Porto do Itaguaçú, Imagem de Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Aparecida, São Paulo, Brasil

Porto do Itaguaçú, Imagem de Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Aparecida, São Paulo, Brasil
Aparecida - SP
Foto Postal Colombo N. 28
Fotografia - Cartão Postal

Escritório em Uma Cidade Pequena (Office in a Small City) - Edward Hopper

Escritório em Uma Cidade Pequena (Office in a Small City) - Edward Hopper
Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Nova York, Estados Unidos
OST - 71x101 - 1953

The Metropolitan Museum acquired this painting shortly after it was completed in late October 1953. Begun in Cape Cod over the summer and finished in New York City, it was the only oil painting Hopper produced that year. Reprising one of his signature subjects—a solitary figure, physically and emotionally detached from his surroundings and other people—it was described by the artist’s wife as "the man in concrete wall."

Mesas Para Senhoras (Tables for Ladies) - Edward Hopper

Mesas Para Senhoras (Tables for Ladies) - Edward Hopper
Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Nova York, Estados Unidos
OST - 122x153 - 1930

In Hopper’s Tables for Ladies, a waitress leans forward to adjust the vividly painted foods at the window as a couple sits quietly in the richly paneled and well-lit interior. A cashier attentively tends to business at her register. Though they appear weary and detached, these two women hold posts newly available to female city dwellers outside the home. The painting’s title alludes to a recent social innovation in which establishments advertised "tables for ladies" in order to welcome their newly mobile female customers, who, if seen dining alone in public previously, were assumed to be prostitutes.

Retrato de um Pescador Segurando um Barril de Cerveja (Portrait of a Fisherman Holding a Beer Keg) - Frans Hals

Retrato de um Pescador Segurando um Barril de Cerveja (Portrait of a Fisherman Holding a Beer Keg) - Frans Hals
Coleção privada
OST - 82x68

Painted with Hals’s signature bravura brushwork and talent for capturing the character of his subjects, this portrait of a fisherman with a beer keg provides us with a fascinating insight into life in 17th century Holland as well as the working methods of the artist and his studio practice. Rediscovered in Ireland in the early 20th century, the painting was first confirmed as Hals by William Valentiner and published in The Burlington Magazine, where Tancred Borenius wrote that “for sheer beauty of handling, the picture must take high rank even among the works of Frans Hals: and the solidity as well as sensitiveness in the painting of the head is a source of continual delight to the eye… We cannot but acknowledge that here is one of the most notable accessions to the known works of Frans Hals which it has been given us to chronicle for some time.” 

Frans Hals was an artist ahead of his time, and is rightly regarded as one of the most important and influential artists in the history of western art. His fluid brushstrokes, technical agility and brilliantly free handling of paint looked ahead to a style of painting that would not appear until the Impressionists in the late 19th century; indeed his works fell out of favor in the 18th and early 19th century, when realism and Neoclassicism were in style. In the 20th century, however, Hals’s lively portraits of jovial characters were once again and rightly recognized as amongst the most engaging and important pictures of the 17th century.

Though Hals depicted a wide range of characters in his paintings, from drunken buffoons to elegant, high-ranking members of the militia, it was his own cronies that he seemed to capture with the most spirit. The fisherman in the present picture laughs contagiously as he hugs a beer keg from which he no doubt has had more than a few sips. The brewery label of a red stag is that of the Root Hart Brewery in Haarlem, which must have been a favorite of the artist as Hals painted a portrait of the owner of the brewery, Cornelis Guldewagen, in 1660. Perhaps then the subject here was a favorite and fellow customer of the brewery, or at the least a friendly imbiber of its product.

Seymour Slive, who examined the picture firsthand in 1984, fully supported the painting as by Frans Hals, and dated it to the early 1630s.  Slive’s detailed opinion of the picture and the group are described in a letter dated 7 August 1984. He grouped it with a small number of half-length paintings of animated figures, including the Fisherboy now in the National Gallery of Ireland and the Fisherboy now in the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp. Claus Grimm, however, excludes this group of paintings from Hals’s oeuvre and attributes them to the Master of the Fisherboy. As in the present painting, the backgrounds of these pictures are filled with light, brushy landscapes which are not consistent with Hals’s style and some were possibly executed by Adriaen Brouwer (c. 1605-1638), who worked in Hals’s studio.

The dating of the Fisherman with a Beer Keg is difficult, and scholars have been inconsistent in their opinions. Valentiner placed it in the mid-1630s and, as described above, Slive agreed. Slive did, however, note in his 1970 monograph that the “breadth of treatment” in the hand and jug suggest a later date, and wondered whether Hals was either anticipating a later style or in his mature years simply returning to a favorite subject. More recently, Pieter Biesboer, Martin Bijl, and Norbert Middelkoop have each examined the painting firsthand; they all date the painting to the 1640s, as a collaborative work between Hals and his studio. Bijl believes that the painting is largely a work by the studio, with corrections by the master made at the very end, including the stag, to enhance the painting. Indeed, the painting affords today’s admirer a captivating examination into the studio practices of the artist. 

By the late 1620s, Hals had achieved fame as an artist and had an active workshop, including his sons Harmen Hals (1611-1669) and Frans Hals II (1618-1669), his brother Dirck Hals (1591-1656), and Judith Leyster (1609-1660), amongst others. In teaching his apprentices his tricks for capturing light and shadow in such a distinct, lively manner, Hals would begin to build up the layered contours of a figure and have a student attempt to finish it, and lastly the master himself would give it a final flourish. This sort of fluid, step-by-step enhancement by both the studio and Hals is evident in the present painting, and in their examination, both Bijl and Biesboer point specifically to a number of brushstrokes that are markedly by the hand of the artist. Hals had a unique method of painting dark highlights in the contours of his figures; the 17th century Dutch word for these low-light touches was diepsels, though no current term exists. In the present painting, these diepsels can be seen, for example, around the edge of the sitter’s elbow and arm, in his face under his nose in his mustache, and in his hand, around the wrist and the thumb.  It is in these mostly black and darker touch ups that one can most clearly see Hals’ hand. Indeed it is Hals's virtuosity in these final, brilliant brushstrokes that make this painting come together as the impressive and lively picture we see today.

Mocha Standard (Mocha Standard) - Edward Ruscha

Mocha Standard (Mocha Standard) - Edward Ruscha
Coleção privada
Serigrafia - 495x940 - 1969

Porto, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brasil

Porto, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brasil
Foz do Iguaçu - PR
Photo Iguassú H. Schinke
Fotografia - Cartão Postal

Porto Oficial ligava Foz do Iguaçu ao Porto Franco no Paraguai, ao Porto Mendes e Guaíra pelo Rio Paraná. A navegação nas décadas de 30 e 40 com produtos e passageiros era realizada por este rio. Em seu percurso rumo à Argentina recebe as águas dos afluentes Iguaçu, Paraguai e do encontro dos rios Paraná e Uruguai forma a Bacia Platina que deságua no Atlântico – via de importação e exportação. O Brasil já tinha o Porto de Santos e na década 40 o presidente Getúlio Vargas se uniu a José Felix Estigarribia presidente do Paraguai para construir uma estrada até Assunção e liberar para o país vizinho o Porto de Santos para não ficar na dependência só da navegação pelos rios.

Porsche 911 S Sportomatic 1968, Alemanha

Porsche 911 S Sportomatic 1968, Alemanha
Fotografia

The first of many improvements to Porsche’s legendary 911 sports car came in 1966, two years after production had commenced, with the introduction of the 911 S. Easily distinguishable by its stylish Fuchs five-spoked alloy wheels, the S featured a heavily revised engine producing 160 bhp.

In 1967 Porsche tested a new “Sport-o-matic” transmission at the 84-hour Marathon de la Route held at the Nürburgring. Four Porsches were entered, two of which were equipped with the Sportomatic transmission. The transmission proved effective, with the #14 Porsche 911 R equipped with the Sportomatic winning in impressive fashion. The success led Porsche to introduce what it termed as an automatic transmission, the Sportomatic, though it had no fully automatic setting, in 1968. The Sportomatic employed a conventional torque converter coupled to a vacuum-operated single-disc dry clutch ahead of the modified 911 four-speed gearbox. When the gear lever was moved, the clutch would disengage, re-engaging as soon as the driver’s hand was removed. As larger, more flexible engines were introduced, the Sportomatic became a three-speed, and in this form it lasted through 1980. It is believed that only 227 911 S models were built with a Sportomatic for 1968, many of which were replaced because of their unconventional operation.

This 911 S was sold new in Europe before making its way to Canada sometime in the 1980s. The current owner purchased the car in 1990 and commissioned a comprehensive restoration that was completed in January. The restoration included a complete stripping of the body, which was expertly refinished in the factory Burgundy color. The contrasting beige interior has been carefully restored as well and features the desirable Pepita fabric front seat inserts seats as well as a modern retro-designed radio. The engine is believed to be a factory replacement, stamped with the original number, and has been completely rebuilt by London Porsche in London, Ontario. It has been upgraded with stainless-steel performance headers. The gearbox also matches the original factory Kardex, a copy of which is included on file. Furthermore, a dossier of restoration receipts along with a spare tire, jack, and tool roll accompany the car.

A desirable European-delivery 911 S, this freshly restored example retaining its original Sportomatic transmission is ready to be enjoyed and cherished by its next caretaker.

Ferrari 599 GTB 2010, Itália

Ferrari 599 GTB 2010, Itália
Fotografia

612-hp 6.0-liter V-12 engine.

Six-speed ‘F1’ paddle-shift transmission.

Finished in ‘Extra Campionario’ (special request) Rosso Corsa Fiorano over Cuoio.

Interior options include Alcantara boot carpeting, special request carpet coloring, Ipod connection, carbon fiber steering wheel, and power seats.

Panorama de Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Panorama de Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
Rio de Janeiro - RJ
Foto Postal Colombo N. 1
Fotografia - Cartão Postal

Escola Normal, São Paulo, Brasil

Escola Normal, São Paulo, Brasil
São Paulo - SP
Foto Postal N. 150
Fotografia - Cartão Postal