tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88999460754523998662024-03-13T01:54:24.181-07:00Art BytesConnecting with artMargaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-5578359558080566472014-01-09T20:49:00.001-08:002014-01-09T21:45:49.824-08:00Berthe Morisot, Impressionist<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZl_xL7QeI/AAAAAAAAANk/x-OoSqxvBHc/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot++-+Self+Portrait+by+Manet+485.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZl_xL7QeI/AAAAAAAAANk/x-OoSqxvBHc/s200/Berthe+Morisot++-+Self+Portrait+by+Manet+485.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126897372017410530" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" title="Portrait of Berthe Morisot by Edouard Manet, oil/canvas, 1872, Musée d'Orsay, Paris" /></a><span style="font-size: medium;">Berthe Morisot (b. Bourges, 1841. d. Paris, 1895) was a major figure in the development of the Impressionist movement or Impressionism.</span><br />
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Figure l. Portrait of Berthe Morisot by Edouard Manet, oil/canvas, 1872, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Click on each image for enlargement</span>.<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Berthe Morisot</span> & her sisters, Edma & Yves, were brought up in a wealthy & respectable 19th century Parisian household. Their upbringing included various cultural accomplishments--the art of conversation, music, art appreciation, drawing. Early on, Berthe & Edma were tutored in painting by Corot, who had become a family friend. Berthe's painting flourished & she was directly influenced by a fellow Impressionist, Edouard Manet, who had become her brother-in-law when Berthe married Eugène Manet. Towards 1885, Berthe followed the example of Pierre-Auguste Renoir.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZlVBL7QdI/AAAAAAAAANc/AziDGGPVYLk/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot++-+The+Cradle+2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZlVBL7QdI/AAAAAAAAANc/AziDGGPVYLk/s200/Berthe+Morisot++-+The+Cradle+2.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126896637578002898" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Berthe Morisot, The Cradle, oil/canvas, 1872, Musée d'Orsay, Paris" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZlLxL7QcI/AAAAAAAAANU/Kco4-HUNqMk/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot++-+Woman+with+a+Muff+485.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZlLxL7QcI/AAAAAAAAANU/Kco4-HUNqMk/s200/Berthe+Morisot++-+Woman+with+a+Muff+485.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126896478664212930" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Berthe Morisot, Winter, aka Woman with a Muff, oil/canvas, 1880, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas" /></a><br />
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Figure 2. Berthe Morisot, The Cradle, oil/canvas, 1872, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.<br />
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Figure 3. Berthe Morisot, Winter, aka Woman with a Muff, oil/canvas, 1880, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas.<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Women artists</span> like Morisot & Mary Cassatt, another Impressionist, were severely limited in the places they could go to in 19th century Paris. The majority of their subjects centred around women & children, the home with motherhood, child-rearing, the gatherings with women friends & a few urban sites at the theatre & opera. In contrast, their male colleagues were free to go wherever & whenever they pleased to paint without breaking any taboos. Likewise, the paintings of the male Impressionists showed a wide variety of subjects & locations--city cafes, bars, brothels, the theatre back stage & other public urban spaces during the night or day.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZkghL7QbI/AAAAAAAAANM/ppCVATo66pI/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot++-+In+Dining+Room.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZkghL7QbI/AAAAAAAAANM/ppCVATo66pI/s200/Berthe+Morisot++-+In+Dining+Room.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126895735634870706" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Berthe Morisot, In Dining Room, oil/canvas, 1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C." /></a> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZkYBL7QaI/AAAAAAAAANE/ygNmxBOWIDc/s1600-h/482px-Berthe_Morisot_006.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZkYBL7QaI/AAAAAAAAANE/ygNmxBOWIDc/s200/482px-Berthe_Morisot_006.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126895589605982626" style="cursor: pointer;" title="Berthe Morisot, The Mother and Sister of the Artist, oil/canvas, 1869-70, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C." /></a><br />
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Figure 4. Berthe Morisot, In Dining Room, oil/canvas, 1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.<br />
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Figure 5. Berthe Morisot, The Mother and Sister of the Artist, oil/canvas, 1869-70, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Berthe Morisot</span> was to show at the first Impressionist Exhibition of 1874 & became a regular contributor. Before that, she had been accepted for showings at the official Salon, the major art venue for the Paris art market. "Yet the problem for the critics of her day remained the fact that she was a gifted artist and a woman. The two could not easily be reconciled--there was no tradition (acceptable to men) of women in art, and all the critics and judges were men ..."[l] Morisot's work received faint praise for its charm, delicacy & femininity. Nevertheless, Berthe Morisot was well-liked & respected by Manet, Degas, Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Whistler & the poet Mallarmé (who became the guardian of Morisot's only child, Julie, after her death).<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZhnxL7QYI/AAAAAAAAAM0/DRXKfHnI6xI/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot++-+Kornfeld+%28German%29.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZhnxL7QYI/AAAAAAAAAM0/DRXKfHnI6xI/s200/Berthe+Morisot++-+Kornfeld+%28German%29.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126892561654038914" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" title="Berthe Morisot, Cornfield, oil/canvas, 1875, Musée d'Orsay, Paris" /></a><br />
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Figure 6. Berthe Morisot, Cornfield, oil/canvas, 1875, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZiphL7QZI/AAAAAAAAAM8/xOW_CjBmDDo/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot++-+Interior+at+the+Isle+of+Wight.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RyZiphL7QZI/AAAAAAAAAM8/xOW_CjBmDDo/s200/Berthe+Morisot++-+Interior+at+the+Isle+of+Wight.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126893691230437778" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" title="Berthe Morisot, Interior (Eugène Manet) at the Isle of Wight, oil/canvas, 1875" /></a><br />
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Figure 7. Berthe Morisot, Interior (Eugène Manet) at the Isle of Wight, oil/canvas, 1875.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFrY8iyfSNI/AAAAAAAAB1o/T_RaEIBg8wc/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot+-+Girl+at+the+Ball,+1875.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFrY8iyfSNI/AAAAAAAAB1o/T_RaEIBg8wc/s200/Berthe+Morisot+-+Girl+at+the+Ball,+1875.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213718053277092050" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" title="Berthe Morisot, Girl at the Ball, oil/canvas, 1875, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris." /></a><br />
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Figure 8. Berthe Morisot, Girl at the Ball, oil/canvas, 1875, Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFraPT5suYI/AAAAAAAAB1w/-yC93B2QyMU/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot+-+The+Balcony,+1872.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFraPT5suYI/AAAAAAAAB1w/-yC93B2QyMU/s200/Berthe+Morisot+-+The+Balcony,+1872.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213719475209943426" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" title="Berthe Morisot, The Balcony, oil/canvas, 1872, Ittleson Collection, New York." /></a><br />
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Figure 9. Berthe Morisot, The Balcony, oil/canvas, 1872, Ittleson Collection, New York.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFra-lzdVFI/AAAAAAAAB14/zujYURWEieQ/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot+-+Harbor+at+Lorient,+1869.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFra-lzdVFI/AAAAAAAAB14/zujYURWEieQ/s200/Berthe+Morisot+-+Harbor+at+Lorient,+1869.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213720287469458514" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" title="Berthe Morisot, The Harbor at Lorient, Brittany, oil/canvas, 1869, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C." /></a>Figure 10. Berthe Morisot, The Harbor at Lorient, Brittany, oil/canvas, 1869, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFrb8VAzkWI/AAAAAAAAB2A/AT9BWTMtYwY/s1600-h/Berthe+Morisot+-+Reading.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SFrb8VAzkWI/AAAAAAAAB2A/AT9BWTMtYwY/s200/Berthe+Morisot+-+Reading.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213721348113928546" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" title="Berthe Morisot, Reading, oil/canvas, 1873, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio." /></a><br />
Figure 11. Berthe Morisot, Reading, oil/canvas, 1873, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.<br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Berthe Morisot</span> was "to become one of the most atmospheric and impressionistic of her contemporaries, having developed a swift, fluid technique using broken patches of bright colour."[2]<br />
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References:<br />
[l] Robert Katz and Celestine Dars, The Impressionists (London: Anness Publishing Limited, 1994), 274.<br />
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[2] Ibid., 270.<br />
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Smith, Paul. Impressionism: Beneath the Surface. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1995.<br />
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Figures 1 to 11 from <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/">Wikimedia Commons</a>. Retrieved October 27, 2007.<br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><br />Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-14018170372410637062014-01-09T20:29:00.000-08:002014-01-09T20:29:12.335-08:00Juan Gris and Cubism<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">Cubism</span><span style="font-size: 130%;"> had changed art forever in conception and definition.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
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</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">" 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. "</span>[1]<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qCLVhAfrI/AAAAAAAABHA/LbDWWl6Ggn0/s1600-h/Gris.+Portrait,+Picasso,+1912.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qCLVhAfrI/AAAAAAAABHA/LbDWWl6Ggn0/s320/Gris.+Portrait,+Picasso,+1912.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168586653626826418" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px;" title="Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912, oil on canvas, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois." /></a>Juan Gris, Portrait of Picasso, 1912, oil on canvas, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 180%;">Juan Gris (1887-1927)</span> 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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At a Sorbonne lecture in Paris in 1924, Juan Gris stated, "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Cubism</span> 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]<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qC4VhAfsI/AAAAAAAABHI/gamQZon-l2I/s1600-h/Gris.Glass+of+Beer,Cards,+1913.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qC4VhAfsI/AAAAAAAABHI/gamQZon-l2I/s320/Gris.Glass+of+Beer,Cards,+1913.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168587426720939714" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt;" title="Juan Gris, Glass of Beer and Playing Cards, 1913, oil papier collé on canvas, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio." /></a>Juan Gris, Glass of Beer and Playing Cards, 1913, oil papier collé on canvas, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio.<br />
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The development of Cubism came in two phases:</span><br />
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'<span style="font-weight: bold;">Analytical Cubism</span>,' 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, '<span style="font-weight: bold;">Synthetic Cubism,</span>' between 1912 - 1919 and persisting into the 1920s, the subject was less emphatic. Picasso claimed that form, colour and medium would dictate the subject.<br />
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The use of <span style="font-style: italic;">papier collé or collage</span> marked the beginning of '<span style="font-weight: bold;">Synthetic Cubism</span>' <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>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]<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qDW1hAftI/AAAAAAAABHQ/bbXojKSTwMw/s1600-h/Gris.+The+Sunblind,+1914.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qDW1hAftI/AAAAAAAABHQ/bbXojKSTwMw/s400/Gris.+The+Sunblind,+1914.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168587950706949842" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" title="Juan Gris, The Sunblind, 1914, collage with chalk marks on canvas, Tate Gallery, London." /></a>Juan Gris, The Sunblind, 1914, collage with chalk marks on canvas, Tate Gallery, London.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin42Rs3QB1btPQ9Lw8tpWQu7rTg6Hh6Egre60RTw-1FunxImbgudUNYj2Fq_wfcO-dLmkxsMmrjoRaslg4e8HrGLz1oiIj0QQLe7XGHZ5kEBSO00zSxc1Qbr9v_nmT0Vw29U1DD81djZ8/s1600-h/Gris.+Stilllife,Guitar,Book,News.,+c.1919.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin42Rs3QB1btPQ9Lw8tpWQu7rTg6Hh6Egre60RTw-1FunxImbgudUNYj2Fq_wfcO-dLmkxsMmrjoRaslg4e8HrGLz1oiIj0QQLe7XGHZ5kEBSO00zSxc1Qbr9v_nmT0Vw29U1DD81djZ8/s400/Gris.+Stilllife,Guitar,Book,News.,+c.1919.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168588350138908386" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" title="Juan Gris, Still Life with Guitar, Book and Newspaper, c.1919, oil on canvas, Kunstmuseum, Basel." /></a>Juan Gris, Still Life with Guitar, Book and Newspaper, c.1919, oil on canvas, Kunstmuseum, Basel.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;">Juan Gris</span> 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]<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qEBlhAfvI/AAAAAAAABHg/fv5iOMjlv5Y/s1600-h/Gris.+Stilllife,Bordeaux+Bottles,+1919.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/R7qEBlhAfvI/AAAAAAAABHg/fv5iOMjlv5Y/s400/Gris.+Stilllife,Bordeaux+Bottles,+1919.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5168588685146357490" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" title="Juan Gris, Still Life with Bordeaux Bottles, 1919, oil on canvas, T. and A. Werner Collection, Berlin." /></a>Juan Gris, Still Life with Bordeaux Bottles, 1919, oil on canvas, T. and A. Werner Collection, Berlin.<br />
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Juan Gris' art remained essentially Cubist in form until his death in Paris. He died in 1927 at the young age of forty.</span><br />
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References:<br />
<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">Images from Wikimedia Commons.</a> Retrieved February 18, 2008.<br />
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[1] The Art Book (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), Glossary.<br />
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[2] Response to a questionnaire, from "Chez les cubistes,"<span style="font-style: italic;"> Bulletin de la Vie Artistique</span>, ed. Félix Fénéon, Guillaume Janneau, et al (1925-01-01); trans. Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, <span style="font-style: italic;">Juan Gris, His Life and Work (1947).</span><br />
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[3] Judith Clark, The Illustrated History of Art (New York: Mallard Press, 1992), 178.<br />
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[4] "On the Possibilities of Painting," lecture, Sorbonne, Paris (May 15, 1924), printed in <span style="font-style: italic;">Transatlantic Review</span>, #16 (June 1924) p. 482-488; trans. Douglas Cooper in<span style="font-style: italic;"> Horizon</span>, #80 (Aug. 1946) p. 113-122.<br />
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Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-3790115469504234812014-01-08T13:35:00.000-08:002014-01-09T20:35:52.511-08:00Giuseppe Arcimboldo<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfKGAoDPxI/AAAAAAAACdM/jMpZlWbeorE/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+b+%26+w+self+portrait.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfKGAoDPxI/AAAAAAAACdM/jMpZlWbeorE/s200/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+b+%26+w+self+portrait.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320943689357541138" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 150px;" title=" Giuseppe Arcimboldo, self-portrait." /></a><span style="font-size: 130%;">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.</span><br />
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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.<br />
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(Top image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, self-portrait. (For enlargement, click on images.)<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfK3QbFIUI/AAAAAAAACdU/eQmnt4p3snE/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe+and+Biagio.+stained+glass+designs,+1556.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfK3QbFIUI/AAAAAAAACdU/eQmnt4p3snE/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe+and+Biagio.+stained+glass+designs,+1556.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320944535411695938" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 206px;" title="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." /></a><br />
(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.<br />
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Arcimboldo later moved to Prague which, under Charles V, became for a time the centre of the Holy Roman Empire.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xGc1wT-uMRm-zWd-wc-JVywQKxnyNIJgeGiCxCFAhaQQNbCorf9wbe78wPbDwFaEq8kXDtwybgBYfVmoQViV-FqU2ilhHBKTE4RtJBnS4MwGIADWOAmjovbDXys_AHgAkKFCv75mGMA/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Air,+1566.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xGc1wT-uMRm-zWd-wc-JVywQKxnyNIJgeGiCxCFAhaQQNbCorf9wbe78wPbDwFaEq8kXDtwybgBYfVmoQViV-FqU2ilhHBKTE4RtJBnS4MwGIADWOAmjovbDXys_AHgAkKFCv75mGMA/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Air,+1566.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321088412376687074" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 238px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Air (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, private collection." /></a>Arcimboldo's <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Four Elements</span> series of 1566 features four paintings titled <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Air</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Earth</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Fire,</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Water.</span><br />
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(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Air (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, private collection.<br />
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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?<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfTluYcgxI/AAAAAAAACds/TK1ZdnugWLw/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Earth,+1566.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfTluYcgxI/AAAAAAAACds/TK1ZdnugWLw/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Earth,+1566.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320954129820713746" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 216px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo,The Earth (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, private collection." /></a>(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Earth (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, private collection.<br />
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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.<br />
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Do you see the monkey, the wild boar, and the head of a horse in this menagerie grouping?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvLTMd0NUm8gUb08ojJs9HyFEvK2gn-b4Aq9uCmjd6aIE0S6RssY_6T9dBss43ySN9M2BHXGj3gHudbGN39-jopQXJ3AmMY09mhRQ-XEr2gwVdfJZMfUQSv5T85ciL1cF_JH-DJeb2e4/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Fire,+1566.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIvLTMd0NUm8gUb08ojJs9HyFEvK2gn-b4Aq9uCmjd6aIE0S6RssY_6T9dBss43ySN9M2BHXGj3gHudbGN39-jopQXJ3AmMY09mhRQ-XEr2gwVdfJZMfUQSv5T85ciL1cF_JH-DJeb2e4/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Fire,+1566.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320955955525121890" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 242px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Fire (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna." /></a>(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Fire (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.<br />
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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!<br />
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What else do you see?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfWHeRkyHI/AAAAAAAACd8/Y4eKBUncsxg/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Water,+1566.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdfWHeRkyHI/AAAAAAAACd8/Y4eKBUncsxg/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Water,+1566.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320956908635736178" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 240px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Water (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna." /></a><br />
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(For enlargement, click on images.)<br />
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(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Water (Four Elements series), 1566, oil, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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!<br />
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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.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdgDl6kIWeI/AAAAAAAACeM/LiNquCEPkpE/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Maximilian+II+%26+family.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdgDl6kIWeI/AAAAAAAACeM/LiNquCEPkpE/s400/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Maximilian+II+%26+family.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321006909649082850" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 316px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Portrait of Maximilian II and His Family, c.1553/1554, oil on canvas, Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck, Austria." /></a><br />
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(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Portrait of Maximilian II and His Family, c.1553/1554, oil on canvas, Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck, Austria.<br />
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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).<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Sdgm6qB5ruI/AAAAAAAACeU/NCe4zNe9IPk/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Librarian,+c.1570.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Sdgm6qB5ruI/AAAAAAAACeU/NCe4zNe9IPk/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Librarian,+c.1570.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321045748894772962" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 232px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Librarian, c.1570, oil on canvas, Skokloster Castle, Stockholm, Sweden." /></a>(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Librarian, c.1570, oil on canvas, Skokloster Castle, Stockholm, Sweden.<br />
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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.<br />
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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."<br />
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Arcimboldo produced a couple versions of <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Four Seasons</span> series as self-portraits titled <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Spring</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Summer</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Autumn</span>, and <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Winter</span>.<br />
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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).<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Sdp-k5bJ3nI/AAAAAAAACfE/hyDkuVWsQVY/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Spring,+1573+series.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Sdp-k5bJ3nI/AAAAAAAACfE/hyDkuVWsQVY/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Spring,+1573+series.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321705082046766706" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 264px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Spring (Four Seasons 1573 series), 1573, oil, Musée du Louvre, Paris" /></a>(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Spring (Four Seasons 1573 series), 1573, oil, Musée du Louvre, Paris.<br />
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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.<br />
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The Spring self-portrait is youthful and full of vigor.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdhYU3Kn0yI/AAAAAAAACek/9njaw6CJvIw/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Summer,+1563+version.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdhYU3Kn0yI/AAAAAAAACek/9njaw6CJvIw/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Summer,+1563+version.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321100075167372066" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 242px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Summer (Four Seasons 1563 series), 1563, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna." /></a><br />
(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Summer (Four Seasons 1563 series), 1563, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdhqOWQR5HI/AAAAAAAACe8/B4RUr4QB7Fw/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Autumn,+1573+series.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdhqOWQR5HI/AAAAAAAACe8/B4RUr4QB7Fw/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Autumn,+1573+series.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321119754462815346" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 263px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Autumn (Four Seasons 1573 series), 1573, oil, Musée du Louvre, Paris." /></a>(Left image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Autumn (Four Seasons 1573 series), 1573, oil, Musée du Louvre, Paris.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Sdp_Q0cXpKI/AAAAAAAACfM/i4uvAQd6nTs/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Winter,+1563+series.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Sdp_Q0cXpKI/AAAAAAAACfM/i4uvAQd6nTs/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+The+Winter,+1563+series.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321705836623930530" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 242px;" title="Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Winter (Four Seasons 1563 series), 1563, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. " /></a>(Right image) Giuseppe Arcimboldo, The Winter (Four Seasons 1563 series), 1563, oil on wood, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdqBabqJsjI/AAAAAAAACfU/OFejP8zs3Zg/s1600-h/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Rudolf+II,+c.1590-1.jpeg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SdqBabqJsjI/AAAAAAAACfU/OFejP8zs3Zg/s320/Arcimboldo,+Giuseppe.+Rudolf+II,+c.1590-1.jpeg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321708200792797746" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 231px;" title="Portrait of Rudolf II (Holy Roman Emperor) painted as Vertumnus, the Roman God of the Seasons, c. 1590-1, oil on canvas, Skokloster Castle, Sweden, Stockholm." /></a>(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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-28710977903821106892010-09-18T23:17:00.000-07:002010-09-19T00:07:49.282-07:00Alfred Stieglitz Photos at Seaport Museum, New York - report & video<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRbZP80ZwI/AAAAAAAACug/z8xMrg6dglc/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz+in+1902.+Photo+by+Gertrude+Kasebier..jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 294px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRbZP80ZwI/AAAAAAAACug/z8xMrg6dglc/s320/Alfred+Stieglitz+in+1902.+Photo+by+Gertrude+Kasebier..jpg" title="Alfred Stieglitz in 1902. Photo by Gertrude Kasebier." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518135932772181762" border="0" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:130%;">Exhibition now showing:</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Alfred Stieglitz's Photographs, Seaport Museum, New York - from September 14, 2010 to January 10, 2011.</span><br /><br /><i>Left Image:</i> <span style="font-style: italic;">Alfred Stieglitz in 1902. Photo by Gertrude Kasebier.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">"New York Museum Shows Steiglitz Photographs" </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(reprinted article by Peter Fedynsky | New York City │ 17 September 2010, from VOA News)<br /></span><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /><br /><object id="kickWidget_45137_301823" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://serve.a-widget.com/service/getWidgetSwf.kickAction" width="400" height="250"><br /><!-- Firefox uses the 'data' attribute above, IE/Safari uses the param below --><br /><param name="movie" value="http://serve.a-widget.com/service/getWidgetSwf.kickAction"><br /><param name="FlashVars" value="affiliateSiteId=45137&widgetId=301823&width=400&height=250&autoPlay=0&playOnLoad=0&varsToAppendToLinks=widgetID%3D11111&revision=178&mediaType_mediaID=video_1333317"><br /><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><br /></object><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRfZwlCUdI/AAAAAAAACuo/YRovnqzLdmg/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27The+Terminal%27+dated+1893..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRfZwlCUdI/AAAAAAAACuo/YRovnqzLdmg/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27The+Terminal%27+dated+1893..jpg" title="Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled 'The Terminal' taken in 1893. " the="" terminal="" taken="" in="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518140339577311698" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-style: italic;">Image: Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled "The Terminal" taken in 1893.</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Source:<a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/news/New-York-Museum-Shows-Steiglitz-Photographs-103180829.html"> VOA News</a><br /><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Link to </span><a href="http://www.seany.org/stieglitz/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Alfred Stieglitz Exhibition at Seaport Museum, New York</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">.</span></div><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);font-size:130%;" class="Apple-style-span" >See the following Stieglitz photographs:</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRo4CqP1mI/AAAAAAAACuw/47z8ArmlPOo/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Winter+on+Fifth+Avenue%27+dated+1892..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRo4CqP1mI/AAAAAAAACuw/47z8ArmlPOo/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Winter+on+Fifth+Avenue%27+dated+1892..jpg" title="Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled 'Winter on Fifth Avenue' dated 1892." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518150755431732834" border="0" /></a> Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled 'Winter on Fifth Avenue' dated 1892.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRpbnbIkII/AAAAAAAACu4/BTjF9JhU_yI/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Old+and+New+New+York%27+dated+1910..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRpbnbIkII/AAAAAAAACu4/BTjF9JhU_yI/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Old+and+New+New+York%27+dated+1910..jpg" title="'Old and New New York' dated 1910 by Alfred Stieglitz." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518151366595874946" border="0" /></a> 'Old and New New York' dated 1910 by Alfred Stieglitz.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRqBcwRz4I/AAAAAAAACvA/Lyj-iaG7IiY/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Going+to+the+Start%27+dated+1904..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 386px; height: 480px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRqBcwRz4I/AAAAAAAACvA/Lyj-iaG7IiY/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Going+to+the+Start%27+dated+1904..jpg" title=" 'Going to the Start' dated 1904 by Alfred Stieglitz." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518152016566800258" border="0" /></a> 'Going to the Start' dated 1904 by Alfred Stieglitz.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRqs8jgLhI/AAAAAAAACvI/mM_v6TeZT9Y/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27A+Snapshot+of+Paris%27+dated+1911..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 480px; height: 390px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJRqs8jgLhI/AAAAAAAACvI/mM_v6TeZT9Y/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27A+Snapshot+of+Paris%27+dated+1911..jpg" title="'A Snapshot of Paris' dated 1911 by Alfred Stieglitz." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518152763837525522" border="0" /></a>'A Snapshot of Paris' dated 1911 by Alfred Stieglitz.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWnxFllRkI/AAAAAAAACvQ/6VTmiATsvnM/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz,+%27Georgia+O%27Keefe%27,+dated+1918..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWnxFllRkI/AAAAAAAACvQ/6VTmiATsvnM/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz,+%27Georgia+O%27Keefe%27,+dated+1918..jpg" title="Photograph of 'Georgia O'Keefe', 1918, by Alfred Stieglitz." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518501380167648834" border="0" /></a>Photograph of 'Georgia O'Keefe', 1918, by Alfred Stieglitz.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWocrGPYoI/AAAAAAAACvY/j7qYQVtcfWI/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Ellen+Koeniger,+Lake+George,+1916%27+..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 296px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWocrGPYoI/AAAAAAAACvY/j7qYQVtcfWI/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27Ellen+Koeniger,+Lake+George,+1916%27+..jpg" title="Photo of 'Ellen Koeniger, Lake George, 1916' by Alfred Stieglitz." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518502128971113090" border="0" /></a>Photo of 'Ellen Koeniger, Lake George, 1916' by Alfred Stieglitz.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWu7Fex9NI/AAAAAAAACvg/GzhWUHKOZi4/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz,+%27Venetian+Canal%27+%28also+titled+%27A+Bit+of+Venice%27%29,+1897..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWu7Fex9NI/AAAAAAAACvg/GzhWUHKOZi4/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz,+%27Venetian+Canal%27+%28also+titled+%27A+Bit+of+Venice%27%29,+1897..jpg" title="'Venetian Canal (also known as 'A Bit of Venice'), 1897, by Alfred Stieglitz." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518509248519206098" border="0" /></a>'Venetian Canal (also known as 'A Bit of Venice'), 1897, by Alfred Stieglitz.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWvZENzENI/AAAAAAAACvo/Dl08Adp8eCo/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+%27Katherine%27+dated+1905..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 321px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWvZENzENI/AAAAAAAACvo/Dl08Adp8eCo/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+%27Katherine%27+dated+1905..jpg" title="'Katherine',1905, by Alfred Stieglitz." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518509763575615698" border="0" /></a>'Katherine',1905, by Alfred Stieglitz.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWv4wuUEmI/AAAAAAAACvw/Mnqiphq_VvI/s1600/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27The+Hand+of+Man%27+dated+1902..jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/TJWv4wuUEmI/AAAAAAAACvw/Mnqiphq_VvI/s400/Alfred+Stieglitz%27s+photograph+titled+%27The+Hand+of+Man%27+dated+1902..jpg" title="Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled 'The Hand of Man' dated 1902." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518510308099101282" border="0" /></a>Alfred Stieglitz's photograph titled 'The Hand of Man' dated 1902.Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-24225181627179075992010-08-24T15:30:00.000-07:002010-08-25T12:20:22.347-07:00Van Gogh's "Poppy Flowers" Stolen From Cairo Museum<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmSl6XTAoJjWCYzDIYaby4_aZNMZhSR8NU61NC6R8F_fWMdslS9X5rJeZ-k8dFHUWT_Fmr9tIp6FtrIAD7UK3h-TFzrS35RGvu9EAyW-bj5qvI1ANsnJLZ8N1lzkNT9Ietgc_k4MZFg4/s1600/van+gogh+selfportrait+1887-88.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQmSl6XTAoJjWCYzDIYaby4_aZNMZhSR8NU61NC6R8F_fWMdslS9X5rJeZ-k8dFHUWT_Fmr9tIp6FtrIAD7UK3h-TFzrS35RGvu9EAyW-bj5qvI1ANsnJLZ8N1lzkNT9Ietgc_k4MZFg4/s320/van+gogh+selfportrait+1887-88.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509110826165048946" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Left Image: Painter Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait with Felt Hat, Winter 1887-1888, oil on canvas, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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.<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br />Italy's </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >ANSA</span><span style="font-size:130%;"> news agency had said the two Italians were with a group of Spanish and Russian tourists when they had visited the museum.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" >Associated Press</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, 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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Officials have stepped up security at Egypt's borders to try to keep the artwork from leaving the country.<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />See following video report for more details and a photo of the missing painting.<br /><br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Watch video: <span style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204);">"Egypt searches for $50m painting"</span> - Ayman Mohyeldin from Al Jazeera English News reporting from Cairo, 22 August 2010. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><object width="400" height="250"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LpnRnvutr1Y?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LpnRnvutr1Y?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="250"></embed></object>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-58863002141101377352010-04-30T22:54:00.000-07:002010-05-01T00:13:28.926-07:00See Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Georgia O'Keeffe at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.<span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);font-size:130%;" >New exhibit highlights rarely seen abstractions by Georgia O'Keeffe: </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);font-size:130%;" >February 6 - May 9, 2010</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Thought I'd share this good news article and video with you from VOA News.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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!</span> <br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/american-life/Rare-Art-by-Renowned-American-Artist-Goes-on-Display.html">VOA News</a> (30 April 2010, Julie Taboh | Washington, DC) - <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Goes on Display"</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Georgia O'Keeffe</span> 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.<br /><br />Now, a new exhibit at <a href="http://www.phillipscollection.org/exhibitions/current/index.aspx"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.</span></a>, features more than 100 paintings, drawings and watercolors by O'Keeffe and 12 photographic portraits of her taken by her late husband, famed photographer <span style="font-weight: bold;">Alfred Stieglitz</span>.<br /><br />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.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Georgia O'Keeffe as abstract artist</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />According to Smithgall, O'Keeffe broke into abstraction with a set of charcoal drawings that she created in 1915.<br /><br />"They are exquisite gestural drawings, very organic in form, and no recognizable reference to a known subject," she says.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Water colors and oils</span><br /><br />By the 1920s, O'Keeffe had moved on from pure abstract drawings to water colors and oil paintings of subjects that seem more familiar.<br /><br />But according to Smithgall, O'Keeffe continued to use abstraction as the foundation in all her artwork.<br /><br />"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.<br /><br /><object id="kickWidget_45137_301823" width="425" height="300"><param name="movie" value="http://serve.a-widget.com/service/getWidgetSwf.kickAction"><param name="FlashVars" value="affiliateSiteId=45137&widgetId=301823&width=480&height=300&mediaType_mediaID=video_1007448&autoPlay=0&revision=178&varsToAppendToLinks=widgetID%3D11111&playOnLoad=0"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://serve.a-widget.com/service/getWidgetSwf.kickAction" name="kickWidget_45137_301823" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="affiliateSiteId=45137&widgetId=301823&width=480&height=300&mediaType_mediaID=video_1007448&autoPlay=0&revision=178&varsToAppendToLinks=widgetID%3D11111&playOnLoad=0" width="425" height="300"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Sexual overtones</span><br /><br />It was also during this period when critics described O'Keeffe's oil paintings as being sexually suggestive.<br /><br />While Smithgall acknowledges that some of O'Keeffe's forms do evoke sexual connotations, she emphasizes that the exhibition "is not about that."<br /><br />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."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">New Mexico - a new chapter</span><br /><br />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.<br /><br />According to Smithgall, it was a new chapter in her career:<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />It was during these transformative years when her paintings took on a different feel as well, says Smithgall.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Coming full circle</span><br /><br />By the late '50s and '60s, O'Keeffe's art turned once again to the pure abstractions of her earlier years.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/american-life/Rare-Art-by-Renowned-American-Artist-Goes-on-Display.html">VOA News</a> (30 April 2010, Julie Taboh | Washington, DC) - <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Rare Art by Renowned American Artist Goes on Display" </span>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-70855990289339027472010-04-24T14:00:00.000-07:002010-04-24T14:49:43.365-07:00A Woman's Touch: The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)The <span style="font-weight: bold;">National Museum of Women in the Arts </span>(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.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuvJ9hYbgP_X3VsR_UZ0vbE6AUvpSoJWfFOpTbWt7jT-4sa_j9BYDiOFPjzztFQ_fb9yXuk_tbDCjwhp4-ELnqQmhqn7KrVOikLKYplQg7dnYqWLB4tG6hyphenhyphen_okGQ_5y_CIZwWO-aawz0/s1600/Bailly,+Alice.+Self-Portrait,+1917.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuvJ9hYbgP_X3VsR_UZ0vbE6AUvpSoJWfFOpTbWt7jT-4sa_j9BYDiOFPjzztFQ_fb9yXuk_tbDCjwhp4-ELnqQmhqn7KrVOikLKYplQg7dnYqWLB4tG6hyphenhyphen_okGQ_5y_CIZwWO-aawz0/s320/Bailly,+Alice.+Self-Portrait,+1917.jpg" title="Artist: Alice Bailly (1872-1938),Self-Portrait,1917, oil on canvas, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463175259755136610" border="0" /></a>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.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Left image:</span> Artist: Alice Bailly (1872-1938), "Self-Portrait," 1917, oil on canvas, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSnTtgHG2_T4qe4Yr6JO1-ovKhmk98YhHlPbCvhVgDiT831bMkXQaFuWL7MiyQs9vIHzq1QTum5PoGl-Evxhzo6x99RqxHmbDEf6k2XwvNWGDHBZ4q0SBq5ZdOR5PctvK6D_L8POqpo4w/s1600/Perry,+Lilla+Cabot.+Lady+With+a+Bowl+of+Violets,+c.1910.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSnTtgHG2_T4qe4Yr6JO1-ovKhmk98YhHlPbCvhVgDiT831bMkXQaFuWL7MiyQs9vIHzq1QTum5PoGl-Evxhzo6x99RqxHmbDEf6k2XwvNWGDHBZ4q0SBq5ZdOR5PctvK6D_L8POqpo4w/s320/Perry,+Lilla+Cabot.+Lady+With+a+Bowl+of+Violets,+c.1910.jpg" title="Artist: Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933), Lady With a Bowl of Violets, c.1910, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463175266282943650" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Right image:</span> Artist: Lilla Cabot Perry (1848-1933), "Lady With a Bowl of Violets," c.1910, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Video titled: <span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">A Woman's Touch: The National Museum of Women in the Arts</span> from GreatMuseums</span><br /><br /><br />Choose the <span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);">FULL SCREEN VIEW setting (click on "4 arrows" icon)</span> to get the best view of the paintings and sculpture on the video.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kXaln1MDGwg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kXaln1MDGwg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">The women artists, brief histories, and titled artwork discussed in the video are the listed:</span><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Clara Peeters</span> (1594-1657), Flemish painter. "Still Life of Fish and Cat"</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Lavinia Fontana</span> (1552-1614), Italian painter. "Portrait of a Noblewoman" (c.1580)<br /></li><li><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Sofonisba Anguissola (also spelled Anguisciola) </span>(c. 1535-1625), Italian painter of the Renaissance. "Portrait of a Lady and Her Daughter"</li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204);">Elisabetta Sirani</span> (1638-1665), Italian Baroque painter, whose father was Giovanni Andrea Sirani of the School of Bologna. "Virgin and Child" (1663)</li><li><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">Maria Sibylla Merian </span>(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"</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Marianne Loir</span> (1715-1769). "Portrait of Madame Geoffrin"</li><li><span style="color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun</span> (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).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 51);">Adélaide Labille-Guiard</span> (1749-1803), French portrait painter. "Portrait of the Marquise de Lafayette"</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Angelica Kauffman</span> (1741-1807), Swiss-Austrian Neoclassical painter. "Cumaean Sibyl" (c. 1763). "Family of the Earl of Gower" (1772).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(204, 153, 51);">Suzanne Valadon </span>(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).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Camille Claudel</span> (1864-1943), French sculptor and graphic artist. "Young Girl With a Sheaf" (c. 1890).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);">Mary Cassatt</span> (1844-1926), American painter and printmaker who lived most of her adult life in France and exhibited with the Impressionists. "The Bath" (1891).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">Lilla Cabot Perry </span>(1848-1933), American painter who worked in the Impressionistic style. "Lady With a Bowl of Violets" (c. 1910).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Georgia O'Keeffe</span> (1887-1986), major American artist. "Alligator Pears in a Basket" (1921).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204);">Joan Mitchell</span> (1925-1992), American abstract expressionist painter. "Salle Neige" (1980).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Grace Hartigan</span> (1922-2008), American abstract expressionist painter. "December Second" (1959). "Lady of Milan" (1985).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204);">Alice Neel</span> (1900-1984), American artist. "T.B. Harlem" (1940).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204);">Audrey Flack</span> (b. 1931), American photo-realist painter, printmaker, sculptor. "Hannah: Who She Is" (1982).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">Lorrie Goulet</span>, American sculptor.</li><li><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 255);">Alice Bailly </span>(1872-1938), Swiss painter, known for her interpretation of Cubism and multimedia "wool" paintings. "Self-Portrait" (1917).</li><li><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Frida Kahlo</span> (1907-1954), Mexican painter; married to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. "Self-Portrait, Dedicated to Leon Trotsky" (1937).<br /></li></ul><br /><br /><br />More information: current exhibits and programs at<a href="http://www.nmwa.org/"> National Museum of Women in the Arts official site.</a><br /><br />Q & A (January 23, 2009) with Wilhelmina Cole Holladay<span class="drop-cap">, the author of <em>A Museum of Their Own, National Museum of Women in the Arts</em></span>, a lively account of how she founded the museum, which opened in 1987 in Washington, D.C. on <a href="http://smartwomanonline.com/feature/2009/01/a-museum-of-their-own/">Smart Woman Online</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/search/label/video"><span style="color: rgb(0, 204, 204);font-size:130%;" >To see all my video posts about other artists on Art Bytes</span></a>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-2370901146940842902010-03-17T13:14:00.000-07:002014-01-07T23:21:40.456-08:00Flowers in Art and Life<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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."<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56u6_dVSAI/AAAAAAAACqs/xidONACp7Fo/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+Red+Hibiscus,+dated+1197,+Li+Di.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img 1197="" 5="" 8="" and="" artist="" border="0" by="" chinese="" colors="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56u6_dVSAI/AAAAAAAACqs/xidONACp7Fo/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+Red+Hibiscus,+dated+1197,+Li+Di.jpg" dated="" each="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448984927654987778" ink="" li="" national="" on="" red="" song="" southern="" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 399px;" title="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." tokyo="" x="" /></a>"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.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56vedKG83I/AAAAAAAACq0/TcYepx6K01U/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+White+Hibiscus,+dated+1197,+Li+Di.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56vedKG83I/AAAAAAAACq0/TcYepx6K01U/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+White+Hibiscus,+dated+1197,+Li+Di.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448985536922841970" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 399px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" title="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." /></a>"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.<br /><br /><br />This iris painting is from my favourite artist, <a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2007/10/vincent-van-gogh-artistic-genius.html">Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)</a>. 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.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0d5I6P8I/AAAAAAAACpQ/aAxjzT0krH8/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+Irises,+1889,+Vincent+van+Gogh.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0d5I6P8I/AAAAAAAACpQ/aAxjzT0krH8/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+Irises,+1889,+Vincent+van+Gogh.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447865124905435074" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 315px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" title="Irises by Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy, May, 1889, oil on canvas, J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California." /></a>"Irises" by Vincent van Gogh, Saint-Rémy, May, 1889, oil on canvas, J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California.<br /><br /><br />One of the first art books I bought was titled <span style="font-weight: bold;">Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers.</span> 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.<br /><br />Enjoy these images of O'Keefe's sensuous flowers. My thanks to bluemoon093 for creating this video tribute <span style="font-weight: bold;">Georgia O'Keeffe: Flowers</span><br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QeB4-iBJLtg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QeB4-iBJLtg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />I have included the Belgian painter and botanist Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840), who excelled with his botanical paintings and illustrations.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56nyRwcSsI/AAAAAAAACqk/aT25AAH3hJc/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+Rosa+Gallica+Aurelianensis,+Pierre-Joseph+Redoute.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56nyRwcSsI/AAAAAAAACqk/aT25AAH3hJc/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+Rosa+Gallica+Aurelianensis,+Pierre-Joseph+Redoute.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448977081366760130" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 291px;" title="Rosa Gallica Aurelianensis by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, printed illustration engraving." /></a><br />"Rosa Gallica Aurelianensis" by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, printed illustration engraving.<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5_9mPQ4OeI/AAAAAAAACq8/fxa63UpXZSc/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+Peonies+in+Vase+Still+Life,+1864-65,+Edouard+Manet.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5_9mPQ4OeI/AAAAAAAACq8/fxa63UpXZSc/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+Peonies+in+Vase+Still+Life,+1864-65,+Edouard+Manet.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449352907515771362" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 311px;" title="Peonies in Vase Still Life by Edouard Manet, 1864-65, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay" /></a>"Peonies in Vase Still Life" by Edouard Manet, 1864-65, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay.<br /><br />One of my prized books is <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Last Flowers of Manet</span> 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]<br /><br />
<blockquote>
"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]</blockquote>
<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0HbaTZII/AAAAAAAACpA/TvSgrW-iN6c/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+White+Lilacs+in+Vase,+1883,+Edouard+Manet.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0HbaTZII/AAAAAAAACpA/TvSgrW-iN6c/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+White+Lilacs+in+Vase,+1883,+Edouard+Manet.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447864738968200322" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 311px;" title="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. " /></a>"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.<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br />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 . . .<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0zU_B49I/AAAAAAAACpg/I6GQdqRp3Yo/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Time+of+the+Lilacs,+Sophie+Gengembre+Anderson.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0zU_B49I/AAAAAAAACpg/I6GQdqRp3Yo/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Time+of+the+Lilacs,+Sophie+Gengembre+Anderson.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447865493157438418" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 317px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" title="The Time of the Lilacs by Sophie Gengembre Anderson, oil on canvas. " /></a>"The Time of the Lilacs" by Sophie Gengembre Anderson, oil on canvas.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S6BJaOt2IwI/AAAAAAAACrE/EEPXqcuAg2U/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+Large+Bouquet+of+Flowers+with+Tahitian+Children+%28Te+Tiare+Farani%29,+1891,+Paul+Gauguin.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S6BJaOt2IwI/AAAAAAAACrE/EEPXqcuAg2U/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+Large+Bouquet+of+Flowers+with+Tahitian+Children+%28Te+Tiare+Farani%29,+1891,+Paul+Gauguin.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449436264094114562" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 315px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" title="Large Bouquet of Flowers with Tahitian Children (Te Tiare Farani) by Paul Gauguin, 1891, oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. " /></a>"Large Bouquet of Flowers with Tahitian Children" (Te Tiare Farani) by Paul Gauguin, 1891, oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S6BThp-oN8I/AAAAAAAACrM/nJ-WJDv4-50/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+Sunflowers+on+An+Armchair,+1901,+Paul+Gauguin.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S6BThp-oN8I/AAAAAAAACrM/nJ-WJDv4-50/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+Sunflowers+on+An+Armchair,+1901,+Paul+Gauguin.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449447386787624898" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 346px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" title="Sunflowers on An Armchair by Paul Gauguin, 1901, oil on canvas. Private Collection, Zurich. " /></a>"Sunflowers on An Armchair" by Paul Gauguin, 1901, oil on canvas. Private Collection, Zurich.<br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0nBy5DII/AAAAAAAACpY/YVGR6_AKrrs/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Flower+Arrangement,+Otto+Scholderer++1834-1902.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S5q0nBy5DII/AAAAAAAACpY/YVGR6_AKrrs/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Flower+Arrangement,+Otto+Scholderer++1834-1902.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447865281847823490" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 317px;" title="The Flower Arrangement by Otto Scholderer. " /></a>"The Flower Arrangement" by Otto Scholderer.<br /><br /><br />Here's something different . . . Cubist painter <a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/02/juan-gris-and-cubism.html">Juan Gris (1887-1927)</a> 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.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56m5bS4x8I/AAAAAAAACqU/zfNDKNZfCqs/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+Roses+%28Flowers%29,+1914,+Juan+Gris.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56m5bS4x8I/AAAAAAAACqU/zfNDKNZfCqs/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+Roses+%28Flowers%29,+1914,+Juan+Gris.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448976104674609090" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 333px;" title="Roses (Flowers) by Juan Gris dated 1914. " /></a>"Roses (Flowers)" by Juan Gris dated 1914.<br /><br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSV6eTGvorQtsEEw4pXl1-URArtscvACwQv48mBX1DOfV_B_lRfLxYbC04dvR1QN7b_cGg8wcF5m6ztgCL9M4HS8NRlv_XZ8QeFzqnzSGjIepD7DCGBsGC2fB-n4i8aNPoAJu2SKgD8FY/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Dessert+Harmony+in+Red+%28The+Red+Room%29,+1908,+Henri+Matisse.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSV6eTGvorQtsEEw4pXl1-URArtscvACwQv48mBX1DOfV_B_lRfLxYbC04dvR1QN7b_cGg8wcF5m6ztgCL9M4HS8NRlv_XZ8QeFzqnzSGjIepD7DCGBsGC2fB-n4i8aNPoAJu2SKgD8FY/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Dessert+Harmony+in+Red+%28The+Red+Room%29,+1908,+Henri+Matisse.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448975469996406098" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 330px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" title="The Dessert Harmony in Red (The Red Room) by Henri Matisse, 1908, oil on canvas, State Heritage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia." /></a>"The Dessert Harmony in Red (The Red Room)" by Henri Matisse, 1908, oil on canvas, State Heritage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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]<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56mCYQVPYI/AAAAAAAACqE/bCBEc-45QnA/s1600-h/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Plum+Blossoms,+1948,+Henri+Matisse.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/S56mCYQVPYI/AAAAAAAACqE/bCBEc-45QnA/s400/Flowers+in+Art.+The+Plum+Blossoms,+1948,+Henri+Matisse.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448975158965779842" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 305px;" title="The Plum Blossoms by Henri Matisse, 1948, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York City. " /></a>"The Plum Blossoms" by Henri Matisse, 1948, oil on canvas, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">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.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Reference Sources:</span><br />[1] Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Last Flowers of Manet</span>, translated by Richard Howard (New York: Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999), p.5.<br /><br />[2] Robert Gordon and Andrew Forge, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Last Flowers of Manet</span>, translated by Richard Howard (New York: Abradale Press, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999), p. 5.<br /><br />[3] National Post, newspaper article by Julia Dault titled "Matisse's Material World," published August 18, 2005.<br /><br />[4] The New York Times, newspaper article by Carol Vogel titled "The Modern Acquires a 'Lost' Matisse," published September 8, 2005.<br /><br />Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-50179775849430713662010-03-15T16:32:00.000-07:002010-03-17T22:53:21.182-07:00Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction exhibition on from 6 Feb - 9 May 2010 at The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC<blockquote>"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</blockquote><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">One of the first art books I bought was titled "Georgia O'Keeffe: One Hundred Flowers." </span><span style="font-size:130%;">O'Keeffe's large-scale paintings at close range, </span><span style="font-size:130%;">as if seen through a magnifying lens</span><span style="font-size:130%;">, of flower blossoms </span><span style="font-size:130%;">and natural forms </span><span style="font-size:130%;">are sensuous and eye-catching. </span><span style="font-size:130%;">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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />"Georgia O'Keeffe: Abstraction" exhibition February 6 to May 9, 2010 at </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.phillipscollection.org/exhibitions/current/index.aspx">The Phillips Collection </a> in Washington, D.C.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><br />A short Georgia O'Keeffe biography at <a href="http://www.phillipscollection.org/exhibitions/current/index.aspx">http://www.phillipscollection.org/exhibitions/current/index.aspx</a></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />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.</span><br /><br /><br /><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JgQkr2aCrPo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JgQkr2aCrPo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><br />My thanks to bluemoon093 for creating this beautiful video tribute - </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Georgia O'Keeffe: Flowers</span><br /><br /><br /><object width="320" height="265"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QeB4-iBJLtg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QeB4-iBJLtg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="265"></embed></object>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-33066575108246687762010-02-05T12:47:00.000-08:002010-02-05T15:49:26.050-08:00Alberto Giacometti statue " L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I)" sets new art auction recordWhat a way to start 2010! A Giacometti statue, <span style="font-weight: bold;">L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I)</span>, 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 <span id="articleText">72- inch</span><span id="articleText"> (183 cm) </span>bronze sculpture depicts a lone man in mid-stride with his arms hanging at his side.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video of Giacometti's </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">sculpture sold at world record auction price at Sotheby's</span>.<span> An anonymous phone bidder bought the work for £58m. The £65m price tag includes the buyer's premium. </span>- video from mickeydroog<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uMb5UxhHa1c&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uMb5UxhHa1c&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Not only establishing new record prices for a Giacometti work and for any piece of sculpture ever sold at auction, <span style="font-weight: bold;">L'homme qui marche I</span> 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.<br /><br /><span id="articleText">The February 3 sale of </span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I)</span><span id="articleText"> 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.</span><br /><br />Sotheby's described the Giacometti <span style="font-weight: bold;">L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) </span>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)."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alberto Giacometti (10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966)</span> 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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I)</span> 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, <i>L'Homme qui marche I</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 – <i>L'Homme qui marche I </i>and<i> II</i>. "<br /><br /><br />Here's a video I enjoyed watching, showing examples of Giacometti's unique sculpture, paintings and drawings.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Alberto GIACOMETTI 1901 1966</span> - video from SAPH075<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WNoUt30TDLw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WNoUt30TDLw&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />More from <a href="http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159576376">Sotheby's</a> Catalogue Note on <span style="font-weight: bold;">L'homme qui marche I (Walking Man I)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>:<br /><p></p><blockquote><p>"An undisputed masterpiece of Giacometti's sculpture, <i>L'Homme qui marche I</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. </p> <p> </p> <p>The present work is the first of two versions of <i>L'Homme qui marche</i>, 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. ..."<br /></p> <p> </p> <span id="articleText"><p><span id="articleText"><p><br /></p></span></p></span></blockquote>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-76466386942650390082009-11-07T14:42:00.000-08:002009-11-07T17:05:59.258-08:00Vincent van Gogh: Happenings at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DGwGem8tht92d0dj5j6pG1uiV3xWfL2aM9aCClkQDoSJzEsqwcSbm3DwkXHR3GgoPtj31_oHjQhe_yh0nWfKspn-eCGusUqGd1-xjSN7XfS_T_yzZalomGlFKR-BGycMdV5rAC-Bd2I/s1600-h/van+gogh+selfportrait+1887+spring.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2DGwGem8tht92d0dj5j6pG1uiV3xWfL2aM9aCClkQDoSJzEsqwcSbm3DwkXHR3GgoPtj31_oHjQhe_yh0nWfKspn-eCGusUqGd1-xjSN7XfS_T_yzZalomGlFKR-BGycMdV5rAC-Bd2I/s400/van+gogh+selfportrait+1887+spring.jpg" title="Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, Spring 1887, oil on cardboard, The Art Institute of Chicago." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401528376854976114" border="0" /></a>Vincent van Gogh, Self-portrait, Spring 1887, oil on cardboard, The Art Institute of Chicago.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Over the last 15 years the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has conducted extensive research into the life and work of Vincent van Gogh. </span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">The Van Gogh Letters Project</span><br /><br />October 2009 sees the culmination of the extensive and prestigious <i>Van Gogh Letters Project</i>. 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.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Exhibition - Van Gogh’s letters: The artist speaks</span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">9 October 2009 - 3 January 2010 at Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam</span><br /><br />"Van Gogh's letters will take centre stage in the exhibition <i>Van Gogh's letters: The artist speaks</i>. 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. <p></p><p>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 <a href="http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=161662&lang=en">Van Gogh Museum</a><br /><br /><b>Web edition: vangoghletters.org</b><br />The English-language web edition <a href="http://www.vangoghletters.org/">www.vangoghletters.org</a> 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.<br /><br /><b></b><b>Book edition <i>Vincent van Gogh- The letters</i></b><br />The six-volume publication <i><a href="http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=200942&lang=en"><i>Vincent van Gogh- The letters. The complete illustrated and annotated edition</i></a></i> 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.<br />Price € 395 (special offer price until 3 January 2010: € 325).<br /></p><p><br /><b>Van Gogh Blog<br /></b>Follow Van Gogh on <a href="http://www.vangoghsblog.com/">www.vangoghsblog.com</a>: 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.<br /></p><p><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size:180%;">Ongoing Research into Van Gogh's studio practice in context</span><br /><br />"'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 <a href="http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=13321&lang=en">Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam</a><br /></p><p>Source: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam<br /></p><p><span style="font-size:180%;">Van Gogh and Monet - Research in progress: contemporaries</span><br />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.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RxI7m4IJT14&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RxI7m4IJT14&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">To read my earlier post: <a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2007/10/vincent-van-gogh-artistic-genius.html">Vincent van Gogh: artistic genius & tormented soul</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2007/10/vincent-van-gogh-artistic-genius.html"><br /></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">To see ALL my posts tagged <a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/search/label/van%20Gogh">"van Gogh"</a></span></p>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-78646371593249116522009-09-21T10:32:00.000-07:002009-09-21T11:07:06.137-07:00British artist Damien Hirst seeks identical twins<span style="font-size:180%;"><br />Are you an identical twin? </span><div class="rightimg"> </div> <h3><br /></h3><h3>Be part of a Damien Hirst artwork at Tate Modern in London<br /></h3> <p>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</p> <p>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: <span style="font-weight: bold;">1 October 2009 to 17 January 2010 (exhibition closed 24, 25 and 26 December).</span></p>Here's a chance to be <span style="font-weight: bold;">"immortalized</span>" in a Damien Hirst artwork! Take a look at the video: the artist himself asking for your assistance.<br /><br />More information & application process at <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/poplife/twins.shtm">www.tate.org.uk/go/twins<br /></a><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Good luck to you both!</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pzxHeYHluZg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pzxHeYHluZg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="295"></embed></object>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-43889707764741301632009-07-08T14:40:00.000-07:002009-07-09T16:26:46.691-07:00Banksy versus Bristol Museum Exhibit & video<strong>Banksy Versus Bristol Museum<br /></strong>13 June - 31 August 2009<br />FREE EXHIBITION<br />Open Daily 10 am- 5 pm (<strong><span style="font-size:85%;">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.) </span></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Anonymous and infamous graffiti artist Banksy has returned to his home town of Bristol in western England for his biggest exhibition to date,<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SlUiYQnfWXI/AAAAAAAACl8/Om0qGAwcXVM/s1600-h/Banksy,+at+Brick+Lane,+East+End+%28of+London%29,+2004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SlUiYQnfWXI/AAAAAAAACl8/Om0qGAwcXVM/s320/Banksy,+at+Brick+Lane,+East+End+%28of+London%29,+2004.jpg" title="Banksy graffiti art, Brick Lane, East End of London, 2004" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5356225131999877490" border="0" /></a> which includes 70 new works.<br /><br />Banksy has gained notoriety in recent years for his street art and using stencils to paint images on a diverse array of outdoor locations.</span><br /><br />Image: Banksy graffiti art, Brick Lane, East End of London, 2004.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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.<br /><br />For the exhibition launch, Banksy was quoted by the BBC as saying:</span><br /><br /><blockquote>"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."</blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">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.<br /><br />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!!<br /><br />In the meantime, e-n-j-o-y this video look of Banksy versus Bristol Museum:</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n8ot6MDigUg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n8ot6MDigUg&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><p><span style="font-size:130%;">The <a href="http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Leisure-Culture/Museums-Galleries/bristols-city-museum---art-gallery.en">Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery</a> 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.</span><br /></p><p><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />To see my earlier posts with a video:</span></p><p><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2009/07/remembering-michael-jackson.html">Remembering Michael Jackson & original "Heal the World" music video from 90s</a><br /></p><p><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2009/03/sol-lewitt-at-moma-new-york.html">Sol LeWitt at MoMA & video</a><br /></p><p><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2009/03/color-chart-reinventing-color-1950-to.html">Color Chart: MoMA's Reinventing Color: 1950 to Today & videos</a></p><p><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/11/victoria-and-albert-museum-london.html">Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England & video</a><br /></p><p><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/09/damien-hirst.html">Damien Hirst & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/pablo-picasso-and-video.html">Pablo Picasso & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/monets-garden-at-giverny-and-video.html">Monet's Garden at Giverny & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/vincent-van-gogh-said-plus-video.html">Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-motherwell.html">Robert Motherwell Bio & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/major-czanne-exhibit-czanne-video.html">Major Cézanne Exhibit & video</a></p><p><br /></p>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-80058817834461413942009-06-30T14:00:00.000-07:002009-06-30T14:07:42.201-07:00Fiona Rae<span style="font-weight: bold;">Fiona Rae</span> is a British abstract painter and is one of the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Young British Artists.</span> 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).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fiona Rae</span> was one of the artists in the seminal <span style="font-weight: bold;">Freeze</span> exhibition curated by Damien Hirst in 1988.<br /><br /><b>Young British Artists</b> or <b>YBAs</b> (also <b>Brit artists</b> and <b>Britart</b>) 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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fiona Rae</span> 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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Fiona Rae</span> is now a Royal Academician and also a Trustee of the Tate Gallery.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Skp3aC2KzFI/AAAAAAAACl0/QnjbC8Ip8wE/s1600-h/Fiona+Rae,+Untitled+%28yellow%29,+1990.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 373px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/Skp3aC2KzFI/AAAAAAAACl0/QnjbC8Ip8wE/s400/Fiona+Rae,+Untitled+%28yellow%29,+1990.jpg" title="Painting (low resolution copy) by Fiona Rae, Untitled (yellow), 1990." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353222396407630930" border="0" /></a><br /><center>Painting (low resolution copy) by Fiona Rae, Untitled (yellow), 1990.</center><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;">"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."</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">-- Fiona Rae, during a 2005 residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.</span><br /></blockquote><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enjoy a visit to Fiona Rae's studio; video from The Tate.</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4gwbyfERDrA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4gwbyfERDrA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/09/damien-hirst.html">See my earlier post & video on Damien Hirst's Auction Gamble.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/search/label/MoMA">See a video of installation of Damien Hirst's colored-dot painting "John, John" at MoMA's Color Chart exhibition.</a>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-50055989982953727502009-03-28T15:12:00.000-07:002009-03-28T16:16:50.214-07:00Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today<span style="font-weight: bold;">MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)</span> in New York featured the exhibition <span style="font-weight: bold;">Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today </span>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 :)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Pop Rally: DFA Dance Party & Color Chart at MoMA</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"></span><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZvyEE_QL-1E&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZvyEE_QL-1E&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Installation of Jim Lambie's ZOBOP! as part of Color Chart at MoMA</span><br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/uBOMTGHCKC0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uBOMTGHCKC0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><br />Installation of Damien Hirst's colored-dot painting "John, John" at MoMA's Color Chart</span><br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/elmTjgCtU50&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/elmTjgCtU50&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Footage of Niele Toroni painting interventions in MoMA's Color Chart</span><br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d2WvmSIstfU&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d2WvmSIstfU&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Installation of Sol LeWitt's wall drawings in MoMA's Color Chart</span><br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HasERJXS9M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HasERJXS9M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-53769459543253700922009-03-28T14:01:00.000-07:002009-03-28T16:38:30.724-07:00Sol LeWitt at MoMA, New York, to June 29, 2009Hi, 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).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Focus: Sol LeWitt at MoMA, on view Dec. 5, 2008 to June 29, 2009</span><br /><br />Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), an American artist whose work involved conceptual art and minimalism. His mediums included painting, drawing and structures.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />For those not in New York and unable to see the exhibit, enjoy this art byte - a behind-the-scenes installation of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Focus: Sol LeWitt</span>. E-N-J-O-Y :)<br /><br /><object height="264" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YvOpvam8CSM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YvOpvam8CSM&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="264" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /> <br />Here's an installation of Sol LeWitt's wall drawing as part of an earlier exhibition held at the MoMA last year: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today </span><br /><br /><object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HasERJXS9M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_HasERJXS9M&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></embed></object>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-80545684522527450012008-09-19T12:30:00.000-07:002009-06-30T13:45:23.656-07:00Damien Hirst & video "Damien Hirst's Auction Gamble"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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Damien Hirst</span> 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.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Famous for embalming animals in formaldehyde, <span style="font-weight: bold;">British artist Damien Hirst</span> 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.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sotheby's</span> auction, entitled<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Beautiful Inside My Head Forever,</span> 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.<br /><br />The first day of the sale on Monday, September 15, 2008, brought in $125 million (Cdn.), which included <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Golden Calf for $19.7 million (Cdn.). The Golden Calf</span> 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, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Kingdom, sold for $18.5 million (Cdn.) with fees.</span><br /><br />On Tuesday, September 16, 2008, <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Dream was sold for $4.4 million (Cdn.) The Dream</span> is a foal in formaldehyde inside a steel and glass tank. A butterfly piece called <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reincarnated sold for $2.8 million, </span>more than twice its top pre-sale estimate.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Beautiful Maat Intense Fetishistic Painting (with Extra Inner Beauty)</span>--with a pre-sale price estimate between $573,000 to $764,000--<span style="font-weight: bold;">sold for $918,640 (Cdn.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Rose Window, Durham Cathedral</span>--with a pre-sale price estimate between $1.33M to $1.72M--<span style="font-weight: bold;">sold for $2.4 million (Cdn.).</span><br /><br />A coloured-spot Hirst work,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Aurothiglucose</span>--with a pre-sale price estimate between $1.33M to $1.72M--<span style="font-weight: bold;">sold for 1.27 million (Cdn.).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Damien Hirst</span>, 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.<br /><br />Last year <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hirst</span>, who works with a team of about 200 assistants, unveiled the artwork<span style="font-weight: bold;"> For the Love of God</span> at London's White Cube gallery. This<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Hirst</span> 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. <span style="font-weight: bold;">For the Love of God </span>will be exhibited at <span style="font-weight: bold;">Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum</span> for six weeks starting on November 1 before it embarks on a world tour.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Take a look at this video "Damien Hirst's Auction Gamble" by WSJDigitalNetwork: </span><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qzdNCKSON-U&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qzdNCKSON-U&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Visit a blog post at <a href="http://dailyqi.com/?p=274">daily Qi</a> about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Here's a look at some other videos with my posts:</span><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/11/victoria-and-albert-museum-london.html"><br />Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/pablo-picasso-and-video.html">Pablo Picasso & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/monets-garden-at-giverny-and-video.html">Monet's Garden at Giverny & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/vincent-van-gogh-said-plus-video.html">Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-motherwell.html">Robert Motherwell Bio & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/major-czanne-exhibit-czanne-video.html">Major Cézanne Exhibit & video</a>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-89431694821263016242008-07-31T13:58:00.000-07:002008-11-09T13:51:12.784-08:00Pablo Picasso and Video<span style="font-size:130%;">Pablo Ruiz Picasso</span> (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.<br /><br />To begin to have some understanding of Picasso the man and artist, he had this to say about his art and of himself:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"</span> 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. <span style="font-weight: bold;"> "</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> ~ Picasso</span> [1]<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"</span> 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. <span style="font-weight: bold;">"</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">~ Picasso</span> [2]<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enjoy some of Picasso's portraits in this video</span> by 'eggman 913' (Philip Scott Johnson), music by Yo Yo Ma.<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fjoWCdzhuFI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fjoWCdzhuFI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />To take a look at other videos with my posts:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/11/victoria-and-albert-museum-london.html">Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/09/damien-hirst.html">Damien Hirst & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/monets-garden-at-giverny-and-video.html">Monet's Garden at Giverny & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/vincent-van-gogh-said-plus-video.html">Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-motherwell.html">Robert Motherwell Bio & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/major-czanne-exhibit-czanne-video.html">Major Cézanne Exhibit & video</a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">References:</span><br />[1] Ingo F. Walther, <span style="font-style: italic;">Pablo Picasso 1881-1973, Genius of the Century,</span> trans. Hugh Beyer (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1993), 18.<br />[2] Ibid., 24.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-595158269241357602008-07-09T10:32:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:24:46.451-08:00Monet's Garden at Giverny and Video<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SHUikRXESYI/AAAAAAAAB4c/D89vN_JDQOc/s1600-h/Monet%27s+Photo+by+Nadar,+1899.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SHUikRXESYI/AAAAAAAAB4c/D89vN_JDQOc/s320/Monet%27s+Photo+by+Nadar,+1899.jpg" title="Claude Monet (1840-1926), photo by Félix Nadar,1899." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221117349536745858" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Claude Monet (1840-1926), photo by Félix Nadar,1899.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Claude Monet's garden at Giverny, France lives on, inspiring and delighting many who visit. </span>Monet shaped his garden and assigned every plant its place, planning and ordering, laying out beds and borders according to varieties and colors.<br /><br />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]"<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">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</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> Le Figaro</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, dated August 9, 1901:</span><br /><br />" 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.<br /><br />. . . . . . 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.<br /><br />This last helps to describe the master's creation; the effect is explosive and joyful, and every effect is planned.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SHU082JzSbI/AAAAAAAAB4k/zs7foaazcPI/s1600-h/Monet%27s+Lily+Pond,+Giverny.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SHU082JzSbI/AAAAAAAAB4k/zs7foaazcPI/s320/Monet%27s+Lily+Pond,+Giverny.jpg" title="Monet's Lily Pond, Giverny, France." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221137562939378098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Photo of Claude Monet's Water Lily Pond and Japanese Bridge, Giverny, France.</span> From <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Jardin_du_Monet.jpg">Wikimedia Commons.</a><br /><br />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.<br /><br />. . . . . . 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]<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Enjoy a beautiful tour of Monet's Garden in Giverny, France. Video from 'lynnvm'</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9obJvg6F9pQ&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9obJvg6F9pQ&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />To take a look at other videos with my posts:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/11/victoria-and-albert-museum-london.html">Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/09/damien-hirst.html">Damien Hirst & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/pablo-picasso-and-video.html">Pablo Picasso & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/vincent-van-gogh-said-plus-video.html">Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-motherwell.html">Robert Motherwell Bio & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/major-czanne-exhibit-czanne-video.html">Major Cézanne Exhibit & video</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Visit a blog post at <a href="http://dailyqi.com/?p=274">daily Qi</a> about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.</span><br /><br /><br /><br />References:<br />Photo of Claude Monet from<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page"> Wikipedia.</a><br />[1] Christoph Heinrich,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Claude Monet</span> trans. Michael Hulse (Cologne: Benedikt Taschen, 1994), 73.<br /><br />[2] Charles F. Stuckey, ed., <span style="font-style: italic;">Monet: A Retrospective</span> (New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1985), 220-223.Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-58127490894438229592008-07-01T00:02:00.000-07:002008-11-09T14:08:14.533-08:00Robert Motherwell, Bio and Video<span style="font-size:130%;">Short bio & video of Robert Motherwell's work:<br /><br />Robert Motherwell</span> (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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />His most famous works are a series entitled "Elegy to the Spanish Republic," a homage to Picasso's "Guernica."<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Here's a very moving and beautiful video of Robert Motherwell's art from 'artpopulus' with music by Leó Ferré, </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Ne chantez pas la mort</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/r2r6wHnyQcw&hl=en&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/r2r6wHnyQcw&hl=en&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Abstract Expressionism</span> 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]<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />To take a look at other videos with my posts:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/11/victoria-and-albert-museum-london.html">Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/09/damien-hirst.html">Damien Hirst & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/pablo-picasso-and-video.html">Pablo Picasso & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/monets-garden-at-giverny-and-video.html">Monet's Garden at Giverny & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/vincent-van-gogh-said-plus-video.html">Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/major-czanne-exhibit-czanne-video.html">Major Cézanne Exhibit & video</a><br /><br /><br />References:<br />[1] Judith Clark, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Illustrated History of Art </span>(New York: Mallard Press, 1992), 199.<br /><br />[2]<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Art Book</span> (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996), Glossary.Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-67113949261140288032008-06-26T10:19:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:27:18.546-08:00Major Cézanne Exhibit & Cézanne video<span style="font-size:130%;">Cézanne Exhibit & Video</span><br /><br />Britain's biggest single collection of paintings by the French artist<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Paul Cézanne </span>(1839-1906) will go on display in its entirety for the first time, starting today: <span style="font-weight: bold;"> from June 26 to October 5, 2008, at London's Courtauld Gallery.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />"The Courtauld Cézannes"</span> 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.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SGppS0IPHlI/AAAAAAAAB30/whSJVs_yxLM/s1600-h/Cezanne.+The+Card+Players,+1892-5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/SGppS0IPHlI/AAAAAAAAB30/whSJVs_yxLM/s400/Cezanne.+The+Card+Players,+1892-5.jpg" title="Paul Cézanne, Card Players, 1892-95, oil on canvas, Courtauld Gallery, London." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218098890213891666" border="0" /></a>Paul Cézanne, Card Players, 1892-95, oil on canvas, Courtauld Gallery, London. Image from Wikimedia Commons.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />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."<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/index.shtml">For more info on this exhibition, link to the Courtauld Gallery, London here.</a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enjoy this video of Paul Cézanne's art from 'latempesta67' with music by Battiato.</span><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VNZcJreV4oI&hl=en&rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VNZcJreV4oI&hl=en&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />To take a look at other videos with my posts:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/11/victoria-and-albert-museum-london.html">Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/09/damien-hirst.html">Damien Hirst & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/pablo-picasso-and-video.html">Pablo Picasso & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/monets-garden-at-giverny-and-video.html">Monet's Garden at Giverny & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/vincent-van-gogh-said-plus-video.html">Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-motherwell.html">Robert Motherwell Bio & video</a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Visit a blog post at <a href="http://dailyqi.com/?p=274">daily Qi</a> about the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) re-opening, with a video media tour of the revitalized AGO and Frank Gehry's architecture.</span><br /><br />» Sources: supplemented with report from Agence France-Presse.Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8899946075452399866.post-81047374439859237462007-10-15T01:23:00.000-07:002014-01-09T20:16:34.213-08:00Xu Beihong (徐悲鴻)--famous horses<img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RxKpUHCp3QI/AAAAAAAAADk/4pZMOIm-HBE/s400/xu+01-1.jpg" title="Six Horses, Xu Beihong, ink/colour on paper, 1942" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121341889226333442" border="0" /><center>Six Horses, Xu Beihong, ink/colour on paper, 1942.</center><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Loved by many for its strength & courage,</span> endurance, speed & grace, the horse has been celebrated in art & literature since the beginning of time. Civilizations advanced with the help of horses & these noble animals continue to fascinate us.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RxKoL3Cp3OI/AAAAAAAAADU/aFzB2A7z8IA/s320/xu+02-1.jpg" title="Galloping Horse, Xu Beihong, ink on paper, 1950" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121340647980784866" border="0" /><span style="font-size:130%;">No wonder the horse is a favourite subject among artists. One master stood tall in this regard. He is the Chinese artist, Xu Beihong, also known as Hsü Pei-hung, or Ju Péon. His dynamic ink paintings of horses are widely recognized by Chinese audiences.</span><br /><br /><br />Galloping Horse, Xu Beihong, ink on paper, 1950.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">With manes flying,</span> powerful necks & legs straining, Xu Beihong's galloping horses come alive in front of you.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Beihong excelled</span> at both oils & traditional Chinese ink. He integrated the ancient & modern, sought to combine Chinese brush & ink techniques with Western realism, perspective foreshortening & composition. His other subject matter included figures & portraits, birds & animals, plants & landscapes.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RxKno3Cp3NI/AAAAAAAAADM/yLiUONfizvY/s320/xu+03-1.jpg" title="Horse Grooming, Xu Beihong, ink on paper, 1943" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121340046685363410" border="0" />Horse Grooming, Xu Beihong, ink on paper, 1943.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Or, Beihong painted</span> his horses resting, quietly grazing or grooming, infusing them with grace & intelligence.<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Xu Beihong </span>was born in Yixing County, Jiangsu Province, on July 19, 1895. At age 9, he started to learn Chinese painting. In 1919, on a Chinese government scholarship, he studied in Paris, France, at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He learned the European manner of realistic oil painting & devoted many long hours sketching & studying the masterpieces in the museums of France, Berlin, Brussels, Italy & Switzerland. Rembrandt & Rubens were favourites. He spent 8 years abroad, during which time he had acquired a wide knowledge of art.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">In 1933</span> he was invited by the French National Art Gallery in Paris to organize a Chinese art exhibition. The French government bought 12 traditional Chinese paintings, including works by Beihong, Qi Baishi & Gao Qifeng. Additional invites came from Italy, Belgium, Berlin, Moscow & Leningrad.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">In 1949</span> he became president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing & was elected chairman of the National Union of Chinese Artists.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">At the age of 58,</span> Xu Beihong died of a stroke on September 26, 1953. His former residence in Beijing was converted into the Xu Beihong Museum. He left over 1,200 of his own works. By saving on his food & clothing, he had built an extensive collection & library of over 10,000 volumes on Chinese & foreign art, as well as over 1,200 other paintings & calligraphy from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming & Qing Dynasties & of modern times.<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Through Xu Beihong's efforts, new audiences & art museums abroad became familiar with Chinese art; as well, he had worked hard to advance Chinese painting within China.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/02/xu-beihong-part-ii.html"> Click here to see more of this artist's other Chinese paintings on Xu Beihong, Part II.</a></span><br /><br /><br />References:<br />Album of Xu Beihong Paintings. Beijing: Rong Bao Bian (Chinese), 1990.<br /><br />Paintings by Xu Beihong, Vol. 1. Compiled by Xu Beihong Museum & Beijing Publishing House. Beijing: Beijing Publishing House, 1979.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2007/10/wu-changshuo-strength-rhythm.html"><span style="font-size:130%;">To see also my commentary on Chinese artist Wu Changshuo, click here.</span><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nQ3RwaQQQPo/RxKqenCp3RI/AAAAAAAAADs/cOHIt9VMlUQ/s200/bag+200607+11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121343169126587666" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:200;">吳昌碩</span></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Take a look and enjoy these videos with my posts:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/11/victoria-and-albert-museum-london.html">Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/09/damien-hirst.html">Damien Hirst & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/pablo-picasso-and-video.html">Pablo Picasso & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/monets-garden-at-giverny-and-video.html">Monet's Garden at Giverny & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/07/vincent-van-gogh-said-plus-video.html">Vincent van Gogh Said ... & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/robert-motherwell.html">Robert Motherwell Bio & video</a><br /><br /><a href="http://art-bytes.blogspot.com/2008/06/major-czanne-exhibit-czanne-video.html">Major Cézanne Exhibit & video</a>Margaret Leehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16023915180050687443noreply@blogger.com1