Your Daily Art

"Miss Perry's Pottery"

2010-02-01T21:56:00.004-05:00

Classic shape and colors, Pewabic Pottery, Detroit, MI

The Pewabic pottery was founded by Mary Chase Perry Stratton in 1903 in Detroit and the building they built to house the pottery in 1915 is still being used today. They have a museum, they offer classes, and they run a retail shop out of the original building. It is the only arts & crafts pottery still in production in the Midwest.

Holy Cows

2010-01-27T09:18:00.003-05:00

Nebamun’s cattle , fragment of a scene,Thebes, Egypt Late 18th Dynasty, around 1350 BC, The British Museum.

The Egyptians considered cows an essential element of life and survival. As the once fertile area of Northern Africa became a desert, the domesticated cow brought life and nourishment. The goddess Hathor was also frequently depicted as a cow's, or at least with the horns of cows as part of her crown.

For Mother

2010-01-24T22:40:00.002-05:00

Maman by Louise Bourgeois,1999 (cast 2001)Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

At first glance it may seem that by entitling this piece Maman (Mother in French) that Louise Bourgeois was not fond of her mother, but that is not the case. The spider she created is protecting her sack of eggs and Bourgeois saw her as a nurturing yet formidable figure, just like her own mother.

Floating

2010-01-19T01:08:00.003-05:00

Black, White, and Ten Red by Alexander Calder, 1957, NGA, Washington.

Calder was from a family of artists but chose to himself to train as an engineer; skills that would serve him well when he changed course and began to study art at the Art Students League in NYC.

formspring.me

2010-01-18T13:29:00.001-05:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/yourdailyart

Resting

2010-01-15T22:21:00.002-05:00

Flower Market, Tokyo by Robert Frederick Blum, c. 1892, The Manoogian Collection

Blum was born in Cincinnati where he worked for a lithographer before he began to take classes in drawing. He had a strong interest in all things Japanese as did many other artists at the time such as Whistler and Monet. Blum's preferred medium was pastels and he and W.M. Chase founded the Society of Painters in Pastel in New York.

By Popular Demand

2010-01-13T00:12:00.002-05:00

Wash Day by Virgil D. Haynes, 1959, private collection.

Troop Transport, Chartres by Virgil D. Haynes, 1945, private collection

Ragamuffins

2010-01-11T17:41:00.002-05:00

Young Boys of Wartime Liverpool by Virgil D. Haynes, 1943, private collection.

Virgil Haynes took this photo while serving in WW II working at the 38th Station Hospital in England and France. After the war he and his wife Audrey opened Haynes Photography in Harbor Springs, MI which they ran for almost 30 years.

Build Your Own

2010-01-08T16:58:00.002-05:00

Pygmalion and Galatea by Jean-Leon Gerome, ca. 1890, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gerome is well known for his beautiful paintings but he also took up sculpture late in his career and created a sculpture based on this same subject.

Familiar

2010-01-06T01:23:00.002-05:00

Winter Sun by Alex Colville, 2005

Canadian artist Alex Colville paints highly detailed images in the pointillist style - unusual because of the slow exacting methods it requires - yet his subjects are so "usual" that his methods of achieving his look make you forget that they must have been created by a very meticulous and precise hand.

Attention Michigan Artists:

2010-01-05T09:01:00.002-05:00

Works Progress Administration Poster

There is a contest taking place until February 15th where artists, designers, graphic artists, etc. are invited to create a poster in the WPA style to help promote Michigan.

The DIA currently has an exhibition of WPA works.

http://www.letssavemichigan.com/page/s/contest

"The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and Let's Save Michigan have issued an open call to artists, illustrators, and graphic designers for original posters to inspire Michiganders to revive their state. The new posters should be a call to action, and serve as part of a campaign to rally citizens to do the hard work that's necessary to position Michigan as a state that will thrive in the future. Ultimately, the posters should aim to be forward-looking, inspirational, and must include the phrase "Let's Save Michigan" in the design.

The hope is to highlight the actions and assets that are critical to moving the cities forward, whether that is renovating historic homes, planting community gardens, extensive public transportation and bike lines, public art, or whatever the artist believes will carry Michigan through the 21st century—and beyond"

Looking Back

2010-01-03T23:17:00.002-05:00

The Great City of Tenochtitlan by Diego Rivera, 1945, Mural from the National Palace, Mexico City.

Diego Rivera was an active and outspoken Communist who painted these murals (featuring the world of the Aztec people) after the Mexican Revolution as a way to give the Mexican people a sense of identity and pride in their history.

Happy 2010

2009-12-31T13:50:00.001-05:00

Tweets!

2009-12-28T17:02:00.001-05:00

Your Daily Art on Twitter

Twitter followers - Your Daily Art is now on Twitter. Hope to see you there too!

Happy 2010,
Martha

Happy New Year

2009-12-25T14:51:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year (and Merry Christmas)

Vintage Soviet greeting cards.

Merry Masked Men

2009-12-17T00:24:00.001-05:00

Gift Rapt by Charley Harper

Mid 20th century artist and illustrator Charley Harper's work can be found in everything from posters, calendars, and books of all kinds. He felt an affinity toward nature and animals and both figured prominently in his work.

Cafe Art

2009-10-12T00:18:00.001-04:00

Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven by Paul Gauguin, 1888, National Gallery of Art.

Known as the Volpini Suite, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, have organized and exhibition that re-creates Gauguin's ground-breaking show that is widely considered to be the first exhibition of Symbolist Art.

Rose Bowl

2009-09-18T16:45:00.000-04:00

White and Pink Roses by Henri Fantin-Latour, Private Collection.

A friend of the Impressionists Manet and Bazille, in his early career Fantin-Latour was part of the traditional academic salon. He loosened his brush strokes after he came to know the Impressionists and their techniques.

More information from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Mad Architecture

2009-08-28T14:56:00.005-04:00

The Old Pennsylvannia Station, NYC, 1910-1963, McKim,Mead & White Architects.

When the original Beaux-Arts station was torn down in 1963 there was such an uproar from the citizens of NYC that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission was established.

Interior Old Penn Station

2009-08-28T14:00:00.000-04:00

An Apple a Day

2009-08-11T23:05:00.001-04:00

Rebel in the Making: Schoolboys Exercising, with One Eating an Apple, Tokyo, Japan, 1936 by Fritz Henle, University of Texas.

There was a wonderful show of the photography of Fritz Henle at that Ransom Center at the University of Texas, Austin; unfortunately it just closed. Henle was a master of many different types of photography. There is an excellant catalog of the exhibition published by the University of Texas Press called Fritz Henle In Search of Beauty.

Masterpiece Cards Guest Blogging

2009-06-21T02:17:00.004-04:00

http://www.themasterpiececards.com/famous-paintings-reviewed/

Check out the site for Masterpiece Cards - they invited me to do a guest blog.

Nimble Fingers

2009-04-07T13:46:00.002-04:00

Gee's Bend Quilters Collective, Gee's Bend Alabama

The ladies of Gee's Bend have been making quilts for more than six generations. Largely using scraps of old material, they have created some of the most original and beautiful piecework ever done.

Made a list and made it on a list!

2009-04-06T14:46:00.001-04:00

http://www.blogs.com/topten/top-10-art-history-and-museum-blogs/

The Art History Blog

Top 10

2009-03-30T08:47:00.001-04:00

I was invited by Blogs.com to list my top 10 art blogs you can find the list here.

http://www.blogs.com/topten/10-great-art-blogs-and-resources/index.html