Tessera

Mycenae : 1200 BC/BCE National Archeological Museum in Athens 37) Miniature conical rhyton 38) Composite ring-shaped ritual vessel (Kernos) w/ a conical rhyton for pouring liquids. Further description in the alt text 👇

A bovine head adorns the base, while a relief serpentine band and painted rosettes decorate the body.

Was used during elite religious ceremonies for offering liquid sacrifices (like wine, oil, or honey) to the gods.

Paul Klee : Chimney Movement, 1915 Watercolor on paper attached to Klee's custom mount 7-7/8 x 6-1/2 in | 20 x 16.5 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY Further description in the alt text 👇

Style and Context: The painting dates to a critical transition phase in Klee's career right after his transformative 1914 trip to Tunisia, where he famously declared that color and he were one. Like many of his architectural abstractions from 1915, it deconstructs urban components—such as rooftop chimneys—into rhythmic, dancing geometric blocks and patches of color.

Kurt Schwitters : Construction for Noble Ladies, 1919 Collage: Oil, watercolor, gouache, wood, metal, leather, cork, and paper mounted on wood 103 × 83.3 cm | 40.5 × 32.8 in Los Angeles County Museum of Art Further description in the alt text 👇

The "Merz" Style:
Schwitters used the term Merz to describe his unique approach of turning trash and scrap materials into high art.

Unusual Objects:
The piece incorporates rough industrial detritus, breaking the boundary between a flat 2D painting and a 3D object.

Ironic Title:
The title acts as a witty joke, contrasting high-class nobility with the rusty, low-value garbage used to build the portrait.

Georgia O'Keeffe : Petunia and Coleus, 1925 Oil on canvas | 36 x 30 inches Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe, NM

The flower fills the entire frame so it looks huge and powerful.

Rich Color:
Deep shades of violet, purple, and blue show soft, velvety textures.

Nature Inspiration:
Grown from plants O'Keeffe tended at her home near Lake George, New York.

N.C. Wyeth (1882-1945) : Buttonwood Farm, 1919 oil on canvas 123.2 x 108.6 cm | 48.5 × 42.75 in Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA Further description in the alt text 👇

The House:
Depicts the historic Gilpin-Painter House near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

The Tree:
Features a massive, ancient sycamore (buttonwood) tree standing over 350 years old on the hill next to "Lafayette's Headquarters".

Significance:
The home previously served as a boarding house for artist Howard Pyle and his students, including Wyeth himself.

Remembering James Baldwin born otd in 1924 🎂 novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. I honor Baldwin's influence. "The artist is a sort of emotional or spiritual historian. [their] role is to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are." ~ JB More 👇

James Baldwin

📸 : Mark Gerson
modern bromide print, July 1971
14 5/8 in. x 11 3/4 in.
370 mm x 300 mm

The James Baldwin stamp was issued on July 23, 2004.

James Baldwin was born in Harlem on August 2, 1924. His greatest achievement as a writer was his ability to address American race relations from a psychological perspective. In his essays and fiction he suggested repeatedly that all people suffer in a racist climate. Two of his best-known works are the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain and the play The Amen Corner. Later Baldwin novels deal frankly with homosexuality and interracial love affairs. Although he mostly lived in Europe, Baldwin never gave up his American citizenship. In France, he was named Commander of the Legion of Honor. He died in Saint-Paul-de-Vance, France on November 30, 1987, and was buried in Harlem.

Helen Frankenthaler : The Joker, 1959 Oil, crayon, and collage on paper mounted on board 30 x 21-5/8 in | 76.2 x 54.9 cm Recorded and archived by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation

Created during a transitional phase in the late 1950s when Frankenthaler expanded beyond her signature soak-stain technique into more material, abstract-expressionist-feeling works on paper.

Composition:
Features a distinct, energetic, and centralized structure akin to other notable works from her 1959 period.

Spencer Gore : The Icknield Way, 1912 oil on canvas Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Tamara de Lempicka : Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), 1932 Oil on wood panel

Amedeo Modigliani : The Beautiful Irish Girl, 1918 Private collection

Juarez Machado (Brazil, b.1941) : Whiskey and Berries, n.d. 80 x 60 cm

Philip Guston (American, 1913–80) : If This Be Not I, 1945 Oil on canvas | 42.25 x 55.25 in Kemper Art Museum Washington University, St. Louis, MO Further description in the alt text 👇

The nine figures in If This Be Not I are contained within a space much like a proscenium or, as Janson called it, the “porch of a tumble-down house.”13 In fact, the structure seems almost like a ship with two large masts, fabric draped from a rope like a sail, and wooden slats of flooring. One critic in early 1945 noted that Guston’s newest interest was the painting of space, “but the hard way, without compositional props or perspectival aids.”14 The careful placement of large and small objects at various angles in If This Be Not I—from an upside-down coatrack to a massive door—lend a sense of layered depth. Forms are flatter and less volumetric than in previous paintings by the artist, and their sheer number creates a claustrophobic effect akin to Beckmann’s signature work. Indeed, Guston’s array of imagery functions as much as structural markers as personal allusions.

The spatial complexity of If This Be Not I is further heightened by Guston’s attention to texture, or what one reviewer called “richness of surface.”15 Critics praised Guston as a colorist and for his ability to create contour without sharp-edged lines. “Now, for the first time,” wrote Janson of If This Be Not I, “the evocative power of the work springs as much from the richness and depth of its color as from the design.”16 By restricting his palette to a few colors (primarily grays, blues, whites, and the occasional burnt sienna) and painting wet-on-wet, Guston created tonal modulations and depth.17 For example, in the far left register of the painting, directly above the head of the reclining boy, is a plane of textured color resembling wood grain. It is painted on top of a grid of lines resembling a grate, which winds up and back into space at an oblique angle. Behind it, an open door creates the only opportunity of escape from the cluttered surroundings.

They once stood side by side... One became a legend in the history of art, while the other died alone in a psychiatric hospital, despite being one of the most gifted sculptors of her generation. This is the story of Camille Claudel ... in the alt text 👇

Camille Claudel (France, b.1864) fell in love with a famous sculptor. She was a brilliant artist who paid the price for her talent, her love, and her freedom.
Although sculpture was considered unsuitable for women, her father became her greatest supporter.

In 1884, she joined the studio of Auguste Rodin as his assistant. She became his closest collaborator, muse, model, and lover.

Rodin was already committed to another woman. While working beside him, her talent never received the recognition it deserved, forcing her to struggle for recognition as an independent artist.

After their separation, her life became isolated and difficult. Yet she continued creating remarkable works, including her masterpiece The Age of Maturity, widely seen as a powerful reflection of her painful relationship with Rodin.

At her father's death in 1913, her family - led by her brother, Paul - had her committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Although doctors later stated she no longer needed institutional care, her brother refused to authorize her release.

All the letters Camille wrote begging for her freedom went unanswered, and she remained confined for 30 years.

In 1943, Camille Claudel died at the age of 78 and was buried in a communal grave without a headstone.

Today, she is recognized as one of history's greatest sculptors, finally receiving the admiration she was denied during her lifetime.

The Age of Maturity or Destiny or The Path of Life or Fatality

Cast by Frédéric Carvilhani, after 1913, title and signature on the base.

Gift of Paul Claudel, 1952.

The first version of The Age of Maturity, only a plaster of which is in our possession, dates from 1894-95 according to a letter sent by Claudel to her brother Paul, in December 1893, where she calls it her “three-figure group”. The sculptress envisaged including a tree leaning at an angle in the group to further underline her central idea of destiny.

The second version was commissioned by the French state in 1895, but although it was completed and paid for in 1898, it was never delivered by the artist. The first cast was made for a private client, Captain Tissier (Musée d’Orsay), and the plaster is thought to have been lost when the second bronze was cast by Carvilhani in 1913.

Often interpreted as an autobiographical work, illustrating Rodin hesitating between his ageing mistress and his young lover, the very well-constructed sculpture above all appears as a variation on the theme of destiny. In the first version, the man is still held firmly by youth and life, whereas in the second version, unable to resist being led away, he is pulled from the outstretched arms of the young imploring woman by old age and death. The tormented drapery and strong use of shadow show the influence of Art Nouveau aesthetics on this second version.

Musée Rodin - Meudon

Etiyé Dimma Poulsen (b. 1968, Ethiopia) is a self-taught ceramic artist based in Antwerp, Belgium. After moving from Ethiopia to Denmark as a child, she studied art history before discovering ceramics—a medium that transformed her practice. Further descriptions in the alt text 👇

"Blue Crown"

Poulsen builds her sculptures over flexible wire frames using fine clay and natural pigments, allowing the forms to evolve as she works. Crucial to her process is the firing stage, where extreme heat cracks and alters the surface, turning fire’s destructive power into a creative partner. The resulting figures embody vulnerability, raw character, and organic life.

Etiyé Dimma Poulsen,
Nepalese Dream, 2024
Ceramic, Raku firing
21 3/10 × 19 7/10 in | 54 × 50 cm with frame included

Heinrich Maria Davringhausen (1894-1970) : The Profiteer (Der Schieber), 1920–21 Oil on canvas 47.25 x 47.25 in | 120 x 120 cm Weimar Era Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Further description in the alt text 👇

Heinrich Maria Davringhausen was a German painter associated with the New Objectivity. Davringhausen was born in Aachen. Mostly self-taught as a painter, he began as a sculptor, studying briefly at the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts before participating in a group exhibition at Alfred Flechtheim's gallery in 1914.

This is a masterpiece of the Weimar Era and one of the most iconic examples of the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) art movement.

Core Historical & Art Analysis

The Subject:
The painting portrays a sinister, glowering businessman sitting isolated at a desk in a stark, hyper-modern office. He represents a Schieber—a black-marketeer or wartime profiteer who accumulated immense wealth through financial manipulation.

Symbolism of Tools:
On his desk sit a pen and a telephone. In the 1920s, these were modern weapons of commerce used to manufacture "paper fortunes" out of thin air, completely detached from real labor or physical goods.

Class Indicators:
An open box of fine cigars and a glass of red wine rest nearby, acting as blunt symbols of his unearned luxury and cold economic status.

Spatial Distortion:
Davringhausen utilizes a Magic Realist perspective. The walls and windows of the office suite foreshorten at extreme, unnatural angles, creating an intense atmosphere of isolation and paranoia.

The Window View:
Outside, the windows look out onto an unsettling, geometric cityscape of skyscrapers. Ironically, buildings of this scale did not yet exist in Germany in 1921; they represent an imagined, cold future dominated entirely by corporate architecture.

This 14th-century miniature depicts Esperance (Hope) holding interconnected rings inside the Wheel of Fortune. Found in the manuscript of Le Livre dou Voir Dit (The Book of the True Poem) c.1370s, visually exploring the themes of courtly love, human sorrow, and the unpredictable nature of fate.

Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940) : Octagonal Self-Portrait, 1890 Oil on canvas Profile of a man screams inside the artist's head, his neck possibly throttled by an orange hand. The creation of art is a mental struggle, often violent as suggested in this cry of psychic pain. More in the alt text 👇

Vuillard painted his face that is broken into large, abstract expanses of pale pink, orange, brown, and cream - an example of synthetism - the idea that art should synthesize external appearances with the artist’s subjective feelings, through purely aesthetic considerations of line, form, and color.

David Bowes : Pantheic hand, 1991 Oil paint on canvas 91.5 x 61 cm

Pieter Bruegel the Elder : Twaalf Spreekwoorden, 1558 It consists of 12 medallions, each illustrating a proverb. Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp, the Netherlands The 12 Proverbs in the alt text 👇

12 Proverbs

1. Dicing and drinking at an inappropriate time bring poverty, contempt, and a ruined reputation.

2. I am a flatterer and adjust my cloak according to the wind. (Opportunism)

3. I carry fire in one hand, water in the other; with gossipers, I keep silent. (Hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another)

4. In feasting, no one could surpass me; now that I’ve lost everything, I fall between two stools. (Being indecisive and losing both options)

5. What use is looking sad? I close the well after the calf has drowned. (Taking action too late)

6. He who enjoys doing pointless work scatters roses before swine. (Wasting effort on those who don’t appreciate it)

7. Armor makes me bold; I am the one who puts the bell on the cat. (Bravery with protection, but also reckless courage)

8. My neighbor’s fortune pains my heart; I cannot bear to see the sun shining on the water. (Jealousy)

9. I am irritable and stubborn, so I run my head against the wall. (Self-destructive stubbornness)

10. I get the scraps, while others get the best; I always fish behind the net. (Always missing out)

11. I hide under a blue cloak, but the more I hide, the more I am noticed. (Hypocrisy, trying to avoid exposure but failing)

12. Whatever I pursue, I never succeed; I always piss against the moon. (Making futile efforts, working in vain)

🐇🐇🐇 Welcome to the August dog days.

Sergio Ceccotti (b.1935) : Petit interieur parisien, 1982 Oil on canvas 45.5 x 34.5 cm Further info in the alt text 👇

Sergio Ceccotti's work often blends elements of literary noir, graphic illustration, and cinematic mystery, bearing a strong stylistic affinity to the psychological realism of Edward Hopper. His paintings frequently capture moments of urban alienation, domestic stillness, or subtle suspense. As the title suggests, this specific piece explores a quiet, intimate perspective inside a Parisian living space, a recurring geographical theme in his broader body of work which includes pieces like Diabolik à Paris

Remembering one of my favorite poets, Jim Carroll, on the anniversary of his birth in 1949. 🎂 American author, poet, and punk musician. Carroll was best known for his 1978 autobiographical work, 'The Basketball Diaries.'