Otto G.Carlsund and Olle Baertling

Svenska (English below):

I Stockholm kan man just nu se två stora utställningar omkring två svenska modernistiska målare:

Otto G. Carlsund på Liljevalchs konsthall där man (bl.a.) målat upp hans stora väggmålning 'Rapid' (ovan) som gjordes till Stockholmsutställningen 1930. Det är en geometrisk soluppgång pekandes mot framtiden under konkretismens banér.

På Moderna museet öppnar höstens stora utställning nämligen, 'Olle Baertling - en modern klassiker'. Baertling född 1911 var autodidakt och skapade vinklade fält - ofta i triangulär form - i olika färger. 

Detta kom att bli sinnebilden för den moderna konstens abstraktion från det föreställande.

Olle Baertling

Irgur, 1958

oil on canvas, 195 x 97cm

Baertling var mycket produktiv men utställningskommissarien John Peter Nilsson har enligt uppgift varit mycket sparsmakad.

English:

In Stockholm one are able to visit two exhibitions displaying two great Swedish modernist painters:

Otto G. Carlsund at Liljevalchs art museum where they've (among other artworks exhibited) hanged his big wall painting 'Rapid', a painting he made in connection to the Stockholm exhibition in 1930. It's a geometrical sunrise pointing towards the future under the banners of concretism.

Sculpture YAYAO 1971 h 525 cm Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris

At Moderna museet (The Museum of Modern Art) the big autumn exhibition opens 6th of Octobre: 'Olle Baertling - a Modern Classic'. Baertling was born in 1911 and he was totally autodidact, creating angles and fields in different colours - often triangular in form.

This came to be the pure idealistic symbol for the modern art and its abstraction from the depicting art.

Baertling was very productive but the curator John Peter Nilsson has according to the information I've got, been very restrictive in his choice of works by Baertling.

Delaumbre bleu

(Photo 'Rapid' Otto G. Carlsund copied from: http://www.nt.se/inc/imagehandler.ashx?id=2278485&height=312&quality=75)
(Photos Olle Baertling, Irgur and YAYAO copied from: http://www.baertling.com/first.htm)
(Photo Delaumbre bleu copied from: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/565131453214508288)

The Sputnik wll not be back and neither will Lajka!

Today we - or the Russians - celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first space aircraft launched into space - Sputnik 1.

This marked the start of a race in space and for the Americans it was a great defeat to see the Sovjet Union being ahead of them. 
It was not only a defeat but the American government thought that this could become a military threat against the country.

President Eisenhower at the time declared that the United States also could have launched their own Sputnik if they had lowered the scientific demands of the operation. This was of course nonsense. He lied to the whole nation.

The Sputnik showed that the Sovjet Union now could strike the United States with long distance missiles and USA was actually far behind. 

A month later Sputnik 2 was launched with one passenger, namely the dog Lajka. Poor dog!

Sputnik 3 on the other hand became a failure as the tape recorder that was supposed to record the event did not work. 
This could have been avoided if not the premier of the Sovjet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, had refused to postpone the launch. The reason he did not postpone was because he had promised the Italian communist leaders something special in connection to the election the day after.

Since these early days 4 500 satellites have been launched - half of which have been military spy satellites! 

I heard an interview on the BBC where a Russian space expert thought that within twelve-fifteen years they will be able to launch the first manned space aircraft for a journey to Mars.

And for what good?

Vladimir Putin will be back!

Now it seems as if Vladimir Putin is willing to enter the election in order to become the next prime minister in Russia.

This is not surprising when studying who he suggested as prime minister recently and maybe his successor as president, namely Viktor Zubkov. Zubkov is a person not known to the vast majority in Russia and even less known in the rest of the world.

Putins idea is perhaps - as some have suggested - that he will run for the prime minister post, take the initiative in political matters and gradually undermine the position of the person succeeding him as president. After some years or even earlier than that, he will be back as a presidential candidate, hoping to gain victory. 

Putin is still comparatively young and I don't think he wants to give up the possibility of ruling this vast country again. 

With a small travesty from a well known governor one could say that: Putin "will be back".

(Photo Vladimir Putin copied from: https://www.eurasiareview.com/11092018-revisiting-putins-2007-munich-security-conference-speech-oped//)

(Photo Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator copied from : https://www.theterminatorfans.com/arnolds-ill-be-back-from-the-terminator-tops-movie-quotes-brits-love-to-say/)