Velazquez gathers the superlatives of art historians, museum directors and connoisseurs. His history is available widely and shall not be examined here. What I am after is his technique and style of painting. For many years I have painted in the manner of a particular artist in order to understand what his or her art … Continue reading
Lavoisier succeeded in many areas of science. He is best known for his Law of Conservation of Matter and his experiments with oxygen. He also began a uniform system of measurement in France that we know now as the metric system. He also, with the help of others, initiated a system of chemical nomenclature, commenced … Continue reading
Do you remember your first inspiration? Not a fascination, but a true intoxication that leads to a direction, regardless of logic or absurdity; the beginnings of regret and sorrow or elation and spiritual awakening. These moments or fractured experiences that accumulate on the soul rarely become evident in full consciousness, but instead cruize the inward … Continue reading
Take two pills and call me in the morning. Instructions from a doctor or pharmacist or the musings of an artist? No prescription exists that can sweeten the labor of painting. Indeed, it is work, regardless of the satisfaction derived from the process and the final outcome. Painting has steps. Those steps, when deliberate and … Continue reading
Originally posted on Mid Century Modern Groovy… Pierre Balmain [1]Pierre Balmain was born in 1914 at Saint-Jean de Maurienne in France. His father was in the drapery business and his mother ran a fashion boutique with her sisters with the name, Galeries Parisiennes. He started early by studying architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts … Continue reading
Jewish history astonishes those who do not realize the length and scale of its scope. One might begin studying Moses leading his people out of Egypt in what is called the Exodus, receiving the Commandments, and wandering in the desert. Yet Jews have wandered as a result of oppression from ancient times to the present. … Continue reading
On July 26, 1581, independence issued forth among the Low Countries and a birth of freedom swept through the lands. The beginning acts of the Eighty Years War began to loosen the hold of Catholic dogmatism and repression. The influence of Philip II of Spain, a devout Catholic, faded and dissipated among the Calvinist Dutch, releasing … Continue reading
Artemisa Gentileschi was born into an artistic family in 1593. Her father, Orazio Gentileschi (1563 – 1639), was an accomplished painter who worked to decorate many major churches in Italy. His influence and training of Artemisia greatly determined her artistic direction. Yet Orazio, a follower of Caravaggio, spread his influence to Artemisia, and … Continue reading
When doing an Internet search for “Andy Warhol” the resultant list is most likely to include many images of the artist himself. Much like Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol (1928-87) was addicted to media attention, even if that attention required perverse or bizarre behavior. This is a pattern followed today of the insane, stupid (or combination … Continue reading
Mannerism and A Clockwork Orange Film is unique among the arts. Compared with the lyrical cave paintings of Lascaux or Altamira, film was invented only yesterday, its influences are those entirely of modernity. More significantly, the art of film-making is not the exclusive province of artisans employed by aristocracy, but the domain of artistic republicanism, relying on the … Continue reading
Howard Bosler Artist 