For Flanders ...

Remember ...?



Ay Marieke ...!

Claude who ...?

Enjoy ... while I try to get my Internet connection restored ... oh, the blessings of technology!

Cuba Has No Jailed Dissidents

Art Daily: "¡CUBA! - A Voyage through This Island's Art and History, from 1868 to Today"

Organized and presented by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from January 31 to June 8, 2008, ¡Cuba! Art and History from 1868 to Today, which brings together some 400 works of art, will be the first exhibition to showcase the art of this Caribbean island, which Christopher Columbus described as “the most beautiful land eyes have ever seen.”

Thanks to the involvement of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Fototeca de Cuba, and the collaboration of many collectors and museums in the United States, including the MoMA, this exhibition will draw a broad panorama of Cuban art and history.(...) >>>

She's back ...!

On 21st December we reported on her abduction from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil. We are very happy to say today that ... Picasso's "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" is back:


Art Daily: "Brazilian Police Recover Stolen Picasso and Portinari"

Brazilian police have recovered the two paintings, a Picasso paintings and a work by Candido Portinari that were stolen last month from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art. The police also arrested two suspects. The works are valued at around $56 million and were found in Sao Paulo. Pablo Picasso’s "Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" is estimated to be worth 50 million dollars, and "The Coffee Worker" by Brazil's Candido Portinari, estimated at nearly six million dollars. Neither of them had insurance. (...) >>>

- Caption: Candido Portinari (1903 - 1962), "The Coffee Worker" -

Just listen ...

No good video is available for "Blue in Green"... who cares? ...

Midweek Entertainment

This week's entertainment comes to you from a musical comedy by Hans Liberg. It's a little bit dated, containing allusions to a diaper (nappy) commercial campaign that focused at the time on the physical boy/girl distinctions and its consequences for the nappy design industry. Neverthess ... enjoy!

The Great Impression!

ArtDaily: "Sotheby's February Impressionist & Modern Art Sale"

Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern art in London on Tuesday, February 5 will bring to the market major works by many of the leading names in the field – among them Picasso, Jawlensky, Sisley, Monet, Cézanne, Renoir and Franz Marc. Together with the rest of the series of sales, they carry a combined estimate in excess of £100 million, making this among the highest value series of sales Sotheby’s has ever staged in Europe. ... >>>

- Caption: lot 72, Raoul Dufy (1877-1953): "Le Casino" -

Here's the catalogue "Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale". The details of the auction are as follows:

Auction Date: 5 Feb 08, 6:30 PM
Location: London, New Bond Street

Don't get confused: a day later the following auction takes place: catalogue "Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper".

Auction Date: 6 Feb 08, 10:00 AM
Location: London, New Bond Street

- Caption: lot 125, Pablo Picasso (1881-1973): "La Fenêtre à St Raphaël. Carte d'invitation" -

"Naima"

More gorgeous fruits from the tree of "objective subjectivism". John Coltrane live in 1965 with "Naima". Regretably the names of the other musians are lost in the mist of time ...

Open letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown

In recent days we have been posting on the plight of Lionheart.

Euro-Med (bless them) have now come up with the following initiative!

We kindly request the readership to follow suit and send an email to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The link to the email form on the site on Downing St. 10 is here.



Mr. Prime Minister
Gordon Brown

As I see from several blogs (Gates of Vienna, Politically Incorrect and others) a warrant for an arrest has been issued against a Christian British blogger, who uses the pseudonym "Lionheart". As far as I can see from his blog, all he has done is to bring the truth about Islam - as it it is written in the Quran and the Hadith. And as we see it described every day in our MSM. I am a Dane, and we Danes have had a very high opinion of the UK and its democracy ever since World War 2. We were liberated by British forces after 5 years of German nazi-occupation.

Today many Danes are beginning to see the UK as an equivalent to a dictatorship, which your fathers so gallantly fought. The repression of the right of free expression as demonstrated in the case of Lionheart has sparked deep surprise - even contempt with many Danes. Please, change this new British Image. Stop this insane persecution of Lionheart and others who tell the truth about the Islamic occupation - and about any other kind of undemocratic behaviour.

Respectfully

Anders Bruun laursen
former Consultant Ophthalmologist
Toftevej 3
DK-4140 Borup

New Year's Resolution? We Help You Kick the Habit!

At Politeia: (...) the smoking habit is supposedly one of the hardest things to do, until one realises that the stories surrounding smoking and the associated withdrawal symptoms are just myths.

The debunking of these myths - erected on the one hand by the promotional policies of the tobacco companies, and on the other by the victim-based legal industry - is about eighty percent of the work of nicotine 'rehab' (...)

Smoking today does nothing for your public image, nor does it settle the nerves, or assist concentration. Smoking paves both the pulmonary system and the teeth with tar, causes cancer, and stinks.

Kicking the habit on the other hand leads to a better health and freedom from addiction, not to mention the relief - wow! - of being able to sit through an entire meeting without having to balance the prevailing weather conditions against the intensity of 'the urge'! (...)

Is your New Year's resolution to kick the habit and regain control over your own actions? (...) the beauty of the reality method is, that it doesn't involve will-power. (...)

Keep the above in mind, and above all - ignoring the urge isn't lethal! (...) If health issues are at stake, do not delay (...)

Good luck! And by all means, drop us a line if you think it may help.

Read it all and regain control over your life >>>

So What ...?!

I'll tell you what! Whereas subjectivism in ethically mutually exclusive areas leads to doom and destruction, and is thus a gigantic No-No, this video shows that in art subjectivism can go a long way, as long as rooted in objectivism!

A happy cooperation and a funny Universe ... more from this collection next weekend, and the one after that ...

For now here are Miles David and John Coltrane with "So What" from the most famous jazz album of all time, "Kind of Blue"...

A Van Gogh Treasure for a Greek Partisan's Daughter

The daughter of a Greek World War II resistance fighter, writer Doretta Peppa has come into an unique inheritance: a sketchbook said to contain early original drawings belonging to Dutch impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890).

The portfolio - lost since World War I - is thought to date back to 1880, the year Van Gogh enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art in Brussels.

The as yet unauthenticated notebook has been kept in an Athens bank vault since appropriated by the Greek resistance during Nazi occupation. It was accompanied by a photo of Van Gogh. The confiscation allegedly took place during a raid on a Nazi supply train as the Germans pulled out.

Sketches and drawings contained in the notebook are early studies of masterpieces "The Potato Eaters" (1885) and a version of "Portrait of Père Tanguy" (1887).

Greek law recognizes Mrs Peppa as the owner of the notebook. She said she thinks the rare portfolio might sell for more than $5 million at auction. It's an inheritance from my father and no one asked for it," she told The Telegraph. "It's mine."

The Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said to get quite a few requests for authentication from people who believe they own a work by Vincent Van Gogh.


- Caption: Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), Portrait of Père Tanguy (1887-8) -

Exceptional Beauty and Outstanding Merit

Artdaily: "Acquisitions at the Barber Institute, 1991-2007"

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham (UK), presents Exceptional Beauty and Outstanding Merit: Acquisitions at the Barber Institute, 1991–2007, on view through 20 January 2008. More than eighty masterpieces have been purchased for the Barber Institute’s collection by the Trustees during the last seventeen years, under the directorship of Richard Verdi. (...)

This exhibition, which takes its title from Lady Barber’s vision, enshrined in the founding Trust Deed of 1932, celebrates these outstanding acquisitions and features all the newly acquired paintings and sculpture. Alongside these will be a representative group of the works on paper by artists including Pietro da Cortona, Matisse and Egon Schiele. It is accompanied by an explanatory gallery leaflet and a series of lectures. >>>


Caption: Henri Matisse (1869-1954), La leçon de musique, 1917

Supporting the Troops!

A Hearty Thanks and a Very Happy New Year
to the Troops and their Families,
in particular the boys and girls of the
Dutch/Ozy NATO contingent in Uruzgan!

The Picasso Comprehensive

Artdaily: "Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture, A Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue"

Picasso's Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings and Sculpture, A Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue 1885-1973 will be published in January 2008 by Alan Wofsy Fine Arts LLC.

This series of catalogues, directed by the late Herschel Chipp and Alan Wofsy, is the most comprehensive on the master’s work yet published. (...) Each volume contains an overview introduction and a chronology of the period (...) titles in English and French (Spanish and Catalan for the early years); date and place of creation, when known; dimensions of the work; location (...) a bibliography of works that are cited; and concordances to Zervos, the Musée Picasso, Paris, the Museu Picasso, Barcelona and other standard reference works >>>


Caption: Picasso, "Joie de Vivre", 1946

Another Giant Gone Missing ...

The Press Association: "Tributes pour in for Oscar Peterson"

Tributes have poured in for Oscar Peterson, whose early talent, speedy fingers and musical genius made him one of the world's best known and influential jazz pianists.

Peterson, 82, died from kidney failure at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga on Sunday, said Oliver Jones, a family friend and jazz musician. He said Peterson's wife and daughter were with him during his final moments.

Mississauga's mayor, Hazel McCallion, a "very close friend", said: "He's been going downhill in the last few months."

During an illustrious career spanning seven decades, Peterson played with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He is also remembered for the trio he led with Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar in the 1950s ... >>>

Here's Peterson in better times with the other Giant of Jazz, Count Basie. Martin Drew on drums and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass. Hat Tip The Spectator: "Oscar P meets Count B"

The Sokal Hoax of Art?

The People's Cube in The Current Truth on 28th of November were reporting on a myth shattering event which we regrettably missed at the time. Today, as the new year approaches, we seek to make amends. Is this the Sokal Hoax of art - the exposure of Pomo snobbery? Or evidence of an ancient Crime Against the People?

The People's Cube: "Classical Art Exposed as Hoax" - "Shockwaves are reverberating throughout the art world following the amazing discovery of abstract ancient Greek statues and paintings that resemble today's modern art and apparently are its long-lost forerunners."

"This finally proves my theory that the so-called 'aesthetically pleasing' 'classical art' with its 'proportions' and 'perfection' is a fraud and never really existed," says Columbia University professor Dan Browny. "It is a scientific fact now, that art has always been about a random grouping of disturbing shapes that required no special skills or training, and that intent is more important than result." >>>

- Caption: The Cup Bearer (2800-2200 B.C.) -

The 'abstract ancient Greek statues' are represented by so-called Cycladic art. I regret I have to disappoint Comrad Browny: it belongs to some of the very earliest human expressions of what could be termed Art in and of itself, and is very important. The Goulandris Museum has a fine collection on permanent display. Details. Article.

The abstract 'random grouping of disturbing shapes' is a important example of subjective creativity representing projections of the preconceptual level of consciousness, acting as - in no particular order - a Rorschach test, a Ouija board, or a latter day oracle.

Cycladic art on the other hand is an early, primitive, unsubsidized attempt at the creation of an objective representation of reality by the use of technical skills.

We can therefore conclude with some confidence that this is not an early case of vile middle class plagiarism of exalted Pomo expression - but on the contrary - evidence that as early as 3000 BC assaults were made on the proletariat by bourgeois servants of capitalism.

No wonder that ever since, the classes are having to cope with the emotional trauma imposed on them by reality! But we shall overcome! The struggle against facts goes on and will be won ... some day!

Dick Tracey Original: "Split Face" (1945)

Dick is faced with a series of brutal murders in which the victims, all from different social and economic backgrounds, are viciously slashed to pieces.

Suspects abound but Tracy, getting a clue that there will be fifteen murders in all, must find the common thread among the victims before more are killed.

Quote:

"I should have fallen in love with a retired business man!"

To watch "Split Face": click the pic ...