Approaching Solstice

Our sunsets are just about as far south as they go, with only a further 2 minutes to be shaved off sunset time.  By solstice we are getting about 9 hours of daylight, as opposed to the 15 we get at summer solstice.  And we've seen a few good ones from the south-facing window here at the homestead.

 Sunset showing the furthest southerly one.  The sun will continue to set at about this location for the next few weeks, before it begins its gradual return north.  View is from our south-facing window, overlooking the Native American cemetery across the road, and the Detroit River and Michigan.

 We've seen some beauties lately. 

For the 2nd half of my film choice for this week, we watched an oddball silent film by Chantal Akerman.  Hotel Monterey is the 2nd film by her we have seen.  It's an interesting experiment that requires some patience and calmness to get through, but it does ultimately offer rewards.  The camera is mostly still, showing different scenes from a NYC hotel in the 1970s.  Most of the imagery is like viewing a photo for a long period of time, sometimes several minutes.  The action sequences include riding up and down an elevator, picking up and dropping off people, and, near the conclusion of the one hour film, having the camera roll forwards and backwards as it captures various interior and exterior views.  Probably not a film people with claustrophobia would enjoy.  Many of the static compositions are highly artistic, and occasionally one thinks of Hopper's paintings.

The next two paintings I will illustrate from the DIA are by Oskar Kokoschka, an Austrian expressionist painter who died in 1980.  Detroit has one of the largest collections in the world of German and Austrian expressionist art, including four paintings by Kokoschka.  The artist lived in Dresden from 1917 to 1923.  Eventually all of expressionist art was rejected by the Nazis.  Detroit had a German museum director in the early 1930s, and it was he (Valentiner) that procured many of the unwanted paintings.  The director was also responsible for the incredible coup of landing Bruegel's Wedding Dance in Detroit. 

 The Elbe Near Dresden, Oskar Kokoschka, ca. 1921.  23" x 31", oil on canvas.  Detroit Institute of Arts.  

The bright colours and the blockish buildings remind me of a child's painting.  Unlike the Rousseau painting seen previously, there are no figures present here.  The river seems to be as turbulent as the sky, and the reflections add an eye-catching accent to this strange little work.  The detail below shows the broad brushstrokes, similar to those of the late Van Gogh.

 Detail of the central area, above. 

We are just a few days from having to return our VW Tiguan, as the lease expires on the 10th of this month.  We will be down to one vehicle, the Golf wagon, which will have to take on astronomy duty from now on, as well as any upcoming cross-country drives.  We will wait and see how that works out.

M.