Photographer Hisaji Hara's Homage to Balthus

LENSCRATCH posted an interesting series of works by Tokyo photographer Hisaji Hara (done in 2009 and exhibited in Tokyo last year at Gallery Bauhaus). These works are based on the compositions of Balthus' paintings (shown above: "Katia Reading", an image that I have on the wall of my studio). Hisaji Hara's photographs show classic Japanese school girls and others posing for the camera in the exact same poses of the figures in Balthus' paintings. This series of photos has a B&W vintage look and are meant as an homage to a great painter.

Balthus was a painter who carefully chose unique poses to show the unselfconsciousness of youth or to emphasize dramatic angles in a composition. (Balthus, who died in 2001, had a Japanese wife, Setsuko Ideta, and many of his own paintings were influenced by Japanese art. I miss Balthus.) 

Follow this LINK for many more examples of Hisaji Hara's homage to Balthus. 

The Art of Amy Crehore

More Monkey by Dorothy Lathrop (1942)

Another classic monkey illustration from Dorothy Lathrop 1942, "Mr. Bumps and His Monkey" by Walter de la Mare

It seems very familiar somehow!

Dorothy Lathrop self portrait with monkey

In an earlier post, I had examples of this great woman illustrator's first book. Here are a couple more drawings from 1942. She actually used a "monkey model" for the character of Jasper in "Mr. Bumps and His Monkey"! (amazon has copies)

Here is a link to more of her art at 50 Watts. She illustrated many, many books, but how many people know her name? They say she was one of the most influential and important illustrators of children's books in the 30s and 40s. Anyway, I'm glad to know her now thanks to the internet! And can't believe she actually had a real monkey to draw from?!! Did the publisher supply one for her? Pretty wild.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Loren Munk Paintings at Lesley Heller Workspace NYC until Oct.16th, 2011

"Village of the Damned" 2004-2005 60"x72" oil on linen by Loren Munk

Photo of Loren Munks's paintings in progress in his studio from Anaba blog

Some paintings take time to complete. Sometimes they take 3 years. Ask Balthus. Such is the case for Loren Munk's colorful and complicated paintings that document and map the history of the New York art scene. Roberta Smith's great review in the NY Times described one large piece as "a telephone switchboard run amok". I like these paintings and I like Loren. Loren Munk is also known as James Kalm (the guy on the bike) who makes little films of art shows in NYC. He may not remember me, but he was kind enough to interview and film me outside of my Brooklyn show at Ad Hoc Gallery in the summer of 2008. Here's a link to that video.

You can see Loren Munk's paintings through 

Oct. 16th at Lesley Heller Workspace, 54 Orchard St., NYC. 

Loren Munk's Website

The Art of Amy Crehore

Early Illustrations by Dorothy P. Lathrop (1891-1980)

50 Watts blog posted some nice images of monkeys that caught my eye by illustrator Dorothy P. Lathrop for the book "Three Mulla-Muggers" by Walter de la Mare (a.k.a. "Three Royal Monkeys"). LINK: 50 Watts. Also, archive.org has the full book online (published in 1919). It looks like Dorothy P. Lathrop was prolific. More about her and a list of books at wikipedia. "Three Mulla-Muggers" was her first illustrated book. I like her combination of techniques which reflect design trends of the period. The monkeys have human qualities and you know I like that, too. 

The Art of Amy Crehore

Anna Ternheim Performing "Shoreline"(cover)

Edward Lear's Amazing Art

It's been a while since I blogged about Edward Lear, one of my favorite artists. BibliOdyssey recently blogged about Edward Lear's sketches for his Parrot Book, a project he worked on in his teens while he was employed by the Zoological Society in London. It was published around 1832 when he was only 20 years old. He's the same Edward Lear who illustrated "A Book of Nonsense" (1846, book of  limericks) and "The Owl and the Pussycat" (1867). And he's the very same Lear who painted the serious landscape above (Masada on the Dead Sea 1958). Read a summary of Edward Lear's life (1812-1888) HERE. 

The fact that he "did it all" (fine art, illustration, cartooning) does not surprise me. Many of the great artists in art history did exactly that. 

The Houghton Library at Harvard University has started digitizing some of the Edward Lear manuscripts in their collection such as the Mrs. C. Beadon Edward Lear Scrapbook (top photo). LINKS HERE: Blog of Bosh

Landscapes of sculpted food

I saw this on boingboing and it's pretty fascinating. Advertising photographer Carl Warner makes fantasy landscapes (like the one above) from real food. Full story and pictures on For My Hour .