Friday, November 13, 2009

Friday Art

GR&DF we are at the end of another week. With a mere 13 days left until Thanksgiving .... and then hard on the heels of turkey day we have Christmas - it seems that the older I get the quicker these few Autumnal months speed by. I really haven't any stitchinty snappers today as I am trying valiantly to get my exchange commitments finished and then into the mail before in the next week or so.

Instead of stitching lets talk art - and let us focus on the American Hudson River School of the19th century. Although he has been lumped into this group his paintings often were painted far from the Hudson River Valley. The artist I am talking about is Martin Johnson Heade. His paintings are well know for a couple of things - beautiful and tumultuous landscapes or the salt marshes of New England and scrumptious South American scenes full of orchids and humming birds.


Cattleya Orchid and Three Brazilian Hummingbirds, 1871
National Gallery of Art

I have seen a quite few Heade's and they are even more lovely in person. Usually on the smallish side they glow with colour and verge on the erotic. He spent lots winters in St Augustine , Florida, where he eventually married and settled down to live. In the last decade of his life it was in St Augustine where he painted many floral pieces especially magnolias. It was the magnolia that in 2004 the US Post office choose to represent him on a stamp -

Giant Magnolias on a Blue Velvet Cloth, 1890
National Gallery of art

Thanks again for the comments on Wednesday post I really enjoyed hearing from you all.
Have a great weekend!!

Take care,
edgar

9 comments:

  1. I love how the huge pink orchid just pops out of the painting, and the magnolia stamp is beautiful.

    Enjoy your weekend Edgar!

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  2. My DH loves the Hudson River School of Painters. Nice, since we live in the Hudson Valley. :D He would probably know this artist. Beautiful paintings! Thanks for showing them. Good luck with the exchanges!

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  3. Edgar, Thanks so much for the introduction to Heade - lovely.

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  4. What lovely art. I will look at more of his work. In Memphis we have a showing from Puerto Rico that I am planning to see soon. There are some old Master and others, but I will certainly look for this man also.

    Mary in Tennessee

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  5. Y'know it just occurred that it's hard to render flowers without them seeming erotic....because they are. :D

    Thanks for sharing.

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  6. What a fun and interesting blog entry. Beautiful paintings, thanks, Edgar.

    Lancy

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  7. I love it that you show us other things apart from cross stitch and you make me look into the Internet and get to know artists or movies that I had never heard before.Thank you!Ariadne from Greece.

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  8. Some beautiful paintings there! Just to add to your grumblings, I would say there should definitley be a choice for the purchaser. Some charts I prefer kitted up as they have so many diff bits and pieces in there and it would be expensive to buy them separately but I tend to buy just charts now. However, one example is a Shepherd's Bush chart I want. I am going to have to order from the US so I can get it kitted up and the fact they don't sell the kind of charts I want from them over here - nightmare. Blah blah blah, I'm grumbling too. x

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