CATHEDRAL ROCK, EL CAPITAN, SENTINEL DOME AND HALF DOME BY DAVID HOCKNEY

 

DAVID HOCKNEY (bn. 1937)

Middle Cathedral Rock (2,026 m - 6,648 ft)

El Capitan (2,309 m - 7,573 ft)

Sentinel Dome (2,477 m - 8,127 ft)

Half Dome (2, 695 m - 8,844  ft)

United States of America (California)

In Yosemite I, October 16, 2011, 

iPad drawing printed on four sheets of paper, mounted on four sheets of Dibond, Private collection

Mountains of Yosemite Valley
The Middle Cathedral Rock (2,026 m- 6,648 ft)  (on right in the painting above with the cascades) is a prominent rock face on the south side of Yosemite Valley, California.
El Capitan (2,309m - 7,573 ft) (on left in the painting above) is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith extends about 3,000 feet (900 m) from base to summit along its tallest face and is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers. The formation was named "El Capitan" by the Mariposa Battalion when it explored the valley in 1851. El Capitan ("the captain", "the chief") was taken to be a loose Spanish translation of the local Native American name for the cliff, variously transcribed as "To-to-kon oo-lah" or "To-tock-ah-noo-lah". It is unclear if the Native American name referred to a specific tribal chief or simply meant "the chief" or "rock chief". In modern times, the formation's name is often contracted to "El Cap", especially among rock climbers and BASE jumpers. 
Sentinel Dome (2,477m - 8,127ft)  (behind Cathedral rock in the painting above) is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, United States. It lies on the south wall of Yosemite Valley, 0.8 miles (1.3 km) southwest of Glacier Point and 1.4 miles (2.3 km) northeast of Profile Cliff. Sentinel Dome is known for a Jeffrey Pine that grew from its peak (see photograph above). The pine was photographed as early as 1867 by Carleton Watkins, and was the subject of the well-known photograph by Ansel Adams. The pine died during the drought of 1976, but remained standing until August 2003. The original Native American name of Sentinel Dome, in the Southern Sierra Miwok language, was "Sakkaduch". The Bunnell survey named it "South Dome", but the Whitney survey renamed it Sentinel Dome (from its likeness to a watch-tower). The view from the top offers a 360 degree view of Yosemite Valley and surroundings. One can see Half Dome,Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, North Dome, Basket Dome, and much more.
Half Dome (2, 695 m - 8,844 ft) (behind Sentienl Dome in the painting above) is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California, part of the Sierra Nevada Range. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape; One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth and round, making it appear like a dome cut in half.  The impression from the valley floor that this is a round dome that has lost its northwest half is an illusion. From Washburn Point, Half Dome can be seen as a thin ridge of rock, an arête, that is oriented northeast-southwest, with its southeast side almost as steep as its northwest side except for the very top. Although the trend of this ridge, as well as that of Tenaya Canyon, is probably controlled by master joints, 80 percent of the northwest "half" of the original dome may well still be there. As late as the 1870s, Half Dome was described as "perfectly inaccessible" by Josiah Whitney of the California Geological Survey. The summit was finally conquered by George G. Anderson in October 1875, via a route constructed by drilling and placing iron eyebolts into the smooth granite.

The artist
David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer. An important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century.
At the Royal College of Art, Hockney featured in the exhibition Young Contemporaries—alongside Peter Blake—that announced the arrival of British Pop art. He was associated with the movement, but his early works display expressionist elements, similar to some works by Francis Bacon. When the RCA said it would not let him graduate in 1962, Hockney drew the sketch The Diploma in protest. He had refused to write an essay required for the final examination, saying he should be assessed solely on his artworks. Recognising his talent and growing reputation, the RCA changed its regulations and awarded the diploma. After leaving the RCA, he taught at Maidstone College of Art for a short time. A visit to California, where he subsequently lived for many years, inspired him to make a series of paintings of swimming pools in the comparatively new acrylic medium rendered in a highly realistic style using vibrant colours. The artist moved to Los Angeles in 1964, returned to London in 1968, and from 1973 to 1975 lived in Paris.
Hockney has a home and studio in Kensington, London and two residences in California, where he has lived on and off for over 30 years: one in Nichols Canyon, Los Angeles, and an office and archives on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California.
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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN PAINTED BY FRANCIS CROPSEY

 

JASPER FRANCIS CROPSEY (1823-1900)

Sugar Loaf mountain (347 meters - 1,138 ft)

United States of America  (New York State)

 In Autumn Landscape, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Orange County, New York,  ca. 1870–75,

 oil on canvas  90,2x72,4 cm)  The MET Museum (not on view)

About this painting and the mountain Extract from an article by  Kenneth W. Maddox, Art Historian, The Newington-Cropsey Foundation
Jasper F. Cropsey's paintings of Sugar Loaf Mountain are among the most problematic of his
works. The subject of many of these paintings has often been incorrectly identified because the geographic area is unfamiliar to both art historians and dealers; only three paintings with "Sugar Loaf' in the title are documented through exhibition or auction records.'An even more important factor, however, is that the artist took great liberties with his subject. Cropsey's portrayals of the mountain appear much more similar to one another than to the actual topography of the site: certainly, in terms of scale and contour, the prominent peak in his works does not closely resemble the one that rises in the Warwick Valley, Orange County, New York. Small wonder, then, that the title and subject of Cropsey's fall scene in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, known as Autumn Landscape, Mount Chocorua, New Hampshire, has not been challenged since the Museum acquired he painting in 1961(...)
In his paintings of Sugar Loaf (above), Cropsey transformed a mountain of fairly modest proportions and shape into a monumental form, which, like Mount Chocorua, majestically rises above the surrounding errain. It is a profound transformation-one that does not occur to this degree in any of the painter's other works-from the physical realities of the landscape to the mental creation of the artist. One may well ask, as with Cezanne's views of Mont Sainte-Victoire, what personal meaning the peak might have had for the artist. Although it is not mentioned in any of Cropsey's extant writings, this was a motif to which he was repeatedly drawn. Ironically, because of the liberties
Cropsey took in his portrayals of the mountain, Sugar Loaf has gone unrecognized-until now-as
the subject of numerous paintings.

 The painter
Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – June 22, 1900) was an important American landscape artist of the Hudson River School. Trained as an architect, he set up his own office in 1843. Cropsey studied watercolor and life drawing at the National Academy of Design under the instruction of Edward Maury and first exhibited there in 1844. A year later he was elected an associate member and turned exclusively to landscape painting; shortly after he was featured in an exhibition entitled "Italian Compositions".
Cropsey traveled in Europe from 1847–1849, visiting England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. He was elected a full member of the Academy in 1851. Cropsey was a personal friend of Henry Tappan, the president of the University of Michigan from 1852 to 1863. At Tappan's invitation, he traveled to Ann Arbor in 1855 and produced two paintings, one of the Detroit Observatory, and a landscape of the campus.  He went abroad again in 1856, and resided seven years in London, sending his pictures to the Royal Academy and to the International exhibition of 1862.
Returning home, he opened a studio in New York and specialized in autumnal landscape paintings of the northeastern United States, often idealized and with vivid colors. Cropsey co-founded, with ten fellow artists, the American Society of Painters in Water Colors in 1866.
Cropsey's interest in architecture continued throughout his life and was a strong influence in his painting, most evident in his precise arrangement and outline of forms. But Cropsey was best known for his lavish use of color and, as a first-generation member from the Hudson River School, painted autumn landscapes that startled viewers with their boldness and brilliance. As an artist, he believed landscapes were the highest art form and that nature was a direct manifestation of God. He also felt a patriotic affiliation with nature and saw his paintings as depicting the rugged and unspoiled qualities of America.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

POPOCATÉPETL AND IZTACCÍHUATL (5) PAINTED BY JOSÉ MARIA VELASCO (1840-1912),

 

JOSE MARIA VELASCO (1840-1912)
Popocatépetl (5, 426 m -17, 802 ft) on left)
Iztaccíhuatl (5,230 m - 17,160 ft) (on right)
Mexico

In Popocatepetl and Iztacchihuatl from the back, 1895, oil on canvas, The   José María Velasco Museum, Mexico

The volcanoes
Popocatépetl (5,426 m - 17,802 ft), on right in this painting, is an active volcano, located in the states of Puebla, Mexico, and Morelos, in Central Mexico, and lies in the eastern half of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. The name Popocatépetl comes from the Nahuatl words Popōca (It smokes) and Tepētl (mountain), meaning Smoking Mountain. It is the second highest peak in Mexico, after Citlaltépetl (Pico de Orizaba) at 5,636 m (18,491 ft).
It is linked to the Iztaccihuatl volcano to the north by the high saddle known as the Paso de Cortés.
Popocatépetl is 70 km (43 mi) southeast of Mexico City, from where it can be seen regularly, depending on atmospheric conditions. Until recently, the volcano was one of three tall peaks in Mexico to contain glaciers, the others being Iztaccihuatl and Pico de Orizaba.
Iztaccíhuatl (5,230 m - 17,160 ft) is dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla. It is the nation's third highest, after Pico de Orizaba 5,636 m (18,491 ft) and Popocatépetl 5,426 m (17,802 ft). The name "Iztaccíhuatl" is Nahuatl for "White woman", reflecting the four individual snow-capped peaks which depict the head, chest, knees and feet of a sleeping female when seen from east or west.The peak is sometimes nicknamed La Mujer Dormida (The Sleeping Woman.) Iztaccíhuatl is to the north of Popocatépetl, to which it is connected by the high altitude Paso de Cortés. Depending on atmospheric conditions Iztaccíhuatl is also visible much of the year from Mexico City some 70 km (43 mi) to the northwest.
The first recorded ascent was made in 1889, though archaeological evidence suggests the Aztecs and previous cultures climbed it previously. It is the lowest peak containing permanent snow and glaciers in Mexico.
In Aztec mythology : Iztaccíhuatl was a princess who fell in love with one of her father's warriors, Popocatépetl. The emperor sent Popocatépetl to war in Oaxaca, promising him Iztaccíhuatl as his wife when he returned (which Iztaccíhuatl's father presumed he would not). Iztaccíhuatl was falsely told that Popocatépetl had died in battle, and believing the news, she died of grief. When Popocatépetl returned to find his love dead, he took her body to a spot outside Tenochtitlan and kneeled by her grave. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into mountains.
Popocatépetl became an active volcano, raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

The painter
José Maria Tranquilino Francisco de Jesus Velasco Gomez Obregуn, generally known as José Marнa Velasco, was a 19th-century Mexican polymath, most famous as a painter who made Mexican geography a symbol of national identity through his paintings. He was both one of the most popular artists of the time and internationally renowned. He received many distinctions such as the gold medal of the Mexican National Expositions of Bellas Artes in 1874 and 1876; the gold medal of the Philadelphia International Exposition in 1876, on the centenary of U.S. independence; and the medal of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889, on the centenary of the outbreak of the French Revolution. His painting El valle de Mexico is considered Velasco's masterpiece, of which he created seven different renditions. Of all the nineteenth-century painters, Velasco was the "first to be elevated in the post-Revolutionary period as an exemplar of nationalism."
Velasco's long career elevated Mexican landscape painting to international standing. One of his landscapes of the Valley of Mexico is in the Vatican Museum, a gift to Pope Leo XIII. His scenes of the Mexican landscape are a visual source for environmental historians, since they show the Valley of Mexico before its degradation in the twentieth century, with air pollution and urban sprawl. His landscape art has a wide appeal, since it is more accessible than history paintings that require the viewer to understand a particular event.
Today the Government of the State of Mexico, where Velasco was from, presents an award for artistic merit in his name to painters born in that state. Among the most outstanding winners are Luis Nishizawa, Leopoldo Flores, Ignacio Barrios and Héctor Cruz.
The José María Velasco Museum was opened in 1992 in Toluca City with the task of preserving and promoting his paintings.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau  

CERRO CHACHE PAINTED BY ONOFRE JARPA-LABRA

 

ONOFRE JARPA-LABRA (1849 - 1940)

Cerro Chache   (2, 333 m  - 7,654 ft)

Chile

In Cordillera de Petorca,  oil on canvas, 1933, Museo nacional debellas Artes Santiago, Chile 

The mountain 
Cerro Chache is a Chilean mountain, the highest summit of the central Costa mountain range, located in Cabildo in the Valparaíso Region. It is part of the so-called Melon mountain range, which runs between the La Ligua River and the Aconcagua River. The Cerro Chache is accessed by the Las Pataguas Mineral, just over 15 km southeast of La Ligua. Its approach and ascent involve at least two days of excursion.
From its summit you can see Mount Aconcagua, Cerro La Campana, Cerro El Roble, as well as much of the Melon mountain range and the coast of the Valparaíso region.
It is common to read that El Roble Hill or that the Altos de Cantillana correspond to the highest heights of the Costa mountain range in its central section. However, there are certain sources that cite the Chache hill as the highest altitude. The discussion basically lies in the interlacing of mountain ranges that predominate in this transitional zone from Transversal Valleys to Longitudinal Valley, which causes confusion when talking about Chache Hill, when taking it as part of the transverse cord that separates the hydrographic holes of the La Ligua River and the Aconcagua River. This thesis is denied, when studying the letters of the Military Geographical Institute or ascending to the hill El Roble or the hill La Campana, and realizing that the Chache hill is in a continuous line towards the north, distancing itself from the sea almost by the same kilometers in a straight line, like the El Roble hill, and also that the adjacent transverse cord, in the east direction, which joins it to the Andes mountain range, is of lower altitude than the entire Melon mountain range, where the Chache hill. These tests make it the highest altitude of this section of the Chilean Coast Range.

The painter 
The  Chilean landscape painter  Onofre Jarpa Labra was a Romantic style painter and an essayist on various artistic topics. His education began at the Instituto Nacional, a prestigious school that has produced many of Chile's presidents. He continued his studies at the Academia de Bellas Artes, directed by the conservative Italian painter Alejandro Ciccarelli, who resigned in 1869 and was replaced by the German painter, Ernesto Kirchbach, who took a progressive approach that was more amenable to Jarpa's temperament.
In 1875, he won second prize at an international exhibition in Santiago and, six years later, received a government grant to study in Europe, where he visited Spain, Rome and Paris. In Spain, he worked with Francisco Pradilla, who had a major influence on his style. His most important period, however, came during his stay in Venice, where his style became more Naturalistic and he began producing still-lifes. He also became devoted to painting en plein air. After his European tour, he visited the Holy Land, where he painted scenes from the River Jordan and Mount Carmel.
Upon returning to Chile, he became a teacher. Among his best-known students were José Tomás Errázuriz, Alberto Valenzuela Llanos and the caricaturist Jorge Délano Frederick.  He resisted the trends toward French Impressionism, represented by his former classmate, Juan Francisco González, although he was on good terms with the Grupo Montparnasse and the Generación del 13.
In addition to his landscapes and still lifes, he painted several portraits of notable public figures. A quiet, deeply religious man, he continued to paint almost until the day of his death. Most of his works are now in private collection.

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2020 - Men Portraits
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

RITACUBA BIANCO PAINTED BY RAFAEL TROYA

 

RAFAEL TROYA (1845-1920)

Ritacuba Bianco ( 5,410 m (17,750 ft) 

Colombia

In  Vista de la Cordillera Oriental desde Tiopullo, 1914, óleo/lienzo, 99 x 169 cm, Museo Nacional del Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito

The mountain
Ritacuba Bianco ( 5,410 m (17,750 ft) (in the background of the painting)  is the highest peak of Cordillera Oriental, in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. It's also named Ritak'uwa, an ancient name from the U'wa indigenous people that live in the lowlands of the National Park Sierra Nevada del Cocuy y Güicán, where the Ritacuba Blanco is located. The summit is accessible from the west via the town of El Cocuy, the village of Güicán and the hamlet of Las Cabañas. Because of global warming, its glacier is melting at very high rates, backing down 25 linear mts per year; same is happening at amazing speeds to all other snow-covered tropical mountains in Colombia.
 In 1950, Ritacuba Blanco's glacier extended down to 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) above sea level; in January 2007 its lowest point was at 4,800 metres (15,700 ft) above sea level. If this melting rate continues, the glacier is expected to disappear before 2025.

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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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

CERRO POINCENOT PAINTED BY JAMES HART DYKE

JAMES HART DYKE (bn.1966),

Cerro Poincenot (3,002 m - 9,848 ft)

Argentina - Chile 

In  Cerro Poincenot and glacier, acrylic and pencil on card, 12x15cm. 2018, Private collection

The mountain
Ceero Poincenot or Poincenot Needle (3002 m - 9,848 ft) is a mountain located to the east of the Southern Patagonian ice field in the sector pending delimitation on the border between Argentina (Province of Santa Cruz) and Chile (Region of Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic) dating from the 1998 Agreement;.  This sector is from the south of Mount Fitz Roy to Cerro Murallón, in the Treaty it was intended to delimit from Fitz Roy to Cerro Daudet, however, due to disagreement as to delimit the northern sector, it was only defined from the Hill Murallón to the Daudet. Because of this, its political and neutral status is that of an international hill, and of which it belongs to both countries, of which both must define a definitive border.
The mountainous group to which it belongs forms one of the great nunataks of the Patagonian ice field. The spire is located south of Mount Fitz Roy (which measures about 350 meters more), and stands out for its pointed figure and vertical walls.
The summit was named in memory of the French mountaineer Jacques Poincenot, who died during the French expedition to reach the top of Mount Fitz Roy for the first time, composed of Lionel Terray and Guido Magnone. During the long walk to Fitz Roy, Poincenot drowned in the Fitz Roy River.5 His remains rest in the town of Puerto Santa Cruz.
The first ascent was made in 1962 by the Irishman Frank Cochrane and the British Don Whillans, who used the southwest face.

The painter
James Hart Dyke’s work is centred on landscape painting, from the domesticity of paintings of country houses to paintings generated from physically demanding expeditions over remote mountains. James has also undertaken a series of projects including accompanying HRH The Prince of Wales as the official artist on royal tours, working as ‘artist in residence’ for The British Secret Intelligence Service, working as an artist embedded with the British Forces in war zones, working for the producers of the James Bond films and working as ‘artist in residence’ for Aston Martin. These projects required him to respond in many different ways and have allowed him to experiment with more graphic forms of painting influenced by his studies as an architect at the Royal College of Art. His portraits have been shown at the National Portrait Gallery and at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibitions.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

AI PETRI PAINTED BY ARKHIP KUINDZHI

 

ARKHIP KUINDZHI (1841-1910)

Ai-Petri (1,234.2 m - 4,049 ft)
Russia - Crimea

In  Ai-Petri. Crimea, 1908, Oil on canvas (39 × 53 cm) 

State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

The mountain 
Ai-Petri (1,234.2 m - 4,049 ft) meaning Saint Peter in Greek, is a peak in the Crimean Mountains. For administrative purposes it is in the Yalta municipality of Crimea. Ai-Petri is one of the windiest places in Crimea. The wind blows for 125 days a year, reaching a speed of 50 m/s (110 mph). The peak is located above the city of Alupka and the town of Koreiz. There is a cable car that takes passengers from a station near Alupka to the main area in Ai-Petri.

The painter
The very important Russian artist Arkhip Kuindzhi (Архи́п Ива́нович Куи́нджиwas) was born in 1842 (1841?) in a very poor emigrants family from Greece, in Mariupol, Russian Empire (nowadays Ukraine) but spent his youth in the city of Taganrog.
Arkhip was six years old when he lost his parents and had no other choice than to work at a church building site or grazing domestic animals. He received the rudiments of an education from a Greek friend of the family who was a teacher and then went to the local school. During the five years from 1860 to 1865, Arkhip Kuindzhi worked as a retoucher in the photography studio of Simeon Isakovich in Taganrog. He tried to open his own photography studio, but without success. After that Kuindzhi left Taganrog for Saint Petersburg.
More about the painter

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

DONGTIAN MOUNTAIN HALL / 洞天山堂图 BY DONG YUAN / 董源

 

 DONG YUAN  / 董源 (c. 934 – c. 962)

 Dongtian Mountain Hall / 洞天山堂图 (0 - No elevation data) 

China

In Dongtian Mountain Hall / 洞天山堂图 - Mountains of the Immortals, ink on silk roll 

National Palace Museum, Taipei

About the Painting
This is one of his most well-known landscapes. His stylistic renderings of the natural world would be hugely influential on Chinese painting, and came to be known as the Jiangnan (named for a culture center in the south, literally "south of river") style. His most distinctive technique is the usage of pointillism and cross-hatching in a remarkable way that had not previously been explored, as traditional Chinese painting materials encourage broad, sweeping brush strokes in a similar manner to calligraphy. This would be imitated by thousands.

The artist
Dong Yuan / 董源 (c. 934 – c. 962) was a Chinese painter. He was born in Zhongling (钟陵; present-day Jinxian County, Jiangxi Province).  Dong Yuan was active in the Southern Tang Kingdom of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He was from Nanjing, which was a center for culture and the arts. He was known for both figure and landscape paintings, and exemplified the elegant style which would become the standard for brush painting in China for the next nine centuries. He and his pupil Juran (巨然) were the founders of the Southern style of landscape painting, known as the Jiangnan Landscape style. Together with Jing Hao and Guan Tong of the Northern style they constituted the four seminal painters of that time.
As with many artists in China, his profession was as an official, here he studied the existing styles of Li Sixun and Wang Wei. However, he added to these masters' techniques; he included more sophisticated perspective.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT LU / 庐山 BY JING HAO / 荆浩

 

JING HAO  / 荆浩 (c. 880–940) 

Lushan / 庐山 or Mount Lu (1,474m- 4,834ft) 

China

 In Mount Lu (c. 920-40),  hanging scroll, ink on silk, 185.8 x 106.8 cm. 

National Palace Museum, Taipei.

About this work
The piece most frequently held as a template of his style is Mount Lu (above), an ink painting on silk scroll which gives a rather fantastical rendering of one of Jiangxi's natural landmarks. The work is a tight, vertical composition, employing Jing's newly developed cun fa technique to compress the landscape into layers of jutting rock-pillars between chasms of mist. The enclosed space of the composition enhances the monumental characteristics of the mountain, which fills some 90% of the scroll. Humans and buildings, though drawn with remarkable realism in a manner that contrasts sharply against the atmospheric landscape surrounding, are reduced to an almost unnoticeable scale, clustered at the foot of the mountain at the very bottom of the scroll, further conveying the intimidating grandeur of the natural world over the transient activities of man. Scholars have noted, however, that the mist in Mount Lu plays only a minimal role compared with that seen in some of Jing's other works, being employed much more conservatively than is common for the artist—a fact which has led to some speculation among art historians that this particular work may represent a “reminiscence” during a later period in the artist's life. Aside from Mount Lu, only one other major surviving work bearing the signature of Jing Hao has survived into the present.

The artist
Jing Hao / 荆浩 (c. 880–940) began his artistic career during the later years of the Tang Dynasty. Initially he was influenced by the emphasis on monumental landscapes of Tang painters. Their goal to express the grandeur and harmony of nature was exemplified by the established masters such as Wang Wei. Following the collapse of the Tang, Northern China descended into a period of political chaos—the Five Dynasties—in which five separate ruling lines established themselves and were destroyed by factional infighting in rapid succession. An aversion to the turmoil of his era led Jing Hao to retire to seclusion in the northern Taihang Mountains. Here he spent the greater portion of his life in the pursuit of artistic development. Taihang is an isolated region of dense cloud forests punctuated by jagged peaks. These unique geographical characteristics made the region particularly suited to Jing's developing interest in ink wash techniques. Jing was one of the earliest Chinese artists to employ ink washes (yongmo) to simulate depth and atmospheric perspective. Building on the approach initially pioneered by Tang painters such as Xiang Rong, Jing wrote that the principal aim of the yongmo technique was to “distinguish higher and lower [parts of objects] with a gradation in ink tones, and represent clearly shallowness and depth, making them appear natural as if they had not been done with a brush.” Of Xiang himself, Jing wrote that the earlier artist had “attained the secret of mysterious truth only through the use of ink wash”, but criticized Xiang for his lack of definition, lamenting that Xiang had “no bone in his brushwork”. Jing departed from such an approach by employing in his landscapes a mixture of atmospheric ink washes and bold brush strokes to accurately transcribe the Shanxi landscapes in which he worked. This technique, called cun fa, would characterize all of his major works as well as those of other artists who would study his work in later years.

The mountain
Mount Lu or Lushan (庐山) is situated in the northern part of Jiangxi province in southeastern China, and is one of the most renowned mountains in the country. Mount Lushan is one of the spiritual centres of Chinese civilization. Buddhist and Taoist temples, along with landmarks of Confucianism, where the most eminent masters taught, blend effortlessly into a strikingly beautiful landscape which has inspired countless artists who developed the aesthetic approach to nature found in Chinese culture.
More about Lushan / Mount Lu

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

LES COURTES PAINTED BY JACQUES FOURCY

JACQUES FOURCY 1906-1990)

Les Courtes (3 ,856 m-12, 650ft)

France (Auvergne Rhône-Alpes)

In Les Courtes vues des Petites Aiguilles Rouges du Dolent, Chamonix  huile sur toile, 1947

The mountain
Les Courtes (3 ,856 m-12, 650ft) meaning in french  The Short ones, are  a series of summits on the French side of the Mont-Blanc massif. They are located on the link which, from the Aiguille de Triolet to the Aiguille Verte, separates the Talèfre glacier to the south and the Argentière glacier to the north. Between Les Droites and the Ravanel and Mummery needles, they appear as a long ridge with several summits from the Col des Droites  (3,733 m- 12 247ft)) in the northwest to the Col des Cristaux  (3,601 m- 11,814 ft ) in the southeast :
- the Tour des Courtes (3,816 m- 12,519 ft), with the pass of the Tour des Courtes (3,720 m) where the normal route passes
- West Shoulder (3,841 m- 12,601 ft )
- Les Courtes  (3 ,856 m -12, 650 ft)
- Chenavier needle (3,799 m - 12,463 ft)
- Aiguille Croulante  (Falling Needle) (3,765 m - 12,352 ft)
- Aiguille Qui Remue (Moving Needle) (3,724 m -12, 217ft )
The northeast face, the crossing of Les  Courtes (followed by the Ravanel and Mummery needles), the north-northeast northeast spur, and the north face are respectively no 29, no 38, no 76 and no 94 among the 100  most beautifull races of the Mont-Blanc massif by Gaston Rébuffat.

The painter
Jacques Fourcy was a French painter, member of the Société des peintres de montagnes.
Born in Paris,  he studied engineering at Ecole Centrale Paris and then joined the railways firm Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de  Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM), then the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer. A prisoner of war for five years, he was repatriated as a result of the loss of one eye; he later receives the Croix de Guerre 1939-1945.
His training seems to be that of an self taught one. He began to paint very early, especially watercolors at first. He paints in his spare time and after his retirement. He joined the Société des peintres de montagnes in 1925 and exhibited at the Salon of French artists from 1926. Well known for his particularly lively and colorful watercolors, he also devoted himself, especially after the Second World War, to the oil painting most often done on panels (Isorel). He especially painted the high mountains; his works represent in particular the great peaks of the Chamonix Valley and Oisans but also the summits of the Swiss Alps. The Museum of Chamonix exhibits several of his works.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE ROTHENBACHKOPF BY GEORG OSTERWALD

 

GEORG OSTERWALD (1803-1884) 

The Rothenbachkopf (1,315 m - 4,314 ft)

France (Alsace) 

In Vue du Rothenbach, watercolour, 1873. Musées de la Ville de Strasbourg

The mountain
The Rothenbachkopf (1,315 m - 4,314 ft) is a mountain in the High Vosges in France. Only a few metres to the west of the summit runs the Route des Crêtes heading south from the Col de la Schlucht. Several Vosges Clubhiking trails run over the top. A few kilometres north of the Rothenbachkopfs the border between Alsace and Lorraine turns and heads southwest.
The summit ridge is used as a cross-country ski course for the crossing of the Vosges mountains. Great care is recommended in winter because of the cornices, the possible fog and the violent and icy winds that can occur. On 28 December 1965, two inexperienced young German hikers, became lost in the fog and cold and died on the Rothenbachkopf.

The painter
Georg Osterwald was a German teacher, professor, landscape,  architecture and portrait painter,  draftsman, illustrator , etcher and lithographer.
After attending high school Rinteln, his hometown (until 1819), Georg Osterwald was initially a technical draftsman at the Oberbergamt Bonn. He studied painting at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität there , later also with Friedrich von Gärtner in Munich. He was also a drawing teacher at the local construction school.
From 1825 to 1828 he taught drawing at the Fellini Institute in Hofwil near Bern (Switzerland), from 1830 to 1832 in Paris .
In 1835 and 1836 he was, together with Johann Hermann Detmold, editor of the Hannoversche Kunstblätter , which the Kunstverein Hannover published for exhibitions.
Georg Osterwald can be traced in Hanover until 1843, where he worked as a painter.
Later Osterwald was temporarily in Dresden , then in Cologne , where he was appointed professor by King Wilhelm of Prussia in 1864.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE MONT BLANC (2) BY GABRIEL LOPPÉ

GABRIEL LOPPÉ (1825-1913)

The Mont Blanc (4,808.13 m - 15,776.7 ft)

 France, Italy border

In Sur le col du Géant – Soleil levant sur le Mont Blanc,  oil on canvas, 51 x 35.5cm,   1890,   Courtesy William Mitchell Gallery, London

The painter 

Toussaint Gabriel Loppé was a French painter, photographer and mountaineer. He became the first foreigner to be made a member of the Alpine Club in London. His father was a captain in the French Engineers and Loppé's childhood was spent in many different towns in south-eastern France. Aged twenty-one Loppé climbed a small mountain in the Languedoc and found a group of painters sketching on the summit. He had found his calling and subsequently went off to Geneva where he met the reputed leading Swiss landscapist, Alexandre Calame (1810 -1864). Loppé took up mountaineering in Grindelwald in the 1850s and made friends easily with the many English climbers in France and Switzerland. Although he was frequently labelled as a pupil of Calame and his rival François Diday, Loppé was almost an entirely self-taught artist. He became the first painter to work at higher altitudes during climbing expeditions earning the right to be considered the founder of the peintres-alpinistes school, which became established in the Savoie at the turn of the nineteenth century.

Notable followers of Loppé include, Charles Henri Contencin (1875-1955) and Jacques Fourcy (1906-1990). Together with the first ascent of Mt Mallet in Chamonix’s Grandes Jorasses range, Loppé made over 40 ascents of Mont Blanc during his climbing career, which lasted until the late 1890s.  He frequently made oil sketches from alpine summits, including a panorama of the view from the summit of Mont Blanc.

His paintings became celebrated for their atmosphere and spontaneity and he soon found himself taking part in many exhibitions in London and in Paris.

By 1896 Loppé had spent over fifty seasons climbing and painting in Chamonix. As the valley’s unrivalled ‘Court painter’ his work was in constant demand with the majority of his pictures going to English climbers and summer tourists.

In his later years, Loppé became fascinated with photography and was quite an innovator in this field too. His long exposure photograph of the Eiffel Tower struck by lightning, now in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris remains one of his iconic images. 

The mountain 

Mont Blanc (in French) 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 rises 4,808.73 m (15,777 ft) above sea level and 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 mountain lies in a range called the Graian Alps, between the regions of Aosta Valley, Italy, and Savoie and Haute-Savoie, France. The location of the summit is on the watershed line between the valleys of Ferret and Veny in Italy and the valleys of Montjoie, and Arve in France. The Mont Blanc massif is popular for mountaineering, hiking, skiing, and snowboarding.

The three towns and their communes which surround Mont Blanc are Courmayeur in Aosta Valley, Italy, and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Chamonix in Haute-Savoie, France.  A cable car ascends and crosses the mountain range from Courmayeur to Chamonix, through the Col du Géant. Constructed beginning in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 km (7¼ mi) Mont Blanc Tunnel runs beneath the mountain between these two countries and is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes.

Since the French Revolution, the issue of the ownership of the summit has been debated.

More about The Mont Blanc 

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

VESUVIUS PAINTED BY ALBERT MARQUET

 

ALBERT MARQUET (1875–1947)

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

Italy

 In La baie de  Naples et le Vésuve, 1909, Oil on canvas, 62x 80 cm  

Ermitage Museum, Sankt-Petersburg, Russia

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
Albert Marquet was a French painter, associated with the Fauvist movement. He initially became one of the Fauve painters and a lifelong friend of Henri Matisse. In 1890 Marquet moved to Paris to attend the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs, where he met Henri Matisse. They were roommates for a time, and they influenced each other's work. Marquet began studies in 1892 at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris under Gustave Moreau, the famous symbolist artist. In 1905 he exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. Dismayed by the intense coloration in these paintings, critics reacted by naming the artists the "Fauves", i.e. the wild beasts. Although Marquet painted with the fauves for years, he used less bright and violent colours than the others, and emphasized less intense tones made by mixing complementaries, thus always as colors and never as grays.
Marquet subsequently painted in a more naturalistic style, primarily landscapes, but also several portraits and, between 1910 and 1914, several female nude paintings.
From 1907 to his death, Marquet alternated between working in his studio in Paris (a city he painted a lot of times) and many parts of the European coast and in North Africa. He was most involved with Algeria and Algiers and with Tunisia. He remained also impressed particularly with Naples (see above) and Venice where he painted the sea and boats, accenting the light over water. During his voyages to Germany and Sweden he painted the subjects he usually preferred: river and sea views, ports and ships, but also cityscapes.
Marquet was particularly revered by the American painters Leland Bell and his wife Louisa Matthiasdottir. He was also revered by Bell's contemporaries Al Kresch and Gabriel Laderman. Since both Bell and Laderman were teachers in several American art schools, they have had an influence on younger American figurative artists and their appreciation of Marquet.
Matisse said ; "When I look at Hokusai, I think of Marquet—and vice versa ... I don't mean imitation of Hokusai, I mean similarity with him".

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MØNS KLINT & SOMMERSPIET BY FREDERIK SØDRING

 

   FREDERIK SØDRING  (1809–1862)

Sommerspiret  (120 m-393 ft)

Denmark

In Part of Mons Klint with the Sommerspiret, 1830,  Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum

The cliff
Sommerspiret (120 m - 393 ft) is one of the chalk cliffs forming Møns Klint, a 6 km stretch of cliffs along the eastern coast of the Danish island of Møn in the Baltic Sea. Some of the cliffs fall a sheer 120 m to the sea below. The highest cliff is Dronningestolen (128 m- 420 ft). The area around Møns Klint consists of woodlands, pastures, ponds and steep hills, including Aborrebjerg which, with a height of 143 m - 469ft), is one of the highest points in Denmark. The cliffs and adjacent park are now protected as a nature reserve. Møns Klint receives around 250,000 visitors a year. There are clearly marked paths for walkers, riders and cyclists. The path along the cliff tops leads to steps down to the shore in several locations.
On 29 May 2007, close to the cliff tops, the GeoCenter Møns Klint was opened by Queen Margrethe. The geological museum with interactive computer displays and a variety of attractions for children traces the geological prehistory of Denmark and the formation of the chalk cliffs. The museum was designed by PLH Architects, the winners of an international design competition.
Møns Klint has been a most popular subject for landscape painters, especially during the Danish Golden Age when the national romanticism movement encouraged artists to take renewed interest in the Danish countryside.

The painter
Sødring was born in Aalborg, Denmark. He spent some time living in Norway with his parents before studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen beginning in 1825. There he initially studied under Jens Peter Møller, but his greatest influence was from the romantic art of Johan Christian Dahl. Between 1829 and 1831 Sødring travelled to Norway and Germany, taking time to study in Munich. He traveled to Norway and Southern Sweden between 1832-36 and returned during 1847. He was awarded the Fund ad Usus Publicos 1836-38. He travelled to Germany (mainly Munich) 1836-38) and to Paris in 1843.He continued to work, sending several paintings back to Denmark. These travels influenced Sødring's later works. Upon his return, he continued to paint, exhibiting landscapes from the Rhine, Southern Germany, and Tyrol. In 1832, he was painted by Christen Købke; the portrait is now part of the Hirschsprung Collection.[
He exhibited at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition 1828-36, 1838-40, 1842-47, 1858. Sødring's other exhibition included at the Salon in Paris and University of Copenhagen both in 1843.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

SNAEFELL PAINTED BY ASGRIMUR JONSSON

 

ASGRIMUR JONSSON (1876-1958)
Snæfell or Snæfellsjökull (1,446 m - 4,744 ft)
Iceland

The mountain
Snæfell or Snæfellsjökull (1,446 m - 4,744 ft) (meaning snow-fell glacier) is a 700,000-year-old glacier-capped stratovolcano in western Iceland. The name of the mountain is actually Snæfell, but it is normally called "Snæfellsjökull" to distinguish it from two other mountains with this name. It is situated on the most western part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland. Sometimes it may be seen from the city of Reykjavík over Faxa Bay, at a distance of 120 km.
The mountain is one of the most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne, in which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the center of the earth on Snæfellsjökull. The mountain is included in the Snæfellsjökull National Park (Icelandic: Þjóðgarðurinn Snæfellsjökull).
In August 2012 the summit was ice-free for the first time in recorded history.

The painter
Asgrímur Jónsson was an Icelandic painter, and one of the first in the country to make art a professional living. He studied at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen between 1900 and 1903 and traveled widely after graduation. The subjects of his pictures are mostly the landscapes of his home country, particularly mountains. His painting style is similar to the French impressionists like Corot. Some of his pictures also illustrate Icelandic sagas and folk tales.
He was also noted for his murals in various churches in Iceland. A number of his works are on display in the National Gallery of Iceland. Jónsson influenced many artists in Iceland. A short time before he died he had donated his house in Reykjavík to the Icelandic Government along with all those paintings which were at that time in his possession. These consisted of 192 oil paintings and 277 water colours together with a great number of unfinished pictures dating from various periods in his life. During his lifetime Ásgrímur Jónsson was honoured in many ways. He was made honorary professor at the University of Iceland and, in 1933 he was made Grand Knight of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon. He was an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and Knight of Dannebrog, first class. He died in 1958 and was buried in Gaulverjabær.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

KANGCHENJUNGA (2) PAINTED BY NICHOLAS ROERICH

 

NICHOLAS ROERICH (1874-1947),

Kangchenjunga (8, 538m - 28,169 ft)

India, Népal

In Kangchenjunga at sunset  1944, tempera on canvas, Private collection

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

The painter
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 = >

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

LUSHAN / 庐山 BY WU GUANZHONG / 吴冠中

WU GUANZHONG / 吴冠中 (1919- 2010)

Lushan / 庐山 or Mount Lu (1,474m- 4,834ft)

China

In Lushan Songshi, ink on paper, 1987

The mountain
Mount Lu or Lushan (庐山)  ( (1,474m- 4,834ft) is situated in the northern part of Jiangxi province in southeastern China, and is one of the most renowned mountains in the country. Mount Lushan is one of the spiritual centres of Chinese civilization. Buddhist and Taoist temples, along with landmarks of Confucianism, where the most eminent masters taught, blend effortlessly into a strikingly beautiful landscape which has inspired countless artists who developed the aesthetic approach to nature found in Chinese culture.
The oval-shaped mountains are about 25 km long and 10 km wide, and neighbors Jiujiang city and the Yangtze River to the north, Nanchang city to the south, and Poyang Lake to the east. Its highest point is Dahanyang Peak (1,474m- 4,834ft) and is one of the hundreds of steep peaks that towers above a sea of clouds that encompass the mountains for almost 200 days out of the year. Mount Lu is known for its grandeur, steepness, and beauty, and is part of Lushan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996, and a prominent tourist attraction, especially during the summer months when the weather is cooler.
Lushan was a summer resort for Western missionaries in China. Absalom Sydenstricker, the father of Pearl Buck was one of the first five missionaries to acquire property in the Kuling Estate on the mountain.
More about Mount Lu  

The painter 
Wu Guanzhong / 吴冠中  was a contemporary Chinese painter widely recognized as a founder of modern Chinese painting.  He is considered to be one of the greatest contemporary Chinese painters. Wu's artworks had both Western and Eastern influences, such as the Western style of Fauvism and the Eastern style of Chinese calligraphy. Wu had painted various aspects of China, including much of its architecture, plants, animals, people, as well as many of its landscapes and waterscapes in a style reminiscent of the impressionist painters of the early 1900s. He was also a writer on contemporary Chinese art. Most of Wu’s early works were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. It is difficult to track down works from his early days. Wu had an exhibit in 1942 when he was in school and it was hosted by the Sha Ping Youth Palace.
Wu Guanzhong has had solo exhibitions in major art galleries and museums around the world, including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, Korea, France, England and the USA. His paintings were exhibited at the British Museum in 199;, being the first living Chinese artist to have an exhibition there. One of his paintings, Seascape at Beidaihe (1977), was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an exhibition of paintings from the collection of art dealer Robert H. Ellsworth. His work may also be seen in the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
In 2008, Wu donated 113 works to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). This donation is the largest Wu Guanzhong donation to a public museum.
In 2010, Wu donated works to the Hong Kong Art Museum.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

FUJIYAMA / 富士山 (2) BY HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博

 

HIROSHI YOSHIDA / 吉田 博 (1876-1950)
Fujiyama / 富士山 (3, 776 m -12,389 ft)
Japan

In Fuji San from Yamanaka, Woodblock, 1937, Private Collection Japan

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


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


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

GUNUNG BATOK PAINTED BY SUDJONO ABDULLAH

SUDJONO ABDULLAH (1911-1993)

Gunung Batok (2,440 m - 8,010 ft)

Indonesia (Java) 

In  Beternak Bebek (Raising ducks), oil on canvas, 1950, Private collection Indonesia 

About the painting
This painting shows a rare view of the volcano's complex around  Gunung Bromo on the ancient caldeira of the Tengger volcano of 10 km diameter.  Bromo have emerged from this ancient caldeira and also the Batok  in front of this view. The highest mountain in back is the Semeru volcano still active at 3,676 m altitude the highest mount of Java.

The volcano
Gunung Batok  (2,440 m - 8,010 ft) is a cinder cone located in East Java, Indonesia. This volcano is located between four regencies: Probolinggo Regency, Pasuruan Regency, Lumajang Regency, and Malang Regency. The location of Mount Batok is west from Mount Bromo. This mountain is one of the inactive volcanoes located within the Tengger caldera.
In Javanese, Batok means "coconut shell". The Tenggerese people believe that Mount Batok was formed from a coconut shell which was kicked by Resi Bima, a powerful giant, after failing to fulfill the conditions proposed by Rara Anteng to marry her.

The painter
Raden Soedjono Abdullah was born in Yogyakarta, the son of Abdullah Suriosubroto, a famous landscape painter and was also the brother of Basoeki Abdullah. He used to help his father cleaning the pallet from which he found his way to be a painter. He finished his school from HIS Indonesian Dutch School and worked as a poster artist for the Rex Theater in Yogyakarta. During the Japanese colonization in Indonesia, Sudjono went to Parangtritis, Parangkusumo where he continued to paint. During the 1970s, Soedjono moved to Kertosono in East Java, where he lived up to his death.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

TAAL VOLCANO PAINTED BY FERNANDO AMORSOLO

FERNANDO AMORSOLO (1882-1972)

Taal Volcano (311 m -1,020 ft) 

Philippines (Luzon)

 In Returning fischermen, oil on canvas, 1950, Private collection

The volcano
Taal Volcano  (311 m -1,020 ft)  is a large 15 x 20 km lake filled complex volcano located on Luzon island in the Philippines, in the province of Batangas. Taal is the second most active volcano in the Philippines, with 34 recorded historical eruptions, all of which were concentrated on Volcano Island, near the middle of Taal Lake. The lake partially fills Taal Caldera, which was formed by prehistoric eruptions between 140,000 and 5,380 BP.  Viewed from the Tagaytay Ridge in Cavite, Taal Volcano and Lake presents one of the most picturesque and attractive views in the Philippines. It is located about 50 kilometres (31 miles) south of the capital of the country, the city of Manila.
The volcano has had several violent eruptions in the past, causing loss of life on the island and the populated areas surrounding the lake, with the death toll estimated at about 6,000. Because of its proximity to populated areas and its eruptive history, the volcano was designated a Decade Volcano, worthy of close study to prevent future natural disasters.
All volcanoes of the Philippines are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
A sudden eruption occurred on January 12,, 2020 quickly escalating into Alert Level 4.  Ashfalls and volcanic thunderstorms were reported, and forced evacuations were made. Dangers of possible volcanic tsunami were also warned. The volcano produced volcanic lightning above its crater with ash clouds. The eruption progressed into magmatic eruption characterized by lava fountain with thunder and lightning.

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...
- More about Fernando Amorsolo

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

TARANAKI / MOUNT EGMONT BY CHARLES DECIMUS BARRAUD

 

CHARLES DECIMUS BARRAUD (1822-1897)

Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont  (2,518 m - 8,261 ft) 

New Zealand (North Island)

In Mount Egmont Taranaki,  watercolour, 1870, Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand

The mountain
Taranaki or Mount Egmont (2,518 m - 8,261 ft) is an active but quiescent stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. Although the mountain is more commonly referred to as Taranaki, it has two official names under the alternative names policy of the New Zealand Geographic Board. The mountain is one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world. There is a secondary cone, Fanthams Peak or Panitahi in Māori (1,966 me - 6,450 ft), on the south side.
 For many centuries the mountain was called Taranaki by Māori. The Māori word tara means mountain peak, and naki is thought to come from ngaki, meaning "shining", a reference to the snow-clad winter nature of the upper slopes. It was also named Pukehaupapa and Pukeonaki by Iwi who live in the region in ancient times.
According to Māori mythology, Taranaki once resided in the middle of the North Island, with all the other New Zealand volcanoes. The beautiful Pihanga was coveted by all the mountains, and a great battle broke out between them. Tongariro eventually won the day, inflicted great wounds on the side of Taranaki, and causing him to flee. Taranaki headed westwards, following Te Toka a Rahotu and forming the deep gorges of the Whanganui River, paused for a while, creating the depression that formed the Te Ngaere swamp, then heading north. Further progress was blocked by the Pouakai ranges, and as the sun came up Taranaki became petrified in his current location. When Taranaki conceals himself with rainclouds, he is said to be crying for his lost love, and during spectacular sunsets, he is said to be displaying himself to her. In turn, Tongariro's eruptions are said to be a warning to Taranaki not to return....

The artist
Charles Decimus Barraud was born in Camberwell, London, England. he wanted to become a doctor, but his father, a clerk in the Custom House,  died when Charles was only 11 years old and his family could not afford the expensive training. He had to content himself with qualifying as a chemist and druggist.
Long Biography 

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

MOUNT TARAWERA / PINK TERRACES PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHARLES SPENCER

 

CHARLES SPENCER (1854-1933)

Mount Tarawera / Pink and White Terraces  (1, 111m - 3,645ft) 

 New Zealand

 In Pink Terraces- c.1900, black and white phototgraphs hand colored, 

Museum of New Zealand / Te Papa Tongarewa

The volcano and the terraces
On 10 June 1886, Mount Tarawera  (1, 111m - 3,645ft) erupted. The eruption spread from west of Wahanga dome, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the north, down to Lake Rotomahana. The volcano belched out hot mud, red hot boulders, and immense clouds of black ash from a 17 kilometres (11 mi) rift that crossed the mountain, passed through the lake, and extended beyond into the Waimangu valley.
After the eruption, a crater over 100 metres (330 ft) in depth encompassed the former site of the terraces.  After some years this filled with water to form a new Lake Rotomahana, 30–40 metres (98–131 ft) higher, ten times larger and deeper than the old lake.  This  explosive basaltic eruption  killed an estimated 120 people.
Alfred Patchet Warbrick, a boat builder at Te Wairoa, witnessed the eruption of Mount Tarawera from Maunga Makatiti to the north of Lake Tarawera. Warbrick soon had whaleboats on Lake Tarawera investigating the new landscape; he in time became the chief guide to the post-eruption attractions. Warbrick never accepted that the Pink and White Terraces had been destroyed

The photographer
When Tarawera erupted only a few weeks later, Geological Survey director James Hector and assistant geologist James Park disembarked at Tauranga on 12 June, en route to the Rotorua lakes district to report on the disturbance. He immediately engaged Charles Spencer who was already a famous photograph in new Zealand, to accompany the party and record the effects of the eruption.
By the time Spencer returned to Tauranga a week later he had accumulated an initial set of plates which he developed and printed. He then returned to Te Wairoa on 8 July and took several more views during a brief spell of decent weather. At the end of the month he made a third visit, accompanying Percy Smith’s surveying party for almost a week, and taking a number of views between the Ruawahia Dome on Tarawera and the craters to the south-west near Rotomahana.
Although no definitive lists exist, it is likely that Spencer produced several dozen views of the Rotorua hot lakes district before and after the eruption, and as a result his are some of the better known images, in collections throughout the world.

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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau