long, thin brushstrokes which would often leave much of the board on which they are painted showing through. Many of his works may best be described as drawings in coloured paint.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anri Mari Rejmon de Tuluz-Lotrek Monfa je roden u Albiju, Tarn u francuskom regionu Središnji Pirineji.

Poticao je iz stare aristokratske familije, sa mnogo uvaženih predaka koji su se u prošlosti družili i sa samim kraljevima. Bio je sin grofa Alfonsa igrofice Adele de Tuluz-Lotrek. Anri je bio njihovo prvo dete. Imao je i mladeg brata Rišana rodenog 28. avgusta 1867. ali je on umro odmah sledece godine. Njegovi roditelji su bili bliski rodaci, tacnije njegova majka se udala za brata od tetke, u nameri da ocuvaju što „cistiju“ aristokratsku krv, ali i da bi porodicno bogatstvo ostalo u familiji. U to doba se još nisu znale posledice spajanja osoba iz bliskog porodicnog kruga, tako da je Anri za posledicu odmalena imao genetsku manu.

Sa svojih 14 godina, Anri (koji je od tada vec bolovao od groznice, od koje su ga neuspešno lecili godinama, vodeci ga po raznim lekarima) slama svoju levu nogu, a godinu dana kasnije sa svojih 15, lomi i svoju desnu nogu. Vec pomenuta mana sprecava kosti da pravilno zacele i njegove noge prestaju da rastu. On odrasta i dobija telo odraslog coveka, ali noge mu zauvek ostaju male i zakržljale kao u decaka, dok mu se lice posle završenog puberteta menja odajuci veliku debelu donju usnu, dobija malo veci nos, a vid mu slabi terajuci ga da do kraja života stalno nosi naocare. Njegova konacna visina je 1.5 m.

La Guli stiže u Mulen ruž. (1892).

Zbog svog izgleda Anri ne uspeva da uspešno ucestvuje u društvenim aktivnostima i zato se potpuno okrece umetnosti. Postaje važan postimpresionisticki slikar, Art nuvo ilustrator, i litografer, beležeci u svojim radovima boemski život u Pariu na kraju 19. veka. Sredinom 1890-te, Tuluz-Lotrek radi i ilustracije za humoristicki casopis, Le Rire.

Dega vrši veliki uticaj na njega, a 1893. mu licno upucuje pohvaju: „Lotrek, vidi se da ste majstor svog zanata“, što je za Lotreka bio veliko poštovanje, imajuci na umu da je Dega retko davao pohvale i da je cak savetovao svim novim slikarima da se mane tog poziva, zato što nije donosio profit, jer „U Parizu svi slikaju a niko ne kupuje slike“.

Lotrek nije bio impresionista. Impresionisti su uticali na njega ali njegov stil su više naglašene boje (više je naginjao ekspresionizmu) a važnost je više pridavao crtežu i liniji. I na njega, kao i na slikare tog vremena je uticao japanizam. Uticaj japanskih estampi (plošan prostor i uticaj linije) najbolje možemo videti na njegovim litografskim radovima tj plakatima koji su najavljivali razne prestave, kabaree, koje su prikazivale razne reklame, najavljivale razne dogadaje itd. Nazivan je "dušom monmartra", delom grada Pariza gde je živeo za života. Njegove slike su cesto prikazivale cuveni Mulen ruž i ostale lokale i kabaree, i pozorišta iz Monmartra. Takode prikazivao je i slike iz parizkih javnih kuca koje je posecivao, što je u pocetku šokiralo javnost i zadrmalo tadašnju umetnicki scenu. Nažalost tamo biva ubrzo i zaražen sifilisom). Anri slika i cuveni pevacicu Ivet Gilber, kao i Luj Veber takozvanu „La Guli“, igracicu koja je licno izmislila ples "Kan-kan".

Tuluz-Lotrek tokom života srece mnogo poznatih licnost, što francuskih, tako i stranih. 1884. godine radi portret Viktora Igoa. Imao je cast upoznati se i sa Oskarom Vajldom koji je tokom svog izgnanstva došao u Pariz, pa cak mu uraditi i portret. Imao je izložbu u Londonu gde je upoznao tadašnjeg britanskog kralja, a koju godinu ranije na izložbi u Parizu upoznao se i sa srpskim kraljem Milanom (Koji je posetio Tuluzovu izložbu par godina posle svog abdiciranja) i koji je kupio portret Šao-U-Kao (na slici je žena obucena o odeci klovna koja zateže svoj mider), sliku slikanu na platnu, koja se dugo nalazila u kraljevoj zbirci, ali je na žalost, prodata i do danas promenila mnogo vlasnika.

Prijateljstvo sa van Gogom

Vinsent van Gog, crtež uraden pastelama od strane Anri Tuluz-Lotreka

Poznato je i Tuluzovo veliko prijateljstvo izmedu njega i Van-Goga. Naravno ne tako veliko kao izmedu Gogena i Van Goga, ali je izmedu Tuluza i Van Goga postojalo izvesno postovanje i divljenje za rad onog drugog. Štaviše Van Gog je i jedno vreme odsedao kod Tuluza, svaki put dok je boravio u Parizu ali Pariz nije bilo mesto inspiracije za van Goga i on se brzo vracao u Holandiju.

Tuluz je prvo upoznao Vinsentovog brata Tea, koji se bavio trgovinom umetnickih dela. Teo je po Vinsentovom zahtevu upisao brata u školu slikarstva kod Kormona. (Tuluz je tada vec pohadao Kormanov atelje i njegovu školu lepih umetnosti, a prošao je i kroz Bonaov atelje. U Kormanovom ateljeu osim Van Goga Tuluz srece i Emil Bernara kao i Anketena) Uprkos cinjenici da je Van Gog tada bio prestar za ucenje (tada je imao 33 godine) Teo po želji brata da postane slikar upisuje ga gde srece Tuluza, gde postaju veliki prijatelji. Tuluz koji je vec bio dugo ucenik i stanar Monmartra, uputio je prijatelja gde da kupuje slikarski pribor (tada su svi kupovali kod takozvanog „cica Tangija“ koji je davao slikarsku opremu na veresiju. Van Gog ce mu posle posvetiti par slika), i slicnu opremu. Uprkos smejanju Tuluz je uvek ostajao veran svom prijatelju, a kada je do Pariza doprla vest da je Van Gog odsekao sebi uvo i završio u ludnici, Tuluz i pored svega staje na njegovu stranu, svadajuci se sa ljudima pa cak pokušao da se tuce ali su ga ljudi cesto izbegavali u tim situacijama zbog svog vizuelnog izgleda. Ta cinjrenica bi ga još više razbesnela.

Posle smrt Van Goga Anri Tuluz-Lotrek zajedno sa drugim slikarima organizuje posebnu izložbu na kojoj su izloženi radovi Van Goga u secanje na njegovo ime.

Kraj života

Kao alkoholicar tokom veceg dela svog života, kratko pred smrt Anri zapada u krizu i odlazi u privatni takozvani sanatorijum-psihickoj bolnici za bogate aristokrate, gde radi dosta skica na papiru sa temom cirkusa.

On biva pušten ali vraca se starom životu i ubrzo umire od komplikacija izazvanih alkoholizmom sa svojih 36, skoro 37 godina na porodicnom imanju u Malromé; Sahranjen je u Verdelais,Žironda, par kilometara od svog mesta rodenja.

Njegove poslednje reci bile su „Vieil imbécile!“ („Stara budalo!“), što se odnosilo na njegovog oca koji je bio prisutan.

Posle Anrijeve smrti, njegova majka, Grofica Adela Tuluz-Lotrek, i Moris Žoajan, njegov trgovac umetnickim delima, promoter njegove umetnosti, najbolji prijatelj od detinjstva, i pobratim, organizuju promociju njegove umetnosti. Njegova majka odvaja fond i pravi muzej posvecen njegovim delima u mesto njegovog rodenja u Albiju.

Godine 2005., njegove slike na aukciji dostižu cifru i do 14.5 miliona dolara.

Predstavljanja u filmovima [uredi - ?????]

Predstavio ga je Džon Leguizamo u filmu Mulen ruž! kao i Hose Ferer u klasicnoj adaptaciji filma Mulen ruž, raden prema istoimenom romanu Pjer La Mira o životu Tuluz-Lotreka. U filmuMidnight in Paris Vudija Alena ga je glumio Vensant Menžu Kortes (Vincent Menjou Cortes )

Throughout his career, which spanned fewer than 20 years, Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 canvases, 275 watercolours, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, some ceramic and stained glass work, and an unknown number of lost works. His debt to the Impressionists, in particular the more figurative painters Manet and Degas, is apparent. His style was also influenced by the classical Japanese woodprints which became popular in art circles in Paris. In the works of Toulouse-Lautrec can be seen many parallels to Manet's detached barmaid at A Bar at the Folies-Bergère and the behind-the-scenes ballet dancers of Degas. He excelled at capturing people in their working environment, with the colour and the movement of the gaudy night-life present but the glamour stripped away. He was masterly at capturing crowd scenes in which the figures are highly individualized. At the time that they were painted, the individual figures in his larger paintings could be identified by silhouette alone, and the names of many of these characters have been recorded. His treatment of his subject matter, whether as portraits, scenes of Parisian night-life, or intimate studies, has been described as both sympathetic and dispassionate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anri Mari Rejmon de Tuluz-Lotrek Monfa je rođen u Albiju, Tarn u francuskom regionu Središnji Pirineji.

Poticao je iz stare aristokratske familije, sa mnogo uvaženih predaka koji su se u prošlosti družili i sa samim kraljevima. Bio je sin grofa Alfonsa igrofice Adele de Tuluz-Lotrek. Anri je bio njihovo prvo dete. Imao je i mlađeg brata Rišana rođenog 28. avgusta 1867. ali je on umro odmah sledeće godine. Njegovi roditelji su bili bliski rođaci, tačnije njegova majka se udala za brata od tetke, u nameri da očuvaju što „čistiju“ aristokratsku krv, ali i da bi porodično bogatstvo ostalo u familiji. U to doba se još nisu znale posledice spajanja osoba iz bliskog porodičnog kruga, tako da je Anri za posledicu odmalena imao genetsku manu.

Sa svojih 14 godina, Anri (koji je od tada već bolovao od groznice, od koje su ga neuspešno lečili godinama, vodeći ga po raznim lekarima) slama svoju levu nogu, a godinu dana kasnije sa svojih 15, lomi i svoju desnu nogu. Već pomenuta mana sprečava kosti da pravilno zacele i njegove noge prestaju da rastu. On odrasta i dobija telo odraslog čoveka, ali noge mu zauvek ostaju male i zakržljale kao u dečaka, dok mu se lice posle završenog puberteta menja odajući veliku debelu donju usnu, dobija malo veći nos, a vid mu slabi terajući ga da do kraja života stalno nosi naočare. Njegova konačna visina je 1.5 m.

La Guli stiže u Mulen ruž. (1892).

Zbog svog izgleda Anri ne uspeva da uspešno učestvuje u društvenim aktivnostima i zato se potpuno okreće umetnosti. Postaje važan postimpresionistički slikar, Art nuvo ilustrator, i litografer, beležeći u svojim radovima boemski život u Pariu na kraju 19. veka. Sredinom 1890-te, Tuluz-Lotrek radi i ilustracije za humoristički časopis, Le Rire.

Dega vrši veliki uticaj na njega, a 1893. mu lično upućuje pohvaju: „Lotrek, vidi se da ste majstor svog zanata“, što je za Lotreka bio veliko poštovanje, imajući na umu da je Dega retko davao pohvale i da je čak savetovao svim novim slikarima da se mane tog poziva, zato što nije donosio profit, jer „U Parizu svi slikaju a niko ne kupuje slike“.

Lotrek nije bio impresionista. Impresionisti su uticali na njega ali njegov stil su više naglašene boje (više je naginjao ekspresionizmu) a važnost je više pridavao crtežu i liniji. I na njega, kao i na slikare tog vremena je uticao japanizam. Uticaj japanskih estampi (plošan prostor i uticaj linije) najbolje možemo videti na njegovim litografskim radovima tj plakatima koji su najavljivali razne prestave, kabaree, koje su prikazivale razne reklame, najavljivale razne događaje itd. Nazivan je "dušom monmartra", delom grada Pariza gde je živeo za života. Njegove slike su često prikazivale čuveni Mulen ruž i ostale lokale i kabaree, i pozorišta iz Monmartra. Takođe prikazivao je i slike iz parizkih javnih kuća koje je posećivao, što je u početku šokiralo javnost i zadrmalo tadašnju umetnički scenu. Nažalost tamo biva ubrzo i zaražen sifilisom). Anri slika i čuveni pevačicu Ivet Gilber, kao i Luj Veber takozvanu „La Guli“, igračicu koja je lično izmislila ples "Kan-kan".

Tuluz-Lotrek tokom života sreće mnogo poznatih ličnost, što francuskih, tako i stranih. 1884. godine radi portret Viktora Igoa. Imao je čast upoznati se i sa Oskarom Vajldom koji je tokom svog izgnanstva došao u Pariz, pa čak mu uraditi i portret. Imao je izložbu u Londonu gde je upoznao tadašnjeg britanskog kralja, a koju godinu ranije na izložbi u Parizu upoznao se i sa srpskim kraljem Milanom (Koji je posetio Tuluzovu izložbu par godina posle svog abdiciranja) i koji je kupio portret Šao-U-Kao (na slici je žena obučena o odeći klovna koja zateže svoj mider), sliku slikanu na platnu, koja se dugo nalazila u kraljevoj zbirci, ali je na žalost, prodata i do danas promenila mnogo vlasnika.

Prijateljstvo sa van Gogom

Vinsent van Gog, crtež urađen pastelama od strane Anri Tuluz-Lotreka

Poznato je i Tuluzovo veliko prijateljstvo između njega i Van-Goga. Naravno ne tako veliko kao između Gogena i Van Goga, ali je između Tuluza i Van Goga postojalo izvesno postovanje i divljenje za rad onog drugog. Štaviše Van Gog je i jedno vreme odsedao kod Tuluza, svaki put dok je boravio u Parizu ali Pariz nije bilo mesto inspiracije za van Goga i on se brzo vraćao u Holandiju.

Tuluz je prvo upoznao Vinsentovog brata Tea, koji se bavio trgovinom umetničkih dela. Teo je po Vinsentovom zahtevu upisao brata u školu slikarstva kod Kormona. (Tuluz je tada već pohađao Kormanov atelje i njegovu školu lepih umetnosti, a prošao je i kroz Bonaov atelje. U Kormanovom ateljeu osim Van Goga Tuluz sreće i Emil Bernara kao i Anketena) Uprkos činjenici da je Van Gog tada bio prestar za učenje (tada je imao 33 godine) Teo po želji brata da postane slikar upisuje ga gde sreće Tuluza, gde postaju veliki prijatelji. Tuluz koji je već bio dugo učenik i stanar Monmartra, uputio je prijatelja gde da kupuje slikarski pribor (tada su svi kupovali kod takozvanog „čiča Tangija“ koji je davao slikarsku opremu na veresiju. Van Gog će mu posle posvetiti par slika), i sličnu opremu. Uprkos smejanju Tuluz je uvek ostajao veran svom prijatelju, a kada je do Pariza doprla vest da je Van Gog odsekao sebi uvo i završio u ludnici, Tuluz i pored svega staje na njegovu stranu, svađajući se sa ljudima pa čak pokušao da se tuče ali su ga ljudi često izbegavali u tim situacijama zbog svog vizuelnog izgleda. Ta činjrenica bi ga još više razbesnela.

Posle smrt Van Goga Anri Tuluz-Lotrek zajedno sa drugim slikarima organizuje posebnu izložbu na kojoj su izloženi radovi Van Goga u sećanje na njegovo ime.

Kraj života

Kao alkoholičar tokom većeg dela svog života, kratko pred smrt Anri zapada u krizu i odlazi u privatni takozvani sanatorijum-psihičkoj bolnici za bogate aristokrate, gde radi dosta skica na papiru sa temom cirkusa.

On biva pušten ali vraća se starom životu i ubrzo umire od komplikacija izazvanih alkoholizmom sa svojih 36, skoro 37 godina na porodičnom imanju u Malromé; Sahranjen je u Verdelais,Žironda, par kilometara od svog mesta rođenja.

Njegove poslednje reči bile su „Vieil imbécile!“ („Stara budalo!“), što se odnosilo na njegovog oca koji je bio prisutan.

Posle Anrijeve smrti, njegova majka, Grofica Adela Tuluz-Lotrek, i Moris Žoajan, njegov trgovac umetničkim delima, promoter njegove umetnosti, najbolji prijatelj od detinjstva, i pobratim, organizuju promociju njegove umetnosti. Njegova majka odvaja fond i pravi muzej posvećen njegovim delima u mesto njegovog rođenja u Albiju.

Godine 2005., njegove slike na aukciji dostižu cifru i do 14.5 miliona dolara.

Predstavljanja u filmovima [uredi - уреди]

Predstavio ga je Džon Leguizamo u filmu Mulen ruž! kao i Hose Ferer u klasičnoj adaptaciji filma Mulen ruž, rađen prema istoimenom romanu Pjer La Mira o životu Tuluz-Lotreka. U filmuMidnight in Paris Vudija Alena ga je glumio Vensant Menžu Kortes (Vincent Menjou Cortes )

Slow Blues ~ Jimi Hendrix

2012-01-27T06:52:00.000+01:00

Moravian elegy & Joel Cooper-origami

2012-01-26T10:47:00.000+01:00

Гледај висока птица горама врхове мами.
Окружена неким вечито будним сјајем зру брда уоколо.
Дан ће да ме заборави, тајно довршена у себи кажи се.
Када прелазим из једне тишине у другу
под велику сенку сунца
је ли то дрвеће на твојим обалама
окоштали млаз горкога сока,
водоскоци који се буде изван мога сна?
Дуж тебе каснимо дуж тебе смо издани,
дуж тебе у нашем одласку рату оморике
проказане ваздухом колебљивих ждралова.
То доле је ли мржња? Или ја који својим пореклом
учествујем у свим призорима?
Ах, каква ужасна светлост
пробуђена први пут над склопљеним очима.
Ето то је оно што се назива
песником: бити лицем у лице свету
преко пута пустиње и неке звезде наопаке
и видети све где други виде само ноћ.
Везо фина између пепела ока и камена
чаролије не препирем се
са сличностима, ал један је вај,
и нема друге смрти осим смрти.
То свемири се зачињавају у мојој несвести
у раскораку чији је одјек ово видело
са измишљеним временом и сунцем
пола у земљи пола на небу.
О песници свуда и увек
окренути лицем према привиду
са звездом уместо ишчупаног срца пред непојатним,
када је пред нама само један дан, непомешан,
као цвет који се у сну нашем буди.
Branko Miljkovic

Moravian elegy

Watch the high birds attracts peaks of the mountains

Surrounded by some eternally watchful glow ripe hills around.
Day will forget me, the secret; complete in itself can tell.
When I'm passing from one silence to another
under the great shadow of the sun
Is it the trees on your shores
ossified jet bitter juice;
fountains wake up outside of my sleep?
All along you,we are late,we are sellout
All along you in our going to the spruce war
portrayed airborne volatile cranes.
Down there;Is it the hatred ?
Or me and mine origin
participate in all the scenes?
Ah, what a terrible light
awakened for the first time over the folded eyes.
So this is what is called
poet: being face to face world
across the desert and some upside-down star
and see where all others see only by night.
Fine bond between ashes of the eye and stones
Spells! I do not dispute
with similarities, but one wye
,and no other death than death.
These universes are seasoned in my unconsciousness
in discrepancy which is an echo of this imaging,
with imaginary time and the sun
half of the country half the sky.
The poets everywhere and always
facing the illusion
with Star instead pulled up heart in front of the unseen,
when in front of us just one day,immiscible,
as a flower that wake up in our dream.
Branko Miljkovic

ŠTO TE NEMA (Aleksa Šantic)

2012-01-19T15:08:00.000+01:00

ŠTO TE NEMA via Branimir Štulic

Kad na mlado poljsko cvijece

biser niže ponoc nijema,

kroz grudi mi želja lijece:

što te nema, što te nema?

Kad mi sanak pokoj dade

i duša se miru sprema,

kroz srce se glasak krade:

što te nema, što te nema?

Vedri istok kad zarudi

u trepetu od alema,

i tad duša pjesmu budi:

što te nema, što te nema?

I u casu bujne srece,

i kad tuga uzdah sprema,

moja ljubav pjesmu krece:

što te nema, što te nema?

E moj konjicu bijeli, moje desno krilo!

Gdje je doba ono, gdje su dani oni, kad je

srce puno rahatluka bilo? Znaš li case

one: pozno sunce grije, vrhovi munara

kao vatra gore; a svuda iz baštica miris

dula vije. Mi se povracamo iz lova, iz

gore; a ona na svojim demir-pendzerima

stoji ljepša od veceri i od sabah zore:

na me ceka, gleda i casove broji kad cu

proci. A ja, kad bih blizu bio, slao bih joj

pozdrav kuburlija svojih. Ona sa pendzera

dul i behar mio prosula bi hitro, i ko

snijeg na me pahuljice meke padale su

tiho, kao da su sevdah cutile i same.

O kako je tada puno sunca bilo! A sad?

Svuda mutni oblaci i tame?

Kako mi je srce jadno, kao da ga neko

bode, te sve place i sve pita: kuda moja

mladost ode? Je li griješna sabah zora,

il nebeska sjajna zvijezda; je li griješna

ljubav moja, kao ptica iz gnijezda, ko glas

ptice iz gnijezda? Je li grešna sabah zora,

il nebeska sjajna zvijezda; de mi to prode

ljubav moja, kao ptica iz gnijezda, ko glas

ptice iz gnijezda?...

***

WHY YOU AREN'T HERE

(Aleksa Šantic)

When on the young field-flowers

mute midnight strings the pearl,

desire flies through my chest:

Why aren't you here, why aren't you here?

When a dream gave me repose

and the soul is preparing for peace,

through heart the voice is sneaking:

Why aren't you here, why aren't you here?

When the serene east glows

in the wink of knowledge,

and the soul is awaking the song:

Why aren't you here, why aren't you here?

And in the moment of dense happiness,

and when the sorrow's preparing a sigh,

my love is starting a song:

Why aren't you here, why aren't you here?

O thou my horsee bright, my right-hand wing!

Where have those times gone, where are those

days, when a heart was full of sweetness either?

Do you know those hours: late sun is warming,

tops of minarets lighting like a fire, and everywhere

from the gardens smell of the roses swirling. We are

returning from hunting, from a mountain; and there

she stands at her oriels prettier than evening and

the morning dawn: waiting for me, overlooking

and counting hours when I will pass by. But me,

when I was nearby, I would send her a regards

of my holsters. And from her windows she will

dear rose blossom quickly spill, and like a snow

soft flakes were falling down silently on me,

as if they feel the blues of itself. Oh, it was much

sunshine then! And now? All hazy clouds and darkness...

How my heart is miserable, like someone is sticking

into it, it cries and asks all over again: where my

youth did go? Is it the mourning dawn sinfull, or

a sky shining star; is my love sinfull, like a bird

from a nest, like a voice of a bird from a nest?

Is it the dawning gold sinfull, or a sky shining

star; where my love did go, like a bird from

a nest, like a voice of a bird from a nest?...

SINDROM

Thought of You

Jackson Pollock

Early life

The Springs period and his technique

Marriage and family

New techniques 1095 × 781 - ibiblio.org

1950s

From naming to numbering

Death

Authenticity issues

In pop culture and media

Critical debate

Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens

Early years and Italy

Antwerp

The diplomat

Court artist

Last years

Edvard Munch

Childhood

Studies and influences

Paris

[edit]Berlin

The Scream

Frieze of Life – A Poem about Life, Love and Death

Paris and Christiania

Breakdown and recovery

Later years

Legacy

Auguste Rodin

[edit]Artistic independence

[edit]Works

[edit]Early figures: the inspiration of Italy

[edit]The Gates of Hell

[edit]The Burghers of Calais

[edit]Commissions and controversy

[edit]Other works

[edit]Aesthetic

[edit]Method

[edit]Later years (1900-1917)

[edit]America

[edit]Great Britain

[edit]Legacy

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer

Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky

Dire Straits - Private Investigations.

SEABISCUIT

Djordje Balasevic - Naposletku (After all) - english

Утомленные солнцем HD I + II

Dordje Balasevic - Galicija

Aesthesys ~ A Cage Went In Search Of A Bird

ILLUSTRATIONS By Gustave Dore & led zeppelin - stairway to heaven

Mikhail Vrubel

Milena Pavlović Barili

Yuima Nakazato

CEKAJ ME - ARSEN DEDIC ZORAN PREDIN (1989)

Zoran Predin & Matija Dedic

SONNY ROLLINS-St.TOMAS~~~DRAWINGS BY TAT ART VIDEO BY TAT

Russian Film Soundtrack Ruthless Romance 1984Пономарёва Валентина "А на последок я скажу"

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Prijateljstvo sa van Gogom

Kraj života

Predstavljanja u filmovima [uredi - уреди]

Slow Blues ~ Jimi Hendrix

Moravian elegy & Joel Cooper-origami

ŠTO TE NEMA (Aleksa Šantic)

New techniques

1095 × 781 - ibiblio.org