Belle Osipow
travel sketches selections from 1975 -1995
travel sketches selections from 1975 -1995
en route to The Great Wall, China
Š 2016 Los Angeles, CA
This collection of travel sketches, taken from many pages of notebooks, comprises Part II of my tribute to my mother, the artist, Belle Osipow (1916 - 2015). The sketches I’ve selected here fall largely into three categories: portraits, city life, and landscapes, and are interwoven throughout. I have provided captions for locales when possible.
1974
From 1974 to 1995 my mother and step-father, Ernest Sorotskin, a librarian, enjoyed world-wide travel via the Elderhostel life-long learning program. The courses featured presentations by local professors concerning social, cultural, historical and political life, intermixed with sightseeing. During these excursions Belle would make quick sketch notes, quickly abbreviating details of surroundings and moods, as well as social interactions. Later she would embellish these drawings, turning them into more complete renderings of her observations. My personal favorites are the portraits and caricatures, as they most accurately reflect her sense of humor and her love of people-watching. —Lisa Bloomfield
6
7
Tel Aviv, Israel
8
9
R端desheim, Germany
10
Lucerne, Switzerland 11
Chester, England
12
Velazquez room, The Prado Museum, Madrid
Edinburgh, Scotland
14
15
Venice, Italy: Night Club
16
17
Bali 18
Greek Dancers
Bunraku Performance Toyko, Japan 19
Greece - Mosque
Beach, Tel Aviv, Israel 20
Portugal
21
Lisbon, Portugal 22
Taipei, rainy morning 23
Along the klongs, Thailand 24
Marketplace, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
25
26
Yugoslavia
Meteora, Greece St. Stephan Monastery
27
T: fish market; priest shopping,Greece. B: flower vendor, Thessaloniki, Greece; Moslem woman, Istanbul, Turkey.
28
Santorini Meat Market, Greece 29
T: Yigael Yadin rally, 1977; B: Chassidic Jews; Rabbi, Jerusalem
30
Chassidic Rabbi Elon, Israel
31
32
33
Road to Xi’an, China
34
Hotel sittingroom Loyang, China
35
The Great Wall of China 36
Tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Xi’an, China)
37
En route in Yugoslavia
38
T: Meteora, Greece B: staying in the dorms, University of London; (right) Mykonos, Greece.
39