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ART “4” “2”-DAY 18 February

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DEATHS: 1564 MICHELANGELO — 1683 BERCHEM — 1655 FRA ANGELICO

BIRTH: 1860 ZORN

1913: SCANDAL AT THE ARMORY !

^ Born on 18 February 1860: Anders Leonard Zorn, Swedish painter, etcher, and sculptor, who died on 22 August 1920.
— He was internationally famed as one of the best genre and portrait painters in Europe at the end of the 19th century. He is the best-known Swedish painter. He is famous for his paintings of the people of Dalarna, the part of Sweden where he was born, and his nudes in the open space. He earned a world-wide reputation as a portraitist. He made seven journeys to the USA. He painted the portraits of three US presidents. He belonged to the group known as the Opponents, headed by his friend and fellow-painter Ernst Josephson. They rebelled against the academic autocracy and conservative thinking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
— Zorn is one of Sweden's' internationally best known artists. His fame abroad is founded mostly on his portraiture where he had the ability to capture the character and the personality of the depicted person. But also his graphic work, where he is among the most talented of all times, is well-known. In Sweden his nude studies are very famous, as are his genre pictures which mostly depict working people.
      Zorn was born in Mora, the son of Grudd Anna Andersdotter (“Mona” 1898, 108x82cm) and German brewer Leonhard Zorn, who never married her, whom Anders Zorn never met, and who died in Helsinki in 1872. Zorn was raised by his grandparents in Mora and at the age of 12 he was sent to a school in Enköping. At the age of 15 he entered the Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm. As a young boy he had shown an unusual artistic ability and attention was drawn to the horses and human figures he carved in wood. He planned to become a sculptor but soon painting prevailed. He choose watercolors, a technique which was rather uncommon at the time and this became his main technique until about 1887. At the Student exhibition in 1880, Zorn showed the watercolor In mourning, which propelled him into the art world. The painting shows a young girl in mourning and it was admired for its skilfulness; the way he painted the sad young face under the veil.
      Several members of Stockholm society now turned to Zorn with commissions. His portraits of children were much appreciated and it was in connection with such a commission that Zorn met his future wife, Emma Zorn, in the beginning of 1881. Her background was quite different from Zorn's. She came from a rich family in Stockholm, with an interest for art and culture. Her Jewish ancestors were among the first to settle in Sweden in the 1770's when Jews were allowed to live there. Emma Lamm's family liked the charming young man but he and Emma understood that without money of his own a marriage was out of the question.
      In August 1881, Zorn went abroad to study and to try to earn enough money to support a family. The next four years were spent mostly in England and Spain, but during the summers he was always at home, in Mora and in Dalarö where the Lamm family rented a summerhouse. During these years his style matured. His technique became more sure and his way of handling watercolors became bolder. He began to study the appearance of water, how its surface fluctuated and reflected.
      In the autumn of 1885, Anders Zorn and Emma Lamm married. The following eleven years were mostly spent abroad, first in England, later in Paris, but they always came back to Sweden during the summers. The first years of their marriage were highly stimulating for Zorn's painting. Emma Zorn's encouragement and critical analysis of his work played a decisive role in his artistic growth. It was during these years that his ability as an aquarellist reached its peak. Some of the most appealing paintings he made during this period are those with water motifs such as a series depicting the beautiful light over the harbor of Constantinople. Dating from this period are also some of his best-known watercolors, such as Törnsnåret (1886, 41x54cm) and Sommarnöje (1886, 76x56cm). Zorn's most famous watercolor, Vårt dagliga bröd (featuring Mona, 68x102cm), was made in Mora in 1886 as a commission from the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.
      Emma and Anders Zorn spent the winter of 1887-88 in St Ives in Cornwall. This was an artistic turning point for Zorn. He began to paint in oils and the second oil painting he made, A Fisherman in St Ives, was a definite success. It was exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1888 and bought by the French state. In the spring of 1888, the Zorns settled in Paris, which became their home for eight years. This period coincided with some of the high points of his artistry. From 1889 to 1894 he produced a number of works which earned him a prominent position in the Parisian art world. This position was confirmed during the Paris World Fair in 1889. The 29-year-old Zorn was awarded the French Légion d'Honneur and was asked to paint his self portrait for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
      It was primarily his skill as a portrait painter that gained Zorn international acclaim. His incisive ability to depict the individual character of his model is, for example, apparent in portraits of prominent cultural personalities, Antonin Proust (1888) and Coquelin Cadet (1889). The sitter's surroundings were important; Zorn believed that a portrait should be painted in an environment that was natural for the model. An artificial studio environment was not to his taste.
      Zorn completed a number of genre paintings which focused on the depiction of light and shadow. The motifs were very different. In The Waltz (1891) the dark cabinet in the foreground is lit by the lights of the ballroom in the background. In Omnibus (1892) the lights flicker uneasily over the passengers of a Paris bus. The lights from a street lamp and the window of a café reflect on the red dress worn by a Parisian demi-mondaine in Natteffekt (1895, 161x106cm).
      During the summers in Mora, Zorn painted some extraordinary works where light plays a decisive role, foremost Midnatt (1891, 69x103cm) with a woman rowing in the shadowless summerlight and in Margit (1891, 78x64cm) a Dalarna girl braids her hair in the rays of light from a small window.

      At about the same time that Zorn moved to Paris he began working with the motif that he became renowned for, the nude depicted outdoors. The movement of water and the reflection of light on its surface had long fascinated him. Now he further complicated the situation by placing a model beside or in the water. The first works he completed in this genre are Ute (1889, 120x84cm), En premiär (1888, 76x56cm) and Les Baigneuses.
     In 1893, the Columbian World Fair was held in Chicago. Zorn was chosen as the superintendent of the Swedish art exhibition and travelled to the States. He stayed for almost a year. This trip to the USA, the first of seven, was very important for him. Zorn enjoyed the US lifestyle and felt at home there. This first trip to the States was also of great importance for his art. Subsequent visits to the USA were in 1896-1897, and 1898-1899, 1900-1901, 1903-1904, 1907, and 1911. He generally travelled during the fall, winter and spring. The 1907 trip was primarily for pleasure, but the others included a large number of paintings, mostly portraits. Naturally, the high points were the commissions to portray American presidents: Grover Cleveland (1899, 122x92cm) and his wife Mrs. Frances Cleveland (1899, 157x92cm) and William Taft (1911). He made an etching of Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. One of the benefits of the presidential portraits was the number of commissions that Zorn received in the USA.
      In 1896 the Zorns decided to move home to Sweden. Zorn had earlier bought land adjacent to Mora church. A cottage from his grandfather's farm was moved here and this is still the centre of the Zorngården, which was enlarged on several occasions until 1910. The Zorns were intensely engaged in the welfare of the inhabitants of Mora. Emma Zorn established a reading society, a parish library, a childrens' home, and the Mora domestic handicraft organisation. The largest gift to Mora was, however, the folk high school they established where young people from the community were educated. Zorn's interest in traditional culture was expressed in different ways. From 1914 and onwards he bought old cottages and moved to what is now called Zorn's Gammelgård. In order to preserve the old folk music, Zorn established a music contest in 1906, which resulted in a renaissance of folk music and its ultimate survival in Sweden. Today, the Zorn Award is still the most prestigious prize a folk musician can receive.
      The move to Mora from Paris also resulted in a change of motif for Zorn. He did many paintings depicting Mora and its residents, such as his most famous work, Midsommardans (1897, 140x98cm) which was also the painting that Zorn himself valued most of all. His love for his native country is also depicted in paintings such as The Shepherdess (1908), The Horn Blower (1905) and Christmas Morning Service (1908). The portrait commissions took a lot of his artistic energy. He developed a concise treatment of detail and a more sweeping brushstroke than earlier. By now his reputation as a skilled portraitist had reached the upper classes. Various members of the Swedish royal family posed for Zorn and the most exquisite of these is Drottning Sophia (1909, 130x94cm), with its wonderful use of white. The painting is an outstanding example of Zorn's mastery of technique.
      Beginning in 1910, Zorn focused on developing his control of the technique and motif. He accomplished this with such certainty that the process of painting can assume the dominant role, sometimes to the detriment of the work's emotional expression. Two paintings are exceptions: Självporträtt i rött (1915, 120x90cm) and Självporträtt i vargskinnspäls (1915, 90x58cm). Also the nude studies changed: The rather sturdy peasant women are shown in their own environment in cottages or by the water, e.g. Mother and Daughter (1909).
      The international esteem Zorn received was not based solely on his paintings. He was an exquisite etcher as well. He had worked with this technique since 1882. He had developed his abilities and was now highly accomplished. Zorn produced 289 etchings, a number of which are very well known, among them the portrait of Ernest Renan (1892), Auguste Rodin (1906) and August Strindberg (1910). Zorn admired and collected the etched works of Rembrandt and considered him to be his artistic forefather in this particular medium. [167 Rembrandt etchings at FAMSF]
      Zorn's astounding skill with the etching needle can be partially traced to his ability with a carving knife. As mentioned earlier, he had first intended to become a sculptor. Throughout his life he returned to sculpture and the high point in this particular art is the statue of Gustav Vasa in Mora, inaugurated in 1903. Zorn also sculpted a number of portraits and small statues, among them Morning Bath (1909), a figure of a girl who holds a sponge in her hands from which a fountain spouts.
      Zorn's health deteriorated markedly during his last years. Emma Zorn died on 04 January 1942. To honor the memory of her husband, she had worked to create a museum, which opened in 1939. She completed the existing collection by re-purchasing a number of paintings that he had sold and at the same time she continued the philanthropic work that the Zorns had initiated together.
— LINKS
— Självporträtt med modell (1896, 117x94cm) — Självporträtt i rött (1915, 120x90cm) — Självporträtt i vargskinnspäls (1915, 90x58cm)
— Effet de Nuit III (1897) — Couple wading in the water — Djos Mats, clockmaker in Dalecarlia, (1911) — Self~Portrait (etching 38x30cm) — Self~Portrait with Inscription (etching, 1904) — Self~Portrait (etching, 1916) — Balance (1919) — Old Maria (1919) — Dal River (1919) — Lavard Anders, Dalecarlian Peasant (1919) — Vicke (Anders Victor Andren), — Red Stockings (1887) — White Lily — Grover Cleveland (1899, 122x92cm) — Oscar II (king of Sweden) (1898, 119x93cm) — Emma Zorn läsande (1887, 40x61cm) — Cousins (1882) — Femme au Jupon Rouge (1894)
— Midsommardans (1897, 140x98cm) has acquired classic status among Swedish paintings from the end of the 19th century. It shows an exterior, a courtyard, bounded by shimmering grey timber walls in the background and couples in folk costume whirling round in the dance on the lawn in the foreground. At a distance we see the bright red end wall of a house, a maypole and a patch of the summer night sky. The golden shades of the sunrise are reflected in the house windows, and the atmosphere there is full of the Nordic magic associated with nights of early summer.

^ 18 Feb 1564: muore Michelangelo Buonarroti Simoni, 89, pittore, scultore, architetto e poeta [Rime] (1475-1564). ^top^
     Nato da genitori fiorentini, a 13 anni fu a Firenze nella bottega del Ghirlandaio, poi nella scuola di S. Marco con Bertoldo, l'allievo di Donatello. Prima dei vent'anni sperimentò nel marmo ogni tecnica antica e contemporanea. In due opere giovanili, la "Madonna della Scala" e la "Lotta dei Centauri coi Lapiti" (Galleria Buonarroti, Firenze), manifestò già i caratteri del suo stile: il creare nel marmo —per via di levare—, il concepire in grande, il contrapporre a masse in ombra altre in vivida luce.
      Dopo aver visto opere di J. della Quercia a Bologna, scolpisce a Roma, nel 1497, la "Pietà". Con il "David", il tondo del Bargello e il "S. Matteo" (1504), di cui -il non finito- accresce la suggestività, termina il periodo giovanile. A 30 anni Giulio II lo incaricò del suo Mausoleo in S. Pietro. Quest'opera, che gli era carissima e che mai ebbe modo di realizzare, costituì un motivo di tormento per tutta la vita di Michelangelo.
      I contrasti con i Della Rovere ebbero termine soltanto con Paolo III, quando si collocò la tomba in S. Pietro in Vincoli, con una sola statua realizzata dall'artista: il "Mosè". Gli "Schiavi", le cariatidi realizzate per il Mausoleo, sono ora al Louvre e a Firenze. Riconciliatosi con Papa Giulio, a Michelangelo, che poco aveva operato nella pittura ("Madonna Doni", cartoni per la Battaglia di Cascina) fu richiesto di dipingere in affresco la volta della Cappella Sistina. Si accinse all'opera di mala voglia, e in 4 anni (1508-12) realizzò questo capolavoro composto da 9 riquadri (dal "Caos" alla "Creazione dell'uomo", dal "Peccato" al "Diluvio" e al "Noè ebbro") e da 8 timpani posti tra le 12 nicchie monumentali, con le figure dei Profeti e delle Sibille, dei Pargoli e degli Ignudi.
      Dopo questa grande fatica, un insieme di eventi (la tomba di Giulio, mai fatta; la facciata di S. Lorenzo in Firenze, mai posta in opera, l'incomprensione di Leone X, le mura apprestate per la difesa di Firenze, rese vane dal tradimento) incupì l'animo dell'artista. Ne sono visibili testimonianze le statue de "L'Aurora" e del "Crepuscolo" (1525), del "Giorno" e della "Notte" (1526) poste sulle arche di Giuliano e Lorenzo de' Medici. Tali statue, risolte nell'architettura della Sacrestia Nuova di S. Lorenzo da M. stesso attuata per volere di Clemente VII, mostrano l'apice raggiunto nella espressione plastica, e la sfiducia nell'umano operare.
      Finì con lo scolpire soltanto per sé. Le tre "Pietà", quella di Palestrina (Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze), di Firenze (Duomo) e Rondanini (Milano, Castello), realizzate per la sua tomba, nel silenzio della casa a Macel de' Corvi presso la colonna Traiana, quelle "Pietà" che non lo accontentarono mai, sulle quali lavorò sino a poco prima di morire, dimostrano quanto la sua scultura maturasse e cambiasse insieme a lui, con gli eventi della vita, con il passare degli anni. Solo nella "Madonna dei Medici" il reclinarsi e il risolversi di ogni atto della mesta Madre per la vita del Pargolo, di un gagliardo freschissimo modellato, ci riporta alla speranza.

      Nel 1534, esule volontario dalla patria asservita, Michelangelo si stabilisce a Roma e vi rimane fino alla morte (1564). Nell' "Epistolario" si rammarica continuamente di così lunga vita, ma quello che fa e dice è un preludio all'arte del domani, in una essenzialità romantica che ritroviamo nelle fabbriche del Borromini, nelle sculture di A. Rodin e, prosegue quella pittoricità plastica di cui si sostanziano il cielo e il suolo di Roma, dalle Fondamenta alla Cupola di S. Pietro, dal cornicione del Palazzo Farnese alla Piazza del Campidoglio, da S. Maria degli Angeli a Porta Pia.
      Il Maderno, il Bernini e particolarmente il Borromini s'ispireranno alla sua opera per legarvi il meglio del barocco. Anche nella poesia, quando l'istinto lo libera di forza dal petrarchismo, il suo verso si fa di plastico vigore, si sostanzia di sillabe che dicono oltre il cantato e il disporre metrico. Oggi si parla di Michelangelo come del maggior poeta lirico del Cinquecento. Si spense a 89 anni, all'Avemaria del 18 febbraio 1564. Un mese dopo, la salma, rapita dai concittadini, come avveniva nel Medioevo per le reliquie dei santi, entrava a Firenze e con solenni esequie la si poneva in Santa Croce.
      I recenti restauri della volta della Sistina (1989-91) e del "Giudizio Universale" (1990-94), hanno fatto emergere nuovi ed inaspettati elementi che hanno posto in una luce totalmente diversa la pittura michelangiolesca. Se la plasticità dei corpi, così simili a figure scolpite più che dipinte, è stata ulteriormente evidenziata dall'opera di pulitura, la rimozione dello strato secolare che ricopriva l'affresco, (polvere, condensazione del fumo delle candele, e, soprattutto, le diverse mani di colla che sono state stese nel tempo per ravvivare i colori ma che, col tempo, hanno ottenuto solo il risultato di formare una patina scura sull'opera), ha rivelato una luminosità ed un cromatismo inaspettati e del tutto differenti da quelli da sempre attribuiti al maestro fiorentino.
      Il tripudio di colori acidi e chiari, la drastica rimozione delle ombre, hanno infatti avvicinato la pittura di M. a quella manierista, facendo così dell'artista, a dispetto della tradizione, il primo di quei pittori -di maniera- che, negli anni immediatamente successivi, avrebbero dato vita al fenomeno del Manierismo. ^top^

^ Died on 18 February 1683: Nicolaes (or Claes) Pieterzoon Berchem (or Berghem) van Haarlem, Dutch painter born on 01 October 1620.
— Berchem was a painter of pastoral landscapes in the Italianate manner, principally active in Haarlem. He was the son of the still-life painter Pieter Claeszoon Berchem van Haarlem [called Pieter Claesz. in references, as if Claesz was his last name and not, especially with the period after the z which some references maintain, the standard abbreviation for Claeszoon, or son of Claes, which must be short for Nicolaes. Thus this Nicolaes Pieterz. Berchem must be the son of Pieter Claeszoon Berchem, himself the son of grandpa Claes or Nicolaes Berchem]. Pieter's father was his first teacher, but although Nicolaes Pieterz. Berchem tried his hand at most subjects, no still-lifes by him are known. He visited Italy in the 1640s and perhaps again in the 1650s and became, with Jan Both, the most highly regarded exponent of the Italianate landscape. Successful and well rewarded in his lifetime, he had numerous pupils and his influence on 18th century English and French landscape painters was very considerable, Gainsborough and Watteau being among the artists who particularly admired his work.
— During the course of his long and extremely prolific career Berchem, the son of Pieter Claesz, the outstanding still-life painter, painted biblical, allegorical, and mythological themes, views of harbours, winter scenes, nocturnals, battles, and some genre scenes, as well as the Italianate landscapes for which he is so justly famous, but he apparently never tried his hand at still-life painting.
— Berchem's pictures have a more pronounced pastoral character than Jan Both's or Asselyn's. Shepherds and buxom shepherdesses tending their flocks and herdsmen guarding their cattle receive prominent places in his works. His lively figures are seen in sparkling Italian light among ancient ruins, fording rivers, or set against magnificent panoramic views of vast Italian valleys and mountain ranges. The large scale of his figures often suggests his paintings could be classified as pastoral genre scenes as well as landscapes — the same is true of many of Jan Baptist Weenix's (1621~1663) Italianate paintings. Wisps of white cloud float in Berchem's dazzling blue skies, and bits of vividly colored clothing worn by herders, milkmaids, and travellers brighten the cool greens of his landscapes. His peasants enjoy a life of innocence and happiness among their animals. It is an idyllic dream world which appealed to a public that found Arcadia a refuge from worldly cares and responsibility. The mood of his pictures justifies the claim that Berchem, who died in I683, the year Watteau was born, is one of the precursors of the Rococo. Berchem's success stimulated a number of close followers. Karel Dujardin (1622~1678) was his pupil. The genre painters Pieter de Hooch (1629~1684) and Jacob Ochtervelt, artists who soon went their own way, also studied with him.
— Nicolaes Berchem, the son of a distinguished still-life painter, Pieter Claesz., was born in Haarlem. The town was a leading centre of landscape painting in the early seventeenth century and among Berchem's teachers was the landscapist Jan van Goyen. Like many Dutch artists, Berchem travelled to Italy immediately after completing his apprenticeship. He was in Rome late in 1642 and remained there for three years. While in Italy, Berchem made many drawings of the landscape of the Roman Campagna, its cattle and peasants. On his return to Haarlem, Berchem quarried this rich material throughout a long and extremely productive career, painting (and etching) hundreds of Italianate pastoral scenes. As is evident from this painting, he interpreted the Italian landscape and the life of its peasants in an idyllic manner, emphasizing its timeless continuity by the inclusion of antique monuments. These buildings cannot be identified, as they are only loosely modelled on actual ruins. Berchem uses a bright, highly-colored palette and applies the paint in short, stabbing brush strokes. In seventeenth-century Holland there was a constant demand for exotic landscapes of this type and Berchem was a highly successful artist. He moved to Amsterdam, which had a larger art market than Haarlem, in about 1677. His work was widely imitated and copied during his lifetime and his paintings enthusiastically sought after in France in the eighteenth century and in England in the nineteenth.
— LINKS
— Landscape with Muleteer and Herdsman (1655) — Shepherd at the Well and the Spinning Girl (1652) — Landscape with Herdsmen Gathering Sticks (1652) — A Moor Presenting a Parrot to a Lady (1665) — A Southern Harbor Scene (1658, 83x104cm) — Italian Landscape at Sunset (1671) — Italian Landscape with Bridge (1656, 44x61cm) _ This mature work of Berchem, influenced by Italian painting, was executed after his second journey to Italy. — Peasants with Cattle by a Ruined Aqueduct (1658, 47x39cm) —

18 Feb 1455: mort de Fra Angelico, 55 ans, moine peintre de Madone, un des plus importants du Quattrocento. ^top^
Ce peintre toscan du début de la Renaissance fut surnommé Angelico ("angélique" en français) du nom de l'angélique docteur, saint Dominique, et Beato ("béni" en français) pour la profondeur spirituelle de sa peinture. De son vrai nom Guido di Pietro, l'Angelico est né en Toscane, près de Florence. Il entra dans un couvent de dominicains observants à Fiesole, en 1418. Vers 1425, il devint moine et prit le nom de Fra Giovanni. Il débuta sa carrière comme enlumineur de missels et d'autres ouvrages religieux dans le scriptorium de son couvent. Dès 1418, il collabora au chantier de décoration de Santo Stefano al Ponte. Parmi ses premières œuvres importantes figurent " la Madone de l'étoile " (1433) et " Le Christ en gloire entouré de saints et d'anges " . Parmi d'autres œuvres de cette période, on trouve " le Couronnement de la Vierge " dans lequel on constate un discours plastique sur la notion d'espace et de perspective liée à la hiérarchie ecclésiastique.
En 1436, les dominicains de Fiesole s'installèrent au couvent Saint-Marc à Florence, qui avait été récemment reconstruit par Michelozzo. L'Angelico, aidé parfois d'assistants, peignit de nombreuses fresques pour le cloître, le chapitre, et une vingtaine de cellules du premier étage. Ce vaste programme iconographique présente la caractéristique d'avoir été pensé de manière globale, et l'on trouve dans certaines fresques des éléments qui répondent ou approfondissent des questions traitées dans d'autres. Son retable pour San Marco (vers 1439) est l'une des premières représentations de la Conversation sacrée : la Vierge est entourée d'anges et de saints qui semblent partager un espace commun. La peinture de l'Angelico est profondément liée aux réflexions théologiques sur l'œuvre de saint Thomas d'Aquin que les dominicains florentins menaient à l'époque sous la houlette de l'évêque Antonin. En 1445, Angelico fut appelé à Rome par le pape Eugène IV pour peindre des fresques sur la chapelle du Saint-Sacrement du Vatican, aujourd'hui détruite. En 1447, avec son élève Bennozo Gozzoli, il peignit des fresques pour la cathédrale d'Orvieto. Ses dernières œuvres importantes sont les fresques de la chapelle " Nicoline " au Vatican, qui représentent des Scènes de la vie d'Étienne et de Laurent (1447-1449), dont l'iconographie provient de la somme hagiographique de Jacques de Voragine (1230 - 13 Jul 1298) [Aurea Legenda: des extraits en latin / complete in English translation: The Golden Legend]. De 1449 à 1452, Angelico fut prieur de son couvent à Fiesole. Il mourut dans un couvent dominicain de Rome.

Fra Angelico was an Italian painter of the early Renaissance who combined the life of a devout friar with that of an accomplished painter. He was called Angelico and Beato because the paintings he did were of calm, religious subjects and because of his extraordinary personal piety. He is also known as Guido di Pietro da Mugello, Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, or Beato Angelico. His students included Alessio Baldovinetti and Benozzo Gozzoli.
In Fiesole
Annunciation by Fra Angelico

      Originally named Guido di Pietro, Angelico was born in Vicchio, Tuscany. He entered a Dominican convent in Fiesole in 1418 and about 1425 became a friar using the name Giovanni da Fiesole. Although his teacher is unknown, he apparently began his career as an illuminator of missals and other religious books. He began to paint altarpieces and other panels; among his important early works are the Madonna of the Star (1433) and Christ in Glory Surrounded by Saints and Angels, which depicts more than 250 distinct figures. Among other works of that period are two of the Coronation of the Virgin and The Deposition and The Last Judgment. His mature style is first seen in the Madonna of the Linen Weavers (1433), which features a border with 12 music-making angels. [above, left]
[fresco "The Annunciation,", 1445 >]
In Florence and Rome
      In 1436 the Dominicans of Fiesole moved to the convent of San Marco in Florence, which had recently been rebuilt by Michelozzo. Angelico [< portrait], sometimes aided by assistants, painted many frescoes for the cloister, chapter house, and entrances to the 20 cells on the upper corridors. The most impressive of these are The Crucifixion, Christ as a Pilgrim, and Transfiguration. His altarpiece for San Marco (1439 ?) is one of the first representations of what is known as a Sacred Conversation: the Madonna flanked by angels and saints who seem to share a common space. In 1445 Angelico was summoned to Rome by Pope Eugenius IV to paint frescoes for the now destroyed Chapel of the Sacrament in the Vatican. In 1447, with his pupil Benozzo Gozzoli, he painted frescoes for the cathedral in Orvieto. His last important works, frescoes for the chapel of Pope Nicholas in the Vatican, are Scenes from the Lives of Saints Stephen and Lawrence (1447-1449), probably painted from his designs by assistants. From 1449 to 1452 Angelico was prior of his convent in Fiesole. He died in the Dominican convent in Rome.
      Angelico combined the influence of the elegantly decorative Gothic style of Gentile da Fabriano with the more realistic style of such Renaissance masters as the painter Masaccio and the sculptors Donatello and Ghiberti, all of whom worked in Florence. Angelico was also aware of the theories of perspective proposed by Leon Battista Alberti. Angelico's representation of devout facial expressions and his use of color to heighten emotion are particularly effective. His skill in creating monumental figures, representing motion, and suggesting deep space through the use of linear perspective, especially in the Roman frescoes, mark him as one of the foremost painters of the Renaissance.
— LINKS —

Died on a 18 February:
1917 Charles Emile Auguste Durand “Carolus-Duran”, French painter specialized in Portraits, born on 04 July 1837. — His students included John Singer Sargent and Irving Wiles. — LINKS — Marie-Anne Carolus-Duran (The artist's little girl, with dog) (1874) — N. M. Polovtsova (1876) — Margaret Anderson, Wife of the Honorable Ronald Grenville (1891)
1891 Cornelis Springer, Dutch artist born on 25 May 1817. — LINKS — View of The Hague from the Delftse Vaart in the 17th Century (1852) _ study for it — Zuiderhavendijk, Enkhuizen (1868) — Figures in a Street in Delft (1853, 65x55cm)
1794 Josef Adam von Mölk (or Mölckh), Austrian artist born in 1714.
1682 Pierre Dupuis (or Dupuy), French artist born on 03 March 1610.
1564 Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, Italian painter born on 06 March 1475. — Studied under Domenico Ghirlandaio. His studio assistants included Francesco Granacci and Marcello Venusti. His students included Giorgio Vasari and Sebastiano Filippi. — LINKS — Small image of the entire Sistine Chapel ceiling linked to small images of most panels —

Born on a 18 February:
1885 Henri Laurens, French artist who died in 1954. — LINKS
1862 Albert Welti, Swiss painter who died on 07 June 1912. — Born in Zurich, Switzerland. Studied at the Munich Academy and was Böcklin's pupil. A painter and engraver, he sought to depict dreams and nightmares. He executed a series of etchings based on Wagnerian operas. — The House of Dreams (1897) _ Practicing a deliberately archaic kind of art, not unlike that of his master, Arnold Böcklin, Welti has set this scene in a Swiss-style summerhouse overlooking the Lake of Zurich. Each member of the family shown here seems absorbed in some private dream or fantasy, oblivious of his or her surroundings.
1857 Max Klinger, German genre and history Symbolist painter, sculptor and engraver who died on 05 July 1920. — Klinger's art is haracterized by symbol, fantasy, and dreamlike situations — always vivid, frequently morbid. His visionary art has been linked with that of Arnold Böcklin. He had a strong influence on De Chirico. — LINKS — 81 prints at FAMSF
1853 Charles William Wyllie, British artist who died on 28 July 1923.
1848 Louis Comfort Tiffany, US Art Nouveau Stained Glass artist who died on 17 January 1933. — LINKS
1844 Willem Maris, Dutch artist specialized in Landscapes, who died on 10 October 1917, brother of landscape painters Jacob Henricus Maris [25 August 1837 – 07 Aug 1899] and Matthijs Maris [17 August 1839 – 22 August 1917] — LINKS
1817 Johannes Bosboom, Dutch painter who died on 13 September 1891. — LINKS — Church in the Hague (19x15cm)
1755 Nicolas-Didier Boguet, French artist who died on 01 April 1839.
1751 Adolf Ulrik Wertmuller, Swedish artist who died on 05 August 1811. — LINKS
1602 Pieter Meulener (or Meulenaer, Molenaer), Dutch artist who died on 27 November 1654. — Relative? of Jan Miense Molenaer [1610-1668]?

^ 18 February 1913 French painting Nude Descending a Staircase No.2 (1912) by Marcel Duchamp, causes a scandal at the 1913 Armory Show in New York City.
      A major proponent of Dada, Duchamp was one of the most influential figures of avant-garde 20th-century art.
      Marcel Duchamp (28 July 1887 - 2 October 1968) was a French painter and theorist, a major proponent of DADA, and one of the most influential figures of avant-garde 20th-century art. After a brief early period in which he was influenced chiefly by Paul Cézanne and Fauve color, Duchamp developed a type of symbolic painting, a dynamic version of facet Cubism, in which the image depicted successive movements of a single body.
      It closely resembled the multiple exposure photography documented in Eadweard Muybridge's book The Horse in Motion (1878). In 1912, Duchamp painted his famous Nude Descending A Staircase, which caused a scandal at the 1913 Armory show in New York City. In the same year he developed, with Francis Picabia and Guillaume Apollinaire, the radical and ironic ideas that independently prefigured the official founding of Dada in 1916 in Zurich.
      In Paris in 1914, Duchamp bought and inscribed a bottle rack, thereby producing his first ready-made, a new art form based on the principle that art does not depend on established rules or on craftsmanship. Duchamp's ready-mades are ordinary objects that are signed and titled, becoming aesthetic, rather than functional, objects simply by this change in context. Dada aimed at departure from the physical aspect of painting and emphases in ideas as the chief means of artistic expression.
      In 1915, Duchamp moved to New York City, where he was befriended by Louise and Walter Arensberg and their circle of artists and poets, which constituted New York Dada. That same year he began his major work, The Large Glass, or The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (1915-23), a construction of wire and painted foil fitted between plates of transparent glass. In 1918 he completed his last major painting, Tu m', a huge oil and graphite on canvas, a unique combination of real and painted objects and illusionistic and flat space.
      Following his maxim never to repeat himself, Duchamp "stopped" painting (1923) after 20 works and devoted himself largely to the game of chess.

^ Marcel Duchamp, French US Dadaist Surrealist, born in 1887, died in 1968, brother of Raymond Duchamp-Villon, half-brother of Jacques Villon.
— Broke down the boundaries between works of art and everyday objects. Became an American citizen in 1947. His grandfather, his brothers, Jacques Villon, and Raymond Duchamp-Villon, and his sister, Suzanne Duchamp, were all artists. The three brothers agreed ca. 1901 to use different names professionally. Went to Paris in 1903 and studied at the Academie Julian, and did cartoons for the "Courrier FranÁaise" and "Le Rire" between 1905 and 1910. Knew Apollinaire and other artists involved in the Cubist movement. He also met Picabia, who later founded American Dada. In 1913 Duchamp abandoned conventional media and became interested in three-dimensional objects and "ready-mades." He aimed (unsuccessfully as he himself admitted) to take away the mystique of taste and destroy the concept of aesthetic beauty in art. Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase" created a major stir at the Armory Show in 1913. After that time he painted few other pictures. His irreverence for conventional aesthetic standards led him to devise his famous ready-mades and heralded an artistic revolution. Thus when he arrived in America in 1915 he was already notorious. In 1923 Duchamp retired from work as an artist, although he collaborated with Man Ray on some experimental films and continued to organize exhibitions. Duchamp was friendly with the Dadaists, and in the 1930s he helped to organize Surrealist exhibitions. The Pompidou Center in Paris opened with a retrospective of Duchamp's work in 1977.
— LINKS — Un site Duchamp — Portrait of his father

Marcel naît le 28 Jul 1887 vers 14 heures, d'une mère normande et d'un père notaire.
Commence à peindre, dès 1902, vers 15 ans, des paysages (normands -églises, meules, pivoines, pommiers) à l'ambiance impressionniste puis quelques portraits.

Il rejoint ses frères à Paris en 1904. Vend des dessins humoristiques au Courrier français et Le Sourire. Il continue à peindre et à assimiler les influences de l'époque.
"1909 et 1910 furent les années de ma découverte de Cézanne, qui n'était reconnu alors que d'une minorité. Ce portrait [de son père] fut exécuté en 1910 et est une illustration typique de mon culte pour Cézanne allié à mon amour filial".
Après avoir épuisé les ressources de la leçon cézanienne, il s'intéresse aux Fauves: Matisse, Derain, Braque, van Dongen.
1911
S'intéresse en même temps au cubisme et à la représentation du mouvement. Oeuvres de plus en plus personnelles, comme Jeune homme triste dans un train ou Moulin à café

"Mon frère avait une cuisine dans sa petite maison de Puteaux et il a eu l'idée de la décorer avec des tableaux des copains. Il a demandé à Gleizes, Metzinger, La Fresnaye, Léger aussi je crois, de lui faire des petits tableaux de la même dimension, comme une sorte de frise. Il s'est également adressé à moi et j'ai exécuté un moulin à café que j'ai fait éclater; la poudre tombe à côté, les engrenages sont en haut et la poignée est vue simultanément à plusieurs points de son circuit avec une flèche pour indiquer le mouvement. Sans le savoir, j'avais ouvert une fenêtre sur quelque chose d'autre.
Cette flèche était une innovation qui me plaisait beaucoup, le côté diagrammatique était intéressant du point de vue esthétique."
1912

Mars 1912: c'est l'incident du Nu descendant un escalier.
Il envoie au Salon des Indépendants sa version aboutie d'un Nu étudié l'année précédente. Ce nu est destiné à être accroché parmi les oeuvres des membres du Groupe de Puteaux, dont font partie Gleizes, Metzinger et deux frères de Marcel, Jacques Villon et Raymond Duchamp-Villon, partisans du cubisme 'raisonnable'.
Malaise pendant l'accrochage, son Nu pose un problème. Ses collègues n'en trouvent pas le sujet conforme à leur cubisme (pas de nu, et encore moins qui descende un escalier). Ses deux frères sont délégués chez Marcel pour lui demander de bien vouloir au moins en changer le titre. Marcel prend mal cette manifestation de rigidité et vient récupérer son tableau, en fiacre.
À partir de ce moment, il s'éloigne des peintres professionnels et se trouve un travail -bibliothécaire à Sainte Geneviève. Il ne renonce pas pour autant à faire l'artiste, mais ça sera désormais selon ses règles à lui.

Début juin, il assiste en compagnie d'Appolinaire à l'une des rares et tumultueuses représentations des Impressions d'Afriques de Raymond Roussel, qui suscite l'enthousiasme de ses 25 ans et oriente son travail vers des directions radicalement nouvelles.
"C'est Roussel qui, fondamentalement, fut responsable de mon Verre. Ce furent ses Impressions d'Afriques qui m'indiquèrent dans ses grandes lignes la démarche à adopter. Je pensais qu'en tant que peintre, il valait mieux que je sois influencé par un écrivain que par un autre peintre. Et Roussel me montra le chemin."
Le 21 Jun, il part seul à Munich pour quelques mois, pendant lesquels il prend les premières notes et esquisses de ce qui deviendra son plus ambitieux projet: La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même. Au nombre de ces études figure Mariée (au-dessus) dont le sujet principal, sorte de guèpe mécanique, a été transposé dans le Grand Verre
1913

Il multiplie les expériences amusantes comme la reconstitution approximative de l'unité de longueur (3 stoppages étalon) et compose un Erratum musical.
C'est aussi l'année où il a l'heureuse idée de fixer une roue de bicyclette sur un tabouret de cuisine. Il la fait tourner et ça l'amuse.
Le Nu descendant un escalier est montré à l'Armory Show de New York et fait sensation.

1914
Sa Boîte de 1914, première du genre, fabriquée en 3 exemplaires, rassemble 16 facsimile des premières notes concernant le Grand Verre.
Saisi d'une subite envie d'oeuvre qui ne soit pas d'art, il se rend au rayon quincaillerie du Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville et s'y porte acquéreur d'un porte-bouteille qui devient le premier ready-made exemplaire — avant la lettre. Il lui ajoute un titre, oublié depuis.
1915
Il débarque à New-York le mardi 15 juin. Il y est aussitôt hébergé par Walter et Louise Arensberg, patrons des Arts comme seule l'Amérique en prodigue, éclairés et allumés. Ils resteront ses amis et collectionneurs jusqu'à leur mort, en 1954. C'est chez eux la même année qu'il rencontre Man Ray, qui sera aussi un ami toute sa vie.
Il retient le terme de Ready-Made.
Il achète deux panneaux de verre et commence à travailler sur le Grand Verre

1916
À Bruit secret
Il fait partie, ainsi que Walter Arensberg des membres fondateurs de la Society of Independant Artists, copiée sur le modèle du Salon des Indépendants à Paris.
1917

En mai , il soumet anonymement à l'exposition inaugurale de la Society of Independants artists un urinoir renversé qu'il baptise Fountain et qu'il signe R'Mutt. À l'encontre de la devise de la société "No jury, no prizes", l'objet est jugé obscène et finalement refusé par une partie du comité fondateur, dont Duchamp fait précisément partie. Il démissionne, suivi par Arensberg. Dans la foulée, collabore à la publication de deux dadarevues: Blind Man et Rongwrong. Fountain se fait photographier par Stieglitz avant de disparaître à tout jamais, à l'instar de tous les ready-mades 'originaux'.
1918
il peint son dernier tableau: Tu m'
Avec la sculpture de voyage dans ses bagages, Duchamp s'exile pour quelques mois à Buenos Aires. Il y joue intensivement aux échecs sans perdre de vue le Grand Verre puisqu'il expérimente le procédé d'étamage sur À regarder (l'autre côté du verre) d'un oeil, de près, pendant presque une heure.
1919

De passage à Paris, il laisse à ses amis dadaïstes une reproduction de la Joconde sur laquelle il griffonne moustaches et barbiche et localise anatomiquement sa température par le fameux allographe: L.H.O.O.Q.
1920
Rrose Sélavy, la drag-queen qui pense, commence à sévir: Fresh Widow et Why not sneeze, Rrose Sélavy?
Fréquentes collaborations avec Man Ray. Marcel poursuit sa fascination pour la rotation à travers sa Rotative plaques-verre. Publication de New York Dada dont la couverture arbore le flacon de Belle Haleine, Eau de Voilette.
1923
Duchamp décide l'inachèvement définitif du Grand Verre.
1924
Il s'adonne à la rotation sans retenue: Rotative demi-sphère mais avec martingale: Roulette. Il passe quelques semaines à Monte Carlo fait un dessin de probabilités : Obligation pour la roulette de Monte Carlo.
Il s'intéresse aux échecs de plus en plus sérieusement et devient champion de Haute-Normandie.
1926

Il revient à Paris et loue un petit appartement 11 rue Larrey où il habite et travaille pendant 16 ans. Il y fait notamment aménager par esprit pratique et par un menuisier sa fameuse porte paradoxale, toujours ouverte et fermée: quand on ouvre cette porte pour entrer dans la chambre, elle ferme la salle de bain; quand on l'ouvre pour entrer dans la salle de bain, elle ferme l'entrée de l'atelier.
La même année, le Grand Verre est montré pour la première fois au public lors d'une exposition à Brooklyn. Il est cassé accidentellement pendant le voyage retour.
Duchamp réalise Anémic Cinéma avec Man Ray.
1927
Il se marie le 07 Jun avec Lydie Sarazin-Levassor.
1928
Il divorce en janvier.
1929
Il se concentre sur les échecs, participe à de nombreux tournois en Europe, co-rédige un traité sur certaines fin de partie en 1929, devient membre de la Fédération Française d'Échecs en 1931 et son délégué à la International Chess Federation jusqu'en 1937. Il remporte le Tournoi de Paris en août 1932, année où est publié à Bruxelles L'opposition et les cases conjuguées sont réconciliées par M. Duchamp et V. Halberstadt, traité sur de rares fins de partie.
1934
Parution aux éditions Rrose Sélavy des premiers exemplaires de la Boîte Verte, qui contients 94 fac-simile des notes et documents accompagnant la lecture du Grand Verre.
1935
Marcel présente ses Rotoreliefs au Concours Lépine.
1936
Devient conseiller artistique auprès de Peggy Guggenheim
1938
Il commence le montage de ses Boîtes-en-valise, Le BoÓte en Valise de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose SÈlavy (The Box in the Valise of or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose SÈlavy) no. VII from the deluxe edition (Series A), 1941 - 1942 Leather valise containing miniature replicas, photographs, and color reproductions of the artist's work 41 x 38 x 10.5 cm (éditée à 300 exemplaires (dont 20 De Luxe), sortes de petits musées portatifs qui contiennent une soixantaine de ses oeuvres principales en modèle réduit. Il réalise lui-même les 20 premiers exemplaires qui paraissent en 1941.
1942

Il revient s'installer aux États-Unis. Il organise avec Breton l'exposition First Papers of Surrealism à New-York. Pour le soir du vernissage, il tend à travers l'exposition 12 km de fil, obligeant les spectateurs à crapahuter pour accéder aux tableaux. Une douzaine d'enfants ont fait de l'exposition leur terrain de jeu. En cas d'objection, leur réponse est un laisser-passer: "C'est Mr Duchamp qui nous a dit qu'on pouvait jouer ici".
Il rencontre John Cage.
1944
Il exécute un dessin qui devient la première esquisse de son dernier grand travail, qui l'occupera pendant les 20 ans à venir et ne sera révélé qu'après sa mort: Étant donnés: 1- la chute d'eau, 2- le gaz d'éclairage, sorte de deuxième volet, naturaliste et cru, peut-être amer, à la Mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même de sa jeunesse.
1950 à 1954
Tristes années, beaucoup des ses meilleurs amis disparaissent: Mary Reynolds en 1950, Katherine Dreier en 1952, Picabia en 1953, Louise puis Walter Arensberg début 1954.
1954

Il se remarie, pour la vie, avec Alexina “Teeny” Sattler, à New-York.
Les Musées Nationaux Français acquièrent leur premier Duchamp: Joueurs d'échecs, peinture de 1911.
Il installe au Philadelphian Museum of Art la collection Arensberg qui contient 43 de ses oeuvres. Le Grand Verre, qui appartenait à Katherine Dreier, rejoint définitivement à cette collection.
1955
Il devient citoyen américain.
1959
Marcel Duchamp est admis au Collège de Pataphysique avec le rang de Transcendantal Satrape et l'honneur additionnel de Maître de l'ordre de la Grande Gidouille.
1960
Des artistes américains comme Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns ou Claes Oldenburg re-découvrent Duchamp après la parution de la monographie de Robert Lebel Sur Marcel Duchamp.
1963
Première grande rétrospective de son oeuvre By or of Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy au Pasadena Art Museum en Californie.
1966
Première grande rétrospective en Europe : The Almost Complete Works of Marcel Duchamp à la Tate Gallery.
Duchamp termine et signe Étant donnés... Seuls sa femme et son exécuteur testamentaire sont au courant.
1968
Une bonne soirée entre amis avec les Man Ray et les Lebel, un peu de lecture (du Alphonse Allais), Teeny entend Marcel rire pendant qu'elle débarasse la table... aux premières heures du deux octobre, Marcel Duchamp s'éteint.
Sur sa tombe au cimetière de Rouen est gravée cette épitaphe: D'abord, c'est toujours les autres qui meurent.

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