You're viewing everything posted on July 6, 2009
Howard Hack (b. July 7, 1932): Window Number 22, Parenti’s Market, 1967 - oil on canvas(Smithsonian) “This painting is part of Howard Hack’s Window series of the 1960s, which show “landscapes” of objects seen through glass storefronts. The reversed numbers and small orange pump identify this as a view of a Union 76 gas station, seen perhaps from the inside of an abandoned market where only a weighing scale and empty ceiling hooks remain. Shadowed corners underscore the emptiness and silence, and the texture of the painted window evokes layers of undisturbed dust. Hack painted some objects to appear both inside and outside the glass, creating a confusing sense of depth and making it difficult to distinguish between the real objects and their reflections.” (Smithsonian exhibition label) Click for high-res photo

Howard Hack (b. July 7, 1932): Window Number 22, Parenti’s Market, 1967 - oil on canvas(Smithsonian)

“This painting is part of Howard Hack’s Window series of the 1960s, which show “landscapes” of objects seen through glass storefronts. The reversed numbers and small orange pump identify this as a view of a Union 76 gas station, seen perhaps from the inside of an abandoned market where only a weighing scale and empty ceiling hooks remain. Shadowed corners underscore the emptiness and silence, and the texture of the painted window evokes layers of undisturbed dust. Hack painted some objects to appear both inside and outside the glass, creating a confusing sense of depth and making it difficult to distinguish between the real objects and their reflections.” (Smithsonian exhibition label)

Robert Broderson (July 7, 1920 - 1922): Father and Son by the Sea, n.d. - oil on canvas (Smithsonian) “Broderson, who served in the Air Force during World War II and later received grants from Duke University (where he taught from 1957 until 1964), traveled widely throughout Europe, Mexico, and Africa. A painter of figures in bleak landscapes, Broderson pays little attention to the specifics of place. His stark, often distorted, figures hold strange birds and beasts and are darkly set against dramatically light skies. His images are enigmatic and haunting, offering unlikely symbolic connections that defy rational explanation. Broderson executes his figural works with a painterly freedom reminiscent of his early days as an Abstract Expressionist.” - Virginia M. Mecklenburg. Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1987). Click for high-res photo

Robert Broderson (July 7, 1920 - 1922): Father and Son by the Sea, n.d. - oil on canvas (Smithsonian)

“Broderson, who served in the Air Force during World War II and later received grants from Duke University (where he taught from 1957 until 1964), traveled widely throughout Europe, Mexico, and Africa. A painter of figures in bleak landscapes, Broderson pays little attention to the specifics of place. His stark, often distorted, figures hold strange birds and beasts and are darkly set against dramatically light skies. His images are enigmatic and haunting, offering unlikely symbolic connections that defy rational explanation. Broderson executes his figural works with a painterly freedom reminiscent of his early days as an Abstract Expressionist.” - Virginia M. Mecklenburg. Modern American Realism: The Sara Roby Foundation Collection (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press for the National Museum of American Art, 1987).

Born on the 6th of July, country and folk singer-songwriter, Nanci Griffith - 56 today… Click for high-res photo

Born on the 6th of July, country and folk singer-songwriter, Nanci Griffith - 56 today…

Born on the 6th of July: Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954), vibrant Mexican painter and activist… “Frida Kahlo and her Itzcuintli Dogs,” photo by Lola Alvarez Bravo, 1944

Born on the 6th of July: Frida Kahlo (1907 - 1954), vibrant Mexican painter and activist…

“Frida Kahlo and her Itzcuintli Dogs,” photo by Lola Alvarez Bravo, 1944

Work by Frida Kahlo: The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me, Diego, and Mr. Xolotl, 1949

Work by Frida Kahlo:

The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Me, Diego, and Mr. Xolotl, 1949