Art Bytes

Korean Artist Lee Ufan Explores Infinity at Guggenheim Museum - videos & article

2011-08-31T15:26:00.000-07:00

Meet Korean painter, sculptor, writer and philosopher Lee Ufan, who is having his first retrospective in U.S. museum. "Marking Infinity" is exhibiting at New York’s Guggenheim Museum from June 24 to September 28, 2011.

Watch following exhibition video: "Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity" - from Guggenheim, July 15, 2011.

"Discover the first North American museum retrospective dedicated to the work of the internationally acclaimed artist-philosopher Lee Ufan, a sculptor, painter, and writer active in Korea, Japan, and Europe over the last forty years. Trace this contemporary master's career both thematically and chronologically through signature works from the 1960s to the present—including a new site-specific installation, five major series of paintings, works on paper, prints, and key sculptures."

All works by Lee Ufan © 2011 Lee Ufan

Relatum (formerly Language), 1971/2011. Cushions, stones, and light. Dimensions vary with installation. Private collection

© 2011 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. All rights reserved.

The following text is a reprinted article and video by Behnam Nateghi (New York City), dated August 30, 2011 from VOA News.

One of America's most prestigious museums of modern and contemporary art is showcasing the work of Korean artist Lee Ufan.

Born in Korea, the 75-year-old has lived and taught in Japan, where he enjoys the respect of several post-war generations of intellectuals for his role in leading philosophical and artistic movements countering westernization.

New York’s Guggenheim Museum provides a unique backdrop for Ufan, because the museum’s continuous spiral ramp underlines infinity; a pivotal notion in his work.

“Marking Infinity,” Lee Ufan’s first retrospective in an American museum, gathers 70 paintings, sculptures and drawings. They fill the Guggenheim’s Rotunda floor and its six ramps - the late-period gem of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Ufan installed the retrospective himself during a three-week residency, uniting examples of five decades of his art into one continuous statement.

“For Lee Ufan, collaborating with the Rotunda space at the Guggenheim Museum has been an enormous leap forward for his own understanding of his own work," says Alexandra Munroe, the museum’s senior curator of Asian Art. "And he realizes that in essence, what the Guggenheim Museum is all about, which is the awareness of the body in space, is about many of the same ideas."

Ufan grew up through several wars and experienced the assault of modern culture, which interrupted ancient philosophical systems.

“What is at the essence of his art is uncertainty and things that are not fixed and things that are open and scattered, and open to our interpretation and open to our experience and infinite," Munroe says. "The title of this exhibition is ‘Marking Infinity.’ Infinity is the opposite of finite, is the opposite of what is fixed. He is asking us to imagine a world where there is a coexistence between man and what he calls the other, man and nature, now and the past.”

In his installations, opposites coexist, as in sculptures where heavy rocks and steel are held impossibly in the air by clouds of cotton.

“And there is another very important idea that you see both in his sculpture and his paintings, which I call the ‘ethic of restraint,’" says Munroe. "He’s interested in the relationship between making and non-making - what he calls non-making."

Ufan tries to separate us from our backgrounds, histories, mythologies and psychological concerns. Devoid of narrative, his art belongs to the school of here and now.

Kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez Uses Light to Enchant Museum-Goers in Houston, article & video

2011-02-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

Above image: Kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez walks out of his exhibit of illusion-filled pieces of color and light on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. (screen capture from VOA News-Greg Flakus video, Feb. 22, 2011).

Kinetic Artist Carlos Cruz-Diez Uses Light to Enchant Museum-Goers in Houston - The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas until July 4, 2011.

Reprint of article by Greg Flakus, Houston, Texas, from VOA News, February 22, 2011.

Kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, but has spent half of his 87 years in Paris. There he developed a worldwide following for works that challenge how we see color. His illusion-filled pieces are now on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.

Entering the world of Cruz-Diez is a challenge and a delight for the eyes. In one of the small rooms built for the exhibit, one at first sees blue light but it shifts to yellow, green and other colors as one passes through.

Here's what Carlos Cruz-Diez said he intended. "This is chromo saturation. The purpose is to have color without form. One enters here into raw perception."

Watch video: Artist Uses Light to Enchant Museum-Goers in Houston - from VOA News.com, February 22, 2011.

The colors one sees here are not really here. The artist explains that they're manufactured by the eye.

Optical illusions

"When you see just one frequency of light, it is disturbing and the eye tries to accommodate itself to the experience and in the process, different tones appear that do not exist in the place."

In another chamber, Cruz-Diez uses light and structure to turn the viewer into part of the art. A lamp projects patterns over the surface of the room and anyone inside it.

Many other works here use simple structures made of plastic and other monochromatic materials to give the impression of shifting colors.

Cruz-Diez said he wants to challenge the notion people have of color and reveal its essence.

Essence of color

"All my work is the product of a long reflection to give another notion to the world of color."

People visiting this exhibit were fascinated by how the artist uses materials to produce the illusion of changing color, and they had their own perceptions of the works.

One visitor said, "I like walking around and looking at them from different angles and seeing how they change."

Another said, "I have seen it before and I keep coming back. There is something about the colors that is also spiritual. It changes your mood."

Varied perspectives

Another man from Mexico saw the works from a Latin American perspective. "There are a lot of very alive colors like pink, orange, red, colors that connect to some pre-Hispanic tradition."

Architects and those who work in design especially like this exhibit. Like Elaine.

"As you can see, the installation is quite clever," said Elaine. "He used different material. He used angles to block your sight to create different, I would say, illusions. Sometimes architects do that, too. So this is kind of inspiring to architecture."

Cruz-Diez is known as a kinetic artist because motion is involved in his works. But most often, the viewer's motion and its interaction with the work make the difference.

Kinetic artistry

The exhibit, called "Color in Space and Time," includes a few of the artist's early paintings, which are traditional representations of people and landscapes.

But most of the works are explorations of color.

Art critics credit Cruz-Diez with re-inventing the notion that color is more than just pigment on a surface; it involves light, the eye and the brain.

The exhibit remains at the Fine Arts Museum in Houston until July 4, 2011.

Reprint of article by Greg Flakus, Houston, Texas, from VOA News, February 22, 2011.

Alfred Stieglitz Photos at Seaport Museum, New York - report & video

2010-09-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Exhibition now showing:

Alfred Stieglitz's Photographs, Seaport Museum, New York - from September 14, 2010 to January 10, 2011.

Left Image: Alfred Stieglitz in 1902. Photo by Gertrude Kasebier.

"New York Museum Shows Steiglitz Photographs"

(reprinted article by Peter Fedynsky | New York City │ 17 September 2010, from VOA News)

Alfred Stieglitz is considered a central figure in the history of photography. He lived most of his life in New York and in the early years of the 20th century documented the city's transformation into a grand metropolis. But Stieglitz's New York also conveys a sense of loneliness at odds with the city's image of hustle and bustle.

The exhibit at New York's Seaport Museum brings together 39 Stieglitz photographs for the first time since he displayed them nearly 80 years ago.

Stieglitz is considered a giant in photography. He pushed the technical limits of the young medium during the early decades of the 20th century. Curator Bonnie Yochelson says Stieglitz worked when the camera was still a primitive instrument. "It was his personal goal to do things that nobody else tried to do, like photographing at night, photographing in stormy conditions, or in rainy conditions, or at dawn or at dusk under very difficult lighting conditions," she said.

Stieglitz was born in 1864. He played a pivotal role in turning the medium into an art form and in promoting the work of other photographers and painters of that period. Yochelson says Stieglitz's own work expressed profound loneliness. "He was a man of deep romantic emotions, so his New York -- especially in his early pictures, well in all of his pictures -- don't really capitalize on the bustle and hustle and energy of New York, as much as New York as a place that expresses his feeling of loneliness," she said.

Image: Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled "The Terminal" taken in 1893.

One of his most famous images, taken in 1893, captures the loneliness -- of a coachman in a snowstorm. Stieglitz said he waited - alone - for three hours to capture it. "One of the secrets to that picture is that it's cropped. It was actually a horizontal picture and there were people on either side of the street and he cropped it into a vertical that eliminated those people," said Yochelson.

Stieglitz also documented New York as skyscrapers first rose in its midst, never venturing far from his Manhattan apartment and sometimes shooting his photographs through his apartment window.

Bonnie Yochulson says New York was a pioneer among modern cities. She says people everywhere can recognize the spirit of commerce and progress captured by Alfred Stieglitz. The exhibit runs through mid January, 2011.

Source: VOA News

Link to Alfred Stieglitz Exhibition at Seaport Museum, New York.

See the following Stieglitz photographs:

Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled 'Winter on Fifth Avenue' dated 1892.

'Old and New New York' dated 1910 by Alfred Stieglitz.

'Going to the Start' dated 1904 by Alfred Stieglitz.

'A Snapshot of Paris' dated 1911 by Alfred Stieglitz.

Photograph of 'Georgia O'Keefe', 1918, by Alfred Stieglitz.

Photo of 'Ellen Koeniger, Lake George, 1916' by Alfred Stieglitz.

'Venetian Canal (also known as 'A Bit of Venice'), 1897, by Alfred Stieglitz.

'Katherine',1905, by Alfred Stieglitz.

Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled 'The Hand of Man' dated 1902.

Van Gogh's "Poppy Flowers" Stolen From Cairo Museum

2010-08-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Left Image: Painter Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait with Felt Hat, Winter 1887-1888, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

The Egyptian authorities are still searching for the US $50 to $55 million floral still-life painting by Van Gogh that has gone missing since Saturday, August 21, from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo, Egypt. This is the second time that this painting has been stolen.

Egypt's culture minister Farouq Hosni said the $50 to $55 million painting by Dutch post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh identified as "Poppy Flowers" or "Vase with Flowers" was cut from its frame and smuggled out after the museum opened Saturday morning, August 21. He had said that the museum was visited by only 10 people that day and that two Italians have been arrested at Cairo airport with the painting; however, Hosni later backtracked and said he had been given incorrect information about the painting's recovery. It has since been reported that the arrested Italian couple have been released.

Italy's ANSA news agency had said the two Italians were with a group of Spanish and Russian tourists when they had visited the museum.

Associated Press, citing Egypt's top prosecutor, reported that none of the alarms were working and only seven out of 43 surveillance cameras were functional at the time the Van Gogh painting was stolen. Prosecutor-general Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud told Egypt's state news agency Sunday that the thieves used a box cutter to cut the painting from the frame. He blamed the art heist on the lax security at the museum. He said the museum guards' daily rounds at closing time were also inadequate and did not meet the necessary security requirements to protect renowned works of art.

Mr. Mahmoud also said that 15 Egyptian officials, including the director of the Mahmoud Khalil Museum, Reem Bahir, and the head of the fine arts department at the Ministry of Culture, Mohsen Shaalan, have been barred from leaving the country until a full investigation into the art theft has been completed.

Officials have stepped up security at Egypt's borders to try to keep the artwork from leaving the country.

Egyptian Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said no one would be able to easily sell or conceal the painting because of its size, 63 by 57 centimeters.

This is the second time this painting has gone missing. It was first stolen in 1978 and was recovered two years later at an undisclosed location in Kuwait. The circumstances surrounding this first theft remain unclear, as officials have never released the full details.

Painted around 1887, the missing "Poppy Flowers" work measures 63 cm by 57 cm (25.2 in by 22.8 in) and is a still-life of a vase with yellow flowers and red poppies. It is believed that Van Gogh painted this work three years before his death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

See following video report for more details and a photo of the missing painting.

Watch video: "Egypt searches for $50m painting" - Ayman Mohyeldin from Al Jazeera English News reporting from Cairo, 22 August 2010.

Ronnie Wood (of the Rolling Stones & Faces band) in major solo art show at Butler Institute of American Art

2010-07-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Gotta be there! Rock guitarist/musician and artist Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones' and recently reformed The Faces' band (and former member of The Jeff Beck Group) will be in Youngstown, Ohio, for a different solo gig.

All lights will be on Ronnie Wood at the Butler Institute of American Art for his first solo art exhibit at a major American museum. Wood plans to be at the museum for the show's opening reception, September 21. This exhibition, starting September 21 to November 21, 2010, will include 30 of Wood's paintings, 22 pen-and-pencil drawings and 7 mixed-media works.

Ronnie Wood, going strong at age 63, started painting at age 12, even before he started playing the guitar. Before his career in music, Wood had attended formal art school at Ealing College of Art in London. Wood's art is colorful, lively and energetic, with beautiful and sensual lines. Wood often features his Stones' band mates, of course! documenting the world tours, the recording sessions. His chosen subject matter include self-portraits, figurative works, family, close friends, and lush green landscapes.

According to Butler chief curator and director, Dr. Louis Zona, "Ronnie Wood is a most accomplished painter whose work demonstrates a wonderful knowledge of the medium, outstanding technical abilities and an extraordinarily creative mind. The Butler is honored to host the artist’s first major American museum exhibition to showcase this remarkable talent."

Wood's dual career in music/art has him logging global air miles. Wood's art has, throughout the years, become widely exhibited and respected. In 1996, the Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil had a Ronnie Wood retrospective exhibition. There have also been numerous solo shows in North and South America, in the Far East, and throughout Europe.

I found this YouTube vid (from 100lausnir) showing a slide show of Ronnie Wood's art. Take a look!

Link: www.ronniewood.com

Link: www.butlerart.com Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Avenue, Youngstown, Ohio.

See Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Georgia O'Keeffe at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

2010-04-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

New exhibit highlights rarely seen abstractions by Georgia O'Keeffe: February 6 - May 9, 2010

Thought I'd share this good news article and video with you from VOA News.

Be sure to watch the video ... plenty of good images of O'Keefe's abstractions ... click on the <> symbol to copy the video onto your clipboard or to paste the HTML code to your site or to share. Enjoy!

Source: VOA News (30 April 2010, Julie Taboh | Washington, DC) - "Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Goes on Display"

Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the most distinguished American artists of the 20th century. She is best known for her vibrant paintings of flowers, leaves, landscapes and other images in nature.

Now, a new exhibit at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., features more than 100 paintings, drawings and watercolors by O'Keeffe and 12 photographic portraits of her taken by her late husband, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz.

But the highlight of the collection - which includes items dating from 1915 to the late 1970s - includes a rare selection of O'Keeffe's less familiar abstract art.

Georgia O'Keeffe as abstract artist

Georgia O'Keeffe is best known for her sensuous paintings of flowers and desert landscapes of the American southwest. But many people may not know that she was also a gifted abstract artist.

The new exhibit features abstractions that O'Keeffe herself didn't exhibit in her own lifetime, says Elsa Smithgall, associate curator at The Phillips Collection.

According to Smithgall, O'Keeffe broke into abstraction with a set of charcoal drawings that she created in 1915.

"They are exquisite gestural drawings, very organic in form, and no recognizable reference to a known subject," she says.

Water colors and oils

By the 1920s, O'Keeffe had moved on from pure abstract drawings to water colors and oil paintings of subjects that seem more familiar.

But according to Smithgall, O'Keeffe continued to use abstraction as the foundation in all her artwork.

"You're going to find in her work this constant back and forth between very purely abstract form and perhaps a flower or a leaf or a landscape," she says.

Sexual overtones

It was also during this period when critics described O'Keeffe's oil paintings as being sexually suggestive.

While Smithgall acknowledges that some of O'Keeffe's forms do evoke sexual connotations, she emphasizes that the exhibition "is not about that."

She adds that O'Keeffe herself passionately resisted the notion that her art was sexually suggestive and, in fact, made a concerted effort "to shift her focus in her work towards more recognizable subject matter as a way to try to steer the critics towards another kind of reading of her work."

New Mexico - a new chapter

Beginning in 1929, O'Keeffe started spending time in New Mexico where she felt more at home than she had in New York where her career had taken root. Her experiences in the vast open spaces of the New Mexico desert inspired her to move there permanently in 1949.

According to Smithgall, it was a new chapter in her career:

"She's very much responding to that ocean of space in New Mexico where they have this amazing clarity of light and very wonderful, breathtaking kind of exhilarating sensation that she feels there that is extremely inspiring to her, and it brings up a whole new body of subject matter," she says.

It was during these transformative years when her paintings took on a different feel as well, says Smithgall.

O'Keeffe started depicting flowers "increasingly large in format and increasingly greater in magnification and so you start to see a major change in her scale, in her viewpoint taking these unusual birds and bees-eye perspectives," she says.

According to Smithgall, O'Keeffe created magnified images of her subject matter as a way of "inviting the viewer in." She wasn't copying an object so much as expressing how she felt about painting it, she says.

Coming full circle

By the late '50s and '60s, O'Keeffe's art turned once again to the pure abstractions of her earlier years.

"This is not a work that you probably would see on the wall and say, 'Oh, yes, an O'Keeffe,'" says Smithgall, "so there's that surprising aspect to them."

"What's so exquisite about them is that she has - with very spare compositions - created these exquisite forms that are extremely expressive and that do recall those earliest charcoal drawings in that respect," she says.

From those early charcoal drawings to the huge, bold canvases of her later years, few would argue that the work of Georgia O'Keeffe has had a far-reaching influence on American art and culture, and continues to impress and inspire art lovers throughout the world.

Source: VOA News (30 April 2010, Julie Taboh | Washington, DC) - "Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Goes on Display"

A Woman's Touch: The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)

2010-04-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington D.C. offers the single most important collection of art by women artists. The NMWA is solely dedicated to celebrating women’s achievements in the visual, performing, and literary arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Cole Holladay. Since the museum's opening in 1987, NMWA has acquired a collection of more than 3,500 paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and decorative art.

The museum's collection of about 1,000 women artists represent every major artistic period from 16th-century Dutch and Flemish still lifes to 20th-century abstract expressionism to postmodern art.

Left image: Artist: Alice Bailly (1872-1938), "Self-Portrait," 1917, oil on canvas, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

Right image: Artist: Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933), "Lady With a Bowl of Violets," c.1910, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.

The following GREAT MUSEUMS video reflects on a range of topics--how women artists have been overshadowed in art history to feminism and the French Revolution to the memorable feminine artistic expressions of the late 19th century.

The video gives a good sampling of what's inside the National Museum of Women in the Arts. You'll hear from the founder and chair of the Board of the NMWA, Wilhelmina Cole Holladay. Since her discovery that female artists have historically been omitted from art history books, Wilhelmina Cole Holladay has made it her mission to shine the light on and celebrate the accomplishments of women artists from the past to the present. The museum's ongoing programs integrate themes of history and diversity with art being the great common denominator.

Video titled: A Woman's Touch: The National Museum of Women in the Arts from GreatMuseums

Choose the FULL SCREEN VIEW setting (click on "4 arrows" icon) to get the best view of the paintings and sculpture on the video.

The women artists, brief histories, and titled artwork discussed in the video are the listed:

Clara Peeters (1594-1657), Flemish painter. "Still Life of Fish and Cat"
Lavinia Fontana (1552-1614), Italian painter. "Portrait of a Noblewoman" (c.1580)
Sofonisba Anguissola (also spelled Anguisciola) (c. 1535-1625), Italian painter of the Renaissance. "Portrait of a Lady and Her Daughter"
Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665), Italian Baroque painter, whose father was Giovanni Andrea Sirani of the School of Bologna. "Virgin and Child" (1663)
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), naturalist, scientific illustrator and painter; born in Frankfurt, Germany into the family of notable Swiss engraver Matthäus Merian. Paintings include "Pineapple" and "Spiders, Ants and Hummingbird"
Marianne Loir (1715-1769). "Portrait of Madame Geoffrin"
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842), French, recognized as most famous woman painter of 18th Century. Shown artwork include: "Madame Thérèse Vestris" (1803). "Studies from her Sketchbook" (c.1801). "Portrait of Princess Belozersky" (1798). "Portrait of a Young Boy" (1817).
Adélaide Labille-Guiard (1749-1803), French portrait painter. "Portrait of the Marquise de Lafayette"
Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807), Swiss-Austrian Neoclassical painter. "Cumaean Sibyl" (c. 1763). "Family of the Earl of Gower" (1772).
Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), French painter, born Marie-Clémentine Valadon; first woman painter admitted to Société Nationale des Beaux Arts; mother of painter Maurice Utrillo. "The Abandoned Doll" (1921). "Bouquet of Flowers" (1920).
Camille Claudel (1864-1943), French sculptor and graphic artist. "Young Girl With a Sheaf" (c. 1890).
Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), American painter and printmaker who lived most of her adult life in France and exhibited with the Impressionists. "The Bath" (1891).
Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933), American painter who worked in the Impressionistic style. "Lady With a Bowl of Violets" (c. 1910).
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), major American artist. "Alligator Pears in a Basket" (1921).
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), American abstract expressionist painter. "Salle Neige" (1980).
Grace Hartigan (1922-2008), American abstract expressionist painter. "December Second" (1959). "Lady of Milan" (1985).
Alice Neel (1900-1984), American artist. "T.B. Harlem" (1940).
Audrey Flack (b. 1931), American photo-realist painter, printmaker, sculptor. "Hannah: Who She Is" (1982).
Lorrie Goulet, American sculptor.
Alice Bailly (1872-1938), Swiss painter, known for her interpretation of Cubism and multimedia "wool" paintings. "Self-Portrait" (1917).
Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), Mexican painter; married to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. "Self-Portrait, Dedicated to Leon Trotsky" (1937).

More information: current exhibits and programs at National Museum of Women in the Arts official site.

Q & A (January 23, 2009) with Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, the author of A Museum of Their Own, National Museum of Women in the Arts, a lively account of how she founded the museum, which opened in 1987 in Washington, D.C. on Smart Woman Online

To see all my video posts about other artists on Art Bytes

Flowers in Art and Life

2010-03-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

Update: I started another blog at http://margaretlee-art.blogspot.com/ and hopefully those short postings could serve as helpful notes/encouragement to others with their art. Please take a look; comments/followers are very welcomed. Thanks!

It usually happens during conversations about art that someone would ask me who or which artists I like. There is no simple answer because so many names come to mind. Not only have great artists from the past influenced me, but also local artists and artisans inspire me in many ways.

Flowers are in my life. I have a simple flower garden, and sometimes I'm given a special bouquet (or, I treat myself). Many artists paint flowers or show flowers within their paintings . . . some names may surprise you. Remember those colorful crayon "masterpieces" you brought home from grade school? And remember those collage flower projects made with dyed cotton balls, crumpled tissue paper, beads or dried pasta shapes? A gift of fresh flowers convey friendship, love, and happiness. Whenever words fail us, we send flowers during times of sadness and loss. The English critic, artist, and writer John Ruskin (1819-1900) said: "Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity."

Li Di literally produced blooms with vivid realism. Li Di was a Chinese imperial court painter during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279) era. He produced two exquisite hibiscus flower paintings (Pair of album leaves) in the year 1197.

"Red Hibiscus," by Chinese artist Li Di. Dated 1197 ( Southern Song Dynasty). Ink and colors on silk, each 25.5 x 25.8 cm. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo.

"White Hibiscus," by Chinese artist Li Di. Dated 1197 (Southern Song Dynasty). Ink and colors on silk, each 25.5 x 25.8 cm. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo.

This iris painting is from my favourite artist, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). Van Gogh's "Irises" dance, with the blossoms and leaves imbued with energy and life. It shows his tremendous love for nature's pure beauty. He sets up a visual vibration by using complementary colors with the cool blues/purples against the warm orange/yellows. Amongst all these blossoms is a single white iris, standing alone, upright, and steadfast.

"Irises" by Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy, May, 1889, oil on canvas, J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California.

One of the first art books I bought was titled Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers. O'Keeffe's large-scale paintings at close range, as if seen through a magnifying lens, of flower blossoms and natural forms are sensuous and eye-catching. American painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is best known for her iconic representations of flowers, rocks, shells, landscapes, and animal bones, as well as her abstract work which is as bold and breathtaking as that of her European contemporaries Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky. Georgia O'Keeffe is one of America's most important artists.

Enjoy these images of O'Keefe's sensuous flowers. My thanks to bluemoon093 for creating this video tribute Georgia O'Keeffe: Flowers

I have included the Belgian painter and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840), who excelled with his botanical paintings and illustrations.

"Rosa Gallica Aurelianensis" by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, printed illustration engraving.

French painter Edouard Manet (1832-1883) was known mainly for his strong portraits and some landscapes. Although Manet included flowers as supporting detail in his portraits, there were several paintings in his total oeuvre where flowers are the main subject matter.

"Peonies in Vase Still Life" by Edouard Manet, 1864-65, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay.

One of my prized books is The Last Flowers of Manet which illustrate the 16 flower paintings that Manet painted during his last months of life. Manet had been ill for several years, and he had been working on a smaller scale. His last major composition had been "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère," which had been completed in time for the Salon of 1882, a year before his death.[1]

"So these flower paintings belong to a period of decline and, one must imagine, of occasional despair. But even at his most bitter moments Manet's spirits would revive at the sight of flowers, "I would like to paint them all," he would say."[2]

"White Lilacs in Glass Vase" (Lilas blancs dans un vase de verre) by Edouard Manet, 1883, oil on canvas, Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery), Berlin.

The following three examples could be considered portraits, with the painted flowers acting as the counterbalance or counterweight, which play equally important roles in the paintings. One of my favourites is "The Time of the Lilacs" by French-born, British artist Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823-1903), who specialized in painting children and women, usually in rural settings.

I have fond memories of lilacs. At my childhood home, there grew two huge blue-purple lilac bushes by the front door; and every spring the intoxicating fragrance of those lilac blooms drifted into the house . . .

"The Time of the Lilacs" by Sophie Gengembre Anderson, oil on canvas.

Post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) painted "Large Bouquet of Flowers with Tahitian Children" (Te Tiare Farani). In 1891, Gauguin had moved to Tahiti in the French Polynesia. Gauguin's use of warm vibrant colors energized this painting with the feeling of the exotic tropics. He used bold and flat areas of pure color to construct the forms, with dark contour lines separating the forms. "Cloisonnism" is the post-impressionist term for this style of painting.

"Large Bouquet of Flowers with Tahitian Children" (Te Tiare Farani) by Paul Gauguin, 1891, oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

"Sunflowers on An Armchair" by Paul Gauguin, 1901, oil on canvas. Private Collection, Zurich.

Another wonderful portrait painting full of spring flowers is "The Flower Arrangement" by German painter Otto Scholderer (1834-1902). As well as portraits, Scholderer also painted landscapes and beautiful still life. He often included flowers or fruits with his portraits of women.

"The Flower Arrangement" by Otto Scholderer.

Here's something different . . . Cubist painter Juan Gris (1887-1927) created a painting titled "Roses (Flowers)." Gris was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked mostly in France. He is credited for creating several of the Cubism movement's most distinctive and well-known works.

"Roses (Flowers)" by Juan Gris dated 1914.

I need to include French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954), who freely added floral designs to his paintings. Matisse had a life-long fascination with textiles. He was born in Bohain-en-Vermandois, a town in Northern France known for its production of luxury silks and taffetas. His family had been involved with textiles for generations, and Matisse developed an affection for and collected fabrics at an early age. Throughout his life, wherever he travelled, he added to his collection of textiles. Matisse was known to cover his studio in fabric, draping sheets over chairs, hanging material from wire rods attached in the ceiling, setting up patterned backdrops for his models. Matisse used these fabric designs in his paintings, often changed in some way, with either the designed shapes exaggerated or with altered colors.[3] As shown in the following painting "The Dessert Harmony in Red (The Red Room)," Matisse would intentionally confuse the background and foreground patterning.

"The Dessert Harmony in Red (The Red Room)" by Henri Matisse, 1908, oil on canvas, State Heritage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Below is Matisse's 1948 painting "The Plum Blossoms" which is part of the last series of oil paintings created by the artist before he died in 1954.

"The Plum Blossom" painting, measuring nearly 3 feet by 4 feet, depicts a woman, her face left blank and featureless, sitting at a table against a heavily saturated rust-red and yellow-ochre background, with a tall vase of blooming plum blossom branches dominating the foreground. It is among seven interiors that Matisse painted in 1947 and 1948 in his studio in Vence, in southern France.[4]

"The Plum Blossoms" by Henri Matisse, 1948, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

The allure and quiet language of flowers are universal, appealing to the young and old. Only with calmness and in serenity do we perceive their beauty.

Reference Sources:
[1] Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, The Last Flowers of Manet, translated by Richard Howard (New York: Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999), p.5.

[2] Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, The Last Flowers of Manet, translated by Richard Howard (New York: Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999), p. 5.

[3] National Post, newspaper article by Julia Dault titled "Matisse's Material World," published August 18, 2005.

[4] The New York Times, newspaper article by Carol Vogel titled "The Modern Acquires a 'Lost' Matisse," published September 8, 2005.

Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction exhibition on from 6 Feb - 9 May 2010 at The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

2010-03-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment." -- Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), American painter

One of the first art books I bought was titled "Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers." O'Keeffe's large-scale paintings at close range, as if seen through a magnifying lens, of flower blossoms and natural forms are sensuous and eye-catching. American painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) is best known for her iconic representations of flowers, rocks, shells, landscapes, and animal bones, as well as her abstract work which is as bold and breathtaking as that of her European contemporaries Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky. Georgia O'Keeffe is one of America's most important artists.

"Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction" exhibition February 6 to May 9, 2010 at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.

A short Georgia O'Keeffe biography at http://www.phillipscollection.org/exhibitions/current/index.aspx

See the following video for examples of her work and highlights of the O'Keeffe exhibition. If you're in the Washington D.C. area, the O'Keeffe exhibit shows this American legend in a whole new light. Included in the exhibition are more than 100 paintings, drawings, and watercolors by O'Keeffe, dating from 1915 to the late 1970s, and 12 photographic portraits of her by her husband, Alfred Stieglitz.

My thanks to bluemoon093 for creating this beautiful video tribute - Georgia O'Keeffe: Flowers

Alberto Giacometti statue " L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I)" sets new art auction record

2010-02-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

What a way to start 2010! A Giacometti statue, L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I), set a world record for a work of art at auction ... fetching $104.3 million ($104,327,006 /£65,001,250) after just eight minutes of intense bidding for about ten bidders at Sotheby's in London on Wednesday evening, February 3, 2010. The bidding had opened at 12 million pounds, and the statue was sold to an anonymous bidder by telephone. The life-sized 72- inch (183 cm) bronze sculpture depicts a lone man in mid-stride with his arms hanging at his side.

Video of Giacometti's L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) sculpture sold at world record auction price at Sotheby's. An anonymous phone bidder bought the work for £58m. The £65m price tag includes the buyer's premium. - video from mickeydroog

Not only establishing new record prices for a Giacometti work and for any piece of sculpture ever sold at auction, L'homme qui marche I also beat the previous top auction price set by Pablo Picasso’s painting Garçon à la Pipe, which sold for $104.2 million ($104,168,000 / £58,052,830) at Sotheby’s New York in May 2004.

The February 3 sale of L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) marked the first time a Giacometti figure of a walking man of this size has come to auction in over 20 years, said Sotheby's.

Sotheby's described the Giacometti L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) as executed in 1960 and cast in bronze in a numbered edition of 6 plus 4 artist's proofs. The present work was cast in 1961 and is a life-time cast. Previously, the record for a Giacometti bronze was set at $27.4 million in May 2008 for a life-sized sculpture of a woman entitled "Grande femme debout II (Large Standing Woman II)."

Alberto Giacometti (10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. This sculpture by the 20th century Swiss artist is considered an iconic Giacometti work as well as being one of the most recognizable images of modern art. The life-sized bronze statue was being sold by the German banking firm Commerzbank AG, which acquired it when it took over Dresdner Bank AG and its corporate art collection in 2009. Dresdner acquired the sculpture in 1980.

L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) was executed at the high point of Giacometti's mature period. According to Sotheby's catalogue note: "The sculpture originated as part of the public project that Giacometti was commissioned to do for the Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York, which, when completed, was to be the first modernist outdoor project in the city's financial district. While the installation was never completed, L'Homme qui marche I became an iconic work in its own right." [... ] "In preparation for the Chase Manhattan project, Giacometti executed a number of sculptures, among which, according to the sculptor, were at least forty versions of the walking man. However Giacometti destroyed most of them, and only seems to have been satisfied with the two versions that remain today – L'Homme qui marche I and II. "

Here's a video I enjoyed watching, showing examples of Giacometti's unique sculpture, paintings and drawings.
Alberto GIACOMETTI 1901 1966 - video from SAPH075

More from Sotheby's Catalogue Note on L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) :

"An undisputed masterpiece of Giacometti's sculpture, L'Homme qui marche I is also one of the most iconic images of Modern art. It represents the pinnacle of Giacometti's experimentation with the human form, combining a monumental, imposing size with a rich rendering of the surface. Capturing a transient moment in the figure's movement, Giacometti created both a humble image of an ordinary man, and a potent symbol of humanity.

The present work is the first of two versions of L'Homme qui marche, executed in 1960, at the highpoint of Giacometti's mature period. By this time, the image of a standing or walking human figure was established as pivotal to the artist's iconography. Between 1947 and 1950 Giacometti made several sculptures on the subject of the walking man, alone or in a small group positioned on a platform suggestive of a city square. Never before, however, had he tackled this image on a monumental scale. Giacometti's lean, wiry figures reached their ultimate form during this period. No longer interested in recreating physical likenesses in his sculptures, the artist began working from memory, seeking to capture his figures beyond the physical reality of the human form. In the years after the Second World War his figures were reduced to their bare essential form, displaying an austerity that embodied the artist's existentialist concerns, and reflecting the lonely and vulnerable human condition. ..."

Van Gogh's Letters

2009-11-13T22:00:00.000-08:00

Above image: Artist Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, 1887-1888, oil, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

Vincent van Gogh's art fascinates fans and scholars alike. We try to decipher and understand the artist behind the art. Much of our knowledge of Vincent van Gogh comes from the collection of letters that his brother Theo had kept. Vincent corresponded regularly with Theo, who was Vincent's confidant as well as his art dealer and provided the constant financial and emotional support that Vincent needed.

Left image: Photo of Vincent van Gogh, at age 18, taken c. 1871-72.

The Van Gogh Letters Project, started in 1995, between the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Huygens Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in The Hague took 15 years to edit all of Van Gogh's known correspondence, 902 letters - 819 letters written by Van Gogh and 83 written to Van Gogh from Paul Gauguin, Theo van Gogh, Paul Signac and others - of which more than 800 are held in the Van Gogh Museum. The letters form the foundation for most of what is known about Vincent van Gogh. The letters chronicle the story of Van Gogh's eventful short life, the close bond with his brother Theo, and the development of his creative work.

Right image: Photo of Theo van Gogh, at age 16, taken c. 1872.

Vincent wrote about his ideas, his planned and ongoing projects, next to sketches showing Theo and his other correspondents what the paintings or drawings looked like. The letters bring the viewers closer to the paintings. We are given glimpses of Vincent's beliefs and insight, as well as his loneliness, his health and emotional state. The letters allow us today, 120 years after his death, to follow Van Gogh in the creation of his work.

The Van Gogh Museum says, "The reader is witness to his dreams and disappointments, his passions and tribulations, friendships and quarrels, the battle with his illness and his all-encompassing desire to create art that would live on."

In a letter to Theo dated October 16, 1888, Vincent includes a sketch of one of his most famous paintings, The Bedroom (in Arles), which he completed that year.

Image: Vincent's bedroom in Arles, an ink sketch from Vincent van Gogh's letter dated October 16, 1888 to his brother Theo.

Vincent informs his brother Theo that the chairs are "fresh butter yellow" and the sheet and pillows "very bright lemon green." "In short, looking at the painting should rest the mind, or rather, the imagination," Van Gogh wrote.

Image: Artist Vincent van Gogh,The Bedroom (in Arles), October 1888, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Van Gogh has long been regarded as a mad and unbalanced genius whose artistic brilliance could not be separated from his mental illness. One could not think of his art without thinking of his mental state. However, Van Gogh's letters show that the artist was not crazy. Instead, what emerges is a disciplined artist, careful and deliberate in his every move and every brush stroke in his paintings. Van Gogh was an artist far ahead of his time.

His artistic life was a short 10 years from start to finish. Van Gogh had produced more than 200 pictures during his two-year stay in Paris from early 1886 to February 1888. Yet Van Gogh managed to create a revolution in art in less than three years from the time he left Paris in February 1888, went on to live in Arles until May 1889, then he committed himself to an asylum at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence from May 1889 to May 1890. At the mental hospital, Theo paid for two rooms for Vincent, one room served as a studio with a view of the garden. Vincent was allowed to paint outdoors under supervision, where he painted mostly landscapes. Van Gogh painted some of his best work during this period at Saint-Rémy: paintings of irises, cypresses, olive orchards, wheat fields, almond tree blossoms, the famous The Starry Night.

Above image: Artist Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, June 1889, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Van Gogh's correspondence end with an articulate last letter addressed to his brother Theo which was written on July 23, 1890, and found in Vincent's pocket after his death on July 29, 1890. Vincent van Gogh, who was just 37, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. Van Gogh's last written sentence to Theo was: "Ah well, I risk my life for my own work and my reason has half foundered in it – very well – but you're not one of the dealers in men; as far as I know and can judge I think you really act with humanity, but what can you do ." After Vincent's death, Theo's sorrow increases. Theo, 33, dies on January 25, 1891, in Utrecht, just six months after Vincent's death. In 1914, Theo's body was exhumed and buried next to Vincent's grave in Auvers-sur-Oise, near Paris.

Viewers and readers can now see the results of the Van Gogh Letters Project. There is a special exhibition - "Van Gogh's letters: The artist speaks," the launch of a website with free access to Van Gogh's letters, and the publication of a six-volume book in three languages. In this first edition, around 600 Dutch and some 300 French letters are published in the original language alongside a parallel English translation based on a new examination of the original manuscripts.

The exhibition: "Van Gogh's letters: the artist speaks"
9 October 2009 - 3 January 2010 at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Van Gogh's letters take centre stage with more than 120 original letters on show alongside the works that Van Gogh was writing about. These important documents have seldom or have never been shown to the public due to their extreme fragility and sensitivity to light.

The combination of more than 300 works from the museum's own rich collection, including paintings, drawings, letters and letter sketches, offers a penetrating and comprehensive insight into Van Gogh as letter writer and as artist." [...] More info at Van Gogh Museum. The exhibition, "Van Gogh's Letters: The Artist Speaks", is displayed in Amsterdam until January 3 next year. It will then transfer to the Royal Academy on January 27, 2010.

Web edition: vangoghletters.org
Accessible free, the English-language web edition www.vangoghletters.org contains all 902 letters to and from Van Gogh in their original languages (Dutch and French) with new English translations and images of the authentic manuscripts. The letters are furnished with extensive annotations and illustrations of all works of art mentioned in the correspondence.

Book edition: Vincent van Gogh- The letters
The six-volume publication Vincent van Gogh- The letters. The complete illustrated and annotated edition contains all the letters, complete with new translations, explanatory notes and illustrations of the more than 2,000 works of art mentioned in the correspondence. The letters have been included exactly as Van Gogh actually wrote them; in their original form without embellishment, rephrasing, adaptation or excision of passages. Compiled by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker. Design: Wim Crouwel. Published by the Van Gogh Museum, the Huygens Institute-KNAW and the Mercator Fonds. International co-editions with Thames & Hudson, Actes Sud and Amsterdam University Press. Six volumes, boxed, hardcover, 2,180 pages, circa 4,300 illustrations, available in Dutch, French and English.
Price € 395 (special offer price until 3 January 2010: € 325).

Excerpts of two book reviews from the Daily Telegraph at telegraph.co.uk.

Vincent van Gogh - The Complete Letters: review by Martin Gayford: "This monumental new edition of his correspondence includes high-quality reproductions of all the pictures relevant to each letter. So after reading Van Gogh’s picture in words, one turns the page and there are his paintings of that ever mutable sea. Its other strength lies in the thoroughness with which every person mentioned, every book, exhibition, painting, magazine, newspaper article (Van Gogh was a voracious reader) has been identified and annotated. Fifteen years of work by a team of scholars at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, has gone into these volumes, and it shows.

Together, the illustrations and the footnotes make it easier to grasp at all times what Van Gogh is talking about. The downside, as is frequently the case with definitive editions, is a steep decrease in portability. This six-volume set is not an item to pop into one’s luggage to read on a trip to Provence, or dip into in bed. There is still plenty of room for an abridged selection – of which there have been plenty in the past and will doubtless be more in the future. " [...] Read more of Martin Gayford's review at telegraph.co.uk

The Letters of Vincent van Gogh: review by Richard Dorment: "... it supersedes all others. It is the art publishing event of the decade.

[...] At every stage of its development, his art was consciously crafted, and it was only because those last, astonishing years in Arles ended in self-mutilation and suicide that he is still seen as an inspired madman. These letters reveal a different man: driven, difficult and uncouth, certainly; but also cultivated, thoughtful and articulate – he spoke three languages fluently. His mental illness, far from driving his career forward, was what stopped him from painting.

Van Gogh moved in Paris’s sophisticated artistic circles, and the range of his artistic references is vast. He refers constantly to Delacroix, J F Millet and Rembrandt, and speaks too of his admiration for contemporaries such as Anton Mauve, Paul Gauguin and Hubert Von Herkomer. This edition includes a list of all the art works (other than Van Gogh’s) referred to in the letters; it runs to 29 pages of small print. You can learn a lot about Van Gogh by reading it: Degas, for instance, is mentioned once, but the English illustrator George du Maurier 10 times.

More surprising is the range and depth of Van Gogh’s reading. The letters are littered with quotations, often unacknowledged, from the Bible to Francis Bacon’s Descriptio globi intellectualis (“Art is man added to nature”). [...]"

[...] For this reason, Van Gogh’s letters take us to a place where even the most detailed biography can’t go. Read in sequence they tell us what he was thinking, who he was seeing, what he was reading, and how he was feeling day by day, week by week. We come as close here as anyone can to looking inside the mind of another person." [...] Read more of Richard Dorment's review at telegraph.co.uk

Read my earlier post of Vincent van Gogh's Biography.

Vincent van Gogh: Happenings at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

2009-11-07T14:42:00.000-08:00

Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, Spring 1887, oil on cardboard, The Art Institute of Chicago.

Over the last 15 years the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has conducted extensive research into the life and work of Vincent van Gogh.

The Van Gogh Letters Project

October 2009 sees the culmination of the extensive and prestigious Van Gogh Letters Project. The 15 years of research since 1995 the Van Gogh Museum and the Huygens Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences into Vincent van Gogh's letters have culminated in a special exhibition, the launch of a website encompassing the research results and the publication of a six-volume book in three languages. In this first edition for an international public, around 600 Dutch and some 300 French letters are published in the original language alongside a parallel English translation based on a new examination of the original manuscripts.

Exhibition - Van Gogh’s letters: The artist speaks
9 October 2009 - 3 January 2010 at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

"Van Gogh's letters will take centre stage in the exhibition Van Gogh's letters: The artist speaks. More than 120 original letters will be on show alongside the works that Van Gogh was writing about. These important documents have seldom or never been shown to the public due to their extreme fragility and sensitivity to light.

The combination of more than 300 works from the museum's own rich collection, including paintings, drawings, letters and letter sketches, offers a penetrating and comprehensive insight into Van Gogh as letter writer and as artist." [...] More info at Van Gogh Museum

Web edition: vangoghletters.org
The English-language web edition www.vangoghletters.org contains all 902 letters to and from Van Gogh in their original languages (Dutch and French) with new English translations and images of the authentic manuscripts. The letters are furnished with extensive annotations and illustrations of all works of art mentioned in the correspondence. The web edition also offers extensive search possibilities and will be freely accessible from 8 October 2009.

Book edition Vincent van Gogh- The letters
The six-volume publication Vincent van Gogh- The letters. The complete illustrated and annotated edition contains all the letters, complete with new translations, explanatory notes and illustrations of the more than 2,000 works of art mentioned in the correspondence. The letters have been included exactly as Van Gogh actually wrote them; in their original form without embellishment, rephrasing, adaptation or excision of passages. Compiled by Leo Jansen, Hans Luijten and Nienke Bakker. Design: Wim Crouwel. Published by the Van Gogh Museum, the Huygens Institute-KNAW and the Mercator Fonds. International co-editions with Thames & Hudson, Actes Sud and Amsterdam University Press. Six volumes, boxed, hardcover, 2,180 pages, circa 4,300 illustrations, available in Dutch, French and English.
Price € 395 (special offer price until 3 January 2010: € 325).

Van Gogh Blog
Follow Van Gogh on www.vangoghsblog.com: read Van Gogh's descriptions of his daily activities, accompany him to the places he visits, and share his opinions on art and literature. Available in English and Dutch from 6 October.

Ongoing Research into Van Gogh's studio practice in context

"'Studio practice' is seen here as the cumulation of working techniques, materials and knowledge deployed by the artist to achieve the desired effects in his work. The aim is to answer questions such as 'Where did Van Gogh acquire his knowledge and inspiration?' and 'How does the work of Van Gogh relate to that of his contemporaries?'. The research is concentrated on Van Gogh himself, on artists with whom he actually came into contact (such as Mauve, Toulouse-Lautrec, Signac and Gauguin) and on artists with whose oeuvre and way of working he was well acquainted (Monticelli, Delacroix and Millet)." More on this project from Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

Source: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Van Gogh and Monet - Research in progress: contemporaries
The Van Gogh Museum has been conducting exhaustive technical research into the paintings and drawings by Vincent van Gogh in its collection for many years now. In this video you'll get a behind the scenes look of the research.

To read my earlier post: Vincent van Gogh: artistic genius & tormented soul

To see ALL my posts tagged "van Gogh"

Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing, videos 1 & 2 and interview video

2009-10-11T00:47:00.000-07:00

Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who won Ukraine's version of "America's Got Talent." She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and "sand painting" skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing 1 (Video from LeyteGroup)

Kseniya Simonova's Amazing Sand Drawing 2 (Video from LeyteGroup)

Interview with artist Kseniya Simonova by Russia Today news - "Magic lady brings sand to life. Art of future?"

British artist Damien Hirst seeks identical twins

2009-09-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

Are you an identical twin?

Be part of a Damien Hirst artwork at Tate Modern in London

London's Tate Modern is searching for identical twins willing to take part in a Damien Hirst artwork for the Pop Life exhibition. Throughout the exhibition, pairs of twins will sit in front of two of Damien Hirst's iconic Spot Paintings

Damien Hirst and Tate Modern are asking identical twins to participate for a number of shifts of four hours each during the span of the exhibition: 1 October 2009 to 17 January 2010 (exhibition closed 24, 25 and 26 December).

Here's a chance to be "immortalized" in a Damien Hirst artwork! Take a look at the video: the artist himself asking for your assistance.

More information & application process at www.tate.org.uk/go/twins

Good luck to you both!

Art Happenings

2009-08-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

Alan Bean: Painting Apollo, First Artist on Another World
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum will premiere Alan Bean: Painting Apollo, First Artist On Another World at the Museum on the National Mall, Washington, D.C., July 16, 2009 through January 13, 2010 in conjunction with the 40th Anniversary of the first Apollo Moon landings.

Forty years ago, the Moon received its first human visitors. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle landed, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface. To celebrate this 40th anniversary, this exhibition presents a view of the Apollo journeys through the eyes of the first artist to visit another world.

Alan Bean became the fourth man to walk on the Moon during Apollo 12 in 1969. After 18 years as an astronaut, he resigned from NASA in 1981 to dedicate his life to the art of painting his memories of Apollo. Exhibition information at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Recession fuels attendance of artist sites and historic homes by Brook S. Mason
NEW YORK - Just when the withering economy is shrinking art, antiques and design sales, there is a rise in attendance and interest in historic homes and artist sites in both the US and the UK.

“There is definitely something in the air, with growing numbers seeking out the simple pleasures offered by the National Trust,” says Fiona Reynolds, director general of the UK-based National Trust. Total visitors received in May were 1.98m, an eight per cent increase from the same month last year. Overall, attendance has climbed 24 per cent so far versus 2008.

Banksy versus Bristol Museum Exhibit & video

2009-07-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum
13 June - 31 August 2009
FREE EXHIBITION
Open Daily 10 am- 5 pm (Currently last entry to the museum is 4 pm - queuing times are currently up to an hour, so the museum recommend joining the queue by 3 pm.)

Anonymous and infamous graffiti artist Banksy has returned to his home town of Bristol in western England for his biggest exhibition to date, which includes 70 new works.

Banksy has gained notoriety in recent years for his street art and using stencils to paint images on a diverse array of outdoor locations.

Image: Banksy graffiti art, Brick Lane, East End of London, 2004.

People have speculated on Banksy's identity in the past. Male, born in Bristol, England, around 1974 or 1975. If the Bristol Museum staff know Banksy's identity or have even seen him or spoken to him, they're not telling. This whole project at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery had been shrouded in mystery. . . it's a unique collaboration between an outstanding cultural institution and one of the region's most infamous artists.

For the exhibition launch, Banksy was quoted by the BBC as saying:

"This is the first show I've ever done where taxpayers' money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off. This show is my vision of the future."

At the Bristol Museum, you'll see many of Banksy's works are hidden among the art museum's more traditional paintings, mimicking a 2003 stunt when he smuggled his own work into the Tate Britain gallery that went undiscovered for hours.

At the Banksy versus Bristol Museum exhibit, visitors will find unusual items amongst the museum's permanent collection, such as a "stonehenge" made from portable toilets greeting visitors on arrival, a burnt-out ice cream van which now replaces the inquiries desk, and a life-size historic biplane suspended from the ceiling which now provides refuge for a Guantanamo Bay escapee. There's swimming fish sticks in a fish bowl; a caged "Tweetie" bird, all wrinkled and naked; a lounging leopard "coat" in a tree; chicken "nuggets" feeding. Lots of fun stuff. And, of course, Banksy has filled the museum with his own take on "classical" art. Love him or not, Banksy has your attention, and he says plenty through his art. If you're in the area of Bristol, England, check out Banksy versus Bristol Museum - free admission, too!!

In the meantime, e-n-j-o-y this video look of Banksy versus Bristol Museum:

The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery is situated in an Edwardian Baroque building on Queen's Road, next to the Wills University building. It is one of the few museums to have been awarded designated status by the U.K. government.

To see my earlier posts with a video:

Remembering Michael Jackson & original "Heal the World" music video from 90s

Sol LeWitt at MoMA & video

Color Chart: MoMA's Reinventing Color: 1950 to Today & videos

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Remembering Michael Jackson

2009-07-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

Today, like so many of you around the world, I have just finished watching the live telecast of Michael Jackson's Memorial at the Staples Center in L.A. It was a beautiful and moving tribute, so full of pain and sorrow mixed in with the love and celebration of Michael's life. Michael Jackson's music will go on to live forever.

Art is communication. At its simplest and broadest sense, art allows the artist/creator to express things/thoughts by whichever method to the world at large. These expressions encompass a diverse range of activities and creations, including music, dance, literature, etc. Art crosses boundaries. Art can be universal. Art can be personal and subjective. Art has a purpose. Art moves the soul.

The world will remember Michael Jackson as the greatest of all entertainers, always trying to perfect his art form. While many will remember Michael as a musical genius, some will remember him as a tragic figure. And, many will remember Michael Jackson as a humanitarian, at the forefront for many charitable causes.

His music and dance moves will be timeless. In remembrance, I chose the Michael Jackson song and the original music video from the '90s - "Heal the World."

Lyrics to "Heal the World."

Spoken by child:
'Think about the generations, and say we wanna make it a better
Place for our children and our children's children, so that they...
They, they... They know it's a better world for them.
And think if they can make it a better place..."

There's A Place In
Your Heart
And I Know That It Is Love
and this place could be Much
Brighter Than Tomorrow
And If You Really Try
You'll Find There's No Need
To Cry
In This Place You'll Feel
That There's No Hurt Or Sorrow

There Are Ways
To Get There
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Little Space
Make A Better Place...

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

If You Want To Know Why
There's A Love That
Cannot Lie
Love Is Strong
It Only Cares For
Joyful Giving
If We Try
We Shall See
In This Bliss
We Cannot Feel
Fear Or Dread
We Stop Existing And
Start Living

Then It Feels That Always
Love's Enough For
Us Growing
So Make A Better World
Make A Better World...

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

And The Dream We Were
Conceived In
Will Reveal A Joyful Face
And The World We
Once Believed In
Will Shine Again In Grace
Then Why Do We Keep
Strangling Life
Wound This Earth
Crucify Its Soul
Though It's Plain To See
This World Is Heavenly
Be God's Glow

We Could Fly So High
Let Our Spirits Never Die
In My Heart
I Feel You Are All
My Brothers
Create A World With
No Fear
Together We'll Cry
Happy Tears
See The Nations Turn
Their Swords
Into Plowshares

We Could Really Get There
If You Cared Enough
For The Living
Make A Little Space
To Make A Better Place...

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

Heal the world
Make it a better place
(Oh, my friends)
For you and for me
And the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place
For you and for me

Heal The World
Make It A Better Place
For You And For Me
And The Entire Human Race
There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

There Are People Dying
If You Care Enough
For The Living
Make A Better Place
For You And For Me

You And For Me
Make it a better place
You And For Me
Make it a better place
You And For Me
Make it a better place
You And For Me
Make it a better place
You And For Me
Heal the world we live in
You And For Me
Save it for our children
You And For Me
Heal the world we live in
You And For Me
Save it for our children
You And For Me
Heal the world we live in
You And For Me
Save it for the children
You And For Me
Heal the world we live in
You And For Me
Save it for the children
You And For Me
Heal the world we live in
You And For Me
Save it for the children

Fiona Rae

2009-06-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

Fiona Rae is a British abstract painter and is one of the Young British Artists. She was born in Hong Kong in 1963 and moved to England in 1970. Her art education included Croydon College of Art (1983-84) and Goldsmiths College (1984-87).

Fiona Rae was one of the artists in the seminal Freeze exhibition curated by Damien Hirst in 1988.

Young British Artists or YBAs (also Brit artists and Britart) is a group of conceptual artists, painters, sculptors, and installation artists based in the United Kingdom. The term Young British Artists is derived from art shows of that name staged at the (Charles) Saatchi Gallery from 1992 onwards, which brought the artists fame and recognition.

Fiona Rae was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1991 and for the Austrian Eliette Von Karajan Prize for Young Painters in 1993. She was commissioned by Tate Modern to create a 10-metre triptych Shadowland for the restaurant there in 2002.

Fiona Rae is now a Royal Academician and also a Trustee of the Tate Gallery.

Painting (low resolution copy) by Fiona Rae, Untitled (yellow), 1990.

"I like lively, heartfelt and witty art that can also be cool and ironic. Doesn't necessarily have to be painting, but that's my favorite thing, partly because I think it's the hardest way to be fresh and original in the 21st century."
-- Fiona Rae, during a 2005 residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Enjoy a visit to Fiona Rae's studio; video from The Tate.

See my earlier post & video on Damien Hirst's Auction Gamble.

See a video of installation of Damien Hirst's colored-dot painting "John, John" at MoMA's Color Chart exhibition.

New Theory that Gauguin sliced off Van Gogh's ear

2009-05-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

Vincent van Gogh's fame and place in art history are as much due to his artistic genius and his paintings as well as to his disturbed mental state and loneliness.

(Left image: Photo of Vincent van Gogh, ca. 1876.)(For image enlargements, click on images.)

But, after 119 years since Vincent van Gogh's death in 1890, new controversy swirls around the tortured Dutch painter and his sliced-off bloody ear, after two German art historians suggested that Van Gogh did not cut off his own ear but was attacked by his artist friend Paul Gauguin. A newly researched study claims that the truth was hidden, that Van Gogh may have fabricated the story to protect the French painter Paul Gauguin who was the one who lopped off Van Gogh's ear with a sword during an argument.

Two Hamburg-based art historians, Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans, tell their version of this incident in Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence, published in Germany. Both say that the true version of events never surfaced.

(Right image: Photo of Paul Gauguin, ca. 1891.)

The two German academics have spent ten years reviewing the police investigations, witness accounts and the artists' letters and claim that Paul Gauguin, who is a fencing ace, most likely sliced off Van Gogh's ear with his sword during a fight. The new study claims that this true version of events was hidden because the two men kept a "pact of silence" so that Gauguin could avoid prosecution and Van Gogh could keep his friendship with Gauguin.

This new claim say that Gauguin, an excellent fencer, was planning to leave Van Gogh's Yellow House in Arles, after an unhappy stay filled with tension. Gauguin had agreed to join Van Gogh at the Yellow House in Arles in 1888 to paint together. They spent the autumn painting together but by Christmas the two artists fell out. On December 23, 1888, Gauguin had told Van Gogh he was leaving for good and had walked out of the house with his baggage and his épée in hand; but he was followed by a crushed and troubled Van Gogh, who had thrown a glass at Gauguin earlier.

(Above image: Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait with Bandaged Ear, 1889, oil on canvas, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London.)

According to Hans Kaufmann, the final encounter between the two artists happened near the brothel which was about 300 metres from the Yellow House. The new version goes on to claim that the argument between the two artists intensified. Either in anger or in self-defense, Gauguin made a movement towards Van Gogh and lopped off his left ear with the sword (épée) . Gauguin then threw his weapon in the Rhone. Van Gogh presented his cut-off ear to the prostitute and staggered home, where police found him the following day.

(Left image: Paul Gauguin, Self-portrait, 1889, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)

Both Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans argue that the official version of events which was based largely on Gauguin's accounts contain inconsistencies and that both artists hinted that the truth was more complex. Both historians said their version is the most logical interpretation and explains why Van Gogh wrote in his final words to Gauguin: "You are quiet, I will be, too."

Kaufmann and Wildegans also cite correspondence between Van Gogh and his brother, Theo, in which the painter hints at what happened without directly breaking the "pact of silence."

Kaufmann said Van Gogh refers to a novel in which the narrator thinks he has killed his friend by cutting the climbing rope linking them. In the message Van Gogh sent to his brother, Theo:
"Afterwards, he says to himself, 'Nobody has seen me commit my crime, and nothing can prevent me from inventing a story which would hide the truth.' "

Kaufmann also refers to one of Van Gogh's sketches of an ear, with the word "ictus," which is the Latin term used in fencing to mean a hit. The authors believe that curious zigzags above the ear represent Gauguin's zorro-like sword stroke.

The troubled friendship between Gauguin and Van Gogh was legendary.

Vincent van Gogh had wanted to realize his dream of an artists' commune in the south of France and had rented four rooms in the right wing of the "yellow-painted house" in Arles in May, 1888.

(Above image: Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Vincent van Gogh Painting Sunflowers, 1888, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.)

After repeated requests from Van Gogh to come to Arles, Gauguin finally arrived in October, 1888 at the Yellow House. However, after just two months of painting and living together, their relationship soured and deteriorated. The official version of events is that Van Gogh (according to Gauguin's report) attacked Gauguin with a razor blade on December 23, 1888. Gauguin rushes out of the house and spends the night in an inn. Meanwhile, Van Gogh, in a fit of lunacy, lops off the lower part of his left ear and presents the ear wrapped in newspaper to the prostitute Rachel at a nearby brothel. The next morning the police find the bleeding Van Gogh lying in bed and take him to the hospital.

What is the truth?

Please click here to see my earlier post on Vincent van Gogh's life and his paintings.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

2009-04-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Giuseppe Arcimboldo,(also spelled Arcimboldi) (1527-1593), an Italian painter during the Renaissance era, who painted in Milan and Prague, was best known for his painted portraits of human heads composed of images of fruits, vegetables, flowers, animals, birds, fish, books and other inanimate objects.

Born in Milan, Italy, in 1527, Giuseppe Arcimboldo began his artistic career by working on stained-glass window designs, including the life stories of Saint Catherine of Alexandria at the Duomo (Cathedral) in Milan.

(Top image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, self-portrait. (For enlargement, click on images.)

(Right image) Stained-glass window: designs drawn by Biagio Arcimboldo and Giuseppe Arcimboldo, made by Corrado de'Mochis, 1556, Duomo (Cathedral), Milan, Italy. Photo Credit: Giovanni Dali'Orto.

Arcimboldo later moved to Prague which, under Charles V, became for a time the centre of the Holy Roman Empire.

Arcimboldo's most important works were painted in Prague, where he was employed by a series of Hapsburg emperors. Besides his painting, his other duties at the royal court included being the architect/designer of the civic waterworks and other public projects, decorator for festivals and state occasions, curator of the imperial art collection, and court interior designer.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was way ahead of his time, pre-dating the Surrealists by several hundreds of years. Arcimboldo's richly coloured portrait heads remain a source of admiration and fascination today. Although he painted conventional portraits which have for the most part fallen into oblivion, Arcimboldo's reputation rests on his portrait paintings composed of non-human and inanimate objects. To view these paintings from a distance, the outlines and masses are recognizable as portrait heads . . . but it is by viewing these paintings up-close that we see Arcimboldo's genius, innovation and creative exploration.

Arcimboldo's The Four Elements series of 1566 features four paintings titled The Air, The Earth, The Fire, and The Water.

(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Air (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, private collection.

Feathered birds of all sizes--from tiny song birds to parrots to ducks to owls to a rooster to a turkey to pheasants to a peacock and a peahen--are seen here. What other birds can you identify?

(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Earth (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, private collection.

In the painting The Earth, notice Arcimboldo's detailed and velvet treatment of the animals' fur coats, the sheep's woolly coat in the foreground and the taut, tough skin of the young elephant's head and trunk, the elephant's ear situated exactly where the human ear would be. See how Arcimboldo has used the animals' natural light and dark fur colouring to convey the facial contours and the decorative features and folds of the person's clothing.

Do you see the monkey, the wild boar, and the head of a horse in this menagerie grouping?

(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Fire (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

This is The Fire portrait. How cool is this? Look at that "bonfire" on top of the head. It's wild! And he looks like a famous celebrity rocker.....those lips.....the metal hardware and gold.....a "candlestick" eye and it's so TODAY!

What else do you see?

(For enlargement, click on images.)

(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Water (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Fishes, crustaceans, red coral, hard shells and various aquatic creatures of the sea--including crab, lobster, stingray, starfish, seahorse, a seal and a walrus, a frog, a puffer fish, prawns, octopus or squid--are all in the painting titled The Water.

How about that turtle underneath the string of pearls? And where do pearls come from? And the pearl drop earring dangling from a conch shell with more pearls inside? This is one of several portrait heads where Arcimboldo has painted in an earring.

Also notice that Arcimboldo has used the "curved underside of a fish mouth" to convey human lips in this painting. Are those catfish whiskers on the man's chin? How about that sea snake neck? Also, Arcimboldo has placed on top a beast with horns? And a spiky metal crown for Neptune, Roman God of the Sea? Brilliant!

A process of much thinking has gone into his compositions. As with all of these paintings, the coloured portrait heads are painted and set against a dark background; and you can easily see that the contours of the heads are "human in shape" regardless of the non-human forms and objects making up the heads.

(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Portrait of Maximilian II and His Family, c.1553/1554, oil on canvas, Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck, Austria.

A traditional group portrait of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576) with his wife Infanta Maria of Spain (1528-1603) and children: Anna (1549-1580) (standing at the front), Rudolf (1552-1612) (at the back) and Ernest (1553-1595) (in the cradle).

(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Librarian, c.1570, oil on canvas, Skokloster Castle, Stockholm, Sweden.

While Giuseppe Arcimboldo often used fruits, vegetables, and creatures to compose his portraits, the artist also used pots, pans, workmen's tools, and books to create his unique images.

The Librarian is a half portrait. From the top, we see the perfectly balanced opened pages of "hair" and the sharp bookish nose. Arcimboldo has stacked a pile of books in a pyramid to form the man's chest. Two large book volumes--a red book on the left side is placed at an angle and is resting on a horizontal white book--are painted to form the librarian's arm bent at the elbow, with slips of paper hanging out of the white book to resemble the man's "fingers."

Arcimboldo produced a couple versions of The Four Seasons series as self-portraits titled The Spring, The Summer, The Autumn, and The Winter.

Each of the seasonal paintings has a different "feel" about it. These seasonal paintings may well represent the different stages of Arcimboldo's life. We think of "spring" as new and young growth (youth and inexperienced), "summer" as the steady and luxuriant time of bloom (young adulthood and production), "autumn" as the time of harvest (middle-age and achievements), and "winter" as a resting and dormant stage (old and retirement).

The later Four Seasons series painted in 1573 are located in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Shown here are two paintings from the early 1563 series at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, as are two from The Louvre's 1573 series. Between the two series, the paintings are very similar; however, the paintings at The Louvre have painted borders of greenery and blooms on the pictures' edges.

(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Spring (Four Seasons 1573 series), 1573, oil, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

The Spring portrait is brimming with the luxurious growth of spring's renewal. This version, dated 1573, showed a painted border of foliage and blooms as well. Tiny peach, pink, and white flowers make up the flesh tones on the face. Two rosebuds make up the "lips." Notice that a single "fuchsia" blossom earring dangles from the portrait's deep pink "ear." The ruffled collar is composed entirely of white blossoms. A single blue/purple iris grows from a field (coat) of green foliage.

The Spring self-portrait is youthful and full of vigor.

(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Summer (Four Seasons 1563 series), 1563, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The Summer portrait is made entirely of the fruits and vegetables of summer--pears, peaches, cherries, grapes, corn, wheat or other grains, garlic, melons, eggplant, a cucumber nose and a row of peas in a pod for teeth. With plump rosy "peach cheeks" and smiling "cherry lips" and an "artichoke heart" growing from his chest, this self-portrait showed a happy man, at ease with himself.

Click on the image for the enlargement and you will see the artist's name, "Giuseppe Arcimboldo F" embroidered on the garment collar. The year "1563" is stitched onto the cap of the sleeve.

(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Autumn (Four Seasons 1573 series), 1573, oil, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

The Autumn picture is entirely composed of the fall harvest. Juicy grapes, squash, pumpkin, root vegetables, red apple with a worm "cheeks," a pear "nose," a pomegranate "chin," stalks of grain for a beard, and much more.

From a mushroom "ear" dangles a fig earring. An almost invisible snail rests on top of the pumpkin (or giant squash) at the back of the head.

Arcimboldo has used the natural colouring and shapes of the individual fruits and vegetables to form the portrait head. From afar, the face looks like a "human" face.

(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Winter (Four Seasons 1563 series), 1563, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The Winter painting is composed of a old weathered tree stump with its tangle of bare roots covered in green ivy. Hook-shaped and broken branches formed the nose and ear. Pale tree fungi formed the upper and lower lips, with mossy stubble covering the chin.

A branch with two citrus fruits--a yellow lemon and an orange tangerine--along with a woven gold frock coat add some warmth and whimsy to the picture. To me, the portrait conveyed a very old man--well-lived and wise.

(Left image) Portrait of Rudolf II (Holy Roman Emperor) painted as Vertumnus, the Roman God of the Seasons, Change and Plant Growth, c. 1590-1, oil on canvas, Skokloster Castle, Sweden, Stockholm.

Arcimboldo painted the portrait of Rudolf II (Holy Roman Emperor), the son of Maximilian II, during the latter part of his artistic career. All into one picture, Arcimboldo has combined flowers as well as fruits and vegetables. A decorative and colourful "sash" made entirely of flower blossoms is worn by Rudolf II to signify his military medals and honours. Again, Arcimboldo has used the "natural contours" of the non-human objects to create depth, light and shadow.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo died in 1593 at the age 66 in Milan, Italy. From Arcimboldo's early experience in designing "fragmented" stained-glass windows, it probably seemed quite natural to him that his artistic path would lead to the "design and construction" of portraits with individual objects serving as fragment pieces. Arcimboldo was an artist ahead of his time. He left a rich legacy, being re-discovered in the early 20th century by the Surrealists; and Giuseppe Arcimboldo remains much admired today.

Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today

2009-03-28T15:12:00.000-07:00

MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York featured the exhibition Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today last year. Take a look at any or all these video art bytes from MoMA. I've downloaded five: Pop Rally Presents DFA Dance Party & Color Chart; an installation of Jim Lambie's ZOBOP!; an installation of Damien Hirst's colored-dot painting "John, John"; footage of Niele Toroni painting interventions; and an installation of Sol LeWitt's wall drawings. E-N-J-O-Y :)

Pop Rally: DFA Dance Party & Color Chart at MoMA

Installation of Jim Lambie's ZOBOP! as part of Color Chart at MoMA

Installation of Damien Hirst's colored-dot painting "John, John" at MoMA's Color Chart

Footage of Niele Toroni painting interventions in MoMA's Color Chart

Installation of Sol LeWitt's wall drawings in MoMA's Color Chart

Sol LeWitt at MoMA, New York, to June 29, 2009

2009-03-28T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! Let me get this quick post in before I shut down for Earth Hour tonight,March 28, 8:30 - 9:30 p.m.There's always good stuff happening at the MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York. My visit to the MoMA was too long ago; I plan to return (looking back now,I was too young and too rushed to appreciate the art).

Focus: Sol LeWitt at MoMA, on view Dec. 5, 2008 to June 29, 2009

Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), an American artist whose work involved conceptual art and minimalism. His mediums included painting, drawing and structures.

Sol LeWitt said: "Artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach." -- from 0-9 (New York), 1969, and Art-Language (England), May 1969.

For those not in New York and unable to see the exhibit, enjoy this art byte - a behind-the-scenes installation of Focus: Sol LeWitt. E-N-J-O-Y :)

Here's an installation of Sol LeWitt's wall drawing as part of an earlier exhibition held at the MoMA last year: Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & Video

2008-11-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A), London, England. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

I stumbled across this informative video on YouTube from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A) in London, England, which gives a quick look and a great introduction to the V & A, its collections, history and the buildings both in South Kensington and Bethnal Green. Members of the museum staff from various departments in the organization discuss what it's like to work there (sounds like a really fun & cool place), some of the staff's favourite objects and the opportunities on offer (hmmm, jobs available? . . . if interested, it's something to check out).

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A) in London, established in 1852, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection size of over 4.6 million objects (over 6.5 million objects if you count the pieces in storage, in the annex buildings managed by the V & A and exhibit objects on loan to other museums).

Ceramic Staircase as designed by Frank W. Moody, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the museum is situated in Cromwell Gardens, South Kensington, London, England. Over 2.3 million visitors every year see their exhibits.

There are presently 145 galleries over 12.5 acres, with its collections spanning 2,000 years of art from ancient to modern day across the different cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa.

There are four major collection departments, comprising all mediums: (1) Asia; (2) Furniture, Textiles and Fashion; (3) Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass; (4) Word and Image.

Victoria and Albert Museum (V & A) official website: www.vam.ac.uk/

Also more information on Victoria and Albert Museum entry on Wikipedia.

OK, enjoy this video introduction to the V & A . . . it's on my list of great places to visit!

Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.

To see my earlier posts with a video:
Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Damien Hirst & video "Damien Hirst's Auction Gamble"

2008-09-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! It's been a busy summer; how was yours? My studio's a mess . . . canvases taking up too much space with paintings in different stages of completion (sigh). Wish I had more time. I know it's been a while since I blogged, but I'm still here, even though it seems I've dropped off the earth. However, today is about Mr. Damien Hirst. An even richer Damien Hirst.

Damien Hirst did it again! $$$ in millions rolled in . . . proving that there are art buyers with free cash even in the current economic gloom overtaking the global financial markets.

Famous for embalming animals in formaldehyde, British artist Damien Hirst sets a record-- fetching a cool $198 million (Cdn.) Tuesday after an unprecedented two-day, 223-lot sale of his work at Sotheby's auction house in London. Sotheby's said the record was also smashed for a sale dedicated to one artist, surpassing the $20 million for 88 works by Pablo Picasso held in 1993.

Sotheby's auction, entitled Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, broke new ground in which a major contemporary artist has for the first time offered a large body of work direct to the public by auction, bypassing the dealers and galleries, who can charge commission of up to 50 percent of the sale prices.

The first day of the sale on Monday, September 15, 2008, brought in $125 million (Cdn.), which included The Golden Calf for $19.7 million (Cdn.). The Golden Calf is a real calf,embellished with 18-carat gold horns and hooves and a gold disc on its head, contained in a gold-plated tank of formaldehyde set on a Carrara marble plinth. There was also a 2.4-metre tiger shark in formaldehyde in a black-framed tank, The Kingdom, sold for $18.5 million (Cdn.) with fees.

On Tuesday, September 16, 2008, The Dream was sold for $4.4 million (Cdn.) The Dream is a foal in formaldehyde inside a steel and glass tank. A butterfly piece called Reincarnated sold for $2.8 million, more than twice its top pre-sale estimate.

Beautiful Maat Intense Fetishistic Painting (with Extra Inner Beauty)--with a pre-sale price estimate between $573,000 to $764,000--sold for $918,640 (Cdn.)

The Rose Window, Durham Cathedral--with a pre-sale price estimate between $1.33M to $1.72M--sold for $2.4 million (Cdn.).

A coloured-spot Hirst work, Aurothiglucose--with a pre-sale price estimate between $1.33M to $1.72M--sold for 1.27 million (Cdn.).

Damien Hirst, already one of the best-selling contemporary artists in the world, continues to redefine; and the unconventional Sotheby auction with its 11-day pre-sale exhibition which attracted some 21,000 visitors clearly paid off big-time.

Last year Hirst, who works with a team of about 200 assistants, unveiled the artwork For the Love of God at London's White Cube gallery. This Hirst piece, thought to be the world's most expensive piece of contemporary art, is a human skull encased in a layer of platinum and encrusted with 8,601 diamonds, sold later in a private transaction for about $89 million. For the Love of God will be exhibited at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum for six weeks starting on November 1 before it embarks on a world tour.

Take a look at this video "Damien Hirst's Auction Gamble" by WSJDigitalNetwork:

Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.

Here's a look at some other videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Pablo Picasso and Video

2008-07-31T13:58:00.000-07:00

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) is considered to be the greatest artist of the 20th century. So much has been written and said about this artist. He created his art and lived as he liked.

To begin to have some understanding of Picasso the man and artist, he had this to say about his art and of himself:

" The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. That is why we must not discriminate between things. Where things are concerned there are no class distinctions. We must pick out what is good for us where we can find it -- except from our own works. I have a horror of copying myself. But when I am shown a portfolio of old drawings, for instance, I have no qualms about taking anything I want from them. " ~ Picasso [1]

" To me there is no past or future in art. If a work of art cannot always live in the present it must not be considered at all. The art of the Greeks, of the Egyptians, of the great painters who lived in other times, is not an art of the past; perhaps it is more alive today than it ever was. Art does not evolve by itself, the ideas of people change and with them their mode of expression. " ~ Picasso [2]

Enjoy some of Picasso's portraits in this video by 'eggman 913' (Philip Scott Johnson), music by Yo Yo Ma.

To take a look at other videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

References:
[1] Ingo F. Walther, Pablo Picasso 1881-1973, Genius of the Century, trans. Hugh Beyer (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1993), 18.
[2] Ibid., 24.

Monet's Garden at Giverny and Video

2008-07-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

Claude Monet (1840-1926), photo by Félix Nadar,1899.

Claude Monet's garden at Giverny, France lives on, inspiring and delighting many who visit. Monet shaped his garden and assigned every plant its place, planning and ordering, laying out beds and borders according to varieties and colors.

Giverny, where Monet spent the second half of his life, became his passion, his refuge, his world. "Wherever he travelled, he always asked after his flowers in letters home. The garden on sunny days was very life to him, and when it rained he withdrew to bed, depressed.[1]"

The following are excerpts from an eyewitness account, written during Monet's lifetime, by Arsène Alexandre (1859-1937), critic, art historian and collector, writing for Le Figaro, dated August 9, 1901:

" Everywhere you turn, at your feet, over your head, at chest height, are pools, festoons, hedges of flowers, their harmonies at once spontaneous and designed and renewed at every season.

. . . . . . He also wants, perhaps above all, his flower palette before him to look at all year around, always present, but always changing. Everything is designed in such a way that the celebration is everywhere renewed and ceaselessly replaced. If a certain flower bed is stilled in a certain season, borders and hedges will suddenly light up. The other day, what dominated--or at least most charmed one's gaze--were the broad but subtle harmonies of yellows and violets.

This last helps to describe the master's creation; the effect is explosive and joyful, and every effect is planned.

Photo of Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond and Japanese Bridge, Giverny, France. From Wikimedia Commons.

There is also a second garden . . . . . . This is the famous water lily garden, with its little green Japanese bridge spanning the ornamental lake surrounded by willows and other trees, either fancifully shaped or rare. When the sunlight plays upon the water, it resembles--damascened as it is with the water lilies' great round leaves, and encrusted with the precious stones of their flowers--the masterwork of a goldsmith who has melded alloys of the most magical metals.

. . . . . . This, then, is why I say that the garden is the man. Here is a painter who, in our own time, has mutiplied the harmonies of color, has gone as far as one person can into the subtlety, opulence, and resonance of color. He has dared to create effects so true-to-life as to appear unreal, but which charm us irresistibly, as does all truth revealed."[2]

Enjoy a beautiful tour of Monet's Garden in Giverny, France. Video from 'lynnvm'

To take a look at other videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.

References:
Photo of Claude Monet from Wikipedia.
[1] Christoph Heinrich, Claude Monet trans. Michael Hulse (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1994), 73.

[2] Charles F. Stuckey, ed., Monet: A Retrospective (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1985), 220-223.

Vincent van Gogh Said . . . plus Video

2008-07-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

Inspiring words & sound bytes from the great Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) & Video:

About his Artwork & Method:
"I would like very much to paint portraits which in a hundred years time will be revelations. I would not like to achieve this, however, by keeping close to photographic representations, but instead by sticking to my own passionate view of things and using our knowledge and our present-day tastes in colour as a means of expression and portrayal of the excesses of character."

"The cypresses constantly occupy my thoughts--I want to paint something similar to my sunflower paintings. It's amazing that nobody has yet painted them as I see them; in their lines and proportions they are as beautiful as Egyptian obelisks. And the green is such a special fine tone. The cypress is a black mark in a sun-filled landscape, but it is one of the most interesting black tones, and I can't think of any other tone that was as difficult to capture. One has to see the cypresses here against the blue, or more correctly in the blue."

About Himself As An Artist:
"It is only too true that a lot of artists are mentally ill--it's a life which, to put it mildly, makes one an outsider. I'm alright when I completely immerse myself in work, but I'll always remain half crazy."

"I can't change the fact that my paintings don't sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture."

To know more about Van Gogh, click here for my biography on this artist.

Enjoy this video of Vincent van Gogh's art from 'likelake111' with Enrico Pieranunzi's melancholy music, Canto Nascosto.

To take a look at other videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Reference:
Walther, Ingo F. Vincent van Gogh. Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1993.

Robert Motherwell, Bio and Video

2008-07-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

Short bio & video of Robert Motherwell's work:

Robert Motherwell (b. January 24, 1915; d. July 16, 1991) was an American abstract expressionist painter. Apart from his paintings, Motherwell also made numerous drawings, prints and inspired collages of ripped paper which incorporate paint.

Robert Motherwell was originally an academic, who studied philosophy at Stanford and Harvard University, before changing his field to art and art history at Columbia University, studying under Meyer Schapiro. He wrote extensively, giving the abstract expressionist movement intellectual weight and investing his own work with literary and historical parallels.

His most famous works are a series entitled "Elegy to the Spanish Republic," a homage to Picasso's "Guernica."

The Abstract Expressionists, or New York School as they are also called, broke new ground. Although their styles and philosophies varied widely, they "were united in their revolt against conventional art and in their commitment to a spontaneous freedom of expression."[1] Robert Motherwell, married to fellow artist Helen Frankenthaler, was one of the principal members of this movement, which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Barnett Newman.

Here's a very moving and beautiful video of Robert Motherwell's art from 'artpopulus' with music by Leó Ferré, Ne chantez pas la mort.

"Abstract Expressionism was a movement in American painting that developed in New York in the 1940s. Most Abstract Expressionists were energetic (or 'gestural') painters. They invariably used large canvases and applied paint rapidly and with force, sometimes using large brushes, sometimes dripping or even throwing paint directly onto the canvas. This expressive method of painting was often considered as important as the painting itself. Other Abstract Expressionist artists were concerned with adopting a peaceful and mystical approach to a purely abstract image. Not all the work from this movement was abstract or expressive, but it was generally believed that the spontaneity of the artists' approach to their work would draw from and release the creativity of their unconscious minds."[2]

To take a look at other videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

References:
[1] Judith Clark, The Illustrated History of Art (New York: Mallard Press, 1992), 199.

[2] The Art Book (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), Glossary.

Major Cézanne Exhibit & Cézanne video

2008-06-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

Cézanne Exhibit & Video

Britain's biggest single collection of paintings by the French artist Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) will go on display in its entirety for the first time, starting today: from June 26 to October 5, 2008, at London's Courtauld Gallery.

"The Courtauld Cézannes" exhibition is the culmination of the Courtauld Institute of Art's 75th anniversary celebrations. Major Cézanne paintings as the iconic "Montagne Sainte-Victoire" (1887) and "Card Players" (1892-95) will be shown, as well as rarely seen drawings and watercolours by this master.

Paul Cézanne, Card Players, 1892-95, oil on canvas, Courtauld Gallery, London. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

"Cézanne is the artist at the heart of our collection and of Samuel Courtauld's great project to assemble a collection of modern French paintings," said one of the curators, Barnaby Wright. "It's the greatest collection by some distance in the United Kingdom, larger than the National Gallery and the British Museum together."

Also on display for the first time will be an important group of nine hand-written letters in which Cézanne reflects upon the fundamental principles of his art. One of Cézanne's letters to Bernard was written shortly before his death in 1906 in which Cézanne said: "I have sworn to die while painting, rather than sinking into the degrading senility that threatens old men."

This exhibition traces Cézanne throughout his career: from northern Normandy, to near Paris where he visited his friend Camille Pissarro, and to his native Aix-en-Provence in southern France.

For more info on this exhibition, link to the Courtauld Gallery, London here.

Enjoy this video of Paul Cézanne's art from 'latempesta67' with music by Battiato.

To take a look at other videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Visit a blog post at daily Qi about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.

» Sources: supplemented with report from Agence France-Presse.

The Artist Frédéric Bazille

2008-06-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Introduction:

Frédéric Bazille's untimely death in 1870 was a tragic loss of a young rising talent.

Frédéric Bazille, Self-Portrait, 1865, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. This self-portrait was executed three years after he started painting; his early talent is evident.

Although he died before the actual first 'Impressionist' exhibition (Société anonyme des artistes, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, etc.) of 1874, Bazille is counted as one of the Impressionists. He was one of the four promising young artists--Bazille, Monet, Renoir and Sisley--who all met and studied in the Paris atelier of Charles Gleyre in the early 1860s.

Bazille's role in the history of Impressionism rests largely on a very few paintings which were highly regarded by his contemporaries, on his generosity in the early careers of Monet and Renoir, and Bazille's participation with the Batignolles Group.

Not only did the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 robbed the Impressionist movement of Bazille's rising talent, but his death delivered a severe blow to all his friends and colleagues. They not only studied and painted together; but they also shared their lives and hopes together. The tall Bazille was well-known for his kindness, financial support and generosity towards his friends.

Life and Work:

Frédéric Bazille (1841-1870) was born on the 6th of December 1841 into a wealthy family of wine producers from Montpellier in the south of France. He was killed on the 28th of November 1870 at Beaune-la-Rolande near Orléans during the last days of the Franco-Prussian War.

Frédéric Bazille, The Little Gardener (Le Petit Jardinier), c.1866-67, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Although encouraged to paint by Alfred Bruyas, the great patron and a collector of Courbet's work, Bazille followed his father's wishes and enrolled at the medical academy at Montpellier where he studied for three years. In 1862 Bazille moved to Paris to continue his medical studies and at the same time enrolled at Charles Gleyre's atelier, where he also met Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.

Frédéric Bazille, The Pink Dress (La Robe Rose), (View of Castelnau-le-Lez, Hérault), 1864, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. This painting showed the beginning maturity of the 23-year old Bazille with his technique and vision.

Eventually, his medical studies fell by the wayside, and Bazille devoted himself full-time to being an artist. Bazille, Monet, Renoir and Sisley often went on 'plein-air' painting expeditions into the countryside around Paris, and these new friends from Charles Gleyre's atelier were mentioned in his letters home.

Bazille wrote in his letters that Monet was "quite good at landscapes; he has given me advice which has helped me very much."[1] Bazille soon became Monet's closest friend. The wealthy Bazille became a vital source of financial and practical support not only for Monet but also for Renoir, who both lived precarious existences in the early days.

Frédéric Bazille, View of a Village (Castelnau-le-Lez, Hérault), 1868, oil on canvas. This painting, exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1869, is a much improved version of The Pink Dress of 1864. In her comments on the Salon of 1869, Berthe Morisot praised the View of a Village highly.[2]

Bazille's kindness and generosity were legendary. When Monet injured his leg in 1865, it was his 'good' friend Bazille who put his medical studies to good use by rigging up a contraption for Monet to ease his pain. When Monet was in financial trouble, Bazille would lend him money and buy his paintings on instalments. When Monet needed a model, Bazille would oblige. When Monet and Renoir needed studio space, Bazille offered his place.

Between 1865 and 1866, Bazille shared his Paris studio in the rue de la Furstenberg with Monet.

Frédéric Bazille, Studio in the rue de la Furstenberg, c. 1865-66, oil on canvas, Musée Fabre, Montpellier.

After a very successful fancy-dress party hosted by Bazille in January 1866 in his studio in the rue de la Furstenberg at which he appeared as a cavalry officer and Monet typecast himself as a Normandy fisherman, the other tenants in the building complained resulting in Bazille and Monet having to move.

Bazille took an apartment on his own. Writing to his brother, Marc, in February 1866, shortly after moving to a new place in the rue Godot-de-Mauroy: "I must admit that I won't mind living alone for a little while; sharing with someone has its drawbacks, even if you get on well together."[3]

However, this isolated spell of 'living alone' was short-lived. Monet and Renoir were soon welcomed back, sharing various studios that Bazille acquired. Bazille's studio in the rue de la Condamine is the setting for a group portrait with some artistic friends.

Frédéric Bazille, Studio in the rue de la Condamine, 1870, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

This picture was painted shortly before Bazille was killed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The painting is as much a document as a work of art because we see Bazille's environment and some of his close friends.

The writer Emile Zola leans on the railing of the steps, talking to Renoir, seated below; the musician Maître, playing the piano [4]; Manet is looking at the painting on the easel and Monet stands behind him. Bazille is also represented, his tall figure painted in by Manet, who exaggerated his friend's height in the picture. Bazille's studio was a welcome refuge for penniless friends, such as Renoir and Monet.

Frédéric Bazille, The Family Reunion, 1867, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris. This painting, which may have been influenced by photography, enjoyed some success at the Paris Salon of 1868.

Frédéric Bazille, Summer Scene (Scène d'été), 1869, oil on canvas, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.

By nature Bazille was sociable and by class a socialite--his friends ranged all the way up the social and artistic scale, from the struggling Monet and Renoir, to Edouard Manet and his circle, the writer Zola, to the composers Fauré, Saint-Saëns, and Chabrier.[5] His social class allowed him entry to the most respectable salons of Paris.

The year 1866 seems to mark the beginnings of what came to be known as the Batignolles Group. While Monet, Bazille, Renoir, Sisley and Pissarro were painting in the countryside, the Batignolles area of Paris was already becoming a focus of artistic attention.

Between 1842 and 1866 the population of the Batignolles area had expanded from 15,000 to 200,000.[6] This popular district was away from the city's centre but close to the Gare St. Lazare train station. Comfortably bourgeois and with its modern buildings, the Batignolles had become residential but still affordable. In 1868 both Bazille and Renoir moved into rooms with a studio in the rue de la Paix of the Batignolles. [7, 8]

Frédéric Bazille, Portrait of Renoir, 1867, oil on canvas.

Parts of the old Batignolles district remained, populated by poor immigrants and prostitutes, where Edouard Manet found some of his subjects and models. Manet had lived in the Batignolles for some time at various addresses and had started to frequent the Café Guerbois at 11 Grande rue des Batignolles.

Café Guerbois soon became the favourite place to be in Paris, with its stimulating mix of intellectuals and the artistic avant-garde spending many evenings filled with lively talks on art and literature. Bazille was one of the core participants in these artistic gatherings at the Café Guerbois.

"A complex network of relationships between Monet, Pissarro, Bazille, Cézanne, Guillaumin, Morisot, Renoir, Sisley, Manet and Degas had already begun to form by this point.[9]

It was at the Café Guerbois that the first ideas for an independent exhibiting society would have been discussed and thrashed out--seven years before the 'Société anonyme' actually staged its (first Impressionist exhibition) show in 1874 in Nadar's old photography studio in the boulevard des Capucines, Paris, by which time Bazille had been dead for four years.[10]

Bazille, in a letter to his parents in 1867, had mentioned the idea of renting a large studio where they could exhibit as many pictures as they wished and not be at the mercy of the Paris Salon: "With these people (Courbet, Corot, Diaz, Daubigny) and Monet, who is stronger than all of them, we are sure to succeed." (In the end, the older generation of 'plein-airistes' and the Realist Courbet did not participate, and neither, of course, did Bazille.)[11]

Frédéric Bazille, La Toilette, 1870, oil on canvas, Musée Fabre, Montpellier.

When 'La Toilette' was accepted in the 1870 Paris Salon and was hung in a decent position, he wrote to his parents:

"I am delighted . . . my picture is very well placed. Everyone can see it and is talking about it . . . Judgements on it have been various; some people have laughed, but I've also received some hyperbolic eulogies, which modesty forbids me to set down in writing."[12]

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 scattered the Batignolles Group. Monet and Pissarro found their way to London separately, Renoir joined the Tenth Cavalry Regiment and was mobilized to Libourne in the Bordeaux region, and Bazille joined the Zouaves regiment, soon reaching the rank of second lieutenant.[13]

From the start of the war, the French armies were in disarray and the Prussians advanced swiftly. Bazille's regiment spent its time marching up and down the country. On the 28th of November 1870, Bazille's regiment received orders to march on Beaune-la-Rolande near Orléans.

François Daulte, Bazille's biographer, describes the young artist's last moments in the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande:

" The company halted on the top of ridge overlooking Beaune. It was greeted with a hail of Prussian bullets. The first of the men advancing toward the town fell like flies ........ In the general chaos women and children were escaping from the town and running towards isolated farm buildings which would offer some protection ........ Bazille's turn came and he charged, crying: "Don't shoot! Women and children!" He was hit by two bullets to the arm and chest. He fell, face down in the earth, fifty metres from the château where Corot had painted one of his masterpieces. "[14]

Frédéric Bazille, aged 29, died on the battlefield and was buried in the snow. Six days later Bazille's father came to claim his son's body to take back to Montpellier for burial.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bazille at Work (Bazille in the Studio), 1867, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.
Renoir painted an honest and forthright portrait of his close friend.

Bazille was at the very heart of the growing Impressionist movement. His paintings showed he had considerable talent and potential, especially in portraits and figures and with serene landscapes. He achieved success with his showings at the Paris Salon.

He was well-loved by all his friends and colleagues. His letters home showed his close relationship with a loving and supportive family.

Bazille's early landscapes are lost; it is impossible to determine how much Monet did help or influence Bazille, as mentioned in Bazille's letters home. However, some later paintings by Bazille of the Aigues-Mortes from varying distances and angles show that he was an accomplished landscapist, but not in the vein of Monet. Bazille's view is one of stillness and tranquillity: no "fugitive effects" are captured in Bazille's work.[15]

Frédéric Bazille, Landscape au bord du Lez (Paysage au bord du Lez), 1870, oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis.

François Daulte, Bazille's biographer, concluded:

" Bazille, unlike Monet, did not seek the trembling visual moment . . . His drawings, like his sketches and his paintings, follow his life . . . His profound originality was to 'live his painting and paint his life'. "[16]

References and Notes:

Images of Frédéric Bazille paintings from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved June 12, 2008.

Katz, Robert and Celestine Dars. The Impressionists. Rev. ed. London: Anness Publishing Limited, 1994.

[1] Robert Katz and Celestine Dars, The Impressionists, rev. ed. (London: Anness Publishing Limited, 1994), 258.
[2] Katz and Dars, The Impressionists, 261.
[3] Ibid., 259.
[4] Ibid., 86.
[5] Ibid., 260.
[6] Ibid., 74.
[7] Ibid., 75.
[8] Ibid., 223.
[9] Ibid., 73.
[10] Ibid., 260.
[11] Ibid., 260.
[12] Ibid., 265.
[13] Ibid., 260.
[14] Ibid., 262.
[15] Ibid., 265.
[16] Ibid., 265.

A Pierre-Auguste Renoir Biography

2008-03-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

Learn about Pierre-Auguste Renoir, enjoy the images & read the biography of Renoir's life and art; see also my Renoir slideshow of selected paintings. Have a good day, everyone!

"We were all one group when we first started out.
We stood shoulder to shoulder and
encouraged each other . . ."[1]
-- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
twenty years after the first Impressionist show
(Société anonyme) of 1874

Beginnings and Youth

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Self-Portrait, 1910, oil on canvas, Durand-Ruel Collection, New York.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), a French painter, whose art celebrated beauty and sensuality, was one of the leading artists in the development of Impressionism. Renoir, who was the sixth of seven children, two of whom died in infancy, was born on February 25, 1841, at Limoges, a city in the centre of France famous for pottery and enamel work. Renoir's father was a tailor who had moved his family to Paris in 1844. As a child, Renoir must have shown an exceptional gift for music because Charles Gounod, who had taught him singing and piano, wanted the young Renoir to study music professionally.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Still-Life with Flowers in Vase, 1866, oil on canvas, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Instead, Renoir chose to go down a different path, but he had kept his love of music throughout his life. Renoir would whistle incessantly whilst painting. In 1995 Paul Renoir, the artist's then 70-year old grandson, told a gathering of the 13th European Congress of Rheumatology in Amsterdam that his grandfather Pierre-Auguste was always singing or humming tunes from opera while painting, as well as taking his piano with him whenever the Renoir family moved, 53 times in Paris alone.[2]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Odalisque, 1870, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

At about the age of fourteen, Renoir became an apprentice to M. Levy, a porcelain painter. When Levy's firm closed down in 1858, Renoir then painted decorative fans for his brother Henri, copying the art of Watteau, Lancret, Boucher, and Fragonard, and painted window blinds for a M. Gilbert. Renoir continued this work until he won a place at the École des Beaux-Arts in 1862, becoming a pupil of Charles Gleyre until 1864. At Gleyre's atelier Renoir met Monet, Bazille, and Sisley, all of whom were to share in forming the new naturalistic movement which, during the 1870s, became known as Impressionism. In later years, when Renoir and his friends became famous, Renoir was the only one to recognize the efforts of his studio master Charles Gleyre; and in the 1880s Renoir was to return to the techniques Glenyre had taught him.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Lise with Umbrella, 1867, oil on canvas, Museum Folkwang, Essen.

This painting, shown at the 1868 Paris Salon, received considerable acclaim. Renoir's first successful submission to the Paris Salon was in 1864 with a portrait of Sisley's wealthy father.

Renoir and Impressionism

By 1864 Renoir was already accompanying his friends, Monet, Bazille and Sisley, on 'en plein-air' painting expeditions at Chailly, on the edge of the Fontainebleau Forest. The village of Chailly was in the region of Barbizon, where the previous generation of en plein-air landscapists gathered to paint. Narcisse-Virgile Diaz of the Barbizon School of painters (c. 1830-1870) was a special mentor who, unlike the other Barbizon artists, used a multitude of juicy, piled-up brush strokes and a vivid palette. Renoir already admired Corot, Courbet and many other works of this period for their qualities of mass and sensuousness, but Renoir's palette, which grew more delicate towards the end of the 1860s, may also owe something to his earlier apprenticeship in porcelain painting on white surfaces and to Diaz.[3]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Portrait of the Marriage: Sisley and His Wife, 1868, oil on canvas, Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.

During the late 1860s Renoir's style was at a crossroads. It became custom for Renoir and his friends to meet on most evenings at the Café Guerbois in the Batignolles quarter of Paris, with Édouard Manet at the centre of most discussions.

Frédéric Bazille, who was from a wealthy family and comfortable, often shared his studio with his friends. In 1868 Renoir and Bazille moved into rooms with a studio in the Batignolles area of Paris. In 1869 Renoir spent the summer living with his parents at Louveciennes. At this time Renoir travelled the few miles nearly every day up the river to Bougival to where Monet was living and together they painted side by side at the popular bathing establishment known as La Grenouillère on the Ile-de-Croissy on the Seine.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, La Grenouillère, 1869, oil on canvas, National Museum, Stockholm.

To some minds this period spent at La Grenouillère was the place where Impressionism was born. Both Monet and Renoir painted the same views at La Grenouillère with practically the same high-keyed palette and short, rapid brush strokes. However, in comparing the two painters' work from that summer, Renoir's paintings focused more on the social interaction and gestures of the figures in the scenes. By the late 1860s Renoir had moved away from and modified the Courbet-influenced styling of his previous figure paintings. Renoir was now echoing Monet's approach. Renoir's brush strokes became lighter and more delicate-- the large masses of local colour were broken down into the richly varied effects of fleeting light on surfaces.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Chrysanthemums, 1881-82, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.

With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the Batignolles group were scattered, some of the artists enlisted and others took refuge. Renoir joined the Tenth Cavalry Regiment and was sent to the Bordeaux region.[4] Manet remained in Paris, a lieutenant in the National Guard. Monet and Pissarro went separately to London. Frédéric Bazille was killed in battle at Beaune-la-Rolande near Orléans.[5] Cézanne sought refuge in the fishing village of L'Estaque and in Aix-en-Provence, near Marseille.[6]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pont Neuf, 1872, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Between 1871 and 1874, Renoir frequently visited Monet in Argenteuil on the Seine just outside Paris, where they again painted the same subjects. Renoir's painting, Pont Neuf (1872) with the "briefly sketched-in figures highlighted with dabs of pure pigment" showed Monet's influence.

Deepening frustration and repeated rejections from the official Paris Salon forced the group of Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Degas, Cézanne and others to form the Société anonyme des artistes, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, etc. in December 1873. Their first exhibition opened April 15 to May 15, 1874, deliberately timed to upstage the official Paris Salon. Nadar's former photography studio on the Boulevard des Capucines was used, with thirty artists participating but without Édouard Manet who had argued that "the Salon is the true battlefield."

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, La Loge, 1874, oil on canvas, Courtauld Institute of Art, London.

Renoir's now famous painting La Loge (1874) passed unnoticed as one of his seven paintings exhibited at the first show. La Loge was later bought in 1875 by a small-time dealer Père Martin for 425 francs. The 1874 first exhibition was a financial disaster, with very few paintings sold and low attendance. However, it was this first exhibit which prompted the critic Louis Leroy's satirical article in the magazine Le Charivari, with the headline "Exhibition of the Impressionists," a word Leroy had coined from Monet's seascape titled Impression, Sunrise,that gave the group its name. Renoir participated in four of the total eight Impressionist exhibitions, in 1874, 1876, 1877 and 1882.[7]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette, 1876, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Towards the end of the 1870s Renoir became less involved with the Impressionists as a group. He saw the Paris Salon as the place to sell his paintings. In 1876, Renoir had the good fortune to meet the Charpentiers, a wealthy and influential couple, who were now beginning to commission portraits as well as decorations for their house in Paris. Success came in the Salon of 1879 with the Portrait of Madame Charpentier and Her Children.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Portrait of Madame Charpentier and Her Children, 1878, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Wave, 1879, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago.

I included this Renoir painting because I like its abstract and timeless quality.

Maturity and Change

An artistic crisis loomed ahead for Renoir. In the spring of 1881, Renoir took his first trip abroad to Algeria in the footsteps of Delacroix, which reassured him about his direction as an Impressionist; and he was soon back in France at Chatou and Bougival painting masterpieces such as The Luncheon of the Boating Party (1881).

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1881, oil on canvas, Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

The Luncheon of the Boating Party demonstrates Renoir's assured handling of a complex group of figures. The woman on the left holding a small dog is Aline Charigot, Renoir's future wife. This painting shows Renoir's Impressionist technique at its height, where he used gentle modeling and his feathery brush strokes to give the relaxing group of figures a soft-focus charm.

But, by October 1881, he had left for Italy to see "the Raphaels." In a letter from Italy in November 1881, Renoir wrote to his art dealer, Durand-Ruel, " . . . it's all a mess. I'm still making a mess and I'm forty years old."[8] Renoir also stated, "I had come to the end of Impressionism. I was reaching the conclusion that I didn't know how either to paint or draw. In a word, I was at a dead end."[9] He had travelled to Italy seeking the formal classicism of Raphael and other Renaissance masters. Renoir had also stayed in Venice and studied the work of Veronese. He was now also ready to look again at Ingres. In Sicily he had met and painted a portrait of the composer Richard Wagner. From here, Renoir returned to France in January 1882 and journeyed to L'Estaque and joined Cézanne on landscape expeditions, where Renoir fell ill with pneumonia.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Umbrellas (Les Parapluies), c.1881-85, oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.

The Umbrellas, which was reworked during the 1880s and left unfinished, showed his confusion and artistic crisis at the time, trying to reconcile a linear style with Impressionist brushwork. The solid handling of the umbrellas could have been Cézanne's influence; the group on the right is painted in the delicate style associated with his Impressionist period, whilst the girl on the left foreground shows the beginnings of a sharper-edged and more formal style influenced by classical art.

Renoir's change in style became evident in 1883 when he held a one-man show at Durand-Ruel's. At year-end he visited Cézanne, as he did again in 1885. Following the birth of his first son Pierre in 1885, he started painting scenes and portraits of family life. His second son Jean, who became a distinguished film director, was born in 1894. A third son, Claude ("Coco"), was born in 1901.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gabrielle and Jean, 1895-96, oil on canvas, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris.

Gabrielle, a distant relative of Renoir's wife Aline, came to live with the Renoirs as a housekeeper. She stayed with the family for more than 20 years and became a frequent model for Renoir.

In the mid-1880s, Renoir produced a series of female nude bathers as a vehicle for expressing light, colour and form, culminating in the monumental The Bathers (Les Baigneuses) of 1887. He drew new inspiration from Velázquez after a trip to Spain in 1892. He rediscovered the delicateness of Corot whose work was now much in demand by collectors and looked again to the 18th-century French painters Watteau and Fragonard whose art he had copied onto fans during his youth. After the 1890s Renoir gradually soften and relaxed his classical linear styling, loosening his brushwork.

The Later Years

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Swing, 1876, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

By 1897 six works by Renoir, including The Swing (La Balançoire) and The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette (Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette), had at last entered the national museum collections.[10]

Few people knew that Renoir suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis during the last 25 years of his life, the disease probably starting around 1892 when he was in the prime of his life at about age 50 (for photos & more on Renoir's arthritic condition, see the web link under Footnote [2] in my References). In 1901 Renoir could still use his hands normally, but he required a walking cane to assist him. The disease become more aggressive from 1903 onwards. By 1908, he had to use two walking canes to move around. At the age of 71 Renoir became wheelchair-bound from 1912 onwards. Renoir kept working and adapted his painting technique continuously. Undaunted by his crippling arthritis and severe pain, Renoir was inspired to start a series of sculptures in 1907 echoing his nude figure paintings. However, Renoir had to use the hands of a gifted young modeller named Guino, who executed the work from drawings.[11]

In 1908 the Renoirs moved to the south of France to Cagnes-sur-Mer near Nice, where the warmer climate eased Renoir's severe arthritis.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Large Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), 1918-19, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

To paint his large 160 cm by 110 cm The Large Bathers (Les Grandes Baigneuses), 1918-19, Renoir replaced his easel with the ingenious invention of a 'moving canvas or picture roll' in which the canvas was fixed onto wooden slats which could turn around two spindles linked by the chain of his old bicycle and driven by a crank to move the canvas up or down.[12]

In 1900 Renoir received the honour of a Knight (Chevalier) of the Légion d'Honneur; and in the last year of his life, he became a Commander (Commandeur) of the Légion d'Honneur.[13]

It is the results of Renoir's refusal to paint the "unpleasant things in the world" and to make it his focus to paint only the beauty and the joys of life with his cheery rainbow colours and where the sun always shines that make Renoir's paintings so appealing and so well-loved by many. Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who painted to the very last day and outlived all his comrades except Monet, died of pneumonia at Cagnes-sur-Mer on December 3, 1919, at the age of 78. His wife, Aline, had died earlier in 1915.

References:
Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
[1] Robert Katz and Celestine Dars, The Impressionists, rev. ed. (London: Anness Publishing Limited, 1994), 96.
[2] Web link to article by Annelies Boonen, and others, "How Renoir Coped with Rheumatoid Arthritis," BMJ (British Medical Journal) 1997; 315: 1704-1708 (20 December 1997). http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/315/7123/1704.
[3] David Thomas, Renoir: French School (London: The Medici Society Limited, 1966), 3.
[4] Katz and Dars, The Impressionists, rev. ed., 226.
[5] Ibid., 86.
[6] Ulrike Becks-Malorny, Paul Cézanne. Phil Goddard, trans. (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1995), 20.
[7] Gabriele Crepaldi, The Impressionists (London: Harper Collins Publishers, 2002), chart.
[8] Katz and Dars, The Impressionists, rev. ed., 240.
[9] Ibid., 118.
[10] Thomas, Renoir: French School, 12.
[11] Boonen and others, "How Renoir Coped with Rheumatoid Arthritis," 20 December 1997.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Katz and Dars, The Impressionists, rev. ed., 242.

To cite this article, please use: "A Pierre-Auguste Renoir Biography by Margaret Lee," Art Bytes (March 9, 2008) at http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/

Juan Gris and Cubism

2008-02-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Cubism had changed art forever in conception and definition.

" This revolutionary method of making a pictorial image was invented jointly by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in the first decade of the 20th century. Although it may appear abstract and geometrical, Cubist art does depict real objects. These are "flattened" onto the canvas so that different sides of each shape can be shown simultaneously from various angles. Instead of creating the illusion of an object in space, as artists had endeavoured to do since the Renaissance, Cubist art defines objects in the two-dimensional terms of the canvas. This innovation gave rise to an extraordinary reassessment of the interaction between form and space, changing the course of Western art forever. "[1]

Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912, oil on canvas, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Juan Gris (1887-1927) was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France most of his life. He is known as one of the artists who contributed to the further development of Cubism after 1912.

Juan Gris' portrait of his friend and fellow countryman, Pablo Picasso, in 1912, is recognized as an important Cubist painting done by an artist other than Picasso or Georges Braque.

At a Sorbonne lecture in Paris in 1924, Juan Gris stated, "Cubism is not a manner but an aesthetic, and even a state of mind; it is therefore inevitably connected with every manifestation of contemporary thought. It is possible to invent a technique or a manner independently, but one cannot invent the whole complexity of a state of mind."[2]

Juan Gris, Glass of Beer and Playing Cards, 1913, oil papier collé on canvas, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio.

The development of Cubism came in two phases:

'Analytical Cubism,' between 1908-1912, whereby most of the Cubist works had been developed from the observed and experienced subject, in accordance with Paul Cézanne's practice; in the second phase, 'Synthetic Cubism,' between 1912 - 1919 and persisting into the 1920s, the subject was less emphatic. Picasso claimed that form, colour and medium would dictate the subject.

The use of papier collé or collage marked the beginning of 'Synthetic Cubism' with its inclusion of mixed media, "of added materials and painted textures, in a denser, more decorative and colourful surface... In Synthetic Cubism, the flat surface of the canvas is treated as solidly opaque, nothing penetrates below its surface into imaginary depth. Its opacity is further emphasized by the applied materials that often stood out from the surface. The artist's freedom from illusionary 'representation' also brought another important change."[3]

Juan Gris, The Sunblind, 1914, collage with chalk marks on canvas, Tate Gallery, London.

Juan Gris, Still Life with Guitar, Book and Newspaper, c.1919, oil on canvas, Kunstmuseum, Basel.

Juan Gris had said, "No work which is destined to become a classic can look like the classics which have preceded it. In art, as in biology, there is heredity but no identity with the ascendants. Painters inherit characteristics acquired by their forerunners; that is why no important work of art can belong to any period but its own, to the very moment of its creation. It is necessarily dated by its own appearance. The conscious will of the painter cannot intervene."[4]

Juan Gris, Still Life with Bordeaux Bottles, 1919, oil on canvas, T. and A. Werner Collection, Berlin.

Juan Gris' art remained essentially Cubist in form until his death in Paris. He died in 1927 at the young age of forty.

References:
Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved February 18, 2008.

[1] The Art Book (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), Glossary.

[2] Response to a questionnaire, from "Chez les cubistes," Bulletin de la Vie Artistique, ed. Félix Fénéon, Guillaume Janneau, et al (1925-01-01); trans. Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, Juan Gris, His Life and Work (1947).

[3] Judith Clark, The Illustrated History of Art (New York: Mallard Press, 1992), 178.

[4] "On the Possibilities of Painting," lecture, Sorbonne, Paris (May 15, 1924), printed in Transatlantic Review, #16 (June 1924) p. 482-488; trans. Douglas Cooper in Horizon, #80 (Aug. 1946) p. 113-122.

To take a look at some videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Xu Beihong (徐悲鴻), Part II

2008-02-04T20:05:00.000-08:00

Xu Beihong (1895-1953) was famous for his horse paintings. He was an outstanding modern artist and a dedicated teacher in China.

Xu Beihong, Portrait in Chinese Ink, 1942, ink on paper, 66 x 35 cm. Xu Beihong Museum, Beijing.

Note Xu Beihong's skillful representation of volume and solidity with just a few calligraphic brush strokes and two simple areas of ink washes in the portrait.

He integrated the ancient and modern and sought to combine Chinese brush-and-ink techniques with Western techniques of realism, perspective foreshortening, and composition. Although he also excelled in oils, today we will look at some examples of his art in traditional Chinese ink and colour. He was a prolific painter--of figures, landscapes, birds, animals, and flowers--having left over 1,200 of his own artworks, now kept in the Xu Beihong Museum in Beijing.

Xu Beihong, Forest Scene in the Himalayas, 1940, ink on paper, 55 x 23 cm. Xu Beihong Museum, Beijing.

Again, by using varying shades of ink washes with simple linear brush strokes, Xu Beihong has painted a dense forest scene in the Himalayas. Note the contrast and tension between the white 'unpainted' space and the 'darkest' inked areas. Notice also his use of 'dry' brush strokes in the single tree trunk and bare branches in the middle of the painting.

His 'dry' brush had skimmed quickly over the paper's surface, allowing streaks of the white paper underneath to show through the brush strokes. Compare these 'dry' brush strokes to the 'wet' patches of ink throughout. See how simply he represented the tree foliage, foreground, and background details.

Xu Beihong, A Beauty Among the Fallen Petals, 1944, ink and colour on paper, 101 x 40 cm. Xu Beihong Museum, Beijing.

The bamboo is an age-old favourite subject of Chinese artists. Chinese ink paintings of bamboo can be seen as both a painting and a piece of calligraphy.

"To produce such a work, it is absolutely necessary to have a steady wrist and complete control of brush and ink, and to work in swift, sure brush strokes without the least hesitation. Experience teaches the values of ink tones, the way of handling a dry or wet brush, and variety of brush strokes."[1]

Xu Beihong, Bamboo in Chinese Ink, 1943, ink on paper, 92 x 28 cm. Xu Beihong Museum, Beijing.

The bamboo, known as the 'friend of China,' is evergreen and flourishes through all the seasons. Botanically, bamboos belong to the grass family. The woody stems (also known as culms) are hollow, mostly greenish-brown and, due to their silica content, are very strong with a circumference of up to 6" (15 cm.) in some tropical species."[2]

The bamboo's hollow body is at the same time sturdy, light and flexible, suggesting constancy and versatility--able to withstand and bend to any adversity without breaking. The characteristic growth pattern of its 'segmented' stem reflects orderliness. As well as a symbol of 'summer,' the bamboo "represents the essence of refinement and culture. It is gentle and graceful in fair weather, strong and resilient under adverse conditions. Its suppleness, adaptability, uprightness, firmness, vigor, freshness, and even the sweet melancholy of the rustle of its leaves have been translated into qualities of mind, spirit, and character."[3]

Xu Beihong, Red Plum Blossoms, 1943, ink and colour on paper, 99 x 33 cm. Xu Beihong Museum, Beijing.

Another enduring favourite is the plum blossom--the flower that can withstand frosty weather. The beautiful and delicate flower buds emerge and burst into full bloom, unhindered by frost and snow. The plum blossom is admired for its fortitude. As the emblem of 'winter,' the plum tree welcomes the beginning of each new year and the return of spring, of new life, and hope.

Appropriately, a branch or sprig of red plum blossoms are used in (Chinese) New Year decorations and gifts to express good wishes for the coming year. The plum tree's sinuous trunk has often been compared to a dragon's body. The ideals of purity, beauty, strength, courage and perseverance have all been associated with the delightful plum blossom.

A Happy Lunar New Year to All... May Peace, Happiness and Prosperity Come Your Way !!!

祝您在2008年裡有

"鼠"不盡的快樂！
"鼠"不盡的收獲！
"鼠"不盡的笑容！
"鼠"不盡的幸福！
"鼠"不盡的美滿生活!

To view my earlier posting on Xu Beihong's famous horses,
click on here.

References:
[1] Mai-Mai Sze, The Way of Chinese Painting: Its Ideas and Techniques, (New York: Random House, Inc., 1959), 97.

[2] Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers, (London: Dorling Kindersley Limited, 1989), 478.

[3] Sze, The Way of Chinese Painting..., 97.

Paintings by Xu Beihong, Vol. 1. Compiled by Xu Beihong Museum & Beijing Publishing House, (Beijing: Beijing Publishing House, 1979).

To take a look at some videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Mona Lisa's Identity !

2008-01-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

At last, the centuries-old question of 'Who was Mona Lisa?' has been solved--the woman with the world's most famous smile has been identified !!!

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, c.1503-1506, oil on wood panel, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

German academic experts at the Heidelberg University library issued a statement last week, "All doubts about the identity of the Mona Lisa have been eliminated by a discovery by Armin Schlechter."

It has long been believed that the most likely model for this famous 16th century painting was Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. But, until this breakthrough discovery, the scant evidence from 16th century documents led to different interpretations and speculations of the Mona Lisa. Experts at the Heidelberg University library now report that dated notes scribbled in the margins of a book by its owner in October, 1503, confirm that Lisa del Giocondo was indeed the model for the Mona Lisa.

The notes were made by Agostino Vespucci, who was a Florentine city official and an acquaintance of Leonardo da Vinci, in a 1477 book of collected letters by the Roman orator, Cicero. The notes had compared Leonardo da Vinci to the ancient Greek artist, Apelles, and had also said that Leonardo was working on three paintings at the time, one of them was a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

Notes made by Agostino Vespucci, dated October, 1503, in a 1477 collection of letters by Cicero.

According to a spokesperson at the Heidelberg University library, Dr. Armin Schlechter had discovered these notes more than two years ago in the library. Although the findings had been included in the library's public catalog, the discovery had not been widely publicized until a German broadcaster decided to do some recording at the library.

Leonardo da Vinci, Self-Portrait, c.1512-1515, red chalk, Royal Library, Turin.

The Mona Lisa, which hangs in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, is also known as La Gioconda, meaning the happy or joyful woman in Italian, a title which also suggests the woman's married name.

Who She Was
Lisa Gherardini, born June 15, 1479, married Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy Florentine textile merchant in 1495 when she was 16 and he was 35. The marriage increased her social status slightly as her husband's family was wealthy. He also benefited because 'Gherardini' was an old and respected name.

The couple had 5 children: Piero, Andrea, Giocondo, Camilla and Marietta.

The Mona Lisa portrait--painted when Lisa del Giocondo was about 24--might have marked one of two events: the purchase of the couple's own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December, 1502, after the death of a daughter in 1499. There has been speculation that the delicate dark veil that covers the Mona Lisa's hair is a mourning veil. However, such veils were commonly worn as a mark of virtue.

Giuseppe Pallanti, an amateur Italian historian, claimed last year that he found a death certificate that showed Lisa del Giocondo died on July 15, 1542, and is buried in the Convent of St. Ursula in Florence. Lisa del Giocondo would have been 63 when she died.

» Source: Staff, The Louvre, AP.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
Article Source: The Globe and Mail (Vancouver edition)/Reuters. January 15,2008, A2.

To take a look at some videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Winter Art by Paul Gauguin

2008-01-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

Photograph of Paul Gauguin, c. 1891, photographer unknown.

Say the name 'Paul Gauguin' to me, and I see color, color and more color dancing in my head. Paul Gauguin was known for his vibrantly bold and exotic images of Polynesian women and island life.

However, before he relocated to Tahiti and finally to settle in the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia), he painted these winter scenes while still in Europe.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) participated in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and the eighth 'last' Impressionist Exhibits of 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882 and 1886 in Paris.

Paul Gauguin, Garden Under Snow, 1879, oil on canvas, Magyar Szépmüvészeti Muzeum, Budapest.

Paul Gauguin, Snow in the Rue Carcel, 1882, oil on canvas, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

Paul Gauguin, Breton Village in the Snow, 1888, oil on canvas, Konstmuseum, Göteborg.

Paul Gauguin, Christmas, 1894, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

For more 'winter scenes' by other artists, please take a look at my earlier postings from December, 2007, click on 'winter scenes' from my list of labels located on the right-hand side of this blog posting.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved January 14, 2008.

To take a look at some videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Alfred Sisley -- Impressionist

2008-01-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

Although Alfred Sisley (1839-1899) had comfortable beginnings, his later life circumstances had made it a continual struggle to support his family.

Portrait of the Painter Alfred Sisley by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1874, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.

Alfred Sisley was born in Paris on October 30, 1839, to affluent English parents. His father, William, was a successful businessman; his mother, Felicia, was well-known in society, interested in the arts & music. At age 18, Alfred was sent to London to prepare for a business career; however, during his four years there, he had spent much of his time in art galleries & museums. The art of Constable and Turner appealed to the young Sisley--it is in landscape painting that Sisley would be known.

In October of 1862, Sisley, with his parents' consent, studied with the Swiss painter, Charles Gleyre. At Gleyre's atelier, Sisley met Bazille, Monet & Renoir; while Pissarro was later to meet Monet, Cézanne & Guillaumin at the Académie Suisse.

Alfred Sisley, Street of Marlotte, a.k.a. Women Going to the Woods, 1866, oil on canvas, Bridgestone Museum, Tokyo.

Within months, Sisley and his friends could be found on the edge of Fontainebleau Forest and the countryside around Paris painting landscapes 'en plein-air'. They were bound together in their admiration for the work of an older generation of landscape artists who had left their studios to paint in the open air. Painters of the Barbizon School--Corot, Daubigny, Millet, Théodore Rousseau, Troyon--and the 'Realism' developed by Jean-François Millet and Gustave Courbet in the late 1850s and early 1860s had strong influences on the young Impressionists.

Alfred Sisley, View of the Canal Saint-Martin, Paris, 1870, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Alfred Sisley, Village on the Banks of the Seine, 1872, oil on canvas, Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

Sisley was to concentrate on landscapes, combining the English tradition of landscape painting with the new techniques of the young Impressionists. By 1866, Sisley was accepted at the Paris Salon with two works. Shortly after the 1866 Salon, he married a Parisienne, Marie Lescouezec, with whom he had two children, Pierre and Jeanne. In the late 1860s, Sisley, as it was with Bazille, was essentially enjoying a comfortable lifestyle with no pressures to achieve financial success with his art. But, little did Sisley know that his life would turn upside down.

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 precipitated the downfall of Sisley's father. William Sisley had been taken ill & his business had collapsed. When William Sisley died in 1871, Alfred was forced to paint for a living. Fortunately in 1872, Sisley was helped out by the French art dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel, who was introduced to him by Monet & Pissarro . Durand-Ruel had earlier met both Monet & Pissarro in London when they had fled Paris to escape the Franco-Prussian War. Having Durand-Ruel's assurance of a moderate number of sales, Sisley's post-war output increased as he painted landscapes around his home in Louveciennes. Like Monet & Pissarro, Sisley was concerned with capturing the blue winter light on snowscapes.

Alfred Sisley, First Snow in Louveciennes, 1870, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Alfred Sisley, Garden in the Snow in Louveciennes, 1874, oil on canvas, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Alfred Sisley, Snow at Louveciennes, 1878, oil on canvas, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Sisley exhibited at the first Impressionist Exhibit in 1874 & continued to exhibit with the Impressionists in 1876, 1877 and 1882. His finest work dates from the mid-1870s. Sisley lived near Argenteuil in the earlier part of the 1870s. Between 1874 and 1877, he lived with his family at Marly-le-Roi, where he produced a series of paintings of the floods which periodically covered the area.

Alfred Sisley, Under the Bridge, Hampton Court, 1874, oil on canvas, Kunstmuseum, Winterthur.

Alfred Sisley, Flood at Port Marly, 1876, oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen.

By the end of the 1870s, Sisley was still struggling financially. Several arrangements whereby he would be paid in advance for a number of canvases alleviated his situation.

Alfred Sisley, The Small Meadows in the Spring, 1880, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London.

Throughout the 1880s when Sisley & his family lived in the Fontainebleau area, the artist's fortunes slowly began to revive. By the early 1890s, Sisley was able to find a growing, but modest, market for his art.

Alfred Sisley, The Liong Canal, 1892, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

His paintings now featured landscapes in a series of the same subject, particularly scenes around Moret where the family finally settled. Sisley painted at least ten views of Liong Canal, which was not far from his home in Moret.

Alfred Sisley, Banks of the Liong, in Moret, 1892, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

Alfred Sisley, Church of Moret, 1893, oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen.

Echoing the famous Rouen cathedrals painted by Monet, Sisley painted these two as part of a series of his local church, rendering the medieval façade under the different conditions of weather & light.

Alfred Sisley, Church of Moret, After the Rain, 1894, oil on canvas, Institute of Fine Arts, Detroit, Michigan.

In 1897, despite his severe rheumatism, he had set out to tour southern England & Wales, producing several landscapes. Upon his return to Moret, he became ill with throat cancer.

Alfred Sisley died at the age of 59 on January 29, 1899; his burial in the cemetary at Moret-sur-Loing was attended by a few friends, which included Monet & Renoir.

Reference:
Katz, Robert and Celestine Dars. The Impressionists. London: Anness Publishing Limited, 1994.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved January 7, 2008.

To take a look at some videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Landscapes in Art

2007-12-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

A Very Happy New Year to All !!!

For most of you around the world, 2008 is here, along with your hopes & dreams & 'resolutions' for a brand new year.

To start this great year, we have some colorful landscapes in art by an American artist, Willard Leroy Metcalf, and a German artist, Lesser Ury.

Willard Leroy Metcalf, Poppy Garden, 1905, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

For some of us, me included, it's still New Year's Eve...just a few more hours of 2007, but ready to 'take on' new challenges. Just a few more hours to reflect...to leave behind old regrets...but ready to do better & be thankful for all in our lives. I look forward to 2008 with renewed hopes; it's another start, another chance.

Willard Leroy Metcalf, Indian Summer, Vermont, oil on canvas, Dallas Museum of Arts, Dallas.

Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925) was an American Impressionist artist. After his early years as a portrait painter, illustrator & art teacher, he later became prominent for his landscape paintings, especially of New England scenery. Metcalf had studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He furthered his art in Europe (Fall/1883 to Late/1888), traveling & painting throughout in different locations in Paris, England, Pont-Aven in Brittany & Giverny, France. He had also traveled to Algeria & Tunisia before returning to the United States in late 1888.

Willard Leroy Metcalf, Street Scene, Tangier, 1887, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

Willard Leroy Metcalf, Approaching Autumn, 1918, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

Willard Leroy Metcalf, Autumn Glory, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

Willard Leroy Metcalf, Cornish Hills, 1911, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

Lesser Ury (1861-1931) was a German Impressionist painter & printmaker. His subject matter included landscapes, urban landscapes & street scenes, interior scenery with figures. Of particular interest are his beautiful pastels on paper--expanses of landscape with the use of simple blocking of colors.

Lesser Ury, Birch Forest in Spring, c.1890s, pastel on cardboard.

Lesser Ury, The Blue Mountain, c.1900-10.

Lesser Ury, Dome of the Frauenkirche in Dresden, pastel on cardboard.

Lesser Ury, Victory Avenue with Siegessäule in Autumn, Berlin, c.1920s, pastel on cardboard.

Lesser Ury, Channel and Landscape with Holstein Cows, 1894, pastel on paper.

To take a look at some videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Join us again on Art Bytes.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 31, 2007.

Doves in Art--Peace on Earth

2007-12-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

Holiday Greetings to Everyone! May the coming days be filled with peace, joy and abundance! May you & yours enjoy all the festivities of the season.

We see doves as embodiments of eternal love, peace & goodwill. Artists now and throughout the centuries have painted doves in art, whether doves act as symbols in religious paintings or act as voices for concern or act as our desires for hope.

We have a painting by Charles Joshua Chaplin (1825-1891), who was a French painter & engraver.

Charles Joshua Chaplin, Girl with Doves, 1874, oil on canvas laid down on panel. Private collection.

The second example is a fragment of a fresco painted by Correggio (1489-1534), who painted some of the most sensuous works of the 16th century during the Italian Renaissance.

Antonio Allegri da Correggio, a fragment of Frescoes in the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Parma, in the apse Lunette (Scene: Marienkronung), 1520-1521.

We also have a beautifully rich watercolour by John Frederick Lewis (1805-1876), who was an English painter.

John Frederick Lewis, Captured Doves, Cairo, 1864, watercolour, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

And lastly, here's a finely executed painting titled "The Paradise" by Jan Brueghel (or Jan Brugel), the Elder (1568-1625). Jan Brueghel, the Elder, was a Flemish painter, the son of Pieter Brueghel (or Pieter Brugel), the Elder, and the father of Jan Brueghel (or Jan Brugel), the Younger.

Jan Brueghel, the Elder, developed a very fine decorative style, which earned him the nickname, 'Velvet Brueghel'.

Jan Brueghel, the Elder, The Paradise, c.1620, oil on wood, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.

To take a look at some videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 23, 2007.

Art To Love

2007-12-19T21:42:00.000-08:00

Picture yourself in this sunny landscape & soothe your weary soul!

This refreshing landscape, titled A Long Island Lake, c. 1890, is by the esteemed American painter & teacher, William Merritt Chase (1849-1916).

Since my last posting included some dog paintings, I have to give equal time to these adorable darlings.

Henriette Ronner-Knip, Best of Friends, 1894. This Dutch painter was best known for her subjects from nature, especially cats & dogs.

Here is a painting by the German artist, Otto Scholderer (1834-1902). This delightful painting is called Child with Cat.

I have also included a fabulous still life by Otto Scholderer. Look at his copper bowl & the reflection from his luscious pears.

Otto Scholderer, Still life with Pears and Grapes in Copper Bowl.

During the winter season here in Canada, I miss all the summer colour in the garden. A small bouquet of flowers from the florist usually cheers me up--flowers can be the answer for a lot of things!

Let me show you an amazing floral still life by Gerard van Spaendonck, (1746-1822), a Dutch/Flemish painter. As you will see from the painting's title, the artist painted some insects amongst his flowers. I was able to find his two butterflies, a dragonfly, and a beetle, but I couldn't find the 'fly'. See if you have any luck or better eyes than mine. Please click on image to enlarge.

Gerard van Spaendonck, Still Life of Flowers in a Basket with Two Butterflies, a Dragonfly, a Fly and a Beetle by an Alabaster Urn on a Marble Pedestal, oil on canvas, 1787.

Did you find all the insects in the painting?

I cannot resist--I have to squeeze in this doggie picture. Doesn't it just melt your heart!

Henry Bernard Chalon, "Quaille," an English Water Spaniel, 1797.

As Robert Frost (1874-1963), an American poet, once said: "We love the things we love for what they are."

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 19, 2007.

Art to Comfort...Art to Delight!

2007-12-16T22:07:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone! I'm going to ramble a bit today and show some 'feel-good' art as well.

Every year, good intentions lead me into December to get everything done. Unlike previous years, I didn't get around to making a 'to-do' list, but there is a very long 'mental' list in my head. Should I have started my December things in October? Or just 'drop' some things? There's too much in December!!! Perhaps, some things should not matter as much.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) had stated "that he dreamed of a pure, tranquil art, free of disturbing subjects, that would soothe the mentally fatigued as effectively as ....a good armchair."[1]

So, I went looking! Firstly, for turtle doves. The second verse from "The Twelve Days of Christmas" carol mentions turtle doves--I have not seen any--hence, the search. Who else but John James Audubon would know? Audubon (1785-1851) was an American naturalist, famous for his drawings & paintings of North American birds.

John James Audubon, Carolina Pigeons (Turtle Doves).

I also found "The Turtle Dove" by Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1823-1903), a French-born British artist.

Sophie Gengembre Anderson, The Turtle Dove.

Then, I have a soft spot for doggies (and cats, too). Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873), a British painter, was well known for his animal paintings.

Sir Edwin Landseer, A Highland Breakfast, 1834, oil on panel.

Sir Edwin Landseer, Trial by Jury, 1840.

Sir Edwin Landseer, A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society, 1838, oil on canvas, Tate Collection. This black-and-white Newfoundland dog breed was named a "Landseer" after Sir Edwin Landseer.

Lastly, here's another beautifully rich painting by Sophie Gengembre Anderson, for you.

Sophie Gengembre Anderson, Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things, oil on canvas. Private Collection.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 16, 2007.

Reference:
[1] Douglas Mannering, The Paintings of Matisse (New York: Mallard Press, 1989), 13.

Wintertime Art by Claude Monet

2007-12-12T20:12:00.000-08:00

Claude Oscar Monet (b. 1840, Paris, France; d. 1926, Giverny, France) was a founding member of the Impressionist movement. After all, it was one of his paintings, "Impression, Sunrise," that gave the movement its title.

"Claude Monet was the incomparable painter of bright daylight--the painter of the sky, the snow, clouds reflected in the water, the first painter ever to paint pictures almost entirely monochrome white......Monet was the painter of light."[1]

Today, we have four of Monet's winter landscapes.

Claude Monet, Snow at Argenteuil, 1875, oil on canvas, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo.

Claude Monet, Road to Vétheuil in Winter, 1879, oil on canvas, Konstmuseum, Göteborg.

Claude Monet, Church of Vétheuil, 1879, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Paul Cézanne, the painter, is said to have described Monet as "only an eye, but God, what an eye!"[2]

Claude Monet, Lavacourt under Snow, 1881, oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.

This snowy landscape is painted using only a few colours--most of all, white and various shades of grey, brown and blue. With only a few bare trees and no sign of human activity in the painting, the viewer can sense the coldness of winter.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 12, 2007.

References:
[1] Claude Monet (Benedikt Taschen, 1994), 7.
[2] The Art Book (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), 322.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Winter in Art by the Impressionists

2007-12-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

Hello! How is everyone? We have winter art scenes by Paul Cézanne, Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley.

Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that originated in France in the 1860's. The art movement's name, initially coined in a satirical review by the critic, Louis Leroy, was inspired by one of Claude Monet's paintings entitled, "Impression, Sunrise."

The Impressionists celebrated the splendor of nature as seen in natural light--whether it is at dawn, daylight or twilight. Their choice of subject matter concentrated on landscapes & everyday happenings.

Paul Cézanne, Snow Melt in L'Estaque, c. 1870, oil/canvas, E.G. Buhrle Collection, Zurich.

Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin, Sunken Road in the Snow, 1869, oil/canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

In outdoor scenes, shadows were boldly painted in blue, showing the reflected blue sky on surfaces (blue shadows on snow).

Camille Pissarro, Chestnut Trees in Louveciennes, c. 1870, oil/canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Chestnut Trees in Louveciennes was painted close to the artist's home.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Landscape Snow, 1870-75, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris.

Pure pigments/colours were often placed side by side with as little mixing as possible, which gave the painting surface a vibrancy so recognizable in Impressionist art. Free & short brush strokes were often applied quickly to capture the essence of the scene, rather than giving attention to the details.

Alfred Sisley, Garden in the Snow in Louveciennes, 1874, oil/canvas, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 9, 2007.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Winter Landscapes by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder

2007-12-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

Today, we're going back in time to visit a much simpler world & enjoy some winter scenes by a famous Flemish painter.

Pieter Bruegel (or Pieter Brueghel), the Elder, (c. 1525-1569), was a Flemish painter celebrated for his mastery of landscape & peasant subjects.

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, headed a family of painters which flourished in the 16th & 17th centuries. He was the father of Pieter Brueghel, the Younger, and Jan Brueghel, the Elder. Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, had dropped the 'h' from his name & started signing his paintings as 'Bruegel' in 1559.

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, 1565, oil on wood.

detail, Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap, 1565.

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, The Hunters in the Snow, 1565, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

This painting, The Hunters in the Snow, is one of a series (The Months) of six works, five of which are still surviving today, that depict different times of the year.

Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, Adoration of the Magi in Winter Landscape, 1567, Dr. Oskar Reinhart Collection, Winterthur, Switzerland.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved December 4, 2007.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Chinese Art in Ceramics

2007-12-02T15:07:00.000-08:00

Today, we have two examples of Chinese ceramic art from the T'ang Dynasty era (618-906).

Seated woman figure, glazed pottery. Dated T'ang Dynasty, 8th century.

This figurine, glazed pottery in green, brown and white, was discovered from a tomb at Luoyang, Henan Province.

Saddled and bridled horse, glazed pottery. Ht. 66.8 cm., from the T'ang Dynasty.

T'ang ceramic discovered in 1970 from a tomb at Kuan-lin, Luoyang, Henan Province, animal figure of glazed pottery in black, brown and green is exceptional for both its large size and for the black-glazed body, which is very rare in T'ang ceramics.

Reference:
Sullivan, Michael. Chinese Art: Recent Discoveries. London: Thames and Hudson, 1973.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Chinese Art in Bronze & Porcelain

2007-11-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

For those who love art & archeology, here are two pieces of Chinese art in bronze and one piece in beautiful blue and white porcelain.

'Fairy Mountain' incense burner, bronze. Ht. 26 cm., from 113 B.C., Western Han Dynasty.

Bronze incense burner inlaid with gold, accidentally discovered in 1968 at Man Ch'eng County, Hebei (Hopei) Province, from the tomb of the Han prince, Liu Sheng (died 113 B.C.). He was the elder brother of the great Emperor Wu, Western Han Dynasty.

'Fairy Mountain' is believed in Han mythology to be the dwelling place of Taoist immortals & fabulous beasts.

Oil lamp, gilt bronze. Ht. 48 cm., dated Western Han Dynasty.

Gilt bronze figure of a kneeling girl holding an oil lamp, accidentally discovered in 1968 at Man Ch'eng County, about 140 km. southwest of Beijing. This fine piece was from the tomb of Tou Wan, wife of the Han prince, Liu Sheng, who died in 113 B.C., Western Han Dynasty.

The lamp is fitted with an adjustable shade; the figure's removable head allowed for the hollow body to be filled with oil, and the figure's hollowed right arm acted as a chimney.

Flask, blue and white porcelain. Ht. 18.5 cm., dated Yüan Dynasty, 1279-1368.

This broken and restored flask with a spout in the form of a phoenix head is decorated in cobalt blue under the glaze, discovered in Beijing in 1970.

Have a good week, everyone!

Reference:
Sullivan, Michael. Chinese Art: Recent Discoveries. London: Thames and Hudson, 1973.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Fab Faces in Art # 2

2007-11-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

Self-Portraits by Leonardo da Vinci, Hokusai, Gauguin, Rembrandt, van Gogh.

How do some artists see themselves?

Probably the same way as anyone else. Self-portraits can be brutally honest or light-hearted and whimsical--some may even be flattering. Artists throughout art history have produced these portraits, along with their diary entries and letters to art friends & family.

Not only is the self-portrait a valuable autobiographical 'visual' record, but it can also give great insight into the artist's mind. Rembrandt regularly produced self-portraits recording his younger years right up to his old age. For sure, the artist could not ask for a more willing & accessible model than himself/herself.

Quotations by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) [1]

"Life well spent is long."

"You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself."

"What is fair in men, passes away, but not so in art."

Leonardo da Vinci, Self-Portrait, c.1512-1515, red chalk, Royal Library, Turin.

Quotation by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) [2]

"From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me a chance to prove that this is no lie."

Hokusai, Self-Portrait as an Old Man, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Quotation by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) [3]

"Copying nature--what is that supposed to mean? Follow the masters! But why should one follow them? The only reason they are masters is that they didn't follow anybody!"

Paul Gauguin, Self-Portrait, 1889, oil/canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Art history has many great artists whose self-portraits & writings have given us a glimpse into their personalities & lives. Their words have often given me inspiration & are just as meaningful in life today.

Quotation by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) [4]

"Try to put well in practice what you already know; and in so doing, you will in good time, discover the hidden things which you now inquire about. Practice what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know."

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1629, oil/walnut, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1658, oil/canvas, Frick Collection, New York.

Quotations by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) [5]

"Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more."

"Our greatest glory consists not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall."

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with Palette, 1888, oil/canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

Until next time!

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved November 25, 2007.

[1], [3], [4], [5] from Wikiquote.
[2] Nagata, Seiji. "Hokusai: Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e." Kodansha International, 1995.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Fab Faces in Art # 1

2007-11-21T01:15:00.000-08:00

Hello, there! How is everyone doing?

What is it about faces? Faces have always fascinated & beckoned me. How many of us have instinctively searched a crowd for a familiar face or yearned for the company of a special love? Oh, there's that face like an angel's or that face lined & chiselled by life's ups & downs...

Is it the common humanity or a desire to connect? I cannot easily explain this fascination I have with faces. Maybe, it's just one of my quirks... Anyhow, here are some random picks. Hope I eventually include some of your favourites! Any suggestions?

I have to include the timeless & marvellous Mona Lisa!

What other painting has engaged us for so long?

Mona Lisa, c.1503-1506, by Leonardo da Vinci, oil/wood panel, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Portrait of Henry VIII of England, 1539-1540, by Hans Holbein, the Younger, tempera on wood, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome.

I think it's the history behind this figure which is the attraction for me.

"Whistler's Mother" is certainly a well-recognized work of art. The artist originally intended to present his mother standing; but after 3 days, he decided to pose his elderly mother (age 67 at the time) in a more comfortable position. Even so, the image is austere & solemn. [1]

Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 1 (The Artist's Mother), 1871, by James Whistler, oil/canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

How about this face?

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), a dominant artistic personality of the 20th century & creative genius, said this:

"It is my misfortune--and probably my delight--to use things as my passions tell me. What a miserable fate for a painter who adores blondes to have to stop himself putting them into a picture because they don't go with the basket of fruit! How awful for a painter who loathes apples to have to use them all the time because they go with the cloth. I put all the things I like into my pictures. The things--so much the worse for them; they just have to put up with it." [2]

Portrait of Pablo Picasso, 1912, by Juan Gris, oil/canvas, Art Institute of Chicago.

The Kiss. Wow! Oh...my! Oh, my! I'm giving this painting 5 stars for its expressive power!

The Kiss, 1907-1908, by Gustav Klimt, oil/canvas, Österreichische Galerie, Vienna.

The Kiss, detail.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved November 20, 2007.

References:
[1] Gabriele Crepaldi, The Impressionists (London: Harper Collins Publishers Limited, 2001), 107.

[2] Ingo F. Walther, Pablo Picasso (Benedikt Taschen, 1993), 58.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video

Art Riddles & Art Teasers # 4

2007-11-18T07:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a 7-piece art puzzle for you! Pencil & paper is optional.

Puzzle piece # 1

Puzzle piece # 2

Puzzle piece # 3

Puzzle piece # 4

Puzzle piece # 5

Puzzle piece # 6

Puzzle piece # 7

I have divided a painting into 7 numbered horizontal strips. Can you 'reconstruct' the full image by applying the correct sequence of numbered pieces.

The pieces should read from Top to Bottom.

To answer your question, "No, none of the pieces shown are upside down. Everything is right side up. Unless you already recognize this painting, you'll have to imagine how the pieces fit together."

Hint: The name of the painting is "The Guitar." Matching the colours may also help.

To get you started, I have placed 2 pieces in their correct positions. The top piece is Puzzle Piece # 3 and the bottom piece is # 2. What does the middle look like?

Answer is below:

Correct number sequence is 3746512. This is the painting by Juan Gris, titled "The Guitar," oil on canvas, 1918.

Juan Gris (1887-1927), Spanish by birth (Madrid), lived most of his working life in Paris. He was known for his Cubist style. He died in 1927 in Paris at the young age of forty.

Image from Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved November 17, 2007.

Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video

Damien Hirst & video

Pablo Picasso & video

Monet's Garden at Giverny & video

Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video

Robert Motherwell Bio & video

Major Cézanne Exhibit & video