January 2013
1 post
May 2010
3 posts
Pop Art
I have always been fascinated but Andy Warhol, but turned off by how well known he is and his most famous works.
However, after learning more details about him in Art History, I have a deeper appreciation for the work he made, his ideas, his processes, and the evolution of Pop Art.
Andy Warhol, Oxidation painting, 1978, copper metallic paint and Urine on canvas
(close-up)
I have...
Action Painting and the Abstract Expressionists
I’m going to start with the most powerful Abstract Expressionist paintings that I’ve seen in person.
Jackson Pollock, Number 1, 1950 Lavender Mist, c. 1950
As I wandered around the National Gallery with my father who is completely unaffected by the art world, I saw the huge Lavender Mist from across the room. A group of kinder...
Surrealism
The world’s favorite mustache. (poor Velazquez, his mustache is way bigger than yours.) And the world’s most famous surrealist, Salvador Dali.
SURREALISM, noun, masc., Pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express, either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all...
April 2010
4 posts
Van Gogh and Gauguin
Before Van Gogh and Gauguin color was translated literally on the canvas. How dare you use yellow for the grass and red for the sky.
Van Gogh talks about color as means of expression, as a power, “I am know going to be the arbitrary colorist. I exaggerate the fairness of the hair, I even to orange tones, chromes and pale citron-yellow. Behind the head, instead of...
Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, and Griselda Pollock.
Cassatt, Little girl in a blue arm chair, c. 1878
This is one of my favorite pieces by Mary Cassatt. A moment that is caught only by a mother. A moment reflective of both childhood and womanhood. A child stuck in a grown-ups world, swallowed by the ocean of blue chairs, awkwardly plopped trying to filled the space. The little girl is slouched...
Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes (and Photography)
Photography, in my opinion, is one of the most challenging art forms we have today.
It is so simple, so accessible, easy to learn and even automatically have technical precision, but it is capturing emotion, feeling, an atmosphere, that makes one see the “truth” differently.
The First Photograph c. 1826, Joseph Niepce
First...
Constructivism
“The optimistic, non-representational relief construction, sculpture, kinetics and painting. The artists did not believe in abstract ideas, rather they tried to link art with concrete and tangible ideas.”
Dedicated for social purposes, “art for art’s sake.”
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Artipop Poster by Mayakovsky
Poetry
“The rain sobbed all over...
March 2010
4 posts
Manet
Self Portrait with a Palette Edouard Manet c. 1879
Olympia Edouard Manet c. 1863
Olympia Yasumasa Morimura c. 1990
What inspires me about Manet’s Olympia is how he did not intend for his pieces to be picked up with such controversy and scandal, but he merely painted what he saw. Not only did he paint what he saw, but by answering Baudelaire’s call, he shattered...
Constantine Guys
“The Painter of Modern Life” by Charles Baudelaire c. 1863
Portrait of the author
Favorite quotes from the work:
“Rapturously breathing in all the odours and essences of life.”
“A child sees everything in a state of newness, he is always drunk.”
“The boisterous sun beating a tattoo on his window pane.”
At first I was...
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Happy Accidents of the Swing, 1767, French Rococo
Rococo:
a style that originated in France in the 18th century, marked by elaborate decorativeness, light colors, and organic forms.
Jean-Honore’ Fragonard embodies French Rococo in his scandalous painting of the swing. Through his symbolism he depicts a woman swinging from one man to another. Her shoe...
Las Meninas Diego Velazquez c. 1656
Foucault and the power of the stare
As viewers of artwork we are comfortable with being the observers. As an observer you obtain the power of interpretation and analysis. Velaquez’ plays with our power in his 1656 painting Las Meninas. The artist, the princess, and many of her surrounding figures appear to be acknowledging our existence as we peer into...
February 2010
13 posts
Bernini
Bernini, “Apollo and Daphne” c. 1624
The over-all thrust of the piece is captivating. The way it swirls through space and activates the negative space around it. It is like a continuous breath with intricate moments. Those moments provide as a climax to the gesture of the action taking place. I love that moment where Daphne’s fingers are transforming into tree...
Buddha vs. Jesus
I could not find any of the works from the book that I compared and contrasted online, but I have put in substitute pictures above and provided the page number to the actual image I am referring to.
“Opus Sectile Panel of Christ”
pg. 354, Italy, 250AD
-Color
-Decorative marks that only serve as just that, unmeaningful
-Because of the surprised look,...
Julia Kristeva reading
Looking at page 243-244, what historical influences shaped Bellini’s perception?
Flemish landscape painting, iconography, and Mediterranean architecture.
What few biographical details do we have of his life? Describe particularly the status of his relationship to his mother revealed on 244, 246-7
His father and brother were both painters, his father Jacopo Bellini...
Michelangelo and the Renaissance
“The Torment of Saint Anthony” Michelangelo 1487
What do I know about Michelangelo? (Prior to class)
The first thing that comes to mind is the book “From the Mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.”
I remember when they become fascinated with a sculpture and its mysterious initial’s engraved on it. They later find out that...
Creation
Hugo van der Goes, The Fall of Adam and Eve, c.1470
Genesis 1
001:002 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
001:011 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth:...
Gothic painting
“American Gothic” Grant Wood, 1930
not to be confused with “American Goth”
The term gothic in art history refers to
1 a : of, relating to, or resembling the Goths, their civilization, or their language b : TEUTONIC, GERMANIC c:MEDIEVAL 1d: UNCOUTH, BARBAROUS.
2 a : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in...
“Transfiguration” Theophanes the Greek
1403
The gold leaf background and the stiff depiction of fabric distinguishes this piece as a Byzantine work of art. The unique aspect of this work that separates it from most Byzantine works is the ability to see human form underneath the heavy, stiff fabric. Christ is shown scaring the eyes of the Apostles below. Even though the Apostles and...
Illuminated Manuscript
My illuminated manuscript using lyrics from “So much beauty in dirt” by Modest Mouse.
Typography, contemporary “illuminated manuscripts”:
Mike Perry
http://www.mikeperrystudio.com/
Compare:
Lindisfarne Gospels
Insular Manuscript, 715 ce
text page from Book of Kells, 805 ce
Contemporary:
Yulia Brodskaya
...
REALISM: an aesthetic that promotes accurate, detailed, unembellished depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects imaginative idealization in favour of close observation of outward appearances. It was a dominant current in French art between 1850 and 1880.
Presenting the object exactly how it is in real life.
NATURALISM: an aesthetic movement of the late 19th to early 20th...
Compare and Contrast
“The Swing” Jean-Honore’ Fragonard
France, 1767
“Quatrefoil Box and Cover”
China, 1766
Despite being worlds apart on the map, “The Swing” and the Quatrefoil box have a lot in common. They both are covered in meticulous and elaborate floral designs that delicately frame the focal point of each piece. The silhouette of the...
Scott McCloud
http://www.ted.com/talks/scott_mccloud_on_comics.html
1. Learn from everyone
2. Follow no one
3. Watch for patterns
4. Work like hell
VISION
In Scott’s TED talk he talks about three types of vision:
Religion-faith in things that cannot be seen or proven, vision of the unseen and unknowable.
Theories-vision of something which can be, which may be, based on knowledge...
