Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Larryw7]

Georges de La Tour 1593 – 1652 is a fascinating artist who was influenced by Caravaggio before going on to develop a distinctive style based on extreme simplification of form in scenes lit by candles but unlike Caravaggio deliberately divested of melodrama.

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful.

[Flex Mentallo]

Georges de La Tour 1593 – 1652 is a fascinating artist who was influenced by Caravaggio before going on to develop a distinctive style based on extreme simplification of form in scenes lit by candles but unlike Caravaggio deliberately divested of melodrama.

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful.

 

Yes, there are some interesting artists influenced by Caravaggio right through to the 19th Century and I'll post a few more as I think of them!

[Cat-Man_America]

[font:Times New Roman]This brings back fond memories of my visit to the Museo del Prado last summer. [/font]

[Flex Mentallo]

[font:Times New Roman]This brings back fond memories of my visit to the Museo del Prado last summer. [/font]

 

Cat, I'd be curious to know whether Las Meninas is in any way different from the expectations illustrations of it encourage?

[Boba]

I’ve long been fascinated by mirrors and this is my sorry attempt to create the illusion. (It's shown here hanging in my last exhibition, some years ago now, and measures roughly 10'x7'.)

 

 

This is amazing, and seven by ten feet no less

Love to see more of your stuff. Is it posted here?

[Flex Mentallo]

I’ve long been fascinated by mirrors and this is my sorry attempt to create the illusion. (It's shown here hanging in my last exhibition, some years ago now, and measures roughly 10'x7'.)

 

 

This is amazing, and seven by ten feet no less

Love to see more of your stuff. Is it posted here?

 

There are more of my efforts interlaced throughout the thread.

 

I've also just rediscovered some sketches done while working with refugees in the former Yugoslavia during the conflict so I'll post them when finished scanning to illustrate one or two anecdotes of that rather harrowing experience, still vivid in my mind after nearly 20 years.

[Flex Mentallo]

...meanwhile, these photos of my last show will give you a better sense of scale:

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

For reference, the other paintings shown here measure 4'x5'

 

 

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I love Wolverton. This is my favorite by him from Weird Mysteries #2. Here comes the bride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Since one of the things this thread is about is artists who have inspired us, might be time to recap the tale of the magic shopping cart. When I was a tween in San Diego in the early 1960s I used to take the ferry from Coronado Island (where I lived) over to downtown SD to cruise the used bookstores. Lanning’s Book Shop between Ninth & Tenth on Broadway (next to a skeezy bar that fascinated and repelled me) was run by an old lady who kept a shopping cart full of coverless 1950s comics out front for a penny apiece.

Part of the magic was no matter how many comics were bought (quite a few!) the cart would be full next trip… But most of the magic was the things themselves. Crom, Ken Shannon, Frankenstein, Sniffer and the Deadly Dozen (vs Iron Jaw!), ACG horror, Atlas: a comics cornucopia of almost infinite proportions. (Don’t recall much EC or DC.)

But two books in particular towered above the rest (though it would be many years before I’d know all the details of title and issue number etc): Weird Mysteries #5 & Mister Mystery #7. In both cases the lead story did most of the ‘heavy lifting’, and both stories were drawn and presumably written by Basil Wolverton.

“Swamp Monster” & “Brain Bats”, “Brain Bats” & “Swamp Monster” – o but those 2 etched deep into my young psyche. I still feel his mighty pen carving those thick definitive lines across my mind.

 

 

A fascinating reminiscence. It's when they catch us early in life that they leave the deepest impression isn't it?

 

All I knew about American comics as a boy was based on the importation of Silver Age Marvel, DC, Charlton and ACG. All of which had the Comics Code Approved Logo. But sometimes an oddball comic would fall into my keeping published by a mysterious company called IW. They had a completely different feel to them and did not carry the Comics Code logo. The stories were darker, the artwork more lurid. I of course had no frame of reference for Golden Age comics. I didn't know they existed. I couldn't figure them out.

 

The story that made the deepest impression on me was from IW's Planet Comics #8.

 

 

 

"We shall rise again" haunted me for years, especially the twist at the end! It was only many years later that I was able to track down the original publication in Planet comics #72.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2013 by alanna

[Flex Mentallo]

Joseph Wright of Derby 1734–1797

 

Another artist who was influenced by Caravaggio. He lived during the age of enlightenment, when science and religion waged war on each other. (The French chemist Lavoisiere was guillotined during the French revolution for example.)

 

Wright associated with scientists and his best known works depict scientific experiments by candlelight.

 

 

 

 

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[Flex Mentallo]

A visit to Mount Vesuvius also influenced his work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Though the works of his I love best are his tranquil, glowing moonlit landscapes.

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]