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After the games, are you planning a trip to London?
Visit their Art Museums!

This year the Olympic games are in London and for many, the only parts of London they will see are shots of Buckingham Palace, Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. But there is much more to see. Here is a sampling of artistic treasures from three of London's great art museums, the National Gallery, the Tate Britain, and the Tate Modern.

For those of you not heading to London, here's an less expensive alternative. Between 1900 and 1910, California painter Carl Jonnevold did this stunning nocturne of the river Thames with the dome of London's St. Paul's Cathedral in the distance. His easel would have been just near the location where the Tate Modern is located today. This painting is now on show at the gallery.

Carl Henrik Jonnevold was born in Norway in 1856. He came to America during the 1880s. While still in his twenties, he painted in the Northwest, but in his thirties, moved south to San Francisco where he established a studio near 16th and California Streets which he maintained for years, using his San Francisco studio as his base as he ventured out to paint the California landscape.

During the first decade of the 20th century. Carl Jonnevold studied art in Paris and Munich. In Europe, he continued his course of self-education by devoting his time to studying works in the museums and galleries. His paintings thereafter took on aspects of 19th-century French genre and landscape painting, a style suited to Jonnevold's representational approach to landscape. Today he is known foremost as a painter of the California landscape, with special emphasis on marine subjects (waves breaking on a rocky shore) and mountain vistas. But this nocturne of London is a stunning work!

Placards and handbills have been in use as soon as the printing press and paper allowed. Governments used them for proclamations and Shakespeare used them to promote his plays. But when high quality was merged with low printing prices along with the introduction of vibrant colors, the art form of the poster was in full gear.

By the 1890's in Paris, artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret and Pierre Bonnard embraced posters as a way to popularize their art. It was Jules Chéret who founded a lithography office in Paris in 1866, using striking characters and bright contrasting colors for advertising. Since this was art that paid, it soon attracted the talents of young artists seeking to eat as well as pursue their painting.

Posters were soon seen throughout Paris, the art galleries of the street. Artists gained notoriety for their commercial work. Theater stars would choose their favorite artists to create the poster for their next production. The art form became so popular, a major exhibition of poster art took place in Paris in 1884

In the oldest traditions of major proclamations and promotions, the Olympics have used poster art to great effect in announcing the quadrennial games. Long before TV or posts on Facebook or YouTube.com, it was poster art which carried the weight of telling the world of the extraordinary global event occurring far far away, an event which allowed isolated corners of the globe to come together in symbolic and ceremonial unity.

The posters for the first modern Olympic Games were designed and produced long before television and radio. The Olympics were new to most, and were at best a curiosity to more established events such as World Fairs. These posters were meant mostly for local consumption and were not part of a comprehensive media blitz.

1896 Athens ... 80,000 spectators cheered the opening ceremony of the first Modern Olympics at the Panathinaiko Stadium. The concept of Olympic teams had not yet evolved, and individual achievement was more celebrated. 14 nations participated, all European except Australia, Chile and the USA.

1900 Paris ... The Olympic Games were part of the 1900 Paris Exposition., a time when Paris was a center of world art and culture, and its new Eifel Tower was truly a wonder of the world. With all of that, the Olympics were far from the only event in town. Looking back, the games had some imaginative curiosities including motorcycle racing, ballooning, cricket, croquet, Basque pelota, a 200 meter swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming.

The Olympics of 1908 was the last time the Olympics were an add-on to a World Exposition. Four years later, the Stockholm Games stood on their own as a major world event. The Olympics of 1916 were scheduled for Berlin, but were cancelled due to World War I. The games resumed in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium.

1908 London ... Rome had been chosen to host the 1908 games, but Mt. Vesuvius erupted in April, 1906 and funds meant for the Olympics were diverted to help rebuild Naples. In the opening ceremonies, USA flag bearer Ralph Rose refused to dip the American Flag to King Edward VI. Martin Sheridan, the USA team captain, later explained "This flag dips to no Earthly king." For better or for worse, here is where that Olympic tradition is rooted.

1928 Amsterdam, Netherlands

The next three Olympic Games bridged sixteen years from 1936 to 1952. The 1936 games were used by Adolph Hitler and Germany's Third Reich as a coming out party, showing their strength and presence on the world stage. Following the games, the Nazi regime expanded a reign of conquest and horror, enveloping Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, the Netherlands, the Balkans, and Scandinavia. The games of 1944 and 48 were cancelled due to WWII. In 1945, the war ended and the games resumed in London in 1948.

Now in the twenty-first century, the biggest news in the Olympics is its coverage via the internet. With a variety of platforms and an increase in reporting, the Olympics have become a global party. Interest is not only international, it is instantaneous and personalized. Every telephone is a camera and a broadcasting platform, a far different reality from when the modern games resumed in 1896. We wish the Olympic movement continued success as an ever-increasingly popular voice for world peace, cooperation, and friendly competition. Conflicts and discord so often dominate the news, but with the Olympics, messages of global harmony provide a necessary and refreshing counterpoint.

2004 Athens ... The opening ceremonies were a problem for NBC Sports. Due to sensitivities back home, they avoided showing a Minoan priestess as she entered the stadium topless, along with Greek athletes appearing as Greek statues (without pants). During the men's marathon, Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima was attacked by an Irish priest  and dragged into the crowd. De Lima recovered to take bronze. The American Dream Team in basketball was defeated by Argentina. American swimmer Mark Phelps in his first winning Olympic performance wins six gold and two bronze medals.

2008 Beijing ... China went all for these games, with over 14,000 performers participating in the opening ceremonies. The Chinese invested heavily in the games, constructing 37 new Olympic venues, 31 of which were in Beijing, including the iconic "Birds Nest," Beijing National Stadium, not to mention capital improvements to their transportation and communication capabilities. These were the first games to feature 100% of the television broadcasts in HD, with a huge international audience due to the growth of the internet. Fears of terrorism and bad air quality did not materialize. The most memorable athletic performance was by American swimmer Mark Phelps who won eight gold medals.

2012 London ... The games have now begun and the opening ceremonies were a treat. Aside from dazzling fireworks, breathtaking symbolism of the athletes marching in and the lighting the Olympic flame, and a cast of thousands, the most memorable moment for many was the short film skit featuring Queen Elizabeth arriving at the stadium accompanied by James Bond, leaping down to the stadium from a helicopter high above, billowing out with Union Jack chutes. Add Paul McCartney with a stadium filled with fans, athletes and cast members singing Hey Jude at the end and it was a memorable and worthy opening.

2012 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ... From the towering heights of Rio's iconic Cristo Redentor high atop Sugarloaf Mountain to the footprints left on the beach by that Girl from Ipanema, Brazilians are thrilled to host the first games held in South America. With their appealing expression of tropical colors, and their rich heritage of music, dance and Carnival, we trust the Brazilians will continue well established tradiions of the games, all with Brazilian flare and flavor. With hope and anticipation, we look forward to Rio, 2016.

Following the 1906 Quake, renowned art critic Laura Bride Powers offers a glimpse into the issues confronting artists after the disaster. She hints at a rift between wealthy artists and those who are barely getting by.

Arthur Mathews was given the authority to decide how to distribute a $12,000 relief fund for artists provided by New York artists who made contributions to assist their fellow artists far off California. Mathews proceded, and of course, not all agreed with his ideas, including Laura Bride Powers. Then, in an unrelated portion of her column, she discusses San Francisco artist Bertha Stringer Lee, mentioning that she hosted a house full of refugees following the quake, and then concludes her column with acknowledgements of artists Xavier Martinez and Giuseppe Cadenasso.

by Laura Bride, July 8, 1906 .... When a great despairing cry of San Francisco went out to New York on that awful day in April, and aid sprang up from everywhere as if conjured by an unseen power, the artists hurriedly gathered together -- led by those who were nurtured in fair California -- and determined to raise funds for their fellows in the stricken city, the home city for many, and beloved by all.

Its an old story of how they decided upon a sale; of how it was a tremendous success artistically, and of how $12,000 (in round numbers) was raised; of how it was sent direct to Arthur Mathews, late dean of the School of Design, with absolute unlimited power to distribute it as he saw fit, with but one lone string -- that it be given only to "professional" artists.

Now, anybody knows Mr. Mathews knows his quality of mind -- his judicial fairness and his absolute, cold, unswerving conformation to his duty, friend and foe faring alike. Of this there is no question, and no one has found as far as I know, who has questioned it. But another question has arisen. "What will Mathews do with the unexpended money, some thing in the neighborhood of $6,000?"

The tip has gone abroad that it is Mr. Mathews plan to convert the rest of the fund to the construction of a gallery wherein the work of the painters could be exhibited and incidentally sold.

Now, Mr. Mathews does, as a matter of fact, favor this plan. But wiseacre that he is, he will call upon his fellows for an expression of judgment -- though technically under no bonds to do so. Some of the painters who have lost home, studio, clothes, pictures, frames, everything they possessed, feel that $100 -- the allotted sum -- is scarcely adequate to set them going again, and that a distribution of the remaining funds would help them to their feet; and that the building of a gallery would more properly come under the jurisdiction of the Art Association, to whom an insurance of $150,000 is due.

But Mr. Mathews reasons thusly: "These artists sent this money, not for charity, but to enable the fellows out here to get going again. And I don't see any better way to help them than to give them a place to show their wares -- to give them a convenient market for them.

And no one can deny the truth of his deduction. It is sane and logical, but cold. Some of the fellows I know are in need, and some of the women. True, they were not Croesuses before the fire. Yet it would seem to be a happy thing to be a little liberal with them now -- but alas" I am not Mr. Mathews, a fact upon which he no doubt congratulates himself.

Some of the artists question the value of a gallery at this juncture of chaos. "Where," they ask, "are the patrons to come from? Necessities must come before luxuries." And it would seem off hand that their conclusions are true.

But what about the people whose future is assured -- the people who love a good picture and to whom a good picture is a necessity when the point of worry is past? How about the tourists from the East who are booked to visit here in the next six months? How about the wanderers from the Orient who pass through our city? These people are not affected by our little local fuss, nor, indeed, are Californians outside the city, and they have money to spend for the things they want.

Assuredly we must have a depot for art, an accessible, well lighted, well advertised and sanely conducted gallery, where strangers may be directed to find what the virile West offers the world in art. And I am an optimist enough to believe it would pay. But this doesn't settle the remainder of that New York fund. However, it were well to rest assured that Mr. Mathews will do the wise thing, the calm and unemotional thing.

* * * * *
Among the lucky artists who lost neither home nor studio was Mrs. Bertha Stringer Lee. Incidentally, though, she parted with a couple of hundred dollars worth of frames in the co-operative venture that Promoter Leggitt had launched at 723 Sutter Street.

Since disposing of a houseful of refugees she has been putting in good licks on her favorite themes, the waterfront and the ocean's sandy edge.

The accompanying sketch (pictured above) is an interesting bit, colorful and pleasing.

Mrs. Lee has the distinction of having sold a picture since the quake, -- a bit of cheering news.

* * * * *
And Xavier Martinez has sold, too. And if you don't believe it go to Piedmont and see for yourself. Never in all his glory was Charles Lummis arrayed as is Martinez. Never did such dove-toned, softly rubbed corduroy enfold the Lammus limbs as now drapes the philosopher-painter of "the Indian Sculptor." Nor is that all that screams of prosperity, for the same philosopher-painter is wearing a scarlet waistcoat -- quite brilliant as a geranium bed in spring and as decorative. Assuredly is this no calamity garb. Very soon the Martinez studio at 729 Montgomery street will be in commission, where conditions seem to conduce to work. What a powerful factor in creative work is "conditions."
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Giuseppe Cadenasso is still at Mills College, teaching and painting, and incidentally being worshiped from afar by a hundred pretty, emotional college girls. Though cleaned out of everything in his studio to the tune of $10,000, with a possible insurance of $1,500, the handsome painter is as blithe as could be expected -- blithe, however, in sports like the rest of us.