Brussels, Belgium

1. I have just returned from a brief vacation to Brussels with three friends.
2. Brussels is the capital of the European Union.
3. Brussels is jam-packed with beer-cafes, pubs, bars, restaurants etc etc.
4. In Belgium they make up to five-hundred different bottled beers.
5. My friends and I have been making this pilgrimage for twenty-one straight years now.
6. My head hurts.

The Art Deco Movement

The ever-popular Art Deco movement succeeded Art Nouveau roughly in the period between the two World Wars. It is characterised by three main points: geometric shapes, bright colour schemes and a 'decorative' finish. It tends to be uncomplicated and influenced architecture, art, furniture and jewellery design, clothing and living style in general.
This post is mainly a sumptuous visual feast!

artstyleonline.com

http://data.greatbuildings.com/



4interior-design.com

wwwdelivery.superstock.com

http://cdn.lightgalleries.net/

Quiz Questions (16): A Pot Pourri

Uniquely this time my quiz is not about literature or art but instead, a range of new topics:
Q1: Apart from being the plural of 'utopia' what is Utopias?
Q2: Lloyds of London, the financial institution, was founded in 1688 by Edward Lloyd as..... what?
Q3: What is the strongest muscle in the human body, relative to it's size?
Q4: Which modern English word derives from the old Persian phrase. "Shah mat", which means "the King is dead"?
Answers to follow after a few guesses have been made!

Painting of the Month (17) May 2001: Georgia O'Keeffe

http://www.lilithgallery.com/

You may notice that this image is shown a little too big to fit the space it's in. That's deliberate because I wanted to demonstrate the large scale of her work. This painting of a poppy is typical of her output. She made highly technical paintings which made her famous from the 1920s onward. Some of her large flower paintings vere towards the abstract and often have anthropomorphic quality. I think there is an almost sinister quality to this painting.
The painting below, left, is clearly referencing female gentalia - this is not accidental.(Image removed, not by me July 2011)
She was of the school of American Realism so any feelings of abstraction can only be hinted at.
She died at the age of 98 in 1986 and is one of the major figures of American 20th century art.