Backstage, Lulu and The Bather

"Backstage" painting by Amy Crehore (Little Pierrot Series-fine art print)

Lulu

Rene Magritte, "The Bather" 1925

Happy New Year! I'd like to bring in the new year with Magritte's painting, "The Bather" 1925.
This painting was thought to be inspired by none other than the thoroughly modern Louise Brooks ("Lulu" shown above). Both images wonderfully represent the Art Deco period. For more photos of Louise Brooks and Ziegfeld Follies girls try this link: empousa.multiply.com

And don't miss the Magritte show at LACMA if you live in Southern California.

Also, I have a special offer of free shipping on my "Little Pierrot" and "Monkey Love" prints until February 15, 2007:

The Art of Amy Crehore

Holiday Retreat

"Homage to the King of Cats" copyright 2001 Amy Crehore
"The Organ Grinder" copyright 2002 Amy Crehore

"Checkers" copyright 2003 Amy Crehore

I am taking some time off for the holidays

and I will not be posting for a while.

Happy Holidays to everyone and I will see you again in 2007.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Hans Bellmer 1902-1975

La Poupee by Hans Bellmer

This post is for the people who got freaked about Teenar and other doll-type art. Hans Bellmer, the great surrealist, started it all and no one can quite compare to him. He made dolls and took photos of them in the early 1930's as a protest against the Nazi regime.

He was an ad agency guy before he was a doll artist.

"Bellmer's doll developed from a series of three events in his personal life: meeting a beautiful teenage cousin in 1932; attending a performance of Jacques Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann (in which a man falls tragically in love with an automaton); and receiving a box of his old toys. After these events he began to construct his first doll."

read more here: Hans Bellmer

There are some great books and historical documents about

Hans Bellmer which can be found easily with a google search.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Lizzie Douglas (1897-1973)

"The Story of Memphis Minnie", painting by Amy Crehore (click on image to enlarge)

I love tobacco-chewing, badass Lizzie Douglas a.k.a. Memphis Minnie. She could play guitar circles around the boys. She made a hot team with Kansas Joe McCoy. In this large work, which took me 6 months to paint back in the early 90's, I painted a tribute to them and their song, "Bumble Bee Blues" (1929). On the left, is the young Lizzie "Kid" Douglas who played the streets and even joined the Ringling Bros circus for a time, and in the middle, is Minnie as a strong and sexy solo artist with her National guitar. She was one of the great blues artists of all time.

Read up on Memphis Minnie here and here.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Lulu is 100

"Lulu" could not stand fake people. She fled Hollywood. She was too real. And, she was cool!

The American silent-film actress Louise Brooks (1906-1985) is one of the great female icons in the history of the cinema. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of her birth, The International Center of Photography in NYC will have an exhibit of Louise Brooks images from the George Eastman House archives, Jan 19-April 29th, 2007.

Louise Brooks and the "New Woman" in Weimar Cinema

The Art of Amy Crehore

Bubble Gum

" Bubble Gum Encore" by Amy Crehore
" Bubble Gum Music" by Amy Crehore
" Blue Orb" by Amy Crehore

CHEW ON IT

The Art of Amy Crehore

Thumbs Up for Teenar

Teenar, Girl Guitar gets a "thumbs up" at Coolest Gadgets .

Edwin writes: "It never ceases to amaze me what men (and women, of course - I’m just talking in an extremely general manner, so please don’t get overtly PC on me) can do with a little bit of imagination, some D.I.Y. skills, and a passion to create something totally new that blows our collective minds away." (read more review here)

Also,Table of Malcontents (blog at wired.com), Ubergizmo, and Born Rich recently wrote interesting posts about it along with countless other blogs making Lou Reimuller's Teenar a new sort of Icon of the Millenium, right up there with the iPod. Teenar is becoming an internet "hit wonder".

The chain-reaction first started when Mark Frauenfelder at boingboing decided she was cool. Thanks, Mark! Stay tuned for more news about the history of Teenar, hokum music, Amy's art....

The Art of Amy Crehore