Great new book HOTEL Bemelmans

I love to read and quite frankly the only reason I really started this blog was to talk about reading and books. But for the last six months, while I'm reading as prolifically as always, I just haven't read anything that I thought worthy of public discussion here.

I don't know if books, like films, etc. are not being published in as many numbers and therefore the quality is down or what (I do know that I don't often find a DVD to rent because there doesn't seem to be as many movies that interest me these days).

Until I read HOTEL BEMELMANS by Ludwig Bemelmans. He was a New York busboy, waiter, and restaurateur in New York in the 20's and 30's. The book is a series of short essays or sketches about the life and times of the Hotel Splendide where Bemelmans worked. The Splendide was in reality the Ritz Carlton.

With an introduction by Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential), the book tells the secrets and scandals of the hotel's staff and rich patrons and guests. As Bemelman's modern day counterpart, Bourdain says: "Ludwig Bemelmans was the original bad boy of the New York hotel/restaurant subculture."

Bemelmans has several claims to fame besides his bad boy restaurateur image. He was an artist and humorist and perhaps most famous for being the author and illustrator of the Madeline books. Like the Madeline series, HOTEL BEMELMANS includes the author's illustrations of the various characters and episodes that are in the book.

Originally from Austria, Bemelmans arrived here as the book says: "at the age of sixteen after he shot a head-waiter at his uncle's hotel." He has a very wry and wickedly funny sense of humor and I literally guffawed throughout the book.

This is a zany cast of characters of con men, gypsies, a wizard, and a number of other eccentric bosses and co-workers. There's Vladimir Slezack, or "Mr. Sigsag" as he's commonly referred to by the staff, who is the catering banquet manager who Bemelmans works for. But my favorite is the hotel manager, Otto Brauhaus:

"Otto Brauhaus (illustration by Bemelmans at right) was an immense stout man; he had to bend down to pass under the tall doorways of his hotel. Big as his feet, which gave him much trouble, telegraphing their sorrows to his ever-worried face, was his heart. For despite his conception of himself as a stern executive, and strict disciplinarian, he could not conceal his kindness. He liked to laugh with guests and employees alike, and the result was that his countenance was the scene of an unending emotional conflict."

What I loved most about Brauhaus is his German accent which "he had somehow never been able to improve.......Brauhaus spoke with a thick dialect that sometimes sounded like a vaudeville comedian trying for effect. He was, in any case, inarticulate, and hated to talk. Two expressions recurred in his speech like commas; without them he seemed hardly able to speak: 'Cheeses Greisd!' and 'Gotdemm it!'

I roared and guffawed my way through this book especially when Brauhuas popped up with his "Cheeses Greisd! Gotdemm it," usually in the same sentence. Here's an example: "But things had not been going too well with Brauhaus's friends, these elderly men who ate and drank too well. In one week Mr. Brauhaus went to two funerals. He came back very gloomy from the second, saying 'Gotdemm it, Cheeses Greisd, every time I see a friend of mine he's dead.'

When he discovers the staff having fun when they thought he was away "Brauhaus stormed back there and exploded: 'What is diss? Gotdemm it! Cheeses Greisd! You have a birdtay zelepration here?'"

There are certain phrases in books that somehow make their way into my daily lexicon. "Fecking eejit" is one (from Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, one of my favorite books of all time). But "Gotdemm it Cheeses Greisd" is the newest.

His drawings are as unique as his writing voice as well. Each person illustrated in the drawing reflects a certain self-assuredness/self-possession with themselves. While this is funny when you encounter a pompous, it's even funnier depicting the eccentricities of some of the characters.

This book is really just delightful. You'll relish every moment. I swear, Gotdemm it Cheeses Greisd!

Photo of Ludwig Bemelmans by

Life Magazine, April 1945, Photographer Walter Sanders

Painting by Bemelmans "Terrasse"

I love ELEPHANTS. Take a look at these elephant ARTISTS!

I've you've been tracking with this blog for a while, you know how much I love elephants (among other things). This is an amazing sight. These elephants are artists. See the painting of the tree by this wise old pachyderm!

I found these at a really fun website called Damn Cool Pics: Here was the caption: "these amazing images were made by the Elephant Artist Sri Siam at the Lamphang Elephant Camp in Thailand. It is hard to tell whether the elephants actually know what they are drawing, or that they have learned to imitate a teachers work or their caretaker is directing them how to draw. Nonetheless it is unnaturally fascinating to see them busy."




Check this out.....a self-portrait by one of the elephant artists:
Absolute beauty in every way.

Poet & artist WILLIAM BLAKE-Colorado Springs-Thomas Jefferson and the Library of Congress-cool temperatures

I've been in Colorado Springs all week attending the Colorado Antiquarian Bookseller Seminar. I arrived last Sunday and have absolutely relished the cooler weather. The temperature for me has been so perfect with slight cool breezes. We've even had two rainstorms. Eat your heart out Palm Desert (home)! I dread going back home to the inferno.

This conference has been absolutely the most amazing experience. It is a complete immersion into the world of books, not just bookselling. We have studied the history of printing. We even learned to fold and cut books, just as they were done in Guttenberg's time. We've covered bibliographic terms and collation formulas. (What the hell is a collation formula you say? Here's an example of one: 2°: π 1 a-b² A-2L² 2M1; 74 leaves. This is NOT a calculus formula but it is a formula which tells how a book was assembled when it was printed using a hand-press).

Sunday evening's Keynote Speech was perhaps one of the most electrifying and amazing moments in my life (I do mean this). The speaker was Mark Dimunation who is Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of Library of Congress. It was such a revelation and a beautiful one at that. What I learned that night was that Thomas Jefferson was responsible for the Library of Congress' existence. He was a voracious book collector, in addition to all of his other genius qualities. Thomas Jefferson and his book passion burned quite bright, literally: in a strange series of fires that cursed his book collections. “The nucleus of the Library of Congress was forged in fire,” Mr. Dimunation said in his retelling of the Jefferson library story, a story that begins with a 1770 fire that burned Jefferson’s family home in Shadwell, Va., and consumed most of his first library consisting of some 200 volumes, including his law books and 40 books he had inherited from his father.

In the years after this fire, Jefferson went on a passionate global book buying quest. By 1789, when he returned home after living in Paris for several years, he had already doubled the size of the original collection which had been destroyed.

Fire again played a significant role in Jefferson's collection when in 1814 a fire destroyed the entire collection of the Library of Congress, an institution Jefferson was responsible for originating. The fire which burned at the US Capitol was set by the British.

Jefferson offered to sell his entire collection of books, which now comprised 6,487 volumes, to reestablish the nation's Library. Following a rancorous bi-partisan debate, Congress approved the purchase. (alas, some things will not ever change).

The interesting thing about the collection is that it wasn't a typical gentleman's book collection of the period. According to Mr. Dimunation, “He was not buying first editions, the best editions, or the best copies,” Dimunation said. “He wanted working texts, ordinary books for the 18th century. He was not building a gentleman’s library for show. He was building a scholar’s library to meet his needs as a philosopher, statesman, diplomat, scientist, planter, architect, musician and scholar.”

He read and collected, in their original languages, Greek and Latin classics, books of contemporary 18th-century European philosophers and thinkers who influenced his thoughts on the rights of man. Jefferson also bought and used books on politics, law and history, books on art, architecture and music, books and pamphlets on all branches of science. (from Library of Congress website, see reference at the bottom of this posting).

“He truly is the American enlightenment,” Dimunation said. “He embodied the philosophy of the entire 18th century. He believed concerted rational thought focused on a problem would produce a reasonable solution. He studied the classics in order to construct his understanding of democracy and the republic in very much the same way he would approach a problem with his crops or a scientific question.”

In a bizarre twist of fate fire once again became a part of Jefferson's history, when a fire at the US Capitol in 1851 burned almost two-thirds of the original Jefferson collection that was purchased by the government.

Mr. Dimunation and his staff have been on a quest to replace all of the original collection volumes that were burned. They have narrowed the missing volumes to just under 200. Which is quite remarkable.

When he finished his keynote speech, our speaker received a fervent round of applause. I wanted to scream "Encore! Bravo! Encore!" it was just such a remarkable story about books and the Library Congress and Thomas Jefferson. That fine institution will be my first stop when next I am in DC.

Okay, so what does this have to do with William Blake, the poet and the artist, you say?

Mark Dimunation, the keynote speaker, had attended our seminar here in Colorado Springs at the request of one of his staff, Dan DeSimone, who also is one of the faculty members for Colorado Antiquarian Bookseller Seminar. Mr. DeSimone is Curator of the Library of Congress' Rosenwald Collection. He also has been one of my favorite of the faculty members, perhaps because he has given some optional lectures at lunchtime which have been quite fascinating and fun and illuminating for me. The two that he's done so far featured topics from the Rosenwald Collection. Which brings me to William Blake. The Rosenwald Collection includes a number of books published by Blake. I cannot wait to read more about this amazing human. First of all Blake was considered a lunatic in his time and wasn't really appreciated by his peers. There is a Caravaggio-esque quality to his story that has me hooked (see my previous post on my Caravaggio fascination http://markgsmusings.blogspot.com/2009/07/lost-painting-fantastic-book-about.html).

Blake introduced what is known as "relief" printing or what is also sometimes known as "illumination" or "illuminated books." Which yet again is reminiscent of Carravagio: "illumination." Light. Here is one of the most exquisite pieces of art that I've ever beheld:

This is Blake's Ancient of Days. The "Ancient of Days is described in Chapter 7 of the Book of Daniel, which is in the Rosenwald Collection. I haven't had much time to learn much more, although I spent a couple of hours reading last night about Blake.

And that's how William Blake, cool temperatures, Colorado Springs, Thomas Jefferson and the Library of Congress all were in common this week.

The quotes from Mr. Dimunation above as well as the photo of the Library of Congress are from the following link at the Library of Congress website. It is an interesting story so read more about it at: http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/0806/jefferson.html.

About The Rosenwald Collection: "The Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection stands out among the distinguished resources of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Taking the illustrated book as its central theme and containing books from the last six centuries and manuscripts from the three preceding, the collection's greatest strengths are in the fifteenth century woodcut books, early sixteenth-century illustrated books, William Blake, and twentieth-century livres des peintres. Within this grand design the late Mr. Rosenwald sought books produced by the earliest printers and outstanding presses of later periods, and books on the following subjects: science, calligraphy, botany, and chess. The catalog describing the collection published in 1978 contains 2,653 entries, many for books represented by more than one copy."
(http://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/211.html )

To see more of Blake's amazing artwork visit: http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/.




Have a wonderful cool day. I will!

THE LOST PAINTING--Fantastic book about the quest for a lost CARAVAGGIO masterpiece (remember to click on photos to enlarge)

Just finished reading the most amazing book, The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr which chronicles the quest of several individuals to discover Caravaggio's lost painting "The Taking of Christ."

I could not put this book down. I read it completely in a day. This book was fantastic for so many reasons which I'll get to in just a second. But, first, I have to talk about Caravaggio, who is probably one of the most originally unusual artists. The story of Caravaggio, not just his life, but the history of Caravaggio is one of the greatest stories in art history. I should preface this by saying that I am not an art historian. I've never "studied" art. I read a biography titled, M, 3-4 years ago about Caravaggio and became fascinated, as I often do with things. I guess I'm attracted to beauty and Caravaggio's paintings are some of the most exquisitely beautiful works of art ever. I tend to also be attracted at times to bizarre or unconventional beauty or stories. Oft times Caravaggio's paintings are gruesome or unsettling. And his life story, or what little we know of it, was very unconventional. After all, he was a murderer and was thought to be crazy.

At the time I was reading M, a brilliant book by Peter Robb, I bought a couple of Caravaggio books that profiled his paintings to use as a reference while reading. And so, that launched my own little "study", if you will, of the painters oeuvre. Caravaggio is now considered to be, along with Michaelangelo, one of the greatest influences in the history of art. He is essentially credited for having influenced, or rather inspired modern painting. "Paul Valery's secretary, put it in a nutshell: 'In the aftermath of the Renaissance, what begins in the work of Caravaggio is, quite simply, modern painting.'" Caravaggio attracted numerous younger artists and thus started an influence which can be seen in the works of Delacroix, Gericault (who copied Caravaggio's Entombment before painting the Raft of the Medusa), Courbet and Manet. [Lambert, Gilles. Caravaggio, Taschen, 2004, Germany, p 8]

For me, Caravaggio's paintings are beautiful because of his use of light. His paintings are often almost photographic in quality when it comes to the use of light. And the subject of Harr's book, "The Taking of Christ," (1602) perhaps illustrates Caravaggio's genius about as well as any of his paintings.

National Gallery of Art/Associated Press

See! Caravaggio studied light the way Davinci studied human anatomy (among other things). I'm going to refer to Caravaggio as "M" for the rest of the post for brevity. M's paintings were also shockingly different at the time because he painted scenes with a dedication to reality not an idealized fantasy. He used prostitutes to portray the Virgin Mary. One "model" was a very successful courtesan in Rome (I am fascinated with courtesans in history....see my previous blog here: http://markgsmusings.blogspot.com/2009/06/dangerous-beauty-1998-movie-about.html). He could be gruesome....his paintings of beheadings left nothing at all to the imagination. But all of his paintings were quite realistic which I think was the appeal that he had for other painters. Before M, painters represented their subjects in the most idealized way. He was a brutally and intensely honest painter which I think is what makes his work so exceptionally beautiful.

In The Lost Painting, you'll learn that M was also a maverick and rebel because, unlike his predecessors and contemporaries, he did not do studies of his paintings before. He would create a work of art and edit it as he went along, rather than creating several "models" before. Another curious thing I learned in the book was that artists of the time didn't sign their works. So these "edits" if you will are the only signatures really to determine if a painting was actually done by M.

Here's one of my favorite of his works, the CardSharps (1594), which I think again illustrates M's mastery of lighting:

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

And at left you see "Judith Beheading Holofernes" (c1598-1599). Pretty realistic, no? I wonder how many heads M had to cut off to perfect this technique.

His life was very short and not a very happy life, indeed. Most of what is known comes from public records of the time which is maybe the reason that the focus has always been on how crazy he was. After all, if one's biography was predicated simply on ones court and jail records you would know an awful lot about that aspect of a person's life but it wouldn't necessarily be very balanced. I won't go into much of a biographical sketch here, just some highlights so you can see why his story is compelling.....or at least why this one aspect of his history is as equally compelling as all the rest. (He was kind of cute, too). You'll get a great introduction to the personality of M, as we know it, in The Lost Painting. M lived from 1571-1610, 39 years. (Chalk portrait at right of Caravaggio by Ottatvio Leoni, c. 1621)

He lived in Rome from about 1600-1606 but after murdering a man with whom he'd played tennis (I don't know who won or lost the match but I believe the feud was about a bet), he fled and lived on the run in a number of Italian cities for the remainder of his life. In Rome, he became very successful and was "the most famous painter in Rome." He started out dirt poor but eventually won the patronage of very rich and powerful Vatican cardinals and wealthy Roman families. Recent books have theorized that M was "gay". He was frequently involved in altercations and street fights (one altercation had M throwing plates at a waiter in a restaurant). The exact circumstances of his death are sketchy but it has been suggested that he was murdered by any number of the people he had managed to piss off during his short lifetime.

Which brings me to the second, and perhaps more fascinating, aspect of M's history. Because of the controversial nature of his life and work he was literally erased from the history pages shortly after his death and for another 3 centuries he was completely, utterly unknown to the world. Isn't that amazing! It only goes to show that history is a very limited and subjective thing and usually only reflects the prejudices of those who are in power or have the upper hand in a vendetta (as was the case here as you'll learn if you read the book). So, this artist, ultimately was expunged from the record until the 1920's. His works of art were for the most part reassigned to other "acceptable" artists. This is such a powerful story because it illustrates just how nebulous and propaganda-ish and false that much of what we perceive as "history" really is. [Sort of like religion......how much of the Bible at this point is really anything more than just the prejudices and political motivations of every pope and religious (and MALE) leader for 2000 or so years...sorry for stepping on my soap box]

In the 1920's M was "discovered" and since that time his image and presence on the planet has been restored and has created an even more fascinating story. Which brings us, finally, to The Lost Painting. This book is written in a "reportage" style, but feels sometimes like a "thriller" novel. It is very spare but you just get so caught up in the subjects and their stories and their independent Quests, that it is riveting. It was reminiscent of Capote's (who is another one of my reading obsessions), In Cold Blood, albeit with a less chilling subject matter, but the same journalistic style of narration that also feels like a novel.

The book was written by Jonathan Harr who years ago had written a magazine article about the discovery of "The Taking of Christ." In his afterword, Harr explains that he had always had the intention of developing the article into a book. It took quite a while primarily because the author (and this was fascinating to me) decided that the only way he could effectively write such a book would be to learn Italian so that he could successfully interview the stories' major characters. Now that is commitment to excellence, in my opinion.

I don't want to spoil too much of the story because everyone who reads this blog MUST go read the book immediately. It is just too much fun, too great of a read to miss. "The Taking of Christ" "disappeared" and several Caravaggio art historians/scholars, some whom you'll meet in the book (principally Sir Denis Mahon, the greatest living expert on Caravaggio), had always had a passion to discover it. But there are three main sections of the book with three different "protaganists", if you will. The first, and perhaps most interesting, are two University of Rome graduate students, Francesca Cappelletti and Laura Testa, who inadvertently end up discovering all sorts of landmark facts regarding the missing painting. Their "quest" made me regret that I am not an historian by profession myself. Their detective work is some of the best aspects of the book.

The second "protaganist" is an art restorer named Sergio Benedetti, an Italian who works for the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. This story is equally compelling but perhaps adds another ingredient in this books potent mix of diverse themes. This is a darker story which illuminates the machinations of the art world even more acutely.

The denouemont assembles all of our various characters together in 1999 (who have been questing throughout the '90s), only to be followed by an interesting "twist", a continuation of the story in the 21st century and a third protaganist who only intensifies the Caravaggio legend and mystery, as far as I'm concerned.

This book is just a brilliant and wonderful mixture of intrigue, eccentric characters of the art world, travelogue, dastardly egos, ruthless ambition, detective/mystery work, devotion and dedication to passions, a once-powerful/wealthy noble Italian family, to name just a few. It also is a wonderful introduction not only to Caravaggio but the art world and art history, in general. It also features one of my favorite places in the world, Rome!

I mean it....I could not put it down until I finished it (262 pages). Go read the book and then go read more about Caravaggio and see all of his amazing genius.

I'll close with this quote from the NY Times book review of The Lost Painting which I think more eloquently sums it up (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/books/review/13handy.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1):

"It is this empathy for the passions of these scholars and artisans, Harr's respect for their dedication and his keen understanding of their workaday worlds - he clearly spent a lot of time with his subjects - that elevates The Lost Painting into something more provocative than just your average missing-Caravaggio narrative. A good thing, too, since the timing and circumstances of the discovery of "The Taking of Christ" deflate much of the book's suspense; halfway through, it's all over but the backfilling. Fortunately, the hunt for the canvas is a bit of a MacGuffin; the deeper mystery is the nature of capital-A art itself."

A couple of other thoughts.....the painting "The Taking of Christ" includes a self portrait of Caravaggio. He can be seen in the painting holding the lantern. The painting portrays Judas' kiss of Christ (I don't have a clue what this means) and the Roman soldiers who are coming to take Christ I assume to his crucification.

I used the following two books over the last few years of my intermittent fascination with Caravaggio and I recommend one or both, although I recognize there may be far more eminent papers for a true budding scholar of M.

Caravaggio by Gilles Lambert. Published by Taschen (originally 2000 and reprinted in 2004).



Caravaggio by Timothy Wilson-Smith. Published by Phaidon (reprint 2005).

Finally, I offer a couple of more examples of Caravaggio's genius and the beauty of his art which demonstrates that this man brought art, as we know it, into the light out of darkness. Which reflects the artist's own history throughout the centuries. (The last picture looks so contemporary....it looks like what could be a Johnny Depp movie poster, no?)

The Calling of Saint Matthew (1599-1600). Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

Madonna di Loreto (c 1603-1605), Sant’Agostino, Rome

Medusa (1597)