Nicolai Cikovsky (1933–2016)

Thank goodness for university libraries' deep collections, but I wish they didn't always remove the dust jackets.

Anyway, reading this as part of my RP kick after seeing one of his still lifes at Crystal Bridges. I (and some of the essayists in these books) judge the man's work as being 'ahead of his time.' Well, I don't know the full intent of the artist Juan Sanchez Cotan but his work, 'Quince, Cabbage, Melon and Cucumber,' from 1602 (!) certainly seems 'modern' to me... and as I google it show more for a good image for my files I see that I'm late to the party; it's already well known. Anyway, maybe next I'll see if I can find other good examples of his work.

Back to RP. Every bio so far mentions his trouble with drink, to the point of blaming alcoholism for his early death. One of the pieces here has a kinder & more insightful note... father Charles Wilson contributed to the need to escape to drink, and chemicals from taxidermy contributed to illness & probably also to death.

The piece that is a collection of letters, mostly from Charles Wilson to Raphaelle and to his other sons, is enlightening. For example, as early as 1814 Raphaelle was assumed to be at death's door. He pulled himself together, it seems, but was still stressed as his marriage (remember, it was arranged by father CW) was not harmonious and there were the bouts of illness to deal with. CW assumed it to be gout but modern scholars are not so sure.

This book sure does have some interesting bits. See CWP's 'Benjamin and Eleanor...' https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.50684.html.' Imo, it's disingenuous to focus only on the fruit in his lap, the setting... and to disregard the staff in his lap and the snake-like sash she's wearing....

Well, done. More text than pix, but a large enough book that I still found plenty of pix that I had not seen before. I do still have one more large book to read and then I think that will be enough for me of the tragedy & glory of the underappreciated Raphael Peale. show less

I didn't know of this artist's work in watercolours, but I have fallen in love with them. Winslow Homer painted between 1873 - 1905. He painted what he saw while visiting the areas of New England and the Adirondacks in America, the seacoast of Cullercoats in England and parts of the Caribbean and Canada. Near the end of his life he said "You will see, in the future I will live by my watercolours" and with over seven hundred paintings to his credit, he has lived on!!

Decent review of Homer's art and where it stood within his life and the world around him. I really enjoyed discovering the differences in the artist's use of oils and watercolors, along with the constant themes of death and nature. Excellent beginning on my study of Homer.