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Daily Art Moments: Albert Besnard

Black etching on cream paper depicting two light-skinned women sitting at a table seen from about the waist up. The first woman is at far left, seen from the side, her body facing right but head turned to look to the viewer or artist. She has a cap of dark hair parted in the center, dark arched eyebrows, and large, dark eyes. Her nose is narrow, she has high cheekbones, a small mouth, and pointed chin. Her dark, voluminous, puffy sleeve takes up most of the bottom left corner. Areas of the cream, unworked paper depict the gathers and folds of the huge sleeve. Her thin, pale forearm extends from the huge sleeve and ends in a bony hand that rests on the edge of a table, holding a black feather. Her companion is at center, facing front, head resting on her hand and tilted to the right, her elbow on table. She appears to be looking to the left at the other woman. She has lighter hair and her face appears slightly hazy as if seen through smoke. Line work radiates off head combining her hair with the swirling background, creating a feeling of movement. A large, tall carafe sits at right on the table. It has a short, squat body with a long neck that reaches up to nearly the top right of the work. The entire work is composed of very thin linework, hatched and crosshatched to achieve shading and texture. A wide unworked border surrounds the scene.

“In late nineteenth-century Paris, morphine, a powerful opiate, was both legal and widespread. Although addiction afflicted all classes of society, artists were particularly fond of depicting fashionable women as part of the decadent underbelly of the city. In this etching, Besnard depicts two glassy-eyed morphinomanes (morphine addicts) relaxing into a stupor. The carafe on the…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Victor Jorgensen

A black-and-white photograph of three light-skinned, young men. The central figure sits on a doctor’s examination table, turned three quarters to the left while having plaster applied to his left arm. He stares off to the left, his hair spikey and messy, his facial expression somber. He is shirtless and having his arm, crooked at the elbow, set from shoulder to fingers in a plaster cast. Excess plaster is slathered and splattered on his neck, chest, and stomach. He wears a band on the ring finger of this left hand. At left, another young man is seen from the side, his head bent slightly forward, light from above cast on his face. He is using a cloth on the patient’s arm. He has dark short hair, wears a loose-fitting shirt with the sleeves rolled up. At right, another young man is cutting away the rough edge of the plaster on the patient’s shoulder. This man sits on the table with the patient, his back to us, the sleeves cut off his shirt, a small white cap on his head. The background shows a supply cabinet and bunks. Light streams down from the top right corner of the photo.

“#MemorialDay, a solemn American holiday, commemorates those who have died while on active military duty. The central figure of this photograph, taken on board the naval hospital ship USS Solace by Portland’s own Victor Jorgensen during WWII, later succumbed to his battle wounds: According to Jorgensen, ‘Pfc. A. Check of London, Kentucky, caught machine gun…  Read more

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Write Around PAM: Marilyn Levine

Photo of a sculpture representing a deep brown leather handbag. Viewed from the side, a rectangular handbag with both ends and middle collapse inward as if half empty. A highlight on the outward bulge of the main body of the bag is represented in a lighter color. A shoulder strap lies draped across the main body and lies next to the highlight. Hardware and rivets attach the strap to the main body of the bag at each end. A flat pocket with a flap is on the right end of the bag. Seams and stitching are clearly visible and a zipper puller is at the top center of the bag.

During this time, it is important we all take moments to pause. Writing is a great tool to reflect, de-stress, #breakforjoy and heal. Join us for another mini-writing exercise focused on the people we are spending our days with (or are feeling separated from), using this piece from Marilyn Levine as inspiration.   First, imagine a…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Odilon Redon

Vertical off-white rectangle with various shapes scattered throughout a background of lighter crosshatching, shading, and abstract sketching. Two of the three largest shapes appear in the lower half of the rectangle. The first, positioned in the center, roughly forms the shape of a backwards C. The bottom of the C suggests a fishtail with fins. At the top, the shape seems to turn back on itself resulting in a face-like shape with eyes, situated on the inside of the curve. To the left of this shape is a heavily outlined circle suggesting an eye with upper and lower lids. A tail trails off to the left of this circle. The third large object is located in the top half of the work at right. It too suggests an eye, this time bulging with a small off center pupil-like shape surrounded by heavy line work. Scattered elsewhere are much smaller eye shapes, some with lids and lashes. The background is unevenly shaded with light and dark areas.

“Symbolist artist Odilon Redon was fascinated by the microscopic world that surrounds us. His fantastic prints, drawings, and paintings often feature bizarre depictions inspired by the unseen universe. His goal, he said, ‘consists in bringing to life … improbable beings and making them live according to the laws of probability, by putting—as far as possible—the…  Read more

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The Painter and the Thief

Light-skinned masculine-presenting individual with short blonde hair and black glasses gazes downward with his hands resting on his bare chest. He has multiple tattoos - a star on each shoulder, a stone-like creature on his right arm, a rose and leaves on his left arm, and a rose in the middle of his chest with the words "Snitchers Are A Dying Breed" above it. The background is dark with some white visible on the left, a blue streak on the top right, and a traditional henna design on the bottom right.

The Northwest Film Center and the Portland Art Museum present The Painter and the Thief. Opens [Online] Friday, May 22. Desperate for answers about the theft of her two paintings, a Czech artist seeks out and befriends the career criminal who stole them. After inviting her thief to sit for a portrait, the two form…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Joe Feddersen

Two upright rectangles, side by side with a narrow white border on all sides and separating the two. Bands of color softly blend to compose the background. The layers from the top are blue, purple, peach, creamy white, turquoise, creamy white, and pale lavender, blending to purple at bottom. In some areas, the bands seem to match up from one panel to the next; in other areas they are slightly misaligned. Overlaying these bands of color in the upper two-thirds of the painting are scattered lace-like formations suggesting clouds. The lower third of the painting containing the creamy white, turquoise, and purple bands are mostly free of clouds. Long, thin, diagonal lines streak from top left to bottom right over the entire painting. The lines change color depending on position over other colors: pink over purple, white over peach, burgundy over blue, and so on.

“Coming upon Joe Feddersen’s Blue Horizon, from the series Rainscape feels like the perfect embodiment of our elongated spring in the Pacific Northwest, and much like the very weather we are having this week. Blue Horizon captures the opulent layers of the dawn sky as indirect sunlight scatters the soft hues to layers of delicate…  Read more

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Poster Project: Emmet Gowin

Photographer Emmet Gowin arrived at Mount St. Helens in June 1980, one month after its initial, cataclysmic eruption. He secured a permit to fly over the volcano in what became the first of many visits to the site over the next five years. For Gowin, photographing Mount St. Helens from the air did not produce…  Read more

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Daily Art Moment: Scarabs

Nine color photographs of very small carved sculptural scaraboids arranged in a 3 by 3 grid.

“In ancient Egypt, scarab beetles symbolized dawn, life, and rejuvenation. These associations made the scarab beetle the most popular shape for amulets and personal seals. Other auspicious forms were also used as amulets. The annual floodwaters of the Nile River Valley could be a force of destruction but also regeneration. Amulets in the shape of…  Read more

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A Bird’s Eye View of Mount St. Helens

Series of three square paintings that resemble overhead maps. Left: Black and white marbled background with black lines, and various patches of turquoise, orange, pink, yellow and orange. Center: Turquoise and yellow background with white circular area in the middle. Right: Right side has black and white marbled texture with black cracks, left side has a large patch of green with a small long patch of blue like a stream. The bottom has reddish shapes that form a type of foundation for the other pieces.

Adapted from a Portland Public Schools Arts projectInspired by the exhibition Volcano! Mount St. Helens in Art Download the PDF or follow the instructions below. In the centuries before the development of aircraft, mapmakers relied on a largely imagined aerial—or “bird’s eye view”—perspective to depict their surroundings. To twentieth-century artists, being able to fly in…  Read more

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Echoes and Impressions

Three large brown circles with impressions. Left impression of a large maple shaped leaf with deep veins. Right: Impression of plant with multiple stems and approximately six leaves on each side. Bottom: Impression of flower blossom with five round leaves, fine veins, and a star shaped center.

Adapted from a Portland Public Schools Arts projectInspired by the exhibition Volcano! Mount St. Helens in Art Download the PDF or follow the instructions below. A compression fossil is formed when plants or animals are placed under physical pressure by layer upon layer of sediment that eventually hardens into rock. It’s very common to find…  Read more