Nuts and Bolts Days --- Days 9/108 & 109

Walk:  1. No, preparing donation 2. Goodwill

Distance: 1. Yoga, Pedal  2. 2 miles, Yoga

            From Ciwt's Home 

To New Home Through Goodwill

Goodbye, Stuff.  Hope someone is thrilled to find you at Goodwill.

                                                     

                                                  

Homescapes --- Day 9/107

Walk: Hood Errands

Distance: 3 miles, Yoga

Johannes Vermeer, The Milkmaid, 1657-1658, oil on canvas

We are cleared locally for domestic help so Ciwt - after nearly five monthsis - is happily sitting in a sparkling clean home. Naturally her mind goes (thankfully) to those who help around the house, particularly women.  A popular subject for artists to paint especially during 17th to the 20th centuries, it remains a popular attraction for viewers.  The Director of the Rijksmuseum where The Milkmaid  above hangs declares the painting  "unquestionably one of the museum's finest attractions."  This in a museum full of masterpieces.

The prominence of domestic scenes began in earnest in the Dutch Golden Age (ca 1581-1652) when the country was flourishing economically and had freed itself from Spanish/Catholic rule.  Money abounded especially among the  newly and greatly rich middle class who were no longer constrained to hang religious art and were very interested in images of themselves, their homes, the women, children, pets and objects in them. Amazingly the Dutch were also blessed with many of the finest artists to ever weild a brush,  Rembrandt, Vermeer, de Hooch, Stein, Hals, Fabritius (of The Goldfinch fame) to name a few.

All is not simple these days.  As innocent as The Milkmaid may appear to our eye as she concentrates on pouring milk from a jug into a ceramic bowl, it is possible she would have been viewed as erotic in her era.  In fact most paintings in the 'maid tradition' abound with amorous symbols: receptive bowls, breads, dangling chickens, draping fabrics, use your imagination. 

Vermeer's The Milkmaid is actually one of the rare examples of a maid being treated in an empathic and dignified way.  And to Ciwt's eye and, really the eyes of the multitudes by whom she is beloved, the erotica - if it exists - is so understated it can be dismissed.  

Those who think along these lines see a humble woman using common ingredients and otherwise stale bread to create bread pudding, a pleasurable product for the household.  According to the outstanding Essential Vermeer website, "Her measured demeanor, modest dress and judiciousness in preparing her food conveys eloquently yet unobtrusively one of the strongest values of 17th century Netherlands, domestic virtue."

And a critic in Forbes Magazine says, "In the end, it is not the allusions to female sexuality that give this painting its romance or emotional resonance - it is the depiction of honest, hard work as something romantic in and of itself.  The Milkmaid elevates the drudgery of housework and servitude to virtuous, even heroic, levels." 

Think what you will, to Ciwt the painting is lovely by any measure, and she is very happy to be sitting in the home her housecleaner left so sparkling today.

Red Fox --- Day 9/106

Walk: Hood

Distance: 3 miles, yoga

Nice , CIWT  outdoorsy picture on cold, blustery San Francisco summer day mostly inside.

Artists Teaching Artists --- Day 9/105

Walk: Monday Errands
Distance: 1.5 miles, Yoga, Pedal

Frans Hals (Dutch, 1582-1666), Jestor with a Lute, 1620-25, oil on canvas

Artists may go to art school but more often than not their teachers are the artists who came before them.

For instance, the Dutch painter, Frans Hals, was thought during his life time to be a 'rough painter,' who spent little time throwing his paintings together with loose, visible brushwork.  His early portraits radiated the gaiety and liveliness of  his subjects which was not popular among wealthy buyers who preferred more dignified images of themselves. Of course his 'unfinished' close ups of often engaged in 'frivolous' activities that brought them joy was often dismissed by much of the 17th century public.

But not by Rembrandt a generation later who loved and learned from Hals' daring in capturing the everyday soul of his subjects  .

Or Jan Steen at the same time .

Or by Van Gogh two centuries later who deeply admired Hals' expressive brushwork and once wrote to his brother,  'What a joy it is to see a Frans Hals, how different it is from the paintings – so many of them – where everything is carefully smoothed out in the same manner.' 

And for the Impressionists the painterly techniques Hals developed for capturing the realistic liveliness of mid-motion, the sparkle of light bouncing off fabrics, the happy head cocks and saucy glints in the eyes were precisely the teachings and permissions they were seeking.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919), Dance in the Country, 1880-1882, oil on canvas

Perspective, 2 --- Days 9/103 & 104

Walk: 1. No, Housecleaning 😶  2. Presidio
Distance: 1. Yoga   2. 3 miles, pedal, yoga

Paul Hosemann, Camping Trip, Trinity County, CA

Thank you to a good friend's grandson for this awesome image of the Milky Way.  To Ciwt the genius of the photo is that single small light at earth level.

She's (Almost) Baaaack --- Day 9/102

Walk: Presidio
Distance: 2.5 miles, Yoga

Johannes Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter Before an Open Window, 1657-59, oil on canvas

It's thought this young woman Vermeer painted around 1659 wants out of that open window and into a larger life, perhaps with the person who has sent the love letter she is reading. 

Why?  Well, in the mid-17th century (their Golden Age) the Dutch made extensive use of symbolism to communicate meaning.  The open window as a symbol of escape is still recognizable but today we probably wouldn't associate the bowl of fruit in the painting's center as a symbol of extramarital relations.  The fruit meant just that to the Dutch, and in case you missed the point, originally there was a cupid figure on the wall above her.  For unknown reasons Cupid was painted over sometime in the 18th century, but he's about to make a comeback as you'll see shortly.

For a girl who wanted to be part of the world, Vermeer's letter reader has spent much of her time misunderstood or out of sight .  Her original owner thought he had purchased a Rembrandt, and later experts attributed her to Pieter de Hooch until attribution was finally restored to Vermeer in 1860.  Nearly a century later, she was hidden in a tunnel in Saxony just before the bombing of Dresden in World War II.  She was found there by the Russian Army, taken away to Russia and kept behind the Iron Curtain until the Russians decided to return her to Dresden after the death of Stalin.

After all this, in 2017 she was taken off the walls and into the restoration department of the Dresden Museum, The Gemagaldegalerie Alte Meister.  Soon, finally, she will be out in that world she longed for in a special exhibition space of her own at the Gemaldegaleri's important upcoming exhibiton of Dutch genre painting.*

She's likely to be much discussed when the show opens in March 2021.  It will be a highly publicized, internationally attended, superlative exhibition with 40-50 works by major Dutch genre artists, including 10 particularly fine paintings by Vermeer.  Vermeer enthusiasts, expert and laye, will flock to the "new Vermeer" as some are already calling it. And, even though an international committee of experts have created guidelines (including the return of Cupid!) and the Gemaldegalerie's conservation department is topnotch there are sure to be very public disagreements on how Vermeer's letter reader looks when she is unveiled.**

For a girl who longed to shake up the world in the mid-1600's, she certainly got her wish. 

*    Here is the link to the exhibition which will be updated as final selections are made
**  Link to the current available information on the restoration process

Bouquets to Designer's Choice --- Day 9/101

Walk: No

Distance: 0, Yoga

Usually the de Young Museum's annual Bouquets to Art selects floral designers from a large competition then assigns them an art work from the museum's collection to interpret as their talents guide them.  For instance, this excellent bouquet that echoes the seascape painting.  

   Grace Andrade   Florals with Grace

But this year the de Young was closed during the event, so it appears to Ciwt the designers were given the instruction to interpret an artwork or landscape of their own choosing.  As always, the results were both delightful and stunning to Ciwt.  Here are a few of her favorites from this year's 

Bouquets to Art, 2020.

Agnes Kang  Piedmont Garden Club 

Mari Tischenko  Orinda Garden Club

Im Chan   Cindy Ho

Hiromi Nomura     Bella Flora
Ciwt's Favorite

   Tamara Apple   Bluebird Studio

More Happiness is... --- Day 9/100

Walk: Hood
Distance: 2.5 miles, Yoga

Reading Alex Trebek's book on the deck.  If like Ciwt you think Alex is an altogether decent man, you don't know the half of it.  Ciwt loves his book, a generous and intentional gift to his millions of fans and supporters.