Painting of the day by Ilya Repin

 I like this painting by Ilya Repin called "Dragon-fly". It is a portrait of the artist's daughter, Vera Repina (1884, oil on canvas). More about Repin here. He was born on August 5, 1844, so it's his birthday today. He was a great Russian realist painter.

The Art of Amy Crehore 

artofamycrehore

My essay about Utopia Parkway (the book) for Boing Boing

I wrote an essay about one of my favorite books- Utopia Parkway, The Life and Work of Joseph Cornell by Deborah Solomon (shown above)- for Boing Boing's Enthralling Books series. It is an absolutely wonderful biography of an eccentric man who became a great American artist.

Here's the LINK to my essay.

Here is a link to the works of Joseph Cornell. (artnet)
One thing that touched me about Cornell, which I failed to mention in my essay, was how he cared about and related to children. Shortly before he died in 1972, he had a show at Cooper Union School in NYC. This show was just for children and his works were hung at the child's-eye level. He actually attended the opening and they served cherry coke and brownies (which I am sure he gladly scarfed down). Shown here are a few pictures of the event (from A Joseph Cornell Album - Viking 1974- courtesy Dore Ashton/Denise Hare). You can see more photos at: Stopping Off Place Blog

The Art of Amy Crehore

artofamycrehore

Historic Mechanical Instruments and Figures

Watch this amazing "clown illusionist" in action - the Morris Museum website (follow the link below) has sound clips and video clips of 22 historic mechanical figures and instruments from the Murtogh D. Guinness collection. You can visit a permanent collection of these (700 objects) if you live near Morristown, NJ. (I used to live near there myself, but this collection was not available at the time.) 

 LINK

The Art of Amy Crehore

Photos of the Day: Brigitte Bardot 1953

Retronaut has 12 stunning photos of Brigitte Bardot on the beach at Cannes in 1953 (from LIFE magazine archives). These really show her personality. 

LINK

I am working on paintings with swimmers/bathers lately, so it is nice to see these. Stay tuned to this blog for another new painting of mine to be posted soon.

The Art of Amy Crehore

artofamycrehore

Herge and Luke Davies

When author Luke Davies was a young boy he corresponded for a few years with none other than Herge himself, the creator of Tintin. Read his surprising story and see a collection of letters and drawings here:

 LINK (theage.com.au)

Luke is a fan of my art, too. Thanks, Luke!

The Art of Amy Crehore 

www.artofamycrehore.blogspot.com

Wedding Waltz by Eleni Karaindrou

Just for your quiet listening pleasure today.

Rare Footage of Frida, Diego and Trotsky 1938

(Thanks, T. Tex Edwards and openculture )