02 works, The Art Of The Nude, Hananiah Harari's Nude Descending a Stairs after Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones's The Golden Stairs, with footnotes #230

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, Bt 1833–1898

The Golden Stairs, c. 1880

Oil paint on canvas

2692 × 1168mm

Tate 

The Golden Stairs is one of the best-known paintings by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones. It was begun in 1876 and was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1880.

Unlike many of Burne-Jones's works, The Golden Stairs is not based on a literary source. It has been called Symbolist, as it has no recognisable narrative, but rather sets a mood. It is a harmony of color in the tradition of the Aesthetic works of the 1860s and 1870s, as a group of young women carrying musical instruments descend a spiraling staircase, dressed in classically inspired robes in tones of white, shading to gold and silver. More on this painting

Hananiah Harari, American, 1912-2000

Nude Descending a Stairs

Oil on canvas

74 x 38 inches

Private collection

Sold for $13,750 USD in June 2016

Statement by the Artist: "Serendipity led me to the Pre-Raphaelite Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones whose painting The Golden Stairs suggested a scaffold for my own. His Victorian maidens, a saccharine demiseraphic troupe, were for me quite naturally no more embraceable than Duchamp's metallic robots. However the sweep of Burne-Jones' design provided my nude her stage. She makes entrance, then descends to diverse portraits comprising not only head, but body & temper - revealed step by step as it were, in shifting colors, light, and action. After "performing" in choreographed (sometimes mocking) descent , she exits below to Art and to the World. (My debt to Burne-Jones is acknowledged in the lower right hand corner of my work, where his name can be seen on a crumpled candy-wrapper.) " 

Hananiah Harari (August 29, 1912 – July 19, 2000) was an American painter and illustrator.

Harari was born in Rochester, New York. He studied at the Syracuse University School of Fine Arts. He went to Paris in the 1930s, where he studied with Fernand Léger from 1932–34; he also studied with Marcel Gromaire and André Lhote. Following a visit to Palestine, he returned to the United States in 1935. 

His first New York exhibition was in 1939. He worked in both a semi-abstract style, and a precise realist style; he painted many trompe l'oeil still lifes. Several silkscreens from this period are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the Yale University Collection.

In the 1940s he produced artwork for the covers of magazines, and contributed cartoons to The New Masses Using his gifts for Realism, he became a successful portrait painter. One of his portraits is in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. Harari taught at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan from 1974 to 1990, and at the Art Students League from 1984 to 1999, where most of his classes were filled to capacity. He stopped teaching when he could no longer see. He was elected into the National Academy of Design in 1990 as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1994.

He died in Halthorne, New York in 2000. More on Hananiah Harari

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

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01 work, The Art Of The Nude, Carl Wilhelm Wilhelmson's Melusina, with footnotes #226

Carl Wilhelm Wilhelmson, (1866-1928)

Melusina, c. 1917

Oil on Canvas

97 x 168 cm

Private collection

Melusina was a mythical figure from European folklore, a water nymph who is often portrayed with the upper body of a beautiful woman but the lower that of a fish, or serpent. The most complete retelling of what was probably a more ancient legend, dates from the end of the 14th century and recounts how Melusina and her sisters were punished by their mother for imprisoning their father in a mountain as an act of revenge for his failure to keep his promise not to enter her chamber when she was giving birth or bathing her children. Melusina’s singular punishment was for her lower body to become that of a serpent – but only on Saturday. More on Melusina

Carl Wilhelm Wilhelmson (12 November 1866, Fiskebäckskil - 24 September 1928, Gothenburg) was a Swedish painter, graphic artist, amateur photographer and art teacher.

Some relatives were in the printing business so, in 1881, he was apprenticed to the lithographers Meyer & Köster in Gothenburg. He also took evening classes at the School of Design and Crafts. He later became a full time student of Carl Larsson at the Valand Academy.

In 1888 he was awarded a scholarship from the Kommerskollegium that enabled him to travel to Leipzig. While there, he worked for several notable lithography firms. By 1890, he had saved enough money to move to Paris.

In Paris, he worked as an advertising artist while taking classes at the Académie Julian. In 1893, he visited Brittany and, in 1895, had a small showing at the Salon. He returned to Sweden in 1896.

Upon his return, the art patron, Pontus Fürstenberg, invited him to become the Director at the Valand Academy. He accepted and held that position until 1910. After leaving the Academy, he opened his own art school. He made expeditions to Norrland in 1914 and 1918 and produced several well known paintings in Bohuslän. He was appointed a Professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1925 and became a member in 1926, in reverse of the usual order.

In addition to his canvases, he painted murals. 

The passenger ferry that operates between Fiskebäckskil and Lysekil is named after him, as is a street in the Lunden district of Gothenburg. Carl Wilhelm Wilhelmson

Please visit my other blogs: Art Collector, Mythology, Marine Art, Portrait of a Lady, The Orientalist, Art of the Nude and The Canals of Venice, Middle East Artists, 365 Saints, 365 Days, and Biblical Icons, also visit my Boards on Pinterest and my art stores at  deviantart and Aaroko

Images are copyright of their respective owners, assignees or others. Some Images may be subject to copyright

I don't own any of these images - credit is always given when due unless it is unknown to me. if I post your images without your permission, please tell me.

Ads are shown only to compensate the hosting expenses.

If you enjoyed this post, please share with friends and family.

Thank you for visiting my blog and also for liking its posts and pages.

Please note that the content of this post primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.