Monday 28 November 2011

Croome




A dull, grey English day and we are on top of the ridge. It is very cold and extremely windy. We are looking down at the house, hoping we will not be blown away




We first enter the Mary Magdalene church, designed by Capability Brown




we then visit the ice house




down the ridge and the next stop is the lake with its two islands




by the lake is the grotto, made out of tufa and linestone. The stone statue is Sabrina, goddess of the River Severn




away from the ridge there is no wind at all as you can see from the reflections




well, just a few ripples




it all feels very calm




and very wintry




a folly in the distance




now we will cross one of the two bridges that connect one of the islands to the mainland




and have a rest inside the Island Pavilion




and all around us signs that winter is truly here.




The Temple Greenhouse, designed by Robert Adam





with massive sash windows





not many plants inside this orangerie these days, but it still is gorgeous





 a front view





a magnificent tree hollow





that reminds me of my childhood and all the stories that were read to me





and now we have come full circle and we take the path towards the church and the entrance/exit





the path is lined with these bushes with black berries.




Talking of berries, we also came across these pink ones





that I had not seen before.



Sunday 27 November 2011

Georgia O'Keefe



at the Fondazione Roma Museo - Palazzo Cipolla.


The early works:

These works show her use of a new expressive style, a new interpretation of abstraction.




Red Mesa, 1917




Inside the Tent While at U. of Virginia, 1916




Untitled  (Tent Door at Night),  1916




Blue Hill No. II, 1916




Evening Star No. IV, 1917




Blue Line II, 1919




From the Plains, 1919



The partnership with Alfred Stieglizt inspired a number of semi-abstract self-portraits:



Nude Series VII, 1917


 

 
Nude Series VIII, 1917


The second period:

Here are the works painted during her time in New York, the period when she rose to fame in the art world.

Her partnership with Stieglitz, which culminated in their marriage in 1924, her rapport with photography, her fascination with the architectural shapes of the city, all resulted in the creation of new works.




New York City with Moon, 1925


To get away from the Freudian interpretations of her abstract works given by the critics, O'Keefe began to represent natural elements like fruit, flowers, landscapes and trees, using a boldly innovative, macroscopic perspective. These are a celebration of the sensuality of the forms of the natural world, revolutionising the traditional portrayal of floral subjects.











From the Lake, 1924




Corn, No. 2, 1924




Calla Lillies on Red, 1928




Dark Iris, No. 2, 1927




White Iris, No. 7, 1957




Jack-in-the-Pulpit, No. IV, 1930




Purple Petunias, 1925




White Calla Lillies, 1924




Open Clam Shell, 1926




Closed Clam Shell, 1926




After a Walk Back of Mabel's, 1929



The third period:



Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz, 1932


This third period of her work, 1929 onwards, is her time spent in New Mexico. The vast spaces, exotic colours and unusual forms of this landscape immediately became a new source of inspiration.





Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico, Out Back of Marie's, 1930




On the Old Santa Fe Road, 1930-31





*

 
During that time she also started painting animal bones that she would collect on her walks in the desert: distinctive and unusual subjects they were interpreted by the critics of the day as symbols of death - for O'Keefe they were emblematic of the inhospitable beauty of the desert.




Horse's Skull on Blue, 1931




Horse's Skull with White Rose, 1931




Summer Days, 1936




Yellow Cactus, 1929



Black and White, 1920



Photograph taken by Ansell Adams







The fourth period:

This is her late period from the 1950s onwards. She began to paint her house in Abiquiu. One of the themes that inspired her work in this period is travel and they show her return to her early abstract approach.

In 1972 she began to have problems with her sight but she continued to paint, but with assitance this time.



Abstraction, 1946, one of the three sculptures she made.












 
"Black Door with Red" and "My Last Door"

My Last Door, 1954