LE MASSIF DU GIEWONT PEINT PAR WLASYSLAW JAROCKI

WLASYSLAW JAROCKI (1879-1965)
Massif du Giewont (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Pologne

In " Zakopane en hiver - Vue de Giewont", huile sur toile, 51,5 x 71,3 cm, 1950, Muzeum KUL

Le peintre
Władysław Jarocki est artiste peintre polonais, né en Ukraine. Il étudia à l'Université nationale polytechnique de Lviv, où il obtient son diplôme d'architecture, puis dans les années 1902 à 1906 à l'Académie des beaux-arts de Cracovieoù il fut l'élève de Józef Mehoffer et Leon Wyczółkowski. Entre 1907 et 1909 il perfectionna ses compétences à Paris à l'Académie Julian. En 1909, il devint membre de la «Sztuka» Société des artistes polonais, un groupe qui réunissait alors l'élite d'artistes polonais. En 1910, il adhéra à la Sécession viennoise. En 1911, il partit en voyage d'études en Italie, puis s'installa à Lviv. En tant que sujet de l'Empire austro-hongroise il servit dans l'armée de 1915 à 1916, documentant ses expériences sur le champ de bataille avec de très émouvants dessins. En 1917, Ii met à profit ses études d'architecture en dirigeant la reconstruction architecturale du quartier de Lviv pour le compte du Comité national de reconstruction de la Galice. En 1920, il prend des fonctions d'enseignant de dessin à l'Institut polytechnique de Lviv et à l'École industrielle d'État. L'année suivante, il devient professeur associé à l'Académie des Beaux-Arts de Cracovie. Il gravit progressivement les échelons de la hiérarchie universitaire, devenant doyen de la Faculté de peinture et de sculpture de 1925 à 1928 ; il fut vice-chancelier de 1933 à 1935 et nommé professeur ordinaire de peinture en 1937. Pendant l'occupation nazie, de 1940 à 1943, il dirigea le département de graphisme de la Städtische Handwerker- und Kunstgewerbeschule de Cracovie. Après la guerre, il ne retourna pas à l'enseignement ; il prit sa retraite en 1947. Dans l'histoire de l'art polonais, l'héritage artistique de Jarocki est associé au folklore, aux images de la campagne, aux coutumes paysannes colorées et aux rituels des régions Hutsul et Podhale. Ces motifs folkloriques qui restent indéniablement aujourd'hui liés à son œuvre avaient attiré son attention dès ses études polytechniques.

La montagne
Giewont est un massif montagneux des Tatras en Pologne qui  culmine à 1 895 m. Le massif compte trois sommets (tous en m/mètres en AMSL) :
- Grand Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1 895 m - 6 217 pi)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1 867 m - 6 125 pi)
- Petit Giewont - Polonais Mały Giewont (1 728 m - 5 669 pi)
Un col de montagne sépare le Grand et le Long Giewont, connu sous le nom de Szczerba (1 823 m - 5 980 pi). Le Long Giewont et le Grand  Giewont sont situés à une altitude plus élevée que la ville voisine de Zakopane, ce qui les rend clairement visibles depuis cette ville.
Au sommet du Grand Giewont, on peut apercevoir une croix en acier de 15 m de hauteur érigée en 1901, qui marque l 'arrivée d'un site de pèlerinages religieux. Cette zone est connue pour  dangerosité surtout en période d'orages. La première ascension su sommet de Giewont a été entreprise en 1830 par Franciszek Herbich et Aleksander Zawadzki (un explorateur du 19ème siècle). La première ascension hivernale du Giewont a eu lieu en 1904 par un groupe de cinq alpinistes dirigé par Mariusz Zaruski. De nos jours, l'escalade du Giewont est strictement interdite. Par contre, la randonnée sur les sentiers est autorisée et d'un l'accès plutôt facile (sauf en hiver), ce qui explique pourquoi le Giewont est une destination très populaire chez les promeneurs et les touristes. En été, plusieurs milliers de touristes ptentent aisni de s'approcher du sommet chaque jour.

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
            Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
            Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

 

PUERTO DE PAGARES PEINT PAR CARLOS DE HAES

 

 

CARLOS DE HAES (1829-1898)
Puerto de Pajares (1,378m - 4,520ft)
Espagne (Asturias)

La montagne
Puerto de Pajares (1 378 m - 4 520 pieds) est un col de montagne dans les montagnes cantabriques situé à Pajares, en Espagne. C'est la principale voie de communication par chemin de fer et route gratuite entre les Asturies, la province de León et le centre de l'Espagne. Il existe une autoroute privée alternative à péage, L'AP-66.réputée pour son brouillard persistant  pendant les nuits d'été et sa déclivité qui atteint  jusqu'à 17%,.

L'artiste
Le peintre espagnol Carlos Sebastián Pedro Hubert de Haes était connu pour le réalisme de ses paysages et était considéré comme le "premier artiste espagnol contemporain capable de capturer quelque chose de particulièrement espagnole dans son travail". Il a souvent été cité comme l'un des trois grands maîtres espagnols de la peinture de paysage. Dans les années 1850, Haes participa à l'essor de l'école réaliste du paysage.  En 1857, il devint le premier professeur de peinture de paysage en Espagne qui enseigna la peinture sur le sujet, en plein air directement d'après nature. En 1860, il devint académicien à l'Académie royale espagnole.  En 1876, il  se présenta à l'Exposition nationale avec La Canal de Mancorbo en los Picos de Europa ("Le canal de Mancorbo dans les Picos de Europa") acquis plus tard par l'État espagnol pour faire partie des collections du Museo del Prado, en raison de son importance dans l'Histoire de la  peinture espagnole du paysage.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes ....
            Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
            Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

THE SIMPLON PASS BY ANONYMOUS FRENCH PAINTER

 ANONYMOUS FRENCH PAINTER
Col du Simplon (2,005 m - 6,578 ft)
Switzerland

In  "Le passage des Alpes par l'armée napoléonienne",   Huile sur toile, non rentoilée, ca. 1806,            64,5 x 77 cm  Private collection  

 
About the painting
This historical painting tells how and above all where the army of Napoleon 1st crossed the Alps to enter Italy, at the Simplon Pass (Col du Simplon). The road was built between 1801 and 1805 by the engineer Nicolas Céard, on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte who wanted to open a passage for his artillery (described above); the cost was more than 8 million francs.  It was also Napoleon who, on February 21, 1801, without even consulting the canons of Saint-Bernard, decided to create a hospice in every way similar to that of the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard, of which he had a lot appreciated the usefulness.  When Napoleon fell, only the first floor had been built. The building remained as it was until the mid-1820s, when work resumed and was completed in 1831.

The mountain pass
The Col du Simplon (2,005 m - 6,578 ft) (Simplon Pass in english) is a high mountain pass between the Pennine Alps and the Lepontine Alps in Switzerland. It connects Brig in the canton of Valais with Domodossola in Piedmont (Italy). The pass itself and the villages on each side of it, such as Gondo, are in Switzerland. The Simplon Tunnel was built beneath the vicinity of the pass in the early 20th century to carry rail traffic between the two countries.
The lowest point of the col (pass) and the lowest point on the watershed between the basins of the Rhone and the Po in Switzerland lies in marshland about 500 m - 1,640 ft west of the Simplon Pass settlement at an altitude of 1,994 m - 6,542 ft.
Rotelsee is a lake located near the pass at an elevation of 2,028 m (6,654 ft).
There are several great peaks around that can be climbed directly from the pass. These include Wasenhorn, Hubschhorn, Breithorn (Simplon), and Monte Leone.

The French school of painting in the 19th century
This term designates artworks produced in 19th-century France that reflects the teachings of the École des Beaux-Arts, the Parisian state-sponsored art academy.  Prioritizing draftsmanship over painting, the school taught students to employ fine line work and soft, blended shading in their drawings. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s drawings, epitomize the Academic style, which is characterized by close attention to detail, near-invisible brushstrokes, and an emphasis on realistic modeling and shading. Academic painters often depicted scenes from history, literature, the Bible, or classical mythology, although this style can also be seen in pastoral scenes.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

GIEWONT PAINTED BY ALEKSANDER KOTSIS

ALEKSANDER KOTSIS (1836-1877)
Giewont Massif (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Poland

 In Giewont (oil on canvas, 39,5 x 55,5 cm, 1870, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie.

 
The  painter
Aleksander Kotsis  was a Polish painter. He created landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes in a combination Romantic and Realistic style. Most of his paintings are small. He grew up just outside Kraków, where his family had a small farm. They moved into Kraków in 1846 to become merchants and he began his studies in 1850 at the Academy of Fine Arts with Wojciech Stattler and Władysław Łuszczkiewicz. His father was not supportive of his studies, so he had to continue working in their shop and taking his lessons intermittently. In 1857, he began exhibiting with the Society of Friends of Fine Arts.  Finally he sold some paintings and, with the assistance of Stattler, obtained a scholarship from the Ministry of Religion and Education which enabled him to enroll at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, where he studied with Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, among others. He returned to Kraków in 1862 and became involved with a patriotic group that met in the studio of the sculptor, Parys Filippi, which was located in the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. Although this group became involved in the January Uprising, Kotsis spent most of the years 1862 to 1864 painting church murals.
After receiving another scholarship in 1866, he moved to Warsaw, then to Paris in 1867, followed by Brussels. When he returned home, he established a studio and worked constantly, spending his summers painting en plein aire in the Tatra mountains. He also began exhibiting extensively throughout Poland and Northern Europe. After 1870, he travelled frequently and, from 1871 to 1875, lived primarily in Munich, where he often exhibited with the Kunstverein München.  He shared a studio with his friends, Antoni Kozakiewicz and Franz Streitt, and went on painting excursions to the Bavarian Alps with them. In 1875, he received an offer of a professorial chair at his alma mater but, that same year, was diagnosed with an incurable brain disorder. He was forced to refuse the chair and was unable to continue working.[ He died two years later.

The mountain
Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It is 1,895 m - at its highest.The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):
- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)
- Small Giewont - Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)
There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m- 5, 980 ft). Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.
On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.
The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

_______________________________

2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

RAS MOULAY ALI PAINTED BY JACQUES MAJORELLE

JACQUES MAJORELLE (1886-1962)
Ras Moulay Ali, (603 m-1 978 fr)
Morocco

In "Tassa, Haut Sexaoua, Grand Atlas, le Ras Moulay Ali", Technique mixte rehaussée d'or et d'argent,1929

About the painting
In 1926 Majorelle undertook a journey across the Kasbahs of the Atlas. Tassa, easily recognized by its impressive terrace-like layout, was a frequent source of inspiration for Majorelle in the course of 1929. His use of an elaborate technique of tempera with gold and silver highlights adds a strong graphic dimension to the painting. Applying black and ochre highlights, Majorelle subtly hints to the warm lighting of sunset, which accentuates the volume effect, highlighting the terraces and the Great-Atlas in the background. Also, the greenery diffuses an impression of coolness which is in stark contrast with the consuming heat of the dry mineral landscape.“His new compositions exude a distinctive penchant for neatness and simplicity, immense precision and an effort in researching a voluntarily decorative layout.  His fifty compositions were drawn with implacable rigor. The coloring appears in mellow hues and muted shades, which once highlighted with gold and silver, invigorate the entire composition with rich, stirring intemporality” In November 1930, in parallel with an exhibition of seventy drawings and paintings of Kasbahs held at the Renaissance gallery, a book containing thirty views of Kasbahs was also published.
(cf, Félix Marcilhac, La vie et l'œuvre de Jacques Majorelle (1886 - 1962), ed.ACR, 1995, p.137-138)

The painter
Jacques Majorelle son of the celebrated Art Nouveau furniture designer Louis Majorelle, was a French painter. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy in 1901 and later at the Académie Julian in Paris with Schommer and Royer. Majorelle became a noted Orientalist painter, but is most remembered for constructing the villa and gardens that now carry his name, Les Jardins Majorelle in Marrakech.
In around 1917 he travelled to Morocco to recover from heart problems and after short period spent in Casablanca, he visited Marrakech, where he fell in love with the vibrant colours and quality of light he found there. Initially, he used Marrakech as a base for trips to Spain, Italy and other parts of North Africa, including Egypt. Eventually, however, he settled in Marrakech permanently.
He drew inspiration for his paintings from his trips and from Marrakesch itself. His paintings include many street scenes, souks and kasbahs as well as portraits of local inhabitants. He opened a handicrafts workshop in Marrakech and also designed posters to promote travel to Morocco. His work was profoundly affected by his voyages around the Mediterannean and North Africa. He introduced a more coloured vision, bathed in light where the drawing disappears and the image emerges from large spots of colour laid flat. It seemed as if he had discoved the sun in these countries. His style exhibited more freedom and spontaneity.
In 1919, he married Andrée Longueville and the pair lived in an apartment near the Jemâa el-Fna Square (then at the palace of Pasha Ben Daoud). In 1923, Jacques Majorelle bought a four acre plot, situated on the border of a palm grove in Marrakech and in 1931, he commissioned the architect, Paul Sinoir, to design a Cubist villa for him. He gradually purchased additional land, extending his holding by almost 10 acres. In the grounds around the residence, Majorelle began planting a luxuriant garden which would become known as the Jardins Majorelle or Majorelle Garden. He continued to work on the garden for almost forty years. The garden is often said to be the his finest work. Majorelle developed a special shade of the colour blue, which was inspired by the blue tiles prevalent in southern Morocco. This colour was used extensively in Majorelle's house and garden, and now carries his name; Majorelle Blue.
The garden proved costly to run and in 1947, Majorelle opened the garden to the public with an admission fee designed to defray the cost of maintenance. He sold the house and land in the 1950s, after which it fell into disrepair.
Majorelle was sent to France for medical treatment in 1962 following a car accident, and died in Paris, later that year of complications from his injuries. He is buried in Nancy, the place of his birth.
During his lifetime, many of Majorelle's paintings were sold to private buyers and remain in private collections. Some of his early works can be found in Museums around his birthplace such as the Musée de l'Ecole de Nancy. Examples of his later work can be seen in the Mamounia Hotel, Marrakesch, the French Consulate of Marrakech and in the Villa at the Majorelle Gardens.

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

 

GIEWONT MASSIF (2) PAINTED BY LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI

LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI (1852-1936)
Giewont Massif (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Poland

In Giewont o zachodzie slonca  (Mount Giewont at sunset) 1898, huile sur toile 101 × 159 cm 

Private collection, Poland,

The painter
Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (1852-1936) was one of the leading painters of the Young Poland movement, as well as the principal representative of Polish Realism in art of the Interbellum. From 1895 to 1911 he served as professor of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Kraków, and from 1934, ASP in Warsaw. He was a founding member of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" (Art, 1897). Wyczółkowski was born in Huta Miastowska near Garwolin in Congress Poland. At first, in his artistic experience he aimed at devoting himself to the genre of historical painting with documentary realism in the detail. After his trip to Paris though, he changed his focus and began implementing solutions typical of the French Impressionists. He painted dramatic landscapes, nudes and pastoral scenes with impasto and impressionist lighting effects . For a short while he came under the influence of Symbolism, and around 1900 darkened his palette. His work is characterized by a richness of form and complex technical means. Thanks to a friendship with Feliks Manggha Jasieński, he expanded his interests to include oriental scenes as well. Wyczółkowski was a master of flower arrangements and still life. He portrayed almost the entire art world of Kraków. Wyczółkowski died 1936 in Warsaw. After the war, on the anniversary of his birthday (11 April 1946), the District Museum in Bydgoszcz took up his name in recognition of his outstanding achievements. His widow donated to the Museum many of his paintings, drawings and a lot of personal memorabilia, including studio equipment. The collection, organized into a new department, consists of over 700 works of Leon Wyczółkowski. His most representative impressionist paintings can be found at the National Museum, Kraków and at the National Museum, Warsaw.

The mountain
Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It is 1,895 m - at its highest.The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):
- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)
- Small Giewont - Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)
There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m- 5, 980 ft). Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.
On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.
The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

_______________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

GIEWONT MASSIF PAINTED BY LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI

 

LEON JAN WYCZÓLKOWSKI (1852-1936)
Giewont Massif (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)
Poland

In Giewont w śniegu (Giewont in the snow), pastel, 1905, 

Katowice Museum/Muzeum Śląskie w Katowicach, Poland

The painter 

Leon Jan Wyczółkowski (1852-1936) was one of the leading painters of the Young Poland movement, as well as the principal representative of Polish Realism in art of the Interbellum. From 1895 to 1911 he served as professor of the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts (ASP) in Kraków, and from 1934, ASP in Warsaw. He was a founding member of the Society of Polish Artists "Sztuka" (Art, 1897). Wyczółkowski was born in Huta Miastowska near Garwolin in Congress Poland. At first, in his artistic experience he aimed at devoting himself to the genre of historical painting with documentary realism in the detail. After his trip to Paris though, he changed his focus and began implementing solutions typical of the French Impressionists. He painted dramatic landscapes, nudes and pastoral scenes with impasto and impressionist lighting effects . For a short while he came under the influence of Symbolism, and around 1900 darkened his palette. His work is characterized by a richness of form and complex technical means. Thanks to a friendship with Feliks Manggha Jasieński, he expanded his interests to include oriental scenes as well. Wyczółkowski was a master of flower arrangements and still life. He portrayed almost the entire art world of Kraków.  Wyczółkowski died 1936 in Warsaw. After the war, on the anniversary of his birthday (11 April 1946), the District Museum in Bydgoszcz took up his name in recognition of his outstanding achievements. His widow donated to the Museum many of his paintings, drawings and a lot of personal memorabilia, including studio equipment. The collection, organized into a new department, consists of over 700 works of Leon Wyczółkowski. His most representative impressionist paintings can be found at the National Museum, Kraków and at the National Museum, Warsaw.

 

The mountain

Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It  is 1,895 m - at its highest.

The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):
- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)
- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)
- Small Giewont - Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)
There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m- 5, 980 ft). Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.
On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.
The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

_______________________________

2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE SWARTBERG PAINTED BY TINUS DE JONGH

 

TINUS DE JONGH (1855-1942)
The Swartberg (2,325m-7,628 ft)
South Africa (Western Cape)

In Meiringspoort, oil on canvas, 1935, Private collection

The mountains and pass
The Swartberg mountains (2,325m-7,628 ft), meaning black mountain in Afrikaans, are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid Little Karoo. To the north of the range lies the other large semi-arid area in South Africa, the Great Karoo. Most of the Swartberg Mountains are above 2000 m high, making them the tallest mountains in the Western Cape. It is also one of the longest, spanning some 230 km from south of Laingsburg in the west to between Willowmore and Uniondale in the east. Geologically, these mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt.
Meiringspoort (750m-2,460 ft) is a pass trough the Swartberg range of mountains, Until the first pass was cut, these mountains were virtually insurmountable, The pass was cut in 1858 and the route completed in only 223 working days, comprising one of the era's most extraordinary feats of engineering. It was also a huge economic step for the interior of the Cape Colony. For example, by 1870, an eighth of the country's wool exports passed through the Meiringspoort.
The Meiringspoort provides paved road transit through the Swartberg range, using the route largely carved by a river. The poort connects the town of De Rust in the south, with the town of Klaarstroom in the north. It also offers a spectacular drive through incredible rock formations, (as depicted in the painting above) and is the setting for an annual half marathon that ends in the town of De Rust. Modern additions mean several different passes now cut different routes through the range.

The artist
Martinus Johannes "Tinus" de Jongh was one of South Africa's most popular painters.
Self-taught, he began his career as a decorator in the Netherlands where he was born, and then pursued painting full-time. He achieved some note when the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam purchased one of his early pictures. He arrived in South Africa in 1921, practicing a sober style within the Dutch tradition, typified there by Still Life with Birds and Hare. The light and landscape of South Africa soon caused him to abandon his muted palette in favour of more saturated colours (as seen above). His formulaic approach to painting Cape landscapes with gabled farmhouses created such a demand that he abandoned his considered brushwork in favour of a broader palette knife technique. His etchings sold in the hundreds through his dealer Louis Woolf. 

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

HIGH ATLAS PAINTED BY JACQUES MAJORELLE

 

JACQUES MAJORELLE (1886-1962)
High Atlas (4,167 m - 2.589 mi - 13,678 ft)
Morocco  

 

In La kasbah d'Ammeniter et la Vallée d'Ounila, Oil on canvas, 1925,  Private collection

The mountain
High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas is a mountain range in central Morocco, North Africa, the highest part of the Atlas Mountains. The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border. At the Atlantic and to the southwest the range drops abruptly and makes an impressive transition to the coast and the Anti-Atlas range. To the north, in the direction of Marrakech, the range descends less abruptly. The range includes Jbel Toubkal, which at 4,167 m (2.589 mi; 13,671 ft) is the highest in the range and lies in Toubkal National Park. The range serves as a weather system barrier in Morocco running east–west and separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean and continental zones to the north and west. In the higher elevations of the massif, snow falls regularly, allowing winter sports. Snow lasts well into last spring in the High Atlas, mostly on the northern faces of the range. On the Western High Atlas, there is Oukaïmeden, one of three main ski stations in Morocco.
The High Atlas forms the basins for a multiplicity of river systems. The majority of the year-round rivers flow to the north, providing the basis for the settlements there. A number of wadis and seasonal rivers terminate in the deserts to the south and plateaux to the east of the mountains. The High-Atlas Mountains are inhabited by Berbers, who live from agriculture and pastoralism in the valleys. In the steppe zone of the High-Atlas, where precipitations are low, the locals created a smart technique in managing the low precipitations and the weak soil. They turn the rather semi-arid lands into fertile valleys called locally by Agdal (garden in Berber). This technique has intrigued many Western agriculturalists, in which they were impressed by the high efficiency of this agricultural system. Many scientists, particularly French scientists, make yearly expeditions to observe the community and their living system.

 

The painter  

Jacques Majorelle son of the celebrated Art Nouveau furniture designer Louis Majorelle, was a French painter. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Nancy in 1901 and later at the Académie Julian in Paris with Schommer and Royer. Majorelle became a noted Orientalist painter, but is most remembered for constructing the villa and gardens that now carry his name, Les Jardins Majorelle in Marrakech.
In around 1917 he travelled to Morocco to recover from heart problems and after short period spent in Casablanca, he visited Marrakech, where he fell in love with the vibrant colours and quality of light he found there. Initially, he used Marrakech as a base for trips to Spain, Italy and other parts of North Africa, including Egypt. Eventually, however, he settled in Marrakech permanently.
He drew inspiration for his paintings from his trips and from Marrakesch itself. His paintings include many street scenes, souks and kasbahs as well as portraits of local inhabitants. He opened a handicrafts workshop in Marrakech and also designed posters to promote travel to Morocco.  His work was profoundly affected by his voyages around the Mediterannean and North Africa. He introduced a more coloured vision, bathed in light where the drawing disappears and the image emerges from large spots of colour laid flat. It seemed as if he had discoved the sun in these countries. His style exhibited more freedom and spontaneity.
In 1919, he married Andrée Longueville and the pair lived in an apartment near the Jemâa el-Fna Square (then at the palace of Pasha Ben Daoud). In 1923, Jacques Majorelle bought a four acre plot, situated on the border of a palm grove in Marrakech and in 1931, he commissioned the architect, Paul Sinoir, to design a Cubist villa for him. He gradually purchased additional land, extending his holding by almost 10 acres. In the grounds around the residence, Majorelle began planting a luxuriant garden which would become known as the Jardins Majorelle or Majorelle Garden. He continued to work on the garden for almost forty years. The garden is often said to be the his finest work.  Majorelle developed a special shade of the colour blue, which was inspired by the blue tiles prevalent in southern Morocco. This colour was used extensively in Majorelle's house and garden, and now carries his name; Majorelle Blue.
The garden proved costly to run and in 1947, Majorelle opened the garden to the public with an admission fee designed to defray the cost of maintenance.  He sold the house and land in the 1950s, after which it fell into disrepair.
Majorelle was sent to France for medical treatment in 1962 following a car accident, and died in Paris, later that year of complications from his injuries. He is buried in Nancy, the place of his birth.
During his lifetime, many of Majorelle's paintings were sold to private buyers and remain in private collections. Some of his early works can be found in Museums around his birthplace such as the Musée de l'Ecole de Nancy. Examples of his later work can be seen in the Mamounia Hotel, Marrakesch, the French Consulate of Marrakech and in the Villa at the Majorelle Gardens. 

 

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

 

THE WETTERHORN PAINTED BY ALEXANDRE CALAME

ALEXANDRE CALAME (1810-1864)
The Wetterhorn (3,692m-12,113ft)
Switzerland

In "In het Berner Oberland" (1847) Oil on canvas, 78 x 100 cm , Amsterdam Museum

The Mountain
The Wetterhorn (3,692m-12,113ft) in the Bernese Alps, towers above the village of Grindelwald. Formerly known as Hasle Jungfrau, it is one of three summits of a mountain named Wetterhorn sensu lato, or the "Wetterhцrner", the highest summit of which is the Mittelhorn (3,704 m) and the most distant the Rosenhorn (3,689 m). The Mittelhorn and Rosenhorn are mostly hidden from view from Grindelwald. The Grosse Scheidegg Pass crosses the col to the north, between the Wetterhorn and the Schwarzhorn.
Climbing
The Wetterhorn summit was first reached on August 31, 1844, by the Grindelwald guides Hans Jaun and Melchior Bannholzer, three days after they had co-guided a large party organized by the geologist Edouard Desor to the first ascent of the Rosenhorn. The Mittelhorn was first summitted on 9 July 1845 by the same guides, this time accompanied by a third guide, Kaspar Abplanalp, and by Stanhope Templeman Speer. The son of a Scottish physician, Speer lived in Interlaken, Switzerland.
A September 1854 ascent by a party including Alfred Wills is much celebrated in Great Britain. Apparently believing to be the first ascendant, Wills' description of this trip in his book "Wanderings Among the High Alps" (published in 1856) helped make mountaineering fashionable in Britain and ushered in the systematic exploration of the Alps by British mountaineers, the so-called golden age of alpinism.  Despite several well-documented earlier ascents and the fact that he was guided to the top, even in his obituary in 1912 he was considered to be "certainly the first who can be said with any confidence to have stood upon the real highest peak of the Wetterhorn proper" (i.e. the 3,692 m summit).  In a subsequent corrigendum, the editors admitted two earlier ascents, but considered his still "the first completely successful" one.
In 1866, Lucy Walker was the first documented female ascendant of the peak.
The 24-year-old English mountaineer William Penhall and his Meiringen guide Andreas Maurer were killed by an avalanche high up on the Wetterhorn on 3 August 1882.
The famed guide and Grindelwald native Christian Almer climbed the mountain many times in his life, including on his first of many trips with Meta Brevoort and her nephew W. A. B. Coolidge in 1868. His last ascent was in 1898 at the age of 70 together with his wife to celebrate their golden anniversary on top.  Winston Churchill is also supposed  to have climbed the Wetterhorn in 1894.

The painter
Alexandre Calame was a Swiss painter. He was the son of a skillful marble worker in Vevey. His father lost the family fortune, and Alexandre Calame was forced to work in a bank at the age of 15. When his father fell from a building and then died, the young Calame provided for his mother.
In his spare time he began to practice drawing small views of Switzerland. In 1829 he met his patron, the banker Diodati, who made it possible for him to study under landscape painter François Diday. After a few months he decided to devote himself fully to art.
In 1835, he began exhibiting his Swiss-Alps and forest paintings in Paris and Berlin. He became quite well known, especially in Germany, although Calame was more a drawer than an illustrator. He is associated with the Dusseldorf school of painting. In 1842 he went to Paris and displayed his works Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, the Brienzersee, the Monte Rosa and Mont Cervin. He taught in Geneva, where Adolf Mosengel was one of his pupils.
He went to Italy in 1844 and brought back from Rome and Naples countless paintings, among them one of the ruins of Paestum (in the city museum in Leipzig). He showed that he was capable of understanding Italian nature; but the Alps remained his speciality.
The glaciers, emerald-green, white foaming mountain water, which split the trees during the storm, and the whipped clouds, the multi-colored rocks, half masked from fog, in the rays of the gleaming sun, are those things, which he knew to be true to nature.
One of his most ingenious works is the representation of the four seasons and times of the day in four landscapes, a spring morning in the south, a summer midday in the Nordic flatlands, an Autumn evening, and a winter night on a mountain. He became popular with these large works, and his popularity grew with smaller pieces and lithographies, namely 18 studies of Lauterbrunnen and Meiringen and the 24 sheets of Alpine passes. These were widespread in France, England, and Germany and are still today used to teach this style of painting.
He died in Menton, France in 1864. An exhibition featuring more than thirty of Calame's paintings was held at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 2006.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE WETTERHORN PAINTED BY KARL ANNELER

 

KARL ANNELER (1886 - 1957) 

 The Wetterhorn (3,692m-12,113ft)

 Switzerland

In The Wetterhorn, Grindelwald, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland, oil on canvas, c.1920, 

Courtesy John Mitchell Gallery London

The mountain
The Wetterhorn (3,692m-12,113ft) in the Bernese Alps, towers above the village of Grindelwald. Formerly known as Hasle Jungfrau, it is one of three summits of a mountain named Wetterhorn sensu lato, or the "Wetterhцrner", the highest summit of which is the Mittelhorn (3,704 m) and the most distant the Rosenhorn (3,689 m). The Mittelhorn and Rosenhorn are mostly hidden from view from Grindelwald. The Grosse Scheidegg Pass crosses the col to the north, between the Wetterhorn and the Schwarzhorn.
The Wetterhorn summit was first reached on August 31, 1844, by the Grindelwald guides Hans Jaun and Melchior Bannholzer, three days after they had co-guided a large party organized by the geologist Edouard Desor to the first ascent of the Rosenhorn. The Mittelhorn was first summitted on 9 July 1845 by the same guides, this time accompanied by a third guide, Kaspar Abplanalp, and by Stanhope Templeman Speer. The son of a Scottish physician, Speer lived in Interlaken, Switzerland.
Wetterhorn is neither a difficult, nor an easy mountain. Each access has its specialty. Since the Wetterhorn can be seen from most mountains within 100 miles, the view is unique. Although everything up there is snow and ice, looking perpendicularly down to the green pastures of Grindelwald provides an unforgettable contrast.

The painter
Although Anneler trained as a decorative painter for theatre companies in both his native Bern and then in Münich, by 1910 he had established himself as an independent landscape and portrait painter. He lived in the Lötschental Valley for nearly twenty years where he specialized in landscapes of the Bernese Oberland and recording traditional genre scenes from village life, specifically, weddings and processions. Despite the increase in the number of homes built today, thanks to strict building regulations in Grindelwald such views as shown here of chalets with the Wetterhorn as a backdrop are still common. Anneler’s work is represented in the Swiss Alpine Museum in Bern.
 

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

COL DE L'ISERAN & CRĒTE DES LESSIÈRES BY CHARLES-HENRI CONTENCIN

CHARLES-HENRI CONTENCIN (1898-1955) 

Col de l'Iseran (2,764 m - 9,068 ft)

Crête des Lessieres (2,986 m - 9,796 ft) 

France (Isère)

The mountain
The Col de l'Iseran  (2,764 m - 9,068 ft) one of the highest road passes in Europe allows the passage from the high Tarentaise (Isere Valley) to the high Maurienne (Arc Valley) by the D. 902 (eg N.202).
The pass itself is open in the lustrous schists that form the ridge of water sharing between Isère and Arc (they belong to the sheet of Méan Martin). The shaly lamination of these layers is generally arranged with a dip gently inclined to the northwest almost in accordance with the bottom, slightly inclined of the high valley of Iseran.
The crest of Leissières ((2,986 m - 9,796 ft)  which dominates it on the western side is orthogonal to the watershed and to the structure of which it gives a natural cut: one sees there appearing the layers of the unit of the Malpasset, characterized by its material sedimentary near the Grande Motte series.

The painter 
Charles-Henri Contencin (1898-1955) is a French painter who painted many landscapes of mountains and high mountains of the great Alpine peaks (mainly Mont Blanc and Massif and the Écrins). His palette is very characteristic. He particularly used the effects of sunrise or sunset over snow or glaciers. Raised in the Bernese Oberland to the age of 10-12 years, it was a lifelong mountain lover. Good climber, he was a member of the French Alpine Club, where he made the connection with the Mountain Painters Society (SPM). He made the First World War in the infantry and he received the War Cross. He then worked in an architectural office and at the Compagnie des chemins de Fer du Nord before joining the french national railways company, the SNCF, where he was responsible for engineering structures.
In addition to his professional designs it is also author of posters and handbills for the railways under the pseudonym "Charles-Henri." He is best known for its mountain paintings and left an important work. After many years of contempt coming mainly from parisian critics and intelligentsia, Contencin is now recognized worldwide as one of the major mountain painters of the 20th century.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

PIZ BERNINA BY CARL FRIEDRICH SEIFFERT

 

 

CARL FRIEDRICH SEIFFERT (1809-1891)

Piz Bernina (4, 049 m- 13, 283ft)

Switzerland - Italy border

In View of the Lago di Poschiavo with the Bernina Range, 1859 Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 87 cm Private collection

The mountain
Piz Bernina or Pizzo Bernina (4, 049m- 13, 283ft) is the highest mountain in the Eastern Alps, the highest point of the Bernina Range, and the highest peak in the Rhaetian Alps. It is located south of Pontresina and near the major Alpine resort of St. Moritz, in the Engadin valley with the massif partially in Italy. The mountain can be seen from different viewpoints with the use of ski-lifts from Diavolezza, Piz Corvatsch or Piz Nair. It is also the most easterly mountain higher than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in the Alps, the highest point of the Swiss canton of Graubünden, and the fifth-most prominent peak in the Alps. The minor summit (4,020 m -13,190 ft) known as La Spedla is the highest point in the Italian Lombardy region. The mountain was named after the Bernina Pass in 1850 by Johann Coaz, who also made the first ascent. The prefix Piz comes from the Romansch language in Graubünden; any mountain with that name can be readily identified as being located in southeastern Switzerland.

The painter
Not a lot of informations about the german academic painter Carl Seiffert specialized in mountains of Switzerland and Italy,  His work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from $445 USD to $9,530 USD  depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2017 the record price for this artist at auction is $9,530 USD for Blick über die Ruinen des Amphitheaters von Taormina auf Sizilien auf den Ätna, sold at Bassenge in 2017 which one of his most famous.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

THE WETTERHORN BY FERDINAND HODLER

FERDINAND HODLER (1853-1918)

The Wetterhorn (3, 692m -12, 113ft)

Switzerland

 In The Wetterhorn, oil on canvas,  1912

The painter
Ferdinand Hodler is one of the best-known Swiss painters of the 19th century. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of symbolism he called Parallelism.
In the last decade of the nineteenth century his work evolved to combine influences from several genres including Symbolism and Art Nouveau. In 1890 he completed Night, a work that marked Hodler's turn toward symbolist imagery. It depicts several recumbent figures, all of them relaxed in sleep except for an agitated man who is menaced by a figure shrouded in black, which Hodler intended as a symbol of death. Hodler developed a style he called "Parallelism" that emphasized the symmetry and rhythm he believed formed the basis of human society.
Hodler painted number of large-scale historical paintings, often with patriotic themes.
Hodler's work in his final phase took on an expressionist aspect with strongly coloured and geometrical figures. Landscapes were pared down to essentials, sometimes consisting of a jagged wedge of land between water and sky

The mountain
The Wetterhorn (3,692m-12,113ft) in the Bernese Alps, towers above the village of Grindelwald. Formerly known as Hasle Jungfrau, it is one of three summits of a mountain named Wetterhorn sensu lato, or the "Wetterhцrner", the highest summit of which is the Mittelhorn (3,704 m) and the most distant the Rosenhorn (3,689 m). The Mittelhorn and Rosenhorn are mostly hidden from view from Grindelwald. The Grosse Scheidegg Pass crosses the col to the north, between the Wetterhorn and the Schwarzhorn.
The Wetterhorn summit was first reached on August 31, 1844, by the Grindelwald guides Hans Jaun and Melchior Bannholzer, three days after they had co-guided a large party organized by the geologist Edouard Desor to the first ascent of the Rosenhorn. The Mittelhorn was first summitted on 9 July 1845 by the same guides, this time accompanied by a third guide, Kaspar Abplanalp, and by Stanhope Templeman Speer. The son of a Scottish physician, Speer lived in Interlaken, Switzerland.
Wetterhorn is neither a difficult, nor an easy mountain. Each access has its specialty. Since the Wetterhorn can be seen from most mountains within 100 miles, the view is unique. Although everything up there is snow and ice, looking perpendicularly down to the green pastures of Grindelwald provides an unforgettable contrast.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

THE LEVANNA CENTRALE PAINTED BY CESARE MAGGI

CESARE MAGGI (1881–1962) 

The Levanna centrale (3,619 m -11,873ft) 

France- Italy border 

In Dintorni di Ceresole Reale, oil on canvas 

The mountain
The Levanna centrale (3,619 m -11,873ft) is a mountain of Grian Alps at the border  between Savoy(France) and Piedmonte (IOtazly) . The Levanna consists of three vertices connected by the same ridge: the western Levanna (3,593 m - 11,794ft) ), the central Levanna ((3,619 m -11,873ft)  and the eastern Levanna (3,555 m- 11, 663ft)). From the Italian side, Levanna overlooks the Lanzo Valley and the Orco Valley; from the French side, it dominates Maurienne.
Ceresole Reale occupies the upper Orco Valley, which separates the Gran Paradiso massif from the Levanna Massif. It reaches its maximum altitude at the highest point of this last massif, Levanna Centrale. It is bordering on the east with the municipality of Noasca, in the south with that of Groscavallo, both in the province of Turin (Piedmont), in the west with the French municipalities of Val d'Isère and Bonneval-sur-Arc and in the North with the towns of Rhêmes-Notre-Dame and Valsavarenche, in the Aosta Valley. The Nivolet pass (2,612 m), on the territory of the municipality and at the limit of the Aosta Valley, is accessible by the SP50 road, which, in about twenty kilometers, crosses an altitude difference of nearly 1,000 m, but do not go down to the Aosta Valley.

The painter 
The italian painter Cesare Maggi was born into a family of actors, Maggi embarked on classical studies at his father’s wish but also took up painting at a very early age His debut in Florence at the Esposizione Annuale della Società di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1898 was followed by a short trip to Paris to catch up with the latest developments.
The crucial turning point in Maggi’s art came in 1889 with the posthumous show of work by Giovanni Segantini held by the Milanese Society of Fine Arts, which prompted a definitive shift to landscape painting of a Divisionist character. After a short stay in the Engadin, he returned to Milan before finally settling in Turin. Commercial collaboration with Alberto Grubicy until 1913 enabled Maggi to establish himself quickly as one of the leading representatives of the second generation of Divisionist painters in Italy. He painted a repertoire of readily comprehensible mountain landscapes focusing primarily on aspects of the visual perception of the reflection of light and colour but lacking the deep spirituality of Segantini’s work. He took part in the major Italian and European exhibitions and the Venice Biennale devoted an entire room to his work at the Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte of Venice in 1912. After an interlude devoted to portrait painting in the same decade, the artist’s mature work focused on greater simplification of subject matter, mostly in landscapes. 

Maggi obtained the chair in painting at the Albertina Academy, Turin, in 1936.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE LLANBERIS PASS PAINTED BY DAVID CHARLES READ

DAVID CHARLES READ (1790-1851) 

The Llanberis Pass  (359 m - 1,178 ft)

United Kingdom  (Wales)

In The Pass of Llanberis, oil on panel, Ashmolean Museum 

The pass
The Llanberis Pass  (359 m - 1,178 ft) lies between the mountain massifs of Snowdon and the Glyderau in the county of Gwynedd, in northwestern Wales, United Kingdom. The summit of the pass is 359 m (1,178 ft) above sea level, and is the site of the Pen-y-Pass Hotel, now a Youth Hostel. The A4086 road traverses the pass. The Nant Peris valley lies to the northwest descending to the town of Llanberis, the Llyn Peris and Llyn Padarn lakes and continues on as the Afon Rhythallt to Caernarfon and the Menai Strait. The valley is narrow, straight and steep-sided, with rocky crags and boulders on either side of the road.
The Cromlech Boulders are used for bouldering. These roadside boulders were saved from destruction in a 1973 road widening scheme by a six-year protest by local people, climbers, historians, conservationists and geologists.
Climbers particularly associated with the area include John Menlove Edwards (in the 1930s and 1940s) and Joe Brown (in the 1950s and 1960s). The British 1953 Mount Everest expedition also trained in the area, and were based at the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel at the eastern end of the pass.

The painter
David Charles Read (1790–1851) was an English painter and etcher. In early days, Read engraved plates for a Pilgrim's Progress published by William Sharp at Romsey (1816–17), and other works. He worked mainly in the open air. In 1826 he began etching, and produced plates to 1844: the total number of his etchings is 237. Sixteen of those were portraits; the rest are landscapes. Technically, Read's work is interesting from the use of dry-point, unusual with English etchers of the period.
Read sent his earliest plates to be printed in London, but then obtained a press and made the impressions. Six series of etchings were published by him between 1829 and 1845. The fifth of these (1840) was a series of thirteen views of the English lakes. The remainder were selected from his miscellaneous works. Two series were dedicated to Queen Adelaide. In 1845 he destroyed 63 of the plates; the rest were destroyed by his family after his death.
On his return from Italy, Read concentrated on painting in oils, producing some pictures for Dr. Coope between 1846 and 1849, though he did not exhibit after 1840. Between 1823 and 1840 he sent one landscape to the Royal Academy, seven to the British Institution, and six to the Suffolk Street Gallery.
Read etched his own portrait from a water-colour sketch by John Linnell (1819). A short catalogue of the etchings was printed at Salisbury in 1832. An exhaustive manuscript catalogue, with a memoir of the artist, compiled (1871–4) by his son, Raphael W. Read, F.R.C.S., went to the print-room at the British Museum.
Read presented to the British Museum in 1833 and 1842 two volumes containing 168 of his etchings. Another collection, formed by his patron Chambers Hall, went to the university ga galleries, Oxford, and then to the Ashmolean Museum; a third was at Bridgewater House, collected by Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

ZAWRAT PASS BY ALEKSANDER MROCZKOWSKI

ALEKSANDER MROCZKOWSKI (1850-1927)

Zawrat  pass  (2,159 m - 7,083ft) 

Poland 

 In  Zawrat Mountain, 1905, oil on canvas,  Tatra Museum, Zakopane.

The mountain 

Zawrat  (2,159 m - 7,083ft) is  a narrow pass  in the long eastern ridge of Świnica in the High Tatras separating Zawratowa Turnia (2,247 m) from Mały Goat Wierch ( 2,226 m). It is one of the two extreme points of the Orla Perci (western) route .

Zawrat is available for tourists directly from Świnica or from valleys lying on both sides of the ridge: Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich and Dolina Gąsienicowa. 

The name Zawrat and its diminutive - Zawracik are quite often found in the Tatra nomenclature (for example, Zawracie near Wołowiec or Przełęcz nad Zawratami in the ridge of Roháče). They usually mean steep passes, switches or other similar, steep objects. 

Zawrat was already from Zakopane to the Sea Eye in the 19th century. The first recorded tourist crossings: Jakub Krauthofer and Jan Para in August 1842.  The first winter crossing (with the participation of a woman, which was rare at the time): Jan Grzegorzewski, Miss Stanisława Pisarzewska and her brother-in-law, landowner from Mazovia Leon Józef Marian Duczymiński with guides: Bartłomiej Obrochta , G. Rojana and Józef Trzebunia - January 21, 1894. In the nineteenth century, the passage through Zawrat was considered difficult, it was a test of tourist skills. On Zawrat, there were m.in. Stanisław Witkiewicz (his tour from 1888 described in Na przełczy ), Stefan Żeromski (1892), Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Jan Kasprowicz, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, and Włodzimierz Lenin.

By 2012, 17 fatal accidents occurred in Zawrac.

The painter 

Aleksander Mroczkowski was a Polish painter who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the studio of Władysław Łuszczkiewicz, Feliks Szynalewski and Leon Dembowski, and then in 1873-1877 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich  in the studio of A. Wagner and O. Seitz.

He created in a realistic style, he often took up the subject of Tatra landscapes and rural landscapes, such as Landscape with a homestead (1878, Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź ) and W harvestwa (1882, National Museum in Warsaw). He also painted portraits, genre scenes, historical and sacred compositions, he also dealt with decorative painting.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE GIEWONT BY JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI

JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI (1802-1847)

Giewont (1, 895 m- 6, 217 ft)

Poland

The mountains 

Giewont is a mountain massif in the Tatra Mountains of Poland. It  is 1,895 m - at its highest.

The massif has three peaks (all m/metres in AMSL):

- Great Giewont - Wielki Giewont (1,895 m- 6, 217 ft)

- Long Giewont - Długi Giewont (1,867 m- 6, 125 ft)

- Small Giewont -  Polish Mały Giewont (1,728 m - 5,669 ft)

There is a mountain pass located between Great and Long Giewont, known as Szczerba (1,823 m-  5, 980 ft).  Long Giewont and Great Giewont are situated at a higher altitude than the nearby town of Zakopane, making them clearly visible from that city.

On Great Giewont, there is a 15 m steel cross (erected in 1901) - the site of religious pilgrimages. The area is notorious for its hazardous nature during thunderstorms, so this should be taken into consideration when approaching the summit.

The first recorded ascent to Giewont's summit was undertaken in 1830 by Franciszek Herbich and Aleksander Zawadzki (a19th century explorer). The first winter ascent of Giewont occurred in 1904 by a group of five mountaineers led by Mariusz Zaruski. Nowadays the climbing on Giewont is strictly banned. On the other hand, hiking on the hiking trails is allowed and the access (except the winter) is not difficult hence Giewont is a very popular destination among amblers and Sunday tourists. In the summer up to few thousands tourists a day ascend the top.

The painter 

Jan Nepomucen Głowacki was a Polish realist painter of the Romantic era, regarded as the most outstanding landscape painter of the early 19th century in Poland under the foreign partitions. Głowacki studied painting at the Kraków School of Fine Arts and later at the academies of Prague and Vienna, as well as Rome and Munich. He returned to Kraków in 1828, and became a teacher of painting and drawing. From 1842 he served as a professor in the Faculty of Landscape Painting at the School of Fine Arts. His work can be found at the National Museum of Poland and its branches. Some of his work was looted by Nazi Germany in World War II and has never been recovered.

Głowacki was the first Polish artist to devote an entire series of works to the Tatra Mountains.

 He was also the first, to produce studies for his oil paintings on strenuous outdoor trips. Landscapes such as "Widok z Poronina" (View from Poronin, 1836) and "Morskie Oko" are said to mark the beginning of realist Polish mountain painting.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE WETTERHORN PAINTED BY THOMAS WORTHINGTON WHITTREDGE

THOMAS WORTHINGTON WHITTREDGE (1820-1910)

The Wetterhorn (3, 692m -12, 113ft)

 Switzerland

In Das Wetterhorn, 1858, oil on canvas, Newark Museum.

The mountain 

The Wetterhorn (3,692m-12,113ft) in the  Bernese Alps, towers above the village of Grindelwald. Formerly known as Hasle Jungfrau, it is one of three summits of a mountain named Wetterhorn sensu lato, or the "Wetterhцrner", the highest summit of which is the Mittelhorn (3,704 m) and the most distant the Rosenhorn (3,689 m). The Mittelhorn and Rosenhorn are mostly hidden from view from Grindelwald. The Grosse Scheidegg Pass crosses the col to the north, between the Wetterhorn and the Schwarzhorn. The Wetterhorn summit was first reached on August 31, 1844, by the Grindelwald guides Hans Jaun and Melchior Bannholzer, three days after they had co-guided a large party organized by the geologist Edouard Desor to the first ascent of the Rosenhorn. The Mittelhorn was first summitted on 9 July 1845 by the same guides, this time accompanied by a third guide, Kaspar Abplanalp, and by Stanhope Templeman Speer. 

The painter 

Thomas Worthington Whittredge  was an American artist of the Hudson River School. Whittredge was a highly regarded artist of his time, and was friends with several leading Hudson River School artists including Albert Bierstadt and Sanford Robinson Gifford. He traveled widely and excelled at landscape painting, many examples of which are now in major museums. He served as president of the National Academy of Design from 1874 to 1875 and was a member of the selection committees for the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and the 1878 Paris Exposition, both important venues for artists of the day.

Whittredge journeyed across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains in 1865 with Sanford Gifford and John Frederick Kensett. The trip resulted in some of Whittredge's most important works—unusually oblong, sparse landscapes that captured the stark beauty and linear horizon of the Plains. Whittredge later wrote in his autobiography, "I had never seen the plains or anything like them. They impressed me deeply. I cared more for them than for the mountains... Whoever crossed the plains at that period, notwithstanding its herds of buffalo and flocks of antelope, its wild horses, deer and fleet rabbits, could hardly fail to be impressed with its vastness and silence and the appearance everywhere of an innocent, primitive existence."

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

Un blog de Francis Rousseau

THEODULE PASS BY EUGENE VIOLLET-LE-DUC

EUGENE VIOLLET-LE-DUC (1814-1879)

Theodul Pass (3,295 m- 10,810 ft)

Switzerland - Italy border 

The mountain 
Theodul Pass (3,295 m- 10,810 ft), is a high mountain pass across the eastern Pennine Alps, connecting Zermatt in the Swiss canton of Valais and Breuil-Cervinia in the Italian region of Aosta Valley. Theodul Pass is the second lowest pass (after Furggjoch) and the easiest pass between the valleys of Zermatt and Valtournanche.
The pass lies between the Matterhorn on the west and the Breithorn on the east and is overlooked by the Theodulhorn and Testa Grigia. The Rifugio del Teodulo (hut) is located just above the pass. The east side of the pass is covered by large glaciers part of the Theodul Glacier system and is part of a year-round ski area. On the Italian side, the pass can be reached from Breuil-Cervinia by a dead-end trail. On the Swiss side, trails go up from Trockener Steg and Gandegg Hut.

The artist 

Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc (not to be confused with the writer Violette Leduc) was a French architect and theorist, famous for his interpretive "restorations" of medieval buildings.  But he was, as well, an excellent but less famous watercolorist, sketching quite a number of mountains and volcanoes all over Europe.

Strongly contrary to the prevailing Beaux-Arts architectural trend of his time, much of his design work was largely derided by his contemporaries. He was the architect hired to design the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty, but died before the project was completed.

During the early 1830s, a popular sentiment for the restoration of medieval buildings developed in France. Viollet-le-Duc, returning during 1835 from study in Italy, was commissioned by Prosper Mérimée to restore the Romanesque Abbey of Vézelay (France). This work was the first of a long series of restorations; Viollet-le-Duc's restorations at Notre Dame de Paris (France) with Jean-Baptiste Lassus brought him national attention. His other main works include Mont Saint-Michel, Carcassonne, Roquetaillade castle and Pierrefonds.

Viollet-le-Duc's "restorations" frequently combined historical fact with creative modification. For example, under his supervision, Notre Dame was not only cleaned and restored but also "updated", gaining its distinctive third tower (a type of flèche) in addition to other smaller changes. 

Another of his most famous restorations, the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne,(South of france) was similarly enhanced, gaining atop each of its many wall towers a set of pointed roofs that are actually more typical of northern France. Many of these reconstructions were controversial. Viollet-le-duc wanted what he called ‘a condition of completeness' which never actually existed at any given time. This approach to restoration was particularly problematic when buildings survived in a mixture of styles.  When monuments was to much damaged, he sometimes obtain from the emperor Napoleon III the permission to entirely rebuilt it,  like he did in Avignon with the Popes ramparts all around the city.