MOUNT WASHINGTON BY JOHN MARIN

JOHN MARIN  (1870-1953)

Mount Washington (1, 916m - 6, 286ft)

United States of America (New Hampshire) 

The mountain 

Mount Washington (1, 916m - 6, 286ft) is the highest point in the northeastern United States. It is located in the White Mountains in the county of Coos. Most of the mountain is located in the White Mountain National Forest and Mount Washington State Park.
The mountain is called Agiocochook, the "abode of the great spirit," by the Amerindians. A scientific expedition led by geologist Dr. Cutler named Mount Washington in 1784.
While the western slope, which climbs the Cog Railway, is regular from its base, the other slopes are more complex. To the north, Great Gulf, the largest glacial circus in the mountains, is surrounded by the Northern Presidentials, namely Clay, Jefferson, Adams and Madison Mountains. These peaks reach far beyond the alpine zone beyond the tree line. The imposing Chandler Ridge extends northeast from the top of Mount Washington to form the southern wall of the amphitheater. It is paced by a motorway to the summit.
The first European to mention the mountain is Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, who sees it from the Atlantic Ocean and describes it as a "high mountain of the interior". Irishman Darby Field says he made his first ascent in 1642.

More about Mount Washington 

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.

_________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE WHITES PAINTED BY CHILDE HASSAM

CHILDE HASSAM (1859-1935)

White Mountains (1,917m - 6,288ft) 

United States of America (New Hampshire) 

In Spring In White Mountains, oil on canvas

The mountains
The White Mountains (1,917m - 6,288ft) also called The Whites are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States. They are part of the northern Appalachian Mountains and the most rugged mountains in New England. The range is heavily visited due to its proximity to Boston and, to a lesser extent, New York City and Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Most of the area is public land, including the White Mountain National Forest and a number of state parks. Its most famous mountain is Mount Washington (1,917 m- 6,288-ft) which is the highest peak in the Northeastern U.S. and for 76 years held the record for fastest surface wind gust in the world (231 miles per hour (372 km/h) in 1934 .
The White Mountains also include the Franconia Range, Sandwich Range, Carter-Moriah Range and Kinsman Range in New Hampshire, and the Mahoosuc Range straddling the border between it and Maine. In all, there are 48 peaks within New Hampshire as well as one (Old Speck Mountain) in Maine over 4,000 feet (1,200 m), known as the four-thousand footers.
The Whites are known for a system of alpine huts for hikers operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club. The Appalachian Trail crosses the area from southwest to northeast.

The painter
Frederick Childe Hassam was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums. He produced over 3,000 paintings, oils, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs over the course of his career, and was an influential American artist of the early 20th century.
In 1904 and 1908, he traveled to Oregon and was stimulated by new subjects and diverse views, frequently working out-of-doors with friend, lawyer and amateur painter Colonel C. E. S. Wood.
He produced over 100 paintings, pastels, and watercolors of the High Desert, the rugged coast, the Cascades, scenes of Portland. As usual, he adapted his style and colors to the subject at hand and the mood of place, but always in the Impressionist vein. With the art market now eagerly accepting his work, by 1909 Hassam was enjoying great success, earning as much as $6,000 per painting. His close friend and fellow artist J. Alden Weir commented to another artist : "Our mutual friend Hassam has been in the greatest of luck and merited success. He sold his apartment studio and has sold more pictures this winter, I think, than ever before and is really on the crest of the wave. So he goes around with a crisp, cheerful air."

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT ROBSON BY ARTHUR P. COLEMAN

ARTHUR P. COLEMAN (1852-1939)
Mount Robson (3,954 m - 12, 972 ft) 

Canada (British Columbia)

  In Mount Robson glacier -cutting steps, oil on canvas

The mountain 

Mount Robson (3,954 m - 12, 972 ft) is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part of the Rainbow Range. Mount Robson is the second highest peak entirely in British Columbia, behind Mount Waddington in the Coast Range. The south face of Mount Robson is clearly visible from the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), and is commonly photographed along this route.

Mount Robson was likely named after Colin Robertson, who worked for both the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company at various times in the early 19th century, though there was confusion over the name as many assumed it to have been named for John Robson, an early premier of British Columbia. The Texqakallt, a Secwepemc people and the earliest inhabitants of the area, call it Yuh-hai-has-kun (The Mountain of the Spiral Road). Other unofficial names include Cloud Cap Mountain.

In 1893, five years after the expedition of A.P. Coleman to Athabasca Pass and the final settling of the mistaken elevations of Mt. Hooker and Mt. Brown, Mt. Robson was first surveyed by James McEvoy and determined to be the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The first documented ascent of Mount Robson, led by the young guide Conrad Kain, at its time the hardest ice face to be climbed on the continent, was achieved during the 1913 annual expedition organized by a large party of Alpine Club of Canada members who made use of the newly completed Grand Trunk Pacific railway to access the area. Prior to 1913, it had been necessary to approach the mountain by pack train from Edmonton or Laggan via Jasper and Lucerne, so only few intrepid explorers had made previous attempts at exploring the mountain. The most famous early ascensionist was the Reverend George Kinney, a founding member of the Alpine Club, who on his twelfth attempt in August 1909 claimed to have reached the summit with local outfitter Donald "Curly" Phillips. A major controversy over this claim and over the implausible nature of his unlikely and dangerous route dominated the discourse within the Alpine Club elite, and he is now generally presumed to have reached the high summit ridge before being turned back at the final ice dome of the peak. Kinney Lake, below the south face, is named in his honour.

The north face of Mount Robson is heavily glaciated and 800 m (2,600 ft) of ice extends from the summit to Berg Glacier. The Berg glacier calves directly into the lake. The Robson Glacier, which fills the cirque and valley between Mount Robson and Mount Resplendent, in the early 1900s fed directly into both Berg lake and Adolphus lake, straddling the Continental Divide and draining thus to both the Arctic and Pacific oceans via the Smoky and Robson Rivers, respectively. It since has receded more than 2 kilometres and is the source of the Robson River only.

The painter 
Arthur Philemon Coleman was a Canadian a geologist, professor, minerals prospector, artist, Rockies explorer, backwoods canoeist, world traveller, scientist, popular lecturer, museum administrator, memoirist and...  one of Canada’s most beloved scientist.
Arthur Coleman is a fine example of that rare bird, a polished amateur artist whose drawings and paintings stand comfortably beside those of many professionals. He was active during the time when sketching and painting was ceding to photography the task of recording the visible world. Although he was also a photographer, painting was, for him, both a poetic and a descriptive pursuit, a way of wrapping an artistic expression around a phenomenon he was interested in or moved by. Thus motivated, Coleman's paintings give much joy and command a good deal of respect. The more surprising, perhaps given that he used to introduced himself more as a geologist than a painter.
Coleman travelled throughout the United States for professional conferences as well as geological field work.  He visited many of the major American mountain ranges including: the American Cordillera Mountains (Washington, Oregon and California); the Sierra Nevada Mountains (California and Nevada); Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana and Idaho); and the Appalachian Mountains (eastern United States). Pleistocene glaciation had extended in Northern Europe as far south as Berlin and London and covered an area of two million square miles. Coleman also visited such countries as India, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Scandinavia, Bolivia, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay. In his final years he made two expeditions to the Andes in Colombia, to mountains in Southern Mexico and to two mountains in Central America.  He achieved the first ascent of Castle Mountain in 1884, and in 1907, he was the first white man to attempt to climb Mount Robson. He made a total of eight exploratory trips to the Canadian Rockies, wholly four of them looking for the mythical giants of Hooker and Brown.
 "Mount Coleman" and "Coleman Glacier" in Banff National Park are named in his honor.
He was awarded the Penrose Medal in 1936.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT WEBSTER PAINTED BY BENJAMIN CHAMPNEY

BENJAMIN CHAMPNEY (1817-1907)

Mount Webster  (1,192 m -3,911 ft)

United States of America

The mountain 
Mount Webster is (1,192 m -3,911 ft) is located on the border between Coos County and Carroll County, New Hampshire.  Mount Webster is on the western boundary of the Presidential Range - Dry River Wilderness. The Appalachian Trail, a 2,170-mile (3,500-km) National Scenic Trail from Georgia to Maine, runs along the ridge of the Presidentials, across the summit of Webster.

The mountain, formerly called Notch Mountain, is named after Daniel Webster (1782–1852), and is the southwesternmost of the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. Mount Webster is flanked to the northeast by Mount Jackson; to the southwest it faces Mount Willey across Crawford Notch.
The west face of Mount Webster drains directly into the Saco River, thence into the Gulf of Maine at Saco, Maine. The north and southeast faces drain into the Saco via Silver Cascade and Webster Brook respectively.

The Painter 

Benjamin Champney was a painter whose name has become synonymous with White Mountain art of the 19th century. He began his training as a lithographer under celebrated marine artist Fitz Henry Lane at Pendleton's Lithography shop in Boston. Most art historians consider him the founder of the "North Conway Colony" of painters who came to North Conway, New Hampshire and the surrounding area during the second half of the 19th century. His paintings were often used to make chromolithographs that were subsequently sold to tourists who could not afford Champney's originals. He exhibited regularly at the Boston Athenæum and was a founder of the Boston Art Club. 

On August 4, 1888, The White Mountain Echo reported: "Champney's studio is as much visited as ever this summer, and there are many new pictures to see. Of the landscapes, there is a view from the new carriage road up Humphrey's Ledge that is beautiful, and another a scene in Crawford Notch, and still another, a picture of Mount Chocorua from Tamworth; there are some lovely new flower pieces ... But perhaps the very prettiest is the old-fashioned pitcher in the kitchen window ..." 
In 1900, he published an autobiography, Sixty Years' Memories of Art and Artists. 
Examples of his paintings can be viewed today at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, New Hampshire; the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire; and the Museum of the White Mountains at Plymouth State University in Plymouth, New Hampshire.

__________________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

VESUVIUS PAINTED BY JOSEPH REBELL

JOSEPH REBELL (1787-1828) 

Mount Vesuvius (1,281m - 4,203ft)

Italy

In Vesuvio in 1813-15, oil on canvas, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.

The mountain 

Mount Vesuvius (1,281 meters- 4,203 ft at present) is one of those legendary and mythic mountains the Earth paid regularly tribute. Monte Vesuvio in Italian modern langage or Mons Vesuvius in antique Latin langage is a stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples (Italy) about 9 km (5.6 mi) east of Naples and a short distance from the shore.
It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc. Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure.
Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman antique cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and several other settlements. That eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ash, and fumes to a height of 33 km (20.5 mi), spewing molten rock and pulverized pumice at the rate of 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing a hundred thousand times the thermal energy released by the Hiroshima bombing. At least 1,000 people died in the eruption. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus.

More about Vesuvius ...

The painter
Joseph Rebell is an Austrian landscape painter.
After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he stayed in Berne in Switzerland in 1809 and in Milan between 1810 and 1812 at the court of Eugene de Beauharnais and Naples between 1813 and 1815, including the court of Joachim Murat. He then moved to Rome between 1816 and 1824. On this date, he was called to Vienna by Francis I of Austria to run the Belvedere Gallery, where he remained until his death from illness in 1828, when a trip to Dresden.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

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

CHARLES-HENRI CONTENCIN (1898-1955) 

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

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

France (Isère)

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

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

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

LA MEIJE & LES ECRINS BY LÉON & LEVY- LL

LÉON & LEVY - LL (1864-1917)

La Meije (3,984m - 13, 071ft)

France (Isère)

In La Meije et les Ecrins,  Postcard, 1895, MUCEM, Marseille,  France  

The mountains 
La Meije (3,984m- 13, 071ft) is a mountain in the Massif des Écrins range, located at the border of the Hautes-Alpes and Isère départements. It overlooks the nearby village of La Grave, a mountaineering centre and ski resort, well known for its off-piste and extreme skiing possibilities, and also dominates the view west of the Col du Lautaret.
More about La Meije

The photographers
Moyse Leon and Isaac (known as Georges) Lévy began as assistants within the Parisian photographic studio 'Ferrier-Soulier' under the Second Empire. 

They founded their own studio in Paris  in 1864 and sold prints on albumen paper, mainly stereoscopic prints, signed Léon and Lévy 'L.L.'. 

The Leon & Levy firm took part in the 1867 Universal Exhibition where they won the Emperor's Gold Medal. In 1874, the Leon and Levy studio became J. Levy and Co., Isaac Georges Levy being the only company director from that date. On the arrival of Georges Lévy's two sounds in 1895, Ernest and Lucien, the company grew and became Lévy & fils and the photographs conserved the 'L' signature and  the company merged with the publisher Neurdein Frères ("ND Phot.") .

This photographic firm had an intense period of activity, compiling tours (Spain, Portugal, Morocco, America) as well as postcards, all between 1864 and 1917, when the business came to an end.

After the death of Isaac Lévy in 1913, the company  became "Lévy and Neurdein united".

__________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MONT VENTOUX PAINTED BY NICOLAS FROMENT

NICOLAS FROMENT  (c.1430-1486), (circle of) 

Mont Ventoux (1, 911 m - 6, 270ft) 

France (Provence)

In Le Rétable des Pérussis  (The Pérussis Altarpiece) 1480, 

oil and gold on wood, (1, 38m x 58.4 cm), 

The MET Museum (not on view)

About the painting
The subject of this large altarpiece, the adoration of the empty cross on Golgatha, is unusual. According to a documented inscription on the lost original frame, the painting was made in 1480 for Aloisius Rudolphe de Pérussis, whose family coat of arms and motto are displayed on the side panels. One of the kneeling donors, presented by John the Baptist and Saint Francis, may be Aloisius himself. Originally from Florence, the Pérussis or Peruzzi took refuge in Avignon after they were exiled by Cosimo de' Medici in 1434. Included in the background landscape is a faithful topographical view of Avignon, its famous brigde  (before it was partially destroyed  in  its middle by floods, an din the background the Mont Ventoux.

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.

The painter
Nicolas Froment  was a French painter of the Early Renaissance.,birn in Uzes and died in Avignon.  Nicolas Froment is one of the most notable representatives of the Second School of Avignon, (École d'Avignon), a group of artists at the court of the Popes in Avignon, who were located there from 1309 to 1411, in Avignon.
He was influenced by the Flemish style that characterizes the last phase of the Gothic.
He undertook to paint an altarpiece 12 February 1470 in Aix for a rich widow called Catherine Spifami; in the center of the panel is a depicting the Death of Mary, and on the side panels, the Saints Mary Magdalene and Catherine are shown. He was attributed a number of works from this time, but none of these attributions can be considered reliable.
One of the most interesting work of this group is the Retable des Pérussis or The Pérussis Altarpiece (above).

__________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE MONTAGNE SAINTE VICTOIRE PAINTED BY PAUL CEZANNE

PAUL CÉZANNE (1839-1906) 

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

France (Provences-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)

In  Sainte-Victoire vue à travers l’allée des marronniers du Jas de Bouffan,  oil on canvas, 1885

 Minneapolis Museum of Fine Arts 

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…

_____________________________________________
2019- Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

BAGUIO & TUBA MOUNTAINS PAINTED BY FERNANDO AMORSOLO

 FERNANDO AMORSOLO (1882-1972) 

Baguio and Tuba mountains (1, 540m- 5,050 ft)

 Philippines (Luzon) 

In Baguio and Mountains of Tuba  oil on canvas 

The mountains 

Baguio  mountains (1,540m- 5,050 ft) are located in the Cordillera Central mountain range in northern Luzon.  Baguio is also a city, officially is known as the Summer Capital of the Philippines, owing to its cool climate. Baguio was established as a hill station by the United States in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway. It was the United States' only hill station in Asia.

Nowadays, Baguio is classified as a Highly Urbanized City (HUC). It is geographically located within Benguet, serving as the provincial capital from 1901 to 1916, but has since been administered independently from the province following its conversion into a chartered city.

The painter
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo was one of the most important artists in the history of painting in the Philippines.Amorsolo was a portraitist and painter of rural Philippine landscapes. He is popularly known for his craftsmanship and mastery in the use of light. After graduating from the Univeajor influences on his work. Amorsolo set up his own studio upon his return to Manila and painted prodigiously during the 1920s and the 1930s. His Rice Planting (1922), which appeared on posters and tourist brochures, became one of the most popular images of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. Beginning in the 1930s, Amorsolo's work was exhibited widely both in the Philippines and abroad. His bright,optimistic, pastoral images set the tone for Philippine painting before World War II . Except for his darker World War II-era paintings, Amorsolo painted quiet and peaceful scenes throughout his career.
Amorsolo was sought after by influential Filipinos including Luis Araneta, Antonio Araneta and Jorge B. Vargas. Amorsolo also became the favourite Philippine artist of United States officials and visitors to the country. Due to his popularity, Amorsolo had to resort to photographing his works and pasted and mounted them in an album. Prospective patrons could then choose from this catalog of his works. Amorsolo did not create exact replicas of his trademark themes; he recreated the paintings by varying some elements.
His works later appeared on the cover and pages of children textbooks, in novels, in commercial designs, in cartoons and illustrations for the Philippine publications such The Independent, Philippine Magazine, Telembang, El Renacimiento Filipino, and Excelsior. He was the director of the University of the Philippine's College of Fine Arts from 1938 to 1952.
During the 1950s until his death in 1972, Amorsolo averaged to finishing 10 paintings a month. However, during his later years, diabetes, cataracts, arthritis, headaches, dizziness and the death of two sons affected the execution of his works. Amorsolo underwent a cataract operation when he was 70 years old, a surgery that did not impede him from drawing and painting.
After being confined at the St. Luke's Hospital in Quezon City for two months, Amorsolo died at the age of 79 on April 24, 1972. The volume of paintings, sketches and studies of Amorsolo is believed to have reached more than 10,000 pieces. Amorsolo was an important influence on contemporary Filipino art and artists, even beyond the so-called "Amorsolo school." Amorsolo's influence can be seen in many landscape paintings by Filipino artists, including early landscape paintings by abstract painter Federico Aguilar Alcuaz.
In 2003, Amorsolo's children founded the Fernando C. Amorsolo Art Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving Fernando Amorsolo's legacy, promoting his style and vision, and preserving a national heritage through the conservation and promotion of his works.
_________________________________________-
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

BLUE MOUNTAINS BY EUGENE VON GUERARD

EUGENE VON GUERARD  (1811-1901)
Blue Mountains  (1,189 m -3,901 ft) 

Australia  (New South Wales)

In Govett's Leap and Grose River Valley, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, oil on canvas, 1873

The mountains
The Blue Mountains  (1,189 m (3,901 ft) - not to be confused with Greater Blue Mountains Area, Blue Mountains National Park, City of Blue Mountains, Electoral district of Blue Mountains - 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 centre of the state capital, close to the major suburb of Penrith. 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. 

The Capertee Valley is a 2nd largest canyon (by width) in the world and largest valley in New South Wales, Australia, 135 km (84 mi) north-west of Sydney. The valley follows the Capertee River as it cuts through the Sydney Basin, a sedimentary basin consisting of Permian and Triassic sedimentary rock west of the Blue Mountains.

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.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

BLUE MOUNTAINS BY JAMES A.C. WILLIS

JAMES A.C. WILLIS (1845- 1915?)

Blue Mountains  (1,189 m -3,901 ft) 

Australia  (New South Wales)

In Capertee Valley, New South Wales, 1892, watercolour, Art Gallery of New South Wales

The mountains
The Blue Mountains  (1,189 m (3,901 ft) - not to be confused with Greater Blue Mountains Area, Blue Mountains National Park, City of Blue Mountains, Electoral district of Blue Mountains - 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 centre of the state capital, close to the major suburb of Penrith. 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. 

The Capertee Valley is a 2nd largest canyon (by width) in the world and largest valley in New South Wales, Australia, 135 km (84 mi) north-west of Sydney. The valley follows the Capertee River as it cuts through the Sydney Basin, a sedimentary basin consisting of Permian and Triassic sedimentary rock west of the Blue Mountains.

The Painter 

Willis was born in Devon, England and arrived in Sydney in c.1845. His principal occupation was surveying and during his career he produced many maps for the NSW Government. In c.1848 he took art lessons with Conrad Martens (1801-1878), then the most talented artist active in the colony. Over the following years he painted many landscapes, often of remote areas of the State as in this Capertee painting. As well as his surveying duties, Willis was involved in the establishment of the Art Gallery of NSW in the 1870s. In 1892 he donated this work to the galleries permanent collection. Although rarely on show, this work can be privately viewed with a prearranged appointment with gallery staff.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes..
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT LANGI GHIRAN BY EUGENE VON GUERARD

EUGENE VON GUERARD (1811-1901) 

Mount Langi Ghiran (924m - 3,031ft) 

Australia (Victoria) 

In Mount Langi Ghiran, oil on canvas, 1890

The mountain 
Mount Langi Ghiran (924m - 3,031ft) is located in the west of Victoria  southeast of Australia. The nearest town to Mount Langi Ghiran is Ararat about 16.3 km away. 

The first European to climb Mount Langi Ghiran was Major Thomas Mitchell, on his 1836 'Australia Felix' expedition.  He first named it Mount Mistake ! 

There are two reservoirs in the park which were built from local granite blocks in the 1880s. The main reservoir forms part of Ararat's water supply and is worth a visit.
A "spot mill" for extracting timber was built on the northern slopes in 1940 but was short lived. Today little evidence remains to remind us of the mill's past operation.

Since 1970,  famous vineyards are situated in the valley of Mount Langi Ghiran.

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.

_______________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE HA LONG BAY BY JOSEPH INGIMBERTY

JOSEPH INGIMBERTY (1896-1971)  

The Ha long Bay (200 m - 656 ft)

Vietnam 

The Sste Hạ Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam. The name Hạ Long means "descending dragon". Administratively, the bay is a part of Vân Đồn District. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various shapes and sizes. Ha Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bai Tu Long Bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà Island to the southwest. These larger zones share a similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate, and cultural characters.
Hạ Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2 (600 sq mi), including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km2 (129 sq mi) with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. The geo-diversity of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem.

 Hạ Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.
Historical research surveys have shown the presence of prehistoric human beings in this area tens of thousands years ago. The successive ancient cultures are the Soi Nhu culture around 18,000–7000 BC, the Cai Beo culture 7000–5000 BC and the Hạ Long culture 5,000–3,500 years ago.

Hạ Long Bay also marked important events in the history of Vietnam with many artifacts found in Bai Tho Mountain, Dau Go Cave, Bai Chay.
500 years ago, Nguyễn Trãi praised the beauty of Ha Long Bay in his verse Lộ nhập Vân Đồn, in which he called it "rock wonder in the sky". 

In 1962, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of North Vietnam listed Ha Long Bay in the National Relics and Landscapes publication.

 In 1994, the core zone of Ha Long Bay was listed as a World Heritage Site according to Criterion VII, and listed for a second time according to Criterion VIII.

The  painter 

Joseph Inguimberty  is a french artist from Provence. He entered the Ecole des beaux-arts in Marseille in 1910 under the direction of the painter Alphonse Moutte. In 1913, he was admitted to the National School of Decorative Arts of Paris. The First World war interrupts his studies. Mobilized in the infantry, he was wounded in 1917 in Reims. After the Armistice he returned to the National School of Decorative Arts in the studio of Eugène Édouard Morand, father of the writer Paul Morand.  Then, he travels to Europe and especially Belgium, where he paints scenes related to the world of work. Between 1922, the date of his return to Marseille, and 1924, he painted three large paintings composing a triptych of the world of work at the port of Marseille.

In 1925, Joseph Inguimberty became director of the painting department of the School of Fine Arts of Vietnam in Hanoi, just founded by Victor Tardieu. He paints work in the rice fields and Indochinese women. Impressed by the decoration of the temples, he specializes in the study and teaching of lacquer. In 1929, the exhibition "Landscapes and Figures of the Tonkin Delta" made in Hanoi  presented  30 of his paintings. In 193, he participated in the Colonial Exhibition of Vincennes with three large paintings representing scenes of life in Tonkin. Seconded by Alix Aymé, he created in 1934 a lacquer workshop.

Joseph Inguimberty did not return to France until after the Second World war, in 1946. The Japanese asked him to teach lacquer, but he refused. He moved to Menton and painted Provençal landscapes: the creeks, Marseille, the Alpilles and the Menton hinterland.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT ARAGATS PAINTED BY YEGHISHE TADEVOSYAN

YEGHISHE TADEVOSYAN (1870-1936)

Mount Aragats (4,090 m -13,420 ft)

Armenia

In Mount Aragats, 1917, Fabric, oil paint, 54 x 76cm, National Gallery of Armenia 

The mountain
Mount Aragats (4,090 m -13,420 ft) in Armenian: Արագած, is an isolated four-peaked volcano massif in Armenia. Its northern summit, above sea level, is the highest point of the Lesser Caucasus and Armenia. It is also one of the highest points in the Armenian Highlands. Situated 40 kilometers (25 mi) northwest of Armenian capital Yerevan, Aragats is a large volcano with numerous fissure vents and adventive cones. Numerous large lava flows descend from the volcano and are constrained in age between middle Pleistocene and 3,000 BCE. The summit crater is cut by a 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) long line of cones which generated possibly Holocene-age lahars and lava flows. The volcanic system covers an area of 5,000 km2 and is one of the largest in the region. The magmas feeding Aragats are unusually hot for arc-derived magmas, resulting in long and voluminous lava flows.
The Aragats massif is surrounded by Kasagh River on the east, Akhurian River on the west, Ararat plain on the south and Shirak plain on the north.
According to an ancient Armenian legend, Aragats and Mount Ararat were loving sisters who parted after a quarrel and separated permanently. Currently, the mountains are further separated politically, with Mount Ararat being located in Turkey.
Another legend tells that Gregory the Illuminator, who converted Armenia into Christianity in the early 4th century, "used to pray on the peak of the mountain. At nighttime an icon-lamp shone to give light for him, the lamp hanging from heaven using no rope. Some say that the icon-lamp is still there, but only the worthy ones can see it."
Mt. Aragats plays a special role in Armenian history and culture. Along with Ararat, it is considered a sacred mountain for the Armenians.
Aragats is a male first name in Armenia, used especially in areas surrounding the mountain.
Mt. Aragats is often associated with Gyumri, Armenia's second largest city. The mountain is depicted on the coat of arms of Gyumri. It is also depicted on the obverse side of the 10,000 Armenian dram banknote (in use since 2003) in the background of Avetik Isahakyan, a poet born in Gyumri.

The painter 

Yeghishe Martirosi Tadevosyan ( Եղիշե Թադևոսյան) was an Armenian painter associated with the Peredvizhniki and Mir Iskusstva movements. He was awarded the title of "Honored Artist" by the Armenian SSR in 1935. He studied at the Lazarian School, then entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Vasily Polenov was his teacher and friend. He graduated in 1894 and began participating in exhibitions by the Peredvizhniki shortly after.
In 1898, he travelled to Palestine with Polenov and would revisit the Middle East several times. In 1901, he moved from Moscow to Tbilisi and became an art teacher.
His early work had been influenced by Vardges Sureniants but, after this time, he began to employ impressionistic and pointillistic techniques. In 1916, he became the founder and head of the Union of Armenian Artists. Yeghishe Tadevosyan is buried at Komitas Pantheon which is located in the city center of Yerevan. A street in Yerevan and an Art school in Etchmiadzin are named after him.

_______________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT INDRASAN BY NICHOLAS ROERICH

NICHOLAS ROERICH (1874-1947)

Mount Indrasan  (6,221m - 20,410 ft)

India - Pakistan border 

In Ladakh,  oil on canvas, 1929

The mountain

Mount Indrasan  (6221m - 20,410 ft) is located  in Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh.  Mt. Indrasan is one of the difficult peaks in the Himalayas because of the challenges involved in scaling it. It is also believed that whenever Lord Indra arrives on earth he resides here. Indrasan (composed of two words: Indra and Aasana) i.e. the royal seat of the Lord Indra.  With Deo Tibba (6,001 m- 19,688 ft))  Indrasan is one of the  two important peaks at the eastern end of the Pir Panjal Range. They can be approached from both the Parvati-Beas Valley (Kulu District), Upper Belt of Chamba Himachal Pradesh and the Chandra (Upper Chenab) Valley (Lahaul and Spiti District) in Himachal Pradesh. The hill station of Gulmarg in Kashmir lies in this range.

The painter
Nicholas Roerich known also as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих) is quite an important figure of mountain paintings in the early 20th century. He was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, perceived by some in Russia as an enlightener, philosopher, and public figure. In his youth was he was quite influenced by a movement in Russian society around the occult and was interested in hypnosis and other spiritual practices. His paintings are said to have hypnotic expression.
More about the painter = >

___________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

EVEREST & LHOTSE BY ISABELLE SCHEIBLI

ISABELLE SCHEIBLI (bn.1949),

Mount Everest / Sagarmatha / Chomolunga (8,848 m - 29,029ft) 

Lhotse (8, 516m - 27, 940ft) 

China (Tibet) / Nepal

In Everest, and Lhotse, watercolor

The mountains 
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.More informations on Everest 

Lhotse (8, 516 m - 27, 940 ft), which means “South Peak” in Tibetan is the fourth highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. Part of the Everest massif, Lhotse is connected to the latter peak via the South Col.  In addition to the main summit, the mountain comprises the smaller peaks Lhotse Middle (8,414 m- 27,605 ft) and Lhotse Shar (8,383 m - 27,503 ft). The summit is on the border between Tibet and the Khumbu region of Nepal.
The main summit of Lhotse was first climbed on May 18, 1956, by the Swiss team of Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger from the Swiss Mount Everest/Lhotse Expedition. On May 12, 1970, Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter of Austria made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar. Lhotse Middle remained, for a long time, the highest unclimbed named point on Earth; on May 23, 2001, its first ascent was made by Eugeny Vinogradsky, Sergei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov and Petr Kuznetsov of a Russian expedition.
By December 2008, 371 climbers had summitted Lhotse while 20 died during their attempt.
Lhotse was not summited in 2014, 2015, or 2016 due to a series of incidents, however, it was summited again in May 2017. 

The artist
Isabelle Scheibli (bn. 1949) is a french journalist, screenwriter, essayist and watercolorist, passionate about mountains. She is the author of the novel "Gaspard de la Meije" published in 1984. As a journalist she worked for several mountains magazines such as "Vertical" or "Montagne Magazine". She wrote several films scenarii related to the mountain such as "Le passe montagne" (1996), "Jours Blancs" (1990) or "Gaspard de la Meije" (1984) based on her novel, winner of a prize in the Festivals of Trent and of Les Diablerets, and also recompensed by the La Fondation de France. As a watercolorist, she illustrated three albums from the Carrés de France collection for Editions Equinox, about the Haute Savoie (2002), the Savoie (2003), the Drôme Provençale (2008).
Isabelle Scheibli made several voyages to Patagonia and Antarctica, which are her favorite places on earth. She doesn’t always paint in situ, due to the extreme conditions in these lands, especially speaking about watercolors! She often paints watertcolors in her studio from her drawings or photos, she realised herself in the Antarctic. About those voyages she wrote :
«Painting the glacial world is a long-term process. To accompany close alpinists and Himalayists in their expeditions, I have often been in the mountains, in the Alps, in Nepal and in Tibet. The peaks have become a privileged motive. In 2014, I had the opportunity to go to Patagonia, to follow the coast of the Beagle Channel on a sailboat and to go to the foot of the glaciers of Tierra del Fuego. It was a very violent aesthetic shock. Here the conditions did not always allow me to paint as I wished. When I returned I undertook a work in my atelier from the many drawings, watercolors and photos that I had brought back. The dimension of immensity quickly led me to paint in a large format, which I had never done before. In 2016, I set out on a sailboat to approach the absolute quintessence of the glacier, an entire continent of ice, Antarctica. I had somewhat underestimated the navigation part of this trip but the discovery of this icy pole was a glare. Once again I brought back watercolors stolen between two gusts, many drawings and photos. And I got to work on the way back, immersing myself completely »

__________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT SABINE BY CHARLES HAMILTON SMITH

CHARLES HAMILTON SMITH (1776-1859)

Mount Sabine  (3,729m - 12, 205 ft) 

Antarctica (Victoria Land) 

In Mount Sabine and Possession Islands -  Watercolour from  Views of Polar region- 

Yale Center for British arts

The mountain
Mount Sabine (3,729m - 12, 205 ft)  is a prominent, relatively snow-free mountain rising between the heads of Murray Glacier and Burnette Glacier. Discovered on January 11, 1841, by Captain James Ross, Royal Navy, who named this feature for Lieutenant Colonel Edward Sabine of the Royal Artillery, Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, one of the most active supporters of the expedition.

Mount Sabine is part of The Admiralty Mountains (alternatively Admiralty Range), a large group of high mountains and individually named ranges and ridges in northeastern Victoria Land, Antarctica. This mountain group is bounded by the Ross Sea, the Southern Ocean, and by the Dennistoun, Ebbe, and Tucker glaciers. The mountain range is situated on the Pennell Coast, a portion of Antarctica lying between Cape Williams and Cape Adare.
The Admiralty Mountains are divided into the Dunedin Range, Homerun Range, and Lyttelton Range and named them for the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty under whose orders Captain James Ross served.

The artist 
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith,  was an English artist, naturalist, antiquary, illustrator, soldier, and... spy as well !. His military career began in 1787, when he studied at the Austrian academy for artillery and engineers at Mechelen and Leuven in Belgium (his native country). Although his military service, which ended in 1820 and included the Napoleonic Wars, saw him travel extensively (including the West Indies, Canada, United States, Southern and Northern Europe and ...Antarctica).
As a prolific self-taught illustrator (over 38,000 drawings!) He left quite an important number of books of  beautifully watercolored landscapes taken all around the world. those nooks of watercolors are nowadays in the collections of  the Yale Center From British Art. Among them  :

- Views of France, Volume I (81 watercolors), Views of France, Volume II (93 watercolors), 

- Views of England and Wales, Volume I (82  watercolors),  Views of England and Wales, Volume II (74  watercolors),

- Views of Northern Europe, Volume I (68watercolors) , Views of Northern Europe, Volume II (78)  watercolors),  

- Views of Polar Regions (75  watercolors) (see above) 

- Views of Spain, Volume I (69 watercolors), Views of Spain, Volume II (72 watercolors), 

But one of his noteworthy achievements was an 1800 experiment to determine which color should be used for military uniforms.  He is also known in military history circles for Costume of the Army of the British Empire, produced towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars and an accurate depiction of contemporary British uniform.

As an antiquarian, he also produced, in collaboration with Samuel Rush Meyrick, Costume of the Original Inhabitants of the British Islands, 1815, and The Ancient Costume of England, with historical illustrations of medieval knights, ladies, shipsm and battles. 

He also wrote on the history of the Seven Years' War and TheNatural history of dogs.

Quite a productive fellow !

__________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

KILIMANDJARO BY RUDOLF HELLGREWE

RUDOLF HELLGREWE (1860–1935) 

Kilimandjaro (5,885m - 19, 340ft)

Tanzania 

 In Kilimandjaro from Moschi, oil on board for a diorama, 1886

The mountain
Mount Kilimanjaro (5,885m - 19, 340ft) is a dormant volcano in Tanzania composed of three volcanic cones, "Kibo", "Mawenzi", and "Shira. The Kilimandjaro is the highest mountain in Africa. The first recorded ascent to the summit was by Hans Meyer and Ludwig Purtscheller in 1889.
The mountain is part of the Kilimanjaro National Park and is a major climbing destination. The mountain has been the subject of many scientific studies because of its shrinking glaciers, especially since 200.
The origin of the name "Kilimanjaro" is not precisely known, but a number of theories exist. European explorers had adopted the name by 1860 and reported that "Kilimanjaro" was the mountain's Kiswahili name. The 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia also records the name of the mountain as "Kilima-Njaro", as well as the title of the watercolor above. Johann Ludwig Krapf wrote in 1860 that Swahilis along the coast called the mountain Kilimanjaro. Although he did not support his claim, he claimed that "Kilimanjaro" meant either "mountain of greatness" or "mountain of caravans". Under the latter meaning, "Kilima" meant "mountain" and "Jaro" possibly meant "caravans". Jim Thompson claimed in 1885, although he also did not support his claim, that the term Kilima-Njaro "has generally been understood to mean" the Mountain (Kilima) of Greatness (Njaro). Though not improbably it may mean the "White" mountain. "Njaro" is an ancient Kiswahili word for "shining". Others have assumed that "Kilima" is Kiswahili for "mountain".
In the 1880s, the mountain became a part of German East Africa and was called "Kilima-Ndscharo" in German following the Kiswahili name components.
On 6 October 1889, Hans Meyer reached the highest summit on the crater ridge of Kibo. He named it "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze" ("Kaiser Wilhelm peak").
That name apparently was used until Tanzania was formed in 1964, when the summit was renamed "Uhuru", meaning "Freedom Peak" in Kiswahili.
- More informations about Kilimandjaro

The artist
The landscape painter and illustrator Rudolf Hellgrewe is the most famous painter of Germany's colonies. He taught for a long time at the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Arts) in Berlin. He attended the Königstädtische Realschule and later the Andreas Realschule in Berlin before studying under Eugen Bracht and Christian Wilberg at the Berliner Kunstakademie (Berlin Art Academy). He was drawn to landscape painting, and became known as the "painter of Brandenburg's lakes and sunsets".
In 1885–86, Hellgrewe travelled to East Africa, where he made numerous paintings. He later illustrated the books of the African explorers Carl Peters and Hermann von Wissmann, and produced dioramas of life in Germany's tropical colonies for use in schools. In 1888 at Berlin he published many of his works as a book, Aus Deutsch-Ostafrika. He took part in the colonial exhibitions of 1896 and 1907, and was one of the founding members of the Deutsches Kolonialmuseum (German Colonial Museum) in 1899. He also joined the Berlin Writers' Club.
In 1903 the German Colonial House was constructed based on the native architecture of the colonies. Hellgrewe provided the ceiling paintings.
Hellgrewe received Medal for Art and Science from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Honorary Medal of the Geographical Society of Jena. He died at Berlin in 1935.

___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

SIMONSBERG & SOMERSET SNEEUKOP BY JACOBUS HENDRIK PIERNEEF

JACOBUS HENDRIK PIERNEEF (1886-1957) 

Somerset Sneeukop (1,590 m - 5,220 ft) 

Simonsberg (1,399m - 4,590ft))

South Africa 

In  A view in the Stellenbosch Valley with Simonsberg and the Hottentots Holland beyond, 

oil on canvas, Private collection  

The mountains

Somerset Sneeukop (1,590 m - 5,220 ft)  is the highest point of The Hottentots Holland Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Cape Town metropolitan area and the southern Overberg coast. 

The range is primarily composed of Table Mountain Sandstone, and forms a large range between the Cape Town outlying suburbs of Somerset West and Gordon's Bay to the west, and the large Elgin valley to the east. Sir Lowry's Pass is the only crossing, in the form of the N2 motorway. The Steenbras Dam, one of Cape Town's main supply dams, is located in the southern section of the range. This is due to the abundant rainfall experienced in the uplands, located in the Elgin Valley around the town of Grabouw on the eastern slopes.

At the start of the Great Trek in 1835 when migrants decided to leave the Cape Town area, or Cape Colony as it was then known, the first mountain range they crossed was this range. 

The climate is typically Mediterranean, however it is generally much cooler and more verdant than other areas in the Western Cape, with annual precipitation exceeding 1500 mm and summertime maxima rarely exceeding 25 °C. The surrounding lowlands have rich alluvial soils supporting viticulture and other deciduous fruit farms.

Simonsberg (1399m - ) is part of the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is located between the towns of Stellenbosch, Paarland Franschhoek. It is detached from the other ranges in the winelands region. Simonsberg is named after Simon van der Stel, first governor of the Cape and founder and namesake of Stellenbosch and Simon's Town.

The painter 
Jacobus Hendrik (Henk) Pierneef (usually referred to as Pierneef)  was a South African landscape artist, generally considered to be one of the best of the old South African masters. His distinctive style is widely recognized and his work was greatly influenced by the South African landscape.
Most of his landscapes were of the South African highveld, which provided a lifelong source of inspiration for him. Pierneef's style was to reduce and simplify the landscape to geometric structures, using flat planes, lines and colour to present the harmony and order in nature. This resulted in formalised, ordered and often-monumental view of the South African landscape, uninhabited and with dramatic light and colour.
Pierneef's work can be seen worldwide in many private, corporate and public collections, including the Africana Museum, Durban Art Gallery, Johannesburg Art Gallery, King George VI Art Gallery, Pierneef Museum and the Pretoria Art Gallery.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

JEBEL CHELIA PAINTED BY LÉON CARRÉ

LÉON CARRÉ (1878-1942)

Jebel Chelia (2,398m - 7,867ft)

Algeria 

In  Paysage Algérien, Oil on canvas, 1934,  Private collection 

The mountain 
Jebel Chelia (2,398m - 7,867ft)  is a mountain located in the east of Algeria. It constitutes the highest peak of the Aurés mountain range, on the border of the wilaya of Batna and the wilaya of Khenchela. Mount Chelia is the second highest mountain peak in Algeria after Mount Tahat in the Hoggar and the highest regularly snow-covered from late November to late February or early March.
Many specialists highlight the Aurès as to the potential for developing seasonal tourism in the region (skiing, hiking, trekking, climbing, etc.) especially as neighboring countries such as Tunisia or Libya do not do not have high mountains. However, the means have so far not been put in place to exploit these potentialities. The construction of the first Maghreb astronomical observatory is planned at the summit of Mount Chelia, taking advantage of its altitude.

The artist
The French orientalist painter and illustrator Léon Carré entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, then he joined the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris on 1896 thanks to Léon Bonnat. He was the double winner of the Chenavard prize. He exhibited at the Salon of French Artists in 1900 and, in 1905, at the Salon des Independants, and made a first trip to Algeria in 1907.
He exhibited at the Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts from 1911, and at the Autumn Fair.
Winner of the Villa Abd-el-Tif scholarship in 1909, he settled in Algiers. Orientalist painter, he practices oil, gouache and pastel. In 1927, Léon Carré helped decorate the Ile-de-France liner for the Transatlantic Company, and designed numerous posters for the PLM Company (including the centenary of Algeria in 1930).
He also drew the 50 franc banknote issued by the Bank of Algeria in 1942.
He was recently rediscovered as a great landscaper regarded to his numerous post impressionist paintings and watercolors of Atlas mountains and Kabylia landscapes (see above)

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau