Category Archives: Art

Holding back the grim reaper

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Two relief sculptures on the side of the Fulton County Public Health Department in Atlanta, Georgia.

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The first is straightforward: the physician warding off death. It’s what they do, to the best of their ability.

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The second image is a bit more arcane, not shared as often but equally symbolic.

With thanks to redditor /u/queenbrewer:

“This counterpart bas relief clearly depicts a woman, presumably a nurse, holding a sword. The sword depicts Hygeia , Asclepius’ daughter and the goddess of hygiene, who holds a snake drinking from a bowl, typically symbolizing pharmacy. She fights against a man (perhaps Father Time) holding the mask of tragedy representing suffering in one hand and an hourglass representing aging in the other.”

The TL;DR here seems to be a variant of what I’ve heard around the medical community: “Doctors diagnose, nurses heal.”

Beautiful tributes to all dedicated healthcare workers.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Ralph Fasanella, New York City, 1957

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Ralph Fasanella, New York City, 1959

NEW YORK CITY Ralph Fasanella, 1957, oil on canvas, 50 x 110 in. Collection of Nicholas and Shelley Schorsch Oil On Canvas

The nine-foot long mural depicts the 59th street bridge at center, combined with other favorite landmarks. Of this work Fasanella said, “Every night this painting would be in my head. I was going through my whole life.”

If New York weren’t so expensive, I’d be back to live there in a heartbeat. You can take the boy out of the City, but you can’t take the City out of the boy.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Simple People from Egypt

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I recently posted about Robert Hay’s engravings of Cairo, While cleaning out some of my own files, I came across a calendar from 1995 – “Simple People from Egypt” – that had been given to me by a friend and colleague, Elhamy Naguib, whom I met in Cairo while working on a translation project.

I have always loved these images, and now that digitization and sharing is so easy, I thought it time to share with others.

Elhamy worked hard to develop his talent, and has done a wonderful job in an impressionistic way of rendering the nature of Egyptian street scenes. I especially love the faces. They capture the good-hearted nature of the people of Egypt, who – like many of the people of the Middle East – illuminate their country and are not represented by the fanatical, misguided loons who are getting so much media attention these days.

Having spent a fair amount of time in Cairo and other places around the Arabic-speaking world, these images speak to me; somewhere in the world, the originals of these paintings exist, it is to be hoped. I would be honored to have any one of them hanging on my wall.

All images copyright ©1994-2015 Graffiti, designed by Elhamy Naguib

———————-

SERENITY

Coming home from school as a child, I passed by a man and his wife on a street corner by my parents’ house. They were selling water cress, radishes, parsley and dill in small quantities. Their simple inventory stayed practically the same for over thirty years, until they died one after the other. My attitude has changed from irritation at their complacency to an admiration of their contentment and serenity.

In the rat race of the big city, I looked for people like them on the streets and asked myself the same question over and over again: “How does one achieve such serenity?” My feelings for them are a mixture of love, sympathy, and envy. In these paintings, I pay tribute to the couple mentioned above and to others like them. I cherish all the lessons they teach me.

-Elhamy Naguib, 1994

Tea Break

Tea Break

Fly Swatters

Fly Swatters

Serenity

Serenity

Shop Keeper

Shop Keeper

Shishas

Shishas

Spices

Spices

Learning

Learning

Baskets

Baskets

Flowers

Flowers

Clay Water Bottles

Clay Water Pots

Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Matches

Matches

As Elhamy cherished the memories of the people he encountered in his life, so I cherish my memory of him. These beautiful paintings serve to remind me that my own memories of Egypt are ones of peace and beauty.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Six Views of Cairo – Robert Hay

Posted on by The Old Wolf

The six lithographs below were published by the American University in Cairo Press in 1983. They were found among my mother’s possessions; she spent years in Egypt on various assignments from World War II to the 1970s.

Description

A - Sabil Kuttab

Description A

B - Bab Zuwayla

Description B

C - Bayn Al Qasrayn

Description C

D - Minaret, Ibn Tulun

Description D

E - A Circumcision Procession

Description E

F - Barquq Mosque

Description F

What would be really interesting would be some contemporary street scenes from Cairo showing what these locales look like today.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Beauty in Paper – The 1896 Educational Currency

Posted on by The Old Wolf

I previously wrote about what I considered to be America’s most beautiful coinage:

1907_uhr_pr69_cami

Today, paper money gets a turn.

From Wikipedia:

The Educational Series series of notes is the informal nickname given by numismatists to a series of United States silver certificates produced by the United States Treasury in 1896, after Bureau of Engraving and Printing chief Claude M. Johnson ordered a new currency design. The notes depict various allegorical motifs and are considered by some numismatists to be the most beautiful monetary designs ever produced by the United States.

one

The One Dollar Bill

The Goddess History instructing a youth, pointing to a panoramic view of the Potomac River and Washington D.C. The Washington Monument and the US Capitol Building are visible in the background. The United States Constitution is displayed to the right. Circling the motif are the last names of famous Americans. Some of those listed are: (George) Washington, (Benjamin) Franklin, (Thomas) Jefferson, (Robert) Fulton, (Samuel F.B.) Morse, & (Ulysses S.) Grant. Full Resolution.

Reverse: Martha and George Washington.

two

The Two Dollar Bill

Science (center) presents Steam and Electricity (the two children) to the more mature figures of Commerce (left) and Manufacture (right). Full Resolution

Reverse: Robert Fulton and Samuel F.B. Morse

five

The Five Dollar Bill

Electricity surrounded by other allegorical figures, representing the dominant force in the world. The United States Capitol building can be seen behind the female figures. Full Resolution

Reverse: Ulysses S. Grant and Phillip Sheridan

These beautiful works of art, embodying both aesthetically and factually pleasing images combine with superb engraving skill1 to create works of incredible beauty.

Not surprisingly, some Boston society ladies got their knickers in a twist over the bare breasts visible on the $5.00 note, and some bankers refused to accept these bills. The Bureau of Engraving planned a “draped” version for the 1897 series, much as the 1916 Standing Liberty quarter was re-designed the following year for the same reason (see the above-linked article), but the design was never used.

For the longest time, American currency has been soul-searingly boring. We used to be able to get away with it because the world valued the dollar no matter how ugly it looked, but those times are coming to an end. I have long wished that we could redesign our currency along the lines of things done by Australia and other countries, but as long as government is dominated by people who are convinced that the almighty dollar is unassailable, this is unlikely to happen.

At least at one point in our history, people were willing to try something new and different.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

1 On a semi-related note, a wonderful and chilling tale which involves engraving skill can be found in “Don’t Look Behind You” by Frederick Brown. I recommend it, but not if you’re home alone on a dark night.

Sometimes the Universe smiles, and sometimes it doesn’t

Posted on by The Old Wolf

Karma. Everyone wants good Karma.

Over at reddit, it’s measured in orangered or periwinkle (props to the author of this gif, whoever you are):

upvote downvote

In other locations, one doesn’t accrue upvotes and downvotes, but there is still a certain intangible karma that people collect for creating / sharing “cool” images, so we often see things like this:

smileinthesky

or this:

sunset_smile

The two images above are almost certainly photoshopped, and I’ve seen them in my inbox more times than I can count. Not that they’re not really cute, but on occasion nature can one-up the photoshoppers.

Smiley-Philippines_1124654c

AP Photo

In December of 2008, a beautiful conjunction of Venus, Jupiter, and a crescent moon created a lovely “smile” in the night sky, although depending on where you were in the world, it probably didn’t appear straight-up like this.

More recently, however, the Hubble telescope captured a lovely smiley face created by gravitational lensing:

A smiling lens

You can read the science behind the capture at spacetelescope.org.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Free software, and some memories.

Posted on by The Old Wolf
Joe Portrait Prop Mosaic02

The above image (click it to enlarge) was created by AndreaMosaic, a free software program that allows one to create  the kind of photomosaics invented by Robert Silvers. I’m not sure what the legal ramifications of all this is, but I love the result.

This was the original picture I used to create the mosaic:

Joe Portrait Prop

This painting is one of two created for the Warner Brothers show “Cheyenne;” the episode was “Road to Three Graves.”

Dad died well. He had lots of practice during his career.

Both painted on rice paper and in a balsa wood frame, one was crashed into during the filming; the other survived in his possession and it came to me when he passed on. Joe was a long-time visitor of the Eldred Center in Provo, Utah, where he had many friends; after his death, I donated the picture to the center where it hung by the office. I once took my wife there and showed it to her, because I was quite pleased they remembered him with such fondness.

In a sweet and romantic gesture, she later arranged to go back to the center and re-purchase it for me as a gift, a deed which brought tears to my eyes; it now hangs over our mantel during the month of June, representative of both Father’s Day and our shared birthday. A couple of years ago the old Eldred Center was demolished and moved to a new recreation center; heaven only knows what would have happened to the portrait had my beloved not rescued it. Perhaps it would have gone to the new location, perhaps not. In 2013, close to 25 years would have passed since Joe’s death, and few seniors of today would remember him; whatever the case,  I am most grateful to have this treasured painting back in my possession,

The mosaic, by the way, is composed of multiple images from my father’s career, as well as his sculptures.

The Old Wolf has spoken.

Tutpoxy (or, never give a repair job to an incompetent)

Posted on by The Old Wolf

If  you’re not familiar with the infamous attempt at restoration of a 19th-century fresco by Spanish artist Elias Garcia Martinez, done by an elderly woman at the the church of Santuario de Misericordia in Borja, Spain, then you are either living under a rock or – perhaps – concerning yourself with more important things than obscure news.

jesus

Now comes a similar but no-less disturbing tale from Egypt, featuring the iconic mask of King Tutankhamun.

King-Tut-Golden-Mask-kings-and-queens-2461543-850-1212

If you’re in charge of cleaning this famous relic, “What do you do if someone accidentally damages one of the world’s most famous artifacts under your charge at the Egyptian Museum? Do you a) report it to the nation’s antiquities ministry to ensure it’s properly repaired by specialists, or b) frantically call your husband so he can sloppily glue the broken piece back into place?” (from the Newser article).

tutpoxy

Apparently the latter, based on the picture above, is exactly what happened. Newser continues:

“The AP notes it reached three of the Cairo museum’s conservators by phone, and they’re all giving different stories: They don’t seem to agree on when the Epoxy Incident happened, and one says the beard was loose and purposely removed. What they do agree on—and all sources spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal—is that someone on high ordered a quick fix, and that the adhesive used was more damaging than helpful. “Unfortunately, he used a very irreversible material,” one of the conservators said. “Epoxy has a very high property for attaching and is used on metal or stone, but … it wasn’t suitable for an outstanding object like Tutankhamun’s golden mask.”

For now, the lights at the display are being kept low. I can only hope that the internal politics can be overcome sufficiently to get the artifact properly repaired, which apparently now will be a massive undertaking. Sounds to me like some official in the chain needs to be mummified himself.

The Old Wolf has spoken.