I’m a member
of an association, now almost 60 years old, which has the aim of giving support
to Swedish artists who work in France. The name is “Association Artistique
Suédoise à Paris” and you can read more about it here (if you understand
Swedish or French ... or make use of the translation tool). We organise exhibits, lotteries, visits to artist
studios, museums…
Last week we met some of “our” artists at a lithography
workshop in the 19th arrondissement, “A Fleur de Pierre” (see their
site here). Some of “our” artists have already worked with lithography, some
have not.
“A Fleur de
Pierre” works according to traditional methods, invented in 1796. The owners
gave us a brief explanation of the process. The word lithography has its
origins in the ancient Greek lithos, meaning stone, and graphein, meaning to
write. It’s a printing method based on the fact that oil and water don't mix,
using extremely smooth limestone plates,
gum, oil, acids, ink … Well, I’m not going to try to explain it all - you can rather
go to Wikipedia here.
There are
different manual presses in the workshop, but especially impressive is the more
than one hundred year old printing press machine.
Here are
some examples of artwork produced at this workshop.
Here you can
see some of the participants during the presentation. For us, it was also an opportunity
to discuss with the artists about how we best can assist them, to listen to new
ideas… Of course, the discussion finished over a glass (or two).
For 17
years our association has been distributing a lithograph made by one of "our" artists to all of its some 200 members.
5 comments:
What a wonderful idea, M. Peter and what a kind and wise way to help those artists.
I liked all of their work, especially that Viking ship and its crew. So funny and cute!!
On a different note, I was reading today your post of 12-5-10, about the concert of the great Swedish pianist, M. Helge Antoni. I heard his brilliant, superbe rendition of Les Barricades Mystérieuses. I was enchanted!
A friend suggested I also listen to Ms. Angela Hewitt playing that same piece. Unfortunately I could not find her on YouTube.
Thanks again.
Maria
These artists are doing such a great work there!
By the way, love the blue gate!
hugs
Léia
This is splendid, Peter. I'm completely captivated. Lithography has fascinated me ever since I did a documentary on a stone lithographer who lived in Michigan. The process fascinated me -- it's very physical as well as technical and artistic. What a fascinating place -- and a wonderful way for you to stay connected with your fellow Swedes!
Peter -- can you also please pass on to your anonymous commenter Maria that Angela Hewitt can be found here: https://www.google.com/search?q=you+tube+angela+hewitt&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 -- perhaps not playing the piece mentioned but many other lovely things! Rick had the privilege of seeing her in concert and she does quite a performance.
Thank you, Mme. Jeanie for the link to Angela Hewitt's performances.
I always enjoy your comments on this blog, among them the ones about Impressionism. You're always on target and it is easy to see how knowledgeable you are about this movement. Because of this I chose to listen to "Clair de Lune" first, among the many lovely performances of this great virtuosa.
Perhaps you would enjoy listening to a little bit of Russian music? This is at the Opera Garnier in late 1992.
http://youtu.be/hGNcrHgUaTQ
Thanks again,
Maria
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