It’s Memorial Day. For many it’s a day for barbecue, for the beach, for burgers and beer. But I would hope that we would take a few minutes to remember those whom we have lost. There is plenty of time to celebrate victories and our military but today is the time to recognize the true cost of the wars we have sent our men and women to fight and, again, remember those we have lost.
Thank you.
I was pleased to see recently that the West Building of the National Gallery of Art has reopened. As many of you know, I was fortunate enough to grow up in the Washington DC area and enjoy the many treasures there. As a young boy, my mother frequently took me to the museums and galleries and often to the National Gallery of Art, which she called the ‘Mellon Art Gallery’ after the man who made the initial contribution to the collection. I thought I would share some of the paintings that I really like there.
You will note that I have not included any recent paintings and that is simply because, due to copyright restrictions, it’s hard to get a high quality image. All of the images below are in the public domain and many are provided by the NGA as a part of their open access program.
Cuyp was one of the Dutch Golden Age painters. I love how he catches the morning light in this painting.
Vermeer was another Dutch artist who lived mostly in Delft. This is a rather small painting and is a part of the original collection donated by Andrew Mellon. Again, the light…and the expression on the girl’s face.
I like a lot of Mary Cassatt’s work. She was an American painter who lived most of her life in France and was a friend of Edgar Degas. A lot of her paintings are images of women in private and social settings and particularly with children. This painting was a part of the Chester Dale collection.
Judith Leyster was a Dutch Golden Age painter whose work was highly admired while she was alive but who was almost forgotten after her death. Most of her work was attributed, until recently, to Frans Hals. This particular work was attributed to Hals until it was acquired by the NGA in 1949. I really like the sense of closeness in this painting.
I love so much of his work. This is about the time he became most famous as an artist.
One of his many Moilin Rouge paintings.
Childe Hassam was an American Impressionist painter. He did a lot of flag paintings and I like this one. One of his others is in the White House permanent collection.
This is apparently one of many paintings of Mary Magdalene that he did, but the only one I’ve seen. I really like the chiaroscuro effect with her features brightly lit by the candle and the rest of the painting dark.
Finally, for today, this wonderful work by August Renoir. It was apparently painted at Claude Monet’s garden at Argenteuil. This just seems like a wonderful painting to me and I admired it when I was a six-year old boy. I think this is enough for now. I might do more later.
I recently finished reading Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. It took me a few pages to get into it but it turned out to be a marvelous novel and one that I really liked.
This historical novel switches back and forth between two different timelines. One on the day the plague first affects Hamnet’s twin sister, Judith and the other some fifteen years earlier when Hamnet’s father, never named, meets the woman he marries – one Agnes Hathaway.
Agnes (pronounced Ann-yis) is a free spirit, daughter of a farmer and connected to the natural world. She is a kind of Cinderella in her stepmother’s household where the poet, and future playwright is teaching latin to her brother to settle a debt incurred by his father. There is strong chemistry between them and soon there is a first kiss and then wild sex in the apple shed.
When the book opens, Hamnet has discovered his twin sister ill and desperately searches for someone to help, but his father is away in London writing plays and his mother is off tending to her bees. His grandmother and aunt are nowhere to be found.
The book builds through the marriage of the playwright and Agnes as he leaves her and his children to go to London and write plays. He sends money home and buys property in Stratford but he rarely comes home which places incredible stress on the marriage. After the death of Hamnet the two of them feel deep grief but he returns to London and, five years later writes a play using a common version of Hamnet’s name in which the father dies rather than the son.
O’Farrell’s writing is lyric and often poetic and it’s an easy read. The novel was one of NYT’s best books of 2020 and I strongly recommend it.
I think these ‘Stereograms’ by Marija Tiurina are amazing. More HERE
Nice…
Between innings, a little league coach took one of his players aside and asked him, “Do you understand what teamwork is?”
“Yes, sir,” said the little boy.
“You understand what cooperation is?” the coach asked. “You understand about things like courtesy, and respect for the rules of the game?”
“Yes, sir,” said the little boy.
“And when a strike is called, or you’re out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire,” said the coach. “You understand all that?”
“Yes, sir,” said the little boy.
“Good!” said the coach. “Now go over there and explain it to your dad.”
Here’s Patti LaBelle!
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