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15May 2020 by kike_K No Comments

Thomas Wilmer Dewing

Painting

Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938) was an elegant and smart American painter attached to ‘tonalism’, a painting style that arose in the United States around 1880 and whose well-known representatives were George Inness and James McNeill Whistler. The ‘tonalist’ painters looked for an ideal of beauty and gave their pictures a particular veiled atmosphere, both landscapes and objects seemed to be surrounded by a subtle mist. These artists equally focussed in finding the correct and exact value of the colours and the hues. Dewing’s works are mainly devoted to female figure, he was capable of giving the portrayed women a refined spirituality. All those women posed with a certain languor, oblivious to our gaze, sometimes they turn their back on us, always smart and unattainable. These characters integrating the landscape seem…

The Jester

Painting

There is a much complete series of jesters painted by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), Don Sebastian de Morra is my favourite one. In all those paintings portraying these misshapen, fool human beings which are really unique in the history of Art, Velazquez is capable of bringing out his innate sense of elegance, a certain distance, a great tenderness and deep respect for the models whom he never derides. The melancholic expressiveness, a cautious and discreet look in their eyes, the wonderful red and green harmony of the clothes. The painter Ramon Gaya wrote beautiful and accurate words on these paintings: ‘All the scholars devoted to Velazquez have tried to decipher every probable meaning hidden in the series of jesters. Most of the time, they have turned Velazquez into a kind and…

Books on butterflies

Books

I started purchasing books on butterflies when I was young. At the beginning very simple guides with no taxonomic-scientific interest and full of mistakes. Well, it did not matter to me I was just interested in beautiful drawings. I much prefer, I have always preferred books with illustrations than photographs, I find them so charming. In any case, photographs show the insects as they are in the real world, both prepared specimens and butterflies in their natural environment. As far as the European butterflies are concerned I have two classic field guides written by Tom Tolman and Lionel G. Higgins. These works have been published a number of times in different countries and are beautifully illustrated by Richard Levington and Brian Hargreaves. I have also, in my library, some books…