2012/01/03

Lights in the Night


… the Stars
That nature hung in Heav’n, and fill’d their Lamps
With everlasting oil, to give due light
To the misled and lonely Travailer.



Arthur Rackham

I am starting this year with a new collection - similar to the series Things with Wings - called
Lights in the Night.  Art from different times and cultures about the pleasures of exploring the
sky with its heavenly bodies as well as the urge to illuminate the dark hours between dusk
and dawn with fire and light.






James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold The Falling Rocket, 1874



Jean-François Millet, Starry night, 1851



Matthew Cusick, Leviathan, 2008 (Maps, illustrated bible, ink, on panel)



Tomomi Miyano, Night Fishing, 2005



Fumiaki Fukita. Exploding Star, 1966



Leonid Meteor Storm over Niagara Falls, 1833



James Glaisher, Travels in the Air, 1871



Oswald Achenbach, Fireworks in Naples



Edward Middleton Manigault, The Rocket, 1909



Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Feu d’artifice a Venise, 1917



Takahashi Hiroaki (Shôtei), Fireworks Shubinomatsu (Okawa Shubinomatsu),
(literally “Pine Tree at Okawa River”), Early 1930’s



Jun Kumaori, Amayadori



John Salminen, Morning Fog



John Singer Sargent, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose, ca. 1885-86



John Singer Sargent, Sketch for "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" (see above)



Mian Situ, Preparing For Festival



Thorolf Holmboe, Still Life, 1907



Takahashi Hiroaki (Shôtei), Street Singers (Ukiyobushi)



Warwick Goble, Illustration from The Star Lovers



Charles Folkard, Robin Goodfellow



Kiyochika, May Night at Kudanzaka



Edward Hopper, Blue Night, 1914



Ferdinand du Puigaudeau, Breton Girls with Chinese Lanterns, 1896



Maxfield Parrish, The Lantern Bearers, 1910



Illustration by Arthur Rackham for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
Written by J.M. Barrie. First published in 1906



Maurice Prendergast, Festa del Redentore, ca.1899



Ramón Casas, Atelier Interior after a party, 1883

6 comments:

  1. As a child, I fell in love with Arthur Rackham's drawings and would spend hours walking in their images. When I came across this tonight, the same delight emerged as if stars in my darkness.

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  2. Thank you, snowbird. Illustrations in our children's books have such a great impact on our memory. I know the phenomenon myself, that even as a grown up I am attached to certain styles and colors because of the strong memory I have from the pictures in the books which comforted me and lulled me to sleep when I was a child.

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  3. Thank you for this wonderful travel through the lights of the night.It was a great path.

    The painting of Prendergast made me remember of a thing I saw in Rome few years ago.There was this beautiful installation inside the Circo Massimo and the result was equal to the painting.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolino_foto/1345271843/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolino_foto/1346162664/in/photostream/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/paolino_foto/1345271247/in/photostream/

    And there are others in the same gallery :)
    It was one of the best night ever.

    P.S. Happy new year

    ReplyDelete
  4. A happy new year to you too! I can see why the Prendergast reminds you of this lovely light installation! The shapes and colors are quite similar. Thank you for sharing your memories and the photo links!

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  5. These are lovely works. Thank you for taking the time to share such meaningful things.

    ReplyDelete

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