Tammy Bruce: Art Archives

Art Archives

New Portraits of Mozart and Bach

The Mozart portrait is a 200-year-old painting of a man in a red coat, only now identified positively as Mozart. The new image of Bach is not old, but new--modern laser technology has been used to build a portrait of Bach using his skull. Both are amazing and show us more of the humanity of men who gave the world the miracle of God's voice in the guise of music.

Rare Mozart portrait discovered

A portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that lay unidentified for more than 200 years has been proved to be authentic, according to an expert on the composer.

Professor Cliff Eisen from London's King's College has spent more than a year trying to confirm that the picture was of Mozart, who died in 1791. He said: "This is arguably the most important Mozart portrait to be discovered since the composer's death." Its significance came to light after it was bought by a US collector in 2005.

And now for Bach:

Bach from the dead - fresh portrait of a decomposer

"This is the most complete likeness of Bach we can achieve from the information we have," says the forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson.

Commissioned by the Bach Haus museum in the musician's home town of Eisenach, Wilkinson has spent a month reconstructing the "true face" of the maestro at the Centre for Forensic and Medical Art in Dundee, where - apart from archaeological recreations of Pharaoh Ramses II and Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) - she is usually involved in crime cases, rebuilding faces out of remains found everywhere from back gardens to war zones.

Using a bronze casting of Bach's skull (made by the Leipzig anatomist Wilhelm His a century ago), and a portrait painted four years before his death in 1750 at the age of 65 - as well as documents hinting at his health, weight and fondness for beer and schnapps - Wilkinson has created the most definitive image of the composer yet. It is, she believes, about 70 per cent accurate: his friends, apparently, would have recognised him right away. "We made a laser scan of his skull," says Wilkinson. "From there, we recreated all the muscles of his face, taken from our muscle database. Using the detail of the bone, we then recreated his facial appearance." Documents describing Bach's eye problems, including what were possibly cataracts, allowed medical artist Caroline Needham to add the final touches that give Bach a human look.

Neeto.

Posted by Tammy · April 12, 2008 10:45 PM · Permalink · Comments (1)
Art | History | Music | Science & Technology

Obama Art Showing Up All Over Los Angeles

Obama poster art by Shepard Fairer

Just like the candidate, stylistically this is quite excellent. But as Hannity showed us tonight during a Frank Luntz focus group segment, there isn't much there there. Yet. I am so frustrated because I would love to be able to vote for Romney today, but I can't. As a Democrat, and because the Republican primary in California is closed tomorrow, I'll be voting in the Dem primary and for Barack Obama. I think he's probably the most leftist candidate we've seen in ages and I don't want him anywhere near the White House because of his policies and his campaign's closeness to Soros (among other things), but I also think he's inherently a decent guy personally. I'm hoping, after this experience, he rejects the system that creates a Hillary and Bill Clinton and empowers disturbed scum like Soros, and finds a more independent path. I have to admit, he's already pretty deep in the muck of Washington, but one can hope.

Posted by Tammy · February 4, 2008 09:27 PM · Permalink · Comments (11)
Art | Politics

On Fox's Big Story on 15 Minutes!

Sorry for the late notice, but I'll be on Fox at about 245 or 240p pt. Hope you can tune in.

UPDATE:

I posted the above line from my excellent and most talented iPhone "Snarky" which is why it was so brief. The topic was a New York Public Library showcasing "art" featuring mugshots of President Bush and members of his admin, both past and present.

At first I wondered who put al-Qaida in charge of the New York Public Library system, but then, of course, remembered the American left is doing their bidding for them.

Not only is that unacceptable in a publicly funded entity, but as pro-choicers argued when pro-life extremists did the same thing featuring doctors who performed abortions, the same doctors would get murdered. So here is the enlightened, "progressive" left doing exactly what they decried not so many years ago as dangerous and the promotion of violence. I noted that not only should the display be taken down, but those who approved it should be fired.

New York Public Library Exhibit Features Fake Mug Shots of Members of Bush Administration

NEW YORK — Fake mug shots of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other White House officials are on display at the main branch of the New York City Public Library, and the exhibit has caused quite a commotion.

About six manipulated photographs of members of the Bush administration made to look like mug shots are lining one of the landmark building's hallways, with each current and former official holding a D.C. police date-of-arrest placard bearing the date they made "incriminating" statements about the war in Iraq, The New York Daily News reported...

The installation, called "Line Up" by artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, is part of a larger exhibit: "Multiple Interpretations: Contemporary Prints in Portfolio at the New York Public Library."

Though some visitors were amused by the display, others were offended.

"It's a library," 54-year-old Jim Strifler of Long Island, N.Y., told the Daily News. "Maybe this would be okay for a museum, but this is supposed to be public ground."

The New York City library system is funded by public and private contributions.

"This exhibition has no political agenda," the library said in a statement issued Thursday. "The work described in the media has been presented out of context and is not a complete or fair representation of the entire exhibition — which showcases 23 different contemporary printmakers from around the world, featuring a range of subject matters."

LMOAROTF! "No political agenda." Uh huh. Which is why Bill Clinton was featured in one right next to President Bush. And Albright next to Rice. And Rove next to Sandy Berger.

Not.

Posted by Tammy · November 29, 2007 02:30 PM · Permalink · Comments (1)
Art | Leftists | Television

Cox and Forkum Turning Out the Lights

The cartoon editorial team we have all come to admire and rely on has announced they are finished with producing editorial cartoons. Cox and Forkum provided remarkable cartoons that cut to the quick of an issue, finessing what mattered, skewering the bad guys, and highlighting what mattered in our increasingly crazy world. Opinion in a picture--it's always impressed and amazed me, and Cox and Forkum were the best.

It's obvious language is limiting, so when it comes to expressing ourselves, art and music has always been able, IMHO, to make more powerful statements. Music is able to convey emotions that we're unable to put into words. Art does the same thing--especially the work Cox and Forkum did, their ability to convey the nature of some in their portraits, or get right to the core of an issues, it's heart, with one image. They were able to show what's happening in our world, while people like me are relegated to talking and writing about it.

The team will be missed, but John Cox has his website which displays his excellent work, and the Cox and Forkum site and archives will remain up for us.

Thanks guys for great work. What a difference you've made.

Posted by Tammy · September 30, 2007 08:16 PM · Permalink · Comments (3)
Art | Politics

Cox & Forkum and Blair's New Spine

Yes, indeed, there are some things that only editorial cartoonists can convey adequately :) (HT St. Sydney). The geniuses at Cox & Forkum also have an excellent roundup of coverage assessing the depth of the damage to Britain because of their shockingly pathetic reaction to Iran's criminal act.

Posted by Tammy · April 7, 2007 11:14 AM · Permalink · Comments (2)
Art | Politics | Tyrants | War on Radical Islam

I'm Uncovered Meat. Are You?

I do love us. In honor of American ingenuity and the free market, some Smarty Pants has already figured out a way to mock Australia's "Women Are Uncovered Meat" Muslim cleric and make money at the same time. Their invention:

Yes, you, too, can have this little Uncovered Meat Kitty on apparel of all sorts, including a thong, boxers, t-shirts, and even a BBQ chef's apron.

Here's their pitch, reminding us first about the Islamist's comments explaining why rape victims are the ones at fault, comparing them to "uncovered meat." The burqa, you see, covers up all that meat, keeping the "cats" (rapists) away:

"If you take uncovered meat and put it on the street, on the pavement, in a garden, in a park, or in the backyard, without a cover and the cats eat it, then whose fault will it be, the cat’s, or the uncovered meat’s? The uncovered meat is the disaster. If the meat was covered the cats wouldn’t roam around it. If the meat is inside the fridge, they won’t get it."

-Sheik Hilaly, Post-Ramadan Sermon, Sydney Australia 2006

Show the Sheik how things really are and Sheik your Booty in this quality Infidel Clothing.

Manufactured in the Great Satan, all proceeds go towards forbidden consumption of alcohol.

I'm there!

Related Link:

Islamist Leader Compares Women to Meat

Posted by Tammy · November 4, 2006 04:50 PM · Permalink · Comments (1)
Art | Good Samaritans | War on Radical Islam

The Berlin Opera Cancellation and the Politics of Fear

A post by Maynard

Now this is an interesting story, and it's noteworthy because it's not just another tale of big, bad Islamists. Rather, it tells us (the West, that is) something about ourselves.

The show in question is a presentation of Mozart's Idomeneo, King of Crete, and it concerns the aftermath of the Trojan War. The opera as originally written by Mozart would not have offended anyone except maybe worshippers of Neptune (the pagan god, not the planet). But the director, Hans Neuenfels, is an artistic soul who decided what was needed was an epilogue involving the severed heads of various deities, including Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha, and — you guessed it! — Mohammed.

The police received an anonymous phone call from a woman who was concerned that this opera might offend Muslims. The rest is history.

Note that there was no indication that the upcoming presentation had raised a blip on the radar of the Muslim community. The cancellation was purely a precaution in anticipation of expected trouble. You see how we've entered an era of self-censorship. This is particularly nefarious because it's often a relatively invisible thing. If we're ready to quietly re-orient our lives so as to avoid giving any potential offence, however innocent, to the thugs of the world, then what have we become?

On the flip side of the coin, it sounds like the director has gone out of his way to render Mozart offensive to religious people, and this sort of thing deserves a ripple of protest. I'd be happy to protest it if it were to come to my town. But I think we (the good guys, that is) all understand that the culture war is a battle of hearts and minds, and must be won by persuasion and not by intimidation and violence.

So the ironic summary is that in this case, the Islamists haven't done a thing, and we merely see an example of the West grappling between its two unhealthy urges: Extreme political correctness and cowardice on one hand, and in-your-face degenerate offensiveness on the other. Is it too much to hope that both of these extremes will strangle each other and let the rest of us sane and decent people get on with our lives?

Scott LoBaido: Artist, Patriot, Troublemaker

A post by Maynard

Here's one of those "man bites dog" stories. For some incomprehensible reason, it seems that so many artistic people tilt towards the lunatic Left. Perhaps the reality is different from the appearance, and it's just the loudmouths who create a façade that tarnishes the profession. Anyway, when an unabashedly patriotic artist shows up, the report is newsworthy.

By the way, Maynard is of the general opinion that most artists would do well to avoid heavy political involvement. This is for two reasons. First of all, people who are celebrities would be wise to be something of a blank slate. That allows us, their adoring public, to project onto them anything we want. It's disillusioning to find out that our celebrity friends are actively working against our highest values.

Even more important than preserving their celebrity status (and of course most artists are not celebrities), I see politics as largely being the antithesis of art. That is to say, art is the sharing of a personal insight, whereas politics is usually the sharing of a proclamation of what's wrong with the other guy. It's hard to mix the two without corrupting the artist and making him forget his essential mission.

So I'm not generally seeking out right-wing artists to do battle with left-wing artists. But every now and then, someone comes along who uses his art to express an ideal we can get behind. Scott LoBaido is such an artist. As described in this New York Press article:

You don’t want to have Scott LoBaido mad at you. He’s flung dung at the walls of the Brooklyn Museum and displayed an oil painting of that museum’s director sucking a pig’s ass. He’s axed the head off of an effigy of lawyer Lynne Stewart on lower Broadway in the middle of the day. He’s driven a van painted with "Execute Cop Killers" on its side around a Bronx courthouse while a cop-killer trial was under way.

(The Brooklyn Museum incident was in protest of the exhibit of Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin Mary" painting, which included a clump of elephant dung. Ofili explained that the dung was a sign of respect; thus it would seem that Scott LoBaido was merely paying his own respects, from one artist to another. Here's a report of the incident, and also another broader description of the museum exhibit.)

Pictured above is Scott LoBaido standing next to his post-9/11 painting entitled "Have Faith". On the horse is none other than George W. Bush, triumphantly holding up the severed head of Osama bin Laden.

Aren't you starting to like this LoBaido guy? If not for his art, at least for his cajones?

I can't say whether they did this because they support him, but ABC news recently noted LoBaido as a Person of the Week. His current task is to paint a rooftop in every state with the American flag. Check out the website of his Flags Across America project.

Posted by Maynard · September 26, 2006 09:51 AM · Permalink · Comments (1) · TrackBack (0)
Art | Maynard Post | Patriotism

Legendary Castrato Farinelli Exhumed

Inexplicably, scientists and historians are intent on foisting one more indignity on 17th century singer Farinelli in their effort to determine the impact of castration on young boys. So, they've exhumed his body to determine exactly how his body developed. What this accomplishes seems limited to finding out if Farinelli was as 'manly' as his portraits indicate, or not.

Hmmm....

Farinelli rises from grave to reveal castrati secrets

ROME - Historians and scientists have exhumed the remains of legendary castrato Farinelli in Italy to study the anatomical effects of castration carried out on young boys to turn them into high-pitched stars of the opera.

Castrati played heroic male leads in Italian opera from the mid-17th to late 18th century when the bel canto was the rage in Europe. Farinelli, born Carlo Broschi in 1705, was the most famous of them all, in a stage career lasting from 1720 to 1737...

"This is the only skeleton of them we have," said Nicholas Clapton, a British expert on the castrati. "We want to know if they were like the cartoons at the time depicted them, tall and dangly, or with women's breasts and large buttocks, or like the grand gentleman in Farinelli's official portraits," he told Reuters.

Lovely. All of this strikes me as just wrong and completely unnecessary.

Farinelli's story was also made into a film in 1994. I saw it when it originally came out, and while I haven't seen it since, I remember liking it. It's been long enough, though, that I really shouldn't comment on it until I see it again.

Posted by Tammy · July 12, 2006 09:55 PM · Permalink · Comments (5) · TrackBack (1)
Art | History | Hollywood/Films | Just Wrong | Music

Iran's Forked Tongue

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Cox & Forkum prove once again that a brilliant cartoon is worth a thousand words.

In the meantime, here is the latest wire story about President Bush, his comments on Iran and where things stand. And bookmark Regime Change Iran as your dedicated blog for analysis and coverage of everything Iran.

Posted by Tammy · June 19, 2006 10:05 PM · Permalink · Comments (0) · TrackBack (0)
Art | Politics | War on Radical Islam

The Sexiest Man Alive?

Apparently being filled with something else doesn't take the place of good hot dog.

Courtesy of Gallery of the Absurd. If you have never visited her, you should (do yourself a favor, though, avoid the George W. Bush link. The site's not perfect, and it just might make you laugh your a** off :). All will be explained, from the dangers of Naomi Campbell's cell phone, to how Brad Pitt has become Angelina's "pull- toy."

Well, that last one is somewhat understandable to Tammy Blog. After all, I was willing to become her "resuscitation pull-toy."

Posted by Tammy · April 4, 2006 08:06 PM · Permalink · Comments (5) · TrackBack (0)
Art | Cultural Commentary | Hollywood/Films

Greek Hiker Finds 6,500 Year Old Bling

6,500-year-old gold jewel

Cool.

THESSALONIKI, Greece - A Greek hiker found a 6,500-year-old gold pendant in a field and handed it over to authorities, an archaeologist said Thursday. The flat, roughly ring-shaped prehistoric pendant probably had religious significance and would have been worn on a necklace by a prominent member of society...

"It belongs to the Neolithic period, about which we know very little regarding the use of metals, particularly gold," she said. "The fact that it is made of gold indicates that these people were highly advanced, producing significant works of art."

Posted by Tammy · February 16, 2006 04:08 PM · Permalink · Comments (5) · TrackBack (0)
Art | History

Happy Birthday Wolfgang!

Today is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday. Thank God for Mozart and every other genius who has gifted this world with classical music, a living illustration of what beauty sounds like.

Here's a bit of coverage and odd bits about our birthday boy, who to this day makes all of our lives better:

Jerusalem Post: Mozart at 250: no signs of slowing

It is now 250 years since Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria - and some 245 years since this prodigy among prodigies fashioned his first little pieces for keyboard under the helpful eye of his father, Leopold. The world has changed radically since 1756 but Mozart remains a constant - we continue to regard the mixture of clarity, grace and formal balance in his music with undiminished awe. He seems to have been incapable of vulgarity or overstatement: In his mature works, there is hardly a wasted gesture or a note out of place. And yet it all seems so effortless, so absolutely spontaneous.

The Scotsman: World Celebrates Mozart's Birthday

Monsters and Critics: Dates in Mozart's Life

San Jose Mercury News/AP: Introduction to Mozart's Music

Posted by Tammy · January 27, 2006 02:54 PM · Permalink · Comments (4) · TrackBack (0)
Art | Cultural Commentary | History | Music

National Wildlife Photo Competition Winners

GRAND PRIZE: Kim Steininger Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania "I took this picture right before I ducked," says Steininger. On a bird-watching trip in Ontario, Canada, last winter, the network administrator noticed that one of the great gray owls she was photographing was staring back at her. "I didn’t think anything of it until it started flying at me," she says. Before getting out of the way, Steininger captured this digital photo with a 500mm telephoto lens.

Wow. You must check this out--the winning photographs for the 35th Annual National Wildlife photo competition. Images like this are the sort of thing which, for me, confirms there's a god. You can't look at the beauty of nature and tell me it's all the result of some weird, coincidental fluke. Absolutely beautiful stuff, and it reminds us humans how we're really just a small part of something much larger than ourselves. If someone asks you for 'proof' of God, show them nature.

View all the winning pics at National Wildlife.

Posted by Tammy · December 10, 2005 10:53 PM · Permalink · Comments (2)
Animal Issues | Art