२६ एप्रिल, २०१८

What is that guy-reading-a-newspaper painting in that photo of Melania Trump and Brigitte Macron at the National Gallery of Art?



It's "The Artist's Father, Reading 'L'Événement'" (1866) by Paul Paul Cézanne:
In The Artist's Father Cézanne explored his emotionally charged relationship with his banker father. Tension is particularly evident in the energetic, expressive paint handling, an exaggeration of Courbet's palette knife technique. The unyielding figure of Louis-Auguste Cézanne, the newspaper he is reading, his chair, and the room are described with obtrusively thick slabs of pigment. The Artist's Father can be interpreted as an assertion of Cézanne's independence. 
Ah! Just like Melania asserting her independence from the unyielding figure of Donald J. Trump!



Looks a little like Trump, too, don't you think? Trump or Marlon Brando.

By the way, and a propos of the first post of the day, did you know that Marlon Brando was the Coen brothers' first choice to play the big Lebowski (that is, the rich old guy) in "The Big Lebowski"? (Others on their list: Robert Duvall, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Norman Mailer, George C. Scott, Jerry Falwell, Gore Vidal, Andy Griffith, William F. Buckley, and Ernest Borgnine. In the end, David Huddleston got the role.)

२६ टिप्पण्या:

Paddy O म्हणाले...

"In The Artist's Father Cézanne explored his emotionally charged relationship with his banker father."

My first thought was Fidelity Fiduciary Bank.

I'm not very cultured. Though the ultimate theme does seem pretty similar in light of Saving Mr. Banks.

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

Why are they looking at French paintings?

They should look at American paintings. Our own paintings of banker fathers reading newspapers must be just as good.

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Michael K म्हणाले...

He does look like Brando.

Limited blogger म्हणाले...

Trump doesn't read the newspapers. He only watches Fox news.

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

That woman wearing a bright-blue dress is extremely tall.

She would be a good wife for a basketball player who likes art.

Bay Area Guy म्हणाले...

"..did you know that Marlon Brando was the Coen brothers' first choice to play the big Lebowski (that is, the rich old guy) in "The Big Lebowski"? (Others on their list: Robert Duvall, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Norman Mailer, George C. Scott, Jerry Falwell, Gore Vidal, Andy Griffith, William F. Buckley, and Ernest Borgnine."

I woulda liked William F. Buckley as the rich, old guy.

eddie willers म्हणाले...

In the end, David Huddleston got the role.

"Now who can argue with that?"

mccullough म्हणाले...

Gene Hackman would have been great as The Big Lewbowski. He was terrific in the Royal Tenenbaums. The character The Big Lebowski didn’t display much intelligence or humor. Not sure if it’s the way the character was written or the actor’s oortrayal or both. He was the weakest link in an otherwise interesting movie. Maybe that’s why Hackman turned it down. He could have done a lot more with the role. Made the father figure aspect of it more interesting. Make him more appealing to the Dude.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

Free Melania.

Rob म्हणाले...

Jerry Falwell! I doubt he was much of an actor, but it would have been a riot nevertheless.

rehajm म्हणाले...

That's some bad hat, Harry. Save it for Derby Day.

Leslie Graves म्हणाले...

I am feeling very curious about how many minutes (or yards) of walking Melanie can sustain in those stilettos. Apparently a superwomanish amount if she walked through an art gallery in them.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

Cosby bites the dust.

gspencer म्हणाले...

"Dewey Defeats Truman"

gspencer म्हणाले...

Cosby, "I'm goin' to Disneyland. But first I'm gonna have some Coke and Jello"

Michael K म्हणाले...

I feel sorry for Cosby. He was doing what every other major actor was doing at the time.

Then he spoke out about the black family and the the left came down on him like a ton of bricks.

Read a couple of memoirs about Hollywood in the 40s and 50s.

Infinite Monkeys म्हणाले...

Limited blogger said...
Trump doesn't read the newspapers. He only watches Fox news.

4/26/18, 12:06 PM


The idea of reading newspapers seems very last century to me. I grew up reading newspapers and subscribed to the local ones for a couple of decades but as the internet grew, I gradually started getting all my news online and dropped the subscriptions.

By the time Sarah Palin was thought to have flubbed her answer when asked what newspapers she reads, I thought the question was already dated and stupid because reading "them all" made sense to me. Obviously, no one is literally reading them all, but you read news based on the topic more than the source.

Twitter and sites like reddit are often better sources for breaking news than papers. The 24-hour news stations seem to me to be the worst for breaking news because they are in too much of a hurry to put anything they hear or think out there just so they can say they were first in covering it.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

What a twisty post, from Melania and the Macrons and whatzis name, her husband, to Cezanne, and finally through Marlon Brando to “The Big Lebowski.” Please do not try to tell me that women are straightforward thinkers.

Clyde म्हणाले...

From Wikipedia:

...From 1858 to 1861, complying with his father's wishes, Cézanne attended the law school of the University of Aix, while also receiving drawing lessons.

Going against the objections of his banker father, he committed himself to pursuing his artistic development and left Aix for Paris in 1861. He was strongly encouraged to make this decision by [Emile] Zola, who was already living in the capital at the time. Eventually, his father reconciled with Cézanne and supported his choice of career. Cézanne later received an inheritance of 400,000 francs from his father, which rid him of all financial worries.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

"I can't believe they publish this shit!!"

"FAKE news!!"

Clyde म्हणाले...

Michael K said...
I feel sorry for Cosby. He was doing what every other major actor was doing at the time.


I'm sure that most of the other major actors of the time were banging willing groupies as one of the perks of the job. Drugging and date-raping them is a whole different situation, and takes things from exploitation to criminality.

buwaya म्हणाले...

This is the second L'Evenement.

The first was founded by Victor Hugo in 1848 and, most ironically, it backed Louis-Napoleon.

It had a short but eventful history -

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27%C3%89v%C3%A9nement_(journal_fran%C3%A7ais,_1848)

The later one, the subject of the painting, was one of those of the 1860's, of that name, under the Empire. In this instance it was a literary journal. Emile Zola published a large number of articles in this one - papa Cezanne may be reading a piece by Zola. It is in a way of being an ancestor of the modern "Le Figaro", as its editor de Villemessant also revived "Le Figaro" and if I understand it correctly, merged the two.

There were some well-named French newspapers of the 19th century. One was "Le Corsaire-Satan"

Gahrie म्हणाले...

Why are they looking at French paintings?

Perhaps because the Macrons are French?

Daniel Jackson म्हणाले...

Showing off the US national collection of art, which is not to shabby at that.

Michael K म्हणाले...

Drugging and date-raping them is a whole different situation, and takes things from exploitation to criminality.

That may be. I didn't listen to all the testimony. When Gloria Allred comes around, the bullshit smell gets over whelming.

I know a little nit about the Quaalude era and most of what I have read is bullshit.