Mary Cassatt was born on this day in 1844
A wonderful portrait by Edgar Degas, c. 1880-84 @ngadc
"I used to go and flatten my nose against that window and absorb all I could of Degas' art. It changed my life. I saw art then as I wanted to see it."
Remembering Mary Cassatt on her birthday
The First Lady & Paul Mellon look at Degas' Portrait of Mary Cassatt at the @ngadc, 1962
Mary Cassatt Self-Portrait, c. 1880 @si_npg
"M. Degas & Mlle. Cassatt are, nevertheless, the only artists who distinguish themselves... and who offer some attraction & some excuse in the pretentious show of window dressing & infantile daubing."
- Revue des Deux Mondes, 1879
Edgar Degas
Mary Cassatt au Louvre, 1879-80
Degas once said, "She has infinite talent." @si_npg
Today we're celebrating the birthday of Mary Cassatt
🎂🎉
Mary Cassatt in the gardens at St. Trophimes, Arles, 1912
She was forced to flee Beaufresne for Grasse, in southern France, in 1914, because her home was close to front lines in the first World War. She underwent several failed operations for cataracts, & would never paint again.
Mary Cassatt
Woman Bathing (La Toilette)
1890–91 @metmuseum
“I don’t believe a woman could draw that well. Did you really do this?”
Just when I was warming up to Degas, I read this quote.
Mary Cassatt: Summer (1894-5)
Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago
"With her deep knowledge of the history of art, Cassatt fearlessly took on the challenge of creating a new kind of painting."
- Griselda Pollock
Mary Cassatt, At the Theater, c. 1879
pastel on paper
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
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When you find Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in a #LittleFreeLibrary, it’s the universe telling you to read Heart of Darkness.
There are about ten Little Free Libraries within walking distance of our place. My big find today: Mr. Punch Goes Motoring, from c. 1935. I’ll be tweeting some of the best bits.
Some pretty funny cartoons, surprisingly. And a great colour one to start.
Remembering Sun Ra on his birthday 🎂🎉
This Baron Wolman shot was used on the cover of Rolling Stone, April 19, 1969
Take the A Train:
Ming Smith
Sun Ra Space II, New York, 1978
"A jazz musician has certain notes - & then they improvise. I basically improvise with what I have. If there’s low light, I deal with it."
Remembering Sun Ra on his birthday 🎂
At the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague
Photo: Frans Schellekens, 14 July 1990
Dr. Otto Boehler
Anton Bruckner pays his respects to Richard Wagner
Today, Wagner's birthday, I'll do the same. Listening to the Tristan prelude:
I believe in God, Mozart, and Beethoven.
~Richard Wagner, born on this day in 1813
Sir Leslie Ward, published in Vanity Fair 19 May 1877
Richard Wagner by Chevalier Luigi Bernieri, for Elliott & Fry
chlorobromide print on cream card mount, 1881 @NPGLondon
"Monsieur Wagner a de beaux moments, mais de mauvais quart d'heures."
(Monsieur Wagner has good moments, but awful quarters of an hour!)
- Gioachino Rossini
Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt (Vaucluse), 1957
Out for a walk Willy Ronis discovered this scene, "as if a curtain had suddenly risen over a play by Marcel Pagnol. But there was a hole in the center of the stage." Suddenly the little boy came out to fill it!
Willy Ronis
Promenade de nuit à Venise (Italie), 1959
"I have fun looking at the store's sign, a somewhat naive tribute to the magazine for which I worked a lot. Nothing to add ; I'm not very good at multi-level reading."
Willy Ronis
Rue de la Huchette, Paris, 1957
I love Willy Ronis's commentaries to his photographs; he almost always has something interesting to say. None available here, but this outstanding photo can certainly stand on its own.