Current Inspiration, Another Dead Genius

I have a nice book on Robert Schwartz called "Dream Games" (published in 2004 by the San Jose Museum of Art). He has been a favorite of mine for quite a few years. Unfortunately, he died at age 53 of a rare protein disorder in the year 2000. His gouache paintings were very intricate, surreal and original. He packed a lot of soul into his tiny narratives. There is no one quite like him. I'd love to be able to see a few of these paintings when I visit San Francisco next month. (Hackett Mill Gallery: LINK to above images) Sadly, I can't find much about this GREAT painter on the internet. I'm glad that I own this awesome book to inspire me. You will find a few more images here: San Jose Museum of Art

The book has over 80 paintings and may be hard to find. There are a couple of copies on amazon: amazon.

The Art of Amy Crehore

The Pearl Necklace (1932-41) by Dod Procter

The Pearl Necklace (1932-41)
Originally uploaded by artinconnu

artinconnu has some great Dod Procter paintings
on flickr and their blog

A Pierrot Couple with Mandolin and Moon.

Here's another vintage pierrot postcard. Sent to me by my wonderful friend Valerie in Barcelona. Thanks, Valerie. You are the best! It's so beautiful and perfect - with the mandolin and the moon.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Etta James Sings "Something's Got a Hold on Me"

This is for my friend Ruth....

A Look at Picasso in the Met (Charlie Rose)

His portrait of Gertrude Stein was the 1st work by Picasso to enter the Met's collection in 1946.

Gary Tinterow speaks with Charlie Rose about the Picasso show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here's the link-

LINK

Strange Sources of Music- Giant Ukulele 1926

Click to Enlarge

Miss Una Fleming from L.A. with her five-foot ukulele is featured on page 55 of the March 1926 issue of Popular Science Magazine. The photo is surreal - the giant ukulele dwarfs the player. Hawaiian coconut ukuleles are also featured (bottom right) as well as a jazzy clown one-man band (bottom left).

1926 was the peak year of the American ukulele boom. I wonder how many other magazines published articles on ukes that year? C.F. Martin produced 10,870 ukes in 1925 and a whopping 14,101 ukes in 1926. Production dropped off in 1927 to less than half of that. (1943,1949 and 1950 were also fairly large production years.) It's a trendy little instrument, falling in and out of favor.

The ukulele is back in favor again in 2010.

POPULAR SCIENCE ARCHIVES

(Thanks, Ted Dawson for sending me the article.)

The Art of Amy Crehore

Sunset Magazine Cover, Year 1900

This is my favorite Sunset Magazine Cover. So beautiful! It is from the year 1900. The magazine was first published in 1898.

Thanks, Internet Weekly

The Art of Amy Crehore