ART AFICIONADO

Friday, October 30, 2026

María Izquierdo

Art Appreciation

Born on October 30, 1902, María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez was one of the pioneering figures of modern Mexican art and is widely recognized as the first Mexican woman to have a solo exhibition in the United States.

Born in San Juan de los Lagos, she lost her father at the age of five and spent much of her childhood under the care of her grandparents after her mother remarried. The traditions, religious customs, folk celebrations, and rural landscapes of western Mexico left a lasting impression on her imagination and later became central themes in her paintings.

As a teenager, she entered an arranged marriage with military officer Cándido Posadas and became the mother of three children before eventually leaving the marriage to pursue an artistic career.

Around 1923 she moved to Mexico City, where she enrolled at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. There she studied under established painters, including Germán Gedovius, although she soon developed a distinctly personal artistic voice that differed from many of her contemporaries.

Izquierdo emerged during a period dominated by celebrated muralists such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Rather than embracing monumental political murals, she focused on intimate paintings that celebrated Mexican identity through everyday life.

In 1930 she achieved a historic milestone when her work was presented in a solo exhibition at New York's Art Center Gallery, making her the first Mexican woman to exhibit her artwork in the United States. Her paintings later appeared in Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and other international cities, establishing her reputation as one of Mexico's leading modern artists.

Although she briefly received a commission to create a large mural for the Mexico City government, the project was canceled after criticism from several influential male muralists, an episode she viewed as evidence of the discrimination women artists faced.

Her paintings combined elements of Mexican folk traditions with influences from Surrealism and Expressionism while remaining deeply personal. Izquierdo favored bold colors, simplified forms, and dreamlike compositions that reflected both memory and symbolism.

Rather than depicting grand historical narratives, she painted still lifes, village festivals, circuses, horses, religious offerings, landscapes, portraits, and self-portraits that honored everyday Mexican culture. Among her best-known works are Retrato de Belém (Portrait of Belém, 1928), Niñas durmiendo (Sleeping Girls, 1930), Amazona Blanca (White Horsewoman, 1932), Alegoría del trabajo (Allegory of Work, 1936), Alegoría de la libertad (Allegory of Freedom, 1937), and Autorretrato (Self-Portrait, 1940). Her paintings often balanced realism with poetic symbolism, giving ordinary objects and scenes an atmosphere of quiet mystery.

Izquierdo's personal life was marked by resilience as she balanced motherhood, financial hardship, and the challenges of working in a male-dominated art world. During the mid-1940s she suffered a series of strokes that left her partially paralyzed and significantly reduced her ability to paint.

Despite her declining health, she continued working whenever possible until she was physically unable to do so. She died in Mexico City on December 2, 1955, following a second stroke and complications from hemiplegia.

Portrait of Belém, 1928

Sleeping Girls, 1930

White Horsewoman, 1932

Alegoría del trabajo, 1936

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/izquierdo-maria

https://awarewomenartists.com/en/artiste/maria-izquierdo

https://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/events/maria-izquierdo-1902-1955

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Bob Ross

Art Appreciation

When I was little, I remember watching Bob Ross paint on The Joy of Painting on PBS. I was captivated by the way a few seemingly simple brushstrokes could suddenly become mountains, trees, clouds and reflections on a quiet lake. Then there was Ross’s soothing voice, calmly guiding viewers through each painting and reassuring us that mistakes could become “happy accidents.” For a kid watching television, it was almost hypnotic—and the perfect transition into nap time.

Years later, I can better appreciate what Robert Norman Ross, born October 29, 1942, in Daytona Beach, Florida, was doing: making art feel approachable rather than intimidating. His television series, which premiered in 1983, eventually made him one of America’s most recognizable art instructors.

Ross was the son of Jack and Ollie Ross and grew up in Florida. His father was a carpenter, and Ross briefly followed him into the trade before choosing a different path. Unlike many well-known painters, Ross did not receive a traditional university art education. Instead, much of his artistic training developed later through classes and hands-on practice. His first formal painting lesson came while he was stationed in Alaska, at a U.S.O. club in Anchorage.

After leaving the military, he continued studying painting and encountered German-born artist William Alexander, whose wet-on-wet method became central to Ross’s development as both a painter and instructor.

Ross enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1960 and spent roughly 20 years in the service, eventually rising to the rank of master sergeant. His assignment in Alaska proved especially important to his artistic career. Surrounded by snow-covered mountains, forests and lakes, Ross began painting landscapes and selling small works to tourists, sometimes painted on gold-mining pans.

After retiring from the Air Force, he devoted himself to painting and teaching. In 1983, The Joy of Painting began its television run, with Ross completing landscapes during half-hour episodes while explaining each step to viewers. The program continued until 1994, and Ross produced hundreds of paintings for it while also traveling around the country teaching workshops and demonstrating his methods.

Ross became closely associated with the wet-on-wet, or alla prima, oil-painting technique, in which new layers of oil paint are applied while previous layers remain wet. Building upon the approach he learned from William Alexander, Ross used large brushes, palette knives and fan brushes to rapidly construct skies, mountains, evergreens, cabins, waterfalls and reflections.

His landscapes were heavily influenced by the scenery he encountered in Alaska, favoring idealized wilderness rather than specific locations. Among his recognizable works are A Walk in the Woods (1983), the painting created during the first episode of The Joy of Painting, along with Mt. McKinley, Northern Lights, Towering Peaks, Mountain Summit and Aurora’s Dance.

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.youtube.com/@bobross_thejoyofpainting

https://www.bobross.com/about-bob-ross

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bob-rosss-first-on-air-painting-on-offer-for-nearly-10-million-180982930

Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Avicii - Hey Brother

Music Appreciation

“Hey Brother” is a song by Swedish DJ and producer Avicii (Tim Bergling), released internationally in late 2013 as the third single from his debut studio album, True.

The song was written by Bergling with Ash Pournouri, Salem Al Fakir, Vincent Pontare and Swedish singer Veronica Maggio, while American bluegrass singer Dan Tyminski—best known as a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station—provides its distinctive lead vocal.

Lyrically, “Hey Brother” is a declaration of loyalty to family, built around questions addressed to a brother and sister and the promise that the narrator will come to their aid regardless of distance or hardship. The recurring idea that there is nothing he would not do for them gives the song a simple but powerful message: family bonds endure even when people are separated or face difficult circumstances.

Musically, “Hey Brother” continued the genre-blending approach that helped define True. Rather than relying solely on electronic dance music, Avicii combined progressive house with country, folk and bluegrass elements. Tyminski’s weathered vocal, acoustic guitar and Americana-influenced melody contrast with Avicii’s electronic production and increasingly powerful dance beat. The combination was unconventional for mainstream EDM in 2013, but it proved successful.

“Hey Brother” reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. It also became an international hit, reaching the top 10 in numerous countries and further establishing Avicii as a producer willing to push electronic music beyond traditional genre boundaries.

The accompanying music video, directed by Jesse Sternbaum, gives the song’s theme of brotherhood a more somber dimension. Loosely inspired by Ron Franscell’s 1998 novel Angel Fire, the video follows two boys growing up together in wartime middle America, presenting their relationship through nostalgic scenes of childhood, baseball, bicycles and everyday life while images of war gradually intrude. The story eventually reveals that the person initially presented as the older brother represents the younger boy’s father, who went off to war and was killed. A folded American flag underscores the family’s loss and sacrifice.

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://avicii.com/

https://www.allmusic.com/song/hey-brother-mt0047853768

https://www.shazam.com/en-us/song/1440873108/hey-brother

https://www.billboard.com/artist/avicii/chart-history

RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Kennedy Kressler and her Pumpkin

via blackbookphotog

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.