Robert Francis James

 

Give your favorite person an original still life. My paintings ship overnight, framed and ready to hang. Make your next gift unique—and unforgettable.

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Wander Winterthur’s Artisan Market

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Next Saturday and Sunday, July 16 and 17, I’ll exhibit my paintings on the 1,000-acre grounds of Winterthur , America’s premier museum of the decorative arts. I hope you’ll attend this very special event, the Artisan Market at Winterthur . I’ll join over 100 other artists and craftspeople offering paintings, sculpture, jewelry, crafts, vintage clothing, antiques, collectibles, home and garden décor, artisanal foods, and more. While shopping, you’ll hear live music and be able to nosh on festival food and drink. Besides the Artisan Market, your two-day admission ticket will provide you entry into Henry Francis du Pont’s 175-room mansion, containing his collection of 90,000 masterpieces of Americana— and a guided tour the current museum exhibition, “ Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont: From Winterthur to the White House .” Baby Boomers will remember that Jackie’s televised tour of the restored White House in 1962 rekindled the country’s love of fine antiques and traditional in...
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Science Says Art is Good for You

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  Art offers breathing room for the spirit. ― John Updike A new study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology shows that visiting art museums can ease chronic paid, reduce anxiety and depression, and forestall dementia. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania compiled and reviewed over 100 science articles to reach their conclusions. Among other things, they discovered that visiting art museums decreases stress and anxiety, and that viewing figurative art, in particular, lowers blood pressure. They also found that art reduces the intensity of chronic pain, increases a person’s life span, and lessens the likelihood of being diagnosed with dementia. Art, moreover, induces higher cognitive functioning among people with dementia. Art museums also affect the way people interact. Museum visitors report feeling less isolated, more empathetic, and better equipped to connect socially with others. The researchers plan next to study how specific museum programming ...
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Inspiration

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Inspiration is for amateurs. — Chuck Close Old objects and the personal memories associated with them inspire my paintings. I’m content to call it nostalgia . Like weight-gain, nostalgia is an affliction of the aged and can rapidly get out of hand. I especially loathe the kind that wistfully pines for a rosy past that never was so rosy. But at least I’m never at a loss for inspiration. Thanks to post-World War II consumerism, there are millions of old objects for me to paint : millions of cans, bottles, tools and toys that have been stashed away in attics, basements and garages; and millions more on display in thrift stores, antique malls and on eBay. I can buy these for a song. I just finished a Yoo Hoo bottle and am planning next to paint a beer can—specifically, a Ballentine’s Beer can—an idea planted by a throwaway remark made to me this week by another artist, Peter Swift , while we were waxing nostalgic about Newark, New Jersey (the home, until 1972, of the P. Ballantine ...
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