Jack Vettriano: Admired and Ignored

Loved by the public – spurned by the critics  

Scotland’s most successful and controversial, contemporary artist, his paintings are a gateway to an alluring yet sinister world of idyllic beaches, nourish bars, intimate bedrooms, raceways and clubs. Scholars disdain his art, the national galleries ignore it. Yet, art patrons around the world aggressively collect his work.

This art slideshow with narrative will allow the viewer to gauge the strength of Jack Vettriano’s paintings. Is it repetitive, soulless and unchallenging; or alluring, restless, melancholic and romantic?

His paintings are the opening verse for a corpus of short stories, Jack Vettriano “The People’s Painter.”

Jesus: Poet, Prophet, Mystic

Jesus has been given many titles through the centuries. Scholars are on a quest for the historical Jesus.

Was Jesus a poet?

Yes, Jesus used Hebrew poetic structures that are found in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic literature. 

Jesus as a prophet? 

Jesus was and is the prophet predicted in Deuteronomy 18:15-18; in Matthew 5:17-19: “Do not think that I come to destroy the law or the people. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”

Jesus as a mystic?

The key to mysticism is to raise our state of consciousness. Jesus stated “The kingdom of God is within you”. Jesus taught the multitudes through parables. 

This show will explain through glorious, renowned art works the story of Jesus as a poet, a prophet, a mystic. 

The Art and Architecture of the Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC honors our sixteenth president. The cornerstone of the massive marble structure was laid on February 12, 1915.  

The building stands on a high terrace that is reached by an imposing flight of steps. The congressional committee selected an artist Daniel Chester French to sculpt the statue and Henry Bacon to the architect.

Abraham Lincoln’s face is at once sad, bemused, craggy and animated. His iconic image has inspired millions of visitors to our nation’s capital. Abraham Lincoln’s legacy is alive in a shrine that is a symbol of our continuous search for freedom, equality and opportunity.

This slideshow/lecture will present the art and architecture of this national structure where the memory of Lincoln is enshrined forever.

Mary in Art

Mary of Nazareth stands out in history. Mary the mother of one son. A prophet foretold the birth of her male child. She has been given titles of “Queen of Heaven” and “Mother of Sorrows”.  

Mary was born to humble Jewish parents. She lived in obscurity over twenty centuries ago.

Mary probably never entered a magnificent building or historic landmark, but her image has adorned cathedrals, churches, museums down through the centuries.

This slideshow / lecture features paintings by noted artists; frescoes, oils, temperas and gold-leaf focusing on the events of Mary’s life.

Meet Me at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris

Out of a grand ruin a great museum arose – a silenced train station was transformed into a bustling museum.  

The Musee d’Orsay is a world renowned museum – home to the most beautiful and important art collection.

You are standing in a spectacular setting, the center of Paris, on the banks of the Siene, opposite the Tuilleries Gardens and steps from the Louvre Museum.

Please Join our group and begin your tour of Orsey’s collections, canvases by Monet and the impressionists, works by Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin.

What more perfect place to contemplate beauty – to enjoy the art of the era in all its profusion and diversity

Musée-dOrsay

On The Wing: Angels in Art

Angels are seemingly everywhere – on greeting cards, on postage stamps, on television, at the cinema and in the decorative arts. Popular imagination has held fast to its fascination with them. At the dawn of the twenty-first century angels have gained a foothold in the popular culture. Our ideas about what angels are, how they look, how they dress, their character, have been largely formed by artistic vignettes, by artist’s renderings.  

This engaging slideshow and lecture spotlights angels drawn from centuries of art. Gain an understanding of angels while observing alluring art. Delve into the artistic and scholarly aspect of each artist’s work. View Byzantine angels – medieval angels – renaissance angels – contemporary angels – musical angels – angels as messengers, warriors and frolicking childlike angels.

“May an angel watch over you and always light your way.”

Painting the American Aspect

Created in the heart of the Great Depression the WPA supported thousands of artists thus some of the best scenes of the nation were created – some noble, some absurd – portraying the spirit of the 1930’s.  

Artists rediscovered their heritage – social history and creative genius in touch – the artists crossed the country painting the ravages of the depression, the dust bowl landscapes, the simple barns, the New York Bowery, industrial complexes, crowded ghettoes; all the art – human, native and alive.

In this slideshow with lecture, you will observe the works of the Regionalists and the social realists; Thomas Hart Benton, Ben Shahn, John Steuart Curry, Reginald Marsh, Raphael Soyer, Philip Evergood…

Picturing America

In this era Americans have come to appreciate more and more our heritage of American art.  

In the past 100 years American art has been second only to France and has assumed the role of world leadership.

This illustrated art lecture “Picturing America” will explore American art from the early limners of the 18th century – followed by the geniuses of the 19th century – to the masters of the 20th century. Each art work has immeasurable energies – each art work characterizes the focus of American ideals in spotlighting: Democracy, Freedom, Creativity, Leadership, Courage and Landscapes.

You will experience the works of artists such as; J.S. Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Emanuel Leutze, N. Rockwell, Childe Hassam, N.C. Wyeth…

Tamara De Lempicka

Tamara De Lempicka labeled an “Art Deco Painter” … an “Icon of the Jazz Age” … a “Perverse Ingre”  

Tamara De Lempicka was a 20th century portrait painter – she painted the rich, renowned, the refugees, and famous New Yorkers. We can identify the skyscrapers of New York in her paintings.

This slideshow and lecture will present the Art of the 20th century female artist with a mysterious Slavic name and a radiant beauty approaching the pre-eminence of Garbo. Tamara De Lempicka subjected the sensuality of the human body to a geometric approach. Her art is a fusion of sculptural hyperrealism and classic painting. She aimed at sharp precision, simplicity and a startling contrast of tone and haunting shadows.

Tamara De Lempicka surprises and provokes. Lempicka defined an era with her vibrantly colored paintings. View the polished nature of her portraits eloquently revealed… the paintings of an era she made glamourous… the paintings collected by Barbara Streisand, Jack Nicholson, and Madonna.

William Sidney Mount (A Long Island Artist): His Life and His Work

William Sidney Mount was a genre painter labeled by his critics “absolutely American”. Mount grounded his work on subtle variations of countryfolk, rural activities, social arrangements and the body politic of the 19th century. He created paintings of the Yankee Yeoman, the African American Citizen, the Rural Farmboy and the Gambling Sovereigns.  

William Sidney Mount was the only artist of the 1830’s to take issue with the discrepancies in the democracy – he put politics into the public arena with deceptively innocent pictorial language.

Mount could “stir people up” with his revealing visual criticism.

This slideshow/lecture will spotlight the blithness of Mount’s treatment of powder keg political issues of the 19th century – genre paintings with visual puns fundamental to the economic, political and social realms of the time.

Enter the world of William Sidney Mount and view the paintings that delight, amaze and seduce the viewer with explicit commentary that will clarify the complex, riddling content of his genre paintings.

Works of Art and the Bible

This slideshow presents art through the centuries that were inspired by the literature of the Bible. Gain a richer understanding of the narrative through a close examination of breathtaking and provocative art. Discover the human profile of love, rage, mirth, incest, obedience and infidelity drawn from the compelling tales of the Bible.  

The viewer will see the beauty of Rachel, the finding of Moses, the spirit of Ruth, the blinding of Samson, the rescue of Dinah, the decapitation of Holofernes and even a talking mule through the vision of vigorous artists. This programme is unique and unforgettable; a celebration of life lived deeply through laughter, tears, passion and hardship of the characters. You, the audience will ponder, reflect and at times giggle.

The Arts and Crafts Movement in America

The Arts and Crafts movement was born out of the despair of the ornate clutter of the Victorian era. Works of extraordinary vibrancy and intellectual rigour were produced. The crafts persons opposed vulgarity, pretension and shoddy workmanship.  

The movement championed the maker and the process of making, as much as the objects made.

This illustrated lecture will offer an overview of this highly popular intellectual and artistic movement which transformed the expectations of architecture and objects and spread the ideas world wide.