The charcoal drawing on canvas is a portrait study of Colette, the French novelist, 1873-1954. This portrait study is part of an on-going series begun in the Winter of 2004. My quest was purity of line. The line has immense power. One of my diary entries in 2005 reads: "If you are able to communicate through a clean, strong line what characterizes each of these women -- strength, greatness, purpose and humanity, they become very beautiful". Colette is in this detail from the first panel covering the period from 1900 thru 1939.
Click on this link Voices Unabridged (January Issue # 7) to read a profile article on this project.
Go to www.un.org/radio/ to hear a recent interview about it.
In January, the online Human Rights magazine Voices Unabridged (January Issue # 7) published an article on my triptych Leading the Way: A Tribute to Women of the Twentieth Century announcing my upcoming show at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
The Division for the Advancement of Women, who organized the 50th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, had selected Leading the Way to commemorate the event.
The exhibit is running from February 27th to March 11th. To the left is the show's annoucement. Up above, the triptych on display at the UN.
Burma, a Southeast Asian country also known as Myanmar, has been under brutal, oppressive military rule since 1988.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the freedom fighter, human rights activist and leader of the National League for Democracy has lived under house-arrest on and off since 1990 for her unfaltering opposition to the repressive regime leading her country.
In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights. She is currently living under house-arrest.
Wanda Landowska - 1879/1959 - Polish-French Harpsichord revivalistDating back to the Middle Ages, the harpsichord, a European keyboard instrument, saw its Golden Age in the 17th and 18th Centuries. In 1789, the highly decorative, ornate harpsichords in France, which represented a symbol of wealth and the ruling aristocracy, were virtually all destroyed during the Revolution. By the early 19th Century, the harpsichord had fallen into desuetude with the rise in popularity of the piano, and it took little more than a century for the art and knowledge of how to build good harpsichords to die out.
Wanda Landowska was a pioneer in the revival of the instrument in the early part of the 20th Century and was the first to record Bach's Goldberg Variations on the harpsichord in 1931. What makes her contribution significant is that by the turn of the Century, harpsichord music was a long lost and forgotten repertoire. Her passion for music of the past led her to research and study extensively Early Music and harpsichords throughout Europe. It resulted in her rediscovery of the art of playing the instrument.
