Harry Clarke's Magical World

Enchanting illustrations by artist Harry Clarke (born in Dublin 1889) 

from "The Fairy Tales of Charles Perrault" (1922). 
See more at 50 Watts . 

I'm going on a little trip tomorrow.

 Please have a look at my blog archives while I'm gone.

I'll be back around Nov 7th. Stay tuned!

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Cloudy Collection" Exhibit, plus 2 New Print Sets!

NEW Prints Release today: Seven 5"x7" letterpress prints in a limited edition set from
Cloudy Collection called "Hanging with the Dead" just in time for Halloween. Follow the link to see a list of artists and to buy. Thanks, David Huyck. This set looks great. 

Plus, there will be an art show at the Pink Hobo Gallery opening Nov 4th, 2011 at 7-11 pm (507 East Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN) featuring all of the prints that Cloudy Collection has ever produced (since the very first set that I was in). Check out this amazing list of artists. The Minneapolis Indie Xpo is also happening on Nov. 5 & 6 at the Soap Factory: MIX (10-5pm), so it will be perfect timing for comic/art fans. 

If that's not enough, there will be a NEW, limited edition, silk screened "2012 Calendar of the Impending Apocalypse" with 12 artists (small detail teaser of my own piece shown below) that you will be able to buy at Cloudy Collection.  Just released! GO HERE for info. 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vogue Picture Records

Dick La Salle and His Society Orchestra, "Give Me all of Your Heart".

The Hour of Charm All-Girl Orchestra, "Seville"

Produced by Sav-Way Industries of Detroit, Vogue Picture Records were released to the public in May 1946. Production ceased less than a year later in April 1947. They were mostly 10" 78 RPM records, but there were also a few 12" records produced. See more examples of these funky, illustrated records at The Association of Vogue Picture Record Collectors

"Mound" by Allison Schulnik

ZieherSmith Inc. (516 W.20th, NYC) is showing Allison Schulnik's new paintings and ceramics from Oct. 22 through Dec. 17th, 2011. (Example shown above: painting of a cat.) There's also a new claymation featuring ghostlike creatures just in time for Halloween called "Mound". 

Mound by Allison Schulnik (from garaco taco on Vimeo.)

Copyright Allison Schulnik 2011 allisonschulnik.com

The Art of Amy Crehore

I Love This Woman - Francoise Gilot

 Francoise Gilot is still painting away at age 90. From 1943 to 1952 she lived with Picasso, bless her heart. She even had two of his children. I'm sure it was a challenge. The age difference. The ego. The fame. The other women. The mood swings. She wrote a book about their years together ("Life with Picasso"). I've read it a few times. Picasso prevented her from showing her work in certain galleries after she left him (men in the art world will do that to women sometimes). The fact is she had a big influence on Picasso during the time she lived with him and there will be a show at Gagosian Gallery (NYC) in May 2012 of the Gilot-Picasso years. LINK NYTimes article. (See: Women of Picasso for a timeline.) The intelligent Gilot was destined to be with great men. She later married Jonas Salk (1970-1995). Here's an interesting interview with Gilot in 1998 by Charlie Rose (showing some of her work, old photos of that time, memories of Matisse, etc): 
LINK

George Shaw takes hobby paints to a new level

Painter George Shaw is up for the 2011 Turner prize. The fact that he uses his boyhood enamel paints from the hobby store only lends more charm to these works. It seems difficult to paint compelling landscapes with those paints, but he manages to do so with great skill. His mysterious paintings of abandoned places trigger our memories of times gone by. (Two excellent examples of paintings by George Shaw shown above.)

Here's a video of George giving a tour of his exhibition Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.  A short interview in Timeout with George Shaw .

The Art of Amy Crehore

Amy Crehore Print Sale Extended!

 "Homage to the King of Cats" by Amy Crehore 

 "The Waiting Pool" by Amy Crehore
CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

 "Song of the Sea" by Amy Crehore

"Weedsmoker's Dream" by Amy Crehore

"Shygals' Serenade" by Amy Crehore
Limited Edition prints by Amy Crehore 

Here's the LINK to view and purchase.
These are small limited editions. All prints are signed and numbered by me and, also, include a certificate of authenticity. Quality printing by a master printer.
Also, my 3-color letterpress is on sale, too! If you didn't get one of these, now is your chance. This one has a nice printing press texture to it.
LINK

The Art of Amy Crehore

Dinner With Henry (Miller) and Other Cool Art Films

Here's a 30 minute film of Henry Miller made a year before he died when he was 87 years old (1979) directed by Richard Young. He's having dinner with actress Brenda Venus and the film crew. Check out this link for other interesting art films:

UBUWEB 

Audrey Hepburn and her Pet Fawn

Here's a link to a story about Audrey Hepburn's baby deer, Pippen, at 

AnOther  

More photos: LINK , LINK

"Boys Head" by Lucian Freud

I like this "Boy's Head" painting by Lucian Freud 1952 which sold for $5 million at Sotheby's recently. (artinfo) Isn't this a typically natural pose for a bored young boy? That's what makes this painting so good.

The Art of Amy Crehore

A "Jug Band" Cub Scout Badge

These illustrations show us how a kid could earn a jug band badge in Cub Scouts. Steve Lodefink of FINKBUILT blog posted these images to his flickr. 

I'm wondering if the Brownies have a similar badge?

Looks like fun.

Celebrating Gumby's Creator Art Clokey- Gumby on the Moon

Arthur "Art" Clokey (October 12, 1921 – January 8, 2010) was a pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation.
 Thanks. Bob Jinx

Boris Chaliapin (1904-1979), Portraits and Nudes

 Marilyn Monroe

 Princess Margaret

Jacqueline Kennedy

Reclining Nude 1928

Standing Nude 1929

Boris Chaliapin, son of a famous Russian singer, was a prolific artist. He painted the gorgeous nudes shown above when he was only 25 and later became an illustrator for Time Magazine specializing in portraits. He created 550 Time covers (414 were published) from 1942 to 1970. His technique was smooth, sensitive and precise. He painted just about every famous person and then some. Pretty amazing!

More images and text here: LINK and LINK

Where Art Meets Comics

Looks like the October issue of  "Art News" has Daniel Clowes on the cover. He's a favorite of mine. There is also a new interview with Daniel at

io9 

which mentions a travelling museum show starting at the Oakland Museum in April 2012. Cool.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Website, Tumblr

Photographer Hisaji Hara's Homage to Balthus

LENSCRATCH posted an interesting series of works by Tokyo photographer Hisaji Hara (done in 2009 and exhibited in Tokyo last year at Gallery Bauhaus). These works are based on the compositions of Balthus' paintings (shown above: "Katia Reading", an image that I have on the wall of my studio). Hisaji Hara's photographs show classic Japanese school girls and others posing for the camera in the exact same poses of the figures in Balthus' paintings. This series of photos has a B&W vintage look and are meant as an homage to a great painter.

Balthus was a painter who carefully chose unique poses to show the unselfconsciousness of youth or to emphasize dramatic angles in a composition. (Balthus, who died in 2001, had a Japanese wife, Setsuko Ideta, and many of his own paintings were influenced by Japanese art. I miss Balthus.) 

Follow this LINK for many more examples of Hisaji Hara's homage to Balthus. 

The Art of Amy Crehore

More Monkey by Dorothy Lathrop (1942)

Another classic monkey illustration from Dorothy Lathrop 1942, "Mr. Bumps and His Monkey" by Walter de la Mare

It seems very familiar somehow!

Dorothy Lathrop self portrait with monkey

In an earlier post, I had examples of this great woman illustrator's first book. Here are a couple more drawings from 1942. She actually used a "monkey model" for the character of Jasper in "Mr. Bumps and His Monkey"! (amazon has copies)

Here is a link to more of her art at 50 Watts. She illustrated many, many books, but how many people know her name? They say she was one of the most influential and important illustrators of children's books in the 30s and 40s. Anyway, I'm glad to know her now thanks to the internet! And can't believe she actually had a real monkey to draw from?!! Did the publisher supply one for her? Pretty wild.

The Art of Amy Crehore