Marie-Guillemine Benoist's Beautiful Portrait

" Portrait of a Negress" 1800 by Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Louvre
"The Cat's Passenger" 1992 oil painting by Amy Crehore

Marie-Guillemine Benoist, born Marie-Guillemine de Laville-Leroux (1768-1826), was a French neoclassical painter. In 1800, she exhibited "Portrait of a Negress" in the Salon de Paris. Six years previously, slavery had been abolished, and this image became a symbol for women's emancipation and black people's rights. This picture was acquired by Louis XVIII for France in 1818. The bottom painting I did back in 1992 and I used the "Portrait of a Negress" as a reference for my little women perched on the back of a large house cat. Don't ask me what it means. It's surreal...or maybe it's folk art. Just a mood I was in at the time. But, I do love Marie's painting. It's a masterpiece!

Read more here: Marie-Guillemine Benoist

The Art of Amy Crehore

(thanks to www.printwomen.blogspot.com for reminding me of Marie)

Edward Lear was a Nut

Edward Lear (1812-1888) is hard to beat for humor and pure imagination. I like him almost as much as Heinrich Hoffmann, the creator of the "Slovenly Peter" book (which came out in 1845). In 1846, the first edition of Lear's "A Book of Nonsense" (pictures and funny limericks) was published under the name of Derry Down Derry. That same year, Lear gave 10 drawing lessons to Queen Victoria. He travelled all over the world in his lifetime and he sketched and painted as he went along. What I am showing here is just the tip of the iceberg of Edward Lear's works. He also painted in a very naturalistic style, mostly landscapes and birds.
Follow the link to read the limericks and to find out more about the incredible

Edward Lear
The Art of Amy Crehore

Works in Progress by Finkbuilt

Light Bulb Painting by Steve Lodefink at Finkbuilt
Finkbuilt blog is a fun and funny blog written and designed by Steve Lodefink. He painted this beautiful light bulb a while back. Right now, Steve is creating an oil painting of his kids in tones of blue. He lets us see his progress on his blog as he goes along. (Scroll down to June 2, 2007 for the beginning of the process.)
I also like his "mini-blog" that runs along the right side of the page. There you can find some lunch meat with a face on it (clown meat).
Finkbuilt
The Art of Amy Crehore

Yoko's Blog and some others

"Sleeping Gamblers" copyright Amy Crehore oil on linen, 24" x 20" 1995

At the moment, this painting ("Sleeping Gamblers") is hanging above my fireplace.

Yoko's Blog

(here is the English version) from Toledo, Spain has picked up on some of my larger, earlier works.

Perhaps they saw my profile in June's Monovita Magazine.

Also, here are some recent posts about my newest painting, "Wild Cat Fever" : Celebrity at Work, ArtNYC , Syntagma and Boingboing .

Don't forget to check out the Venus Show at Roq la Rue opening June 8, 2007!

The Art of Amy Crehore

People Who Live Underwater

The Underwater Sculpture Museum in Granada, West Indies

Sculpture by Jason Taylor 2006

(Thanks to Alison at Red Patience and boingboing)

The Art of Amy Crehore

East Asian Ads from 1920's and 1930's

Here is a beautiful and sometimes surreal collection

of East Asian Ads on Flickr from the 1920's and 1930's.

East Asian Ads

The Art of Amy Crehore

(Thanks to Internet Weekly- glad you are back!)

Little Nemo and Gertie

Poster from Gertie the Dinosaur 1914
Page from "Little Nemo in Slumberland" by Windsor McCay
I have always loved the comic strip "Little Nemo in Slumberland" by Windsor McCay. He created the strip from 1905-1911 for the New York Herald. His superb sense of design and his subtle, mischievous humor never goes out of date. It's classic! Just look at the beauty of this full page example (above). It is surreal and abstract at the same time- making use of geometry, forms and color while telling a fantastic story. I think I've seen some of those drippy backgrounds in some art being done today (green dreamy drips above). His bio says he never completed grade school, but he certainly completed a lot of great art.

"Winsor McCay (1869-1934) was one of the founding fathers of the US newspaper comic. His 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' Sunday page, with its world of magic, fantasy and dreams, visual virtuosity and inventive use of frames and page lay-out has not been equaled. But also McCay's other comics, like 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend' still stand out for their originality and artistic quality. In addition, McCay was a pioneer in animation art as well, and his 1909 film 'Gertie the Dinosaur' stands as the first commercial successful animated cartoon."-read more here: Lambiek.net and about Gertie here: McCay
The Art of Amy Crehore