02023

ernst.jpg

Men Shall Know Nothing of This (1923) by Max Ernst.

Happy new year. 02023? Read this.

bartlett.jpg

Taj Mahal by Moonlight (1923) by Charles W. Bartlett.

clausen.jpg

The Road, Winter Morning (1923) by George Clausen.

delaunay.jpg

Hélice (1923) by Robert Delaunay.

doesburg.jpg

Composition 1923–1924 by Theo van Doesburg.

Continue reading “02023”

Charles W. Bartlett’s prints

bartlett08.jpg

Taj Mahal, Agra (1916).

In which British artist Charles W. Bartlett (1860–1940) applies the later style of ukiyo-e landscapes to his views of India and Hawaii. Bartlett was one of a handful of Western artists to have his work reproduced by a Japanese publisher of woodblock prints, Watanabe Shozaburo, so his mastery of the form may be taken as having been given a literal seal of approval.

bartlett07.jpg

Taj Mahal, Sunset (1920).

Considering the popularity and influence of Japanese prints I’m surprised that more artists haven’t attempted series productions like Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, rather than simply borrowing the familiar approach to line and colour. To date the only Western example I know of is Henri Rivière’s Hokusai homage, Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower (1902). Charles Bartlett could have done the same with the Taj Mahal, a subject he returned to often enough, and a building which, like the Eiffel Tower, is recognisable even in silhouette.

bartlett09.jpg

Hawaii, The Surf Rider (1921).

bartlett03.jpg

Taj Mahal (1916).

bartlett04.jpg

Silk Merchants, India (1919).

Continue reading “Charles W. Bartlett’s prints”