Can I Walk There?

Monday, July 26, 2021

Tan Returns --- Day 10/85

Walk: No

Distance: n/a

Ciwt thought so! The cold era of grey everything

blue kitchens

and black houses

would likely come to an end.

Judging from store windows around here, it looks like it is on its way out. And tan is on its way in. Right now they are taking it gradually with nice tweedy mixtures of gray and tan and white.

Can't happen soon enough for Ciwt. Too stark, cold, gloomy (and pretentious) for her.

Sunday, July 25, 2021

The Agile Cat Artist --- Days 10/83 & 84

Walk: 1. Day of Reading, Rest, Laundry, 2. T.. Joe's, then more of the same with cats

Distance: 1. n/a, 2. 3.6 miles

Famous Cats:

Ignoring You Cats:

Looking at You (sort of) Cats:

Being Nice to You for Food Cats:

Sleeping Cats (of course):

Kittens:

And so many more cats in a wide range of mediums

by Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (Swiss, 1859-1923). Known as "The Man Who Loved Cats," the classically trained Steinlen also loved his daughter (a frequent subject with cats as above), Montmartre where he moved from Lausanne, artist friends like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the French cabaret scene, and politics which he depicted under a pseudonym. You can find his headstone in the cemetery at Montmartre and visit his art in many prestigious museums around the world including the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Musee d'Orsay in Paris, MoMA in New York, the National Gallery of Art, Washington. D.C.*

But none of Steinlen's cats are lap cats! Not a one of his hundreds if not thousands. Too sophisticated perhaps. Luckily that can't be said of Ciwt's sister cats who are happily keeping her warm during this particularly cold and windy San Francisco summer.

* We even have some in our SFFAM collection https://art.famsf.org/th%C3%A9ophile-alexandre-steinlen but -don't tell her cats - Ciwt has yet to see any on display.

Friday, July 23, 2021

Still in Doubt, More Cats --- Days 10/79, 80, 81, 82

Walk: 1. GG Park Pickleball 2. Various Hoods and Errands 3. GG Park Pickleball 4. Presidio Wall Pickle

Distance: 1. 1.5 miles, 90 minutes pickle 2. 3.5 miles 3. 2 miles 4. 5.5 miles (Always some yoga)

Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen (Swiss active in France, 1829-1923), A la Bodiniaire, 1894

He didn't just create the iconic black poster cat. Stay tuned....

Monday, July 19, 2021

When in Doubt...Cats --- Day 10/78

Walk: Presidio Pickleball

Distance: 2 miles, 90 minutes pickle

Bart van der Leck, The Cat, 1914, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands.

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Weekend!! --- Day 10/76 & 77

Walk: 1. T. Joe's 2. No, Sunday Home Stuff

Distance: 1. 2.5 miles 2. .5 miles, Yoga

Ciwt's Marvelous Summer Weekend in SF. (Really; she's a homebody)

Friday, July 16, 2021

Straight Down the Winding Road --- Day 10/75

Walk: Presidio Pickleball, Vogue Theater (Roadrunner)

Distance: 4.5 miles, 90 minutes pickle

An incredibly straight forward presentation of one man's life. Yes, it and he was extraordinary, but there's no effort to put him on a pedestal or sentimentalize or 'solve' his death. You really feel like, yes, this is who he was - as much as that can be known.

Thursday, July 15, 2021

LOVE Hurts... --- Day 10/74

Walk: Hood

Distance: 3 Absolutely Freezing (for SF) miles

Robert Indiana (American 1928-2018), LOVE (1966-99), Aluminum and paint, SFMOMA

Poor reclusive artist Robert Indiana, who spent as much time as he could on a distant island off the coast of Maine. He created the most iconic sculpture of the Pop Art era, There are 50 LOVEs placed and loved all over the world; several in foreign languages, but always just four letters or symbols.

Maybe the only person who didn't love LOVE was the artist himself. The main stream fame the series brought overshadowed the rest of his career and was something he (possibly) came to HATE. In 2014 he told an NPR interviewer, “It was a marvelous idea, but it was also a terrible mistake. It became too popular; it became too popular. And there are people who don't like popularity. It's much better to be exclusive and remote, you see.”