στην Ανάσα της Θάλασσας...

"Οι μεγάλοι ζωγράφοι, από τον Απελλή της αρχαιότητας ώσμε τον Picasso είπανε κουταμάρες.
Τα σωστά πράματα για τα χρώματα τα 'πανε κάτι έμποροι που τους τριγύριζαν.
Οι καλύτεροι δάσκαλοι είναι οι ζωγράφοι δίχως προσωπικότητα.
Η θάλασσα ...
Ο Turner ζωγράφισε την ανάσα της.
Πώς φαντάζεσαι το πράσινο χρώμα ρώτησα ένα κορίτσι τυφλό.
Πήρε ένα φύλλο ελιάς και το δάγκωσε.
Στυφό μου 'πε. Στυφό ...
Το κόκκινο, ρώτησα δειλά.
Το κόκκινο μου αποκρίθηκε το βλέπω. Μονάχα το κόκκινο.
Ο βλάκας εγώ νόμιζα πως γνωρίζει μοναχά το μαύρο.
Δύσκολο χρώμα το μαύρο.
Ο Δημήτρης λατρεύει το μαύρο. Κι εγώ. ..."

Απόσπασμα από γράμμα του Ν. Καββαδία στη Νίκη Καραγάτση, ζωγράφο και σύζυγο του αγαπημένου του φίλου Δημήτρη Καραγάτση (Μίτια)  στις 5/6/1953

Στον Σ.Μ με ευχές για πολλά Α και Χρόνια Πολλά
Μ.

in the Turkish Literature

The time that can be called contemporary in Turkish literature falls in the period between the middle of the 20th century and the first years of the new millennium. Throughout this period many changes in literary discourse have occurred. Together with the fall of the Ottoman Empire and foundation of the Turkish Republic brought a different way to Turkish literature together with the effect of Westernization on Turkish writers. The literature of the new republic emerged largely from the pre-independence National Literature movement, with its roots simultaneously in the Turkish folk tradition and in the Western notion of progress. One important change to Turkish literature was enacted in 1928, when Mustafa Kemal initiated the creation and dissemination of a modified version of the Latin alphabet to replace the Arabic-based Ottoman script. Over time, this change—together with changes in Turkey's system of education— would lead to more widespread literacy in the country. In 1950s, Turkish authors started to write in the tone of their western contemporaries bringing a new sense of literature to the country.

All of the salient aspects of Turkish life, politics and culture have found their direct or indirect expression in poetry, fiction, and drama, as well as in critical and scholarly writing. The themes and concerns have included nationalism, social justice, search for modernity. Westernization, revival of folk culture, economic and technological progress, human dignity, mysticism, pluralistic society, human rights and fundamental freedoms, democratic ideals, Ataturkism, Turanism, Marxist-Lenist ideology, revival of Islam, humanism in fact all aspect and components of contemporary culture found a voice in literature.

All stages of modern Turkish history (reforms under Atatürk, 1923-38; consolidation under Inonu, 1938-59; democracy under Menderes, 1950-60) have been marked by the thrust of literary modernization. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the most vital debate of Turkish literature has been between the proponents of art for art's sake and the advocates of commitment to realism and social causes. Mustafa Kemal in a conversation that took place in 1921, about two years before he proclaimed the Republic, exhorted the 19 years old Nazim Hikmet, already a famous poet, who would soon embrace the communist ideology and influence the course of modern Turkish literature, particularly poetry, more profoundly than anyone else. Since 1950, there has been a massive output, in all genres, depicting the plight of the lumpen proletariat. But surrealism, neosymbolism, theater of the absurd, stream of consciousness, hermeticism, black comedy and so on have also flourished.

Manet's painterly style

Music in the Tuileries is an early example of Manet's painterly style. Inspired by Hals and Velázquez, it is a harbinger of his life-long interest in the subject of leisure.

While the picture was regarded as unfinished by some, the suggested atmosphere imparts a sense of what the Tuileries gardens were like at the time; one may imagine the music and conversation.

Α major early work is The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l'herbe). The Paris Salon rejected it for exhibition in 1863 but he exhibited it at the Salon des Refusés (Salon of the Rejected) later in the year. Emperor Napoleon III had initiated The Salon des Refusés after the Paris Salon rejected more than 4,000 paintings in 1863.

The painting's juxtaposition of fully-dressed men and a nude woman was controversial, as was its abbreviated, sketch-like handling, an innovation that distinguished Manet from Courbet. At the same time, Manet's composition reveals his study of the old masters, as the disposition of the main figures is derived from Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving of the Judgement of Paris (c. 1515) based on a drawing by Raphael.

Two additional works that are cited by scholars as important precedents for Le déjeuner sur l'herbe are Pastoral Concert (c. 1510, The Louvre) and The Tempest (Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice), both of which are attributed variously to Italian Renaissance masters Giorgione or Titian. The Tempest is an enigmatic painting that features a fully-dressed man and a nude woman in a rural setting. The man is standing to the left and gazing to the side, apparently at the woman, who is seated and is breastfeeding a baby; the relationship between the two figures is unclear.[4] In Pastoral Concert, two clothed men and a nude woman are seated on the grass, engaged in music making, while a second nude woman stands beside them.

The Hand of God

The Hand of God, modeled ca. 1896, this marble executed ca. 1907
Auguste Rodin (French, 1840–1917)
Marble
H. 29 in. (73.7 cm)
Gift of Edward D. Adams, 1908 (08.210)

Toward the end of his career, Rodin began to use giant hands in a series of original and idiosyncratic arrangements, with titles such as The Hand of God, The Hand of the Devil (1903), The Cathedral (1908), and The Secret (ca. 1910). The first of these represents divine creation expressed in terms of the sculptor's art: the rough stone is both primeval matter and the sculptor's medium; the smooth, white emerging forms held by the hand are the bodies of the first man and woman, while the great, life-giving hand itself is a symbol of the original Creator, and, perhaps quite literally, of the sculptor as well. The Hand of God was another of Rodin's works that has had wide appeal, and there are numerous versions of it, both in marble and in bronze. This marble was commissioned from Rodin in 1906 by one of the Metropolitan Museum's trustees.

Related

Source: Auguste Rodin: The Hand of God (08.210) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

the Best of Alaska to the World

The Anchorage Museum brings the best of Alaska to the world and the best of the world to Alaska.

Through a combination of art, history and science the Anchorage Museum creates a rich, deep understanding of the human experience and offers something for everyone.

Temciyusqaq
“Skeptical One”Giinaquq (Like A Face):
Sugpiaq Masks of the Kodiak Archipelago
Concluded Jan. 4, 2009

In the winter of 1872 a young French anthropologist named Alphonse Pinart traveled the Kodiak archipelago by kayak, assembling one of the most extensive collections of Alutiiq ceremonial masks in the world. In May, masks from Pinart’s collection returned to Alaska for the first time in 136 years to tell the Alutiiq story and inspire Alaskans to explore the rich culture of Kodiak’s Native people. Giinaquq features 34 wood masks and a bird-shaped feast bowl collected from villages around the Kodiak archipelago. The exhibition, six years in planning, will highlight the cultural meaning of these historic carvings as well as their beauty.

Courtesy National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution Yuungnaqpiallerput (The Way We Genuinely Live)
Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival
Concluded Oct. 26, 2008
The Way We Genuinely Live is a joint project of the Anchorage Museum and the Calista Elders Council, developed with the guidance of Yup'ik elders and educators and with major support from the National Science Foundation.

This exhibition presents more than 200 remarkable 19th and early 20th century tools, containers, weapons, watercraft and clothing in an exploration of the scientific principles and processes that allowed these people to survive in the sub-arctic tundra of the Bering Sea coast.

Sponsors of this exhibition include the National Science Foundation, Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Northern Air Cargo, Alaska Airlines, BP, ConocoPhillips Alaska, Calista Corporation and the Anchorage Museum Association.


LOCATION
Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
625 C Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99501
(907) 929-9200 tel
(907) 929-9290 fax

WINTER HOURS
Mid-Sept through mid-May
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday
Closed Monday

SUMMER HOURS
Mid-May through mid-Sept
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day

Ethnology in Vietnam

The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (Vietnamese: Bảo tàng Dân tộc học Việt Nam) is a museum in Hanoi, Vietnam, which focuses on the 54 officially recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam. It is located on a 3.27-acre (13,200 m2) property in the Cầu Giấy District, about 8 km from the city center.

It is widely considered to be the finest modern museum in Vietnam and a tourist attraction in Hanoi.

The proposal for the museum was officially approved on December 14, 1987. Construction lasted from 1987 to 1995, and it was opened to the public on November 12, 1997.

The exhibition building was designed by the architect Hà Đức Lịnh, a member of the Tày ethnic group, in the shape of a Dong Son drum, and the interior architecture was designed by the French architect Véronique Dollfus.

Opening hours is 8:30am to 5:30pm Tuesday to Sunday

Don't cry for me Argentina...

Argentine National Historical Museum (Spanish: Museo Histórico Nacional) is located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is a museum dedicated to the history of Argentina, exhibiting objects relating to the May Revolution and the Argentine War of Independence.
The institution was established as the Museo Histórico de la Capital (Historical Museum of the Capital) by Mayor Francisco Seeber on May 24, 1889.

The museum resulted from a proposal by historian Adolfo Carranza, who was designated director of the museum upon its inauguration on February 15, 1891. The museum was initially located on government property located at 3951 Santa Fe Avenue (now occupied by the Buenos Aires Botanical Garden). It was relocated to its present location in the San Telmo ward after the land's purchase by the Municipality of Buenos Aires in 1897. The land later occupied by the Botanical Garden was thus transferred to the municipal government, and the museum to the national government.

The mansion was originally built for English Argentine businessman Charles Ridgley Horne in 1846. Allied to the paramount Governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, Ridgley Horne was forced into exile after the strongman's 1852 overthrow, and the land was sold to José Gregorio Lezama. Following his 1894 death, his widow, Ángela Álzaga de Lezama sold the property to the city, which converted the mansion into the museum, and most of the surrounding land into Lezama Park.

The museum houses over 50,000 items. Portions of the collection were gathered from donations of relatives of important figures in the May Revolution and the wars of independence. Other objects were part of the collection of the Public Museum (Museo Público) created in 1822 by Bernardino Rivadavia. Its displays include regalia, belongings, furnishings and documents belonging to José de San Martín, María de los Remedios de Escalada, Manuel Belgrano, William Carr Beresford, Juan Manuel de Rosas, Bartolomé Mitre, Juan and Eva Perón, and other Argentine, as well as foreign, statesmen, lawmakers, and military figures who played key roles in the nation's history. Its collection of history paintings includes works by Esteban Echeverría, Cándido López and Prilidiano Pueyrredón, among others.

Re-imagining

Διεθνές συνέδριο με τίτλο "Re-imagining the Past: Antiquity and Modern Greek Culture" διοργανώνει το Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity και το Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies του Πανεπιστημίου του Birmingham, στις 27 και 28 Ιουνίου 2011. Προθεσμία υποβολής περιλήψεων: 30 Ιουνίου 2010.

Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες:
http://www.iaa.bham.ac.uk/news/conferences/reimaginingthepast/in...
 

into Mongolian History

National Museum of Mongolian History is one of the national museums of Mongolia located in the capital Ulan Bator. The National Museum of Mongolian History is a cultural, scientific, and educational organization, which is responsible for the collection, care and interpretation of the objects.
The first museum in Mongolia, which was called the Mongolian National Museum, was established in 1924 and became the basis for other museums, including the National Museum of Mongolian History. Russian scholars, such as P.K.Kozlov, V.I.Lisovskii, A.D.Simukov, and the American researcher C.Andrews contributed in the collection and display of the first museum in Mongolia.
The modern National Museum of Mongolian History was established after the merger of historical, archeological and ethnographical departments of the State Central Museum and the Museum of the Revolution in 1991. It is now located in the facility built for the Museum of the Revolution, which was founded in 1971. The National Museum of Mongolian History is currently recognized as one of the leading museums in Mongolia. A significant responsibility for preserving Mongolian cultural heritage therefore lies with the museum.

Snow Storm...on a Steam Boat

Dreadful catastrophe was a common theme in English romantic art period. The romantics had taken a liking to natural phenomena and shipwreck became a popular subject. 19th century Britain specifically was very familiar with shipwreck as it was a period of great English shipping. The Navigation Acts, the skill in English shipbuilding and the use of English oak made such trade possible. Still, the craftsmanship of these ships did not deter the fact that the man made vessel was still at the mercy of the wind.

Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth shows a ship off the English coast struggling to persevere through a storm. Rumor has that Turner actually had himself tied to the mast of a ship during the storm to get a better account of the wind and ocean and what the ship must've felt like in the midst of it. There is no way to test the validity of this rumor, however it is clear that unlike any other artist, Turner grasped the nature of the storm better than any other artist. This story, located in Harwich, was most likely invented but shows a striking proof of Turner's lifetime of experience on the sea.

The steam-boat resides in the center of the vortex. Turner once again shows the effects of the environment over mankind's inabilities.

Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth Inspirations for the WorkTopWilliam Turner drew his greatest inspiration from nature itself. He found great inspiration by studying the work of fellow landscapists and from studying the work of other artists on his a trip to the Louvre in 1802. He analyzed Dutch storm paintings that were on exhibition studying them closely and critiqued them carefully.

The power of the storm versus man's inabilities was a main theme in Turner's work. His love for the sea and natural elements was ongoing. He painted themes of shipwreck a number of times throughout his life. Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth is said to have been inspired by a storm he had seen in Harwich, in which he had himself tied to the mast of the ship to fully experience the storm.

Throughout his lifetime, the activities of the sea captivated William Turner. He made a career of channeling this fascination of nature and putting it to the canvas. In Snow Storm - Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth his untamed brushwork creates a swirling composition of chaotic colors and lighting. Once again he shows the frailty of man and man-made objects against the merciless forces of nature.

Composition:

The swirling storm creates a composition that leaves the eye to circle around the canvas repeatedly. The black of the wind and the waves of the sea create a circle around the doomed ship. Through the windy peephole, the viewer can see the helpless ship at the mercy of nature's violent motion. One can imagine the ship swaying to and fro as its crew desperately tries to take control of the sail and stay afloat.