ALL FIRED UP

    I recently saw a video piece about the Portuguese artisan tile tradition called azulejo, and it made memories surface about my mother's mosaic art projects when I was a little girl. I don't know how she got interested in mosaics, but I have very pleasant memories of going with her to an artisan tile shop. In it were stacks and stacks, aisles and aisles of the most amazing richly colored tiles. I think it was my first experience of going somewhere that artists go.

    My mother's mosaic masterpiece was a depiction of the Mexican volcano/god legend of Popocatepetl. With many hundreds of tiny tiles she crafted a lovely and dramatic scene. I was thrilled for her when that piece was chosen to be displayed in the Newport Beach Public Library. 
    But getting back to the Portuguese azulejo - I had no idea whatsoever that this tradition exists. These mosaic masterpieces that are both inside and covering buildings are absolutely stunning.

     Tile work has been both a building tool and a decorative statement since the days of Mesopotamia, and in every culture that followed throughout history.

Greece

Pompeii

Roman

Byzantine

Turkey

Palestine

     Today tile is usually relegated to lining the walls of public restrooms, transit stations, and fast food restaurants. But there are some examples of spectacular contemporary mosaic tile murals throughout the world.

Costa Rica

 

East London (Ode to Hitchcock)

Hanoi

Rio

    It is way too easy (lazy) to slap plain tiles and grout onto walls, floors, and counter tops. A few well placed artisan tiles can make an area an artistic statement. Here's some West Coast artists who carry on the wonderful mosaic tradition.

LA's Judith Scallon

Berkeley's Penny Brogden

San Diego's Diedre Lee

Marlo Bartels of Laguna Beach

The people of Petaluma, CA, Face Fountain

DESTRUCTO

    The recent movie release, The Monuments Men, stirs thoughts about the fragility of artworks. Sometimes people don't think about what a keystone to culture that artworks are. There are many ways to destroy a culture, one method being to take away artistic traditions. Adolph Hitler knew that, and many more throughout history knew it too.

    The Great Sphinx at Giza was constructed during the Old Kingdom era of Egypt, between 2558-2532 BC. It is the oldest and largest monolith statue in history, possibly depicting the Pharaoh Khafra. Its missing nose is attributed to vandalism by Sufi Muslims in 1378 AD, who did not like that the locals were making offerings to the Sphinx. Chisels or rods were used to pry the nose off. The popular story that Napoleon's soldiers cannon balled it is not generally believed to be true.

 

    The stripping of the ancient Greek building, the Parthenon, in Athens was shameful. It is one thing for a culture to share its treasures with museums of other countries, but the British Earl of Elgin in 1801-1812 removed half of the carvings and statuary from this structure, by permit from the Ottoman Empire authorities. In this case the motivations were arrogance and greed. The British Museum currently holds the pieces, and controversy rages about returning these artworks to their original home.

 

    Just a few years ago a heartbreaking total destruction of monumental artworks was the dynamiting in 2011 by the Taliban of two giant standing Buddha sculptures carved into sandstone cliffs in Afghanistan. These stunning carvings were probably done in 507-554 AD, and were originally stucco coated and with bright painting on their features.

 

    Despite the efforts of the "Monuments Men", many valuable pieces of art were destroyed in Europe during the battles of WWII.
    Gustave Courbet's beautiful 1849 The Stone Breakers perished in the Allied bombing of Dresden.

 

Vincent Van Gogh's 1888 Painter On His Way To Work was burned in Berlin.

 

    The retreating Nazis used explosives to demolish many artworks in Austria, including Gustave Klimt's Philosophy.

 

    A somewhat humorous destruction was this portrait of Winston Churchill, painted by Graham Sutherland in 1954. Churchill's wife hated the painting so much that she destroyed it herself.

    I finish with a local example of thoughtless destruction which has been a thorn in my side ever since I first heard about it. The beautiful Petaluma City Hall which was built in 1886, was demolished in 1955 to make room for a parking lot (Joni Mitchell was right!) that is still there today. The only thing that survives is the tall palm tree.

 

    Kudos to those who have the foresight to protect our cultural treasures, be they great works or art and architecture, or everyday items which exemplify who we were and how we lived.

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?

    The artworks that I find instantly romantic were painted by a small group of men in the latter half of the 19th century. In 1848, seven disgruntled English painters formed a group called The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Madonna&Child by Raphael 1505

    They felt that the art at that time had become too cold and mechanical, and that it all began with the painter Raphael Sanzio back in the days of the high Renaissance. The Pre-Raphaelites claimed that Raphael had set a style standard that had become so adhered to that most paintings had become soulless. They wanted to see compositions that represented ideas, often with social ramifications, and an aesthetic detail that honored the beauty of nature.

For example, this 1916 painting by John William Waterhouse illustrates the controversial romance of Tristan and Isolde Sharing the Potion.

    Well, these artists may have declared these intentions, but what was produced by their brushes was something else. Their paintings did illustrate tales from mythology, history, and famous writers, but the images were primarily filled with beautiful young women, all with long, thick, wavy heads of hair, wearing long sensuous, flowing gowns. They would be posed in very graceful attitudes while they appeared to ponder some great theme.

    These painters were expressing erotic fantasies in an era when that was forbidden, and got away with it by placing the figures into mythological, historical, or literary settings. The results were incredibly sensuous and romantic.

Crown of Love by John Everett Millais, 1875

Prosperine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874

Ophelia by John Everett Millais, 1852

Dreamers by Albert Joseph Moore, 1852

Queen Guinevere's Maying by John Collier

The Lady of Shallot by John William Waterhouse, 1888

The Bridesmaid by John Everett Millais, 1851

The Huguenot on St. Bartolomew's Day by John Everett Millais, 1852

Boreas by John William Waterhouse, 1902

Joan of Arc by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1864

May we all keep romantic thoughts in our lives.