Horta in Antwerp

Being a huge fan of Horta, it’s sometimes difficult so interpret and understand modern architecture that is “inspired” by him. A recent example is “Cafe Horta” in Antwerp. As is in a name, it pretends to uphold the legislation of Horta. Well, maybe it’s not all that simple.

First of all, have a look at their website and in specific the “Art Nouveau Hall“. It reuses some parts of “La Maison du Peuple” that I’ve mentioned earlier on this website. So far so good. Reusing original otherwise lost artifacts is a good thing. But take a look at the rest of the hall. Seriously … That’s not the idea nor philosophy of Horta. Creating a large amount of light is good, that’s how he meant it to be. But what’s up with the pale colours? Art Nouveau was about light forcing it’s way through a spectre of coloured light, stained glass. The whole rainbow in one room. Not some pale imprint of even more pale colours …

Why couldn’t they add vivid colours, play with the light and shadow that inevitably paint the walls. As my dissertation is about stained glass from the 15th century until now, I know a bit about how colourful it all can be. How even the medieval man knew about it’s beauty. A person we often called “stupid and moronic” (although recent research has somewhat revoked that view, many still hold on to that thought). Still they knew and they were experts with light and colour. It wasn’t until the 19th century for the rediscovery of this secret. And what have we learned from it? Looking at the Art Nouveau hall … not much.

A shame really. Having spent so much effort in integrating original parts of Horta’s Maison du peuple, it’s in no relationship with the other elements. A missed opportunity, but that’s perhaps modern architecture. Maybe I’m just too old fashion. On the other hand: don’t copy when you can’t reach the original level. Be original for god’s sake!

Header

I wonder if there are people out there who know what the picture in my header represents?

I know, but who else knows about the roots of photography?

Patinir

As this is a response to my hbt post, I’ll try to look a little bit further into Joachim Patinir. As already much has been written about him, there is nothing more to add. Perhaps one thing that might be interesting.

Landscape portrets were already known by the Flemish Primitives (hate that term!). So perhaps Patinir wasn’t really a pioneer there. Also religious inspired pictures existed for over centuries, ages, … The question just might be where his genious lied. It is in fact, rather simple to discover. Just look at the pictures that I included. What does come back in every picture? A little hint might be: examine the color schemes used. It’s the same everywhere. Also the depicture of the rocks is typical to Patinir.

So we have a scheme that goes as follows: brown in the front to depict the important scene, green in the middle and blue in the back. Somewhere in between stand the rocks to form a solid connection between all the different layers. Take a look: it’s the same for all.

Patinir thus created a new form of landscape painting that will have great influence on later artists and will live on until the 18th century. Fascinating, no?

Pictures by Google

Swifting away, just by acting

I sometimes just want to watch a movie that carries me away. That releases emotions that do not really fit into the moment, but just burst out. Like laughter when seeing something sad. Like tears when laughter.

I like this moments of sublime experience. Feeling close with the depts of your own self. I must grant it to the directors and actors who accomplish this. They are the true masterpiece brought together in one single whole we call a movie.

One of the first movies that brought me into this state of mind was “Festen”. A Danish award winning movie about the celebration (aka Festen) of the father’s 60th birthday. The family is gathered and then everything goes horribly wrong. The acting was just fantastic. The words were at the precise moment and it all collapsed and florished at exactly the right moment. Just brilliant!

Since then, many movies passed, some mentionable, others just eager to be forgotten. But once in a while, one stands out. One shoulds out to be seen, remembered and seen again. “Secrets and Lies” is one of those movies. Winner of the festival of Cannes in 1996, it’s just so fantastic, so well brought and told, it couldn’t have been something else. It tells all about family intrigue, lies and secrets that should never be told or never pop up. The acting is just stunning. Brenda Blethyn is such a great actress, it goes beyond words.

I’m glad I’ve seen it. It was a complete breath of fresh air. Subtle, funny and quite touching. Made me laugh when things looked sad. Made me sad when it went better. Sublime!

James Joyce, adapted

Some books are just out there to haunt your life. Not so different for me when it comes to Finnegan’s Wake. I’ve heard so many stories about it, read so many things about it, but never come to the conclusion to just go out there and buy it. Why not? Because it’s too difficult to read for me. The english is very hard let alone the whole language system used by Joyce is just too complex for me.

But now this has changed, since there is a dutch translation. Or rather, the original text is opposed a dutch interpretation and this means a whole new world. Now I should be able to read and try to understand bits and pieces, puzzling it all together into one big whole. And so I should be able to come closer to interpreting the english text, to reveal the mystery that might lay between the lines.

I’m excited!

Piranesi

Very soon, some of my favorite post-Renaissance artists is exposing in Belgium, or at least his works are finally brought together.

Giovanni Batista Piranesi, most famous for his “Carceri”, will be exposed in the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent.

I’ve always been fascinated by his works. For some reason, the imagination is so widespread, so far fetched that it’s so complicated to comprehend. To grasp what it’s all about. Composing, combining, rewriting, redrawing, … he did it all to create a vast world of imaginary dungeons. A sad look through the eyes of someone in the middle of progression. Rome was his point of no return. The world surrounding him became his playground.

I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve included some pics so you can have an idea what it’s all about!

My Book

I’ve finally done it! I’ve written the first lines of a book I’ve always wanted to write. The storyline is very simple but yet, I’ll try to divert the plot several times and add a substory to the whole. I’m not really sure yet how to fully extend the story, but I’m sure the details will come along the way.

Stay tuned!

Bad Luck!

Talk about buying a cat in a bag: an Australian museum was supposed to be the proud owner of a Van Gogh, until recent research suggested that it was a fake, or rather created at the time of Van Gogh, but not by his hand…

Reason to get suspicious was the fact that he never talked about it with his brother Theo and some compositional problems (read the entire article here).

Talk about bad luck: before research it’s net worth was € 15 million. Don’t think much of that remains. But even more important, the prestige lost due to this. No more headlines at the museum, perhaps a lot less visitors (or as human nature predicts, vice versa).

anyhow, I know I would be devastated to find out it I were the curator of that museum. Maybe a rope would be a good idea …

Discover what lies beyond

I’ve just received some pictures of the works of Escher.

I will add them on a new page very soon!

A link!

As with all blogs around, also this one can’t escape the need to link to other people and their imagination/inspiration.

As goes with this one, I would like to introduce Julie, better known from her blog, “Musings Of“. She has a new side-project, called “Design Realized”.

I invite all of you to pay her a visit, she’s sure worth of it!