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“Through Art, Coping With Depression and a Death”

“Through Art, Coping With Depression and a Death”

by John Otis via “NY Times“

“Last May, Ms. Christian, 64, lost her partner of 37 years, Linda Brown.Even before Ms. Brown died, Ms. Christian had a tenuous grip on happiness.

“I’ve been depressed for most of my life,” she said. “Even as a kid, I never really felt attuned to what was going on around me.”

Dejection took further root in Ms. Christian this year when Ms. Brown, who had severe rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes, began to deteriorate. Her mind started shutting down as rapidly as her body, said Ms. Christian, who was alarmed to see one day that Ms. Brown had cut off her beloved dreadlocks. When asked for a reason, Ms. Brown replied, with a vacant stare, “because I wanted to.” . . . .”

 

 

 

“Paintings looted by Nazi, recovered by Allies to be auctioned in NY”

“Paintings looted by Nazi, recovered by Allies to be auctioned in NY”

by Patricia Reaney via “Yahoo News“

“NEW YORK (Reuters) – Paintings looted by the Nazis during World War Two and retrieved by the Monuments Men, the Allied group tasked with returning masterpieces to their rightful owners, will be sold at auction on Thursday in New York.

The works, which will go under the hammer during Sotheby’s sale of Important Old Master Paintings and Sculpture, were among the tens of thousands of works recovered by the art experts whose story is told in the George Clooney film “The Monuments Men,” which opens in U.S. theaters on February 7.

“The scale of looting was absolutely extraordinary,” said Lucian Simmons, Sotheby’s head of restitution.

“In France, for example, 36,000 paintings were stolen from institutions and largely from individuals. The Monuments Men managed to recover and return the majority of those,” he said in an interview.

Two small paintings in the sale, “La cueillette des roses” and “Le musicien” by the French rococo artist Jean-Baptise Pater, were chosen by Adolf Hitler’s air force chief Hermann Goering for his personal collection. . . . . .”

“New Candidates for World Heritage Titles”

“New Candidates for World Heritage Titles”

via “Deutschland.de”

“Hamburg’s Speicherstadt and the Naumburg Cathedral are to be included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List. This was announced by the Conference of Cultural Ministers. They have submitted the nominations to the GermanFEDERAL GOVERNMENT with the request that this be passed on to UNESCO in Paris.

Hamburg’s docklands Speicherstadt was built between 1885 and 1927 is widely regarded as the largest coherent and uniform storage and warehouse ensemble in the world, the applicants submitted. The Naumburg Cathedral in SAXONY Anhalt is, the Conference of Cultural Ministers continued, the most visible symbol of a unique cultural LANDSCAPE that evolved from High Medieval structures. The figures of the patron founders in the cathedral are “among the most outstanding created by European Medieval sculptors.”

The UNESCO World Cultural Heritage committee convenes once a year and will decide on the two nominations at its summer 2015 meeting. . . . “

“WWII Artifact Returns Home to Japan”

“WWII Artifact Returns Home to Japan”

via “KHON2″

“After almost 80 years, a piece of naval history is on its way home to Japan.

At the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, the special shipment is underway.

Crews from Chicago, New Jersey, and as far away as Japan, are making sure an 11-foot, 1,600-pound replica of the Japanese luxury liner Hikawa Maru doesn’t get damaged.

The Japanese built the model 79 . . . .”

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“Fire Rages in Norway Heritage Village”

This is a great tragedy; our hearts go out to Norway today 😦

“Fire Rages in Norway Heritage Village”

via “Yahoo News“

“Oslo (AFP) – A large blaze on Sunday raged through a historic village in western Norway, destroying many of its famed 18th- and 19th-century wooden houses and forcing the evacuation of local residents, police said.

The fire in the riverside village of Laerdalsoyri, some 200 kilometres (miles) northwest of Oslo, began in a house on Saturday evening.

Fanned by strong winds, the blaze raged out of control overnight and it took firefighters until Sunday afternoon to extinguish it.

Laerdalsoyri is located in the West Norwegian Fjords area, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Police said 23 buildings including 16 homes were destroyed in the town, and hundreds of residents had to be evacuated. . . . .”

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