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The Artisan Moderne. 1896, Lautrec was asked to advertise a jeweler/home goods designer He manages to add some of his own thoughts and observations about human nature.  This is the last weekend of Phillips Collection's exhibition, Toulouse-Lautrec Illustrates the 'Belle Epoque.'   The Phillips organized the show with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, its only other venue North America. This exhibition is different and distinguished from other exhibitions of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (and I've seen a few of them), because it's primarily graphic art and contains some works that we don't normally see. There are trial proofs alongside the finished prints, and a few very rare prints. The entire show comes from one private collector in France and we're very lucky to have it for a short time in Washington.  Mademoiselle Eglantine's Troupe, 1895- 1896  Brush, spatter and crayon lithograph in three colors.  The dance troup included Jane Avril, seen below Toulouse...

Nicolás de Jésus and students, October 2012, NVCC, Annandale, VA, right side The day of the Dead ( Día de los Muertos) is a starting point for Mexican artist Nicolás de Jésus, who visited and demonstrated his work in my Art Appreciation Class on October 17th. Since today is Halloween, it's a good time to explore how Nicolás de Jésus uses this theme. A mural he completed with students has been hung on the second floor of the CM Building.Is it a coincidence or not to discover this past weekend that someone near and dear to me turned out to be in an art exhibition on the El Dia de los Muertos theme? Nicolás de Jésus, Fiesta de los Muertos , etching and aquatint Nicolás de Jésus mesmerized the class as he explained his prints, impressive for their beauty, meaning and the textures. The skeletons of his prints are very animated and life-like. His art dips into memories of his childhood in the Amayaltepec region, where he learned to make art at a very young age and his father was among t...

St Anthony Torment by the Demons, c. 1487, was painted by Michelangelo when he was only 13. The panel, 18 x 12 inches, is warped as happens to many panels over time. The Torment of Saint Anthony is a small panel painting which was recently discovered to have been painted by Michelangelo in 1487/88. Intensive cleaning in 2008/9 led experts to believe that Michelangelo painted it when he was 12 or 13 years of age. Only four easel paintings by Michelangelo are known, and this one of is in North America, at Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum. Michelangelo's St. Anthony looks remarkably calm despite the demons who are scratching him St. Anthony was an early Christian of the 4th century who lived as a hermit for many years. According to his biographer, the rigorous asceticism practiced by St Anthony in the Egyptian desert allowed him to float in the air, where he was attacked by devils trying to beat him to the ground. Anthony defeated these demons on more than one occasion, but n...

Edvard Munch's The Scream is so powerful that the other works of this great Norwegian artist are overlooked. Other art by Munch articulated his feelings about the sad passages of life--sickness, death and breakups. Currently at The Nation al Gallery of Art in Washington is an exhibition of Munch's graphic art which represents man y of the other themes he dealt with intensely, includin g illness, love, los s, and loneliness. The museum has pulled together prints from its own collection with images from two private collections to present a fuller view of the real artist. In f act, the sounds of silence in Munch's work are as freq uent and powerful as the voices of pain. Waves of Love, a lithograph Munch also can be subtle. He explores the possibilities of images morphing into something else. In Waves of Love , we see a floating woman but don't notice the man right away. Yet, when we discover him, the work becomes even more powerful. Munch, Vampire II, 1895, lithograph wi...