#Düsseldorf School.

[liturgical-agenda]

Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, Switzerland by Alexandre Calame

[lionofchaeronea]

A Majestic Tree in the Evening Light, Oswald Achenbach, 1852

[germanpostwarmodern]

Secondary School “Theodor Fliedner” (1965-67) in Düsseldorf, Germany, by Christoph Parade

[maertyrer]

after Hermann Stilke Joan of Arc

Oil on canvas, 45.1 x 40.6 cm, 19th century

[homeisaplaceinthehills]

Thomas Struth. Pantheon, Rome. 137.5 × 194 cm. 1990

[slack-wise]

Jörg Paul Janka

[pintoras]

Johanna Unger (German, 1836-1871): Debora (via Lempertz)

From the auction house website:

Johanna Unger was born the daughter of the lawyer and art historian Friedrich Wilhelm Unger. She first studied as a private pupil of C. F. Sohn, O. Rethel and E. Leutze in Düsseldorf, then in Munich under W. Lindenschmit the Younger, and is therefore represented with an entry in the authoritative artist's encyclopaedias of both German schools of painting of the 19th century. In both publications her work is illustrated by a picture of our large-format depiction of Debora.

Johanna Unger often focused on strong female figures in her narrative paintings, of which our painting of Debora is probably the most significant example. The Old Testament figure of Deborah is mentioned in chapters 4 and 5 of the Book of Judges, where she is the only woman to hold the office of judge. She is also said to have possessed the gift of prophecy and it is in this capacity that Johanna Unger seems to have depicted her in the present work, as a young woman with a lyre and a laurel wreath. The depiction is still clearly in the tradition of the Nazarenes, whose stylistic influence on Johanna Unger was conveyed via the Düsseldorf Late Nazarenes, who were influenced by Wilhelm Schadow.

[veryprivateart]

Seascape paintings by Marcus Larson

(5 January 1825 – 25 January 1864)

Swedish landscape painter from Åtvidaberg, Östergötland. He has been recognized as "one of Sweden's foremost 19th-century painters" and labeled as "the most outstanding of the Swedish Düsseldorf painters."

His paintings were known for being dramatic and primarily depicting rivers under violent skies as well as shipwrecks in storms.

Larson returned to Sweden in 1858 with a small fortune and decided to settle down in the province of Småland. He built a large villa with the intention of starting an art school there for young landscape painters. Before starting the school, however, Larson went to Copenhagen to exhibit his paintings. He spent the autumn of 1858 and the spring of 1859 traveling between Copenhagen and the nearby Swedish province of Scania. When Larson finally returned to his villa, it was burnt down in a fire. In 1860, the indigent artist left Sweden, never to return. After staying some time in Helsinki and Saint Petersburg, Larson traveled to London in 1862 for the World's Fair. At this time, however, his talent and reputation were decreasing. With almost no assets and suffering from tuberculosis, Larson died in London on 25 January 1864.

It's like if he saw it coming in his paintings...

[homomenhommes]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … December 22

1823 – The American author, abolitionist, and soldier Thomas Wentworth Higginson was born today in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d.1911). The Higginson clan was quite pedigreed. Thomas was a descendant of a Puritan minister, a member of the Continental Congress, and the founder of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He was active in the American Abolitionism movement during the 1840s and 1850s, identifying himself with disunion and militant abolitionism. During the Civil War, he served as colonel of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers, the first federally authorized African-American regiment, from 1862-1864. Following the war, Higginson devoted much of the rest of his life to fighting for the rights of freed slaves, women and other disenfranchised peoples.

Higginson has largely been forgotten to history except in the last few years when Brenda Wineapple's book White Heat was published to great accolades. In the book Wineapple posits an intense relationship between Higginson and his penpal, the poet Emily Dickinson. They only met twice but the title of Wineapple's book suggests a more intimate relationship. Interestingly (or not) Wineapple makes no mention in her book of William Hurlbert, the handsome Southern journalist that Higginson was just crazy about. A very telling omission because Higginson's famous "Letter to a Young Contributor" (the Atlantic essay that Dickinson first responded to and started their correspondence) alluded to "Cecil Dreeme," the very queer title character in Theodore Winthrop's 1861 novel by the same name. Dreeme was based on Hurlbert, of whom Higginson once remarked: "I never loved but one male friend with passion—and for him my love had no bounds—all that my natural fastidiousness and cautious reserve kept from others I poured on him; to say that I would have died for him was nothing." Now there's some "White Heat."

In Higginson's book Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870) he exhibits an erotic fascination with black skin and bodies: "I always like to observe [black soldiers] when bathing,—such splendid muscular development, set off by that smooth coating of adipose tissue which makes them, like the South-Sea Islanders, appear even more muscular than they are. Their skins are also of finer grain than those of whites, the surgeons say, and certainly are smoother and far more free from hair."

Whitman scholars like Ken Price have noted that Higginson's later attacks on the gay aspects of Whitman's poetry may have been a case of "pot calling the kettle black" given the "tonalities" in Higginson's writing and relationships.

1899 – Gustaf Gründgens (d.1963), one of Germany's most famous and influential actors of the 20th century, intendant and artistic director of theatres in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg. His career continued undisturbed through the years of the Nazi regime, but the extent to which this can be considered as deliberate collaboration with the Nazis was hotly disputed.

Born in Düsseldorf, Gründgens after World War I attended the drama school of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus and started his career at smaller theaters in Halberstadt, Kiel, and Berlin. In 1923 he went to the Kammerspiele in Hamburg, where he also appeared as a director for the first time, co-working with the author Klaus Mann, son of Thomas Mann, and his sister Erika Mann. Gründgens, who meanwhile had changed his first name to "Gustaf", married Erika in 1926. However, they divorced three years later.

In 1928 he moved back to Berlin to join the renowned ensemble of the Deutsches Theater under director Max Reinhardt. Apart from straight theatre, Gründgens also worked with Otto Klemperer at the Kroll Opera, as a Kabarett artist and also as a movie actor, most notably in Fritz Lang's 1931 film M, which decisively added to his popularity. From 1932 he was a member of the Prussian State Theatre ensemble, first scintillating as Mephistopheles.

Gründgens' career proceeded after the Nazi Machtergreifung: in 1934 he became "Intendant" of the Prussian State Theatre; though constant attacks on his homosexual orientation made him ask the Prussian Minister President Hermann Göring for his discharge after the Night of the Long Knives. Göring rejected the request and instead appointed him a member of the Prussian state council to ensure his immunity.. In 1941, Gründgens starred in the propaganda film Ohm Krüger and also in Friedemann Bach, a film he also produced. After Goebbels's total war speech on 18 February 1943, Gründgens volunteered for the Wehrmacht but was again recalled by Göring, who had his name added to the Gottbegnadeten list.

Imprisoned by the Soviet NKVD in 1945, Gründgens was released thanks to the intercession by the Communist actor Ernst Busch, whom Gründgens himself had saved from execution by the Nazis in 1943.

From 1936 till 1946, Gründgens was married to the famous German actress Marianne Hoppe. The wedlock was widely seen as a lavender marriage.

Posthumously, Gründgens was the subject of a novel entitled "Mephisto" by his former brother-in-law Klaus Mann, who had died in 1949. The film version was a huge commercial and critical success winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1981.

1919 – On this date G. Harrold Carswell, Richard Nixon's unsuccessful nominee for the Supreme Court, was born (d.1992). He was rejected for being a mediocre nominee and for his voiced support for racial segregation during an unsuccessful election bid in 1948. He was also against women's rights. In defense against charges that Carswell was "mediocre", U.S. Senator Roman Hruska (Republican, Nebraska) stated: "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos." Talk about damning with faint praise!

The remark was criticized by many and is believed to have backfired and damaged Carswell's cause. Probably a good thing. It would have been very embarrassing to the Court when, several years later, he was convicted of "unnatural and lascivious advances," the result of propositioning an undercover police officer in a Florida men's room. Carswell subsequently withdrew from public life.

1959 – Norbert Bischoff, born in Meyenburg, Germany, was a German songwriter (d.1993).

Bischoff worked for the Leipzig song group and moved to Berlin in 1976.

From 1983 he performed his own songs. He was one of the first musicians in the GDR to openly address homosexual issues. In 1984 he released the song Truly a Place to be Happy about the dealings in pubs, and the program Sorry, I'm Gay. In late 1984 was hired by the Ministry of State Security, getting the job as a casual employee with with a fake resume. Bischoff quit after a short time.

In 1985, at the GDR Chansontage in Frankfurt on Oder, he received the General Director's Prize at the Committee for Entertainment Art for his program Excuse me, I'm the Gay One and since that year has been working as a freelance singer. Some of his songs were recorded on GDR radio. His song He says he is serious about a GDR neo-Nazi was banned.

In 1986 and 1990 he was a contributor to the Festival of Political Song in Berlin. In September 1989 he was one of the signatories of the resolution by rock musicians and songwriters calling for change in the GDR.

In the early 1990s he appeared with his band as Norbert Bischoff & Gesellschaft (Society). The band included Tina Tandler, Lexa Thomas, Bert Wrede, Norbert Grandl, and Juwe Andrees.

On November 9, 1993, Bischoff took his own life, frustrated by developments in reunified Germany. He left the note: "The right date to disappear for a German."

The CD: "I Don't Want to Wait any Longer - last songs by Norbert Bischoff", was released posthumously in 1994.

1960 – The American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was born on this date (d.1988). Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Puerto Rican woman and a Creole man. Because of his heritage, and his visits to Puerto Rico, Basquiat was fluent in French, Spanish and English by the age of eleven, and was able to read and write in all three languages. He showed artistic abilities at an early age but struggled in school, finally dropping out of high school.

In 1974, Jean-Michel moved to Puerto Rico with his family, who lived there for two years. It was there he experienced the first of many homosexual encounters; on one occasion he was orally raped by a barber. Upon the family's return to America, Jean-Michel dropped out of school and frequently ran away from home. At the age of 15, he absconded from his father, who caught him having sex with a male cousin and tried to kill him. Basquiat was a bi-sexual. His first sexual encounters were gay, and as a teenager he ofter worked as a gay street hustler, though later in his life he had many famous and infamous relations with women, including Madonna.

In the late 1970s Basquiat began spray-painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan, working under the pseudonym SAMO. When the Village Voice published an article about the graffiti, the artist ended the project by inscribed "SAMO IS DEAD" on the walls of SoHo buildings in 1979.

He started appearing on live public-access cable show and performing with noise rock bands. Finally in 1980, Basquiat participated in his first major show and received coverage in Artforum magazine, which brought Basquiat to the attention of the art world. This led to his joining a gallery in SoHo and showing regularly and an invitation to meet Andy Warhol who became a collaborator.

By 1985 he was appearing on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in recognition of his success as a leading artist of the period. After Warhol died on February 22, 1987, Basquiat became increasingly isolated, and his heroin addiction and depression became more severe. He died of a heroin overdose in his art studio on August 12, 1988, at the age of 27.

Basquiat's work has undergone major and influential exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Brooklyn Museum. On May 15, 2007 an untitled Basquiat work from 1981 sold at auction in New York for US$14.6 million. In 1996, seven years after his death, a biopic titled Basquiat was released, directed by Julian Schnabel, with actor Jeffrey Wright playing Basquiat. A 2009 documentary film, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, directed by Tamra Davis, was first screened as part of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

2000 – Joshua Bassett is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He is known for his starring role as Ricky Bowen in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

Bassett was born and raised in Oceanside, California, and was home-schooled.

His first introduction to musical theater was at age 7, over a decade before he starred as Ricky in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, when he was in a community theater production of High School Musical as J.V. Jock No. 2. Since then, Bassett has starred in over 30 musical productions.

He moved to Los Angeles when he was 16 years old to start acting, living in his car for some time to get by.

Bassett sings and plays piano, guitar, ukulele, bass, drums, and some saxophone. On May 10, 2021, he came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community during an interview.

In December 2021, Bassett disclosed that he experienced sexual abuse as a child and teen.

2010 – President Obama signs the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[annathesillyfriend]

anna the silly friend might become anna the silly doctor as I just found out that I was admitted into the doctoral school 🧑‍🎓 I've also just finished my first ever international science conference, I had my first proper trip abroad and I flew a plane for the first time in my life. this is quite an eventful weekend for me😅

if by any chance anyone from Düsseldorf sees this, please tell me what should I see here before my flight back home tomorrow!

[rastronomicals]

3:48 PM EST January 26, 2024:

Can - "Mary, Mary So Contrary" From the album Monster Movie (August 1969)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under: Düsseldorf School

[liturgical-agenda]

View from high in the gardens of Villa Torlonia & Gardens and fountain of the Villa Torlonia (Frascati, Rome, 1881) by Oswald Achenbach

[oldpainting]

Jeanna Bauck - The Danish Artist Bertha Wegmann Painting a Portrait [late 1870s]

This is an epoch-making image from the end of the 1870s, when women artists and writers had a major influence on the cultural life of the period. They managed to change both the view, of the role of the artist and that of middle-class family life. Here Jeanna Bauck has chosen to depict a female artist in the middle of the creative process. She portrays Bertha Wegmann fully absorbed in her work at the easel, in their shared studio and home in Munich. Wegmann, who was to become one of Denmark’s foremost portraitists, later painted Jeanna Bauck in their studio in Paris in 1881.

Jeanna Bauck was a Swedish portrait painter and landscape artist. She moved to Germany in 1863, studying in Dresden and Düsseldorf before settling in Munich. In the 1870s, Bauck made several study and sketching tours to the Tyrol, Switzerland and Venice. In 1880, she travelled to Paris, together with Danish artist Bertha Wegmann, with whom she shared a studio. Bauck succeeded in entering the Paris Salon that same year. In a series of groundbreaking portraits of one another, specifically in their professional role’s, Bauck and Wegmann managed to change the view of women artists in what was then seen as a traditionally male occupation. Bauck soon returned to Munich and founded a school for female artists.

[germanpostwarmodern]

Realschule Klosterstraße (mid-1950s) in Düsseldorf, Germany, by Norbert Demmel. Photo by Inge Goertz-Bauer.

[theiconicmeghanmarkle]

The AFNorth International School in Brunssum bussed fifth through 12th grade students to Düsseldorf, Germany, to experience the competition of wounded service members and veterans during the sixth edition of the Invictus Games on Sept. 14.

Held for the first time in Germany, the opportunity also afforded a chance for the music students to perform for the first time this school year and for other students to meet Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

“The highlight of my day was meeting Prince Harry and Meghan,” said Cowans. “I never thought that I would meet them!”

“All of the Invictus Games sports competitors have a military background and our students at AFNorth have a military connection,” she said. “It was awesome. It was a great experience for our children.”

[garadinervi]

A Sculpture by Richard Long presented by Konrad Fischer, Konrad Fischer, Düsseldorf, 1971 [Unoriginal Sins, The Old Primary School, Temple, Midlothian. Richard Long]