Author, Lecturer, Broadcaster & Cultural Arts Expert;
President of Art Collage JANG/J Music/J Art/J Books & Media.
Author of over 40 books published on Amazon, including The Crimson Horror series and The Great and Immortal Painters’ Stories series.
Dedicated to sharing insights into art, culture, literature, and creative expression through writing, lectures, media, and content creation.
Born: September 23, 1865; Bessines-sur-Gartempe, France
Died: April 7, 1938; Paris, France
Nationality:French
Art
Movement: Post-Impressionism
Field: Painting
Friends/Co-workers:Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Family/Relatives: Maurice Utrillo
Suzanne Valadon was a French
painter and artists’ model, who was born at Bessines-sur-Gartempe,
Haute-Vienne, France. In 1894, she became the first female painter admitted to
the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, and is also the mother of painter Maurice
Utrillo.
The subjects of drawings and paintings of Valadon, who has been active
for almost 40 years as an artist, are mostly female nudes and portraits, still
lifes and landscapes. She also never attended the academy and did not confine
herself within a tradition.
Acting as a model for the artists, Valadon was a
model of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s 1883 paintings, “Dance at Bougival” and “Dance
in the City" as well as a portrait by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in 1885.
Dance at Bougival, Pierre Auguste Renoir (1883)
Dance in the City, Pierre Auguste Renoir (1883)
Portrait of Suzanne Valadon, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1885)
The
second theme of “The history of Jazz” I will introduce this week is “The birth
of Jazz”.
It is a summary of the contents of “46th ACJ Music Academy, The history
of Jazz: 2. The birth of Jazz”, which was introduced on May 7, 2016.
Jazz
is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities in New
Orleans, USA. The jazz, which is rated "classical music of America",
was influenced by the musical features of West Africa, African-American musical
features including blues and ragtime, and European military band music.
With
the abolition of slavery in 1865, liberated African-Americans had new
opportunities. Although racial discrimination has limited most blacks'
employment opportunities, many black musicians have been able to find jobs in
entertainment, such as dances, minstrel shows, and vaudeville.
Ragtime
appeared as sheet music as it became popular due to the African-American
musicians such as an entertainer Ernest Hogan, who produced the hit song in
1895.
Ernest Hogan
In 1897, white composer William Krell published his "Mississippi
Rag", which was the first written piano instrumental ragtime piece, and
Tom Turpin published his "Harlem Rag", the first rag published by
African-American.
Pianist
Scott Joplin, trained in classical music, made his "Original Rags" in
1898, and gained international hit with "Maple Leaf Rag" a four-parts
featuring repetitive themes and a bass lines with rich seventh chords in 1899.
Scott Joplin
The jazz of New Orleans, considered the birthplace of jazz, began in the early
1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, ragtime and blues
with impromptu performances.
At
that time, many early jazz musicians performed at bars and brothels around
Basin Street called “Storyville”. In addition to dance bands, there were
marching bands that performed at lavish funerals. The instruments, used by
these marching bands and dance bands such as brass and drums, became jazz
instruments.
At
the time, Storyville had the opportunity to spread jazz to more audiences
through tourists who visited the port city of New Orleans. Many
African-American jazz musicians were hired to perform at bars and brothels, and
Louis Armstrong, well known to us, also started his musical career in Storyville
and succeeded in Chicago.
But in 1917, Storyville was shut down by the US
government because it was a decadent place for prostitution and drugs.
You
can also review this lecture from following media.
Production
company:Angelus Silesius, Telewizja Polska, Arkana
Studio, Bokomotiv Filmproduktion
Running
time: 96 minutes
Release
date: 23 January 2011 (Sundance), 18 March 2011
(Poland) Staff
Director:
Lech Majewski
Producer:
George Lekovic, Lech Majewski, Freddy Olsson, Dorota Roszkowska
Screenplay:
Michael Francis Gibson, Lech Majewski
Music:
Lech Majewski, Józef Skrzek
Cinematography:Lech Majewski, Adam Sikora
Editor:
Eliot Ems, Norbert Rudzik
Cast
Rutger Hauer (Pieter Bruegel)
Michael York (Nicolaes Jonghelinck)
Charlotte Rampling (Mary)
Joanna Litwin (Marijken Bruegel; Pieter's wife)
Marian Makula (Miller)
Summary
The Mill and the Cross (Polish: Młyn i krzyż)
is a drama film directed by Lech Majewski in 2011 and starring Rutger Hauer,
Charlotte Rampling and Michael York. The film was inspired by "The
Procession to Calvary" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1564 and is based on
the book "The Mill and the Cross" written by Michael Francis Gibson.
The film was co-produced by Poland and Sweden and premiered at the Sundance
Film Festival in January 23, 2011.
The Procession to Calvary, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1564)
The film focuses on a dozen of the 500
characters depicted in Bruegel's painting and consists of a series of vignettes
that depict everyday life of farmers. In addition, monologues of some of the
main characters, including Bruegel, explaining the structure and symbolism of
his paintings, are interspersed throughout the film. The subject of Christ's
suffering was set against religious persecution in Flanders in 1564.
Movie
Review
“Neither conventional costume drama nor
abstract objet d'art, this visually ravishing, surprisingly beguiling gamble won't
fit any standard arthouse niche. Still it could prove the Polish helmer's belated
international breakthrough”, Variety
“In this lush and hypnotic examination of a
painter's work and the times in which he lived, Mr. Majewski presents an extended
contemplation of the creative process itself”, The New York Times
“No description can do justice to The Mill
and the Cross, which must be seen to be fully appreciated”, New York Post
“If ever a film cried out for the 3D
treatment, it's The Mill & the Cross, an ambitious but frustratingly flat
attempt to explore, analyze and dramatize a masterpiece of 16th-century art”, The
Hollywood Reporter
“Despite a too slow pace for my own tastes,
Hauer helps move the film along by being captivating even in just a few scenes”,
San Francisco Chronicle
On every Thursday, I am
introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the
title “Interesting Art Stories”.
The 8th story for this week is
"The Sistine Madonna" by an Italian painter, Raphael.
Self-portrait of Raphael
Also
known as “the Madonna di San Sisto”, “The Sistine Madonna” is an oil painting
by the Italian artist Raphael and is one of the last Madonnas he painted.
This
painting was commissioned in 1512 by Pope Julius II to be used as an altarpiece
for the basilica church of the Benedictine Monastery of San Sisto in Piacenza,
where the Rovere family had a long relationship, in honor of his late uncle,
Pope Sixtus IV. In
the commission, there was a condition to depict both Saints Sixtus and Barbara
together.
Pope Julius II
In
this painting, the Madonna, next to Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara, holding the
Christ Child, stands on clouds in front of dozens of blurry cherubim, and two
winged cherubim are beneath her.
In
1754, Augustus III of Poland purchased the painting and moved it to Dresden.
Unlike other works of art, this painting stimulated the imagination of the
Germans and served to unite or divide people in the arts and religions.
This
painting has stimulated many viewers, and it is said that some of them who saw
it fell into religious ecstasy similar to Stendhal Syndrome. It also became an
icon of German Romanticism in the 19th century and influenced Goethe, Wagner
and Nietzsche.
According to a legendary story, during the Dresden uprising of
May 1849, Mikhail Bakunin counseled the revolutionary government to take this
painting from The Gemäldegalerie, and to hang it on the barricades at the
entrance to the city, on the grounds that the Prussians were too cultured that
they cannot fire on a Raphael."
The
painting was rescued from destruction during the bombing of Dresden in World
War II, but the conditions of the painting in which it was saved became the
subject of controversy.
At the time, the painting, along with other works of
art, was stored in a tunnel in Saxon Switzerland, southeast of Dresden, where
the Red Army of the Soviet Union found them and took them to Moscow. After
possessing the painting, Mikhail Khrapchenko, a major official in charge of artworks
in the Soviet Union, has declared that the Pushkin Museum can now be able to
claim as one of the world's greatest museums.
Subsequently, after Stalin's
death in 1955, the Soviet Union returned the painting to Germany with the
announcement "for the purpose of strengthening and furthering the progress
of friendship between the Soviet and German peoples." However, the press
around the world stated that the Soviets damaged it, but the Soviets countered
that they actually saved it.
Regarding
the controversy over the preservation of The Sistine Madonna, in 1991, ARTnews reported
that Russian art historian Andrei Chegodaev, who was sent by the Soviet Union
to Germany to review the paintingin 1945, denied it.
A
prominent element in the painting, the winged angels beneath Mary, is very
popular. In early 1913, Gustav Kobbé declared that "no cherub or group of
cherubs is more famous than the two at the very bottom of the painting.” The
two winged angels were used for marketing materials in various fields such as stamps,
postcards, T-shirts, and socks.
Two winged angels
For the background of drawing these baby
angels, according to Fra Magazine's 1912 article, when Raphael drew the
painting, his model, the children, came to see it, and then he added them to
the painting exactly as he saw them.
Currently,
the painting is owned by the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, and the
gallery celebrated the 500th anniversary of the painting from 26 May to 26
August 2012.
Inside the gallery with the Sistine Madonna in the background
The
paintings “Partisan Madonna of Minsk” by Mikhail Savitsky and “And the Saved
World Remembers” by Mai Dantsig are based on The Sistine Madonna.
Partisan Madonna of Minsk, Mikhail Savitsky
And the Saved World Remembers, Mai Dantsig
Italian
artist Giorgio Vasari called it "a truly rare and extraordinary work",
and the Italian painter Antonio da Correggio, who was active in the Renaissance
era, was so inspired to cry, "And I also, I am a painter!"
Born: January 31, 1797; Himmelpfortgrund,
Vienna, Austria
Died: November 19, 1828; Vienna,
Austria
Nationality: Austria
Franz Schubert, born on January 31,
1797, and died on November 19, 1828, was an Austrian composer of the late
Classical and early Romantic eras. He is considered one of the greatest
composers in Western classical music history.
The house in which Schubert was born
Despite his short life, Schubert
left a vast amount of work, including over 600 vocal works (mainly lieder), 7
complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and piano and
chamber music. His major works include the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667 (“Trout”),
the Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 (Unfinished Symphony), the ”Great”
Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944, the three last piano sonatas (D. 958–960),
the opera “Fierrabras” (D. 796), the incidental music to the play “Rosamunde”
(D. 797), and the song cycles “Die schöne Müllerin” (D. 795) and “Winterreise”
(D. 911).
Portrait of Franz Schubert, Franz Eybl (1827)
Born in the Himmelpfortgrund suburb
of Vienna, Schubert showed a rare musical talent from an early age. His father
was his first violin teacher and his older brother was his first piano teacher,
but Schubert soon surpassed the capabilities of the two.
Schubert's glasses
In 1808, at the age of
11, Schubert, who entered the Stadtkonvikt School, became acquainted with the
orchestral music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Subsequently, at the end of
1813, Schubert, who graduated from Stadtkonvikt School, returned home and began
studying to become a school teacher. While studying, he continued to study the
works of Antonio Salieri and composed prolifically.
Schubert at the Piano, Gustav Klimt (1899)
In 1821, Schubert was
admitted to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde as a performing member, which
helped establish his name among the citizens of Vienna. In March 1828, Schubert
held the only concert that he performed with his works to critical acclaim during
his musical career. He died at the age of 31, eight months after the
performance.
The site of Schubert's first tomb, Währing
During his lifetime, since Schubert had few public concerts, the chances
of directly listening to his music were very few, but interest in his work
increased greatly after his death. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz
Liszt, Johannes Brahms and other 19th-century composers discovered and
supported his works. Thank you.
The Schubert statue
Memorial at the Kalvarienberg Church, Hernals
Austrian 50 Schilling silver coin for the 150th anniversary of his death (1978)
One of the most successful
biographical films of the 1940s, "A Song to Remember" is a
biographical film produced by Columbia Pictures in 1945 that tells a
fictionalized life story of Polish pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin.
Directed by Charles Vidor and starring Paul Muni, Merle Oberon and Cornel
Wilde. Including Cornel Wilde, who played Frédéric Chopin, for Best Actor, the
film was nominated for many award categories including Best Cinematography,
Best Film Editing, and Best Music.
Movie Review
“A handsome Technicolor
extravaganza”
“The First Celebrity Super Couple”
“A Film to Remember”
“The music is the star”
“I saw this film when I was 7 and
immediately went home determined to learn to play all of Chopin's music!”
“The final 17 min. of this film
show Wilde at his best and why he was nominated for an Academy Award for best
actor.”
“Some of the best entertainment
ever made”
“Worth listening too”
“It made me love Chopin's music”
Interesting stories about the film
1. The American pianist “Liberace” stated
that he got an idea of placing a decorated candlestick on his piano from the
scene in this film when George Sand carries a candlestick to the dark room and
places it on the piano to reveal Chopin as the pianist rather than Franz Liszt.
2. To play Chopin's piano solos,
Columbia Pictures attempted to recruit Artur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz. Rubinstein,
however, was offended by the attitude of Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn.
Horowitz was a better relationship with Cohn than Rubinstein, but he didn't
want to perform the severely cut versions of Chopin's works the film required.
3. After an attempt to borrow MGM's
Spencer Tracy and Greta Garbo was failed, the planned original settings were Frank
Capra for the director, Francis Lederer for Chopin, Paul Muni for Elsner, and Marlene
Dietrich for George Sand.
4. After making this film, Charles
Vidor directed a biography of Franz Liszt, "Song Without End (1960)"
starring Dirk Bogarde. Alexander Davion and Patricia Morison appear as Frédéric
Chopin and George Sand, and the film became Vidor's last film. He died of a
heart attack while filming, and then the director was replaced by George Cukor.
5. Producers Sidney Buchman and
Louis F. Edelman and director Charles Vidor originally wanted Lenore Aubert as the
role of George Sand. However, Samuel Goldwyn did not allow her to appear in the
Columbia Pictures film.
