Girl and Sea Monster

Steel engraving by Flemeng after the painting by Ingres. Pre1900prints
Andromeda exposed to the sea-monster (1869) Paul Gustave Dore

Andromeda Chained to the Rock by the Nereids (1840) Theodore Chasseriau

Girl in peril! Look at these dramatic and beautiful renditions of Andromeda. "Andromeda was a Greek mythological figure who was chained to a rock to be eaten by a sea monster and was saved by Perseus, whom she later married." Of course, she was naked! Thank God for Perseus!:

Andromeda

The Art of Amy Crehore

Art Toys

I like these! Now you are talking. These whimsical wooden toys are replicas of renowned mid-century designer ALEXANDER GIRARD’s 1963 originals. Find out more here:

Supertouch

The Art of Amy Crehore

Malcontents- part two

Louise Brooks, looking positively come-hither

John Brownlee at "Table of Malcontents" (wired.com) blogged about me a couple of times last week. He picked up the "Demons" post (as did drawn! and boingboing), but he also liked "Black Cat Tease" post. Just the mere mention of Louise Brooks has him dashing over to my blog. "I love Amy Crehore, a vivacious and talented minx if there ever was one......" quote from John Brownlee, read more here:
Amy Crehore Paints Louise Brooks
and "Amy Crehore — the perky little marvel who sets the gold standard for all artists devoted to painting topless Luau dancers strumming guitars and the monkeys in funny hats who love them"- another quote from a John Brownlee post:
A Zoo of Fantastical Beasts
Hey, what's a girl to do?
The Art of Amy Crehore

There once was a time....

Here are some silly clowns, pierrots or what-have-you. I don't like all clowns, mind you. Just the ones with intriguing costumes like the European ones or the early P.T. Barnum clowns. The later American clowns with big red noses and crazy orange wigs that scare kids at birthday parties are not my ideal.

Images from: Old Postcards

The Art of Amy Crehore

Take a Matchbook Road Trip!

Vintage matchbook art is cool and Mike Snyder wants to take you on a little trip: Matchbook Road Trip

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Serpent was a Woman

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris
" Temptation" by Hugo van der Goes 1470 Vienna
"Temptation of Adam and Eve"by Masolino 1425, fresco in Florence

Click on images to enlarge

"Medieval Christian art often depicted the Edenic Serpent as a woman, thus both emphasizing the Serpent's seductiveness as well as its relationship to Eve." quote- about Adam and Eve (Notre Dame sculpture) from Wikipedia

Christopher Witcombe writes more about Eve:

"Eve and the Identity of Women"

I like the placement of a blue iris (instead of a fig leaf) in the Hugo van der Goes painting. He paints Eve as a very beautiful, but spindly woman with a twisted arm. She looks pregnant, too. His serpent is less of a snake and more of a big lizard, looking like she could be Eve's little sister. All of the images above are compelling and surreal.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Nuns, Madonnas, Pierrots

"Icon" 1990, 18"x22", oil on linen by Amy Crehore

"Tree of Life" 22"x26" oil on linen,1990,Amy Crehore (private collection Santa Barbara, CA)
"Italian Landscape",oil on linen, 16"x34" 1990 by Amy Crehore

I actually painted my first "little pierrot" back in 1990, a year or two after my trip to Italy. The inspiration for the painting, "Icon", was Giotto's Madonna and Child (year 1320). My madonna is holding a little version of my "Tree of Life" painting and a baby pierrot adapted from one of my earlier works called, "Banquet Days". There are definitely recurring motifs in my art over the years. Sometimes it's unconscious. I painted a monkey, a snake, palm trees, and Titian's odalisque in these earlier works. I also painted nuns. These 3 paintings were exhibited at the Portland Art Museum in the early 90's.

The Art of Amy Crehore

"Black Cat Tease" by Amy Crehore

Louise Brooks Black Cat Tease copyright 2005 Amy Crehore "Little Pierrot" series

I had mentioned in an earlier blogpost that I used pictures of Louise Brooks as references for just a couple of my "Little Pierrot" paintings. Here is one of the paintings I did. This painting is a tribute to Louise, her sense of humor and her sex appeal. The rest of the paintings in my pierrot series were done without using any references. My girls are all imaginary.
Little Pierrot Series

The Art of Amy Crehore

More Chinese Beauties

Pre-communist Chinese advertising 1930's (Xie Xing Long #18). I like the floral motifs, patterns, colors, and compositions. Postcards from

The Art Werx

The Art of Amy Crehore

Ukulele at the North Pole

Richard Konter with his famous 1K Martin ukulele.

During the 1920's the Martin Company actually produced twice as many ukuleles as guitars. The Hawaiian uke craze was in full swing at the time. Here's an interesting tidbit - in 1926, a seaman named Dick Konter was a volunteer for Robert Byrd's first exposition to the North Pole. He smuggled his Martin uke onto the plane hoping to play it for some eskimos. However, there were no eskimos at the North Pole when he got there. But, the uke did become the first musical instrument to travel to the North Pole. Link

If all goes well, I should be unveiling my first hand-painted "fine art" uke (Tickler Brand) soon. It's a Martin copy that was lovingly hand-crafted by Lou Reimuller (Teenar's creator) from a Stew Mac kit. The second uke is already in production. It will be made from scratch by Reimuller and designed by me. I am painting them with original motifs from my "Monkey Love" and "Little Pierrot" series.
The Art of Amy Crehore

Magical Films of Joseph Cornell

Construction: “Tilly Losch,” circa 1935, by Joseph Cornell, artist, 10 x 9¤ x 2⁄ inches

Film: Jack's Dream, late 1930's
Film: Rose Hobart 1936
Film: Nymphlight 1957

Did you know that artist Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) who made beautiful constructions also made surrealistic, short films? Here are some stills from a few of his creations.

The Voyager Foundation is a place where you can order the collection of films on DVD/video: Joseph Cornell Films

Cornell lived in in a wooden frame house on Utopia Parkway in a working-class area of Queens, NY for most of his life with his mother and his brother, Robert, who was disabled by cerebral palsy. One of the best biographies of an artist that I have ever read is about Joseph Cornell. It is called "Utopia Parkway" by Deborah Solomon. You will be very moved by this book. Unforgettable and poignant.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Giotto is My Man

Giotto's Bell Tower in Florence, Italy (Piazza del Duomo)


I have derived a lot of inspiration from Giotto (1267-1337) over the years. My trip to Florence in the late 80's was a high point of my life as an artist. The gothic-style of the Piazza del Duomo with Giotto's beautifully constructed Bell Tower is my ideal as far as architectural design goes. And Giotto as a painter is unequaled in my estimation. His narrative frescos in Assisi (above) show his architectural leanings, his unlimited creative imagination, a gift for depicting emotion in his figures, a strong sense of color and design. He created some very surreal masterworks. A true innovator. I will never tire of looking at Giotto's art.

'"He converted the art of painting from Greek to Latin and brought in the modern era" - this is Cennino Cennini's synthesis fifty years after Giotto's death, underscoring the revolutionary character of Giotto's painting'- see more images and read more here:

Giotto

The Art of Amy Crehore

Naked Witchcraft and Severed Heads

Here are three more wacky images from the amazing Cornell University Library that I blogged about earlier. These are from: Roland Brévannes' "L’Orgie Satanique à Travers les Siècles", Paris 1904, Publisher- Offenstadt.

Boingboing and Wired blogs picked up on my "Demons" post which has brought many people over to Little Hokum Rag. Apparently, people are fascinated by these old engravings and woodcuts of demons, witches, angels, freaks, monsters, the grotesque, the marvelous, etc.

I know that I am.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Pan Yuliang's Controversial Nudes

Pan Yuliang's life (1895-1977) was an interesting story that was made into a movie in 1994 starring Gong Li. The movie is called "A Soul Haunted by Painting"(or "Hua Hun"). I will have to rent it soon! Apparently her parents died when she was young and she was sold to a brothel at 14. But, at age 21, a customs official rescued her and sent her to art school in Shanghai. From there, she went to France to study and also studied in Rome. She returned to China from 1929-1937, but after that lived in France for the rest of her life. She won countless awards, lived a full life and loved to paint nude women. Her paintings were considered "depraved" in China by conservatives from 1930-40.

Read about Pan Yuliang's life and see more paintings.

Thanks to Internet Weekly for turning me on to this remarkable woman painter.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Free Shipping-Amy Crehore's Limited Signed Prints

"Backstage"copyright Amy Crehore, Little Pierrot Series Prints
"The Nibbler" copyright Amy Crehore, Monkey Love Series Prints

I am offering free shipping on all of my limited edition, signed, museum quality giclee prints. I will reimburse the shipping fee through paypal after ordering.
The Art of Amy Crehore

How Thomas Nast influenced Vincent Van Gogh

Thomas Nast Cartoon 1876

"Sorrow" by Vincent Van Gogh 1882

"Thomas Nast (1840-1902) perhaps the most important American political cartoonist of all time, is best known for his invention and development of popular symbols like the Republican Elephant, Democratic Donkey, a fat, jolly Santa Claus and a lean, goatee-wearing Uncle Sam. Nast’s most important forum was Harper’s Weekly, the leading illustrated American periodical of the last half of the nineteenth century. HarpWeek has identified the 2200-plus cartoons that Nast drew for Harper’s Weekly—the first in 1859, the last in 1896, and the rest mainly between 1862 and 1886." quote from John Adler, publisher HarpWeek.

Apparently, Van Gogh collected newspaper illustrations and hoped to become an illustrator himself. 21 cartoons by Thomas Nast were in Van Gogh's collection. Albert I. Boime, Professor of Art History at UCLA, wrote an interesting essay on the possible connection between Nast's illustrations and Van Gogh's art.

Read Boime's essay here:

Thomas Nast

presented by HarpWeek

The Art of Amy Crehore

John Tenniel's Surreal Alice

Sir John Tenniel (1820-1914) was a political cartoonist for "Punch", a book illustrator and a watercolorist. 'His forty-two illustrations (1865) for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" had involved Tenniel in much acrimonious debate with Carroll, who insisted that the first edition be withdrawn because he was displeased with the reproductive quality of the prints. Reluctantly, Tenniel agreed to work on Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass" (1872), his last book illustration. He was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1893, and continued his life-long association with "Punch" until 1901.' See and read more here:

A Tenniel Gallery

on Victorian Web. Be sure to click through "next" to see all of his "Alice in Wonderland" illustrations which are a predecessor to surrealism and some of the most striking examples of Alice illustrations ever done (in my humble opinion). Inspiring!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Amazing Jack Hall

Jack Hall made playable musical instruments out of used wooden matches. Check out the photos and read about this incredible one-of-a-kind folk artist who made a guitar, uke, fiddle, banjo, etc:

Matchstick Man

and here

The Art of Amy Crehore

Demons- like you have never seen before!

J.A.S. Collin de Plancy. Dictionnaire Infernal. Paris : E. Plon, 1863
J.A.S. Collin de Plancy. Dictionnaire Infernal. Paris : E. Plon, 1863

Lucifer, Roland Brévannes 1904

Jose Guadalupe Posada woodblock 1930

There is the most amazing collection of fantastic images in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections of Cornell University Library. You must check it out! This is just the tip of the iceberg. I will definitely bookmark this site. Click here to see more, like you have never seen before:
Fantastic in Art and Fiction
The Art of Amy Crehore

Edward Gorey and Surrealism

Edward Gorey, a prolific and wonderful artist/illustrator, died in the year 2000 and this is an excerpt from his obituary: "Gorey's fascination with surrealism came to the fore in The Object-Lesson (1958), whose story tumbles through artful non-sequiturs while the artwork shows increased mastery of balance and design. This led to Edmund Wilson's 1959 New Yorker appreciation of the early books - Gorey's first major critical notice. Later the Doubtful Guest was developed into a more disturbing, eyeless being with long rubbery arms, known as Figbash and partly echoing Max Ernst's protean figure Loplop. Other recurring Gorey icons are cats and the armless, featureless Black Doll; other acknowledged influences include Chinese, Japanese and Symbolist art." read more here: Guardian Obituary April 20,2000

It looks like there will be a documentary film about Edward Gorey coming out in the near future. Here is the myspace page where you can view some previews:

Edward Gorey Documentary by Mooncusser Films

Christopher Seufert, director

You can also follow the progress of the film here: Edward Gorey Film

I own a copy of "The Willowdale Handcar or the Return of the Black Doll" which is charmingly surreal and I also have a book of interviews with Gorey (shown above). He is very inspiring, plus he loved cats. I can't wait to see this documentary film. I also heard that the Jim Henson Company is developing a feature length live-action film of "The Doubtful Guest".

The Art of Amy Crehore