Museum of Fine Arts Japanese New Year's
Postcards
This is my last (but not least) set of cards from the MFA's wonderful
Japanese postcard collection. There are 837 images which match new
year's postcard, and these are some of my favorites from the different
style postcards, e.g., Art Deco, Art Nouveau, etc. BTW, the Japanese
celebrate New Year's
on January 1
and have been doing so since 1873.
Young Girl in Geometric Patterned Kimono
Sanzo Monk from Rekishi shashin (1917)
Woman Playing Koto from The Series The Culture of New Year's (Oshogatsu
fuzoku)
Abroad - From Berlin’s Hole of Forgottenness, a Spell of Songs
I thought this article from today's NY Times was a nice inspirational story
to read on Christmas day about a real human survivor -
Bruno Schleinstein. Bruno, who was
abandoned as a small child and lived in an orphanage, managed to learn several musical instruments
along the way and
was a part-time Berlin street musician.
After appearing in a 1970
documentary, he was discovered by German New Wave film director
Werner Herzog. Herzog cast Bruno
as the star of two of his movies:
The
Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) and
Stroszek (1977).
I saw both of those movies when they came out much later in the 1990s on DVD.
It was clear in the movies that Bruno was carrying a lot of mental baggage,
probably from those terrible early years he spent alone in institutions.
Here's a clip from Stroszek showing Bruno S. performing in a real Berlin
neighborhood. In the NYT article, there is a also a recent video
link of Bruno playing his instruments.
Bruno S. Performing In Stroszek
After the release of these two movies, Bruno S. dropped off the media
map.
It was very inspirational to see that the resilient Bruno S. was
still playing his music (and creating his artwork) in Berlin at age 76.
You go, Bruno!
Boston MFA - Geisha Postcards And Prints
The Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) has a treasure trove of vintage
Japanese imagery. Since I'm off for the rest of the year, I've had
some time to search through their wonderful collection. The images
I selected were based primary on the non-master print makers that I am
familiar with the exception of Eishôsai Chôki and Kitao Shigemasa. I have blogged Utamaro, Harunobu,
Yoshitoshi, etc. many times before. Therefore, most of these images
I had not seen before. Anyway, here's my favorites.
Geisha with Umbrella, Artist Unknown
Geisha, Terasaki Kôgyô
Geisha, Artist Unknown
The Geisha Tomino of Sumiyoshiya and Her Attendant Nui,
Eishôsai Chôki
The Geisha Otake, Koganei Jinnei
Woman Holding an Insect Cage and Woman Playing the Shakuhachi,
Kitao
Shigemasa
Fats Waller - Joint is Jumping[Lyrics]
This video is a little grainy, but it's always nice to see any film
featuring the great Fats Waller, especially one of his big hits.
Gene Kelly & Cyd
Charisse - Broadway Melody Ballet (Singin' in the Rain)
I watched Singin' in the Rain last week for the first time.
In addition to
Gene Kelly's legendary performance, the wonderful
cinematography and set design, I was very impressed with this sexy Cyd
Charisse dance number. What a babe. Although Debbie Reynolds'
hair style and outfits seem quite dated now, Cyd Charisse in her green
dress and long beautiful legs could wow any modern dance floor or stage.
Takehisa Yumeji at the MFAYumeji Museum
blog 1 and Yumeji Museum blog 2
Takehisa Yumeji is one of my favorite Japanese artists. I love his
colors and delicate female beauties. He was also a
poet early in
his career, but he knew he could never make money as a poet.
Although his painting were unorthodox for his time, his works were
popular with the public, and he was fairly prolific. Unfortunately,
he died when he was only 49 in 1934.
MFA Boston:
Japanese Postcard Collection Highlights
I've blogged a link to MFA collection of Japanese postcards over four
years ago, but the MFA has recently added this Flash of their collection
highlights. The 98 postcards exhibited are simply beautiful.
The MFA actually has over 20,000 postcards in their main collection,
which is an unbelievable treasure trove of turn of the century Japanese
artwork. Here is the
non-Flash version. They must have the largest collection
of Japanese artwork outside of Japan. I will be blogging more Japanese
artwork from the MFA in next few days and weeks. So
stay tuned.
Leadbelly - Where
Did you Sleep Last Night - [Lyrics]
Folk Blues songs really don't get any better that this one. It's
truly a great song by the blues and folk legend Leadbelly. I also
included Nirvana's cover tribute below.
Zhang Zhen
These are very nice figurative paintings from the Shanghai artist Zhang
Zhen, according to this
article
about her:
Zhang Zhen was selected in 2007 as one of China’s top 25 emerging artists
by a prestigious panel of art critics, including the curator of the Asian
Art Museum in the USA, Jeff Kelley, and the director of Art Cologne,
Gerard Goodrow. Zhang's paintings are private and sensual, yet magically
dreamlike at the same time.
mica12244art's
Photostream
Mica just keeps posting all of these wonderful vintage art images that
she finds. Great eye candy!
Out of the Blue
Goddard Pinup Egyptian Princess
[
]
Kyotonils' Photostream
via
Alive in Kyoto
There are some very nice colorful Fall images from Kyoto. I have to
go back there some time and spend about a month or two.
Doc
Watson - 1991 - Deep River Blues (Solo Live) [Lyrics]
I saw Doc Watson and his son play a long time ago at the
Canterbury House
in Ann Arbor. They were excellent. My hope is that some day
that acoustical music like this will make a big comeback. You can
have all of this American Idol nonsense!
Audrey Hepburn - Gap
Commercial (2006)
As I have said before, Audrey Hepburn is the most beautiful actress that
I have ever seen. I've been watching a lot of her old movies
lately, but I still haven't seen Funny Face from which these images of
Audrey were ripped. BTW, I never had seen this commercial
before either.
