Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Dec 25 2018 - The Red Umbrella

A red umbrella is a visual focal point in a photograph or painting.  It has been a symbol for raising funds and awareness for sex trade workers since 2001.  

But our story today is how artists have used a red umbrella as a visual theme in their work.

Here are a few images from the Red Umbrella Collection of artist Liz Hess.  Her site has more than 100 pictures featuring a red umbrella focal point. They are delightfully playful.


   

Here is another interpretation of the red umbrella - this one a sophisticated visual story.   This comes from a blog with the podcast of the title Open Your Umbrella - a spiritual journey blog.

 

There is a romantic red umbrella theme - and the  most prevalent setting for the romantic red umbrella is Paris, with a view of the Eiffel Tower.  Here's an iconic example:
 
Banksy's image of Banksy Girl with Balloon (2004), a whimsical image with a red balloon, comes up in the search.  It has a red umbrella style. 


Th umbrella story started more than 4,000 years ago - Egypt, Assyria, Greece and China all had umbrellas in their ancient art, but not as a key theme. This image is by Anthonis van Dyck - Marchesa Elena Grimaldi, done in 1623.  It shows the visual dominance of the red umbrella in this portrait.
 

 
Our adventure with a red umbrella happened yesterday.  It was part of our winter walk. It demonstrates its compelling dominance in the winter snow scene. 
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