#national painter of switzerland

[collectionstilllife]

Albert Anker (Swiss, 1831–1910) • Still Life with Coffee • 1877

[blueiscoool]

Gustav Klimt Portrait Found After Vanishing Nearly 100 Years Ago

It is one of the last works the artist painted before his death in 1918.

One of the last paintings by the renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has miraculously been found after vanishing nearly 100 years ago.

The painting, titled Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, was found in Vienna after last being seen by the public in 1925. Until now, the only known photograph of the painting had been held in the archives of the Austrian National Library. The picture was likely taken in 1925 in connection with the Klimt exhibition by Otto Kallir-Nirenstein in the Neue Galerie, Vienna.

Since then, its location had been a mystery.

"The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt's last creative period, is a sensation," said the im Kinsky auction house in a statement announcing the discovery. "As a key figure of Viennese Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt epitomizes fin de siècle Austrian Modernism more than any other artist. His work, particularly his portraits of successful women from the upper middle class at the turn of the century, enjoy the highest recognition worldwide."

The work of art will go up for auction at the im Kinsky auction house in Vienna on April 24 and is expected to fetch millions on the market.

"Klimt's paintings rank in the top echelons of the international art market. His portraits of women are seldom offered at auctions. A painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades," im Kinsky auction house said. "This also applies to Austria, where no work of art of even approximate importance has been available."

The painting will now travel worldwide on short exhibitions until it is auctioned and is set to be presented at various locations internationally, including stops in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain and Hong Kong.

The model for the painting is labeled as Fräulein Lieser, also known as Margarethe Constance Lieser (1899-1965), daughter of the Austrian industrial magnate Adolf Lieser. But new research by the im Kinsky auction house into the history and provenance of the masterpiece has opened up the possibility that Klimt's model could have been another member of the Lieser family -- either Helene Lieser (1898-1962), the first-born of Henriette Amalie Lieser-Landau and Justus Lieser, or their younger daughter, Annie Lieser (1901-1972), according to officials.

"In April and May 1917, the sitter visited Klimt's studio in Hietzing nine times to pose for him," im Kinsky said. "Klimt probably began the painting in May 1917. The painter chose a three-quarter portrait for his depiction and shows the young woman in a strictly frontal pose, close to the foreground, against a red, undefined background. A cape richly decorated with flowers is draped around her shoulders."

The portrait is thought to be one of Klimt's last paintings and was done shortly before he died of a stroke on Feb. 6, 1918. The painting was left, with several small portions of it unfinished, in his studio and it is thought that the painting was given to the family who had commissioned it after his death.

The painting, however, would soon vanish and the exact fate of the painting after 1925 is unclear.

"What is known is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and went to the current owner through three successive inheritances," im Kinsky auction house said.

ByJon Haworth.

[scotianostra]

On March 10th 1998, Alberto Morrocco, the Scottish painter noted for his murals and portraits in oil and watercolours, died.

Alberto Morrocco was born on 14th December 1917 in Aberdeen to Italian parents in 1917. He attended Gray’s School of Art from the prodigious age of fourteen, tutored by James Cowie and Robert Sivell, and won the Carnegie and Brough travelling scholarships, affording him opportunity to paint and study in France, Italy and Switzerland in the late 1930s.

After serving in the army between 1940-46 he devoted his time to painting. His subject matter varied from the domestic interior, landscape, imaginings of Italian life, still life and many commissioned portraits. Combining his talent with abundant energy he became one of the most dominant figures in the Scottish artworld in the second half of the 20th century.

He participated in many group exhibitions both at home and abroad and works are held in major collections including: The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Royal Scottish Academy; Scottish Arts Council; West Riding County Council; Newark on Trent Municipal Museum; Liliie Art Gallery, Milngavie, Glasgow; Robert Fleming Holdings Ltd; Vincent Price Esq, USA ; Icelandic Glasgow, Paisley, and Perth Art Galleries; he Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, Leicester, Stirling and St. Andrews; City of Art Centre, Edinburgh; Bank of Scotland. His work is to be found in private collections throughout Europe, the Far East and America.

[guinevereblom]

Jeanna Bauck (Swedish painter) 1840 - 1926

Den danska Konstnärinnan Bertha Wegmann målande ett Porträtt (The Danish Artist Bertha Wegmann Painting a Portrait), 1889

oil on canvas

Jeanna Bauck has depicted her close friend and colleague Bertha Wegmann while working on a portrait of Peter Dethlefsen, a Danish physician. It is an epoch-making painting capturing a woman artist in her professional role during concentrated work in her own studio. Bauck and Wegmann met in Munich in the 1870s. They lived for many years in an intimate private and professional partnership and painted several friendship images of each other.

* * *

Catalogue Note National Museum

This is an epoch-making image from 1889, when women artists and writers had a major influence on the cultural life of the period. They managed to change both the view, of the role of the artist and that of middle-class family life.

Here Jeanna Bauck has chosen to depict a female artist in the middle of the creative process. She portrays Bertha Wegmann fully absorbed in her work at the easel, in their shared studio and home in Munich. Wegmann, who was to become one of Denmark’s foremost portraitists, later painted Jeanna Bauck in their studio in Paris in 1881. In that painting, she managed to combine the free, independent woman of the time, “The New Woman”, with the refinement of middle-class femininity. Around this period, artists painted countless portraits of their friends and colleagues, but it was only the women who portrayed each other in their professional role. The will to create art is acknowledged as being paternal within a patriarchy, and as long as patriarchal societies’ are considered “natural”, it is “unnatural” and “unfeminine” for a woman to be an artist.

In the 19th century a hierarchical division between public and private space was established and which still exists today. In modernist art history, the home is therefore described as a timeless zone; the so-called women’s sphere is regarded as a static stage in relation to the narrative of modernity taking place in the public space of a dynamic city. At the time, since middle-class women were not able to move freely in the streets, women artists had to depict modernity from differing social spaces than their male colleagues. One can therefore in their images see which “spaces” were open for their portrayals. Paintings by Nordic female artists show that they literally did not move beyond the studio: it was both their home and place of work. A social space associated with professional life and thereby with the public realm. In their portraits’, the studio represents at once a space of endless possibilities, but also the absolute limit of their world. They chose not to paint the modern city outside, in contrast to the female artists of the avant-garde, who had to depict modernity from balconies and theatre boxes.

* * *

Jeanna Bauck was a Swedish portrait painter and landscape artist. She moved to Germany in 1863, studying in Dresden and Düsseldorf before settling in Munich. In the 1870s, Bauck made several study and sketching tours to the Tyrol, Switzerland and Venice. In 1880, she travelled to Paris, together with Danish artist Bertha Wegmann, with whom she shared a studio. Bauck succeeded in entering the Paris Salon that same year. In a series of groundbreaking portraits of one another, specifically in their professional role’s, Bauck and Wegmann managed to change the view of women artists in what was then seen as a traditionally male occupation. Bauck soon returned to Munich and founded a school for female artists. She exhibited in Sweden on several occasions, including at the Royal Academy exhibitions of 1866, 1868 and 1877, and the exhibition of Swedish female artists in 1911.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

(CNN) — A portrait by Gustav Klimt that was unseen for almost a century is expected to fetch millions when it goes up for auction this spring.

The “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser,” thought to be one of the Austrian painter’s final works, is expected to fetch up to $54 million at a sale that has created huge excitement in the art world.

The painting had long been considered lost, according to Vienna auction house im Kinsky.

However, it has now emerged that it had been privately owned by an Austrian citizen.

“The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt’s last creative period, is a sensation,” the auction house said in a press statement on its website.

The intensely vivid and colorful piece had been documented in catalogues of the artist’s work, but experts had only seen it in a black and white photo.

The sitter is known to have been a member of a wealthy Austrian Jewish family who were then part of the upper class of Viennese society, where Klimt found his patrons and clients.

Nevertheless, her identity is not completely certain.

Brothers Adolf and Justus Lieser were leading industrialists in the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Catalogues of Klimt’s work state that Adolf commissioned the artist to paint his teenage daughter Margarethe Constance.

However, new research by the auction house suggests Justus’ wife, Lilly, hired him to paint one of their two daughters.

The statement on the auctioneer’s website reveals that the sitter — whoever she was — visited Klimt’s studio nine times in April and May 1917.

He made at least 25 preliminary studies and most likely began the painting in the May of that year.

“The painter chose a three-quarter portrait for his depiction and shows the young woman in a strictly frontal pose, close to the foreground, against a red, undefined background. A cape richly decorated with flowers is draped around her shoulders,” the auction house said.

It added:

“The intense colors of the painting and the shift towards loose, open brushstrokes show Klimt at the height of his late period.”

When the artist died of a stroke the following February, the painting was still in his studio - with some small parts not quite finished. It was then given to the Lieser family.

Its exact fate after 1925 is “unclear,” according to the auction house.

“What is known is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and went to the current owner through three successive inheritances,” the statement said.

"The painting is to be sold on behalf of its Austrian owners, who have not been named, along with the legal successors of 'Adolf and Henriette Lieser based on an agreement in accordance with the Washington Principles of 1998,'” the auction house said.

Established in 1998, the Washington Principles charged participating nations with returning Nazi-confiscated art to their rightful owners.

Claudia Mörth-Gasser, specialist in modern art at im Kinsky, explained the situation in an email to CNN.

She said the auctioneer checked the painting’s history and provenance “in all possible ways in Austria,” adding:

“We have checked all archives and have found no evidence that the painting has ever been exported out of Austria, confiscated or looted.

But by the same token, she added:

“We have no proof that the painting has not ever been looted in the time gap between 1938 and 1945.”

"And this is the reason why we arranged an agreement between the present owner and all descendants of the Lieser family in accordance to the ‘Washington Principles,’” she said.

Klimt’s portraits of women “are seldom offered at auctions,” the press release states.

It continues:

“A painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades.

The painting will tour internationally ahead of the sale on April 24, stopping in Switzerland, Germany, Britain and Hong Kong."

The last portrait completed by Klimt became the most expensive artwork ever to sell at a European auction, when it fetched a staggering £85.3 million ($108.4 million) in London last year.

Depicting an unidentified female subject, “Dame mit Fächer” (Lady with a Fan) also established a new record for Klimt, outselling “Birch Forest,” which went for $104.6 million in a sale from the collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen in 2022.

Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement.

[camwielgus]

Willem Arondeus - "Tell people that homosexuals are not cowards"

I have been recently researching the history of the Dutch Resistance movement during the Second World War and I came across a figure I had never heard of before by the name of Willem Arondeus. While at first glance I was taken back by his absolutely beautiful style of art, his powerful life story moved me and gave me the inspiration to write a blog to share his bravery.

Known for his legacy of courage and fighting nazi oppression, Arondeus dedicated the later end of his life to preventing jewish people from being targeted by the Nazi regime. His efforts in the resistance movement indirectly prevented thousands of innocent jewish people from being sent to concentration camps. Before being executed by firing squad in June 1943, he reportedly told his friend, Laura Carola Mazirel, to testify after the war that "Let it be known that homosexuals are not cowards".

Life before the occupation

Arondeus was born in Naarden in the Netherlands in 1894 into a large dutch family. From adolescence he was open and contempt with his homosexuality which later led a feud with his father that resulted with him leaving his family home at seventeen and severing all contact with close family. After being inspired by local artists, he went on to enrol at the Quellinus School in Rotterdam to study art.

He focused most of his professional adult life on art - being an illustrator, painter, and a designer of tapestries throughout his career. His artistic style is notable for its use of symbolism and expressionism and its modernist influences. Due to the hardships of living in a time of global economic and financial hardship, Arondeus lived in poverty throughout his life. In 1923, he was commissioned to paint a mural for the Rotterdam City Hall.

In 1933 Arondeus met his partner, Jan Tijssen, who would later collaborate with him in his fight against the Nazi regime. The couple shared common values and built their relationship on fighting nazi oppression and establishing justice. He would remain with Tijssen until 1941 when Arondeus realised the danger of his resistance against the nazis and feared them both being prosecuted. Tijssen is known to have survived the war but very little is known about his life after.

The Dutch Resistance

Following the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Arondeus joined the Dutch Resistance movement and formed the partisan periodical named 'Brandarisbrief'. While becoming known for aiding the jewish population in the production of forged identity cards and documents, Arondeus also assisted in hiding people whom were especially vulnerable to the regime. During his work for the resistance movement, he would also go on to meet Frieda Belinfante - a prominent lesbian and resistance figure of the time.

On March 27th 1943, members of the Dutch Resistance, including Arondeus, bombed the Amsterdam civil registry office to destroy existing identity cards in order to make it easier to falsify them for jewish people . The attack managed to destroy 800,000 identity cards and subsequently resulting in the group being able to save more and more innocent lives.

Due to an unknown member of the resistance movement betraying him, Arondeus was arrested in April 1943 and was interrogated by the Nazi authorities. Arondeus refused to give up any names of the other collaborators of the attack and claimed full responsibility - which possibly prevented two people from receiving the death penalty. Freida Belinfante was the only collaborator of the attack who went unfound and she later fled to Switzerland and claimed asylum.

Legacy

On the 18th June 1943, Arondeus was sentenced and executed by firing squad. His commitment to fighting oppression and his bravery shown during the war led to him being recognised as 'Righteous among the nations' by Yad Vashem. His powerful statement, "Tell people that homosexuals are not cowards", symbolises his longstanding dedicated to equality and humanity.

May he rest in power

[felipeandletizia]

Felipe and Letizia retrospective: January 23rd

2004: Private visit to the retrospective of French Impresionist painter Edouard Manet at El Prado Museum in Madrid. (1, 2, 3).

2006: Visited a hospital in Bolivia & Arrived in El Salvador

2008: Inauguration of the new Center for Molecular Biology “Severo Ochoa”& Official pictures released to celebrate Prince Felipe’s 40th birthday

2009: Visited the ‘Aldeas Infantiles SOS Espana’ Centre in San Lorenzo del Escorial.

2012: Funeral of Manuel Fraga Iribarne held in La Almudena Cathedral.

2013: Diplomatic Corps Gala.

2017: National Sports Awards 2015

2018: Arrived in Davos, Switzerland to attend the 48th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum & Audiences at la Zarzuela.

2019: Audience at la Zarzuela & Opening of FITUR (1, 2, 3)

2020: Meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the presidential residence in Jerusalem, ahead of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum& Ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Centre in Jerusalem for the 5th World Holocaust Forum to mark 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

2023: Received the credentials of new ambassadors.

F&L Through the Years: 1120/??

[beardedmrbean]

It wasn't the usual end to a day out walking in the countryside.

On Thursday, journalist Riham Alkousaa was on a hiking holiday, walking with a group through the mountainous wooded region of Saxon Switzerland, in the eastern German state of Saxony.

But when she got back to her hostel, she found that police officers were waiting for them.

Someone had called the police, saying that "a group of foreigners" had been spotted.

The caller reported them as migrants who were supposedly trying to cross the border from nearby Czechia illegally.

But Ms Alkousaa was out walking with a registered German hiking club whose members are mostly Syrians living in Germany.

She is an award-winning journalist who works for Reuters. Originally from Syria, she is a German citizen, who graduated from Columbia University in New York. For the past 10 years she has worked for many German and American publications.

The Syrians she was hiking with all work or study in Germany legally.

Saxony police told the BBC that a German citizen contacted regional police on Germany's emergency number 110, having spotted the hiking group near the border, and suspecting that the group might be being smuggled across the border.

Regional police then passed on the information to the federal police force who sent officers to the region to patrol, where they found the hikers.

Having checked the hiking group's documents which proved the whole group was in Germany legally, police said they ended the operation.

Ms Alkousaa's post about the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, has provoked a storm of reaction on social media.

Police said Ms Alkousaa had not contacted them directly and no complaint has been lodged.

Many of the reactions to the post express support for her, but some of the comments are racist. Others approve of the police's response.

The incident points to growing concerns in Germany about whether minorities are welcome in areas where the anti-migrant far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is surging.

Saxon Switzerland is one of Germany's most beautiful regions. Its spectacular mountainous terrain is portrayed in the works of 18th and 19th century Romantic painters, such as Caspar David Friedrich. The landscape has a special place in German culture and is popular with tourists.

But the state of Saxony is also a place where the far-right does well in elections.

In polls the AfD is either the most popular party, with around a third of the votes, or neck-and-neck with the incumbent conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Next year three German regions, including Saxony, will elect new regional parliaments. At the moment it's unlikely that the AfD will get into power because no other party will form a coalition with it.

But if the far-right wins the most votes, it could make it impossible for mainstream parties to form a stable governing coalition.

Over the past few months Germany has been embroiled in a ferocious debate about rising numbers of asylum seekers. So far this year around 290,000 people have applied for asylum, which is more than in 2022.

The numbers are much lower than in 2015 and 2016, when 1.5 million migrants and refugees came to Germany.

But some local councils are struggling logistically because the current influx comes on top of large numbers of Ukrainians. Germany has taken in 1.5 million Ukrainians since Russia's full invasion last year.

The increasingly fractious mood over migration is a boon for the AfD, which is fiercely anti-migrant.

Over the past decade its rhetoric has morphed from anti-euro populism to nativist far-right radicalism. Nationally the AfD typically polls over 20%, second only to the opposition conservatives.

Conservative politicians have also been adding pressure on the government. Angela Merkel's centrist so-called Willkommenskultur, or welcome culture, appears to have vanished from the debate. The new conservative leader Friedrich Merz is more hard-line with his rhetoric and is pushing the government to toughen up borders.

As a result, chancellor Olaf Scholz's left-leaning coalition has introduced spot checks on eastern borders with Poland and Czechia, where some migrants cross into Germany.

Officials say the aim is to target people smugglers. But critics suspect that when they are faced with the rise of the AfD, the move is more about cosmetic political action in the run-up to key elections across eastern Germany next year.

As Germany struggles with labour shortages in many sectors, local business leaders regularly express concern that the rise of the AfD may be harming eastern Germany's economic prospects.

They fear that potential workers from abroad might be reluctant to work in regions where the far-right is popular. Judging from reactions to Riham Alkousaa's experience, some international tourists may be put off too.

[liberty1776]

Albrecht Samuel Anker (1 April 1831 – 16 July 1910) was a Swiss painter and illustrator who has been called the "national painter" of Switzerland because of his enduringly popular depictions of 19th-century Swiss social life.

Girl Braiding Her Hair (Albert Anker, 1887)

[lboogie1906]

Thabo Sefolosha (born May 2, 1984) the first Swiss-born NBA player, was born in Vevey, Switzerland to Patrick Sefolosha, a South African musician, and Christine Sefolosha, a Swiss painter. He is a member of the Swiss National basketball team and plays for the Atlanta Hawks.

He started playing basketball at age eleven and soon became one of the best players in Switzerland. After playing two years in the First League there, he took his talent to France, where he played for Elan Chalon, one of the top basketball teams in Europe. His career culminated in his third season, as he was picked to play in the all-star game and was regarded as one of the best players in Europe. He played one season in Italy before entering the NBA in 2006.

The Chicago Bulls drafted him in the thirteenth pick in the 2006 NBA draft. He was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He became one of the NBA’s best defenders, and in 2012, the team won the Western Conference finals.

He was acquired by the Atlanta Hawks in a sign-and-trade deal. His season was cut short due to a broken ankle suffered during an incident with the New York Police on April 8, 2015. He and a teammate were arrested outside a nightclub in New York City for allegedly interfering with police after Milwaukee Bucks’ forward and fellow NBA player Chris Copeland was stabbed in the abdomen.

He refused a no-plea bargain and instead chose to let the case proceed to trial. Charged with three misdemeanor charges, obstructing government administration, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest, he was found not guilty by a Manhattan jury. He announced that he would file a lawsuit against the city of New York as well as the eight officers involved in his arrest for up to $50 million in damages. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[paulinafirek]

Why is Marc Chagall known as the painter of Love? Chagall an orthodox Jew, was born in Vitebsk, Russia (now Belarus) on the 7th of July 1887 as Moshe Segal. He was the eldest of 9 children. In 1910 Chagall moved to Paris, where he changed his name to the more French sounding Marc Chagall and in 1911 moved into his own studio in La Ruche, the legendary Parisian artist colony. On 25th of July 1915 Marc Chagall married Bella Rosenfeld in Vitebsk.

By 1919 Marc Chagall had set up the Vitebsk School of Fine Arts with artists Kazimir Malevich and El Lissitzky. But things did not go well and Chagall soon upped and left. Shortly afterwards, Malevich renamed the Art School the Suprematist Academy. By the 1930's Marc Chagall’s paintings were selling well. In 1933 a number of Chagall’s paintings were publicly burnt by the Nazis, outside of the Mannheim Art Gallery. In 1937, on the orders of the Nazi regime, all Chagall’s works were removed from German museums, three were shown in the notorious Degenerate Art Exhibition in 1937.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, Chagall moved his family to the United States.

In New York Pierre Matisse, the son of artist Henri Matisse, organised Chagall’s first exhibition in America, in November 1941, at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. In the late 1940’s exhibitions were held of Chagall’s work in New York, London, Zurich and Bern in Switzerland. They were all hugely successful. But Marc Chagall longed to return to France, in 1948 he left America for good. In 1950 he moved to Vence in the South of France and intermittently met up with Matisse and Picasso both of whom had studios nearby.

In 1951 he married Valentina Brodsky. Their marriage gave him new energy later he visited Chartres Cathedral to study medieval stained-glass window painting. This inspired him and in 1959 he created stained glass windows for the north apse of Metz Cathedral in France. 1964 saw Marc Chagall complete the window of the Good Samaritan for the memorial to John D Rockefeller Junior and the Peace window for the United Nations building in New York. Marc Chagall died at his home in St Paul de Vence at the age of 97, on the 28th of March 1985.

[edwin--artifex]

Anselm Kiefer: Fallen Angels

22 March - 21 July 2024, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence

Edwin Alexander Francis is the narrator of the audioguide produced by Orpheo Group / recorded at StudioColosseo, Rome

Anselm Kiefer, "Der Rhein" (woodcut collages on paper with oil, emulsion, acrilic and shellack mounted on canvas) (330 x 330cm) (1982-2013)

"Dem Unbekannten Maler" I (To the Unknown Painter I) (1982-2013) (oil and woodcut on paper on canvas) (190 x 330cm) ->

"Dem Unbekannten Maler" II (To The Unknown Painter II) (1982-2013) (oil and woodcut on board on canvas (280 x 330 cm) ->

reference ->

<- "Dem Unbekannten Maler" (To the Unknown Painter) (1982)

"Hortus Philosophorum" (The Garden of the Philosophers) (1997-2011) (woodcut collages on paper with oil, emulsion, acrilic, shellack, gypsum and charcoal mounted on canvas) 580x 280cm ->

...and here's the audioguide track "Der Rhein" (The Rhine) – "Dem Unbekannten Maler" (To the Unknown Painter) – "Hortus Philosophorum" (The Garden of the Philosophers) ->

some curios: a series of photographs in his father's uniform called "Besetzungen" (Occupations) (1969) become "Heroische Sinnbilder" (Heroic Symbols) in 2009

In the summer and autumn of 1969, then still a student at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kiefer took photographs of himself in various locations in Germany, Switzerland, France, Greece and Italy wearing the uniform of a German officer, his father, intentionally emulating the “victory salute” of Nazi rallies, a gesture prohibited in Germany during the process of denazification. He would call these actions Besetzungen (Occupations). These photographs, used over the decades by Kiefer in many different works with the title Heroische Sinnbilder (Heroic Symbols), were printed in large format in 2009, mounted on lead and then subjected to a process of electrolysis. Attached by a metal bar only at the upper end, they create the sensation of a fluctuating memory. …A deserted place surrounds the figure of the young artist, the silence is tangible and helps bring forth the memory of the atrocities committed by the National Socialist regime. Images taken at Sète, Montpellier and Paestum are presented here. Kiefer associated these works with three celebrated free verses by the hermit poet Salvatore Quasimodo: “We all stand alone on the heart of the earth / pierced by a ray of the sun's light / and suddenly it is night”. (“Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra / trafitto da un raggio di sole / ed è subito sera”

"Heroische Sinnbilder" (Heroic Symbols) (2009)

here's the "Heroic Symbols" clip from the audioguide (read by Edwin Alexander Francis) ->

....and here's the Green Button for (Anselm Kiefer's) in-depth consideration of the value of the photography, poetry and writing ->

click on the link below for all the info re the exhibition:

...and t h i s is very interesting, too, just as a reminder ->

...HERE'S THE US TRAILER ->

[xtruss]

Gustav Klimt Portrait Found After Vanishing Nearly 100 Years Ago

It is One of the Last Works the Artist Painted Before his Death in 1918.

— By Jon Haworth | Published: January 26, 2024

Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Fräulein Lieser. im Kinsky Auction House

LONDON — One of the last paintings by the renowned Austrian artist Gustav Klimt has miraculously been found after vanishing nearly 100 years ago.

The painting, titled Portrait of Fräulein Lieser, was found in Vienna after last being seen by the public in 1925. Until now, the only known photograph of the painting had been held in the archives of the Austrian National Library. The picture was likely taken in 1925 in connection with the Klimt exhibition by Otto Kallir-Nirenstein in the Neue Galerie, Vienna.

Since then, its location had been a mystery.

"The rediscovery of this portrait, one of the most beautiful of Klimt's last creative period, is a sensation," said the im Kinsky auction house in a statement announcing the discovery. "As a key figure of Viennese Art Nouveau, Gustav Klimt epitomizes fin de siècle Austrian Modernism more than any other artist. His work, particularly his portraits of successful women from the upper middle class at the turn of the century, enjoy the highest recognition worldwide."

The work of art will go up for auction at the im Kinsky auction house in Vienna on April 24 and is expected to fetch millions on the market.

A cameraman takes footage of the painting Bildnis Fraeulein Lieser (Portrait of Miss Lieser) by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) during a press conference of the Kinsky Art Auction House in Vienna, on Jan. 25, 2024. Roland Schlager/APA/AFP via Getty Images

"Klimt's paintings rank in the top echelons of the international art market. His portraits of women are seldom offered at auctions. A painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades," im Kinsky auction house said. "This also applies to Austria, where no work of art of even approximate importance has been available."

The painting will now travel worldwide on short exhibitions until it is auctioned and is set to be presented at various locations internationally, including stops in Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain and Hong Kong.

The model for the painting is labeled as Fräulein Lieser, also known as Margarethe Constance Lieser (1899-1965), daughter of the Austrian industrial magnate Adolf Lieser. But new research by the im Kinsky auction house into the history and provenance of the masterpiece has opened up the possibility that Klimt's model could have been another member of the Lieser family -- either Helene Lieser (1898-1962), the first-born of Henriette Amalie Lieser-Landau and Justus Lieser, or their younger daughter, Annie Lieser (1901-1972), according to officials.

"In April and May 1917, the sitter visited Klimt's studio in Hietzing nine times to pose for him," im Kinsky said. "Klimt probably began the painting in May 1917. The painter chose a three-quarter portrait for his depiction and shows the young woman in a strictly frontal pose, close to the foreground, against a red, undefined background. A cape richly decorated with flowers is draped around her shoulders."

The portrait is thought to be one of Klimt's last paintings and was done shortly before he died of a stroke on Feb. 6, 1918. The painting was left, with several small portions of it unfinished, in his studio and it is thought that the painting was given to the family who had commissioned it after his death.

The painting, however, would soon vanish and the exact fate of the painting after 1925 is unclear.

"What is known is that it was acquired by a legal predecessor of the consignor in the 1960s and went to the current owner through three successive inheritances," im Kinsky auction house said.

[brookston]

Holidays 2.3

Holidays

American Painters Day

Artist Appreciation Day

Battle of San Lorenzo Day (Argentina)

Benelux Treaty Day (EU)

Booty Pic Day

Bowling Green Massacre Day (Kellyanne Conway Fictional Event)

Commemoration of the Batepá Massacre (São Tomé and Príncipe)

Communist Party Foundation Day (Vietnam)

Cow Day (French Republic)

Day of Finnish Architecture and Design (Finland)

Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)

Desmond Tutu Day

Doggy Date Night

The Day the Music Died (according to Don McLean)

Elmo’s Day

Endangered Species Act Day

Feed the Birds Day

Four Chaplains Day

Halfway Point of Winter

Heroes' Day (Mozambique)

International Golden Retriever Day

International Lawyers Day

International Straw Free Day

John Lewis Day (Alabama)

Liberation of the Battle of Manila Day

Martyrs' Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)

Meaka Bochea Day (Cambodia)

National Cordova Ice Worm Day

National Doggy Date Night

National Honey Badger Day

National Missing Persons Day

National Patient Recognition Day

National Trevor Day

National Wedding Ring Day

National Women Physicians Day

National Women’s Heart Day

Nuestra Señora de Suyapa (Festival of the Virgin of Suyapa; Honduras)

Number Day

Take a Cruise Day

Veteran’s Day (Thailand)

Veterinary Pharmacists Day

Wedding Ring Day

World Free Love Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Carrot Cake Day

National Carrot Day

1st Saturday in February

Barber Day [1st Saturday]

Burning the Hom Strom (Graubünden, Switzerland) [1st Saturday]

Global Chaplains Day [1st Saturday]

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day [1st Saturday]

International Pisco Sour Day [1st Saturday]

Lace Day [1st Saturday]

National Play Outside Day [1st Saturday of Every Month]

Pork Rind Appreciation Day [1st Saturday]

Satyr's Day (Silenus, Greek God of Beer Buddies and Drinking Companions) [1st Saturday of Each Month]

South African National Beer Day (South Africa) [1st Saturday]

Take Your Child to the Library Day [1st Saturday]

Independence & Related Days

Danielland (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Illinois Territory Day (Illinois; 1818)

Keep Watch (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Liberation Movement Day (Angola)

Festivals Beginning February 3, 2024

Arizona Renaissance Festival (Apache Junction, Arizona) [thru 3.31]

Carnival Brasiliero (Austin, Texas)

Carnival of Viereggio (Viereggio, Italy) [thru 2.24]

Carolina Chocolate Festival (Moorehead City, North Carolina) [thru 2.4]

Downtown Gadsen Chili Cook-Off (Gadsen, Alabama)

Florida Renaissance Fair (Deerfield Beach, Florida) [thru 3.24]

Hudson Valley Wingfest (Poughkeepsie, New York)

Kurentovanje Carnival (Ptuj, Slovenia) [thru 2.13]

Melodifestivalen (Malmö, Sweden)

Northwest Briefest (Chicago, Illinois)

South Florida Garlic Festival (Wellington, Florida) [thru 2.4]

Temecula Valley Barrel Tasting (Temecula, California) [thru 2.4]

Yukon Quest (Whitehorse, Yukon)

Feast Days

Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)

Ansgar, Archbishop (a.k.a. Anskar; Christian; Saint) [Denmark]

Auscharius (Christian; Saint)

Berlindis of Meerbeke (Christian; Saint)

Blaise (Christian; Saint) [Blessing of Throats]

Blessing of Throats Day (St. Blaise’s Day); Everyday Wicca)

Build a Relationship with Brigid Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Celsa and Nona (Christian; Saints)

Claudine Thévenet (Christian; Saint)

Day of Remembrance for Oleg the Prophet (Asatru/Slavic Pagan)

Dom Justo Takayama (Christian; Saint) [Japan, Philippines]

Ewok Day (Pastafarian)

Festival of Sulis Minerva (Pagan)

Fiesta de San Blas (Protector of the Harvest; Puerto Rico)

Fukuju no mai (Jimai; Dance of the Seven Gods of Fortune; Japan)

Gaelic Lullaby Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Gertrude Stein (Writerism)

Gillian Ayres (Artology)

Hadelin (Christian; Saint)

Henning Mankell (Writerism)

Hickety Pickety (Muppetism)

ia (Christian; Virgin)

James Michener (Writerism)

Laurence of Canterbury, Srchbishop (Christian; Saint)

Laurence of Spoleto, Bishop (Christian; Saint)

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, Day 3 of 3 (Ancient Greece festival honoring Ceres, Demeter, Persephone, and Proserpine)

Magnolia and Fish Jubilee (Shamanism)

Margaret of England (Christian; Saint, Virgin)

Norman Rockwell (Artology)

Our Lady of Suyapa (Honduras)

Pagerwesi (Festival to Sang Hyang Pramesti Guru, god of teachers and creator of the universe; Bali)

Paul Aster (Writerism)

Pokémon Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint) 

Richard Yates (Writerism)

Setsubun (Bean-Throwing Festival; Shinto/Japan)

Theocritus (Positivist; Saint)

Werburga (a.k.a. Werburgh; Christian; Saint)

Woodrow Wilson Day

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [3 of 24]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [8 of 57]

Premieres

Air Force (Film; 1943)

Amapola, by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra (Song; 1941)

Birds of a Feather (Disney Silly Symphonies Cartoon; 1931)

Boys on the Side (Film; 1995)

Canned Feud (WB LT Cartoon; 1951)

Chilly Con Carmen (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1930)

Chronicle (Film; 2012)

Dead Man’s Curve (TV movie; 1978)

Death Be Not Proud, by John Gunther (Memoir; 1949)

Earthling, by David Bowie (Album; 1997)

Earwig and the Witch (Animated Film; 2021)

Fun, Fun, Fun, by The Beach Boys (Song; 1964)

Hanna (TV Series; 2019)

The IT Crowd (UK TV Series; 2006)

Jane Eyre (Film; 1944)

La Dolce Vita (Film; 1960)

Norman Normal (WB Cartoon; 1968)

Rock You Like a Hurricane, by the Scorpions (Song; 1984)

Roman Carnival, by Hector Berlioz (Overture; 1844)

Santa Clarita Diet (TV Series; 2017)

Semiramide, Gioachino Rossini (Opera; 1823)

Shanghai Knights (Film; 2003)

Society Dog (Disney Cartoon; 1939)

The Space Between Us (Film; 2017)

Transformations, by Anne Sexton (Poetry; 1971)

What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole (Documentary Film; 2006)

Yield, by Pearl Jam (Album; 1998)

Today’s Name Days

Ansgar, Blasius, Oskar (Austria)

Simeon (Bulgaria)

Blaž, Tripun, Vlaho (Croatia)

Blažej (Czech Republic)

Blasius (Denmark)

Hubert, Hugo, Huko (Estonia)

Hugo, Valo (Finland)

Blaise, Nelson, Oscar (France)

Ansgar, Blasius, Michael, Oskar (Germany)

Asimakis, Asimina, Malamati, Simeon, Stamatia, Stamatis (Greece)

Balázs (Hungary)

Biagio (Italy)

Aīda, Ansgars, Ida, Laida (Latvia)

Blažiejus, Oskaras, Radvilas, Radvilė (Lithuania)

Ansgar, Asgeir (Norway)

Błażej, Hipolit, Hipolita, Laurencjusz, Maksym, Oskar, Stefan, Telimena, Uniemysł, Wawrzyniec (Poland)

Ana, Simeon (Romania)

Blažej (Slovakia)

Blas, Olivia, Óscar (Spain)

Disa, Hjördis (Sweden)

Simon (Ukraine)

Ansgar, Barclay, Baxter, Blaise,, Blase, Blasia, Blaze, Norma, Norman, Norris (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 34 of 2024; 332 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 5 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 14 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Yi-Chou), Day 24 ()

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 24 Shevat 5784

Islamic: 23 Rajab 1445

J Cal: 4 Grey; Foursday [4 of 30]

Julian: 21 January 2024

Moon: 42%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 6 Homer (2nd Month) [Theocritus)

Runic Half Month: Elhaz (Elk) [Day 10 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 45 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 13 of 28)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.3

Holidays

American Painters Day

Artist Appreciation Day

Battle of San Lorenzo Day (Argentina)

Benelux Treaty Day (EU)

Booty Pic Day

Bowling Green Massacre Day (Kellyanne Conway Fictional Event)

Commemoration of the Batepá Massacre (São Tomé and Príncipe)

Communist Party Foundation Day (Vietnam)

Cow Day (French Republic)

Day of Finnish Architecture and Design (Finland)

Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)

Desmond Tutu Day

Doggy Date Night

The Day the Music Died (according to Don McLean)

Elmo’s Day

Endangered Species Act Day

Feed the Birds Day

Four Chaplains Day

Halfway Point of Winter

Heroes' Day (Mozambique)

International Golden Retriever Day

International Lawyers Day

International Straw Free Day

John Lewis Day (Alabama)

Liberation of the Battle of Manila Day

Martyrs' Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)

Meaka Bochea Day (Cambodia)

National Cordova Ice Worm Day

National Doggy Date Night

National Honey Badger Day

National Missing Persons Day

National Patient Recognition Day

National Trevor Day

National Wedding Ring Day

National Women Physicians Day

National Women’s Heart Day

Nuestra Señora de Suyapa (Festival of the Virgin of Suyapa; Honduras)

Number Day

Take a Cruise Day

Veteran’s Day (Thailand)

Veterinary Pharmacists Day

Wedding Ring Day

World Free Love Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Carrot Cake Day

National Carrot Day

1st Saturday in February

Barber Day [1st Saturday]

Burning the Hom Strom (Graubünden, Switzerland) [1st Saturday]

Global Chaplains Day [1st Saturday]

Ice Cream For Breakfast Day [1st Saturday]

International Pisco Sour Day [1st Saturday]

Lace Day [1st Saturday]

National Play Outside Day [1st Saturday of Every Month]

Pork Rind Appreciation Day [1st Saturday]

Satyr's Day (Silenus, Greek God of Beer Buddies and Drinking Companions) [1st Saturday of Each Month]

South African National Beer Day (South Africa) [1st Saturday]

Take Your Child to the Library Day [1st Saturday]

Independence & Related Days

Danielland (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Illinois Territory Day (Illinois; 1818)

Keep Watch (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Liberation Movement Day (Angola)

Festivals Beginning February 3, 2024

Arizona Renaissance Festival (Apache Junction, Arizona) [thru 3.31]

Carnival Brasiliero (Austin, Texas)

Carnival of Viereggio (Viereggio, Italy) [thru 2.24]

Carolina Chocolate Festival (Moorehead City, North Carolina) [thru 2.4]

Downtown Gadsen Chili Cook-Off (Gadsen, Alabama)

Florida Renaissance Fair (Deerfield Beach, Florida) [thru 3.24]

Hudson Valley Wingfest (Poughkeepsie, New York)

Kurentovanje Carnival (Ptuj, Slovenia) [thru 2.13]

Melodifestivalen (Malmö, Sweden)

Northwest Briefest (Chicago, Illinois)

South Florida Garlic Festival (Wellington, Florida) [thru 2.4]

Temecula Valley Barrel Tasting (Temecula, California) [thru 2.4]

Yukon Quest (Whitehorse, Yukon)

Feast Days

Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)

Ansgar, Archbishop (a.k.a. Anskar; Christian; Saint) [Denmark]

Auscharius (Christian; Saint)

Berlindis of Meerbeke (Christian; Saint)

Blaise (Christian; Saint) [Blessing of Throats]

Blessing of Throats Day (St. Blaise’s Day); Everyday Wicca)

Build a Relationship with Brigid Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Celsa and Nona (Christian; Saints)

Claudine Thévenet (Christian; Saint)

Day of Remembrance for Oleg the Prophet (Asatru/Slavic Pagan)

Dom Justo Takayama (Christian; Saint) [Japan, Philippines]

Ewok Day (Pastafarian)

Festival of Sulis Minerva (Pagan)

Fiesta de San Blas (Protector of the Harvest; Puerto Rico)

Fukuju no mai (Jimai; Dance of the Seven Gods of Fortune; Japan)

Gaelic Lullaby Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Gertrude Stein (Writerism)

Gillian Ayres (Artology)

Hadelin (Christian; Saint)

Henning Mankell (Writerism)

Hickety Pickety (Muppetism)

ia (Christian; Virgin)

James Michener (Writerism)

Laurence of Canterbury, Srchbishop (Christian; Saint)

Laurence of Spoleto, Bishop (Christian; Saint)

Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, Day 3 of 3 (Ancient Greece festival honoring Ceres, Demeter, Persephone, and Proserpine)

Magnolia and Fish Jubilee (Shamanism)

Margaret of England (Christian; Saint, Virgin)

Norman Rockwell (Artology)

Our Lady of Suyapa (Honduras)

Pagerwesi (Festival to Sang Hyang Pramesti Guru, god of teachers and creator of the universe; Bali)

Paul Aster (Writerism)

Pokémon Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint) 

Richard Yates (Writerism)

Setsubun (Bean-Throwing Festival; Shinto/Japan)

Theocritus (Positivist; Saint)

Werburga (a.k.a. Werburgh; Christian; Saint)

Woodrow Wilson Day

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fatal Day (Pagan) [3 of 24]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [8 of 57]

Premieres

Air Force (Film; 1943)

Amapola, by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra (Song; 1941)

Birds of a Feather (Disney Silly Symphonies Cartoon; 1931)

Boys on the Side (Film; 1995)

Canned Feud (WB LT Cartoon; 1951)

Chilly Con Carmen (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1930)

Chronicle (Film; 2012)

Dead Man’s Curve (TV movie; 1978)

Death Be Not Proud, by John Gunther (Memoir; 1949)

Earthling, by David Bowie (Album; 1997)

Earwig and the Witch (Animated Film; 2021)

Fun, Fun, Fun, by The Beach Boys (Song; 1964)

Hanna (TV Series; 2019)

The IT Crowd (UK TV Series; 2006)

Jane Eyre (Film; 1944)

La Dolce Vita (Film; 1960)

Norman Normal (WB Cartoon; 1968)

Rock You Like a Hurricane, by the Scorpions (Song; 1984)

Roman Carnival, by Hector Berlioz (Overture; 1844)

Santa Clarita Diet (TV Series; 2017)

Semiramide, Gioachino Rossini (Opera; 1823)

Shanghai Knights (Film; 2003)

Society Dog (Disney Cartoon; 1939)

The Space Between Us (Film; 2017)

Transformations, by Anne Sexton (Poetry; 1971)

What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole (Documentary Film; 2006)

Yield, by Pearl Jam (Album; 1998)

Today’s Name Days

Ansgar, Blasius, Oskar (Austria)

Simeon (Bulgaria)

Blaž, Tripun, Vlaho (Croatia)

Blažej (Czech Republic)

Blasius (Denmark)

Hubert, Hugo, Huko (Estonia)

Hugo, Valo (Finland)

Blaise, Nelson, Oscar (France)

Ansgar, Blasius, Michael, Oskar (Germany)

Asimakis, Asimina, Malamati, Simeon, Stamatia, Stamatis (Greece)

Balázs (Hungary)

Biagio (Italy)

Aīda, Ansgars, Ida, Laida (Latvia)

Blažiejus, Oskaras, Radvilas, Radvilė (Lithuania)

Ansgar, Asgeir (Norway)

Błażej, Hipolit, Hipolita, Laurencjusz, Maksym, Oskar, Stefan, Telimena, Uniemysł, Wawrzyniec (Poland)

Ana, Simeon (Romania)

Blažej (Slovakia)

Blas, Olivia, Óscar (Spain)

Disa, Hjördis (Sweden)

Simon (Ukraine)

Ansgar, Barclay, Baxter, Blaise,, Blase, Blasia, Blaze, Norma, Norman, Norris (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 34 of 2024; 332 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 5 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 14 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Yi-Chou), Day 24 ()

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 24 Shevat 5784

Islamic: 23 Rajab 1445

J Cal: 4 Grey; Foursday [4 of 30]

Julian: 21 January 2024

Moon: 42%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 6 Homer (2nd Month) [Theocritus)

Runic Half Month: Elhaz (Elk) [Day 10 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 45 of 89)

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 13 of 28)

[abwwia]

Agnes Steineger, Self-portrait <Selvportrett, 1895>

Agnes Steineger, (21 January 1863 – 16 June 1965) was a Norwegian painter. Steineger was born in Bergen, Norway. She traveled in 1881 to Munich where she studied with Bertha Wegmann. When Wegmann traveled to Copenhagen in 1883, Steineger followed and that same year she painted her first significant works, Markblomster, which was exhibited at Bergen Art Association. Steineger was Wegmann's student until 1886 when she traveled to Paris. Here she studied at Académie Colarossi. Steineger exhibited her work at the Palace of Fine Arts at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Between 1902 and 1914, Steineger was a resident in Italy, partly in Sicily and partly in Florence. From 1914 to 1918, she lived at the Goetheanum cultural centre for the arts in Dornach, Switzerland operated by Rudolf Steiner. mong her works are Markblomster from 1883 and Pleiebarn from 1890. A self-portrait from 1895 is located at Bergen Kunstmuseum, and the painting Interiør med lampe from 1915 is found at the National Gallery of Norway.via Wikipedia