Strawberries are nice in all kinds of ways: They taste good, they look beautiful and they smell heavenly. So it's no wonder that they inspire artists all over the world. I couldn't possibly put in a post everything I found while researching strawberry themed art but I chose few things I found particularly beautiful or interesting.
Art
I haven't found much of famous or expensive strawberry themed art but I have found a lot of art in general. I picked out these two pieces: Strawberry Thief by William Morrison and
Strawberry Thief
Strawberry Thief by William Morris is one of his most popular repeating designs for textiles. The inspiration for the design were thrushes that Morris found stealing fruit in the kitchen garden of his countryside home in Oxfordshire.
To print the pattern he used the ancient and painstaking indigo-discharge method he admired above all forms of printing. In May 1883 Morris wrote to his daughter, "I was a great deal at Merton last week ... anxiously superintending the first printing of the Strawberry thief, which I think we shall manage this time." He was pleased with this success and so he registered the design with the Patents Office. This pattern was the first design using the technique in which red and yellow were added to the basic blue and white ground.
The entire process took days to complete and was one of Morris & Co.'s most expensive pieces of cotton. Despite that customers were not put off by the high price and Strawberry Thief proved to be one of Morris's most commercially successful patterns.
Summer At Strawberry Field - Nadia Kilendaze
Even though she is not a very famous artist I found her pieces to be lovely. About this particular one, Summer At Strawberry Fields the artist herself says ''The artwork depicts a place that had a great influence on me, Strawberry Fields where my youngest sister lived before she died. It was named after the Beatles song of the same name. The colours reflect the heat of Summer and the sunflowers bring a burst of new life and hope.
Nadia Kliendanze majored in printmaking at Visual Arts at Southern Cross. After finishing her Visual Arts degree she went on to complete a Masters in Printmaking at Monash Uni, Australia and printmaking is still her main love. She was a finalist in many international and national printmaking shows like Fremantle Print, Silkcut Blake Prize, with both a lino print and a painting and many more competitions and exhibitions all over the world. I love this quote of hers I found in an interview about the important role of art: ''The artist has many roles in society: to educate (...) to inspire, to promote social change, to make this world a more beautiful space, to bring joy, the list is endless.''
Another stunning Strawberry themed art piece
Books
Strawberry themed literature is mostly children and in form of picture books, as one would assume. From many available, I found this one to be the most interesting mostly because it was highly rewarded.
Strawberry Girl
Strawberry Girl is a novel written and illustrated by Lois Lenski The book was first published in 1945 and is considered realistic fiction children's book. The plot is set among the "Crackers" of rural Florida and it is one in Lenski's series of regional novels. The book got Lenski a Newbery medal, a literary award given to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children by the Association for Library Service to Children
Strawberry Girl is the second and best known of Lenski's series of regional books. She wrote them specifically to "present vivid, sympathetic pictures of the real life of different kinds of Americans".Lois Lenski was a truly astonishing character herself: She approached each book very seriously: moving into the communities; sketching the plants, animals, homes and children. She made a commitment to live with the people she wrote about and listened to their stories, bringing a realism that makes her books so unique.
Other works I'd like to mention are Strawberry Fields By Marina Lewycka and The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear.
Movies
Wild Strawberries
Even though there are a few movies with Strawberries in the title the most iconic of them all is definitelyWild Strawberries ( Smultronstället ) by famous Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.
If you are wondering he is not related to the famous actress Ingrid Bergman but he did have a wife named Ingrid. I was wondering. This black and white masterpiece was filmed in 1957. and talks about an aged professor and doctor Isak Borg who gets on the road to be rewarded with an honorary doctorate title. On the way over he starts to question his life, wrong decisions and mistakes. The plot idea kind of reminds me of the Armageddon Rag by Georg R.R. Martin
Scripted while Bergman was being treated in hospital for two months whilst suffering gastric ulcers, "Wild Strawberries" emerges as one of the Swedish director's most elegiac and humane films. A fun fact I came across: The Swedish title, "Smultronstallet", actually translates as 'strawberry field patch' referring to not just to the location where the fruit can be picked, but to a place or a time in one's past which is particularly cherished and which one revisits in one's mind.
The movie was an artistic success: It was nominated for the Oscars in the category of best foreign film, it got 2 BAFTA nominations and won a Golden Globe.
Other movies to watch: Strawberry Fields (2006 film), a documentary on Palestinian strawberry growers in Gaza or Strawberry Fields (2011 film), a psycho-drama film by Frances Lea and Judith Johnson
Cartoon
Strawberry Shortcake is definitely one of the most beloved cartoons of this days but it dates way back. One would think that strawberries would be a more common theme in cartoons but besides the Shoopkins one I cant think (or google) any other besides Strawberry Shortcake. The Strawberry Shortcake cartoon character originally used in greeting cards, but was later expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products. Later on, it was made into a cartoon and computer games. The brand of Strawberry Shortcake is strong and sells pretty good. We watch the new seasons on Netflix.
Music
Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles
Even though there is a ton of Strawberry songs (I even found a list of all kind of fruit songs)
"Strawberry Fields Forever" by The Beatles is probably the most famous. It was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Penny Lane". The song was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. Lennon later identified "Strawberry Fields Forever" as his highest achievement as a member of the Beatles. Strawberry Fields Forever" represented a new page for the Beatles' and a novel listening experience for their audience. While the song initially divided and confused both music critics and fans, it is now one of the Beatles' most influential works in the psychedelic rock genre.
He drew inspiration from his childhood memories of playing in the garden of Strawberry Field, which was the name of a Salvation Army children's home close to John Lennon's childhood home in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool. One of Lennon's childhood treats was the garden party held each summer in Calderstones Park, near the home, where a Salvation Army brass band played.
Divlje Jagode
If you are in the mood for discovering some legendary Croatian music I encourage you to listen to Divlje Jagode or *Wild Strawberries'', one the pioneers of heavy metal on the Balkans. They were founded in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1977. by it's original five Bosnian-Herzegovian members. They were very popular in former Yugoslavia and are still active today, with other band members. Their single ''Motori'' is an iconic anthem of bike riders all over Balkans and further. I personally enjoy their take on Mozarts Turkish March the most.
Arhitecture
Strawberry Hill House is the Gothic Revival villa that was built in Twickenham, London by Horace Walpol from 1749 onward. It is the type example of the "Strawberry Hill Gothic" style of architecture and it prefigured the nineteenth-century Gothic revival. To me as a 'common girl, '' the villa is absolutely stunning. I find gothic architecture in general to be stunning but there is some dispute about the value and quality of it among experts. It is open for visitors again in 2012.
What do you think about the post? Tell me about it in the comments!
Do you like strawberries or are you one of those, in my free estimation two people in the world, who don't like them? What memories do you have that are tied to strawberries? I'd love to hear from you!
Stay tuned for all things Strawberry, you might be surprised what comes out of it. If you have anything Strawberry I missed out on, link it or if you plan on doing anything use a #strawberryweek hashtag so I can find you. Buckle up...here we go!
Note: All the images used are from the links found in the post. Enjoy!
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