Chip off the Old Block!

Two vandals recently chipped off a piece of rock from the Stonehenge monument. Armed with a hammer and a screwdriver, vandals removed a piece about as big as a large coin by cover of night. They also left a 2.5 inch scratch on one of the megaliths. Any further desecration was foiled by security guards.

It is believed they could've been in search of a souvenir! They could have been tourists. Most people go on vacation and come back with a "I Love New York" shirt or a fake Rolex - but these guys come away with their very own piece of Stonehenge! What a shame...

Pronunciation of Artists' Names

There are alot of artists' names out there that get butchered/mispronounced all the time! I was guilty of this sin too. I'm no linguist or anything but with a little crafty googling I found the answers to my pronunciation queries.

So here is a helpful list of the culprits, courtesy of www.inogolo.com and www.forvo.com
enjoy!

Artists' names and their correct pronunciations!

Jean-Auguste Ingres - pronounced: "Zhahn-oh-gust" "Ayng"

Jacques-Louis David - pronounced: "Zhahk-loo-ee" "Dah-veed"

Hyacinthe Rigaud - pronounced: "Yeah-sahnt" "Ree-goo"

Nicolas Poussin - pronounced: "Nee-ko-lah" "Poo-sah"

Georges Seurat - pronounced: "Shore-hes" "Soower-ah"

Giovanni Tiepolo - pronounced: "Jah-van-ee" "Tee-poh-low"

Paul Klee - prounounced: "Pow-ull" "Klay"

Käthe Kollwitz - pronounced: "Kay-tah" "Kohl-vitz"

Berthe Morisot - pronounced: "Bayer-tah" "Mo-ree-zoh"

Gustave Caillebotte - pronounced: "Goo-stahf" "Kai-buh-t"

Gustave Courbet - pronounced: "Goo-stahf" "Cohr-bay"

Titian - pronounced: "Tih-shuhn"

Wayne Thiebauld - pronounced: "Tee-boh"

and saving the best for last!...

Amedeo Modigliani - pronounced: "Ah-may-day-o" "Mo-deel-yah-nee"

Where Id's At!

Lucian Freud has been named the most expensive living artist after his painting of Sue Tilley recently sold for $33.6 million at auction! (I wonder how much that translates into an hour? 50,000 an hour? 100,000 an hour?) Freud is movin’ on up. His last painting sold for a mere 19 mil.

The painting titled Benefits Supervisor Sleeping is lifesize and was painted in 1995. “Big Sue” posed for Freud in the early 90s for four long years, two or three days a week! It’s a beautiful painting and all, but who would want a painting of a naked, morbidly obese woman hanging over his mantle? (Hey, Different strokes for different folks.)

At this point, it seems that Lucian Freuds have become like Ferraris for the rich. It’s quite a status symbol to own one.

Lucian is the grandson of the psychoanalyser himself, Sigmund Freud. Lucian is known for his fleshy technique of capturing skin using globby brushstrokes. His ability to capture the “meatiness” of the flesh is brilliant and genius.