Tim's Vermeer, believing isn't seeing

A good rule of thumb may be to critique only the things that one respects.  However, this can't always be the case ... when one doesn't believe the hype, such as the hype of Tim's Vermeer (2013) directed by Teller: sonyclassics.com/timsvermeer/

                                   Tim Jenison's copy of Johannes Vermeer's The Music Lesson.

One can agree or disagree with the unraveling of the so-called mystery of Vermeer, that he used a sort of camera obscura.  Man or machine etc, the implications are pretty hackneyed.  I can admire Jenison's perfectionism but it's not carried over into the painting itself.  Look closely, it's not all that remarkable, flat, a bit "high school" as they say ... nothing 'gainst high school students because some of them are great artists.  Jenison doesn't have formal training, but the excuse undercuts the premise.  The result's mediocre even with "cheating," far from a Vermeer or good photorealism for that matter.  Technology just doesn't replace talent, which's another kind of eye, another kind of vision.  

Copy enlargement here: vanityfair.com/culture/2013/11/vermeer-secret-tool-mirrors-lenses

Original here: royalcollection.org.uk/collection/405346/a-lady-at-the-virginal-with-a-gentleman-the-music-lesson

some interesting exhibitions: Gottfried Helnwein, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Walter Martin & Paloma Munoz, etc

The Disasters of War 10, 2007.  Oil and acrylic on canvas.

http://www.helnwein.com/news/update/artikel_3327.html

http://crockerartmuseum.org/art/current-exhibitions

Sacramento: There's a major exhibition at Crocker Art Museum of Gottfried Helnwein's works, Gottfried Helnwein: Inferno of the Innocents, January 29, 2011-April 24, 2011. 

Beautiful Victim I, 1974.  Watercolor on cardboard.

Untitled, 1996.  Oil and acrylic on canvas.

Untitled, 1998.  Oil and acrylic on canvas.

Oath, 2000.  Oil and acrylic on canvas.

http://www.helnwein.com/werke/werke/home.html

For me, I'm not sure if Helnwein's images are really all that challenging, whether they rely more on ready-made referentiality as controversially evocative legerdemain or if that's exactly the profundity itself.  In any case, his works are impressive and well-done.  Above link to more works and info at his website.

The Yawner, 1771-83.  Tin cast.

Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest
http://mini-site.louvre.fr/saison18e/index_f.php?expo=messerschmidt&langue=en#/messerschmidt/introduction

http://www.neuegalerie.org/exhibitions/messerschmidt

Paris: Neue Galerie, NYC recently had the first exhibition dedicated to Franz Xaver Messerschmidt which in collaboration travels to the Louvre, January 28, 2011-April 25, 2011.  A catalogue is also available. 

Messerschmidt would be considered a schizophrenic these days, which led him to work on his famous character heads often modeled from himself. 

http://www.limmat.ch/schmid/fxm/

Above link to helpful website on Messerschmidt.

From Travelers, 2001-2010.  C-print.
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/humin/events

http://www.bellevuearts.org/exhibitions/upcoming/index.htm

Ann Arbor: Check out the exhibition at Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan featuring some of Walter Martin & Paloma Munoz's supermundane snow globes and photography, White Nights, January 24, 2011-March 16, 2011.  Another exhibition at Bellevue Arts Museum, Travelers: Objects of Dream and Revelation, August 26, 2011-December 31, 2011.

The Orchard at Night, from Islands, 2005.  C-print.

http://www.martin-munoz.com/main.html

More images and info at their website.

http://www.aperture.org/travelers.html

A recent book, Travelers (Aperture, 2008).  It's ok, but could've been better produced imho. 

http://www.cerealart.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=37&cat=Walter+Martin+and+Paloma+Munoz

You can get your own snow globe for $750 USD, three to choose from, each with a limited edition of 250.  Some may have sold out. 

Kinder!, 2006.  C-print.

Frank Kunert
http://collections.madmuseum.org/code/emuseum.asp?style=browse&currentrecord=1&page=seealso&profile=exhibitions&searchdesc=Future%20Exhibitions&searchstring=Future/,/greater%20than/,/0/,/false/,/true&action=searchrequest&style=single&currentrecord=2

NYC: There's still some time to go, but this forthcoming exhibition at Museum of Arts and Design is going to be awesome, Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities, June 7, 2011-September 18, 2011.  C'mon, it's really cool miniature stuff!!!

Brancusi 1928, 2003.  Digital print.

 http://www.joefig.com/home.html

Bureau de Sigmund Freud, 2002.  Mixed media.

http://www.charlesmatton.com/index.htm

NON-STOP ACTION, 1990.  Mixed media.

http://www.alanwolfson.net/index.htm

Included in the exhibition are work(s) by Martin & Munoz as well as by other faves Joe Fig and the amazing Charles Matton and Alan Wolfson.

Dwellings, 1981.  Mixed media. 

Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC

http://whitney.org/Collection/CharlesSimonds

Also, it's a chance to rediscover the works of Charles Simonds, some of the greatest site-specific pieces, mindfully sequestered. 

Jan Brueghel the Elder paintings

The Sermon on the Mount, 1598.  Oil on copper.

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=857
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=696

When I do go to the damn Getty Center, I first head to my favorite painting there which for some reason is Jan Brueghel the Elder's The Sermon on the Mount (1598).  Credit goes to my friend Elliot, who told me about it as he sometimes does.  It shows meticulously marvelous technique.  Ya gotta see this small painting up close 'n' personal, perhaps with a magnifying glass, all those finely delineated little people, trees, etc.  It's very much like an enameled "jewel-like object."

The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark, 1613.  Oil on panel.

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=1034

Right beside it is his The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark.  Nice painting...

http://shop.getty.edu/product898.html

...and you can take it with you as a poster from the museum store.  I did. 

Not many books in English out there on "Velvet Brueghel." 

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754660903

You might want to get this recent book, Leopoldine Prosperetti's Landscape and Philosophy in the Art of Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625) (Ashgate, 2009).

You may be able to find Gertraude Winkelmann-Rhein's Blumen-Brueghel (Verlag M. Dumot Schauberg, 1968) in its English version, The Paintings and Drawings of Jan "Flower" Bruegel (Abrams, 1969), which is ok.

I would like to have Klaus Ertz's Jan Brueghel D.A.: Die Gemalde (Dumont, 1979) or his/Christa Nitze-Ertz's four volume Jan Brueghel der Altere: Die Gemalde (Luca Verlag Lingen, 2008).

Other interesting titles found online:

Jan Brueghel the Elder:

Fritz Baumgart/Blumen Brueghel (Dumont, 1978)

Jan Brueghel the Elder (Brod Gallery, 1979)

Klaus Ertz/Pieter Brueghel der Jungere-Jan Brueghel der Altere: Flamische Malerei um 1600: Tradition und Fortschritt (Luca Verlag, 1997)

Klaus Ertz/Pieter Brueghel Le Jeune-Jan Brueghel l'Ancien: Une Famille des Peintres Flamandes vers 1600 (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 1998)
Arianne Faber Kolb/Jan Brueghel the Elder: The Entry of the Animals into Noah's Ark (Getty Trust Publications, 2005)

Anne Woollett et al./Rubens and Brueghel: A Working Friendship (Getty Trust Publications, 2006)

Emile Michel, Victoria Charles/The Brueghels (Parkstone Press, 2007)

Jan Brueghel the Elder (Betascript Publishing, 2010)

Frederic P. Miller et al./Jan Brueghel the Elder (Alphascript Publishing, 2010)

related:

Max J. Friedlander/Early Netherlandish Painting: From Van Eyck to Bruegel (Phaidon , 1956), reprinted in two volumes 1969

John Oliver Hand/The Age of Bruegel: Netherlandish Drawings in the Sixteenth Century (National Gallery of Art, 1986)

Walter S. Gibson/Mirror of the Earth: The World Landscape in Sixteenth-Century Flemish Painting (Princeton University Press, 1989)

David Koetser/Fine Old Master Paintings principally of the Dutch and Flemish Schools (David Koetser, 1990)

Meredith Hale et al./Dutch and Flemish Old Master Paintings (Johnny van Haeften, 2002)

Friedrich August von Metzsch/Bild und Botschaft: Biblische Geschichten auf Bildern der Alten Pinakothek Munchen (Schnell und Steiner, 2002)

Konrad Renger, Claudia Denk/Flamische Malerei des Barock (Dumont Buchverlag Gmbh, 2002)

Gordon Campbell/Renaissance Art and Architecture (Oxford University Press, 2004)

Arthur K. Wheelock/Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century (National Gallery, 2005)

Agnes Tieze/Flamische Gemalde im Stadel Museum 1550-1800 (Imhof Verlag, 2009)

Annemarie Stefes/Niederlandische Zeichnungen 1450-1800 (Bohlau-verlag Gmbh, 2011)

And of course, his dad Pieter was not bad ;) hehe.  Pieter Brueghel the Elder is up there with my all-time favorites. 

The Tower of Babel, 1602.  Oil on panel.

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerpen

http://www.abcgallery.com/B/bruegel/jan.html

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/bruegel_the_elder_jan.html

http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/by_artist.php?Artist_ID=399

With help from other sources, somewhat obsessively, I went ahead and made a partial alphabetical list of museums with work(s) by Jan Brueghel the Elder:

Asia:

http://www.nmwa.go.jp/en/collection/2002-0001.html

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo

Europe:

http://gallery.albertina.at/eMuseum/code/eMuseum.asp?newaction=advsearch&searchFlag=1&searchpage=3&Department=Graphische+Sammlung&operatorDepartment=enth%C3%A4lt&operatorpeople=ist&people=Brueghel,%20Jan

Albertina, Wien

http://www.museum-joanneum.at/de/alte_galerie/sammlung-5

Alte Galerie Schloss Eggenberg, Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz-Andritz

http://www.pinakothek.de/jan-brueghel-d-ae

Alte Pinokothek, Munchen

http://www.ashmolean.org/php/makegall.php?&db=wapaintings&view=llisti&acno=&all=&arti=Brueghel&mat=&park=&prov=&sour=&titl=&strt=1&what=Search

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology University of Oxford, Oxford

http://searchcollections.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/detail.php?t=objects&type=all&f=&s=Jan+Brueghel&record=0

Brighton & Hove Museums, England

http://www.virtualuffizi.com/biography/Jan-Brueghel-the-Elder.htm

Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze

Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Firenze

http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/sammlungen/details.php?objID=5&n=4

Gemaldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin

http://www.skd.museum/de/museen-institutionen/semperbau-mit-zwinger/gemaeldegalerie-alte-meister/index.html

Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden

http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/starobject.html?oid=167108

Glasgow Museums, Glasgow

http://www.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/collection.aspx?p=0848cab7-2776-4648-9003-25957707491a&query=kunstenaar_sort=[Brueghel,%20Jan%20I]

Groeningemuseum, Brugge

http://www.johnnyvanhaeften.com/artworks/cs0191

Johnny van Haeften Ltd, London

http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?chapterid=2343&contentID=18308&SchilderijSsOtName=Achternaam&SchilderijSsOv=Brueghel%20the%20Elder%20with%20Peter%20Paul%20Rubens&ViewPage=1

http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/en/zoekresultaten/pagina/1/Jan%20Brueghel%20de%20Oude/(cql.serverChoice%20all%20%22Jan%20Brueghel%20de%20Oude%22)%20AND%20(isPartOf%20any%20%22MAU01%22%20)

Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis, Den Haag

http://www.kmska.be/nl/collectie/
http://www.vlaamsekunstcollectie.be/collection.aspx?p=0848cab7-2776-4648-9003-25957707491a&query=kunstenaar_sort=[Brueghel%20I,%20Jan]

*Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, Antwerpen

http://www.kunsthaus.ch/de/sammlung/gemaelde-und-skulpturen/alte-meister/flaemische-malerei/?redirect_url=title%3DTraitement

*Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich

http://www.khm.at/de/khm/sammlungen/gemaeldegalerie/niederlaendische-malerei-15-und-16-jahrhundert/?aid=20&offset_974=20&cHash=8a7ddddcb1

http://www.khm.at/de/khm/sammlungen/gemaeldegalerie/niederlaendische-malerei-15-und-16-jahrhundert/?aid=7&offset_974=7&cHash=948e81f185

*Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien

http://80.74.155.18/eMuseumPlus?service=RedirectService&sp=Scollection&sp=SfieldValue&sp=1&sp=2&sp=3&sp=SdetailList&sp=0&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=F

Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel

http://www.opac-fabritius.be/fr/F_database.htm

http://www.fine-arts-museum.be/site/FR/frames/F_peinture17.html

Le Musee d'Art ancien, Musees royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles

http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=rs_display_res&critere=jan+brueghel+velours&operator=AND&photoOnly=true&nbToDisplay=20&langue=fr

Louvre, Paris

http://www.rlmb.lvr.de/hereinspaziert/meisterwerke/b24e4355-58eb-4cef-981e-dbe95a6f7f6a.htm

LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn, Bonn

http://www.augustins.org/en/collections/bdd/chercher.asp

?Musee des Augustins, Musee des Beaux-Arts de Toulouse, Toulouse

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/cgi-bin/bordeaux_musee/bordeaux?artiste=brueghel&fichier=liste.txt

Musee des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, Bordeaux

http://www.mba-lyon.fr/mba/sections/fr/collections-musee/peintures/oeuvres-peintures/xviie_siecle/le_feu

Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, Lyon

http://www.museodelprado.es/enciclopedia/enciclopedia-on-line/voz/brueghel-de-velours-jan/

*Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/ficha_artista/103

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

http://www.museum-kassel.de/index_navi.php?parent=1476

Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Kassel

http://www.mnar.arts.ro/Arta-europeana/s-1/p-3

Muzeul National de Arta al Romaniei, Bucuresti

http://www.mnw.art.pl/index.php/pl/zbiory/galerie_stale/galerie_malarstwa_europejskiego/galeria_malarstwa_szkol/

Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie, Warszawa

http://www.dopart.it/roma/i-capolavori-doria-pamphilj/jan-brueghel-il-vecchio/

Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, Roma

http://www.ambrosiana.eu/cms/ricerca___-1909-1909.html

Pinacoteca, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milano

http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_artists/00017111?page=0&lang=en&context_space=&context_id=
http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/en/zoekresultaten/pagina/1/Brueghel,%20Jan%20I/(cql.serverChoice%20all%20%22Brueghel%20Jan%20I%22)%20AND%20(isPartOf%20any%20%22RIJK01%22%20)
http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/zoeken/search.jsp?lang=en&query=&order=boost+desc+date+asc+objectname+asc+maker+asc+image+asc&focus=assets&field=name&operator=contains&value=Brueghel,%20Jan%20(I)&filter=|objectname~schilderij

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

http://www.rijksmuseumtwenthe.nl/ventura/engine.php?Cmd=see&P_site=812&P_self=32&PMax=0&PSkip=0&Fresh=1&x=0&y=0&Search=Brueghel+Jan

Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede

http://www.smk.dk/udforsk-kunsten/samlingerne/vaerk-i-kunstdatabase/view/artist/Start/kunstner/brueghel-dae-jan/

Statens Museum for Kunst, Kobenhavn

http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/search/results.html?_creators=ULAN5822&display=Brueghel+the+Elder%2c+Jan

The Courtauld Gallery, London

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/opac/search/cataloguesummary.html?_searchstring_=B1='*'%20and%20((%20%20(VV='brueghel*'%20or%20BE='brueghel*'%20or%20ob='brueghel*'%20or%20Tz='brueghel*'%20or%20MA='brueghel*'%20or%20CL='brueghel*'%20or%20IN='brueghel*'%20or%20OB='brueghel*'%20or%20OC='brueghel*'%20or%20C2='brueghel*'%20or%20TK='brueghel*')))&_function_=xslt&_limit_=50&_resultstylesheet_=imagecs

http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/pharos/sections/THM_pages/FRM/northern_FRM_THM.html

The Ftizwilliam Museum, Cambridge

http://nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/jan-brueghel-the-elder

The National Gallery, London

http://www.museum.ru/gmii/

The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moskva

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/maker.asp?maker=11824

*The Royal Collection, UK

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/fcgi-bin/db2www/quickSearchDL.mac/DLgallery?selLang=English&tmCond=brueghel&START_ROW_NUM_DL=1

The State Hermitage Museum, Sankt-Peterburg

http://www.szepmuveszeti.hu/web/guest/aktualitasok

Szepmuveszeti Muzeum, Budapest

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?listing_type=&offset=0&limit=15&narrow=&q=jan+brueghel&commit=Search&quality=0&objectnamesearch=&placesearch=&after=&after-adbc=AD&before=&before-adbc=AD&namesearch=&materialsearch=&mnsearch=&locationsearch=

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

North America:

http://www.collectionx.museum/en/media/1116.html
http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/artist_work_e.jsp?iartistid=763

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/artist/455

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/artists/959/Jan_Peeter_Brueghel

Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn

http://crockerartmuseum.org/

?Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento

http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collection/search.dot?page=1

Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge

http://www.imamuseum.org/art/collections/artist/brueghel-jan-elder

Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis

http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/Searchall.exe?keyword=jan+brueghel

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

http://www.artsmia.org/search/index.cfm?type=artworks&term=Jan+Brueghel

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis

http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tsearch?oldartistid=213090&imageset=1

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/search/artist_work_e.jsp?iartistid=763

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

http://www.ncmoa.org/collections/highlights/european/flemish/022_lrg.shtml

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

http://www.nortonsimon.org/collections/browse_title.php?id=F.1972.13.P

Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

http://stlouis.art.museum/emuseum/code/emuseum.asp?style=Browse&currentrecord=1&page=search&profile=objects&searchdesc=&quicksearch=Brueghel

Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis

http://blantonmuseum.org/gallery/details/diana_and_callisto/

The Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin

http://www.clevelandart.org/collections/collection%20online.aspx?type=refresh&csearch=Artist%20/%20Maker:Jan%20Brueghel

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/all/listview.aspx?page=1&sort=4&sortdir=desc&keyword=%22Jan%20Brueghel%22&fp=1&dd1=0&dd2=0&lSort=4&vw=1

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

http://art.thewalters.org/viewartist.aspx?id=7088#results

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

South America:

http://www.mnba.org.ar/coleccion_permanente.php?opcion=1&letra=B&pagina=3

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires


*Later, I'll also make a similar museum list for Pieter Brueghel the Elder, and for other favorite Flemish masters.*

Max Ernst - The Eye of Silence

***Ya know, I like sharing information and interests, but a blog is a good way to create a database of favorite artists and their works.***

The Eye of Silence, 1943-44.  Oil on canvas.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis

http://kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/collection/explore/artwork/541

For some reason, this is my favorite painting by perhaps my favorite surrealist artist, Max Ernst.  Incidentally, I spent part of my childhood in St. Louis, and I'm glad it's home to the painting. 

Eye enclosing the theatre at Besancon, c. 1800.

Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs, Paris

With devastation, it's uncertain if there is sublimation or if there is schizophrenia of the public panopticon of Ledoux's eye, or both, or a glance from primordiality. 

Europe After the Rain, 1940-42.  Oil on canvas.

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

http://www.wadsworthatheneum.org/view/european-paint-sculpture.php?art_work_index=1

It has similaries to another favorite, both works made through decalcomania.

http://www.abramsbooks.com/Books/Werner_Spies__The_Eye_and_the_Word-9780810998353.html

Somewhat relatedly, I highly recommend getting Werner Spies: The Eye and the Word: Collected Writings on Art and Literature, The Gagosian Edition (Abrams, 2011), 10 volumes slipcased in a design by Andreas Gursky.  Spies, former director of Musee nationale d'art moderne, Centre Pompidou, is the preeminent scholar of Max Ernst.  An appreciation of Ernst is not yet complete without Spies' books.  Do find and get them because they're becoming increasingly rare, and mint copies of older ones no longer exist.  My favorite is Max Ernst Collages: The Invention of the Surrealist Universe (Abrams, 1991).  Others are:

Max Ernst (Abrams, 1968)
Max Ernst 1950-1970: The Return of La Belle Jardiniere (Abrams, 1971)
Max Ernst-Loplop: The Artist in the Third Person (George Braziller, 1983)
Max Ernst Frottages (Thames & Hudson, 1986)
Max Ernst: A Retrospective (Prestel, 1991)
Max Ernst: Dada and the Dawn of Surrealism (Prestel, 1993)
Max Ernst: A Retrospective (Yale University Press, 2005)
Max Ernst: Life and Work (Thames & Hudson, 2006)
Max Ernst: Dream and Revolution (Hatje Cantz, 2009)

Mahmoud Farshchian

The Hunt

http://farshchian.deviantart.com/

A detail of this painting was featured in Daily Deviations some months ago.  Until then, I hadn't encountered the wonderful works of Mahmoud Farshchian, though he's recognized as a modern master of Persian painting. 

The Guarantor of the Gazelle

The Ashura

The Distant Drummer, Rumi

The great tradition of Persian miniature painting is reinvented by Farshchian.  There's infinite effervescence as well as exquisite detail in his works that even surpass the Limbourg brothers' illuminations notably in Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, graceful with superb composition and color.  One is also reminded of Chan painting and Russian Palekh, and even Delacroix.  I particularly admire the way he depicts vapor, and the way it suggests aesthetic, affective, and existential understanding.  The visions of a mystical dreamer are also somehow our pondering deja vu.

http://www.farshchianart.com/

http://iranpoliticsclub.net/authors/mahmoud-farshchian/index.htm

More images and info at above websites.