Category Archives: about artists

LITTLE KNOWN STORIES ABOUT DA VINCI, MICHELANGELO, REMBRANDT AND MATISSE

I am a reader. I read every day. In fact, I begin every morning with reading. So I decided to start jotting things down whenever I found interesting, little known facts about well known artists.

LEONARDO DA VINCI’s father was a lawyer and he never married his mother. While he lived much of his childhood with his father, he had four step-mothers over the years. He was left-handed, But he was also a vegetarian, often buying birds in the market to set them free.

When a 23 year old Michelangelo delivered the Pieta, he overheard someone say they didn’t believe he (Michelangelo) had done the piece, he was much too young. Enraged, he left and returned with a chisel and carved out his name – making it the only statue he ever signed apparently. He once got back at a critic by painting him into a painting being smothered by a snake.

REMBRANDT left school at 13 to study art and had his own studio by age 17. In the famous painting The Night Watch, the models paid him to be in the painting. In fact, the people that paid the most were put in the front.

The Night Watch

MATISSE began every day by playing the violin for two hours. His wife Amelie supported him by opening a hat shop. She also raised a daughter of his by a previous girlfriend.

I think knowing a few little odd facts about artist’s make them more interesting and more human. What do you think?

ADVENTURES WITH ARTIST TRADING CARDS

What is an artist trading card, or ATC? It is a 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 piece of original art that artist trade. I became involved with a group of women internationally in the fall on 2013. Once a month we all create pieces of art and send them to a different recipient. As an added bonus, you can send additonal cards to women in the group for the month of your birthday. Well, December was my birthday month! What a month! Going to the mailbox each day was an adventure – I was receiving cards from Australia, the UK, Canada and all over the US. I love them all so much, I wanted to post the ones I have received so far!

Renee Bekking; Amsterdam

Jean Wagner, Everett Washingon
http://jeanfwagner.blogspot.com/

Leah Boulet, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Lynn Sweeney Bedwell, Salisbury, New Hampshire

Janine Whitling, Queensland, Australia;
www.janinewhitling.com.au

LaDonna Davis, Los Angeles, Calif.

Caroline Flexman, London

Elizabeth McNulty, Frankfort KY

Kristen Conley, Fullerton, Calif.

Amy Riddle, Asheville, NC
www.onajourneybacktoherwings.blogspot.com

Ciarra Simpson, Leeds, UK

Melissa Humphries, New South Wales, Australia

another one from Elizabeth McNulty, Frankfort, KY

Are they all just marvelous? I feel to blessed to have made these friends around the globe that share their wonderful talents with me!!!

MY ARTIST DATE – with myself and Little Vickie

I have embarked on a year long journey with over 60 women from around the world committed to working through the transformative book The Artist’s Way. One of the basic principles of the book is to take yourself on an artist date. This is done alone spending time with your little artist nurturing and having fun. So – I took Little Vickie with me to the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

Boy, Little Vickie does look excited and I think she and her doll have on the same dress.

So, off we went to see the exhibit Fast Forward, Modern Moments 1913 – 2013. I am a regular museum goer, but it had been A LONG time since I have gone with just Little Vickie.

Exterior of the High Museum

Just a note, the name The High Museum does not refer to “high” art, but for the High Family that donated the land for the museum.

This exhibit is organized by six pivotal years in the world of art and this blog will be about the first two, the years of 1913 and 1929.

1913 – New Art for a New World
1929 – New Visions
1950 – Action and Abstraction
1961 Art and Life
1988 Constructing Identities
2013 The Near Present

1913

Probably the biggest change during this time was new technologies in travel, most remarkably the airplane. Flight became a widespread symbol in paintings, drawing, music and literature. This was also the year Charlie Chaplin signed with Keystone pictures, the first Armory Show in New York was held, the Panama Canal was opened and the Model T was introduced. Take a look at some of the paintings from this year.

Matisse, The Blue Window

“An artist must possess Nature. He must identify himself with her rhythm, by efforts that will prepare the mastery which will later enable him to express himself in his own language.” Matisse

Mondrian Composition in Brown and Gray

“Every true artist has been inspired more by the beauty of lines and color and the relationships between them than by the concrete subject of the picture.” Mondrian

I can’t look at a Mondrian painting and not think about music and rhythm. Did you realize he was quite an accomplished dancer? Click HERE for a short video of art historial Kermit Swiller Champa talking about Mondrian’s interest in dancing and the boogie woogie. The above painting is consider analytic cubism.

Picasso, Glass, Guitar and Bottle

This painting is synthetic cubism, which grew out of analytic cubism. Developed by Picasso and Braque, they discovered through the repetition of analytic signs their work became flatter. This was the beginning of collage, when real pieces of paper and music began replacing depictions that were painted.

Umberto Boccioni, Unique Forms in Continuity in Space

This is considered a Futurist sculpture. Don’t you love the movement of this apparent human form in motion that suggests speed and power? An interesting fact about this piece, the lack of arms is an homage to Rodin’s Walking Man

Juan Gris – Grapes

Juan Gris studied mechanical drawing. He also designed ballet sets for Diaghilev and his famous Ballets Russes. “You are lost the moment you know what the result will be”. Juan Gris (originally known as Jose Gonzalez-Perez.

1929

Not only did the stock market crash in 1929, but it was also the year of both the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the year Stalin took power. The Vatican became a sovereign state and Hemingway published A Farewell to Arms.

Salvador Dali had his first solo exhibition in Paris. Andre Breton, considered the founder of surrealism, said of the show “It is perhaps with Dali that for the first time the windows of the mind are opened fully wide”.

Salvador Dali Illumined Pleasures

The title “Illumined Pleasures” is thought to refer to the “luminous” objects projected into the theaterlike boxes. Dali’s painting are extremely detailed, but many of them are very small. (this painting is a mere 9 3/8 x 10 3/4). “Have not fear of perfection, you will never reach it.” Dali.

Magritte The Palace of Curtains III

Magritte shows us two images in this painting, one of the sky and the other with the word Ciel, which is the French word for sky. The word and the image are the same in their meaning. “An object never serves the same function as its image – or its name.” Magritte.

Max Ernst The Birds Above the Forest

I loved this painting. Forests and birds are subjects Max Ernst returned to over and over again. In fact, Ernst had an alter-ego Loplop, who is a birdlike character that reappears in many of his works.

Georgia O’Keeffe Farmhouse Window

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the few women represented in this show. I liked the lines and the simplicity of this painting. “I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality… and it has helped me to say what I want to say… in paint.” Georgia O’Keeffe

Gerald Murphy Wasp and Pear

Gerald Murphy probably painted less than 20 paintings in his lifestime. This painting is one of his last, and is considered a mix of the styles of Cubism and Art Deco. Murphy and his wife Sara were ex-patriots living in both Paris and the French Riviera. They are remembered for their salons, attended by Picasso, Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In fact, he and his wife are the models for Nicole and Dick Diver in Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. I plan on learning more about this artist and his life.

Alfred Stieglitz Equivalent Series

This is part of Equivalents, which is a series of over 200 photographs primarily of the sky without a horizon, and mostly without hills, trees, buildings, making them among the first abstract photographs. He said of this series “I know exactly what I have photographed. I know I have done something that has never been done…I also know that there is more of the really abstract in some ‘representation’ than in most of the dead representations of the so-called abstract so fashionable now.”

I think this enough for now! I will write about the years of 1950, 1961, 1988 at a later date.

So, what did I and Little Vickie learn? I learned by going alone to the museum I could take the time to really look, read and listen to the audio.

What in an exhibit gets your attention?

I DID IT!!!! BLOGTOBERFEST 2012

Blogtoberfest 2012

I did it – I posted a blog every day in the month of October, missing only one day – and I bought a car that weekend.

I am not going to lie – I’m glad it is over. But, I did learn a few things.

1. I need to take more photos. I did purchase a Smartphone during October, and that helped. But, I need more photos to illustrate my blog by making it more personal.

2. Sticking to a plan helps. Having a series – The A to Z’s of Art really helped keep me on track.

3. There are other things to write about other than my art and what I’m doing. I researched artists. And I learned some things that surprised me (see Q for Quills- I had no idea!).

4. Keep a journal – catch those ideas as they fly by!

5. If I do it again, I will highlight fellow artists – which takes a little pre-planning!

So – I spent a day with every letter, and I participated in a Blog Circle where 12 women around the globe wrote about Courage. Here are some of the links to past blogs here.

Courage in Art

A IS FOR ACRYLIC PAINT through Z IS FOR ZIGGY, MY STUDIO ASSISTANT.

Posts in between are:

J is for Joel – Epiphany in the Dark

K is for Anselm Keifer

L is for Louvre

M is for My Studio

N is for Negative Space

O is for Georgia O’Keefe

P is for Photographing your Artwork

U is for the Lady and the Unicorn

V is for the View from My Deck

W is for Warhol

X is for the Portrait of Lady X

Y is for Yellow

Y IS FOR YELLOW – THE A TO Z’S of ART

I have to admit, I had looked up the color yellow and found all this symbolism through the ages and I was going to post it. But, this impending disaster with Hurricane Sandy got my attention. I decided to just post a few images that show the color yellow – and you can decide yourself. Among them, a yellow tree, Rothko, Van Gogh and Kandinsky.

: Tree

X IS FOR THE PORTRAIT OF MADAME X, THE A TO Z’S OF ART

The Portrait of Madame X, by John Singer Sargent

This painting created quite a scandal when shown in Paris in 1884. Painted by John Singer Sargent, it is the portrait 0f Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau, an American expatriot married to a French banker. She became notorious for both her beauty and for her infidelities, and even though she craved attention, this portrait ruined her reputation forever. She retired from public life, and it is said she destroyed all the mirrors in her home.

The plunging neckline was considered seductive, and one of the straps was originally shown slipping off the shoulder. The portrait was considered sensual and decadent, even after Sargent returned the strap to the shoulder.

Sargent was considered a rising star at the time the portrait was painted. He fled to England and slowly recovered from the scandel.

This painting was not commissioned, and Gatreau refused to purchase it. Sargent kept it and hung it in his London studio. He started displaying it in international exhibitions and sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1916 saying “I suppose it is the best thing I have ever done”.

If you want to know more about the painting, there is an interesting book – Strapless by Deborah Davis which also goes into the world of American ex-patriots living in Paris, where many of the characters could be from fiction rather than non-fiction.

W IS FOR WARHOL, THE A TO Z’s OF ART

Andy Warhol

I don’t know what you think of Warhol, in fact, I’m not sure what I think of Andy. Everybody knows his name, and outside of Dali’, no artist has been better at marketing art.

Coming from the world advertising, I ask when does self -promoting hurt your art? I don’t know the answer.

I talked to a gallery owner in New York, and he felt Warhol would come to “a door if it was opening”.

What does 15 minutes of fame really mean? It was interesting to find the saying has a Wikipedia page – here

I have read the books – here are the links

The Andy Warhol Diairies

Popism, The Warhol Sixties

Edie, An American Girl – my personal favorite

Then there are the movies – how many actors have portrayed Warhol? Actually seven to eight depending on where you look. Here are my favorite movies.

Another personal favorite – David Bowie – in Basquiat

Guy Pierce in Factory Girl

Crispen Porter in The Doors

Who was the best Warhol?

Guy Pearce

David Bowie

Crispen Porter

The images of Crispen Porter and Guy Pierce as so similar I had to quadruple check the images! Who do you think was the best?

What is your favorite Andy Warhol painting? Marilyn, Jackie O, Campbell Soup Cans (which I bought the limited edition at Target)

U IS FOR UNICORN, THE LADY AND THE UNICORN, THE A TO Z’S OF ART

THE LADY AND THE UNICORN is the modern title of six tapestries from Flanders, woven in wool and silk in the late 15th Century. They are on display at the Musee’ du Moyen-Age in Paris (I was lucky enough to see them!)

It is generally agreed five of the tapestries depict one of the five senses – touch, taste, hearing, hearing and sight. The sixth tapestry displays the words “A mon seul desir”- and interpreted to depict love and understanding. Each tapestry shows a noble woman with a unicorn on her left and a lion on her right, and some include a monkey in the scene.

These six tapestries are generally considered one of the greatest works of art in the Middle Ages.

Now, I want to reread The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier!

T IS FOR THEFT (AS IN ART), THE A TO Z’S OF ART

Vermeer, The Concert

I find the world of stolen art and forgeries fascinating. The above Vermeer was stolen from the Gardner Museum – considered by many to be the greatest unsolved art heist in history. Theft of art is thought to be the third largest crime on the planet, after drugs and arms.

Here is a list of books I thoroughly enjoyed which all about forgery or theft.

The Forgery of Venus – this fictional book was the book that started my fascination with forgery and theft. It is a wild ride, dealing with drugs, forgery, time travel and the Nazi’s plunder.

The Vanished Smile, The Mysterious Theft of the Mona Lisa – yes, this iconic painting was stolen from the Louvre, with Picasso actually being questioned.

Priceless, How I Went Undercover To Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures – written by former FBI agency Robert Wittman, who began the agencies Art Crime Team.

Provenance, How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art – so interesting about how a con man created provenance for forged pieces of art! A good read about art history too.

The Gardner Heist, the True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft – another good art history read, but also an nail biting look at a long investigation that travels the globe, even suspecting the IRA at one time.

Stealing Rembrants, the Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists – a great ride across the planet investigating the underworld of art theft.

The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece – starts with the theft of The Scream by Munch.

Here is an article about the most recent heist in Rotterdam last week.

S IS FOR SURREALISM, THE A TO Z’S OF ART

Max Ernst

What is surrealism? Well, there isn’t a simple definition. Briefly, the surrealist works will have elements of surprise with unexpected and very illogical things together. Andre’ Breton, the founder of surrealism called is “pure psychic automatism in it’s pure state”. He went on to write the Manifesto of Surrealism.

The Surrealists were interested in children’s art, folk art, and outsider art. They were also very interested in the insane. They were tired of trivial every day living, they loved exploring dreams, magic and the subconscious. In fact, the movement really began with literary men exploring automatic writing.

They loved to play games, one of which was called “exquisite corpses”. This was a verbal game where three or more people were assigned part of a sentence, usually the subject, verb, a predicate and so forth, which was unknown to the rest of the group. The game got it’s name from the first sentence produced in this method “The exquistie/corpse/shall drink/the bubbling wine”. The visual artists did much the same game by drawing and folding the paper so the next artist could not see what was drawn already. The Surrealists loved chance, and as Breton said “they stood for something that couldn’t possibly be the work of a single brain.”

This is a very simplified version of what surrealism is – there have been tomes and tomes written about it. Not wanting to bore you, I thought I’d just share some examples of surrealist art. From left to right, the artists are: Valdimir Kush, George De Chirico, Joan Miro, Yves Tanguy, Rene’ Magritte, and Salvador Dali.

: Max Ernst

Vickie Martin

Mixed Media Art