Mystery of a Masterpiece

Last night, there was a fascinating NOVA show on PBS. Experts were investigating whether a portrait of a girl on vellum (shown above) is really a Leonardo Da Vinci. They think it was cut from an old book of the period (they found the book in a museum in Poland).

Link to article about the story in the Guardian.

Here's the link to the show which you can watch online if you missed it.

NOVA -Mystery of a Masterpiece

I blogged about this picture earlier and said I thought it looked to me like it might be authentic. That was just my gut feeling based on the style of the face and execution of the drawing.

Rockwell for Collier's Magazine 1919

Last night on PBS Antiques Roadshow (Eugene, OR !) someone brought in a really old Rockwell painting. They appraised it at half a million. It is a nice one called "The Little Model". This painting is one of only four that Rockwell painted for Collier's magazine (1919, cover). I rather like it and I am surprised how large he painted his illustration work (using oils). I'll get to see it since it is on display now at the museum in my town. I don't think I have ever seen a Rockwell in person.

Watch Appraisal: 1919 Rockwell "The Little Model" Oil Painting on PBS. See more from Antiques Roadshow.

New Leonard Cohen Album Live Stream

LINK

Magical Gift of Picasso Etchings to British Museum

The British Museum recently acquired the complete suite of 100 Vollard etchings made between 1930 and 1937 by Picasso. It was a surprise gift from a man named Hamish Parker in memory of his beloved father Major Horace Parker. Depicting himself as a minotaur (in 15 of the works), the etchings are a visual diary of Picasso's great love affair with Marie-Therese Walter. Almost half of the prints show a classical sculptor's studio with Marie-Therese as a model. 

These etchings are magical and will always be inspiring. This is the Picasso that I love the most, unafraid to show emotional sensitivity toward his muse. Picasso exchanged the plates for these etchings with his dealer Ambroise Vollard for a couple of paintings by Renoir and Cezanne. This rare, complete set will go on view from May 3- Sept 3, 2012. Link

Right now, you can order the book Picasso's Vollard Suite from the Getty Museum.

The Art of Amy Crehore

RIP Etta James

NYTimes

"Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind" performed by Vashti Bunyan

More songs from album of the same name 1964-67.

Yayoi Kusama and Joseph Cornell were lovers

Although I had read Joseph Cornell's biography a couple of times, I hadn't realized that it was the amazing dot woman artist Yayoi Kusama who had been his first girlfriend (when he was 60). I blogged about Cornell a couple of times: here and here. 

 I also recently blogged about Kusama ( LINK). 

She talks about the affair (lasting 10 years) in an old interview with Kusama by Grady Turner in Bomb Magazine (1999).