Mini-roundabout

Once again, there seemed to be more traffic on the roads today and signs that a number of businesses are re-opening. I do hope that is all going to work out well without another rise in infections.

Today's first listen was to Gary Clark Jr's album "This Land" (2019) on which my favourite track was I Got My Eyes On You. I saw him live in Manchester four years ago.  I think I preferred that to this album.

Franz Marc was a German Expressionist, born in Munich in 1880, who moved to the Bavarian countryside in 1909, where he became convinced that only animals possessed the qualities of purity and beauty he found lacking in human beings. He used colour with particular emphasis and significance: red for domination and yellow for sensuality.  His work used just a few bright colours and simple composition.

This is all present in his painting from 1913 Fate of the Animals. This depicts a vision of apocalyptic trauma, with subtly portrayed images of animals overwhelmed by a riotous explosion of reds, some yellow and darker shades.  All of this is shown in diagonal bands of colour. A year later, the First World War caused that apocalypse. Marc was killed at Verdun in 1916.