Accordion Art

[losthobos]

Sorry I don't know how to link photos to forum but perhaps those clever enough could start adding links to artworks
Seeing Picasso's cubism painting
The Accordionist prompted this thread
Thank you

 

[maugein96]

Hi Terry,

Heres Johnny Meijers statue from the Jordaan in Awmsterrrrrrdawm.



P.S. The only way I can post photos is to save the images on my laptop then attach them to the post. I know there is a better way to do it which does not involve putting the actual image in the post, and Ive tried to work out how to do that, without success. As soon as I see people talking about pressing two or more keys simultaneously to achieve one process, I stop reading the instruction.

 

[Geronimo]

Hi Terry,

Heres Johnny Meijers statue from the Jordaan in Awmsterrrrrrdawm.

13113989.jpg

A Belgian instrument (Accordiola) with an international bass? What is the sculptor trying to tell us?

 

[maugein96]

Hi Geronimo,

Quite a lot of Dutch players use/used these big Accordiolas (Toos Endlich, Jaap Valkhoff, Wim Rijkhoff etc). As far as I know they were B system and all of them had "mushroom" stepped Stradella bass, arranged 3x3.

Maybe some Dutch forum members could confirm that?

The accordion in the sculpture is still on the go, and I believe it is currently stored at the Gert Nijkamp Muziekhuis in Apeldoorn, replete with cigar burns and treble buttons all out of alignment, just as it was when Johnny last played it.

 

[losthobos]

Johnny Meijer.....B system....the sly old fox....thats how come he managed all those slurs....

 

[jozz]

there is a theory that all those old accordionists were "wiseguys", it was at least a genuine sub-culture back then

spicy twist: Gert Nijkamp was shot and killed some ten years ago execution style

 

[Anyanka]

Sorry I dont know how to link photos to forum but perhaps those clever enough could start adding links to artworks
Seeing Picassos cubism painting
The Accordionist prompted this thread
Thank you

This painting, The Accordionist, was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1911. This painting depicted a man who is playing an accordion as indicated by the title. The painting was painted in the style of analytic cubism, which divided three-dimensional forms into a two-dimensional plane. This style was developed by Picasso and Georges Braque between 1907 and 1914.

Picasso experimented breaking up the subject matter and change the sense of depth at the earlier stages of analytic cubism. At that stage he still applied a defined sense to the subjects volume and shape. As displayed in this painting, the picture plane is distorted but not to the same degree as it is in Picassos later paintings. You can also tell if a painting is early or late analytic by the use of the color. In his late paintings Picasso use color to define different objects and allow user to easily tell the difference of subject matters. In this painting, the Accordionist, the color is almost monochromatic and its hard to discern the subject matter.

https://www.pablopicasso.org/accordionist.jsp

 

[losthobos]

Thanks Anyanka....anymore anyone...
There's a lovely painting with a player under a rural landscape, rolling hills and tree in accordion museum castelfidardo as well as excellent sculpture

 

[losthobos]

there is a theory that all those old accordionists were wiseguys, it was at least a genuine sub-culture back then

spicy twist: Gert Nijkamp was shot and killed some ten years ago execution style

Ive an Italian friend...double bass player who played a lot of gigs but retired after getting the willies from seeing guys getting whacked.....I thought that stuff only happened in Some Like It Hot

 

[maugein96]

there is a theory that all those old accordionists were wiseguys, it was at least a genuine sub-culture back then

spicy twist: Gert Nijkamp was shot and killed some ten years ago execution style

Hi jozz,

Johnny Meijers son was a high profile drug addict with underworld connections, and apparently took maximum advantage of his fathers fame. All the usual vice and protection rackets were on the go in most of the big cities in Europe in Meijers day, and I would imagine anybody with the bottle to play for money in The Jordaan had to take the usual precautions of obeying the rules.

In latter life when he couldnt get work in the bigger joints, he depended on Chris Huissen, a neighbour of his and plumber by day, to drive him to and from the second and third rate venues. Huissen played the bass (badly) for Johnny, and was his minder. His main task was probably to stop Johnny falling into a canal after the gig! Hard drinking was Johnnys downfall, and he got worse after his wife died. The Huissens, who lived in the same building as Johnny, took him under their wing and looked after him in later life.

When Huissen was his minder all Johnny had left was his state pension, as he had drank most of his money, and had possibly been robbed of the rest. A sad tale indeed for a man who had twice been world champion two years in a row (1953/4).

Gert Nijkamps shop still seems to be trading in Apeldoorn, although I never knew about his shooting. Wonder if anybody picked up the 150,000 Euros reward for convicting the guy who shot him?

 

[maugein96]

In this painting, the Accordionist, the color is almost monochromatic and its hard to discern the subject matter.

Anyanka,

I seem to remember something called Art Appreciation when I was at school. Reckon I must have done a Picasso that day and failed to appear!

Do you get a prize if you can see the accordionist? I think Id have more chance of hearing the accordionist in the painting, because I definitely cannot see him/her.

Im not being critical in any way, I just found mischief in my failure to find a tree in the forest!

Any clues?

 

[losthobos]

https://miguelguia.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1902w-1.jpg[/url]

 

[Anyanka]

Anyanka,

I seem to remember something called Art Appreciation when I was at school. Reckon I must have done a Picasso that day and failed to appear!

Do you get a prize if you can see the accordionist? I think Id have more chance of hearing the accordionist in the painting, because I definitely cannot see him/her.

Im not being critical in any way, I just found mischief in my failure to find a tree in the forest!

Any clues?

I can just make out the hands and bellows in the very centre of the painting. No prize, though, just the pleasure of smugness I have to confess that art appreciation is part of my bread & butter: Im a professional artist, and teach art part-time too. Ive made some accordion collage artwork in the past, mostly as presents for special people - Karen Tweed owns one of them, Paul Hutchinson another.

 

[maugein96]

Anyanka,

I can't even paint a door let alone a work of art. Mind you, maybe I could convince my wife that some of the doors I've painted are actually works of art. I should tell her that I haven't botched the job, it's just that I've painted the door to make it look as though I have. If I had signed the doors "Picasso", do you think I would have got away with it?

My mother's uncle had a signwriting business and my family were keen for me to become an apprentice to him, as he had no family of his own. After he had seen some of my efforts he recommended that the best career for me was as part of a demolition squad in the multi-storey blocks which were about to be condemned at the time. He reckoned I was about as artistic as snow falling off a roof. I later discovered exactly what that was like, and I can tell you it's scary when it happens when you're working on the very roof 100 feet up as a plumber's labourer at the time with a gas bottle and a torch. I reneged on the demolition job as I was too coarse for that as well!

At least I can say I was related to an artist! (He also used to paint landscapes and caricatures quite well, without those little boxes with numbers in them that I liked).

Thanks for the hints. I just about saw bellows towards the lower right quarter of the painting, but still couldn't hear any notes!

 

[Anyanka]

I've had a little Google searching for accordions in art - most of the results were rather twee and not to my taste, but THIS - a bit of a surprise, a female player painted by one of my favourite artists, the amazing Paula Rego. I've never seen this before, and I really hope that it's genuine!

 

[Anyanka]

If I had signed the doors Picasso, do you think I would have got away with it?

That wouldnt make it art, but it would make it a forgery!

 

[Anyanka]

.... and here's the one I made for Tweed. Collage of found materials and objects, quite small.

 

[maugein96]

If I had signed the doors Picasso, do you think I would have got away with it?

That wouldnt make it art, but it would make it a forgery!

If my mothers uncle had lived long enough to hear my efforts on the accordion I think he might just have offered me a job with him, on condition I never played the box in public.

 

[maugein96]

Ive had a little Google searching for accordions in art - most of the results were rather twee and not to my taste, but THIS - a bit of a surprise, a female player painted by one of my favourite artists, the amazing Paula Rego. Ive never seen this before, and I really hope that its genuine!

Dont know about the painting, but the accordion looks fake!

 

[maugein96]

How about this one from the Paris Accordeon shop, in Rue de la Lune, Port St Denis?

I originally posted a better photo, but it was copyright so heres the (poor) substitute.:-



And a better one before the shop was repainted:-