“Like a Classical Sculpture”

Notes the website The Art Story about Frédéric Bazille's 1868 painting “Fisherman with a Net.”

Bazille was eager to demonstrate his capability as a figure painter and, in keeping with the efforts of the Realists and early Impressionists to situate the figure in an outdoor setting and to accurately depict the effect of light and other atmospheric phenomena, he chose this very unusual subject of a naked fisherman.

Depicting nudes in landscape settings was not new; in fact, the motif dates back at least to the Renaissance. What was novel was, as art historian Gary Tinterow explains, “making the relationship between the naked body and its setting as accurate as possible in terms of proportion, depth and light.”

The results of Bazille's efforts are two expertly constructed male nudes that conform to the exacting principles of the academy in terms of construction of the human figure. The contours of their bodies are sharply defined, unlike an Impressionist work and, while Bazille locates them in the outdoors, he places them in the shade while still demonstrating his prowess at depicting natural light as the sun pierces the canopy of the woods here and there.

The male figure in the foreground stands with his back to the viewer, looking for all the world like a classical sculpture. He holds a net, which is preparing to cast into the river, a practice that was evidently common along the Lez River outside of Montpellier.

Bazille wrote to his parents about this work, telling them how his friends complimented him on this painting. He submitted it as well as another painting, A View of the Village (1868), to the 1869 Salon but it was refused.

Years later, at the 1910 Paris Salon, the painter Suzanne Valadon saw Fisherman with a Net and produced a similar version of the painting [right].

See also the previous posts:
• “A Painting of a Desired, and Desiring, Subject”
• Yesteryear
• Beauty

Summer Herbs and Hare

Image: The Leveret.

Bel Homme

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Familiar

Few animals can have been given as many different names as the hare. Some are very localised and often the hare's alternative names are associated with cats. This is thought to be because both cats and hares have been linked with witches, as their familiars.

– Jill Mason
Excerpted from The Hare
p. 131

See also the previous posts:
• Creature of Mystery, Creature of Magic
• Usurper
• The Hare-Witch
• Hallowtide Transformations

Image: “Hare Familiar Nature Spirit” A5 notebook by Arabella Figg. Part of the company's “Ethereal Familiars” collection.

Morning Light

See also the previous posts:
• Morning Light – July 20, 2017
• Morning Light – November 8, 2011
• Morning Light – September 20, 2010
• Morning Light – May 3, 2010
• Morning Light – March 20, 2010
• Morning Light – June 18, 2009
• Morning Light – July 25, 2008

Images: Subjects and photographers unknown.

Harvest Hare

Winner of an Elle Decoration British Design Award in 2012, "Harvest Hare" by Mark Hearld is a single colour wallpaper, printed in the UK using water-based inks and paper from sustained forests.

Born in 1974, Mark Hearld studied illustration at Glasgow College of Art and then completed an MA in Natural History Illustration at the Royal College of Art.

Taking his inspiration from the flora and fauna of the British countryside, Mark works across a number of mediums, producing limited edition lithographic and linocut prints, unique paintings, collages and hand-painted ceramics. [Mark admires] artist/designers such as Bawden, Piper, Nash – artists well regarded for their forays into the world of commercial design.

Mark Hearld has recently completed commissions for Faber & Faber and Tate Museums. A children's book [Outside Your Window] illustrated by a series of Mark's unique collages was published by Walker Books in May 2012. In Autumn 2012 Merrell Books published Mark Hearld's Work Book – the first book devoted to Mark's work.

A short film about Mark's inspirations and working methods can be viewed here.

– Source

See also the previous posts:
• Hare Décor – July 12, 2012
• Running Hare – March 25, 2012
• Hare Décor – March 25, 2011
• Running Hare – November 21, 2009

Lammastide

Hoof and horn, hoof and horn,
all that dies shall be reborn

Lammastide — Lughnasadh — First Harvest.

Originally a festival celebrated by the Celts and Saxons, this day marks the first of three harvests in the annual solar cycle.

It is a festival of Light and Fire. We celebrate today by baking breads, crafting with our hands and pausing to give thanks to God – the One, the All – for the bounty we are receiving in our lives, particularly the bounty of this year.

This is a holiday to evaluate and release. We’re encouraged to reflect on what has grown throughout the year, what has not, and what we can still potentially gather in the coming months ahead.

Love and Light!

– Carlos Alberto Orama

Corn and grain, corn and grain,
all that falls shall rise again

Related Off-site Links:
Lughnasadh Blessings – Arianna Alexsandra Collins (Hearken to Avalon, July 28, 2017).
Lughnasadh and Lammas – Celestite (A Pagan Tapestry, July 31, 2010).

See also the previous post:
• Harvest Blessings

Image 1: Artist unknown.
Image 2: Wendy Andrews.
Image 3: Artist unknown.