I’m wearing long pants again so I guess this is the Fall Flickr

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.

It was a cool but sunny and dry, very beautiful morning and I set off for the auction previews at Sotheby’s. There were several, the collection of Alfred A. Taubman, Impressionist works and 19th Century European art. The Taubman is the big cheese here, Sotheby’s has guaranteed the heirs $500 million. What that means is that if anything doesn’t reach its maximum bid, Sotheby’s buys it and pays the estate. It is a major collection.

This is a very truncated version of Wikipedia’s bio of Alfred Taubman.  He was a real estate developer who became a billionaire, building his Company, Taubman Centers, into a retailing powerhouse. He bought Sotheby’s in 1983, when they were going through a particularly bad patch, warding off a hostile takeover by General Felt. He built it back up and took the company public in 1988. His family divested controlling interest by September 2005. In the early 2000s, an investigation into alleged price-fixing between Sotheby’s and Christie’s led to a confession by Sotheby's CEO Diana Brooks of an elaborate price fixing scheme with her counterpart at Christie's, Christopher Davidge. In a plea bargain arrangement, prosecutors offered to keep her out of prison if she agreed to implicate Taubman. She did, and thereafter Taubman was convicted in a jury trial of price fixing He was fined $7.5 million (USD) and imprisoned for ten months in 2002 for antitrust violations. He was released in 2003 and died in April of 2015.

He died professing his innocence and I can only say, he may have been a crook but he had a very good eye for beautiful art. I guess it didn’t hurt being associated with Sotheby’s, he would have always been close to anything that went on the block.

This is a link to the Sotheby’s website. If you click on the three links to the right, you will see the full catalog for that day’s auction. http://tinyurl.com/nd5ryme This is a link to the Taubman blog page at Sotheby’s. http://tinyurl.com/ofh2oj4 If you click on this you will be able to access all the videos showing his collection. And this is a link to a bio of the man himself. http://tinyurl.com/oaxjuh5

These are samples from Taubman’s collection which I especially enjoyed.
Vincent van Gogh - Jardin Public À Arles, a pen and ink drawing. Very simple and beautiful.  http://tinyurl.com/pexlnbb

This is the star of the auction, Modigliani’s Paulette Jourdain. It’s one of his last works and very representative of his style with the long neck. It looks like it is back lit, it shines, it is magnificent. I always say that you can’t compare the images on the web to the actual paintings but that doesn’t even begin to say it with this painting and all the others as well. I really think there will be a battle for this painting. When you go to the link there are detailed notes for all the items along with their provenance which are worthwhile reading.  http://tinyurl.com/o7gug75

This is a beautiful Degas pastel, Femme Nue, De Dos, Se Coiffant (Femme Se Peignant) http://tinyurl.com/q62n7va
 
Winslow Homer has long been a favorite of mine and here is a lovely watercolor, In Charge of Baby, showing three older children tending to an infant by the shore in a fishing port. http://tinyurl.com/p2y34y5

And I was pleased to see a Sargent watercolor, I Gesuati (Canal Scene, Venice; The Church Of The Gesuati, Venice; Il Gesuati, Venice) a massive church on the bank of the canal with a few boats and people milling around.  http://tinyurl.com/ov84t36

And an oil portrait of a young Madame Matisse at the seaside by her husband Henri. http://tinyurl.com/o9nqsk7

Finally, this magnificent, enormous painting by Martin Johnson Heade, an American Hudson river painter. I was taken with it when I first saw it in the catalogue but seeing it on the wall in all its 8ft x 4.5ft glory, it was stupendous, The Great Florida Sunset  http://tinyurl.com/oysbz2l

These are from the Impressionist auctions.

A very pretty pastel by Manet, Portrait De Madame Du Paty.  http://tinyurl.com/prjlufx

A magnificent Van Gogh, Paysage Sous Un Ciel Mouvementé, which I imagine will be the star of the Impressionist sale. http://tinyurl.com/pj2tjhq This is from the collection of Louis and Evelyn Franck which was small but startlingly good. 2 Van Gogh’s, 2 Cezannes, Tolouse Lautrec, Kees Van Dongen, Picasso, Chagall and James Ensor. You can see all of them here http://tinyurl.com/pwsw7mn

Here is a Monet water lily pond, another version of Nympheas, which I think will also generate a lot of interest. http://tinyurl.com/nj2jsht I was lucky enough to see a version owned by Huguette Clark, the heiress who lived to be 104 years old and spent her last 20 years living in a hospital. That one was auctioned by Christie’s and hadn’t been seen in public since 1926. Here’s a link if you want to compare. http://www.bloomberg.com/photo/monet-/-ieUKDmSuOM7k.html

This is something I’ve never seen before, a landscape by Piet Mondrian depicting a woman with a bucket by the shore of a river near a bridge. The only Mondrian’s I’ve seen have been his colorful geometric designs.  http://tinyurl.com/o98n3cq

This was in 19th Century European art. I saw an exhibition of Anders Zorn at the National Academy of Design and it was wonderful, room after room of paintings, drawings, watercolors, etc. I was pleased to find this work by him in the auction.  A Portrait Of The Daughters Of Ramón Subercaseaux. In a nice coincidence John Singer Sargent in the recent massive portrait exhibition painted the girl’s parents separately. http://tinyurl.com/ptzy9g7

Whenever I go to the auctions there are always artists I know nothing about and this time I found one I really liked, Federico Del Campo, a 19th Century Peruvian painter of Vedute. Really lovely depictions of Venice along the style of Canaletto and others. This is a link to the Sotheby’s page showing the two in the current auction, two more that will go to block in London and previous sales. All very nice. http://tinyurl.com/nnb8j5g

Well I could certainly keep going but I think you will understand why I’ve been looking forward to this series of auctions, so many beautiful things from so many great artists. And there is the American auction in a few weeks and Taubman’s Old Masters won’t go on the block until January so there’s something else to look forward to. In addition to the links to the Taubman pages referred to earlier, this is a link to the Sotheby’s page which lists all the auctions. If you change the location from all to New York, look for the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th auctions. They take place on November 3,4,5 and 6 . There are hours of interesting reading in the catalog notes about the artworks. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions.html

And after this very extended art class let’s move on to why we all come to Betty’s, to see what’s new at the Flickrs.

Andy G.

Alicia de Castro [Juan]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marccelus/4474068117/

Miss Gay em Salvador 2003

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marccelus/4377459105/

Me gustan los mini vestidos

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128043907%40N06/15297535708/

My new red jacket

https://www.flickr.com/photos/41640018%40N06/16757761897/

k-ELL_9844

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96743750%40N03/21542815086/

kutiekaz1

https://www.flickr.com/photos/80033576%40N05/14267804155/

Face and cleavage

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132476006%40N07/21764227220/

sissy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135272431%40N05/21507951568/

The maid next door

https://www.flickr.com/photos/134528860%40N07/20345218791/

IMG_7234

https://www.flickr.com/photos/little_miss_snow/20265816223/

Sissy Maid Georgia

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96259671%40N04/11814595206/

Is This How Its Supposed To Be Done?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cutie_ruthie/19544684719/

[Angela M...]

Thanks again Andy for the links to Sotheby's, it was interesting and also thanks for the pics. It has been a cool night up here for Halloween and have not seen any boy's as girls tonight. We had over 67 kids but the costumes were mostly bought and quite a few were worn under heavy coats so it was a bit of a waste for taking photo's.  I did notice that most of the kids in the 7-12 age group were with adults this year so that is good but there were three young girls aged about 11-12 that were by themselves at 9:30 at night and my block is a long dark one with at least three street lights out inspite of my calling the city to replace them ahead of time. Our city does have patrols by city workers and Cable and phone company employee's volunteering their time to drive the streets for safety sake. We made up 70 small bags of candy and only had 3 left over by 10:30 PM. We put out the lights and watched the movie Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler/Sarah Jessica Parker and Cathy Najimy. It is always fun on Halloween night. I was at Wal-Mart earlier looking for the movie Witches of Eastwick with Cher and Jack Nicholson but could not find it. I have not seen that one in quite awhile.

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.

This will be a brief Flickr this week. Heading down to the Jersey shore to celebrate my friend’s son’s 17th birthday. It’s hard to comprehend he is 17 now as he was a year and a half old when I renewed my acquaintance with his mother and father. Time certainly does fly. Except at work I’ve noticed. It takes a very long time to go from Monday to Friday but you wake up one morning and a bunch of years have flown by. I hope to slow those years down a little when I retire. I baked the birthday cake and cookies that I always bring. I bake everything from scratch and make the whipped cream for the frosting but I buy the icing that I use to decorate the cake with the words Happy Birthday. Between my bad handwriting, my stubby hands and general awkwardness I find this to be the most difficult part of the baking process. And I discovered too late that the icing I had in my cupboard had loosened up some, making for some very interesting looking letters. Oh well, it will taste the same no matter what.

Hope everyone on the board has a splendid day.

Andy G.

Joanna@JoannaJonesCD.com

https://www.flickr.com/photos/134090544@N05/20421747763/

candytiger9

https://www.flickr.com/photos/53899402@N04/21410683784/ 

Jennifer with feathered ensemble.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stoopdown/21765213959/

DSC_0227

https://www.flickr.com/photos/72529855@N05/21226570269/

Luv my dress

https://www.flickr.com/photos/maria_christina_68/21392382351/

Being a sissy is a walk in the park

https://www.flickr.com/photos/22704178@N07/15488152338/

New dress

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sissycindy/20951246246/

Daisy, Sofie and Stefan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofsecrets/15388590181/

Womanless-Wedding

https://www.flickr.com/photos/131048136@N08/21304676423/

Untitled

https://www.flickr.com/photos/leihia1/21944086620/

Short hair and glasses

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaminheelz/21904119838/

IMG_20151010_220926

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hilaryhall/22088712661/

[sissybaby34]

Thanks Andy for all your hard work every weekend , i do so look forward to your selections and also the other pictures in the respective flickr accounts

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.

It’s definitely starting to get cooler but we’ve been remarkably lucky so far with the temperatures. This is the longest I can remember going into the winter without having to wear my winter coat which is pleasant as lord knows I will certainly be wearing it shortly. Today it was in the 40’s when I left with the temperature supposed to rise to the low 50’s but it seemed to me that it got cooler although that was probably due to the breeze. But I had a very nice morning indulging myself in an art doubleheader.

The auctions continue and I was able to visit both Sotheby’s and Christie’s for their American auctions today. In this case I think Sotheby’s had the nicer things although both shows were enjoyable. No blockbusters in this group like the $170 million dollar Modigliani nude that Christie’s sold this past week but still I saw a bunch of artists whom I enjoy.

I’ll link to the pieces that I found notable. First was a watercolor by Charles Demuth of Roses. http://tinyurl.com/qcadfev Very delicate, I think I’ve mentioned a number of times that I saw a Demuth exhibit at the Metropolitan museum many years ago which consisted of his watercolors of flowers and fruits and vegetables and it was truly a marvel. I found myself waxing enthusiastically about rutabagas. Wonderful stuff.

There were several watercolors by Winslow Homer, Yacht in a Cove, Gloucester which is just what the description says http://tinyurl.com/pgp4ljb The Summer Cloud which shows a boat in dry-dock with two young girls sitting next to it, one sitting on a wagon wheel. http://tinyurl.com/nfbolvs and a simple pencil sketch, A Rural Couple, showing a man and a woman sitting opposite each other, the man with a straw in his mouth and the woman holding her head and looking down. http://tinyurl.com/qep8ep9 The first two could easily have been illustrations for Harpers or any of the other magazines he drew for and the sketch must have been a study for another one or a painting.

I’ve seen a lot of John Singer Sargent of late and always enjoy his work but I have to say that of the two pieces in this auction, one of them, was clearly not his best work, Mrs. Harry Vane Milbank just doesn’t inspire me, it looks like a work for hire and clearly wouldn’t have fit into the large exhibit at the Met of his friends. The background on the website says it was probably done at the same time he was working on Madame X and shares some of the more risqué features associated with that painting. This is another case of the painting looking better on the web than the wall. http://tinyurl.com/pfy879o

The other was a very nice painting of a 7 year old boy, Lancelot Allen. There’s nice background on Lancelot and his family at the link; the painting was done in three sittings and his mother read Rudyard Kipling to him to keep him amused while he sat. http://tinyurl.com/pw2hnk2

A very sweet Thomas Hart Benton, T.P. and Jake, a painting of the artists son with his pet dog Jake. It’s inscribed on the back, T.P.'s birthday/11 years old/from Dad
http://tinyurl.com/orwbypy The provenance shows that Thomas P. kept it in the family until 1980 when it went into private hands until 1991 when the current owner acquired it.

It was nice to see that the entire Wyeth family was represented in this auction. N.C. Wyeth in what the website says was the frontispiece for a book, The Boy Columbus, http://tinyurl.com/qyv8pcz Wyeth was a classic illustrator whose work appeared in all the popular magazines and children’s classic books. Andrew Wyeth, his son, The Flood Plain and also a sketch for The Flood Plain. http://tinyurl.com/o84yrj6 http://tinyurl.com/nzmlp66 You can see how he changed the image from the sketch which showed two buildings, to the painting with the second building obscured behind hay and the remnants of a hay wagon. Very simple and straightforward depiction of his family’s land. And finally, Jamie, N.C.’s grandson and Andrew’s son, Sea Birds, http://tinyurl.com/oqorpsv showing two seagulls in front of a lighthouse, with a house behind it.

Two 20th century artists I am unfamiliar with, Otis Kaye and David Brega who I think actually has to be referred to as a 21st Century artist as he is alive and still painting. Both are examples of trompe l’oeil which I find very entertaining. Kaye’s Bid and Ask, shows a bulletin board with paper money and coins as well as rolled up stock certificates hanging off the board, a bent nail holding a pencil in place. http://tinyurl.com/p6fbu6s  Brega’s Starstruck shows an iconic photograph of Marilyn Monroe with the artist painting himself to her left, with a letter addressed to him to the right, all on what appear to be cabinet doors of some type. http://tinyurl.com/nwakbfa

And to close Sotheby’s there were several Norman Rockwell’s, one of which, a large pencil sketch was enormously pleasing, Father and Boy, http://tinyurl.com/oyv7bno shows the two of them assembling a toy rocket while the family dog sits next to them watching the other parts.

These are links to the full list of items in the American and Taubman’s American exhibits, http://tinyurl.com/ndpdb7t http://tinyurl.com/nvkynda lots of very nice things I haven’t mentioned.

Afterwards I headed over to Christie’s, which as I said didn’t quite match up and was smaller to boot. Both auction houses also had Latin American art up and the first thing I saw when I got to Christie’s was July Larraz’ Diva, which is a wonderful Sargent spoof. It shows Madame X with her strap down sitting at a table in what appears to be an airplane. http://tinyurl.com/punzrux

Part of the American sale was America Illustrated: Norman Rockwell and His Contemporaries which had a number of Rockwell’s, as well as JC Leyendecker, Ludwig Bemelmans, James Montgomery Flagg and other peer illustrators. Lots of nice things here. http://tinyurl.com/pg82npm  The star of the American sale has to be Norman Rockwell’s, NORMAN ROCKWELL VISITS A COUNTRY EDITOR which is expected to bring between $10 and $15 million. It’s a two page spread that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and shows Rockwell, entering the door to the editor’s office where we see the editor, his secretary, a copy boy and several customers waiting in line. http://tinyurl.com/nz8fpgg

I have to include the sole representation of one of my favorite artists, Edward Hopper, a pencil sketch of a nightshirt http://tinyurl.com/nm5toxz signed and inscribed with the title for just $10 to $15K.

A pencil and gouache depiction of two young women walking with arms around each other by Winslow Homer entitled Through the Fields. http://tinyurl.com/osjqfub

I raved about the enormous Martin Johnson Heade landscape when I first saw it and it was up again as this is the auction in which it will be sold but there was also another very nice Heade, much smaller but just as lovely, Nesting Hummingbirds, Brazilian Landscape http://tinyurl.com/q7jxmsj showing two rather placid birds under grey skies and what appears to be the clearing after a storm. Or maybe just a break in the storm.

And finally another beautiful landscape, this one by George Inness, Light Triumphant, a magnificent rural scene showing a man on his horse tending his cattle with the brilliant foliage all around them. http://tinyurl.com/oqbmwzk

And this is a link to the full list of art in the American auction, again, much to see here. http://tinyurl.com/nou55w2

And so, on to the Flickrs.

Andy G.

Retro Red

https://www.flickr.com/photos/126461197@N06/22082762172/

4

https://www.flickr.com/photos/trannilicious2011/5808749313/

DSC_6753

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lisah_tv/21434509624/

Susie30

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24899087@N05/15366334613/

DSC06151

https://www.flickr.com/photos/117560929@N03/21913259419/

just for the fun

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135272431@N05/22011899265/

Pink sissy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/33270421@N02/22072708342/

Long dress

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127565934@N04/22070900771/

I always wanted to date a raver girl, so I became one!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/76424061@N02/21990332862/ 

Susan's new dress (2)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/susanmiller64/22262735081/

Trevi 10.17.2015 #1

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marie_sunshine/22118157800/

bee48

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bee-ceedee/16640132251/

Continuing the German theme

https://www.flickr.com/photos/juliabell/18229018754/

Little princess

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackietv/20601339526/



 

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.

It was a dark and stormy night! Well, actually it was a rather clear, brisk beautiful day, a little cool but certainly acceptable for mid-November just a few days before Thanksgiving. I don’t know how many of the board members are familiar with my opening sentence. It was written by the 19th Century novelist Edward Bulwer Lytton as the opening to his novel Paul Clifford. Bulwer Lytton was a very successful writer in his day with many novels and plays to his credit as well as being the originator of these other phrases, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” “the great unwashed” and “the almighty dollar.” He also wrote the historical novel, “The Last Days of Pompeii,” which has been made into a movie on a number of occasions. I remember watching the 1935 edition as a child and it scared the bejeezus out of me. But his style has gone completely out of fashion and is now considered overly melodramatic, florid and gothic. His works are no longer read popularly and if at all, only in academia to study bad writing. The dark and stormy night opening led to an annual contest in which writers compete to see who can write the worst opening to a fictitious novel. This is the 2015 winner; the contest has run for 33 years.

“Seeing how the victim's body, or what remained of it, was wedged between the grill of the Peterbilt 389 and the bumper of the 2008 Cadillac Escalade EXT, officer "Dirk" Dirksen wondered why reporters always used the phrase "sandwiched" to describe such a scene since there was nothing appetizing about it, but still, he thought, they might have a point because some of this would probably end up on the front of his shirt. — “

I looked all this up because I was curious as to what makes this bad writing as on the surface I didn’t see anything awful about it. It’s considered bad because, as noted above, it’s overly melodramatic but additionally, if you continue reading the novel, it’s irrelevant and has no bearing on the events that take place, only being thrown in to get the reader’s attention, which doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to me but I’m not a critic. Additionally, to say it was a dark night is redundant. Charles Schulz had fun with it by making it Snoopy’s opening line for his novels.

On a total non-sequitur, every morning when I leave the house I wear my glasses as I navigate through the streets. When I get to the office I take them off as I don’t need them for my computer, put them in their case and put them in my bag. I don’t wear them on the way home, don’t ask me why as I can’t really say but sometimes at the bus terminal I take them out while I to do the puzzle. Then I get home and put them on the table next to my comfy reading chair in case I need them in the evening.  The following morning I repeat the process. Except on Thursday morning I  took out the glasses case and they were empty. I couldn’t remember if I had worn them in the terminal the night before and looked all over my house for them without success. I left for the office figuring I would surely find them on my office desk when I got in. No, they weren’t there. Apparently I have lost them. I can’t imagine what I did with them or how and where I did it but I don’t think they’re going to turn up. Last month the frame broke and I got an old pair out of the closet and jammed the lenses into it and although they didn’t fit properly I was able to wear them. I figured I would call my ophthalmologist and have him fax me the prescription but I didn’t see any real urgency to it. But Thursday morning I contacted him to get the prescription. His receptionist said she would fax it to me but her computer was down. Later that morning I called again and was told that it would be sent over shortly after the doctor reviewed it and a little while later I heard our fax machine beeping. When it stopped I picked up the sheet of paper and it was blank. So I called the doctor’s office and asked if that was my prescription and they apologized and sent it over again right side up. I then tried to contact the local optician who I finally found out had closed his office. Oddly enough his brother also was an optician and his office is in the next town over. which isn’t far away but I wasn’t real happy about having to drive there. I chose the first optician because it was in walking distance. When I got home I got into the car and it was raining and fairly dark. I was wearing an old pair of glasses with a previous prescription so I wasn’t thrilled to be behind the wheel but it was only a few miles. And it was a completely straight route for me so I didn’t get lost which was a bonus. I can get along without the glasses on a day to day basis but I must have them for driving. I’m willing to drive the one mile and back to go to the Shop Rite but I wouldn’t go down to the Jersey shore, which is where I’m headed next Saturday, without them so I was pleased when I was told I would be able to pick them up on Tuesday. It baffles me as to where the pair is or what happened to them. It must be like the clothes dryer where you put a pair of socks in and only one comes out.

Anyway, today being Saturday, I did my art thing. I went to the Metropolitan museum of art for their current Japanese exhibit,  “Celebrating the Arts of Japan The Mary Griggs Burke Collection.” Mary Griggs Burke has been a great benefactor to the museum donating large portions of the enormous collection of Japanese art she and her husband acquired during their lifetimes. This is a link to a biographical sketch of her, http://burkecollection.org/about/mary-griggs-burke

This is a link to a review of the exhibit that appeared in yesterday’s NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/arts/design/masterpieces-of-japanese-art-at-the-met.html?_r=0 There are many illustrations, the very first one at the top is a fierce looking statue, the wrathful avatar of Dainichi Buddha who is the tenacious protector of Buddhist law, as it says on the Met website. I usually don’t pay much attention to the statues in these exhibits but this batch was very fine and interesting. He uses the lasso to catch the demons and the sword to decapitate him. Very 21st Century I guess although this is metaphorical violence in pursuit of Buddhist principles. This is a link to the Met website with more information on it http://tinyurl.com/pgkdgjc  As you scroll down you come to another photo of six of the twelve divine generals. It’s hard to see, even if you enlarge the photo, but these figures all have very fierce expressions as well and represent the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. The painted scrolls and screens are, as usual, also very beautiful. This is a scroll of the Aizen Myōō, the embodiment of rage, another fierce God. It should probably be my avatar as I so easily lose my temper, a genetic disorder handed down from my father. To show his better nature the site tells us that lovers with problems of the heart prayed to him for intercession.  http://tinyurl.com/qemrtap This is one of the many screens; I chose it because it’s a very simple image, a goose flying along preparing to swoop down to the water. It’s very clear and much easier to discern than the other screens which are very big and have lots of small characters which are hard to see in the illustrations. http://tinyurl.com/q8d9wt4 Towards the end of the exhibition were the things that most interested me. There were six more hanging scrolls, one of which “Beauties of the Kanbun Era,” depicts a beautiful woman against a blank background. Very colorful with the sharply contrasting patterns of her dress. I was taken with her pose, hands over her mouth while she dances. http://tinyurl.com/ntng7qt The others were equally beautiful. And finally, we come to six wood block prints by Hiroshige, as I’ve mentioned before, this is what aroused my interest in Japanese art. I don’t know why but only one of them is shown on the website, it says they’re not on view even though they clearly are. The six all depict various rivers in Japan with a poem associated with the rivers. In the middle of the room is a set of handscrolls by a contemporary of Hiroshige that depict almost the exact same thing. I love the color and composition of these prints and in this one the perfect full moon high in the sky. http://tinyurl.com/q496cjd

This is a link to all the objects in the exhibition, except the missing Hiroshige’s. http://tinyurl.com/oy7nvs7 I look forward to returning for the second rotation in the Spring.

And all that remains is to wish everyone on the board a Happy Thanksgiving and then, on to the Flickrs.

Andy G.

sissy01 001

https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrellina/16353696931/

WP_20140425_016

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133100448%40N03/19824026895/
 
sissy gina holding up her petticoats to show off her pink garters and white stockings

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10974572%40N05/15483873326/

J4

https://www.flickr.com/photos/44425851%40N05/14099927128/

Snapshot_20101008_43

https://www.flickr.com/photos/40171643%40N08/5360645597/

Come fly with me

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsjessicapresley/6628323685/

garden1

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pettisue/20493515046/

Hermione's truly in Wonderland as Alice

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hermionesimpson/22160692106/

Drag Ball: Powder, Pearls, and Pumps

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135372232%40N02/22319224675/

Crossdressing LA

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137232844%40N06/22423149251/

dirndl

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdhousewife/22244178329/

013

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9913641%40N03/17738959310/

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.

I hope enough board members contribute to keep Betty's going or I guess the weekly Flickr will end here. Sad to see an institution like Betty's fade out due to an unwillingness on the part of the people who enjoy it to contribute to its well being.

Anyway, I’ve had a very enjoyable long weekend so far and today I head down to Princeton to take a friend to an art exhibition at the college art museum, the Perlman collection, which should be a splendid collection of Impressionist watercolors highlighted by their Cezanne’s.  Very much looking forward to it.

Yesterday I did another doubleheader, first I walked up to 3 West 57th Street to the Cavalier Gallery for an exhibit of American art. Some familiar names here from previous posts.

First we have a pastel by Mary Cassatt, The Banjo Lesson, http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5098, A little washed out but very fine.

Then, Isaac Soyer’s, Woman Seated in Green http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5110 Isaac is one of three painters in the family along with his brothers Moses and Raphael, they’re all 20th Century artists. Very spare but beautiful

I’ve mentioned Eastman Johnson before, his paintings are sentimental and prototypical 19th Century images. Here we have Catching up on the News http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5112

Louis Comfort Tiffany was more well known for his decorative art, the eponymous Tiffany Lamps that were popular at the end of the 19th and turn of the 20th Century that still resonate today but he also painted and  Fruit Market at Geneva is a very nice depiction of a town square market http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5093

Thomas Eakins, The Fairman Rogers Four-In-Hand Fan is really a curio, a painting of a horse drawn coach on an actual paper fan with a mother of pearl frame http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5097

A wonderful Jamie Wyeth watercolor, a beach scene, looking past boulders up at a house on a hill, Summer House (Zero House),  http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5089

There were a number of very contemporary artists with paintings done in the last 10 or 15 years that were very nice, still lifes and interiors and this painting, another example of trompe l’oeil, by Joel Carson Jones, Amuse,  http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5085

This is a link to the full catalog of paintings. http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5109

Afterwards I walked downtown to the Scandinavia House at 58 Park Avenue to see an exhibition of the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoi. He has been likened to Edward Hopper so you know that going in I was going to be inclined to like these paintings if that was the case. And he definitely painted in a Hopperesque style, what my brother referred to as Hopper without the menace. In many of Hopper’s paintings the absence of people can take on a nefarious cast based on the image he presented you with. His painting, Gas, which is in MOMA, is one of my favorites and definitely illustrates this. It’s a gas station on a lonely road, opposite a rather forbidding forest, with the attendant by one of the pumps. No cars, people or animal life around. Here’s a link http://shadeone.com/nighthawks/Gas-1940.jpg

Hammershoi’s art speaks of isolation, his interiors can be claustrophobic and when his paintings are inhabited by people they generally have their backs to the viewer or are seen from the side. His pictures of buildings are completely absent any living forms, human, animal or avian. And his colors are very muted, lots of greys and browns. Very Spartan, austere and in some cases mournful. The website doesn’t have images but this is a link to a New York Times review that has a number of illustrations. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/arts/design/vilhelm-hammershois-paintings-at-scandinavia-house.html?_r=0  In “Amalienborg Square, Copenhagen” you see the square with the building in the background and a statue in the foreground and nothing else. And the statue is behind a gate which is also behind posts with chains, very contained and closed in. He used his wife as a model and in “Portrait of Ida Ilsted, Later the Artist’s Wife” you see his muted colors, the brown and black and the mournful look on her face. There were several portraits of Ida, one was an oil sketch of her head and shoulders which he turned into the Portrait above. In it the background is barely discernible as to where it ends and her cloak begins. In “Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor”, again a very claustrophobic scene, very bare, his wife is sitting at a table, straight backed in a chair away from the viewer, no other furniture in view, very Spartan. We see a window with no view as to what’s outside, next to a closed door.

This is a link to the SMK museum, the National Gallery of Denmark, from where the exhibition’s paintings came, it shows all of his paintings in their collection. http://tinyurl.com/pdtvzxh

I found this an excellent exhibition, very glad I went.

Hope this isn't a farewell. If it is I just want to thank you Betty for all your hard work and the way you've scrimped to keep the board going. I wish you the best and hope things work out for you.

Andy G.

A French Maid Laurie 3 jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9352703@N06/1378231572/

Cheerleader '93

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14176339@N04/12858314493/

Cute White Dress

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdbf1/19292720038/

Untitled

https://www.flickr.com/photos/just_danielle/8256065490/

Yep another Alice Dress

https://www.flickr.com/photos/74475326@N08/16887548622/

New Prom Dress

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ellietgirl/14344217390/

Polish folk costume

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mayuko_vienna/10093627996/

As told.. wearing that sissy dress at your return

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31441916@N04/3129842269/

Jessie

https://www.flickr.com/photos/58421936@N07/21699157043/

Birgit020591

https://www.flickr.com/photos/birgittv/22234474540/

Red folksy pinafore

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shirleygraceanne/22414081146/

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.

Global warming has allowed me once again to discard my winter coat as today we enjoyed balmy weather here in the New York Metropolitan area. The temperature worked its way up into the 50’s and I was able to get away with my flannel shirt and vest. And with no precipitation it was a beautiful day all around. I took advantage of this respite from the cold to take two very long walks today. First I walked down to the Astor Place Barber shop and had Valentino bring me back to respectability, snipping away a little more than four months’ worth of shagginess. As I’ve mentioned my hair grows on the sides and the back but not so much on the top with my part widening and my widows peak receding further up. But I’m grateful to have what’s left and hope I can convince it to hang around for a while.

Afterwards I reversed the trip and headed back uptown to the Ronin Gallery at 425 Madison Avenue, off 49th Street. There I took in an exhibit of early woodblock prints by the Japanese artist Hokusai. I can’t say enough about these prints, they’re really wonderful, crisp and bright. I’m a late convert to Japanese art but I’ve really become taken with it and enjoy these very much. This is a link to the Ronin website which describes the exhibit and has illustrations of all the items up for sale. http://www.roningallery.com/exhibitions/hokusai-early-works The employees are very pleasant and friendly, even after I was asked if I was a collector and said I was an aficionado who wished he could be a collector. The manager told me that the current exhibit is a relatively rare series as it wasn’t as popular as others and so, not revisited as often. He’s referring to The 53 Stations of the Tokaido which I Googled and discovered only four editions were made, unlike others which had substantially more. There are approximately 15 from the series in this exhibit and they are all fine.

Last Sunday I went down to Princeton and my friend and I drove to Princeton College for the Perlman exhibit. We parked in Princeton proper and managed to find our way to the museum and were there for probably three hours. The exhibit was really a treat, you can see all the artists in the exhibit at this link http://www.pearlmancollection.org/artists The Cezanne watercolors were beautiful and in addition to a magnificent Toulouse Lautrec poster they had his Sacred Grove on display. It’s a spoof of a Puvis de Chavannes painting and it’s wonderful. I found this old review from the Times when Princeton exhibited it for a different exhibition. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/04artsnj.html?_r=0  This is a full page image of the painting so you can see it’s detail, including Toulouse with his back to the viewer, urinating. http://tinyurl.com/zt6qlna

But for me the two real stars of the exhibit were Modigliani and Van Gogh. Modigliani painted the artist Jean Cocteau who was disliked by the other artists for his ego and vanity. http://www.pearlmancollection.org/artist/amedeo-modigliani  Cocteau commissioned the work and paid for it but never picked it up because he disliked it so much. Years later you can see from this link that he hadn’t gotten over it. http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/cezanne-modern/modigliani/jean-cocteau The Van Gogh, Tarascon Stagecoach, is magnificent. This link to the Perlman site doesn’t do it justice at all.
http://www.pearlmancollection.org/artist/vincent-van-gogh  This is a nicer image but still can’t really show how great it is, the colors are so vibrant and alive. If it were to come up for auction which it never will, I think it would break records for Van Gogh. http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/arts-blog/behind-scenes-c%C3%A9zanne-manet-and-van-gogh

My brother sent me this link http://www.cbc.ca/1.3332299 - “Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian pays for $170M Modigliani on credit card, earns 170 million points.”  This is the Modigliani nude I saw at the recent Christie’s auction. It’s a fascinating article pointing out what he can do with the points he earns. His family can fly anywhere basically forever for free. The most interesting thing was that Christie’s would lose a fortune through the merchant charge. I wondered, when he gets the bill and looks at the top where it says your minimum payment is X and if you make the minimum payment you will have paid this much interest and it will take this long, how long would it take to pay off? Must be nice to spend $170 million for something and say, just put it on the card.

And on that ridiculous note, let’s see what’s happening at the Flickrs.

Andy G.

First Lady - Nicola Burkitt (PB) with First Male to finish in costume - Andrew Reynolds, aka, Princess Bella.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129431549@N03/22659629371/

photo 2(1)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133100448@N03/19635988978/ 

Natalie

https://www.flickr.com/photos/agothtv/6512247363/

BMJ Best (30)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129032696@N02/15966444535/

IMG_3845

https://www.flickr.com/photos/100379735@N06/15057275569/

Chalet maid

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13782433@N03/4343951331/

15 601w

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariaclare/20635382665/

100_7126

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52660240@N08/5699983044/

Paula Chester

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tranniefun/5309815956/

2014_red_knit_5688

https://www.flickr.com/photos/61083860@N00/22334856169/

Lady Boy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/90398853@N05/8579861157/

school story

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mary-margret/8356648467/

[andyg0404]

Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.

It’s another tropical day here in the Northeast, 62 degrees if you can believe it, which considering we are two weeks away from Xmas is fairly extraordinary. I was able to go out today in just the flannel shirt and my hat. This is remarkably out of character for me. In previous years I generally put the winter coat on in October and don’t take it off until May. I will enjoy it while I can.

My friends at Microsoft, and since the Internet can’t hear my irony let me assure you I don’t mean it literally, are at it again. It being updates that cause problems. Last month they had an update that caused Outlook to crash any time you clicked on an email with HTML and subsequently we were instructed to uninstall the update and then hide it so it wouldn’t reinstall. The same thing happened this week, Microsoft unrolled another 20 some odd updates and subsequently when I rebooted, my Outlook formatting had changed. I Googled it and found it on the first try, another screw up. I was lucky, some users found that their Outlook only opened in safe mode along with the formatting issues. I uninstalled it and all was well again.  This time Microsoft has pulled the update completely so we won’t have to hide it or go through this again. This is all in aid of Windows 10 apparently which as Betty has continuously reiterated, they are trying desperately to shove down our throats. Microsoft has admitted that Windows 8 was another Vista and everyone seems to agree there was no reason to move away from XP. At any rate I will avoid Windows 10 as long as I am able to.
 
Today I went to the New York Public Library for a drawing exhibit, Printing Women: Three Centuries of Female Printmakers, 1570–1900. As usual I very much enjoyed it. The collection has items from the Rijksmuseum Print Room in Amsterdam as well as selections from the library’s permanent collection. Women etchers and engravers were active from the 16th Century but really came to notice in the 17th Century. Some of the women represented here were court artists, graduates of art academies who were established painters. Additionally there were noblewomen who dabbled in the art for family and friends in limited editions. And there were women who were born into or married into artistic families who took up the art. Some of the notables represented are Queen Victoria and Madame Pompadour as well as the artists Angelica Kauffman and Maria Cosway. Next to a Cosway engraving is a note that it was done for Thomas Jefferson and that the two of them had a short romantic relationship while he was in Paris. They remained friends until his death in 1826. This is a link to the library website description of the exhibition with some images.  http://www.nypl.org/printing-women-selections

I’ve been going to the library for many years but I’ve never gone anywhere inside aside from the third floor main research room and the outside corridor where the art exhibitions are held. Today I walked around on the other floors and was pleased to see other exhibits. They have an enormous photograph collection, 1.5 million images which has been a resource for artists, designers, students and scholars since 1915. Some of the varied photos were on display in one exhibit.  You can see images of the room at this link. http://www.nycgo.com/events/100-years-of-the-picture-collection-from-abacus-to-zoology This is a short video that explores the history of the collection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uagmNkFD70  There was a fair crowd there today, the library attracts a lot of tourists and they all seemed to be enjoying their visit.

Now we’ll move on to the kinds of photos that you are all here for, those at the Flickrs.

Andy G.

Emily's transition

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133358121@N04/22564130235/

ma sissy bien aimée

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135272431@N05/22901700901/

young ladyboy

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128477510@N06/15732430275/

DSCF0619

https://www.flickr.com/photos/41640018@N06/9283311393/

See all my Photos at JoannaJonesCD.com

https://www.flickr.com/photos/134090544@N05/22098482601/

I want to fly away with you

https://www.flickr.com/photos/72529855@N05/22623943760/

July 2015 (15)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelcarmina/22203303444/

Shot with a Sony ILCE-7R.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eamonnknights/13298537253/

Blue Silk Skirt

https://www.flickr.com/photos/christine1066/22780490281/

MAID VERSATILITY 2015

https://www.flickr.com/photos/toni_richards/22134870843/

Untitled

https://www.flickr.com/photos/31446940@N08/2939017248/

PHOT0299

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10545345@N03/2696243803/

[Betty]

LOL. I don't have Outlook on any windows machine & never have. I do have a spare hotmail mail account for odd stuff, but I don't need outlook for it or anything else. The rest of my email accounts are through our servers or a yahoo mail account. I access them or anything else I want with no Outlook.

I haven't got an update for windows 7 in over a month since they tried to shove another new version of the windows 10 update down our throats. But I'm handy enough to safely live without the updates for a while without any security or operating problems. If you caught the outlook bug, there's a good chance they've already dumped 2-15gb of windows 10 into your machine in hidden files.

Windows won't allow you see, access, or delete those files either (even though it's your machine). Download & burn a Linux xubuntu or Lubuntu ISO CD or DVD, run it at boot, but don't install (unless you want it). Run it live from the CD instead to access the W10 folders & delete them. Read my W10 posts to find them, & block W10 updates & nags. Do not get W10. It may someday be banned from Betty's again. Many features & some access is already blocked from W10 users here or other sites.

My W7 on my primary machine appears to be supported until 2019 or 2020. They lied about XP support. They still support it for China, some 3rd world countries, for the military, corporations, NASA, some universities, & scientific establishments. I put XP back on my 2005 laptop... my only laptop, to keep it running as smooth & fast as most modern laptops. My XP will be supported until 2019. I just got 7, XP security updates for it this afternoon. By 2019 Microsoft will have either learned their lessons like they did with Vista, & W8, or most will have abandoned Microsoft for something else.

When W10 boasts big numbers of users, most of those had it forced on them, & many already switched back to what they had before or something else, but they're still being counted as W10 "users". They did the same phoney hype with Vista & W8.

Meanwhile Microsoft's timing couldn't be worse. Apple is seeing record sales & loving it as MS continues to force what people don't want or don't know better about on its loyal users. Linux downloads are up too. One has to wonder at this point if someone at MS is getting paid big megabucks in bribes from Apple, Google, or Samsung to deliberately ruin Microsoft.

Windows 10 is very very bad. It's an adware, malware, & spyware platform, not a true OS. If it catches on it'll ruin the internet & computing as we know it.

Their excuse is everybody, including apple & google also spy or run ads. But there's no comparison. It's like comparing someone who can see who's coming in & out your house, or see you through your windows, while you see ads on TV, to leaving all your doors wide open to access by anyone who does business with the propery owner, your bank, & appliance manufacturures, then letting them put cameras & microphones in to watch you when they're not around, but also pasting ads for their product on all your walls & appliances.

How would you like it if someday you open your fridge, & it tells you what it's partners want you to buy or do? Or if you try to shut it up, it won't run anymore, or sends a signal to disable your car?

Adware helps pay for things & those spies paid good money to be there. But they don't belong on an OS... esp one I paid good money for. W10 is free, but only if you install it over an OS you already paid for. Didn't buy the OS? Yes you did. It was included in the price of the computer. Computers with no OS or free linux on it are pretty cheap.

I found this quote in another group:

Their default assumption seems to be that it's not my computer, it's their computer, that I'm allowed to use according to their whim.

Up until about 2-3 years ago, my computers were under my control - a small oasis of control in a world in which I'm largely powerless and my ability to live my life as I see fit is being systematically stripped away. I want to uninstall an app? "No problem." Decline an update? "No problem." Delete the entire C:\windows\system32 folder? "Dumb, but hey, if you're determined - no problem, we won't stop you." Point was, it was my computer, and I could do what I wanted with it. Technology was an enabler and the possibilities were endless.

But from Windows 8 onwards, it seems that the entire direction of computing is moving back to centralized, paternalistic, "we-know-what's-best-for-you" control. Cloud storage. Cloud logins. UAC. Administrator-doesn't-really-mean-Administrator. Enforced updates. Downloading a whole new OS just-in-case-you-want-it-but-if-not-we'll-continue-to-nag-you. Secure Boot that somehow only seems to benefit Microsoft. Constant logging - sorry, I mean "telemetry". Safe Screen a.k.a. "we'll inspect everything you download to make sure we approve of it". Technology seems to be defined in terms of what it grudgingly allows you to do, with the approval of the Powers That Be. And it's a whole lot worse with Windows 10.

It's not just Microsoft either. An analogy would be: we've moved from the traditional liberal "everything is permitted unless it's expressly forbidden" model of rights, to the totalitarian "everything is forbidden unless it's expressly permitted". And I hate it.

According to many users of Windows 10 operating system, it no longer allowed them access to torrent sites. According to a Venture Capital Post report, Windows 10 does not allow access to several torrent downloading websites. It has a secret feature that scans torrent file downloads and deletes them on users hard drives without direct user permission.

How dare MS decide which site you can visit, then poke around on your machine that you paid for & delete your files without your consent! Many free Linux & software creators, unsigned entertainers, bands, & artists heavily depend on torrents to distribute or publicize their stuff easy & cheap.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/26/microsoft_renamed_data_slurper_reinserted_windows_10/