lily pond: art detective

yesterday i went through all 968 posts and put the label 'detective' on all of them that did what this post and yesterday's try to do. if you see any that should be marked, or unmarked, please let me know.

to the left and below we have the utamaro image that eventually may have cost him his freedom, and then his life. next the kunisada print, done perhaps in homage. we've seen them before. at the top, though, is a new one to me... apparently jail didn't stop utamaro.

i'll let you know if i find that bird again.

the red rose girls again impress us with their hip-ness, as elizabeth shippen green has volume 4 of artistic japan propping up the child's chessboard.

maybe some day i'll be able to id some of those other books. this one, i happened to have.

and manuel robbe does it again, though in the reference print, the other print is reversed!

i'm certain that many of his prints feature reference prints of his other works; i'll let you know if i figure any more.

i was realizing the other day that i seem to have passed into a different phase. i'm no longer hunting for that print by arthur wesley dow or bjo nordfeldt that i've never seen. there aren't any more.

but now my head is filled with files which allow this kind of connections to click in my brain. so to see some similar posts from earlier in the blog-life, click:

DETECTIVE

(and ps--i've got a lot more in the wings)

art detective

how i love to play detective. when i first saw the vallotton painting i thought i recognized the print on the wall. finally dug it up, it's by his compatriot, vuillard. i looked too at a similar print (the name of the painter of which i will fill in when i remember it!), but then i was so excited when i remembered which one it was.

the next one, i knew what it was imme- diately, but it took me a while to find it online. it's so cool when artists highlight other artists.



willcox does it again with william nicholson's book. (okay, i changed the cover to red, but why not?)

artists also fea- ture them- selves! willcox fea- tures an image from the book on the cover.


and manuel robbe has a woman perusing another of his own prints.







but what gives me a cool chill is knowing two of my favorite artists, at different times, sat in the exact same spot, and were each moved to paint it.














and this last is just a hoot: which came first, the poster mocking the women or the women mocking the poster?

oh silly me -- the poster is in the photo!

and only time to go

little rhyme or reason today, other than mystery and color,
and when are mystery and color not enough?

wishing to learn more about this wondrously surrounded verse (from the los angeles county museum collection) i came across an equally wondrous bookstore. (my suggestion? click everything.)

and here's a mystery: is an extraordinary print from one katherine h macdonald. gerrie ran this print back in august '10, which is the same image but clearly another print of it. i found it on an auction site in the UK. i probably went looking for her work after reading his blog, but the big question is.... why have neither of us been able to find anything by her of this level of quality and expertise?! (and only a bare few of lesser quality).

I ASK not riches, and I ask not power,
Nor in her revel rout shall Pleasure view
Me ever, — a far sweeter nymph I woo.
Hail, sweet Retirement!
lead me to thy bower,
Where fair Content has spread
her loveliest flower,
Of more enduring, though less gaudy hue,
Than Pleasure scatters to her giddy crew;
Nor let aught break upon thy sacred hour,
Save some true friend,
of pure congenial soul;
To such the latchet of my wicket-gate
Let me lift freely, glad to share the dole
Fortune allows me, whether small or great,
And a warm heart, that knows not the control
Of Fortune, and defies the frown of Fate.

Henry Francis Cary

want another mystery? so (found on ebay) who the heck is hoobey??! is this some name i made up because i didn't know hoo had done it? but it's quite nice, don't you think? [and we have a winner. the artist is John Hall Thorpe -- thanks, charles!]

and of course it's never a mystery why anyone would want more cuno amiet. his color falls like rain.

THE world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This sea that bares her bosom to the moon.
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. — Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea.
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreath'ed horn.

William Wordsworth 2

and if i may, a little mystery now: who's signature and work is this? i've had it in my files for almost three years now with nary a clue. (signature clarified for clarity.)

and at last perhaps a guess at my methods: in my last dream last night, this morning, everything suddenly went black and white!

and a one... and a two....