Dali House

“Pietà” by William Bouguereau, 1876 (detail)
You must see the whole painting – click the image.

The denizens of Dali House have taunted William Bouguereau from the second-storey windows before upon seeing him saunter by in the street with his top hat and walking stick, but you know we’re just jealous. Bouguereau (1825-1905) was no second-storey man but a talent of the first order. (Some of his paintings take on a life of their own, literally – read on further down about the sultry nymphs of New York bardom.) See the rest.

“Mignon”, by William Bouguereau (1825-1905).
Click the image to see it much larger.

Fred Ross, the huffing and puffing iron lung of the Art Renewal Centre, insists that (a) abstract art is not abstract and defintely not art, and (b) Michelangelo and Ross’ main go-to guy William Bouguereau were great abstract artists. He shall explain in his own words, excerpted from his voluptuous website.

“Mignon”, above, by the way, was no mere filet. She was owned by Andy Warhol until his death. And Dali had a Bouguereau in his collection too. No studies have been done, to my knowledge, on possible links between owning a Bouguereau and dying. See the rest.

“Une âme au ciel” (”A Soul in Heaven”) by William Bouguereau, 1878
Click the image to see it much larger.

Pretty feisty bunch down at the Art Renewal Centre, where they’re giddily passionate about the 19th-century realists and won’t spare a poop for anything more modern. Cantankerously building barricades in preparation for an anticipated jihad against the Establishment is Fred Ross, the centre’s chairman, who’s got a major rant going on that seems almost perverse in the way it’s trying to turn art history upside down. But, he has his points (and some terrific art to back him up). See the rest.

“Jeune Fille se Defendant Contre L’amour” (”A Young Woman Fends Off Love”) by William Bouguereau

While thumbing lustily through the William Bouguereau portfolio at the Art Renewal Centre, it occurred to me that here was a fine painter who certainly appreciated the female form. Plenty of peasants and pastorals and picturesque idylls, but some fetching feminine pulchritude as well, especially babes getting out of the tub, eh wot?
See the rest.