Bourgeois Art Gallery

As I noticed that Google Art has added several collections since the last edition of Bourgeois Art Gallery, I decided to browse the galleries and add to my "collection." 

End of the Year by Higashiyama Kaii

This is the "soft darkness" of winter that I love so much.  Makes me want to curl up by the fire and drink hot chocolate. 

Oirase Ravine (Autumn) by Okuda Genso

It's hard not to look at this picture.  It is on fire!  But in it I see a melding of Eastern and Western landscape painting, with less of the abstraction and austerity of traditional Japanese landscape that sometimes leaves me cold. 

Pervasive Verdure by Higashiyama Kaii

From the fire to mist. Just yesterday, during my dog-walk, I had the experience this painting suggests: when you're walking on a cool, gray spring day, and the green is almost overwhelming.  

Himeji Castle by Okumura Togyu

There's just something about the white that appeals.  It's a painting of negative space.  

Last Evening of the Year by Oscar Bluemner

This is the exact opposite of Kaii's "End of the Year."  Instead of softness and coziness, there's something sinister and apocalyptic about this winter scene.  That red sky isominous.  This isn't the last evening of the year, it is the last evening period.  Very disturbing. 

Old Canal Port by Oscar Bluemner

I just like the bold blocks of color. 

The Star by Kitano Tsunetomi

What struck me about this is the title, because the star I saw at first wasn't the literal starlight of a summer's evening, but a movie star.  Painted in 1939, I see a screen idol glowing the way silver nitrate film glows.  This is Jean Harlow, not Sirius, to me. 

Incense Container in the Form of a Puppy

Awwwwwwwwww.

Dogs by Hashimoto Kansetsu

While the incense container is a cuddly puppy, this is a nobler beast.  Look at his dignity, his regalness. This is a dog of breeding and refinement. 

Lidded Jewelery Box

I love boxes.  Something about containing, setting aside, hiding away something special that connects to me.  I especially enjoy boxes like this, a treasure box that is itself a treasure.

Tea Set

I'm not one much for tea, but I am one much for Deco.  The geometry of it pleases me.  And the brightness of silver seems to be the ideal medium for it.