S U N D R I E S
love
dad
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Saturday, September 27, 2025
of a fashion
LIBERTY LEADING THE PEOPLE 1830
Lady Liberty spills from her wardrobe while exhorting
the common folk into heroic action. Delacroix was
popular. He painted human drama in vivid colors.
Rubens and Rembrandt were his North Star.
He helped bring painting back to life.
NAPOLEON ON HIS IMPERIAL THRONE 1806
Thousands of people lost their heads for the crime
of being royalty. What follows is the Emperor Napoleon.
Ingres, the greatest Classicist of his age, was given
the honor of painting his majesty, Napoleon I.
Ingres found himself caught up in all the fabulous fabric
displayed in front of him. He was intoxicated with its many
sensuous creases and folds. Napoleon was reduced in size
to a tiny, stone-faced mask mounted atop this mountain
of adulation. You could just as easily have painted in
the face of most anyone. Groucho Marx, for instance.
Ingres loved winning awards and being given honors
by people high up on the power pyramid.
In the process, Ingres tried hard to be conventional.
But he couldn't suppress what felt right for him.
His talent always set him apart from those whose
own celebrated names are now forgotten.
FAMILY OF CHARLES IV 1801
Goya's official portrait of Spain's royal family
has the group standing uncomfortably about,
apparently realizing they came overdressed
for the occasion.
Goya painted what he saw despite the trappings
of monarchy.
LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY 1881
Let the good times roll. Renoir and his Impressionist
friends just loved their bourgeoise lifestyle.
Of course, these artists were angry government art
salons refused their work, cutting them off from a
lucrative market of rich art collectors.
France's Seal of Approval made all the difference
in what you put on the dinner table at night.
THE SOWER 1888
He signed his name Vincent because everyone mangled
the name van Gogh. The last couple of years in his life
is where he appeared to put it all together. Finally, he
was able to express in paint most all that he wanted -
direct, vivid meaning. He burned holes in the canvas
crowding strokes of complementary colors next to one
another.
The Classicists of Ingres' time thought the works of
the ancient Greeks to be the epitome of beauty itself.
Any deviation from the Classic ideals would come from
artist's pushing their personal preferences into a realm
where individual expression only corrupts what has been
determined to be artistic perfection.
SEATED WOMAN 1953
You don't hug Picasso women.
They have all the warmth of a spilled spreadsheet.
These were complicated women Picasso captured
in cubes, curves and wedges. His studio offered
no wind to blow their hair or a warm sun to
bronze their complexion.
They became like a still life with fruit,
in need of psychological counseling.
Art is personal.
It always involves psychology.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Saturday, September 20, 2025
Edvard Munch
Self Portrait in Hell
Damnation was Edvard's destiny.
He turned away from his father's path
that would have led him to an afterlife
serenely ensconced in Heaven.
"I have, in fact, made up my mind to become
a painter."
Edvard Munch, age 17
As a small boy of four, Munch remembers standing
by the side of the road waiting for his dad to appear
from among the many workers trudging past,
finishing another day's long hours of labor.
They passed silently by. Each man
too tired to talk; too tired to think.
Sophie was Edvard's older sister.
She was taken from life in her youth.
Edvard's father was a doctor. He rose to
become Regimental Surgeon in Oslo.
Medieval quackery permeated the practice
of medicine in nineteenth century Norway.
Doctors were poorly regarded. The paycheck
Doctor Munch received was a pittance of what
a man in his position should command.
The family lived in a tenement building crowded with
rowdy families. There was no plumbing for these
bare bones flats. You were given two buckets.
The first was to fetch water. The other was to
carry off the day's excrement.
No matter. You had an ocean view.
Here was Munch's portrayal of romance over the course
of one life. On the left is an aspirational young lady,
depicted in white, and she is in love with love.
At center is the woman in red, involved in a dance.
They become a match made in Heaven.
Passion is fulfilled. Then betrayal.
The woman in funeral garb, at right,
despairs while her Henrik is out groping
someone new.
For Edvard, this course in life seemed baked in.
Success. Edvard Munch has made it as an artist.
He is eating in a fine restaurant and has a delightful
wine brought to the table to celebrate this moment
alone.
Midlife crisis in a new suit.
I found it at a yard sale.
Sort of looks that way.
Tempura on cardboard.
Not likely to be found at Windsor Castle.
The ghoulish character up front reacts
to a scream heard from nature and covers its ears.
The sun is setting. Red clouds brood overhead,
heavy with blood.
Munch never could get the clouds right.
He made this image many times over.
Each time the image he created never
quite captured his angst in this very
personal moment.
The image is now an icon of modern art.
Modest.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, September 14, 2025
Saturday, September 13, 2025
Caravaggio
1571 - 1610
A SHORT, BRUTISH LIFE.
CARAVAGGIO SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE AS
AN ARTIST IN ROME. HIS PAINTINGS OF STRUGGLE
WERE DRAMATICALLY PORTRAYED USING THE
HIGH CONTRAST LIGHTING OF CHIAROSCURO.
CARAVAGGIO WAS OFTEN A VIOLENT, ILL-TEMPERED
MAN, PRONE TO BIZARRE BEHAVIOR. HE WAS
FORCED TO FLEE ROME FOR NAPLES, AFTER HAVING
KILLED A MAN IN A BRAWL. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF
HIS OWN DEATH REMAIN UNCERTAIN. SPECULATION
ON CAUSES RANGE FROM SYPHILIS TO BEING
A VICTIM OF A REVENGE KILLING.
NARCISSUS
1597 / 26 YEARS
NARCISSUS REJECTED THE ADVANCES
OF ALL WHO APPROACHED HIM,
PREFERRING THE COMPANY OF
HIS OWN REFLECTION.
INCREDULITY OF SAINT THOMAS
1601 / 30 YEARS
"UNLESS I SHALL SEE IN HIS HANDS THE PRINT
OF THE NAILS, AND PUT MY FINGER INTO THE
PRINT OF THE NAILS, AND THRUST MY HAND
INTO HIS SIDE, I WILL NOT BELIEVE."
JOHN 20: 25
TAKING OF CHRIST
1602 / 31 YEARS
"NOW HE THAT BETRAYED HIM GAVE THEM A SIGN,
SAYING, WHOMSOEVER I SHALL KISS, THAT SAME
IS HE: HOLD HIM FAST. AND FORTHWITH HE CAME
TO JESUS, AND SAID, HAIL, MASTER;
AND KISSED HIM."
MATTHEW 26: 48-49
CRUCIFIXION OF SAINT PETER
1601 / 30 YEARS
CONDEMNED TO DEATH IN ROME,
PETER REQUESTED HE BE CRUCIFIED
UPSIDE-DOWM BECAUSE HE WAS NOT WORTHY
TO BE KILLED IN THE SAME MANNER AS JESUS.
BEHEADING OF SAINT JOHN
1608 / 37 YEARS
(cropped)
"AND HE SENT, AND BEHEADED HIM IN THE PRISON.
AND HIS HEAD WAS BROUGHT IN A CHARGER,
AND GIVEN TO THE DAMSEL: AND SHE
BROUGHT IT TO HER MOTHER."
MATTHEW 26: 10-11
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
OVER EASY
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Jet Age
This was all new material. The engineers were inventing
solutions as they went along. Jets. Dogfighting with a MiG
at five hundred miles an hour. The thrill of a fighter pilot
having the right stuff. Think quick. Stay cool.
The F-84 provided fighter protection for B-29s
in the earliest days of the Korean War. Then
Russia's new MiG 15 crossed the Yalu River
for the first time, shredding the formation of
American bombers as well as their fighter escort.
It was clear the F-84 was outclassed by the MiG.
The U.S. countered by deploying to Korea their
own best-in-class jet, the F-86 Sabre. Meanwhile,
the F-84 was given a ground support role, attacking
enemy forces moving about the battlefield.
In World War 2 the navy aviator revved his piston engine
before racing into the wind in order to lift off the
carrier deck. No longer. Jets were a heavier bird than
their propeller propelled predecessor. Early jet engines
lacked the thrust to get them quickly airborne.
While the prop plane could lift off within 600 feet,
a comparable jet fighter would need more than a mile
of runway. The problem handed naval engineers
was to be able to launch a sluggish jet with no more
than 200 feet available.
The Essex class carriers off Korea were not designed
to meet the needs of jets. The constraints of operating
jets within a four acre airfield, that was the carrier deck,
required design tradeoffs that compromised carrier
aircraft performance. Consequently, the fighter jets
of early naval aviation were not competitive with their
air force counterparts.
The Air Force wasted no time in putting their best
into play along the Yalu River. In performance
characteristics the F-86 and the MiG 15 appeared
to be an even match. That made pilot performance
the deciding factor in outcome. You either flew by
the smoking wreckage of your opponent or found
yourself consumed in flames while barreling to earth.
Russian flyers were assumed to pilot many of the
MiGs that tangled with the Sabres over the Yalu.
The MiGs fought with the benefit of experience
at the controls. Pyongyang would have you believe
American aces from WW2 were matched up against
novice Koreans fresh out of training.
The Russians shuttled their pilots through short,
secretive tours in Korea. Uncle Sam was not
to know of Moscow's clandestine involvement
with the war. Soviet pilots who fought in Korea
had classified identities - making their past invisible,
even to one another. Because of this, experienced
Russian flyers could not pass along the lessons
they learned in combat to the pilots newly arrived.
American pilots benefitted from being trained by
flyers with Korean dogfighting experience.
Knowing your enemy better than he knows you
can make the difference in an otherwise even
contest.
The bridges crossing the Yalu were critical
to the plans of both China and U.N. forces.
Mao needed these bridges to supply his troops
fighting the Yanks in Korea. General MacArthur
wanted to strangle the Chinese army by
destroying the Yalu bridges.
B-29s were assigned the mission to obliterate these
busy river crossings with a soft "bombs away."
Starved of food and ammo the Chinese fell back
across the Yalu and retreated into the sanctuary
that was Manchuria. MacArthur was awarded a
sixth star and was elected President of America.
None of this ever happened because Mao and his
MiGs had a say in the matter. The MiG 15 shot
everything out of the sky except for the F-86.
They dueled over China's border in an area known
as MiG Alley. Here was the one-on-one drama
of two gunslingers facing off at high noon,
dressed in an attire suitable for the Cold War.
* * * * *
© Tom Taylor
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