Puvis’s “Study for Summer,” circa 1890-91, pencil on paper. Credit via Michael Werner Gallery.
He was especially admired by Seurat and Gauguin, and also Cézanne, and later, Matisse and Picasso as well as the perennially underestimated American Maurice Prendergast. In their works and that of many others, you’ll find different combinations of Puvis’s carefully calibrated compositions; flat, unmodeled figures and restrained poses; shallow landscape space; chalky unified color; and unshowy yet remarkably lively brushwork. Van Gogh called him “the master of all of us.” Unsurprisingly, Puvis’s reputation was at its height at the time of his death, in 1898.
(Roberta Smith, “A French Painter, Fallen From Fame, Gains Historical Weight,” NYTimes, 1-31-19)
(c) 2019 JMN.
EthicalDative 
The Staff of Life. And Caviar.
[Photo by JMN — Reus, Catalonia]
From a piece a while back in the NYTimes on how to make good caviar sandwiches. I’ve lost the reference, but I saved the above quote because I want to try this Pepperidge Farm bread, though in general I favor whole wheat bread. I’ve tried baking my own bread, but it’s too much trouble. So I’m on the lookout for commercial brands that aren’t lurkingly sweet. I’ve just returned from a lengthy stay in Spain, and can never figure out why excellent, fresh-baked bread is so available there and not here. I doubt, by the way, that I’ll ever make a caviar sandwich. I’d rather eat it straight out of the jar.
(c) 2019 JMN.