LadyKflo

Sisters dwell in distinct developmental stages for The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. This famous John Singer Sargent painting holds viewers rapt in a sisterhood spell. Four year old Julia faces us. As the youngest, she most wants and needs our attention. Julia's also the most rooted in place as the only sitting sister.

She clutches a pink baby doll in her lap. This makes sense given the loneliness of the portrait. It's a painting of a family without any familial sense. Pricey objects and paintings stand in for parents. The space seems vast and empty - more museum than home.

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Like many New Yorkers, it’s got a patchwork identity. Part public artspace and non-profit, The High Line’s also a landscaped park and walkway. It’s the site of old school railroad tracks. At certain points on the boardwalk visitors encounter them in the landscaping. This lends a rustic feel to the otherwise polished space.

Learn lots about The NYC High Line, other landmarks, artworks, history-makers, and more with a click to LadyKflo's site.

https://www.ladykflo.com/the-high-line-nyc/

Mute painter Hendrick Avercamp sings an icy opera with Frozen River. His expressions range from delight to death in this painting. Without a word spoken, Avercamp tells us a complex emotional story. It's a dramedy. People frolic to the tune of 1620. That means long, poofy frocks and stovepipe hats at a hockey game. They're having a blast. It's bitter cold with an icicle-white sky. But there's a warmth to these people.

Learn more about this and other masterpieces with a click to LadyKflo's website: 

https://www.ladykflo.com/frozen-river-by-hendrick-avercamp/

Nature versus Man whips like wind through the painting Approaching Storm. Eugène Boudin often painted the moneyed and middle class. Their fancy finery struck a wry contrast with Mother Nature. Critics of his day (1864) called Boudin's landscapes "vulgar" for painting the stylish.

But whimsy's also part of nature - human nature. There's a jovial tone at the base of this. The approaching storm looms above for us, the viewer, to see. While the partiers below seem to not even notice the wind's uptick as their bonnet ribbons blow.

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https://www.ladykflo.com/approaching-storm-by-eugene-boudin/

A complex woman with a vision, Louise Bourgeois turned anxiety into art. Her work provoked audiences. She channeled emotions into her pieces to jolt us awake. Good or bad, Bourgeois makes us feel things. That’s the gift of her sculptures, installations, paintings, and drawings. Aggressive artwork gives us meaty ideas to digest. That’s the nourishment of it. Louise Bourgeois fed the art world like a mother.

Learn more about Bourgeois and other artists with a click through to LadyKflo's website.

https://www.ladykflo.com/louise-bourgeois/

Foreboding waves crash The Undercliff painting. This makes literal and figurative sense. After all, Richard Parkes Bonington painted it one month before dying. He was twenty five years old with TB. It was 1828 and tuberculosis was known as the “robber of youth” at the time. That’s because TB fatalities were especially high among young people. In fact, Bonington and John Keats, the poet, were two particularly talented victims of it that year.

Learn about this and more masterpieces with a click to LadyKflo's website:

https://www.ladykflo.com/the-undercliff-by-richard-parkes-bonington/

Charisma and extemporaneous insight earned Sojourner Truth a spotlight. She didn’t only grab attention in the mid 1800’s. Her impact remains today. Sojourner was born a slave. Lied to, raped, and robbed of her son, she fled her oppressors at the birth of her daughter. Sojourner converted to Christianity. She also dropped her slave name, Isabel Hardenburgh. The name Sojourner Truth empowered her new identity.

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https://www.ladykflo.com/ms-behavior-sojourner-truth/

The painting EOW on Her Blue Eiderdown II presents us with seductive obscurity. Frank Auerbach was a true romantic and it shows here. This painting may seem blunt at first. But the piece demands a deeper look. It's a loving and thoughtful portrait. EOW was the painter's intimate partner. Prolific with portraits, Auerbach painted few women. Estella Olive West, though, he painted countless times.

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https://www.ladykflo.com/eow-on-her-blue-eiderdown-ii-by-frank-auerbach/

Four marble statues grace the National American Indian Museum stairs. This Smithsonian museum in lower NYC stays open 365 days a year with free admission. The statues show world continents as women. In fact, it’s entitled The Four Continents. American artist, Daniel Chester French built them between 1903-1907.

Learn more about this and many other NY sites for art and history with a click to LadyKflo's site.

https://www.ladykflo.com/american-indian-museum/ 

Folklore and history intersect at the story of Lady Godiva. A noblewoman of the 11th century, she’s still talked about today. That’s because she earned the ‘Noble’ in her title. Women of her time held little power other than the gaze of men. Lady Godiva weaponized her breathtaking beauty. She used this power to help the downtrodden in her sovereign husband’s territory.

Known as Coventry’s ancient legend, the tale of Lady Godiva stays alive. That’s thanks to its salacious blend of chastity and shock value. These days there’s a resonant questioning about the validity of history. What do we know for certain? How do we know it? History’s told by the powerful. We remember stories because a storyteller held us rapt – capturing all our attention. That’s how influence works. But hard evidence also helps.

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https://www.ladykflo.com/ms-behavior-lady-godiva/