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| More Kish cuteness (above), applied to laborers, cold nights, and dirty industrial buildings. Kish was clearly put off by the gloomy surroundings people were forced to work in, but he paints the scene in a way that makes us wish we were there. I love this ability that the best painters have of finding beauty and reason to hope, even in the most depressing circumstances. Kish was a socialist and maybe he thought the ugly reality was mitigated by the nobility of the workers. |
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| Most of Kish's pictures on the net are reproduced tiny like the one above. Evidently his estate is concerned about theft. |
FOOTNOTE: It took me forever to put up this simple, straightforward post. While I was typing, para graphs dropped out, font sizes and paragraph alignments changed, pictures vanished, words cut off in awkward places at the ends of lines....Aaaaargh! The new Blogger templates are terrific, but putting up posts to those templates (or at least the one I'm using) is hell! This beta version needs a LOT of fixing before its ready for prime time. If I'd known this I would have stuck with my old format.
I just lost the whole beginning and part of the middle of this post, pictures and text. I haven't got the heart to reconstruct the middle, but I'll take another stab at the beginning. I hope this posts okay.
From Eddie: I'm heartbroken! This beta version of Blogger is so buggy that I'm amazed that they released it. The graphic templates are great, but the posting to them is a nightmare. If I'd known this I would have stuck with my old format.
ReplyDeleteWhoa. Good thing I didn't get the beta version.
ReplyDeleteAs for the pictures, I LOVE the dark and gritty atmoshpere in Kish's paintings. Expertly well done.
I love how all of these Kish paintings have so much humanity in them. Nothing is watered down. It's exactly how the artist saw the buildings and the people around him. That's what cartoons need to be again, rather than relying on clichés and formulas and filtering out the dark and gritty stuff though some fake, imitation style. I think SpongeBob is one of the few cartoons on TV that actually tries to have some humanity in it still. Just my humble opinion.
ReplyDeleteSorry about how Blogger is still giving you a lot of crap, like how it deleted all the comments. Hang on there.
It's all silhouettes - sorta, like the contrast is turned all the way up. Edge-y. There's no blurring of boundaries, every thing is clearly deliniated, but still sits properly in a three dimensional landscape. Very.
ReplyDeleteSomething about that style reminds me a lot of other New Deal era paintings. There's a similar one in style in a Post Office up the road.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but those federal buildings built in the 30's and 40's were SOLID. Brick and stone built buildings and tons of real wood inside. Kind of makes me wonder how most public buildings went to
such a flat concrete style so quickly in the 50's and 60's.
----> http://www.wpamurals.com/index.htm
This is a interesting site.
Sorry to hear about the blogger troubles!
ReplyDeleteKish's paintings remind me of the Ashcan School for art. I think he would have been painting contemporary to them, but I can't dig up enough info on Kish to see if he actually rubbed elbows with any Ashcan artists.
The site looks great, Eddie!
ReplyDeletesometimes i look at old photos and paintings of new york and wonder "what world is this?"-iam a life long new yorker and i sometimes feel like i dont know this city at all.its like going to bed with one woman then waking up with another, not that i mind,its just you never really got to know the first one.look at ralph bashki's new york(1940-1970)then compare it mine(1970-present)very little in common.a lot of visitors just dont get it when they ask you questions about new york and you dont know the answer.shes an ever changing mysterious mistress indeed!
ReplyDeleteAle: Interesting! If you live in L.A., check out the murals in the Central Library.
ReplyDeleteHave an original Kish oil painting
ReplyDeleteIt is called Sunset On tthe Farm. I can send you a scan file if you would like just let me know how.
Tony
My daughter has a wonderful Maurice Kish painting called "Death of a Horse."Ever heard of it?
ReplyDeleteOn the back it says return to Maurice Kish.She wonders if it's real.
She lives in Kerrville,Texas.
What's the best search site for her?
Tony: "Death of a Horse?" "Sunset on the Farm?" Hmmm. I don't remember those. At the time I wrote this post I had a book devoted to Kish in front of me, but I no longer have access to that.
ReplyDeleteWhy not post pictures of them on a free Google documents page and send us a link?
Hello. Thank you for the suggestion of uploading my Maurice Kish photograph to the google images site. I am inexperienced so I hope this link will take anyone there interested in viewing the "Death of a Horse" Photograph I have. I posted several pictures including the writing on the back that I hope to find to be Maurice Kish's actual handwriting. Thank you for your help!
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/#owned-by-me
Monique Smith
https://docs.google.com/#owned-by-me
ReplyDeleteI am an inexperienced computer user though Thank you for your suggestion to post a link to view the photograph of Maurice Kish and what I believe to be titled," Death of a Horse." I also have pictures of the backside of the photograph which I am hoping to be of Maurice Kish handwriting. This is an amazing photo I cannot believe I cannot locate it anywhere on the internet!
Did Kish ever paint southwestern landscapes? Found a painting but just has artist signature, "kish" Thanks for any help!
ReplyDeleteMaurice Kish was our beloved cousin. thank you for appreciating his art and who he was. Blessings
ReplyDeleteMaurice Kish was my mother's cousin and he gave her a painting for a wedding present, 1947. It is of an elderly man and young child walking in a field. It is the same style as his others but the subject matter is not the city scapes he is generally associated with. He also has a note on the back of this one to return to him at the NY address. This painting is done on masonite board/
ReplyDelete