Tom McMahon

World War III Propaganda Posters

World War III Propaganda Posters

Reusable Cover Art in Historical Novels: A Gallery

Reusable Cover Art in Historical Novels: A Gallery

ObamaCare Poster Contest

ObamaCare Poster Contest

You'll Get Nothing And Like It!

(via PheistyBlog)

The Dating Game

The Dating Game

Han van Meegeren, The Art Forger Who Duped Hermann Goering

Vermeer's Christ and the Adultress by Han van Meegeren, The Art Forger Who Duped Hermann Goering

The Wikipedia summary:

As a child Van Meegeren developed an enthusiasm for the marvelous colours used by painters of the Dutch Golden Age, and later set out to become an artist himself. When art critics decried his work as tired and derivative, Van Meegeren felt that the critics had destroyed his career. Thereupon, he decided to prove his talent to the critics by forging paintings of some of the world's most famous artists, including Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch, Gerard ter Borch and Johannes Vermeer. He so well replicated the styles and colours of the artists he copied, that the best art critics and experts of the time regarded his paintings as genuine, and sometimes exquisite. His most successful forgery was The Disciples at Emmaus, created in 1937 while living in the south of France. This painting was hailed by some of the world’s foremost art experts as the finest Vermeer they had ever seen.

During World War II, wealthy Dutchmen, wanting to prevent a sellout of Dutch art to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, avidly bought Van Meegeren's forgeries. Nevertheless a falsified "Vermeer" ended up in the possession of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring. Following the war, the forgery was discovered in Göring's possession, and Han van Meegeren was arrested 29 May 1945 as a Collaborator, as the officials believed that he had sold Dutch cultural property to the Nazis. These crimes threatened extensive prison time and so Van Meegeren fearfully confessed to the forgery. On 12 November 1947 Van Meegeren was convicted of falsification and fraud charges, and was sentenced to a modest punishment of one year in prison. He never served his sentence, however; before he could be incarcerated Van Meegeren suffered a heart attack and died on 30 December 1947. It is estimated that Van Meegeren duped buyers out of the equivalent of several million dollars.

And from essentialvermeer.com:

"Perhaps the greatest problem that faced Van Meegeren then was the secrecy in which he had to work. He could hire no models, since they might talk. For the painting below he was forced to rely mainly on his imagination and it is a wonder that he dared such a accomplished composition, involving 13 figures in a variety of poses. ...

Van Meegeren spent four years working out techniques for making a new painting look old. The biggest problem was getting his oil paint to harden thoroughly - process that normally takes 50 years. He solved it by mixing his pigments with a synthetic resin instead of oil, and baking the canvas. Now he was ready to begin. He took an actual 17th c. painting and removed most of the picture with pumice and water, being most careful not to obliterate the network of cracks, which had an important role to play."

Interesting fellow, eh? The only word I can come up with to adequately describe him is "ballsy". On Amazon there's I Was Vermeer: The Forger Who Swindled the Nazis, The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren, and The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century

My Viewsonic Viewpad 100 eBook Project: 16,000 Famous Paintings on DVD

My Viewsonic Viewpad 100 eBook Project: 16,000 Famous Paintings on DVD

About 4 gigabytes worth. I hadn't planned to use that much space for art, but it seems a good way to showcase the big 10-inch color display. And when do you ever browse through art anyway? Without the Viewpad, you'd need a ton of coffee-table books.

If You Write Books For Kids You Get 51185 Pixels. If You Give Your Life To Defend Your Country, You Only Get 2500.

If You Write Books For Kids You Get 51185 Pixels. If You Give Your Life To Defend Your Country, You Only Get 2500.

The Yellow Memorial Day ribbon on Google was 50 x 50 pixels. The Dr. Seuss logo was 353 x 145. Do the Math: Google considers Dr Seuss 20 times more important than Memorial Day.

Is Your Washroom Breeding Bolsheviks?

Is Your Washroom Breeding Bolsheviks?

The Evolution of 20 Company Logos

The Evolution of 20 Company Logos

Gardol Gertie by Artist Mel Ramos

Gardol Gertie by Artist Mel Ramos

Tastefully cropped for family viewing (but if you click the link, you're on your own!). I always pictured drum after 55 gallon drum of surplus Gardol, Retsyn, and other miracle ingredients of days gone by stored in some old warehouse. But after this nifty piece of artwork I'll never look at those old Colgate commercials in quite the same way ever again.