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Constantin Alajálov: Morgnaga
Morgnaga is near Gardone Riviera in Italy, to the north of Brescia on Lake Garda. The town church bears a distinctive bell tower. It was painted by Hans Thoma in 1897.Hans Thoma,Morgnaga near Gardone,...
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Constantin Alajálov: Cocktail Waitress
Constantin Alajálov'sCocktail Waitress seems quite prepared to liven things up, and things are pretty lively to begin with. Skinner, the auction house which sold this colorful piece in 2006,...
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Constantin Alajálov: Out for a Ride
Silk must be a tricky material on which to paint. This work on silk c. 1930 is by Constantin Alajálov. It depicts a couple on horseback with a figure resting in the background. It seems more stylized...
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Constantin Alajálov: Still Life with Roses
Constantin Alajálov's still life with roses reveals yet another aspect of this artist's work. It is executed in oil on board and framed rather ornately. Like his 1948 painting of Morgnaga, this 1965...
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Constantin Alajálov: Ice Skating in Central Park
Ice-Skating in Central Park, New York is a joyful oil on canvas by Constantin Alajálov dating from 1945. Central Park is at its wintry best as skaters take to the ice in the Pond. In the background is...
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My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #427
Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #427 for May 12, 2014. The drawing is by Benjamin Schwartz. I wrote the caption. My wife looked at this caption and for the first time said it...
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Airborne Action: Constantin Alajálov New Yorker Cover Art
When America entered World War II, Hollywood patriotically joined the war effort. A studio paratrooper's dramatic parting moments are depicted convincingly and amusingly in original illustration...
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Backstage at Lohengrin: Constantin Alajálov New Yorker Cover Art
Constantin Alajálov's original New Yorker cover art shows us the opera from a vantage point few of us ever get to experience. Being able to see the the set from behind and the prompter's box and...
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My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for March/April 2014
This cartoon grew on me. Bob Mankoff's cartoon for the March/April Moment Cartoon Caption Contest didn't immediately suggest a caption; indeed it seemed rather generic. Then every conflicted idea I...
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Constantin Alajálov's Garden Statue
Constantin Alajálov's oil on masonite painting of a garden statue is currently being offered on eBay. It shows off Alajálov's formidable painting technique, here somewhat Impressionistic. Possibly this...
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Constantin Alajálov: Employment Prospects for the Graduate
The uncertain job outlook for the college graduate could be anxiety-provoking in any era, but it was particularly so during the Great Depression. Constantin Alajálov's 1935 New Yorker cover evokes the...
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Constantin Alajálov's "Male & Female" for Reader's Digest
A series of illustrations and sketches by Constantin Alajálov for Reader's Digest was offered in 2008 by iGavel Auctions. Individual pieces of artwork bears titles such as "Hidden Beliefs of Women" and...
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My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #428
Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #428 for May 19, 2014. The cartoon is by Frank Cotham. You know who wrote the caption."Are you sober enough to drive him back to the...
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Constantin Alajálov's Cinderella
Constantin Alajálov's illustrations for Alice Duer Miller's verse retelling of Cinderella (1943) were featured in Life magazine's issue of September 13, 1943. Life reported that Alajálov had considered...
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A Blogging Milestone: 400,000 Page Views
Today this blog has reached 400,000 pageviews. Or is it page views? Blogger's spell-check function objects to pageviews as a single word:Yet Blogger's very own charts refer to them as pageviews....
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Constantin Alajálov ALS
Amazon offers an autograph letter signed (ALS) from Constantin Alajálov. It dates from December 20, 1975 when the artist was 75 years of age. It is written in green ink. The scan is really inadequate,...
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Dinner Party Conversation: Constantin Alajálov New Yorker Cover Art
Born in Rostov, Russia in 1900, Constantin Alajálov landed in New York in 1923, and became a U.S. citizen in 1926. By 1939, when this New Yorker cover was published, he seemed to have enough of a...
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Constantin Alajálov: Years of Preparation
Illustrator Constantin Alajálov created the Saturday Evening Post's unusual fold-out cover of October 1, 1960. It consists of ten panels, nine of which form the part of the cover visible on the...
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Constantin Alajálov: Sweet Temptation
The Saturday Evening Post reproduced a number of its covers as posters. A group of seven such posters with artwork by Constantin Alajálov was sold at Swann Galleries in February 2013. The magazine...
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Constantin Alajálov for Paramount
In 1931, Constantin Alajálov illustrated this print advertisement for Paramount Pictures Short Subjects. His smartly-dressed upscale couple is rendered as slightly angular and impossibly chic....
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