Apparently Deutsch-Dryden (I decided to use both last names) was personally elegant as were the elegant subjects he depicted so elegantly.
His subjects were usually ladies and automobiles -- especially Bugattis.
Thursday, March 2, 2017
Ernst Deutsch-Dryden: Elegant Illustrator
Ernst Deutsch-Dryden (1887-1938), born in Vienna, died in Los Angeles, changed his last name from Deutsch to Dryden following some sort of plagiarism scandal. A German-text Wikipedia entry for him is here, but the automated translation is awkward. This is often the case, given German syntax. Also, his last name (Deutsch) is translated as "German" which is what Deutsch means in English, and this might add confusion for some readers. Much of the same ground is covered in English here.
Apparently Deutsch-Dryden (I decided to use both last names) was personally elegant as were the elegant subjects he depicted so elegantly.
His subjects were usually ladies and automobiles -- especially Bugattis.
Gallery
No, not radios: this Blaupunkt (Blue Dot) was a brand of cigarettes.
Poster for Bugatti Automobiles featuring a Type 35.
Cover art for Die Dame (The Lady) magazine. Yes, that's a Bugatti in the background.
Die Dame automobile number cover, November 1928.
Perhaps Die Dame cover art for its 1926 Christmas number.
Die Dame cover illustration.
Elegant scene.
Fashion illustration with a Bugatti-like car.
Fashion art with Venice as setting.
More elegance, but casual here.
Jane Régny was the pseudonym for a Parisian fashion designer specializing in sportswear.
Apparently Deutsch-Dryden (I decided to use both last names) was personally elegant as were the elegant subjects he depicted so elegantly.
His subjects were usually ladies and automobiles -- especially Bugattis.
Monday, February 27, 2017
More Edgar Maxence
Edgar Maxence (also Edgard Maxence -- né Edgar Henri Marie Aristide Maxence -- 1871-1954) was a French painter with a Symbolist bent. His English Wikipedia entry is here, but it's brief, and the French version is little better. I posted "Edgar Maxence: Symbolism via Women" here, and decided to present more images of his work in the present post.
Mexence mostly used attractive younger women as subjects and tended to place them in religious or otherwise spiritual settings. There were exceptions, of course, and a few are included below.
Gallery
Le calme du soir - 1903
Concert d'Anges - 1897
Jeanne Maxence - 1898
Le livre de la paix - 1929
Snow Queen
This painting and the one immediately above seem to have featured the same model.
Femme de profile lisant - 1914
Femme en prière
Two mixed-media works.
Siren
Femme - 1897
Portrait du femme
Portrait du femme - 1941
A fairly late work.
Mexence mostly used attractive younger women as subjects and tended to place them in religious or otherwise spiritual settings. There were exceptions, of course, and a few are included below.
This painting and the one immediately above seem to have featured the same model.
Two mixed-media works.
A fairly late work.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Howard Somerville, Who Cut Them Off at the Knees
Howard Somerville Adamson (1873-1952) who painted using the name Howard Somerville is one of those obscure British artists who made a few striking paintings.
It seems that the most complete biographical information is here, though it's accessible for many of us only on Fridays. It's worth reading if you find that you might be interested in the artist. Apparently he was reasonably successful, being fairly widely exhibited in his day. He also made illustrations to earn his keep. A detailed critique of Somerville is here.
The writer of the second link is Robert Holden, a New York City based artist who paints, among other subjects, portraits from life. Much of his post is a discussion regarding Somerville's possible use of photographs rather than live sitting as the basis for his portraiture. Holden has an axe to grind, given that he stresses his policy of painting from life in his blog's biographical statement. To me, this is not such a huge matter. Holden also complains about Somerville truncating his subjects around knee-level. This seems to be a signature style or trait Somerville probably used to distinguish his work; a number of his portraits have that feature, and some of them also feature a fairly large background area above the subject's head (a few examples are shown below).
The first link, on the other hand, stresses that Somerville made little use of photography. Apparently this was in response to more than one accusation that Somerville made much use of that vile technology.
Gallery
The Red Bernous
Norah
I find the two paintings above to be the most striking and interesting of Somerville's work. The portrait immediately above is of the actress Norah Baring.
Miss Norah Baring
Another portrait of Norah Baring. I could find no Internet photograph of Baring that matches the poses in the two portraits, so Somerville most likely did work from life or took his own reference photos or (perhaps most likely) made use of both possibilities in the same project. Note the amount of space above Baring's head.
Sylvia - 1922
Butler Wood
Elissa Landi
Another painting with plenty of space above the subject's head.
Elizabeth Woodville
Gypsy
The sitter's first name apparently was Florence, and she attested that she sat for this painting.
In the Studio IV, Self Portrait
No truncation at the knees here.
It seems that the most complete biographical information is here, though it's accessible for many of us only on Fridays. It's worth reading if you find that you might be interested in the artist. Apparently he was reasonably successful, being fairly widely exhibited in his day. He also made illustrations to earn his keep. A detailed critique of Somerville is here.
The writer of the second link is Robert Holden, a New York City based artist who paints, among other subjects, portraits from life. Much of his post is a discussion regarding Somerville's possible use of photographs rather than live sitting as the basis for his portraiture. Holden has an axe to grind, given that he stresses his policy of painting from life in his blog's biographical statement. To me, this is not such a huge matter. Holden also complains about Somerville truncating his subjects around knee-level. This seems to be a signature style or trait Somerville probably used to distinguish his work; a number of his portraits have that feature, and some of them also feature a fairly large background area above the subject's head (a few examples are shown below).
The first link, on the other hand, stresses that Somerville made little use of photography. Apparently this was in response to more than one accusation that Somerville made much use of that vile technology.
I find the two paintings above to be the most striking and interesting of Somerville's work. The portrait immediately above is of the actress Norah Baring.
Another portrait of Norah Baring. I could find no Internet photograph of Baring that matches the poses in the two portraits, so Somerville most likely did work from life or took his own reference photos or (perhaps most likely) made use of both possibilities in the same project. Note the amount of space above Baring's head.
Another painting with plenty of space above the subject's head.
The sitter's first name apparently was Florence, and she attested that she sat for this painting.
No truncation at the knees here.
Monday, February 20, 2017
Towards the End: Brangwyn at Radio City
Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956) was in his mid-60s when he painted murals for the lobby floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the tallest building in the original Rockefeller Center complex in New York City. (In its early years, Rockefeller Center was popularly called Radio City, and the Radio City Music Hall is the name of its famous huge theatre where the Rockettes danced.) The Center's web site mentions him here.
Brangwyn is an artist that interests me greatly, especially for his work as a muralist. I posted about that aspect of his career here.
It seems that the Rockefellers were in the market for Big Name Artists to create murals for their huge, Depression-era project. Matisse and Picasso were approached, but weren't interested. Diego Rivera, the well-known Mexican muralist accepted, but he famously created a work of political propaganda that was inappropriate for its setting and destroyed.
So the Rockefellers dropped to their B-list, selecting Josep (José) Maria Sert and Brangwyn to paint huge, monochrome murals. Sert's murals are rather bombastic, and are better known than Brangwyn's because some are located in a large, open area. All of Brangwyn's are found on a side corridor.
Worse, Brangwyn's murals are not very good. He was an interesting colorist, but the Rockefellers apparently desired monochrome murals that would blend with the rich, late Art Deco interior architecture and decoration of the building. It is possible that Brangwyn was also losing his touch due to age.
When I was in New York City in September I made a point of tracking down his murals and photographing them. Unfortunately, lighting conditions and the comparatively cramped setting made it impossible to get decent photos. Still, I hope you will find them of interest.
Gallery
If you enter 30 Rockefeller Plaza from the eastern, sunken plaza side, this huge Sert mural awaits you. Branwyn's are to be found around the corner by the pillar seen at the far left of the mural.
For some reason Brangwyn filled his Rockefeller Center murals with ugly people.
Another mural.
Detail of the mural in the previous image. Not being able to use color, Brangwyn had to resort to hatching. This, and his use of lightened paint to depict depth, resulted images that are weak by normal Brangwyn standards.
The murals would wrap around corners. Here is a side-aisle example that's distorted because I couldn't shoot the photo squarely-on.
This is a squared-up photomontage image found on the internet. Brangwyn used it for the mural shown in the next few images. This mural wrapped around a corner, and the soldier shown in the previous photo can be seen here at the left.
That is Christ at the top. He is facing away because the Rockefellers apparently decided His face should not be shown.
Detail of the above mural.
Another detail. Note that in this set of murals Brangwyn chose to have many of his subjects depicted with large, oddly-shaped noses. I can speculate why, but won't because I have no way of reading his mind.
Brangwyn is an artist that interests me greatly, especially for his work as a muralist. I posted about that aspect of his career here.
It seems that the Rockefellers were in the market for Big Name Artists to create murals for their huge, Depression-era project. Matisse and Picasso were approached, but weren't interested. Diego Rivera, the well-known Mexican muralist accepted, but he famously created a work of political propaganda that was inappropriate for its setting and destroyed.
So the Rockefellers dropped to their B-list, selecting Josep (José) Maria Sert and Brangwyn to paint huge, monochrome murals. Sert's murals are rather bombastic, and are better known than Brangwyn's because some are located in a large, open area. All of Brangwyn's are found on a side corridor.
Worse, Brangwyn's murals are not very good. He was an interesting colorist, but the Rockefellers apparently desired monochrome murals that would blend with the rich, late Art Deco interior architecture and decoration of the building. It is possible that Brangwyn was also losing his touch due to age.
When I was in New York City in September I made a point of tracking down his murals and photographing them. Unfortunately, lighting conditions and the comparatively cramped setting made it impossible to get decent photos. Still, I hope you will find them of interest.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Federico Beltrán Masses, Painter of Lips
Federico Armando Beltran Masses (1885–1949) was born in Cuba, but left for Barcelona when young. A controversial painting's reception led to his moving to Paris in 1916 where he continued his career. He returned to Barcelona late in life as his health failed. It seems that Beltran studied under Joaquín Sorolla, though it isn't clear for how long. In any case, Baltran's painting style was different from Sorolla's by the mid-1910s.
A good deal of information about Beltran can be found here, here and here.
I find it interesting that Beltran is quoted in the second link above as follows: "Lips, for Beltran Masses, were the only way to tell the true character of his sitters, as he explained to the Los Angeles Examiner in 1925, 'eyes may lie – lips never!'". A different perspective than most artists would have, but use it as a guide for viewing the images below.
Gallery
Tanagra - 1914
This is the earliest of his works that I noticed on the Internet. He soon abandoned this Neoimpressionist style.
Now for three similarly posed paintings...
La Maja Maldita - 1918
Carmen Tortóla Valencia is said to be the subject.
La Marquesa Casati - 1920
The famously extravagant Casati is said not to have paid for this portrait.
Femme dans le chale espagno - c.1925
King George VI - c.1938
Beltran painted many well-connected subjects.
Pola Negri and Rudolph Valentino - c.1925
Beltran spent some time in Hollywood in the 1920s.
Mrs Freda Dudley Ward (later Marquesa de Casa Maury) - 1921
Madame Bonnardel, Condesa Montgomery - 1934
Venice was a favorite setting for Beltran. Stunning portrait, this.
Mme. Wellington Koo - 1934
Wife of the famous Chinese politician and diplomat.
Mujer de Azul
Tres Para Uno - c.1934
Note the blue background in this and other images. It became associated with Beltran.
Granadas - 1929
Beltran made a number of paintings of nude or partly nude women that you ought to be able to find via Google or Bing.
A good deal of information about Beltran can be found here, here and here.
I find it interesting that Beltran is quoted in the second link above as follows: "Lips, for Beltran Masses, were the only way to tell the true character of his sitters, as he explained to the Los Angeles Examiner in 1925, 'eyes may lie – lips never!'". A different perspective than most artists would have, but use it as a guide for viewing the images below.
This is the earliest of his works that I noticed on the Internet. He soon abandoned this Neoimpressionist style.
Now for three similarly posed paintings...
Carmen Tortóla Valencia is said to be the subject.
The famously extravagant Casati is said not to have paid for this portrait.
Beltran painted many well-connected subjects.
Beltran spent some time in Hollywood in the 1920s.
Venice was a favorite setting for Beltran. Stunning portrait, this.
Wife of the famous Chinese politician and diplomat.
Note the blue background in this and other images. It became associated with Beltran.
Beltran made a number of paintings of nude or partly nude women that you ought to be able to find via Google or Bing.
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