"Boys Head" by Lucian Freud

I like this "Boy's Head" painting by Lucian Freud 1952 which sold for $5 million at Sotheby's recently. (artinfo) Isn't this a typically natural pose for a bored young boy? That's what makes this painting so good.

The Art of Amy Crehore

A "Jug Band" Cub Scout Badge

These illustrations show us how a kid could earn a jug band badge in Cub Scouts. Steve Lodefink of FINKBUILT blog posted these images to his flickr. 

I'm wondering if the Brownies have a similar badge?

Looks like fun.

Celebrating Gumby's Creator Art Clokey- Gumby on the Moon

Arthur "Art" Clokey (October 12, 1921 – January 8, 2010) was a pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation.
 Thanks. Bob Jinx

Boris Chaliapin (1904-1979), Portraits and Nudes

 Marilyn Monroe

 Princess Margaret

Jacqueline Kennedy

Reclining Nude 1928

Standing Nude 1929

Boris Chaliapin, son of a famous Russian singer, was a prolific artist. He painted the gorgeous nudes shown above when he was only 25 and later became an illustrator for Time Magazine specializing in portraits. He created 550 Time covers (414 were published) from 1942 to 1970. His technique was smooth, sensitive and precise. He painted just about every famous person and then some. Pretty amazing!

More images and text here: LINK and LINK

Where Art Meets Comics

Looks like the October issue of  "Art News" has Daniel Clowes on the cover. He's a favorite of mine. There is also a new interview with Daniel at

io9 

which mentions a travelling museum show starting at the Oakland Museum in April 2012. Cool.

The Art of Amy Crehore

Website, Tumblr

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