Thursday, July 5, 2012

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 46

 
English Bay, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, ca early 1900s

Today’s card seems to show a sunny summer day at the beach.  This black & white photo postcard has the place name and the number 39 in the lower left but no publisher information.  English Bay is a beach west of the downtown area in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.  I wasn’t sure when this photograph was taken but the clothing certainly looks like it was around 1900.  Then I found the color card below that is dated 1917 and shows a dock in the center that does not appear in the upper card making it certain that the card above must be from before 1917.  The early 1900s scene reminds me of the Georges Seurat painting titled:  Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte. *

English Bay is a popular place featuring a summer fireworks competition and a winter polar bear swim.  The Vancouver Seawall runs all the way around English Bay from Stanley Park to False Bay.  It is a favorite destination for walkers, runners, bicyclers and roller-bladers. 


English Bay, Vancouver, Canada. Date circa 1917 Source Personal collection of Wayne Ray - Windfield Photographic Collection and Archives, POB 340 Stn. B London Ontario Canada N6A 4W1 Author Unknown

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Postcard_English_Bay_Vancouver_BC.jpg


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*    Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte (1884) by Georges Seurat 
  
This painting is very large (81¾ X 121¼ inches) and takes up one entire wall at The Art Institute of Chicago.  It is one of those paintings that you have to see in person to truly appreciate.  It is composed of thousands, possibly millions of tiny dots of color placed in precise order to increase the feeling of depth.

See:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Seurat
The Art Institute of Chicago, Essential Guide, pp 158-159


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