Amedeo Modigliani in Worldwide Museums: 2. The Hecht Museum

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The second place I would like to introduce for this week is The Hecht Museum in Haifa, Israel.

The Hecht Museum is a museum located at the University of Haifa in Israel, and was inaugurated in 1984 by Dr. Reuben Hecht, founder of the Dagon Silos and a founding member of the University of Haifa’s Board of Governors.

Dr. Reuben Hecht

Dr. Hecht, who was interested in the archeology of the Land of Israel from his youth, assiduously collected archaeological artifacts representing the material culture of the Land of Israel in ancient times for sixty years. He was particularly interested in artifacts from the Canaanite period to the end of the Byzantine period.

He also believed that archeology was an important expression of Zionism and that the discovery of ancient artifacts was proof of the link between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.

The museum's exhibits display the archeology and history of the Land of Israel in chronological sequence from the Chalcolithic period to the Byzantine period. The museum's art collection includes French painting of the Barbizon School, Impressionism, Post-impressionism, and the School of Paris, and Jewish art from mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century. The museum owns paintings by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Jacob Pissarro, Vincent van Gogh, Amedeo Modigliani, and Max Liebermann.

About two years before his death, Dr. Hecht began planning an expansion of the museum. The administrators of the University of Haifa and the directors of the Hecht Foundation continued the plan, and the new building of the museum was inaugurated in October 1998.

The Hecht Museum serves as a study and research center for students and academic staff, as well as a venue providing in-depth studies in the fields of archeology, art, history and the Bible for students, soldiers, teachers and the local public. The Museum also holds conferences, symposia and cultural events for youngsters and adults.

Modigliani's works currently housed in the Hecht Museum are as below:

Nu au chapeau (Nude with a Hat) (1908)

Portrait of Maud Abrantes (1908)

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103. Classical Music: 18. Sergei Rachmaninoff, ACJ Music Academy

 

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This week's lecture is “Sergei Rachmaninoff”, the 18th topic of “Classical Music”, which is a summary of the contents of “103. Classical Music: 18. Sergei Rachmaninoff” introduced on September 16th, 2017.

Sergei Rachmaninoff, born on April 1, 1873 and died on March 28, 1943, was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor of the Late Romantic period. In his early works, the influence of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, and other Russian composers is seen, but later he built his own style known for song-like melodicism, expressiveness and rich orchestral colours.

Rachmaninoff at age 10

He was born into a noble family in the Russian Empire. His paternal grandfather, Arkady Alexandrovich, was a musician who learned music from the Irish composer John Field. His father, an army officer and amateur pianist, Vasily Arkadyevich Rachmaninoff, married the daughter of a wealthy army general, Lyubov Petrovna Butakova, and the couple had three sons and three daughters, Sergei being their fourth child.

Vasily Arkadyevich Rachmaninoff

Lyubov Petrovna Butakova

Starting piano at the age of 4, Rachmaninoff graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892, and at the time he already had several piano and orchestral pieces he had composed.

The Moscow Conservatory

However, in 1897, when his “Symphony No. 1” received the negative response, Rachmaninoff suffered from depression for four years and composed little until successful treatment made him complete his “Piano Concerto No. 2”, which received enthusiastic responses. 

Rachmaninoff in 1897, the year his
Symphony No. 1 premiered

For the next 16 years, Rachmaninoff conducted at the Bolshoi Theatre, moved to Dresden, Germany, and toured the United States for the first time. He often used the piano in his compositions and explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument through his unique techniques as a pianist.

The Bolshoi Theatre in 1905, during Rachmaninoff's time as
conductor

Following the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia and settled in New York City in 1918. His main source of income was piano and conducting performances, but the reduced composition time due to the tight performance schedule made him complete only six works between 1918 and 1943, including the "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini", "Symphony No. 3" and "Symphonic Dances.” By 1942, his health deteriorated and he moved to Beverly Hills, California.

Statue commemorating Rachmaninoff's last
concert, Knoxville, TN

Rachmaninoff's health deteriorated rapidly in the last week of March 1943. He lost consciousness on March 26 and died two days later, four days before his 70th birthday.

His funeral was held at the Holy Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church in Silver Lake. Rachmaninoff wished to be buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, but was eventually interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

Rachmaninoff's grave at Kensico Cemetery

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Interesting Art Stories: 65. The Angelus, Jean-François Millet, ACJ Art Academy

 

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Currently, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 65th story is “The Angelus” by Jean-François Millet.

“The Angelus” is an oil painting by French painter Jean-François Millet, completed between 1857 and 1859.

Self-Portrait, Jean-François Millet (c. 1840
~1841)

The painting depicts two peasants praying with the ringing of the church bell signaling the end of a day’s work after harvesting potatoes in the fields of Barbizon with a view of the church tower of Chailly-en-Bière.

On the ground they are standing is a small basket of potatoes, and around them a cart and a pitchfork. The relationship between the two peasants in the painting has been interpreted in various ways, such as colleagues at work, husband and wife, or farmer and maidservant.

Millet said “The idea for this painting came from my memory that as a child, when I was working in the fields, my grandmother always stopped me what I was working to pray for the poor when she heard the church bells ringing,”

Millet sold this painting after he sold his “The Gleaners” at the Salon in 1857. About half the size of “The Gleaners,” the painting was sold for less than half the price of “The Gleaners” and exhibited in Brussels in 1874, a year before Millet's death.

The Gleaners, Jean-François Millet (1857)

Initially, the painting was interpreted as a political sense, and Millet was considered a socialist in solidarity with the workers. Although this painting was one of the popular religious paintings hung as replicas in many homes throughout France, Millet painted it with a sense of nostalgia rather than religious feeling.

Much later, Salvador Dalí said that he was terrified when he saw a replica of this painting in his childhood school and that the basket felt like a child's coffin and the woman felt like a praying mantis.

Salvador Dalí

Dali also insisted that the painting was not a prayer ritual, but a funeral scene in which the couple are mourning over their dead baby. Although this claim did not get much public response, following his insistence, the Louvre took an X-ray of the painting, and they found surprising results that there was a small geometric object similar to a coffin by the basket. 

Based on these results, it seems possible that Millet originally painted a burial similar to Courbet's "A Burial at Ornans (1850)", but later changed it to a prayer scene by adding a church bell tower.

A Burial At Ornans, Gustave Courbet (1850)

Dali was inspired by this painting when he created paintings related to paranoiac-critical method, “The Architectural Angelus of Millet” and “Gala and the Angelus of Millet Preceding the Imminent Arrival of the Conical Anamorphoses” in 1933. 

The Architectural Angelus of Millet, Salvador

Dali (1933)

Gala and the Angelus of Millet Preceding
the Imminent Arrival of the Conical
Anamorphoses, Salvador Dali (1933)

Also two years after creating these paintings, Dali painted two additional paintings, “The Angelus of Gala” and “Archaeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus”, which included a partial reproduction of Millet's “The Angelus.”

The Angelus of Gala, Salvador Dali (1935)

Archaeological Reminiscence of Millet's Angelus, Salvador Dali
(1935)

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The Stories about Music Films: 53. Born to Be Blue (2015)

 

 

Basic Info

Title: Born to Be Blue

Genre: Biography, Drama, Music

Country: Canada, United Kingdom

Language: English

Running time: 97 minutes

Release date: 13 September 2015 (TIFF), 11 March 2016 (Canada)

Staff

Director: Robert Budreau

Producer: Jennifer Jonas, Robert Budreau, Leonard Farlinger, Jake Seal

Screenplay by: Robert Budreau

Music: David Braid, Todor Kobakov, Steve London

Cinematography: Steve Cosens

Edited by: David Freeman

Cast

Ethan Hawke as Chet Baker

Carmen Ejogo as Jane/Elaine

Summary

"Born to Be Blue" is a 2015 drama film directed, produced and written by Robert Budreau. Starring Ethan Hawke and Carmen Ejogo, the film premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film tells the story of American jazz musician Chet Baker, portrayed by Hawke.

Chet Baker

Chet Baker was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist, born on December 23, 1929 and died on May 13, 1988, nicknamed the "Prince of Cool" in the cool jazz scene. Baker's 1950s albums, particularly "Chet Baker Sings (1954)" and "It Could Happen to You (1958)," received much attention and critical acclaim.

Album "It Could Happen to You", Chet
Baker

Jazz historian Dave Gelly described Baker in his early career as "James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Bix Beiderbecke, rolled into one." However, along with fame and notoriety for drugs, he was found dead with serious head injury on the street below his room in Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam on May 13, 1988.

Chet Baker plaque at the Hotel Prins
Hendrik

Movie Review

“Even Miles Davis would applaud for this movie”

“A touching story”

“Ethan Hawke shines in this film about Chet Baker”

“A good movie”

“Excellent”

“Beautifully Acted”

“Terrific Performances”

“Classy and atmospheric”

“Beautiful movie”

Interesting stories about the film

1. According to Ethan Hawke, he wanted to play Chet Baker going back 15 to 20 years before.

Ethan Hawke

2. Stephen McHattie, who played Chet Baker's father in this film, also starred as Chet Baker in Robert Budreau's short film "The Deaths of Chet Baker (2009).”

Stephen McHattie

3. Ethan Hawke wore prosthetic teeth to get the teeth gap in the first scene of the film.

4. This is not the first film Robert Budreau wrote and directed about Chet Baker, and he also made a short film called "The Deaths of Chet Baker (2009)."

The Deaths of Chet Baker (2009)

5. Both Ethan Hawke and Carmen Ejogo have appeared in a Purge movie. Hawke appeared in "The Purge (2013)" and Ejogo appeared in "The Purge: Anarchy (2014)."

The Purge (2013)

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

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