Belle Osipow - Travel Sketches

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

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Tel Aviv, Israel

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R端desheim, Germany

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Lucerne, Switzerland 11

Chester, England

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Velazquez room, The Prado Museum, Madrid

Edinburgh, Scotland

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Venice, Italy: Night Club

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Bali 18

Greek Dancers

Bunraku Performance Toyko, Japan 19

Greece - Mosque

Beach, Tel Aviv, Israel 20

Portugal

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Lisbon, Portugal 22

Taipei, rainy morning 23

Along the klongs, Thailand 24

Marketplace, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Yugoslavia

Meteora, Greece St. Stephan Monastery

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T: fish market; priest shopping,Greece.

B: flower vendor, Thessaloniki, Greece; Moslem woman, Istanbul, Turkey.

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Santorini Meat Market, Greece 29

T: Yigael Yadin rally, 1977; B: Chassidic Jews; Rabbi, Jerusalem

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Chassidic Rabbi Elon, Israel

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Road to Xi’an, China

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Hotel sittingroom Loyang, China

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The Great Wall of China 36

Tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (Xi’an, China)

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En route in Yugoslavia

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T: Meteora, Greece B: staying in the dorms, University of London; (right) Mykonos, Greece.

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