Jonathan Cohen's photos with the keyword: dog

Leon Bronstein was born in Moldavia whence he moved to the land of Israel. An engineer and watchmaker by training, he found himself unable to find work in either of those vocations. But he could work with tools and he had molded clay and worked with wood as a child. As chance would have it, in 1979 he found a beautifully grained piece of olive wood that inspired him to fashion a small figurine at a wood shop in the Old City of Caesarea. This statue that was so well received by the shopkeeper that Bronstein’s turned his creative attention to sculpture.

Hellenistic realism extended to the expressive portrayal of animals as well as humans. Many bronze animal sculptures of this period are only known to us through Roman marble copies. The Molossi inhabited ancient Epirus (now northwest Greece and Albania). Molossian hounds were related to the modern mastiff and were famously fierce. They were often used as guard dogs by herdsmen and for household security in cities. Aristophanes, the fifth-century comic dramatist, speaks of the hazards of trying to get past a doorway guarded by a Molossian dog, while the infamous Athenian statesman and general Alcibiades is said to have kept one with a docked tail. This dog once wore a collar. Its gaping jaws show powerful teeth, but the relaxed pose and upward gaze give it an obedient air. Five other versions of this sculpture, all found near Rome, are thought to be Roman copies of a lost Greek bronze original, probably of the 2nd century BCE. This version is sometimes known as the "Jennings Dog," because it was once owned by Henry Constantine Jennings (1731-1819), who bought it in Rome in the 1750s.

The iconic Point Lobos area is geologically unique and contains a rich and diverse plant and animal life both on shore and in the water. Called the "greatest meeting of land and water in the world" by landscape artist Francis McComas, Point Lobos is considered a crown jewel in the California state park system. The geological history of Point Lobos describes the rocks that create the headlands and inlets that make Point Lobos famous.

Montreal's contribution to the mosaiculture competition consisted of 10 different statues: a solitary figure about 5 metres high stoops to plant a sapling; a furry dog covered in wild grass sits by his side; horses and woolly sheep covered in thyme graze nearby. This installation, which covers 2,000 square meters, consists of more than 500,000 individual plants and flowers. It required several months of work to complete. The figures illustrate a short story entitled "The Man Who Planted Trees" (in French: "L’homme qui plantait des arbres"), an allegorical tale by French author Jean Giono, published in 1953. The tale is quite short – only about 4000 words long. It was composed in French, but first published in English. The story begins in the year 1910, when a young man is undertaking a lone hiking trip through Provence, France, and into the Alps, enjoying the relatively unspoiled wilderness. The narrator runs out of water in a treeless, desolate valley where only wild lavender grows and there is no trace of civilization except old, empty crumbling buildings. The narrator finds only a dried up well, but is saved by Elzéard Bouffier, a middle-aged shepherd, who takes him to a spring he knows of. Curious about this man and why he has chosen such a lonely life, the narrator stays with him for a time. The shepherd, after being widowed, has decided to restore the ruined landscape of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest, tree by tree. He makes holes in the ground with his curling pole and drops into the holes acorns that he has collected from many miles away. The narrator leaves the shepherd and returns home, and later fights in the First World War. In 1920, shell-shocked and depressed after the war, he returns. He is surprised to see young saplings of all forms taking root in the valley, and new streams running through it where the shepherd has made dams higher up in the mountain. The narrator makes a full recovery in the peace and beauty of the regrowing valley, and continues to visit Bouffier every year. Bouffier is no longer a shepherd, because he is worried about the sheep affecting his young trees. He has become a bee keeper instead. Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the story, the valley is vibrant with life and is peacefully settled. The valley receives official protection after the First World War and more than 10,000 people move there, all of them unknowingly owing their happiness to Bouffier. The narrator visits the now very old Bouffier one last time in 1945. In a hospice in Banon, in 1947, the man who planted trees peacefully passes away. The story was adapted as an short animated film by Frédéric Back and released in 1987. It earned a number of awards including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Back's animations provided the inspiration for the sculptures on display at the Botanical Garden. For a description of the art of Mosaiculture and of the Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal competition, please turn to the first photo in this series at: www.ipernity.com/doc/jonathan.cohen/33872015

Montreal's contribution to the mosaiculture competition consisted of 10 different statues: a solitary figure about 5 metres high stoops to plant a sapling; a furry dog covered in wild grass sits by his side; horses and woolly sheep covered in thyme graze nearby. This installation, which covers 2,000 square meters, consists of more than 500,000 individual plants and flowers. It required several months of work to complete. The figures illustrate a short story entitled "The Man Who Planted Trees" (in French: "L’homme qui plantait des arbres"), an allegorical tale by French author Jean Giono, published in 1953. The tale is quite short – only about 4000 words long. It was composed in French, but first published in English. The story begins in the year 1910, when a young man is undertaking a lone hiking trip through Provence, France, and into the Alps, enjoying the relatively unspoiled wilderness. The narrator runs out of water in a treeless, desolate valley where only wild lavender grows and there is no trace of civilization except old, empty crumbling buildings. The narrator finds only a dried up well, but is saved by Elzéard Bouffier, a middle-aged shepherd, who takes him to a spring he knows of. Curious about this man and why he has chosen such a lonely life, the narrator stays with him for a time. The shepherd, after being widowed, has decided to restore the ruined landscape of the isolated and largely abandoned valley by single-handedly cultivating a forest, tree by tree. He makes holes in the ground with his curling pole and drops into the holes acorns that he has collected from many miles away. The narrator leaves the shepherd and returns home, and later fights in the First World War. In 1920, shell-shocked and depressed after the war, he returns. He is surprised to see young saplings of all forms taking root in the valley, and new streams running through it where the shepherd has made dams higher up in the mountain. The narrator makes a full recovery in the peace and beauty of the regrowing valley, and continues to visit Bouffier every year. Bouffier is no longer a shepherd, because he is worried about the sheep affecting his young trees. He has become a bee keeper instead. Over four decades, Bouffier continues to plant trees, and the valley is turned into a kind of Garden of Eden. By the end of the story, the valley is vibrant with life and is peacefully settled. The valley receives official protection after the First World War and more than 10,000 people move there, all of them unknowingly owing their happiness to Bouffier. The narrator visits the now very old Bouffier one last time in 1945. In a hospice in Banon, in 1947, the man who planted trees peacefully passes away. The story was adapted as an short animated film by Frédéric Back and released in 1987. It earned a number of awards including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Back's animations provided the inspiration for the sculptures on display at the Botanical Garden. For a description of the art of Mosaiculture and of the Mosaïcultures Internationales de Montréal competition, please turn to the first photo in this series at: www.ipernity.com/doc/jonathan.cohen/33872015

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