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.

War on Horns?

Posted on July 27, 2020 by JMN

Demand for rhinoceros horns spiked in the 1970s and 1980s because of their use in traditional Asian medicines and their status as a symbol of wealth, and conservationists have since fought to protect the animals. (“Iliana Magra and Lynsey Chutel, … Continue reading →

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Blood & Rabbit Enchiladas

Posted on July 26, 2020 by JMN

Spencer Grammer (Kelsey’s daughter) was slashed at an NYC restaurant! Or maybe not. Dried blood remained Saturday afternoon outside The Black Ant, whose dinner entrees include $24 rabbit enchiladas and $27 braised pork cheeks… “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer downplayed his … Continue reading →

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Dalí Among the Tchotchkes

Posted on July 25, 2020 by JMN

When Dalí, who died in 1989, finished the project [illustrating the “Divine Comedy”], he had completed 100 watercolors for the poem’s 14,233 lines: 34 illustrating Inferno, 33 illustrating Purgatory and 33 illustrating Paradise. Then, over several years, artisans carved 3,500 … Continue reading →

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Memo to U.S. — Sort of How to Speak English

Posted on July 24, 2020 by JMN

Boris Johnson speaking to the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg: “We didn’t understand (the virus) in the way that we would have liked in the first few weeks and months… The single thing that we didn’t see at the beginning … Continue reading →

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Kind of Really Mealy-Mouthed

Posted on July 23, 2020 by JMN

“The time frame from when you get a test to the time you get the results back is sometimes measured in a few days,” [Dr. Anthony] Fauci said Tuesday. “If that’s the case, it kind of negates the purpose of … Continue reading →

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Indelible Obscure Abstractions

Posted on July 22, 2020 by JMN

Bearden (1911-88) is best known for his indelible figurative collage depictions of African-American life in all its quotidian richness, strength and struggle… Bearden’s far more obscure abstractions… have tended to be given short shrift in his biographies and retrospectives… While … Continue reading →

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“No Mimetic Ability”

Posted on July 21, 2020 by JMN

[Stella’s] emphasis on two-dimensional surfaces was a clear rejection of the idea of painting as a window into a three-dimensional space. A story in one of his mother’s Vogue magazines, featuring models posed in front of a painterly Franz Kline-esque … Continue reading →

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Irish and Not Proud

Posted on July 20, 2020 by JMN

William James arrived penniless in Albany, NY from County Cavan, Ireland in the late 18th century. Over the next 30 years he created a fortune second only to that of the Astor family. His grandsons, novelist Henry and philosopher William, … Continue reading →

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Mindreading the Meritocracy

Posted on July 20, 2020 by JMN

Of the opinion writers I read regularly in the NYTimes, the one who uses the term “meritocracy” most by far, and with pronounced ambivalence, is Ross Douthat — himself a confessed meritocrat (Hamden Hall Country Day School, magna cum laude … Continue reading →

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‘The Degeneracy of War’

Posted on July 19, 2020 by JMN

I’m fond of the colorful, map-like painting by the Austrian Hundertwasser. Also, of the sun figure that recurs in his work. “These artists have something in common: They all turned against the ideals of the Third Reich… I’m doing a … Continue reading →

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