Some Things Are Always Delicious --- Day 14/125

Walk: Union Square Dentist

Distance: 5.8 miles

Wayne Thiebaud, Bakery Counter, 1962, o/c

Legion of Honor Museum, Bakery Counter, 2025

Rough Fluff --- Day 14/124

Walk: AMC Kubuki (The Account 2)

Distance: 3 miles

Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal on top of Airstream in The Account 2

Perfect!  A plot-holed, rock em/sock em, buddy movie where (spoiler alert) all the bad people were blown away and all the good people lived.  Ciwt was looking for exactly kind of fluff, and she got it.  

 

Personal Hero --- Day 14/123

Walk: Sloat Garden Center

Distance: 4 miles

So, the other evening Ciwt was invited to celebrate the life of Kathan Brown (1935-2025) at the world renowned Crown Point Press* she founded and operated.  Ciwt felt very honored to be included because Kathan Brown is one of the people on her short list of personal heroes. 

Ciwt's admiration begins when Brown was just 20, in the United Kingdom to learn etching technique and discovered an old Victorian star-wheel press decaying in the weeds.  She asked and was given permission to take the press back to the States.  So far so good, but the press was enormous, iron and weighed several tons.  Not to be daunted, Brown made arrangements to sail with it from Scotland to San Francisco on a freighter.  The trip went through the Panama Canal and took two months.  This in 1955 when young, single women just didn't do things like this.

It was prelude to a whole life of intrepid accomplishments, most especially setting up that heavy press in a Bay Area storefront and establishing Crown Point Press. She named her new business after Crown Point gold mine in Virginia City which Brown had seen in a vintage photo, and was just as exploratory, chancey and hard work as that 49er mining operation.

Today Crown Point Press is 63 years old and with an international reputation among artists and collectors not just established but growing.  This is beyond an accomplishment; very few art presses last even a few years. And certainly not ones that work in the exceedingly exacting intaglio etching process.  It is a printing technique that is passed on from master to master, and, while establishing her reputation among famous artists who lined up to work with Brown, she also trained the young apprentices who came to her to learn.  Today those apprentices have been able to make printing their life work and pass on what they learned from Brown to other young printers.  In other words, through Kathan Brown an old printing skill which very well may have died out has been given continuing life.

Along with moving Crown Point several times and finally into the light-filled, brick building in downtown San Francisco Brown stepped up and bought, she wrote several books (which are available in Crown Point's bookstore), had an early podcast, took working photographing 'vacations' to places like the North Pole!**, began offering printing workshops to the public and continued to invite 5 artists a year to the Press to make prints.  They come eagerly. 

All this may conjure up the image of a larger than life, super energetic perhaps highly demanding personality.  And, really, this is the preeminent wonder of Kathan Brown to Ciwt: Kathan Brown's increasing reputation (fame really) was apparently of zero consequence to her. The few times Ciwt greeted her, Brown was kind, gracious, smiling and welcoming. She was a loved and loving wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, business owner and it was a joy to hear stories of Brown's go-ahead spirit and unflinching patience, kindness and warmth from all who shared their lives with her.

Kathan Brown simply never gave up on things she envisioned.  As one of her apprentices related when she was overwhelmed by an assignment and exclaimed  "That's impossible!”  Brown replied (and taught), "We don't say that around here.  We say, 'we'll try.'" Just like she tried to get that old press to San Francisco so many years ago.  It sits at Crown Point Press to this day.

Kathan Brown at Crown Point Press and the Victorian star-wheel Victorian press she rescued  

* https://crownpoint.com/

**https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/publisher-photographer-kathan-brown-takes-her-2735575.php

Impressionism Without Its Dealer? --- Day 14/122

Walk: Crown Poiont Press

Distance: 5.5 miles

Paul Durand-Ruel

Surely Monet would have developed his impressionist painting style without that fateful trip to London and encounter with Turner's art.   (See CIWT 14/123)  But whether anyone would have known about those  impressionist painting of his or bought them is not the least bit sure without the Parisian art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel.  

Durand-Ruel was among the Parisians who had taken refuge in London from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).  It was there he met or met up with Monet and other French artists in exile and, like them, possibly had his first opportunity to spend time with the great JMW Turner's works.  And there that he made a grand and deeply personal commitment to the loose, brushy, light-filled, emotional art style that later came to be known as Impressionism.

Durand-Ruel strongly encouraged Monet and Pissarro especially to concentrate on perfecting this radical style. Being artists desperate for sales, they and few other artists heeded Durand-Ruel's advice.  In turn, he became their champion. From London on, Durand-Ruel bought up their existing works, paid them advances on future works, choreographed their careers with strategies and on what and where to exhibit and mounted numerous exhibitions in Paris, London and America.

And nearly ruining himself on behalf this personal quest he borrowed heavily to support. Oh, and virtually 'invented' modern art which rests squarely on the shoulders of Impressionism.

Monet and other artists had already begun painting in new ways before London and Durand-Ruel, but without his tireless, skillful support, their revolution would likely have gone nowhere.  Over the years Durand-Ruel bought over 1000 Monets, around 800 Pissarros, about 1500 Renoirs and hundreds of works by Degas, Sisley and Manet.  Thanks to him, the Impressionists were able to make a living.  As Monet said, "without him, we wouldn't have survived."

And for many years, Durand-Ruel barely did.  Nobody wanted the Impressionist paintings.  The French detested them. Even when Durand-Ruel placed them in in elaborate gilt frames and displayed in  his own personal quarters to assure buyers they were acceptable in homes, even offered to buy back the works if buyers became disappointed, he was hardly able to make any sales in Paris.  

It turned out to be the Americans who came to Durand-Ruel's rescue.  Once again at the edge of bankruptcy, he happened to be invited to show there in 1886.  And American buyers loved the Impressionists, buying what are now today's masterpieces in droves, Even coming across the sea to buy in Paris when Durand-Ruel returned.  In his words, "Without America, I would have been lost.  The Americans don't criticise - they buy." 

From then on and still very slowly in France, Impressionism became the wildly popular art form it is today, and, because he had cornered that market, Durand-Ruel became sought after, influential and greatly wealthy. He had transformed Impressionism and, with it, 'modern art'  and the mega-dealers that accompany it.  But, these had not been his goals. Like most impassioned Impressionist buyers, his  spark all along had been a deep love for the art itself (to the point where he couldn't part with his favorites at any price).

Impressionism Without London? --- Days 14/119-121

Walks: Hood, Presidio, Sausalito

Distances: average 4 miles

So, Ciwt wonders what would have become of Impressionism if Monet had not moved with his wife, Camille, and young son to London to avoid conscription during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71).  

Monet spoke next to no English, money was extremely tight and the young couple felt isolated and unhappy in the large, foggy city. He produced virtually no art during their stay but recorded his boredom and general unhappiness about his London life in this portrait of Camille in their small Chelsea lodging room.

Meditation, Madame Monet on a Sofa, 1870-71, o/c

This was Claude Monet, the Father of Impressionism's painting style at the time.  He had begun his experimental pursuit of recording the true light and colors of nature, but was still an exceptional! (Ciwt Loves his early, pre-Impressionist work!) realist painter.

Mercifully the war was short-lived, but one of the first paintings he exhibited upon his return to Paris is already in a radically different style:

The Zaan at Zaandam, 1870-1, o/c

Here begins Impressionism!  (The first official, 'notorious' Impressionist Exhibit would happen in 1874)

What had happened to so throughly affect Monet's painting style and the work he exhibited to the public?

Ciwt guesses three things in particular.  The first in answer to Monet's style: JMW Turner.  The second in answer to the art he exhibited: Camile Pissarro, Charles-Francois Daubigny who later were part of the core group of Impressionists.  And, most especially, Paul Durand-Ruel. 

More about Durand-Ruel in another CIWT because, to Ciwt's eye, he would not have mattered had it not been for the English expressive colorist, landscapist, turbulent marine painter, revolutionary painting genius, JMW Turner (1775-1851).  

Unmotivated to paint as Monet may have been during his self-exile in London, he did spend much of his time there studying Turner's paintings.  Surely Monet must have seen an artist as obsessed with weather and capturing all its atmospheric conditions as he was.  And he must have learned from, internalized, adopted and then made his own Turner's vibrant colors and semi-abstract, form-dissolving techniques.  Whatever Monet's genius to genius relationship to Turner was is impossible to know, but surely, in London,  Monet first encountered, communed with and was irrevokably changed as an artist by Turner.  

JMW Turner, Rain, Steam amd Speed - The Great Western Railway, 1844, o/c



Claude Monet, La Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877, o/c

Way Beyond Vampires --- Day 14/118

Walk: AMC Kabuki

Distance: 4 miles

So Sinners is an excellent, profound (to Ciwt masterpiece) movie quasi-disguised as a vampire horror movie.  The vampires don't show up until about half way through and are compelling and clearly something beyond run of the mill horrific creatures.  Until and after the vampires and the bloody, bloody, bloodbath arrive, the acting is first class, the cinematography is sweeping and gorgeous, the music is authentic, soulful, ryhthmic and rich.  In other words just outstanding movie making that keeps you glued to the screen even while not entirely clear what is going on until the writer-director, Ryan Coogler, takes it to a transcendent, stunningly original level.    PS - If you go, stay through the credits.

Do Not Stop, Do Not Miss A Beat! --- Day 14/117

Walk: SF Ballet

Distance: 5 miles

So, today the superb SF Ballet ended its season with its best and most exhilerating and exacting program yet!  And, not improbably, its most challenging one for the dancers who were called upon to perform eight dances by the Dutch Grandmaster Hans Van Manen.  

Van Manen's choreography is nonstop movement to every note of the music (including Beethoven of all the composers Ciwt can't image dancing to).  His stages are bare of scenery, his dance structure is refined and his costumes nearly non-existent. (At one point the men were called upon to removed the wide black pantaloons you see above and dance the rest of the piece in the skimpiest of black bathing suits). All of his fast paced, intricate ballets demand perfect precision, athleticism and are so complex nobody, even the world's most skilled dancers, can do them in the initial rehearsals.  One person described his work "Solo" as a "mad little marathon."

For the audience this is refreshing, exhilerating breathtaking at times. For the dancers, Ciwt images it must be both thrilling to be dancing their art at such a demanding level but also nonstop frightening because the slightest misstep will be glaring and impair the beauty of the piece. This assumption was confirmed after eight of SF Ballet's pricipal dancers completed Beethoven's Grosse Fuge.  Not only had they danced super fast to the complex music, they had worked together as ensemble - a particular challenge for principals who are called on to express their own talents and no longer used to working in groups.  A few minutes after the curtain closed, there was a loud cheer from backstage.  It was the end of the season and they had done the near impossible - together!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzIjy8lrN1o

'Nice' Success --- Days 14/115 & 116

Walk: Hood, Opera Plaza Cinema

Distance: 3.5 , 4.5 miles

So, Ciwt's Don Quixote quest for the pretty, upbeat, positive, etc. met with another success at the movies today.  A Nice Indian Boy.  It's a gay variation on the standard rom-com with some predictable elements and many unexpected (and often charming/heartwarming) ones.  No political agenda and just deep enough to involve and delight.  Very likeable, well acted characters including the always wonderful Jonathan Groff of TV Manhunt and stage Hamilton* fame. A 'Nice' Getaway.

* https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-att_001&hspart=att&p=jonathan+groff+king+george+you%27ll+be+back&type=E210US1274G0#action=view&id=19&vid=12c7aac9f3553d1cc392a84876e4c870

Just Pretty --- Day 14/110-114

Walks: Presidio, Hood

Distance average: 4 miles

Over-Amstel Boerderij, four miles from center of Amsterdam

So, sometimes Ciwt is just all about pretty and uplifting, and she thinks this place fits the bill.

Ciwt just enjoys looking, but here are more particulars if you would like them.

Costumes, Everyone! --- Day 14/103 -109

Walk: SF Ballet

Distance: 5 miles

San Francisco Ballet Broken Wings

Sometimes Ciwt forgets how important costumes can be to a performance.  Not today!  Today the supremely superior dancing of the San Francisco Ballet corps actually took a visual second place to the vividly spectacular costumes they were wearing.  All enhanced by color-saturated lighting and a musical score steeped in Mexican folk idioms.  Broken Wings was an entertaining feast for the eyes and ears from its beginning with the opening of a box a group of by skeletons to its ending with the same box being closed by them but now painted in Frieda Kahlo's iconic colorful butterflies.

This might sound overdone in writing, particularly since Broken Wings follows and life, love and art of the (to Ciwt) overdone in coffee cups and refigerator magnets Mexican artist.  But with its splendiferous costumes and headdresses, lightly melodious score and delicate dancing it was a lovely tribute to Frieda Kahlo and the  ardent, vividly colorful, self-portraits she produced as antidote to her constant pain and restricted mobility and left to the world after her death at age 47.

Blue Uplift --- Day 14/108

Walk: Not yet.  Busy looking at bluebirds

Distance: We'll see

What is more uplifting than a bluebird?!  Ciwt went from yesterday's discouragement to happy just looking at pictures of them this morning.  41 types, each so gorgeous!  A link to all 41 - none endangered! - is below.  Enjoy and have a lovely day.

So Soft looking

Blue-gray Tanager

Scruffy with strong voice (see link below to hear it sing)

Blue Grosbeak

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SScAFygYqkk

Wow!

Red-legged Honeycreeper

There are many more, all so beautiful!  Here's a link to the whole article to look at any time you want an uplift

Really?? --- Days 14/102-107

Walks: Senior appointments: Dentist, Dermatologist, Walgreens, all walking 

Distances: Average: 4 miles

Dear readers, please feel free to apply these reactions to anything you choose. 

Besides Fun and Joyful --- 14/100, 101 & 102

Walks: Hood 

Distance: average 3.5 miles

So the late Sacramento artist and teacher, Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021), is one of Ciwt's favorite artists.  Also one of the most tricky for her to write about.  Because, like most people, she finds his work immensely pleasurable, joyful, even silly.  But unlike many, a part of Ciwt is also moved to tears by it. 

Wayne Thiebaud, Clown Cones, 2000

To Ciwt, at the core of all Thiebaud's art are the tears of a clown, even his more adorable, 'happy' clown  paintings like the one above.  These cones are somehow animate, like pets or dolls, you want to snuggle with them, 'eat them up.'  And, if they haven't melted first, that is what they are calling for someone to do, consume them. And then they will be gone.  From most beguiling to gone.  This, life's trajectory embedded in Thiebaud's painting, is both endearingly desirable and sad. 

And each of these 'dressed up' cones is alone; they aren't relating to each other. So too the people in Thiebaud's portraits.  

Wayne Thiebaud, Five Seated Figures, 1965, o/c

Whether in group or individual portraits, the inner lives of all his subjects are hidden from the people around them and from us.  Even in Thiebaud's portrait of his wife and love of his life, Betty Jean, we see she is gorgeous and has pictures of historically recognizable art in the book before her. But we have no indication what she's thinking or if or how she relates to that art.  She is essentially a stranger to the world - including her most intimate partner.

Wayne Thiebaud, Betty Jean Thiebaud and Book,  1965-69, o/c

In person the glowing lushness of Thiebaud's paint is as thick and gooey looking as frosting.  His brushwork caresses the canvas with the same sensual, loving way a baker might lavish frosting on their cake. His confections are both beckoning and stark. Too perfect. His people are precisely presented but unknowable. His toys, like gumball and pinball machines, have unreliable chanciness. His San Francisco is glowing, gorgeous and extremely precarious.  

Wayne Thiebaud, Morning Freeway, 2012, 0/c

 

There is a complex, deeply personal sensibility underlying Thiebaud's art.  Its shining simplicity isn't all it appears to be.  And to Ciwt there's a lot of tragedy there.  But, like the people in his portraits, Thiebaud's thoughts are private and inaccessible.  Happy, sad, overt, unknowable at once.

What do You Think? --- Days 14/98,99,100

 Walks:  Hood

Distances: 3.5, 5.5, 2.5 miles

So Ciwt was really excited that the new rug she ordered for her living room was arriving early!  When it got here, it was quite lovely but it seemed lighter than she expected.  Just to check, she took out her photos of the rug in the store and slid them under the rug that had been delivered.  If you look above, the one she ordered, Alabaster, is in the middle of the photos.  And the lightest one, Ecru is on the left and right ends respectively.  To her eye, the one that is in her living room is Ecru  the wrong color.

What do you think, dear readers?  Here's a close up: 

Left: rug in living room, Right: bottom Ecru, top Alabaster