There were few good reasons to blur what should be sharp edges in paintings. Aerial perspective and Vermeer’s unusual optical effects explored in paintings.
Zorn
Anders Zorn, William Blake, John Constable, the amazing Pre-Raphaelite Kate Bunce, and Samuel Palmer’s painting of Sir Guyon and the Palmer.
Zorn’s finest art seen through his paintings of ordinary people, particularly those of his home town Mora in Sweden.
In 1911, he sailed to the US to paint its President, the third he had made a portrait of. But less than ten years later, Zorn was dead.
A portrait of Grover Cleveland, who had until recently President of the USA, an impudent nude, and girls frolicking in the sauna.
Nudes out in fresh air and sunshine, engravings in his distinctive lined style, and some social comment in the 1890s.
He wins himself the admiration of two rich American collectors, while returning to Sweden to paint in the country.
During a visit to St Ives in Cornwall, he starts painting in oils, then moves to Paris where commercial and artistic success await.
Japanese woodblock prints were influenced by European prints, in turn becoming popular with Impressionists, who attracted Japanese artists to study in Paris.
What’s the difference between a lute and a mandolin? Was Napoleon responsible for the early loss of popularity of mandolins?
The Eclectic Light Company 