Two views of a dancer in her dressing room by Degas

Wednesday with Edgar Degas!

Oskar Reinhart Collection, Switzerland, c. 1880

Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA, 1879

The artist's sister Edma with her daughter Jeanne by Morisot

Tuesday with Berthe Morisot!

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA, 1872

Young woman with violet by Manet

Mondays with Edouard Manet!

Beyeler Gallery, Basle, 1872

Donald Wade Soper Jr. turns 89

These three photos of my older brother Don, taken sometime in the late 1930s, were passed along to me by my Aunt Barbara Hinman. She, along with her wonderful husband Bill, have since left this earth and most certainly enjoying themselves mightily wherever they are. Warm, kind and generous they always referred to my brother as "Donnie". Fascinating.

As for "Donnie", he suffered much in his life but with a loving wife and a rock-solid belief in himself he persevered through it all. I could only wish for such strength of character.

He had his flaws to be sure, after all which one of you can say you are perfect in every way. Sadly, I kept pointing to those when he was alive and not focusing on his strengths.

But he was my older brother and while we rarely agreed on anything -- except our Dad -- he was always there for me, especially when I was the age he was in these photos.

 Thanks Big Brother. Rest in Peace -- you earned it.

February 22, 1936 to April 26, 2016.

Single dancer 1874 by Degas

Wednesday with Edgar Degas!

Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1874

The Hairdresser by Morisot

Tuesday with Berthe Morisot!

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1894

Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Manet

Mondays with Edouard Manet!

There have been reams of words cast adrift attempting to analyze what exactly is going on here. For me everything I need to know lies in just two places: the young woman's eyes and that pair of feet dangling from a trapeze in the upper left corner.

Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 1882

Church of Saint-Philippe du Roule by Jean Béraud

Art surprise Friday!

A view of the rue du Faubourg de St-Honoré.

the Church of Saint-Philippe du Roule, c. 1876, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, NY, USA

Blue dancers by Degas

Wednesday with Edgar Degas!

Pushkin Museum of Fine Art, Moscow, Russia, c. 1899

Young woman powdering her face by Morisot

Tuesday with Berthe Morisot!

Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, 1877

Two portraits of Eva Gonzales by Manet

Mondays with Edouard Manet!

Eva Gonzales studied painting, more or less, under Manet -- much to the chagrin, so they say, to Berthe Morisot for reasons now lost to time and dust. In any case, she eventually developed her own style and became a rather accomplished impressionist painter in her own right. 

private collection, 1879

Here's Eva, again by Manet, working on one of Manet's canvases:

National Gallery, London, UK, 1870

Tunis VandenBerg 1921-1999

Husband, father, grandfather, brother, son, uncle, friend and  small town physician who was part of the Greatest Generation. . . Remembering his passing 20 years ago today.

c. 1943, navigator, B-24, U.S. Army Air Corps, World War Two

1942 Tunis (right) and his brother Len with Tune's new car, Grand Rapids, MI

The basin at Argenteuil by Claude Monet

Art surprise Friday!

1874, Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USA

The pink dancers before the ballet by Degas

Wednesday with Edgar Degas!

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Denmark, 1884

Young woman in grey reclining by Morisot

Tuesday with Berthe Morisot!

private collection, 1879

Young Woman with a Pink Shoe by Manet

Mondays with Edouard Manet!

Actually a full-length portrait the impressionist painter Berthe Morisot. She was a frequent model for Manet and would eventually become his sister-in-law, marrying Eugene Manet in 1874.

Hiroshima Museum of Art, Japan,  circa 1868

Three women by Pierre Renoir

Art surprise Friday!

La Parisienne, 1874, National Museum of Cardiff

Portrait of Rapha, 1881, private

The umbrellas, 1881-86,  Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin