Author Archives: JMN

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About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

Nabi Dictum: The Essence

“A picture, before being a war horse, a nude woman, or some anecdote, is essentially a flat surface covered by colours in a certain order.” (Maurice Denis) (c) 2018 JMN.

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“Cream-colored Screams”

“I swear if I had to do this over again, I would just do the paintings and never show them,” [Twombly] said in a 1994 profile in Vogue. “I was brought up to think you don’t talk about yourself. I … Continue reading

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Leonor Fini

“She always felt that identity was just a mask,” Ms. Rivera said. “So the masks that she chose to wear were more true than her biological face.” (Daniel McDermon, “Sex, Surrealism and de Sade: The Forgotten Female Artist Lenor Fini,” … Continue reading

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Chrissie Hynde

Rock stars becoming painters remains one the most cliched career transitions in showbiz… Hynde has reservations about entering this gang. “I mean, who the fuck am I? There’s so many people who’ve been doing this all their lives and they … Continue reading

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Judith Kazantzis

Ms. Kazantzis wrote in free verse, her language intelligent but not didactic, powerful but not polemic. It could be witty, with traces of sarcasm. She portrayed women as complex, to correct literature’s pigeonholing them in one-dimensional characterizations as goddess or … Continue reading

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Lineman’s Whine

(1) My love goes deeper than a Ditch Witch pokes, And higher than a cherry-picker soars. But I done caught you, darlin’, way ‘cross town Spendin’ my money in the Dollar Stores. (2) Baloney, rotgut wine, Chef Boyardee, Bags of … Continue reading

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“Glenn Gould’s Scribbles”

Those scribbles? That’s Glenn Gould, scratching on his sheet music as he recorded Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations in 1981. We reported this week on the newly rediscovered score, which offers some insights — barely legible ones — into Gould’s process and … Continue reading

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The Young Woman and the Sea

I’d worried about being lonely in France. I needn’t have. Brittany is the epicentre of sailing and everyone was interested in my journey. “You are taking on the nose of Brittany!?! By yourself? In this leetle boat?” This reaction became … Continue reading

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1987: Afterlife of “A Fable”

To HH & C(B)B Dear Both: Thank you. I’m dazzled… and a little chastened… that all or even some of this afflatus (re yours of today) should have been wrung from an Equity [computer]. As it happens, C’s afflatus looks … Continue reading

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“The Good Witch of Park Avenue”

The death of David Rockefeller in 2017 at the age of 101 also helped fortify Ms. Gund’s legend. With him gone, she has become the good witch of Park Avenue, torchbearer for the obligation of the rich in an era … Continue reading

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