Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Louise Brooks painting found in Sacramento

Yesterday, my wife and I and my sister-in-law spent some time at the Crocker Holiday Artisan Market, an event held annually at the Scottish Rite Center in Sacramento, California. This three-day bazaar is a benefit meant to support participating artists, the Crocker Art Museum’s exhibitions and educational programs, the Creative Arts League of Sacramento, and other community programs. While browsing among the 100+ artists, vendors and creators, I came across a rather charming portrait of Louise Brooks.


This small painting is the work of Grass Valley artist Cheryl Wilson, who kindly allowed me to photograph her booth. I like her work, and really like her portrait of Louise Brooks, though I did not purchase it as I am budgeting for other Louise Brooks stuff. It was priced at $100.00, should anyone want to contact the artist.

I spent a little time perusing the artist's blog and found she has painting portraits of Louise Brooks in the past. HERE is a blog post to a 2021 blog post showing another portrait. And HERE is another blog post from 2019 which depicts another portrait of Louise Brooks. And, HERE and HERE are two more portraits of Louise B. If you like this work, I would encourage everyone to check out the artists blog (at https://cherylwilsonstudio.blogspot.com/), which features other portraits of other early film stars such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Leila Hyams and others.

The Louise Brooks Society blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society. (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2022. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Friday, November 12, 2021

Edinburgh artist Sarah E. Wilson creates Louise Brooks art

The other day, I was alerted to a small exhibit going on at an independent fashion boutique called Hoochie Coochie in Edinburgh, Scotland which featured -- among other things -- imagery of various movie icons such as Anna May Wong, Gloria Swanson, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Russell, and notably Louise Brooks. The pieces on display (at a space called Hoochie Coochie) are the work of a contemporary Edinburgh-based artist named Sarah E. Wilson. For those fortunate enough to live in the area and take in the show - which runs through November 28th, Hoochie Coochie is located in the Tollcross area of Edinburg at 48 Home Street, EH3 9NA. 


I had trouble finding out more about this show, which came to my attention through a press release and my google news key word alert. And so, instead, I went looking for information about the artist and found her website, which features a number of images of her work, including portraits of Brooks and other early film stars. Check it out at http://www.sarah-ewilson.co.uk/   Or, check out her page on Saatchi Art.

A statement on the artist's website reads, "My work and research centres round the subject of vintage glamorous film starlettes from an era when everything was just that little bit more fabulous. Scottish artist, painter, eco-friendly printmaker. Influenced by Picasso, Klimt, Schiele and members of the art deco movement."

Looking around her website, I found a handful of works depicting Brooks - see the "Paintings and Artworks" page. Among those I spotted were these two, which I found appealing. (I also like the green-tinted Swanson image on her homepage.)


 

There are other works which depict Brooks, so be sure and look around this artists's studio website. "A Fair Lady", which depicts Audrey Hepburn is also rather appealing, as is the Harlow piece. 

The "Sold" page contains that ravishing Swanson piece, as well as three other Brooks pieces - and nifty work depicting Evelyn Brent, Audrey Tatou, and others. The "Toyobo Prints" page contains an Alla Nazimova. 

I reached out to the artists to ask her about her interest in early films stars, in particular Louise Brooks, and how she came to find inspiration in their likenesses. But alas, I have not heard back.

Friday, October 22, 2021

Drawing Louise Brooks - videos from the LBS YouTube Channel

Lately, I have been revamping (pun intended) the Louise Brooks Society YouTube channel. Among other things, I have created some new and different playlists of interesting and quirky things I have found on YouTube. Among them are a handful of videos of individuals drawing Louise Brooks, which I never knew was a thing. Here are a few examples of from my new playlist. If you have done one a video drawing, or know of one I have missed one, please let me know.

Writer/Artist Rick Geary draws a portrait of silent film actress Louise Brooks, who was a relative of his. Show here in time lapse . . . and one of my favorites. I have interviewed Rick Geary in the past. Read my interview HERE


Time lapse digital speed painting of Louise Brooks by Jeff Stahl done in Photoshop CS5 with Wacom tablets Cintiq 12wx and Intuos 4L. Real time: 1h16min.

 


The first video in a series from Bee the Artist titled "Bio-pics" - a mix between portrait drawing and film history. This video is a bit longer, and features multiple sketches.


 And lastly, a drawing of Louise Brooks by Gregory Roth, drawn in ArtRage. 


Sunday, August 8, 2021

Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985)

Remembering  Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985),
known professionally as Louise Brooks.


 From my collection of fan art.

"The Magic of Lulu"

by Ana Rosa 

acrylic on 11" x 14" board, 2003

Saturday, September 12, 2020

Pierre Bismuth - Following the Right Hand of Louise Brooks in Beauty Prize

Just coming to auction is Pierre Bismuth's "Following the Right Hand of Louise Brooks in Beauty Prize," a 2009 mixed-media piece. The piece, which will be featured in a live auction on September 30,  is permanent marker on Plexiglas with digital print on Dibond and measures 29.5 h × 39.3 w in (75 × 100 cm). The auction estimate is $2,000 - $3,000, with an opening bid of  $1,400. More information about the auction HERE.

Pierre Bismuth (b. 1963) is a French artist and filmmaker based in Brussels. His practice can be placed in the tradition of conceptual art and appropriation art. His work uses a variety of media and materials, including painting, sculpture, collage, video, architecture, performance, music, and film. He is best known for being among the authors of the story for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2005 alongside Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman. Bismuth made his directorial debut with the 2016 feature film Where is Rocky II? Among the other artists he has collaborated with is the late Clash guitarist Joe Strummer. This 2014 article in Document helps explain the artist's approach.

To create this works from the Following the Right Hand series, the artist projected a feature film on a Plexiglas sheet and followed the movement of the lead actresses right hand with a marker from the beginning of the film until the frame that seen behind the drawing appears. The piece is signed and dated to lower left 'Pierre Bismuth 09'. 

Provenance: Team Gallery, New York | Acquired from the previous in 2009, Important New York Collection 

Literature: Pierre Bismuth: Things I Remember I Have Done, But Don't Remember Why I Did Them-Towards a Catalogue Raisonne, Bismuth, Pinto and Schafhausen, pg. 171, no. 1013

A Google image search using the artist's name as keyword turned up a few other similar pieces featuring films stills depicting Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Audrey Hepburn, Sophie Loren and others. I also noticed a variant of the above pictured piece. The variance is apparent when one compares the tip of Louise Brooks' nose.

I also came across another manipulated image of Brooks, this time a still from Pandora's Box

If the artist, Pierre Bismuth, reads this blog, the two questions I would like to ask are "Why Louise Brooks?" and "Why her right hand?" He may answer those questions, or at least suggest his strategy, at the very beginning of this unrelated interview.


Thursday, June 28, 2018

Stanley Mouse portrait of Louise Brooks up for auction

A portrait of Louise Brooks by Stanley Mouse will be up for auction next month. The portrait is being sold by Heritage Auctions as part of their Movie Posters Signature Auction (Dallas #7181) being held July 28-29. More information HERE.

From the auction site: Louise Brooks by Stanley Mouse (2000). Signed Original Oil Portrait Painting (30" X 30").
Known for his psychedelic artwork of the 1960s and 1970s, Stanley Mouse has created a vast arsenal of images that moved beyond the popular artwork for such bands as the Grateful Dead and Journey over his forty years as an artist. He was a long time collaborator with The Family Dog and Bill Graham productions, as well as coming together with other artists of that movement such as Alton Kelley, Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, and Wes Wilson to create the Berkeley Bonaparte Distribution Agency. This beautiful portrait of actress Louise Brooks in black and white acrylic paint captures the iconic image of the actress as the symbol of the flapper girl of the 1920s and her popular bobbed haircut. The canvas stretched painting is in fantastic shape with only the faintest of edge war from being handled. A great unconventional collectors item for fans of Stanley Mouse. Mint.


Estimate: $2,500 - $5,000.

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Painting of Louise Brooks on display in UK

A painting of Louise Brooks is on display in a gallery in Leeds, England. The work, by UK artist Bay Backner, is on display at the Cafe 164, The Gallery at 164 (on Duke Street).

The artist explained the inspiration behind her recent work to the Bradford Telegraph and Argus,

"I'd had a brilliant chat with Janine Sykes, course leader in MA Curation Practices at Leeds College of Art. We'd talked about the faces we see as beautiful, and this is being changed by digital media and globalised industry. So the idea came together of a show to explore female beauty and its iconic images," says Bay, who works in oil paint on stretched canvas, then creates limited-edition prints in archival ink.
Another article, in the Yorkshire Evening Post, noting that Backner's new work focuses on the notion of beauty, stating "She spent six months examining what we see as beauty, how it affects how we see ourselves and what it means around the world for the exhibition, which features brightly coloured, large portraits of the women, painted in a style that harks back to the Golden Age of Hollywood."

According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, "The portraits are not based on a single photograph of the women, but the artists’ personal perspective of their image, based on a composite of pictures of them." Iconic beauties such as Hedy Lamarr and Audrey Hepburn, as well as supermodels Kate Moss and Bella Hadid, and artist Frida Kahlo are included among the portraits. As is Louise Brooks.

The artist looked around online, exploring the idea of beauty. "There were women there that I didn’t even realise had become part of my beauty mix," Backner is quoted as saying. "I really responded to Louise Brooks, who was the original 1920s ‘It girl’ and made it cool to have a boy-like figure and short hair. She changed the way women wanted to look."

In the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, Backner reiterated her point, "Of course my paintings are a very personal selection of faces. They're the women who have shaped my western ideal of beauty, and whose images hold in my mind as I look in the mirror every day. Interestingly, some are women unknown to me before I started research for the show - but I realised just how much their image changed how I, and many women today, see themselves. For example, Louise Brooks was the original 1920s 'It Girl'. She made short hair and a boy-like figure desirable after three centuries of corseted curves and waist-length hair. We'd look very different without her!"

In a statement sent to the Louise Brooks Society, the artists noted, "I first came across Louise Brooks in stills from Pandora's Box. I saw them while designing the set for another Wedekind play, Spring Awakening. My impression was of a strikingly beautiful, magnetic women with presence and energy. I reencountered her images while researching the 'How to Be Beautiful' exhibition - and was haunted by her expressions."

This portrait of Louise Brooks, "Louise in Pink" (oil on canvas, 24"x34"), is displayed at the gallery and on Backner's website.


“There were women there that I didn’t even realise had become part of my beauty mix,” Backner said. “I really responded to Louise Brooks, who was the original 1920s ‘It girl’ and made it cool to have a boy-like figure and short hair. She changed the way women wanted to look.”

Read more at: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/painting-picture-of-beauty-at-leeds-art-exhibition-1-8761140

Bay studied at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, and Central Saint Martins, London. She works in oil paint on stretched canvas, then creates limited-edition prints in archival ink. Bay’s paintings are informed by fine-art’s ‘old masters’ as well as today’s street artists and fashion photographers. Her work was recently featured by Grazia Magazine.

‘How To Be Beautiful’ is at Cafe 164, The Gallery at 164, until Saturday October 7, 2017.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Portrait of Louise Brooks Goes to Auction

This painting will be offered on November 20th at Bonhams Auction House in New York City, along with almost 400 other pieces from the collection of Ira Resnick. Details to come.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Lulu in Hollywood photo composition by Hal Wilson


Here is something rather nifty, a photo composition entitled "Lulu in Hollywood." It is by Hal Wilson.

Wilson stated, "I guess you could say I make “Photo Compositions”. In the wee hours of the morning I'll be clipping images from vintage pictures (primarily from the Library of Congress). I take the parts that I like and move them around. A flapper-girl happily sitting in a treehouse-speakeasy might find herself transported into an oyster boat off Virginia.  Poor dear.

I became intrigued with Louise Brooks while researching techniques of classic Hollywood photography. From all the movie stars in the heavens (Garbo, Gable, Bogart or Bacall) it is Louise Brooks who appears on the front cover of John Kobal's Hollywood Glamour Portraits. I have a little crush on Lulu."

How many of the individuals in the above composition can you name?

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Hollywood Panorama caricature of Louise Brooks from 1971

I just acquired a copy of a 1971 book, Hollywood Panorama, by Bob Harman. And, remarkably, it contains a caricature of Louise Brooks! That's rather early in her story of rediscovery. It is a few years before the Kenneth Tynan article in the New Yorker, and more than a decade before Lulu in Hollywood was published.


Harman's book features some 1,000 different stars, with Louise Brooks twice depicted among them in both black & white and in color. Nutshell biographies in the back of the book describe Brooks as "A vivid vamp of the twenties -- distinguished by her cold and classic beauty." Here is the page featuring Brooks in color. She can be found in the lower left corner. (In a way, her depiction evokes Al Hirschfield and anticipates David Levine.)


I wasn't able to find much information online about the artist, but according to an informative and illustrated blog by the cartoonist and illustrator Drew Friedman, "The late artist Bob Harman took ten years to create Bob Harman's Hollywood Panorama a 5x9 foot full color montage of 1001 caricatures of vintage film stars set against a background of famous movie sets and Hollywood landmarks. It was published in book form in 1971 by Dutton. Many of the caricatures created for Hollywood Panorama were also reprinted in B&W in the book The MGM years", also from 1971." Here is the 1971 newspaper article which led me to track down this book.



Harman also contributed caricatures to various magazines, including the cover for an issue of Focus on Film, a magazine to which Brooks once contributed.



Harman's Hollywood Panorama was not his only book, and not the only one of his books which included Brooks. His 1991 book, Enchanted Faces, which was self-published and which I just ordered a copy, also contains a rather fine portrait of Brooks. Here Thelma and Louise face one another. The image below is from Drew Freidman's blog.

Harman also drew paper dolls, and published another book, this one from 1990. I ordered a copy of it as well. Hopefully, as it focuses on the stars of the silent screen, it may have some images of interest. I like his style.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Painting of Louise Brooks featured in art exhibit in Kansas

The Kansas Women Series of Paintings by artist Jennifer Randall are on display at ARTLANDIA (9 West Ave B, Hutchinson, Kansas 67501) in Hutchinton, Kansas through August 31st. An opening reception will be held on August 20th from 5-9 pm. The artist will be present and refreshments will be served.

Paintings of notable Kansas Women such as Louise Brooks, Eva Jesse, Carrie Nation and more will be featured at the exhibit.  Here are links to a couple of earlier articles on the artist and her work, one on examiner.com (from 2010) and the other on Hutchinson News (from 2008). For those who are wondering, it is only some 52 miles from Hutchinson to Wichita, and some 141 miles from Hutchinson to Cherryvale.


Thursday, March 12, 2015

Magnificent Frank Martin drawing of Louise Brooks

This magnificent, wonderful 1974 Frank Martin drawing of Louise Brooks is up for auction through Bonham's in the UK. I think it is grand. The work was reproduced in Victor Arwas and John Kobal's Frank Martin; Hollywood - Continental (Academy Editions/St. Martin's Press, 1988), on page 19. Also, the Tate in London hold an edition of this print in their collection. If anyone would like to purchase it and donate it to the Louise Brooks Society.....



Lot 239AR
Frank Vernon Martin (British, 1921-2005)
'Louise Brooks', 1974
£2,000 - 3,000
US$ 3,000 - 4,500


1 Apr 2015 11:00 BST


Lot Details
Frank Vernon Martin (British, 1921-2005)
'Louise Brooks', 1974
drypoint on copper, with hand tinting, a portrait of the famous film star wearing a sheer blouse against a fantastical Cubist background; an Artist's Proof aside from an edition of 100, with full margins, unframed
10 ½ x 14 ½ in. (26 x 37 cms), titled and signed by artist in pencil

From the 2005 Guardian UK obit of the artist:
Martin's career as a commercial illustrator developed simultaneously. On leaving St Martin's, he began as a fashion illustrator for the Sunday Times, but his many commissions included advertising, books - such as Ursula Bloom's 1959 novel, Youth At The Gate, The Readers' Digest Bedside Book Of The Art Of Living (1956), The Manual Of Catholic Prayer (1962) and the letterhead for Evelyn Waugh's stationery.
Most of Martin's freelance career was involved with books - from the jackets to the illustrations. His most significant contribution was for the Folio Society, for which he illustrated 12 volumes, from Thornton Wilder's The Bridge Of San Luis Rey, in 1956, to Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus in 1988. His illustrations for the Folio edition of Stendhal's Scarlet And Black in 1965 have been called one of the best series of postwar English illustrations.
A fine and instinctive draughtsman, Martin produced work that is bold, decorative and good-humoured, although he could be too unsubtly fascinated by the female figure.
As a boy, Martin had been enthralled by the stars of the silver screen, and his love of the iconography of film found expression in the Hollywood series he began in the 1960s. Working with the grain of the wood, he turned glamorous screen stills into prints. The artists he created images of included Tallulah Bankhead, Clara Bow, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth and Greta Garbo, as well as the Ziegfield Follies, the Keystone Cops and Montgomery Clift. They are perhaps his most celebrated work.
Martin held his first one-man show in 1956. In all, there were 25 exhibitions at, among other venues, the Folio Society, the National Film Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, and the Leeds International Film Festival. Overseas, he exhibited in Berlin, Dublin, New Zealand and the United States. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1961, a member of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers in 1959, and an honorary academician of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno of Florence in 1965.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Artist Barbara Chase image of Louise Brooks

I rather like this new portrait (Painting - Acrylic On Canvas) of Louise Brooks by artist Barbara Chase, available through FineArtAmerica. Check it out.


Friday, December 12, 2014

Mark Tansey painting features Louise Brooks?

Back on December 12, 2004, the New York Times ran a half-page spread on the highly regarded contemporary painter Mark Tansey and a recent work of his entitled "West Face." (Click here to read the article and see an image of the painting.) 

According to the article, " 'West Face' appears to be a suavely rendered picture of a band of hikers trudging up a snowy mountainside. But look closely, and you'll find a landscape treacherous with puzzles, paradoxes, hidden images and allusions." 

Among the hidden images, reportedly, are portraits of various philosophers, and, of Louise Brooks. I see the portraits (including the one that is supposedly Brooks), but I don't quite recognize the actress. What do you think?

Hey Mark Tansey, did you put Louise Brooks face in your painting?

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Kickstarter coloring book includes Louise Brooks


A new Kickstarter campaign coloring book, Illuminating the Stars Vol. 1, will feature 33 stunning pen & ink drawings of Hollywood stars by Portland artist Alicia Justus. This 36-page, 9"x12" coloring book will have a beautiful full color cover, 34 black & white coloring pages, and will feature the following stars!

    Buster Keaton
    Olive Thomas
    Florence Lawrence
    Larry Semon
    John Gilbert
    Mary Pickford
    Fatty Arbuckle
    Mabel Normand
    Nina Mae McKinney
    Lya de Putti
    Martha Mansfield
    Lon Chaney
    Anna May Wong
    Mary Nolan (Bubbles)
    Lou Tellegen
    Roszicka and Jancsika Dolly
    Karl Dane
    Jeanne Eagels
    Louise Brooks (Lulu)
    Charlie Chaplin
    Lottie Pickford
    Jack Pickford
    Alma Rubens
    Bela Lugosi
    Thelma Todd
    Ramon Novarro
    Mayo Methot
    Tom Mix
    Rudolph Valentino
    Natacha Rambova
    Juanita Hansen
    Myrtle Gonzales
    Russ Columbo
    Clara Bow




It is pretty cool looking. For more illustrations and more, check out the Kickstarter campaign page at  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/947849256/illuminating-the-stars-coloring-book-volume-1

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Louise Brooks large photographic canvas

Louise Brooks fan Elizabeth sent in this photo of a large (homemade, non commercial) photographic canvas installed in her home. This is very cool. Elizabeth, thank you for sharing!




Monday, October 13, 2014

Max Ferguson's new watercolor of Louise Brooks

Max Ferguson's new watercolor of Louise Brooks is now viewable online. Check it out, along with the artists' other work, here. (The pianist is Ben Model.)




Sunday, September 21, 2014

Max Ferguson's Louise Brooks' painting "Lulu in New York"

On Thursday, I had the chance to meet artist New York Max Ferguson (see earlier entry) at a San Francisco gallery opening which featured his newest work. I was especially interested in seeing his new painting, "Lulu in New York." Though small, it measures only 12" by 12", the painting delivers a significant punch. It resonates, like a held musical chord. Here are a few snapshots from Thursday's opening. (I'm on the left, Max Ferguson is on the right)



Earlier, via email, the artist had sent me a statement as to what led him to painting Louise Brooks. "I was a film major at NYU Film School. I was doing primarily animation when it was all done in pre-computer days. At that time I would often go to the Museum of Modern Art to see films,  especially silent films. I always loved that they were accompanied by a live pianist.... Music has always been my other great passion and I am currently working on a series of paintings
incorporating music as subject matter. I recently had the idea to paint a silent film with a pianist at MoMA. I wanted a film on the screen that would not be too cliché, or too obscure. A friend of mine suggested Pandora's Box. I am most definitely a fan of Louise Brooks, as any sane person would be. It was fun painting her and studying her as a still image versus a passing moment on the screen."

Also on display was a second image featuring Louise Brooks, this one a slightly larger watercolor. It is a little less taught that the first image, but still appeals.



Both works are for sale, and can be seen on the West Coast this month and next. Be sure and check them out at the following venues.

SAN FRANCISCO
September 18 - October 6
478 Jackson Street

BEVERLY HILLS
October 13 - November 3
Opening Reception October 14
9478 West Olympic

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Max Ferguson painting features Louise Brooks

Max Ferguson is a contemporary artist of considerable talent. His realistic style, described as hyper-detailed and grounded in Old Master techniques, is both objective and poignant. It has great appeal.

Ferguson's work has been written up in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, ARTnews, Art & Antiques and elsewhere, and is held in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The British Museum in London, The Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas, and The Museum of the City of New York.

An exhibit of Ferguson's new work is touring three cities in the United States. And what's more, one of the artist's new, almost photo-realist paintings, depicts Louise Brooks. "Lulu in New York" (oil on panel, 2014) is shown below: it depicts pianist Ben Model at the Museum of Modern Art in New York during a screening of Pandora's Box. The painting measures 12 x 12 inches, and the artist told me he expects to paint a larger version. I like it. I like it a lot. Be sure and check out one of the shows listed below.



NEW YORK
September 2 - September 10
445 Park Avenue 15th floor

SAN FRANCISCO
September 18 - October 6
Opening Reception September 18
478 Jackson Street

BEVERLY HILLS
October 13 - November 3
Opening Reception October 14
9478 West Olympic

HERITAGE AUCTIONS

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Louise Brooks - Digital painting by Jeff Stahl

Time lapse digital speed painting of Louise Brooks by Jeff Stahl done in Photoshop CS5 with Wacom tablets Cintiq 12wx and Intuos 4L. Real time: 1h16min. Music: "The Russian Princess" by Jeff Stahl, track available here: http://on.fb.me/1fnzNSH

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