Little Hokum Rag

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Leon Kroll (1884-1974)

Summer New York, 1931 by Leon Kroll

Sleep, 1922 by Leon Kroll

The Young Guitarist, 1961 by Leon Kroll

Leon Kroll was a great American artist who lived a long life and did some beautiful work in a classic, realist style. He is a genius worth looking at. These three figure paintings (shown here) knock my socks off.
"Born in New York City, Abraham Leon Kroll studied at the Art Students League, with Ohio-born John H. Twachtman, and in 1903, while attending the National Academy of Design, Kroll was awarded a scholarship to study painting in Europe. When his painting of a female nude won a Grand Prix prize in Paris in 1908, Leon Kroll began a career of winning major prizes in America, and portraying sensuous nude or semi-nude women in naturalistic settings, especially in and around the several stone quarry pools in Rockport." from a biography (McDougall Fine Arts).
More Leon Kroll:

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Thanks, American Gallery for the link.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Scary Lovesick Clown

"Rudy Palais does a 'true' crime comics version of I Pagliacci in Crime Does Not Pay #43, January 1946." - Pappy's Golden Age Blogspot

The circus clown in this comic exclaims, "I'm not a clown, I'm an artist!" to the woman he is obsessed with ...right before he .... oops, he wasn't just clowning around. C-r-e-e-p-y clown.

Thanks to STWALLSKULL for the link.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

New Song

From Vega Catalog 1923

I'm going to try rotating different Hokum Scorchers songs on my website every Sunday night - just for fun. Have a listen to the Hokum Scorchers playing the 1920's song, "Papa Do Do Do" by Papa Charlie Jackson (this version was recorded in 1995). Lou Reimuller is playing a Vega Whyte Laydie guitar-banjo and I am on the washboard. I will be playing snare drum, tenor banjo, National plectrum, kazoo and singing on future songs. So, stay tuned for more craziness. Oh, and scroll down the page on this link for the player. My website is set up that way...you have to scroll down to read it - like a blog.

LINK

P.S. The song will change every Sunday night!

So, it may be a different one by the time you read this.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Octopus Pulp Covers from the Past

by Lew Merrill 1936

1952
Poulpe Pulps (and Octopia Blog) is a website dedicated to pulp comic covers, magazine covers and book covers featuring images of that strange creature from the deep: the octopus. It's a fascinating and humorous gallery of vintage sci-fi art.
Be sure to follow some of their links to other sites such as this Japanese Pulp Gallery . I'm sure Ryan Heshka can't get enough of this stuff! He seems to be channelling it.
POULPE PULPS

The Art of Amy Crehore

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

The Ghost in the Stereoscope

Ghostly visions appear in

EARLY VISUAL MEDIA

Spooky!

(site link via boingboing )

The Art of Amy Crehore

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Beautiful "Lost Found Art"

Antique pin cushion

Wooden figure collection 16 years in the making (from 1850-1920)

Antique doll head collection
For some lovely and unusual antique, dada-style collections for your home, take a tour through this wonderful design company's website:

LOST FOUND ART
Thanks go to the Lori Langille Blog (Automatism)
I love all of these! I want them!
The Art of Amy Crehore