Doris Emrick Lee (1905 - 1983)

I have become obsessed with Doris Lee.
Is that allowed?

Doris Lee by Yasuo Kuniyoshi 1940

She had a wide ranging art education
and travelled and studied in France and Italy
at a time of Impressionism and Abstract painting.
She came home and developed a unique style
which was dismissed by some as 'whimsical'
but was recognised at an early stage by influential institutions
such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Johnnie Appleseed - no date

I want to know why she started her career
painting detailed images of energy and humour
and finished her painting life
with flat abstractions of mangrove swamps.

High Tide, Mangroves - no date

Was it because the sponsor of the Logan Prize
at the Chicago Art Institute that she won in 1935
with the intimate and delightful Thanksgiving
was outraged by the decision of the judges?

Thanksgiving - 1935

Was it because the murals that she painted
for the new Post Office in Washington, D.C.
were criticized as caricatures
"the heads of the figures were too large for their bodies"
by the Inspector and lost their sparkle
as she attempted to fulfil the conditions of the commision?

Afternoon Train - 1945

Was it because she married Arnold Blanch,
head of the influential school of artists at Woodstock
and acted as hostess and patron to a continuous stream
of young artists such as Bruce Gregory?

Arnold Blanch by Konrad Cramer 1950

Was it some deeper force within her
which rejected the optimism of her youth?

Sun and Surf - no date

I don’t know the answer to this question
but I wish that I had met her.
In a transcript of an interview that she gave in 1964
to Joseph Trovato of the Smithsonian Institution.
she describes her house and says:

it's a difficult thing to pass by an old beautiful bottle on the beach or an old broken piece of iron or artifact...we really have too many things, they clutter up our house a little bit.

Basket of Lilacs - no date

I think I would have liked her.

An Anniversary Album

This is my local nursery.

It doesn't look much from the road
but inside the plants jostle for space

and the colours shimmer under the glass.

They are celebrating the 70th anniversary this year,

the kind, friendly people who welcome me every summer.

I am invited to a party with a five piece band
(and the mayor will be there too!)

It is a family business
and it was started as a way of escaping from factory work.

I took these photographs to make a gift album
because I have enjoyed every moment
I have spent in these tranquil greenhouses.

For the first time I realised
how much more confident my photography has become.

This time last year
I would not have asked for this photograph.

Shadow Lives

On Monday we visited the exhibition of American Prints
at the British Museum.
It is headlined as The American Scene
and features classic images of American life:
small towns and big cities,
Prohibition and the Depression,
War and survival,
brutal sport and stark industrial landscapes.

Martin Lewis (1880 - 1962) Shadow Magic, 1939

As I walked around I found myself drawn to the pictures
featuring the lives of women and those by women artists.
It is only a small selection
but it gives a tiny insight into private worlds,
quite diferent from the larger perspectives
of the majority of prints.

John Sloan (1871 - 1951) The Women's Page, 1905

This woman sits and reads a magazine
surrounded by evidence of poverty and deprivation.

Martin Lewis (1880 - 1962) Quarter of Nine, Saturday's Children 1929

Here the shopgirls of New York,
“Saturdays Children” who work hard for a living,
step out with energy and optimism .

Doris Lee (1905-1983) Helicopter, 1948

I discovered Doris Lee for the first time!
How I love her naive style which records domestic life
with such intimacy and detail.
This picture reminded me of Angie at Children in the Corn

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) East Side Interior - New York 1922

This image touched me.
She sits by the window
on the boundary of her internal domestic life
and looks outwards at the world.
It captures what blogging is all about for me.

Sushi, Sushi

This post is for Breadbox who loves sushi

There is something slightly hypnotic
about a sushi restaurant.

You perch on your stool
and the coloured plates pass before you
on the endless conveyor.

Each plate has a different confection to tempt you;
beautifully balanced colours, shapes and textures.

You have no idea what you are eating
but it all tastes good
and there is a continuous supply of miso soup

And before you know where you are
the empties have stacked up.

How do Japanese people stay so thin eating sushi?

Human Interest

Waterloo Bridge

the number 59

Lovers at Euston

Turquoise sari outside King's Cross

Father and Son share a joke at St. Pancras

******
The following photo
is not part of the collection of pictures above
but I wanted to share it.

One of the things that we did yesterday was to visit the British Museum to see the extraordinary painting from the Ethiopian Christian Church. As it was the last day of the exhibition representatives from the Ethiopian Church were in the great Atrium giving a musical performance. The resonance from the drum and the chanting filled the huge space and it was very moving to see the enthusiasm of the friends and family who had come to support the priests and musicians.

Ethiopian Christians at the British Museum

Bank Holiday Chores

MrM polishing the Player of the Season Trophy
in his capacity as
Important Person in the London Irish Supporters' Club.

Please note how confident he is
with his inner Cath Kidston.

******

In the past five days
AOL has been blocking all email from Blogger and GMail.
It is not just a problem with my account
but it has created problems for me responding to comments.
I apologise.
I hope that the power struggle between AOL and Google
will be resolved quickly
but in the meantime I have transferred my blog email to
chezmagpie@gmail.com

******

Today is a National Holiday
but MrM and I have to go St. Pancras
to monitor the performance of the Champagne Bar.

No slacking allowed here at Chez Magpie.

Ch@in with MissM

MissM is wonderful with small children.
She says that it is because she has so many Little Girl Cousins
but this doesn't seem to have had the same effect on MasterM.

Every week MissM volunteers in a small infants school
and works with a class of 5 year old children.
She is endlessly entertained by the things that they say
and their perspectives on life.

Last week MissM had to help a little boy with his writing.
He was adamant that he was not going to do it.

Little Boy
I won't do it. I hate writing.
MissM
You need to do it. If you practise you will like writing
Little Boy
I can't do it. I hate writing.
MissM
When I was a little girl
I used to write backwards all the time.
Little Boy
Backwards writing!!
Do you still write backwards?
MissM
No...because I practised and practised...
and now I can write really well.

"and do you know what?"
said MissM
"the little boy sat down and finished all his writing!"

Happy Birthday GMS

My father has been many things in his life:

vet, farmer, theatrical impresario, viniculturalist,
intrepid explorer, after-dinner speaker, antique collector

but he has been a sailor from the beginning.

He grew up in a small Devon town
of harbour, small coves and tidal rivers.
He has always sailed traditional, gaff rig boats.
These were used for oyster and crab fishing
and are ideally suited to the light, variable estuary winds .
In the past two years he has led a campaign
to raise the funds to build a new boat based on traditional designs.
It was very successful and the boat was launched last year
with a lot of media coverage.

It was his birthday yesterday
and I wish him a year of wind and sunshine
so that he can enjoy sailing the Elizabeth Ann

Bluebells

This post is for my friend, Tracey.

She is a Quilting Artist and she lives between
the Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator

She knows where to watch the Duck Billed Platypus swim

but I don't think she has ever seen bluebells after rain.

The Thinifer Diet

The adorable Mrs. G. is not happy.
Her diet is not converting her
into the svelte Blog Goddess of her dreams.
She needs help.
Mrs. G. needs the Thinifer diet.

Firstly, as a responsible homeschooler,
I know that she will appreciate the historical context.
The details can be found in
Fattypuffs and Thinifers
by Andre Maurois
illustrated by Fritz Wegner

Once upon a time there were two peoples:
the Fattypuffs and the Thinifers.

The Fattypuffs were fat but happy

and the Thinifers were unhappy but thin.

They were mortal enemies and lived in constant conflict.

The Thinifers ate mostly sphaghetti and sausages.
They had two meals a day and ate standing up.
The principal industries were
manufacture of long, thin things such as wire.
Time was the most valuable commodity
and making yourself comfortable a sign of weakness.
You were not allowed into the country
unless your weight was considered appropriate for your age.

The Fattypuffs lived in a land of domes and cupolas.
Cakes and cream buns were the staple food
and you were not expected to last for an hour
without a nutritious snack to keep you going.
Each meal was followed by a short nap and time was flexible.
You were only allowed into the country
if you weighed more than the recommended minimum.

The conflict came to a head in a dispute
over an island between the two countries
However, in a major strategic error,
the Thinifer army invaded the land of the Fattypuffs.
The Thinifer soldiers started to fall in love
and marry the beautiful Fattypuff women
and before long it was legal to open cake shops in Thiniville.

Eventually a new country was formed
in which Fattypuffs and Thinifers lived together.
It was proclaimed:

"Henceforth, Fattypuffs and Thinifers must form a single nation.
Why should there be these absurd distinctions
as to weight and waistline?
Can the truth only exist
if it weighs less than ten stone?
Must all plump people be wrong?"

I was introduced to the Thinifer diet when I got married
and I have stuck to it ever since.

Eat only long, thin food.

Last night I thought of Mrs. G.
as I drank my wine out of a long thin glass
and laid the long thin baguette on the table.
I realised that it would be selfish of me
to keep this knowledge to myself.

It has worked for me
- it could work for Mrs. G. -
and we need her to look her best
when she opens the gates to the Women's Colony