via blackbookphotog
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Mary Moser
Art Appreciation
Mary Moser was born on October 27, 1744, in London, the daughter of Swiss-born artist George Michael Moser, an engraver, enameller, medallist, and influential figure in London’s artistic community.
At a time when formal artistic education was largely closed to women, Moser received her training from her father, who later became the first Keeper of the Royal Academy. Her talent emerged early. At only fourteen, she received a five-guinea prize from the Society of Arts for an ornamental drawing, followed the next year by a silver medal and another five guineas for a flower painting. By 1760, she was exhibiting publicly, beginning a professional career while still in her teens.
Moser became one of the most successful British women artists of the eighteenth century. In 1768, at age twenty-four, she joined Angelica Kauffman as one of only two women among the thirty-six founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts; no other woman would become a full Royal Academician until the twentieth century.
Moser exhibited regularly at the Academy and earned particular recognition as a flower painter. Her royal connections also became important to her career: she taught drawing to the daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte, and around 1792 Queen Charlotte commissioned her to decorate a room at Frogmore House near Windsor. Moser covered the room with elaborate floral compositions, including canvases and paintings directly on the walls, creating the illusion of an open garden arbour. The commission, for which she reportedly received more than £900, became the most significant project of her career.
Moser specialized in floral still lifes executed primarily in oils, distinguishing her professionally from many contemporary women who painted flowers in watercolor as an amateur pursuit. Her compositions combined close botanical observation with rich color, careful modeling, and densely arranged blossoms influenced in part by the tradition of seventeenth-century Dutch flower painting. Rather than merely cataloguing specimens, she arranged flowers for visual drama while retaining recognizable botanical details. Her Spring (c. 1780), for example, brings together tulips, narcissi, auriculas, peonies, and other flowers associated with the British spring.
Other notable works include Summer (c. 1780), her Vase of Flowers paintings created for Frogmore House between 1792 and 1797, and the surviving decorative scheme of the Mary Moser Room itself. Together, these works established Moser as one of the foremost flower painters of Georgian Britain and as an important figure in the history of professional women artists.
Spring, ca. 1780
Summer, ca. 1780
Flowers Still Life, 1780
Sources:
Wikipedia
https://www.thersa.org/about/archive/mary-moser-room
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp64834/mary-lloyd-nee-moser
https://www.rct.uk/collection/stories/women-artists/a-vase-of-flowers
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/gwVxb_V3Q3PPIg
https://artuk.org/discover/stories/a-brief-history-of-women-at-the-royal-academy
https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/spring-4
Monday, October 26, 2026
Sunday, October 25, 2026
Album Cover: Aloe Blacc - Lift Your Spirit
Album Cover
Album: Aloe Blacc - Lift Your Spirit
Released: October 25, 2013
Art Direction/Design: Justin Abbink
Photographer: Reid Rolls
Model: Aloe Blacc
Source:
https://www.discogs.com/release/5712483-Aloe-Blacc-Lift-Your-Spirit
Saturday, October 24, 2026
Mallika Sherawat
Acting Appreciation
Indian actress Mallika Sherawat, born Reema Lamba on October 24, 1976, in Rohtak, Haryana, India, emerged as one of the most recognizable and unconventional stars of modern Bollywood.
Standing 5'7" with brown hair and brown eyes, Sherawat grew up in a traditional Jat family that initially opposed her desire to pursue a career in entertainment. She attended Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, in New Delhi before earning a degree in Philosophy from Miranda House, University of Delhi.
To establish her own identity in the film industry, she adopted the stage name "Mallika," meaning "empress," and took her mother's maiden surname, Sherawat, in recognition of her mother's encouragement and support.
Before entering films, Sherawat appeared in television commercials alongside Bollywood icons such as Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan and featured in several music videos. She made her film debut in Jeena Sirf Merre Liye (2002), credited under her birth name, but it was Khwahish (2003) that brought her widespread attention. The film became a talking point because of its then-unprecedented number of on-screen kissing scenes for a mainstream Hindi debut actress.
Her true breakthrough arrived a year later with Murder (2004), a psychological romantic thriller inspired by the Hollywood film Unfaithful. The movie became one of the year's biggest box-office successes and established Sherawat as one of Bollywood's boldest leading actresses, earning her a nomination for Best Actress at the Zee Cine Awards.
Sherawat is best recognized for challenging long-standing conventions surrounding female characters in Hindi cinema. At a time when Bollywood generally portrayed actresses in more conservative roles, she became known for portraying confident, independent women and for helping push the boundaries of glamour in mainstream Indian films.
She has often been credited as one of the first major Bollywood actresses to appear in a true bikini and engage in on-screen kissing in an A-list Hindi production, helping reshape discussions about modern female representation in Indian cinema.
Beyond Bollywood, Sherawat expanded her career internationally, appearing opposite Jackie Chan in the Chinese film The Myth (2005), starring in the hit comedy Welcome (2007), the blockbuster Tamil film Dasavathaaram (2008), and later working in Hollywood productions such as Hisss (2010) and Politics of Love (2011).
She has also used her platform to advocate for women's rights, including speaking at a United Nations conference and supporting anti-human trafficking initiatives through the Free A Girl organization.
Sources:
Wikipedia
https://www.babepedia.com/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1324246/bio/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)