By The Way...

Thursday, April 20, 2006
4:22:00 PM EDT
Hearing Yes, Virginia -- The Dresden Dolls
Since we all had so much fun the other week with sharing favorite poems for the Weekend Assignment, I thought we'd do something similar this week -- but with a little twist:

Weekend Assignment #108: Show off (or link to) a lesser-known work from a favorite artist. Because there's more to Da Vinci than the Mona Lisa, and more to Van Gogh than Starry Night. I'm thinking of painters, but if you'd prefer to essay a lesser known book from a famous author, or song from a favorite musician, that'll work, too.

Extra Credit: When was the last time you were in an art museum?

Need help finding those lesser-known artworks online? Try Artcyclopedia. You can enter the name of a favorite artist there, and pull up numerous examples of work they've produced. Aside doing the Weekend Assignment, you can have hours of fun just looking at art online.

Now, a quick copyright notice: Some artworks (particularly those from the last 80 years or so) are still under copyright, and you may not legally be able to post a picture of the artwork on your Journal. In those cases, just link to the place you've found the artwork online.

Here's my lesser-known painting. Can you guess the painter?



If you guessed "Van Gogh," congratulations, you're correct. This is Skull with Burning Cigarette, from 1886. I like it for a number of reasons, most notably because I think it's actually funny; it takes a twisted sense of humor to show a skull smoking a cigarette. Say what you will about Van Gogh's work, but it's not notable for a sense of humor, which I suppose is what you get when you're clinically depressed, as poor Vincent was. So this picture gives an extra dimension to Van Gogh to me; an insight into the artist one doesn't usually get. Also, it would make a great "don't smoke" ad.

Extra credit: The last time I was in an Art Museum was a few months ago, when we went to the Dayton Art Institute to see the Egyptian exhibit that came through town. Lots of sarcophagi. Very interesting.

You're up: Find a fine, lesser-known artwork from a favorite artist, share it with us in your blog or journal, and then come back here to leave a link. Let's see what we didn't know we didn't know about art!



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This entry has 21 comments: (Add your own)

• #21 Comment from psychfun 
  4/25/06 2:44 AM | Permalink

  Here is mine sorry so late:
  
  http://journals.aol.com/psychfun/MeThinksTooMuch/entries/727
• #20 Comment from hewasolddog299 
  4/23/06 7:21 PM | Permalink

  Verizon pulled a scalzi on me -- I've been without internet connectivity for two days and I've gone round the bend. See for yourself For Whom The Bell Tolls:
  http://dailysnooze.blogspot.com/2006/04/for-whom-bell-tolls.html
  
  wil
  
• #19 Comment from teeisme57 
  4/23/06 4:54 PM | Permalink

  http://journals.aol.com/teeisme57/OhMyWord/entries/1765
  complete!
• #18 Comment from lurkynat 
  4/23/06 1:47 AM | Permalink

  okokok okeydokey.... so here's my sequel to Vincent
  http://journals.aol.com/lurkynat/Interface/entries/959
  natalie
• #17 Comment from lurkynat 
  4/23/06 1:32 AM | Permalink

  AWw shoot!:( you picked my fav! pooh!)
  guess I'll just ahve to write about someone else's fav..k?
  :) natalie

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