Mon coup de cœur du jour!
"...Jane Whiting Chrzanoska was born in Germantown, Philadelphia in 1948. She began drawing and painting at such an early age that by 14 she felt confident enough to attempt her first mural, an 8’x12’ depiction of Napoleon at Waterloo on her bedroom wall. Two years later she convinced he best friend to provide he own bedroom wall so that Jane could paint “The Ride of the Valkyries” from Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
At age 16 she was accepted into the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia to begin studies the following year. She also made her first important sale, a study of 50 orchestral musicians, to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. She then undertook another impressive project, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Jane credits her father, the late William A. Whiting, for his constant support and encouragement in her early years and for giving her the confidence to tackle such classical subjects.
Unfortunately, after a few months at the Academy, the emphasis on abstract expressionism proved boring and Jane began skipping classes and spending more time at the University of Pennsylvania city campus. She convinced Dr. George Bass, head of the Archaeology department, to let her practice drawing various artifacts in the collection. This new interest in archaeology would significantly impact her later work.
In 1969 she moved to Ithaca, N.Y. and then to Woodstock. She lived in a cabin with no running water and no electricity but was afforded the opportunity to few a private and well guarded collection of the works of Fra Angelico, owned by the Archdiocese of New York..."
VIA Catherine la rose
"...Jane Whiting Chrzanoska was born in Germantown, Philadelphia in 1948. She began drawing and painting at such an early age that by 14 she felt confident enough to attempt her first mural, an 8’x12’ depiction of Napoleon at Waterloo on her bedroom wall. Two years later she convinced he best friend to provide he own bedroom wall so that Jane could paint “The Ride of the Valkyries” from Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
At age 16 she was accepted into the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia to begin studies the following year. She also made her first important sale, a study of 50 orchestral musicians, to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. She then undertook another impressive project, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Jane credits her father, the late William A. Whiting, for his constant support and encouragement in her early years and for giving her the confidence to tackle such classical subjects.
Unfortunately, after a few months at the Academy, the emphasis on abstract expressionism proved boring and Jane began skipping classes and spending more time at the University of Pennsylvania city campus. She convinced Dr. George Bass, head of the Archaeology department, to let her practice drawing various artifacts in the collection. This new interest in archaeology would significantly impact her later work.
In 1969 she moved to Ithaca, N.Y. and then to Woodstock. She lived in a cabin with no running water and no electricity but was afforded the opportunity to few a private and well guarded collection of the works of Fra Angelico, owned by the Archdiocese of New York..."
