Paintings of folk musicians and dancers

Subject: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 07:35 PM

This started when my boss suggested we might buy some nice art prints to spruce up the walls of our office. I figured, instead of buying the standard Monet water lilies or Van Gogh sunflowers, I should go online and search for something less familiar, and hopefully more inspiring.

After doing this awhile, I began to realize I was having fun.

Why not look for paintings of folk musicians or dancers?

Here's a good 'un to start with: The Dance by Morgan Weistling, from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, in Oklahoma City.

If you enjoy this too, please post links to any nice paintings you find, especially if prints are being offered for sale.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Big Mick
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 07:40 PM

Jim, this might be one of the best threads yet. I love that painting, and thanks for the link. I will be following this and looking for prints.

Great stuff!!

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 08:36 PM

Here's a few more. Not all of them are necessarily for sale, but they were too good to pass up.

Galway Street Musician (portrait of Joe Gaynor, accordionist) by Barrie Maguire.

The Peasant Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The Blind Piper by Joseph Haverty.

Here's a whole website devoted to images of pipers!

The Banjo Lesson by Henry O. Tanner – a great one.

Several Vermeer paintings with musical themes. (OK, not necessarily folk, but homey.)

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 09:57 PM

Niel Gow: portrait by Raeburn from the Blair Castle collection, Perthshire. A rather dark scan, probably from a reproduction in a book.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Mooh
Date: 16 Apr 04 - 11:25 PM

Got a great painting from Alice a couple of years ago for my little teaching studio. Her stuff is linked from the Mudcat crafters page (or whatever we call it).

Also, art.com (and the like) has lots o'stuff all indexed by a gazillion topics.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 01:19 AM

Here's a better image of The Blind Piper a.k.a. The Limerick Piper (a portrait of Patrick O'Brien, 1844) by Joseph Haverty.

The Hampton University Museum Store offers prints of "The Banjo Lesson" (see link above) for $20.

Cowboy Dance (mural study for Anson, TX post office) by Jenne Magafan, 1941.

Festive Scene by Jan Miense Molenaer (Dutch, ca. 1650)

Assembly Church by Prentiss Taylor, 1936.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 02:16 PM

My "at hand" selection of music themed art runs pretty much to the "old classics," but if not appropriate to this search, maybe someone else will pick something up here.

I've linked to the "Artist Pages" below, since many of the "full size" images available are very large. Scroll down, if necessary, and click on the ones of interest to get the larger views. Quite a few images are available at the main site cited in "regular" and "hi-res," and the high resolution ones often are, by web standards, enormous.

A "lively" pair of pieces at Adolphe Alexandre Lesrel has The Musical Trio, 1890 and Gentlemen's Pleasures, 1885 both near the bottom of the page.

Not a painting of anything musical, per se, but the Detail for Vittore Carpaccio's Presentation of Jesus in the Temple [detail: 1], 1510 is something of a "musical favorite" of mine.

Frans Hals Buffoon Playing a Lute, c.1623 is maybe a worn-out "classic." (last one on the page)

Bloemaert's The Bagpiper might be of interest. A very well known painting, and maybe a little overexposed, but still nice.

Antiveduto Gramatica's The Theorbo Player, c. 1615 is a good piece. I haven't seen a "folk theorbo" anywhere in my neighborhood recently, but I doubt if he's playing heavy metal.

Gerrit van Honthorst's A young woman playing a viola da gamba is such a cheery piece that I have it on as my desktop, but then I don't get a lot of company in the house.

Emile-Jean-Horace Vernet's Village Musicians, 1832 might fit in nicely. An older era, perhaps; but definitely "folky."

If they might be appropriate to your "audience," you might take a look at the pipers and dancers by Robin Buick (3 pages starting at the link). I believe some of his pieces are available, if statuary fits into your collection, and a good photo of statuary sometimes works in a gallery collection.

SEARCH HELP:

If you identify other pictures of interest, you may be able to find very good quality images by consulting the Artist Index at artrenewal.org.

Another excellent museum that may have appropriate older works is at Web Gallery of Art, Artist Index.

For more general searches, especially if you have an artist's name, try Art Cyclopedia. They try to index all the "good art" accessible on the web, and do get into some pretty "niche" places.

While I hate to make what may sound like a "commercial pitch," should you run into difficulty finding good prints of a piece that they have: (from their home page)

"ARC now offers high quality Prints on Heavy Fine Art Board that must be shipped flat unlike posters. ARC is very pleased to offer a truly unique service. We now have the ability to custom print a single poster on demand from any one of the planned 50,000 images on our site."

The "artboard" prints are of selected images, Giclée process, and seem to be reasonably (competitively) priced. Although I haven't met one "in person," I would expect the quality to be good. The general "any image" prints may be on photo quality paper, and of course the print quality will depend somewhat on the available image file for the particular one you want. The "planned 50,000 images" now stands at 28,364, according to their banner, although it's growing by 1 or 2 hundred per month in recent months.

While I haven't seen their posters first hand, I can attest that the "run of the mill" images at the site generally (with a very few exceptions) print very nicely at the 13 x 19 inches I can ram through my printer.

Don't forget to plan for including a suitable frame, appropriate to the subject and to the place where you plan to hang it. Good framing is often about as expensive as the good print, but can add a lot to how well a display "wears on you."

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Marje
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 02:23 PM

What a great thread! I've really enjoyed browsing the pictures.

If you've evert tried to photograph music sessions, singers or dancers, you know how difficult it is to capture the feel of it in a silent, still image.

Here's a link to one I like - I have it on a birthday card and it appears in clearer colours there. For some reason the image on the web is only a "study".

I have tried in vain to create a blue clicky. I paste the URL into the box as instructed, and it gives me a long string, but when I paste this into my post, it appears as the long string and not as a URL. Can anyone help?

In the meantime, you'll have to cut and paste this:

Study for Folk Dance by William Roberts, 1936

Marje

URL converted to link. --JoeClone, 17-Apr-04.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 02:40 PM

Marge's William Roberts' Folkdance is a nice one.

You might also try the ArtCyclopedia result for William Roberts if this guy looks interesting.

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 17 Apr 04 - 02:50 PM

Over here in the UK Hedingham Fair do hand painted pictures of "Folk" events and dancers which they sell as prints, greetings cards and other formats.
One of the nice things about their cards is that you not only recognise the colours of the dance teams, but you can also identify individual dancers who you may know.
Quack!
Geoff the Duck.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: maire-aine
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 12:09 AM

Here's one of my favorites The Wedding Dance from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Much like the Peasant Dance above.

Maryanne

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 12:37 AM

Then there is the very interesting subject of the representation of folk in formal or stylized venues, such as Agnes DeMille's choreography of Copeland's Rodeo. Or Copeland's Billy the Kid (different choreographer).

Just a thought.

SRS

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: rich-joy
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 04:24 AM

I seem to recall that Nicole Murray from the excellent Australian harmony duo CLOUDSTREET (at present touring the UK) has had an exhibition of her art of folk musicians and dancers.
Her husband and singing partner, John Thompson, often posts here too ...

Cheers!
R-J

Try here: Nicole Murray's blog

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: open mike
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 02:29 PM

This from the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California painting by Charles Christain Nahl, 1872
Sunday Morning in the Mines

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: open mike
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 02:30 PM

Jim, what sort of specialty does your office have?
Do you work with music or dance topics?

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 03:04 PM

No, Mike, my work is unrelated to music. I work in the mailroom of a University. I've also researched some pictures relating to mail. I found several pictures of women reading love letters, for instance, but I didn't think they would be especially intersting to Mudcatters. I started searching for folk-music pictures just because it was fun.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 04:51 PM

More results of my research:

Here's a painting that's been in the news lately:
Plan to sell painting draws fire

These are available as posters or prints:
Passing It On; "signed, numbered limited edition print of watercolor painting of fiddler Melvin Wine by Jeffrey Barner, from the Augusta Heritage Center." (An old man playing a fiddle, and a young girl, holding a fiddle, and looking on admiringly.)
The Earnest Pupil by Eastman Johnson. (A middle-aged man playing a flute or fife, and a young boy listening.)
The Spirit of '76 by Archibald M. Willard. (The familiar patriotic portrait of a fifer and two drummers leading a march.)
She Sang the Blues by John Holyfield. (A stylized picture of a black female singer with 2 black male musicians: a left-handed guitarist and a piano player.)
Guitar by H Soan. (A black guitarist. Very nice!)
Creators of Jazz by Jason DeLancey. (A black female vocalist backed by a trio. This one is a lot more realistic than the Holyfield one.)
Songs of Childhood by Charles Curran. (This one is more classical-looking than the others. A young woman plays piano while a young girl listens dreamily.)
Japanese Musician by an unknown artist. A woman holding a stringed instrument that I don't recognize.)
The Music Lesson by Frederic Leighton. (This has an almost pre-Raphaelite look. A woman is teaching a girl to play a strange guitar-like instrument.) (Note this website is designed to prevent you from downloading and saving the picture, but I figured out how to defeat it. Just ask.)

These are apparently original paintings only, not available as prints:
Musician by Paul Davis, 2002. (Portrait of a fiddler.)
The Lonely Musician by Claire Long. (A man sitting in a doorway, playing an accordion.)
Jan Miense Molenaer: several paintings with musical themes, but I especially like "Two Boys and a Girl Making Music," 1629.
The Banjo Player by Leon Delachaux, 1881. (A young black man playing a banjo.)
Several paintings by Barrie Maguire. He's the same guy who did "Galway Street Musician" that I linked to previously. That one's an old man playing a button accordion. He also has portraits of "Banjo Jimmy" (an older black man playing a banjo); one of a bodhrán player, a couple of guitarists, and 5 fiddlers.
Ceili House Band, Allen's, by Laura Higgins (3 musicians playing in a pub).

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 05:56 PM

Jim Dixon –

Your link to the "Plan to Sell Painting Draws Fire" is to a "members only" site(?) - or at least requires a "login." If it's the MIA plan to sell the Bouguereau - which seems likely, there's a whole lot of fire and anger about it ARC Home Page. If it's not the same one, someone may be interested. Be warned that "Fred's Gang" is very angry about this one.

You've got a pretty nice selection of pics already located. I may have to take a better look at some of them for my own "collection."

Sidney Robertson Cowell in Northern California might be interesting, more for pursuing the personal interest in history than for finding pictures for the office.

From 1938 to 1940, while in her thirties, Sidney Robertson, ethnographer and collector of traditional American music, single-handedly organized and directed a California Work Projects Administration project designed to survey musical traditions in Northern California. The result of the project was a remarkable, and quite modern, multi-format ethnographic field collection--the WPA California Folk Music Project.

A link near the top of that page is to the Library of Congres definition of an "ethnographic collection," but further links from there may lead to some "real stuff.(?).

…Or you might want to just start at the linked: American Folklife Center "Collections and Special Presentations Available Online."

The first link above, "Cowell in Northern California," is apparently a "sub" page of LOC: California Gold. I didn't find an easy way back from the original page, but it came up elsewhere in a separate search.

You've probably already found Smithsonian Folk Music Archive, but if not, there are some old images there that might work if you can get them downloaded and printed.

An ineresting(?) commentary on Swedish Folk Music (recent) at Dan Lundberg: Swedish Folk Music does have some "interesting" sidebar pictures, although the ones I looked at seem to run to less than 20K and are often .gif, rather than the "easier" .jpg, so they'd take a bit of work to make into anything you could hang. (Probably marginal for anything over 8" x 10" – if that, although a few of them are pretty nice sized files.) So short mp3 sound clips too. Appears to be a well-researched article (about 13 "pages"). Probably more for "study" than for pictures.

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 06:44 PM

Clear Choice: Sarah Davis' PAINTINGS DEVOTED TO CONTRADANCE. Two available as litho's, and affordably.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: RangerSteve
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 08:23 PM

There's a few by Thomas Hart Benton that come to mind. My favorite is called "Pop and the Boys" (I think that's the title). I haven't checked to see if they are available on line.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 08:33 PM

John, you sent a link to some kind of bin hex thing. We still don't know what that flap was about. :)

Jim, I work at a university library and we research images for all sorts of things. When we use them publicly we pay for the useage. Last year we did a search on a painting that we wanted a larger version of, but the woman who found the first one couldn't remember what it was called. I spent a lot of time and never found the one, but had a great time trying. It was a picture of a girl reading, and she thought it was by Renoir. I found reading women who were straight and saucy and erotic and everything in between. There are some amazing art databases out there.

SRS

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 09:18 PM

Stilly -

You probably got the link from my mis-post, that has been deleted by clones. (Thanks Clones.) The link about the big flap is to www.artrenewal.org, and on their home page there are several links to an ongoing flap about the Minneapolis Institute of Art putting up a Bouguereau (first class artist; Bohemienne, most popular work at the MIA, and an excellent piece, apparently deliberately hidden for several years by the MIA director to make people "forget about it" so he could sell it off; and with some collatoral "lying" about the condition of the piece thrown in to boot) - to buy a "semi good" piece by a second rate, although not unimportant, artist. I don't know for sure that this is the same "big scene" mentioned by Jim Dixon (04:51 PM - first link) but it's likely that it is.

The MIA acquired the work a few years ago for about $30K, at about the same time that Sylvester Stallone bought his Bouguereau, Alma Parens, for about the same price. Some people told Stallone he got cheated when he bought it, but he sold his about 1.5 years ago for $2,640,000 (nice profit, even spread over 5 years) and another Bouguereau (Charity) sold a little later topped $3.6 million - not an inconsequential sale. The MIA painting doesn't have naked ladies like the other two, but is definitely one of Bouguereau's better works. And there are only about 70 Bouguereau paintings in "public" museums in the US, so it's a big chunk out of what's available to the public here if this one is sold outside the country or to a "private" collector - both likely.

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: GLoux
Date: 19 Apr 04 - 09:31 AM

Contemporary artist, Bo Bartlett, painted The Art of Music.

-Greg

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: the lemonade lady
Date: 19 Apr 04 - 12:34 PM

Someone here in Bishop's Castle has painted the Shropshire Bedlams and maybe one of John Kirkpatrick, but of course his face is blacked up so you can't really tell!

Sal

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Michael S
Date: 19 Apr 04 - 01:08 PM

I enjoy the work of contemporary artist H.C. Porter of Jackson, Mississippi. She's participated in a few shows in my home of Austin, Texas, but I have no connection other than as a buyer of a couple of musically themed pieces--Peaches Restaurant and Blue. Not all her work features musicians or instruments. All have a "folk art" feel (duck) though she's a trained pro.

--Michael S

See also Blues at Home --JoeClone

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Apr 04 - 04:17 PM

Sorry, I didn't realize my link to the article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press called "Plan to sell painting draws fire" would require you to log in. That doesn't happen on my computer, but maybe I logged in a long time ago and I still have a cookie that I wasn't aware of. Yes, it is about the Bouguereau painting.

If you use the Google News search, you'll find lots of information about it.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Mooh
Date: 19 Apr 04 - 10:06 PM

The Laura Higgin print linked above by Jim Dixon sure looks to have Pat O'Gorman on flute. World gets smaller. Mooh.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 19 Apr 04 - 10:08 PM

GLoux - I see from his "chronology" that Bo Bartlett studied with Nelson Shanks, one of my "favorite" (at least I know the name) contemporary artists. Study with Nelson is a "powerful credential," if that influences anyone.

Good stuff at Bo's site, and I've put him on my "list."

A bit of thread drift, since there's no real "folk connection," but unfortunately, Nelson Shank's works are not easily accessible on the web. Even his studio (the link above) has "Coming Soon" as the only thing posted in the "Gallery." I suspect it has something to do with the ARC citation:

"Shanks is world renowned and has painted numerous heads of state and even the current Pope John Paul II. He receives the highest prices for commissions of any living portrait artist." (italics added)

One of the largest accessible "samples" of Nelson Shanks' works is in a half-dozen sidebar pictures in an article at Nelson Shanks – Humanist Realist by Kathryn Manzo. He's apparently otherwise "too high priced to be on the web." (Musical connection – his portrait of Pavorotti is there, large version 238 KB.)

It might be useful for some to know that there's a good listing of a few good contemporary "teaching" studios (ateliers) at ARC Atelier's. I've found quite a few "newbys" of interest there. There is, unfortunately, no way to search this list by artist names, but just browsing may be of interest. Be advised that these artists will all be "realist school."

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: GLoux
Date: 20 Apr 04 - 08:25 AM

Bo Bartlett has been thinking about doing a series on musicians and his "The Art of Music" was one attempt...the little boy with the fiddle is my son, Jason. Bo's credentials are impeccable...he's an awesome talent...I'm waiting to see his show this fall at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia.

-Greg

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 10:40 AM

Jim Dixon - 18 Apr 04 - 04:51 PM – commented on "a painting that's been in the news lately." I don't know how interested anyone is, but the matter is apparently "settled" now. Details that are known, so far, are summarized by:

Duluth News Tribune

A brief extract:

"Posted on Thu, Apr. 22, 2004 
  
  "NEW YORK - A 19th century painting at the center of a controversy over the 
  Minneapolis Institute of Arts' decision to unload it sold below the estimated 
  price at auction on Thursday.
  
  "The Bohemian by French artist William Bouguereau fetched a hammer price 
  of $650,000 at Christie's, below the auction house's $700,000 to $900,000 
  estimate. Christie's said a private American collector bought it.
  
  "The museum paid $3,500 for The Bohemian in 1974 when it bought it from 
  the Minneapolis Public Library. At the time the artist was out of fashion. Since 
  then, scholars have been reassessing his work and collectors are snapping it up.
  
  "Although The Bohemian fetched less than anticipated, three other 
  Bouguereau paintings of single female figures that also sold at Christie's on 
  Thursday either met or exceeded estimates.
  
  "La Tricoteuse, fetched a hammer price of $620,000, above the $400,000 
  to $600,000 estimate; La Fille du pecheur was bought for $15,000, above 
  the $8,000-$12,000 estimate; and Etude de tete d'Augustine sold for 
  $8,000, meeting the low end of the estimate.
  
  "Patrick Noon, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts painting curator, has said 
  that proceeds from the sale of The Bohemian would be used to acquire 
  Battledore, an 1868 painting by English artist Albert Moore. Noon said 
  the painting was a more significant work done by an artist who was not in the 
  museum's collection.
  
  "The Minneapolis Institute of Arts owns Bouguereau's Temptation, a work 
  Noon said is more important than The Bohemian."

There is a little more description of the argument, but little more about the art at the above link.

In a last ditch effort to stop the sale, Mr Fred Ross reportedly offered to contribute $30,000 toward the purchase of the Moore painting, if the museum would keep the Bouguereau; but as it appears Mr. Noon was not accepting communications from any one who disagreed with him he may not have heard of this offer.(??)

I'm not sure the price the museum paid for the painting is right in the newspaper report, as I'd heard $35,000 from other sources, but it's quite likely they did get it quite cheaply, particularly as they acquired it from a local and presumedly "friendly" source.

The most "generous" interpretation I can give Mr Noon's statement about the Albert Moore painting being "a more significant work" is that he means it's one of Moore's more significant works. Based on other quotes attributed to Mr Noon, it is probably safe to make up what ever interpretation makes you happy, as he does seem to have difficulty saying what he really means – or meaning much when he says something. (personal impression, subject to change)

Battledore is definitely considered a "significant Moore," and it is appropriate that the MIA have something to represent Moore and the period and style in which he worked. There's no argument that getting the Moore is worthwhile. The complaint is that keeping the Bouguereau should also have been (more) important.

I do like much of Moore's work. Compared to Bouguereau, though, it's almost "Peruvian fantasy," like Valejo or Varga, with better technique. (Valejo's women all have too many muscles, Varga always made the legs too long, and Moore's women all have big feet.)

More to follow.

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 11:09 AM

Continuing previous post (after request to clones to save me from some typos and broken links).

For the benefit of the few "truly interested:"

I would like to know which of the "La Tricoteuse" paintings was sold, since Bouguereau painted four (at least) by that name, in 1869, 1879, 1882, 1884, and they are each quite different. Only the 1879 was reported as being held by a "private collection," and the museums (all 3 in the US) that reportedly had the other three would likely have stirred up about the same fuss as the MIA did, had they proposed publicly to sell. I would guess that it was the 1879 that was sold.

I haven't been able to identify the La Fille du pecuer, but would have to assume from the price that it probably was a "study" (that I may have seen under a different name) and not "finished" as a regular painting. The Etude would be a "sketch," or "study," although quite possible in oil. A "package" of 5 very small sketchbooks by Bouguereau sold in Paris in November of 2003 were expected to bring "no more than" $4,500 (US equiv), but sold for "$26,000 plus premium" (about $30,000 US net) with the winning bidder losing out to the Louvre who exercised their right of "obligatory pre-emption" to match the winning bid and take them home. Since French law prevents anyone but French licensed dealers from bidding at their auctions, the price might have been doubled (by some credible estimates) with open bidding.

Bouguereau Bohémienne 1890 is the painting that started this flap – at the bottom of the page (PAGE 10 of Bouguereau at ARC) – the Hi Res image that you get if you click the "Hi Res" bar at the bottom of the thumbnail is 1,483 KB, .jpg. If you just want to look, you can click on the thumbnail itself to get a "normal resolution" enlargement, which is "only" 298 KB. [Music connection: she's holding a nice violin, and is apparently a "street busker" resting for a moment.]

From the ARC homepage: "ARC is proud to offer 24" x 30" custom fine prints of Bohémienne at the affordable price of $142 each. A special high resolution print of this masterpiece is also available for $212." Nearly all ARC images are available at similar prices, and while somewhat more expensive than "common prints," these are "gallery quality," and the prices are quite competitive with other sources of similar quality stuff. Less expensive prints are also available there, for most images.

Once you're in the ARC Bouguereau Gallery, it's probably easiest just to click to another page there, but links to the pages for the suspects as the "other Bouguereau" that sold are located:
Bouguereau Tricoteuse 1884 should be the fourth image down on the page - PAGE 2 of Bouguereau at ARC.
Bouguereau Tricoteuse 1882 should be the sixth picture on this page - PAGE 3 of Bouguereau at ARC.
Bouguereau Tricoteuse 1879 should be the fourth picture on this page - PAGE 4 of Bouguereau at ARC.
Bouguereau Tricoteuse 1869 is the second picture on this page - PAGE 11 of Bouguereau at ARC.

I can't be certain, but the 1879 Tricoteuse ("The Knitter," or sometimes "Little Knitter") seems most likely to be the one sold for $620,000 last Thursday. ARC's loose sort by "quality" places this one as the "third most significant" of Bouguereau paintings with this name, but that's a very "loose" classification. Possibly the 1882, held by an "endowed gallery" (i.e. maybe not using public funds for this work?) at Appleton Museum of Art, Florida University, Ocala, Florida, would be next most likely, although without more information one guess is as good as the next.

The MIA has pulled it's web image of Le Bohemienne, but still has a small .jpg of Temptation there. Both were about 15 KB in the largest size available from them. They allow you to "zoom in" for a slightly higher resolution of "pieces" of their images, but it's quite labor intensive to reassemble the higher res chunks. Temptation is the one that Mr. Noon says is a better representation of Bouguereau's work. He's entitled to his opinion. It is a theme used fairly often by Bouguereau, but is not necessarily one that is "characteristic" in the opinion of many.

There is a much better image of La tentation (Temptation) at the W. A. Bouguereau site, but you'll have to "click your way" to it. Select "Paintings" on the left side of the page, then "1880" from the drop-down list. Scroll about half way down. The picture can be enlarged, by clicking on it, but will "snap back" if you click again on the enlarged view. You can right click on the enlarged view if you want to save it. (50 KB .jpg).

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 12:29 PM

It would be nice if someone could get the text to wrap in John's 26 Apr 04 - 10:23 AM post.

SRS

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: GLoux
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 12:40 PM

The next entry is the same post with wrapped text...

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 12:59 PM

Bob Davenport painted by Cumbrian artist Edmund Blood.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 01:42 PM

SRS & GLoux: I've notified Help, and they'll likely remove the unwrapped text. I re-posted in the following post, with manual line breaks to make it a little better.

My goof. Apologies to all.

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 01:51 PM

Jim Dixon - The poster of Lord Frederick Leighton's The Music Lesson you linked to (18 Apr 04 - 04:51 PM ) is a better than average web image, at 84 KB .jpg; but there's really no need to work hard (yeah, I've got a few downloading tricks too). At Lord Frederick Leighton at ARC (page 1 of 10) you'll find The Music Lesson at the seventh picture on this page. Click the picture for the "normal large" view, at 423 KB, or the Hi Res bar at the bottom of the thumbnail for the 2,023 KB "big picture." No tricks, just takes a little time. The kid has a cute "freckle" on the bridge of her nose that you likely won't see except in the "hi-res."

It is a strange instrument: 6 strings, so it's a guitar(?) – but the frets appear to be equally spaced, or very nearly so, so it couldn't play anything but tonic, 4th, 5th, maybe 7th, so it must be a "country guitar." (am I kidding???). Maybe Lord Fred just wasn't a musician.

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Grab
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 02:02 PM

Why not...?

The danger is that you end up with your walls decorated with the cover of Catherine Cookson books (and Maeve Binchy, and the rest of the "tangle-haired girl with a shawl round her shoulders" book brigade). If you can avoid the cheese factor, then fine.

(I'm afraid IMO "The Dance" one has a high Kraft quotient though - it's cheesy, it's artificial, and there's no taste... ;-)

Graham.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: open mike
Date: 26 Apr 04 - 02:13 PM

WOO HOO, THANKS FOR THE POST, KANSAS JOHN, ABOUT FOLK LORE, FOLK LIFE, WPA, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AND OTHER INFO! I have compiled some of this info into an article for the local folk music newsletter entitled
Folk Music: a Grand Tradition! Great resources here, thanks. Laurel

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: GUEST,Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Apr 04 - 02:23 PM

OK, Grab/Graham. It's easy to find fault. Tell us what you DO like. And be prepared to have your own favorites slammed.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 03:46 PM

John In Kansas, I finally got around to viewing the high-res version of the Leighton painting that you provided a better link to. Did you also notice that the "guitar" has 6 strings but only 3 tuning pegs? —unless 3 of those "strings" are actually shadows, which seems unlikely, because the kid seems to be fretting as if there are 5 or 6 strings. Also, it seems odd that the woman is tuning a string at the same time the kid is fretting a chord. I'd say, yeah, Lord Fred wasn't a musician.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 04:48 PM

Jim D -

The lady is probably trying to get the chord in tune. Probably hopeless, as it's a "kid's practice instrument" - (as indicated by no sound hole...)

We'll have to give Fred some music lessons.

John

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Lighter
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 05:12 PM

"Cowboy Singing," by Thomas Eakins (1888).

"The Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley," by Thomas Hart Benton (1931).

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Selchie - (RH)
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 05:13 PM

Simply from the Morris/Dance angle, not paintings. If you want a history of the stained glass windows, try the fascinating site on the BETLEY Windows: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/john.e.price/betley.htm maintained by John Price, St Albans Morris Men. Interesting comparisions of the history of Morris & lovely images.

Mairi

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: GUEST,Vic at work
Date: 24 Jul 04 - 03:05 PM

I scanned the above fairly quickly so if anyone has mentioned this I'm sorry.
The late great Peter Bellemy produced a couple (maybe more) of wonderful posters, one of himself the other of Martin Carthy, I still have a copy of each and they will go back up when my son reaches an age where he wont eat them or draw on them.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 11:49 AM

There are some pictures by modern Irish artists that deserve considering here; the "Irish Impressionist" Walter Osborne (1859-1903) painted a superb Dublin scene of the 1880's St Patrick's Close which shows a boy playing a pennywhistle in the foreground.

Several later artists, such as Jack B. Yeats, Charles Lamb, Sean Keating and Paul Henry, were fascinated by the culture of rural Ireland, in particular the Irish speaking west, and they all painted scenes from Irish life which include some of folk singers, musicians and dancers.

My own favourite is one by Charles Lamb (1893-1964) "Dancing at a Northern Crossroads" 1920, which I can't find reproduced anywhere online. It shows two gaily dressed couples step dancing to a fiddler at a remote crossroads watched by another two gossipping couples sitting by a stone wall.

Jack Yeats drew a fine portrait of a traditional singer which he titled "Now Rise Up, Willie Reilly" - but again I don't think there is an online reproduction. Yeats' illustrations to Synge's sketches of the Aran Islands for the Manchester Guardian are well worth discovering.

Sean Keating painted a group of fishermen and women dancing on a Galway pier in the 1920's entitled "Dun Aengus".

Paul Henry painted some wonderful landscapes in Connemara and especially in Achill Island where this one The Watcher is set, depicting a girl in a bright red skirt gazing out on a stormy grey sea. (Follow the links from this for more paintings by Paul Henry).

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Abuwood
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 12:14 PM

Thanks guys for posting these links - I really enjoyed the thread

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: RoyH (Burl)
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 02:41 PM

What a delightful thread. I like a couple of Winslow Homer's paintings, one called 'Dressing for the Dance', the other called Crack the Whip showing children doing a playground game that I played in my infancy. Not folk music exactly, but folk life certainly, showing our likeness more than our differences. Anybody else know these works? I aim to get prints of them one day.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Folkiedave
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 05:44 PM

There is all the stuff done by Hedingham Fair - who are at many festivals. They are always at Sidmouth as I understand.

http://www.hedinghamfair.co.uk/

They are even better in reality and are well worth the cost. They come highly recommended by me!!

Best regards,

folkiedave
www.collectorsfolk.co.uk

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Jul 04 - 11:54 PM

Thanks to RangerSteve for suggesting Thomas Hart Benton.
Click here for a page showing thumbnails of many of his paintings and murals.
Here is a selection in large format:
Jessie with Guitar, 1957;
Pop and the Boys, 1963;
The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley, 1934;
The Sources of Country Music, 1975;
Missouri Musicians, 1931.

Thomas Eakins, Cowboy Singing

Here's a long list called The Guitar in Pictorial Art. Unfortunately, it contains no pictures or links, but if any of your favorite artists are listed here, it may be worthwhile to try to track down the pictures.

Subject: RE: Paintings of folk musicians and dancers
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Jul 04 - 12:27 AM

I found a painting called Dressing for the Dance, but it's by Suzy Papanikolas, not Winslow Homer. All of her paintings have Hawaiian themes, and are well worth a look.