Vermont has more covered bridges per square mile than any other place in the world. The “Best” bridge is in Brownsville, not necessarily because it is the best, but because that is its actual name. Coverd bridges have, in addition to getting you to the other side, a transporting nature about them that recalls New England romanticism, autumn colors, and the past, as exemplified in this painting by Vladimir. Ichabod Crane could have ridden through this one in his wild midnight ride escaping the headless horseman. In those days bridges were built out of wood and would only last a decade, but the idea of building a roof over the bridge added 70 or 80 years on to the life of the bridge. This utilitarian addition however added much more… beauty, charm, and a nostalgia for a time gone by.
Brownsville, Vermont
December 28th, 2011BAMBERG
December 26th, 2011
Bamberg, a city in Bavaria on the river Regnitz near its confluence with the river Main, is famous for its nine breweries and a special beer called Rauchbier (smoked beer). The city was first mentioned in 902 AD, and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site because of all the medieval historic buildings that have survived World War II in part due to an artillery factory that make sure no alied planes got near it. Bamberg’s most famous sons are Willie Messerschmidt, the designer of the fighter plane by the same name, and Count Claus von Stauffenberg, the architect of the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944. Bamberg was built on seven hills which lead it to be called the Bavarian Rome, but the locals turned it around and call Rome the Italian Bamberg. Vladimir was attracted to it because of its charming medieval character. These two paintings evolved from a vist to relatives who lived there. He did sketches on site and later worked on the larger works in his studio.
New England Winter
December 17th, 2011
Winter is filled with fun and excitement: Christmas, holly, mistletoe, sleigh rides, chestnuts, and sitting by the open fire. This was painted in New England in the 1970′s. Cold crisp snow and fresh sleigh tracks, one can almost hear the jingle bells in the distance. It recalls for me a passage of The Bard from As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7
Blow, blow thou winter wind.
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not see,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most frienship is feigning, most loving meer folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
White Christmas
December 17th, 2011
White Christmas was inspired by the famous song with the same name composed by Irivng Berlin and popularized by Bing Crosby. That recording is said to be the best selling single of all times, over 50 million copies. Vladimir painted this painting in a little Austrian village by the name of Hinterstoder in the early 1960′s. The village is located in a glacial valley, carved out millions of years ago. A river, the Steyr, bubbles forth from the base of majestic granite plutons that where raised up by the tectonic collision of the African and European plates. The river winds its way to the Danube and the water which originated in the snow fed glaciers of the Alps eventually winds up in the Black Sea. It is seen here just behind the snow laden pine tree. At that point it is barely a brook near where it originates from the foot of the mountains. The painting is oil on canvas 36″x24″ and I used it for the cover of our 2011 Christmas card.
Leoben, Austria
April 23rd, 2011
Vladimir was visiting Leoben, Austria to see his nephew who was a student at the University of Leoben, studying metallurgical engineering there. Vladimir found this square with its water fountain picturesque; thus this painting resulted. The town located in Steiermark (Styria), has been active in mining and beer brewing since 1321. The local mountains have always provided an abundance of coal and iron ore as well as a source of clean glacier water for its most famous beer, Gösser, possibly the most popular Austrian beer. This town square sports a water fountain presided over by a cherub. Water fountains were a gathering place for the town’s inhabitants before all houses had running water, providing clean water for all who would bring their buckets and fill them up at the constantly running water source. Leoben has seen its share of history from its very beginnings dating back to the Karolingian Kings, the most famous being Charlemagne, to the tumultuous religious wars of reformation and counter-reformation, then the horrendous death tolls from the plague, to occupation by Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin’s Red Army. That fountain however never changes, always running with the cool, clear, refreshing water, the healthiest drink there is.
Mardi Gras
April 17th, 2011
Mardi Gras is nearly upon us. It is the last three days before Ash Wednesday. It literally means “Fat Tuesday” in French, a time of laughter, frivolity, salaciousness, and excess of joie de vivre. Alcohol, the oldest standby mind altering and inhibition lowering drug, the ash tray, a receptacle for the burnt remnants of another of human kind’s addictions, the gloves, a metaphor for style, the mask and fan keeping the wearer incognito, red roses which remind us of love and passion, confetti and streamers that convey child-like exuberance make up the composition of this painting named Mardi Gras. Many nations celebrate the season of a last fling before the sobering period of Lent, a time of penance, reflection, and abstinence. In Austria and Germany it is called Fasching. In Sweden it is Fettisdagen. In Venice, Spain, and Rio de Janeiro it is Carnival. During Mussolini’s reign, he outlawed the wearing of masks during this celebration because it lead to so many indiscretions and so much illicit behavior where the perpetrator was not identifiable that it became more than a nuisance. Of course the king of all these bacchanals remains the event conducted in the “Big Easy” – New Orleans.
California Ghost Town
March 2nd, 2011
Bodie, California, once boasting 10,000 inhabitants as the second largest city in the state , is one of the few remaining ghost towns in the country. Its claim to fame was gold, lots of it. The town is named for Waterman (William) Body, who first found the yellow stuff there in 1859. ” Bodie” came to be spelled that way because the sign painter who created the towns signage could not fit the “y”, with its graphics dipping below the line on the board, so he changed it to an “ie”. The town grew into a bustling city featuring lots of banks, sixty-five saloons, its own China Town with a retinue of opium dens, and of course the red light district. At its peak in 1880 there was at least one gun fight a day usually resulting in a death. The most popular lady of the night, Rosa May, became a town heroine when a terrible epidemic swept through the town. Without her “Florence Nightingale” like ministrations many more people would have died. But when she herself succumbed to the disease, the wise town elders refused to allow her mortal remains to be interred in the town cemetery as she was a tainted woman which might have sullied the other folks residing there on boot hill. Vladimir stumbled upon this obscure little bit of history on one of his wanderings through the Sierras. It was as if he had stumbled on a time capsule from more than a century ago. The once busy town has become a true ghost town when the gold ran out. Now the only sound is the wind howling through broken windows and the only traffic on Main Street is the occasional tumbleweed tumbling by. Vladimir could not resist, so he set up his easel, loaded up his pallet and went to work on this tribute to Willam Body and the town named for him.
Metamora Barn
January 11th, 2011
Metamora, Illinois is a farm community near where Vladimir lived in the early 1960′s. He frequently searched the countryside for interesting things to paint. When he came upon this barn with the corn storage silo, he set up his easle and commenced to create this painting. But that is not the end of the story. Vladimir was the town doctor in a small Austrian alpine village during Warld War II. In the aftermath of the war this little village attracted General Mark Clark to make it his headquarters . He was appointed High Comissioner of Austria by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Clark essentially ruled Austria like a king from a hilltop villa in this alpine hideaway. Eisenhower frequently was a guest of Clark and it was on one such occasion that Vladimir came to know the five star General who commanded the invasion forces that smashed Hitler’s war machine. Decades later Vladimir had already immigrated to the USA and Eisenhower was now the retired President of the US. He retired to a life of leisure, farming, and painting. Vladimir wanted to honor the former president and sent him this painting to commemorate their meeting so many years ago in Austria. Eisenhower, being an artist himself and a hobby farmer, enjoyed and appreciated the painting. He sent Vladimir a very thoughtful note of appreciation.
Polk Street Station
January 6th, 2011
You may notice the similarities between these two paintings. They are in fact based on the same place, the “L” stop at Polk Street in Chicago. That is the stop for Cook County Hospital and the University of Illinois Medical School in the mid 60′s. I was living and going to school there when my father visited me. With that occasion he set up his easel on the platform and painted the scene depicted in the top painting. He sold that painting and recently I was contacted by its current owner wanting more information on the painting and the painter. Vladimir was always sad to sell one of his paintings. It was as if he sold part of himself especially if it was one of his favorite ones. If he was particularly sad he would paint another one usually from sketches he made for the original, but he would usually add or somehow change it so that it would not be quite the same. You see this in the second painting. This is not uncommon among artists. Claude Monet painted the Cathedral at Rouen thirteen times in different seasons and lighting. Here Vladimir added an old locomotive that he had also painted before. This eased his melancholy. It is this second painting that attracted a thief. He stole that painting from an exhibit where he was a night janitor. He put it in his truck and drove around all night with it. Shortly before the place opened in the morning he replaced it. Years later, after Vladimir’s death, the would be thief confessed his crime to me. I know Vladimir would have been pleased by the whole event. A real lover of art!
Evil Monk
October 5th, 2010This painting, painted in December 1957, commemorates an event that took place in May, 1943. An Austrian artist, Karl Seifert, was executed by the Nazis using their favorite method of dispatching people that they deemed unfit to add to the gene pool, intravenous gasoline. This artist had painted an evil court jester wandering the darkness in search of evil. Vladimir wished to memorialize this sad artist, his untimely, unfair and grizzly demise by painting a similar painting. This painting depicts a monk of the Inquisition, a time of equal ignorance and cruelty. He wanders the darkness, holding a candle that illuminates his face and nothing else, a metaphor for egocentic fanaticism. 
