Category: Blog

The Forgotten Impressionist

When we think of the Impressionists, we think of Manet, Degas, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir. But there was another pioneering spirit in that group: Frédéric Bazille (above). Born in 1841, the son of a wealthy land-owner from Montpellier, Bazille came to Paris as a young man to pursue his interest in painting after failing to pass his exams in medical studies.

Bazille befriended Monet, Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. The foursome were to take painting out of the studio and into the natural world where colour and light inspired them. It was slow going: the ‘official’ Parisian art world was ultra-conservative, elite, concerned mainly with maintaining familiar elements of style. Bazille’s access to family funds helped his fellow artists through lean times; they shared flats and studio space. Opportunities to show their work were few and far between; but slowly the ‘impressionists‘ began to make their mark, and the public took inspiration from their work.

Bazille’s works include the lovely Black Woman With Peonies from 1870 (above)…

…and the atmospheric Summer Scene daing from 1869 (above).

Click on each painting to enlarge.

That Bazille never developed as truly unique a ‘voice’ in the Impressionist school as his more famous colleagues did, was a result of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Bazille signed up and, on November 28th, 1870, he was killed in a skirmish in Burgundy at the age of 29.

Bazille, whose name I had only noted in passing when reading about the other artists of the Impressionist school, came to my attention recently as we watched the excellent BBC series THE IMPRESSIONISTS. In this docu-drama. much of which was shot in Provence and Normandy (as well as at Giverny) Bazille is played by the handsome British actor James Lance. Lance’s warmth and sensitivity fill the opening episode of the series, and it’s sad when his character meets his end. Richard Armitage and Julian Glover play Monet at different stages of his life. The film of course cannot hope to document all the artists who were part of the Impressionsist movement, but it’s well-filmed and acted, instructive and highly enjoyable.

Above, from the film: Claude Monet (Richard Armitage), Auguste Renoir (Charlie Condou) and
Frederic Bazille (James Lance).

December 21, 2012
For Each Remembered Day XI

November 29, 2012
Above Us Only Sky VI

November 27, 2012
Three Months Later

October 21, 2012
For Each Remembered Day VII

September 29, 2012
Willow Song

Beverly Sills sings the Willow Song from Douglas Moore’s BALLAD OF BABY DOE. The lyrics are so meaningful to me at this point in time.

“Willow, where we met together…Willow, when our love was new…Willow, if he once should be returning pray tell him I am weeping too.

So far from each other as the days pass in their emptiness away…O my love, must it be forever…never once again to meet as on that day…and never rediscover a way of telling all our hearts could say.

Gone are the days of pleasure….gone are the friends I had of yore…only the recollection fatal of a word that was spoken: Nevermore…

Willow, where we met together…Willow, when our love was new…Willow, if he once should be returning pray tell him I am weeping too…”

The grave of Baby Doe and Horace Tabor, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

September 25, 2012
For Each Remembered Day III

August 28, 2012
For Each Remembered Day II

August 25, 2012
US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012/Day 3

Above: India’s Yuki Bhambri signing autographs after winning his first-round qualifying match at the US Open.

Tuesday August 21, 2012 – Over the past few years I’ve discovered and followed certain players during the US Open qualifying matches – people like Alejandro Falla, Bjorn Phau, Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito and Rajeev Ram. This year all five of those men were up in the rankings and so were into the main draw already; congratulations to all of them, but it meant I would be spending this year’s tournament mostly checking out players new to me. Yuki Bhambri was the most exciting new discovery for me: he has an powerful serve and, after losing the first set, he buckled down and gave an impressive display of tennis skills in defeating the excellent and exciting Argentine Horacio Zeballos. It was close match, ending with a tie-breaker for the third set. I will definitely want to see Bhambri play again later in the week.

It was a beautiful day at the Open, breezy and with a nice mix of sun and clouds. There was a sizeable crowd and the usual annoyances of small children (parents: little kids get restless and cranky at tennis tournaments so leave ’em with a sitter), cellphones, and people gabbing during play. But for the most part I was able to find quiet spots to watch from, or to move if things got distracting. I was delighted to see the great Billie Jean King walking from court to court early in the day (the whole place is named after her, and deservedly so).

My first match was between two women I didnt know anything about: Dinah Pfizenmaier and Heidi El Tabakh. I initially pegged Pfizenmaier as the likely winner,but on the big points El Tabakh was able to capitalize and she won the match.

Thailand’s Danai Udomchoke, who I’ve seen play many times, put up a valiant fight but was out-gunned by Spain’s Adrian Menendez-Maceiras.

Three Asian women – all new to me – scored impressive victories: Ying-Ying Duan (very tall) and SaiSai Zheng (with a tendency to moon-ball) were representing the next generation of Chinese players, while Taipei’s Yung-Jan Chan presented her opponent with a double-bagel victory.

After watching Yuki Bhambri’s exciting victory, I decided to head home on a high note although there were still matches in progress. There’s some construction going on at the Tennis Center and both the noise and the necessary ‘detours’ are inconveniences.

But I did take a look at the newly-opened Court 17, a smallish arena-style venue with an intimate feeling. I hope to see a match there at some point this week.

August 23, 2012
US Open Qualifying Tournament 2012/Day 2

Wednesday August 22, 2012 – Tsung-Hua Yang of Tapiei (above) made a big impression on me at the 2011 US Open qualifying tournament and I was glad to have the opportunity to see him play again today. He faced Antonio Veic of Croatia in the very first match of the day.

Yang’s playing is impressive for steadiness and technical sureness. His opponent was fiery and theatrical, with a couple of major outbursts of temper when he got what he thought was a bad call. Yang simply maintained his composure and moved unperturbed thru the match; he seemed destined to win from the start. Two rain delays – one of about 15 minutes and a second lasting only a couple of minutes – interrupted play. And as Yang was serving for the match, it started raining harder. He was able to secure the win just before all tournament play was suspended for about 45 minutes.

Antonio Veic did display a sense of humour amidst his theatrics: when called for a foot fault, he asked the lineswoman “Which foot?”

Once the rains stopped and things got dried out, I stayed at the same court to watch China’s Yi-Fan Xu, a petite player who managed to thwart the tall British woman Naomi Broady. With a mixture of moon-balls and craftiness, Xu seemed to prevent Broady from making any headway.

After Xu’s win, I moved from court to court: no match really captured my attention although I was curious to see the ‘new’ Chinese male player Ze Zhang in action. He has a lot of talent, and he’s quite tall but his opponent – the second-seeded Slovenian Aljaz Bedene – showed that experience counts for a lot in these situations. The Frenchman Josselin Ouanna similarly kept Taipei’s Ti Chen from building any momentum, despite some impressive shots.

We’ll see how my favorites fare on Thursday and that will determine whether I need to go again on Friday.

August 22, 2012