May 28, 2023

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Alexikakos
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

 
L’intrigant (by Google Translate: “The Schemer”) ”      By:  Victor Marais-Milton (French 1872-1948)
 

dennisinseattle
Reply to  Alexikakos
1 year ago

Is the woman on the chair pouring hot coffee on the3 intruder?

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

Yikes!

Was this supposed to be a cute scene?

The woman on the left is even smiling!

Looks like maybe the early 1920s at the latest (the style is older but those short chemises world have been rather scandalous… especially before WWI .)

I don’t think the story plays the same in 2023.

Last edited 1 year ago by SusanSunshine
mr_sherman
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

I think she’s smiling because she’s pouring hot coffee or something similar on him.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  mr_sherman
1 year ago

I thought so too.

Still a scary situation though.

She’s laughing at it as though it’s a lark; I think I’d look more desperate!

Tigressy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

Presumably much earlier (look at those trousers!):

Default 19th&20th century Artist Bio Page

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  Tigressy
1 year ago

I couldn’t get anything but information about the gallery at that link…

But I after my first post, I did try to find the year of the painting, and couldn’t.

I read about Marais-Milton, though.

Apparently he was part of a group of artists who ignored modernism, and often portrayed earlier eras, without painting in the older styles of those times.

Good eye…. Those trousers (and shoes) are way out of date… more like 16th or 17th century Dutch…

but he wasn’t alive then, and the women’s gowns and hair, the furniture and decor, even the light, and the style of the painting, owe much to the early 20th century.

Tigressy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

Peculiar; that link works fine here.

Here’s the

rather long


BIOGRAPHY – Victor Marais-Milton (1872 – 1944comment image
Genre painting made a comeback during the late nineteenth century in France, where eager patrons searched for images reminiscent of another time. Some were also looking for more humorous depictions which lightly poked fun at some established members of society, such as the clerics. Victor Marais-Milton spoke to both audiences, occasionally depicting a stroll in the park, but also finding considerable humor in the life of the clergy. His genre paintings have meticulous sense of detail which imbues them with qualities of reality sufficient to fully document the subtly comical exploits of his subjects.

Victor Marais-Milton was born on July 21st, 1872 in Puteaux, located just west of Paris on the Seine River. Early in his career he lived in Paris but later moved to Sèvres where he remained until his death. He studied in the atelier of Jonchère, but has also been linked to Ernest Meissonnier, who by the end of his career had become a master of genre painting and an inspiration to many artists while working as a teacher in his own atelier for the École des Beaux-Arts. But this was a period when different styles were emerging, each taught by various masters at different ateliers. Quarreling factions grew up among the different teachers, one of which was between the “Bouguereauistes,” those working in the tradition of William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and the “Meissonnieristes,” those, like Marais-Milton, who were trained under Ernest Meissonnier. This became one of the great competitions between two ateliers steeped in the academic tradition. Even if Marais-Milton was not directly involved in Meissonnier’s atelier, he still worked in a style that was very similar to his and his students.

Working as a “Meissonnieriste” was not harmful to his public career which began at the 1898 Salon where he submitted a portrait of Mademoiselle Marguerite Picard of the Opera, at which time he had not yet begun his training with Jonchère. From then on Marais-Milton was mysteriously absent from many of the Salons during his early career. It was not until 1909 that he began to exhibit more consistently. But one must add, at this time Milton was exhibiting with the most conservative Salon groups, shunning the Salon des Independents and remaining oblivious to the achievements of the avant-garde.

His imagery, therefore, often relied on impersonations of clergy members similar to Jehan-Georges Vibert and also Meissonnier; it is steeped in the established norms of the nineteenth century. This type of anecdotal genre painting had reached a point of tremendous popularity with Salon audiences earlier in time. Eric Zafran, in Cavaliers and Cardinals: Nineteenth Century French Anecdotal Painting (ex. cat., Cincinnati: Taft Museum, 1992, pg. 5) wrote that:

The popularity of these themes is related to the contemporary social, political, and cultural trends of the era. Both Meissonnier’s and his followers’ evocations of an age of cavaliers and guardrooms mirror not only the growing taste for Dutch art but also what Hook and Poltimore refer to as ‘the development of the historical novel as a popular literary form.

Nineteenth century France also nurtured a fascination in previous periods of their history, and artists took advantage of this in their evocations of bygone eras. This took several forms ranging from artists such as Henri-Victor Lesur who depicted beautifully-adorned women reminiscent of those found in Jean-Antoine Watteau’s paintings of the eighteenth century, to other works such as Marais-Milton, Jehan-Georges Vibert, and Meissonnier who treated religious subjects.

Relevant to the increase in religious images, anticlericalism had been growing since before the French Revolution. As the twentieth century approached, it was almost an established trend to mock this institution and its representatives, thus providing artists with the opportunity to create satirical images of clerics. Artists began to establish these images as an accepted form of art, made easier by graphic artists such as Honoré Daumier who also created images of amusement, though more politically-oriented, in the many illustrated journals of the period. Thus, images such as these were widely disseminated to the masses and fully understood by those who were viewing them.

Still, the paintings featuring the clerics carousing was a far cry from the overtly political and harsh work of many graphic artists, since the paintings were amusing and more suitable for display. This specific choice of clerical subjects was very popular during the period and many important artists dedicated their careers to similar themes, among them were Vibert, Landini, Croegaert and Brunery. Philip Hook and Mark Poltimore, in their book Popular 19th Century Painting, describe the reason for this:

The domestic antics of members of the higher echelons of the Roman Catholic Church exercised a powerful fascination for a number of popular painters and their patrons in the second half of the nineteenth century. These intimate scenes, set behind closed doors of the private quarters of a cardinal’s palace, constitute a clearly-defined genre of painting in their own right. … But to understand the original motivation behind this choice of subject, one must not overlook the element, present in varying degrees in most such works, of anti-clericalism. There is no doubt that contemporary collectors and spectators took great pleasure in the sight of noble figureheads of the church reduced to banal, even undignified proportions. The comedy was appealing, and the anti-clerical message suited the prevailing political mood of the buying public.

Marais-Milton’s images showed a fine attention to detail in every aspect of the paintings. At some point in Marais-Milton’s career, it is not fully known when, he established a studio in the floor of his house in Sèvres which had a large window which allowed a flood of light to illuminate his subjects, many of which are seen posed against the window or at least illuminated by light coming from it. He would use models, whether his maid, neighbors or Italian faces especially for his ecclesiastical subjects, to compose the layout, dressing them in suitable clothing which would then be in his paintings. Some of the furniture that was housed in his residence in Sèvres was also featured in his paintings.

He stayed at this studio all his life, remaining true to this type of art with its precise rendering of detail despite other creative advances of the time. Along with his achievements at the exhibitions in Paris, the artist found great success in Monte Carlo, London and the United States. He also exhibited at the private galleries of Allard and Simonson, as well as at provincial Salons such as those in Mulhouse and other international showing such as in Antwerp. According to family records, Victor died in Sèvres in 1944, fatigued from the war which had exacerbated his already fragile health condition.

Whether it was Parisian leisure scenes or humorous depictions of the clergy, Marais-Milton’s images satisfied the rekindled desire for genre painting in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century France. It was equally popular in America where they eagerly collected this type of work. His sensitivities to detail and to a constructed veracity allowed viewers to engage with his subjects and earned him a place in the history of genre painting, even during a period of time when genre painting was no longer valued at all and was often seen to be regressive.

A selected list of his Salon works includes:

Une querelle à l’office – Paris Salon 1909
Les cadeaux du missionnaire – Paris Salon 1910
L’œuvre du moine – Paris Salon 1911
Un cas de conscience – Paris Salon 1911
L’aveu difficile – Paris Salon 1912
Lassitude – Paris Salon 1912
Une histoire amusante – Paris Salon 1913
Le grain de beauté – Paris Salon 1914

Alexikakos
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Reply to  Tigressy
1 year ago

 
Since you know what you’re doing with links, I got curious (it’s fortunate I’m only a “cool-cat” and not a “live-cat”). I too tried to post the U.R.L. below (to the full biography of Victor Marais-Milton / I had to break the U.R.L. so it would post in any form as a U.R.L.) as a link…
 
https://rehs.com/eng/default-19th20th
 
-century-artist-bio-page/?fl_builder&artist_no=152&sold=1
 
…but what happened to you happened to me; the website (I’m pretty sure it’s Rehs’ site and not WordPress’) reduced it to the below (as above for posting), which is the home-page-only that Susan got, and I as well, when we clicked on your link and not the full biography of, which is at the U.R.L. above.
 
https://rehs.com/eng/default
 
-19th20th-century-artist-bio-page/
 

 

Tigressy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

Good vs. …

Screenshot 2023-05-28 at 12-56-54 Today’s Daily Dose of the Far Side Comics by Gary Larson TheFarSide.com.png
happyhappyhappy
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

Men are jerks.

Tigressy
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Reply to  happyhappyhappy
1 year ago

Not all of them. – Always.

Alexikakos
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

“Yellow Racer””      By:  Robert LaDuke

MontanaLady
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

now that’s a winning speed … 7mph!

Alexikakos
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

Speed Racer”      By:  Lucia Heffernan

Tigressy
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

Stuart Little?

MontanaLady
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

it says right there … 3mph ,,,

Alexikakos
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

177 Fiat Cinquecento”      By:  Ed van der Hoek (artistic licence taken)

MontanaLady
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

they must be going at least 5mph. look at the ears flap. woo hoo!

Alexikakos
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

 
Race”      By:  Robert LaDuke- 2008
 

StelBel
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1 year ago

comment image

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  StelBel
1 year ago

He must have stirred something up.

The rain gods obviously want to give him a good beating!.

Tigressy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

Beat me to it.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  Tigressy
1 year ago

I had a hard time “beating” you cos I didn’t get one of those beaters.

Last edited 1 year ago by SusanSunshine
Tigressy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

That medicine man must have gotten the beat right. Or will next time.

StelBel
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1 year ago

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

She looks stoned.

MontanaLady
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

are you sure it’s a ‘she’ ?

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  MontanaLady
1 year ago

I can’t really see a male face.

The lips and chin definitely look female…

And maybe I’m the only one, but I see the suggestion of her hands cupping her chin, clasping her face, fingers ending near her eyes.

Of course, we all know about me.

StelBel
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1 year ago

dennisinseattle
Reply to  StelBel
1 year ago

I love these three mature women taking inspiration from Leslie Gore’s teen song.

Tigressy
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Reply to  StelBel
1 year ago

“The First Wives Club”

Alexikakos
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Reply to  Tigressy
1 year ago

 
This picure link to the late Olivia Goldsmith’s work is my favourite book by her.
I recommend them all.
 
comment image
 

StelBel
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1 year ago

comment image

Alexikakos
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Reply to  StelBel
1 year ago

 
Tom said “You’ll laugh at this one” and proceeded to tell a racy joke.
 

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  StelBel
1 year ago

“We’re not just playing a card game here,” said Tom, as he decked the intruder.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

“The rest of you, to the rear of the ship!” Tom said sternly.

“We’re heading out to sea!”, he said, taking a notion.

“Never mind the ship rocking,” said ‘e, motionally.

happyhappyhappy
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1 year ago

That’s a logic diagram.

Alexikakos
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1 year ago

SusanSunshine
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1 year ago

Claude probably thinks he’d have to dress up for a “Thai” restaurant.

He doesn’t want to have to put on a suit, instead of his open-collared shirt.

As for the second choice… he has no idea what kind of packing Clara is talking about.

Tigressy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago
Greyhame
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Reply to  Tigressy
1 year ago

A lovely place. Lakes, caves, hills, Branson, Silver Dollar City, Shepard Of The Hills.

Tigressy
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1 year ago

comment image

MontanaLady
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 year ago

silly me, i only planned a steak for today.

MontanaLady
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1 year ago

claude sure thinks he is ‘all-knowing’ !!!

Tigressy
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Reply to  MontanaLady
1 year ago

But he is a know-it-all.

MontanaLady
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1 year ago

thank you NH for all the indy 500 race stuff. it was a great day at the track, and you made it more special with all the pre-race items!!!

SusanSunshine
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1 year ago

Perkycat wrote to me!

Her husband is recovering, but can’t stand and walk yet, so he’s been moved to an “advanced care” hospital, where he’s being strengthened in preparation for rehab.

She’s been spending her time there, to help out and be with him.

She doesn’t have her Cleo password… I suggested she just log in as a guest, IF she gets time.

I have more to say about her message, and more replies and likes for this page, after falling asleep over it last night… actually in the wee hours of this morning…

But no time right now. See you in a bit!

Last edited 1 year ago by SusanSunshine
MontanaLady
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 year ago

thank you for passing the words!! please let her know how much we care!

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