THORNTON DIAL, AMERICAN MASTER

Thornton Dial

Thornton Dial was born in Alabama in 1928 .  He was one of 12 children and grew up poor without his Mother or his Father. Dial has lived and worked in Alabama for his entire life.  The artist is self taught and in other times would have been called a "Primitive" or "Outsider Artist".  I consider him right in the mainstream!   Dial obviously is gifted with  considerable intelligence and the ability and talent necessary to create ART that is thoughtful, gripping and expresses his way of looking at the world. He has had many important and solo shows since he was discovered.

MY BELOVED AND BEAUTIFUL PARIS WHERE PART OF MY HEART REMAINS EACH TIME I SAY 'AU REVOIR'

Eiffel Tower In The Rain

ON THE ST. IN ST. GERMAIN des PRES

As a child I remember reading some book(s) about Paris.  The seed was planted.....I studied French for a short while at college.  I had some romantic idea that  perhaps I had been a Parisian in another life .  I made plans to go study at the Sorbonne, however, like many young Women of my generation, I married instead....so very young.  I lived in Los Angeles as a young married Mother and whenever I would hear the language of my fantasies I would talk to the people attempting to "keep up my French ".  Fast forward.... I studied ART, entered another stage of life and became a "serious" painter and then teacher. (A single Mother in San Diego does not support her children and herself painting)!  Finally in 1986 my dream of going to live in Paris became a reality.  I was "an American living in Paris" but I felt like a VRAI PARISIENNE, ( true Parisian). I lived there for two years, learned to speak fluent French and felt very much 'at home'.  I have since returned at least once if not twice a year.  So, now I am a part-time Parisian.  I hope that you will enjoy just a small sampling of my photos. PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKE MY BLOG & PHOTOS! More may be seen on my WEB SITE: rivianbutikoferphotography.com

View to the Right Bank

Young Woman on Metro

PLEASE ENJOY SOME OF MY PHOTOS-BEGINNING WITH ISRAEL

My Husband Hans & I have really traveled to some fabulous places and I have been lucky enough to get some photos that I hope you will agree are unusual.  I will begin with Israel and continue with other countries in the following posts.  Israel touched me deeply as it did Hans.  I hope that you can get the flavor of the country and the people.

Ethiopian Jewish Boys (after school snack)

They are called Falashas, the name being derived from the Amharic (the language of Ethiopia) word for strangers, a reminder in itself of the way in which the Jews have remained separate from the peoples among whom they lived. 

Man in Safed.

 Ancient city in the upper Galilee. Safed is one of the four holy cities in Israel, together with Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. It is said that the Messiah will come from Safed on his way to Jerusalem. Safed was an unusual spiritual experience for me.

Lighting Candles in the Church of The Holy Sepulchre

The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls has high religious value as a holy city for Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Women praying at the WESTERN WALL which is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount. It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself.


ALL OF MY PHOTOGRAPHS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AS WELL AS MY OTHER ART WORK MAY BE PURCHASED. PLEASE SEE THEM ON rivianbutikoferphotography.com and rivianbutikofer.com

ART FOR LOVE....HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Romance has been the impetus for ART over the ages.  Composers have written musical compositions to love, sculptors have made representations of their lovers,  poets have written odes about love, and of course, painters have painted about it.  I have included just a very small sampling of "ART FOR LOVE".

Pablo Picasso as is known had two wives and many mistresses.  They were all his muses and influenced his work immensely.  Oscar Kokoshka was known to have been passionately in love with Alma Mahler and when she would no longer have anything to do with him he had a doll made in her likeness.  Amedeo Modigliani did not lack for women in his life.  He is known for his beautiful paintings, many of Women. Included here is his Common Law Wife Jeanne Hebuterne.

Picasso's  Mistress Marie Therese

Olga, Picasso's First Wife

Bride of The Wind, (Kokoshka & Anna Mahler)

Kokoshka & His Doll

Jeanne Hebuterne

WATCH FOR NEW POST ON ART ABOUT LOVE FOR ST. VALENTINES DAY!

"HONORING ART, HONORING ARTISTS" N.Y. TIMES Feb. 3,2011

Wild Man Of The Woods, mask has been attributed to the carver Willies Seaweed

Bowl, Maria & Julian Martinez

Wild Man of The Woods, Beau Dick

Until quite recently American Indian (& others) artists have remained completely anonymous in museum shows & otherwise.  It has always bothered me that these marvelous artists carrying on the traditions of their cultures, but at the same time unique, creative and dynamic have remained nameless.  It is the same with the African and other so- called "primitive" artists. However, this is changing! In my opinion it is LONG OVERDUE!
"WHEN the Denver Art Museum’s signature American Indian art galleries reopened last week after a seven-month overhaul, the biggest change wasn’t the new display cases or the dramatic lighting. Rather, it was in a less obvious place: the wall labels. For the first time many of the works on display are attributed to individual artists instead of just their tribes. It is a revolution in museum practice that many scholars hope will spread, raising the stature of American Indian artists and elevating their work from the category of artifacts to the more exalted realm of art.  So the museum’s “Wild Man of the Woods” mask, made in 1900 and previously identified only as “Kwakiutl,” will be attributed to Willie Seaweed, a Canadian carver who died in 1967. In another gallery an exhibition of more than 30 pieces of pottery will celebrate the extraordinary skill of Nampeyo, a Hopi woman born around 1860. Other objects, thought to be the work of single unknown creators — like a selection of Navajo “eyedazzler” weavings dated 1885-1900 — will be grouped together with labels reading, “Artist not known.”
(See NY Times ARTS Feb. 3 for rest of article)

MY PHOTOS FROM HAITI 1989 & SOME REMINISCING I HOPE YOU WILL FIND INTERESTING!

On The Road To Cap Haitien

Woman In The Market

My Husband Hans & I went to Haiti in 1989.  I really didn't even know where we were going. I was notified in the restroom in Miami that I was being taken to a "disturbed area".  He took me because I love to speak French and we both were, (are) so adventuresome. Hans had hitch hiked from Bern, Switzerland where he was born to all 'over the world' including Iran, Pakistan, India and by ship to Penang, Malaysia, on to Japan. (in brief).   I was used to traveling in Western Europe.  I had gone by myself to all of the usual places. France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Switzerland and some not so much on the beaten track like the then Yugoslavia.  
Haiti was in 1989 the poorest country  in the Western Hemisphere, and as we all know, still is!  In my naivete I took photos of everyone that would allow me to photograph them until a man showed me a very large knife.  Hans said, "That's enough of the photography for now"!  I soon discovered that most of the people did not enjoy having me take their pictures, something about losing their souls through the photo.  It has to do with the prevalence of the religion VOODOO.   
 I hope that you will enjoy seeing a few of those photos and the lovely and charming people in them. I think of them, and wonder where they might be now.....
I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS! Rivian

Port au Prince

Hans at the market, Port au Prince

Boulangerie, Patisserie

My MIXED MEDIA ART & my PHOTOGRAPHS are for sale & can be viewed 
@ rivianbutikoferphotography.com & rivianbutikofer.com
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