Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot's Reading, 1873
Cleveland Art Museum

Jean BÉRAUD

Jean Béraud's La Pâtisserie Gloppe, 1889
Musée Carnavalet (home of another work which will be a future entry!)

Joseph-Marius AVY

Joseph-Marius Avy's Study for Bal Blanc, ~1903?
It is a real shame there is no high-quality image of Blanc (1903).
Pétit Palais, Paris, come on!

Gustave Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte's CasinCaillebotte.Portraits à la campagne, 1867
-
This is a favorite from a local collection.

Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot's Autoportrait, 1885
-
Morisot is something else in the best possible reading of that phrase. Here's just one reason why, so I don't ramble: "Je ne crois pas qu'il y ait jamais un homme traitant une femme d'égale à égal et c'est tout ce que j'aurais demandé car je sais que je les vaux." - her diary

Roughly (I've not done translations in awhile): "I don't believe there's ever been a man who treats a woman as his equal and it's all that I will have asked for, because I know I'm worth them all."

She's so assertive and regal here. That gaze, that posture.

Le ballon rouge

Stills from Albert Lamorisse's Le ballon rouge, 1956
-
I saw this in French class in middle school, it remains in my arsenal of smile-inducing media... and let's just be honest here, same goes for most any bebe animal photo blog.

Maurie Denis

Maurice Denis' Crépuscule, 1892
-
I could post Denis ad nauseam.

Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard's Bowl of Milk, c. 1919

Emile Friant

Emile Friant's Les amoreux - soir d'automne, 1888

Emile Friant's Ombres portées, 1891

Ohhh, Friant & gestures! Interplay of looks, hands, body language.

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas' Edmondo and Thérèse Morbilli, 1865
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

Childe Hassam

Childe Hassam's Improvisation, 1899

Odilon Redon

Odilon Redon's Pandora, 1910/1912
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
-
Yesterday I visited D.C. for the first time. I have wanted to visit Smithsonian collections since childhood, charmed by my imagination's view of the museums: quiet, secluded turn-of-the century neighborhood with lots and lots of trees and benches and museums arranged like puzzle pieces Certainly not the reality of the Mall, but I was not let down by the collections!

I start my MA Art History program next week, it's a good time for some updates!

Une femme est une femme

I will never tire of Jean-Luc Godard's Une femme est une femme - it's an improvisational experiment (a detailed treatment instead of script), witty, the "story" revolves around a one female/two male ménage à trois (always fascinating), it has a playful and jarring soundtrack at once, it's beyond meta, and the palette is deliciously Pop. A "nonmusical" musical.
This morning, I was so pleased to read Mike D'Angelo's latest Scenic Routes essay about one of the stand out scenes from A Woman is a Woman. I also love this column (read his Children of Men piece - it's fantastic).

"Tu es infâme." "Non, je suis une femme."

Sofia Coppola's Miss Dior Commercial

Paris + Sofia Coppola + Bardot's "Moi, Je Joue" = a blissful feeling that renders tolerable a fragrance ad
-
I am getting back into this, "I've meant to" for months. Although the Internet feels permanent by absolutely no measure, putting everything in one place makes more sense than tons of tiny lists filling my wallet / cluttering my sad bedroom. Plus, I obsessively collect images, physical or digital - because digital exists at no cost to me, donc, blog it is!

James Tissot, II

James Tissot's The Gallery of HMS Calcutta, 1876

Tate, London

Jules Chéret

Jules Chéret's "Théâtrophone," 1896 litho

While his style is not quite my taste always, Chéret had an incontournable impact on a lot of other artists/choses that I love.

Tamara de Lempicka

Tamara de Lempicka's Saint Moritz, 1929

Alphons Mucha

Mucha's Fall, Winter from The Four Seasons, 1896

Oregon Trail

In a few weeks, I will be more or less following this very route to my new job Oregon.

Childe Hassam

Childe Hassam's The New York Window, 1912 oil on canvas
I love his portraits of women.