Giovanni Boldini ~ The Woman in Red

Giovanni Boldini (Italian, 1842-1931) ~ La Femme en Rouge [The Woman in Red]. – Boldini was renowned as a colorist and technician, and his works are considered very much Parisian. He had an exclusive contract with the eminent art dealer Adolphe Goupil, and for him produced small, brightly colored 18th century costume pieces that were popular with his Parisian clientele. He painted society portraits as he developed a reputation for his dazzling, elegant depictions of the fashionable women, executed with bold, fluid brushstrokes. His exuberance, vivacity and frank sensuousness won him the title of “Master of Swish.” (NégyArt, Szingy Books), Németh György Pin

Dream Book

Alice Pike Barney (American, 1857-1931) - Dream Book, c.1900. - - When her daughter Natalie wrote a chapbook of French poetry, Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes, Barney was pleased to provide illustrations. She did not understand the implications of the book’s love poems addressed to women and had no idea that three of the four women who modeled for her were her daughter’s lovers. Her husband Albert, alerted to the book’s theme by a newspaper review headlined “Sappho Sings in Washington”, rushed to Paris, where he bought and destroyed the publisher’s remaining stock and printing plates. - NégyArt (Szingy Books)

Miss “V” in Green (1920)

Richard Edward Miller (American, 1875-1943) - Miss “V” in Green, 1920 (Oil on canvas) - - Miller preferred to focus on female subjects, often deep in thought. He frequently used brilliantly colorful gardens as a backdrop, and also set his subjects in boudoirs, on porches, or in interiors with sunlight streaming through slatted blinds. Here, the lady admires herself or her necklace. Perhaps she will then read a book from the shelves nearby. - NégyArt (Szingy Books)

 

Painting by Szingy Gallery

Painting by Szingy Gallery - Whoever wants music instead of noise, joy instead of pleasure, soul instead of gold, creative work instead of business, passion instead of foolery, finds no home in this trivial world of ours. (Hermann Hesse)

Simonetta Vespucci

Piero di Cosimo (Italian, 1462-1522) - Portrait of a woman said to be by Simonetta Vespucci, c.1490 (Oil on panel. Musée Condé, Chantilly) - - The young and beautiful mistress of Giuliano de Medici, “the idol of Florence,” who posed for Botticelli, died of consumption at the age of twenty-three in 1476 and her lover would have had this portrait painted in memory of her. The depiction of a woman with a naked bust is unusual for a 15th century portrait. It can also be an ideal portrait, a Neoplatonic allegory of death, symbolized by the serpent which bites its tail, which leads to beauty. The funeral interpretation of the painting is reinforced by the black clouds and the dead tree which appear in front of Simonetta, on the left, while on the right, the trees have leaves and the sky is blue - NégyArt (Szingy Books)

Young Woman Seated on a Chaise Lounge

Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947) - Young Woman Seated on a Chaise Lounge, 1904 (Oil on canvas) - - As there are depicted items found in an artist’s studio, the young woman may be the artist’s model, resting between sessions of posing for the painter. - NégyArt (Szingy Books)

A Girl in Japanese Gown. The Kimono

William Merritt Chase (American, 1849-1916) - A Girl in Japanese Gown. The Kimono, c.1887 (Oil on canvas. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza) - - William Merritt Chase shared the vogue for “japonisme” in European art and from the 1880s onwards began to include references to that culture in his own work. When devising his compositions Chase repeatedly made use of objects such as the screen, kimono and magazine stand that can be seen here. - NégyArt (Szingy Books)

Portrait of Wilhelmine with Braids, 1922

Lovis Corinth (German, 1858-1925) - Portrait of Wilhelmine with Braids, 1922 (Oil on canvas. Worcester Art Museum) - - Corinth’s mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. A fine example is this portrait of his daughter. - NégyArt (Szingy Books)

Pierre Carrier-Belleuse - The dancers

Pierre Carrier-Belleuse (French, 1851-1932) - The dancers, 1896 (Pastel) - - Pierre Carrier-Belleuse was the son of the sculptor, Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. He studied under Alexandre Cabanel and Pierre-Victor Galland at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and first exhibited work at the Paris Salon in 1875. Carrier-Belleuse also exhibited works at the Society of French Artists (1888) and the National Society of Fine Arts (1893-1911). By 1885 Carrier-Belleuse began to work exclusively in pastels. He was awarded a Silver Medal in the Exhibition Universelle of 1889. (NegyArt Gallery) - szingy

Portrait of Elizabeth Sherman Cameron

Anders Zorn (Swedish, 1860-1920) - Portrait of Elizabeth Sherman Cameron, 1900 (Oil on canvas) - - Elizabeth Sherman Cameron was dangerously fascinating, and all who laid eyes on her were captivated. She arrived in Washington D. C. January 1878 for the social season to become acquainted with her fiancé, the lanky, dour millionaire from Pennsylvania, Senator James Donald Cameron. This loveless match to a widower 25 years her senior had been arranged in agreement with her father (an impecunious district court judge) by two Sherman uncles, John, Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes, and General William Tecumseh of Civil War fame. It was done with the apparent acquiescence of their niece, who had decided to marry, if not for love, then for money. (NegyArt Gallery) - szingy 

Portrait of a Woman in Black

Federico Beltrán Massés (Spanish, 1885-1949) - Portrait of a Woman in Black (Oil on canvas) - - The immediate success of Beltran Masses’ 1929 exhibition in London at the New Burlington Galleries owed much to the art historian and critic for The Observer and Daily Mail, Paul George Konody, who wrote the introduction to the exhibition catalogue, and reviewed it for the Daily Mail. Despite his evident admiration for the artist, Konody avoided being slavish in his praise. While he complimented the artist on his romantic sensibility and his brilliant use of colour, he was critical of the occasional contradictions in his drawing. (NegyArt Gallery)

Pauline in Paris

Herbert James Gunn (Scottish, 1893-1964) - Pauline in Paris, 1936 (Oil on canvas) - - Pauline in Paris is at her most radiant, with her arresting red lipstick and her glamorous evening gown revealing two bare shoulders. There is so much emphasis on Pauline and the beautiful contrast of her black dress with her ivory skin, that the landscape in the background goes mostly unnoticed. But there’s the Seine and the Pont de la Tournelle, just outside the couple’s apartment in Paris. (NegyArt Gallery)

Mary Cassatt - Girl with a Banjo

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844-1926) - Girl with a Banjo, c.1893-94 (Pastel on tan wove paper) -Degas, Cassatt’s chief mentor, provided criticism of her work, offered advice on technique, and encouraged her experiments in printmaking. Like Degas, she was chiefly interested in figure compositions.

 

George Henry – Felicity, c.1916

George Henry (Scottish, 1858-1943) – Felicity, c.1916 (Oil on canvas. Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums) - - An exercise in sky-blues and vivid greens, the contrasting hues of the sitter’s gown and the background shrubbery evince a freshness and charm a world away from the grimness of the war being fought on foreign fronts. The aquamarine of Felicity’s shawl offsets her limpid blue gaze, whilst the vibrancy of the outdoor light bathes her complexion in a pale blue glow.

 

Robert Henri - The Little Dancer

Robert Henri (American, 1865-1929) - The Little Dancer, 1918 (Oil on canvas. The Butler Institute of American Art) - - A girl in a brightly colored red dress, wearing a candid expression, and showing her bare knees. The Little Dancer exemplifies Henri’s unique aesthetic. The painting is among the less gritty of his works but stays true to his belief that art should portray the everyday. This outlook rejected the artificiality of the more polished works of the time.

 

The Green Dress

John White Alexander (American, 1856-1915) - The Green Dress, c.1890-99 (Oil on canvas) - - Alexander’s many depictions of beautiful women were colored by his susceptibility to the prevailing Art Nouveau, an elaborately decorative style that emphasizes the use of sinuous and sensuous contours. Alexander’s work was also touched by the prevailing vogue for symbolism, the visual evocation of an idea, of an emotion through the association of analogous qualities.