Großstadtbahnhof: Monday W27Y5
A busy major railroad station, with many tracks and lots of steam! Feels like the epitome of Victorian literature--from Charles Dickens to Sherlock Holmes. Hans Baluscheck, whose Rain we looked at just a few weeks ago, lived around the turn of the 20th century (the Victorian era ended in 1901) and gives us a lovely rendition of a busy train hub at night, complete with orange and yellow lights (some of which were presumably gaslit, some…
Photo finish: Sunday, week 27, year 5, of share-a-print-a-day
Photos of sunsets are cliché, so it has to be something special to earn a post on this blog. Sunset ove a marsh, with a tree and many reeds, along with the sun , all reflected on the water. There's a clear channel through the reeds, and the sun itself and its reflection both align with that channel. The colors are attenuated, the tree is bare, and the sun is behind some haze.
Photos of sunsets are cliché, so it has to be something special to earn a post on this blog. Sunset ove a marsh, with a tree and many reeds, along with the sun , all reflected on the water. There&#…
Chasing, filligree, and damascene, oh my! Saturday W26Y5
Here's an interesting medium/category I haven't had much of on this blog--metalwork. I wasn't sure what to call it, but fortunately a little research turned up some terminology. The generic term for working metal in this way is embossing--created a raised surface. We learned several years ago that gargoyles or grotesques are a kind of boss or decoration. Here's the dictionary definition of various related…
100 Views of Mount Fuji: Friday W26Y5
Mount Fuji looms large (both physically and metaphorically) in the lives of Japanese people through the ages. Many artists have done series of views of Mount Fuji from different angles and in different contexts, most notably Hokusai's Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji. (Many other artists have echoed Hokusai's concept with their own series of thirty six views of different iconic sights, as shown in my…
Modest lightning? Thursday W26Y5, second night of Passover 2026
Another dramatic lightning photo from amazing Calgary photographer Neil Zeller. In this case, it's a bolt of lightning whose path towards the ground passes behind a cloud--like someone just out of the shower wrapping a towel around the midpart of their body for modesty. You can see more of Zeller's work at Flickr. This seems appropriate for Passover as we sometimes think of the weather as a symbol of God's…
Another dramatic lightning photo from amazing Calgary photographer Neil Zeller. In this case, it’s a bolt of lightning whose path towards the ground passes behind a cloud–like someone j…
Elijah the slave: Wednesday W26Y5, the first night of Passover 2026
The great Jewish author Isaac Bashevis Singer retold an ancient parable in a children's book, illustrated by our frequent visitor to this blog Antonio Frasconi, 20th century print artist and book illustrator. Here's a bit from the NY Times review of the book: 'The prophet Elijah, though the embodiment of God's way on earth, is always a humble man flavored with the habits and needs of the simple people…
[This one seems appropriate for Passover because the prophet Elijah is associated with the Passover seder, the home ritual done on the first night (Israel)/first two nights (the Diaspora). There is…
Olympic medal….in painting? Tuesday W26Y5
Well, it's technically spring now, but the weather around here seems to have trouble making up its mind. I'm going to squeeze in one more winter picture because it has some interesting history associated with it. I was looking at an article on lesser known paintings of winter and saw a print I liked by Walther Klemm. That name resonated because I recently posted a number of Don Quixote images including a print by him.
…and 4 more (Steinberg) Quixotes: Monday W26Y5
Yesterday I shared 6 Quixotes from 5 artists. Today, we have 4 Quixotes from only one artist! As I was digging through my images archives looking for yesterday's pictures, I realized that New Yorker cartoonist Saul Steinberg had kind of a Quixote fascination (like me). I found more than 4 Quixote-referencing pix among the pile of Steinberg images I have amassed--that may not be all that he did!
A posse of Don Quixotes: Sunday, week 26, year 5 of share-a-print-a-day
I'm a big reader and lover of literature, and those of you who've been following this blog for a while will remember there are a couple of literary characters who pop up repeatedly. Don Quixote is one of them. For some reason, this story and these characters are very popular with artists. The first time I shared impressions by Dali and Picasso, Dore and Daumier.
I’m a big reader and lover of literature, and those of you who’ve been following this blog for a while will remember there are a couple of literary characters who pop up repeatedly. Don…
A beginning in Delft: Saturday W25Y5
The title of today's post is a chapter heading in one of my favorite books, which I cannot recommend highly enough. Duveen is an enjoyable, highly readable and fairly short biography of early 20th century art dealer to the rich and famous Joseph Duveen (Later Sir Joseph and eventually Lord Duveen of Millbank. Unlike many newly ennobled Britishers who commemorate their home town or region, Duveen designated the neighborhood of London…
