On the Red Planet

In the spring I started the approval process to rent a great art studio at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (DCCA) in Wilmington DE. I was approved and moved in and found that I was very productive artistically. Having a dedicated space outside my home made it easier to concentrate and focus on my art. I've been at DCCA about 6 months and have really enjoyed it. One of the paintings I created in my studio at DCCA is On the Red Planet shown here. I like creating paintings that uplift the spirit and nourish the soul. The bright colors and the shapes in On the Red Planet do that for me.

Joy of Spring

Joy of Spring. For me this painting expresses my exuberance for this spring. The weather, new growth, and blooms were beautiful. My joy was profound. I completed this painting on March 19, 2011. Fortunately for my state of mind, I was working on this painting at the same time I worked on Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors Radiation Plume Fallout Landscape, a somewhat depressing but realistic painting, which I posted yesterday.

Danger: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors Radioactive Plume Fallout Landscape

Danger: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors Radioactive Plume Fallout Landscape. I created this painting several weeks ago and completed it on March 21, 2011, about the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Reactors. Unfortunately for the world and nearby residents, the fallout from the radioactive plume will create an uninhabitable and inhospitable landscape, a dead zone, at least near the Daiichi facility for perhaps thousands of years. Of course, the painting's red border represents Danger.

I grew up in a small sleepy town outside of Philadelphia and became a lawyer because people told me I couldn’t make a living as an artist. But I was always looking for a way to express my passion. I traveled the world and visited over 250 museums looking for inspiration to help me develop a unique artistic idea.

Meanwhile I had acquired major carpentry skills renovating an 1860’s house in the Adirondack Mountains of New York with my wife in a kind of homesteading experiment. I tried my hand at script writing and novels but I found my personal passion when I discovered the works of Piet Mondrian, minimalist paintings featuring bright primary colors, and Ellsworth Kelly, whose paintings broke out of the rectangular mold and also often used bold bright colors.

So I began creating complex wood structures in 3 dimensions, representing important and widely recognized cultural symbols, like hearts, peace signs, Adam and Eve, stiletto heels, sports cars, and more. These wood frameworks often take many hours to conceptualize and even longer to construct, employing as many as 67 specially cut pieces of wood, 140 saw cuts including 53 curves and angles other than right angles, 236 pilot holes for 236 screws, and 12 bolts and nuts and 24 washers to assemble the various parts into the completed shape. I use a variety of tools to create this framework so it is not only strong, but lightweight. Then I evolved techniques to stretch artist’s canvas over these unusually shaped internal frameworks. Then I choose carefully the right colors, shades, and textures to enhance the meaning of the symbol and engage and excite the viewer.

The work can be tedious and frustrating, but the end result gives me the creative satisfaction I have craved all my life.

To see some of my work, please visit my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Picasso, "Chrysanthemums" 1901

Another painting the 19 or 20 year old Pablo Picasso painted in 1901 is a still life titled Chrysanthemums. The flowers, vase, and table are pretty straightforward, while the background is somewhat impressionistic and unusual in his choice of colors. This painting, like the one in my previous post is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at http://www.jayrolfe.com/.

Picasso, "Head of a Woman" 1901

Pablo Picasso made his first visit to Paris in 1900, arriving just before his 19th birthday on October 25, 1900. After about 2 months he went back to Spain, arriving in his home town of Malaga on January 1, 1901. Picasso returned to Paris for his second visit in May 1901.

Today's painting is one of two at the Philadelphia Museum of Art that Picasso painted in 1901, when he was 19 or 20 years old. Head of a Woman is a slightly grotesque portrait, similar to other portraits of Parisian ladies of the night but perhaps less grotesque.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Motherwell's "Elegy to the Spanish Republic" at Phila Museum of Art

If you go to art museums, you surely know this is one of Robert Motherwell's over 200 versions of Elegy to the Spanish Republic. This one was painted in 1958-60 and is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I saw this one again recently, and I have seen many similar versions in many other museums.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

"Black Fire I" by Barnett Newman at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

All right, this blog is called "Contemporary Art Revealed," and I have posted about Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and Modern paintings over the past 10 days. So here's something from 1961, Black Fire I by Barnett Newman. Newman was known for his vertical stripes he called "zips" and for his large vertical blocks of color (often black). This painting is usually on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art where I saw it again a week ago.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

The wall label at PMA describes the painting as follows: "Black Fire I conveys a dark grandeur through simple means: the tensions between edge and field, opacity and transparency, order and spontaneity, black pigment and raw textured canvas." Wow. Sometimes a picture IS worth a thousand words.

Mary Cassat at Philadelphia Museum of Art

On my visit a week ago to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I again saw one of my favorite Impressionist paintings owned by the Museum. It has been off display for a while, and now it is back. The painting is Mary Cassatt's portrait of her sister Lydia at the Paris Opera House in front of a mirror which reflects the interior of the Opera House. It was painted in 1879 and is titled Woman With A Pearl Necklace in a Loge. It is bright, lively, and when you see it in person it's like you are there enjoying the opera scene with her.

Mary Cassatt was born in the Philadelphia area, and moved to Paris after art school at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in order to further her art career.

You can see some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Matisse "The Moorish Screen"

Henri Matisse painted The Moorish Screen in 1921. It shows his daughter Marguerite and his then-favorite model Henriette Darricarre in an interior of incredibly rich carpets and wall coverings and the titular Moorish screen. Although I have seen this on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, it is now on display in the Museum's Perelman Building as part of the exhibit "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera."

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Matisse "Still Life on a Table" at Perelman Bldg of Phila Museum of Art

The second of the two Henri Matisse still life paintings I referred to yesterday is Still Life on a Table painted in 1925, the year after the painting featured yesterday. This painting, not usually on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, is currently on view at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of the exhibit "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera." You can see many similarities between this painting and the one featured yesterday.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Matisse "Still Life" at Perelman Bldg Phila Museum of Art

Two Henri Matisse still life paintings that are not usually on display are now on display at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This one was painted in 1924 and is titled Still Life. You can see Matisse really loved his textiles.

You can see some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Matisse "Head of a Woman"

Matisse used models extensively and frequently painted figures. This Henri Matisse painting from 1917, Head of a Woman, is somewhat unusual in that it includes only the head. This is one of the Matisse paintings owned by but not usually not on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and now on view in the Perelman Building exhibit "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera."

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

More Matisse on the Riviera

On Friday I was at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see the exhibit "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera." Although almost all the works on display are from the Museum's collection, there are many I haven't seen before even though I visit the Museum frequently. As you can imagine, museums own many more items than they can display at any one time.

Henri Matisse often painted interiors, especially liking ones that had a view out a window. This painting in the exhibit, done in 1917-18, titled My Room at the Beau Rivage (Interior at Nice), is perhaps typical in that it has a room full of colorful textiles and an ocean view out the window.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Matisse "Two Models Resting" at Perelman Bldg Phila Museum of Art

Yesterday I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and, for the first time, across the street to the Museum's exhibition space in the Perelman Building (separate admission). One of the exhibits at the Perelman Building was "Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera," which is on display from December 13, 2008 to November 1, 2009. Almost all the works on display are from the Museum's collection, but many I haven't seen before in the period rooms in the main building. As you can imagine, museums own many more items than they can display at any one time. So it was very worthwhile for me to visit.

I generally like Matisse's work, and I've seen a lot of it. I've seen the many works exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art which are part of their 500+ work collection of Matisse several times, and I've seen the 59 Matisse works at the Barnes Foundation many times. I've seen Matisse at the Phillips, LACMA, MoMA, the Met, Art Institute of Chicago, etc., etc. And it was nice to see some new-to-me paintings.

By the way, you can see some of my paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/. You can also access this blog through the website.

Today I'm featuring Henri Matisse's colorful Two Models Resting from 1928. I'm sorry it's slightly out of focus. That's even more reason for you to get over there yourself and see the original.

Cezanne at the Kimbell Art Museum

The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth TX is a relatively small museum with a relatively small collection. Yet it has great quality examples from Old Masters through Modern art painting. I remember that I posted one of each, a Fra Angelico 1429-1430 small painting The Apostle Saint James the Greater Freeing the Magician Hermogenes, and a late Henri Matisse from 1946, titled Asia. Both were featured in my post of December 31, 2008.

Today I'm going with one of two Paul Cezanne paintings I particularly enjoyed at the Kimbell. This Cezanne painting from 1895, Maison Maria With A View of the Chateau Noir, seems much like many of his others, yet the colors were brighter and the brushwork more impressionistic than his prototypical landscapes with their squarish blocks of color. See how you like it. https://www.kimbellart.org/Collections/Collections-Detail.aspx?prov=false&cons=false&cid=8645

You can see some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Kimbell Art Museum

In reviewing some of the paintings I saw on my around the USA trip last summer, I was struck this morning by the similarity of Gerhard Richter's seascape which I posted yesterday, Sea Piece-Wave, on display at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, with Jacob Van Ruisdael's Rough Sea At A Jetty painted in the 1650's which I saw at the Kimbell Art Museum across the street and also in Fort Worth. Van Ruisdael is known chiefly for his landscapes. This painting shows his skill with a seascape. Here is the link to the Kimbell's website, https://www.kimbellart.org/Collections/SearchCollections.aspx?P=1&Focus=0#, and the image they display, and below is the photo I took. In real life, the painting doesn't look as yellow as my photo, and doesn't look as dark as their image, it's somewhere in between. I'm sure you get the idea.

Last summer was my first trip to Fort Worth TX. I had long wanted to see the collection at the Kimbell Art Museum, and it was all I had hoped for and more. The Kimbell was also showing a visiting exhibit called "The Impressionists: Master Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago." Even though I had seen all of them at the Art Institute of Chicago several times, I was glad to see them again.

You can view images of some of my paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Gerhard Richter "Sea Piece-Wave" at MAM Fort Worth

A dramatic painting I liked at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth which I visited this past summer, is the large, about 6 1/2 feet square, Gerhard Richter painting Sea Piece-Wave painted in 1969. You can see a small image of it on the museum's website. http://www.themodern.org/f_html/richter2.html#top

You can view some of my paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Warhol's "Self-Portrait" with the look of death

The permanent collection at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth was, in my opinion, wide-ranging and of strong quality in painting. One of the well-known contemporary artists of whom it owned several canvases is Andy Warhol. I was struck by this Self-Portrait created in 1986, a year before his untimely death. The reason I was struck by it is it has the look of death, a ghostly look.

The painting is rather large, 9 feet square. Here's the link to the museum's website. http://www.themodern.org/f_html/warhol3.html#top

You can view some of my paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Richard Serra at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

When I took an around the country driving trip with my wife Randy Rolfe last summer, we planned to visit about a dozen art museums. We ended up visiting even more art museums on our 25 day, 9000 mile trip through 22 states, plus 6 other museums, a zoo, 11 national parks, several national monuments, and many other sights.

The first art museum we visited was not one I planned to visit because I'd never even heard of it. We were heading for the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth TX on the afternoon of July 18, 2008 and had just parked the car in the Kimbell parking lot when I saw an enormous sculpture across the street. We went to investigate and found Richard Serra's 67 feet 10 inch high cor-ten steel sculpture titled Vortex and made in 2002. The base is a little over 20 feet wide, and one can walk inside. It was sitting in front of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth which I didn't know about. Here are 3 photos I took of it, two of them from inside. And here's a link to the Vortex page on museum's website. http://www.themodern.org/f_html/serra2.html#top

Then we went inside the museum and found a great collection of contemporary art nicely displayed in a stunning building. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth certainly deserves more press then it gets.

You can view images of some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Painter Louis Comfort Tiffany

I first encountered the paintings of Louis Comfort Tiffany, who is renown for his stain glass work, at the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park FL. The museum's website is http://www.morsemuseum.org/, They have a whole gallery devoted to Tiffany's paintings and about 15-20 are on display. Most of them were done before he became famous for his stain glass work. By the way, Tiffany's father founded Tiffany Jewelers.

When I visited the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC 10 days ago I saw a very nice painting by Louis Comfort Tiffany painted in 1873 and titled Market Day Outside the Walls of Tangiers, Morocco. I'll show you my photo of it since the colors are much truer than the image on SAAM's website at http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=24107.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Raphael's "The Alba Madonna" at the National Gallery

My favorite types of painting are Impressionist, Post-impressionist, Modern, and Contemporary. That's what I usually focus on when I visit museums.

However, this time I visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC a week ago Sunday, I started with looking at the older art. One of the many knockout pieces was Raphael's 1510 painting called The Alba Madonna. Not only is it beautiful and colorful, it is round! Here's the image from the website of the National Gallery which shows it without its frame, and also the photo I took which shows it in a very beautiful gold round frame. By the way, the colors did look bright as in my photo.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Childe Hassam at the National Gallery

I visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC on Sunday a week ago. During that visit, I came to appreciate Childe Hassam, and American Impressionist, as an Impressionist artist. I had not been particularly impressed with his paintings that I had seen before. At the National Gallery I saw a number of his paintings I liked.

Today's image is Childe Hassam's The South Ledges, Appledore, painted in 1913 and on view at the National Gallery of Art.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Cezanne Still Life

There are a number of fine Cezanne still life paintings at the Barnes Foundation where I visited last Friday. Here's one called Compotier, Pitcher and Fruit painted in 1872-1874. I particularly like this one for its profusion of fruit. Of course, the color and composition are typically Cezanne.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Cezanne "Bathers at Rest" at Barnes

Each time I go to the Barnes Foundation, as I did yesterday, I am almost overwhelmed by the Cezanne paintings (also by the Renoirs, the Matisses, the Picassos, the Rousseaus, the Van Goghs, the El Grecos, even the Glackens', etc.). There are so many Cezannes, and they span his career so there are different styles, that I come away awestruck again. Deja vu as they say.

Cezanne painted many subjects, landscapes, still life, portraits, and nudes (often bathers). Each type of subject has its own charms and contribution to his style. Today I am featuring a fairly well-known painting from 1875-1876 called Bathers at Rest. The male bathers lounging around a pond with Mont Sainte-Victoire, a frequent subject of Cezanne's landscapes, in the background, was groundbreaking in composition, color, and paint-handling when it was shown at the Third Impressionist Exhibition in 1877. It's one to be seen in person.

You can see some of my 3-D mixed media paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Barnes Foundation - Picasso, Renoir, Matisse, and Cezanne

Today I'm at the Barnes Foundation in Merion PA. It's a great way to celebrate my birthday! I love being at the Barnes. I feel so good, and inspired too. In case you don't know, the collection included the largest number of Matisse paintings in any collection in the world, 59. I believe it also has the largest number of Cezanne paintings in any collection in the world at 69. The Barnes also has by far the largest number of Renoir paintings in any collection in the world at an astounding 181.

Almost missed in the excitement over Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse is the large number of significant Picasso paintings, 46. That's a huge number by any standard. There are also paintings by El Greco, Titian, Rubens, Degas, Van Gogh, Rousseau, Seurat, Soutine, Modigliani, Manet, Monet, and American Horace Pippin of West Chester PA. Here is the Barnes Foundation website: http://www.barnesfoundation.org/

I've featured one of my favorites, Matisse's Le Bonheur de Vivre (The Joy of Life) several times in the past, so today I'll show Modigliani's Reclining Nude From The Back, painted in 1917.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Who's Who in Renoir's The Luncheon of the Boating Party

First, here's a link to Renoir's The Luncheon of the Boating Party on the website of the Phillips Collection which I featured in my post on Tuesday. http://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/boating/index.aspx

Second, on Tuesday I mentioned that art history people know the identity of all the people pictured in Renoir's The Luncheon of the Boating Party. Here's a link to the info. http://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/boating/whoswho.aspx Also, I'm including the diagram here, and the text below.

"The Luncheon of the Boating Party includes youthful, idealized portraits of Renoir's friends and colleagues as they relax at the Maison Fournaise restaurant. Wearing a top hat, the amateur art historian, collector, and editor Charles Ephrussi (8) speaks with a younger man in a more casual brown coat and cap. He may be Ephrussi's personal secretary, Jules Laforgue (5), a poet and critic.

At center, the actress Ellen Andrée (6) drinks from a glass. Across from her in a brown bowler hat is Baron Raoul Barbier (4), a bon vivant and former mayor of colonial Saigon. He is turned toward the smiling woman at the railing, thought to be Alphonsine Fournaise (3), the proprietor's daughter. She and her brother, Alphonse Fournaise, Jr. (2), who handled the boat rentals, wear straw boaters'. They are placed within, but at the edge of, the party. At the upper right, the artist Paul Lhote (12) and the bureaucrat Eugène Pierre Lestringuez (11) seem to be flirting with actress Jeanne Samary (13).

In the foreground, Renoir included a youthful portrait of his fellow artist, close friend, and wealthy patron, Gustave Caillebotte (9), who sits backwards in his chair and is grouped with the actress Angèle (7) and the Italian journalist Maggiolo (10). Caillebotte, an avid boatman and sailor, wears a white boater's shirt and flat-topped boater's. He gazes at a young woman cooing at her dog. She is Aline Charigot (1), a seamstress Renoir had recently met and would later marry. "

You can view some of my shaped 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

El Greco and Goya at the Phillips

The Phillips Collection, which I visited on Saturday in Washington DC, calls itself "a museum of both modern art and its sources." Some of its sources are old masters including El Greco and Goya who painted the same dramatic subject, "The Repentant St. Peter," about 200 years apart.

The top painting is by Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco, painted in 1600-1605. The lower painting is by Francisco Jose de Goya painted in 1820-1824. They are displayed in the same huge gallery with a number of other older paintings by famous artists, but at different ends of the gallery. Both are very powerful paintings when seen in person. I hope you take the opportunity to see them at the Phillips Collection.

You can view some of my 3-D mixed media paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Phillips Collection, Renoir

On Saturday I visited the Phillips Collection in Washington DC. I was struck again by what is perhaps their most famous painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. It is large, animated, brilliantly colored, and depicts a fun scene with recognizable people (if you've studied impressionist art history) painted in 1880-1881. Every time I visit the Phillips Collection I am wowed by this painting. It's beautiful!

Of course, there are many other great paintings in the collection, ones you will recognize from art books you may have seen.

You can see some of my 3-D paintings on my website at www.jayrolfe.com/.

National Portrait Gallery

I spent the weekend in Washington DC visiting art museums, one of my favorite pastimes. My photo of the day is one I had another visitor take of me at the National Portrait Gallery. You probably read in the newspaper that this iconic portrait of Barack Obama was recently donated to the National Portrait Gallery. It's a mixed media stenciled collage by Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

2008 in Review

It's the last day of the year, time to take stock of the year gone by. What an exciting year it has been!

I created a number of artworks I'm proud of. I drove across and around the country with my wife, something I've wanted to do for many years. And I continued to immerse myself in painting and sculpture by visiting museums around the country and really enjoying many of the works I saw. I don't know which one to show on today's post, but I guess it will come to me before I finish the post. The museums I visited this year include:

• Barnes Foundation, Merion PA
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
• Ross Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
• University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
• Delaware Art Museum
• Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Metropolitan Museum, New York
• Guggenheim Museum, New York
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Frick Museum, New York
• Neue Galerie, New York
• New York City Waterfalls (Olafur Eliasson)
• Dia Beacon, Beacon NY
• Mass MoCA, North Adams MA
• Bruce Museum, Greenwich CT
• Baltimore Art Museum
• Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Louis Comfort Tiffany collection), Winter Park FL
• Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park FL
• Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, Winter Park FL
• National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• Phillips Collection, Washington DC
• Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC
• Laguna Beach Museum of Art, CA
• Frederick R Weisman Foundation, Beverly Hills CA
• LA MOCA, Los Angeles CA
• Kimbell Art Museum, Ft Worth TX
• Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Ft Worth TX
• Dallas Museum of Art
• Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas TX
• Georgia O'Keefe Museum, Santa Fe NM
• LA County Museum of Art (LACMA)
• Broad Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA
• Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach CA
• Denver Museum of Art (including preview of Clyfford Still Museum collection)
• Denver Contemporary Art Museum
• Whitney Museum of Western Art, Cody WY
• Sculpture Garden, Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody WY
• Frederick R Weisman Museum at U of MN, Minneapolis MN
• Walker Art Center, Minneapolis MN
• Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
• Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Aside from creating art and visiting museums, I also read Hilary Spurling's extensive 2 volume biography of Henri Matisse which I thoroughly enjoyed, Matisse's essay Notes of a Painter, Kandinsky's Concerning the Spiritual in Art, an illuminating collection of essays and letters called Writings on Art - Mark Rothko, and The Writings of Robert Motherwell. And now I've embarked on John Richardson's 3 volume biography A Life of Picasso! I also read several national art magazines each month.

I've finally selected not one but two images to go with this post, both colorful although created 500 years apart, and both from the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft Worth TX, our first scheduled art museum stop on our cross country trip (I visited all the art museums from the Kimbell to the end of the list on our summer cross country trip). Fra Angelico's 1429-1430 small painting The Apostle Saint James the Greater Freeing the Magician Hermogenes, and a late Henri Matisse from 1946, Asia.

I didn't know I'd done so much this year! No wonder I feel like I've been busy. A review really is very valuable for appreciating all one has accomplished. I hope you've had a great year too. Thanks for reading my blog.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

You can view some of my 3-D paintings and mixed media works on my website, www.jayrolfe.com/.

Pablo Picasso's "Boy Leading a Horse"

What else did Leo and Gertrude Stein hang in their apartment?

In 1906 they also acquired and hung the 7 feet tall Picasso, "Boy Leading a Horse." While not as avant garde as Matisse's two paintings featured in my most recent posts, it was not traditional. Leo Stein showed Picasso both Matisse's and Picasso's own paintings hanging in his apartment, encouraging a rivalry. When Picasso saw the three paintings side-by-side, Hilary Spurling in The Unknown Matisse says, "Picasso had been shaken by 'Woman in a Hat', and seriously perturbed by 'Le Bonheur de Vivre'." The rest, as they say, is history, art history!

Today Picasso's "Boy Leading a Horse" hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Here's a link to the web page about it. http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=79994

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Henri Matisse's "The Joy of Life"

Shortly after the 1905 Salon d'Automne at which he debuted "Woman in a Hat," featured in my most recent two posts, Matisse painted the large "Le Bonheur de Vivre" ("The Joy of Life") over the winter of 1905-1906. Rosa Arpino, an Italian woman who modelled for art schools in Paris, was the female model for all the female figures in the almost 6 feet by 8 feet painting.

"Le Bonheur de Vivre" was exhibited in April 1906 at the Salon d'Independants in Paris, and at the end of the exhibit on April 30, Leo Stein bought "Le Bonheur de Vivre." It's a beautiful painting, one I've seen many times at the Barnes Foundation in Merion PA. Although it hung in the living room of the Steins, it hangs above the landing of the staircase from the first to the second floor at the Barnes Foundation. It's interesting that there is a small circle of dancing women in "Le Bonheur de Vivre" and Matisse would produce "The Dancers" three years later in 1909 for Sergei Shchukin, the Moscow textile magnate, which was to hang in the staircase of his mansion. The second version of "The Dancers" now hangs above the staircase landing in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. What's with all these staircase paintings?

So the Steins had Matisse's "Woman in a Hat" and Matisse's "Le Bonheur de Vivre" on their walls. What fabulous paintings to have hanging in your home, although in that day they were considered scandalous.

You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Henri Matisse's "Woman in a Hat"

Henri Matisse's "Woman in a Hat", which was the subject of my post yesterday, was sold from its original showing at the 1905 Salon d'Automne in Paris to some American collectors. Leo and Gertrude Stein, brother and sister, telegraphed Matisse of their desire to buy it. Leo was actually buying it for his brother and sister-in-law Michael and Sarah Stein.

"Woman in a Hat" is now in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. You may see it on the museum's website. http://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/213

There is no substitute for seeing an original painting as opposed to a print. It's amazing the difference in reproductions. Today's image is taken from the SFMOMA website, while yesterday's image is from the Matisse biography, The Unknown Matisse.

You can see some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Matisse, Picasso, Steve Martin, and the Lapin Agile

Last weekend we saw a play written by American comedian Steve Martin at the Delaware Theatre Company called Picasso at the Lapin Agile. It's a fictional story of Picasso meeting Einstein at a local Parisian cafe in 1904, before either was famous. In the dialogue, Picasso took a few swipes at his rival Matisse. It was hilarious and we really enjoyed it.

I've been reading a two volume biography of Henri Matisse, who gave up law to be an artist, written by Hilary Spurling. Volume one is The Unknown Matisse, A Life of Henri Matisse: The Early Years, 1869-1908. Volume two is Matisse The Master, A Life of Henri Matisse, The Conquest of Colour, 1909-1954.

After spending the summer of 1905 painting in Collioure on the French Mediterranean near the border with Spain, Matisse submitted several paintings the the Salon d'Automne in Paris, notably "Woman in a Hat" and "The Open Window, Collioure." Matisse and his experimental friends Derain, Vlaminck, Marquet, Manguin, and Camoin, had their paintings shown in what became known as the notorious room or gallery Salle VII. Spurling writes that while Matisse was inspecting the installation of the paintings before the opening with writer Louis Vauxcelles, "Vauxcelles noticed a couple of academic sculptures placed incongruously in the middle of Salle VII and made what became a famous wisecrack to Matisse: 'a Donatello among the wild beasts [fauves].'" Vauxcelles then published his quip in a magazine article and Matisse's group got its name, Fauves.

The critics had little good to say about the Fauves at the time of the Salon d'Automne. Spurling reports, "Even young artists eager to identify themselves with everything that was new and forward-looking found this latest work [Matisse's "Woman in a Hat"] hard to take. One of them was the writer Francis Carco, a friend of the twenty-four-year-old Pablo Picasso, whose reputation was already gaining ground in Montmartre in spite of the fact that hardly anyone had seen his work. Carco, hanging out at Picasso's local, the Lapin Agile, could make no sense at all of the Spaniard's pronouncements on modern art: 'And I was starting to ask myself if, in spite of his astonishing powers of persuasion, Picasso was not getting more pleasure from mystifying us than he was from actually painting, when the notorious "Woman in a Hat" [by Matisse] taught me more in an instant than all his [Picasso's] paradoxes.... there emanated from this singular work ... such an evidently conscious fixity of purpose that, after an interval of more than thirty years, I still have not forgotten it.'"

Spurling continues, "Certainly, the regulars at the Lapin Agile, like Francis Carco, were powerfully impressed. Picasso (who had not yet met Matisse) felt he had been decisively outflanked."

Well, Steve Martin knows his art history and was aware of Picasso's local cafe, the Lapin Agile. It seems that in 1904 Matisse, who was 35 and married, while Picasso was 24 and single, was more experimental and more of a leader of art movements than Picasso.

I find the interplay between Matisse and Picasso fascinating. You can view some of my 3-D paintings at www.jayrolfe.com/.

Renoir at the Corcoran

The Corcoran Gallery has a beautiful painting by Pierre Auguste Renoir titled "View From Cap Martin Of Monte Carlo" painted in 1884 which artist Jay Rolfe saw on a recent visit. It wasn't part of the "American Evolution" exhibit for obvious reasons. Renoir is one of Rolfe's favorite artists.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Aelbert Cuyp at the Corcoran

Artist Jay Rolfe saw this Aelbert Cuyp painting at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington and was reminded that he is the Dutch painter of cows. At the time, cows symbolized the Dutch prosperity, and Cuyp was good at depicting them. Rolfe has seen many Cuyp cow paintings in European museums.

The photo of the day is Aelbert Cuyp's 1650 painting "Landscape With Herdsmen."

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Edgar Degas "School of Dance" at the Corcoran

Another painting artist Jay Rolfe saw at the Corcoran Gallery was by Edgar Degas in 1873 titled "School of Dance." Degas painted many ballet scenes, many in class situations. The ballet scenes are perhaps his most popular paintings. This one is full of action and tutus.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

John Singer Sargent at the Corcoran

John Singer Sargent's portrait "Marie Buloz Pailleron (Madame Edouard Pailleron)" set in the outdoors was unusual for 1879. This is one of the paintings artist Jay Rolfe saw at the Corcoran Gallery in the "American Evolution" exhibit. The outdoor setting and the light around the figure seem somewhat radical for the time. Compare this painting with Sargent's more formal portrait "Margaret Stuyvesant Rutherford White (Mrs. Henry White)" painted in 1883 which is featured in the post of July 30, 2008 on this blog.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Cy Twombly at the Corcoran

Artist Jay Rolfe saw this Cy Twombly painting at the Corcoran's exhibit "American Evolution." By the time this was painted in 1968, Twombly had been living permanently in Rome, Italy for a number of years. This painting, "Synopsis of a Battle," is typical of many famous Twombly paintings. It is painted like a blackboard and then drawn or written on with paint, crayon, or pencil as if it were chalk. What's the point? Who knows. But they sell for a lot of money.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Gene Davis "Black Popcorn"

Gene Davis was a Washington DC painter who died in 1985 and was known for his colorful striped paintings. This example was at the recent "American Evolution" exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery. Davis painted "Black Popcorn" in 1965. The Phillips Collection, also in Washington DC, has a number of colorful Davis striped canvases.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Kenneth Nolan at "American Evolution"

At the Corcoran Gallery's "American Evolution" exhibit, artist Jay Rolfe saw Kenneth Nolan's "Brown Stretched" painted in 1966. It's a large diamond shaped canvas with 4 color bands on it. It is a so-called non-objective painting, which means that it doesn't mean anything, it's just there and you can think what you want. Rolfe likes the shape. The pattern and colors don't excite him.

Kenneth Nolan's "Brown Stretched" is the photo of the day.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Cecilia Beaux

Cecilia Beaux was a Philadelphia artist who painted marvelous portraits. Artist Jay Rolfe has seen many in museums, especially the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. This one was in the "American Evolution" exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery. It was painted in 1921 and is titled "Sita and Sarita." The cat and the sitter's playful hand add life to Beaux' technical mastery.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Chairman "Mao" at the Corcoran

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

This is the last weekend for this exhibit "American Evolution" at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C.

As mentioned in yesterday's post, "Mao" by Andy Warhol is the second image, along with Gilbert Stuart's "George Washington" to greet the visitor at the entrance to the "American Evolution" exhibit which artist Jay Rolfe recently viewed at the Corcoran Gallery. Here is the Corcoran Gallery's image of that painting. It makes for a very interesting juxtaposition with "George Washington." "Mao" is much more colorful, larger, and depicts a world leader from another country and culture rather than from our country.

Gilbert Stuart's "George Washington"

Artist Jay Rolfe learned that Gilbert Stuart's Anthenaeum portrait of George Washington, the one you always see, was so popular that many people wanted to buy a copy. So Gilbert Stuart made a number of what he called "plurality" paintings, his copies which were almost identical. Many museums have one, such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Corcoran Gallery has two.

In the "American Evolution" exhibit, the older George Washington portrait, painted in 1796-1803 was juxtaposed with Andy Warhol's painting of "Mao" who was the leader of the most populous country in the world. They were right next to each other as the introductory paintings to the whole exhibit. You can see what they looked like next to each other by scrolling back to the post on this blog for July 19, 2008.

Today's photo of the day is the 1803 "plurality" version of Gilbert Stuart's "George Washington." It was painted 170 years before Andy Warhol's "Mao."

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's signature style, his innovative Pop Art 3-D paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.