tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2497520576741402562024-02-07T08:22:35.092+00:00Dark PaintingDark painting blog by Andrew Cowdell concerns painting, drawing, and just about anything relating to art.Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-15101189297002637192018-05-11T17:28:00.004+01:002018-05-11T17:28:42.304+01:00Andrew Cowdell, Snow at Hermitage, 2018<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTC26H_qpTskDvCCn59P6q6A8Ukve5Bb-13bndzVfMuXxBOWSZfOChWu_Jc5EUuGRcrTlJPG1zJ8I8Cb6KpihI3n-jZyFBdS66VibK6BZb9qUMzo5_WQsCLdTxwy-jY4vvDDU0sy1v05o/s1600/west-berkshire-fine-art-landscape-painting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTC26H_qpTskDvCCn59P6q6A8Ukve5Bb-13bndzVfMuXxBOWSZfOChWu_Jc5EUuGRcrTlJPG1zJ8I8Cb6KpihI3n-jZyFBdS66VibK6BZb9qUMzo5_WQsCLdTxwy-jY4vvDDU0sy1v05o/s400/west-berkshire-fine-art-landscape-painting.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Cowdell, Snow at Hermitage, 2018, oil on board, 10 x 8 inches<br /><br /></td></tr>
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My low-key paintings are defined by their subdued tones and colour mixtures that tend towards neutral browns, greens and greys. They seem a natural progression from my earlier monochrome works and allow me to explore the possibilities of a limited palette. It is precisely these sober tones which propel these landscapes into the gloomy, contradictory universe of romanticism. This of course makes sense as they bear witness to my admiration for Corot, Courbet and Friedrich. It is possibly my preoccupation with 19th Century painting that is somehow channelling timelessness into these paintings. They are imbued with a quality which seems to owe very little to our present epoch and, on reflection, these landscapes are totally devoid of people. It may well suggest that our information age is enticing people away from nature. However, I think nature will cope.</div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-40547414453596940862018-04-10T12:08:00.001+01:002018-04-10T12:08:13.688+01:00Gustave Doré, Sister of Charity Saving a Child, Episode in the Siege of Paris, 1871<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFR-wAvtwGflDCwqGU0U6XfASFK_LRsqixwNIrfGo6Yz7cExB97lUOgOmiDsyivAt2OIgRjtpTlL3XtYIjc7AVN_XAcqOVwo8qJ9469bZOJAcGyTT8vT6LtWZfgskQF8ZGryFPTmDkD0g/s1600/Gustave+Dore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="1000" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFR-wAvtwGflDCwqGU0U6XfASFK_LRsqixwNIrfGo6Yz7cExB97lUOgOmiDsyivAt2OIgRjtpTlL3XtYIjc7AVN_XAcqOVwo8qJ9469bZOJAcGyTT8vT6LtWZfgskQF8ZGryFPTmDkD0g/s400/Gustave+Dore.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gustave Doré, Sœur de la Charité sauvant un enfant, 1871, 38 x 51 inches</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gustave Doré's engravings won him worldwide recognition as one of the foremost illustrators of his time and yesterday at Tate Britain we were given a rare opportunity to stand nose to canvas with this fine example of his oil painting. The scene<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> shows the awful human cost of the siege of Paris, when the French capital was encircled by Prussian troops after Napoleon III's surrender on 2 September 1870. Whilst other artists fled, Doré joined the National Guard to defend the capital. Here, painting that winter, he seems to be recording a scene that he had actually witnessed. He shows a nun carrying a child to safety along a snowy blood-stained street, by a wall which might belong to the religious house where she hopes to take the child. A part of the city burns behind her, and someone sprawls wounded on the pavement further back. Ahead of her, a jagged piece of shrapnel lies on the snow, and at the side is a large bloodstain. The painting</span> showcases Doré's unique vision as both fine artist and illustrator.</span></div>
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Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-51263731572489112742018-04-07T15:42:00.001+01:002018-04-07T15:42:51.199+01:00Andrew Cowdell, Winter, 2018<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeP3gspsY9nrfBmmLX9QqigZ6JinmRtmNAEZ7rTtVRJ0H80AdM_ux6NTfn5xTJ7jwp9qCbRf8O_Y4eOBOLb92xd_Rn664b7YLRnqlxBO65BH2Rl36tnzW7lFyvp_NkInOUgl8BXVEWCM/s1600/Andrew+Cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="814" data-original-width="1029" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKeP3gspsY9nrfBmmLX9QqigZ6JinmRtmNAEZ7rTtVRJ0H80AdM_ux6NTfn5xTJ7jwp9qCbRf8O_Y4eOBOLb92xd_Rn664b7YLRnqlxBO65BH2Rl36tnzW7lFyvp_NkInOUgl8BXVEWCM/s400/Andrew+Cowdell.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Cowdell, Winter, 2018, oil on board, 10 x 8 inches</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My study of the French School of Painting has taught me a very valuable lesson - that a painter's worth is less dependent on the technique than on the vision. With this in mind, I am distancing myself from the static hyperrealist approach of my youth by unpicking years of illustrative habits. As I proceed devotedly onwards I realise increasingly how important it is to subject technique to one's personal vision.</span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-44481462362228274252018-02-15T12:54:00.004+00:002018-02-15T12:54:59.604+00:00Andrew Cowdell, Oiseau de Dieu (Wren), 2018<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_UGaYAZxE49cnnCya_Rb0sLFkkh4fLYE6-TTBCvkwtrmu1DQS8w6Ku6PXIUXby0tJZis7zhHXce3x4pfi9isO_UdJr2vAMd0_pgovOsp4T3GEVUAcNpOZ-mcUzDPDnte5OdNFwPgsaiE/s1600/Oiseau-de-Dieu-wren-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="672" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_UGaYAZxE49cnnCya_Rb0sLFkkh4fLYE6-TTBCvkwtrmu1DQS8w6Ku6PXIUXby0tJZis7zhHXce3x4pfi9isO_UdJr2vAMd0_pgovOsp4T3GEVUAcNpOZ-mcUzDPDnte5OdNFwPgsaiE/s400/Oiseau-de-Dieu-wren-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://andrewcowdell.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, Oiseau de Dieu (Wren), 2018, oil on board, 7 x 5 inches</td></tr>
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In Normandy, the wren could be called <i>Oiseau de Dieu</i> (Bird of God). People believed that this bird was present at the birth of Christ, and brought moss and feathers to form a coverlet for the Holy Child. In other parts of the world, the wren was also regarded as a symbol of wisdom and divinity. The spotting of a wren could be taken as a sign that the beholder would be blessed with inner knowledge during the coming year. Finding a creature so small and camouflaged in its habitat was a metaphor for finding the elusive divinity within all life.<br />
We are lucky enough to have a wren who is a regular visitor to our garden. When I spy this tiny creature bobbing between flower pots in pursuit of insects, I too pause to reflect on the wren's secretive life which so often goes unnoticed.Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-74067728200587604962018-02-08T11:37:00.002+00:002018-02-08T11:40:19.882+00:00Andrew Cowdell, Abandoned paintings<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLDlc6GEqewk1_XbeJeuC1lwhF5XCMLgZxtf2qySJq3Gpn-Kp6GXLWkFiNK7b8QGrVymFaXWOZylYmaTth7o6ptixTnICeOwmJ-ziAbs7OtnwQS7Ab2U0f9B7xOrn-VFlM88TXfkbb28/s1600/fine-art-in-oil-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1089" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLDlc6GEqewk1_XbeJeuC1lwhF5XCMLgZxtf2qySJq3Gpn-Kp6GXLWkFiNK7b8QGrVymFaXWOZylYmaTth7o6ptixTnICeOwmJ-ziAbs7OtnwQS7Ab2U0f9B7xOrn-VFlM88TXfkbb28/s400/fine-art-in-oil-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Half-finished canvases by Andrew Cowdell</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.870588); white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These abandoned canvases are reminders of moments when, for whatever reasons, my vision was racing ahead of execution. During these times fears arise - is it a good composition? will it be worth the time or the effort? who will appreciate it? But what separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears, continue; those who don't, quit. I have since acknowledged that vision is always ahead of execution, mastery of materials is my only contact with reality, and uncertainty is a virtue.</span></span>Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-32739204936218464772018-02-07T11:39:00.001+00:002018-02-07T11:39:27.801+00:00Andrew Cowdell, Corvid, 2018<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVRjIML7P4A31LTJSj2waMZIHc7unXbL7T4lMgvnwf2ts6FMxhUcRGGQuS3FCmdN1mpxpbKMFsw_yLauFsdHtlcGCzdF6ToMpDrDFzhJjJyvgVkahYgSTj_ISNMc6qmmidKcjzEXxFck/s1600/raven-painting-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPVRjIML7P4A31LTJSj2waMZIHc7unXbL7T4lMgvnwf2ts6FMxhUcRGGQuS3FCmdN1mpxpbKMFsw_yLauFsdHtlcGCzdF6ToMpDrDFzhJjJyvgVkahYgSTj_ISNMc6qmmidKcjzEXxFck/s400/raven-painting-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://andrewcowdell.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, Corvid, 2018, oil on board, 10 x 8 inches</td></tr>
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The raven is, in my view, the most imposing species of the family <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvidae" target="_blank"><i>Corvidae</i></a>. It is easy to see how people, struck by the intensity and completeness of the raven's plumage, might conclude that this bird must also be black on the inside - be black at heart. But look closer at the gloss and brilliancy of this corvid and you will notice the sharp sculpted feathers which, in certain light, glow iridescent with purple. The raven is not so black, in this respect, as he is painted. He may transform into an ideal of beauty, to which it would be a delicate compliment to compare the dark eyes or hair of a loved one.Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-39729405055406404442017-07-17T12:19:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:55:40.320+01:00Andrew Cowdell, The way home, 2017<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBmZ4DOB8dBtKSWMuuZEM566nYPg2qanyPmhjvFsQRxLFArHqTNwaFp1VJoZwOzMAoGJYgFmrRXEFcn_yFX31b1sO4O_ji-pu2MHuREmxtbVXhnlxQCJJD_bK_dCTZ_0UfcX1xY9vYWY/s1600/monochrome-art-noir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="982" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaBmZ4DOB8dBtKSWMuuZEM566nYPg2qanyPmhjvFsQRxLFArHqTNwaFp1VJoZwOzMAoGJYgFmrRXEFcn_yFX31b1sO4O_ji-pu2MHuREmxtbVXhnlxQCJJD_bK_dCTZ_0UfcX1xY9vYWY/s320/monochrome-art-noir.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://artinnoir.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, The way home, carbon and watercolour</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The path tears through hedgerows across Bothampstead and cuts across fields toward the outskirts of Hermitage village. The familiar tree has become a symbolic signpost on a walk I've enjoyed countless times. It tells of home, journey's end, a couple of easygoing miles beyond the brow.</span>Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-42899025364827859312017-06-06T12:14:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:12:59.070+01:00Andrew Cowdell, Dawn, 2017<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJSiXhws_IX9NgAFbo3AxxKi6vFbaUkeuN-RmXObpZ2ufL4hKBITrrJTBEaKGjwUPzqokg-JmzSyR19hHsJUATAZggBzq7ONXdb1191-efi74Tm2jJu2Cra8KFHHMnYBRPovW3rqLhRw/s1600/berkshire-art-noir-landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="937" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJSiXhws_IX9NgAFbo3AxxKi6vFbaUkeuN-RmXObpZ2ufL4hKBITrrJTBEaKGjwUPzqokg-JmzSyR19hHsJUATAZggBzq7ONXdb1191-efi74Tm2jJu2Cra8KFHHMnYBRPovW3rqLhRw/s400/berkshire-art-noir-landscape.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://artinnoir.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, Dawn, 2017, carbon and watercolour, 7 x 9"</td></tr>
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These early morning sessions enable me to capture that sense of stillness when trees and fields are wet with the morning dew and the light of the breaking day has not reached its full intensity. The atmosphere created is both romantic and realistic.Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-86430699441609166312016-05-25T13:09:00.001+01:002017-07-17T20:14:54.812+01:00Andrew Cowdell, Two crows at dawn, 2016<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5phU5jDrzsoyq7h62BFFERcr95KEKi4bJ0fqtJTcw9e5NCeOKQSa86QJezgb9mjHMGBaqkco86ZaPD_hMI6tuG89X0p1woWHUzRgtPfKd6mXt5y796CPFyeOmxTkplZcahV7jxyZapk/s1600/andrew-cowdell-fine-art-berkshire-landscape-painting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl5phU5jDrzsoyq7h62BFFERcr95KEKi4bJ0fqtJTcw9e5NCeOKQSa86QJezgb9mjHMGBaqkco86ZaPD_hMI6tuG89X0p1woWHUzRgtPfKd6mXt5y796CPFyeOmxTkplZcahV7jxyZapk/s320/andrew-cowdell-fine-art-berkshire-landscape-painting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://andrewcowdell.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>. Two crows at dawn. 2016. Oil on linen.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My fascination with darkness requires an idea of light. In <i>Two crows at dawn</i>, the beauty of morning’s first light is matched by the eeriness generated by the arresting, black, thorn-like tangle of trees within the hedgerow. This traumatised landscape is a realm that snags, bites and troubles, and yet still invokes the pastoral dream of natural tranquillity. Beauty is envisaged here as William Blake’s “marriage of the contraries”, dependent upon both positive and negative aspects of existence.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The darkness of the setting serves as a representation of the Other, or the Unknown, which subtly imbues the scene with a sense of the supernatural. In subverting the aesthetic certainties of the usual green and pleasant Berkshire countryside, I am simultaneously identifying with both the picturesque and sinister presences within it. Presences which may include fiscal forces churning and poisoning the landscape; evidenced in the painting by tyre marks along the field margin. Alternatively, ‘absences’ may refer to the slow grinding away of our flora and fauna as species are lost; the two sentinel ‘carrion’ crows sent forth by vengeful nature. This landscape may even have its phantoms, lying or waiting where they fell or were taken at some unspecified time in history. And yet, all this darkness depends on the corresponding light of dawn as the beauty of the landscape reawakens.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But ultimately, I shall leave it to your own interpretation.</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-41137602831183497132016-04-23T20:17:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:24:37.440+01:00Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, Chat au clair de lune, c1900<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieH6tPrEKwOg8sDI0cyOjRb85rdyset_0DlmI-PtScAf9nhqTJmC9LTwgRQLKXdvwfigGXuEYN18bAEi8JvdAV0-zqV8LRCtt_T5yaiwlwwNN13dlZMKkPbg2JHimSJPFipC2ymAqXC7w/s1600/Chat+au+clair+de+lune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieH6tPrEKwOg8sDI0cyOjRb85rdyset_0DlmI-PtScAf9nhqTJmC9LTwgRQLKXdvwfigGXuEYN18bAEi8JvdAV0-zqV8LRCtt_T5yaiwlwwNN13dlZMKkPbg2JHimSJPFipC2ymAqXC7w/s320/Chat+au+clair+de+lune.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theophile Alexandre Steinlen, <i>Chat au clair de lune</i>, c1900</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, (1859-1923) was a French painter and printmaker who lived in Montmartre, Paris. He painted and drew many studies of cats including the now famous poster art for Le Chat Noir. Steinlen’s drawing Chat au clair de lune, c1900, includes symbolist elements of witchcraft and paganism. The abstraction of the tree creates a primeval silhouette which posits the ‘familiar’ cat between the moon and an ancient mound on the horizon.</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-43475846912846808642016-03-29T17:19:00.001+01:002017-07-17T20:14:41.355+01:00Andrew Cowdell, Clamour over Hermitage, 2016<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofZCZYFeF4F_kTXeJBPPBK_jFIn8dd4ohOqJ48XFAytkcw-QaZAhac9lTCDO73H5zptBT_fOfpBZvW2obcBLmiVZWCFfnTPFRGBk09Y0lNCAe6FSURqUQ3C153DbyevaIJWdytHIAjPk/s1600/Andrew+Cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofZCZYFeF4F_kTXeJBPPBK_jFIn8dd4ohOqJ48XFAytkcw-QaZAhac9lTCDO73H5zptBT_fOfpBZvW2obcBLmiVZWCFfnTPFRGBk09Y0lNCAe6FSURqUQ3C153DbyevaIJWdytHIAjPk/s320/Andrew+Cowdell.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.andrewcowdell.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, Clamour over Hermitage, 2016, oil on linen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">In this monochrome oil painting, a </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">clamour of rooks enhances the beauty of the Berkshire landscape</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> made desolate by the damp, overcast weather. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the following extract the French poet Arthur Rimbaud describes his affection for these raucous birds:</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Lord, when the meadowland is cold, </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and when in the downcast hamlets the long Angeluses are silent.. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">down on Nature barren of flowers let </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">them sweep from the wide skies, the dear delightful rooks. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>from</i> The Rooks (Les Corbeaux)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">by Arthur Rimbaud, 1854-1891</span></span></div>
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Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-23306670044506659532016-03-19T11:57:00.000+00:002017-07-17T20:23:00.148+01:00Mark Tansey, The Innocent Eye Test, 1981<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsLapJLRS9Ip9CRClpTpr7senS7_evBCVJLAcBLofNJl1uuxrynnQPKqMdHGSA6Pw0veIPn9CkZLQppH4cIJ9WdPcISxjiUWbqtFmVLLT7ksYC1bm0Db1jmfXruJlUZPdYqV7vW1Wkfg/s1600/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsLapJLRS9Ip9CRClpTpr7senS7_evBCVJLAcBLofNJl1uuxrynnQPKqMdHGSA6Pw0veIPn9CkZLQppH4cIJ9WdPcISxjiUWbqtFmVLLT7ksYC1bm0Db1jmfXruJlUZPdYqV7vW1Wkfg/s400/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Tansey, The Innocent Eye Test, 1981</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In this monochrome painting, a cow stands in front of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulus_Potter" target="_blank">Paulus Potter’s The Young Bull, 1647</a>, whilst human experts wonder if it can distinguish artifice from reality. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">The focus of the experiment relies upon Potter’s highly representational painting style, and its power to convince the compliant animal. In the background, men of science make notes whilst standing with their backs to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystacks_(Monet_series)" target="_blank">Monet’s Grainstack</a>. They are scrupulously observing what they see, just as Potter would have done when painting his cows. Monet’s work of Impressionism is rejected as unreal.</span></div>
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Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-34569384106167636992016-03-18T16:00:00.000+00:002017-07-17T20:15:59.522+01:00Andrew Cowdell, The Terrible Beauty of a Winter's Day, 2016<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3WGUcmtTblfV83VHafmyml3qUUnrwoOkLNX8G1wTg9673a_wgczC_JGsghQyP3byrTx52E63VbyxPybPFzrXyhzdoK07UGi8Qr0xu7Y86jJcaS2U8_FHW5ysOgyokF59x3Z5VOv1rtM/s1600/fine-art-oil-painting-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr3WGUcmtTblfV83VHafmyml3qUUnrwoOkLNX8G1wTg9673a_wgczC_JGsghQyP3byrTx52E63VbyxPybPFzrXyhzdoK07UGi8Qr0xu7Y86jJcaS2U8_FHW5ysOgyokF59x3Z5VOv1rtM/s400/fine-art-oil-painting-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://andrewcowdell.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, The Terrible Beauty of a Winter's Day, oil on linen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">With only the corvids for company and little in the way of sunshine, the terrible beauty in my surroundings inspired the subject and title to this monochrome oil painting. </span><span style="color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit;">The corvids I have painted are specifically rooks, which are still often spoken of under the general term ‘crow’. Many times have I observed these eccentric and ragged birds as they twist and tumble through the skies above their communal roosts in the woods. However, once out across the fields these rooks adopt a steady undeviating flight as they commute to their feeding grounds. It may be to rooks that the old saying ‘as the crow flies’ refers.</span></span></div>
<div class="p3" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In the following extract James Thomson relates his meeting with rooks during a bygone winter:</span></span></div>
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<div class="p5" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">See, Winter comes to rule the varied year,</span></span></div>
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<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sullen and sad, with all his rising train—</span></span></div>
<div class="p7" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Vapours, and clouds, and storms. Be these my theme,</span></span></div>
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<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">These, that exalt the soul to solemn thought</span></span></div>
<div class="p9" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And heavenly musing. Welcome, kindred glooms!</span></span></div>
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<div class="p11" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">…But chief the plumy race,</span></span></div>
<div class="p12" style="border: 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The tenants of the sky, its changes speak.</span></span></div>
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<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Retiring from the downs, where all day long</span></span></div>
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<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They pick’d their scanty fare, a black’ning train</span></span></div>
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<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Of clamorous rooks thick-urge their weary flight,</span></span></div>
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<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And seek the closing shelter of the grove.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">from</span><span class="c1" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Seasons: Winter</span></span></div>
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<span class="c0" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-height: 999999px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">by James Thomson, 1700-1748</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-56704948848742410772016-02-16T19:39:00.001+00:002017-07-17T20:27:52.868+01:00So haunted at moonlight with bat and owl and ghostly moth, 1902<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbBk1gt1X8oE1CfGxRY9wDC6ySq0Ie38bG_V_v2kRZrDzAHe77rbDXqVXfecehTQOlI2EYVqMIDjyEUoeTYmBjweAOUhTIIyU6OURyT61jLS4_oHPsdDppPwSI_f4e98w_dE05ICcf_E/s1600/Elizabeth-Shippen-Green-Art-in-Noir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzbBk1gt1X8oE1CfGxRY9wDC6ySq0Ie38bG_V_v2kRZrDzAHe77rbDXqVXfecehTQOlI2EYVqMIDjyEUoeTYmBjweAOUhTIIyU6OURyT61jLS4_oHPsdDppPwSI_f4e98w_dE05ICcf_E/s320/Elizabeth-Shippen-Green-Art-in-Noir.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Elizabeth Shippen Green (1871 – 1954) was an American illustrator whose work appeared in Harper’s Magazine and Saturday Evening Post. Her </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">illustration of a young dryad (or wood nymph) balanced in treetop branches appeared in the 1902 publication of An Old Country House, by Richard Le Galliene. It shows the side of nature that few venture into - the mysterious and undisturbed nighttime:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">“You can never know till you build your own nest high up in the boughs how much goes on within a seemingly idle tree during a summer day: all the hard work and the pretty play, the tragedies and comedies, the war that is waged and the love that is made, from morning till moonlight; so mirthful at morning with bands of singing birds, so haunted at moonlight with bat and owl and ghostly moth; and maybe, if you blow out your lamp and keep very still, somewhere about midnight the dryad who lives in a dainty cupboard down below will open her hidden door and steal up to peer in through the windows at the moonlit shelves.”</span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-48160221081042258072016-01-17T14:46:00.001+00:002017-07-17T20:30:56.060+01:00Charles Sheldon, Portrait of Peggy Hoyt, 1922<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWJGIoq3pxhkPtiwFvIGaQVKTaWBDgWs7xaBpdMcbZKCHFmD6o1v_lJHVduZaL0-ukMFQcFyGiY5Y2zieZPqNI14ood6OfzfMMw-8WHlYJDc-53FOb6ALwEEj7CgMBQaHF_qTmN50h4w/s1600/art-in-noir-charles-sheldon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWJGIoq3pxhkPtiwFvIGaQVKTaWBDgWs7xaBpdMcbZKCHFmD6o1v_lJHVduZaL0-ukMFQcFyGiY5Y2zieZPqNI14ood6OfzfMMw-8WHlYJDc-53FOb6ALwEEj7CgMBQaHF_qTmN50h4w/s320/art-in-noir-charles-sheldon.jpg" width="265" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></div>
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Charles Sheldon (1889 - 1960) was a prolific artist during the Grand Age of American Illustration. After studying under the legendary Alphonse Mucha in Paris, Sheldon set up a studio in New York City to paint stage portraits. His glamorous interpretations of Hollywood stars such as Clara Bow, Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow gained him many commissions to paint covers for the movie magazines of the day. Sheldon's Portrait of Peggy Hoyt is typical of his stylised Art Nouveau approach to portraiture.</div>
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<br />Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-1501002486208446202015-12-05T15:30:00.000+00:002017-07-17T20:33:03.822+01:00Gustave Doré, The Raven, 1884<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IKT9fu76JYAullOt7meUr59qklmpYBYF1zwbu1PoLq4Fzh8xipLmQUNw-e6r6JN6IWZ6YtfJ-DG2YfQeGvAi974RQr0V41EJ-meN0sCljuE0t-gRodLwAPQulRaNRDmCbZILoIoN71c/s1600/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell-the-raven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1IKT9fu76JYAullOt7meUr59qklmpYBYF1zwbu1PoLq4Fzh8xipLmQUNw-e6r6JN6IWZ6YtfJ-DG2YfQeGvAi974RQr0V41EJ-meN0sCljuE0t-gRodLwAPQulRaNRDmCbZILoIoN71c/s320/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell-the-raven.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Gustave Dor<span style="color: #323333; text-align: justify;">é, </span><i>The Raven</i>, 1884</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #323333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Gustave Dor</span><span style="color: #323333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">é </span><span style="color: #323333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">was a prolific artist and illustrator who worked primarily as a wood and steel engraver. In 1884, Doré produced 26 steel engravings for a special illustrated edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem ‘The Raven.’ This refined and beautifully haunting portrayal of the poem’s narrator mourning his dead lover indicates the artist’s sensibilities towards love, death and the heavenly woman. The softened lines and low key chiaroscuro of Doré’s illustration successfully captures the mood of Poe’s work: </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore—</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”</span></div>
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Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-75189228277496196522015-11-20T15:00:00.000+00:002017-07-17T20:17:32.030+01:00Andrew Cowdell, Betty, 2015<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6y4IcCyVhpsuwVjwdDb45-5rX-NenUAcGaFo1xu5jtYmCBdK_iMZkpkhYjaXOJEdKDzkr29W5Z3IDuqhV0_waXNhRSaBwBWrKe1aoqilPZxSFFd1G156OgZqYYX5Jsy547QhtHPSk_I/s1600/fine-art-in-oil-gold-leaf-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-6y4IcCyVhpsuwVjwdDb45-5rX-NenUAcGaFo1xu5jtYmCBdK_iMZkpkhYjaXOJEdKDzkr29W5Z3IDuqhV0_waXNhRSaBwBWrKe1aoqilPZxSFFd1G156OgZqYYX5Jsy547QhtHPSk_I/s320/fine-art-in-oil-gold-leaf-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fineartinoil.com/gold-silver/4585618478" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Andrew Cowdell, <i>Betty</i>, 2015, oil and gold on linen</span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Betty Grable danced, sang, and acted her way through the 1930s to become the biggest box office star of the 1940s. She had honed her famously gorgeous legs to the extent that her studio reportedly insured them for $1 million with Lloyd’s of London. The same legs were soon captured in the most iconic photo of bathing-suit-clad Grable, back to the camera and glancing over one shoulder. As most of her popular roles occurred in the early 1940's American servicemen voted Grable their favourite pinup, and painted her image on the sides of bomber planes.</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-57157330167322822362015-11-19T15:00:00.000+00:002017-07-17T20:35:55.537+01:00Seurat: Post-Impressionist pioneer<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrn8sj5Sat20SYqH37XpUzBjNXfLMBF8OY6j8jmtjtIZRD8J39vOVym1cD8B7wFNWpRTjLQfYUq38vNG3kpDqk61gkRcB8orxDAZHJEyKnIULogtmnNPNNYUhtK4Z3J1RyoOuQaR98NA/s1600/Georges+Seurat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrn8sj5Sat20SYqH37XpUzBjNXfLMBF8OY6j8jmtjtIZRD8J39vOVym1cD8B7wFNWpRTjLQfYUq38vNG3kpDqk61gkRcB8orxDAZHJEyKnIULogtmnNPNNYUhtK4Z3J1RyoOuQaR98NA/s320/Georges+Seurat.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: #e6e6e6; text-align: left;">Georges Seurat, Aman-Jean, 1883, </span><span style="background-color: #e6e6e6; text-align: left;">Conté crayon on paper</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Georges Seurat's study of his friend the artist Aman-Jean (1858–1936) is one of the great portrait drawings of the nineteenth century. A remarkably assured work for a young artist, it was shown in the Paris Salon of 1883 shortly after Seurat's twenty-third birthday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Seurat chose a classic profile pose for his sitter, sensitively portraying the artist with brush in hand and a facial expression of deep concentration. </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The conté crayon touches the paper almost everywhere, but so lightly in places that Seurat creates infinite shades, from the darkest black to the luminescent white of the paper. </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Aman-Jean kept the drawing, and referred to it many years later in a letter to Seurat's biographer as "a very beautiful portrait of me.”</span></div>
<br />Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-52838184509383840722015-10-13T15:00:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:21:39.491+01:00Rita Hayworth: The Lady<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC6xOZwOSaUSPcPJzLE-mGUFTwuwgNquZVu8AumpBlWJWS0V8ci6TPsMnUgRLsBlzglPAFdnNurc6lYNUfPhL55R7GbeJyzQn0BRhC6iAgkrG-SwLG0d2Cmv_WEacx7SPtX3DGvD2IY5M/s1600/fine-art-in-oil-silver-leaf-painting-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC6xOZwOSaUSPcPJzLE-mGUFTwuwgNquZVu8AumpBlWJWS0V8ci6TPsMnUgRLsBlzglPAFdnNurc6lYNUfPhL55R7GbeJyzQn0BRhC6iAgkrG-SwLG0d2Cmv_WEacx7SPtX3DGvD2IY5M/s320/fine-art-in-oil-silver-leaf-painting-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fineartinoil.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, <i>The Lady</i>, 2015, oil and silver leaf on linen</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>The Lady</i> is a silver leaf oil portrait of Elsa (Rita Hayworth) in <i>The Lady from Shanghai</i> (1948). Director Orson Welles stars alongside his estranged wife Hayworth before finalising their divorce. In taking the role of scheming femme fatale Elsa, Hayworth’s image was to undergo a drastic change. She allegedly wanted to break from the character she had become so identified with in her previous hit movie <i>Gilda</i> (1946), so she had her famous long hair cut and bleached blonde. Welles was held responsible for the controversial look, as Hayworth later recalled Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn saying “He’s ruined you - he cut your hair off!”</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-39261125705333830922015-10-02T15:00:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:37:25.436+01:00Tamara de Lempicka: Deco diva<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfA2mJ3TbyA_1-ToQzikVYeJAsFoRX11X52qhxLeURoYSzAnHE5ILgSR3qDpJBzqZPBzMZduvGmHkgLIRP0HqzF0caLQGIbOJaWaXJVZY7AeMWIYOQlWmPy5e8U8zcWi_LMDCz9CD3AxI/s1600/art-in-noir-blog-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfA2mJ3TbyA_1-ToQzikVYeJAsFoRX11X52qhxLeURoYSzAnHE5ILgSR3qDpJBzqZPBzMZduvGmHkgLIRP0HqzF0caLQGIbOJaWaXJVZY7AeMWIYOQlWmPy5e8U8zcWi_LMDCz9CD3AxI/s320/art-in-noir-blog-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_de_Lempicka" target="_blank">Tamara de Lempicka, 1898-1980</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Consciously converging her identities as painter, image and object of desire, Tamara de Lempicka defined the glamorous modern woman of Paris’s 1920s elite. She enjoyed a widespread reputation as an alluring Cubism-inspired artist who allowed interruptions in portrait sittings only for champagne, bath and massage. In spite of her omission from modern art history de Lempicka’s paintings have left an artistic legacy which still poses provocative questions about feminine self-representation.</span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-63253715118228760492015-09-16T15:30:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:38:42.781+01:00Fashion and Painting: a symbiosis<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Esx-QCaOZ0NJQ4_CjmZjvNScwnCp3xQ6V51Wsj1c8qFh3OKuDhMSX8hhSF-MkRHXIuT0m5tIc3wzc9aY2QOvU1pW2P9PGNByEMTXkkcCuGKRkDm24nl5cOFfAKgjSnAB7b35ihWHL_4/s1600/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell-monochrome-painting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Esx-QCaOZ0NJQ4_CjmZjvNScwnCp3xQ6V51Wsj1c8qFh3OKuDhMSX8hhSF-MkRHXIuT0m5tIc3wzc9aY2QOvU1pW2P9PGNByEMTXkkcCuGKRkDm24nl5cOFfAKgjSnAB7b35ihWHL_4/s320/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell-monochrome-painting.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://www.fineartinoil.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, <i>Faux noir</i>, oil on canvas</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Faux noir</i> is one of my first large-scale monochrome oil paintings. It is a figurative composition exploring the language of clothing, a dialogue which can subtly emphasise qualities of personality and sentiment. The symbiosis of fashion and painting is a theme I enjoy seeking out in galleries, especially those containing portraits of the Second Empire and Impressionism. As art inspired fashion, so fashion served as a muse for art.</span>Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-72346682678201636862015-05-27T15:42:00.003+01:002017-07-17T20:40:52.148+01:00Andrew Loomis, Figure Drawing for All It's Worth, 1943<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguyZ_zzLUMnHtJrZMSTIeCnJjsm2u38lb938JWxMXVzPrZ2NmmeLknGCTlRQUwoK9swNH31IoxEswDiOKltD_psFo38SsNLFhWnIJcfQbsfeHJ78OLOjMHapWkmeLV8LpzA0fq4FEInAM/s1600/art-in-noir-andrew-loomis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguyZ_zzLUMnHtJrZMSTIeCnJjsm2u38lb938JWxMXVzPrZ2NmmeLknGCTlRQUwoK9swNH31IoxEswDiOKltD_psFo38SsNLFhWnIJcfQbsfeHJ78OLOjMHapWkmeLV8LpzA0fq4FEInAM/s320/art-in-noir-andrew-loomis.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew Loomis, <i>Figure Drawing for All It's Worth</i>, 1943</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Loomis" target="_blank">Andrew Loomis</a> (1892-1959) was one of the most successful commercial illustrators of his generation. His artworks featured in <i>Cosmopolitan</i>, <i>Saturday Evening Post</i>, <i>Ladies’ Home Journal</i> and other national magazines. Loomis is best known as the author of several practical art books, including <i>Figure Drawing for All It's Worth</i> (1943). The make-up and hairstyles in many of his drawings are indicative of the glorious era in which they were published.</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-18584152620647878762015-05-21T15:00:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:43:21.252+01:00Eugene Carriere, Her Mother's Kiss, 1899<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaSsYmKfTHD6i1WhpfhiPfi5HWmCCSsXfRAQkb-_bWvgPI7eqv1eozo6-MW3cAw_qActZTq9AN3j71utcLGclplnsM5Tca8xzBpZDJ-gpCqA7AEL86d8FKPTeK0KxjQYyu9l7Jr5iiak8/s1600/Her-mothers-kiss-eugene-carriere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaSsYmKfTHD6i1WhpfhiPfi5HWmCCSsXfRAQkb-_bWvgPI7eqv1eozo6-MW3cAw_qActZTq9AN3j71utcLGclplnsM5Tca8xzBpZDJ-gpCqA7AEL86d8FKPTeK0KxjQYyu9l7Jr5iiak8/s320/Her-mothers-kiss-eugene-carriere.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Carri%C3%A8re" target="_blank">Eugene Carriere</a>, <i>Her Mother's Kiss</i>, 1899</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Eugene Carriere (1849-1906) developed his own <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolism" target="_blank">Symbolist</a> style using monochrome or low-key painting techniques. His colours tend towards neutral browns and greys with strong contrasts of light and shadow. Subjects are in a ghostly mist ‘like those seen a few paces away in the London fog’.</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-25608596137196280942015-05-14T15:00:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:44:40.606+01:00Veronica Lake: cabaret noir<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnDak-7aBP1O7lZJROhCwFN6t28XWGRI6wDnT07Aj3kNLLF27q2pGnh9rDcsfhwaMC3HYOy8FrL9F2R035kr2poKVkHeryUyo2qSspZZidLFUNc5gO_vjOAR6N4GIBgbin76cxO-n2zo/s1600/fine-art-in-oil-art-noir-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnDak-7aBP1O7lZJROhCwFN6t28XWGRI6wDnT07Aj3kNLLF27q2pGnh9rDcsfhwaMC3HYOy8FrL9F2R035kr2poKVkHeryUyo2qSspZZidLFUNc5gO_vjOAR6N4GIBgbin76cxO-n2zo/s320/fine-art-in-oil-art-noir-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fineartinoil.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, <i>Cabaret noir</i>, 2015, oil on canvas</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Veronica Lake exudes a guileless charm as a nightclub singer in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Gun_for_Hire" target="_blank">This Gun for Hire</a></i> (1942). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #323333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This classic hard-boiled thriller was adapted from Grahame Greene’s novel </span></span><i style="color: #323333; letter-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Gun_for_Sale" target="_blank">A Gun for Sale</a></i><span style="color: #323333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> and made Alan Ladd an instant star. Ladd’s gun-for-hire </span></span><i style="color: #323333; letter-spacing: 0px;">Raven</i><span style="color: #323333;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> is a brutal </span>assassin <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">with a benevolent affection for cats; the scene where he silences a stray moggie is particularly portent. </span></span></span><span style="color: #323333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Lake’s character becomes a symbol of redemption to Ladd’s murderous anti-hero who holds her captive. United by fate, the singer and the killer form an uneasy alliance to expose a chemical company suspected of treason against their country. </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>This Gun for Hire</i> was the first film of several to pair Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake together.</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-249752057674140256.post-35083473690620387562015-05-07T16:53:00.000+01:002017-07-17T20:45:45.134+01:00Carole Lombard: platinum blonde<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjfHwhhB8zswXkWYWIaz5gcH3I7LRFfRaquzeHiXDbqL_I-OP-E97KfYGbxNUT6RoPIqx7M-WJ3OZ9I-p7NaoiFEVaFZjXmTZ4trTWQfd6b3gJ5bpn31ZvZfKqGFSUhipJTGMdG_pHx8/s1600/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpjfHwhhB8zswXkWYWIaz5gcH3I7LRFfRaquzeHiXDbqL_I-OP-E97KfYGbxNUT6RoPIqx7M-WJ3OZ9I-p7NaoiFEVaFZjXmTZ4trTWQfd6b3gJ5bpn31ZvZfKqGFSUhipJTGMdG_pHx8/s320/art-in-noir-andrew-cowdell.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fineartinoil.com/" target="_blank">Andrew Cowdell</a>, <i>Carole Lombard</i>, 2012</td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Carole Lombard was one of the most gifted women stars during the thirties.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Described as “Platinum blonde, with a heart-shaped face, delicate, impish features and a figure made to be swathed in silver lamé”, Lombard’s movie career was cut short in 1942 when she died in a plane crash aged 33.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">After her death, the United States Government commissioned a Liberty Ship named SS Carole Lombard, which rescued hundreds of survivors from sunken ships in the Pacific and returned them to safety.</span></span></div>
Dark Paintinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08379476661316942302noreply@blogger.com0