The Lovers’ Chronicle 8 January – dreams, reprise no. two – art by Lawrence Alma-Tadema & Pavel Filanov – photography by Arnold Genthe

Dear Zazie,  Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag dedicated to his muse.  Follow us on twitter @cowboycoleridge.  Who is your dream weaver?  Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

dream weaver…
where am i, he wonders, looks like a train station
there are suitcases at his feet and he has a ticket in his hand
he is confused because he does not know where the train is goin’
then he notices the beautiful red head is standin’ next to him
she takes his other hand and smiles at him
he relaxes, smiles and nods knowin’ly

© copyright 2024 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

a plethora of songs would work
but i think we have to go with
one of our favorite bands;
“Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer”
“Yes, Steven and Aerosmith”
the reason i picked this song
is for the line;
“Dream until your dreams come true”
it feels like that happened to me
i did and with you, they did

© copyright 2023.2024 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

grab your totem, que La Môme Piaf, lets do some dreamin’; over the years my recurrin’ ones have spanned from; the boogie man, bein’ naked in public, livin’ in a zombie apocalypse, watchin’ planes crash, ones so weird they defy descriptions, and of course the erotic kind, everyone’s favorite right, there was a time when i went to bed every night wantin’ a dream to carry me away, i have no need for that now

© copyright 2022.2024 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

a Friday night, another busy week
went shoppin’ for groceries then
picked up Mexican for supper
had a glass of wine, now sittin’
here sippin’ a martini, searchin’
for a movie to watch

lookin’ forward to seein’ you tomorrow
whatever we do or wherever we go
perhaps, i will see you later in dreams

© copyright 2021.2024 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

Pale Love, Pale Rider

the dreams, the verse,
the long conversations
all of it wove together
somehow to sustain
over miles and years
through sufferin’,
through without

the ties that bind
this friendship
held and saved us

we were sent for each other
we just had to survive
until we got back
where we belong

© copyright 2020 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

fragmentation
or delusion
did i dream you

at times it feels
as if you were here
at other times

it feels like
you were long ago

still feel your skin
under mine
gently kneadin’
more, urgently…

it was that way
please,
tell me it was that way

© copyright 2019 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

are they comin’
fewer and farther
between
fadin’ in the rear view
at ninety miles an hour
places, time not
to be visited again

mile after mile
of nothin’
but open road,
the big sky,
plains stretchin’ out

can you hear me
i wonder
i do wish
you would come

© copyright 2018 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

He took off his hat
Smiled, and stood there
If he had any tears
He woulda used ’em all
She ran into his arms
Where she belonged

© copyright 2016 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

I promise I
Will call should I
Ever change my
Ways. But my ways
I cannot yet
Promise will change

© copyright 2015 mac tag/cowboy coleridge all rights reserved

Dream Weaver

This here is a fragmentation
Of my delicious delusion
Did I dream you
Do you exist

At times it feels
As if you were here next to me
At other times

It feels like you were long ago

I still feel your skin under mine
Gently kneadin’, always needin’
More, urgently pushin’, pressin’
Hot wet friction overwhelmin’

It was that way
Please, tell me it was that way

It was that way last night
In my dreams, you were there
Under the covers, whisperin’
And lovin’, touchin’ each other

Weavin’ our passion together
Dreamin’ of you
A good, good dream
A dream very
Like the dream Verlaine often dreamed
One that can still dispel my grief
A dream of you that will sustain
Until next you appear to me

Weavin’ this dream with the others
Of you to see me through the night

© copyright 2013 mac tag/Cowboy Coleridge all rights reserved

The Song of the Day is “Dream Weaver” by Gary Wright.  Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to this song.  No copyright infringement intended. 

Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Today is the birthday of Lawrence Alma-Tadema (born Lourens Alma Tadema; Dronrijp, Netherlands 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912 Weisbaden, German Empire); painter.  Trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there.  A classical-subject painter, he became famous for his depictions of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire, with languorous figures set in marbled interiors or against a backdrop of blue Mediterranean Sea and sky.

On 24 September 1863 he was married, in Antwerp City Hall, to Marie-Pauline Gressin Dumoulin, the daughter of Eugène Gressin Dumoulin, a French journalist living near Brussels.  Nothing is known of their meeting and little of Pauline herself, as Alma-Tadema never spoke about her after her death in 1869.  Her image appears in a number of oils, though he painted her portrait only three times, the most notable appearing in My studio (1867).  Alma-Tadema and his wife spent their honeymoon in Florence, Rome, Naples and Pompeii. This, his first visit to Italy, developed his interest in depicting the life of ancient Greece and Rome, especially the latter since he found new inspiration in the ruins of Pompeii, which fascinated him and would inspire much of his work in the coming decades.

On 28 May 1869, after years of ill health, Pauline died at Schaerbeek, in Belgium, at the age of thirty-two, of smallpox.  Her death left Tadema disconsolate and depressed.  He ceased painting for nearly four months.

During the summer Tadema himself began to suffer from a medical problem which doctors in Brussels were unable to diagnose.  Gambart eventually advised him to go to England for another medical opinion.  Soon after his arrival in London in December 1869, Alma-Tadema was invited to the home of the painter Ford Madox Brown.  There he met Laura Theresa Epps, who was seventeen years old, and fell in love with her at first sight.

The outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in July 1870 compelled Alma-Tadema to leave the continent and move to London.  His infatuation with Laura Epps played a great part in his relocation to England and Gambart felt that the move would be advantageous to the artist’s career.  In stating his reasons for the move, Tadema simply said “I lost my first wife, a French lady with whom I married in 1863, in 1869. Having always had a great predilection for London, the only place where, up till then my work had met with buyers, I decided to leave the continent and go to settle in England, where I have found a true home.”

The painter wasted no time in contacting Laura, and it was arranged that he would give her painting lessons.  During one of these, he proposed marriage.  As he was then thirty-four and Laura was eighteen, her father was initially opposed to the idea.  Dr Epps finally agreed on the condition that they should wait until they knew each other better.  They married in July 1871.  Laura, under her married name, also won a high reputation as an artist, and appears in numerous of Alma-Tadema’s canvases after their marriage (The Women of Amphissa (1887) being a notable example).  This second marriage was enduring and happy.

On 15 August 1909 Laura, died at the age of fifty-seven.  The grief-stricken widower outlived her by less than three years.  His last major composition was Preparation in the Coliseum (1912).  In the summer of 1912, Alma Tadema was accompanied by his daughter Anna to Kaiserhof Spa, Wiesbaden, Germany where he was to undergo treatment for ulceration of the stomach.He died there at the age of seventy-six.  He was buried in a crypt in St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Gallery

Today is the birthday of Arnold Genthe (Berlin 8 January 1869 – 9 August 1942 New York City); photographer, perhaps best known for his photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and his portraits of noted people, from politicians and socialites to literary figures and entertainment celebrities.

Gallery

Pavel Filonov

Today is the birthday of Pavel Filonov (Pavel Nikolayevich Filonov; Moscow; January 8, 1883 – December 3, 1941 Leningrad); avant-garde painter, art theorist, and poet.

In 1929, a large retrospective exhibition of Filonov art was planned at the Russian Museum; however, the Soviet government forbade the exhibition. From 1932 onward, Filonov literally starved but still refused to sell his works to private collectors. He wanted to give all his works to the Russian Museum as a gift so as to start a Museum of Analytical Realism. He died of starvation during the Siege of Leningrad.

Most of Filonov’s works were saved by his sister Yevdokiya Nikolayevna Glebova. She stored the paintings in the Russian Museum’s archives and eventually donated them as a gift. Exhibitions of Filonov’s work were forbidden. In 1967, an exhibition of Filonov’s works in Novosibirsk was permitted. In 1988, his work was allowed in the Russian Museum. In 1989 and 1990, the first international exhibition of Filonov’s work was held in Paris.

During the period of half-legal status of Filonov’s works it was seemingly easy to steal them; however, there was a legend that Filonov’s ghost protected his art and anybody trying to steal his paintings or to smuggle them abroad would soon die, become paralyzed, or have a similar misfortune.

Gallery

thanks for stoppin’ by y’all

Mac Tag