* * * F L O P H O U S E * * *
love
dad
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Saturday, February 21, 2026
c o l o r
W O M E N O F A L G I E R S
P I C A S S O 1 9 5 5
Based on a painting of an Algerian concubine
by nineteenth century French artist Eugene Delacroix,
Picasso adds his own gloss to the story with his
vibrant color and Cubist based disposition.
A woman resembling Picasso's second wife,
Jacqueline Roque, presides over this Kamasutra
of challenging head over heels positions.
The owner of this Picasso paid a princely
$179 million for it in 2015, the price of a
fabulously appointed sultan's yacht.
P R O M E N A D E
A U G U S T M A C K E 1 9 1 3
Macke moved his wife and son from Germany
to the peaceful serenity he found in Switzerland.
This became his most productive period, with works
celebrating nature. The following year Macke was
among the soldiers killed in the opening days of
what became known as the First World War.
Like millions more to follow, the Kaiser had
called him to service.
H I M M E L
M A R S D E N H A R T L E Y 1 9 1 5
Himmel is German for heaven.
A red toy soldier on horseback is fastened
to a pedestal like they are a park monument
pigeon roost. An American named Hartley
is busy painting abstractions in wartime Berlin.
The work shown here comes with its own frame
and also makes a striking design for birthday
wrapping paper.
G E I S H A
G E O R G E H E N R Y 1 8 9 4
British artist George Henry traveled to Tokyo,
Nagasaki and Yokohama to immerse himself,
firsthand, in Japanese culture. Eighteen months
later he returned to London, his many new
works of oil carefully rolled into one large
canvas bundle. Tropical heat and exposure
to moisture on the long voyage home caused the
still tacky oils to stick, crumbling when pulled apart.
All was not lost, though.
This Geisha was a lucky exception.
S T R E T C H S T A M P E D E
L E R O Y N E I M A N
Raw color and energized brushwork.
The dash down this straightaway is a chaotic
mix of thundering horse and jockey, whips
savagely flailing the air, slashing the hide.
The excitement is heightened by having
the herd charging directly at you.
Artist Le Roy Neiman was the
Steven Spielberg of action screen-prints.
S U M M E R
P E T E R M A X
Peter Max emerged from his San Francisco
Summer of Love to become an artist for the
Cosmic Sixties. His works vibrated with
psychedelic palette and acidic innocence.
Here were works suited for a blacklight poster
but they wound up framed on walls.
Pity.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, February 15, 2026
Saturday, February 14, 2026
c i t y s c a p e
T O W N S C A P E
C A R E L W I L L I N K 1 9 3 4
A menacing sky looms over a deserted street
with a few isolated buildings scattered here
and there. This nightmare vision forecasts
another war in Europe, and another humanitarian
cataclysm for the still young Twentieth Century.
Dutch painter Carel Willink embraced Magic Realism -
an accurately rendered reality displayed in an
eerie welcome to an unnatural world.
H O U S E S I N T H E S N O W
F R I E D E N S R E I C H H U N D E R T W A S S E R 1 9 6 2
Straight lines are godless and immoral.
That was the artist Hundertwasser's
starting point in architectural thinking.
We should focus on one's emotions.
The forms here are organic, whimsical.
The colors bright and playful.
A sprinkle of silver snowflakes
adds melancholy, in nuance.
M A N W I T H S P E C T A C L E S
M S T I S L A V D O B U Z H I N S K Y 1 9 0 6
St. Petersburg, still under the rule of Tzar Nicholas.
The guy with the glasses is a poet friend of
the artist. Behind him is the steady encroachment
of urban blight on all that is natural.
The soulless progression to obtain greater efficiencies.
Who speaks up for objectives other than industrial
goals? And if someone does, who would listen?
Who among those gathered with power
would take action in defense of the voiceless?
The Twentieth Century.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
S H A D O W O F N I G H T
R O B E R T Q U A L T E R S 1 9 8 5
Mundane street life bathed in the flagrant colors
of a Pittsburgh sunset. People do what they do
in keeping the street vibrant. No matter what.
The steel mills close. Jobs disappear.
Families move elsewhere for work.
People remain.
Life still fills the streets of Pittsburgh.
Robert Qualters paints his affection
for the people of this, his hometown.
S I X O ' C L O C K , W I N T E R
J O H N F R E N C H S L O A N 1 9 1 2
Rush hour crowd catches their commute home
at the Third Avenue El in Manhattan. They are
shop workers, laborers and clerks toughing
through another bone chilling night.
They are energized, definitely not gloomy.
Life is good. The industrial dynamo promises
endless possibilities for mankind's future
once the spigot fully opens.
B O L S H E V I K
B O R I S K U S T O D I E V 1 9 2 0
The flag-carrying Bolshevik towers over
the masses crowding the Lilliputian streets
of Moscow, his red banner unfurling with
the triumph of Communism. Boris Kustodiev's
allegorical painting of the Russian Revolution
provided the symbolism that would become
the standard for Soviet art and propaganda.
The picture was an immediate hit but
Kustodiev was concerned it would be found
provocative. After all, here's the courageous
Lenin marching ever forward, his giant strides
crushing the little people underfoot.
So much for valuing the individual.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Monday, February 9, 2026
Happy Birthday Jessicca!
M E G A B R A I N A T T A C K S !
H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y !
J E S S I C C A
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😀 😄 😁 😃
* * * * *
love
dad
Sunday, February 8, 2026
Saturday, February 7, 2026
Ansel Adams
M O O N R I S E
H E R N A N D E Z , N E W M E X I C O 1 9 4 1
A late afternoon sun illuminates white crosses as
the moon rises over a small town, its church
and graveyard.
A N S E L A D A M S
1 9 0 2 - 1 9 8 4
Preeminent American landscape photographer and
lifelong environmental activist Ansel Adams worked
to define the identity of the American west.
He shaped the imagery of mountain and desert
in black and white using his own personal lore.
C H U R C H
T A O S P U E B L O 1 9 4 2
The Taos tribe gave Adams permission to photograph
the San Geronimo Chapel in Taos Pueblo, a church
providing continuous Sunday sermons to the villagers
since 1850.
G E O R G I A O ' K E E F F E A N D O R V I L L E C O X
1 9 3 7
Adams captures a moment of mischievous banter
between the painter Georgia O'Keeffe and Orville Cox,
the head wrangler at Ghost Ranch, her favorite
New Mexico hangout.
B O U L D E R D A M
C O L O R A D O R I V E R 1 9 4 1
The Interior Department funded Adams to photograph
this new Colorado River dam as well as scenes from
National Parks out west. The images provided
were to become giant murals for Federal buildings.
World War Two ended the project's funding.
The photos Adams provided sat, forgotten in the
National Archives over the next seventy years.
T H E T E T O N S A N D T H E S N A K E R I V E R
W Y O M I N G 1 9 4 2
This image was included in the payload
of the Voyager satellite, launched into
space in 1977. This gave extraterrestrials
of uncertain time and place, the opportunity
to enjoy the beauty of Earth along with us.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
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