London for ever - 21

I also liked the English for  the vein of pride that made them feel united in the name of the queen or the homeland, or even more simply of the land where they were born, and even earlier, in the name of their their ancestors; or the simple and spontaneous transport with which they stood up to sing the national anthem or a popular song at  the last glass of the Cockney Pride, when the three ringing of bells closed the time of the drinking stir until the next morning .

Leicester Square was a favorable attraction and an ideal stage for an innumerable series of improvised artists but no less skilled and entertaining than many self-styled professionals of the show: mimes, jugglers, singers, dancers and show-men with different characteristics .

One of these was "Uncle Fred", an old man who owed his name to the skill with which he performed the "tip-tap" dance, from the those times best world skilled  tip-tap dancer Fred Astaire.

Uncle Fred's "performance" was performed in an improvised clearing, just a stone's throw away from my post. The octogenarian  slim man  placed on the ground a metal display of theatrical billboards that, appropriately deprived of the supporting rod, served as a platform for his skillful and fast dance. And just as skilled and fast, the same old man, immediately after his dance, passed with his hat for the offers. And he never failed to withdraw it full of coins.

One day I realized that "Uncle Fred" had to act with the help of a lookout supporting man, because once  I saw him  suddenly leave his thick crossroads of extemporaneous spectators (which invariably formed recalled by the sound rhythm of his dance steps), and headed out towards me, mimicking with rapid gestures of the right hand, the request for a drink.

He just raised his eyes from the glass of orange juice, which I had promptly offered, to the passage of a round of bobbies that, bewildered and suspicious, watched that group of spectators waving around that  metal sign paved senseless on the ground.

"Uncle Fred", on that occasion, told me about how, a provincial dancer, he had tried without luck the great jump in the capital. Not being ready to lick anyone's ass, he had remained anonymous. And when he told me his age, I wanted to ask him the secret of his surprising agility; he confessed that he was in good shape with a breakfast of tea, ham, buttered toasts and boiled egg, without any alcohol nor smoke.

I did not have time to ask him anything else because he turned away, after giving me an affectionate and light nudge of understanding, leaving me with that empty glass in my hand, thinking about how life jerks us, between alternating fortunes, driven by an unstoppable,  mysterious and distant force.

21. to be continued...

That's Art too

"Stop the Violence" is called the original Art Collection made of sixteen creations all made by bones, created by american artist Robert Francois.

"My art"- says the original artist " it's a message against war, which leaves us only skeleton's bones to count up, anyway it might end!"

"I started my collection as an answer to recession"- continues the american artist -"and my collection has been bought for 35,000 $ which makes me proud of rightly spending my art's talents.

To know more on DM on line:

It began when Francois Robert bought a school locker for £30 at an auction and out tumbled a skeleton.

The wired-up figure had been used to teach pupils but the 63-year-old artist saw its potential for his creative talents.

However because it was all wired together he found there was little he could do.

So, he turned to a company that makes bones for medical schools which exchanged the skeleton for a box of 206 bones which Francois, from Arizona in the U.S., then turned into works of art.


The collection of 16 images called Stop The Violence aims to make a statement about the consequences of war

He spends hours painstakingly arranging the bones into striking shapes each 5ft or 6ft wide before photographing them.

His amazing work has now fetched more than £35,000 and won him a prestigious Lucie Award which in the past has honoured photographers like Annie Leibovitz and Elliott Erwin.

The collection of 16 images called Stop The Violence aims to make a statement about the consequences of war.

Francois said: 'Each image is a symbol of war or violence, such as a gun or a tank and I wanted to show that sadly the human skeleton is often all that remains from such acts of violence.

'This is what you are left with after war - a body count.'

Francois said he would never have started the project if it hadn't been for the pressure brought on him by the recession.

But his decision to make art out of bones has really paid off because the response for his collection had been amazing.

He said: 'I think I'm the only person who is glad the recession hit.'

Not only has Francois' collection earnt him an award but he sold the collection of 16 images to a collector in Chicago for £35,000.

'The interest in my work has snowballed, I also sold my images to an American author who is using his images in his book which goes on sale in August.

'And I sold a larger image from the collection at a fine art exhibition for £4,500.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1280149/The-spine-tingling-photos-bare-bones-award-winning-art.html#ixzz0p0oknYRO

Nepro Mailliw

Who was he? The answer leads to a real spy-story, set in the First World War.
First of all the portrait: it was believed to be a fake, until the experts, arguing from its signature, which is the exact anagram of Orpen William, the Irish artist who realized the original one, hung in a major national museum.
Now the portrait has been valued £ 250,000, more than the house where it has been hanging for the past decades.
In the next days all the truth will be said over the astonishing story.

To know more:
By Paul Sims link below on the DM on line

Sometimes it pays to take a second look at a work of art.
When this 'copy' of a painting by wartime artist Sir William Orpen was first taken to the Antiques Roadshow, it was judged to be nothing special.
After experts from the long-running BBC programme did further research, however, they were astonished to find it was an original - and it was valued at an incredible £250,000.
The real deal: The owner of an original Sir William Orpen painting was shocked to discover it is worth £250,000

Irish portrait painter William Orpen created his artwork The Spy - of his mistress Yvonne Aubicque - as an escape from the daily trials of covering WWI.
The name of the painting aroused suspicions of the censor, Lieutenant-Colonel Lee, according to expert Rupert Maas.

'The idea of a spy was extremely tricky because the English spy Edith Cavell had just been executed and Mata Hari had also been executed,' Mr Maas said.

'Orpen was summoned back to London to explain himself and he tried to bluff it by creating a story. He said that the woman was a German spy who was to be shot by the French and he had been allowed just an hour to paint her.

'He said that she had been given the greatcoat to wear by one of the guards and she was hoping that when she took it off her simple beauty would astonish the firing squad and they wouldn't be able to pull the trigger.

Orpen then came clean and admitted the painting was of his lover. He was facing a court martial, but charmed Lft Col Lee with the help of Lord Beaverbrook. The painting was renamed The Refugee.

In a further twist, Ms Aubicque became involved with Orpen's chauffeur after the artist left France - and the pair both spied for Britain during WWII.

Grover-Williams was caught and shot and Yvonne returned to Britain, where she became a judge at dog show Crufts.
This not only made it worth more than the owner's house, but also the most valuable artwork ever to appear on the show.

The incredible story behind the painting will be revealed to viewers tomorrow.
The owner, who after learning the value of the painting now wishes to remain anonymous, was left 'completely gobsmacked' after discovering the truth about his heirloom.

Antiques Roadshow's Rupert Maas said: 'His uncle bought the painting because he loved it and the owner kept it and hung it in his home all these years because he loved it.
'Both men had no idea it was by Orpen himself and the current owner was staggered that is was worth so much money. He is a modest man of modest means,' Mr Maas added.

The man had inherited the picture, of Yvonne Aubicque, Sir William's beautiful young mistress, and hung it in his living room before taking it to a recording of the programme in Greenwich.
Orpen - an official war artist - was in France recording the horrors of the First World War trenches when he found time to paint his lover - the daughter of the Mayor of Lille.

His work shows the attractive young lady with red cheeks wearing an Army greatcoat.

The artist was threatened with court martial when his superiors learned he had taken time out for the private portrait, but he escaped punishment after the intervention of his friend Lord Beaverbrook.
As a thank you, Orpen painted a near-identical version of the portrait in 1920 and gave it to the aristocrat.
It was later bought by the current owner's uncle. The original is in the Imperial War Museum.

Mr Maas said he found references to the copy in a letter from Orpen to Lord Beaverbrook.


An inscription on the picture reads 'copy by person unknown' but Mr Maas suspected the painting was by Orpen after discovering his trademark signature Nepro Mailliw - his name spelled backwards - had been inscribed on the work.

Mr Maas said the second version was warmer and perhaps more desirable' than the original.
'It makes you wonder just how many people there are out there sitting on national treasures like this.'
The story behind the painting will be told on Sunday's episode of Antiques Roadshow ."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1274294/Owner-fake-painting-gobsmacked-sets-Antiques-Roadshow-record-250-000.html#ixzz0nJfIHDzx