Friday 7 October 2016

Vermeer's View

Looking at certain paintings conditions how we see the world sometimes, hence this view from my studio window today. I had been looking at Vermeer's Little Street in Delft, 1661; also had View of Delft in mind. It is thought that the street view was painted from the window at the back of Vermeer's house, and that he wanted to record these buildings before they were demolished.



Tuesday 4 October 2016

Dine's Hearts

A nice interview at link below may not throw much light on Dine's long interest in the heart motif that has featured in so many of his paintings and prints, but nevertheless it contains other interesting insights into his career. Perhaps in truth there is no more, or no less, reasoning behind the Hearts than lies behind his contemporary Jasper Johns' obsession with the American flag. Stylistically there are also strong links between some of Dine's Hearts, and certain works by Johns I think.



Jim Dine Interview


Tuesday 27 September 2016

Man Frightened By a Snake

TJ Clark's book on Poussin, The Sight of Death, was referred to in a previous post on NOCM. Here is an extraordinary juxtaposition of images which occurred to me recently- the running figure in the Poussin painting 'Man Killed by a Snake' bears an uncanny resemblance to this Scottish football fan from the infamous pitch invasion at Wembley in 1977:




Painting Portals

Bottom: work-in-progress. Top: a still from Henry Levin's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' (1959), a movie set that recreates with some accuracy part of the Old Quad at Edinburgh University.



Wednesday 7 September 2016

Alice Neel in Edinburgh

Girl in Cafe, 1975, on show at Talbot Rice: 'Alice Neel, The Subject and Me',  through to 8th October. Unmissable. See TOP TEN PAINTINGS to right.

Sunday 4 September 2016