| | The First Art Newspaper on the Net |   | Established in 1996 | Monday, February 10, 2020 |
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| | 'The Scream' is fading. New research reveals why | |
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Jennifer Mass, president of the Scientific Analysis of Fine Art lab, examines old paint in New York on Aug. 26, 2019. The art world is increasingly turning to scientific analysis of pigments to find out how time has changed some famous paintings. Thomas Prior/The New York Times.
by Sophie Haigney
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- The Scream is fading. And tiny samples of paint from the 1910 version of Edvard Munchs famous image of angst have been under the X-ray, the laser beam and even a high-powered electron microscope, as scientists have used cutting-edge technology to try to figure out why portions of the canvas that were a brilliant orangish-yellow are now an ivory white. Since 2012, scientists based in New York and experts at the Munch Museum in Oslo have been working on this canvas which was stolen in 2004 and recovered two years later to tell a story of color. But the research also provides insight into Munch and how he worked, laying out a map for conservators to prevent further change, and helping viewers and art historians understand how one of the worlds most widely recognized paintings might have originally looked. The art world is increasingly turning to labs to understand how paintings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries are behaving. Vincent van Gogh ... More |
The Best Photos of the Day To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the great eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, the Portland Art Museum is presenting Volcano! Mount St. Helens in Art, an exhibition examining artists responses to the awesome beauty and power of the volcano. The exhibition opened February 8, 2020, and will be on view through May 17.
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 | | Louvre throws open blockbuster Leonardo show for all-night viewing | | The Los Angeles County Museum of Art opens first exhibition on Qiu Ying ever organized outside of Asia | | Christie's to offer The Greta Stroeh Collection | 
A person views The Madonna of the Rocks, by Leonardo Da Vinci, part of the retrospective on the life and work of Da Vinci, at the Louvre in Paris, Oct. 20, 2019. The survey, honoring the 500th anniversary of his death, opens on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019. Dmitry Kostyukov/The New York Times.
PARIS (AFP).- Short of something to do at around 4 am on a weekend in Paris late in February? How about a (free) visit to the Paris Louvre museum's show-stopping exhibition of the Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, hailed by critics as the most significant display of his works in years? The Louvre announced on Sunday that for its final days of opening on Friday February 21, Saturday 22 and Sunday 23, the exhibition would be open all night as well as for its regular daytime hours. "For visitors it will be a unique chance to see or see again all these works by this genius of the Renaissance and in a particular atmosphere at night," the head of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez, told the Journal du dimanche newspaper. Entry will be a free but a reservation made online from this Tuesday will be obligatory. Over 30,000 tickets ... More | | 
Qiu Ying, Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Ming dynasty, c. 154552, fan painting; ink and colors on gold-flecked paper, 7 à 21 3/4 in., Asian Art Museum, Museum purchase, B79 D5i, photo © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is presenting Where the Truth Lies: The Art of Qiu Ying, the first exhibition on the great Ming dynasty painter ever organized outside of Asia. Few artists in Chinese history have proven as enigmatic as Qiu Ying (c. 1494c.1552), whose life and art reveal a series of paradoxes. Though one of the most famous artists of the Ming period, almost nothing is known about his life. Qiu Ying is said to have been illiterate, yet surviving evidence demonstrates elegant writing; and though he is said to have had few followers, he remains one of the most copied painters in Chinese history. Featuring a total of 65 works, 45 of which are by Qiu Ying, Where the Truth Lies brings forth the largest gathering of paintings by the artist ever assembled in the U.S. In addition to masterworks by Qiu Ying, the exhibition includes paintings by ... More | | 
Jean Arp, Sculpture automatique dite Hommage à Rodin. Bronze with dark brown patina. Estimate: 25,000-35,000 / US$28,000-39,000 / £22,000-30,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.
PARIS.- As part of the Parisian Drawing Week, Christie's will hold a series of auctions between 25-27 March, including a dedicated auction to the collection of Greta Stroeh (1939-2001) on 26 March. The collection includes around 80 works, mainly by Jean (Hans) Arp (1886-1966), as well as works by his first wife, Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943), his friend Alberto Magnelli (1888-1971), and fellow artists Joan Miró (1893-1983) and Georges Vantongerloo (1886-1965). Greta Stroeh's collection offers an exceptional tribute to Jean Arp. Covering more than thirty years of his artistic oeuvre, it testifies the eclecticism of his work, the variety of his innovative artistic language and the diversity of the techniques used: bronze or brass sculptures, duraluminium or painted wood reliefs, works on paper, collages, torn papers, lithographs, serigraphs, engravings, etchings, book illustrations, as well as a collection of poems. Pierre Martin ... More |
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| | 'Oscars museum' opening this year to feature Kirk Douglas tributes | | A New era for the Berlin Film Festival, With two at the top | | With cameras monitoring his grave, Karl Marx still can't escape surveillance | 
Academy Museum Director Bill Kramer speaks during the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Media Tour, in Los Angeles, California on February 7, 2020. VALERIE MACON / AFP.
LOS ANGELES (AFP).- Los Angeles' long-awaited museum dedicated to the magic of movies will open this year and feature tributes to the late Kirk Douglas. The idea for an Academy Museum of Motion Pictures was first floated nearly a century ago, and its current futuristic incarnation has been beset by delays. On the eve of the Academy's flagship event -- the Oscars -- a nearly completed site was opened to journalists on Friday, showcasing a gleaming sphere made of glass, steel and concrete containing a state-of-the-art 1,000-seat theater. The orb-like structure -- designed by Renzo Piano "as if it were floating" to symbolize "the fantasy and magic of the movies" -- is connected by sky bridges to a converted department store housing the main galleries. Among the 13 million photographs, scripts, costumes, props and more in the Academy's collections are Judy Garland's ruby slippers from "Wizard of Oz," Bela Lugosi's cape from 1931's "Dracula" -- and items related to Douglas. "We're close with ... More | | 
Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, the co-directors of the Berlin Film Festival. Lena Mucha/ The New York Times.
by Thomas Rogers
BERLIN (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- On a recent morning, the Berlin Film Festivals two new co-directors were arguing about accents specifically, what kind of voice should introduce the filmmakers in live announcements at this years event. On this issue, I like an accent, said Carlo Chatrian, its artistic director, adding that a non-native English speaker would best reflect Berlins cosmopolitan identity. But we already have so many accents, protested Mariette Rissenbeek, its executive director. When another team member floated the idea of a German person introducing the films in broken English, Rissenbeek winced. No, no, no, she said. It cannot, under any circumstances, be embarrassing. After erupting into laughter, the group agreed. This years Berlinale, as the festival is often called, will be its first overseen by not one but two leaders an arrangement that proponents say allows specialists to focus on areas of expertise rather than h ... More | | 
The bronze bust on top of the monument at the tomb of German revolutionary philosopher Karl Marx, a Grade I-listed monument, is seen in Highgate Cemetery in north London on February 5, 2019. Tolga AKMEN / AFP.
by Elian Peltier
LONDON (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Karl Marx may be resting in peace, but he now does so under 24/7 video surveillance. After his grave at Highgate Cemetery in North London was vandalized twice last year, the Marx Grave Trust, which owns the monument, decided to monitor it with video cameras installed in December on nearby trees, hoping to deter vandals from attacking a famous monument that has been desecrated several times over its decadeslong existence. While some tombs of illustrious individuals are monitored a webcam feed of Andy Warhols grave in Pennsylvania is available online cameras remain rare in cemeteries, especially around specific graves. Marxs is the first one to be monitored at Highgate, Londons most-visited burial ground, in a city where video surveillance is almost everywhere. But it seems as if Marx who in the 19th century complained about being followed by Prussian spies ... More |
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| | TSA denies opening instrument case after musician says his kora was in pieces | | Galerie Parisa Kind opens an exhibition of works by Richard Jackson | | Mentors named for Rolex Arts Initiative | 
The 3MA (Driss El Maloumi, Rajery & Ballaké Sissoko) concert at La Mar de Músicas of Cartagena, 2009. Photo: Alexandre López.
by Maria Cramer
NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- A renowned Malian musician said when he came back to Paris on Monday from a concert tour in the United States, he opened the case to his kora and found the instrument in pieces. The musician, Ballake Sissoko, 53, blamed the Transportation Security Administration, prompting outrage among his fans on Facebook and international headlines. But the TSA said on Thursday that the agency hadnt opened the case holding the kora, a delicate long-necked harp lute. It is most unfortunate that Mr. Sissokos instrument was damaged in transport, the agency said in a statement. However, after a thorough review of the claim, it was determined that TSA did not open the instrument case, because it did not trigger an alarm when it was screened for possible explosives. Sissoko flew from Kennedy International Airport in New York ... More | | 
Richard Jackson, Yellow Head, 2005. Fiberglass, stainless steel spray can, acrylic paint. Ed. 3/5 + 1 AP. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles.
FRANKFURT.- Richard Jacksons art explores a performative painting process which seeks to extend the potential of painting by upending its technical conventions. Actively participating in the art scene of the West Coast since the 1960s, Jackson first came to international attention with a major presentation of his installations at the Menil Collection, Houston, in 1988, followed by the 1992 exhibition, Helter Skelter, at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. He is internationally known for his complex installations, colorful wall paintings, neons and conceptual drawings. For this exhibition at the gallery, Parisa Kind is presenting Richard Jacksons new unique neon sculpture titled The War Room from 2019, which is the center of the exhibition, and additionally stands in direct relation to his extensive installation The War Room from 2006/7 in Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt on view from Feb. ... More | | 
Visual arts mentor Carrie Mae Weems and protégé Camila Rodriguez Triana.
by Roslyn Sulcas
CAPE TOWN (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- In the room where it happened (the Baxter Theater here), composer and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, filmmaker Spike Lee, visual artist Carrie Mae Weems and theater director Phyllida Lloyd were announced Saturday as the new mentors in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, which pairs eminent cultural figures with emerging artists in their fields. The new mentors and some of their protégés were announced in a ceremony that also celebrated the end of the 2018-19 pairings in dance, music, architecture and literature, the other disciplines included in the Arts Initiative. This year, a new open category mentorship has been added to incorporate artists who work across different disciplines. Miranda, the creator and star of the hit musical Hamilton, is the first mentor in this category. Lin-Manuel is only just 40, and an incredibly versatile creative figure who works across theater, ... More |
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| | Two companion exhibitions explore depictions of the delf at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston | | New York International Antiquarian Book Fair celebrates its 60th anniversary at the Park Avenue Armory March 5-8 | | 'Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood,' many times over | 
Elsa Dorfman, Me and My Camera, 1986. Dye‑diffusion photograph (Polaroid print). Gift of Elsa Dorfman in Honor of Harvey A. Silverglate. © Elsa Dorfman, 2013, all rights reserved.
BOSTON, MASS.- Artists have recorded their likenesses and examined their inner selves through self-portraiture for centuries, documenting changing faces and bodies throughout their lifetimes. In February, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, presents two concurrent exhibitions that explore depictions of the self through photography, prints and drawings. Elsa Dorfman: Me and My Camera, in the Herb Ritts Gallery, is the first exhibition to explore autobiography as a significant theme in the work of the beloved Cambridge photographer Elsa Dorfman (born 1937), who is known primarily for her large-format commissioned Polaroid portraits of family and friends. In the adjacent Clementine Brown Gallery, Personal Space: Self-Portraits on Paper examines the range of creative approaches that contemporary artists have taken to construct and express their identities through self-portraits. Elsa Dorfman: Me and My Camera is supported by Abigail Congdon and Joseph Azrack, ... More | | 
Flammarion, Paris, 2019. First edition. Octavo, polymer binding decorated with a designed of stamped and silver leather and silver buttons, title stamped in red on upper cover, black leather back, liners of red suede, wrappers bound in, fitting chemise and slipcase (by Atelier la Feuille d'Or).
NEW YORK, NY.- The New York International Antiquarian Book Fairofficially sanctioned by Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and produced by Sanford L. Smith + Associatesis proud to celebrate its benchmark 60th Anniversary Edition at the Park Avenue Armory from March 5-8, 2020. Universally referred to as the worlds finest antiquarian book fair, NYIABF is the highlight of the spring calendar for bibliophiles, collectors of the curious and quirky, scholars, connoisseurs and enthusiastic laymen alike. More than 200 exhibitors will present a vast treasure trove of material: rare books, maps, illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, fine bindings, illustrations, historical documents, rare prints and print ephemera. The fairs specialties encompass art, science, medicine, literature, history, gastronomy, ... More | | 
Clu Gulager, an actor who appears in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood stands in front of The New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles. Michelle Groskopf/The New York Times.
by Brian Raftery
LOS ANGELES (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- On a crisp Saturday night last month, a hundred movie lovers got into their cars and drove to the New Beverly Cinema, an old theater on Beverly Boulevard, to relive a golden age of Hollywood. As a 1960s radio broadcast played overhead, ticket holders walked past a lobby filled with vintage artifacts like a Make Love Not War banner and Green Hornet poster before taking their seats. You open the doors and its 1969, said Brian Quinn, a theater manager, who took the stage at 7:30 p.m. to introduce the nights main attraction: Once Upon a Time
in Hollywood, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who also owns the New Beverly. The audience gasped, laughed and applauded as they followed the tale of a fading TV star (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), his loyal stuntman (Brad Pitt) and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), set in the final days before Charles ... More |
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True to Nature: Curator's Quick Tour
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 Kunsthaus Baselland opens an exhibition of works by Marlene McCartyBASEL.- The garden at the entrance to the Kunsthaus Baselland seems at first familiar and inviting. Tender little plants will continue to stretch up through the soil over the next few weeks. Despite the time of year, some of them will even grow to display the beauty of their blooms. And, the accompanying large-format sometimes wall-sized drawings by the artist Marlene McCarty also seem, at first glance, to reflect the fascination and beauty of humans and nature. But it wouldnt be a McCarty exhibition without differing levels and depths of meaning unfolding beyond this. For decades the artist, who lives in New York but has close ties to Basel, has used humble yet direct materials such as graphite pencils or ballpoint pens to probe controversial social issues. In her vast series and cycles of drawings, which have grown constantly since the 1980s, the ... More 800-lb heart revealed in Times SquareNEW YORK, NY.- MODU and Eric Forman Studios Heart Squared is the winner of 2020 Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition, which was curated by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. As this years winning design, Heart Squared was unveiled on January 30 at Father Duffy Square, between 46th and 47th Streets. The installation will remain on view for the month of February. Tilted in various directions within a steel frame that evokes the outline of an anatomic heart, the 125 mirrors of Heart Squared transform the spectacle of Times Square into kaleidoscopic images of people, buildings, and brightly-lit billboards. While the position of each mirror seems random, the designers developed a specialized technique to calculate the specific angles in order to hide a playful surprise. As viewers move around the structure, those hundreds ... More Modern Art opens an exhibition of new paintings by Katy MoranLONDON.- Modern Art is presenting a solo exhibition of new paintings by Katy Moran. This is Morans fifth solo show with Modern Art. The abstraction of Morans paintings exists in a unique place wherein pictorial allusion and material obduracy find peaceful accord. In each work, Morans finely tuned techniques conjure scenes that can sometimes be suggestive of landscape, still life or portraiture while exploring colour, composition and gesture. Her titles, similarly, are at times literal, random, and autobiographical, almost moving freely with the gestures in each painting. Certain works have titles relation to their source inspiration such as Bust, while others are named with spare, intimate, and often playful musings which relate to the imagery that come to light in the work, such as cloud face (2019), or still life with nothing (2019). Recently described ... More S.M.A.K. opens an exhibition of works by Panamarenko GHENT.- Ever since the Museum of Contemporary Art was founded in 1975, Panamarenko (b. 1940 d. 2019, Antwerp, Belgium) was a key figure for the museum. It is no coincidence that the new museums very first acquisition for its collection was the work Deltavliegtuig P-1 Piewan (Deltaplane P-1 Piewan)(1975). In 1980 the purchase of 'The Aeromodeller' (1969-71) saw the artists magnum opus added to the collection. Along with numerous other sculptures and drawings, these works comprise an ensemble that can be seen as one of the cornerstones of the S.M.A.K. collection. Panamarenkos work was regularly featured in important retrospective exhibitions at the museum, such as Art in Europe after '68 (1980). Moreover, former S.M.A.K. director Jan Hoet selected the artist for prestigious international projects such as Documenta IX (1992). ... More City Ballet review: History, rarity and an odd, fascinating soloNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- As the title for a mixed bill at New York City Ballet, Classic NYCB I is standard. But the program that debuted Thursday isnt standard or classic. True, the works are by the usual suspects George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins along with the companys current resident choreographer, Justin Peck, whose fresh and wonderful take on Coplands Rodeo score was made in 2015. But the departed masters Balanchine and Robbins are represented by rarities, and a classic with a missing piece restored. Its the kind of program that keeps prompting the question When did City Ballet last do that? Theres enough excellence and entertainment in it to please curious first-timers, but really its a gift for the faithful, the completists, those who have seen everything and still want more. The most glamorous entry is Episodes, ... More Orson Bean, free-spirited actor of stage and screen, dies at 91NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Orson Bean, the free-spirited television, stage and film comedian who stepped out of his storybook life to found a progressive school, move to Australia, give away his possessions and wander around a turbulent America in the 1970s as a late-blooming hippie, was killed in a traffic accident Friday in Venice, California. He was 91. His death was confirmed Saturday by the Los Angeles County coroners office. Capt. Brian Wendling of the Los Angeles Police Department said Bean was struck by a car while crossing the street. Early in his career, in the 1950s and 60s, Bean, a subtle comic who looked like a naive farm boy, was ubiquitous on TV. He popped up on all the networks as an ad-libbing game show panelist (a mainstay on To Tell the Truth), a frequent guest of Jack Paar and Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, ... More Exhibition celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruptionPORTLAND, ORE.- To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the great eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, the Portland Art Museum is presenting Volcano! Mount St. Helens in Art, an exhibition examining artists responses to the awesome beauty and power of the volcano. The exhibition opened February 8, 2020, and will be on view through May 17. From pre-contact Native American objects to contemporary paintings, drawings, and photographs, Volcano! traces the mountains changing image and significance for local peoples. Native Americans used the substance of the volcanomainly basalt and obsidianto create objects of great beauty and utility. While Mount St. Helens featured in their creation stories, no depictions of the volcano in the visual arts are known before the mid-1840s, when explorers Henry James Warre and Paul Kane ... More A composer puts her life in music, beyond labelsNEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- She was supposed to end up in Paris. When composer Tania León was 9, her piano teacher, traveling in France, sent a postcard back to Cuba with a picture of the Eiffel Tower. I dont know what happened to me when I saw the card, León, now 76, said recently. I went to my family, and I said, This is where Im going to live. And I became obsessed. A few years earlier, her intrepid grandmother had marched her to the local music conservatory in Havana and demanded that she be enrolled. They didnt usually take students so young, but León already showed promise: Even at 4, she would press against the radio at home, dancing to salsa and singing along, with perfect pitch, to the classical station. Following rigorous, European-style conservatory training, and inspired by her teachers postcard, ... More Robert Conrad, two-fisted TV star of 'Wild Wild West,' dies at 84NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE ).- Robert Conrad, a television tough guy best known for his lead role in the mid-1960s series The Wild Wild West, died Saturday at his home in Malibu, California. He was 84. His death was confirmed by Jeff Ballard, a family spokesman, who said Conrad died of heart failure. Conrads fearlessness and good looks served him well in The Wild Wild West and many other shows, although he found the most satisfaction in some later, meatier roles, like the fur trader he played in the miniseries Centennial in the late 1970s. He was also well served early on by his ability at least by the not very rigorous standards of the late 1950s to affect an ethnically ambiguous character. In one of his earliest roles, he had a bit part as an Indian. I had to get shot by the good guys and fall off a horse, which I did successfully, ... More First institutional survey of video work by Trevor Shimizu opens at Institute of Contemporary ArtPHILADELPHIA, PA.- On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Kunsthalle Lissabon in Portugal, ICA is one of four arts organizations invited to participate in a pioneering partnership to test and examine how geographical and organizational differences challenge notions of institutional identity. From November 20, 2019 through February 1, 2020, ICA took over the Kunsthalles exhibition space and digital platforms, transforming the Lisbon institution into an extension of its Philadelphia building to present Trevor Shimizu: Performance Artist, the first exhibition devoted to the artists video work. In addition to this intercontinental presentation, ICA is staging an addendum to the exhibition in the museums Project Space in Philadelphia from January 25 through May 10, 2020. We understand dialogue as a very productive force, wrote João ... More Victoria & Albert Museum opens 'Filthy Lucre: Whistler's Peacock Room Reimagined 'LONDON.- Filthy Lucre is an immersive installation by contemporary American artist Darren Waterston, presenting a detailed reimagining of James Abbott McNeill Whistlers famed Peacock Room the sumptuous 19th-century dining room once housed just a stones throw away from the V&A and now installed at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Waterston has faithfully recreated each of the rooms individual elements with a twist, with the installation revealing a magnificent ruin crumbling under the weight of material decadence and the egos of those involved in its creation. On display for the first time in UK, the installation is inspired by the tension between art and money, ego and patronage. The design of the original interior famously saw Whistler create the space without the knowledge ... More Theme of 'Ode to Nature: In Gardens & the Wild' is subject of symposium at Salon du dessinPARIS.- Greener than ever, the Salon du dessin will devote this years International Symposium to the art of gardens and botany. The 2020 fair guest, the Musées de Marseille, will present a selection of their best works based on nature and several galleries will present drawings related to the theme. The 29th Salon du dessin is expecting a larger than usual number of British visitors because of this years theme of nature and gardens. On display at the fair will be many artists who enjoyed a love affair with gardens and nature in their work. On display will be the art of gardening and the garden as art. For art lovers and for those whose real passion is gardening, this 29th Salon du dessin is a must. Gustave Doré, a seasoned hiker, painted the Alps, the hills of Scotland, the Brittany coastline and other natural areas. The artist made marvelous use of watercolors in his ... More |
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Flashback On a day like today, French illustrator and painter Honoré Daumier died February 10, 1879. Honoré-Victorin Daumier (February 26, 1808 - February 10, 1879) was a French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor, whose many works offer commentary on social and political life in France in the 19th century. In this image: Honore Daumier, Lunch in the Country, c. 1867-1868. Oil on panel, 26 x 34 cm. National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Photo © National Museum of Wales
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