Degas Hated Them, but People Wept Over Them

James Tissot. Quiet. c. 1881.Oil on canvas.
Tissot's illustrated "Life of Christ" (1884-1894)

From Tissot's illustrated "Life of Christ" (1884-1894)

Degas hated them, but R. Crumb might appreciate them. What am I referring to? After spending over a decade as a successful society painter in London, James Tissot returned to Paris in 1882 to paint the fashionable women there, but switched gears and embarked on a 10-year campaign to illustrate ‘The Life of Christ’ instead. These New Testament paintings caused a sensation in the Paris Salon of 1894. The Tissot Bible was published two years later and the paintings went on a trans-Atlantic tour. Seen all together "the paintings are like stills from a Hollywood movie spectacular."writes Ken Johnson of The New York Times. The Brooklyn Museum purchased the 350 gouache paintings in 1900 (at John Singer Sargent's urging). 124 of these paintings are on display until Jan. 17, 2010. One can't deny that James Tissot was an accomplished and amazing painter. Follow link to view his art before the "Christ" series (as shown above in the top image).

NY TIMES REVIEW and slideshow

of Brooklyn Museum Exhibit

The Art of Amy Crehore

Mysterious Quays

Stephen and Timothy Quay (born 17 June 1947 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, United States), are identical twins known as the Brothers Quay who make amazing animated films. Here are two shorts from 1991 and 1988 that I found on YouTube.

Freaky Santa

Freaky Santa souvenir portrait #2
Originally uploaded by stevechasmar

We've Only Just Begun

The Carpenters owned two apartment buildings in Downey, CA.

The names of their hit songs are featured on the front of the buildings.

Contemporary Art

Julie Heffernan
Os Gemeos

Nick Cave

If I had gone to Art Basel Miami this year, I would have been interested in seeing these works: Julie Heffernan's paintings, an Os Gemeos' mural and Nick Cave's soundsuits (shown above).

I am also intrigued with Hernan Bas' paintings lately. He will have a show at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin called "Considering Henry" opening in January 9, 2010 in Paris. Follow this link to view some of his images: LINK

He is actually from Miami and had a couple of shows in New York in 2009 including one at the Brooklyn Museum.

I chose to not participate in the Miami art fairs this year, although I was kindly invited to paint something for the Aqua fair. I flew back east to visit my family instead. Luckily, there are tons of photos of the artworks here: flickr.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Hysteria Exhibition at Freud Museum

If you live in London, you can see a sculpture exhibit called "Hysteria" by artist Mat Collishaw at the Freud Museum (until Jan 3, 2010). I had been watching TateShots, videos of artists on the Tate Channel, and I found this particular artist to be quite intriguing:

Meet the Artist: Mat Collishaw .

The photo above (from timeout) shows one of three tree stump sculptures, with turn tables built-in, playing bird songs. There is also a fascinating kinetic sculpture with many little cupid-like boys hammering large nests of blue eggs. And, a mirror with spooky, animated cigarette smoke. Collishaw's art installation goes perfectly with the whole Freud office/couch setting. It's very Victorian-feeling. Too bad I don't live in London.

More short films with artists can be found here:

Tate Shots on Tate Channel

The Art of Amy Crehore

Washboard Rhythm Kings 1933