Snapshot: Painters & Photography

The invention of the Kodak handheld camera in 1888 gave post-impressionist artists a new source of inspiration. Investigating the techniques and compositional strategies made possible by the new apparatus, artists captured their private lives, as well as their public domains, in surprising ways. The exhibition debuts many previously unpublished photographs taken by seven European artists, renowned for their paintings and prints. Approximately 200 photographs and 80 paintings and works on paper by artists including Pierre Bonnard, Félix Vallotton, and Edouard Vuillard explore the dynamic relationships among the various media. - The Phillips Collection

If you live in the DC-area (or will be visiting before May 6th), scamper on down to the The Phillips Collection to see Snapshot. If you're so inclined, this photography contest in which you use one of 9 images from the exhibit as inspiration, looks like fun (& you could win a Nikon 1). In fact, even if you won't be able to attend the exhibit, why not use the contest as a guide for a photography project of your own?

ciao-meow/GGCM

(painting by Maurice Denis & a photograph that informed it via Phillips Collection's Flickr)

Audrey a Roma

We're running late (as usual) on this Monday. If you need an espresso break (yes, please), check out the Audrey a Roma tumblr & exhibition site. The exhibit runs through 4 December in Rome at the Museo dell'Ara Pacis. If you can't be there, you can at least check out the photographs & site. Funds raised will benefit UNICEF in Chad. The book from the exhibit is not available in English (yet).

Here's an excellent comprehensive-but-short article about Audrey & Rome, a description of the exhibit & information about the Audrey Hepburn Children's Foundation.

ciao-rushed-meow/GGCM

(photograph by Pierluigi Praturlon)

Art & Design for Human Rights

ART WORKS Projects’ mission is to use design and the arts to raise awareness of and educate the public about significant human rights and environmental issues.

ART WORKS provides visual advocacy tools which produce action on human rights crises at the grassroots, media, and policy levels. Conceptualized and created in conjunction with established humanitarian and human rights advocacy organizations, ART WORKS’ art and design exhibitions, books, recordings, films, and other initiatives provide opportunities for large numbers of the general population to engage in ending major human rights violations. via Art Works Projects

On November 8th, Horn of Africa, a multimedia exhibit by ART WORKS Projects will open at George Washington University. You are invited. Here are the details (there's also a panel discussion with John Prendergast & a concert afterwards). Check here to see if the exhibit will be coming to your area.

(photograph by Andrew/Cuba Gallery)

Degas & Dancers

If you're in the Washington, DC area (or will be by January 8, 2012), definitely stop in to the new Degas exhibit at The Phillips Collection. There's also a Degas exhibit on at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. There are some good articles in the New York Times & a good slideshow on The Guardian. Here's the Degas label on The Guardian, too, so you can see all the article titles at once.

Can you tell we're rushing? Yes.We're dragging our laundry in & out of the rain & up & down the stairs. At least that's a bit of exercise. Growl.

ciao-meow/GG's beleaguered editor

PS: If you have little ones around, remember these New York City Ballet link coloring pages.

(Dancers at the Barre/Phillips Collection via Wikipedia

Wings of Fancy

The Wings of Fancy exhibit in suburban Washington, DC is open through September 18th. Eek, we haven't been yet, have you? Now that it has stopped raining, make plans to go. If you're not in the Washington, DC-area, check the Butterfly Website's exhibit guide; perhaps there is an exhibit near you. If that doesn't work out, we are sorry; but you can read all about butterflies on the site & plan for next year.

For children of all ages, here are butterfly coloring pages. Giulia is going to get out her crayons & go to town. (She has secret thumbs.)

ciao-fluttery-meow/GG Nature Central

(photograph via Автор: Taesang)

The Line of Beauty in London - Week's End

What's with all the London posts? Jealousy, pure & simple (& we have friends & readers in & near London). Another terrific fashion illustration exhibit, this time at Somerset House (through 9 January 2011). The exhibit is Dior Illustrated: René Gruau and the Line of Beauty. And before or after you see it (maybe after is better?), you should absolutely go ice skating. The rink opens next week (23 November). (illustration & the head's up via automatism, thanks!)

ciao-cheeky-meow/GG Central

Drawing Fashion in London

For lucky ducks in London (or who will be) before 6 March 2011, there's a new exhibit at London's Design Museum on fashion illustration. In the museum shop is beautiful catalogue, a set of 6 cards, & two reproduction prints. (image by François Berthoud via artnet(dot)com)

ciao-cheerio-meow/GGCM

From the Design Museum website:

"Drawing Fashion celebrates a unique collection of some of the most remarkable fashion illustrations from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. These original works define the fine art of illustrating fashion, from the collections of Chanel, Dior, Comme des Garçons and Poiret as well as Viktor & Rolf, Lacroix and McQueen. This exhibition showcases fashion illustrators at their creative heights: Lepape at the beginning of the century, Gruau in the 40's and 50's, Antonio throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, to current artists Mats Gustafson, Aurore de la Morinerie and François Berthoud. Film-clips, news reels, music and photography will sit alongside the original illustrations to reflect not only the spirit and the style of the decades but also the wider social and cultural changes of the century."

TruthBeauty at The Phillips Collection

Giulia is on the warpath again. She wants her editor to take her to this exhibit. Plans seem to be underway to revive the idea of a GG salon at The Phillips Collection café. Sigh. GG's editor is very much under-the-weather & keeping mum, not promising a thing. Meanwhile, if you are in or will be in Washington, DC we highly recommend a trip to the Phillips. If you would like to donate a small amount (via text) to repair damage from the recent fire, please click here for information.

ciao-say-cheese-meow/GG Central

TruthBeauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945/October 9, 2010–January 9, 2011 Like impressionism, which challenged the traditions of painting, pictorialism expanded the possibilities of photography beyond the literal description of a subject. Pictorialist photographers produced some of the most spectacular photographs in the history of the medium and influenced subsequent developments in modernist photography. Comprising over 120 photographs, this exhibition retraces pictorialism’s beginnings with the experiments of Hill and Adamson, and Julia Margaret Cameron; through its mastery by Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude Kasebier, and Alvin Langdon Coburn; to its lasting legacy in early works by Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham. Organized by George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, and Vancouver Art Gallery. (photograph via audrey hepburn complex)

Blue Paris - Week's End

If you've not visited Carol at Paris Breakfasts, you must, you absolutely must. We look forward to her Washington, DC exhibit in September 2010. (Is that enough lead time?! We'll remind you again, no worries.) Also, Tina at The English Muse has just returned from a Paris getaway. Here are some marvellously moody Polaroids she posted yesterday. [Beautiful photograph by Johnny Santo Domingo]

Have a wonderful weekend.

ciao-bonjour-meow/GG Central

Displaced by Amnesty International

Displaced is an educational and advocacy project on the massive displacement of civilians in the Darfur conflict region. It is designed for use by anyone concerned about the Darfur conflict who wants to raise awareness about, and encourage action on, the situation.

Go here to begin your preparation. We will post more material as it becomes available.Meanwhile, there is plenty to get started on now & over the holidays. We must keep pushing & be ready for both President-elect Obama's first months in office & the likely ICC warrant-for-arrest of Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan.

Thank you.

Logo courtesy of Amnesty International; downloadable materials (PDF & Word) here.

Darfur/Darfur

This photo is not from the exhibit. Unfortunately, we've been unable to reach Brian Steidle (The Devil Came on Horseback) for permission to use one of his photographs before the exhibit leaves Washington, DC. He was only standing less than five feet away from GG's editor several times in early November. "Do not hesitate to ask when you've the chance" would be the lesson here.

However, time creeps on & the travelling Darfur/Darfur exhibit leaves Washington, DC's Civilian Art Projects gallery on Saturday, 6 December 2008. The gallery reopens today (3 December 2008) after a Thanksgiving week break. Here is artist Anne Marchand's blog Painterly Visions with a post earlier this autumn. If you cannot see the exhibit in person, there are links to recent installations for a virtual tour. Check here for updates on the exhibit. The website is presently a bit out-of-date & we're not sure where it goes next. It has been in cities around the States, Canada, & Europe & continues on.

The photograph above is by Susan Burgess-Lent, program director of Darfur Peace & Development Organization (& novelist, too). These Mastaria School of Peace students are greeting Susan (during her May 2008 visit).

Oh yes, & have a good morning....
GG's editor

photograph used with permission of Susan Burgess-Lent