June 2007
06/18/2007
Pan Yuliang
Pan Yuliang [1895-1977]
Pan Yuliang led a remarkable life. Her parents died when she was very
young, and her uncle sold her to a brothel when she was just 14. Seven
years later, a customs official bought her freedom. Pan then went
Shanghai Art School and later studied in France where she lived most of the
rest of her
life. Although her colorful and sensuous work won international recognition, her nude
paintings were called "depraved" in China in the 1930s. If she had she stayed in
China during the
Cultural Revolution, the Maoist robot scum certainly would have destroyed
the memory of Pan Yuliang and
her "Bathing" paintings. In 1994, the
movie Hua hun was made of Pan's
life story starring
Gong Li. I found the American titled version of
the film A Soul Haunted by Painting on Netflix, but I haven't had a
chance to see it yet. Hopefully, I will see it later this week. Also, I found a
few more of Pan's paintings at this site. If you know of any
additional archives or articles, please add them to the comments section.
Mum and Woman's Body
Self Portrait of Pan Partying in Paris
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06/11/2007
Publishers' Bindings
Galleries
This is an interesting collection of book binding covers from 1815 to 1930
organized in categories, e.g.,
Japonisme,
Louisa May Alcott
and
Art Nouveau.
You're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover, but if I saw either of
the two books below, I'd buy them just for the cover art!
Daughters of Nijo (1904)
by Onoto Wantanna
Lulu's Library (1886)
by Louisa May Alcott
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Things to
Come
This site has a remarkable collection of memorabilia from the 1936 movie Things
to Come, which was written by H. G. Wells. I like the
Photo and
Public Materials
Galleries best. Lot's large scans.
La Vida Futura
Things To Come
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Eugenio
Recuenco (Neurastenia)
This photographer is very talented indeed. His
Shanghai Tang calendar shots really capture the style of those beautiful
old Art Deco posters from Shanghai.
Shanghai Tang Miss January (2006)
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Marie-Guillemine Benoist's Beautiful Portrait
This is a fascinating and tantalizing painting by French neoclassical artist
Marie-Guillemine
Benoist. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be many of her
images available on the Internet. I also liked Amy Crehore's painting
The Cat's Passenger used the image from the Portrait d'une négresse (below) riding on a big
cat.
Portrait d'une négresse (1800)
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Eve Overlooking The Garden
This is an interesting collection of poetry and images by Lotusgreen.
Mums by Kunisada?
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Femke Hiemstra
I like these are pretty zany and imaginative illustrations and paintings
from the Netherlands. However,
Lucky the Cat is a little too weird even for me! ;-)
Cooky
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06/04/2007
Evelyn De Morgan
[Bio
1855-1919]
Evelyn De Morgan was an English Pre-Raphaelite painter. Evelyn painted
Flora (below) featuring her favorite model, the stunningly beautiful Jane
Hales. Flora was strongly influenced by
Botticelli's
Primavera and was even painted in Florence. I think Jane Hales
would also be a perfect model for the
Birth of
Venus, with her turned head and long neck.
Flora (2002)
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Taiso Yoshitoshi [Bio
1839–1892]
I have blogged Yoshitoshi before, but yesterday I went to an
exhibit of his 100
of his woodblock prints at the
Asian
Art Museum in San Francisco, and I was very impressed. It was great to see his
colorful artwork
close up and read the curator's comments describing each illustration.
Unlike his famous
Ukiyo-e
counterparts, who focused mainly on scenery (Hiroshige and Hokusai) or
beauties (Utamaro), Yoshitoshi's depicted some the strangest folktales
and characters from Japanese history.
Mount Yoshino Midnight-moon:
Iga no Tsubone (1885-92)
For selected images and links to several Yoshitoshi archives, click the link
below.
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East Asia Ads (Tea Time)
This is a great collection of mostly Japanese ads from the 20s, 30s, 40s,
50s. Several of these ads feature the Japanese movie actress of the 40s and
50s the beautiful
Setsuko
Hara, who played the "eternal virgin" in
Ozu's Noriko Trilogy. She was also considered the ideal woman by
both Japanese men and women during her reign in the golden age of
Japanese cinema.
Setsuko Hara in a Crème de Lait Ad
A Japanese Flapper in a
20s Screen and Stage Ad
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Kay Ruane
I like this figurative artist's style. In particular, I love untitled
portrait below.
Untitled (2004)
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Lisa Clague
These whimsical sculptures are great. Whatever you're smoking Lisa,
could you send me a lid? ;-)
Untitled
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Julie Heffernan
Self Portrait at Subject (2007)
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