BACCHANAL by Bob Kessel
“BACCHANAL” by Bob Kessel, based on the works of Peter Paul Rubens, featuring satyrs and nymphs, can be purchased as a signed and numbered limited edition original fine art print. Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.
THE FEAST OF VENUS (detail) by Peter Paul Rubens 1635
2 DIAMONDS FUJI
by Bob Kessel
2 DIAMONDS FUJI (state 2)
by Bob Kessel
“2 DIAMOND FUJI” paintings are from Bob Kessel’s 2 PIECE SUITE art series.
Mount Fuji ( 富士山 ) is the highest mountain in Japan. An active volcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji is just west of Tokyo, and can be seen on a clear day. Mount Fuji’s exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in Japanese art. Amongst the most renowned works are Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji and his One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji. The mountain is mentioned in Japanese literature throughout the ages and the subject of many poems.
SELF PORTRAIT by Pablo Picasso
PICASSO IN PARIS by Bob Kessel
“PICASSO IN PARIS” by Bob Kessel, can be purchased as a signed and numbered limited edition original fine art print. Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.
DIAMOND VAN GOGH BY GAUGUIN by Bob kessel
“DIAMOND VAN GOGH BY GAUGUIN” by Bob Kessel, from the new art series “PAINTERS PAINTING PAINTERS”, can be purchased as a signed and numbered limited edition original fine art print. Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.
VAN GOGH PAINTING by Paul Gauguin
Gauguin’s arrival in Arles on October 23 1888 signaled the inauguration of the Studio of the South. The following two months, during which the artists lived, ate, and worked together, were marked by an intensity that van Gogh described as “excessively electric,” as they debated aesthetic influences and working methods and sought to refine and maintain their individual artistic identities. Van Gogh, who painted very rapidly, applying thick coats of pigment, preferred working from models or directly from nature. Gauguin, on the other hand, counseled: “art is an abstraction; extract it from nature while dreaming in front of it,” and preferred to work from memory, building up thin layers of color in a slow, methodical style.
Testing their theories, the two artists painted a number of identical motifs side by side. In the ancient Roman cemetery known as the Alyscamps, Van Gogh worked with characteristic speed, quickly producing what he called “a study of the whole avenue, entirely yellow.” Gauguin proceeded more deliberately, creating a more abstract composition featuring three Arlésiennes (women of Arles), whom he ironically referred to as “the three graces.” Later the artists produced similarly divergent results in their depictions of the proprietress of the local café: Gauguin’s Night Café and van Gogh’s The Arlésienne (Madame Ginoux).
As winter approached, the two artists were increasingly confined to the tiny yellow house. Their aesthetic debates intensified and the tension of living and working together soon proved to be too great; Gauguin began to speak of returning to Paris. At the end of December, van Gogh, distraught, threatened Gauguin with a knife, then cut off part of his own ear. Gauguin fled, never to see van Gogh again.
NIGHT CAFE by Bob Kessel after Van Gogh
“NIGHT CAFE” by Bob Kessel, based on Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, can be purchased as a signed and numbered limited edition original fine art print. Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.
The Night Café in the Place Lamartine in Arles is one of Vincent van Gogh’s best known paintings from his Arles period. The work depicts the interior of the Café de la Gare, an all night tavern owned by Joseph-Michel Ginoux and his wife Marie.
NIGHT CAFE by Vincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh often visited brothels and disreputable drinking establishments. The desolate setting of the Café de la Gare served as an inspiration for Van Gogh who wrote of the painting to his brother, Theo:
In my picture of the “Night Café” I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad or commit a crime. So I have tried to express, as it were, the powers of darkness in a low public house, by soft Louis XV green and malachite, contrasting with yellow-green and harsh blue-greens, and all this in an atmosphere like a devil’s furnace, of pale sulphur.
Letter 534
9 September 1888
The subject matter conveys a sense of loneliness and desperation. The slouched drinkers and lone figure (the owner, Joseph-Michel Ginoux) behind the billiard table, along with the skewed perspective and stark colouring, create a jarring and disturbing work. Van Gogh himself compared the tone of the painting as delirium tremens in full swing (Letter 534).
As a general rule, Van Gogh only signed the works that he felt were the most well executed. In the lower right corner of this painting Van Gogh wrote “Vincent le café de nuit”.
Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh’s friend and fellow artist, would come to live with Vincent shortly after The Night Café was painted. In fact, Gauguin himself would paint his own version. The atmosphere of the two works is quite different. In Van Gogh’s version, one finds isolation and despair, while Gauguin’s is more lively with a focus on Madame Ginoux. Gauguin wrote to Emile Bernard about his painting: ” . . . a café that Vincent likes a lot and that I like less. At bottom it’s not my sort of thing and local low life doesn’t work for me. I like it well enough when others do it but it always makes me uneasy.”
NIGHT CAFE by Paul Gauguin
WRAPPED by Bob Kessel
from SHUNGA art series
LICKITY SPLIT by Bob Kessel
from SHUNGA art series
YELLOW MAN by Bob Kessel
from SHUNGA art series
Bob Kessel has created a new art series titled, “SHUNGA” based on Japanese woodblock prints. The pictures are available as limited edition original fine art prints, signed and numbered by the artist. Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.
Recently there has been many new pictures added to Bob Kessel’s Shunga art series. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the shunga webpage receives 10 times the hits of any other Bob Kessel art series.
SHUNGA EXPLAINED
Shunga are literally “images of spring.” That is the time of recreation and procreation, the time that inspires man and woman to couple, as if anyone needed an excuse. Shunga appeared prominently in the works of Hokusai, Utamaro, and many other revered woodcut artists.
In the Japan of the 1800’s, the color woodcut print was the most popular artform of the day. The artists of the so-called floating world or ukiyo-e portrayed real life personages and situations as the subject matter for their wood block prints. Ukiyo-e artists created extraordinary portraits of Kabuki Actors, Geisha, Sumo Wrestlers, and other notables, as well as landscapes and architectural views of old Japan. The incredible artistic output of these highly skilled artists left us an accurate view of life in the Japan of yesteryear. There was however another aspect to the art of the ukiyo-e that few Westerners have heard of, that is the art of shunga, or… the Images of Spring.
The production of such images kept most ukiyo-e artists very busy. In fact there were no artists of the time who remained uninvolved with the creation of shunga. The artists of the floating world many times created highly charged sexual imagery, erotic imagery, what Westerners would categorize as “pornographic” pictures.
Ukiyo-e artists created these “Images of Spring” without the slightest notion of embarrassment or shame. There was no stigma attached to the production, sale, or purchase of shunga artworks, in fact the market for such artworks was a lively and lucrative one. Erotic images were not illegal and collections of shunga were sold in book form, called enpon.
This artistic output on the part of Japanese artists had no equivalent in the Western art of that time and illustrates a completely different attitude about sex and morality. The aesthetics of shunga reflected the Japanese view of the body and sex as being part of the natural world, a world that held no concept of original sin.
It was a longstanding tradition that brides of feudal lords bring a collection of shunga to go along with their wedding furniture. There was also a tradition of feudal lords placing shunga in their helmet box whenever they had a new suit of armor made. These customs were a talismanic wish for eternal happiness and many artists made a comfortable living as a result.
The sale of shunga to a high-ranking person would bring enough money to sustain an artist for months, and so many notable, first rate and highly accomplished artists devoted themselves to this unprecedented artform. The level of detail with which ukiyo-e artists portrayed the human body revealed complete familiarity with anatomy and sexuality. Practically speaking the “Images of Spring” also served as a form of sex education for the sons and daughters of the well to do. This type of frank, accurate, and free representation of sexual matters was not to be seen in the West for at least another one hundred and fifty years.
There is limited knowledge of this artform outside of Japan, and in Japan itself shunga is scarcely seen or spoken of these days. However, the aesthetics of shunga still resonate in the contemporary world of certain manga and anime productions. The venerable art of shunga is the root for some modern day Japanese adult comic titles, proving without a doubt that eroticism in contemporary anime and manga is not at all a new phenomenon copied or borrowed from the West.
Those who are well acquainted with Japan’s enormous manga industry should be familiar with the genre of comic known as hentai (or “perverted”). These contemporary publications often focus on explicit “adult” material, but they have a clear artistic connection to the past in that their themes can be traced back to shunga. Shunga artworks are much more than mere “dirty pictures.”
The prints are of considerable artistry and cultural importance. In fact quite a few prestigious art museums around the world, especially in Japan, have collections of the highly prized risque prints (though they are not generally on public display).
Some scenes portrayed in shunga prints involve tender courting and romance, with all the attendant trappings of flirtation. Many of the prints offer scenes that leave nothing to the imagination. Couples are pictured in states of partial undress, in the throes of passionate lovemaking, utilizing a variety of positions and techniques.
There are even prints that depict lovely young ladies pleasuring themselves, a sight nearly totally absent from the annals of Western art! Whatever the sensual delights portrayed, the prints always manage to do so with sophistication and a certain elegance. Shunga prints are one of the overlooked treasures of traditional Japanese fine art. The “Images of Spring” should be properly recognized as high art, and at the same time preserved and studied for being one of the world’s greatest graphic art forms.
LAMP by Bob Kessel from SHUNGA art series
“KOI” by Bob Kessel, based on Japanese woodblock prints, can be purchased as a signed and numbered limited edition original fine art print. Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.
The word ‘koi’ ( 鯉 ) comes from Japanese, simply meaning “carp.” It includes both the dull grey fish and the brightly colored varieties. What are known as ‘koi’ in English are referred to more specifically as ‘nishikigoi’ ( 錦鯉 ) in Japan (literally meaning ‘brocaded carp’).
Bob Kessel has created a new art series titled, “SHUNGA” based on Japanese woodblock prints. Shunga (春画) is a Japanese term for erotic art. Most shunga are a type of ukiyo-e, usually executed in woodblock print format. While rare, there are extant erotic painted handscrolls which predate the Ukiyo-e movement. Translated literally, the Japanese word shunga means picture of spring; “spring” is a common euphemism for sex. In the Edo period it was enjoyed by rich and poor, men and women, and despite being out of favour with the shogunate, carried very little stigma. Almost all ukiyo-e artists made shunga at some point in their careers, including Hokusai, Utamaro, Harunobu, Eisen, Saeshi, Shigenobu, Issho and Moronobu, and it did not detract from their prestige as artists.
The pictures are available as limited edition original fine art prints, signed and numbered by the artist.
Contact Bob Kessel for prices and availability.
Recently there has been many new pictures added to Bob Kessel’s Shunga art series. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the shunga webpage receives 10 times the hits of any other Bob Kessel art series.
STARS & STRIPES
SHUNGA STARS by Bob Kessel
SHUNGA STRIPES by Bob Kessel
Degas is repulsive.
- The New York Times, 1886
Gauguin is… a decorator tainted with insanity.
- Harpers Weekly, 1913
You scarsely know if you are looking at a parcel of nude flesh or a bundle of laundry.
- on Manets “Venus et le chat” in Le Figaro, 1863
Matisse is an unmitigated bore..surely the vogue of those twisted and contorted human figures… must be as short as it is artificial.
- Chicago Tribune 1913
it is the work of a madman.
- Ambroise Vollard, commenting on “Demoiselles d’Avignon” 1907
No intellegence can accept such aberrations.
- Le Figero art critic on Camille Pissarro, 1876
He (Renoir) has no talent at all, that boy…tell him please to give up painting.
- Edouard Manet on Renoir, 1864
Why should Titian and the Venetians be named on a discourse on art? Such idiots are not artists.
- William Blake, 1807
Certainly no man or woman of normal mental health would be attracted by the sadistic, obsene deformations of Cezanne, Modigliani, Matisse, Gauguin and the other Fauves.
- John Hemming Fry, The revolt against beauty,1934
Rembrandt is not to be compared in the painting of character with our extraordinarily gifted Engish artist, Mr. Rippingille.
- John Hunt (British art critic),1780
The Experts Speak, 1984, Villard Books, New York
Not so well known quotes from well known artists. by Bob Kessel
Georgia O’Keeffe by Bob Kessel
Edward Hopper by Bob Kessel
Paul Klee by Bob Kessel
Henri Matisse by Bob Kessel
Pablo Picasso by Bob Kessel
Giorgio deChirico by Bob Kessel
John Singer Sargent by Bob Kessel
Roy Lichtenstein by Bob Kessel
Ben Shahn by Bob Kessel
Claude Monet by Bob Kessel
Su Tung Po by Bob Kessel
Rene Magritte by Bob Kessel
Leonardo da Vinci by Bob Kessel
Vincent Van Gogh by Bob Kessel
Salvador Dali by Bob Kessel
Winslow Homer by Bob Kessel
Peter Paul Rubens
Michelangelo by Bob Kessel
Auguste Renoir by Bob Kessel
