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The Macchiaioli painters were active in Florence, Italy in the mid 19th century. They were revolutionaries who supported the fight for the unification of Italy. They broke from the academic style of painting and, through their use of color and form, are considered proto impressionists who emerged a decade before the more famous French impressionists who followed.
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| Members of the Macchiaioli at the Caffè Michelagnolo |
Yangon is what the old city of Rangoon is currently called. In 1989 the military junta changed its name, as well as changing the country's name from Burma to Myanmar. The name changes business gets tiresome, but I guess since we changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, we can't complain too much.
At any rate, the walk is through some very busy main and side streets. There were a tremendous number of food stalls everywhere. In my post on eating in ancient Rome, it was stated that the Romans primarily ate street food because their apartments weren't really set up for cooking -- I wondered if that wasn't the case in this city?
The buildings were a bit run down looking, with burglar bars even on upper story windows which is never a good sign. However, the people were dressed in new looking clothes and there were nice cars parked about. I'm guessing it was a middle-class neighborhood.
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William James Bennett (1787−1844) was born and trained in art in England. In 1816 he moved to the United States, where the bulk of his work was produced. He is best known for using a printing method called aquatint. That is a method where acid is used to etch the plate which results in broad tonal areas which resemble watercolor painting.
Edited to add: these images are from the Meisterdrucke website. You can reproductions at it. There are more at the link.
Monkeys. As a Floridian I can't begin to tell you the number of nights I've laid awake worrying about monkey hordes overrunning my fair State. We already have pythons, kudzus, and snowbirds; we don't need to add felonious little primates to the mix.
I had planned on spending my Golden Years sitting on my porch sipping on mint julips, but increasingly I fear it will end up being a desperate defense of my homestead against vociferous monkey flocks. Racoons are bad enough, but these creatures with their little primate fingers and black hearts will terrorize any neighborhood they visit.
Why, oh why, do my retirement years have a simian Sword of Damocles hanging over them?
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Paul Sérusier (1864-1927) was a French post-impressionist painter. In 1888 he joined an artist's colony and was closely associated with Paul Gaugan. I can't say that I am a fan of his color palette. He seems to have grayed-down his colors and some of his works look a bit muddy as a result. However. that may just be an artifact of the reproductions of his works.
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| Paul Sérusier by G Michelet |
