Ordinary finds

Born on the 1st of July, French proto-feminist novelist, George Sand (1804 - 1876)…

(Photo by Nadar)

July 4, 1865 was the publication date for Alice in Wonderland…

Above: one of the plates for the 1st ed. - Sir John Tenniel, 1864 or 1865. The Cheshire Cat,

Viterbo is a fine medieval, walled city in Tuscia, north of Rome, Italy - but the Internet access here is not top notch…

Here’s hoping this might work - after three days of no Tumblr.

“Earl Cunningham painted more than four hundred images of the sea, based on his memories of voyages up and down the East Coast. Blue Sail Fleet Returns does not show an actual location, but rather a combination of real and imaginary elements. He created a fantasy world with purple water, orange trees, and birds as large as a house, and may have included himself as one of the tiny fishermen on the pier. The sea represented freedom to Cunningham, and one of his dreams was to own a houseboat so he could live permanently on the water” - (“Earl Cunningham’s American Eden,” Gary Schwan, The Palm Beach Post, 1994, Chuck and Jan Rosenak research material, 1990-1999, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution).

John Scott (June 30, 1940 - 2007): Thornbush Blues Totem, 1990 - painted steel (Smithsonian)

“John Scott was born into a deeply religious Catholic family in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1940. He received his MFA in sculpture and printmaking from Michigan State University, East Lansing, in 1965. He has been a professor of fine art at Xavier University in New Orleans since that time. Scott has won various national-level awards for his work and has completed several public and privately commissioned installations throughout the United States.

Scott traditionally works in mixed media, but he is currently making painted kinetic metal sculptures that draw upon African-American traditions and themes. Many of these works respond to peripheral movement and therefore encourage an active relationship between art, its surroundings, and its audience. Scott first began to incorporate kinetic qualities in his work during the summer of 1983 when he studied with sculptor George Rickey at the Hand Hollow Foundation in New York. During this period he initiated a new emphasis on linear elements and bright color characteristic of his current style. Although Scott is concerned with formal issues, he firmly believes in the power of art to respond to social and political realities. His recent work, however, is less political than it is evocative of the cultural traditions brought to New Orleans by African slaves. Indeed, just as the rhythms and relationships of different types of New Orleans jazz are echoed in the moving, changing lines of metal, so do the brilliantly painted markings recall African voodoo and tribal rituals that derive from America’s multicultured past.” - Jacquelyn Serwer. curatorial files (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, 1995).

“Scully was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1945 but was raised in London, where his family moved in 1949. He attended classes at London’s Central School of Art (1962–1965) and at Croydon College of Art (1965–1968) and received a bachelor’s degree from Newcastle University in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1972. That year, he traveled to the United States for the first time for a one-year residency at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. He moved to the United States in 1975, settling in New York City. He taught at Princeton University from 1977 to 1982 and was a professor at Parsons School of Design in New York City from 1981 to 1984. In 1983, the year he became a U.S. citizen, Scully received a Guggenheim Fellowship and an artist fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Scully was nominated in 1989 and in 1993 for the Turner Prize that is presented annually by the Tate Gallery in Britain. His paintings, prints, pastels and photographs have been exhibited internationally, and his work is in the permanent collections of some of the leading museum in the U.S. and Europe. Scully maintains studios in New York City, Barcelona, Spain; and Munich, Germany.” - Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Smithsonian American Art Museum Presents Selections from Its Master Set of Prints by Sean Scully, the Only Set in a U.S. Museum” (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum, press release, May 1, 2007).

John Pike (June 30, 1911 - 1979): Village Green, 1945 - oil on fiberboard (Smithsonian)

“Village Green shows a congested square where cars, bicycles, and horse-drawn carriages compete for space on the narrow roads. The image suggests the effects of war on the home front: a soldier in the foreground greets an elderly neighbor, a group of children play “war” in the square, a sign advertises a Red Cross blood drive, and an honor roll lists the names of local boys serving overseas. John Pike painted this image in 1945, when World War II was ending and he was posted to Asia as an artist-correspondent. The thin layers of paint, scumbled colors, and bird’s-eye view create a hazy, sentimental image that evokes a distant memory, as if recalled by someone far from home.” - Smithsonian label

One more late, great folkie:

Mark Spoelstra (June 30, 1940 – 2007) was an American singer-songwriter and folk and blues guitarist.

He was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He began his musical career in Los Angeles in his teens and migrated around to wind up in New York City in time to take part in the folk music revival of the early 1960s. He is best remembered for his activity in the Greenwich Village area. He performed with Bob Dylan soon after Dylan’s arrival in New York City, was a contributor to Broadside Magazine and recorded a number of albums for Folkways Records and other labels.

Below: Mark Spoelstra via Folkways Records: Sugar Babe, It’s All Over Now

Today is Dave Van Ronk’s birthday - the “Mayor of MacDougal Street” would have been 73, but unfortunately left us prematurely due to complications following colon cancer in 2002…

Above: Dylan, Suze Rotolo & Dave Van Ronk in the Village…

Below: Dave raps, and then sings Gaslight Rag…