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We have had several threads on music and food but not art I thought tonight we could discuss what works of art you enjoy. Art can be very subjective what some people love other hate, what some consider a scribble a daub on a paper other consider a masterpiece. Then there are certain pieces of art that are universally accepted and admired. What are your favourite works of art or type of art? Maybe it is a sculpture or some fine art? On the other hand maybe architecture is your bent? Tonight's questions What is your favourite painting? What is...

When I said I would give a pleasant surprise to Brityank, I meant I would like to paint a painting for him. Because I would like to thank him for his kindness towards me. Maybe he doesn’t think its anything, But I really care. Because I think I must keep my promise, and do my best, I will do it, and I’m free now. I hope Brityank feels free about this too. Because it is just a painting, and I just need an excuse to exercise my drawing skills. I am so lazy sometimes you know, I like to relax...

BAGHDAD, April 9, 2008 – Soldiers at Forward Operating Base War Eagle here invited a group of Iraqi children to showcase their artistic skills and creativity March 29 by painting the concrete walls used to protect citizens in their neighborhood. Young Iraqi artists pose in front of their artwork after a day spent painting a T-wall at Forward Operating Base War Eagle in northern Baghdad, March 29, 2008. The children of the village next to the base painted the T-walls that line their route to school. Photo by Army Spc. Joseph Rivera Rebolledo, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry...

<p>A new storm is brewing in the world of Da Vinci theorists after a mysterious group claimed it has used mirrors to uncover hidden biblical images in some of the great master’s most famous works.</p> <p>The Mirror of the Sacred Scriptures and Paintings In recent years, art history scholars have unveiled Templar knights, Mary Magdalene, a child and a musical script hidden in the Italian’s paintings.</p>

NEW YORK — An abstract masterpiece by a Mexican artist that was found in the trash by a woman who knew little about modern art has been sold for more than $1 million. The painting "Tres Personajes" by Rufino Tamayo was discovered in 2003 by Elizabeth Gibson, who spotted it on her morning walk on Manhattan's Upper West Side. She said she took it home because "even though I didn't understand it, I knew it had power." The brightly colored abstract work was purchased for $1,049,000 by an unidentified private American collector bidding by phone at Sotheby's Latin American Art...

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- The "Mona Lisa" has long been shrouded in mystery, including one long-standing question about the famous lady: What happened to her eyebrows and eyelashes? Now, a French engineer and inventor says he's uncovered part of the enigma.

New movie out in October. From the site: Synopsis: within a few months 4yr old Marla Olmstead sold over $300K worth of paintings. Compared to Kandinsky and Pollock.... Michael Kimmelman Quotes: "people don't seem to feel there's really some way of judging what's good, what's bad. There's this large idea out there that abstract art has no standards, no truths.." .."pulls the veil off this con game...."

'Oldest' wall painting looks like modern art By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 6:56pm BST 11/10/2007 French archaeologists have discovered an 11,000-year-old work of art in northern Syria which is the oldest known wall painting, even though it looks like a work by a modernist. The painting resembles the work of Paul Klee The two square-metre painting, in red, black and white, was found at the Neolithic settlement of Djade al-Mughara on the Euphrates, northeast of the city of Aleppo. "It looks like a modernist painting," said Eric Coqueugniot, the team leader. "Some of those who saw it have...

A disputed portrait of Jesus Christ will remain at the Slidell city courthouse in Louisiana after a federal judge refused to grant a demand by the American Civil Liberties Union to have the painting removed.

NEW ORLEANS - The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of Slidell on Tuesday for displaying a painting of Jesus in a courthouse lobby, saying it violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The ACLU sued after the Slidell City Court refused to voluntarily remove the picture and a message below it that reads: "To Know Peace, Obey These Laws." The ACLU says the portrait — an image of Jesus presenting the New Testament — is a religious icon of the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity. "We did not file this lawsuit because the ACLU is anti-religion ......

French Fireships Attacking the English Fleet off Quebec, 28 June 1759 Cavalry embarking at Blackwall,24 April 1793 Shipping in a Gale, circe 1656 Building the 'Great Leviathan' (the 'Great Eastern')Date 1858 The Destruction of 'L'Orient' at the Battle of the Nile, 1 August 1798 An English Ship in a Gale Trying to Claw off a Lee Shore, 1672 Moonlight View over Table Bay Showing Halley's Comet, c. 1842

Scientists believe they have discovered the secret behind the work of Claude Monet, one of the founders of Impressionist painting. The artist is known to have suffered from cataracts but new research shows how much and for how long this could have had an effect and how it may have produced his distinctive style. Researchers recreated Monet's Water-Lily Pond as he would have seen it. The pond was the subject of a series of canvases which Monet exhibited in 1900 at the age of 60.

The Virginia foundation confirmed that it has the "Enslaved Girl" watercolor "on approval." The painting was done by the wife of General Robert E. Lee at her family's Virginia plantation in 1830. "The provenance looks airtight. It would be an important acquisition," Colonial Williamsburg spokesman Jim Bradley told The Associated Press Monday. Laurel Acevedo of Alexander Gallery on Madison Avenue said the rare picture has been with Colonial Williamsburg since last week. "We gave them a good price. We wanted it to go to a public institution," Acevedo said. The portrait went on sale in January for $400,000 together with...

New evidence has linked a commonly prescribed sleep medication with bizarre behaviours, including a case in which a woman painted her front door in her sleep. UK and Australian health agencies have released information about 240 cases of odd occurrences, including sleepwalking, amnesia and hallucinations among people taking the drug zolpidem. While doctors say that zolpidem can offer much-needed relief for people with sleep disorders, they caution that these newly reported cases should prompt a closer look at its possible side effects.

A North Carolina artist intrigued by the public obsession with celebrity has found herself feeding that obsession with a painting of actress Angelina Jolie as the Virgin Mary hovering over a Wal-Mart check-out line. Kate Kretz has painted for 20 years but none of her previous work has garnered the attention given "Blessed Art Thou," showing this weekend at Art Miami, an annual exposition of modern and contemporary art. The painting has gotten much attention from celebrity web sites and blogs. Since the buzz started, the number of daily unique visitors to Kretz's own blog has jumped from an average...

The original of a Norman Rockwell painting found behind a fake wall has fetched a record $15.4m (£7.9m). Breaking Home Ties by the US artist was first sold to cartoonist Donald Trachte in 1960 for $900 when the two were neighbours in Vermont. But Mr Trachte made a replica of the painting and hid the genuine piece in a cavity in his studio. The original was discovered by Mr Trachte's sons after he died last year and sold at Sotheby's in New York. In April, David and Donald Trachte Jnr noticed a strange gap in the wall of a room...

Here is a quote from the blog: "If a non christian student steals or destroys the portrait of the person that the Bridgeport WV High School alleges to be Jesus. How will the school board punish the kids religious dissent without violating the kids civil rights?" http://www.sheck.com/serendipity/

He lost his arms in Iraq, now he paints with his heart and wants to help others...Peter Damon, a former Sergeant in the National Guard, had a less than pleasant experience while serving in Iraq. While working on a Blackhawk Helicopter in 2003, the former electrician lost both his arms, and saw his military buddy from Alabama, Paul Bueche killed, after a tire on the helicopter exploded. The explosion created a world of hurt for Damon, necessitating his removal from Iraq and a lengthy rehabilitation at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Maryland, where he was fitted with a...

In a father's experience, perfection Shorewood artist's work earns top award in national contest By MARY LOUISE SCHUMACHERmschumacher@journalsentinel.com Posted: June 23, 2006 Whether painting the wrinkled face of a farmer, the long shadows cast by a man shoveling snow or the inquisitive face of his young son, Shorewood artist David Lenz wants to tell the truth through images that are as close to reality as possible. David Lenz Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery"Sam and the Perfect World" depicts David Lenzs 9-year-old son and won the top prize in a National Portrait Gallery competition. Archived Coverage In January and February of...

I was shopping at Goodwill (don't ask) and found a painting (watercolor) that was very nicely framed and matted. I needed a new painting for my wall but didn't want some cheap print - so I examined it to see if there were 'dots' from the printing process and there were none. I was confident this was a hand-crafted work. As I was examining it a woman approached me - she had been looking at it and wondered whether it was original as well. I told her what I knew and she then informed me there was a second painting...

HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- It's not exactly the DaVinci Code, but a scholar at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is thrilled with what was found by X-rays of one of the museum's 16th-century paintings. The painting by Italian artist Gerolomo Bassano depicts the preparation of Jesus Christ's body to be placed in the tomb. X-rays at Washington County Hospital revealed a hidden portrait. Beneath the painting is a man's face, his upper body and his hands clasped at his waist. Researcher Mary Pixley said it was common for artists in need of a canvas to paint over their work....

Michael Stravato for The New York Times The artist and musician Daniel Johnston in his parents' home in Waller, Tex. He will soon be a presence in New York City. Courtesy Clementine Gallery, New York Mr. Johnston's drawings are often rendered in Magic Marker. WALLER, Tex. — In their crusade to take the pulse of contemporary art every two years, the curators of the Whitney Biennial often stray from the art world's beaten paths. But rarely have they strayed quite as far as this small farming town near Houston, along a road that leads to a beige-brick ranch house...

A couple shopping for Valentine's day in Bangalore (TOI) NEW DELHI: Love was in the air as twosomes thronged parks, restaurants and malls in major cities to celebrate Valentine's Day with roses, chocolates and sweet nothings under the stern watch of Hindu hardline groups who tried hard to mar the celebrations. Lovers were everywhere - holding hands and cosying up in parks and open spaces, meeting in lounges, discotheques, pubs and even parking lots - as flower sellers made a killing with a single rose stalk going for as much as Rs.50 in some places. It looked as if the...

A Florida city has barred three paintings from a city hall display celebrating Black History Month because they contain small references to the Christian faith. Officials at the city of Deltona, Fla., say hanging the colorful photos by artist Lloyd Marcus would be tantamount to the town favoring a specific religion. Marcus' paintings were to be part of an employee-organized display in the lobby of Deltona City Hall, but acting city manager Roland Blossom nixed the art, reported the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Published January 22, 2006 [ From the Lansing State Journal ] Mexican painting has both Christian, Aztec influencesUnearthed mural shows melding of cultures(Photo by Associated Press) Flying into view: This image of a bird is part of the 16-yard-long mural at an excavation in Mexico City. By Mark Stevenson Associated Press Salvador Guilliem dangles on a narrow beam over the sunken remains of a mural painted by Indians shortly after the Spanish conquest. Guilliem, an archaeologist, points out the newly excavated red, green and ochre flourishes in one of the earliest paintings to show the mixing of the two cultures....

A FEMME fatale with a mocking, ironic smile, a man in drag, an expectant mother or simply a housewife trying to hide the appalling state of her teeth. The true meaning of Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile has haunted art lovers for years, but scientists now believe they have hit upon a breakthrough. Using a computer programme designed to reveal the emotions of a face, they have worked out that Leonardo da Vinci's muse was 83 per cent happy, 9 per cent disgusted, 6 per cent fearful and 2 per cent angry. The study, which was carried out by Professor Nicu...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Virginia, Oct. 21, 2005 - Brenda Harris Tustian, a strong supporter of the Corps and Marine affiliated-organizations, donated two framed limited-edition prints of her patriotic Santa Clause paintings to the Base commander Col. James Lowe Oct. 3 in the foyer of Lejuene Hall. The paintings were Tustian’s “God Bless America” Santa and “Let Freedom Ring” Santa. “’Let Freedom Ring’ is a beautiful painting that celebrates the spirit of America, our freedoms and the blessing of our great country,” said Mike Kindrick at the unveiling of the paintings. “’God Bless America’ inspires pride and honor in all...

Sacramento -- A painting of the United States sinking into a toilet, formerly on display in the cafeteria of the state Department of Justice, has been moved by Attorney General Bill Lockyer to his 17th floor office, where public access is limited. The artist who created the piece, Stephen Pearcy, said Lockyer's decision to move the painting violated his First Amendment right to political speech. The painting's inclusion in a larger exhibit displayed in the state building sparked protests from some conservatives and served as fodder for talk radio shows. "His office is not public. The decision to move it...

Chicago Tribune CHICAGO - A Chicago art collector has agreed to pay $6.5 million to settle a claim that a Picasso oil painting she bought in 1975 was looted by the Nazis. Marilynn Alsdorf, who acquired Picasso's "Femme en blanc" ("Woman in White") from New York art dealer Stephen Hahn for $357,000, will pay the sum to Californian Thomas Bennigson, whose grandmother owned the painting before it was confiscated during the Holocaust. Though Alsdorf has fought Bennigson's claim since 2002, when he sued for $10 million in California state court, she agreed to settle after attorneys for both parties met...

Masked thieves in Norway have stolen what they thought were three Edvard Munch paintings - but which turned out to be worthless copies. Two unarmed men burst into Oslo's Hotel Continental, threatened staff and removed three pictures from the walls. But the hotel had swapped the originals with duplicates after two real Munch works were stolen from the Munch Museum in the city almost a year ago.

"Jews as Nazis" and "U.S. Flag in the Toilet" Art Displays Fuel Hatred against Jews and Americans     California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, in his official capacity, is sponsoring and hosting a leftist lawyers art exhibit that contains a collection of art displays with themes that are blatantly anti-American, anti-military, antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Republican, anti-President Bush, and anti-conservative. The art exhibit is on display from July 15 through July 31, 2005, in the first floor cafeteria at the California Department of Justice building on I Street, at the state capitol. This art exhibit is also jointly sponsored by the...

HUMAN BEINGS TAKE A NATURAL DELIGHT IN FORM and pattern. Our eyes and visual cortex are designed to pick out shapes and hints of half-hidden presences, and to recognize the colors, textures, and fine details of natural objects. These are the necessary skills of a hunter-gatherer species, adapted to follow the obscure tracks of fleeing prey, to resolve the outline of a camouflaged animal in hiding, to remember and find again a nutritious berry, root, or herb. Nature rewards the exercise of such skills, which require concentration and work, with a pleasure that modern birdwatchers, naturalists, and scuba divers know...

10:10 2005-06-03 A scandal broke out in the capital of Belarus following the sale of a previously unknown painting by Marc Chagal at auction in Minsk. The painting was purchased for $650,000 by an individual who remained anonymous. Lyudmila Kononova, executive director of the auction company Paragis, said to Interfax yesterday that reserve price for the painting was set at $450,000. Details relating to a new location of the painting will be agreed upon within the next 20 days. The painting will be kept in a storage room of the auction company during that period. Then it will become clear...

Players Join Forces with Whirlpool to Paint for Charity BERLIN, Germany - Whirlpool and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have brought together some of the top tennis players on the Tour, to add their creative flair to the Whirlpool Player’s Painting. This unique work of art has been themed ‘Room with a View’, to link Habitat for Humanity’s core objective of building houses for low income people in need of simple decent low cost shelter across the world with Whirlpool’s goal of providing practical help to the disadvantaged. Players including Russian superstar Maria Sharapova (pictured ), France’s finest Amelie Mauresmo...

An Inca mummy kept in a Florentine museum might have been a source of inspiration for Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," an Italian anthropologist claims. Bearing a striking resemblance to Munch's now stolen painting, the mummy was rediscovered as Florence's Museum of Natural History began to carry out scientific investigations such as CT scans on its collection of Peruvian mummies. “ It"s the strong resemblance that struck us. Basically, the images of the 'The Scream' and the mummy can be overlapped. ” "It"s the strong resemblance that struck us. Basically, the images of the 'The Scream' and the mummy can...

Inquire into the flight of the "Cry" of Edvard Munch: a stopped man OSLO - the Norwegian police force apprehended Friday a man suspected of having taken part in the flight of the "Cry", celebrates it table of Edvard Munch stolen to Oslo last year, and was said optimistic on its capacity to find it. "a man of about thirty years was stopped Friday after-midiet accused for participation in the armed robbery perpetuated with the Munch museum on August 22, 2004", indicated the police force of Oslo in an official statement. "the tables ' Cri' and ' Madone' for...

Recent aArrests Could Bring Police Closer to Solving "The Scream" Heist Thu Apr 7,2005 OSLO (AFP) - Norwegian police said that a number of recent arrests of Norwegian criminals could bring them closer to tracking down Edvard Munch's world-renowned masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" that were stolen from an Oslo art museum last August. "We can't rule out that the recent arrests will give us a helping hand," Iver Stensrud, who heads the Oslo police organized crime unit, told AFP. "The criminal underworld is limited in Oslo and in Norway and everyone works with everyone, everyone knows everyone," he pointed...

Antarctic Oil Painting Shrouded in Mystery Mon Mar 28, 2005 By MATT APUZZO/ Associated Press Writer NEW HAVEN, Conn. - As art restorers in London inspected a 230-year-old painting by master landscape artist William Hodges, they noticed the canvas was thicker in some areas than others. Using an X-ray machine, they peered behind the lush greens of New Zealand and discovered the oldest known painting of Antarctica. The X-ray revealed two icebergs, painted during Captain James Cook's historic expedition below the Antarctic circle. Until the National Maritime Museum in London made the discovery last year, historians believed that only sketches...

Look at the pictures of Leonardo's "Last Supper" before and after restoration. Then think of the big to-do about Mary Magdalen's allegedly sitting next to Christ in this painting. Then prepare to laugh -- and get mad at the thought of so many souls torn away from Christ because of Dan Brown's lying book. http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/xdavincilastsupperphotos.html

Were cavemen painting for their gods? (Filed: 23/02/2005) The meaning of Ice Age art has been endlessly debated, but evidence is increasing that some was religiously motivated, says Paul Bahn At least 70,000 years ago, our ancestors began to adorn their bodies with beads, pendants and perhaps tattoos; by 35,000 years ago, they had begun to paint and engrave animals, people and abstract motifs on cave walls, like those in Lascaux, France, and Altamira in Spain. They sculpted voluptuous figurines in ivory or stone, such as the Venus of Willendorf. Underestimating art: 35,000 years ago, our ancestors began painting representations...

The Adoration of the Name of Jesus (c. 1578), El Greco (1541-1614) "...God great exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in Heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2: 9-11) In illustrating this quote from an epistle of Saint Paul, Domenikos Theotokopoulos, popularly known as "El Greco," drew upon his Greek heritage and composed a painting that is both an exaltation of...

Unearthed painting fragments point to ancient fire in Nara IKARUGA, Nara -- Numerous fragments of burned wall paintings have been unearthed at Nara Prefecture's Horyuji Temple, underscoring descriptions in ancient literature of a fire that broke out in 670. Mainichi ShimbunHoryuji Temple Officials of the Ikaruga Municipal Board of Education said they believed wall-painting fragments found near the famous Minami Daimon gate of Horyuji Temple were those from a hall in the temple, which was built in the early 7th century. Horyuji holds another set of paintings created at the end of the 7th century that are believed to be...

Munch's 'Scream' Stolen From Museum Sunday, August 22, 2004 OSLO, Norway — Armed men stormed into an art museum Sunday, threatened staff at gunpoint and stole Edvard Munch's (search) famous paintings "The Scream" and "Madonna" before the eyes of stunned museum-goers. The thieves yanked the paintings off the walls of Oslo's Munch Museum (search) and loaded them into a waiting car outside, said a witness, French radio producer Francois Castang. Police spokeswoman Hilde Walsoe said the two or three armed men threatened a museum employee with a handgun to give them the two paintings, including one of four versions of...

Cook's crew hid first Antarctica painting Rossella Lorenzi Discovery News Thursday, 8 July 2004 Captain James Cook's artist William Hodges didn't much care for icebergs, so painted over the image (Image: National Maritime Museum, London, Ministry of Defence Art Collection) One of Captain James Cook's official artists painted the first image of Antarctica, new x-ray analysis shows. But the painting had remained hidden for more than two centuries, as the artist had painted the landscape of a New Zealand bay over it. A depiction of the Antarctic icebergs in a rough sea, and the painting that obscured it, "A View...

Dancing girls and the merry Magdalenian Archaeologists believe that 13,000-year-old cave paintings in Nottinghamshire were part of a continent-wide culture Sean Clarke Thursday April 15, 2004 The Guardian (UK) The people who created the first surviving art in Britain were committed Europeans, belonging to a common culture spanning France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, according to the man who discovered the cave art in Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire. And the essential preoccupations of this single market in ice-age art, it seems, were hunting and naked dancing girls. The discovery of 13,000-year-old rock paintings in Nottinghamshire last year rewrote ice-age history in...

Two years before the Nazis occupied Paris, Hermann Goering visited Andre Seligmann's gallery there -- and the famed Jewish art dealer threw out Hitler's second-in-command. "Goering was quite unhappy about this," Seligmann's daughter, Claude Delibes, said Thursday. "The first thing [the Nazis] did in 1940 was come to the gallery with many trucks and take everything out." As Delibes' family fled France, 400 of Seligmann's paintings, tapestries, sculptures and furnishings were taken for Goering's personal collection. Seligmann died in New York in 1945, without seeing his stolen art returned. On Thursday, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts returned one of...

New Renaissance Music Found in Painting By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News The Filippino Painting Detail March 16, 2004 — A Renaissance masterpiece has unveiled startling evidence of what may have been one of the first forms of a multimedia representation, it emerged recently at an art exhibit in Florence. Running until July 11 at Palazzo Strozzi in central Florence, Italy, the show "Botticelli and Filippino: grace and passion in 15th century Florentine painting" displays a little-seen work by Filippino Lippi: "Madonna and Child with Singing Angels." Scholars had long thought that the angels were holding a scroll on which the...

Is British National Gallery's New Raphael a Fake? Feb.20, 2004 LONDON (Reuters) - A Raphael painting bought by Britain's National Gallery this month for $41.7 million is a fake, a U.S. art professor says. The gallery secured the "Madonna of the Pinks," which it called the most significant Old Master in any British collection, after a fight to keep it in the country. But James Beck, Professor of Art History at Columbia University in New York and the President of ArtWatch International, told Friday's edition of the Times the gallery had paid "a record price for a fake." "They haven't...

LONDON (Reuters) - A Raphael painting bought by Britain's National Gallery this month for $41.7 million is a fake, a U.S. art professor says. The gallery secured the "Madonna of the Pinks," which it called the most significant Old Master in any British collection, after a fight to keep it in the country. But James Beck, Professor of Art History at Columbia University in New York and the President of ArtWatch International, told Friday's edition of the Times the gallery had paid "a record price for a fake." "They haven't done their homework," Beck said. "It's a disgrace. The National...