1.
No matter the promises I make to myself and no matter my good intentions, I do nothing on Sundays. Rather than beat myself up, I should acknowledge it is Sunday and stay in bed and read.
2.
Back in my school days, there were two areas of study that sent me to sleep within ten seconds. The first area was anything to do with architecture. My instructor had only to say, "This is an arch." My head would fall back, my eyes close, my mouth would gape open, I would fall into a deep sleep, and begin to snore. That is really embarrassing. My head never fell onto my desk.
The second area of study to put me to sleep was history. I think history is taught differently, today. All I remember was being taught dates and "this" is why the date is important. The dates were rarely in context to social/cultural events.
In order to understand the Fauves I discover it is best if I understand the Impressionists. In order to understand the Impressionists, it is best to understand Paris. In order to understand Paris during that period, it is best if I understand Napoleon III.
So this blog today is about Napoleon III, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. I know I am wrong 50% of the time; but the depth of my "wrong" amazes me. Knowing nothing of III, I imagined him to be a watered-down version of his uncle. I think it's because in all his portraits, he has those bedroom eyes; as if he were partially asleep. So I was surprised as to the extent he remodeled Paris; uprooting, if not evicting, 100,000 people to make room for his Boulevards. I read that some families had to move two or three times in a five-year period for those boulevards. Hmmm…. I ask myself, is that when the French developed le shrug?
And so, for the young Impressionists, Paris was a city under constant construction. Rather than these artists being overwhelmed, they wished to become a part of the Parisian mayhem. Would I have had such courage?
Ida Kotyuk
www.portrait-oils.com
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