Mark Winter and John Battern (in Theresa Coleman's comments) have written about the declining presence of men in the Church.
Leon Bazile Perrault (1832-1908) was a French Academic painter from Poitiers. Perrault studied first under Francois-Eduoard Picot and later William Adolphe Bouguereau. The latter's influence is seen strongly in his style and content.
The Bird Charmer (1873) now in a private collection.
A Good Story, also in a private collection. Compare. What can I say? I'm a Bouguereau fanboy. Art snobs may dismiss us as simple-minded, but history is on our side.
When I first saw this picture, I immediately thought of this one by Perrault's master. Notice the foot and reflection. Nature's Mirror, in a private collection.
Should the United Methodist Church develop an independent nuclear weapons program?
Ludwig Knaus (1829-1910) was a German genre painter. He studied in Dusseldorf and Paris and later became a professor at the Berlin Academy. Knaus' themes focused on the idealization of country life, as later typified by Norman Rockwell. Like many artists of the Dusseldorf School, his technique was Neoclassical, but his subject matter was not. I appreciate Knaus' tendency to find beauty in everyday life.
Andy Bryan wrote about the recent decision of the World Council of Churches to publicly ask God's forgiveness for America being such an awful country, what with the war and the environment and such. Andy asks readers if it is acceptable to confess someone else's sins.
1/2 oz. gin
Edmund Blair Leighton (1853-1922) was a British Pre-Raphaelite painter. You may have heard of the term 'Pre-Raphaelite' before. Let me explain what it means.
Edmund Blair Leighton (as distinguished from Lord Frederick Leighton, an Academic painter from the same era) was fond of Medieval genre scenes, such as The Accolade. Idealizations of the Medieval era were common among the Pre-Raphaelites and heavily influenced J.R.R. Tolkein.
The King and the Beggar Maid is a reference to a Medieval legend about a king named Cophetua who had no interest in women until he fell in love with a penniless beggar.
Mark Winter of Mark's Remarks
Howdy! I live in Ft Worth, Texas with my wife of 25 years, Laura. Laura is from Southern California and I’m from Oklahoma, a mixed marriage if there ever was one. We have three children. My two sons are basketball fanatics. Paul, 20, attends the University of Texas at Arlington and wants to go into sports management. Sam, 15, plays basketball and when he isn’t, he’s thinking of basketball. Abby, 11, loves to sing, shop, draw and talk a lot on her cellphone. We also have two goofy rat terriers, Checkers & Sampson.
I am a fulltime General Evangelist of the United Methodist Church. Most UMs cock their heads funny when I tell them I’m a Methodist evangelist. We are ordained elders who operate our own ministries. My One Man Show is a drama ministry. In the Old Testament, God used a jackass to speak through, so I figured he could use a ham. I portray over 30 characters, including Lazarus, Simeon and a Methodist circuit rider. UM evangelists travel to any church that will host us. Besides my blogsite, I have two other websites: www.onemanshow.org and www.francisasbury.com
Why do you blog?
When I first heard about blogging, I thought it would be a great promotional tool for my ministry. Now I see it as a playground for all my hyperactive thoughts.
What has been your best blogging experience?
When my sister told me I was a good writer. She made me feel that my journalism degree wasn’t in vain.
What would be your main advice to a novice blogger?
Ask yourself, “If I were a complete stranger who happened across my blog, would I want to read what I just wrote?”
If you only had time to read three blogs a day, what would they be?
I pretty much hang around the Methodist blogosphere. I also like World Mag Blog because of the fast-paced news items and the gloves-off comments that people leave.
Who are your spiritual heroes?
Francis Asbury—for his unwavering self-sacrifice to ‘reform the nation and spread scriptural holiness across these lands.’
C.S. Lewis—for drawing me and countless others to Christ through his imaginative and honest writings
Mother Teresa—for her deep love of Jesus and commitment to the poor
What are you reading at the moment?
I’m picking my way through An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales. I’m also going through a one-year Bible reading plan and reading the daily devotional from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. On top of that, I’m reading a children’s book about a talking hamster—uh, my daughter’s making me do it.
What is your favorite hymn and why?
I love the classic, awe-inspiring hymns like Holy, Holy, Holy, A Mighty Fortress, Immortal Invisible, God Only Wise. Plus Christmas hymns, because they make me feel all warm and tingly inside.
Can you name a major moral, political, or intellectual issue on which you've ever changed your mind?
I used to be a libertarian. Now I think it’s naïve to believe we can have such limited government when it’s grown so big and complex.
What philosophical thesis do you think is most important to combat?
Hedonism because it focuses squarely on sensual, selfish pleasure and getting rid of pain—one of the biggest idols & illusions in our nation.
If you could effect one major change in the governing of your country, what would it be?
I have to take out a bank loan to fill up my gas tank, so channeling more resources into finding cheap, renewable forms of energy would be helpful.
If you could effect one major policy change in the United Methodist Church, what would it be?
Financially support our fulltime evangelists (not that I have an ax to grind).
What would be your most important piece of advice about life?
Cultivate friendships.
What, if anything, do you worry about?
Wow, this could turn into a counseling session. I’m a melancholy personality, so I tend to worry a lot, though I know it’s not good for me. Mainly I worry about the salvation and safety of my children, but I am learning to pray it over to God. Other than that…no, you don’t have the time.
If you were to relive your life to this point, is there anything that you'd do differently?
would’ve drank less beer in college and actually studied.
Where would you most like to live (other than where you do now?)
Hmmmm…..I go to Mexico on mission trips and would like to live down there for a while so I could become fluent in Spanish. Plus they have killer tacos. If I could take away all but one week of winter, I’d like to live in Vermont. Such beautiful scenery.
What do you like doing in your spare time?
I like to write, listen to music, read and watch movies. A while back, I enjoyed gardening, but my hectic travel schedule turned my garden into a hell of weeds. Maybe when I retire…
What is your most treasured possession?
My baseball card collection. I have vintage cards from my childhood and have actually put them in my will for my boys.
What talent would you most like to have?
Either play the piano so beautifully that it would move women to tears—or dunk a basketball like Shaq and move men to tears.
If you could have any three guests, past or present, to dinner, who would they be?
Frank Sinatra (to provide dinner music)…Mickey Mantle (my all-time baseball hero)…my father, whom I reconciled with on October 7, 1994 and then lost him to a sudden heart attack three hours later….
Frederic Remington (1861-1901) was was a popular American painter, sculptor, and illustrator of the American West. He was raised in New York State, educated at Yale, but dropped out when his father died. Remington developed a fascination with the West and earned a good living as an illustrator of popular magazines and newspapers. His images of the West portrayed it as a world of masculine courage and struggle. It can be argued that the modern image of the Old West in film and fiction derives directly from Remington. Over his prolific lifetime (shortened by a botched appendectomy), Remington produced 3,000 illustrations, dozens of sculptures, and many written compositions. There is a museum in his native New York devoted to his work.
Apache Fire Signal (1908) in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.
The Trooper (1891).
Arresting the Deserter (1885).
The Cheyenne (1992). I've seen a number of Remington statues. They have remarkable fluidity.
For class, Brian had us read The Book of Jonah and do preliminary analysis and study.The little atheist suggests the application of Occam's Razor to the story: perhaps a prophet feels called to prophesy destruction upon Nineveh, which then does not take place. This prophet is angry at God for making him look like a fool in public, but eventually creates the story that Nineveh did actually repent just enough to merit God's mercy. History outside of the prophet's account does not record this revolution.
I know that these are not Christian thoughts and I hope that I don't offend anyone. But I have these niggling doubts about The Book of Jonah. The historical record flatly contradicts its central event.
UPDATE: Jeff the Baptist shares his thoughts on what we can learn from Jonah.
As there is a harsh and evil zeal which separateth from God and leadeth to hell, so there is a virtuous zeal which separateth from vice and leadeth to God and life everlasting.
George Dunlop Leslie (1835-1921) was a British Neoclassicist and then pre-Raphaelite. He was born in London, the son of famous artist C.R. Leslie. Leslie was educated at Cary's Academy and then the Royal Academy, exhibiting work at the RA continuously after 1857. He later moved to Wallingford-on-Thames and became a devoted gardener.
I'm in reasonably good health and exercise fairly often. But because I'm facing a medical exam for Certification as a Candidate for the Ordained Ministry, I've given up foods that would boost my normally high cholesterol. My pastor has warned me that he knows of people who have been rejected from Candidacy because of poor health. I'm taking no chances.
I read Resident Aliens last semester was not initially impressed. But over time, I find myself increasingly drawn to some of its themes.
When I first saw a picture of this painting, I thought "Wow! A Bouguereau that I've never seen before!" Every now and then, lost works of the Greatest Artist in the History of the UniverseTM do turn up, but it is not common.
Charles Chaplin (1825-1891) was a French Academic painter, born of an English father and French mother. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and, after a few years of painting rustic scenes and the peasantry, became a successful portraitist. Chaplin's body of work consisted almost entirely of pretty aristocratic women. While contemporaries looked to new styles in the future, Chaplin's subject matter reflected the Rococo delight in being rich and idle. Compare. His style was highly realistic, as well-displayed in this work The Soap Bubbles, which hangs in a private collection.
Herbert James Draper (1863-1920) was a British Neoclassical painter. Born in London, he was initially educated at St. John's Wood Art School (the cradle of the pre-Raphaelite movement) and then at the Royal Academy. Draper traveled in France and Italy before returning to London to earn a successful living as a portraitist for the upper classes. He was most productive in the 1890s and highly sought-after while living but, contrary to proverbial wisdom, his reputation collapsed after his death.
Lament for Icarus, housed in a private collection, is perhaps his most famous work. It won the Gold Metal in 1900 at the Exposition Universelle. Like most of his non-portraiture, it has a mythological theme, featuring the dying, foolhardy young Icarus. What I like about this painting is its dark, passionate coloration found among the pre-Raphaelites, but without that movement's characteristic flatness. It would seem that Draper was a bridge between dying Neoclassicism and emerging pre-Raphaelitism.
The modern revival of Neoclassicism is in large part due, I suspect, to the demands of popular taste. These seem to have swung away from Abstraction (no offense intended toward its defenders) and toward more realistic yet fanciful works found among the Neoclassicists and pre-Raphaelites. Waterbaby (right) is characteristic of this trend. I've often found it in bins of prints at Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and similar stores where the middle classes seek out prints to hang on their walls.
Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) was an extraordinary landscapist. Born in Germany, educated in Dusseldorf, he immigrated to the United States and became that nation's greatest painter of Western landscapes.
Some Protestants think that the Reformation went too far and that there should be a role for the Virgin Mary in Christian devotion. What do you think of this trend?
WINNERS (sorry, but I figure this is a tie):
Richard Hall: A whole new meaning to 'bunny hops'
John Wilks: Fluffy knew he'd get kicked out of Asbury for doing it, but the temptation of cold, crisp, wonderful beer was too strong.
Well, that's enough scrappin', don't you think? Pretty pictures, that's what we need. Entre Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823-1903). She's normally classed as a pre-Raphaelite, a breed of painters I normally don't get excited over. She was British by birth, but lived a long time in both the US and France.
Anderson painted a lot of idealized domestic scenes. Sort of like if Victorian England had a Norman Rockwell. Here's a good example: Christmas Time -- "Here's the Gobbler!", from a private collection. Ah, the paradise of Christmas, with family, rest, and most importantly, more food that you can eat! Compare. Notice the level of detail on the greenery in the bottom-right corner. Isn't that amazing?
Portrait of a Young Girl, also in a private collection. Remember what I said about her handling of light? Good example. Also: perfect facial anatomy. That's hard (I've tried). Lots of artists can realistically show skin tone, but few, like Anderson, can show the bone structure beneath the skin that accurately.
Charles Francois Jalabert (1819-1901) was a French Academic Classicist. He studied at the Ecole des Dessin of Nimes and then at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris under Paul Delaroche. He won second place in the Prix de Rome in 1841, but never achieved the fame and recognition of the first-tier artists of his generation.
Betty Newman of Prayerlogue
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Finally!