AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
There's a British website I've discovered fairly recently called The Retronaut which continually posts interesting historical photos and videos. I loved the one today which showed the artist Paul Gaugin seated at Alphonse Mucha's harmonium, trouserless.
I'm a fan of Gaugin and I'm a fan of Mucha, but I'd never seen this photo. According to the book Dawn of the Belle Epoque by Mary McAuliffe, the two artists were friends, and they lived in the same building in Paris. Mucha's career was on the upswing and he had large quarters in the building, but Gaugin's career was stalled, and he had only a single room and shared Mucha's studio.
McAuliffe writes: "Mucha indulged himself by installing a longed-for luxury, a harmonium, which he soon learned to play. From then on he practiced an hour a day, playing church music and old Christmas carols. Mucha typically took his music seriously, but Gaugin seemed to treat the new instrument as a joke. Thanks to another of Mucha's new purchases, a camera, we have a photograph of a mustachioed Gaugin, clad only in briefs and shirt, doing his turn at Mucha's treasured harmonium. But despite light moments such as this, Gaugin still faced an uncertain future as he continued, still without measurable success, to find his way."
Which, frankly, if you're a Monty Python fan, is nostalgically familiar.
And speaking of the Python naked organist, I've only now become aware of
:
(Keep this in mind if you're ever at TJ's house and he offers you the piano stool as a seat.)
I'm a fan of Gaugin and I'm a fan of Mucha, but I'd never seen this photo. According to the book Dawn of the Belle Epoque by Mary McAuliffe, the two artists were friends, and they lived in the same building in Paris. Mucha's career was on the upswing and he had large quarters in the building, but Gaugin's career was stalled, and he had only a single room and shared Mucha's studio.
McAuliffe writes: "Mucha indulged himself by installing a longed-for luxury, a harmonium, which he soon learned to play. From then on he practiced an hour a day, playing church music and old Christmas carols. Mucha typically took his music seriously, but Gaugin seemed to treat the new instrument as a joke. Thanks to another of Mucha's new purchases, a camera, we have a photograph of a mustachioed Gaugin, clad only in briefs and shirt, doing his turn at Mucha's treasured harmonium. But despite light moments such as this, Gaugin still faced an uncertain future as he continued, still without measurable success, to find his way."
Which, frankly, if you're a Monty Python fan, is nostalgically familiar.
And speaking of the Python naked organist, I've only now become aware of
:
(Keep this in mind if you're ever at TJ's house and he offers you the piano stool as a seat.)