What I talk about when I talk about getting back to running (thank you Naruki Murakami)

Long-distance running was not my first love – that was swimming. Running has became a fundamental activity for me since 2007. I ran many races and half-marathons all over Europe and two full marathons – in Rome and Paris. 
One of my favourite novelists, Naruki Murakami, said in his book “What I talk about when I talk about running” that the motivation for running is to run against time, to improve yourself, to be better than yesterday. Maybe that was true for him and for many other long-distance runners but for me running was always about freedom and belonging. 
Nothing compares to a long run along the beach. Breathe in, breathe out, strong core and leg muscles and the wind in your face. The world is your oyster and the sky is your limit. You can conquer the world. 
 
On the other side of the coin, when you run in a race you join a global community of the same natured people. No need to speak or explain, you know you are all a family. You look at their strides, their equipment, their nervousness, their smiles, pain and struggle and you know and feel good. You will finish the race together, you will reach the finish line with some of them. 
Suddenly, 3 years ago I stopped running. I do not know why. It just happened. Naruki called it runner’s blues. I moved to yoga and even though I liked it I never experienced the euphoria of the wind in your hair. Life continued.
Then one day during the yoga session the thought appeared from nowhere – time to get back to running. It appeared and disappeared but kept manifesting itself in the old photos on FB, finding running books and magazines in the attic and using stretching techniques I knew from the running days. It persisted until one morning I knew that the next day I would run. God, that was one of the great moments in my life – the joy, the feeling of coming home, of sensing there is something more to conquer, all that was there. 
The next day the sore muscles reminded me of life with limits but here I was – back in the running business. And this time I agreed with Naruki, “What is going to be much more meaningful to me now is how much I can enjoy myself. I will enjoy and value things that cannot be expressed in numbers”. 

Paul Cezanne – what an apple can do?

I have seen many of Paul Cezanne’s paintings around the world – in Musee D’Orsy, The Louvre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and recently at the Courtauld Gallery. 
It was a pleasant surprise that the Tate Modern, in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago, is presenting an exhibition of Paul Cezanne from 5th October 2022 until 12th March 2023. The exhibition shows 80 of his paintings and watercolours, 20 of which have never been shown in the UK.
It was a must therefore that the famous art lover Adrian (my husband) and I visit the exhibition this week. A piece of advice – visit the gallery as early as possible. The exhibition is very well attended and can become overcrowded later in the day. 
Paul Cezanne had a fascinating life.
He followed his dream and chose the uncertainty of being an artist instead of a stable career as a lawyer. However, he always had the financial support of his rich father and in order to receive the allowance Cezanne even hid his relationship with his girlfriend (later his wife) from him.
He applied twice to the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was twice rejected. He achieved success very late in life (in his 50s) but he was proclaimed the father of modern art.

He was an awkward figure in a refined Paris but he never forgot his Provincial roots and commuted regularly between Paris and his beloved Province.
I must admit I have always liked the paintings of Cezanne – mostly because of his palette of bold colours of Southern France. He had four main themes in his artistic endeavours: landscapes, still life, bathers and portraits/card players. 
1. Knowing all of this, I had never fully grasped how this very grounded, authentic and down to earth artist was actually a modernist, a rule breaker who expressed the complex nature of the modern world. 
2. Until I saw with my own eyes the Basket of Apples c.1893 on Tuesday.
3.The composition was created by Cezanne in his studio. A basket full of apples is inclined towards the viewer and some of the apples have fallen on a white table cloth. Next to the basket is a greenish bottle that tilts towards the basket. There is a white plate that contains very carefully structured oval biscuits. Everything looks and sounds boring and unexciting if you do not stop and look deeply.
 
 
4. It is a painting of a still life but the objects are moving – apples are falling toward the viewer, the cloth is so versatile and the bottle is leaning. All of the objects are on a moving towards the viewer table. It is a strange table – a table and not a table, some strange blocks of yellow and purple-green colours. And the apples – some are clearly falling, others appear stable but they are also falling and some are securely tacked in the cloth.
5. There is a group of apples on the right side of the picture. Next to them, but a bit distant, there is another apple that looks different than the apples in the group – the rebel, the outsider. The greenish bottle looks tall and strong but leans for support from the basket which is tilted. There is some anxiety, some nervousness in the white cloth and especially in the little apple in the middle of the picture. In the background and a bit isolated there is a plate with biscuits. The plate is white and oval and corresponds with the oval apples and the white cloth. It contains a structure but if you look closely the right side of the structure is not very secure. And what about the black path in the middle of the white cloth like a channel in which the objects will fall towards the viewer? 
Cezanne created his own reality that expressed the modern world and mentality. 

 

He said “With an apple, I will astonish Paris”.  He astonished the world! 

Keeping up with the times – what personal style do you have?

Practising the art of observation (and self-observation) reveals how well we keep up with the times. How well is a matter of degree therefore the clarity of the language will help tremendously to identify the extent.  

In everyday life we often use terms such as antique, vintage, classic, retro and, on the other hand, modern and contemporary as interchangeable and even synonyms. However, they all have more nuanced meanings which determine their place on the scale . 

“Antique” objects are those that are at least 100 years old. The age is important – it demonstrates that these items are timeless as they have passed the test of the time. Usually antiques are very expensive, not for common use and become the essence of an environment or outfit. Great examples are Edward VII’s Sapphire and Diamond ring and Victorian Circa 1860 Diamond Riviere necklace.  

Very close to “antique” quality is the “classic” style. Classic style is also timeless. It has endurance, stamina, the quality to survive the unimportant temporary changes and to shine radiantly forever. Fashion classic style involves items like a white shirt, denim jeans, a little black dress, a polo shirt, a camel coat, Chanel 5, a pearl necklace, etc. 

“Vintage” style is the style we choose emotionally. Usually vintage articles are older than 20 or 25 years and can be up to 99 years. They represent a certain historical era, art movement, literature characters that make us feel nostalgic. Vintage pieces have value because of our attachment and sentiment to them. Vintage objects can be quite expensive due mostly to their limited quantity. Think about Marilyn Monroe’s dress at President Kennedy’s birthday celebration, 70s style floral flares, the 1980s mesh and puffy sleeves or the 80s and 90s one-piece tracksuit. 

The low-budget Ryanair of “vintage” style is the “retro” style. Retro is defined as the nowadays version of vintage. Articles of this style mimic vintage but they are mass produced, accessible and relatively inexpensive. Usually the fashion houses market and sell them as pieces with vintage flavour – see fashion brands like Rixo or Free People. 

At the other end of the scale are the “modern” and “contemporary” styles.

“Modern” style is a fixed category. It points to a style that was radical, liberating, innovative and even revolutionary during the period that has just passed. This style is modern compared to the styles it overrides. Modern is the styles from the beginning and middle of the 20th century such as Art Deco style – Great Gatsby and jazz era fashion, bomber jackets, etc. 

“Contemporary” style is, on the contrary, a slippery and subjective category. It means a style “here and now” whatever that means for any of us. It represents a finger on the pulse of the world and youthful curiosity. Will contemporary styles survive the test of time?

No one can predict but as Jean Cocteau rightly said: 

 

“Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time.

Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time.”

 

That leads me to the other category I have not yet mentioned – “old-fashioned” style. But before writing about it I will be having an Old-Fashioned cocktail. Or may be not – refined sugar does not fit well with my contemporary health style. 

 

 

Vivian Maier – the fascinating story of one of the best photographers of the 20th century – Part 2

The story of Vivian Maier fascinates people. There have been many well attended exhibitions of her photographs around the globe. The documentary “Finding Vivian Maier” by co-directors John Maloof and Charlie Siskel was shown on Netflix and was nominated for an Oscar. A new book  “Vivian Maier Developed” by Ann Marks was published in February 2022. There have been countless newsletters and magazine articles, TV interviews, blog posts and videos. 

 

Undoubtedly, her narrative is thought- provoking. 

Three themes were highlighted for me:

1.Vivian’s talent was not discovered in her lifetime

 

Everyone who knew Vivian knew about her love of the camera.  There was even an anecdotal story that one of the boys Vivian used to care for was hit by a bus/car (not serious) and Vivian was engrossed in taking pictures of the accident instead of comforting the boy. 

 

Vivian worked for very wealthy families in Chicago and New York who had not only the means to support her but also the networks to promote her. Did the class and/or gender prejudices prevail or did Vivian’s personal characteristics like her difficult character and intense privacy put people off? Maybe it was a lack of curiosity about the person next door, or the darker sides of human nature – the envy of talent and devotion? Gore Vidal said it perfectly “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” 

 

Vivian was looked at but never seen.

 

2.Definition of success

 

Vivian never published her photographs but she was constantly filming. It looks like her purpose in life was to document the street life of America and other countries in the 20th century. It seems that success for her was the joy of practising her art, seeing and capturing life with compassionate eyes.

 

This definition of success sits very uncomfortably with success as defined by society. Just look at the million followers of the Instagram account of Brooklyn Beckham, a young man of “no detectable talent and passion” with “humiliating public appearances” as a photographer or celebrity chef. Somehow aggressive mediocracy is much better at promoting themselves than the real talents. 

 

But practising the art you are passionate about is real success, isn’t it?

3. Devotion and practice

 

Every craft requires skills developed with time. Vivian spent all her life photographing. She took around 150,000 pictures of the streets in America and other countries around the world. She was a master of her art. But she practised every day. She was getting better and better.

It did not matter what life threw at Vivian – she stayed faithful to her art and passion, to her life’s mission. 

 

Sounds a bit harsh – yes, but there is no mystery in mastery – hard work pays off. 

Vivian Maier – the fascinating story of one of the best photographers of the 20th century – Part 1

1.Beginning of the story

My photography hobby led me to discovering the captivating story of Vivian Maier. 

In 2007 a 26-year old man called John Maloof entered one of the auction houses in Chicago. At this time he was working as an estate agent. 

 

He went to the auction looking for old photographs of the neighbourhood in Chicago where he was born. He bought a box of around 30,000 negatives for $400. They all belonged to an unknown photographer called Vivian Maier. 

 

John did not experience a “Eureka moment” regarding the photographs. He started scanning them and with time he recognised the mastery of the photographer. 

 

To cut the long story short, John Maloof (despite any legal and ethical concerns) discovered and gave the world the incredible art of one of the most talented photographers of the 20th century. 

 

 

 

2. Who was Vivian Maier?

 

Vivian was born on 1st February 1926 in New York to a French mother and Austrian father. When she was 4 year old she left the USA with her mother (her father was out of the picture) and Jeanne Bertrand, a portrait photographer. 

 

She lived with her mum in a village in the French Alps. Vivian returned to New York in 1939 with her mother and again in 1951 alone. 

 

She made a living by working as a nanny for wealthy families in New York until 1956 when she moved to Chicago. She continued working as a nanny for affluent families along the shore of Lake Michigan. 

 

Vivian died in 2009, two years after John bought some of her negatives. In her later years she was penniless and three of the children she used to care for got together some finances and bought her a small apartment where they looked after her. 

 

Some of her photographic work was put into storage lockers and due to unpaid rent on one of the lockers a collection of her negatives were auctioned off in 2007. 

 

In 2008 Vivian slipped on the ice in downtown Chicago and hurt her head. She was admitted to a nursing home where she died. 

 

She never married and did not have any children or close family or friends. People who knew her described her as an eccentric, very opinionated, strong willed, highly intellectual and deeply private. She claimed that she learned English from theatres and plays.

 

Vivian often worn a “floppy hat”, long dresses, woollen  coats and man’s shoes. She had a powerful stride and her camera was always around her neck.  

Vivian did not have any formal photography training.  She had her first amateur camera in 1949 in France. It was a Kodak Brownie box camera with one shutter speed, no focus control and no aperture dial. However, in 1952 she acquired a much more professional Rolleiflex camera.

Vivian captured the street life of America for more than 50 years, taking more than 150,000 photographs which she never exhibited, published or showed to anyone. You do not need to be an expert to recognise the talent, the brilliance and the mastery of the Vivian’s photographs when you see them. 

 

So, how could such a talent be among us and remain anonymous and unappreciated? 

 

All will be revealed in Part 2.

 

Coming soon.