The Country Bear's Contemplations

Looking for beards in life and life through beards.

[mrdirtybear]

'Sketch to Illustrate the Passions — Self Conceit or Vanity' as created in 1854 by English artist Richard Dadd (1817 - 1886). It is part of a larger series titled Sketches to Illustrate the Passions. Dadd produced this extensive series of watercolors while he was incarcerated in the State Criminal Lunatic Asylum of Bethlem Royal Hospital, following the murder of his father during a psychotic episode in 1843.

[mrdirtybear]

'Portrait of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)', painted in 1898 by French painter Edouard Vuillard (1868 - 1940).

[mrdirtybear]

'Self Portrait' as painted in 1574 by Neapolitan portrait painter Scipione Pulzone (1544 - 1598), also known as Il Gaetano.

[mrdirtybear]

'Cap'N Beard' by Polish artist Camille Przewodek (born 1947). Read an interview with her here.

[mrdirtybear]

[mrdirtybear]

The unsettling 2026 Van Gogh shirt design that you never expected for see....

[mrdirtybear]

'Self Portrait' as painted in 1950 by Swiss painter Cuno Amiet (1868 - 1961) who whilst completing many self portraits also completed many portraists of other people and a number of landscapes.

[mrdirtybear]

'The Day I heard that Mark Hollis had died', a 2019 self portrait by popular Belfast portrait painter, and Chancellor of Ulster University, Colin Davidson (born 1968). Grief at the death of gifted musicians is popularly observed, but not often expressed in paint. Find out who Mark Hollis was here.

[mrdirtybear]

'The Man and The Puppet' as painted in 1878 by French painter Edouard Manet. I am sure that the puppet was used as a prop in his paintings when he found it convenient to go without a live model.

[mrdirtybear]

A public art work probably made for the Festival of Britain in 1951 for Transport For London by Hans Unger and Ebhard Schulze, later adapted as a poster by Hans Unger and Ebhard Schulze, The poster version shows the German composer Johannes Brahms playing the piano. Situated on the piano are two busts of Beethoven and Bach and in the top left corner is a portrait of the English composer Benjamin Britten. A variety of techniques appear to have been used including painting, drawing, collage and mosaic.

[mrdirtybear]

'Portrait ofCarl Moll' as painted  by Ludwig Michalek. Car Moll (1861–1945) was a popular Austrian Art Nouveau painter. Here is the website dedicated to the artist, including a biography of the artist.

[mrdirtybear]

[mrdirtybear]

'Self Portrait' as painted circa1900 by Czech painterJan Preisler (1872-1918).

[mrdirtybear]

'Mephistopholes' as painted in 1898 by Ukrainian/Russian painter Ilya Repin (1844 - 1930).

[mrdirtybear]

Thomas Lord Vaux as depicted by Hans Holbein the Younger.

[mrdirtybear]

'Portrait of Pavel Petrovich Chistyakov' as sketched by Ukrainian - Russian painter Ilya Repin (1844 - 1930). Pavel Chistyakov (1832–1919) was a prominent Russian painter, and a major influence on Russian art. The original drawing remains housed in the State Tretyakov Gallery, in Moscow.

[mrdirtybear]

'Portrait of a man in a beret' as painted before 1939 by Polish painter Maria-Mela Muter (1876–1967) the prominent Jewish/Polish painter who for much of her career created and worked in Paris.