Paul Helm's Art blog

2012-01-01T17:36:00.001Z

Here are the composer anniversaries for January:

January
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

1/1/1782 J C Bach died
2/1/1837 Balakirev born
2/1/1905 M Tippett born
4/1/1710 Pergolesi born
6/1/1838 Max Bruch born
7/1/1899 Poulenc born
8/1/1713 Corelli died
8/1/1990 M Tippett died
11/1/1801 Cimarosa died
16/1/1886 Ponchielli died
16/1/1891 Delibes died
17/1/1751 Albinoni died
18/1/1835 Cesar Cui born
23/1/1981 S.Barber died
27/1/1756 Mozart born
27/1/1813Verdi died
29/1/1862 Delius born
30/1/1963 Poulenc died
31/1/1797 Schubert born

2011-12-31T09:17:00.002Z

Tomorrow 2012 arrives. Here are the major anniversaries for composers:

2012
Classical Composer Anniversaries

Gabrieli 400th anniversary of his death on 12 August
Delius 150th birthday on 29 January
Debussy 150th anniversary of his birth on 22 Auguust 1812
John Cage centenary of birth on 5 September
Massenet centenary of his death on 13 August
John Ireland 50th anniversary of his death on 12 June
You can find a far more comprehensive list of anniversaries at classical-composers.org

St Hildegard of Bingen

2011-12-30T21:39:00.000Z

Here is my portrait of the first female classical composer - Blessed Hildegard von Bingen. One of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages.
The central image is a photoetching and the border is a collagraph.
I have just uploaded a profile of her on my website at 52composers.com

There is an increasing interest in her music and there is plenty to see on YouTube. There is an interesting BBC documentary available on DVD at Amazon and a full length German biopic 'Vision'.

November Anniversaries of Classical Composers

2011-11-03T23:50:00.001Z

November
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

3/11/1801 Bellini born
4/11/1847 Mendelssohn died
4/11/1924 Fauré died
6/11/1854 Sousa born
6/11/1893 Tchaikovsky died
8/11/1890 César Franck died
12/11/833 Borodin born
13/11/1868 Rossini died
14/11/1805 Fanny Mendelssohn born
14/11/1900 Copland born
15/11/1787 Gluck died
18/11/1786 Weber born
19/11/1828 Schubert died
20/11/1894 A.Rubinstein died
21/11/1695 Purcell died
22/11/1900 A.Sullivan died
22/11/1913 Britten born
23/11/1585 Thomas Tallis died
24/11/1868 Scott Joplin born
28/11/1829 A.Rubinstein born
29/11/1643 Monteverdi died
29/11/1797 Donizetti born
29/11/1924 Puccini died

Classical Music Calendars

2011-10-10T23:17:00.000+01:00

It's October. Time to start publishing my new classical music calendars.

This year I am making them available again on Zazzle. (click to see them)

In addition I am selling them on Etsy (click to see them). The first one uploaded today.

The Zazzle ones are printed in the USA and therefore for North American buyers it makes sense to order from them to avoid any postage delays and customs duties.

The Etsy one instead are printed by myself here in London and therefore is recommended for UK and European buyers, again to avoid postage delays, VAT and customs duty.

Opera composers uploaded to Etsy today. It is already on Zazzle.

October classical composer anniversaries

2011-10-02T18:38:00.000+01:00

October
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

1/10/1865 Paul Dukas born
2/10/1920 Max Bruch died
3/10/1931 Carl Nielsen died
5/10/1880 Offenbach died
9/10/1813 Verdi born
9/10/1835 Saint-Saëns born
11/10/1896 Bruckner died
12/10/1872 Vaughan Williams born
14/10/1990 Bernstein died
17/10/1849 Chopin died
18/10/1893 Gounod died
20/10/1874 Charles Ives born
22/11/1811 Liszt born
24/10/1725 A Scarlatti died
25/11/1825 J Strauss Jr born
25/11/1838 Bizet born
26/11/1685 D Scarlatti born
27/11/1782 Paganini born

September classical composer anniversaries

2011-09-02T00:15:00.000+01:00

September already. Summer almost finished. Here are this month's birthdays and death anniversaries of the great classical composers:

September
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

4/9/1824 Bruckner born
4/9/1892 Milhaud born
4/9/1907 Grieg died
5/9/1735 J Christian Bach born
5/9/1912 John Cage born
8/9/1813 Gesualdo died
8/9/1841 Dvorak born
8/9/1949 Richard Strauss died
10/9/1659 Purcell born
13/9/1819 Clara Schumann born
13/9/1874 Schoenberg born
17/9/1179 Hildegard von Bingen died
20/9/1957 Sibelius died
21/9/1874 Holst born
23/9/1836 Bellini died
25/9/1906 Shostakovich born
25/9/1849 J Strauss Sr died
26/9/1898 Gershwin born
26/9/1945 Bartok died

Back to school - Great Classical Composers Calendar

2011-08-17T22:05:00.000+01:00

Summer is going fast and the shops are full of Back to School promotions which made me think that I should do a calendar starting in September instead of January.
So here it is: September 2011 to August 2012 Great Composers with 12 of my prints:
Sibelius, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Puccini, Mozart, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Brahms, Grieg, Bach and Shostakovich.
I'll do another version Jan - Dec 2012 later when the Christmas promotions start.

It is available now at Etsy
Click on the above link or on the image.

Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra by Gabriel Prokofiev

2011-07-31T23:09:00.000+01:00

Next Saturday's BBC Prom at the Albert Hall will feature a performance of the 'Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra' by Gabriel Prokofiev who just happens to be the grandson of the great Sergio Prokofiev.
I have featured it as Video of the Week on the home page of my 52composers site.
It is an interesting piece combining classical symphonic music with hip-hop.

August anniversaries of classical composers

2011-07-31T21:35:00.000+01:00

August
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

Births
?/08/1653 Pachelbel
18/08/1750 Salieri
22/08/1862 Debusssy
22/08/1928 Stockhausen
25/08/1918 Bernstein
31 /08/1834 Ponchielli
Deaths
2/08/1945 Mascagni
8/08/1975 Shostakovich
09/08/1919 Leoncavallo
10/08/1928 Janacek
12/08/1992 John Cage
13/08/1912 Massanet
26/08/1958 Vaughan Williams
28/08/1959 Martinu

June Anniversaries for Classical Composers

2011-06-01T22:31:00.000+01:00

It's June so here is my list of some composer birthdays and death anniversaries for the month:

June
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

01/06/1804 Glinka born
02/06/1857 Elgar born
03/06/1875 Bizet died
03/06/1899 Strauss J died
06/06/1903 Khachaturian born
08/06/1810 Schumann born
21/06/1908 Rimsky Korsakov died
10/06/1934 Delius died
11/06/1864 Strauss R. born
14/06/1671 Albinoni born
15/06/1843 Grieg born
17/06/1818 Gounod born
17/06/1882 Stravinsky born
20/06/1819 Offenbach born
25/06/1767 Telemann died

Films about Composers

2011-03-22T20:34:00.000Z

Occasionally I get asked if there is a film about a particular composer. There are a lot of feature films and TV documentaries and I have just built a page on my 52composers website on the subject.
The two British directors Ken Russell and Tony Palmer have been prolific with this genre.
Some, notably those by Tony Palmer, are incredibly well researched and true to the facts. Others have varying proportions of fantasy.
Yale University has published a book 'Composers in the Movies' by Prof.John C.Tibbetts and with a forward by Simon Callow. I haven't seen it yet but it looks interesting.

Vivien Noakes 1937 - 2011) - biographer of Edward Lear

2011-03-09T20:35:00.002Z

I was very sorry to learn of the death of Vivien Noakes, the leading expert on the life and works of Edward Lear, king of nonsense and the limerick.
She wrote his definitive biography and curated the 1985 Lear exhibition at the Royal Academy.
There is a very good obituary in the Guardian.

Some years ago I started an Edward Lear website www.edward-lear.com which I have neglected. I really must get back to it.

Great Composer Anniversaries for March

2011-03-04T21:05:00.000Z

March
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

?/03/1706 Pachelbel died
1/03/1810 Chopin born
2/03/1824 Smetana born
4/03/1678 Vivaldi born
5/03/1953 Prokofiev died
6/03/1932 Sousa died
7/03/1875 Ravel born
8/03/1566 Gesualdo born
8/03/1803 Berlioz died
8/03/ 1983 Walton died
16/03/1736 Pergolesi died
18/03/1844 Rimsky-Korsakov born
21/03/1685 J S Bach born
21/03/1839 Mussorgsky born
22/03/1687 Lully born
25/03/1881 Bartok born
25/03/1918 Debussy died
26/03/1827 Beethoven died
28/03/1881 Mussorgsky died
28/03/1943 Rachmaninoff died
29/03/1902 Walton born
31/03/1732 Haydn born

Leoncavallo - 1895 item

2011-02-21T18:38:00.000Z

I found this old photo of Leoncavallo in an old copy of the weekly magazine 'Photos- The Popular Album' dated August 17 1895.
It is accompanied by an amusing text comparing him with Mascagni.

Gallery Rage

2011-01-16T20:40:00.000Z

This month I went to the huge Gauguin exhibition at Tate Modern and last week I went to the Cezanne's Card Players exhibition at the Courtauld Galleries in Somerset House. Both exhibitions close this weekend so I am glad I managed to see them - very worthwhile seeing.
But what a difference in terms of gallery 'experience'. The Gauguin was a true 'blockbuster' with over 120 of his works. It has been the Tate's most successful exhibition ever as far as visitors is concerned. And that is the problem - too many visitors turn it into a frustrating experience. Exhausting.
In contrast the Cezanne exhibition was a delight. Not crowded, plenty of benches where you can sit and enjoy the works. Not too big an exhibition. No pressure to move on to the next picture. Inspiring.
Interestingly the Observer had an article on just this topic this morning:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jan/16/gauguin-tate-modern-crowds?

If you missed the exhibitions in London you will be able to see the Gauguin exhibition in Washington DC from February to June and the Cezanne Card Players will be at the Met in New York also from February.

Vivian Maier - the discovery of a wonderful street photographer

2011-01-14T20:50:00.000Z

I just came across the amazing story of Vivian Maier - nanny and extraordinary amateur street photographer.
In 2007 a Chicago estate agent, John Maloof, went to a furniture and antiques auction and bought some boxes full of old photos, negatives and rolls of film. This sparked in him an interest in photography and the more he studied it the more he realised how good these photos were. He managed to buy the rest of the boxes that were at the auction and now has over 100,000 images.
He did some research to find out who the mystery photographer was and found it was a French nanny who lived in Chicago and New York in the fifties and sixties.
Her photos are great. You can see some and read her story on the blog/website at
vivianmaier.com . Watch the Chicago Tonight video you will find there
Other interesting sites/articles:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/little-miss-big-shot-fifties-america-exposed-ndash-by-a-french-nanny-1811040.html (click on the 'more photos' link under the photo for a slideshow)

http://www.kitchensisters.org/girlstories/the-lost-found-photographs-of-vivian-maier/

A feature length documentary 'Finding Vivian Maier' is planned for 2012 more info at Kickstarter

January Classical Composer Anniversaries

2011-01-01T20:26:00.000Z

January
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

2011 Composer Anniversaries

2011-01-01T20:18:00.000Z

There are only two major annniversaries in 2011:
Mahler centenary of his death on May 11 1911
Liszt 200th anniversary of his birth on October 22 1811

Photographer of the Year

2010-12-06T13:44:00.000Z

Yesterday we popped into the National Theatre on the South Bank to see the annual jewellery exhibition Dazzle.
Some excellent work on show and for sale.
While there I noticed there was the exhibition of entries for the 4th Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. Very impressive, some wonderful photos.
You can see the winners here:
Photographer of the Year

There is a well produced book of all the photos for £25 (£5 discount in the National Theatre shop but even better only £12.15 at Amazon UK)
Landscape Photographer of the Year: Collection 4 (Photography)

December Anniversaries of the Great Classical Composers

2010-12-02T14:48:00.000Z

2/12/1990 Copland died
4/12/1976 Britten died
5/12/1791 Mozart died
5/12/2007 Stockhausen died
7/12/1863 Mascagni born
8/12/1865 Sibelius born
8/12/1890 Martinu born
10/12/1822 César Franck born
10/12/1908 Messiaen born
11/12/1803 Berlioz born
16/12/1770 Beethoven born
16/12/1921 Saint Saëns died
17/12/1749 Cimarosa born
22/12/1858 Puccini born
25/12/1871 Scriabin born
28/12/1937 Ravel died

Happy 199th Birthday Franz Liszt

2010-10-22T14:39:00.000+01:00

Today is the 199th birthday of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. So next year will be the BIG one 200 years!! I'm looking forward to some big celebrations.
Meanwhile:
Celebrate Liszt's birthday with last ever portrait at the Royal Academy Budapest Treasures show | Culture24

Illustration: Mihaly Munkacsy, Franz Liszt, 1886
© Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Art in the Caribbean

2010-10-16T14:15:00.000+01:00

Last night we went to the October Gallery in London for the book launch of our friend Anne Walmsley's new book 'Art in the Caribbean'.
It is a beautifully produced book with a 'Gallery' of 40 artists from 1940s to 2000s and an interesting 'Historical Background' from Pre-Columbian 5000BC to Contemporary 2010.
Anne is a writer specialising in Caribbean art and writing. She herself has quite an art collection, some of which I had the pleasure of framing for her.

Art in the Caribbean: an Introduction

The Shame of the billboards of Venice

2010-10-04T23:32:00.001+01:00

One of my favourite applications of computer printing is the ability to produce huge prints, as big as buildings, on weatherproof materials. It is quite common to use this process to reproduce the facade of a building on awnings which are then hung on to scaffolding to hide the work being done behind it and to maintain the external appearance of the building.
Unfortunately this technology is being used instead to hang huge advertisements onto buildings, often partially covering the more tasteful reproduction facade.
The photo above shows the church of San Simeon Piccolo in Venice - the first building you see as you come out of the railway station. You can see that they have gone to the trouble of erecting a reproduction of the building to hide the restoration work which would otherwise be quite an eyesore. On top of this they have applied an advertisement for Calvin Klein jeans!
There are many much much worse examples of this practice.
I was pleased to read in the Observer this week That Sir Norman Foster, the directors of The British Museum, The V& A and New York's Museum of Modern Art are joining a protest against this practice in Venice. Read the interesting article at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/03/venice-violated-billboards-norman-foster

(photo courtesy Michael Tinkler at Flickr)

I'm 'Blogger of the Week' at EBSQ

2010-10-03T10:21:00.001+01:00

I'm flattered at being featured as 'Blogger of the Week' on the EBSQ blog.
EBSQ is a very active site for self-representing independent artists. I have a portfolio gallery there with a selection of my work. They run monthly competitions, a busy forum and provide useful artist tools.
I have been a member of this community for some years and I highly recommend it.

(click the logo to see the blog post)

October anniversaries of classical composers

2010-10-01T11:47:00.001+01:00

October
Great Classical Composer
Anniversaries

1/10/1865 Paul Dukas born

3/10/1920 Max Bruch died
3/10/1931 Carl Nielsen died

5/10/1880 Offenbach died
9/10/1813 Verdi born
9/10/1835 Saint-Saëns born
11/10/1896 Bruckner died
12/10/1872 Vaughan Williams born
14/10/1990 Bernstein died
17/10/1849 Chopin died
18/10/1893 Gounod died
20/10/1874 Charles Ives born
22/11/1811 Liszt born
24/10/1725 A Scarlatti died
25/11/1825 J Strauss Jr born
25/11/1838 Bizet born
26/11/1685 D Scarlatti born
27/11/1782 Paganini born

2011 Classical Music Calendars

2010-09-27T09:50:00.003+01:00

We are nearly into October and I am working to finish my 2011 Classical Music calendars. So far I have finished:

Great Composers
Opera
Russian Composers
Piano composers
Italian composers

This week I hope to publish French Composers and then German composers by mid-October.

So far I have published them on zazzle and some on cafepress

175th Anniversary of the death of Vincenzo Bellini

2010-09-23T21:17:00.003+01:00

On 23 September 1835 the great Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini died at the tragically young age of 33.

He died near Paris of acute inflammation of the intestine. In 1876 his remains were transferred to his home town Catania in Sicily.

He was a child prodigy and led a busy productive life. He was a bit of a dandy and very popular. He never married, but had several relationships with beautiful society women.

You can find out more about him at 52composers.com

Italian Classical Composers

2010-09-13T12:06:00.003+01:00

Following my Russian composers project I am doing the same for Italian composers.

On 52composers.com I now have a page which links to each individual composer.

I have also published a poster (illustrated right) on zazzle with greetings cards and other merchandise. Later this week I hope to have the calendar published.

Featured composers are:

Bellini
Corelli
Donizetti
Leoncavallo
Mascagni
Monteverdi
Palestrina
Pergolesi
Puccini
Rossini
Verdi
Vivaldi

History of Radio - 1924

2010-09-07T10:13:00.003+01:00

I found this 1924 children's book the other day in a junk shop.

Interesting the illustration of an early radio receiver with headphones or is that a Dell computer on the table? Early mp3 player?

Of course the boy wears the headphones while the girl looks on admiringly! Is he wearing tights?

A 1924 mp3 player? by paulhelm
Browse other Radio Posters

I have put it on zazzle so you can buy a print if you want.

Russian Classical Composers

2010-09-06T20:06:00.003+01:00

Having completed portraits of 12 Russian composers I have put up a page at www.52composers.com which links to the profile pages I have done so far.

I have also done a 2011 calendar and a poster (illustrated right). They are available at zazzle

Composers included are:

Balakirev
Borodin
Glinka
Khachaturian
Mussorgsky
Prokofiev
Rachmaninoff
Rimsky-Korsakov
Scriabin
Shostakovich
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky

I hope to do similar publications for Italian, French and German composers before Christmas.

September classical composer anniversaries

2010-09-04T23:01:00.002+01:00

1/9/1854 Humperdinck born
4/9/1824 Bruckner born
4/9/1892 Milhaud born
4/9/1907 Grieg died
5/9/1735 J Christian Bach born
5/9/1912 John Cage born
8/9/1813 Gesualdo died
8/9/1841 Dvorak born
8/9/1949 Richard Strauss died
10/9/1659 Purcell born
13/9/1819 Clara Schumann born
13/9/1874 Schoenberg born
17/9/1179 Hildegard von Bingen died
20/9/1957 Sibelius died
21/9/1874 Holst born
23/9/1836 Bellini died
25/9/1906 Shostakovich born
25/9/1849 J Strauss Sr died
26/9/1898 Gershwin born
26/9/1945 Bartok died
25/9/1921 Humperdinck died

First record to sell a million copies

2010-08-25T21:47:00.004+01:00

So Elvis Presley wasn't the first to sell a million copies of a record!!

In 1907 the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso recorded on the Victrola label "Vesti la giubba" from "Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo.

The video below is of the actual record being played.

The photo (courtesy Wikipedia) is of Caruso playing a "Victrola" phonograph.

Great Composers - 16 month calendar

2010-08-24T11:08:00.010+01:00

It's calendar time again.

My first one this year is 'Great Composers'. It is a sixteen month calendar with a start date of September 2010 so it is ready for the academic year.

Composers included are:

Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Debussy, Dvorak, Aaron Copland, Charles Ives, Stravinsky, Wagner, Prokofiev, Mahler, Haydn, Holst, Bizet, Donizetti and Puccini.

Also included are the birth and death anniversaries of composers relative to each month.

It is available from zazzle

Schubert's Bicentenary

2010-06-07T23:10:00.003+01:00

8 June is Robert Schumann's 200th birthday.
Happy Birthday Robert. I bet they will be having a great party up there!
What a pity he died so early at the age of 46.

Yesterday, Sunday, was Schumann Day on BBC Radio 3. There was a series of programmes throughout the day. You can listen to them for another 6 days on BBC iplayer. Here is the programme.

June anniversaries of classical composers

2010-06-02T10:37:00.002+01:00

1/06/1804 Glinka born
2/06/1857 Elgar born
3/06/1875 Bizet died
3/06/1899 Strauss J. died
6/06/1903 Khachaturian born
8/06/1810 Schumann bicentenary
21/06/1908 Rimsky Korsakov died
10/06/1934 Delius died
11/06/1864 Strauss R. born
15/06/1843 Grieg born
17/06/1818 Gounod born
17/06/1882 Stravinsky born
20/06/1819 Offenbach born

You can see a comprehensive listing of composer anniversaries at the Classical Composer Database

Happy Birthday Elgar - Goodbye Elgar banknote

2010-06-02T10:06:00.002+01:00

Today is Elgar's 153rd birthday.
I see that the £20 banknote featuring the portrait of Elgar and Worcester cathedral will no longer be legal tender from the end of this month. See BBC report here.
The banknote was introduced in 1999.
It was controversially discontinued in 2007 - the year of his 150th anniversary.
Bad timing.
Elgar's image was replaced by that of Adam Smith, the Scottish economist.
Could it be because our Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time was Gordon Brown - a Scotsman.
I can't see the Scots putting the portrait of an English economist on their banknotes.

Happy Birthday Brahms and Tchaikovsky

2010-05-07T17:14:00.002+01:00

Tchaikovsky is 170 today.
Google did a special Google logo featuring Swan Lake (see above).
Excellent

Also today is Brahms's 177th birthday.
Happy Birthday Johannes

May anniversaries of classical composers

2010-05-01T14:58:00.003+01:00

Wow, where did April go? Here in London we had such a wonderful spring April which was appreciated all the more after such a long and miserable winter.

So May has arrived - should be interesting - with a new government.
It is certainly an interesting month for composer anniversaries:

1/05/1904 Dvorak died
1/05/1978 Khachaturian died
7/05/1833 Brahms born
7/05/1840 Tchaikovsky born
12/05/1884 Smetana died
15/05/1567 Monteverdi born
17/05/1866 Satie born
18/05/1909 Albeniz died
18/05/1911 Mahler died
22/05/1813 Wagner born
25/05/1934 Holst died
29/05/1860 Albeniz born
31/05/1809 Haydn died

For a very complete list of May anniversaries I recommend you take a look at the Classical Composers Database

Happy Birthday Ruggiero Leoncavallo

2010-04-23T19:24:00.004+01:00

Ruggiero Leoncavallo was born on 23 aprile 1857, 153 years ago.
However he used to tell people that he was born on 8 March 1858. This was to make himself appear younger than his great rival Giacomo Puccini who was born on 22 dicembre 1858.

What a 'pagliaccio'!!

Thanks to Antonio Pisanti for this interesting factoid.

Happy Birthday Gioachino!

2010-02-28T18:50:00.004Z

Well it is almost his birthday.
Rossini is one of those unfortunate prople being born on a February 29 gets a birthday only every leap year. So he only had 19 birthdays in his lifetime.
Anyway, to celebrate I have put a Rossini video of the week on the home page of 52composers.com It is animated version of The Thieving Magpie by the wonderful Italian artists Gianini and Luzzati. Superb!

Gesualdo - Renaissance composer and murderer

2010-02-28T17:40:00.003Z

The latest addition to my 52composers.com site is Carlo Gesualdo, Prince of Venosa - a composer, lutenist and nobleman of 16th century Italy.
Thanks to my printmaking tutor and mentor Frank Connelly of Morley College. He kept nagging me to do Gesualdo (whom I had never heard of!) . He is better known for having murdered his first wife who he caught in delicto flagrante with her lover - another young Italian prince. He murdered him too - and there is more.
It is a great story. Bernardo Bertolucci is said have it on his 'to do' list with Joseph Fiennes as Gesualdo. If anyone has any information about it please let me know.
Anyway I'm quite pleased with my print. You can read more about dear Carlo at www.52composers.com/gesualdo.html

more at Zazzle .

Happy Birthday George!!

2010-02-23T11:25:00.002Z

Happy Birthday to George Frideric Handel.
Last year was the 250th anniversary of his death and there were numerous celebrations everywhere.

Handel and Bach were born less than a month apart and less than 80 miles apart, yet they never met although they both new and admired each others music.

Another odd coincidence is that both in later life were treated for failing eyesight by a quack English eye surgeon, John Taylor. Both operations were botched and indeed Bach died probably as a result of Taylor's incompetence.
Taylor himself eventually went blind.

The Music Instinct

2010-02-21T18:04:00.005Z

The Music Instinct - how music works and why we can't do without it - by Philip Ball
Our friend Philip has come out with yet another superb book. This one about music.
On Tuesday we went to the Royal Institution where he was lecturing on the subject of his book and very fascinating it was too.
The lecture hall and gallery were sold out and we ended up sitting on the steps as we were a bit late. Anyway I managed to catch up with what we had missed by listening to the audio recording which is conveniently included on the Royal Institution website

There are more great reviews in today's papers. Here are a couple:

The Independent on Sunday

The Observer

Philip is repeating the lecture at the Royal Institution on 27 February.

Mahler and the Grammies

2010-02-02T23:20:00.003Z

Congratulations to Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and of course to Gustav Mahler for winning 3 Grammies at last Sunday's awards:
- Best Classical Album,
- Best Choral Performance, and
- Best Engineered Classical Album
The album is Mahler: Symphony # 8

This is the seventh Grammy won by the SFS and Tilson's cycle of Mahler symphonies.

Other 'Best Orchestral Performance' Grammies won by Mahler were:
2007 - 7th Symphony - Michael Tilson Thomas - San Francisco Symphony
2004 - 3rd Symphony - Pier Boulez - Vienna Philharmonic
2003 - 6th Symphony - Michael Tilson Thomas - San Francisco Symphony
2001 - 10th Symphony - Sir Simon Rattle - Berliner Philharmonic
1999 - 9th Symphony - Piere Boulez - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
1993 - 9th Symphony - Leonard Bernstein - Berlin Philharmonic
1990 - 3rd Symphony - Leonard Bernstein - New York Philharmonic

February composer anniversaries

2010-02-01T20:15:00.003Z

3/02/1809 Mendelssohn born
13/2/1883 Wagner died
17/2/1653 Corelli born
23/2/1934 Elgar died
23/2/1685 Handel born
27/2/1887 Borodin died
29/2/1792 Rossini born

For a really comprehensive list of February births, deaths and events visit the excellent classical-composer.org site

Happy Birthday Schubert

2010-01-31T18:00:00.004Z

Another composer who died tragically young.
Only 31 - even younger than Mozart.

Here is the etching I did of him last year.
I have also done a profile of him on my composer website at:
52composers.com

Happy Birthday Wolfgang

2010-01-27T11:58:00.002Z

Today is Mozart's birthday.
Happy Birthday Wolfgang!

I have just found on YouTube some beautiful animations by the late Emanuele Luzzati, Italian ilustrator and stage designer.

Together with Giulio Gianini he produced some stunning animations and they won an Oscar nomination for their production of Rossini's Thieving Magpie

Here is a link to the first part of Mozart's Magic Flute.

Brilliant!

Arcangelo Corelli

2010-01-25T20:53:00.004Z

I have finished my Corelli portrait and put a short profile on 52composers.com

He was one of the few great composers to die a very rich man. Thanks to the patronage first of Queen Christina of Sweden, then of various cardinals, he amassed not only great wealth but also a fantastic art collection.

I will be making available prints next month.

Photographers protest in Tafalgar Square

2010-01-23T18:19:00.004Z

Today professional and amateur photographers protested in London's Trafalgar Square about the increasing phenomenon of police 'stopping and searching' anyone (including tourists) photographing certain public buildings or police officers.
Last week the European Court of Human Rights ruled that this indiscriminate practice is illegal, so the government has appealed.
Meanwhile - be warned!!

Read the story here

'The Welder' - Art of the Day on EBSQ

2010-01-11T18:19:00.003Z

Yesterday my painting 'The Welder' was featured as Art of the Day on the home page of EBSQ - the excellent site for Self Representing Artists.

Victorian exercise bike

2010-01-08T15:44:00.003Z

If you really can't face cycling outside in this weather then get one of these gadgets to enable you to exercise indoors:

Aerial Velocipede

2010-01-07T14:17:00.003Z

Even better than the Ice Cycle I suggested yesterday would be the Aerial Velocipede.
This would be useful all year round. Great idea - pity it never took off!

Ice Cycle

2010-01-06T16:48:00.005Z

Where can I get one of these?
Just the job for cycling in this weather.
A large spiked wheel, steerable runners, great!

300th Anniversary of Pergolesi's birth

2010-01-04T13:48:00.005Z

Today is the tercentenary of the birth of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, the 'Father of Comic Opera'.
He only had 26 birthdays while on this earth - if he had lived longer would he have been another Mozart? But then Mozart died young as well at 35.

So here is my new portrait of Pergolesi which I completed last week. I have also published a profile of him on my site www.52composers.com

January anniversaries of famous composers

2010-01-02T10:51:00.003Z

Here is a list of anniversaries of some prominent classical composers that fall in January:

4/1/1710 Pergolesi born
6/1/1872 Scriabin born
6/1/1838 Bruch born
7/1/1899 Poulenc born
27/1/1756 Mozart born
27/1/1813Verdi died
29/1/1862 Delius born
30/1/1963 Poulenc died
31/1/1797 Schubert born

2010 Classical composer anniversaries

2010-01-02T10:46:00.002Z

2009 was a great year for famous composer anniversaries and 2010 is also a good year. Strangely a lot more anniversaries of births than of deaths.

Births:
Scarlatti (Alessandro) 350 years
Pergolesi 300 years
Cherubini 250 years
Chopin 200 years
Schumann 200 years
Albeniz 150 years
Mahler 150 years
Stravinsky 100 years

Deaths:
Balakirev 100 years

Happy New Year everyone!

2010-01-01T21:28:00.004Z

I wish everyone a happy and successful new year - and indeed a happy and successful new decade. Let's hope it doesn't go as fast as the last one. I can't believe it is 10 years since the millenium celebrations.

So today we went to the London New Year Parade. It was the first sunny day we have had for some time and there were lots of happy faces (and gossepimples). It is a great show and there were participants from 20 different countries.

Of particular interest are the several marching bands who come all the way from the States just for this parade. So I got some good photos of sousaphones to use on my Sousa page on my 52composers.com site.

I'm getting organised!!

2009-12-29T18:15:00.003Z

It's the end of 2009 and almost the start of a new decade.
Time to get organised!
For the last three years I've been using an organiser software called AZZ Cardfile and I have been really pleased with it.
It is advertised as 'a modern replacement for Microsoft Cardfile'.
Now with version 4 you can use it with your USB flash memory stick which makes it truly portable so I think I will be upgrading.
It is a freeform database without predefined fields. You can add clickable URLs, email addresses, dialable phone numbers, images shortcuts to files on your computer and much more.
You can see the full spec on their website at:
http://www.azzcardfile.com/

I wouldn't be without it. Honestly!

Happy Christmas everyone

2009-12-24T22:56:00.004Z

I wish everyone a very joyful Christmas.

I hope that Santa brings everything on your list!

Upside down Christmas

2009-12-24T09:28:00.003Z

Everything is upside down this Christmas - even the tree!!

Classical Music - 2010 Piano Calendar

2009-12-23T21:21:00.004Z

Why are there so few calendars with a classical music theme?
There are plenty for pop, rock, hip-hop, jazz etc but hardly any for classical. I have therefore produced four:
Opera, Piano, Great Composers and Russian composers on Zazzle

This one is 12 portraits of great composers for classical piano. They are:

Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Chopin
Debussy
Haydn
Mendelssohn
Liszt
Rachmaninoff
Schubert
Schumann
Scriabin

You can see them at my Zazzle store

Russian Classical Composers - 2010 calendar

2009-12-12T16:04:00.007Z

A bit late but I have at last published my 2010 calendar of Russian composers. I managed to finish the 12th portrait Balakirev last week.
There is a composer per month:

Borodin
Balakirev
Glinka
Khachaturian
Mussorgsky
Rachmaninoff
Prokofiev
Rimsky-Korsakov
Shostakovich
Scriabin
Stravinsky
and of course Tchaikovsky

You can find it with my other calendars at Zazzle

Happy Birthday Hector!

2009-12-11T10:40:00.005Z

Today is Berlioz's birthday (born in 1803).

- "Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils." (Berlioz)

He is one of the composer portraits featured in my 2010 Opera Calendar

100 PHOTOS THAT CHANGED CANADA

2009-11-06T19:57:00.004Z

My niece's husband, Mark Reid, is editor of The Beaver - the magazine of Canada's National History Society.
Following the great success of a feature in the magazine '10 Photos that changed Canada' he has put together a book '100 Photos that changed Canada'.
It is a beautiful production - not only fascinating photographs, but also great accompanying text written by some of Canada's best historians, journalists and writers. The book is further enhanced with excellent design and production.
A great Christmas present for anyone with Canadian connections.
Mark and Marianne are currently on a travelling book launch tour. Unfortunately London is not on their schedule (yet!).

November composer anniversaries

2009-11-02T13:57:00.005Z

3/11/1801 Bellini born
4/11/1924 Fauré died
4/11/1847 Mendelssohn died
6/11/1893 Tchaikovsky died
12/11/1833 Borodin died
13/11/1868 Rossini died
14/11/1900 Copland born
19/11/1828 Schubert died
21/11/1695 Purcell died
22/11/1913 Britten born
29/11/1797 Donizetti born
29/11/1643 Monteverdi died
29/11/1924 Puccini died

Henry Purcell - new postage stamp

2009-10-17T21:29:00.003+01:00

The Royal Mail issued a new set of stamps on 8 October. 'Eminent Britons'. Ten 1st class stamps.

Henry Purcell is one of the ten so I have added it to my Purcell webpage at 52composers.com

I was sorry to see that none of the portrait artists or photographers were credited by name. Only the picture agencies holding the copyright were mentioned.

October anniversaries of classical composers

2009-09-30T23:53:00.002+01:00

5/10/1880 Offenbach died

9/10/1835 Saint Sens born

9/10/1813 Verdi born

11/10/1896 Bruckner died

12/10/1872 Vaughan-Williams born

14/10/1990 Bernstein died

17/10/1849 Chopin died

18/10/1893 Gounod died

22/10/1811 Liszt born

25/10/1838 Bizet born

25/10/1825 Johann Strauss born

Underwater photography - 1895

2009-09-28T12:00:00.003+01:00

I came across this item in an 1895 version of the Golden Penny magazine.
How extraordinary. I wonder if any of his images still exist and where to find them?

2010 Calendar - 12 Piano Composers

2009-09-18T23:36:00.006+01:00

We're half way through September already - soon be Christmas!
I have started working on my 2010 calendars.
I am trying Redbubble for the first time and have just published one of Piano composers including:
Liszt – Scriabin – Rachmaninov – Bach – Brahms – Debussy – Schumann – Satie – Chopin – Beethoven – Mozart

See it at Redbubble

Freedom of the (Italian) Press 1928

2009-09-16T11:18:00.002+01:00

Freedom of the (Italian) Press 1928
Originally uploaded by Paul Helm UK

Looking through my old copies of Punch magazine I came across this cartoon of Mussolini which uncannily reflects Berlusconi's attempts to muzzle the press today.

The caption reads:
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS
Signor Mussolini: "You see, Ladies and Gentlemen, I don't muzzle him, the sagacious animal puts on his own muzzle himself, the freeest dog in the world!"
[The Italian journalist, according to Signor Mussolini in his address to the Editors of the Fascist Press (there is no other Press in Italy), "does not wait to take his orders daily because he already has them in his consciousness."]

Happy Birthday Henry Purcell

2009-09-10T12:02:00.003+01:00

Today is the 350th birthday of the great English baroque composer Henry Purcell.
He was the first English composer of comparable stature to the European composers. Tragically his productive life was cut short at the early age of 36.

More about him at 52composers.com

The Autumn Fair

2009-09-09T17:43:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I went to the Autumn Fair at the NEC (National Exhibition Centre). This is the big trade fair for the retail gift market. I have been many times in the past when I had my picture framing business and it was always a useful source of ideas and products in the art and framing business.
I was quite shocked and disappointed at how few stands there were showing art and hardly any framing companies.
I was also disturbed by the amount of near plagiarism on show. For example Jack Vettriano and Banksy were the flavour of the month and many artists and art publishers are taking advantage of this by copying their style.
This is a big problem for many artists who develop a distinctive and popular style af art.
&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;A class="APCAnchor" HREF="http://affiliates.allposters.com/link/redirect.asp?AID=1245209719&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;PSTID=5&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;LTID=16&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;TID1=9&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lang=1"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Buy Posters at AllPosters.com &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/A&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Edvard Grieg anniversary

2009-09-04T20:25:00.004+01:00

Today is the 102nd anniversary of Grieg's death in 1907. I was reminded of it while listening to the radio and sitting in a traffic jam at Gatwick airport this afternoon. It helped pass the time.
He was a modest man as illustrated by a quote of his:

- "Artists like Bach and Beethoven erected churches and temples on the heights. I only wanted... to build dwellings for men in which they might feel happy and at home."

September composer anniversaries

2009-08-31T23:59:00.005+01:00

It's September already. Back to work. Back to school.
Here are the September birthdays and anniversaries of the composers on my 52composers.com website:

4/9/1824 - Bruckner born
4/9/1907 - Grieg died
8/9/1841 - Dvorak born
8/9/1949 - Richard Strauss died
10/9/1659 - Purcell born
20/9/1957 - Sibelius died
21/9/1874 - Holst born
23/9/1836 - Bellini died
25/9/1906 - Shostakovich born

Banksy Bristol exhibition closes

2009-08-30T21:49:00.002+01:00

Waiting for Banksy
Originally uploaded by stringberd

So tomorrow the Bristol exhibition closes and I didn't manage to see it. I really couldn't face the queues of up to a mile long and at peak times waits of 8 hours and normally about 3 hours according to the reports we heard. More people have visited Bristol Museum in the 10 weeks of the exhibition than normally visit in a whole year.
After such an outstanding success it surely must be put on again at another venue. It really does raise a lot of interesting thoughts on 'what is art?'

Interesting: 20 things you never knew about Banksy's Bristol show

Leoncavallo's 90th anniversary

2009-08-09T09:28:00.007+01:00

Today 9th August is the 90th anniversary of the death of the Italian opera composer Ruggero Leoncavallo in Montecatini, Tuscany in 1919.
He is buried in the Cimitero Monumentale delle Porte Sante, Florence.
I hope they have a party up there!

Happy Birthday Leos Janacek

2009-07-03T20:10:00.006+01:00

Another birthday this week - this time the Czech composer Leos Janacek, born on 3 July 1854.

Best known for his 9 operas. He was most productive and creative in the last 15 years of his 74 year long life. Credit is often given to his muse Kamila Stösslová, a young married woman 30 years his junior.

For more information click on the title.

Happy Birthday Erik Satie!

2009-07-01T00:02:00.003+01:00

July 1 is the birthday of French pianist and composer Erik Satie. I have just set up Satie shops at both Zazzle and at Cafepress using my new portrait of Satie.
There is a good range of giftware.
I am also working on a Satie page on my website 52composers.com with additional content.

Karl Marx in Il Manifesto

2009-04-03T23:09:00.005+01:00

Thomas, my 8 year old grandson, spotted my portrait of Karl Marx in my daughter's copy of the Italian Comunist newspaper Il Manifesto. It appeared prominently on the back page with a credit. A thumbnail was printed on the front page.
My first appearance in an Italian newspaper.
Well spotted Thomas!

Albeniz Festival 2009

2009-03-31T19:16:00.004+01:00

This year is the centenary of the death of Isaac Albeniz, the Spanish pianist and composer.
Though born in Catalonia his father was Basque and his mother was Andalucian.
The annual Musique en Cote Basque festival is dedicating this year's programme to Albeniz.
They are using my portrait of Albeniz on their website, posters, programmes and publicity material.
If you would like to know more about him see the page I have done on www.52composers.com

Genghis Khan on Zazzle (and more)

2009-03-31T00:47:00.002+01:00

On checking my website stats I noticed that there have been a lot of visitors to my Genghis Khan page. They are coming as a result of Google image search where my image appears on the first page - great. So - I have added him to the FineArtAmerica site where they do excellent prints on paper or canvas, framed or unframed.

he is already in my cafepress shop but I will add him also to my Zazzle shop where they do some excellent giftware.

My new Licensing Agent - Lebrecht Music & Arts

2009-02-14T14:39:00.003Z

I am pleased to say that I have signed a contract with the Lebrecht Music & Arts Library for them to handle the licensing of my music and literature images. Nearly all my composers have now been uploaded. There are just a few which I want to revise and polish.
I am very pleased about this as it ensures that the boring negotiating and contract side of the business will be handled professionally.
They have signed up my first order - my portrait of Albeniz which will be used for the Basque Music Festival in the south of France this summer.
This year is the centenary of his death.

To see my portfolio there click on Lebrecht.co.uk and put Paul Helm in the search box.

I joined the Tate

2009-01-05T12:18:00.009Z

Yesterday was the last day of the Francis Bacon exhibition so we all decided to go to see it. With the price of individual tickets so high it makes sense to pay for an annual membership if you live in London.
Three years ago I was given a membership as a gift and I used it a lot. The last two years without it I must say I didn't go to nearly as many exhibitions. When ticket prices are £12 per visit you think twice before going and then only to those that really interest you. It's a bit like broadband v dial-up. You don't have to think of the meter ticking.
As for the Bacon exhibition, it was well worth the visit, plenty to see. It was reassuring to see that his studio was a bigger mess than mine!

To get a copy of the catalogue click the link below.
Francis Bacon

Gaza protest march - London

2009-01-03T21:54:00.004Z

Today I went to London with my wife, daughter and two grandchildren. We joined the Gaza protest march from Westminster Bridge to Trafalgar Square. My wife threw a shoe at Downing Street! as did many others.

The turnout was impressive. There is the usual discrepancy between the police estimate and the organisers estimate of the number of protesters. The police say 10 - 12,000, the organisers say 75,000.

We heard speeches by Tony Benn, Bianca Jagger, Brian Eno, Ken Livingstone and others.

We got home to find that the Israelis had launched their ground offensive in Gaza. Where will it end?

I usually restrain myself from making political posts in this blog, but this matter is tragic indeed and I feel very strongly about the injustice and the disproportionate action of Israel and the inaction of Britain and the USA.

2009 Composer Anniversaries

2009-01-01T22:27:00.005Z

Happy New Year everybody!
2009 is a great year for anniversaries of composers. For example:

Isaac Albeniz - died 18 May 1909 (100 years)
George Frideric Handel - died 14 April 1759 (250 years)
Franz Josef Haydn - died 31 May 1809 (200 years)
Felix Mendelssohn - born 3 February 1809 (200 years)
Henry Purcell - born 10 September 1759 (350 years)

Go to my 52composers.com website for more details

Happy Birthday Giacomo Puccini !!

2008-12-22T22:26:00.006Z

Today, 22 December, is the 150th anniversary of the birth of Giacomo Puccini.

Next year's opera season at the Arena of Verona features two of his operas; Tosca and Turandot.

I have also featured him of course in my 2009 Opera Calendars which are available on eBay UK and on Cafepress

Exhibition at Morley

2008-10-23T21:33:00.007+01:00

I am in the throes of preparing for a group exhibition at the Morley College Gallery.

It is called 'Sixteen @ Morley' as it is sixteen of us from Frank Connely's class who have clubbed together to rent the gallery for two weeks.

This is the second year we do it. Last year it was in Spring and was quite successful. This year it is 3-14 November so we are hoping that people will be buying their Christmas presents!

Will the 'credit crunch' affect us? We'll soon see.

My theme will be classical composers again. Last year I had 16 portraits done. This year I have over 50 so I need to select and make best use of the available space.

This photo is of my display at last year's show.

50th Anniversary of the Death of Ralph Vaughan Williams

2008-08-25T21:19:00.005+01:00

I have done a new portrait of Ralph Vaughan Williams for the 50th anniversary of his death tomorrow. The portrait is a photoetching from one of my pencil drawings and has a background of his better known works. The border is a monoprint and represents the 'Lark Ascending'

It's amazing that he is ranked at no1 and no3 in this year's ClassicFM Hall of fame (300 classical pieces ranked according to the listeners' votes).

No1 is his 'Lark Ascending'
No3 is his 'Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'.

Benjamin Britten on 52composers.com

2008-08-23T21:01:00.005+01:00

This week I have been adding more content to the Benjamin Britten pages of my new website 52composers.com

I tried finding some YouTube videos of him. I was surprised how little there is available. There is plenty of other people performing his work but hardly any of him conducting or playing. A few I found had "embedding disabled by request" (by who I wonder?). Anyway I finally got one of him accompanying Peter Pears singing Schubert which I was able to put on the site.

A video I really wanted to feature was one of Dudley Moore at the piano with a parody of Britten accompanying Peter Pears. Brilliant. You used to be able to see it but it has been withdrawn. (I wonder why?)

2009 Opera Calendar

2008-08-15T17:57:00.003+01:00

I have just finished a 2009 calendar featuring opera composers: Puccini, Mozart, Berlioz, Bellini, Mascagni, Rossini, Bizet, Wagner, Handel, Offenbach, Verdi and Leoncavallo.
It is at cafepress.
I am going to try various POD suppliers to see the differences. I will report here my findings.
Cafepress do three formats for their 12 page calendar

Standard Wall Calendar (which I have used)
page size 11" x 8.5" (11" x 17" when hung)
100lb cover weight high gloss paper
wire-o binding
Jan - Dec 2009
US holiday dates only
Oversize Wall Calendar
as above except
page size 17" x 11" (17" x 22" when hung)
Vertical Wall Calendar
page size 11" x 17" (11" x 17" when hung)
10pt heavyweight high gloss paper
rest as above.

New Albeniz portrait

2008-08-12T17:26:00.004+01:00

I have 4 of my prints accepted in the International Miniprint exhibition in Cadaques (Spain) this summer. I'll tell you about it soon in another post.

Albeniz was born near there in Camprodon so I decided to do a portrait of him. I have also done a page about him on my new website. To see it click on the above title.

I thought he composed for the guitar as you hear so much of his music on ClassicFM played on the guitar by John Williams and others. However he was a very talented concert pianist and composed for the piano. Many of his pieces have been transcribed very successfully for the guitar.

Just listen, watch amd marvel at the master Segovia playing his "Linares"

52composers.com - My new website

2008-08-03T22:37:00.004+01:00

I am building a new website for the series of classical music composer portraits I'm working on.
So far I have been putting all my art into my www.PaulHelm.com site which just isn't getting much traffic and therefore no sales.

I have been building on-line stores at imagekind, art.com, lulu, cafepress, zazzle and various other sites with varying success. These sites are fantastic at providing a Print on Demand service but it is up to you to drive traffic to them in order to get sales. You cannot just build a store and sit back hoping for the dollars to roll in.

Having had some success with the composer portraits I have decided to build a site dedicated just to my composers. This way, if I can generate the interest I will be able to drive traffic to my stores.

I have called it 52composers.com as 52 is an easily remembered number and my plan is to produce one a week for a year. I have done over 40 portraits so far so I will have plenty of work putting them onto the new site.

Having spent a long time evaluating various site building options I have settled on using SBI for my exciting new project. I will keep you informed on progress in this blog.

Take a look at progress so far at www.52composers.com

The Cans Festival

2008-05-05T21:02:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we went to the Cans Festival - a 3 day festival and exhibition of street stencil art near Waterloo station, London. Brilliant! Some great images by UK and international stencil artists including the great Banksy.
The sculptures and installations will be taken down tomorrow but the wall art should remain until the authorities decide on some other use for this derelict tunnel/road.
I took a load of photos which you can see here:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/PaulHelm/CansFestival2008

2008 CLASSICAL MUSIC CALENDAR

2007-12-04T23:12:00.001Z

Yesterday I published my Great Composers 2008 Calendar on Zazzle. It looks great. I was flattered to get an email last night telling me that it was selected as one of 'Today's Best on Zazzle'.
I was also astonished to find that within 24 hours it was ranked on the first page of a Google search for Classical Music Calendar. That is truly impressive SEO by Zazzle.
I am getting the hang of Zazzle and I will be putting more work on there soon.

Jacques Henri LARTIGUE

2007-11-03T17:51:00.000Z

On Thursday night BBC4 transmitted a documentary by Nick Danziger called "The Boy Who Never Grew Up". It was about Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894 - 1986) one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. While I was already familiar with many of his photographs, I was completely unaware that many of his best known ones were taken at the age 10 or 12 years old. He started at the age of 6 with his father's camera.

He was not really known until 1963, at the age of 69, when the Museum of Modern Art put on a retrospective exhibition of his work
In 1979 he donated his meticulously archived collection of his life's photographic work to the French State. It is called the Donation Jacques Henri Lartigue
A fascinating life, I must read his biography.

New Wagner Portrait

2007-11-01T23:30:00.000Z

Here is the portrait of Wagner I have been working on. It is a 2 plate photoetching from my pencil drawing. The coloured surround is a collagraph printed at the same time on Somerset paper. Prints and merchandise are available as follows:
Fine prints (framed or unframed) from Imagekind
Poster from artist-rising.
Giftware from Cafepress

Kids with Cameras

2007-10-17T13:40:00.000+01:00

This morning on BBC Radio 4's 'Midweek' programme there was an interesting feature about the educational benefits of photography to deprived children.

"Sue Carpenter is a journalist and photographer. She recently led a photographic project in Nepal for the charity Asha-Nepal, in which girls from desperately poor backgrounds were taught to use a camera to remarkable effect. The photographs can be seen in My World, My View available from Asha-Nepal. You can also view them on the BBC News website. "
You can 'Listen again' to the interview on the BBC website for the next 6 days at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/midweek.shtml

This is very similar to the project in Calcutta: subject of the 2005 Oscar winning documentary "Born into Brothels" by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski.
a moving and inspiring film which I highly recommend if you are interested in children and in photography.
Following the success of the Calcutta experiment Zana set up 'Kids with Cameras' which runs workshops in Haiti, Cairo and Jerusalem and the original Calcutta workshop.

Having first seen 'Born into Brothels' on BBC TV I tried to get the DVD but it was only published in a Region 1 format not compatible for UK/Europe. Now I am happy to say that since August it is also available in Region 2 format so I have it at last.

Jeans for Genes

2007-10-05T21:44:00.000+01:00

Today I was in Paternoster Square (adjacent to London's St Paul's Cathedral). There is a beautiful sculpture there by Elizabeth Frink called the 'Shepherd and Sheep'. Today however it had been 'denimised'. The shepherd was wearing jeans and the sheep had blue denim bow ties.
Today apparently is Jeans for Genes Day "Raising funds for today's scientist for tomorrow's children' - an important fundraising organisation for research into genetic diseases in children. See www.jeansforgenes.com for more information
I am sure Elizabeth Frink would be happy to see her sculpture used in such a creative way to help such a good cause.

2007-09-13T21:35:00.002+01:00

New J S BACH artwork ready
I have finished my new print of JS Bach. I kept putting him off as he was quite a challenge. However I have been asked by an American symphony orchestra if they can use my portraits for a series of educational cards and Bach features in the first, to be published this month. So here he is. It is available as a fine art print from imagekind and will be sold as a poster print from art.com.
I have also added it to my cafepress shop - great presents for Bach lovers!

Paul Helm's Art blog

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