THE MONT VENTOUX BY ENGUERRAND QUARTON

 ENGUERRAND QUARTON (1410-15? - 1466)  

 Mont Ventoux (1, 911 m - 6, 270ft) 

 France (Provence)

1a.  The Coronation of the Virgin, 1453-54 (detail of the Mont Ventoux behind the Golgotha 

1b.  The Coronation of the Virgin, 1453-54, Tempera on panel, Pierre de Luxembourg Museum,  Villeneuve-lez-Avignon 

2.  Avignon Pieta or Villeneuve Pieta, 1455, Tempera and gold on walnut, Louvre Museum, Paris   

About the paintings 

Since the 15th century, Mont Ventoux, because of the vicinity of Avignon, the Popes city,  has been the subject of many paintings and engravings, either as a main subject or in the background landscape. 

Its oldest and very first representation can be found in The Coronation of the Virgin (1b above) painted circa 1453-54 by Enguerrand Quarton. This panel was formerly used to adorn the chapel of the Cartusian monastery of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon; it is currently preserved in the Musée Pierre-de-Luxembourg in that same  city. The Mont Ventoux appears at the bottom of the painting on the left of Golgotha ​​(see enlargement 1a) just behind the walls of the city of Villeneuve lez Avignon and its Collegiale church; in the middle, the Rhone river separating Villeneuve from a bigger city on the other bank, which is Avignon,  clearly  recognizable with its circular walls and its famous Pope's Palace (painted in red here like the religious monuments were at that time), exactly like everything is still geographically situated nowadays.
If we except the fact it is not  the good location, some experts said that the mountain represented could be the Sainte Victoire, the one Paul Cézanne painted such a lot of time a few centuries later) . Why not but after all ?  Enguerrand Quarton lived in Aix-en-Provence at theKing René's court and had enough times to observe this mountain under every angles and to paint it.  It could be the Sainte Victoire, and it ressembles to it by some aspects,  but it  is more likely the Mont Ventoux to which the shape of the mountain painted ressembles more.  It should be as well a mix of the both mountains, the geographical accuracy of landscape rendering being not a characteristic of this period.
But... the Sainte-Victoire is not situated near Avignon or behind Villeneuve les Avignon, while  the Ventoux is !  The Sainte Victoire is near Aix-en-Provence, 70 km off.  Actually, the Sainte Victoire is situated on the opposite bank of the Rhone River. that the one shown in that painting...

Another painting, The Avignon Pieta  (2) sometimes called The Villeneuve Pieta,  painted one year later, in 1455, attributed to the same Enguerrand Quarton and currently exhibited at the Louvre Museum in Paris, also clearly represents Mont Ventoux, visible on the extreme right side of the composition, next to the red coat of Maria Magdelena.

The painter 

Enguerrand Quarton (or Charonton) (c. 1410- 1415– 1466) was a French painter and manuscript illuminator very representative of the distinctive French style of that time. Quarton began to work in the Netherlands. Then he moved to Aix-en-Provence and  Arles in 1446, and then in Avignon, where he was based from 1447 until his death there in about 1466. In Avignon and Villeneuve les Avignon he pain ted The Coronation of the Virgin (1453-54)  and the Avignon Pieta (1455).  

Provence at this time had some of the most impressive painters in France, like Nicolas Froment or Barthélemy d'Eyck, who both appear to have collaborated with Quarton. The Popes and Anti-Popes were no longer living in Avignon, but it remained Papal territory, and the city contained many Italian merchants.

Except for some banners, no works by Quarton for René of Anjou,  the King René, ruler of most of Provence, are documented, although King René was a keen patron of the arts who employed d'Eyck for many years and patronised several other artists. Many of Quarton's clients were important figures in René's court and administration, like the Chancellor of Provence who commissioned the Missal of Jean des Martins.
Six paintings by Quarton are documented, of which only two survive.  His two documented works are the remarkable Coronation of the Virgin (1453–54) (above) and The Virgin of Mercy (1452, Musée Condé, Chantilly). Two smaller altarpieces are also attributed to him. The famous Avignon Pieta is given also by the Louvre Museum like "probably painted and attribuated to " Enguerrant Quarton.  A number of miniatures in illuminated manuscripts have been ascribed to Quarton, whose style has many distinctive features, in colouring, modelling and iconography.

The mountain 
Mont Ventoux (Ventor in Latin) is located in the French department of Vaucluse (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur). Culminating at 1,911 meters - 6, 270 ft, it is about 25 kilometers long on an east-west for 15 kilometers wide on a north-south axis. Nicknamed the Giant of Provence, it is the culmination of the Monts du Vaucluse, the ultimate link of the Southern Alps and the highest peak of Vaucluse. Its geographical isolation makes it visible over great distances.
Mont Ventoux is as well the linguistic border between the north and south-Occitan.
Its mainly calcareous nature is responsible, in its top part, its deep white color in every season and intense karstification due to erosion by water, with the presence of numerous scree on the south face. Precipitation is particularly abundant in spring and fall. Rainwater seeps into galleries and reflects the level of the variable flow resurgences such as Fontaine de Vaucluse or Source du Groseau.
Mont Ventoux is subject to a Mediterranean dominant weather, sometimes causing scorching temperatures during summer, the altitude offering a wide variety of climates, to the top (continental influence of mountain type), through a temperate climate (mid-slopes). In addition, the north wind can be very violent and the Mistral blows almost half part of the year.
This particular geomorphology and climate make it a rich and fragile environmental site consisting of many levels of vegetation. It is s a biosphere reserve by UNESCO and Natura 2000 site.
If human settlements are found in the foothills in prehistoric times, the first ascent to the summit would work on 26 April 1336, the poet Petrarch from Malaucène on the northern slope. It opens the way later in numerous scientific studies.
Thereafter, for nearly six centuries, Mont Ventoux has been intensely deforested to provide the shipbuilding in Toulon, charcoal manufacturers and sheep farmers. During World War II, the mountain is home to the Ventoux maquis, the french Resistance against Nazis.
Since 1966, the summit is topped with an observation tower over forty meters high topped by a TV and satellite antenna.
While sheep farming has almost disappeared, beekeeping, gardening (especially cherries), viticulture, harvesting of mushrooms including truffles and, to a lesser extent,  lavender, are still practiced.
Mont Ventoux is an important symbolic figure of Provence that fed oral or literary works and artistic performances or pictorial map.

KANGCHENJUNGA BY HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博

HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博 (1876-1950)

Kangchenjunga (8, 538m - 28,169 ft) 

India, Népal

 In Kangchenjunga, 1937- Woodblock Print.

The mountain 
 Kangchenjunga (8,586 m (28,169 ft) is the  third highest mountain in the world. It  lies partly in Nepal and partly in Sikkim, India.  Kangchenjunga is the second highest mountain of the Himalayas after Mount Everest. Three of the five peaks – Main, Central and South – are on the border between North Sikkim and Nepal. Two peaks are in the Taplejung District, Nepal.
Kangchenjunga Main is the highest mountain in India, and the easternmost of the mountains higher than 8,000 m (26,000 ft).  Until 1852, Kangchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, but calculations based on various readings and measurements made by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in 1849 came to the conclusion that Mount Everest, known as Peak XV at the time, was the highest.  It is listed int the  Eight Thousanders and as Seven Third Summits
Kangchenjunga is the official spelling adopted by Douglas Freshfield, A. M. Kellas, and the Royal Geographical Society that gives the best indication of the Tibetan pronunciation. Freshfield referred to the spelling used by the Indian Government since the late 19th century. There are a number of alternative spellings including Kangchendzцnga, Khangchendzonga, and Kanchenjunga.  Local Lhopo people believe that the treasures are hidden but reveal to the devout when the world is in peril; the treasures comprise salt, gold, turquoise and precious stones, sacred scriptures, invincible armor or ammunition, grain and medicine. Kangchenjunga's name in the Limbu language is Senjelungma or Seseylungma, and is believed to be an abode of the omnipotent goddess Yuma Sammang.
It rises in a section of the Himalayas called Kangchenjunga Himal that is limited in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak Chu and Jongsang La, and in the east by the Teesta River. It lies about 128 km (80 mi) east of Mount Everest.
Allowing for further verification of all calculations, it was officially announced in 1856 that
Kangchenjunga was first climbed on 25 May 1955 by Joe Brown and George Band, who were part of a British expedition. They stopped short of the summit as per the promise given to the Chogyal that the top of the mountain would remain inviolate. Every climber or climbing group that has reached the summit has followed this tradition...

The painter 
Hiroshi Yoshida  (not to be confused with Toshi Yoshida) was born in 1876. He began his artistic training with his adoptive father in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture. Around the age of twenty, he left Kurume to study with Soritsu Tamura in Kyoto, subsequently moving to Tokyo and the tutelage of Shotaro Koyama. Yoshida studied Western-style painting, winning many exhibition prizes and making several trips to the United States, Europe and North Africa selling his watercolors and oil paintings. In 1902, he played a leading role in the organization of the Meiji Fine Arts Society into the Pacific Painting Association. His work was featured in the exhibitions of the state-sponsored Bunten and Teiten. While highly successful as an oil painter and watercolor artist, Yoshida turned to printmaking upon learning of the Western world’s infatuation with ukiyo-e.
Following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, Yoshida embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe, painting and selling his work. When he returned to Japan in 1925, he started his own workshop, specializing in landscapes inspired both by his native country and his travels abroad. Yoshida often worked through the entire process himself: designing the print, carving his own blocks, and printing his work. His career was temporarily interrupted by his sojourn as a war correspondent in Manchuria during the Pacific War. Although he designed his last print in 1946, Yoshida continued to paint with oils and watercolors up until his death in 1950.
Yoshida was widely traveled and knowledgeable of Western aesthetics, yet maintained an allegiance to traditional Japanese techniques and traditions. Attracted by the calmer moments of nature, his prints breathe coolness, invite meditation, and set a soft, peaceful mood. All of his lifetime prints are signed “Hiroshi Yoshida” in pencil and marked with a jizuri (self-printed) seal outside of the margin. Within the image, most prints are signed “Yoshida” with brush and ink beside a red “Hiroshi” seal.

SASSOLUNGO PAINTED BY KONRAD PETRIDES

KONRAD PETRIDES  (1864-1944)

The Sassolungo  (3,181 m- 10,436ft)

Italy

  In The Langkofelgruppe- View of Saslonch-Langkofel in the Dolomites, watercolour,

The mountain 

The Sassolungo  (3,181 m- 10,436ft) (Langkofel in german)  which means Long stone is a mountain massif of the western Dolomites  (Trentino-Alto Adige). The summits of the Sassolungo group in their entirety form a circular arc, which opens only to the northwest and thus has a kind of inner courtyard. The area originated in the early Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) as a coral reef in the tropical shallow sea, where hard limestone could form on the outside of the reef, while the rock remained brittle inside and after the uplift of the mountains could be washed out quickly. 

The Sassolungo is a complex mountain with high slopes and many secondary summits :  Sasso Levante or Punta Grohmann (3,126 m -10,256 ft) ;  Punta delle Cinque Dita or Fünffingerspitze (2,998 m - 9,8360 ft) ; Sasso Piatto  or Plattkofel (2,958 m - 9,7080 ft) and Campanile Comici.
It was first First climbed by Paul Grohmann, Franz Innerkofler and Peter Salcher in 1869.

The artist 
Konrad Petrides  was a Viennese landscape and stage painter in the studio Hermann Burghart, where the painters Anton Brioschi, Josef Kautsky, Georg Jany and Leopold Rothaug also worked. He also painted many veduras, especially from Lower Austria and East Tyrol. Petrides was a member of the Dürer League, in whose exhibitions he participated and whose silver medal he received in 1919. In 1904 he also received the gold medal at the World's Fair in St. Louis, USA.

BLUE MOUNTAINS (AUSTRALIA) PAINTED BY ELIZA THURSTON

 ELIZA THURSTON (1807-1873) 

Blue Mountains  (1,189m -  3, 901ft)

Australia (New South Wales) 

 In Blue Mountain, Victoria Pass Australia, oil on canvas, 1861, National Museum of Australia.

The mountain 
The Blue Mountains of which the unnamed highest point culminate at 1,189m -  3, 901ft,  are a mountainous region and a mountain range located in New South Wales, Australia. The region borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of the state capital. The public's understanding of the extent of the Blue Mountains is varied, as it forms only part of an extensive mountainous area associated with the Great Dividing Range. Officially the Blue Mountains region is bounded by the Nepean and Hawkesbury rivers in the east, the Coxs River and Lake Burragorang to the west and south, and the Wolgan and Colo rivers to the north. Geologically, it is situated in the central parts of the Sydney Basin.
The Blue Mountains Range comprises a range of mountains, plateau escarpments extending off the Great Dividing Range about 4.8 kilometres (3.0 mi) northwest of Wolgan Gap in a generally southeasterly direction for about 96 kilometres (60 mi), terminating at Emu Plains. For about two-thirds of its length it is traversed by the Great Western Highway and the Main Western railway line. Several established towns are situated on its heights, including Katoomba, Blackheath, Mount Victoria, and Springwood. The range forms the watershed between Coxs River to the south and the Grose and Wolgan rivers to the north. The range contains the Explorer Range and the Bell Range.

The artist
Thurston painted a number of landscape views in the area during the 1860s. Her best known work in a public collection shows a panorama of the Capertee Valley taken from the Mudgee Road from the Crown Ridge (now known as Blackmans Crown).
The inclusion of human figures on the lower left corner of the picture was a compositional device popular with artists at the time. These sightseers give the viewer foreground interest as well as a sense of scale which helped emphasize the monumental power of the picturesque subject matter in the background. While not a highly realistic rendering of the scene, Thurston's Mitchell Library work has great charm and shows that the panorama seen from the Crown was as popular then as it is today.
Eliza came from an established family of artists from Bath in western England. Eliza became an art teacher after she came to Australia in 1853. She lived for a few years during the mid to late 1860s with her (Mudgee based) photographer son Horatio Thurston (1838-1881). While resident there she produced her Capertee Valley works. She died in Sydney a few years later. Her daughter, Eliza West Thurston, was an amateur artist who painted mostly floral subjects. She worked as a teacher in Rylstone and spent her later years living in Mudgee.

THE SAINTE VICTOIRE BY PAUL CÉZANNE

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906) 

Montagne Sainte-Victoire   (1, 011m - 2, 216 ft)

France (Provences-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) 

In La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, c. 1900. watercolor and graphite on wove paper,
Barnes Foundation

The mountain

Mont Sainte-Victoire (1,011 m-3,316ft)  also called Mont Venturi is a limestone massif in the South of France, in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Located east of Aix-en-Provence, it has experienced international fame, due to the more than 80 works  Paul Cézanne did  on it. It hosts many hikers, climbers and nature lovers, and is a major element of Aix landscape.

The range of the Sainte-Victoire is located on the Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, and in the towns of Puyloubier, Saint-Antonin-sur-Bayon, Rousset, Châteauneuf-le-Rouge, Beaurecueil, Le Tholonet Vauvenargues, Saint-Marc-Jaumegarde, Pourrières, Artigues and Rians.  On the northern side, the D10 crosses the Col de Claps (530 m) and the Col des Portes (631 m). On the southern side, the D 17 walks on the Plateau de Cengle and crossed the Collet blanc de Subéroque (505 m).

The massif rises to the Pic des Mouches (Peak of the Flies) (1,011 m) near the eastern end of the chain, and not at the Croix de Provence (946 m) near the west end and visible from Aix. The Pic des Mouches is one of the highest peaks of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, behind the peak Bertagne which reached an altitude of 1,042 mètres and which is located on the massif of Sainte-Baume.

Sainte-Victoire, as the range of the Sainte Baume, can be considered a special case among the Alpine ranges for the various stages of the formation of its relief associated geological history as well as that of the old Pyrenean-Provençal chain than that of the Western Alps (which have succeeded it).

Indeed,  from the former Sainte-Victoire mountain, contemporary of the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous, appeared 15 million years BCE.

Sainte-Victoire, whose calcareous sediments date back to the Jurassic, thus consists of both a Pyrenean-Provencal vestige and of an alpine geology.

The massif is a ensemble of 6525 ha classified since 1983.

The massive hosts several world-famous dinosaur eggs deposits including the Roques-Hautes / Les Grands-Creux on the town Beaurecueil.

The painter  

The mount Sainte-Victoire appears to have been the subject of a true love story with  the  painter (Paul Cézanne).  He painted  this subject more than 80 times, in oil paintings, watercolors and drawings !

Aix-en Provence (France) painter Paul Cezanne still remains closely linked to his hometown. His studio in Les Lauves remains a place to visit, as if the painter was coming back from one second to the other.  But the eternal bond is undoubtedly the series of paintings he did of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire. A hobby, a passion, a thread in the painter's work that took place in the latter part of his life, between 1882 and 1906 when he died in Aix. History  says that the painter had contracted a nasty pneumonia during a working session on the mountain. This is what can be called 'die on stage'.

Cézanne had a considerable influence on the art of the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century. Acknowledged master of his time, he attended during stays in Paris between 1862 and 1882, the Impressionist band: Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir (who also ended his life in the Provencal brightness), Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and others. He participated in the Impressionist adventure while keeping his personality: it is the time of the shock of the en plein air, easels in the grass, looking for natural light and emotion.

The influence of the Aix painter is recognized in the history of art since it would be the cause of the Cubist movement embodied in 1906 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. The first historically so called Cubist painting ' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon' would, a true artistic shock shown by Picasso in 1907 (one year after the death of Cézanne) is today one of the masterpieces of the MoMA in New York.

It is the search of volumes around which leads to the appearance of geometry in landscapes or still lifes of Cézanne.In 20 years, Cézanne pushes his style to express the emotion of the landscape, suggesting the wind, involving movement just like if we can breathe the air of the scene. In his first paintings pf the Sainte Victoire,(in the 1880’s)  he expresses the giant aspect of the mountain that dominates the area with his characteristic e way of painting at the time, with a juxtaposition of linear brushstrokes and a range of soft, natural colors.  IN the last paintings of the Sainte Victoire, view  from Les Lauves,  between 1904 and 1906, he shows shots less accurate brushes allowing the shape of the mountain emerge from the canvas like an apparition. That is the whole intention of the artist, show nature as it is without fail to convey emotion.

A true love story…

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 BY HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博

HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博 (1876-1950)

Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)

Japan

In Fujiyama from Okitsu, 1928, woodblock print 

The mountain 
Mount Fuji  ( 3,776.24 m (12,389 ft) or Fujiyama (富士山) is located on Honshu Island and is the highest mountain peak in Japan. Several names are attributed to it:  "Fuji-san", "Fujiyama" or, redundantly, "Mt. Fujiyama". Usually Japanese speakers refer to the mountain as "Fuji-san".  The other Japanese names for Mount Fuji,  have become obsolete or poetic like: Fuji-no-Yama (ふじの山 - The Mountain of Fuji), Fuji-no-Takane (ふじの高嶺- The High Peak of Fuji), Fuyō-hō (芙蓉峰 - The Lotus Peak), and Fugaku (富岳／富嶽), created by combining the first character of 富士, Fuji, and 岳, mountain.
Mount Fuji is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08. Mount Fuji lies about 100 kilometres (60 mi) south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day.
Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone, which is snow-capped several months a year, is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and photographs, as well as visited by sightseers and climbers.
Mount Fuji is one of Japan's Three Holy Mountains (三霊山) along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku. It is also a Special Place of Scenic Beauty and one of Japan's Historic Sites.
It was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site on June 22, 2013. As per UNESCO, Mount Fuji has “inspired artists and poets and been the object of pilgrimage for centuries”. UNESCO recognizes 25 sites of cultural interest within the Mt. Fuji locality. These 25 locations include the mountain itself, Fujisan Hongū Sengen Shrine and six other Sengen shrines, two lodging houses, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Kawaguchi, the eight Oshino Hakkai hot springs, two lava tree molds, the remains of the Fuji-kō cult in the Hitoana cave, Shiraito Falls, and Miho no Matsubara pine tree grove; while on the low alps of Mount Fuji lies the Taisekiji temple complex, where the central base headquarters of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism is located.

The painter 
Hiroshi Yoshida  (not to be confused with Toshi Yoshida) was born in 1876. He began his artistic training with his adoptive father in Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture. Around the age of twenty, he left Kurume to study with Soritsu Tamura in Kyoto, subsequently moving to Tokyo and the tutelage of Shotaro Koyama. Yoshida studied Western-style painting, winning many exhibition prizes and making several trips to the United States, Europe and North Africa selling his watercolors and oil paintings. In 1902, he played a leading role in the organization of the Meiji Fine Arts Society into the Pacific Painting Association. His work was featured in the exhibitions of the state-sponsored Bunten and Teiten. While highly successful as an oil painter and watercolor artist, Yoshida turned to printmaking upon learning of the Western world’s infatuation with ukiyo-e.
Following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, Yoshida embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe, painting and selling his work. When he returned to Japan in 1925, he started his own workshop, specializing in landscapes inspired both by his native country and his travels abroad. Yoshida often worked through the entire process himself: designing the print, carving his own blocks, and printing his work. His career was temporarily interrupted by his sojourn as a war correspondent in Manchuria during the Pacific War. Although he designed his last print in 1946, Yoshida continued to paint with oils and watercolors up until his death in 1950.
Yoshida was widely traveled and knowledgeable of Western aesthetics, yet maintained an allegiance to traditional Japanese techniques and traditions. Attracted by the calmer moments of nature, his prints breathe coolness, invite meditation, and set a soft, peaceful mood. All of his lifetime prints are signed “Hiroshi Yoshida” in pencil and marked with a jizuri (self-printed) seal outside of the margin. Within the image, most prints are signed “Yoshida” with brush and ink beside a red “Hiroshi” seal.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MIELUSZOWIECKI PEAK CZERNY BY STANISLAW GALEK

STANISLAW GALEK (1876-1961)   

 Mieluszowiecki Peak Czarny (2,410m - 7,906ft ) 

Poland - Slovakia border

In Tatry,  1901, oil on canvas, National Museum Krakovia

The mountain 
 Mieluszowiecki Peak Czarny (2,410m - 7,906ft )  meaning  The Black Mountain peak is a summit in the High Tatras located on the Polish-Slovak border, in the main ridge of the Tatras.
The summit was formerly called the Młyguszуw Peak over Czarny. Its walls fall with half a kilometer perches towards this lake. The north-eastern perch is finished by Kazalnica Mięguszowiecka, from which a famous north-east wall , erected vertically and cut by eaves, descends. The eastern wall (about 300 m high) falls in the direction of the Upper Devil's Kotta , whose basin is bounded by the north-eastern roost of the Mieguszowiecki Black Peak and the cliffs descending from the walls of Beef Ridge. In the north-west ridge, falling in the direction of Mięguszowiecka Przełęcz pod Chłopkiem, there is a lonely turkey called Chłopek (hence the name of the pass).

The painter 
Stanisław Gałek was a Polish painter and sculptor, and... designer of kilims. In 1896 he graduated from the Vocational School of Wood Industry in Zakopane and then taught in it a drawing, being an assistant to Edgar Kováts . In 1899 he began studies at the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jacek Malczewski and Jan Stanisławski. A year later, he stopped studying in Kraków and left for Munich , where he began studying at Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule.
Later, he studied at the Paris École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Jean-Léon Gérôme.
In 1910, he left to create in Italy and the Crimea . In 1912 he received the work of a drawing teacher at a vocational school in Kołomyja, from where he returned to Zakopane in 1916 and again began to teach at the School of Wood Industry.
From 1931, he devoted himself only to painting.
 He exhibited his works for the first time in 1900, he was a regular participant in exhibitions organized by the Krakow Society of Friends of Fine Arts and from 1907 by the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts. He took part in an international exhibition organized in 1910 in Berlin, and in 1929 in the Poznań Universal National Exhibition. In 1930 he exhibited in Budapest and Vienna.  In 1960, the Warsaw Zachęta exhibition hosted an individual jubilee exhibition showing the full artistic output of Stanisław Gałek. He was one of the most outstanding painters showing the Tatras , especially the area around Morskie Oko.
In addition, he carved and designed patterns of kilims for the Kilim association in Zakopane.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MOUNT DISCOVERY BY EDWARD ADRIAN WILSON

EDWARD ADRIAN WILSON (1872-912)

Mount Discovery  (2, 681m - 8,796 ft)

Antarctica

 In Mount Discovery, 1904, watercolour on paper, Royal Geographical Society, London.

About this watercolour

 This is the first representation ever made of Mount Discovery by those which have discovered it and named it. In the distance, one can seen the pale shape of Mount Erebus. From 1901 to 1904, Wilson acted as Junior Surgeon, Zoologist and expedition artist, setting off with the expedition on 6 August 1901. They reached Antarctica in January 1902. On 2 November 1902, Wilson, Scott and Ernest Shackleton set off on a journey that, at the time, was the southern-most trek achieved by any explorer. The party had dogs but they were not experienced in using them and the food brought for the dogs had gone bad. With many of the dogs dead, they turned back on 31 December 1902 having reached latitude 82°17'S. They had travelled 300 miles farther south than anyone before them and were only 480 miles from the Pole. Shackleton was deteriorating rapidly, coughing blood and suffering fainting spells and unable to help pull the sledge. Scott and Wilson, themselves suffering, struggled to get the party home. It was a close call but 93 days after setting off, having covered 960 miles, they reached the Discovery and safety in February 1903. The following month, Shackleton, having suffered particularly badly from scurvy and exhaustion, was sent home early by Scott on the relief ship, Morning. On his return, Shackleton asked Wilson to join his Nimrod expedition to Antarctica in 1907, but partly out of loyalty to Scott, he declined.

The mountain 

Mount Discovery  (2, 681m - 8,796 ft) is a conspicuous, isolated stratovolcano, lying at the head of McMurdo Sound and east of Koettlitz Glacier, overlooking the NW portion of the Ross Ice Shelf. It forms the center of a three-armed mass of which Brown Peninsula is one extension to the north; Minna Bluff is a second to the east; the third is Mount Morning to the west.  It was discovered by the Discovery British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-1904) and named for their expedition ship Discovery.

The artist

Edward Adrian Wilson,  nicknamed "Uncle Bill" was an English physician, polar explorer, natural historian, painter and ornithologist. Wilson took part in two British expeditions to Antarctica, the Discovery Expedition (1901-1904)  and the tragic Terra Nova Expedition (1907-1912), both under the leadership of Scott.
Dr. Edward A. Wilson  is widely regarded as one of the finest artists ever to have worked in the Antarctic. Sailing with Captain Scott aboard 'Discovery' (1901-1904), he became the last in a long tradition of 'exploration artists' from an age when pencil and water-colour were the main methods of producing accurate scientific records of new lands and animal species. He combined scientific, topographical and landscape techniques to produce accurate and beautiful images of the last unknown continent. Such was the strength of his work that it also helped to found the tradition of modern wildlife painting. In particular Wilson captured the essence of the flight and motion of Southern Ocean sea-birds on paper.
Returning with Captain Scott aboard 'Terra Nova' (1910-1913) as Chief of Scientific Staff, he continued to record the continent and its wildlife with extraordinary deftness. Chosen to accompany Captain Scott to the South Pole, his last drawings are from one of the most famous epic journeys in exploration history. Along with his scientific work, Wilson's pencil recorded the finding of Roald Amundsen's tent at the South Pole by Captain Scott. Wilson died, along with the other members of the British Pole Party, during the return journey, in March 1912. The drawings and paintings were created at considerable personal cost in the freezing conditions in which Wilson worked. He often suffered severely from the cold whilst sketching and also from snow-blindness, or sunburn of the eye. They provide a remarkable testament to one of the great figures of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. The book has been produced as a companion volume to 'Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks' by two of Wilson's great nephews, to mark the centenary of his death.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

MOUNT ZEUS PAINTED BY CLÉMENT SERVEAU

CLÉMENT SERVEAU (1886-1972)

Mount Zeus or Zas (1,003 m - 3,290 ft) 

Greece  (Naxos)

  In Naxos Cyclades, oil on canvas,  private collection 

The mountain 

Mount Zeus  also called Mount Zas (1,003 m - 3,290 ft) has the proud status of being the highest peak in the Greek Cyclades. Located in the Tragea region on the island of Naxos, Mount Zeus has important historical significance. In ancient times, the local Greeks believed that the cave on the northwest flanks of the mountain was the birthplace of the god Zeus. Zeus, the god of the gods, became known to the Olympians. This is how Mount Zeus and the Cave Of Zeus were named.

The mountain falls fairly quickly in the sea in the eastern part of the island. More than half of Naxos are slopes over 25% 9.

According to summit post, there are two popular routes to the summit and a third which is not often used. The easiest is the Aghia Marina route, nicknamed after the little chapel near where it starts. This well-maintained trail is posted with a number of signs and cairns and is easy to follow to the summit. The second route is called Aria Spring / Cave Of Zeus. This route is more interesting than Aghia Marina but is also steeper and more of a challenge. A few spots might require the use of hands. The third route follows the entire south ridge and will not be described here but you can take a look at it on the map. For those using a GPS, these coordinates might be useful.

The painter 

Henri-Clément Serveau, also known as Clément Serveau was a French painter, designer, engraver and illustrator. Clément Serveau produced works in a realist manner early on, but soon became interested in the new movements. He was influenced by his friend Louis Marcoussis and experimented with Cubism, utilising geometric patterns to give the illusion of form and space. Later in his career he turned toward abstraction with a post-cubist stance. He designed banknotes for the Banque de France and produced large murals and participated in numerous French and international exhibitions.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

Un blog de Francis Rousseau

WAUCOBA MOUNTAINS PAINTED BY MAYNARD DIXON

MAYNARD DIXON (1875-1946)

Waucoba Mountain (3,390m - 11, 123ft) 

United States of America (California)  

In Sunset Inyo Mountains,  oil on canvas, 1929 Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, Arizona,

The mountains
Waucoba Mountain (3,390m - 11, 123ft) is the highest peak in the Inyo Mountains, a short mountain range east of the Sierra Nevada mountains in eastern California in the United States. The range separates the Owens Valley to the west from Saline Valley to the east, extending for approximately 70 mi (130 km) SSE from the southern end of the White Mountains, from which they are separated by Westgard Pass, to east of Owens Lake. Geologically, the mountains are a fault block range in the Basin and Range Province, at the western end of the Great Basin. They are considered to be among the most important and best-known Late Proterozoic to Cambrian sections in the United States.

The artist
Maynard Dixon  was an American artist whose body of work focused on the American West. He was married for a time to American photographer Dorothea Lange. In 1900, Dixon visited Arizona and New Mexico. This was the start of his lifelong passion for roaming the West. The next year he accompanied artist Edward Borein on a horseback trip through several Western states. In California, he illustrated books and magazines with Western themes. Some of his most memorable work from these early years appeared in Clarence Mulford’s books about Hopalong Cassidy.
Influenced in part by the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, Dixon began to search for a new expression, moving away from impressionism and into a simpler, more modern style. His wife  Dorothea Lange, had a great influence on his art.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
 by Francis Rousseau

THE DOME DES NEIGES DES ECRINS PAINTED BY CARLOS DE HAES

CARLOS DE HAES (1829-1898)

Dôme de neige des Ecrins (4, 009 m  - 13,153 ft)

France (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) 

In Delfinado, oil on canvas, 1864,  Museo del Prado, Madrid

About this painting
In the  text of the Prado Museum about this painting, one can read :
 "To the left, bordered by bushes and shrubs, a path through which several cows pass and that goes towards the bottom of the valley in which the settlement of a population among the forest mass can be guessed. Closing the composition, the high heights of the Cordillera that runs along the Dauphiné  on whose summits persist snow patches that fade into the clarity of a clear sky dotted by some cloud."
 The painting recalls a summit of the Ecrins Bar range, possibly the Dôme de Neiges des Ecrins  (Ecrins snow dome) rather than the Ecrin bar itself...

The mountain 
The Domes de neige des Ecrins (Ecrins snow dome) (4,009 m - 13, 154ft ) is an alpine peak at the foot of the Écrins Bar, at the border between the French departments of Isère and Hautes-Alpes in the Dauphiné region (Delfinado in spanish). The Blanc glacier is surrounded by peaks allowing you to get acquainted with the high mountains before the ascent of this "4000" and acclimatize your body to the altitude. The climb is usually from the Ecrins refuge (3,170 m) and takes three to four hours for trained alpinists. It is a glacial race without technical difficulty, except for the crossing of the summit rimaye, random.
The current climb record is 1 h 57 from the Carle yard (1,874 m), made by Mathéo Jacquemoud in June 2011; it improves the record of Kílian Jornet dating from 2005. The record for round-trip skiing in mountain is 2 h 46 from the meadow of Madame Carle, directed by Steven Blanc in May 2014

The painter 
The spanish painter Carlos Sebastián Pedro Hubert de Haes was noted for the Realism in his landscapes, and was considered to be the "first contemporary Spanish artist able to capture something of a particularly Spanish 'essence' in his work". He was cited along with Jenaro Perez Villaamil and Aureliano de Beruete as one of the three Spanish grand masters of landscape painting, the latter of which was his pupil.
In the 1850s, Haes was involved in the rise of the Realist school of landscape. Coincidentally his landscape and wildlife paintings of the Monasterio de Piedra occurred at the time of an academic opening for the Painting School of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the selection to be made by a landscape competition. In 1857 he became the first professor of landscape painting, the first in Spain to teach painting directly from nature. In 1860, he became an Academic at the Royal Academy. In 1876, he presented at the National Exhibition with La Canal de Mancorbo en los Picos de Europa ("The Canal of Mancorbo in the Picos de Europa") later acquired by the Spanish state to be part of the collection of the Museo del Prado, because of its significance as a realistic Spanish landscape painting.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
A blog by Francis Rousseau

MOSRSKIE OKO & THE RYSY PAINTED BY JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI (1802-1847)

JAN NEPOMUCEN GLOWACKI (1802-1847) 

The Rysy (2,503 m (8,212 ft) 

Lake Morskie Oko (1,395m - 4,577ft )

Poland - Slovakia border 

 In  Morskie Oko w Tatrach, 1837, Muzeum Narodowe Krakowie, Poland

The mountain and the lake 
The Rysy (2,503 m -8,212 ft), the  the highest point in Poland. named Meeraugspitze in German and  Tengerszem-csúcs in Hungarian is a mountain in the crest of the High Tatras, lying on the border between Poland and Slovakia. Rysy has three summits: the middle at 2,503 m (8,212 ft); the north-western at 2,499 m (8,199 ft); and the south-eastern at 2,473 m (8,114 ft). The north-western summit is the highest point of Poland ; the other two summits are on the Slovak side of the border, in the Prezov Region. A folk explanation on the Slovak side says that the name comes from the plural word rysy meaning "lynxes", although the habitat of the lynx does not extend above the timberline.
The Hungarian name Tengerszem-csúcs and the German name Meeraugspitze mean "eye-of-the-sea peak", from the glacial lake at the northern foot of the mountain, called "eye of the sea" (Morskie Oko in Polish).  Morskie Oko (literally Eye of the Sea") is the largest and fourth-deepest lake (50, 8 m - 166 ft)  in the Tatra Mountains. It is located deep within the Tatra National Park,  in the Rybi Potok Valley, of the High Tatras mountain range at a n altitude of 1,395m - 4,577ft.
Many Swiss Pines also grow around the lake as shown in this painting.
Recently The Morskie Oko has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, one of the five most beautiful lakes in the world.

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" (above) are said to mark the beginning of realist Polish mountain painting.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
 by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT CHOCORUA PAINTED BY JOHN MARIN

JOHN MARIN (1870-1953)

Mount Chocorua (1,061m - 3,480 ft)

United States of America (New Hampshire)

In Mount Chocorua, White Mountains series,  watercolor, 1926.

The painter 
John Marin was a seminal American modernist painter. He was one of the first Americans to employ techniques of abstraction in his calligraphic depictions of landscapes and city streets. Along with Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, and Georgia O’Keeffe, Marin helped introduce a new aesthetic model for American painters. “I must for myself insist that when finished, that is when all the parts are in place and are working, that now it has become an object and will therefore have its boundaries as definite as the prow, the stern, the sides, and bottom bound as a boat” he once reflected.
Marin started his career in art later in life, graduating from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1901 at the age of 30. In 1905, he travelled to Europe, lived in Paris (1905-1909) where he developed his signature watercolor technique and met the artist Edward Steichen. It was Steichen that introduced his work to the photographer Alfred Stieglitz, who mounted Marin’s first solo show in 1909, and financially supported the artist over the remainder of his career.
Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.
He developed a more dynamic, fractured style from 1912 to depict the interaction of conflicting forces, and gradually evolved summary ways of rendering his vivid impressions of sea, sky, mountains or the skyscrapers of Manhattan. In the 1920s worked almost exclusively in watercolour; after 1930 painted largely in oils.

The mountain 
Mount Chocorua (1,061m - 3,480 ft) is a summit in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the easternmost peak of the Sandwich Range. Although the range is not outstanding for its elevation, it is very rugged and has excellent views of the surrounding lakes, mountains, and forests. Mount Chocorua's bare summit can be seen from almost every direction and can be identified from many points throughout central New Hampshire and western Maine.
It is believed that Chocorua was the name of a Native American man in the 18th century, although no authentic records of his life exist. The usual story is that in about 1720 Chocorua was on friendly terms with settlers and in particular the Campbell family that had a home in the valley now called Tamworth. Chocorua was called away and left his son in the care of the Campbell family. The boy found and drank a poison that Mr. Campbell had made to eliminate troublesome foxes, and Chocorua returned to find his son had died. Chocorua, distraught with grief, pledged revenge on the family. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Campbell returned home one afternoon to find his wife and children had been slain. Campbell suspected Chocorua and pursued him up the mountain that today bears his name. Chocorua was wounded by a shot from Campbell's rifle. Before Campbell could reach Chocorua, he uttered a curse upon the white settlers and their homes, livestock, and crops, and leapt from the summit to his death. There are at least three other versions of the legend of Chocorua...
Mount Chocorua is a popular destination for hikers. Although it is under 3,500 feet (1,100 m) in elevation, its bare and rocky summit commands excellent views in all directions. Since most trails begin at much lower elevations, a hike to the summit is a strenuous exercise. There are many trails up the mountain, and they can be quite crowded during the summer months. Especially popular are the Piper Trail (4.2 miles (6.8 km) each way from the east), the Champney Falls Trail (from the north), and the Liberty Trail (from the southwest).

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

JEBEL BOU KORBOUS BY ALBERT MARQUET

ALBERT MARQUET (1875–1947)

Jebel Bou Korbous (401 m - 1314 ft)

Tunisia

 In Paysage de Sidi Bou Said, watercolour, 1923, Private collection 

The hill
Jebel Bou Korbous  (401 m - 1314 ft) is a mountain located in the Korbous massif, east of Jebel Douela and west of El Bredj, in the Gulf of Tunis in Tunisia. It can be seen from the hill of Sidi Bou Saïd (like in thus painting). From Tunis, in good weather conditions, one can easily see  these mountains that flow into the sea on the other side of the Gulf of Tunis, home to several hot springs.
Many activities are possible: hiking, swimming, diving, hydrotherapy ... Particularity of the massif: tiny caves formed in the sandstone blocks. Under the effect of wind and rain, some blocks partially disintegrated, forming these small natural shelters.

The painter 
Albert Marquet was a French painter, associated with the Fauvist movement. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. In 1890 Marquet moved to Paris to attend the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, where he met Henri Matisse. They were roommates for a time, and they influenced each other's work. Marquet began studies in 1892 at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris under Gustave Moreau, the famous symbolist artist. In 1905 he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. Dismayed by the intense coloration in these paintings, critics reacted by naming the artists the "Fauves", i.e. the wild beasts. Although Marquet painted with the fauves for years, he used less bright and violent colours than the others, and emphasized less intense tones made by mixing complementaries, thus always as colors and never as grays.
From 1907 to his death, Marquet alternated between working in his studio in Paris (a city he painted a lot of times) and many parts of the European coast and in North Africa. He was most involved with Algeria and Algiers and Tunisia. He remained also impressed particularly with Naples and Venice where he painted the sea and boats, accenting the light over water.  During his voyages to Germany and Sweden he painted the subjects he usually preferred: river and sea views, ports and ships, but also cityscapes.

Matisse said ; "When I look at Hokusai, I think of Marquet—and vice versa ... I don't mean imitation of Hokusai, I mean similarity with him".

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

GUNUNG RINJANI PAINTED BY ERNEST DEZENTJE

ERNEST DEZENTJE (1885- 1972)

Gunung Rinjani (3,727m - 12,224ft)

Indonesia (Lombok) 

The mountain
Gunung Rinjani (3,727m - 12,224ft) is an active volcano in Indonesia on the island of Lombok, the second highest volcano in Indonesia. On the top of the volcano is a 6-by-8.5-kilometre (3.7 by 5.3 mi) caldera, which is filled partially by the crater lake known as Segara Anak or Anak Laut (Child of the Sea), due to the color of its water, as blue as the sea (laut).This lake is approximately 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) above sea level and estimated to be about 200 metres (660 ft) deep; the caldera also contains hot springs. Sasak tribe and Hindu people assume the lake and the mount are sacred and some religious activities are occasionally done in the two areas.[3] On 27 September 2016 14:45 WITA Rinjani erupted.
UNESCO has made Mount Rinjani Caldera a part of the Global Geoparks Network in April 2018.

The painter
The ‘Indisch’- Indonesian landscape painter Ernest Regnard Leonce Dezentjé was an autodidact. His career (mostly local) began when first president of the Republic of Indonesia, Soekarno (1901-1970), - who declared the independence of the country in 1945, felt in love with his painting and decided to make him the "court painter". Dezentje was then labelled an impressionist of the early Indonesian School, being considered by critics and young artists as a typical establishment artist. Along his eminently nationalistic themas the mountains and volcanoes of Indonesia took a important place.
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2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT ELBRUS AND CAUCASUS RANGE BY IVAN AIVAZOVSKY

IVAN AIVAZOVSKY (1817-1900) 

Mount Elbrus (5,642 m - 18,510 ft)

Russia 

In Caucasus range with Mount Elbrus in the foreground, oil on canvas

The mountain 
Mount Elbrus (Эльбру́с) (5,642 m - 18,510 ft) also called  Karachay-Balkar (Минги таy) is the highest mountain in Europe, and the seven highest summit in the world.  The seven summit (which are obviously 8, with  2 in Europe !) are : Mount Everest (8,848m), Aconcagua (6,961m), Mt Denali or Mc Kinley (6,194m),  Kilimandjaro (5,895m), Mt Elbrus (5,642m), Vinson  Massif (4,892m), Mt Blanc (4,807m) and Mount Kosciuszko  (2,228m) in Australia.
Mount Elbrus should not be confused with the Alborz (also called Elburz) mountains in Iran, which also derive their name from the legendary mountain Harā Bərəzaitī in Persian mythology.
A dormant volcano, Elbrus forms part of the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, near the border with Georgia. Elbrus has two summits, both of which are dormant volcanic domes.  The east summit is 5,621 metres (18,442 ft) was first ascended on 10 July 1829 by Khillar Khachirov, a Karachayguide for an Imperial Russian army scientific expedition led by General Emmanuel, and the higher in 1874 by an British expedition led by F. Crauford Grove and including Frederick Gardner, Horace Walker, and the Swiss guide Peter Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais.
While there are differing authorities on how the Caucasus are distributed between Europe and Asia, most relevant modern authorities define the continental boundary as the Caucasus watershed, placing Elbrus in Europe due to its position on the north side in Russia.
Mount Elbrus was formed more than 2.5 million years ago. The volcano is currently considered inactive.

The painter 

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (Ива́н Константи́нович Айвазо́вский)  was a Russian Romantic painter. Despite he is considered one of the greatest marine artists in history, he painted a few mountains landscapes.  Aivazovsky was born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia and was mostly based in his native Crimea.  Following his education at the Imperial Academy of Arts, Aivazovsky traveled to Europe and lived briefly in Italy in the early 1840s. He then returned to Russia and was appointed the main painter of the Russian Navy. Aivazovsky had close ties with the military and political elite of the Russian Empire and often attended military maneuvers. He was sponsored by the state and was well-regarded during his lifetime. The saying "worthy of Aivazovsky's brush", popularized by Anton Chekhov, was used in Russia for "describing something ineffably lovely." One of the most prominent Russian artists of his time, Aivazovsky was also popular outside Russia. He held numerous solo exhibitions in Europe and the United States. During his almost 60-year career, he created around 6,000 paintings, making him one of the most prolific artists of his time. The vast majority of his works are seascapes, but he often depicted battle scenes, Armenian themes, and portraiture. Most of Aivazovsky's works are kept in Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian museums as well as private collections.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

AORAKI / MOUNT COOK PAINTED BY AUSTEN DEANS

AUSTEN DEANS (1915-2011)
Aoraki/ Mount Cook (3,724m - 12, 218ft) 

New Zealand (South Island)

  In Rangitata near the sky, watercolor, 1968 

The mountain 
Aoraki / Mount Cook (3,724m - 12, 218ft)  is the highest mountain in New Zealand.  It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers. Aoraki / Mount Cook consists of three summits, from South to North the Low Peak (3,593 m or 11,788 ft), Middle Peak (3,717 m or 12,195 ft) and High Peak. The summits lie slightly south and east of the main divide of the Southern Alps, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the southwest.The mountain is in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, in the Canterbury region. The park was established in 1953 and along with Westland National Park, Mount Aspiring National Park and Fiordland National Park forms one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The park contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and 72 named glaciers, which cover 40 percent of its 700 square kilometres (170,000 acres).
Aoraki is the name of a person in the traditions of the Ngāi Tahu iwi; an early name for the South Island is Te Waka o Aoraki (Aoraki's Canoe). In the past many believed it meant "Cloud Piercer",  Historically, the Māori name has been spelt Aorangi, using the standard Māori form.
Aoraki / Mount Cook has been known to Maori since their arrival in New Zealand some time around the 14th century CE. The first Europeans who may have seen Aoraki / Mount Cook were members of Abel Tasman's crew, who saw a "large land uplifted high" while off the west coast of the South Island, just north of present-day Greymouth on 13 December 1642 during Tasman's first Pacific voyage. The English name of Mount Cook was given to the mountain in 1851 by Captain John Lort Stokes to honour Captain James Cook who surveyed and circumnavigated the islands of New Zealand in 1770. Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his exploration.
Following the settlement between Ngāi Tahu and the Crown in 1998, the name of the mountain was officially changed from Mount Cook to Aoraki / Mount Cook to incorporate its historic Māori name, Aoraki. As part of the settlement, a number of South Island placenames were amended to incorporate their original Māori name. Signifying the importance of Aoraki / Mount Cook, it is the only one of these names where the Māori name precedes the English.

The painter
Art historian Dr Warren Feeney, a former director of Christchurch's Centre of Contemporary Art, said Deans was an artist "incredibly sensitive'' to the Canterbury landscape. "There's absolutely no doubt that Austen was a very good painter indeed. No-one could do a watercolour wash like him - he was a master in the medium. "

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

PICO CALDOVEIRO PAINTED BY DAVID BOMBERG

DAVID BOMBERG (1890-1957) 

Pico Caldoveiro (1,357 m - 4,452 ft)

Spain (Asturias) 

In The Mountains of Asturias, Spain, 1925,  oil on canvas, Private collection 

The Mountain 
Pico Caldoveiro (1,357 m - 4,452 ft) is a protected mountain range in Asturias, Northern Spain, It spans the parishes of Yernes, Proaza, Tameza, Grau (Grado), and Teberga (Teverga). Minerals found in Caldoveiro mines include Fluorite, Calcite, and Quartz. The Asturian administration uses Pico Caldoveiro in its tourism advertising, describing the mountain range as so:
The varied vegetation of this nature area and the different processes of erosion that sculpt contrasting terrain form a picturesque landscape dotted with small mountain lakes and high pastures with stone huts known as corros.

The painter 
David Garshen Bomberg was an English painter, and one of the Whitechapel Boys. Bomberg was one of the most audacious of the exceptional generation of artists who studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry Tonks, and which included Mark Gertler, Stanley Spencer, C.R.W. Nevinson and Dora Carrington.  Bomberg painted a series of complex geometric compositions combining the influences of cubism and futurism in the years immediately preceding World War I; typically using a limited number of striking colours, turning humans into simple, angular shapes, and sometimes overlaying the whole painting a strong grid-work colouring scheme. He was expelled from the Slade School of Art in 1913, with agreement between the senior teachers Tonks, Frederick Brown and Philip Wilson Steer, because of the audacity of his breach from the conventional approach of that time.
Whether because his faith in the machine age had been shattered by his experiences as a private soldier in the trenches or because of the pervasive retrogressive attitude towards modernism in Britain Bomberg moved to a more figurative style in the 1920s and his work became increasingly dominated by portraits and landscapes drawn from nature. Gradually developing a more expressionist technique, he travelled widely through the Middle East and Europe.

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

TENZING MONTES BY NASA NEW HORIZONS

NASA NEW HORIZONS (2006-2019...)

Tenzing Montes (6, 200m / 6.2km - 20, 344ft / 3.9 mi)

PLUTO

 About image
This close-up image of a Tenzing Montes near Pluto’s equator captured by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015 reveals a range of youthful mountains  above the surface of the dwarf planet. This iconic image of the mountains, informally named Norgay Montes (Norgay Mountains) was captured about 1 ½ hours before New Horizons’ closest approach to Pluto, when the craft was 47,800 miles (77,000 kilometers) from the surface of the icy body.  The star in the foreground is the Sun, Pluto  being the  farthest planet from the sun of our solar system.

The mountains
The Tenzing Montes (6, 200m / 6.2km - 20, 344ft / 3.9 mi) formerly Norgay Montes are icy mountains, near the Hillary Montes, bordering the southwest region of Sputnik Planitia in the south of Tombaugh Regio (or the part of Tombaugh Regio south of the equator).  They are the highest mountain range on Pluto, and also the steepest, with a mean slope of 19.2 degrees.
The mountains, first viewed by the New Horizons spacecraft on 14 July 2015, and announced by NASA on 15 July 2015, are named after the Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who, along with Sir Edmund Hillary, made the first successful ascent of the highest peak on Earth, Mount Everest (29 May 1953). The mountains were informally called Norgay Montes by the New Horizons team, but that name was later changed from Norgay to Tenzing. On 7 September 2017, the name Tenzing Montes was officially approved together with the names of Tombaugh Regio and twelve other nearby surface features.
The Tenzing Montes rise up to 6.2 km (3.9 mi) high, about twice as high as the Hillary Montes. In comparison, Mount Everest rises 4.6 km (2.9 mi) base-to-peak though to an altitude of 8.8 km (5.5 mi) above sea level making it the highest peak on earth.

The space mission
New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by S. Alan Stern,  the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015, and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow. It is the fifth artificial object to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System.
Most of the post-Jupiter voyage was spent in hibernation mode to preserve on-board systems, except for brief annual checkouts. On December 6, 2014, New Horizons was brought back online for the Pluto encounter, and instrument check-out began. On January 15, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft began its approach phase to Pluto.
On July 14, 2015, at 11:49 UTC, it flew 12,500 km (7,800 mi) above the surface of Pluto, making it the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet. On October 25, 2016, at 21:48 UTC, the last of the recorded data from the Pluto flyby was received from New Horizons. Having completed its flyby of Pluto,  New Horizons has maneuvered for a flyby of Kuiper belt object (486958) 2014 MU69, expected to take place on January 1, 2019, when it will be 43.4 AU from the Sun.
In August 2018, NASA confirmed, based on results by Alice on the New Horizons spacecraft, of a "hydrogen wall" at the outer edges of the Solar System that was first detected in 1992 by the two Voyager spacecraft.

GUNUNG BROMO PAINTED BY ERNEST DEZENTJE

ERNEST DEZENTJE (1885- 1972),
Gunung Bromo (2,329m - 7,641ft)

Indonesia (Java Timur)

The mountain 

Gunung Bromo (2,329m - 7,641ft) or Gunung Brama, an active volcano,in East Java, Indonesia,  is not the highest peak of the Tengger massif, but the best known. The massif area is one of the most visited tourist attractions in East Java, Indonesia. The volcano belongs to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. The name of Bromo derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god. Gunung Bromo sits in the middle of a plain called the "Sea of Sand"  a protected nature reserve since 1919. The best way to visit Gunung Bromo is from the nearby mountain village of Cemoro Lawang, from where it is possible to walk during 45 mn to the volcano. It is also possible to take an organised jeep tour, which includes a stop at the viewpoint on Gunung Penanjakan (2,770 m - 9,088 ft).

On the fourteenth day of the Hindu festival of Yadnya Kasada, the Tenggerese people of Probolinggo, East Java, travel up the mountain in order to make offerings of fruit, rice, vegetables, flowers and sacrifices to the mountain gods by throwing it into the caldera of the volcano. The origin of the ritual lies in the 15th century legend when princess  Roro Anteng started the principality of Tengger with her husband, Joko Seger. The couple were childless and therefore beseeched the assistance of the mountain gods. The gods granted them 24 children but stipulated that the 25th child, named Kesuma, must be thrown into the volcano as a human sacrifice. The gods' request was implemented. The tradition of throwing sacrifices into the volcano to appease these ancient deities continues today and is called the Yadnya Kasada ceremony. Though fraught with danger, some locals risk climbing down into the crater in an attempt to recollect the sacrificed goods that they believe could bring them good luck.

Depending on the degree of volcanic activity, the Indonesian Centre for Volcanology and Disaster Hazard Mitigation sometimes issues warnings against visiting Mount Bromo.

 Mount Bromo recently erupted in 2004, 2010, 2011 and 2015.

The painter

The ‘Indisch’- Indonesian landscape painter Ernest Regnard Leonce Dezentjé was an autodidact.  His career  (mostly local) began when first president of the Republic of Indonesia, Soekarno (1901-1970), - who declared the independence of the country in 1945, felt in love with his painting and decided to make him the  "court painter".  Dezentje was then labelled an impressionist of the early Indonesian School, being considered by critics and young artists as a  typical establishment artist.  Along his eminently nationalistic themas the mountains and volcanoes of Indonesia took a important place.