Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Spring has arrived, usually a time for optimism but I’m not feeling very optimistic at the moment. We’re all hunkered down and while the Asian countries virus curve has flattened out and they are recovering, our Country is still rising and estimates say it won’t flatten out until at least Mid-May. It’s hard to believe it’s only been a week since it got serious, it feels like endless days. I can only say to everyone, stay home and stay safe.
I went into New York City Monday morning for what I imagine will be the last exhibit I see for a while. Since then everything has closed. I felt it was fairly safe for me to travel that day. The bus was empty, the Port Authority was less crowded than on a Sunday, the streets in the City didn't have many people on them and I walked to the gallery and back avoiding the subway entirely
I had a little adventure before the exhibit. The lens in my glasses was loose so I stopped at an optician at 19 West 44th Street and when I took off my glasses, I discovered there was no lens on the right side. You may imagine I was stunned. I left and traced my way back to 40th and 8th Avenue and found the lens on the sidewalk. I was amazed at finding it. It fell out when I was putting my sunglasses on and I had no idea. It shows how little I use my right eye that I never noticed the missing lens. I picked it up and saw a small chip at the corner; I'm guessing someone stepped on it. It’s at the top and won’t hinder what little vision I utilize in that eye. I brought it back to the optician who reseated it and replaced the screw in the hinge which was broken. She said there would be no charge. I protested that it was an emergency and she had done me a good deed, but she reiterated there would be no charge. It’s nice to know that even in the current environment there are still inherently nice people.
The exhibition was held at the Scholten Japanese Art Gallery on West 58th Street. It’s an apartment house, like the one Questroyal is in but much smaller and the whole space is, I think, a four or five room apartment. What was on display was, The Baron J. Bachofen von Echt Collection of Golden Age Ukiyo-e. Japanese woodblock prints from the 18th and early 19th Centuries. It was a lovely exhibit of 22 paintings and there were additional prints on display as well. Below are links to images from the exhibit as well as paintings by other artists. It was a splendid show.
This is a link to the Overview page, with background information on the collection. There’s also a link to all the objects, the online exhibition. I chatted with the gallery assistant, she’s from Australia, and we commiserated about leadership in both our countries. I asked if the virus had affected her business. This is Asia Week in New York and usually would be their busiest time. She said it’s been very slow, and since then the gallery has closed. But I see on the website that most of the items in the exhibit have been sold.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/current.php Kitagawa Utamaro - Morning Parting at the Temporary Lodgings of the Pleasure Quarters - This large three-frame print shows the women bidding their clients farewell. If you click on the link, there’s an essay describing the activities taking place in each frame. There was clearly a rivalry between the courtesans, and they keep watch on each other. The essay speaks of a woman covertly slipping a letter to the handsome young man in the third frame who is being watched by the servant in the second frame. I’m wondering what the courtesan’s hand is doing in the servant’s robe in the middle frame.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/golden_age_ukiyo-e_21.php Hosoda Eishi - View of the Sumidagawa from the Temporary Quarters of the Ogiya at Nakasu – This elaborate triptych shows what must be a very wealthy young man in the third frame, as he is being attended to by 8 courtesans and three children. His appearance, tells us he is, “a wakashu, a young man who has not completed the coming-of-age ceremony after which he would shave his forelock to indicate his status as an adult.”
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/golden_age_ukiyo-e_05.php Kitagawa Utamaro - Painting the Eyebrows – This is one of the most valuable prints in the auction which was marked as price on request. I noticed price tags of $75K and $85K for others so I’m guessing this one went above that due to its rarity. It’s a wonderful double image with her face reflecting back from the mirror.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/golden_age_ukiyo-e_17.php Kitagawa Utamaro - The Chiyozuru Teahouse: Waitress Orise – In addition to courtesans, the artists painted women from all walks of life but in a commentary on the reigning morals of the era, only courtesans could be named in the paintings. The authorities forbade the naming of commoners as they didn’t want them elevated in society. Orise was a favorite of Utamaro who painted her thirty times. This print, done after the name forbidding rule was in effect, circumvented the rule by showing the restaurants name. Anyone who knew the restaurant knew who the waitress was.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/golden_age_ukiyo-e_16.phpEishosai Choki - Woman and Servant in Snow – From the website – “In this print we see a beauty pausing beneath an open umbrella which shields her from the fat flakes of falling snow, shimmering (or shivering) against a cold mica background. She leans on the back of her burly servant who is bending over, reaching beyond the frame of the composition to clean the clumps of heavy wet snow off of her geta. Although they are a study in contrasts, she is lovely and delicate, he is solid with rough whiskers on his face, Choki conveys a sense of quiet intimacy shared between the two.”
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/printsV.php?printID=2936Hosoda Eishi - Selection of Beauties from the Pleasure Quarters: Hanamurasaki of the Tamaya in Procession – This was a high-ranking courtesan who worked by appointment only. Very regal in her courtly, colorful robes.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/golden_age_ukiyo-e_06.php Torii Kiyonaga - Current Manners in Eastern Brocade: Woman in Bathrobe and Mother Playing with
Baby – A quiet moment in a bathhouse
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/golden_age_ukiyo-e_02.php Utagawa Hiroshige - Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido: Evening Snow at Kambara – Two paintings by one of my favorites. Wonderful scene of a mountain village during a snowstorm, just a few stragglers out struggling against the downfall.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/printsH.php?printID=439 Utagawa Hiroshige - Famous Restaurants of Edo: The Daishichi Teahouse at Mukojima – Colorful scene of a lively Teahouse. I can’t decide what’s going on in the foreground with the two men laughing and the women looking dubious. Something embarrassing must have taken place just prior to the captured image.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/printsH.php?printID=287 Kakunen Tsuruoka- Night Mist Over San Francisco City Hall – This is a wonderfully evocative scene of a rather dreary evening by a 20th Century artist who passed away in 1977.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/kakunen_44.phpPaul Binnie - Dawn Moon – I’ll close with this contemporary Scottish artist born in 1967. Love that moon.
https://www.scholten-japanese-art.com/printsV.php?printID=2906 In other art news.
This is a disturbing article on many levels. As I mentioned above, the pandemic won’t peak until May and recovery won’t begin until June/July.
It’s also mindboggling that the Met has a $16 million monthly payroll.
Met Museum Prepares for $100 Million Loss and Closure Till July
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/arts/design/met-museum-coronavirus-closure.html Below are two articles from Christie’s about artists whose work will be up for auction in the April 23rd Old Masters sale, one I hope to attend . Artemisia Gentileschi was a 17th Century Italian painter, daughter of the famed painter Orazio Gentileschi. She was his only talented offspring and her father trained her in his studio. My brother and I saw a wonderful combined exhibit of their work at the Met many years ago. She is a symbol of feminism as she was raped by her tutor and underwent torture, as was the norm in Rome back then, to prove she was telling the truth. She won the case but her rapist avoided punishment. Artemisia had some measure of revenge as she painted him as Holofernes being decapitated by Judith, who was the image of Artemisia. The article speaks of an exhibit at London’s National Gallery although whether it will actually reopen is hard to say. The second article is about the 17th Century French artist, Simon Vouet who will have three works in the upcoming auction.
Artemisia Gentileschi and the theatre of revenge
https://tinyurl.com/trf6fgz Three portraits by the artist who taught Louis XIII to draw
https://www.christies.com/features/Simon-Vouet-portraits-made-for-King-Louis-XIII-10343-1.aspx?sc_lang=en#FID-10343And now let’s visit the Flickrs.
Andy G.
with collar
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nancyball1/48071349692/Missy 4
https://www.flickr.com/photos/maidmissy/49025153787/Miss Michaela in pretty pretty frilly frilly PINK !!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/missmichaelamarbella/5401010665/Just a boy in a dress.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/184777386@N08/49570634003/ sissy party dress time
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22704178@N07/49193277941/Sissy Pet
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sissypet12/49546782688/ DSC00388
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sallyjj/49420037012/Friends asked for pretty sissy photo
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139833354@N06/48745214217/ALICE SISSY SOUBRETTE
https://www.flickr.com/photos/75445494@N03/15382493136/Prissy Sissy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kellyukslut/49557288563/
Betty's Pub 20.1
Topic: Looks like this is the beginning of a culturally bereft Spring Flickr. (Read 6247 times)
