Happy Birthday Ansel Adams!

Post by @anseladams

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Gregg Chadwick

Ansel Adams at Point Lobos

11"x14" black and sanguine conté with wash on paper

 

Happy Birthday Kate Bush - and Emily Brontë

Born on 30 July: Emily Brontë (1818), the author of the classic novel, Wuthering Heights, and Kate Bush (1958), the composer of the pop song inspired by the novel. pic.twitter.com/utirkvhk04

— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 30, 2023

Emily Brontë

by Patrick Branwell Brontë

circa 1833

21 1/2 in. x 13 3/4 in.

From the National Portrait Gallery in London:

This portrait

"This painting, which was discovered at the same time as the famous group portrait of the Brontë Sisters (see NPG 1725), is apparently all that remains of a group portrait of the Brontës by Branwell Brontë of which it formed the right-hand part. The shape just visible to the left is almost certainly the shoulder and arm of Branwell Brontë, who also appears second from the right in the two other Brontë groups (NPG 1725, where he painted himself out, and the 'Gun Group'), his head forming the apex of a triangular composition. While the identification of the Brontë sisters in the surviving NPG group is now generally accepted, the identity of the sitter in this fragment is still disputed, and the claims of Emily and Anne have both been pressed.

In an interview in 1895, the Rev Nicholls told Clement Shorter that he had cut out a portrait of Emily, from a group picture, which he then destroyed, and gave the fragment to the Brontës' old servant, Martha Brown, during one of her visits to him in Ireland. [1] Martha Brown is known to have been in possession of this portrait of Emily in 1879, for in that year, Sir William Robertson Nicoll visited her in Haworth and saw it there:

'I shall never cease to regret that I did not buy the portrait she had of Emily Brontë, though I got a few other things. I did not buy it because I could not very well afford it, and it has been irrevocably lost. I have made many efforts since, and have been helped by many of Martha Brown's relatives. But that really fine and expressive painting has hopelessly disappeared, and now we have nothing that deserves to be called a likeness of that rarely endowed girl.' [2]"

The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë; Emily Brontë; Charlotte Brontë)

by Patrick Branwell Brontë

circa 1834

35 1/2 in. x 29 3/8 in. 

 

More on Emily Brontë by Patti Smith at this link - https://open.substack.com/pub/pattismith/p/no-coward-soul-mine?r=92ug&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder!

100 million records sold

25 Grammys

An Oscar

RnB Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 

Songwriters Hall of Fame

Helped make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday

United Nations Messenger of Peace

Presidential Medal of Freedom

Happy Birthday to Stevie Wonder!

Happy Birthday Elvis!

 

Gregg Chadwick

 “Suspicion (Elvis Presley)” 

36”x36” oil on linen 2016

“Gregg Chadwick takes the opposite stance in the oil-on-linen 'Elvis Presley (Suspicion).' Here, a familiar depiction of the singer is rendered in blurry, shadowy lines, as if his memory is slowly fading and becoming the stuff of rumor and legend tending toward oblivion.”- Fredric Koeppel, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee

Since my artwork was included in a series of Elvis themed exhibitions at the L. Ross Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee, I have been reading and re-reading Ray Connolly’s book Being Elvis: A Lonely Life which deftly examines Elvis’ life through the lens of Memphis in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Childhood poverty and class aspirations spurred Elvis on in a way that left no room for error in his art but left his life dangerously open to misfortune and eventual tragedy.At the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show in Tupelo, Mississippi on September 26, 1956, Elvis played a powerful, homecoming show in the town where he was born in a two-room shack 21 years before on January 8, 1935. Elvis had left Tupelo when he was thirteen. In the interim, Elvis had become Tupelo’s most famous person. As Ray Connolly recounts in Being Elvis: A Lonely Life : “Elvis put on a special show that day…It was staged outside the fairgrounds in front of a large tent, and, as he sang in the afternoon show, he could see over in the background, a long freight train rolling past.” Starting on that day, as the concert closed, Elvis and the band slipped off stage through a trapdoor. No encores that day nor in the future. Instead an announcer would express over the PA system that “Elvis has left the building.”

Gregg Chadwick 

Elvis Wearing Headphones

monotype, oil, and pastel on paper 14"x11" 2017

Gregg Chadwick 

Memphis Train - Elvis with Portable Record Player 

oil on linen 40"x30" 2016

Animal Stories

by Gregg Chadwick

 

Gregg Chadwick
Arctic Fox
30”x30” oil on linen 2020
Steph Yoon Collection, Irvine, California

When I was  in elementary school, I felt a great connection to the natural world and would often wander into the woods near our home to poke around in the creeks to watch tadpoles scurry about and find newts hidden under rocks. On trips to the public library, I would come home with stacks of books on animal life. There was so much to discover and I was determined to learn how to draw animals to learn more about them. I would take a sketchbook and drawing pencils to the zoo to try and capture the animals I encountered on my visits. On trips to the National Gallery in Washington DC, it was the animals in paintings by Delacroix and Rubens that drew me in. Over the years, I have continued to create artworks about animals and recently have created a series of paintings that shed light on climate change, the beauty of the natural world, and our place with other species. My oil on linen artwork "Arctic Fox" is part of this ongoing series and brings the natural world directly into our vision. In art and myth the fox holds a special place. From Aesop's Fables, to Reynard the Fox, to the foxes gathering on New Year's Eve in Hiroshige's "New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji", this crafty animal symbolizes intelligence and cunning over brute strength.

We are richer because of the animals in our midst. I first became aware of the fragile nature of our planet as an eight year old. For Christmas one year, I asked my parents for the book “Wildlife in Danger” published by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature). They are still an important organization providing information, plans, and hope for our endangered earth. Worried about the environment as a kid, I drew pictures of animals constantly. 

Somehow in my childhood stacks of books, I missed Gerald Durrell's marvelous "My Family and Other Animals."  Prompted by viewing the Masterpiece Theater production "The Durrells in Corfu"  based on Gerald Durrell's "My Family and Other Animals" and its two sequels, I recently read Gerald's childhood memories for the first time.  The television series deftly translates Gerald's vivid prose into light soaked images. Durrell's book is a witty look into five years of his childhood on the island of Corfu. While his older brother, author Lawrence Durrell, was just beginning to make his way in the literary world and his sister Margo was learning about love and life, Gerald was digging in the dirt looking for animal life. Gerald created a home grown menagerie at their rented villa and began a lifelong appreciation of nature and the environment. 

Gerald Durrell was born on January 7, 1925 in India to British parents. His father died in 1928, creating an unsettled life for Durrell's mother who moved the family around England before arriving in Corfu, where Gerald spent the formative years of his childhood. As detailed humorously in "My Family and Other Animals" a series of private tutors attempted to educate the young Gerald, but natural history and his growing collection of creatures from scorpions to owls provided his main intellectual interest. In his adult life after World War II, Gerald went on numerous wildlife expeditions and wrote 37 books including "My Family and Other Animals", "A Zoo in My Luggage", and "The Mockery Bird." With proceeds from his bestselling books, in 1959 Gerald founded the Jersey Zoological Park and then in 1963 the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust with the goal of breeding endangered species. Gerald received the Order of the British Empire in 1982 and was featured in the United Nations' Roll of Honor for Environmental Achievement in 1988. 

As we collectively celebrate our beautiful planet, we are reminded by the words and actions of forward thinking environmentalists, such as Gerald Durrell and Greta Thunberg, of the urgent need to Act On Climate now. We must recommit ourselves to promoting and enacting solutions that will safeguard our planet for generations to come.

Gregg Chadwick
Sea Bear, Panda's Thumb, Panthera Leo, Red Fox
Each 7”x5” oil on wood 2021

Happy Birthdays

On this day artist Mark Rothko was born in 1903 (and my Dad in 1929) Honored that Saatchi Art has included my painting "The Music of Time"in their Rothko inspired collection - "Color Field Paintings Inspired by Mark Rothko"

Erin Remington writes- "Turning away from the gestural motions characteristic of action painting, Mark Rothko focused on formal elements of his work—color, depth, shape, and scale—creating large swathes of luminous color known as color field painting. Meet the contemporary artists exploring this iconic style."
50 Artworks curated by Erin Remington
Manager of Art Advisory & Curation at Saatchi Art

Gregg Chadwick

The Music of Time

40"x30" oil on linen 

Link at - https://www.saatchiart.com/art-collection/Color-Field-Paintings-Inspired-by-Mark-Rothko/1586325/697695/view

Direct Link at -https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Painting-The-Music-of-Time/25560/1502343/view

#art #contemporarypainting #MarkRothko #HappyBirthday #BigSur

On this day artist Mark Rothko was born in 1903 (and my Dad in 1929) Honored that @SaatchiArt has included my painting "The Music of Time"in their Rothko inspired collection - "Color Field Paintings Inspired by Mark Rothko"https://t.co/ne918uIvdo pic.twitter.com/lazG65wmyL

— Gregg Chadwick (@greggchadwick) September 25, 2022

Happy Birthday Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road Acoustic

As David Corn says: "Happy Birthday to 

@springsteen Thanks for the decades of music and inspiration Bruce. 

This is one of my favorite outtakes:"

Happy Birthday Bill Evans

Bill Evans, known for his work with Miles Davis was born on this day in 1929.

Evans received 7 Grammy's and 31 nominations for his work as a jazz pianist and composer.

Steve Silberman writes that "Evans once told a friend that a musician should be able to maintain focus on a single tone in his mind for at least five minutes—and in playing like this, he achieved a nearly mystical immersion in the music: a state of pure, undistracted concentration. Even before writers like Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder made Buddhism a subject of popular fascination in America, Evans saw parallels between meditative practice and the keen, alert state that jazz improvisation demands, when years of work on perfecting tone and technique suddenly drop away and a direct channel opens up between the musician’s brain and his or her fingers." Bill Evans wrote Waltz for Debby for his niece, and it's a celebration of life.

More on Bill Evans at - Broken Time https://culture.org/broken-time/ via @believermag

#Jazz #ClassicalMusic #Piano #Music #MusicHistory #OTD

 

Happy Birthday Hayao Miyazaki

Happy Birthday Hayao Miyazaki! https://t.co/UOHEpcCKo3

— Gregg Chadwick (@greggchadwick) January 5, 2022

Each year I am pleased to wish Happy Birthday to the amazing Hayao Miyazaki! My first birthday post to Miyazaki from 2011 (reposted below with updates) says it all:

Taking Flight: Thoughts on the Art of Hayao Miyazaki on His 81st Birthday

by Gregg Chadwick


Celluloid Dreams at the Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Japan

I woke up from a dream this morning that seemed to have been pulled from a Hayao Miyazaki film. In my dream a tender sapling reached towards the light as it sprouted from my wrist. Above, russet clouds moved in a cerulean sky. I look to my dreams as openings rather than fortunes. Yet, since I recently returned from Tokyo, I should remember that in Japan the first dreams of the New Year, hatsu-yume 初夢, traditionally provide markers for the dreamer's upcoming year.


Hayao Miyazaki
Sketch for Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)
pencil and watercolor on paper 2001
(Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Japan)


The vision and mystery of Hayao Miyazaki's work will surely provide inspiration for me throughout 2022. In December 2010, I was fortunate to visit the Ghibli Museum which was created to feature the art and films of Hayao Miyazaki and also the breadth of animation done by Studio Ghibli since its founding in 1985 by filmmakers Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.

Flight plays an important role in many of Miyazaki's films and it is fitting that both the film company, Studio Ghibli, and the Ghibli Museum were named after an Italian airplane first produced before World War II: the Caproni Ca.309 Ghibli. The word ghibli in Italian refers to the hot dry winds that blow across the Sahara desert.


Caproni Ca.309 "Ghibli" In North Africa during WWII

Hayao Miyazaki was born on January 5, 1941 just months before Pearl Harbor and the brutal battles in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. As a small child growing up in greater Tokyo, Miyazaki drew scenes of aircraft and aviation most likely inspired by his father's family business which built airplane parts for Japanese Zero fighter planes and also in the later years of the war, by his remembrances of the waves of Allied bombers which firebombed much of Tokyo into smoldering ruins.


Still from Grave of the Fireflies ((Hotaru no Haka)) 1988
Created by Studio Ghibli. Directed by Isao Takahata.

Much of Miyazaki's mature work reflects his distaste for heedless violence and warmongering. Miyazaki also deeply cares about the environment and the place of natural beauty in a heavily industrialized Japan. Thirdly, many of Miyazaki's films feature a strong, brave, and resourceful main female character. I have been traveling to Japan since I was a kid in the 1970's and I am pleased to see that Miyazaki's vision for life in Japan seems to be bearing fruit. On his 81st birthday, I would like to give thanks to Hayao Miyazaki for his talent, vision, and deep concern for humanity. Bravo!




Hayao Miyazaki at 22
(Courtesy NTV)


Hayao Miyazaki
Sketch for Porco Rosso (Kurenai no buta)
pencil and watercolor on paper 1992
(Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Japan)


Hayao Miyazaki
Sketch for My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro)
pencil and watercolor on paper 1988
(Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Japan)

Happy Birthday Picasso!

So -- at which great Older Master was Picasso (born OTD 1881) looking when he painted Guernica in 1937? Of course you know this! pic.twitter.com/PiRttosVFr

— Dr. Peter Paul Rubens (@PP_Rubens) October 25, 2021

 

Pablo Picasso Reads About Pablo Picasso.

 Born on this day, in 1881

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK | James Baldwin Birthday Teaser

Happy Birthday James Baldwin!

‘It is a terrible thing for an entire people to surrender to the notion that one-ninth of its population is beneath them.’ — James Baldwin died over 30 years ago, but his words on the condition of the American spirit are as true as they’ve ever been pic.twitter.com/hYDQCO43zt

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) August 3, 2018

"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have."

James Baldwin would have been 94 today. pic.twitter.com/GphrEVVZ0U

— The Leadership Conference (@civilrightsorg) August 2, 2018

Happy Birthday Rachel Carson!

Rachel Carson's Powerful Legacy

Rachel Carson
photo courtesy of rachelcarson.org

Today I would like to honor the groundbreaking environmentalist Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring sounded one of the first alarms about the detrimental effect of pesticides on the eco-system. The natural world was my first love as a kid and reading Carson's work was instrumental in spurring me on to look deeply at and respect the complexities of our endangered environment.

Carson's interest in conservation began with her early work as a marine biologist, which led to her award winning book, The Sea Around Us. Subsequently, nature writing provided a powerful vehicle for Carson to bring mainstream attention to the chemicals being dumped daily into our streams and rivers. Her work inspired global bans of the pesticide DDT  and helped foster the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States.

I encourage you to honor Rachel Carson's legacy by spending some time today on the Audubon Society's website, the US National Park Service's site, or your local nature conservancies information boards. All of these sites provide important information on how you can get involved and help preserve our natural world for future generations.

Happy 100th Birthday Jacob Lawrence!

by Gregg Chadwick

100 years ago today, the seminal artist Jacob Lawrence was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. When Lawrence was in his teens his family moved to Harlem in New York City, where he studied art with Charles Alston at the Harlem Art Workshop.

When Lawrence graduated from the American Artists School in New York he became a participant in the WPA Federal Art Project.  The young artist broke new ground in 1941 with The Migration Series which garnered national attention.

I find the video below from the Phillips Collection in which Lawrence discusses The Migration Series fascinating:



During World War II, while in the United States Coast Guard, first as a public relations specialist on the USS Sea Cloud, and then as a combat artist on the USS Gen. Richardson, Lawrence created a series of artworks documenting his vantage point on the war.

 
Jacob Lawrence
No. 2 Control Panel, Nerve Center of Ship,
gouache and watercolor on board
Collection USCG Museum

Shipmates and Jacob Lawrence with one of the paintings
he made while serving in the US Coast Guard during WWII.

After the war Lawrence was invited by Josef Albers to teach painting at Black Mountain College. Lawrence's exposure to Albers’ Bauhaus-inspired theories and teaching methods greatly influenced his artistic explorations.  Lawrence wrote, “When you teach, it stimulates you; you’re forced to crystallize your own thinking … you’re forced to formalize your own theories so that you may communicate them to the students … you go back to your studio and think about this again.”

Faculty of the 1946 Black Mountain College Summer Art Institute,
including Jacob Lawrence and his wife Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center collection

In 1949, Lawrence  and his wife Gwendolyn returned to New York where Lawrence continued to paint. Lawrence, aware of his depression, checked himself into Hillside Hospital in Queens, where he stayed for 11 months and painted as an inpatient.

Jacob Lawrence
Depression
Tempera and Watercolor on Paper  1950
22 3/4"x31"
Whitney Museum

 After many years in New York, in 1970 Lawrence and Knight moved to Seattle when he was invited to teach at the University of Washington. Lawrence was an art professor at UW until his retirement in 1986.  He continued painting until just a few weeks before his death in June 2000 at the age of eighty-two. Lawrence's last commissioned public work, the mosaic mural New York in Transit, was installed in October 2001 in the Times Square subway station in New York City.

 Lawrence's powerful artworks grace numerous collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum. The vibrant paintings of Jacob Lawrence tell stories of liberation, resistance, and resilience.

More:
Why the Works of Visionary Artist Jacob Lawrence Still Resonate a Century After His Birth

Happy Birthday Vincent!

Happy birthday Vincent! #VisitBrabant @VanGoghBrabant @VanGoghEurope pic.twitter.com/IODLfNyD98

— VisitBrabant (@VisitBrabant) March 30, 2017

Wishing JMW Turner a Splendid Birthday

Gregg Chadwick ‏@greggchadwick  1m1 minute agoSanta Monica, CA

Happy birthday J.M.W. Turner! #Turner #PaintingSetFree Currently @GettyMuseum http://www.getty.edu/mobile/gettyguide/center/exhibitions/turner/artifacts/248344_2111.html … More Thoughts to Follow...