Thursday, December 31, 2015

"Looking East" Exhibition at SF Asian Art Museum

San Francisco Asian Art Museum is exploring "How Japan Inspired Monet, Van Gogh and Other Western Artists" with its current special exhibition "Looking East". 

DSCN0941 _ Looking East, Asian Art Museum

The exhibition was not a gimmick as one might suspect but it is also pointless to determine which pieces influenced which. I would only venture to showcase those pieces made strong impressions on me, either they are by western or Japanese artists.  Some of them are very delicate and others exciting and the rest humorous and delightful.

DSCN0911 _ Still life with azaleas and apple blossoms, Charles Caryl Coleman, Looking East, Asian Art Museum

DSCN0911 _ Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Still life with azaleas and apple blossoms, Charles Caryl Coleman

DSCN0916 _ Kajikazawa in Kai Province, Katsushika Hokusai, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Kajikazawa in Kai Province, Katsushika Hokusai

DSCN0986 _ Night Herons (Nachtreiher), Otto Eckmann, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Night Herons (Nachtreiher), Otto Eckmann

DSCN0985 _ Silver Herons (Zilverreigers), Theodorus van Hoytema, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Silver Herons (Zilverreigers), Theodorus van Hoytema

DSCN0981 _ Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Five Swans, Otto Eckmann

IMG_2863 _ Landscape with two Breton Women, Gauguin, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Landscape with two Breton Women, Paul Gauguin

IMG_2862 _ Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Port of Saint-Cast, Paul Signac

IMG_2861 _ Haystack (sunset), Claude Monet, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Haystack (sunset), Claude Monet

DSCN0987 _ Vase of flowers, Henri Matisse, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Vase of flowers, Henri Matisse

DSCN0977 _ The Silver Screen, Frank Weston Benson, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
The Silver Screen, Frank Weston Benson

DSCN0933 _ Maternal Caress, Mary Stevenson Cassatt, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Maternal Caress, Mary Stevenson Cassat

DSCN0943 _ Postman Joseph Roulin, Vincent van Gogh, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Postman Joseph Roulin, Vincent van Gogh

DSCN0942 _ Actor Onoe Kikujiro Il as Takiyasha-hime, Utagawa Kunisada, Actor Matsumoto Yonesaburo, Utagawa Kunimasa, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Actor Onoe Kikujiro Il as Takiyasha-hime, Utagawa Kunisada & Actor Matsumoto Yonesaburo, Utagawa Kunimasa

DSCN0939 _ The artist's grandmother, Emile Bernard, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
The artist's grandmother, Emile Bernard

DSCN0924 _ Meditation, Alfred Stevens, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Meditation, Alfred Steven

DSCN0980 _ Fig leaves, Edna Boies Hopkins, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Fig leaves, Edna Boies Hopkins

DSCN0979 _ Bradley: His Book, William H. Bradley, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Bradley: His Book, William H. Bradley

DSCN0978 _ Cover of Love (Amour), Maurice Denis, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Cover of Love (Amour), Maurice Denis

DSCN0953 _ Family Umbrella, Helen Hyde, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Family Umbrella, Helen Hyde

DSCN0952 _ Jane Avril, Caudieux-Petit Casino), Toulouse-Lautrec
Jane Avril & Caudieux-Petit Casino), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

DSCN0949 _ Painted horse escaping from a votive plaque, Totoya Hokkei, Hunting, William Nicholson
Painted horse escaping from a votive plaque, Totoya Hokkei & Hunting, William Nicholson

DSCN0948 _ The Jockey, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
The Jockey, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

DSCN0945 _ Illustration of the Opening Ceremony of the Union Horse Racing Club's Racetrack around Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park, Hashimoto Chikanobu, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Illustration of the Opening Ceremony of the Union Horse Racing Club's Racetrack around Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park, Hashimoto Chikanobu

DSCN0937 _ The square at evening, Pierre Bonnard, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
The square at evening, Pierre Bonnard

DSCN0936 _ Woman in Bed, Profile (Femme au lit, profil), Toulouse-Lautrec, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Woman in Bed, Profile (Femme au lit, profil), Toulouse-Lautrec

DSCN0935 _ Child with lamp, Pierre Bonnard, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Child with lamp, Bonnard, Looking East, Asian Art Museum


DSCN0940 _ Street corner seen from above, Pierre Bonnard, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Street corner seen from above, Pierre Bonnard

DSCN0927 _ English Woman (Englaenderin), Emil Orlik, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
English Woman (Engländerin), Emil Orlik

DSCN0926 _ [Courtesan as the immortal] Fei Zhangfang, Okumura Masanobu, Laziness (La Paresse), Félix Edouard Vallotton
[Courtesan as the immortal] Fei Zhangfang, Okumura Masanobu & Laziness (La Paresse), Félix Edouard Vallotton

DSCN0920 _ Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake, Utagawa Hiroshige I, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake, Utagawa Hiroshige I

DSCN0919 _ Standing courtesan, Keisai Eisen, Looking East, Asian Art Museum
Standing courtesan, Keisai Eisen

DSCN0931 _ Looking East, Asian Art Museum

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Tuesday, December 22, 2015

My Featured Painting: Dichotomic "In Distant Country"

One of my paintings selected in a recent exhibition at Berkeley Central Arts Passage, Today's Artists Interact with Major Art Movements from the Renaissance to the Present, is a painting of part cityscape and part animal figure study.

In Distant Country / 在遙遠的国度 / In fernem Land  
In Distant Country / 在遙遠的国度 / In fernem Land
Oil on Canvas
22″ x 28"
Completed in 2011

The left side of the painting, in shades of washed-out gray, depicts the Old St. John's Hospital, an 11th-century hospital in Bruges, Belgium while the right side zooms in one of the omnipresent swans and the symbol of that ancient city, painted in intensely saturated rich hues. I conceived this painting while visiting Bruges, when I was quite intrigued and even moved by the stark contrast of immobile and somewhat faded history and threadbare nobility, and the living creatures full of grace, energy and slight menace.

Furthermore, I named this title to ensure that the German title In fernem Land is the first line of the most celebrated aria by the title character in Wagner's opera Lohengrin, a mysterious knight arrived in a boat drawn by a swan, narrating his mythical original and his frustrated hope by lacking of faith he demanded from a woman he loved and rescued, whose child-ruler brother was turned into that swan and his disappearance had triggered a chain of events.

The medieval building and the medieval story interwoven, the purity and menace of this lofty bird, along with the historical baggage of Wagner, conspire to add extra meanings to this rather deceptively simply painting.

Originally posted on matthewfelixsun.com

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Sunday, December 13, 2015

My Favorite Artworks at Ca' d'Oro, Venezia (Venice)

Almost every major old mansion, or Ca', as called by the locals, in Venice, are an impressive museum. Ca' d'Oro, is the most iconic of them all, famed for its Gothic columns, arched windows and fascinating asymmetrical façade, and it not only boast artifacts demonstrating the life in the begone era, it also houses some impressive artworks as well.

DSCN0631 _ Ca' d'Oro, Venezia, 12 October

Venice / 威尼斯 / Venedig

My favorite work my saw during my 2012 trip was a painting from the workshop of one of my favorite Renaissance artists, Andrea del Sarto, titled Madonna and Child with St. John, which had all the hallmarks of the said great master, particularly the pale green, blue and pink tones of draperies, and those rosy cheeked, plump figures announcing the advent of mannerism, which outgrew the naturalism of Renaissance.

DSCN1959 _ Madonna and Child with St. John, Andrea del Sarto's Workshop, Ca d'Oro, 14 October
Madonna and Child with St. John, Andrea del Sarto's Workshop, Ca' d'Oro

My second favorite was a sculpture of a nude male torso, which situated in the middle of a courtyard whose walls and floor were covered with very intricate and elaborate mosaic, and contrasting wonderfully against those complicated background with its restrained classical simplicity.

DSCN2107 _ Mosaic courtyard, Ca d'Oro, Venezia, 14 October 

DSCN2107 _ Mosaic courtyard, Ca 
d'Oro, Venezia, 14 October (detail) - 
500


My Favorite Museum Collection Series
>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 109: My Favoritate Artwork at Ca' Pesaro, Venezia (Venice), Italy
<< My Favorite Museum Collection Series 107: My Favorite Artworks at Ca' Rezzonico, Venice

List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

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