LAILA GOURAYA PAINTED BY MARIUS DE BUZON

MARIUS DE BUZON (1879-1958)

Laila Gouraya (660 m - 2,165 ft)

Algeria

In  La bucolique Kabylie, oil on canvas,  1923  112 x186 cm, Musée des Beaux Arts de Bordeaux 

The mountain 
Laila Gouraya (660 m - 2,165 ft) also named Yemma Gouray  is a mountain that overlooks the city of Béjaïa in Algeria. It would also be the burial place of the saint patron of the city, Yemma Gouraya, but no archaeological evidence exists.
According to tradition, Yemma Gouraya was the sister of Yemma Mezghitane,  saint patron of Jijel, and Yemma Timezrit, saint  patron of Timezrit.
Mount Gouraya is part of the Gouraya National Park. It is a protected area, very popular with tourists: it welcomes around 1,200,000 visitors a year, especially in summer.

The painter
Frederic Marius de Buzon  is a French painter of the school of Algiers of Spanish ancestry, descendant of Francisco de Goya.
In 1939, the well known french journalist and writer Max-Pol Fouchet said about him in Algeria : "The praise of M. de Buzon seems to me useless to do. We know the serious and powerful art of this painter, but he also knows how to release on his canvases a Corotian tenderness before such a French landscape. He moves only more."  While according to Victor Barrucand, "he highlighted the essential lines of the landscapes, sculpting large swathes of the Kabyles valleys " .

He is knighted by the Legion of Honor.
He is considered, and quoted, as the "cantor of Kabylie" and one of the founders of the School of Algiers (following Maxime Noiré, and with Léon Carré, Léon Cauvy, Paul Jouve). He also paints landscapes and types of the region of Bougie, the Mzab (where he is one of the first painters to enter, after Étienne Dinet, with Maurice Bouviolle, Touggourt where he regularly stays after 1945 (L'Heure Blonde,  1950), Témacine (1953), and Sidi Bou Saïd, or Spain and Morocco, Casablanca, Rabat or Fez.
His works are highly sought after by collectors as representing scenes of Kabyle life, landscapes, pastoral scenes; "He substitutes for the notion of ethnic identification, that infinitely more poetic allegory  " wrote Élisabeth Cazenave, while in 1930 Pierre Angel : "Marius de Buzon continued on these African shores the ancient dreams of the pagan mysticism. "

Marius de Buzon died at the end of November 1958 in Algiers; his son Jean and grandson Jean-Frédéric were murdered in 1962 while trying to move and save the workshop of their father and grandfather.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT KENYA BY ANTHONY MWANGI

ANTHONY MWANGI  (bn. 1969)

 Mount Kenya (5,199 m -17,057 ft) 

Kenya 

In Mount Kenya in the morning, oil on canvas 

The mountain
Mount Kenya (5,199 m -17,057 ft) is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The origin of the name Kenya is not clear, but perhaps linked to the Kikuyu, Embu and Kamba words Kirinyaga, Kirenyaa and Kiinyaa which mean "God's resting place" in all three languages. Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, about 16.5 kilometres (10.3 mi) south of the equator, around 150 kilometres (93 mi) north-northeast of the capital Nairobi.
Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya.
Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African rift. Before glaciation, it was 7,000 m (23,000 ft) high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the centre. There are currently 11 small glaciers and 8 peaks of which the highest are :

- Batian (5,199 m - (17,057 ft) (middle of the painting above) 

- Nelion (5,188 m - 17,021 ft)) (on left in the painting above)

- Point Lenana (4,985 m - 16,355 ft). 

 The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya.
There are several vegetation bands from the base to the summit. The lower slopes are covered by different types of forest. Many alpine species are endemic to Mount Kenya, such as the giant lobelias and senecios and a local subspecies of rock hyrax. An area of 715 km2 (276 sq mi) around the centre of the mountain was designated a National Park and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The park receives over 16,000 visitors per year.
The main ethnic groups living around Mount Kenya are Kikuyu, Ameru, Embu and Maasai.
The first three are closely related. They all see the mountain as an important aspect of their cultures. The most famous Maasai are semi-nomadic people, who use the land to the north of the mountain to graze their cattle. They believe that their ancestors came down from the mountain at the beginning of time. The Maasai name for Mount Kenya is Ol Donyo Keri, which means 'mountain of stripes', referring to the dark shades as observed from the surrounding plains. At least one Maasai prayer refers to Mount Kenya: " God bless our children, let them be like the olive tree of Morintat, let them grow and expand, let them be like Ngong Hills like Mt. Kenya, like Mt. Kilimanjaro and multiply in number. "

The artist
The kenyan artist Anthony Mwangi, born in 1969, is a painter and a photographer.

Apparently self educated in arts, he exhibited his works in Kenya and sold several pieces in Kenyan Galleries. Nowadays he works on commissions and sell canvas prints in his own local Gallery called Small Digger Art Gallery.
Unfortunately this very talented young artist is not very well known in Europe. His painting style is very close to Akseli Gallen Kallela's one. His palette often reminiscent of the great welsh landscaper Sir Kiffin Williams. The future will surely tell us more about his own style and his own pictorial orientations.
Anthony Mwangi, worked as well in 2D, 3D modeling and Animation film. In 2013, he worked on a 21 minute Animated Movie (Makmende II Begins).
To see more of Anthony Mwangi's works,  click here

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

WEST ROCK RIDGE PAINTED BY FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH

FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH (1826-1900) 

West Rock Ridge (213 m - 700 ft)  

United States of America (Connecticut)

 In West Rock Ridge,  New Haven oil on canvas,  1849,  The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C

The ridge
West Rock Ridge or West Rock  (210 m- 700ft)  of south-central Connecticut, is a 7-mile (11 km) long trap rock mountain ridge located on the west side of New Haven. The ridge forms a continuous line of exposed cliffs visible from metropolitan New Haven and points west. West Rock Ridge is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border.
West Rock Ridge is popular for recreation and known for its microclimate ecosystems, rare plant communities, and expansive views from cliffs that tower up to 500 feet (152 m) above the surrounding landscape.  The ridge is traversed by a network of hiking trails including the 7-mile (11 km) Regicides Trail and the southern terminus of the 23-mile (37 km) Quinnipiac Trail.

The painter
Frederic Edwin Church was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, perhaps best known for painting large panoramic landscapes, often depicting mountains, waterfalls, and sunsets, but also sometimes depicting dramatic natural phenomena that he saw during his travels to the Arctic and Central and South America. Church's paintings put an emphasis on light and a romantic respect for natural detail. In his later years, Church painted classical Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scenes and cityscapes.
Church was the product of the second generation of the Hudson River School and the pupil of Thomas Cole, the school’s founder. The Hudson River School was established by the British Thomas Cole when he moved to America and started painting landscapes, mostly of mountains and other traditional American scenes. Both Cole and Church were devout Protestants and the latter's beliefs played a role in his paintings especially his early canvases. Church did differ from Cole in the topics of his paintings: he preferred natural and often majestic scenes over Cole's propensity towards allegory.
Church, like most second generation Hudson River School painters, used extraordinary detail, romanticism, and luminism in his paintings. Romanticism was prominent in Britain and France in the early 1800s as a counter-movement to the Enlightenment virtues of order and logic. Artists of the Romantic period often depicted nature in idealized scenes that depicted the richness and beauty of nature, sometimes also with emphasis on the grand scale of nature.
This tradition carries on in the works of Frederic Church, who idealizes an uninterrupted nature, highlighted by creating excruciatingly detailed art. The emphasis on nature is encouraged by the low horizontal lines, and preponderance of sky to enhance the wilderness; humanity, if it is represented, is depicted as small in comparison with the greater natural reality. The technical skill comes in the form of luminism, a Hudson River School innovation particularly present in Church's works. Luminism is also cited as encompassing several technical aspects, which can be seen in Church’s works. One example is the attempt to “hide brushstrokes,” which makes the scene seem more realistic and lessen the artist’s presence in the work. Most importantly is the emphasis on light (hence luminism) in these scenes. The several sources of light create contrast in the pictures that highlights the beauty and detailed imagery in the painting.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

CHEOPS MOUNTAIN PAINTED BY WILLIAM BRYMMER

WILLIAM BRYMMER (1855-1925) 

Cheops Mountain (2,581m - 8,468ft) 

Canada (Bristish Columbia) 

In Mount Cheops, oil on canvas, 1886,  The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa

The mountain
Cheops Mountain (2,581m - 8,468ft)  also known as Mount Kheops is a  summit located in Glacier National Park in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Cheops Mountain is situated in the Hermit Range, and the summit provides a good view of the Hermit and Sir Donald Ranges. Its nearest higher peak is Ursus Major Mountain, 4.0 km (2.5 mi) to the northwest.
The mountain's current name was officially adopted in 1951 when approved by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.  Prior to that it was known as Mount Cheops. The peak was named by Otto Julius Klotz for its resemblance to the Pyramid of Cheops.
Based on the Köppen climate classification, Cheops Mountain has a subarctic climate with cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C.
The first ascent of the mountain was made in 1893 by Samuel E. S. Allen and Walter D. Wilcox.
The 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche was the deadliest avalanche in Canadian history, resulting in the deaths of 62 Canadian Pacific Railway workers.  In the late afternoon of March 4, 1910, an avalanche swept down the slopes of Cheops, burying the railroad tracks in snow. The men were working to clear the tracks when shortly before midnight the deadly slide hit, coming from the opposite side of the valley down Avalanche Mountain.

The painter
William Brymner was a Canadian art teacher and a figure and landscape painter. Born in Greenock (Scotland), he moved with his family to Melbourne (Canada East) in 1857. In 1864, his family moved to Montreal. They later lived in the area of Ottawa, where William attended the Ottawa Grammar School. Following architectural studies in enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris (France) in 1878 where his instructors were William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury.  Both of his teachers, in Paris, were famous exponents of 'Grand manner' naturalism. During this period at the Salon he became interested in the work of Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier who was already popular in his country. Brymner specialized in domestic figure scenes and avoided large historical subjects.

In 1886, he settled in Montreal after staying in Paris "on and off for almost seven years".
Many members of the Beaver Hall Group studied under Brymner, who encouraged them to explore new modernistic approaches to painting.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT RUNDLE BY WALTER JOSEPH PHILLIPS

WALTER JOSEPH  PHILLIPS (1884 -1963) 

Mount Rundle  (2,949 m - 9,675 ft) 

Canada (Alberta) 

 In Mount Rundle as seen from Vermilion Lakes, watercolour on paper,  1945, 33 x 54.6 cm, 

Glenbow Museum, Calgary 

About this painting 

Painter, print-maker and art teacher, Walter Phillips described Mount Rundle as his, " bread and butter mountain. I never tire of painting it, for it is never the same. In deep shadow in the morning, it borrows a warm glow from the setting sun at the end of the day. Its colour runs the gamut from orange to cold blue-grey, with overtones of violet and intervals of green."

The mountain
Mount Rundle  (2,949 m - 9,675 feet) is a mountain in Canada's Banff National Park overlooking the towns of Banff and Canmore, Alberta. The Cree name was Waskahigan Watchi or House Mountain. In 1858 John Palliser renamed the mountain after Reverend Robert Rundle, a Methodist invited by the Hudson's Bay Company to do missionary work in western Canada in the 1840s. He introduced syllabics there a written language developed for the Cree, as part of his missionary work. He only visited the Stoney-Nakoda of the area around what is now called Mount Rundle in 1844 and 1847.
Mt. Rundle could actually be considered a small mountain range as the mountain extends for over 12 kilometres (7.5 mi), on the south side of the Trans-Canada Highway eastward from Banff to Canmore with seven distinct peaks along the way. The Rundle Peaks are part of the South Banff Ranges, along with its siblings—the Sundance Range, Sulphur Mountain and the Goat Range.
Rundle rock or Rundle stone, a natural stone, first quarried on Mount Rundle, is a common dimension stone used in southern Alberta for landscaping and building purposes. It has been used in the construction of the Banff Springs Hotel and several of the Parks Canada buildings. It is fine-grained sandstone dating back to the Triassic Period.

The painter
Walter Joseph Phillips was an English-born Canadian painter and printmaker. He is credited with popularizing the colour woodcut in the style of the Japanese, in Canada.
Phillips is famous for his woodcuts and watercolour sketches. His artistic career spanned from the 1900s through the 1940s, during which time his work was exhibited throughout North America and Great Britain. Common subjects for Phillips included the lakes of Manitoba—York Boat on Lake Winnipeg (1930) is a well-known print—the prairies, and in his later years, the Rocky Mountains, where his ashes were scattered.
In 1940 he was asked to become a resident artist at the Banff Centre, then known as the Banff School of Fine Arts, where he played an important role in the development of their visual arts program.

Its Walter Phillips Gallery, which focuses on contemporary art, is named after him. The Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta holds an extensive collection of Phillips works and a research archive
He was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
On 17 February 1997 Canada Post issued 'York Boat on Lake Winnipeg, 1930, Walter J. Phillips' in the Masterpieces of Canadian art series. The stamp was designed by Pierre-Yves Pelletier based on a woodcut "York Boat on Lake Winnipeg" (1930) by Walter Joseph Phillips in the National Gallery of Canada. The 90¢ stamps were printed by Ashton-Potter Canada Limited.

 On May 26, 2010, Phillips' print "Summer Idyll" reached US$30,109 at auction by Heffel Fine Art.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE MONT BLANC PAINTED BY CESARE MAGGI

CESARE MAGGI (1881-1962)

The Mont Blanc (4,808 m -15,777 ft)
 (from Italian side)

France - Italy 

 In A snowstorm over the Mont-Blanc oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm, Private collection 

The mountain
The Mont-Blanc (in French) (4 ,808.73 m -15,777 ft) or Monte Bianco (in Italian), both meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps and the highest in Europe after the Caucasus peaks. It is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence. The Mont Blanc is one of the Seven Summit, which includes the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass. The 7 highest 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), Mount Vinson (4,892m) and Mount Kosciuszko (2,228m) in Australia.

The overcrowding threshold of Mont Blanc is reached, with 300 to 400 departures per day in summer.

 At the summit of the National Mountain Council held in Sallanches at the end of August 2006, it was estimated that between 25,000 and 30,000 people set out in 2005 to conquer Mont Blanc. With the opening of new markets (Russia, China, India), 50,000 to 100,000 people could tomorrow try the adventure, the figure of 200,000 has even been advanced. 

These prospects are nightmarish for the defenders of the site and for some political leaders of the valley, such as the mayor of Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, common on which Mont Blanc is located.

- More about the Mont-Blanc

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

CIMA DI ROSSO PAINTED BY GIOVANNI GIACOMETTI

GIOVANNI GIACOMETTI (1868-1933)

Cima di Rosso (( 3,366 m (11,043 ft)

Italy - Switzerland border

In Maloja mit Monte Forno und Cima di Rosso,  oil on canvas, 1918, Private collection 

The mountain
The Cima di Rosso is a mountain in the Bregaglia Range of the Alps, located on the border between Italy and Switzerland. It lies between the valleys of Bregaglia (in Graubünden) and Malenco (in Lombardy). On the western side of the mountain is the Forno Glacier.

The painter
Giovanni Giacometti was a Swiss painter, the father of the famous painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti, and of Diego Giacometti, the furniture designer as well as the father of the architect Bruno Giacometti ! In 1886, he studied painting at the School of Decorative Arts in Munich, where he met Cuno Amiet the following year. Both decide to pursue their studies in Paris, in October stood at the Académie Julian, where Giacometti remains until 1891.
In 1893, shortly after his return to Switzerland, to Bergell, he became friends with Giovanni Segantini, his eldest ten years, which has great influence on his work by opening it to the beauty of the mountain scenery and the rules of divisionism. After his sudden death in 1899, Giacometti met Ferdinand Hodler, who teaches him to create a rigorous and ornamental composition by appropriate use of shapes and colors.
He sees regularly Cuno Amiet, who after a year spent in Pont-Aven, shared his experience with him. In 1900 he exhibited in the Swiss Pavillon of the Universal Exhibition in Paris. From 1905, Giacometti works again in a great complicity with Amiet and begins to break free from the influence of Segantini. In 1906, held an exhibition of his work at Kunstlerhaus Zurich. In 1907 he went to Paris with Amiet to the Cézanne retrospective at the Salon d'Automne. They copy all the works of Van Gogh. In 1908, he exhibited with the French Fauves at the Richter Gallery in Dresden.
In 1909, the Tannhauser Gallery presents his works in Munich. He meets Alexi von Jawlensky, and in 1911 participates in the Berlin Secession. In 1912, Giacometti has a solo show at the Kunsthaus Zurich presents two works in the Sonderbund of Cologne. In 1918 after Hodler' s death, he began to be involved into the Swiss political world paying an important part as a committed artist, following int that way friend Amiet.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE GRAMMONT PAINTED BY ALEXANDRE PERRIER

ALEXANDRE PERRIER (1862-1936)

The Grammont (2, 172 m - 7,126 ft) 

Switzerland (Valais) 

In Grammont, 1919, oil on canvas, Private collection

The mountain 

The Grammont (2, 172 m- 7,126 ft) is a mountain located in the Valais Chablais, in the Canton of Valais, Savoy Alps, Switzerland. Its northern flank falls steeply to the French-Swiss border towns of Saint-Gingolph on the shores of Lake Geneva. To the south-east lies Lac de Tanay, a lake located in the municipality of Vouvry.In 1906, a concession was filed at Federal Authorities for the construction of a cogwheel railway from the Swiss Saint-Gingolph to the Grammont. Stations were provided on the slopes of Vignoles, in Fritaz and at 2,080 meters (6,824ft) at the top of the Grammont. An extension to the neighboring Cornettes de Bise was conceived. The deadline for submission of technical and financial documents was last extended in 1913. Because of the World War I, the train was never built.
During the Second World War, on July 13, 1943, an aircraft of the British Royal Air Force crashed on the northeast slope above Le Bouveret at an altitude of 900 meters on the slopes of the Grammont. Seven people were killed. The Swiss army announced that their air defense had fired the aircraft. The dead were buried in the English cemetery in Vevey.
The mountain has inspired the swiss painterFerdinand Hodler  quite a number of times.

He painted the summit at every hour of the days and in every season. (cf this post)

The painter
Alexandre Perrier is one of the most prominent Swiss artists of the turn of the century, but he is perhaps the one whose work remains today the least studied. He counted among his friends and acquaintances Cuno Amiet, Albert Trachsel and Ferdinand Hodler and exhibited at the side of the latter at the Secession of Vienna in 1901, as well as at the Exposition Universelle in Paris the previous year. A landscape painter by vocation, he devoted his whole life to the pictorial transposition of a limited choice of sites, such as Mont Salève, Lake Geneva, The Mont-Blanc and The Grammont, whose light and atmosphere he sought to bring back. Influenced by Neo-Impressionist tendencies, he uses a technique decomposing his touch into small dots and lines, situating it stylistically between pointillism and divisionism. In the second part of his career his style evolved towards a freer painting, dissociating color and drawing, an artistic approach that confirms its originality and its modernity.
At his debut, he worked for a short period in a bank before going to Mulhouse in 1881, for training as a signatory of textile printing. In 1891, he moved to Paris where he worked as a fashion illustrator; He discovered new artistic movements such as neo-impressionism, symbolism and Art Nouveau. Shortly before the turn of the century, he returned to Geneva, where he remained until his death. He received a bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1900. In 1902, he exhibited at the Secession of Vienna.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT BAZARDÜZÜ PAINTED BY IVAN ALEKSANDROVSKY

I

IVAN ALEKSANDROVSKY (1817-1894)

Bazardüzü or Bazar Dyuzi (4,467 m- 14,656 ft) 

Russia - Azerbaijan border 

In Gunib, oil on canvas 1864

The mountain
Mount Bazardüzü or Bazar Dyuzi (4,467 m - 14,656 ft) in Russian Базардюзю, is a mountain peak in the Caucasus range in Dagestan on the border between Russia and Azerbaijan, the highest peak in Azerbaijan. The southernmost point of Russia is located about seven kilometers southwest of the peak. Other important mountains of the Dagestan area are Diklosmta (4.285 m), Gora Addala Shukgelmezr (4.152 m) and Gora Dyultydag (4.127 m).
The southernmost point of Russia is located about seven kilometers southwest of the peak.
G. P. Baker and G. Yeld were the first men climbing the Mount in 1890 when the first ascent was recorded.There are two approaches to the Mount: one from the northeast and another from the southwest. In the northeast climbs can begin from the villages of Khinalig (region of Guba) and Laza (region of Gusar). The southwest approach starts from the regional centre of Gabala - from two villages: one is Laza (the same name with the one in Gusar) and the other one is Gamarvan. The flood plain of the river Yatukhdara (Yatuxdərə) is the starting point of the summit at 2800 m.

The artist
The russian painter Ivan Alexandrovsky is also  known as a pioneer of the photography in Russia and  as the inventor of the 1st submarine with mechanical engine and the 1st torpedo in the world !  Born in Mitau (Jelgava), Ivan Alexandrovsky demonstrated interest in artistic activities, very early in his youth.  But suddenly around 1850, the painter changed his profession. He had a flair for machinery and manifested his talent in photography, becoming one of its pioneers in Russia.

He got also interested in arms, especially, those which could combat enemy's fleet in war period. He designed the submarine which underwent successful trials, was good at manoeuvring under the water and on the water surface.  The inventor was awarded Emperor order for his achievements and appointed as state service technician. Ivan Alexandrosky worked at the improvement of his submarine and at the same time designed other projects.
After two years work at the improvement of submarine new trials proved to be successful and made the submarine sink into the water and stay underwater for 16 hours and move with fast speed. After his death was created the first submarine base of the Russian Empire, in Libau, present Liepāja.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

EL TUNGURAHUA PAINTED BY RAFAEL TROYA

RAFAEL TROYA (1845-1920) 

El Tungurahua (5,023 m - 16,480 ft)

Ecuador 

 In El Tungurahua , oil on canvas 1915, 

Colección Inés Varea de Andrade, Quito. 

Fuente A.Kennedy Troya (1999-94)

The mountain
El Tungurahua (5,023 m - 16,480 ft) is an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador. The volcano gives its name to the province of Tungurahua. Volcanic activity restarted on August 19, 1999, and is ongoing as of 2013, with several major eruptions since then, the last starting on 1 February 2014.
According to one theory the name Tungurahua is a combination of the Quichua Tunguri (throat) and Rahua (fire) meaning "Throat of Fire". According to another theory it is based on the Quichua Uraua for crater. Tungurahua is also known as "The Black Giant" and, in local indigenous mythology it is allegedly referred to as Mama Tungurahua ("Mother Tungurahua").
With its elevation, Tungurahua is just over tops the snow line (about 4,900 m- 16,100 ft) and its top is snow-covered and did feature a small summit glacier which melted away after the increase of volcanic activity in 1999.

The painter
Rafael Troya (1845-1920) was an Ecuadorian painter born, the son of the painter Vicente Troya. Being a teenager, he is taken to the Colegio de la Compañia de Jesus in Quito, but he soon abandons the clerical career to dedicate himself to what was his true vocation: painting. With the painter Luis Cadena, he learns the technique of colors. In 1872, he definitely choose the landscape and accompanied Reis and Stübel on their study trips in Ecuador on Nature and Archeology. Troya becomes the portraitist of nature, painting compositions full of color and life. In 1890 he came back in the capital of Imbabureña, and decided to be completely dedicated to his art. There he made several masterpieces, such as the paintings on the Apostles, which today are admired in the Ibarra Cathedral, the Ibarra Foundation, preserved in the Hall of the city of Ibarra; Allegory of love, panoramic view of Ibarra; The earthquake of Imbabura, and several religious canvases that are conserved in some churches of Quito, in the church of Caranqui and in the Museum of the Central Bank of Quito. In his paintings, green and bluish tones predominate, characteristic of his native land. He painted a lot of mountains of the Andes and the most famous volcanoes of the Cordillera.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

EL CHIMBORAZO BY ERNEST CHARTON DE TREVILLE

ERNEST CHARTON  DE TREVILLE (1816-1877)

Chimborazo  (6,263.47m - 20,549.4 ft)

Ecuador

In El Chimborazo, 1863, watercolor from  48 views of Ecuador, Chilean Museum of Fine Arts

The mountain

Chimborazo  (6,263 m -20,548 ft) is a currently inactive stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes ans the highest mountain in Ecuador and the Andes north of Peru ; it is higher than any more northerly summit in the Americas. Chimborazo is not the highest mountain by elevation above sea level, but its location along the equatorial bulge makes its summit the farthest point on the Earth's surface from the Earth's center.

Chimborazo is at the main end of the Ecuadorian Volcanic Arc, north west of the town of Riobamba. Chimborazo is in la Avenida de los Volcanes (the Avenue of Volcanoes) west of the Sanancajas mountain chain. Carihuairazo, Tungurahua, Tulabug, and El Altar are all mountains that neighbor Chimborazo.  The closest mountain peak, Carihuairazo, is 5.8 mi (9.3 km) from Chimborazo. There are many microclimates near Chimborazo, varying from desert in the Arenal to the humid mountains in the Abraspungo valley. Its last known eruption is believed to have occurred around A.D. 550. 

Until the beginning of the19th century, it was thought that Chimborazo was the highest mountain on Earth (measured from sea level), and such reputation led to many attempts on its summit during the 17th and 18th centuries.

In 1746, the volcano was explored by French academicians from the  French Geodesic Mission. Their mission was to determine the sphericity of the Earth. Their work along with another team in Lapland established that the Earth was an oblate spheroid rather than a true sphere. They did not reach the summit of Chimborazo.

In 1802, during his expedition to South America, Baron Alexander von Humboldt (on left in the painting above)  accompanied by Aimé Bonpland (on right in the painting above) and the Ecuadorian Carlos Montufar (on left with Humboldt  in the painting above), tried to reach the summit. From his description of the mountain, it seems that before he and his companions had to return suffering from altitude sickness they reached a point at 5,875 m, higher than previously attained by any European in recorded history. (Incas had reached much higher altitudes previously). In 1831, Jean-Baptiste Boussingault and Colonel Hall reached a new "highest point", estimated to be 6,006 m.

The Painter 

Ernest-Marc-Jules Charton Thiessen of Treville  better known as Ernest Charton or Ernesto Charton was a French painter, famous for his pastel portraits and realistic- style customary paintings. He made most of his artistic career in South America - particularly in Argentina  Chile and Ecuador -, a continent where his first name, as was customary at the time, was Castilianized, which is why he was known as Ernesto Charton.

He was initially established in Valparaíso (Chile), but in 1848 he moved to Santiago  where he opened a studio neighboring that of Raymond Monvoisin, another French pioneer of Chilean painting and also belonging to traveling artists  as was also at that time the watercolorist Carlos Wood.

Brother of Edouard Charton, director of the Parisian magazine Le Tour du Monde  Ernesto was a typical adventurous artist of the nineteenth century  in search of the most exotic expressions of unexplored nature, following in this aspect the motivation of numerous European painters of the time.  Many of his American experiences were reflected in the L'llustration , a magazine also directed by his brother and of which he was a correspondent, sending not only chronicles but also drawings, such as those he sent from the streets of Valparaíso before the bombing. He also sent a drawing of the bombing of Callao, which was recorded by Louis Le Breton and published on June 23.

Tempted by the gold rush in California  he embarked on October 25, 1848 on the schooner Rosa Segunda, who arrived in the Galapagos Islands within two weeks to get water; when most of the passengers were ashore, the ship abandoned them to their fate. The painter, like his companions, lost everything, including his works. 

Charton, who in 1862 would return to Ecuador, managed to settle in Quito with the help of the French consul. He taught drawing and painting at the University of that city; in addition, he directed the Miguel de Santiago Liceo of Painting, a direct antecedent of the School of Fine Arts of that country. As a result of his stay in Ecuador, he left a 48-watercolors album (cf. above) 

He returned to France, but in 1855 he returned to Chile with his family; he gained fame as a portraitist, landscaper and teacher. In this last quality he had a famous controversy with the first director of the Academy of Painting of Santiago. ]

In 1870 he left Chile to Argentina, crossing the Andes. From that experience, his large oil painting was born the following year View of the Andes mountain range (115x197cm) that is today in the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBABA) of that country, in Buenos Aires, city where he settled until his death. 

In addition to the countries mentioned, he travelled in Italy, Panama (when it was still part of Colombia) and Peru .

As a Photographer, he used snapshots as a base for his paintings, portraying typical clothes, customs and parties that he then tracked to the web.

Charton's works are characterized by their vibrant color and the realistic expression of popular customs and motifs. He left among his students from Chile, Ecuador and Argentina this cultural vision of pictorial realism applied to the theme of each country, leaving aside religious, mythological or literally copied motifs of European models.

His paintings can be seen in museums in Argentina, Chile and Ecuador.

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2019  - Wandering Vertexes
A blog by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT HERMON PHOTOGRAPHED BY FELIX BONFILS

 FELIX BONFILS  (1831-1885)

Mount Hermon / Jabal Haramun / Har Hermon  (2,814m- 9,232 ft)

 Lebanon - Syria -Israel

In Mont Hermon, photo silver print, 1868

The mountain
Mount Hermon or Jabal Haramun or Har Hermon  (2,814m- 9,232 ft), in arabic  جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون‎‎,  in hebrew הר חרמון‎‎,  is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. Its summit straddles the border between Syria and Lebanon and,is the highest point in Syria. On the top, in the United Nations buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli-occupied territories, is the highest permanently manned UN position in the world, known as "Hermon Hotel".The southern slopes of Mount Hermon extend to the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, where the Mount Hermon ski resort is located. A peak in this area rising to 2,236 m (7,336 ft) is the highest elevation in Israeli-controlled territory.
Mount Hermon is a sacred mountain mentioned in many sacred texts and epic tails.
The Epic of Gilgamesh mentions that Mount Hermon split after Gilgamesh kills Humbaba, the Guardian of the Cedar Forest. One translation of Tablet V states, "The ground split open with the heels of their feet, as they whirled around in circles Mt. Hermon and Lebanon split."
In the Book of Enoch, Mount Hermon is the place where the Watcher class of fallen angels descended to Earth. They swear upon the mountain that they would take wives among the daughters of men and take mutual imprecation for their sin (Enoch 6).
The mountain or summit is referred to as Saphon in Ugaritic texts where the palace of Ba'al is located in a myth about Attar.
The Book of Chronicles also mentions Mount Hermon as a place where Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel were the heads of their families.
 R.T. France, in his book on the Gospel of Matthew, noted that Mount Hermon was a possible location of the Transfiguration of Jesus.
Various Temples of Mount Hermon can be found in villages on the slopes. There is a sacred building made of hewn blocks of stone on the summit of Mount Hermon. Known as Qasr Antar, it is the highest temple of the ancient world and was documented by Sir Charles Warren in 1869. An inscription on a limestone stele recovered by Warren from Qasr Antar was translated by George Nickelsburg to read "According to the command of the greatest a (nd) Holy God, those who take an oath (proceed) from here."
Eusebius recognized the religious importance of Hermon in his work Onomasticon, saying "Until today, the mount in front of Panias and Lebanon is known as Hermon and it is respected by nations as a sanctuary". It has been related to the Arabic term al-haram, which means "sacred enclosure". Another Greek inscription found in a large temple at Deir El Aachayer on the northern slopes notes the year that a bench was installed "in the year 242, under Beeliabos, also called Diototos, son of Abedanos, high priest of the gods of Kiboreia".
In Psalm 42, which leads the Psalms of the northern kingdom, the Psalmist remembers God from the land of Jordan and the Hermonites. In Song of Songs 4:8, Hermon is an instance of an exotic locale, and the Song of Ascents as well as Psalm 133:3 make specific reference to the abundant dew formation upon Mount Hermon.
According to the controversial research by Professor Israel Knohl of the Hebrew University, in his book "Hashem", Mount Hermon could be actually the Mount Sinai mentioned in the bible, with the biblical story reminiscent of an ancient battle of the northern tribes with the Egyptians somewhere in the Jordan valley or Golan heights.

The photographer 
Félix Bonfils wasborn in Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort (France). He moved to Beirut in 1867 where he opened with his wife and his son Adrien, the photographic workshop Maison Bonfils, he renamed in 1878 F. Bonfils and Co..
Bonfils photographed in Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Greece as well as in Constantinople from 1876.
He was very active as soon as he arrives in Lebanon: his catalog mentions more than 15,000 prints in the early 1870s, made from nearly 200 negatives, and 9,000 stereoscopic views.
His works became famous thanks to tourists from the Middle East who brought his photographs as souvenirs. His views could be purchased individually, but they were also available as albums.
However, these photographs, produced by the workshop, could sometimes be the work of his son Adrien or assistants of the company.
In 1876 he returned to Alès (France), where he opened another studio around 1881. The one of Beirut was not closed. His wife Marie-Lydie and his son kept it opened and active after this death in 1885. This establishment was still very active in 1905, when a fire destroyed it.
The Bonfils business continued for several decades after the death of its founder. It was bought in 1918 by Abraham Guiragossian, a partner since 1909, who kept its name. It is mentioned in the Blue Guide in 1932.

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Wandering Vertexes 2019 
A blog by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT EVEREST / CHOMOLUNGA PAINTED BY VASILY VERESHCHAGIN

VASILY VERESHCHAGIN (1842-1904)

Mount Everest or Sagarmatha or Chomolunga (8,848 m - 29,029ft) 
China (Tibet) / Nepal 

In Sunset in the Himalayas,  oil on canvas, 1879

The mountain
Mount Everest (8,848 m - 29,029ft), also known in Nepal as Sagarmāthā and in Tibet as Chomolungma, is Earth's highest mountain. It is located in the Mahalangur mountain range in Nepal and Tibet. The international border between China (Tibet Autonomous Region) and Nepal runs across Everest's precise summit point. Its massif includes neighbouring peaks Lhotse (8,516 m -27,940 ft); Nuptse (7,855 m -25,771 ft) and Changtse (7,580 m -24,870 ft).
In 1856, the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India established the first published height of Everest, then known as Peak XV, at (8,840 m -29,002 ft). The current official height of (8,848 m -29,029 ft) as recognised by China and Nepal was established by a 1955 Indian survey and subsequently confirmed by a Chinese survey in 1975. In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon a recommendation by Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India. As there appeared to be several different local names, Waugh chose to name the mountain after his predecessor in the post, Sir George Everest, despite George Everest's objections.
Mount Everest attracts many climbers, some of them highly experienced mountaineers. There are two main climbing routes: one approaching the summit from the southeast in Nepal (known as the standard route) and the other from the north in Tibet. While not posing substantial technical climbing challenges on the standard route, Everest presents dangers such as altitude sickness, weather, wind as well as significant objective hazards from avalanches and the Khumbu Icefall. As of 2016, there are well over 200 corpses still on the mountain, with some of them even serving as landmarks.
The first recorded efforts to reach Everest's summit were made by British mountaineers. With Nepal not allowing foreigners into the country at the time, the British made several attempts on the north ridge route from the Tibetan side. After the first reconnaissance expedition by the British in 1921 reached 7,000 m - 22,970 ft) on the North Col, the 1922 expedition pushed the North ridge route up to 8,320 m - 27,300 ft) marking the first time a human had climbed above 8,000 m - 26,247 ft). Tragedy struck on the descent from the North col when seven porters were killed in an avalanche. The 1924 expedition resulted in the greatest mystery on Everest to this day: George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made a final summit attempt on 8 June but never returned, sparking debate as to whether they were the first to reach the top. They had been spotted high on the mountain that day but disappeared in the clouds, never to be seen again, until Mallory's body was found in 1999 at 8,155 m (26,755 ft) on the North face. Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary made the first official ascent of Everest in 1953 using the southeast ridge route. Tenzing had reached 8,595 m - 28,199 ft) the previous year as a member of the 1952 Swiss expedition. The Chinese mountaineering team of Wang Fuzhou, Gonpo and Qu Yinhua made the first reported ascent of the peak from the North Ridge on 25 May 1960.
Mount Everest is one of the Seven Summit, which includes the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass.
The 7 summits (which are obviously 8 !)... are :
Mount Everest (8,848 m), Aconcagua (6,961m), Mt Denali or Mc Kinley (6,194 m), Kilimandjaro (5,895 m), Mt Elbrus (5,642 m), Vinson Massif (4,892 m), Mt Blanc (4,807 m) and Mount Kosciuszko (2,228 m) in Australia.

The painter
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (Васи́лий Васи́льевич Вереща́гин) transcribed in English as "Basil Verestchagin", was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited. In 1864 he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, though he dissented widely from his master's methods. In the Paris Salon of 1866 he exhibited a drawing of Dukhobors chanting their Psalms. In the next year he was invited to accompany General Konstantin Kaufman's expedition to Turkestan. He was an indefatigable traveler, returning to St. Petersburg in late 1868, to Paris in 1869, back to St. Petersburg later in the year, and then back to Turkestan at the end 1869 via Siberia. In 1871, he established an atelier in Munich, and made a solo exhibition of his works at the Crystal Palace in London in 1873.
In late 1874, he departed for an extensive tour of the Himalayas, India and Tibet, spending over two years in travel. He returned to Paris in late 1876
After the war, Vereshchagin settled at Munich, where he produced his war pictures so rapidly that he was freely accused of employing assistants. The sensational subjects of his pictures, and their didactic aim, the promotion of peace by a representation of the horrors of war, attracted a large section of the public not usually interested in art to the series of exhibitions of his pictures in Paris in 1881 and subsequently in London, Berlin, Dresden, Vienna and other cities.
By the late 19th century, Vereshchagin had gained popularity not only in Russia, but also abroad and his name never left the pages of the European and American press. From his earliest works, unlike most contemporary battle pieces depicting war as a kind of parade, Vereshchagin graphically depicted the horrors of war. "I loved the sun all my life, and wanted to paint sunshine. When I happened to see warfare and say what I thought about it, I rejoiced that I would be able to devote myself to the sun once again. But the fury of war continued to pursue me," Vereshchagin wrote. One day, in 1882, Vereshchagin’s exhibition in Berlin was visited by German Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. Vereshchagin brought Moltke to his painting The Apotheosis of War. The picture evoked a sort of confusion in the Field Marshal. After his visit to the exhibition, Moltke issued an order forbidding German soldiers to visit it. The Austrian war minister did the same. He also declined the artist's offer to let Austrian officers see his pictures at the 1881 exhibition in Vienna free of charge.

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Wandering Vertexes 2019 
A blog by Francis Rousseau

ARJUNO-WELIRANG TWIN VOLCANO BY ARTHUR ELAND

ARTHUR ELAND (1884-1948)

Arjuno-Welirang twin volcano 

(3,339 m - 10,955 ft for Arjuno)

(3,156 m -10,354 ft for Welirang)

Indonesia (Java)

The  volcano
Arjuno-Welirang (3,339 m - 10,955 ft for Arjuno and 3,156 m (10,354 ft fot Welirang) is a twin stratovolcano (the 'twins' being mount Arjuno and mount Welirang) in the province of East Java on Java, Indonesia.  Twins volcanoes are quite common aroud earth.

Mount Arjuno-Welirang lies about 50 kilometers (31 mi) south of Surabaya, and 20 kilometers (12 mi) north of Malang. 

There is at least one other stratovolcano in the area, and there are around 10 pyroclastic cones nearby.  They are located in a 6 km line between Arjuno and Welirang. The Arjuno-Welirang volcanic complex itself lies in the older two volcanoes, Mount Ringgit to the east and Mount Linting to the south. The summit lacks vegetation. Fumarolic areas with sulfur deposits are found in several locations on Welirang.
The name Arjuno is Javanese rendition of Arjuna, a hero in Mahabharata epic, while Welirang is Javanese word for sulfur.
A 1950 eruption had a VEI=2. There was an explosive eruption. Another eruption occurred two years later in 1952. This eruption had a VEI=0.

The painter 

There is not much biographical information about Arthur Eland, except that he was Leo Eland's twin brother. These two Dutch  brothers were born in 1884 in the Dutch East Indies on Java in Salatiga. After the death of Arthur and since the 1970s many of his canvases and watercolors representing large Indonesian volcanic landscapes have gone into auctions especially at Christie's and have acquired unmistakable market value. Christie's classified him after the colonial impressionist painters
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT SONDER / RWETYEPME BT ALBERT NAMATJIRA

ALBERT NAMATJIRA (1902-1959)

Rwetyepme / Mount Sonder (1, 380m- 4, 530ft) 

Australia (Northern Territory)

In Haast Bluff 3, watercolor,  National Gallery of Australia 

The mountain
Rwetyepme or Mount Sonder (1, 380m- 4, 530ft) is the fourth highest mountain in the Northern Territory, Australia. Mount Zeil is the highest at 1,531 metres (5,023 ft), 27 kilometres (17 mi) to the west. Mt Sonder is 130 km (81 mi) west of Alice Springs along the MacDonnell Ranges in the West MacDonnell National Park. It marks one end of the celebrated Larapinta trail, which extends 223 kilometres (139 mi) to Alice Springs. The shape of the mountain is a double peak, the relative heights of which are somewhat ambiguous from the summit, although easy to identify from the surrounding plains. The mountain can be seen from the western half of the Larapinta trail, up to Ormiston Pound, which obscures it from then on.
Explorer Ernest Giles named the mountain in honour of German botanist Dr. Otto Wilhelm Sonder.
A clearly defined walking track exists up the western side, taking about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi). Water is available from a water tank 50 metres (160 ft) beyond the carpark, and a direction plate can be found at the summit. This however is not the true summit, which is 750 metres (2,460 ft) away, but has been chosen for safety reasons. The view from the top boasts the taller Mount Zeil to the west, the West MacDonnell Range to the east, Glen Helen, a nearby resort, to the east and Gosses Bluff to the south west on a clear day.

The painter
Albert Namatjira born Elea Namatjira, was a Western Arrernte-speaking Aboriginal artist from the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia. As a pioneer of contemporary Indigenous Australian art, he was the most famous Indigenous Australian of his generation.
Born and raised at the Hermannsburg Lutheran Mission outside Alice Springs, Namatjira showed interest in art from an early age, but it was not until 1934 (aged 32), under the tutelage of Rex Battarbee, that he began to paint seriously. Namatjira's richly detailed, Western art-influenced watercolours of the outback departed significantly from the abstract designs and symbols of traditional Aboriginal art, and inspired the Hermannsburg School of painting. He became a household name in Australia—indeed, reproductions of his works hung in many homes throughout the nation—and he was publicly regarded as a model Aborigine who had succeeded in mainstream society.
Although not the first Aboriginal artist to work in a European style, Albert Namatjira is certainly the most famous. Ghost gums with luminous white trunks, palm-filled gorges and red mountain ranges turning purple at dusk are the hallmarks of the Hermannsburg school. Hermannsburg Mission was established by Lutheran missionaries in 1877 on the banks of the Finke River, west of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Namatjira learnt watercolour technique from the artist, Rex Battarbee.
Initially thought of as having succumbed to European pictorial idioms – and for that reason, to ideas of European privilege over the land – Namatjira’s landscapes have since been re-evaluated as coded expressions on traditional sites and sacred knowledge. Ownership of country is hereditary, but detailed knowledge of what it ‘contains’ is learnt in successive stages through ceremony, song, anecdote and contact. Namatjira’s father’s country lay towards Mount Sonder and Glen Helen Gorge, in the MacDonnell Ranges, and his mother’s country was in the region of Palm Valley in Central Australia. In Namatjira’s paintings, the totemic connections to his country are so indelible that, for example, Palm Valley the place and Palm Valley, c.1940s, the painting seem to intersect, detailing Namatjira’s artistic, cultural and proprietorial claim on the land.
One of his first landscapes from 1936, Central Australian Landscape, shows a land of rolling green hills. Another early work, Ajantzi Waterhole (1937), shows a close up view of a small waterhole, with Namatjira capturing the reflection in the water. The landscape becomes one of contrasting colours, a device that is often used by Western painters, with red hills and green trees in Red Bluff (1938). Central Australian Gorge (1940) shows detailed rendering of rocks and reflections in the water. In Flowering Shrubs Namatjira contrasts the blossoming flowers in the foreground with the more barren desert and cliffs in the background. Namatjira's love of trees was often described so that his paintings of trees were more portraits than landscapes, which is shown in the portrait of the often depicted ghost gum in Ghost Gum Glen Helen (c.1945-49). Namatjira's skills at colouring trees can be clearly seen in this portrait. Namatjira was fully aware of his own talent, as was shown when he was describing another landscape painter to William Dargie: "He does not know how to make the side of a tree which is in the light look the same colour as the side of the tree in shadow...I know how to do better."
Namatjira's skills kept increasing with experience as is shown in the highly photographic quality of Mt Hermannsburg (1957), painted only two years before he died.
In 1957, Namatjira became the first Aboriginal person to be granted conditional Australian citizenship. This entitled him to limited social freedoms and to live in Mparntwe, although he was prohibited from purchasing land. His relations, including his children, were not permitted the same privileges.
After an incident in 1958 that didn’t directly involve the artist, Namatjira was charged with supplying alcohol to members of the Aboriginal community – at the time, it was illegal for all Aboriginal people, except Namatjira, to possess and consume alcohol. Namatjira was sentenced to six months labour at Papunya and this, exacerbated by the authorities’ refusal to allow him to purchase the land of his ancestors, caused him profound despair. He served only two months, and died shortly after.
The more recent, dramatic success of the nearby Papunya Tula movement must be read against the history of its predecessor, the Hermannsburg school, which has endured for over half a century. In 2002, the centenary of Namatjira’s birth was celebrated with a major retrospective at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

EAST GIPPSLAND ALPS BY EUGENE VON GUERARD

        

EUGENE VON GUERARD  (1811-1901)

East Gippsland Alps :  
Mount Hotham  (1,862 m- 6,109 ft) 

Mount Buffalo (1,723 m -5,653 ft) 

The Strzelecki Ranges / Mount Tassie (740 m -2,430 ft) 

 Australia (Victoria) 

 In Gippsland Alps from Bushy Park on the River Avon, or 

Panoramic view of Mr Angus McMillan's station, Bushy Park, Gippsland, Victoria

oil painting panorama on two canvas, each 361 mm x 941 mm, 1861

National Gallery of Australia

About the panorama 

As far as it is accurate - which is doubtful as it covers such a large area - this panorama was painted from Bushy Park, a town in Victoria, Australia, located north of Maffra, in the Shire of Wellington. 

It would include several East Gippsland mountains possibly visible from this point of view, including Mount Hothtam and Mount Buffalo. 

The second part of the panorama describes lower mountains as could be The Strzelecki Ranges, a  set of low mountain  located in the West Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria.

The mountains 
Mount Hotham  (1,862 m- 6,109 ft) is a mountain in the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, located in the Australian state of Victoria. The mountain is located approximately 357 kms (222 mi) north east of Melbourne, 746 kms (464 mi) from Sydney, and 997 kms(620 mi) from Adelaide by road. The nearest major road to mountain is the Great Alpine Road. The mountain is named after Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria from 1854 to 1855.

Mount Buffalo (1,723 m -5,653 ft) is moderately tall mountain plateau in the Mount Buffalo National Park in Victoria, Australia that is located approximately 350 kms (220 mi) northeast of Melbourne in the Australian Alps. The summit on the plateau is known as The Horn. Mount Buffalo is managed by Parks Victoria.
The Strzelecki Ranges (740 m -2,430 ft)  at its highest point  Mount Tassie is a set of low mountain ridges located in the West Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. The Ranges are named after Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, a Polish explorer, who with the assistance of Charley Tarra the small party's Aboriginal guide, led an expedition through this region in 1840.

The painter 

Johann Joseph Eugene von Guerard was an Austrian-born artist, active in Australia from 1852 to 1882. Known for his finely detailed landscapes in the tradition of the Düsseldorf school of painting, he is represented in Australia's major public galleries, and is referred to in the country as Eugene von Guerard. In 1852 von Guerard arrived in Victoria, Australia, determined to try his luck on the Victorian goldfields. As a gold-digger he was not very successful, but he did produce a large number of intimate studies of goldfields life, quite different from the deliberately awe-inspiring landscapes for which he was later to become famous. Realizing that there were opportunities for an artist in Australia, he abandoned the diggings and was soon undertaking commissions recording the dwellings and properties of wealthy pastoralists.

By the early 1860s, von Guerard was recognized as the foremost landscape artist in the colonies, touring Southeast Australia and New Zealand in pursuit of the sublime and the picturesque.  He is most known for the wilderness paintings produced during this time, which are remarkable for their shadowy lighting and fastidious detail.  Indeed, his View of Tower Hill in south-western Victoria was used as a botanical template over a century later when the land, which had been laid waste and polluted by agriculture, was systematically reclaimed, forested with native flora and made a state park. The scientific accuracy of such work has led to a reassessment of von Guerard's approach to wilderness painting, and some historians believe it likely that the landscapist was strongly influenced by the environmental theories of the leading scientist Alexander von Humboldt. Others attribute his 'truthful representation' of nature to the criterion for figure and landscape painting set by the Düsseldorf Academy.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

THE REMARKABLES PAINTED BY DORIS LUSK

DORIS LUSK (1916-1990) 

The Remarkables  (2,319 m - 7,601ft) 

New Zealand (South Island)

 In Late afternoon Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand  oil on canvas, 1958, Te Papa Museum

The mountains 
The Remarkables  (2,319 m - 7,601ft)  are a mountain range and skifield in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. Located on the southeastern shore of Lake Wakatipu,  renowned for its scenic beauty, the range lives up to its name by rising sharply to create an impressive backdrop for the waters. The range is clearly visible from the nearby town of Queenstown.
The highest point in the range is Single Cone (2,319 m). The adjacent Hector Mountains southeast of the Remarkables culminate in Mount Tūwhakarōria (23,07 m).
There are a number of small lakes on the mountains including Lake Alta which forms part of the Remarkables Skifield.
The mountains were named The Remarkables by Alexander Garvie in 1857-58,  allegedly because they are one of only two mountain ranges in the world which run directly north to south.[ An alternate explanation for the name given by locals is that early Queenstown settlers, upon seeing the mountain range during sunset one evening, named them the Remarkables to describe the sight.

The painter
Doris More Lusk was a New Zealand artist and art teacher, potter, university lecturer.  In 1990 she was posthumously awarded the Governor General Art Award in recognition of her artistic career and contributions. Lusk exhibited mainly with The Group in Christchurch in the 1940s and 1950s.  In the 1950s and 1960s her work was regularly included in the Auckland City Art Gallery's annual surveys of recent New Zealand painting. Lusk exhibited mainly with The Group in Christchurch in the 1940s and 1950s.

 In the 1950s and 1960s her work was regularly included in the Auckland City Art Gallery's annual surveys of recent New Zealand painting.
The first retrospective exhibition of Lusk's work was held at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in 1966.A second retrospective was held at the Dowse Art Museum in 1973. A major exhibition of her landscape works, Landmarks: The Landscape Paintings of Doris Lusk, was held at the Christchurch Art Gallery in 1996, accompanied by a publication with contributions by Lisa Beaven and Grant Banbury.
To mark the centenary of Lusk's birth in 1916, in 2016 exhibitions were held at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery (Doris Lusk 1916-1990) and Christchurch Art Gallery (Doris Lusk: Practical Visionary).

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2019 - Men Portraits 
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

PICURIS MOUNTAINS BY AKSELI GALLEN-KALLELA

AKSELI GALLEN-KALLELA  (1865-1931) 

Picuris Mountains (2,967 m - 9,734 ft) 

United States of America (New Mexico) 

 In Vaja Taos vuorilla, oil on canvas

The mountains 
Picuris Mountains (2,967 m -  9,734 feet)  is one of the Ridge in Taos County, nearby  Osha Canyon and Vallecitos.  Named Pikuria – those who paint – by Spanish colonizer Juan de Oñate, Picuris is located 24 miles (38 km) southeast of Taos in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains via N.M. 68, 518, and 75. Picuris, once the largest, today is one of the smallest Tiwa pueblos, with some 1,801 inhabitants (Census 2000). Like Taos, it was influenced by Plains Indian culture, particularly the Apaches
If one like biking, the ride takes you into the scenic and historic part of  Picuris Mountains. About 2 miles from the start of this ride you will cross the historic Camino Real, or “Royal Highway,” that served as the original highway to Taos for traders, settlers, and Native Americans traveling north and south for several hundred years.
In late spring through fall this ride is free of snow and dry. It can be pretty beastly pushing up this mountain in the middle of summer. Plan on riding early or late in the day to avoid the heat.

The painter
Akseli Gallen-Kallela was a Swedish-speaking Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. His work was considered very important for the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallen to Gallen-Kallela in 1907. In 1884 he moved to Paris, to study at the Académie Julian and became friends with the Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt, the Norwegian painter Adam Dörnberger, and the Swedish writer August Strindberg.
In December 1894, Gallen-Kallela moved to Berlin to oversee the joint exhibition of his works with the works of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Here he became acquainted with the Symbolists.
On his return from Germany, Gallen studied print-making and visited London to deepen his knowledge, and in 1898 studied fresco-painting in Italy.
For the Paris World Fair in 1900, Gallen-Kallela painted frescoes for the Finnish Pavilion. In these frescoes, his political ideas became most apparent.Gallen-Kallela officially finnicized his name to the more Finnish-sounding Akseli Gallen-Kallela in 1907.
In 1909, Gallen-Kallela moved to Nairobi in Kenya with his family, and there he painted over 150 expressionist oil paintings and bought many east African artefacts. But he returned to Finland after a couple of years, because he realized Finland was his main inspiration. Between 1911 and 1913 he designed and built a studio and house at Tarvaspää, about 10 km northwest of the centre of Helsinki.
From December 1923 to May 1926, Gallen-Kallela lived in the United States, where an exhibition of his work toured several cities, and where he visited the Taos art-colony in New Mexico to study indigenous American art. In 1925 he began the illustrations for his "Great Kalevala". This was still unfinished when he died of pneumonia in Stockholm on 7 March 1931, while returning from a lecture in Copenhagen, Denmark
His studio and house at Tarvaspää was opened as the Gallen-Kallela Museum in 1961

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau