The Surreal

Rene Magritte, The Lovers.

In high school I saw this painting and was inspired to write a poem. What do you think of the painting?

Merriam Webster dictionary definition of Surrealism: the principles, ideals, or practice of producing fantastic or incongruous imagery or effects in art, literature, film, or theater by means of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations

Below is The Empire of Lights also by the French Surrealist, Rene Magritte. Do you notice anything irrational or unnatural? Click on the painting for a full view.


Below is the surrealist painting, Persistence of Time by Salvador Dali. Have you seen this painting before? Click on it for the full painting. It looks like a scene Gregor Samsa might wake up to, if he hadn't already turned into a bug!

The work of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist, has often been described as surreal or dream-like. Here is her painting What the Water Gave Me. You decide.


Also by Kahlo, The Two Fridas. Click on image for full painting.

The Violence of Grace

Caravaggio, The Conversion of St. Paul on the Road to Damascus (Click on image for full painting)

On his way to Damascus, Saul is knocked from his horse, blinded for 3 days in a violent moment of conversion captured here by Caravaggio, an Italian artist between 1593 and 1610, considered the first great representative of the Baroque school of painting. This is Flannery O'Connor's grandmother, hat knocked off to one side, legs askew, sitting on the dusty road. Some vacation!

Here is another painting by Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. Notice how the sword of death is coming, as Matthew reaches to the angel's extended hand. Again, click the image, for the full painting.

Jacob Lawrence Harlem Renaissance Artist

Jacob Lawrence, Migration Spreads (from the Migration Series)



Jacob Lawrence, One of the first Race Riots Occurred in East St. Louis (from the Migration Series)

Jacob Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an African American painter; he was married to fellow artist Gwendolyn Knight. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", though by his own account the primary influence was not so much French art as the shapes and colors of Harlem. Lawrence is among the best-known twentieth century African American painters, a distinction shared with Romare Bearden. Lawrence was only in his twenties when his "Migration Series" made him nationally famous. The series of paintings was featured in a 1941 issue of Fortune magazine. The series depicted the epic Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North.

Go to this url to see the slide show of the complete Migration Series
http://www.phillipscollection.org/migration_series/flash/experience.cfm

Here are more of Jacob Lawrence's paintings. Click on the image to get a full view. What do you think of them?


Jacob Lawrence, Harlem


Jacob Lawrence, Story Painter


Jacob Lawrence, Barber Shop (click on image to see full view)

Julie Heffernan

Broken Home, Julie Heffernan


Enchantment, Julie Heffernan


What do you think of these paintings? Heffernan is painting NOW, yet somehow her paintings seem like from a different time and place... A "place" that reminds me of the magic of Graywolf, or just the possibilities of the imagination.

Art work by Annie Seikonia

Fence, Annie Seikonia


Graywolf, Annie Seikonia

We didn't discuss it. What do you think of the drawing of Graywolf?

Did the drawing influence how you imagined him?

Above Graywolf is a photograph Annie took that has a certain mysterious feeling to it I like. It's almost like I can see Graywolf in this scene. What do you think of it?

Check out more of Annie Seikonia's writing and art work on her blog, The White Cafe,
http://www.aseikonia.blogspot.com/

Plums

photo from FatFree Vegan Kitchen

The title of this blog is from William Carlos Williams’ poem of the same name.

This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

The poem was a note to Williams’ wife, Flossie. Instead of writing — Ate the plums! Bill or We’re out of plums. Sorry. Bill, he wrote this poem. Every day living can be the subject of poems. Just as every day people, can have a wolf as an imaginary friend.