Again, as I queried in some of your other topics, Riette, which artists spring to your mind?

MANY!!! Picasso, of course (Les Demoiselles D'Avignon 1907) Henri Matisse (The Conversation 1909) Wassily Kadinsky (Sea Battle 1913) Piet Mondrian (Diamond Painting in Red, Yellow and Blue 1921) Paul Klee (Death and Fire 1940) Salvador Dali (Persistence of Memory 1931) Jackson Pollock (Number 1, 1950) Mark Rothko (Black and Grey 1969) Andy Warhol (Marilyn 1962) Jasper Johns (Dancers on a Plane 1980) Lucian Freud (Standing by the Rags 1989) And many, many, many more!

What about Benton?

Now there's an American whose name I do know! Thomas Hart Benton. His style was richly coloured and vigorous and full of rhythm, and his work include the scenes from American life murals at the New School for Social Research in New York; he was also the one who called Modern art a "simple smearing and pouring of material, good for nothing but to release neurotic tensions", and that it became like a "bowel movement or a vomiting spell" (!!). Must say with some modern art my opinion pretty much matches his!!! For those who want to find out more about Benton: he wrote two biographies "An Artist in America" (1937) and "An American in Art" (1969) - neither of which I have read.

I was in awe of Thomas Hart Benton the first time I saw his monumental pieces in the state capitol of Missouri. Very powerful.

Do you have some photos to post? I'd love to see it.

Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) Another photograph of Benton. Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry are considered the most important artists of the Regionalism movement. Benton is also remembered as the teacher of abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri has an excellent collection of Benton's work, including Persephone and Hollywood (see below). If you're in the Kansas City area, other work by Benton can be seen at the Harry S Truman Library in Independence and at Benton's home and studio, which are open for tours. Benton's mural A Social History of the State of Missouri can be seen at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri Work by Benton that you can see on http://math.furman.edu/~dsmead/benton.html: People of Chilmark, 1920, oil on canvas, in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. Hollywood, 1937, tempera with oil on canvas, mounted on panel, in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Persephone, 1938-1939, egg tempera and resin oil over casein on linen over panel, in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Independence and the Opening of the West, 1958-1961, acrylic polymer on linen mounted on panel, at the Harry S Truman Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri Here are some links to other sites that include artwork by Benton: 62 Benton works at Jim's Fine Art Collection. Eric Sandquist's page of Benton links Thomas Hart Benton World includes several images by Benton, organized thematically. (But good luck figuring out what the pieces are called...) Cradling Wheat at the University of Michigan The cover of The Rainmakers' self-titled first album includes City Activities with Subway Custer's Last Stand, 1943, at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art in St. Joseph, Missouri A page at the Dallas Museum of Art about The Prodigal Son Chilmark, 1938, at the Butler Institute of American Art Shallow Creek, 1939, at the Sylvan Cole Gallery Planting (Spring Plowing), 1939, at the National Museum of American Art A page at the department of History at Indiana University includes the mural The Cultural and Industrial History of Indiana, painted for the Chicago World's Fair of 1933. This page about American history includes an image from A Social History of the State of Missouri, Benton's mural at the Missouri State Capitol. Huck Finn, Frankie and Johnnie, and Jesse James, 1936, are lithographs based on scenes in the Missouri mural. The Sowers, 1942 Threshing Wheat at the Sheldon Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana Achelous and Hercules, 1947, at the National Museum of American Art A page including Lonesome Road, 1927, and the lithographs Lonesome Road, 1938, and Threshing, 1941, at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. (There's also a brief essay about Benton and Modernism.) Night Firing, 1943, at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University Several images at UMB Bank dead link Another dead link Bibliography and Filmography An Artist In America is Benton's autobiography, originally published in 1937, with additional chapters added in the later editions to cover the rest of his life. Here is information from the publisher about An Artist in America. Thomas Hart Benton: An American Original by Henry Adams, 1989, which was written to accompany a traveling exhibition of Benton's work. Ken Burns has made a very good documentary for PBS, called Thomas Hart Benton.

Wow, that's brilliant! Thank you, Terry. You have great stuff.

No, actually, http://www.inference.com has great stuff. It takes me all of 7 seconds to find it! Just go there and type in an artists name and you'll be amazed at the results. And 'view source' is such a powerful command.

Right! So I should take the compliment back?

Something like this knocks me off my feet.

It's very well done, but has a very sinister feel to it, what with Charles Manson lurking in the background and everything. Something bothers me about this painting - don't think I've ever really taken note of it before, Terry. Certainly can't remember it from any of my books or the museums I've visited. Can you tell me more about it?

I just saw it for the first time. It would be interesting to hear the history on it.

And you don't know who painted it?

It's quite creepy.

ok, is the guy being malicious or curious? cuz that would alter the way i feel about that piece of work.

Thomas Hart Benton painted it. A search reveals: Perseph�ne Daughter of god king Zeus, wife of Hades, who kidnapped her as she was a girl. Since this time she lives a third of the year in the underworld realm of Hades (during this period the plants wither on earth) and the other two thirds she lives with her Mother, the earth goddess Demeter. And Demeter and Persephone (Greece/Rome) Demeter (Roman: Ceres) was one of the six children of Kronos and Rhea, and the sister of Zeus, to whom she bore the child Persephone (Roman: Proserpina). One day, Persephone was out picking flowers with the other maidens (among them the godesses Hecate and Artemis, the sister of Apollo) when she spied a particularly beautiful flower that had been set there as a trap by Hades, the god of the underworld. When she picked it, the earth split open and Hades carried her off to his kingdom in his chariot, to become his queen. When Demeter learned what happened, the grief-stricken goddess began to search for her daughter. She took the guise of an old woman and became the nurse for a king's young son. At night, Demeter would hold the child by his heel in the fire, in order to make him immortal; but the queen discovered this one night and let out a scream, causing Demeter to remove the child from the flames just before he would have gained immortality (notice the similarity to the story of Isis). To make up for their lack of trust in the goddess, the king's family established the Mysteries of Eleusis, the principal ceremonies of worship of Demeter, which lasted well into the Christian era. Demeter demanded that Hades return her daughter, when he refused, and Zeus refused to intervene, Demeter neglected her duties as goddess of agriculture, causing the crops to die and animals and humans to become barren; eventually the other gods relented, but it was ruled that because Persephone had eaten a pomegranate seed, she would have to stay in the underworld for part of the year. (see other examples of "the sacrifice and the gift") According to one tradition, Persephone, rather than Semele, is the mother of Dionysos. Sources: Campbell, Joseph. Primitive Mythology. New York: Arkana, 1991. The Homeric Hymn to Demeter, trans. by David G. Rice and John E. Stambough in Classical Mythology, ed. by Stephen L. Harris and Gloria Platzner. Mountain View, CA, London, & Toronto: Mayfield, 1995.

And we find an even more amazing connection, of relevance to our community: Most of our information about the Eleusinian Mystery comes from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, an anonymous seventh century B.C. poem. The poem describes the mythical founding of the Mystery by Demeter, who was grief stricken by the abduction of her daughter Persephone (also called Kore) by the god Hades, lord of the underworld. Demeter caused all of the plants on the Earth to die. Zeus, fearing humankind would also die and leave nobody to make sacrifices to the gods, interceded with Hades and forced him to return Persephone to Demeter. However, Persephone had eaten a pomegranate seed in the underworld and was therefore condemned to return to Hades for part of each year. This always saddened Demeter, who would again cause the plants to die, to be reborn again in the Spring with the return of Persephone to the world of light. This myth symbolized for the Greeks the natural mystery of the changing seasons and the miracle of the springtime rebirth of cultivated grain, which was essential to their civilization.

Brilliant!!! Thank you for all that, Terry! Very very interesting!

I thought that was kind of cool, albeit a bit of a digression. What other modern artists can we discuss, have we exhausted Benton? I never did come across examples from the Mo. Capitol building, but that doesn't mean I won't keep searching.

Can we discuss August Macke? His work is a great inspiration to me. Do you have any pictures of his that you can post here for us to discuss, Terry? I have quite a few, but Wer is up to his ears in work, so I don't want to bother him with it right now. If you don't have any, I can post you mine, and you can post them here. To start with, here's a short biography: August Macke was born in 1887, and was killed in action in the First World War when he was only 27 years old. His painting style can be described as expressionist, but his work evolved into a personal synthesis of Impressionism, Fauvism (painting in intensely vivid non-naturalistic colours) and Orphism (cubism with an element of lyricism and colour). Together with Kadinsky and Marc formed the 'Blaue Reiter' artist group; but as time went on his work moved less towards abstraction than that of the other members of the group.

Michael Parks is intriguing, as well.....

Michael Parks? I don't know that name at all - American? Have you got any examples of his work? I love getting to know the work of artists I don't know of - always hoping to find the ultimate painting.

How I did this. 1. Go to http://www.inference.com and click on inference find 2. Find a cool picture you like. 3. Right mouse click on it to get properties 4. Hightlight the address or url with your mouse (swipe over it while holding down the right mouse button). 5. Copy it with control-c or Edit > Copy 6. In your response type a left angle bracket 7. Then type in img src=" 8. Then paste in your url with Edit > Paste 9. Then add a right angle bracket Try this Riette, for real! It works good. More help is available if you get stuck or have questions.

It's not working. How did I guess? And now I've mucked up this topic.

no more so than I have in some...

Relieved! Can't even remember what I was trying to post anymore!

Here's something pretty eye-popping: Egon Schiele (1890-1918) 'The Man and the Monk' Although I never ever want any of his paintings hanging on my walls, I think Schiele's work is brilliant and erotic in a rather disturbing way. The figures he portrays are always lonely or anguished. Unfortunately he died just as he was beginning to receive international acclaim in the influenza epidemic of 1918, and only three days after his wife. Today he is recognized as one of the greatest Expressionist artists.

i think the man is dying (look at his face) and the monk is there to comfort him. it is rather disturbing and bold...

You can see the influence of cubism in this one; I really like it!

Yes, it's great. Now for one by a wonderful artist who I believe we have discussed briefly once before: Henri Rousseau 'Woman Walking in an Exotic Forest" 1905 100cm x 80.7cm

Beautiful! Let me try:

I can't believe it worked! Thanks, Terry! BTW, this is "Katia reading", by Balthus.

love how she's sitting in the chair. and look the way she reads, almost as if she's trying to tear her eyes away but can't...

Sorry, in response number 22, I should have said Michael Parkes... are we going to get around to Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger? his two official sites are http://www.hrgiger.com/ http://www.giger.com/

Very, very nice, Gi. I quite like Balthus. The child prodigy who in the end made it without any formal training! He didn't paint many pictures, but I find his work full of energy and eroticism. Great to have you here, by the way!

and to be out of order again, for Michael Parkes, go to http://www.accnorwalk.com/~sgr1/index2.html and especially visit http://www.accnorwalk.com/~sgr1/gorgoyles.html as this is the one we have a print of hanging upstairs...

Sorry I neglected you. I had a look at his stuff in inference com, and LOVE it! Really modern, but mega-well-done. Let's see what the others think: Unfortunately I know nothing more about this picture or indeed the artist, so Wer, can you do a short summary on him for us?

I'll see what I can find...

Reminds me of the Yes LP covers of twenty years ago... Surrealist, or maybe sci-fi-esque. Very beautiful, at least as prints. Give us more. As for Balthus, it often takes him 5 or more years to finish a painting, but he does several at the same time and they're large. And very rich in texture. I'd love to evolve towards that richness in my work. He and Hopper are fantastic in their use of colour to create texture.

"Michael Parkes was born in 1944, in Sikeston, Missouri, USA. After his school years he studied at the University of Kansas, and immediately after graduating was appointed a lecturer in graphic techniques first at the Kent State University and later in Florida. He taught at the university for five years, from 1965 to 1970, and then at the age of twenty-six, he and his wife went on a study trip to Europe and Asia. This journey meant a definitive departure from America. Since 1975 Michael Parkes has lived and worked in Spain. He has one-man exhibitions in the USA, Spain, The Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and Germany." Excerpt from the book "Michael Parkes" by John Russell Taylor and Steltman Galleries.

Thank you for that, Wer!!! What do you think - shall we start a topic? Gi, what kind of paintings do you do? What medium? And how would you describe your style?

Very interesting, wer! Is it hanging in Zoe's room?

Gargoyles? No, it is in Robin's...

ha-ha!

(Riette)Gi, what kind of paintings do you do? What medium? And how would you describe your style? I use oils on canvas. I do figurative paintings, maybe I should call it naturalistic - I like to paint human figures, and use photographs (taken by myself, mostly) to work from. I'll either try to have some photos of finished works scanned and post them, or send them to you so you can do it for me, as you kindly suggested. Recently I've been doing a series on Tango dancers - Tango is another passion of mine.

Great! I also do mostly figures - I like exploring the expression pouring from our bodies all the time, no matter how unimpressed we are on the inside. Can't wait to see your Tango dancers - I can imagine them being bright, vivid, lively figures. Do you dance yourself?

Here is a painting I just found on the net. See what you think of it. Ivan Albright (1897-1983) 'Into the World there came a Soul named Ida' 1929-30 All I know about this artist is that he was American. I don't know many works by him, and I don't think he needed to produce that much as he came from a wealthy family; but like this one, they all show a morbid obsession with death: the sagging, putrescent flesh, decrepit, decaying bodies. I find it disturbing - as if he were in constant mourning for youth and beauty that is past. By the way, he also did the painting for the Hollywood film of Oscar Wilde's 'Picture of Dorian Gray' (1943), showing the loathsomely currupted title figure. His identical twin brother, Malvin Marr Albright (who is still alive), did the portrait of the young, beautiful Dorian for this film.

What a sad painting. And what a sad thing to need to express.

Terribly.

Gustav Klimt 'The Virgin' 1913 I find this one BRILLIANT, just BRILLIANT!

this is interesting. it looks like your style with all the colors and people intertwined.

Yeah? He is just SOOOOO much better at it than I am. And I've never managed SIX in one before! I just adore the colourful materials of their dresses. Some people interpret the six figures to be six different women. I think they merely represent different facets of a single woman, a virgin's dreams and desires.

this is interesting....it may be so

I'm going to go open a topic on Klimt - his work is really great.

Dutch?

Love the painting--CRAZY about the colors!! Bring on the Klimt topic!

Austrian, Terry.

Let's have a look at some paintings from the period of Fauvism. Henri Matisse 'Harmony in Red' 1908-1909 Fauvism was a short-lived movement, lasting only as long as its originator, Henri Matisse (1869-1954), fought to find the artistic freedom he needed. Matisse needed to make colour serve his art, as Gauguin needed to paint the sand pink to express an emotion. The Fauvists believed absolutely as colour as an emotional force. Colour lost its descriptive qualities and became luminous, creating light rather than imitationg it. This is a period I would have loved to have lived through as an artist. By the way, if I post something by an artist, and you like it alot, feel free to go ahead and create a topic, and I'll find the pictures for it. Or tell me to create the topics you desire.

My cousin, Barney Ebsworth, collects art for investment. An (unsubstantiated) rumor has it that he recently turned down an offer from golfing buddy Bill Gates (who owns some software company) for this painting: which brings up the subject of Edward Hopper, American painter. Any Hopper fans around here?

The referring url for the above Hopper painting is: http://www2.iinet.com/art/artists/major/h/hopper03.htm

i've not heard of edward hopper. riette, do we need to open a topic for him?

Any guesses as to the title of the above Hopper work?

OK, y'all give up?

Hopper is okay enough for me. "Nighthawks at the Diner" - that's his best known, I guess (also title of brilliant Tom Waits album - listen to it, and you know why...). Dunno that title though. Must be something to do with broadway revue dancers, the way it feels. They're off from rehearsal, small town girls with big thoughts in their heads, stranded in the big city, huddling together so they survive, while already down to selling their bodies.

what did i miss? hmmmm....

well, it wasn't the (posting of response number) 69...

you know i planned it that way.....*grin*

You Kabbalists! Say, is there anything mystic in this world y'all DON'T subscribe to?

anything that costs money...

...huh, that's a harsh rebuke to a struggling publisher...

sorry, just being honest...