Album Cover: Courtney Love - America's Sweatheart

Album Cover

Album: Courtney Love - America's Sweatheart

Released: February 10, 2004

Cover Art Designer: Olivia De Berardinis

Photographer: David LaChapelle

Model: Courtney Love

Source: Wikipedia

Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz

Art Appreciation

Spanish painter Federico de Madrazo y Kuntz, known for his portraits and historical scenes, was born in Rome on February 9, 1815. He was born into an artistic family who dominated 19th-century painting in Spain. 

Initially, he received training in Neoclassicism from his father, José de Madrazo y Agudo. While he attended the Royal Academy of San Fernando, he painted his first painting, The Resurrection of Christ. 

Madrazo studied under German painter Franz Xaver Winterhalter and painted portraits of Baron Taylor and Ingres, in 1832. A few years later, he won a scholarship to study in Rome, where he was exposed to the works of Italian Renaissance painters, which influenced a new style and technique that captured the essence of his subjects.

In 1837, he was commissioned to produce a painting for the gallery at Versailles, Godfrey de Bouillon proclaimed King of Jerusalem. 

Upon his return to Spain, Madrazo established himself as a leading portraitist and was commissioned by members of the Spanish royal family and aristocracy to paint their portraits. He was also an accomplished history painter, and his works often depicted grand historical events and figures.

His paintings are characterized by their dramatic lighting and attention to detail, which added a sense of grandeur and drama to his works. Madrazo's works can be found in some of the world's most famous art museums and galleries, including the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Louvre in Paris, and the National Gallery in London. 

Battle of Cerignola: El Gran Capitan finds the corpse 

of Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours (1835)

Godfrey of Bouillon proclaimed King of Jerusalem (1838)

The Good Shepherd (1870)

The Countess of Vilches (1853)

Source:

Wikipedia

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/144821203_federico-de-madrazo-y-kuntz-the-good-shepherd-1870

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Paula Modersohn-Becker

Art Appreciation

Regarded as a pioneer of Expressionism, Paula Modersohn-Becker was a German painter whose art career last only 10 years but produced over 700 paintings and 1000 drawings. She's also recognized as being both the first known woman painter to paint nude self-portraits, first to depict herself both pregnant and nude and pregnant, and first woman to have a museum devoted exclusively to her art.

Modersohn-Becker was born on February 8, 1876 in Dresden to a family that although well-to-do, faced social constraints due to a family member's unsuccessful assassination attempt on King Wilhelm of Prussia.

In 1888, when the family moved from Dresden to Bremen, Paula began to learn to draw. At the age of 16, her parents set up her first studio and their house.  Later, she was sent to England to live with a maternal aunt to learn English. While there, she received her first instruction in drawing at St. John's Wood Art School.

On her return back to Bremen, while studying at a teacher's seminary, she received private lessons from a local painter, Bernhard Wiegandt. In 1896, she attended a six-week drawing and painting course in Berlin, organized by the Berlin Artists' Association. After graduating, she stayed in Berlin and was admitted to the first class of painting at the Women's Academy. 

A couple of years later, Paula moved to Worpswede to join a colony of artists. The group was lead by artist who retreated to the countryside in protest against the domination of the art academy style and life of big city.

While in Worpswede, she created "sentimental" landscapes and scenes of peasant life.  In  December 1899, two paintings that were exhibited at Bremen Kunsthalle was subject to attack by art critic Arthur Fitger, who was more outraged by the inclusion of female artists rather than the actual artwork.

 

A year later, she moved to Paris and began studying at the&nbspAcadémie Colarossi;in the Latin Quarter. There, she was inspired by Paul Cézanne and other members of Les Nabis, a group who played an important role of early modernism art. Inspired by the contemporary artists, she moved far from the conventional paintings of her Worpswede group and incorporated the use of simplified forms and symbolism. 

In 1901, Paula married Otto Modersohn, who she had known from the Worpswede colony. The following years, she and her husband would frequent Paris where she visited artists such as Auguste Rodin, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard.On November 2, 1907, Paula gave birth to her daughter Mathilde. A few weeks later, she died of deep vein thrombosis, blood clots in her leg.

Self-portrait, 1897

Old Peasant Woman, c. 1905

Self-portrait, 1906

Source: 

Wikipedia

Beyond Realism, Amy Crawford, Smithsonian, December 2021, Vol. 52, No. 8

Dance: Jennifer Lopez - On the Floor

Choreographer: JoJo Gomez

via JoJo Gomez

Carol Shaya

Acting Appreciation

I kind of remember this story being the headlines when I was in college. Carol Shaya, a New York police officer who posed for PLAYBOY magazine had been terminated for improperly using her uniform and the police department's logo. She got her job back after a judge reviewed the case, but was then fired by the police commissioner who argued that her appearance violated the City Charter and department's rules. 

Born in Tel-Aviv, Israel, on February 4, 1969, Shaya immigrated to America as a child. She graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Queens, NY, in 1987, and attended St. John's University. 

In 1991, Carol joined NYPD. Around that time, she met her then-husband, Charles Castro, during the Crown Heights riots. 

The Beaux Arts Society crowned Carol "Queen" of the Beaux Arts Ball in 1994. She was then approached by PLAYBOY to pose nude. She appeared on the cover with a big picture layout in the August 1994 issue of PLAYBOY. It is said she was paid $100,000 (about $201,000 today). 

Although she lost badge over the incident, baring it all did make her a celebrity. She appeared in police-drama, New York Undercover, and Silent Prey and appeared in many television and radio talk shows.

She sold real estate in Queens before moving to West Hollywood to work as an actress and personal trainer.  

Photographs by Stephen Wayda

Sources: 

Wikipedia

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/nyregion/following-up.html

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0790140/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Maitland Ward

Acting Appreciation

Last fall, 2022, I heard Maitland Ward interviewed on Holly Randall's Unfiltered (Ep. 260) podcast. I'll be honest, I have been following Maitland since she was on Boy Meets World, the ABC/Disney show of the late 90s. So, I knew a little bit about Maitland.

Born on February 3, 1977, the 5'10" American actress is best known for her role as Rachel McGuire on Boy Meets World and its spinoff Girl Meets World. But it didn't start there. She made her debut at the age of 16 on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. She was then a guest-star in USA High, Home Improvement, and co-starred with Jay Thomas and Mario Lopez in the television film Killing Mr. Griffin.

She was on Holly Randall's podcast promoting her new book, Rated X, which I bought and read. Highly recommend and you can find it HERE. The book follows her life and career as a "Disney" actress and the cut-throat industry. 

In the book, she isn't ashamed, and shouldn't be, of her sexuality and sexual needs, which led her to pose nude and then act in adult film. In a way, she is a pioneer for actors bridging from mainstream Hollywood acting to adult entertainment, and vice versa. 

She has received multiple accolades for her performances, especially from AVN and XBIZ.  

Source: 

Wikipedia 

https://pipocamoderna.com.br/2019/10/ex-estrela-da-serie-teen-o-mundo-e-dos-jovens-vira-atriz-porno/maitland-ward/

https://babesrater.com/picture/6261650/maitland-ward 

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Great Day to Make a Snow-woman

 

Howard Shoemaker, PLAYBOY March 1995