Fire Eater Paris 1982
Fire Eater Paris 1982, originally uploaded by Stephen Rees.
I am pleased I found this print. I don’t think I have scanned it or posted it anywhere before.
This photo was taken in the square around the Pompidou Centre. The old Parisian fruit and veg market (Les Halles) had been moved out, and Richard Rogers had designed his new exhibition/art gallery with the insides out.
Here is a picture of the building from Wikipedia that I found on Bill McEwen’s blog.
Street performers were actively encouraged - something London picked up on later with the renewal of the Covent Garden market (see below). There we kept the buildings but created an equally lively space.
Street performer Covent Garden 2007
This is (in part) what cities are supposed to be like.
Annie Leibovitz: one of the most gifted photographers alive
Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog - art:
This is about photography, not about The Queen. For what it’s worth I look forward to the UK becoming the UR before Charlie boy takes over The Firm.
But please click the link to see the stunning pic and read Jonathan Jones
If ever there was a case of photography challenging painting, and winning on its chosen battleground, this is it. Liebovitz’s portrait of the Queen is a real work of art.
Brothers in Arles
Gail Starr, Special to the Sun
Published: Saturday, January 27, 2007
THE YELLOW HOUSE
Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks
in Arles
BY MARTIN GAYFORD
Little, Brown/H.B. Fenn, 339 pages ($32.99)
An interesting review - and with two links that I followed up and spent a lot of time on. So, since this is a web log, it is worth giving the actual URLs which work - unlike the ones in the Sun.
The Art Institute of Chicago has a fairly straightforward approach - easy to navigate and find what you want and some nice larger scale reproductions of the paintings - though all small enough to deter copying. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam on the other hand, has all this and more - even though the “experience” is little bit overdone, in my view, relying heavily on the viewer “interacting” in ways that are sometimes hard to detect. But nice music for the multi-media fans. Have a fast connection though - it takes a while to load - but well worth the time I think.
Van Gogh has, of course, become something of a modern icon. His paintings now command some of the highest prices in the world. His life is so well documented - mainly in his own letters to his brother, Theo - that he has been the subject of many books and films. And the Don McLean song “Vincent”. But despite all that - or maybe because of it - his mental illness, his poverty and generosity, his suicide - seeing his paintings has always had a profound impact. Not just on me but literally millions. And I have stood in front of his paintings in Paris, Amsterdam and Chicago - as well as in London - and they always stun me. I live with two large prints - Thatched Cottages at Cordeville and The Harvest - in my sitting room.
“But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you”
