Pivot or Perish ⭕
Utmost Fidelity in Art and Love
Fascination Inspiration…
I can’t remember when I first heard of Marianne Stokes…
…but shortly after I located the book, Utmost Fidelity: The painting lives of Marianne and Adrian Stokes by Magdalen Evans.1
Marianne Preindelsberger Stokes (1855–1927) was born in Austria and lived in England after marrying the landscape painter Adrian Stokes.
In the late 1880’s Marianne wrote that she was, seeking a “more spiritual” painting medium. Starting from about 1895, she gradually undertook a grand artistic pivot away from oil painting, choosing to work in egg tempera - my favorite painting medium.2
According to her friend Harriet Ford, "She was hampered by her medium, oil, and thought that something had been lost in the practice of art by the association of color with oil. Too thick too deliberate too tolerant of handling and re-handling…whilst it works for realism, oil painting has separated the art of Europe from simplicity."
Here’s an example of Marianne Stokes’ oil painting style (left) next to one of her tempera paintings (right):
Which painting do you prefer? Have you made a grand (or small) pivot in your life?
She progressively abandoned oils, becoming a member of the Society of Painters in Tempera in 1905. Here are a few more of Stokes’ egg tempera paintings:
I think this is her most skillful and elaborate egg tempera painting:
From My Easel…
What helps my anxiety about the upcoming election is phone-banking for Harris/Walz! And in between calls I draw quick self-portraits.
I'm working with Call4Change. We all phone bank together on Zoom - the training and support are excellent and it's a wonderful community. Every vote counts!
Book Update…
Thank you for your feedback on my headshot dilemma in my last post. (For sure a first world problem!)
I decided to hire a professional photographer. I knew The Artist Hines from my time renting a studio in the ICB building in Sausalito. He is a highly skilled oil and acrylic painter who has taken up photography.
Hines has been offering free head shots to artists in the studio where he now works at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art. I loved these headshots I saw on Instagram and decided to hire him. Here are his websites:
My Son’s Got Talent…
Amos just got back from painting a mural in Omaha, Nebraska but this is an older mural in Iowa City. It’s called, Room With a View. I love the indoor:outdoor premise of the work:
Here’s Amos on the lift:
You can read all about the mural and Amos here.
One year anniversary of Art Blotter Plus!…
It began as a chore because I was told I needed a newsletter in support of my upcoming book, Art & Love: My Life Illuminated in Egg Tempera. But it has become a labor of love so thank you for your encouragement.
My friend Betsy Bannerman was a huge supporter of Art Blotter Plus and she introduced several of her friends to it. Although I don’t usually do death notices, I feel moved to share her photo and obit with you. Tragically her son, my friend Cody Bannerman, passed away in 2020.
POLL - your feedback on AB+
Since it’s been a year I thought it a good time to ask for feedback.
What are your favorite features in Art Blotter Plus? Substack limits the poll to only 5 choices and you can only pick one, so please click the comment button to share more detail. Here are topics I’ve explored:
Fascination/Inspiration (Little known artist)
From My Easel
Book Update
My Son’s Got Talent (Amos Goldbaum art)
Medical Moment
My Shade Garden
Fascinating Food
Song from the Great American Songbook
ART ALERT!!
My very first post on Substack featured Tamara de Lempicka. She is not widely known in the US, but that is about to change as there is currently a retrospective of her work at the Legion of Honor - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. I can’t wait to see her paintings in the flesh!
On the first Tuesday of every month, admission is free for everybody. And every Saturday admission is free for residents of the nine Bay area counties.
I leave you with a…
Song from the Great American Songbook…
In keeping with the theme of “utmost fidelity” here is You Belong to Me3
The song is credited to Chilton Price, Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart. Price wrote the song as "Hurry Home to Me", envisioning an American woman's plea to a sweetheart serving overseas in World War II. King and Stewart shifted the focus from wartime into a song about separated lovers and changed the title to "You Belong to Me". 4
The term “utmost fidelity” was used by Adrian Stokes to describe watching the great American painter John Singer Sargent in Austria in 1914. Adrian Stokes described him painting rocks:
His hands seemed to move with the same agility as when playing over the keys of a piano. That is a minor matter; what was really marvelous was the rightness of every touch. I knew those rocks- I have been struggling with them for days… All was rendered, or suggested, with the utmost fidelity. Parts were loaded, parts were painted clear and smooth, every touch was individual and conveyed a quick unerring message from the brain. It was- if you will- a kind of shorthand, but it was magical!
(Richard Ormond, Sargent, Harper and Row 1970)
To learn about egg tempera watch my presentation:
The Great American Songbook is not an actual songbook — it’s the canon of American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 1920s to the 1950s. I love this poignant and clever vocal genre.
Housekeeping…🧹
Are you getting annoying messages from Substack?
If Substack is sending you mailings you don’t want, here’s how to make it stop. Unfortunately I can’t do this for you (it’s not allowed) but contact me if you have trouble and I’ll walk you through it.
1. Log into your Substack account.
2. Click on your profile icon and select 'Settings' from the drop-down menu.
3. In the 'Settings' page, go to the Notifications section.
4. From there, turn off the toggle next to 'Recommendations to read'.
Lyrics to You Belong to Me:
See the pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle
Just remember, darling, all the while
You belong to me
See the marketplace in old Algiers
Send me photographs and souvenirs
Just remember when a dream appears
You belong to me
I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too, and blue
Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
Just remember till you're home again
You belong to me
I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too, and blue
Fly the ocean in a silver plane
Watch the jungle when it's wet with rain
But remember darling, till you're home again
You belong to me. You belong to me.
I do like the tempera painting, they are delicate and more transparent. But oil has other positive things as well. Good to get a professional for your photo, you should look 'sharp' on your memoir.
Lempicki is an interesting artist, I have a book of her work. And I do like the variety in your art blotter.
Hey Lora, I'd have to say apples and oranges. But her egg paintings are spiritual and the egg medium is perfect. Did you write the obit for Dorothy? I wish I'd known her. She was amazing!