Waitin' for the Weekend

"Born in Brazil," a male-nude drawing demonstration by artist Douglas Simonson:

-----

New State Portraits in Buckingham Palace

A look at the two new portraits of the King and Queen, as well as others from past reigns.

-----

Waitin' for the Weekend: Art Lesson

Is it art or anatomy?  You decide.

-----

Coronation Invitation

 The invitations for the Coronation are splendid:

Click to enlarge.

According to Buckingham Palace:

The invitation for the Coronation has been designed by Andrew Jamieson, a heraldic artist and manuscript illuminator whose work is inspired by the chivalric themes of Arthurian legend. Mr Jamieson is a Brother of the Art Workers’ Guild, of which The King is an Honorary Member.

The original artwork for the invitation was hand-painted in watercolour and gouache, and the design will be reproduced and printed on recycled card, with gold foil detailing. Central to the design is the motif of the Green Man, an ancient figure from British folklore, symbolic of spring and rebirth, to celebrate the new reign. The shape of the Green Man, crowned in natural foliage, is formed of leaves of oak, ivy and hawthorn, and the emblematic flowers of the United Kingdom. 

As a help to my fellow Americans, those emblematic flowers are the Tudor rose for England, the thistle for Scotland, the shamrock for (Northern) Ireland, and the daffodil for Wales - though for some strange reason, the Welsh much prefer the humble, inartistic leek.  Go figure.

More than 2,000 invited guests will attend the Coronation service on May 6 in Westminster Abbey.

Bonus:  Your Head Trucker's spies - who are everywhere - have found evidence that the King himself as a wee lad of 4-and-a-half received an invitation to his royal mama's Coronation in 1953 - and isn't it marvelous:

Click to enlarge.

Prince Charles at the 1953 Coronation, seated between his grandmama
and Aunt Margaret.

-----

The Crucifixion by Velazquez

Good Friday

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

Cristo crucificado, Digeo Velazquez, 1632.

Polish countertenor Jakub Josef Orlinski performs the poignant 23rd movement from Handel's Messiah:

Fr. Christopher Whitehead offers a brilliant meditation upon this painting in the second part of the video below:

Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us

for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become

subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus

Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human

nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the

God and Father of all.

He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself,

in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole

world.

-- The Book of Common Prayer

-----

The Audacity of Christian Art

A playlist from the National Gallery of Art, London, with a trailer and 8 short episodes discussing styles and techniques of various Renaissance painters.

 

-----

Groovin' with the Greeks

Ancient Greek rocker auditioning for Athenian Idol

Have you ever wondered what ancient Greek music sounded like?  I did - but we were told in Music Appreciation 101, which I took at only a slightly later point in history, that it was impossible to know because (1) they had no tape recorders back then, and (2) they couldn't be arsed to write down the scores.  So I gave up wondering and focused my mind on more pressing mysteries, like modern poetry and passing that damn algebra class.

But it is a true saying that in the unending cycles of Time, all things old are new again, eventually.  Point 1 above remains true, so far as present knowledge goes, but Point 2 apparently was misinformation.

For lo and behold, now comes an Oxford professor who believes - nay, asserts unequivocally - that here at the end of all the ages, he has unlocked the musical sounds of antiquity for us to enjoy.  And perhaps he has.  Here is a truly fascinating video he made recently that will give you an earful of ancient Greek chart-toppers:



I am no musician, so in my ignorance, I dare not presume to comment on the technical aspects of this rediscovered music. But no doubt it will soon be heard on American Top 40, and why not? Sounds no worse than the other stuff the younger generation dotes on these days. I can't wait till Ancient Greece: The Musical arrives on Broadway. With roller skates and laser lights, no doubt.

Rockin' out!

Apparently some kind of bagpipe player with a rather peculiar tether string

Won't you take me to Funky Town?

Party dude came home singing from the drinking contest, helped by his handy servant boy who holds up an empty wine jug for Papi to pee in.
I'm not making this up.

Old goat making his move on a handsome flute player -
"Here, let me teach you how to blow it."

I Reckon They DO!

A few weeks ago, amidst a discussion of what I call Southern Standard English, my dear old British chum Tim roused himself from the languors of life on the Costa del Sol to contradict your Head Trucker on a point of English usage: to wit, whether the verb to reckon, in the sense of "suppose," is or is not still in everyday use by the inhabitants of the United Kingdom.

I was, I need hardly tell you fellas, much distressed at having gotten this wrong, according to Tim, a native speaker and stalwart Man of Kent who ought to know about such things. I have at one time or another taken some pains to inform myself about all manner of niceties of the Queen's English, and I could scarcely believe I had been so self-deluded.

But I was not, and I have the incontrovertible proof in hand: if you have half a minute to spare, boys, kindly direct your attention to the following marks in these episodes of the endlessly fascinating BBC art-investigation series Fake or Fortune? - one of the regulars of which is the eminent art historian Bendor Grosvenor (B.A., Camb.; Ph.D., E. Ang.) - a scion of the Dukes of Westminster, as anyone could guess by his heraldic name alone - whom I reckon no one could accuse of having an incorrect, or even an inelegant vocabulary.

Please listen for just a moment to him saying "I reckon" at about the 5:15 mark of this 2014 episode on a work by Gainsborough, and again at 5:30:




And likewise at about the 25:15 mark of this 2012 episode on a work by Van Dyck.




Presenter Fiona Bruce says it at about 2:00 in this episode on a work by Winslow Homer:




And ceramics expert David Battle uses the verb in the interrogative at about 3:45 in this clip from Antiques Roadshow:

I. Rest. My. Case.

Sunday Drive: Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

I believe this video is mistitled, as the interior of this church, while quite nice, lacks the fan vaulting of St. George's Chapel, Windsor.  Nevertheless, the congregation does a lively job with this venerable hymn of thanksgiving.




And while we're here in church today, do have a look at the fascinating, long-lost painting of Da Vinci's that was auctioned off at Christie's in New York last week for $450 million dollars. Surely the purchaser will have the charity and good sense to lend or give it to one of the great museums of the world. I mean, you could hardly stick something as exquisite as this - with that price tag - over your living room couch, could you?

Salvator Mundi, by Leonardo da Vinci
(click to enlarge)

Today's Quote

From a "subway therapy" DIY art installation in New York City;
see a gallery of other Post-it notes at The Guardian.

A World of Art: The Metropolitan Museum

A thoughtful, fascinating history and tour of one of the world's greatest museums:

Asinine Art

The serene neoclassical facades of the Place Vendome in Paris are now surrounding a giant inflatable sculpture, which American artist Paul McCarthy has entitled Tree.



More on the story here.

Enlightenment and Beauty

A few minutes of quiet pleasure from the Frick Collection:

The Boy Who Loved Beauty

Magnolia and Irises, Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1908.

A PBS biography of Louis Comfort Tiffany, the prolific artist and designer - his story about "the boy who loved beauty," starting around the 43:35 mark, is particularly revealing, I think:




If you don't have time for the whole documentary, this brief summary of his work from Tiffany & Co., founded by Louie's dad, may pique your interest:




Also worth a quick look: a small collection of gorgeous Tiffany lamps and windows on Flickr.

Waitin' for the Weekend

All right boys, it's time you peckerwoods got your minds out of the gutter and learned you some culture - like with this here little clip advertising the Masculine/Masculine exhibit currently on view over at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.  France, that is, not Texas.

And don't worry - there's enough, um, exhibited here to get your weekend started right. Use the full screen so you can catch all the details.

The World's Most Expensive Paintings

An eye-opening documentary nicely presented by a very truckable personable young Brit.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Oh dear.  How would you go about restoring a broken vahze from the Queen's living room?  Not to worry - senior conservator David Wheeler of the Royal Collection shows how, in this the first of five short episodes:



Watch the rest of the episodes at The Royal Channel on YouTube.

Browsing the Met

Elijah Boardman, 1789, by Ralph Earl.
Click to enlarge.


Last week I discovered that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has an online browsing feature where you can while away an afternoon or evening exploring their many and varied treasures from all over the world.  I highly recommend it.

This portrait from the Met's American collection is one I have seen before, and I like it a lot.  For one thing, unlike some colonial painters, this one is a master of realistic portraiture; and for another thing, the subject is quite a handsome fellow, don't you think, guys?

There's also a subtle trompe-l'oeil effect at work here, which is ingenious. Can you spot it?

Below the jump, a few more random pieces from the Met that caught my eye today; but do go make your own discoveries.  What a wonder to be living in an age when you can enjoy so many beautiful things without having to make a long journey - or even change out of your pj's.

Gay Art Comes Out at the National Portrait Gallery

Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture was on exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D. C., earlier this year.  Here's an overview:



From the description at the Smithsonian website:

This is the first major museum exhibition to focus on sexual difference in the making of modern American portraiture. “Hide/Seek” considers such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern America; how artists explored the fluidity of sexuality and gender; how major themes in modern art—especially abstraction—were influenced by social marginalization; and how art reflected society’s evolving and changing attitudes toward sexuality, desire, and romantic attachment.

The exhibition begins with late nineteenth-century works by Thomas Eakins and John Singer Sargent and charts the twentieth century with major works by such American masters such as Romaine Brooks, Marsden Hartley, and Georgia O’Keeffe. The exhibition arcs through the postwar period with major paintings by Agnes Martin, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol. It continues through the end of the twentieth century with works by Keith Haring, AA Bronson, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres about life, love and death during the AIDS crisis, and charts the vigorous reassertion of lesbian and gay civil rights in the twenty-first.

Jonathan David Katz, co-curator of the exhibit, continued the discussion with a focus on one particular work that your Head Trucker likes a lot: Paul Cadmus's 1947 painting, What I Believe:

Just one more: your Head Trucker thinks you will like another by Cadmus from 1931, Reclining Nude Reading Ulysses:

Sure works for me, how about you, boys?

Eustace Tilley Contest

"Madame X" by Claire B. Cotts


The New Yorker is advertising for submissions to its annual contest to re-interpret the magazine's famous dandified mascot, who appeared on the very first cover in 1925, a cover that has been reprinted every year since.


1925 cover by the magazine's art director, Rea Irvin, who based it
on an 1834 portrait of Alfred, Comte d'Orsay, show below



Details and galleries of past entries are located here.  Below are a few recent winners that your Head Trucker finds amusing.  Any artists among Blue Truck readers who care to give it a shot?

"Ode on a Grecian Tilley" by Michael Clayton

"Tilleyangelo" by Tim Lemire

"Tillo Marx" by Noah Diamond

"A Dandy Map of New York" by Dave Hoerlein