A thread about nothing at all....

[B.D.F.]

Just couldn't leave it alone, eh Jim? OK, you win.....

How do you know there is salt in urine? HMMMMMMMMMMM?  We know there is salt in tears 'cause they taste salty.....

 

Whilst is not a word in American English BTW.    again.

Brian

1% is still a percentage of salt.  Whilst not a crazy percentage, still enough to make a point.

[Strawboss]

Its not the salt in the urine that would kill the grass anyhow. I'm still pi$$ing on her grave. She was such a vile, conniving, evil excuse of an oxygen thief that I wouldn't pi$$ in her mouth if she was dying of thirst. Now lets end this infernal pi$$ing match shall we.

[VirginiaJim]

  alrighty then..

[B.D.F.]

On August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris, France. The authorities acted quickly and Pablo Picasso was questioned, and fortunately, Guillaume Apollinaire was apprehended and placed in jail. Of course the bad news is that Mr. Apollinaire did not in fact steal the painting. It was missing for two years before being found when the original thief, a Louvre employee named Vincenzo Peruggia, was caught while trying to sell the painting to a Florentine art gallery. Apparently Mr. Peruggia's motivation was that he felt the Italian master's work should be returned to Italy where it rightfully belonged. After recovery, the Mona Lisa was shown all over Italy for two years before being returned to the Louvre. Mr. Peruggia served a six month jail term and was considered a national hero in Italy.

Art is often lost on my- I simply do not 'get' any of Pollack's work for example. But something in the Mona Lisa forces me to look at it (in photographs, I have never been to France or seen the painting in person). So if DaVinci can appeal even to such a heathen as me, I guess he really was a Master (I love his drawings of horses!).

Brian

[VirginiaJim]

I much prefer Renoir.

I have this one in my bathroom down in the basement.

[Rhino]

On August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in Paris, France. The authorities acted quickly and Pablo Picasso was questioned, and fortunately, Guillaume Apollinaire was apprehended and placed in jail. Of course the bad news is that Mr. Apollinaire did not in fact steal the painting. It was missing for two years before being found when the original thief, a Louvre employee named Vincenzo Peruggia, was caught while trying to sell the painting to a Florentine art gallery. Apparently Mr. Peruggia's motivation was that he felt the Italian master's work should be returned to Italy where it rightfully belonged. After recovery, the Mona Lisa was shown all over Italy for two years before being returned to the Louvre. Mr. Peruggia served a six month jail term and was considered a national hero in Italy.

Art is often lost on my- I simply do not 'get' any of Pollack's work for example. But something in the Mona Lisa forces me to look at it (in photographs, I have never been to France or seen the painting in person). So if DaVinci can appeal even to such a heathen as me, I guess he really was a Master (I love his drawings of horses!).

Brian

I never knew about the theft. I saw the painting for the second time last year. It is displayed much better then the first time I saw it. I never understood why that painting got so famous. Of Da Vinci's body of work this falls somewhere in the "meh" category IMO.

[B.D.F.]

Well, as I said, I've never seen it in person. And 'art' is usually wasted on me- it just bounces off. I don't "see" it, especially the abstracts and impressionist works. All of that said, the Mona Lisa draws me to it, makes me look at it and the more I look, the more of it I see. Not sure if that is what "art" is supposed to do but that is the effect that painting has on me. Also quite a few of his drawings- mostly the horses, the horse's butt (I could look at a DaVinci horse's A$$ for three hours I think) and his self- portrait in his later years. Beyond that, he was a fair scientist (OK, he was a great scientist), a skilled inventor, and an excellent all- around thinker. Apparently he was also abrasive, perhaps homosexual, and generally unpleasant to be around. But in the end, the man virtually jump- started the Renaissance single-handedly and started the western world out of the pathetic situation it had been in for a thousand years and pointed us toward the light.

Put me down as a big fan of the gentleman. 

Brian

I never knew about the theft. I saw the painting for the second time last year. It is displayed much better then the first time I saw it. I never understood why that painting got so famous. Of Da Vinci's body of work this falls somewhere in the "meh" category IMO.

[RFH87_Connie]

Maybe 7 years or so ago, me made a day trip with some friends from NoVa to see the DaVinci sketches on display at the NY art museum - my first long-distance art trek.    Well worth it!  What struck me by surprise was how small the actual original works were compared to the size I thought they actually were.  Most were no more than a foot square but had exquisite detail.  I am by no means an art snob but living just outside DC gives me access to some pretty impressive museums of all types.  I find myself visiting them more and more lately.  Some of my favorite artists are Thomas Cole and Salvadore Dali which are on display up here.  I would love to see Dali's works that are on display in St. Pete Florida at some point.  Cole's "Voyage of Life" has always amazed me by it's detail and huge size.  The Van Gogh exhibit in DC was very good also.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_Life#

What is the work thing we speak of - it is Friday isn't it?

[Rhino]

I was at a convention in downtown San Francisco, had some downtime and went into the SF museum of modern art. I found it to be "The Emperors New Clothes" in action. There were 5 or 6 examples of "monochromatic art". I'm not talking about a picture in black and white, that would be "dichromatic art". I'm talking about pieces where the "artist" went down the the Alameda Navy yard, stole a bucket of battle ship grey and slathered it on to a canvas. At least 2 in grey and several in other colors. They had descriptions about how the "artist" brought out the color on canvas. I was waiting for a blank spot on the wall with the exact same description. I guess I'm like the people in the fable that thought the emperor was naked.

Think I'm exaggerating?

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/19534

or

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/22933

[B.D.F.]

And that is a perfect example of what I mean by most art being absolutely lost on my. The art that makes me shake my head with wonder is everything I have seen of Pollack- I mean the guy drizzled paint on the floor and one of them now holds the record of somewhere near 150 million ($, US) as the highest price paid for a painting. I just do not understand. I think I would rather watch the elephants make sculptures out of the coffee beans they ate (other thread).

??

Brian

I was at a convention in downtown San Francisco, had some downtime and went into the SF museum of modern art. I found it to be "The Emperors New Clothes" in action. There were 5 or 6 examples of "monochromatic art". I'm not talking about a picture in black and white, that would be "dichromatic art". I'm talking about pieces where the "artist" went down the the Alameda Navy yard, stole a bucket of battle ship grey and slathered it on to a canvas. At least 2 in grey and several in other colors. They had descriptions about how the "artist" brought out the color on canvas. I was waiting for a blank spot on the wall with the exact same description. I guess I'm like the people in the fable that thought the emperor was naked.

Think I'm exaggerating?

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/19534

or

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/22933

[Rhino]

This is my idea of truly great art and it isn't even in a museum. It's a fountain in front of a building in Irving, TX:

[VirginiaJim]

 

[Conrad]

This is my idea of truly great art and it isn't even in a museum. It's a fountain in front of a building in Irving, TX:

VERY cool!

[VirginiaJim]

Dr. Who has regenerated....I don't like him....yet.  I didn't like the last one either but he eventually grew on me.  Sigh.

[B.D.F.]

On August 24, 1814, Dolly Madison had dinner prepared for herself and her husband, President James Madison. Nothing unusual about that. What was a bit on the odd side is who actually ate that meal; that was the day that British troops arrived, took the city of Washington and burned almost all of it. After eating the meal left in the White House, of course.

The next day, the head of the British forces there, Read Admiral George Cockburn (Easy Boys!) searched out the offices of a local newspaper, The National Intelligencer, as they had put him in such a bad light and nicknamed him "The Ruffian". He was determined to burn that building too but some local women persuaded him not to do that as it would almost certainly set the nearby houses afire. Instead, he ordered the building be taken down brick by brick, and ordered all the type in the letter 'C' be destroyed "so that the rascals can have no further means of abusing my name."

And by the way, the oft- repeated stories of Dolly Madison personally taking the portrait of George Washington down and removing it from the White House to save it are false: the painting was far too large and heavy for any single person to carry it, never mind remove it from the wall mounting. Servants actually removed the painting.

Brian

[VirginiaJim]

The burning of Washington DC was in retaliation for the incursions and burnings into Canada.  Unfortunately, the locals decided to take advantage of the situation and did some looting.  Not a great time in American history, at least in the DC area.

[gPink]

The burning of Washington DC was in retaliation for the incursions and burnings into Canada.  Unfortunately, the locals decided to take advantage of the situation and did some looting.  Not a great time in American history, at least in the DC area.

<sigh> Some things never change.

....and WTF, it was just Canada.

[VirginiaJim]

King George III and his Prince Regent George the IV were not amused.  George the III was still smarting from the loss in the Revolutionary War.

[Rhino]

On August 24, 1814, Dolly Madison had dinner prepared for herself and her husband, President James Madison. Nothing unusual about that. What was a bit on the odd side is who actually ate that meal; that was the day that British troops arrived, took the city of Washington and burned almost all of it. After eating the meal left in the White House, of course.

The next day, the head of the British forces there, Read Admiral George Cockburn (Easy Boys!) searched out the offices of a local newspaper, The National Intelligencer, as they had put him in such a bad light and nicknamed him "The Ruffian". He was determined to burn that building too but some local women persuaded him not to do that as it would almost certainly set the nearby houses afire. Instead, he ordered the building be taken down brick by brick, and ordered all the type in the letter 'C' be destroyed "so that the rascals can have no further means of abusing my name."

And by the way, the oft- repeated stories of Dolly Madison personally taking the portrait of George Washington down and removing it from the White House to save it are false: the painting was far too large and heavy for any single person to carry it, never mind remove it from the wall mounting. Servants actually removed the painting.

Brian

And it is not the original painting. In fact has "SATES" misspelling on purpose to differentiate it from the original "Lansdowne" portrait.

[rocknrod]

This is my idea of truly great art and it isn't even in a museum. It's a fountain in front of a building in Irving, TX:

They have a really large thing like that out at Cleburne, TX. I like tat kind of art