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Started by scarface, February 01, 2015, 05:10 PM

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humbert

Daniil -> Thanks for the information you just shared with us. Always remember you have no control over any of this. Don't think about it very much and just live as best you can. I should stress this logic applies just about everywhere, not just in Russia.

scarface

#81
Today, I’m going to do an exceptional conference to show you some photos.
Indeed, On Sunday, I went to the museum of Orsay. It was a good opportunity to test my new camera. I bought a high-end one with 16 million pixels, so that the users of the forum will not be disappointed by the shots.

At first, I stepped out of the tube on the champs Elysées and then I went on foot to the museum. There are always weird people in the line 13, but at least it’s a direct access to the champs Elysées. And maybe I was too lazy to take the line 1 afterwards.

Here are a few photos taken on the champs Elysées.





Les invalides



The Concorde place


On the banks of the Seine, some people are living in barges







The museum of Orsay



This museum is the 10th most visited one in the world, far behind the first one which is... the Louvre. Formerly, the museum of Orsay was a train station, hence its original shape.



We are going to begin the visit of the museum. Maybe some people like humbert already know some of the paintings you are going to see. But probably most of you will discover these works of arts.


SYMBOLISM

Symbolism is at the crossroads of modern art. It attempts to describe artificial and fantastic worlds, built on the aesthetic pleasures of color, where the natural is excluded, and replaced by eccentricity and provocation.

For Gustave Doré, born in Strasbourg, France's defeat by Prussia in 1870, and the consequential loss of Alsace-Lorraine, was a great source of distress. Just after the end of the war he produced three monumental works: The Enigma, The Black Eagle of Prussia and The Defence of Paris, all in shades of grey and presented under the general title of Souvenirs of 1870, when the contents of the artist's studio were sold posthumously in 1884.
Of these three paintings, The Enigma is undeniably the most tragic. At the top of a hill, strewn with bodies, there stands a sphinx, a mythical monster with the body of a lion and the head of a human. In the distance, plumes of smoke rise up from a Paris set ablaze by enemy cannon. Under the dark sky, a winged woman, perhaps the embodiment of France seems to be asking the sphinx for answers. The sphinx appears to be compassionate, closer to the sphinx of Egyptian religion, guardian of the underworld, rather than the monster Oedipus came across in Greek mythology.
The Enigma


Young Girl and Death by Marianne Stokes


The war, by Henri Rousseau


Jules Joseph Lefebvre - The truth


One of the sides of the Symbolism style at the end of the 19th century is to represent the femme fatale. The icon of this kind of representations is The idol of perversity by Jean Delville (1891), but Elle by Adolf Mossa (1905) is not so far from it.

Elle by Adolf Mossa


As always, we should analyze the elements of the painting, including all the details to try to find an interpretation. The main figure is a female nude lied down over a mountain and with brown hair and big eyes.
Let’s start from the top. There are two crows at both sides of the head as if the hair is a nest, a bird of bad omen, that are protecting three little skulls oriented in three different directions, which could be an allegory of time: past, present and future, the same that the popular Titian painting, but there were heads and here are skulls. Is it the end of times? Probably.
Another interesting and contradictory detail is a golden aura surrounding the head of Elle. But, could be Elle a saint? Not at all, probably this is a blasphemous element.
The pale face, the earrings and the necklace indicate that the woman could belong to aristocracy, maybe Victorian, contemporary with the painter.
The nude body: proportions and gesture reveal that the technique of Mossa is not perfect, he is not painting a proportioned nude body.
We arrive to the bottom, where there is the clue of the interpretation of the painting: the peak is a mountain made by human cadavers, probably male. Respect to the human bodies, Elle is a a giant, she is no doubt the incarnation of an evil monster.
I suggest several possible interpretations: first, Elle is Babylon, the Whore city of Asyria: the maximum incarnation of lust in the Earth. Another interpretation is that Elle is the Beast of Apocalypse, again related with the Christian question. The last suggestion is that Elle is the incarnation of all the evil for men, the woman that devours all men, the Praying Mantis, the supreme femme fatale.

REALISM

Édouard Manet (1832-1883) is the heir of realism. He follows the ideas of Courbet and seeks to suppress academic conventions. He wants to represent the "modern life".

In 1862, Manet offers at Salon, a huge painting: The breakfast on the grass. It presents characters in a country setting. One woman, out of the bath, dries, naked on the grass. This painting caused a scandal! Academics love nude but in mythological scenes. But here the woman is naked without reason. Emile Zola, writer and critic will be the only one to defend Manet. He praises the impressive picture for its real size. For him the forest and the nudity are pretexts to show a new painting, the one with true colors and new shapes.



Olympia, by Manet


Emile Zola, by Manet


The fife player by Manet



Of all Courbet's hunting and forest scenes, The Battle of the Stags has the greatest breadth in both its physical size and in the spirit that animates it. Regarded for a long time as pandering to public opinion, Courbet's hunting scenes were for many years scorned by art historians. However, by combining landscapes, animal painting and genre scenes, with references to a long pictorial tradition, from the Flemish masters of the 17th century to contemporary English artists, these subjects enabled Courbet to bring his questioning of the hierarchy of the genres to a close and to bring the spirit of history painting into a familiar area.



A Burial At Ornans by Courbet


Gustave Courbet - The Etretat cliffs after the storm



Reflecting the banner of realism of his adopted circle, Whistler painted this “Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1”, also called Portrait of the Artist's Mother  in 1871. It is a reminder if only through its double title, of the stylisation to which Whistler soon submitted the realistic aesthetic of his early years. The portrait's psychological acuity is powerfully conveyed by the deliberately pared down composition. The work, in its linear austerity and chromatic rigour dominated by neutral tones, was a continuation of Whistler's experimentation with prints, to which View of the Thames hanging on the wall is an allusion.




Between the ages of 22 and 26, Edgar Degas completed his training in Italy, where part of his familly lived. Here he painted his father's sister, Laure, with her husband, the baron Bellelli (1812-1864) and her two daughters, Giula and Giovanna.
The Bellelii Family

The baron was an Italian patriot, banned from Naples, who lived an exile in Florence. His wife is in mourning for her father, Hilaire, who died recently and whose portrait appears on the framed redline painting close to his daughter's face. In 1860, the two granddaughters, Giovanna and Giula, are 7 and 10. The mother is impressively dignified and affirms a slightly severe authority, contrasting with the relative aloofness of the father. This family portrait evokes those of Flemish painters, van Dyck in particular. Masterpiece of Degas's early years, this portrait evokes the family tensions isolating each member of the family. The imposing dimensions, the sober colours, the structured games of open perspectives (doors and mirrors), all converge in strengthening a climate of oppression. All the more so as suggestions of escape appear, such as this curious little dog split by the frame. The almost playful position of the younger daughter alone, crossing her leg under her skirt, contrasts with the heavy atmosphere whereas her elder sister seems already prisoner of adult conventions.

Scene of war in the Middle ages by Degas



The Argenteuil bridge by Claude Monet


The Shepherdess (Young Girl with a Walking Stick), by Camille Pissaro





And finally, a very famous painting to close the section of the realist painters.
Dance at le moulin de la Galette by Renoir

scarface

#82
NEO IMPRESSIONISM
Neo-Impressionism is an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat’s greatest masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, marked the beginning of this movement when it first made its appearance at an exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants (Salon des Indépendants) in Paris. This style became the dominant form in Belgium by 1889 and even artists like Van Gogh tried their hand at this style.
The Circus is an oil on canvas painting by Georges Seurat. It was his last painting, made in a Neo-Impressionist style in 1890-91, and remained unfinished at his death in March 1891



This painting of Maximilien Luce depicts a scene from the time of the Paris Commune. The painter's Neo-Impressionist style of painting, generally more evocative of a beach or other place of pleasure, here reveals the stark reality of civil war.



Henri Regnault was born in Paris in 1843 and killed in 1871 in one of the last battles of the Franco-Prussian war. Yet the young man had already made a name for himself in the Paris art scene. After winning the Price of Roma in 1868, he was the first not to spend the three compulsory years in the Italian capital that went with the prize but obtained permission to discover other cultures. He went to Spain, whence he sent to the Salon of 1869 the gigantic painting General Juan Prim, also in the Musee d'Orsay, then briefly to North Africa, bringing back a number of astonishing canvases, flooded with light.

Taking his inspiration from local legends, he painted this Summary Execution under the Moorish Kings of Grenada in 1870. Against an architectural background based on the Alhambra in Granada and infused with an orange glow, Regnault has painted a scene of decapitation. The low angle and vigorous rising composition give the main character an imposing presence.
s detached attitude and commonplace gesture contrast with the foreground in which the blood dripping down the steps joins the severed head to the body. The colours also take part in this opposition because the executioner's caftan, which picks up the orange tones of the background, contrasts with the victim's green and black clothing.
The painting was acclaimed by the critics and bought by the State from Regnault's heirs, in 1872, to honour the artist's memory in the Musée du Luxembourg, Paris.


Like Rembrandt and Goya, Vincent van Gogh often used himself as a model; he produced over forty-three self-portraits, paintings or drawings in ten years. Like the old masters, he observed himself critically in a mirror. Painting oneself is not an innocuous act: it is a questioning which often leads to an identity crisis.


The siesta by Van Gogh

Portrait of Dr Gachet

The Church in Auvers-sur-Oise




Orientalism
"Orientalism" is widely used in art to refer to the works of the many Western 19th-century artists, who specialized in "Oriental" subjects, often drawing on their travels to Western Asia. Orientialism is argued to be used to make the East seem "less fearsome to the West".

Old man in front of tombs of children by Osman Hamdi Bey, 1903


Pilgrims going to Mecca by Léon Belly
For this work, regarded, from the moment it was presented, to be a masterpiece of Orientalist painting, Belly chose to present an ambitious subject on a canvas of unusually large size. It depicts a long caravan crossing the desert, making its way towards Mecca, Islam's holiest city and place of pilgrimage for all Muslims.



Temporary exposition about prostitution

Béraud's paintings often included truth-based humour and mockery of late 19th-century Parisian life, along with frequent appearances of biblical characters in then contemporary situations. Paintings such as Mary Magdalene in the House of the Pharisees aroused controversy when exhibited, because of these themes.

in this painting, Jean Beraud shows an excerpt from the Gospel of St Luke: Jesus' visit to the Pharisee Simon during which a "sinful woman" anointed the feet of Jesus with a great perfume after wetting them with her tears and wipping them with her hair. But the scene takes place in 1891, in a bourgeois interior: Renan (center of the table, a towel around his neck) is the guest of honour of a society dinner displaying many Parisian personalities, including the chemist Eugène Chevreul (who died the previous year at 103 years old) with glasses and graying sideburns, and Alexandre Dumas son, leaning against the back of a chair. Jesus Christ is attending this dinner, whose features were immediately identified with the ones of the journalist and socialist activist Albert Duc-Quercy, at whose feet a repentant Magdalen is bowing, which is nobody else than the half-worldly Liane de Pougy who, truly repentant, ended her days at the convent.

At the Moulin Rouge, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec



A few photos taken when I returned to the tube station




Daniil

Hello all, again.

Comяade scarface brings a bunch of interesting photos. I can't say any about exhibition "persona" - showpieces on pictures reminds me an idols of degraded african and south american tribes. Maybe, except the "Man Homo Luminoso". But excibition about Palestine is much more interesting. It reminds me an underground art of East Germany, created at last years of Berlin Wall and shortly after its destruction (very similar motifs). But, a symbolism of soccer ball filled with concrete is unclear for me.

scarface

#84
On Saturday 26 March, I went to Lyon.
Humbert, Maher or Usmangujjar may not know this town, which is the third one in France, in size, after Paris and Marseille.
That’s why I took a few photos, from the top of the Fourvière Hill.


Here, we can recognize the Incity tower with a wind mill on its top and the Part-dieu tower.




On top of this hill, there is also the basilica of Fourvières.




For some security reasons, I did not enter the basilica. So I’m giving you a photo taken from Wikipedia.
I never met Jesus Christ, but this man must be very rich, judging by the ornament of his house. I wish I had the same in my flat.


A weird tower


Vasudev

Quote from: scarface on March 23, 2016, 05:08 PM
There are not many users in these times. Maybe usmangujjar, shadow97 and Rambo are attending classes in their school.
Me too.

scarface

Tonight, I’m going to hold a conference to talk about your deadliest enemy. This predator must not be taken lightly. And since summer is approaching, it’s high time I gave you useful advice about how to repulse mosquitoes.

The tiger mosquito is known to be a vector of tropical diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and zika.
There are two ways to protect against bites: avoiding the proliferation of mosquitoes by preventing their reproductive cycle and ensuring personal protection.

The female mosquito reproduces by laying eggs in stagnant water, between 50 and 300 per clutch.

This image is shocking but you must know who your enemy is.
The tiger mosquito is strongly affiliated with man and moves little. So it’s likely that the mosquito that bites you was born near your home.
There are mosquitoes  wherever there is water, even in Norway or Canada. But the Egyptian or Algerian Bedouins are lucky, there are no mosquitoes in the Sahara since there is no water. The problem is to find a job in the desert, but for those who would want to move to the desert, they would probably find the Bedouins very nice. I remember when I went to the Tunisian desert 14 years ago, it was very pleasant. Well, it was in February, it was not even too hot.

There are useless products you should avoid:
-The smartphone apps that claim to repel mosquitoes by ultrasound emission are numerous. And yet they are perfectly useless according to various scientific journals.
-Mosquito bracelets that spring up in the supermarket shelves are certainly trendy, but without interest. If the product can be effective, it is only at the level of the wrist area. They will just protect your forearm if you wear it on the wrist and your calf if you place it on your ankle ... It is better to choose to spread sprays on the exposed surfaces of your skin.
-Although very popular, lemongrass under different variations (candles, oil, spray) is not ideal. Its effectiveness is reduced to only a few species, and the tiger mosquito does not belong to them.

The efficient products you should have:
-Economic and almost infallible, the net is the most efficient stuff when you are not moving.
-In the category of repellents, DEET (Diethly toluamide) is considered the most active. As a spray, lotion or gel, it can change the olfactory perceptions of the mosquito to prevent it from biting. Be careful though because it resembles a neurotoxic product.
Please note, repellents do not mix well with sunscreens: they must be applied at least 20 minutes before the repellent.
-More natural than DEET but also very efficient, IR3535 contains no specific contraindications and is reputed also effective against ticks, horseflies, wasps and bees. Its use with young children nevertheless requires to scrupulously respect the precautions.

Finally, be aware that the tiger mosquitoes bite through clothing and are attracted to dark colors. So remember to wear long, large and clear clothes.

humbert

In Miami, not surprisingly, mosquitos thrived during the rainy season May-July then again Sept-Oct. During the dry season it wasn't all that bad. Worst of all, since most of them call the Everglades National Park home, their favorite habitats cannot be sprayed. I don't remember a case of anyone getting anything worse than an itchy irritation from a bite - no Malaria, Yellow Fever or anything else.

humbert

Quote from: scarface on May 15, 2016, 12:25 PM
I did not answer your question because the answer seemed obvious to me. First there are delivery services in many supermarkets. It's not free but if you are buying a sofa bed it's indeed better not to bring it in the tube. And there are many grocer's everywhere, some of them open on sunday. In fact this is a more delicate problem in some deprived suburbs where there are no shops at all, or in small villages in rural areas where you can't do anything without a car.

The answer should not have been obvious. All my life I've lived in situations where the ONLY way to buy food is to go to the supermarket and buy maybe 10-14 days worth of supplies. This is to prevent the need to go again and again. The only small stores are the convenience stores (usually found where gasoline is sold) - they're more expensive and are less stocked, and are only for emergencies. No supermarket here delivers at any price. Amazon is slowly getting themselves into the grocery business, but they're not in San Antonio yet. They DO deliver.

And of course, without a car forget about bringing home 10-14 days of food.

scarface

#89
Tonight, I'm posting a few unusual photos of Paris, taken recently.




The "Zouave" on the Pont de l'Alma in Paris, is like a reference for the rising waters of the Seine to the inhabitants of the capital.


The Statue of Liberty on the Seine in Paris, Wednesday 1 June.







After several days of exceptional rainfall, the flood of the Seine reached Friday, 6 meters at the Austerlitz bridge at midday and could go up to 6.50 m in the evening.

  • Impacts are already partly visible in Paris: Flood squares, cellars, parking and some ground-floor, especially in the sixteenth arrondissement.

  • The Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the BNF and the Grand Palace, all located near the Seine, have decided to close their doors facing the river flood.

• Transportation is also disrupted. Several major roads were closed to traffic, while several RER stations and the Paris metro are closed.

• Bad weather affecting the Centre and Ile-de-France are expected to cost at least 600 million euros for insurers, according to Bernard Spitz, President of the French Insurance Association.