Roald Dahl

Britain's Royal Mail is celebrating Roald Dahl. Yay!

We have his autobiographical More About Boy: Roald Dahl's Tales from Childhood (illustrated by the great Quentin Blake) as well as The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. Do you have a favorite Dahl picture book? (His adult novels and ghost story collections are also tops.)

All things Austen

Watercolor portrait, 1816 ed. of Emma

Miss Austen of Hampshire has always been well-loved, respected, and celebrated by critics and readers alike, but interest in her life and works has exploded in recent times, with Austen societies, film adaptations, book clubs, films about the book clubs, sequels to finished novels and endings to her unfinished ones, "fan fiction," bestselling mashups like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies—you name it. People discuss what books she read; blog about what clothes she wore, food she ate, places she went, and music she listened to; supply background on Regency mores and morals; and gossip about the people she liked and those she loathed. (Among the best of the many blogs on Austen are janeaustensworld, austenblog, austenprose, and janeaustenaddict.)
One hopes Austen would be amused and gratified (if not a tad dumbfounded) at her posthumous celebrity. Obviously she is a writer who continues to bring much joy and value to people's lives.
Do drop by our Austen page, where we have a goodly cache of novels, notecards, a daybook of witticisms, and more (no zombies though).

The first sentence of P&P in the "Jane Austen" font, which can be downloaded here.

Example of fan art, by Sabrina Vincent

Marvel Comics' version of Sense and Sensibility

Example of monthly desktop "wallpaper"  created by an Austenite

Now in her 90s, detective novelist P.D. James combined her two great loves—mysteries and JA—into 2011's Death Comes to Pemberly, a suspenseful sequel to P&P which garnered rave reviews. In its enthusiasm to tout the novel, NPR apparently did a "spoiler," which prompted one Austen devotee to bemoan the gaffe:

Just in case I was the only mystery or JA fan listening on Thurs. morning, Dec. 8th, I must in good conscience utter one ladylike bleat! As other listeners have by now hopefully reminded you, it is a truth universally acknowledged that interviewers of mystery novelists do NOT during the interview reveal the name of the murderer in the book described! I felt for PD. James, and for myself, as reading the book is still a future pleasure for me, now reduced somewhat by the lack of mystery!

A sample excerpt of Pemberly is available here. I am looking forward to reading it—how about you? (Luckily I didn't hear that particular NPR program!)

Spot on!

I love the spot paintings by Damien Hirst. What do you think? To me they have a sort of alluring power—the apotheosis of pure color, perhaps? Gagosian is currently showing them in 11 locations in 8 cities around the world. You can see more at this New York Times slideshow. At left, Ethyl Laurate, 2003; below, Phe-Tyr, 2004–11 (both household gloss on canvas; © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved).

But wait... stop the presses! I'm just about to post this when I see a luscious post by art blogger Joanne Mattera about all of the other relatively unsung artists creating beauteous things with dots and probably not making the big bucks. Point taken!~

Stuart Davis, Factory by the Sea, 1932. Williams Collection.

Further reading/viewing from our current offerings: Adventures in Modern Art: The Charles K. Williams II Collection (above); and Michelangelo Pistoletto: From One to Many, 1956–1974. Below, one of the "mirror paintings" by pop-art/conceptualist trendsetter Pistoletto.

Strong women; fine artists

“No one else in the history of photography has captured this breathtaking moment between the appearance and disappearance of things like Lillian Bassman.”—Richard Avedon

Fashion and fine art photographer Lillian Bassman (above left) died last week at 94. The New York Times' ran a slideshow of her work and many websites turned to the Abrams book Lillian Bassman: Women for striking examples of her edgy, elegant images. (A 2009 Times article by Ginia Bellafante is also absorbing: “Being a woman gave her an advantage, Ms. Bassman felt. 'The models thought about this a lot,' she said. “It was a sexually very different thing when they worked with men. They felt a charge. They were posing for men. I caught them when they were relaxed, natural, and I spent a lot of time talking to them about their husbands, their lovers, their babies.”) Thanks to our photography guru, Judy Rolfe, for alerting us.
We are very jazzed about the upcoming Cindy Sherman exhibit in the Big Apple. In announcing the show, the editors of Photo District News' "photo of the day" showed some choice samples of her work, including the photographs below. It has been 15 years since Sherman has had such a major exhibit:

Beginning February 26, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is presenting a “retrospective survey” of her artwork, which will feature over 180 photographs made from the mid-1970s through the present. The exhibit will feature some of Sherman’s most interesting and beloved self-portrayed characters including the fictional film actresses of the 1950s and 60s from “Untitled Film Stills”; common subjects from Old Masters paintings, such as aristocrats and milkmaids; and her over-the-top “society” women. Also on display is her most recent work: murals that depict a Sherman character in color against a black-and-white landscape painting.

Of further interest is our current title Joyce Tenneson: A Life in Photography 1968–2008, with many ethereal and archetypal images. You can see images from each phase of her career here, including "Amazing Men" and "Wise Women." Photo below by Tim Mantoani from the "Behind Images" project.

"Uptown Downstairs Abbey"

For Downton Abbey addicts, these affectionate BBC parodies are too too hilarious. Ab Fab's Jennifer Saunders as Dame Maggie Smith, Kim Cattrall as Lady Crawley, Joanna Lumley as the housekeeper, and so much more. Enjoy!

Also quite enjoyable is series creator Julian Fellowes' tour of Highclere Castle, where the series was shot.