Abraham Teniers

Smoking Room with Monkeys, Abraham Teniers

Did everyone have a Merry Christmas yesterday? Well, that's over for another year. As a kid I wished Christmas Day would last all year long. As I've grown older, more mature, and more sensible, all I can say is thank God it doesn't. I couldn't afford the stress and strain (not to mention at least 365 gifts or up to 364 more shopping days until Christmas). That would be enough to make me seek refuge with the Easter Bunny in his subterranean abode. It's not that I don't like Christmas. I love Christmas, but any more often than once a year would be too much of a good thing. The day after Christmas I'm always more than ready to get back to the silliness of everyday life.

 

Barber House with Monkeys and Cats, Abraham Teniers

Speaking of silliness (either everyday or exceptional), have you ever seen the art of the Flemish painter Abraham Teniers (pronounced Ten-years)? Among other things, he painted singeries--monkeys and the occasional cat involved in human activities (above). The Flemish engraver Pieter van der Borcht had introduced the singerie as an independent theme around 1575 in a series of prints, which are strongly embedded in the artistic tradition of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Hand-in-hand with this genre, Teniers was also an astute observer of human nature with many of its 17th-Century vices (in those days predominantly gambling, drinking, and smoking). The newly minted Protestants of northern Europe were in no mood for the open depiction of any more serious vices like sex.  



Tavern Scene, Abraham Teniers



Abraham Teniers was born in Antwerp in 1629. He was the son of the prominent genre painter David Teniers (the Elder). What makes Abra-ham Teniers interesting, not to mention dev-ilishly tricky to write about, is the fact that the elder Teniers trained all four of his sons to be painters, David (the younger, who was actually the oldest of the boys), Juliaan III, Theodoor, and Abraham (the youngest of the four). Only after I started researching the brood did I realize that David (the younger) was by far the best and most successful artist of them all (including his father). However, by that time I was well into the project and not inclined to "switch brothers" in the middle of my stream of thought.

 

Abraham Teniers,

by Gérard Edelinck.

 

The father and two of his sons painting the same subject.

Abraham Teniers is mainly known for his genre scenes which depict themes executed in a style not dissimilar to those of his father and brother, David, who are his presumed teachers. His favorite subjects were village feasts with peasant dancing or playing music (above); inns with peasants indulging in drink, food and smoking (below); and monkey singeries (top). Like his brother, David, before him, Abraham found favor at the court of the art-loving Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria. He was, at the time, governor of the Southern Netherlands. He appointed Abraham Teniers as court painter.



Notice there was a tendency for the younger Teniers to
create paintings similar to those of their father (top image).

In a more reverent vein, we see Teniers' The Temptation of St Anthony (below), dating from 1645. As a bit of background, there were monks at this time (and long before) who set up their cells in complete solitude, either in the desert, in a forest, or who found themselves a remote cave. Depicting the temptations of St. Anthony, both before and after Teniers, had was a favorite content area for artists as it offered a morally acceptable opportunity to combine nude prostitutes (temptations) with religious piety. There were, however, no naked women among Teniers' temptations, which appear much more "wholesome."

The Temptation of St. Anthony,
1645, Abraham Teniers

 

Funny Christmas

If the Arnolfini Marriage had been in December...
Jan Van Eyck is probably rolling over in his grave.

Inasmuch as this is Christmas day, I'm going to assume everyone has better things to do than read a long, senselessly boring article having some degree of bearing on the holiday. However, I can't let this day go by without passing along a few works of art to bring a little Christmas cheer of the non-alcoholic, type--low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, high-sugar content only slightly less sweet than pecan pie topped with whipped cream. Since I usually display works having some bearing on art history, I've chosen a painting which desecrates Jan Van Eyck's historic Arnolfini Marriage (top), and another of George Washington Ferrying Santa Across the Delaware (below). Please forgive me. Beyond and below that there's a fine line between funny and cute, so choose your own term. All I can say is to everyone, "Have yourself a funny little Christmas."

George Washington Ferrying Santa Across the Delaware .

What this lacks in humor it more than makes up for in cuteness.

Tea for Two, Steve Henderson--definitely over-the-top cute.

Twinkle, twinkle Christmas star.
It wouldn't be Christmas without
something from Norman Rockwell.

Santa Painter

I laughed out loud when
I saw the wreath.

Christmas Tree 101--we attack tonight.

You've heard about the tax cut, no doubt...

Copyright, Jim Lane

On Santa's Knee, 1974, Jim Lane.
My own attempt at Christmas humor.

William W. Bosworth

The Bosworth Dome, gracing the architectural centerpiece
of the MIT campus, Building 10.

On the morning of April 1, 1982, students and faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), located on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge awoke to the sight of a campus police car perched atop the "Great Dome" of MacLaurin Building (AKA simply as Building 10, above). How did it get there? No, they didn't build a very long ramp. That would have been to easy. Apparently students took the car apart and hauled it piece by piece to the relatively flat surface atop the dome. There they reassembled it, all in the dead of night and without a single casualty (below). The prank was nothing new. MIT students had been pulling such April Fool's stunts annually almost since the school was founded in 1861 (two days before the first battle of the Civil War). In 2003 students commemorated the 100th anniversary of manned flight by placing (or landing) a full-scale replica of the Wright Flyer atop the dome. In 2006, in a similar stunt, students commemorated the fifth anniversary of 9-11 by mounting a firetruck atop the dome (which must be very well constructed). In 2009 they did the same thing with a full-scale model of the moon lander to commemorate the 40th anniversary of man's landing on the moon. In 1999, they turned the dome and its drum into a somewhat shortened R2D2 (no indication as to what they were commemorating with that one). This is about architect William Wells Bosworth, the MIT graduate who inadvertently made all this possible.

 

MIT officials have no doubt wished many times they'd chosen a different design for their "Great Dome"...or a different architect.

When Building 20 was designed around 1913, William Bosworth quite innocently chose to pay tribute to the dome topping the ancient Roman Pantheon--a graceful architectural masterpiece and a historic breakthrough in concrete engineering. He undoubtedly never dreamed his dome might invite such harebrained stunts. With its interior stairway and exterior steps leading to a mildly rounded roof (below), Bosworth made it all to easy for students to mount their pranks. There's even a round, flat platform atop the dome ideal for "parking" cars and firetrucks.





Bosworth's Building 10 cross-section

William Bosworth didn't just design a much-abused dome, or only Building 10 beneath it, but many of the nearby structures such as the Rogers Building next door, and the Walker Memorial (below) just a couple blocks up Memorial Drive. Actually, he designed the whole MIT campus and several other buildings on it. Needing more space, MIT abandoned their Copley Square campus in 1916 for a new "New Technology" campus. Three years earlier, multimillionaire John D. Rockefeller Jr. had recommended his personal architect, William Bosworth, to design a campus aimed at long-term, planned growth, and Neo-classical architectural elegance. Despite his misbegotten dome, Bosworth delivered--magnificently.

 

Three of Bosworth's more memorable MIT buildings.

William Bosworth, the architect for the main campus group, was himself a graduate of the MIT Architecture program in 1889, before attending the Ecolé des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1896. His classical training is evident in his sensitively rendered watercolors and architectural drawings. However, Bosworth’s facades belies a forward-thinking steel and concrete structure, designed in collaboration with the engineers John Ripley Freeman and Charles Stone of the engineering firm Stone & Webster. There is a great deal of focus on Bosworth's external facade and the Great Dome. Yet, skin that away, take away the limestone bricks, take away the dome, and look at the structure. It’s unbelievably modern. It's in no way a conservative artifact. Reinforced concrete wasn’t a common building material at that time in history. It was new, symbolizing cutting edge science and technology.

 

Construction of Building 10 and the Bosworth Dome,
MIT, ca. 1915.

In 1916, the MIT administration and the MIT charter crossed the Charles River on the ceremonial barge, Bucentaur, built for the occasion to signify MIT's move to a spacious new campus largely consisting of filled land along a one mile tract on the Cambridge side of the Charles River. Bosworth's neoclassical "New Technology" campus had been funded largely by anonymous donations from a mysterious "Mr. Smith", starting in 1912. In January 1920, the donor was revealed to be the industrialist George Eastman (of Kodak fame). Between 1912 and 1920, Eastman donated $20 million ($236.6 million in 2015 dollars) in cash and Kodak stock to MIT. The money was as well-spent as the architect was well-chosen.

 

Apparently there was one major, and several minor  pre-existing buildings on the site before Bosworth was called in.

William Wells Bosworth first caught my eye as I noticed that he was born in Marietta, Ohio, (my own birthplace), a small city about fifteen miles from where I live now. The year was 1868. Bosworth began his training as an architect at MIT, at the time one of the leading Beaux-Arts oriented schools in the United States. In 1896 he left for Paris to study at the famous École des Beaux-Arts. Attending the École was a must for anyone who wanted to make a name for himself in the United States, especially during the years following the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. Upon his return to the United States in 1900, Bosworth worked for the firm Carrère and Hastings, which had recently won the competition to design the New York Public Library, their best-known project.

 

One of the most important American architects of the early 20th-Century.

In 1906, Bosworth was called in to design a garden for the prominent philanthropist, the New Yorker Valentine Everit Macy (not the department store Macys), who lived at Scarborough-on-Hudson. This led to Bosworth’s acquaintance with Frank Vanderlip. Bosworth designed for Vanderlip a gate for his family estate north of Tarrytown, New York, as well as the Scarborough School not far from Vanderlip’s estate (below). The school still exists today.

 

Scarborough School, Tarrytown, New York,
William Bosworth, architect.

These commissions led to other mansions and gardens, eventually landing Bosworth the job of redesigning the gardens of John D. Rockefeller Jr's estate, Kykuit, correcting the work of no less an architectural icon than Frederick Law Olmstead, the designer of New York's Central Park. John D. Senior was unhappy with Olmstead's work and assumed control of the design himself, transplanting whole mature trees, designing lookouts and the several scenic winding roads. In 1906, the further design of Kykuit's grounds fell to Bosworth, who laid out the surrounding terraces and gardens with fountains, pavilions and classical sculpture. These gardens in the Beaux-Arts style are considered Bosworth's best work in the United States as they look out over tremendous views of the Hudson River. These original gardens still exist, with plantings carefully replaced over time.

 

A "tea house" designed by Bosworth for the Rockefeller
estate.

Around 1916, about the same time Bosworth was supervising the MIT expansion, he received from AT&T the opportunity of a lifetime to design their new headquarters building at 195 Broadway in New York City. The 398 foot-tall building is steeped in history. At one time dubbed ‘the Telephone Building,’ 195 Broadway was the site of the world’s first transcontinental and transatlantic phone calls. The structure features 29 stories and is located in the heart of the Financial District. It sits adjacent to the Freedom Tower and the new World Trade Center.

 

AT&T Building, 195 Broadway, NYC, 1916,
William Bosworth, architect.

Bosworth’s promising U.S. career came to an abrupt end when John D. Rockefeller Jr., visited France in 1922. He was appalled at the dire condition of French monuments. He set up a fund in 1924 to pay for the restoration of the Palace of Versailles and the Château de Fontainebleau. Bosworth was put in charge of the project. He also took over the restoration of the Notre-Dame de Reims. In 1934, he supervised the restoration of Queen Marie Antoinette’s Trianon "cottage" near Versailles. Although Rockefeller's project ended in 1936, Bosworth remained in his adopted country in semi-retirement, building a house he called Villa Marietta, for himself and his family in Vaucresson. There Bosworth died in 1966 at the age of ninety-seven.



































 

Frederick Arthur Verner

Ojibwa Indians on the Rainy River, Frederick Arthur Verner

Quite apart from Frederick Remington and a few others, some of the best and most authentic art depicting the "old west" of North American comes not from American artists, but from their Canadian counterparts. I'm not sure why this might be nor quite how to quantify such a declaration in defending or defining what may, in fact, be something of an estimation on my part. But it seems to me that Canadian artist were more "in touch" with the nature of their exploring spirit than were American painters. American painters of the West always struck me as painting with one eye on their western landscape and the other on the art tastes of the eastern art market and the collectors who bought their work. Frederick Arthur Verner was one such Canadian painter whose work seems to me as exhibiting this somewhat greater level of authenticity.

 

Burnham Beeches, Frederick Arthur Verner.

I think American painters of the old West were painting very much from a "white man's" point of view. Despite their penchant for painting on location, they were seeing the West and its native inhabitants as something to be subdued, even conquered. In contrast we see a Canadian mentality of first befriending, then merely observing and depicting a landscape and culture no less foreign to them than to American artists, but with an empathy for the fragile nature of both the land and those eking out a physical and cultural existence upon it. Even one-hundred years ago, the survival of both were being challenged and threatened quite literally and figuratively.



Verner's painting of Breakneck Stairs is above, left.
The portrait of Verner is by Selon Jérémie Giles.

Frederick Arthur Verner was born in Sherridan, Ontario, the first of nine children. Born in 1836, Frederick Verner's father, Arthur C. Verner, had immigrated to Canada in 1835 and was principal of Hammondsville Grammar School. In 1852, when he was sixteen, Verner won the 'discretionary prize' for his monochromatic drawing exhibited at the Upper Canada Provincial Art Exhibition. Born in 1836, Verner was a great admirer of the Canadian western artist, Paul Kane who was a quarter-century older. However, these two Irishmen shared the same fascination with the lives of Canada's indigenous peoples. Verner enrolled at London's Heatherley's Academy in 1856. He served in the British military, first in 1858 as a member of the Yorkshire militia, then in the British Legion in 1860. Two years later Verner returned to Canada where he worked as a photographic colorist, though he spent the majority of his time sketching the wilderness and Indian tribal communities in the area.

Indian Encampment, (watercolor) 1882, Frederick Verner

Verner had an advantage over most painters of his time. He was a professional photographer as well as a painter devoted to his art. His paintings testify to a remarkable accuracy and fidelity, as evidenced, in particular, by a sketch for a watercolor titled Breakneck Stairs (upper-left in the montage), which dates from 1876. It is so faithful that 125 years later, at the bottom of the Dufferin Terrace in Old Quebec, the Petite Champlain Street, its buildings, and its "daredevil" staircases are still recognizable. Verner had a concern for detail that was reflected in all that he painted, be it a portrait, a landscape, or the scenes of the daily life of the bison for which he remains the undisputed master.

Buffalo, 1910, Frederick Verner

Frederick Verner established himself in Toronto as a painter of the Canadian wilderness. He specialized in poetic depictions of the western prairie (top), in particular scenes of buffalo and Aboriginal encampments in watercolor and oils. Verner also painted portraits, rural and urban scenes. In 1880 he moved to England. Verner used the signature F.A. Verner on much of his work there. While in London, Verner conducted personal studies at the British Museum and the National Gallery. Other than this training, Verner was self-taught. While in London he lived with his aunt.

Ojibway Indian Encampment, 1873, Frederick Verner.

Portrait of Paul Kane,
Frederick Verner

Upon returning to Canada in 1862, Verner established a studio as a portrait photographer, which he maintained for about twelve years. From 1868 onward, Verner also worked occasionally at the Notman & Fraser Photo-graphic Studio as a colorist, painting elaborate back-grounds and painting over photographic portraits in watercolor and oils. The Notman & Fraser Studio was an important meeting place for a variety of artists. There Verner re-acquainted himself with Paul Kane, who lived in Toronto, as he continued to be inspired by the elder artist's subject matter. Verner painted three portraits of his mentor Paul Kane, the most accomplished one (right), appears to have been based on a photograph and shows Kane later in life looking a little less rumpled than he did in photographs. Their friendship continued until Kane's death in 1871.



Ojibway Camp at Northwest Angle, Lake of the Woods , 
1874, Frederick Verner.

Verner travelled internationally from time to time to promote his career. In 1865 he went to New York and showed his painting, On the Madawaska River, at the annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design in New York. The following year Verner exhibited at the Provincial Exhibition, Toronto, and won numerous prizes, including; best photographic portrait finished in watercolor, and best photographic portrait finished in oil paint (it's hard to imagine such categories today). Two years later at the 1868 Provincial Exhibition, Verner also won a number of prizes including; best original landscape of a Canadian subject in oils and best original landscape of a Canadian subject in watercolor.

Ojibway family, 1878, Frederick Verner

Verner's only confirmed and documented trip to the Canadian far west to sketch first hand scenes of the prairies and native encampments took place in 1873. Verner's voyage took him to Upper Fort Garry (which became Winnipeg in 1874). The Manitoba Free Press reported that, "Mr. F. A. Verner, the Canadian artist, is in town and brings with him over two-hundred sketches of the Northwest." Verner made a series of five scenic sketches that recorded his travels in the area which he kept in his possession until his death. These watercolors and sketches depict Ojibway encampments along rivers and lakes with teepees and canoes. Occasionally they include figures of men, women, and children. Verner used these sketches as preparatory studies for many of his subsequent paintings, as he had the habit of combining scenes and details from various studies in his finished works.

Shooting the Rapids, Frederick Verner.

In 1874, Verner closed his photographic business in Toronto to dedicated himself exclusively to painting. Two years later he made a trip to the United States and visited the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 where he exhibited his oil painting Hudson Bay Company Officials at Brulé Portage on Rainy River, 1876, a strongly accomplished work that depicts a misty wilderness landscape with several figures and canoes near the shore. About this same time, Verner also began making life drawings of buffalo from zoos in New York and Niagara. The buffalo were nearing extinction in the American West while prairie buffalo were virtually extinct in Canada by 1880. Verner moved permanently to England in 1880, although he still continued to exhibit in Canada and the U.S. At the age of forty-six, Verner married Mary Chilcott, a widow, in whose Toronto home he had boarded for over ten years during 1870s. Even well into his seventies, the artist continued to go on sketching trips to Scotland. Frederick Arthur Verner died in London in 1928 at the age of ninety-one.

Still-life, Frederick Verner. Although this
poinsettia still-life seems totally out
of character for Verner, it's quite
appropriate for the season.

 

Luqman Reza Mulyono (Jongkie)

Eclipse, 2017, Lugman Reza Mulyono

I've made an effort to cover at least one artist from every country on earth, but it would seem one I've slighted has been Indonesia. Previously, I have written about only one Indonesian portrait and wildlife artist, Basuki Abdullah but inasmuch as he lived and died in the 20th-Century, I thought it time to highlight a contemporary artist who, in some ways, was very much like Abdullah, while in style, for instance, couldn't be more different. His name is Lugman Reza Mulyono but he goes by the name "Jongkie" (no explanation as to why). Jongkie is young (born in 1990) and paints solely in watercolor. Those two facts alone make for tremendous differences in his art and that of his countryman, Basuki Abdallah. Quite apart from his style and medium, even his professional "nickname," Jongkie, very much underlines his place as a 21st-Century artist.

 

As if portraits weren't struggle enough to master,
painting them in watercolor adds a whole new level
of difficulties for the artist.

Jongkie is an artist and illustrator from Kota Wisata Batu, located on the eastern end of the island of Java. He has gained recognition and appreciation on social media sites for his unique style of expressive illustration. Using the good old techniques of water on paper, Jongkie creates stunningly expressive images. His most recurring themes are animals and their emotional character, all portrayed with a very personal vision and sensitivity for the nature of each creature. Yet the artist is equally adept at painting portraits, as well as working human figures into his animal compositions.

 

Whether painting people, or animals, or people with animals,
Jongkie exhibit a mastery of his medium that belies his youthful chronology.

Jongkie's unique style is exemplified as a result of his not only replicating the reference image he is using, but adding his own imaginative style where he employs his creativity into his so-called "magic effect." Jongkie describes his work as a "fantasy world," which is evident in the concept of interpreting messaging and employing his distinctive style in every part of the work it produces. His watercolor paintings are recognized worldwide for the mystical qualities of his wildlife images.

 

Funeral, Luqman Reza Mulyono.
This one I found especially touching.

Jongkie never imagined that he would be able to turn his hobby and passion into a successful business. However, his dream came true when more and more people began to recognize his work. He currently works in a multinational company which allows him exposure to the many different art markets and private collectors around the world. Jongkie explains his approach: “What I do is understanding the character of the watercolor, the paper, and the water itself. Watercolor has a wet, expressive, and unpredictable character.” The same words could be applied to his understanding of the character of the "fantasy" wildlife he creates.

 

There's No Way to Go Back, Luqman Reza Mulyono

I should also add that Luqman Mulyono has a Bachelor degree in architecture from University of Brawijaya, Indonesia, which might go a long way in explaining his interest in painting some of the outstanding Buddhist temples on Southeast Asia. As with many, perhaps even most artists, Jongkie loves to travel. He hopes one day to visit major cultural heritage sites not just in his own little corner of the world (can worlds have corners?) but to follow in the footstep of other artists from other countries and other centuries, rendering on paper what he sees and feels.

 

I admire artists brave enough to compare their work to their original sources.

 

 

Click below to get a feel for how it's done--

 

Lucas van Valckenborch

Passage Hivernal, 1586, Lucas van Valckenborch.
This would make a nice Christmas card. 

It's getting to be that time of year again when our thoughts turn to Baby Jesus, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, over-decorated front yards, sold out favorite toys, jingle all the way, and FOOD...lots and lots of fairly fattening food. Lest you think such holiday overindulgence is solely a modern day occasion, it might be worthwhile to take a look at the paintings of the 16th-Century court painter, Lucas van Valckenborch (I can't pronounce that name but you're welcome to try). You won't find Christmas trees (they hadn't been invented yet), Poinsettia, or kids abiding like sheep in their own cellphone fields. You might glimpse some candles in the windows, evergreen wreaths, and occasionally carols at the harpsicord. Fish, ham, and beef seem to top the menu, and of course, this being Northern Europe, heavy snow, and lots of warming beer or perhaps a spicy wine in a big bowl very much doing justice to the term "punch."

 

View of Antwerp with the Frozen Scheldt Anagoria, 1592, Lucas van Valckenborch.

Judging from van Valckenborch's paintings, the population of Northern Europe, regardless of nationality, did not limit their parties (they termed them "festivals") to the yuletide season. "Hey, look, the river froze over last night, let's celebrate!" In fact, regardless of the time of year it didn't take much cause to take a festive break from the hardship and boredom of their daily lives...winter or otherwise (below). The Valckenborch family seems to have found it very profitable to observe the jubilation and record it to canvas. There were three generations totaling fourteen artists decorating the family tree dating as far back ;as 1535.

 

Lucas van Valckenborch's feast paintings.
Is that a pizza front and center on the buffet table?

Lucas van Valckenborch,
Self-portrait, 1593

That was the year Lucas van Valckenborch had his name added to that tree along with that of his brother, Marten (sources list both brothers as having been born the same year as if they might have been twins). In 1560 Lucas van Valckenborch entered the painters' guild of Mechelen. Mechelen was known at the time as a center for oil and watercolors and especially landscape painting. The artistic milieu of Mech-elen was decisive in the development of the artist. There he learned the art of watercolor painting. There also he came to know the prom-inent painters Pieter Bruegel (the Elder) and Hans Bol, both of whom played an important role in the development of landscape painting in the Low Countries.

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At the start of the iconoclastic fury of the Beeldenstorm in 1566, Lucas van Valckenborch left Antwerp with his brother, probably for religious reasons as they may have been protestant. A series of topographical views, including a 1567 painted view of Liège, prove that van Valckenborch travelled up the Meuse valley. This trip played an important role in his development as a landscape artist working directly from nature. In 1570 the artist was in Aachen, where he met up again with his brother Marten. Here, the two brothers were also joined for two years by Hans Vredeman de Vries, friend and fellow artist.

Emperor Matthias as
Archduke with Baton,
1583, Lucas van
Valckenborch.

By 1575 Lucas had returned to Antwerp, where he must have made a name for himself. Before 1579 the young Archduke Matthias of Austria, the governor of the Spanish Neth-erlands, hired him as his court painter. The Archduke was particularly impressed by his skills as a portrait painter. As court painter, Valckenborch created in the Netherlands the designs for the Archduke's Guard and some portraits. After the Archduke lost his position as governor in 1582, he left the Netherlands and went to live in Linz. It's not clear, however, when or if van Valckenborch joined the Archduke in Linz. At the beginning of 1593 Lucas van Valckenborch joined his brother Marten in Frankfurt am Main. Here he became the teacher and collaborator of Georg Flegel. Lucas van Valckenborch remained active in Frankfurt until his death in 1597 at the age of sixty-two.

Damn, not another festival to cook for...