Something Beautiful

Pixdaus (God Gave Us Pics)

This site seems worth a trial - Pixdaus, subtitled God Gave Us Pics!.

Madonna and Child

You need to look at these close-up to appreciate them - Madonna and Child , c. 1500, by Pietro Perugino. Pretty extraordinary - 

Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome

Not sure where the best page is on Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome's only Gothic church.  But these two make a good beginning --

Paradox Place

Sacred Destinations . 

William H. Johnson: Retrospective

The AAM portion of the Smithsonian site has quite a nice exhibition on African-American artist William H. Johnson. 

All fifty-three works presented are listed, complete with thumbnails, in the checklist section. (9 pages)    

The exhibition's curator has identified six major themes.  Three of them are  --       

• Journeys (8 works)
  
• Scenes of City and Country Life (5 works)
• War Effort (4 works)
  

But I feel a strong preference for the remaining, perhaps more personal, three --        

• Family and Friends (6 works)
• Fighters for Freedom (6 works)
• Women Builders (1 work, 7 details) (personal favorite)

 

Mom and young 'uns

Don't miss these two photos over at Loren's excellent blog.

Howard Zinn: A new New Deal?

For a number of reasons (including a sense of despair), I have refrained for the most part from commenting on political matters in this blog.   That time, however, is coming to an end.   

I'll begin with a quotation from progressive historian Howard Zinn, who suggested in a recent issue of The Nation magazine that the Democratic candidate for president should make the following statement to the American electorate.  I can only applaud, and dream that a nominee would have the courage and creativity to do so. 

"Our nation is in crisis, just as it was when Roosevelt took office. At that time, people desperately needed help, they needed jobs, decent housing, protection in old age. They needed to know that the government was for them and not just for the wealthy classes. This is what the American people need today.

"I will do what the New Deal did, to make up for the failure of the market system. It put millions of people to work through the Works Progress Administration, at all kinds of jobs, from building schools, hospitals, playgrounds, to repairing streets and bridges, to writing symphonies and painting murals and putting on plays. We can do that today for workers displaced by closed factories, for professionals downsized by a failed economy, for families needing two or three incomes to survive, for writers and musicians and other artists who struggle for security.

"The New Deal's Civilian Conservation Corps at its peak employed 500,000 young people. They lived in camps, planted millions of trees, reclaimed millions of acres of land, built 97,000 miles of fire roads, protected natural habitats, restocked fish and gave emergency help to people threatened by floods.

"We can do that today, by bringing our soldiers home from war and from the military bases we have in 130 countries. We will recruit young people not to fight but to clean up our lakes and rivers, build homes for people in need, make our cities beautiful, be ready to help with disasters like Katrina. The military is having a hard time recruiting young men and women for war, and with good reason. We will have no such problem enlisting the young to build rather than destroy.

"We can learn from the Social Security program and the GI Bill of Rights, which were efficient government programs, doing for older people and for veterans what private enterprise could not do. We can go beyond the New Deal, extending the principle of social security to health security with a totally free government-run health system. We can extend the GI Bill of Rights to a Civilian Bill of Rights, offering free higher education for all.

"We will have trillions of dollars to pay for these programs if we do two things: if we concentrate our taxes on the richest 1 percent of the population, not only their incomes but their accumulated wealth, and if we downsize our gigantic military machine, declaring ourselves a peaceful nation.

"We will not pay attention to those who complain that this is 'big government.' We have seen big government used for war and to give benefits to the wealthy. We will use big government for the people."

Flying over Mars

Here's something so wonderful it brings tears to my eyes -- a chance to fly over the surface of Mars.

American Graphic Masters

Graphic Masters is the title of an online exhibition at the the American Art Museum site (part of the Smithsonian Institute).  Here are three works that especially appealed to me --

Excelsior Geyser, Yellowstone Park, 1873, by Thomas Moran (watercolor, pencil)

November First, 1950, by Andrew Wyeth (watercolor)

August Breakfast, Maine, 1997, by Carolyn Brady (watercolor) 

And here is another that I like very much --

Ezekiel Saw the Wheel, c. 1943, William H. Johnson (tempera, pen and ink, pencil)

and that I have selected especially because it somehow reminds me of that very special contemporary American artist, Girl from the North Country.   

Early American Quilts

The American Art Museum, a division of the Smithsonian Institute, has an online exhibition featuring Early American Quilts.

Of the eighteen or so examples provided, these are the two I personally liked best --

Appliquéd Quilt, 1818, by Ann Dagge

Friendship Quilt, 1843–45, by unknown maker.

Edward Hopper Scrapbook

At the Smithsonian site - an Edward Hopper Scrapbook. If you like Hopper, you'll definitely enjoy this scrapbook.