The images above are my photos of detail from the following paintings in Art, Life, Legacy: Northern European Paintings in the Collection of Isabel and Alfred Bader:
■ Ruth and Naomi by Jan Victors, Dutch (1653)
■ Old Woman with a Book by Jacob van Campen, Dutch (1625-30)
■ Elisha and Gehazi by Lambert Jacobsz, Dutch (circa by 1629)
■ Self-Portrait with a Skull by Michael Sweerts, Flemish (circa 1661)
The images above are my photos of detail from the following paintings in Remedios Varo: Science Fiction:
■ “Discovery,” 1956
■ “The Flutist,” 1955
■ “Woman Leaving the Psychoanalyst (Could Be Juliana),” 1960
■ “Creation of the Birds,” 1957
These are two of the photos I took yesterday at Among Friends and Rivals: Caravaggio in Rome: “Martha and Mary Magdalene,” about 1598, and “The Cardsharps,” about 1595.
Yesterday, at the Art Institute.
The images above are my photos of detail from the following paintings:
■ “David Garrick as King Lear” by Richard Westall; about 1815
■ “The Penitent Saint Peter” by Jusepe de Ribera; about 1630
■ “Study Head of a Bearded Man” by Frans Floris; about 1565
■ “The Captive Slave (Ira Aldridge)” by John Philip Simpson; 1827
We attended member hours to to see Among Friends and Rivals: Caravaggio in Rome, but what really captured our imaginations was Remedios Varo: Science Fictions.
The above are my images of detail from the following works:
■ Janitor by Duane Hanson, 1973
■ Wet Saturday by Martin Lewis, 1929
■ Le Penseur de Notre Dame by John Taylor Arms, 1923
■ The Fiddler by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 1859
■ Untitled Anxious Audience by Rashid Johnson, 2017
■ Portrait of Frederick Layton by George Henry Yewell, circa 1888
■ Portrait of Dr. Karl Schwartz by Lovis Corinth 1916
■ The Card Players by Eduard vin Grützner, 1883
■ Triple Profile Portrait (The Mignons of Henry III) by School of Fontainebleau, 1570s
It seemed only right that I include a photo of our younger cat.
Over the weekend, I attended the Ann Arbor Art Fair, the featured artist of which was Katie Musolff. Her work is stunning, and I was delighted to see this magnificent painting in person. The work of Lauchlan Davis also attracted my attention, so much so that I purchased a numbered print of her 2022 “Duck, Duck, Goose.”
During my music lesson this week, my teacher corrected an embouchure issue with which I have been struggling in piccolo practice. What a difference! Both my concert flute and alto flute are now en route to the technician for annual cleaning and adjusting, so for the next week or so I’m working with my trusty Yamaha.
Only three meetings remain in the Plato’s Republic reading group. Between the discussion and David Roochnik’s fabulous lectures, I am learning far more than I did forty years ago when I first read this work as a college freshman.
Slowly, surely, I am making my way through my Latin I tutorial. I have reached the point at which I can say that it brings me as much satisfaction as my music studies. (And it is just as difficult.)
Also slowly, surely, I’m accumulating mileage. The air quality and increasing temperatures make exercise difficult, but we take our primary walk early enough to mitigate some of the concerns.
I am a few pages away from finishing a smart and entertaining novel: Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang. (Review here.) In fact, the last few books I’ve read are worth mentioning:
■ The Fold (Peter Clines; 2015. Fiction.)
■ The Thursday Murder Club (Richard Osman; 2020. Fiction.)
■ The Man Who Died Twice (Richard Osman; 2021. Fiction.)
■ The Bullet That Missed (Richard Osman; 2022. Fiction.)
■ Long Live Latin: The Pleasures of a Useless Language (Nicola Gardini; 2019. Non-fiction.)
■ The Guest (Emma Cline; 2023. Fiction.)
The novels represent my favorite sort of summer reading (engaging, light without being utterly frivolous, sometimes even thought-provoking), and Gardini’s meditation on Latin was perfect. (Review here.)
Seen at the Milwaukee Art Museum this weekend.
Detail from paintings in Van Gogh and the Avant-Garde: The Modern Landscape:
— “Roadway with Underpass, Asnières“ by Vincent Van Gogh (1887)
— “The Fortification of Paris with Houses” Vincent Van Gogh (1887)
— “The Restaurant Rispal at Asnières” by Vincent Van Gogh (1887)
— “Railway Junction near Bois-Colombes” by Paul Signac (1885-86)
— “Strolling Man next to Tree on a Bank (Study for ‘La Grande Jatte’)” by Georges Seurat (about 1894)
Among the wonderful discoveries I made during our recent visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts was Sorting Out Andy (Hernan Bas; 2018).
My next museum adventure will likely be a member preview of this.
The above are my images of detail from the following works:
— Congress of the Peoples for Peace by Frida Kalo (1952)
— Ballerine — Tête de mort (Ballerina — Skull) by Salvador Dalí (circa 1939)
— Foundation Tablet of Sin-kashid, King of Uruk (1800 BCE)
— Ewer with Ginseng Leaves (1100s to 1200s)
— Robert Barr by James McNeill Whistler (circa 1884-95)
— The Power of Satire by J. Michallon
— Untitled by Zao You-ki (1957)
— Animals in a Landscape by Franz Marc (1914)
Nerdishly 
