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Mute Swans in Jeziorak Lake

A pair of Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) in Lake Jeziorak in Iława Lakeland, northern Poland - wallpaper size: 1600 x 1200

The photo shows a swimming pair of Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) in Jeziorak Lake in the Ilawa Lakeland in Warmia-Masuria in northern Poland. The lake has 20 small islands which are ideal nesting grounds for swans and other waterfowls.

The landscape park (protected area) known as Iława Lakeland Scenic Park is part of the Ilawa Lakeland region. Established in 1993, the park is also known as Ilawa Lake District Landscape Park.

The park includes Jeziorak Lake and the Lasy Iławskie (Iławskie Forests) situated on the western edge of the lake. It is the longest lake in Poland with a length of about 27.5 km and width of about 2.5 km, and depth of 13 meters at its deepest point.

The Ilawa Lakeland region has become a very popular holiday destination, especially for tourists interested in water sports and those who are keen anglers, as the entire region is known for a number of small and big lakes with crystal clear water, clean environment and plenty of biodiversity consisting of a wide variety of flora and fauna.

The Mute Swans are one of the varieties of fauna found in the lake. Being monogamous birds, they can be often seen swimming in pairs, as seen in the picture above. They build their nests on small islands in the middle of the lake or among the vegetation on the shores of the lake. Swan couples take care of the nests and after cygnets are hatched they can be seen swimming as families.

Mute Swans are, usually, highly protective of their territories with only a single pair in a small lake; although they can be occasionally seen in colonies where the large areas of lakes provide comfortable and easy feeding habitats. Ducks, gulls and some omnivorous and herbivorous waterfowls can be seen close to swans because swans are capable of reaching underwater weeds and other water plants and often these float on water after the swans feed on them.

April 18, 2012 | Categories: Animals, Birds, Birds, Lakes, National Parks, Nature, Wallpapers | Tags: animals, Biosphere Reserve, birds, lakes, National Parks, Poland, Swan, tourist attractions, wallpapers, Waterfowls | Leave A Comment »

Diademed Sifaka Lemurs (Propithecus diadema)

Diademed Lemur at Mantadia National Park

A Diademed Sifaka lemur getting ready to leap to another tree at the Mantadia National Park, Madagascar

The Diademed Sifaka (Propithecus diadema) belongs to the species of lemurs of the Genus Propithecus of the Indriidae family of woolly lemurs. These lemurs are endemic to the humid equatorial rainforests of Madagascar. They are also known as Diademed Simpona and by other local names such as Simpony and Ankomba Joby.

Visitors to Madagascar can easily view the Propithecus diadema lemurs at the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park near Antananarivo, the capital city. The park has two components, the Mantadia National Park and the Analamazoatra Reserve, both of which are famous for 11 species of lemurs, and a vast biodiversity consisting of several rare endemic species and some endangered species. Some of these species are seen only in Madagascar, as these developed in the process of evolution independently of other species in mainland Africa.

This species is one of the largest extant lemurs and the most colorful of all other lemurs, and it has a long and luxuriant silky coat. The long white fur around its muzzle covering its chin, cheeks and forehead forms a ‘diadem’ (or crown) that perhaps gave them the name Diademed Sifaka.

These lemurs are diurnal, arboreal and seen on the ground only on rare occasions. When they are on the ground, they move with sideways hopping on their hind limbs only and keeping their forelimbs held up for maintaining balance. They can easily cling and climb on vertical tree trunks and branches. They can also jump from one tree to another by making powerful lateral leaps to reach other trees as far as 10 meters away.

These lemurs are now facing extinction and they are classified as a Critically Endangered species in the IUCN Red List. The main threat is from shrinking of their natural habitat, the forests, which are cleared for rice cultivation, extensive logging, replacement of the rainforest vegetation with commercial plantations such as the Chinese pine forests and Australian eucalyptus. The practice of shifting cultivation and slash-and-burn tactics practiced by the native people are taking a heavy toll on the population of these lemurs.

April 17, 2012 | Categories: Animals, Animals, Mammals, National Parks, Nature | Tags: animals, arboreal, diurnal, endangered species, Madagascar, mammals, National Parks, nature | Leave A Comment »

Ancient Egyptian Ostraca Art

Ancient Egyptian dancer performing a gymnastic backbend, painted in 13th century BC on Ostracon found in Thebes, 10.5 cm x16.8 cm, now in the Turin Museum Egizio, Italy

What you see here is a magnificent Egyptian painting, which is about 3300 years old, depicting an Egyptian woman dancer, performing a backbend, commonly found in performances of contortion, gymnastics and dances. The backbend, which requires intense training, shows the superior professionalism, talents and high skills of the dancer.

The dancing woman, wearing a typical black dance costume and gold hoop earrings, is perfectly at ease while bending, and in total control and balance. Her curly, wavy hair is left loose, and is flowing in a natural pattern in harmony with her dance movement. But her earrings are pointed upwards, defying gravitational force, and seems a bit odd in an otherwise perfect composition of art. It is hard to believe that the artist who painted this picture is aware of the effect of gravity on her hair which is lightweight, but he ignored it in the case of the comparatively heavier earrings.

However, the admirable balance of colors and high standards of artistry seen in this painting requires very high levels of expertise. Like several other Ostraka art pieces, this painting is also from the ancient Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina, home to the artisans who worked on the tombs of the Valley of the Kings in Thebes where the Pharaohs of the 18th to 20th Dynasties of the New Kingdom period (1550 BC to 1080 BC) were buried.

The artwork is painted on ostracon, singular of ostraca, which refer to pieces of pottery and fragments of limestone. Because Papyrus was expensive, ostracon was extensively used in ancient Egypt because of its durability, cheap or free availability and ease of working on it. It was the most preferred medium for not only drawing and painting, but also everyday writing, such as letters, documents, receipts, stories, prescriptions, etc.

The art piece in this picture survived in an impeccable condition despite several centuries of neglect until it was collected by Bernardino Drovetti (1776-1852), Consul General of France in Egypt. Possibly the work would not have survived so long, if it was created on any other media, other than ostraca.

Though Drovetti collected Egyptian art and antiquities in the name of France, he built up a huge personal collection for himself. In 1824, King Charles Felix (Carlo Felice Giuseppe Maria) acquired much of his personal collection consisting of 5,268 pieces, which later formed the foundation for the Museo Egizio in Turin, the second largest Egyptology museum after Cairo.

April 17, 2012 | Categories: Art, History, Paintings | Tags: Art, dancers, Egypt, History, Italy, painting | Leave A Comment »

Van Gogh: Portrait of Dr. Gachet

Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890), oil on canvas painting by Vincent van Gogh, 67 cm x 56 cm (26.4 in x 22 in), private collection

The ‘Portrait of Dr. Gachet’ by Vincent van Gogh is one of the most expensive paintings in the world. It depicts the French physician Dr. Paul Gachet (1828-1909) who treated van Gogh during the final days of his life.

In 1890 the artist’s younger brother and art dealer Theo van Gogh sent him to Dr. Paul Gachet for treatment after he was released from the mental asylum at Saint-Rémy. The portrait was painted in June 1890 by van Gogh during his stay at the doctor’s home in Auvers-sur-Oise.

The portrait depicts Dr. Gachet as a sad but gentle person with transparent blue eyes, sitting with his right elbow on his table and his head resting on the right hand. There are two medical books lying on the table along with the medicinal herb foxglove from which digitalis, drug preparations that contain cardiac glycosides for the treatment of heart conditions are extracted.

The painting was sold for the first time in 1897 by Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, van Gogh’s sister-in-law, for 300 francs (about $1200 in today’s dollar equivalent). After changing a few hands, in 1911 the painting was acquired by the Städel (Städelsches Kunstinstitut und Städtische Galerie), is an art museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and it was displayed there until 1933 after which it was kept in a hidden room. The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, which enforced Nazi Party’s cultural norms in Germany, confiscated the portrait in 1937 as part of their efforts to get rid of what they described as the ‘degenerate art’ from Germany. However, Hermann Göring, a leading member of the Nazi Party, sold it to an Amsterdam-based art dealer from whom the art collector Siegfried Kramarsky purchased it. When Kramarsky had to flee to New York, he carried the portrait along with him.

In May 1990, the heirs of Kramarsky put up Portrait of Dr. Gachet for auction at Christie’s in New York. At the auction, the Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito bought it for $82.5 million (equivalent to $144.1 million, inflated adjusted price as of December 2011); making it the world’s most expensive painting ever sold in an auction till that time.

Ryoei Saito created a huge sensation in the art world when he wanted the painting cremated along with his body upon his death. However, later he said that he would either donate it to the Japanese government or a Japanese art museum. But no further information was available on the fate of the portrait since the death of Saito in 1996. According to some reports in 2007, the painting was sold a decade earlier to the investment manager Wolfgang Flöttl, who later sold it to a buyer whose identity remains undisclosed.

There is another authentic version of the portrait painted in June 1890 which was owned by Dr. Gachet himself. That second version is now housed in the Musée d’Orsay, after, in the early 1950s, the doctor’s heirs bequeathed it along with the other collections of Dr. Gachet to the French government.

April 16, 2012 | Categories: Art, Paintings, Portraits | Tags: Art, most expensive paintings, Oil painting, Portraits, Post-Impressionism, Vincent van Gogh | Leave A Comment »

Roman mosaics in Villa Romana del Casale

Roman girls playing ball game from the Roman mosaic ‘Coronation of the Winner’ in Villa Romana del Casale at Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy

The picture shows two young women of ancient Rome playing a ball game, part of several mosaics discovered in the Villa Romana del Casale, an ancient imperial villa and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, located near the town of Piazza Armerina in Sicily, Italy. The villa currently has the unique distinction of being the largest collection of the most artistic Roman mosaics in the world.

The picture is part of the famous ‘Bikini Girls’ mosaics art titled ‘Coronation of the Winner’, featuring young beautiful Roman women wearing bikinis in two rows of pictures, not exactly swimwear but workout sportswear, and exercising and engaged in a competition. They perform sports and games including playing ball-games, weight-lifting, discus throwing, and athletics. In the bottom row of mosaics, a female games official wearing a toga is shown coming forward to crown the winner, and also to award her the palm of victory and a wreath.

Discovered during the archaeological excavation of the villa in 1959-60 by the Italian archaeologist Gino Vinicio Gentili (1914-2006), the mosaics in the room named The Hall of Ten Girls (Sala delle Dieci Ragazze) was informally called ‘the Bikini Girls’ showing two rows of Roman girls dressed in bikinis (undergarments). The mosaics are an important discovery not only from the point of view of arts in Ancient Rome, but it also shows the extensive and significant prevalence of sports and games, as well as the fashion and costumes designing of the times.

Villa Romana del Casale is an imposing and vast Roman villa complex designed for official as well as residential use, complete with office spaces, Roman baths (with tepidariums, frigidariums, etc.) and shows the advanced architectural and engineering skills of the Romans. The palace complex was possibly built between the late 3rd century BC and the early 4th century AD, and later renovated and used by Maximian, the Roman Emperor who ruled from 286 to 305.

The mosaics in the villa are of unique design, materials and artistic excellence comparable to any later periods of art, and they survived in excellent condition despite several centuries of neglect and burial under agricultural lands. The majority of the mosaic panels are polychrome depicting subjects such as mythological scenes, day-to-day life scenes, and special events such as hunting, circus games, royal and ritual feasts, etc.

April 15, 2012 | Categories: Art, costumes, History, Mosaics, People, Women | Tags: Art, bikini, costumes, Fashion, History, Italy, Mosaics, Rome, Sports, Standing women | Leave A Comment »

Significance of Olympic Rings

Olympic Rings logo at Hong Kong Art Museum displayed during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, wallpaper size: 2048 x 1536

This is a beautiful picture of the Olympic Rings logo at the Hong Kong Museum of Art displayed during the Summer Olympics (XXIX Olympiad) that took place in Beijing, China, from 8 to 24 August 2008, the equestrian events of which were held in Hong Kong.

More than 11,000 athletes from 204 nations competed in the event. It shows how important the Olympiads are for the entire peoples of the world hailing from all the five continents and island nations. More than winning medals, the true spirit of the game is participation and celebrating the event as a unique unifying force of the entire humanity as ‘one race’, the human race.

As you know, the original design of the symbol of the Olympic Games consists of five interlinked rings colored blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white background. The five rings represent the five continents, namely, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America (Antarctica not included). Though five colors are assigned to the rings, any particular color does not represent any particular continent.

Though designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, and adopted in 1914, the Olympic Rings debuted only at the VII Olympiad held in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920. It should have had its debut in the Summer Olympics of 1916, which was scheduled to be held in Berlin, Germany, but had to be canceled because of World War I (1914-1918).

Antarctica is not represented in the rings symbol of the Olympic Games because the continent is considered uninhabited with no participating teams. The only human habitation that can be located in Antarctica is at the research stations of some countries, explorers and adventure tourists, and occasional fishing vessels and others who may be putting up camps.

The island nations are not separately represented in the Olympic Rings, possibly because these countries are included in the list of countries of each continent.

Now the world is eagerly waiting for the 2012 London Olympics scheduled to be held in the United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012, when London will become the first city to host the modern Olympics thrice, London having previously hosted the games in 1908 and 1948.

The Olympic Games have a special place in the history of sports and the history of human civilizations because the first recorded Olympic games dates back to the 8th century BC when the games were held in Olympia in Ancient Greece where it continued to be held till 4th century AD.

April 15, 2012 | Categories: Art, History, Photography, Wallpapers | Tags: Art, designs, Games, History, Hong Kong, Olympics, Photography, Sports, wallpapers | Leave A Comment »

Psychedelic Art and Fractal Designs

Fractal artwork, a kind of Psychedelic Art, created using the Julia set (pictures inlaid in field lines)

The picture depicts a Fractal Art work that can be described as Psychedelic Art. These are high-impact visuals that have the potential to alter the state of mind of the viewers, no matter whether the viewers understand what is depicted in the art or not. But if they look at the art, they are unknowingly transported to a different world that makes them experience a totally different state of mind. Any kind of visual art that produces this effect can be Psychedelic Art.

Though the arts and designs themselves give the impression that these are the most modern developments in the art of the late twentieth century, it does not mean that these are new inventions by the artists themselves by integrating science and technology (especially computer graphics) into their art. In fact these are as ancient as the nature itself. Examples are: the patterns on the skins of some snakes, the patterns formed on pine apples, the structure of the leaves of ferns, etc.

As far as the psychological or psychedelic experiences are concerned, the same mood shifts are generated in the mind when a person looks into a very deep well, down from a very tall cliff, or even when looking at the far end of a straight tunnel to view the point-sized light source.

But, generally, in art, Psychedelic Art means a movement that developed as a popular art form in the late 1960’s counterculture, the fantasy world of the hippies and sometimes to the drugs-induced hallucinations. So, it not only is typical of visual arts, but it crossed the traditional frontiers of fine arts and encroached upon commercial and technical uses of art also.

Some of the early artists who substantially contributed for the development of Psychedelic Art were Alton Kelley (rock concerts and music albums), Bridget Riley (Op art paintings of psychedelic optical illusions), Milton Glaser (posters for music concerts, logos), Peter Max (posters, music concerts, advertising), Rick Griffin (posters, underground comix), Victor Moscoso (rock music and advertisements), Warren Dayton (T-shirts as art, corporate branding and logos), and Wes Wilson (psychedelic posters).

And some of the artists used highly saturated colors in blindingly glaring contrast, concentric and symmetrical compositions, collages, distortions, bizarre iconography, vast expanse of monotonous uniform colors, lines, curves and pure geometric forms to create the desired effects.

The development of Computer Art (or digital art and graphics generated by computers) has further helped to evolve new frontiers of psychedelic visual effects. For instance software that is used to generate fractals can also produce psychedelic hallucinatory patterns.

The image above has been created using the Julia set, which along with the Fatou set, both being complementary in defining functions in complex dynamics, a branch of mathematics. But these have been extensively used to create art, especially Pop Art, Psychedelic Art, set and special effects designs for stage shows and movies, and many more similar applications. The final output of these to the viewers is neither technology, nor mathematics, but art!

April 13, 2012 | Categories: Art, Digital Art | Tags: Art, computer graphics, Digital Art, Fractals, Pop Art, Psychedelic Art | Leave A Comment »

Suprematist Composition, the most expensive Russian art

Suprematist Composition by Kazimir Malevich

Suprematist Composition (Blue rectangle over the red beam), oil on canvas painting by Kazimir Malevich, 88.5 cm x 71 cm (34.8 in x 28 in), private collection

The Suprematist Composition (Blue rectangle over the red beam) is an oil painting by the Russian painter Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935). The painting depicts a rare combination of geometrical figures and bright colors arranged harmoniously in space.

Created in 1916, the Suprematist Composition was exhibited in Moscow in 1919-20. In 1927 Malevich exhibited the work at exhibitions in Warsaw, Munich and later at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung in Berlin. These exhibitions brought him international fame and recognition of his artistic style. But abruptly he had to return to the Soviet Union (USSR) in June1927 when he was summoned home.

Malevich left his paintings behind in Germany when he returned to the Soviet Union because he anticipated an antagonistic shift in the policy of the Soviet authorities towards modern art. As he anticipated, the Soviets under Stalin branded abstract and other modernist art forms as a ‘type of Bourgeois Art’. As a result, most of the works of Malevich were confiscated by the government and he was disallowed to create and exhibit such art.

From 1927, Malevich was also not allowed by the Soviet Government to travel abroad until his death in 1935. So, the Suprematist Composition, along with his other works, went under the supervision of the German architect Hugo Haring.

Haring brought the paintings to Amsterdam from Germany where they were branded as ‘degenerate art’ by the Nazis, and because he feared that they could be confiscated by the Nazis, and he could be personally harmed for possessing such art. According to reports, the collection included over 100 paintings by the artist, making it the largest Malevich collection outside the former Soviet Union. Later, in 1958, they were acquired by City of Amsterdam from the heirs of Haring. Since then the paintings remained in the city’s Stedelijk Museum for about 50 years.

In 2003-2004, when the museum exhibited the paintings of Malevich in the United States, the heirs of Malevich challenged the right of the heirs of Haring to dispose of Malevich’s works, and also disputed the rights of the Stedelijk Museum.

Following a 4-year legal battle, the parties reached a settlement under which the museum transferred five major paintings to the heirs of Malevich from their collection. And after 17 years of legal battle over the ownership of the painting, Suprematist Composition was returned to the heirs of the artist.

In November 2008, Suprematist Composition was sold to an anonymous buyer for $60 million ($63.7 million, inflation-adjusted value in US dollars as of December 2011) by the heirs of Kazimir Malevich at an auction at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new record as the most expensive work in the history of Russian art ever sold in an auction, and it is one of the most expensive paintings in the world.

April 12, 2012 | Categories: Art, Paintings | Tags: Abstract art, Art, Art auctions, Kazimir Malevich, Modern Art, most expensive paintings, Oil painting, Russia, Suprematism | Leave A Comment »

Shrimps as nutritious seafood

Shrimps kept ready for serving with cocktail - wallpaper size: 1600 x 1200

Shrimps, together with prawns, are one of the most widely consumed aquatic sources of food in all parts of the world. Because of their high commercial and nutritious values, shrimps and prawns are also farmed and harvested on a large scale for sale in the local and export markets.

Though shrimps and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda and also belong to different species, in common parlance and in general usage, they are either considered the same or as belonging to the same class of crustaceans. Also the terms are used either interchangeably, or with the opposite meanings. For instance, prawns are more common on menus than shrimps in the United Kingdom, whereas the word shrimp is the most commonly used term in North America. The same kind of usage, or misusage, can be found in most English-speaking countries. Also, there are shrimps and prawns of both fresh water and seawater species, but all of them are mostly considered seafood.

Shrimps are rich sources of nutritional elements such as iodine and calcium, as well as proteins, but low in calories. Although shrimps are very high in cholesterol, it is not considered harmful because the low levels of saturated fat in shrimps improve the ratio of LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) to HDL (High-density lipoprotein) and decreases the levels of triglycerides. Also, regular intake of shrimp keeps the circulatory system healthy.

However, shrimps, along with other shellfishes, are considered as the most common food allergens. Also, shrimp food can sometimes contain the highest levels of toxins, if they are caught from polluted water, because the resistance of shrimps to toxic substances is one of the highest among aquatic and marine life forms.

April 12, 2012 | Categories: Animals, Aquatic organisms, Wallpapers | Tags: animals, aquatic life, food, wallpapers | Leave A Comment »

Apple and oak near Castelfranco di Sopra

Apple and oak in Castelfranco di Sopra - wallpaper size: 1600 x 1200

This photo shows a lonely apple and an unidentified Quercus (Oak species) tree photographed near Castelfranco di Sopra, the municipal town in the Province of Arezzo in the Tuscany region of Italy.

The scene looks quite eerie, yet with some soothing spiritual appeal with the misty background showing what looks like an orchard. Observe the apple, the only one, that too hanging quite low, with no other fruits visible, which is quite unusual. The walkway below it, along with crude fencing and what looks like abandoned remains of human settlement, looks like a carefully selected or created set for shooting a ghost film.

April 11, 2012 | Categories: Fruits, Landscapes, Nature, Plants, Wallpapers | Tags: fruits, Italy, landscapes, nature, plants, Trees, wallpapers | Leave A Comment »