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The eye of the storm is not so much what goes on in the world, it is the confusion of how to think, feel, digest, and react to what goes on.
Model: Queentoy Cyberstar
Photographer: Queentoy Cyberstar
Look Details Look Details: letmeupgradecha.blogspot.com/2015/06/do-it-again.html
Irises are some of the most elegant flowers.
It looks like they take on different ballet poses...
PORT DE BRAS?
A gentle arm curve creates a soft frame around the dancer’s head.
Fifth Position is a world famous ballet pose. Fifth position or bras en couronne (arms like a crown): both arms are rounded and held above and slightly forward of the head.
Bought a mixed bouquet, saw just the tips of the yellow Irises, to my amazement, the center turned out blue, not seen that before, thus photo-session with my new elegant models.
This definitely spoke of ballet ...
I don't talk to flowers, they talk to me and I gladly listen!
In Flowers'-language: Iris means faith; hope; wisdom and valour
In Fine Arts: the lenses also have an iris diaphragm which can be opened and closed to control the amount of light reaching the film.
Iris can mean:
* The sphincter around the pupil of the eye, the iris is the most visible part of the eye, when photographed with a flash, the iris only reacts to protect the retina, and not fast enough to avoid the red eye effect.
* The equivalent device in a camera,
* The messenger of the gods in Greek mythology
* A variety of flower,
* A female first name.
I wish you a good day and thanx for your visit, so very much appreciated, Magda, (*_*)
For more of my other work visit here: www.indigo2photography.com
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY images or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. If you do, without accreditation, it is STEALING © All rights reserved
Iris, "Dutch Iris", yellow, blue, petals, flowers, studio, black-background, colour, design, square, NikonD7000, "Magda indigo"
People frequently do what they are forbidden to do because of a psychological phenomenon called reactance. It triggers a desire to restore threatened personal freedom.
Credits:
-Furniture-
Short Leash-Sadistic Pleasures Toy Rack
Short Leash-Devotion Bondage Cross@Kinky
-Worn-
Cuffs:Short Leash- Locked tight Handcuffs @We ♥ Roleplay
Harness:Nanika- Lydia set@Kinky
Gloves:Moon Elixir-Femme Fatale
Collar:Voba-Naughty choker-Slut@Kinky
Hair:Stealthic-Verge (Animesh with Vista!)
Ears:Evermore-nekomimi
Go-Ahead Wrightbus on the 15 service to Blackwall LTZ 1401 sporting a Nike React advert. Surprised it is so clean.The last time I saw this it was Go Kerala.
{12/50}
{9/52}
One thing I hate about myself is that I am not good at telling people how I really feel about things. I keep things bottled up and hidden underneath a smile. I am insecure and afraid to show my emotions because I am scared that people won't know how to react to them, and I will make a fool out of myself. I feel as if I cannot cry in front of other people because I hate being vulnerable and weak.
Hopefully one day, these bottles will be empty and I will be comfortable with sharing my true feelings.
+ color in comments
Playing around with my new toy, flashgun with beauty dish and blue gel and a sparkler. Tripod and lens swapped. No Photoshop Home Faff 17-08-2019ps
So this is a follow up to the Anakin Skywalker - What If I posted a while back. It's based in the same universe and operating under the same galaxy changing event.
Obi-Wan Kenobi - With the public execution of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine at the hands of the CIS commander General Grievous, the Jedi council made it their highest priority to capture the villainous commander and bring to justice before the Senate. To accomplish this, they assigned the Open Circle Armada commanded by Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to lead the spearhead into the heartland of Separatist space with one objective. Capture Grievous.
Having faced the droid general on multiple occasions and failing to best him in combat, Obi-Wan would often feel guilt for Palpatine's death, believing that had he not failed in the past the Clone War would have come to an end long ago. But with the help of his former apprentice, Obi-Wan was able to look beyond his past failures to the future. Both he and Anakin would bring Grievous to justice in the name of the former chancellor.
The spearhead campaign would take both Jedi to the edges of the Outer-Rim, culminating in a skirmish on the sinkhole world of Utapau where Grievous would gravely wound Obi-Wan by stabbing the blade of a lightsaber through his stomach. As his former apprentice fought the droid general one on one, Obi-Wan was able to use the force to briefly numb his pain.
As he delved deep into the force to grant him the power he needs for one last strike, Obi-Wan heard a familiar voice calling to him.
"I am proud of you, Obi-Wan."
At first Obi-Wan was taken aback. Hearing the voice of his deceased master distracted him for a moment, but calling on the force allowed him to lunge forward with his lightsaber. Before Grievous could react, Obi-Wan decapitated the Separatist commander. Neutralising the threat.
Collapsing from blood loss, the Jedi master was rushed to the nearest medical bay onboard a Republic cruiser. Despite a near brush with death, Obi-Wan survived and told Anakin about how he'd heard the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn speak to him. It was at that point that Anakin confessed something he'd hidden from his master since the beginning of the Clone War. Following the first battle of Geonosis, he had married Senator Padme Amidala of Naboo.
Whilst he was taken aback by this revelation, deep down Obi-Wan had always suspected that his feelings for Senator Amidala were more than he cared to admit. Though hesitant, Obi-Wan voiced his support for his former padawan, and promised to keep his secret. In a jokey remark, Obi-Wan then asked if Anakin knew who the father of Padme's future child would be, much to the Jedi Knight's horror.
With the elimination of General Grievous, it was believed the Clone Wars would come to an end with the capture of Count Dooku, the recently ascended Sith Lord. Though keen to finally bring peace to the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Anakin were ordered back to Coruscant for a much needed reprieve from the conflict. As they left Utapau, Grievous' final trap would reveal itself. Every sinkhole on the surface of Utapau had been layered with explosives designed to detonate two days after activation. The explosions would destroy every city on Utapau and destroy a sizeable portion of the occupying force.
The devastation would leave the surface of Utapau inhospitable. Realising the horrors that the Separatists were capable of, the Republic vowed never to end the war until their enemy was wiped from existence.
As both Anakin and Obi-Wan returned to Coruscant, Padme went into labour resulting in an unexpected surprise.
Anakin became the father of twins.
As his closest friend, the young Jedi asked Obi-Wan to be godfather to his children. Obi-Wan graciously accepted.
Though he was happy for his former padawan having the family he'd always wanted, deep down Obi-Wan felt more isolated than ever. Having lost the love of his life the Duchess Satine of Mandalore to the hands of Darth Maul, just under a year ago he couldn't help but feel heartbroken every time he saw Anakin's new family.
To distract himself, Obi-Wan would take on a new apprentice by the name of Jaylam Duos. Despite his reluctance in the past to take on a new apprentice, having wanted to not teach a pupil during a time of war, Obi-Wan decided that his declining physical condition meant it was unlikely he'd make past the war thus his choice to take on his new apprentice now.
As both master and apprentice began to move into the unknown regions of space, they'd encounter Count Dooku's newest agents. Sith acolytes, all vying for the position as Dooku's apprentice. Though Kenobi and Duos were able to defend themselves against the acolytes, the Jedi Master lost the closest friend he had during the Clone War. Clone Commander Cody was killed saving Duos' life from one of Dooku's acolytes.
In a moment of rage, Obi-Wan was able to disarm all four of Dooku's acolytes by severing their hands, only to allow them to leave. A perplexed Duos would be met by one of the first lessons Kenobi was taught by his own master.
'Revenge is not the Jedi way.'
In honour of their fallen comrade, Duos would take the former clone commander's blaster pistol and continue to use it in conjuncture with his lightsaber much to Kenobi's dismay. He considered blasters to be a crude and inelegant weapon compared to a lightsaber.
As time would progress and the recently deceased Commander Cody was replaced by Clone Captain Sendro, Kenobi's former apprentice would achieve the rank of Master before being named Grand Master of the Jedi Order as Master Yoda passed the reigns to young Skywalker. Though the transfer of power was questioned by some council members, Kenobi would openly endorse his former Padawan, claiming there was no-one more suited for the role than the Chosen One himself.
Under Skywalker's leadership, the Jedi would undertake an intensive search throughout the galaxy to locate the final piece of the puzzle needed to end the Clone War. Reigning Sith Lord, Count Dooku known by this point as the nefarious Darth Tyranus. After two weeks scouring the galaxy, Kenobi and Duos would come face to face with the Sith Lord.
The duel between the three of them would culminate in the Sith Lord besting Kenobi in lightsaber combat, but not before the Jedi Master could sever one of Dooku's hands. Even in his weakened state, the old man was able to easily best Duos in lightsaber combat and would use his blade to decapitate the young boy. Distraught, Obi-Wan declared how horrifically Dooku disgraced Qui-Gon Jinn's legacy.
In a moment of what appeared to be regret, the Sith Lord chose to leave the duel without taking Kenobi's life. This would prove to be the Count's undoing, as Kenobi was able to place a tracker on the Sith Lord's cape allowing Republic intelligence to track the Count back to his last refuge.
A moon sized battle station known as the 'Death Star'. Reunited with Skywalker, both Master and former apprentice would lead the Republic fleet into battle against the Separatists one last time, with the fate of the galaxy in their hands....
Ukrainians!
Our dear defenders!
This day, April 1, the occupiers decided to mark with two equally silly jokes. One such joke is about people in Russia. They started the spring conscription, which looks traditional, but is still different from the usual. Because this year's conscripts can be sent to war against our state, against our people. So, this is a guaranteed death for many very young guys.
And although they are not our citizens, although they are citizens of the state that is at war with us on our land, it is still our duty as people to warn.
Warn each such conscript, their parents. We don't need more dead people here. Save your children so that they do not become villains. Don't send them to the army. Do whatever you can to keep them alive. At home. At their home.
The Russians won’t be told the whole truth about this conscription and about the fate of the conscripts. But still, if you can convey the truth to them - do it.
I want to dwell on the fact that the Russian Federation is trying to take people into the army in Crimea. This is a violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime for which there will be responsibility. And which is also an argument for increasing sanctions against Russia.
That's why I want to tell the people of Crimea: sabotage this story. At any stage. And if it doesn't work out, don't fulfill criminal orders and surrender to the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the first opportunity. We will understand everything. You will live.
The occupiers played a second very silly April Fool's joke with some residents of the southern regions of Ukraine, where Russian troops had temporarily entered.
They appoint some "Gauleiters", some temporary leaders. And they are threatening employees of enterprises and authorities to cooperate with these deceived appointees.
My message to them is simple: the responsibility for collaboration is inevitable. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is a secondary issue. The main thing is the inevitability that justice will be restored. Therefore, everyone who became a Gauleiter can already register somewhere in Rostov. And there will be problems for cooperation with them or with the occupiers directly. This is the last warning.
The occupiers are withdrawing forces in the north of our country. The withdrawal is slow but noticeable. Somewhere they are expelled with battles. Somewhere they leave positions on their own. After them a complete disaster and many dangers are left. It's true.
Firstly, the bombing may continue. Secondly, they are mining all this territory. Mining houses, equipment, even the bodies of killed people. Too many tripwire mines, too many other dangers...
We are moving forward. Moving carefully. And everyone who returns to this area must also be very careful! It is still impossible to return to normal life as it was. Even in the areas we return after the fighting. You will have to wait. Wait for our land to be cleared. Wait until you can be assured that new shelling is impossible.
In the east of our country, the situation remains extremely difficult. The Russian militaries are being accumulated in Donbas, in the Kharkiv direction. They are preparing for new powerful blows. We are preparing for even more active defense. We use all opportunities - both internal and external. Necessarily.
I emphasize once again: hard battles lie ahead. Now we cannot think that we have already passed all the tests. We all strive for victory. But when it comes everyone will see it. Everyone will feel that peace is coming.
In the afternoon I spoke with President of France Macron. About the humanitarian situation in the Ukrainian cities shelled by the occupiers. The situation in Mariupol was discussed separately. For which, I hope, there may still be a solution. Europe has no right to react in silence to what is happening in our Mariupol. The whole world must react to this humanitarian catastrophe.
Today humanitarian corridors worked in three regions - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia. 6,266 people were rescued. In particular, 3,071 people from Mariupol.
We are separately agreeing on the removal of the wounded and dead from the city. Our military, our civilians - all citizens. We are talking about this with Turkey as a mediator. Hopefully I will be able to report the details soon.
In the afternoon I met with President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola. Met in Kyiv. I am grateful to her for this important visit, which demonstrates to some other politicians that courage at a time like this is one of the most important traits for a politician. We talked about how to accelerate Ukraine's accession to the European Union. There are specifics. We also talked about arms supplies and support of European parliamentarians in this. And also about the sanctions policy. About a deeper sanctions policy against Russia. Because if there is an embargo, then it is an embargo. If there is SWIFT, then it is for all banks. And if it is business with Russia, it is not just a suspension of activities, but a complete withdrawal of European companies from the Russian market.
Traditionally, I signed a decree on awarding our defenders. Seven servicemen of the State Service for Special Communication and Information Protection. Two of them - posthumously.
Eternal memory to all who died for Ukraine! Eternal gratitude to our defenders!
And finally. Tomorrow, April 2, Ukrainian Muslims together with all Muslims of the world will celebrate the holy month of Ramadan. Sincere prayers, mutual forgiveness and good deeds characterize this month. But in Ukraine, another virtue is added - loyalty to brothers-in-arms and your people in battles.
In the battles for the freedom of Ukraine. In our war for independence. In which we will definitely win. We will definitely achieve peace. For our entire land.
I sincerely wish you peace! Everyone. The whole of Ukraine! All the people of the world.
Glory to Ukraine!
The Asahiflex Test experience
Asahi Opt. Co. Asahiflex IIb (1954 second model) + Takumar 83mm f1.9
Lomochrome Purple XR 100-400
Fuji Color Service Low-res scan from negative
Stalking her photo preys. Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. © Michele Marcolin, 2022.
Some of weeks ago (during my banning from FB), while waiting for the slide film of a Miranda S Test to be processed, I spotted a LOMOChrome Purple film, in a photo shop I check out frequently. And I couldn't resist the curiosity, being the results so reminiscent of infra-red and cross processed film (which I like so much). So I decided to give it a try. However, not being sure if everything was fine with the Miranda (which turned out with a cut curtain-later repaired), I was left only with the old Asahiflex IIb that came with the Takumar 58mm f2.4, quite some time ago. A camera so far I used only for... 'decoration'. Fortunately it worked pretty well - marvels of the golden age of camera making - and I was quite satisfied with the results, considering that I have not been shooting color film (and in complete manual mode) since years. I am particularly happy with the results of the precious chrome Takumar 83mm f1.9. A very beautiful portrait lens, I have to say. Will post some later.
I still need to understand well, when and how the film reacts better to produce purples and greens, but I really like the results. A bit of grain here is the fault also of the low-res film scan: the prints are way smoother. Unfortunately the shop refuses to do high-res scan to avoid losing printing customers, knowing that digitally reproducing negatives is not that straightforward task you can do with one single command or in batch. But, don't worry... we have also Pentax Film Duplicator.
Second model Asahiflex II b starts around noº 52117.
Differences:
- vertical lug for straps.
- bold arrow on rewind knob
- smaller AOCO logo, slimmer type
- filled triangles instead of arrows
- different design on shutter time dial
- flash sync X in red
- bold type arrow on winder in bold type
- logo on the back removed.
Amedeo Modigliani
Italian, 1884 - 1920
Woman with a Necklace, 1917
Oil on canvas
(closeup)
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) was a Jewish-Italian painter and sculptor who pursued his career for the most part in France. Modigliani was born in Livorno, Italy and began his artistic studies in Italy before moving to Paris in 1906. Influenced by the artists in his circle of friends and associates, by a range of genres and movements, and by primitive art, Modigliani's oeuvre was nonetheless unique and idiosyncratic. He died in Paris of tubercular meningitis—exacerbated by a lifestyle of excess—at the age of 35.
Early life
Modigliani was born into a Jewish family in Livorno, Italy.
Livorno was still a relatively new city, by Italian standards, in the late nineteenth century. The city on the Tyrrhenian coast dates from around 1600, when it was transformed from a swampy village into a seaport. The Livorno that Modigliani knew was a bustling centre of commerce focused upon seafaring and shipwrighting, but its cultural history lay in being a refuge for those persecuted for their religion. His own maternal great-great-grandfather was one Solomon Garsin, a Jew who had immigrated to Livorno in the eighteenth century as a religious refugee.
Modigliani was the fourth child of Flaminio Modigliani and his wife, Eugenia Garsin. His father was in the money-changing business, but when the business went bankrupt, the family lived in dire poverty. In fact, Amedeo's birth saved the family from certain ruin, as, according to an ancient law, creditors could not seize the bed of a pregnant woman or a mother with a newborn child. When bailiffs entered the family home, just as Eugenia went into labour, the family protected their most valuable assets by piling them on top of the expectant mother.
Modigliani had a particularly close relationship with his mother, who taught her son at home until he was ten. Beset with health problems after a bout of typhoid at the age of fourteen, two years later he contracted the tuberculosis which would affect him for the rest of his life. To help him recover from his many childhood illnesses, she took him to Naples in Southern Italy, where the warmer weather was conducive to his convalescence.
His mother was, in many ways, instrumental in his ability to pursue art as a vocation. When he was eleven years of age, she had noted in her diary that:
“The child's character is still so unformed that I cannot say what I think of it. He behaves like a spoiled child, but he does not lack intelligence. We shall have to wait and see what is inside this chrysalis. Perhaps an artist?"
Art student years
Modigliani is known to have drawn and painted from a very early age, and thought himself "already a painter", his mother wrote, even before beginning formal studies. Despite her misgivings that launching him on a course of studying art would impinge upon his other studies, his mother indulged the young Modigliani's passion for the subject.
At the age of fourteen, while sick with the typhoid fever, he raved in his delirium that he wanted, above all else, to see the paintings in the Palazzo Pitti and the Uffizi in Florence. As Livorno's local museum only housed a sparse few paintings by the Italian Renaissance masters, the tales he had heard about the great works held in Florence intrigued him, and it was a source of considerable despair to him, in his sickened state, that he might never get the chance to view them in person. His mother promised that she would take him to Florence herself, the moment he was recovered. Not only did she fulfil this promise, but she also undertook to enroll him with the best painting master in Livorno, Guglielmo Micheli.
Micheli and the Macchiaioli
Modigliani worked in the studio of Micheli from 1898 to 1900. Here his earliest formal artistic instruction took place in an atmosphere deeply steeped in a study of the styles and themes of nineteenth-century Italian art. In his earliest Parisian work, traces of this influence, and that of his studies of Renaissance art, can still be seen: artists such as Giovanni Boldini figure just as much in this nascent work as do those of Toulouse-Lautrec.
Modigliani showed great promise while with Micheli, and only ceased his studies when he was forced to, by the onset of tuberculosis.
In 1901, whilst in Rome, Modigliani admired the work of Domenico Morelli, a painter of melodramatic Biblical studies and scenes from great literature. It is ironic that he should be so struck by Morelli, as this painter had served as an inspiration for a group of iconoclasts who went by the title, the Macchiaioli (from macchia—"dash of colour", or, more derogatively, "stain"), and Modigliani had already been exposed to the influences of the Macchiaioli. This minor, localised art movement was possessed of a need to react against the bourgeois stylings of the academic genre painters. While sympathetically connected to (and actually pre-dating) the French Impressionists, the Macchiaioli did not make the same impact upon international art culture as did the followers of Monet, and are today largely forgotten outside of Italy.
Modigliani's connection with the movement was through Micheli, his first art teacher. Micheli was not only a Macchiaioli himself, but had been a pupil of the famous Giovanni Fattori, a founder of the movement. Micheli's work, however, was so fashionable and the genre so commonplace that the young Modigliani reacted against it, preferring to ignore the obsession with landscape that, as with French Impressionism, characterised the movement. Micheli also tried to encourage his pupils to paint en plein air, but Modigliani never really got a taste for this style of working, sketching in cafes, but preferring to paint indoors, and especially in his own studio. Even when compelled to paint landscapes (three are known to exist), Modigliani chose a proto-Cubist palette more akin to Cézanne than to the Macchiaioli.
While with Micheli, Modigliani not only studied landscape, but also portraiture, still-life, and the nude. His fellow students recall that the latter was where he displayed his greatest talent, and apparently this was not an entirely academic pursuit for the teenager: when not painting nudes, he was occupied with seducing the household maid.
Despite his rejection of the Macchiaioli approach, Modigliani nonetheless found favour with his teacher, who referred to him as "Superman", a pet name reflecting the fact that Modigliani was not only quite adept at his art, but also that he regularly quoted from Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra. Fattori himself would often visit the studio, and approved of the young artist's innovations.
In 1902, Modigliani continued what was to be a life-long infatuation with life drawing, enrolling in the Accademia di Belle Arti (Scuola Libera di Nudo, or "Free School of Nude Studies") in Florence. A year later while still suffering from tuberculosis, he moved to Venice, where he registered to study at the Istituto di Belle Arti.
It is in Venice that he first smoked hashish and, rather than studying, began to spend time frequenting disreputable parts of the city. The impact of these lifestyle choices upon his developing artistic style is open to conjecture, although these choices do seem to be more than simple teenage rebellion, or the cliched hedonism and bohemianism that was almost expected of artists of the time; his pursuit of the seedier side of life appears to have roots in his appreciation of radical philosophies, such as those of Nietzsche.
Early literary influences
Having been exposed to erudite philosophical literature as a young boy under the tutelage of Isaco Garsin, his maternal grandfather, he continued to read and be influenced through his art studies by the writings of Nietzsche, Baudelaire, Carduzzi, Comte de Lautréamont, and others, and developed the belief that the only route to true creativity was through defiance and disorder.
Letters that he wrote from his 'sabbatical' in Capri in 1901 clearly indicate that he is being more and more influenced by the thinking of Nietzsche. In these letters, he advised friend Oscar Ghiglia,
“(hold sacred all) which can exalt and excite your intelligence... (and) ... seek to provoke ... and to perpetuate ... these fertile stimuli, because they can push the intelligence to its maximum creative power.”
The work of Lautréamont was equally influential at this time. This doomed poet's Les Chants de Maldoror became the seminal work for the Parisian Surrealists of Modigliani's generation, and the book became Modigliani's favourite to the extent that he learnt it by heart. The poetry of Lautréamont is characterised by the juxtaposition of fantastical elements, and by sadistic imagery; the fact that Modigliani was so taken by this text in his early teens gives a good indication of his developing tastes. Baudelaire and D'Annunzio similarly appealed to the young artist, with their interest in corrupted beauty, and the expression of that insight through Symbolist imagery.
Modigliani wrote to Ghiglia extensively from Capri, where his mother had taken him to assist in his recovery from the tuberculosis. These letters are a sounding board for the developing ideas brewing in Modigliani's mind. Ghiglia was seven years Modigliani's senior, and it is likely that it was he who showed the young man the limits of his horizons in Livorno. Like all precocious teenagers, Modigliani preferred the company of older companions, and Ghiglia's role in his adolescence was to be a sympathetic ear as he worked himself out, principally in the convoluted letters that he regularly sent, and which survive today.
“Dear friend
I write to pour myself out to you and to affirm myself to myself. I am the prey of great powers that surge forth and then disintegrate... A bourgeois told me today - insulted me - that I or at least my brain was lazy. It did me good. I should like such a warning every morning upon awakening: but they cannot understand us nor can they understand life...”
Paris
Arrival
In 1906 Modigliani moved to Paris, then the focal point of the avant-garde. In fact, his arrival at the epicentre of artistic experimentation coincided with the arrival of two other foreigners who were also to leave their marks upon the art world: Gino Severini and Juan Gris.
He settled in Le Bateau-Lavoir, a commune for penniless artists in Montmartre, renting himself a studio in Rue Caulaincourt. Even though this artists' quarter of Montmartre was characterised by generalised poverty, Modigliani himself presented - initially, at least - as one would expect the son of a family trying to maintain the appearances of its lost financial standing to present: his wardrobe was dapper without ostentation, and the studio he rented was appointed in a style appropriate to someone with a finely attuned taste in plush drapery and Renaissance reproductions. He soon made efforts to assume the guise of the bohemian artist, but, even in his brown corduroys, scarlet scarf and large black hat, he continued to appear as if he were slumming it, having fallen upon harder times.
When he first arrived in Paris, he wrote home regularly to his mother, he sketched his nudes at the Colarossi school, and he drank wine in moderation. He was at that time considered by those who knew him as a bit reserved, verging on the asocial. He is noted to have commented, upon meeting Picasso who, at the time, was wearing his trademark workmen's clothes, that even though the man was a genius, that did not excuse his uncouth appearance.
Transformation
Within a year of arriving in Paris, however, his demeanour and reputation had changed dramatically. He transformed himself from a dapper academician artist into a sort of prince of vagabonds.
The poet and journalist Louis Latourette, upon visiting the artist's previously well-appointed studio after his transformation, discovered the place in upheaval, the Renaissance reproductions discarded from the walls, the plush drapes in disarray. Modigliani was already an alcoholic and a drug addict by this time, and his studio reflected this. Modigliani's behaviour at this time sheds some light upon his developing style as an artist, in that the studio had become almost a sacrificial effigy for all that he resented about the academic art that had marked his life and his training up to that point.
Not only did he remove all the trappings of his bourgeois heritage from his studio, but he also set about destroying practically all of his own early work. He explained this extraordinary course of actions to his astonished neighbours thus:
“Childish baubles, done when I was a dirty bourgeois."
The motivation for this violent rejection of his earlier self is the subject of considerable speculation. The self-destructive tendencies may have stemmed from his tuberculosis and the knowledge (or presumption) that the disease had essentially marked him for an early death; within the artists' quarter, many faced the same sentence, and the typical response was to set about enjoying life while it lasted, principally by indulging in self-destructive actions. For Modigliani such behavior may have been a response to a lack of recognition; it is known that he sought the company of other alcoholic artists such as Utrillo and Soutine, seeking acceptance and validation for his work from his colleagues.
Modigliani's behavior stood out even in these Bohemian surroundings: he carried on frequent affairs, drank heavily, and used absinthe and hashish. While drunk he would sometimes strip himself naked at social gatherings. He became the epitome of the tragic artist, creating a posthumous legend almost as well-known as that of Vincent van Gogh.
During the 1920s, in the wake of Modigliani's career and spurred on by comments by Andre Salmon crediting hashish and absinthe with the genesis of Modigliani's style, many hopefuls tried to emulate his 'success' by embarking on a path of substance abuse and bohemian excess. Salmon claimed—erroneously—that whereas Modigliani was a totally pedestrian artist when sober,
“...from the day that he abandoned himself to certain forms of debauchery, an unexpected light came upon him, transforming his art. From that day on, he became one who must be counted among the masters of living art.”
While this propaganda served as a rallying cry to those with a romantic longing to be a tragic, doomed artist, these strategies did not produce unique artistic insights or techniques in those who did not already have them.
In fact, art historians suggest that it is entirely possible for Modigliani to have achieved even greater artistic heights had he not been immured in, and destroyed by, his own self-indulgences. We can only speculate what he might have accomplished had he emerged intact from his self-destructive explorations.
Output
During his early years in Paris, Modigliani worked at a furious pace. He was constantly sketching, making as many as a hundred drawings a day. However, many of his works were lost - destroyed by him as inferior, left behind in his frequent changes of address, or given to girlfriends who did not keep them.
He was first influenced by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, but around 1907 he became fascinated with the work of Paul Cézanne. Eventually he developed his own unique style, one that cannot be adequately categorized with other artists.
He met the first serious love of his life, Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, in 1910, when he was 26. They had studios in the same building, and although 21-year-old Anna was recently married, they began an affair. Tall (Modigliani was only 5 foot 5 inches) with dark hair (like Modigliani's), pale skin and grey-green eyes, she embodied Modigliani's aesthetic ideal and the pair became engrossed in each other. After a year, however, Anna returned to her husband.
Experiments with sculpture
In 1909, Modigliani returned home to Livorno, sickly and tired from his wild lifestyle. Soon he was back in Paris, this time renting a studio in Montparnasse. He originally saw himself as a sculptor rather than a painter, and was encouraged to continue after Paul Guillaume, an ambitious young art dealer, took an interest in his work and introduced him to sculptor Constantin Brancusi.
Although a series of Modigliani's sculptures were exhibited in the Salon d'Automne of 1912, he abruptly abandoned sculpting and focused solely on his painting.
Question of influences
In Modigliani's art, there is evidence of the influence of primitive art from Africa and Cambodia which he may have seen in the Musée de l'Homme, but his stylisations are just as likely to have been the result of his being surrounded by Mediaeval sculpture during his studies in Northern Italy (there is no recorded information from Modigliani himself, as there is with Picasso and others, to confirm the contention that he was influenced by either ethnic or any other kind of sculpture). A possible interest in African tribal masks seems to be evident in his portraits. In both his painting and sculpture, the sitters' faces resemble ancient Egyptian painting in their flat and masklike appearance, with distinctive almond eyes, pursed mouths, twisted noses, and elongated necks. However these same chacteristics are shared by Medieval European sculpture and painting.
Modigliani painted a series of portraits of contemporary artists and friends in Montparnasse: Chaim Soutine, Moise Kisling, Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Marie "Marevna" Vorobyev-Stebeslka, Juan Gris, Max Jacob, Blaise Cendrars, and Jean Cocteau, all sat for stylized renditions.
At the outset of World War I, Modigliani tried to enlist in the army but was refused because of his poor health.
The war years
Known as Modì, which roughly translates as 'morbid' or 'moribund', by many Parisians, but as Dedo to his family and friends, Modigliani was a handsome man, and attracted much female attention.
Women came and went until Beatrice Hastings entered his life. She stayed with him for almost two years, was the subject for several of his portraits, including Madame Pompadour, and the object of much of his drunken wrath.
When the British painter Nina Hamnett arrived in Montparnasse in 1914, on her first evening there the smiling man at the next table in the café introduced himself as Modigliani; painter and Jew. They became great friends.
In 1916, Modigliani befriended the Polish poet and art dealer Leopold Zborovski and his wife Anna.
Jeanne Hébuterne
The following summer, the Russian sculptor Chana Orloff introduced him to a beautiful 19-year-old art student named Jeanne Hébuterne who had posed for Foujita. From a conservative bourgeois background, Hébuterne was renounced by her devout Roman Catholic family for her liaison with the painter, whom they saw as little more than a debauched derelict, and, worse yet, a Jew. Despite her family's objections, soon they were living together, and although Hébuterne was the love of his life, their public scenes became more renowned than Modigliani's individual drunken exhibitions.
On December 3, 1917, Modigliani's first one-man exhibition opened at the Berthe Weill Gallery. The chief of the Paris police was scandalized by Modigliani's nudes and forced him to close the exhibition within a few hours after its opening.
After he and Hébuterne moved to Nice, she became pregnant and on November 29, 1918 gave birth to a daughter whom they named Jeanne (1918-1984).
Nice
During a trip to Nice, conceived and organized by Leopold Zborovski, Modigliani, Tsuguharu Foujita and other artists tried to sell their works to rich tourists. Modigliani managed to sell a few pictures but only for a few francs each. Despite this, during this time he produced most of the paintings that later became his most popular and valued works.
During his lifetime he sold a number of his works, but never for any great amount of money. What funds he did receive soon vanished for his habits.
In May of 1919 he returned to Paris, where, with Hébuterne and their daughter, he rented an apartment in the rue de la Grande Chaumière. While there, both Jeanne Hébuterne and Amedeo Modigliani painted portraits of each other, and of themselves.
Last days
Although he continued to paint, Modigliani's health was deteriorating rapidly, and his alcohol-induced blackouts became more frequent.
In 1920, after not hearing from him for several days, his downstairs neighbor checked on the family and found Modigliani in bed delirious and holding onto Hébuterne who was nearly nine months pregnant. They summoned a doctor, but little could be done because Modigliani was dying of the then-incurable disease tubercular meningitis.
Modigliani died on January 24, 1920. There was an enormous funeral, attended by many from the artistic communities in Montmartre and Montparnasse.
Hébuterne was taken to her parents' home, where, inconsolable, she threw herself out of a fifth-floor window two days after Modigliani's death, killing herself and her unborn child. Modigliani was interred in Père Lachaise Cemetery. Hébuterne was buried at the Cimetière de Bagneux near Paris, and it was not until 1930 that her embittered family allowed her body to be moved to rest beside Modigliani.
Modigliani died penniless and destitute—managing only one solo exhibition in his life and giving his work away in exchange for meals in restaurants. Had he lived through the 1920s when American buyers flooded Paris, his fortunes might well have changed. Since his death his reputation has soared. Nine novels, a play, a documentary and three feature films have been devoted to his life.
Fontenelle Forest Raptor Recovery released a bald eagle back to the wild Sunday, January 12th, at 1:30 p.m. at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge west of Missouri Valley, Iowa.
This particular young female bald eagle was rescued August 3rd, 2019, from the Springfield, Nebraska, area. She was unable to fly and a Nebraska Game/Parks officer picked her up and brought her to Denise Lewis, Director of Raptor Recovery at Fontenelle Forest. The eagle was lethargic, thin and was missing all tail her feathers for an unknown reason. She has since regrown the needed tail feathers and is ready to be released back into the wild. Because she is a young bird,she was released at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge due to the large number of eagles that are present there. She will need the teaching and support of other bald eagles as she makes her way to adulthood.
President Barack Obama reacts to a photograph during an interview with David Letterman during a taping of the "Late Show with David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, N.Y., Sept. 18, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
Del Norte County, California, 2007
Balda Super Baldax, 80mm f3.5 Baldanar, Fuji Velvia 100 processed C41
After a year of daily pictures, everyone (including pets) in my house is accustom to having a camera in their face. Rose really didn't react much when I got down to catch her peaking around the corner.
01/02/2011
Narrowly, I manage to block Ubu’s attack with my blade and before he has time to react, I launch my own. As he adjusts his grip, I launch a volley of rapid swings against him attempting to force him on the defensive. Just as you’d expect from a man entrusted to serve as my father’s enforcer, he blocks every single one of my blows in quick succession and seemingly with relative ease. Naturally, I’d expected him to do so. My father is not one to place his trust in people easily, and he never allows the weak to serve him. So of course Ubu was always going to block those strikes, I’d have been disappointed if he hadn’t, which is why my aim wasn’t to try and hit him with my blade but simply to distract him. It doesn’t take long for him to realise this as well, but before he can respond I throw a pair of bat-shaped throwing stars or ‘Batarangs’ as Bruce refers to them. Ubu successfully manages to block the first, but without enough time to properly respond to the second, the throwing star quickly lodges itself into his left arm.
Rather disconcertingly, he hardly reacts at all beyond removing the throwing star and throwing it aside after inspecting it momentarily.
Ubu: Projectiles Talia? That really isn’t your style.
Talia: Nor is cowardice yours.
Ubu: Cowardice? I’m not the one who deserted the cause.
Talia: But you lacked the courage to be honest.
Ubu: Cowardice and obedience are two very separate things, Talia. Don’t tell me you’re foolish enough to see them as one in the same.
Talia: I’m not the one too afraid to challenge my father when he does the wrong thing.
Ubu: And look where that has brought us, Talia. Both of us on opposing sides, your child potentially unfit to claim the title of Heir to the Demon due to his lineage. All of this could have been avoided had you convinced the deserter to stay. None of this would be happening now if you had placed your loyalty to the master over your desires.
Talia: Does my father also believe this is my fault?
I’m shocked by Ubu’s remark that Damian’s claim to the position of the Demon’s heir is in question. Given how much my father has craved a direct line of succession led by male heirs, I can’t help but be surprised that he’s possibly considering denying Damian that right. Has his hatred for Bruce become so great that he’s prepared to cast Damian aside?
No.
That can’t be right. My father is many things but he’s not irrational. It’s possible Damian may be the only second-generation descendant he’ll have. Surely, he wouldn’t risk the line of succession simply out of spite?
Talia: Answer me, Ubu.
Ubu: The master does not hold you responsible.
Talia: And Bruce?
Ubu: The master will not rest until the deserter has paid the price for the damage he has done. Both to the League and the Al-Ghul lineage.
As both Ubu and I keep our blades drawn in case the other makes a move, I can’t help but notice the puncture wound from my throwing star slowly disappearing as he heals. Evidently, he’s been exposed to the pit recently. No doubt my father has had the League set up camp near the pit beneath Gotham for this assault. There’s no way that wound would heal so quickly if he hadn’t been exposed to the pit recently.
But this does pose a problem. With Ubu having bathed in the pit recently, any moves designed to overwhelm an opponent through excessive pain will be all but worthless against him so I have only one option, and it’s not the one Bruce would like.
Talia: Clearly you’ve established camp close to the pit.
Ubu: You would expect anything less from us?
Talia: No, but I couldn’t be sure. Since I’ve sided against him I wasn’t sure whether my father would try something different to stop me being a tactical asset.
Ubu: Why sacrifice a tactical advantage such as the pit simply for a surprise when that can be accomplished using unconventional forms of warfare.
Talia: You can stop trying to mislead me, Ubu. We both know the reason my father had you launch this gas attack, and it has nothing to do with trying to best us.
It’s nothing more than a red herring. A distraction designed to divert our attention away from the cave where Damian remains imprisoned.
Ubu: The boy will fulfil the task given to him by the master.
Talia: And if I say otherwise?
Ubu: You needn’t. The boy’s destiny will come to pass one way or another. The only question Talia, is whether or not you choose to be on the right side of history or not.
Before I have a chance to respond, Ubu momentarily twirls his blade before readying himself for my next assault. Evidently he’s realised that I won’t be easily swayed to his cause, thus he’s instead chosen to restrain me and then take me back to my father. As I glance behind for a moment, I notice Tim unleashing several rapid blows against his opponent in quick succession forcing his opponent onto the defensive. A bold move. Most opponents of the League often tend to use a conservative defence when fighting members of the League, seeing Tim choosing to go on the offensive is an interesting sight to behold and it seems to be working.
With Tim seemingly more than managing to take care of himself, I redirect my attention back towards Ubu whose puncture wound has almost fully healed. I twirl my own blade and change my grip so I’m holding the blade’s handle in only my right hand.
Talia: You of all people should know, Ubu. There is no right side of history. Everyone believes themselves to be on the right side. But what matters most, is being on the winning side of history, and unfortunately it seems you’ve chosen to not be on that side.
As Ubu readies himself, I sprint forward with my blade at the ready. Sadly with his exposure to Lazarus there seems to be no other option but to not hold back. I’m sorry Bruce, I have no other choice…………