Cubism

Cubism

Cubism was formed during the early 20^th century, around 1907 and 1911. Cubism affected literature and architecture bust mostly affected art; Cubism looked to futurism and constructivism. So when I was learning about cubism I was told about the Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne who was said to be the father of modern art, “is the father of us all"(Picasso). Cezanne’s style in his painting looks intensely at his topic and focuses less on composition. He focuses on the depth of what he looks at.

 The two Phases of cubism are The Synthetic phase (1907-1912) and the analytic phase (1913-1920).The analytic phase: the use of the palate was limited to mostly dark colours such as browns, greys, blacks and white; an examples would be Georges Braque. They everyday objects in their work. The Synthetic phase focused on even simpler shapes and started to use collage in their compositions. We now see colour used in cubism, which are much brighter. Robert Delauney is an artist from this phase.

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish Artist and is known as one of the first cubist artist; He was born on the 25th October 1881 and died on the 8th April 1973. In this painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, we can see Picasso’s early use of the cubist style; Cézanne’s style is obvious here as we can see he focus less on composition.

In 1909-1910 he created Figure dans un Fauteuil (Seated Nude, Femme nue assise), this painting shows analytic phase because of its use of colours and shapes. I found it difficult to guess what this painting is, only after reading the title did I know that it was a seated nude but I love Picasso still manages to show a body which blends easily into the back ground. To me it looks very modern and technical because of his use of shading. It has a very complex structure.

Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a synthetic Cubist, he worked using brighter colours giving his works a more decorative look. In a lot of his paintings he works using the Eiffel Tower in Paris, this building was only meant to stand for so long. He commonly uses when painting due to its manmade structure and height. When Delaunay paints the Eiffel Tower, he makes it seem like he is in the sky looking down on the building.  Tour Eiffel (1926), oil on canvas painting was the example of this where Delaunay uses colour that would never be seen on the Eiffel tower. I think it is interesting how he uses colour in this painting; it gets away from traditional art, colours and ideas.  

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff

Schmidt-Rottluff,

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was born in 1884 on the 1^st of December and died on the 10^th of August 1976. He was a German expressionist printmaker. This print is called Die heiligen drei Könige, it is on woodcut and is 50 x 39,4 cm (19,6 x 15,5 in). This print was created in 1917. In The print that is showing the magi from the biblical nativity scene we can see them carrying their gifts. I would never have known the subject without looking at the title of this Print. When I first looked at this print I did not know what it could be, although seeing three people. This print is different to other prints which are why I like it; the artist chooses a traditional subject and changes it to make it more interesting to the viewer. I also like how Schmidt-Rottluff uses the African tribal theme in his work because and how he has kept it basic in just black and white. The artist used much more square shapes over round in this print making it look much sharper and grabs the viewer attention. He also keeps the design simple by adding white lines to show details.

The Art Establishment

The Art Establishment

The art establishment or elite are the ones who decide if a piece of artwork is good or not based on subject matter, use of colour and technique, although I feel perhaps there is more to it than that. The art elite look to money as well as creativity but there can be confusion between the two. The Painter Jack Vettriano is a popular, his paintings look to vintage styles in fashion and cars and are very popular among many, even people in my family who have one his print in my house; I am not the biggest fan of vettrianos work but I can see why it is popular. The painter Jolomo who was also mentioned in this topic, is the second richest Scottish painter after Vettriano.  Jolomo Style is bright and vivid and popular to buyers due to the name on paintings. I have noticed that from these two examples that the name on the painting is very popular to art collectors who often buy due to popularity, often rising the artists popularity as a result. The issue with this is that artists can be told to reproduce only their popular work. I feel that this destroys the creativity of the artist and that money is the most important part in art; like many other industries such as fashion or music much is placed on the brand of the product. The art elite are often looking for creativity but can also be interested in money and brand.

Monet

Claude Monet

Claude Monet was born on the 14^th of November 1840 and he died on the 5^th of December 1926. Monet was a French painter of the impressionist movement. This new style of painting called Impressionism rejected the academic art in France during the 19^th century. The rejection of perspective and the new changes in the colour of paint brought the new movement. Impressionism challenged the traditional subjects in art; staged sets became much more natural scenes. The avoidance of dark colours and black was important to the look of impressionist paintings. When Monet uses colour we see how he uses the weather, time of day to affect his paintings. He uses the sunset in one of his 6 paintings of Rouen Cathedral, using the lighting correctly. Monet uses this in his paintings not trying to make his paintings overly realistic, instead in his later paintings we can see uses his paint thickly to capture a moment; his painting of Rouen Cathedral at different times of the days shows this perfectly. Monet Uses the outdoors in his paintings rather than in his studio and has been credited for doing this. Monet had the ability to capture the light and see colours in that process. For this reason Monet was described as the "the driving force behind Impressionism". My favourite of the series of paintings at Rouen Cathedral is the one during dull weather; the reason for this is because I think he gives the medieval building a haunted and dark feel which truly captures the essence of the building. He focuses on the building straight on at its lowest, change the mood of the person looking at the painting.

In this painting I found by Monet it shows his inspiration in Japanese styles in his paintings. The Japanese style was popular among many artists of Impressionism. Monet uses oil on canvas and the panting is called Madame Monet in a Japanese kimono (1875). Monet uses like in many of his paintings uses a female model who wears the kimono and a fan. Monet uses his bright Cadmium red to draw your attention to the detail; the details of the kimono are have been done to draw your eye to the centre with the contrasting colours such as blue for the figure on the kimono. I like this painting because of its use of colour and detail as well as the Japanese theme.

Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt

Mary Cassatt was an American painter she was born on the 22^nd of May 1844 and she died on the 14^th June 1926. She lived most of her live in France and was an artist of the Impressionist Movement. Cassatt made it successfully in a time when men mostly run he art world, she was described as a “New Woman” because of her success and talent. Cassatt often uses traditionally feminine subjects in her paintings and are usually more intimate. In contrast to Monet her work is much focused on the individual rather than the visual. The women in her paintings, such as The Child’s Bath  (1893) for example shows a more intimate side to her style in contrast to Monet’s Madame Monet in a Japanese kimono she is painted in a more decorative way. Mary Cassatt uses colour well in her paintings using a brighter palate and thick brush strokes. The painting Tea (1880) also shows her style of her art, the two women seem relaxed and non-staged. I like this painting because it makes you feel good viewing it; the painting is not overly dramatic.

Eugene Delacroix.

Eugene Delacroix.

The French Revolution in 1789 caused the world to change; People began to question the power in society and art was affected by this. Romanticism was the new movement that questioned enlightenment and longed for a return to nature. The Romantic artist’s believed that man had been born good but the world had made him bad. The artists of this period explored these new ideas.

 One of these romantic artists was Eugene Delacroix, he was a French painter who was born on the 26 April 1798 and he died on the 13 August 1863. He worked in the style of romanticism which was during the early 19^th century (1800-1850) and was a reaction against the enlightenment and the industrial revolution. This style can be seen in the painting by called Liberty Leading the People (1830). This Painting is 260 cm × 325 cm (102.4 in × 128.0 in) and is in the Louvre in Paris. In this painting it shows liberty at the center; she is surrounded by men with weapons and dead men during the French July revolution of 1830. This painting shows me that Delacroix is inspired by politics when creating his art work and is also influenced by the romantic notion that humans are born good but can be turned bad. In his paintings there is often a lot of action in them and dramatic scenes like the painting the Fanatics of Tangier which includes a similar scene with the flag and revolution. His subject matter is often based on political scenes. I do like this painting because of it makes you feel like you are witnessing history being made. The Painting is very dramatic and makes you want to look closely at its details.

Gustav Courbet

Gustav Courbet

Gustav Courbet was born on the 10^th of June 1819. He was a French painter who worked in the Realist style of painting. Gustav Courbet rejected the subject matter of Romanticism and worked on showing real life depictions. Gustav Courbet used this in his painting A Burial at Ornans (1849). He uses oil on canvas and this painting and it  is  315 cm × 660 cm. He depicts what looks to be real life moment, at a funeral using sombre characters to show the mood at a funeral. His use of colour is dark which is accurate for a funeral and his palate is lacking bright colours. Gustav’s style looks to more realistic scenes caught in the moment; you can see that in his paintings they lack emotion and overall drama which is expressed in Romantic paintings. Courbet uses his style of painting to look at the lives of the working classes and show their reality. I like this painting as I think he show the true emotion at a funeral; He shows the true reality of life and death. The painting doesn’t show what happens after death instead it shows a reality of the unknown. The Painter's Studio (1855) is another painting by Gustav Courbet that shows Courbet painting in his studio. The size of this painting is 361 cm × 598 cm. The colours he used are also dark using mostly darker colours such as browns and grey shades. I like how Courbet has included himself at the centre of this painting, painting a landscape. He is turned away from the female model that represents academic art.

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai was born on the 31st of October 1760 and he died on the 10^th of May 1849. He was a print maker of the Edo Period in Japan. The Great Wave off Kanagawa, one of his prints from the Thirty six views of Mount Fuji series is what I am writing about. The Print was created between 1829 and 1832 and is a landscape. In this print which is famously known for the use of the waves and shows Mount Fuji in the back ground, he uses his colours well in this Print to show the blues streaks of the sea and the obvious use of white, the white has been used to show also to represent the snow over mountain as it falls from the sea. The waves are very stiff like mountains and look like they are frozen as they blend with Mount Fuji in the back ground. Hokusai doesn’t use more than four colours in the print and keeps it simple. For the sky he uses a gradient affect for the sky in red in contrast to the waves. The red around Fuji draws your eyes to the centre of the print. The Men in the Boats on this print look as if they are about to be drowned if the scene had not been frozen. When I look at this print I see waves that are coming out the print making the viewer feel like they are part of his print. What I like is how Hokusai brings the waves to look like mountains and blends them which is very impressive.

Arbroath Abbey by John Piper

The English Artist John Piper was born on the 13 of December 1903 and he died on the 28^th of June 1992. The Print Arbroath Abbey was created in 1988. The Print is of a ruined abbey in which the artist uses black white and grey tones which adds to the haunted look. Around the print is the shade Black used to draw the eye of the viewer to centre. The use of white is used where the moon hits building. The print has been set during the night because of the darkness in the sky and is also likely the reason for the use of darker shades. When I look at this print I start to think of a perfect haunted scene because of the medieval abbey which had been destroyed. This style is often what John Piper used in his other prints and his paintings which are usually of church buildings and gothic stained glass windows. I do like this print because of how he has used black and white affectively to show a haunted scene at night. I also like his use of ruined abbey in the centre giving it a romantic theme.