Mention the Netherlands (or Holland) and some things immediately come to mind. Windmills, canals and dykes, tulips, clogs (called klompen by the Dutch and immortalised by Vincent van Gogh in his 1889 painting), and cheese. The list of Dutch cultural icons would not be...
Many have been awed by the Notre-Dame de Paris (pictured above in a 1912 painting by American artist Florence Vincent Robinson). Who wouldn't be? This most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages wears the badge of antiquity (almost 200 years in the making,...
Jill Friedman of Lake Jackson, Texas, is an old salt who holds United States Coast Guard licences for Unlimited Master and DPO (Dynamic Positioning Operator) Unlimited. It is not only her professional credentials, however, that make her stand out. Captain Jill is an...
Countless artists have painted or made drawings of fishermen. However, Dutch post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) did so with unusual passion. Viewing his works, one is left feeling that the artist, not only possessed great talent, but had a genuine...
Few themes in art are as enduring and inspiring as that of mother and child. Throughout the centuries, the subject has seen many iterations, either religious or secular. Its fascination to artists and humanity as a whole is not at all surprising. Works of art...
I know very little about ballet, and I have never been to a ballet performance. However, sailboats make me think automatically of ballerinas — like the ones depicted by the great French artist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, in his 1885 painting Ballet Dancers (pictured...
It must be in the Japanese DNA. How else can one explain the fact that the Japanese have such a strong artistic sense? They seem to immerse themselves in beauty, even making the viewing of cherry blossoms a national pastime. Not content with admiring the beauty of...
Winslow Homer (pictured above at the age of 44) is best known for his marine oil paintings. His iconic The Fog Warning and Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) have assured him a place in the pantheon of the all-time greats of American art. However, Homer's artistic gift is no...
In his classic 1906 essay, The Book of Tea, Japanese scholar Kakuzo Okakura spoke of the philosophy of tea as “moral geometry, inasmuch as it defines our sense of proportion to the universe”. This sense of proportion — the notion of man as being a mere part of the...
In October of 2018 I announced Marine Café Blog's shift in focus. Instead of the mundane issues that bedevil the maritime industry, I would write about marine art and other topics ignored by the shipping press, including sea-related photography and literature. For...
Shipwreck paintings captivate us for the same reason that tragedy as a form of drama enthralled the ancient Greeks: they arouse pity and fear. The following artworks are some of the best on the subject. Intense and moving like the plays of Sophocles, they are a...
The slogan-loving officials of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) should exorcise the term “invisible seafarers”. The phrase was coined by some second-rate copywriter to add drama to the ‘Day of the Seafarer’ celebration in 2013. It sounds contrived, a...