Art History

cavetocanvas: Constantin Brancusi, Bird in Space, 1932-40 From...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:59:33 -0500

Constantin Brancusi, Bird in Space, 1932-40

From the Guggenheim:

The development of the bird theme in Constantin Brancusi’s oeuvre can be traced from its appearance in the Maiastra sculptures, through the Golden Bird group, and, finally, to the Bird in Space series. Sixteen examples of the Bird in Spacesequence, dating from 1923 to 1940, have been identified. The streamlined form of the present Bird in Space, stripped of individualizing features, communicates the notion of flight itself rather than describing the appearance of a particular bird. A vestige of the open beak of the Maiastra is retained in the beveled top of the tapering form, a slanted edge accelerating the upward movement of the whole.

This sculpture, closely related to a marble version completed in 1931, could have been cast as early as 1932 and finished in 1940. Though the shaft of the first Bird in Space was mounted on a discrete conical support, the support of the present example is incorporated as an organically irregular stem, providing an earthbound anchor for the sleek, soaring form.

As was customary in Brancusi’s work, the brass is smoothed and polished to the point where the materiality of the sculpture is dissolved in its reflective luminosity. Brancusi’s spiritual aspirations, his longing for transcendence of the material world and its constraints, are verbalized in his description of Bird in Space as a “project before being enlarged to fill the vault of the sky.”

Terrence “Terry” Richardson (born August 14, 1965)...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:05:00 -0500

Terrence “Terry” Richardson (born August 14, 1965) is an American fashion photographer. His work is widely known throughout the fashion and photography world. His distinctive style has brought him opportunities for work in GQ, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Tom Ford, and others. Born in New York, and raised in Los Angeles, his subjects go from high profile celebrities and models.

Other Works to see: Lady Gaga x Terry Richardson, Terrywood, and Manimal

Jeffrey “Jeff” Koons (born January 21, 1955) is...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:28:00 -0500

Jeffrey “Jeff” Koons (born January 21, 1955) is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces.

Koons’ work has sold for substantial sums of money including at least one world record auction price for a work by a living artist. The largest sum known to be paid for a work by Koons is Balloon flower (Magenta) which was sold at Christie’s London, on Monday, June 30, 2008 (Lot 00012) in the Post-War & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, where it sold for £12,921,250 or $25,765,204.

Critics are sharply divided in their views of Koons. Some view his work as pioneering and of major art-historical importance. Others dismiss his work as kitsch: crass and based on cynical self-merchandising. Koons has stated that there are no hidden meanings in his works, nor any critiques.

Other works to see: Balloon Flower, Puppy, and Tulips

Mr. Brainwash (“MBW”) is a pseudonym for Thierry...

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:47:59 -0500

Mr. Brainwash (“MBW”) is a pseudonym for Thierry Guetta. According to the Banksy directed film Exit Through the Gift Shop, Guetta, who lives in Los Angeles, California, began as a proprietor of a clothing store and videographer who evolved into a street artist and gallery artist after being influenced by the street artists he documented through video over the years.

More works to see: Je T’aime I love You, Keep Creating, and Spray Cans

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist,...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:01:00 -0500

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique. Such artistic works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy’s work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. According to author and graphic designer Tristan Manco and the book Home Sweet Home, Banksy “was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s.” Observers have noted that his style is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass, which maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is active today.

Mark Rothko(1903-1970) is an American painter. He resisted to...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:53:09 -0400

Mark Rothko(1903-1970) is an American painter. He resisted to label himself as an Abstract Expressionist, and ushered in a new age of painting in the United States. You are able to argue that the age of Minimalism arises in his paintings, but there is much more to be surfaced. Much of his work is shown and created by his passionate emotion that he had gone through throughout his life. In the painting, he created a series of similar works in which he broke down the form of emotions and objects. He also suggests to step away from his work in order to go into it.

Other works to see: No.3/No.13, No.61

Lavender Mist: No.1 Jackson Pollock(1912-1956) is an American...

Sun, 16 May 2010 23:54:00 -0400

Lavender Mist: No.1

Jackson Pollock(1912-1956) is an American born artist who created a series called drip paintings he molded from his experimentation of abstractionism and expressionism. The painting as displayed above is the first in a many series of drip paintings. The artist was more obsessed with the process of the painting than the final result, thus created the surprising balanced works. Pollock died from a fatal car crash in 1956, a suicide attempt while being intoxicated. Little is known from the artist.

Other works to see: NO. 5, 1948, Scent, Search

nowmybutthurts portrait of ross by felix gonzalez-torres As...

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:35:57 -0400

nowmybutthurts

portrait of ross by felix gonzalez-torres

As I’ve gone on and on about this guy today, it’s easy to see why he’s one of my favorite conceptual artists.

At first glance it would appear to be the perfect parody of contemporary art. “Why, it’s only a pile of candy!” Those more inclined to actually interrogate it as a work of art might be more charitable. They might interpret the color, the texture. They might realize how the haphazard nature of the candy’s piling makes it’s final form mutable. And if they were bold enough, they might take a piece of the candy and eat it and enjoy it, and realize that this work of art gave the viewer some sort of tactile reaction and sense manipulation that a Monet or Martini or Mondrian couldn’t.

Ross was Gonzalez-Torres’s lover, who died of AIDS. When Ross was first diagnosed, his doctor told him his ideal weight was 155 pounds. Every day, the candy is weighed and 155 pounds is placed out. Here the candy IS love/happiness/sweetness/togetherness. Visitors to the museum are encouraged to enjoy a piece. It’s a giving, generous work of art; but with a dark edge; for as the candy gradually diminishes it symbolizes Ross’s weight loss due to AIDS. However, each morning the candy is weighed out and replenished,so that in this artwork (unlike life) Ross may live on forever.

Campbell’s Soup Cans Andy Warhol(1928-1987) is an American...

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:03:35 -0400

Campbell’s Soup Cans

Andy Warhol(1928-1987) is an American born painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who lead the way in Pop Art. He commercialized the art in his time and became famous for coining the saying, “Fifteen minutes of fame.” Campbell’s Soup Cans was a combination of painting and use of mechanical tools to create it, as a result it offended some artists, saying this was ‘disrespectful.’ Many tales behind the reason Warhol created his work exist, but one is simply, “I was a consumer of them.”

Other works to see: Brillo Pad, Shoes Shoes Shoes, A Gold Pad

Mona Lisa Leonardo Da Vinci(1452-1519) was the ideal Renaissance...

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:51:46 -0400

Mona Lisa

Leonardo Da Vinci(1452-1519) was the ideal Renaissance man in Italy. He was a painter, sculptor, musician, scientist, architect, botanist, and also writer. He created a smokey, haze style we now call sfumato. One of the high Renaissance painters, among Donatello, Michaelangelo, and Raphael, he followed the techniques of the Renaissance. Of which included use of lines, pyramids, and proportions for balance in the linear perspective. The Mona Lisa is a painting is a famous painting that was stolen from the Louvre and rediscovered later.

Other works to see: Virgins of the Rocks, Annunciation, John the Baptist.

The Swing Jean-Honoré Fragonard(1732-1806) is a French painter...

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:41:00 -0400

The Swing

Jean-Honoré Fragonard(1732-1806) is a French painter of the Rococo period. This period was before the French Revolution and during the reign of Louis XVI. The work of the Rococo is slightly suggestive(note man pointing up her skirt), ornate, lush, intricate in detail, soft pastels, and of the Aristocratic class. Though only in France, and short lived, the Rococo period contained many beautiful works.

Other works to see: The Lock, A Young Girl Reading, On the Topic of Love.

La Liberté guidant le peuple (Lady Liberty Leading the...

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:32:00 -0400

La Liberté guidant le peuple (Lady Liberty Leading the People)

Eugene Delacriox(1798-1863) is an artist of the French Romanticist period. His famous La Liberté guidant le peuple (Lady Liberty Leading the People) is an emotional representation of the glorification of the middle, elite, and peasant class working for the values of the state and purely their right to liberty. There is a use of line to represent balance among the living and the dead, along with the pyramid to suggest harmony in the plane. It promotes the democracy of France after its bloody revolution.

Other works to see: Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Messolonghi, The Massacre at Chios.

Falling Water Frank Lloyd Wright(1867-1959) is an American...

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:30:53 -0400

Falling Water

Frank Lloyd Wright(1867-1959) is an American architect, interior designer, writer and also educator. He was famous for his integration of the elements in his numerous works of architecture. The Falling water house, located in Bear Run, Penn., is a beautifully constructed piece of architecture that blended the natural scenery, the waterfall, and the modern contemporary home. This is considered one of his most aesthetic pieces of work.

Other works to see: First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS), Wright’s Price Tower, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow Piet Mondrian(1872-1944)...

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:09:41 -0400

Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow

Piet Mondrian(1872-1944) is an artist from the Netherlands who was born in Amersfoort and then later moved and died in New York City. He is a painter that contributed to the De Stijl movement, also known as neoplasticism. It promoted Utopian society, simplicity in color&form, and pure abstraction.

Other works to see: View from the Dunes with Beach and Piers, Domburg, Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red,

Luncheon on the Grass Edouard Manet(1832–1883), different from...

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:09:29 -0400

Luncheon on the Grass

Edouard Manet(1832–1883), different from Monet, is of the Realism period that influences the Impressionism directly. The painting itself presents a nude woman, in the foreground, with men of the Industrial age. The woman is superimposed, and to note, this is the breakthrough of Photography, Socialism, Communism and Women’s strength in society, influencing the Realist work. He creates the precursor to Impressionism itself, and will mark the genesis of Modernism as well.

Other works to see: Olympia, The Railway, Bar in den Folies-Bergère

Ecstasy of Saint Theresa Gian Lorenzo Bernini(1598-1680) is an...

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:00:47 -0400

Ecstasy of Saint Theresa

Gian Lorenzo Bernini(1598-1680) is an Italian artist who worked primarily in Rome under the Catholic Church. He is an ideal representative of the Baroque period. Influenced by Donatello and Michaelangelo’s work of the Renaissance, also the Classics of the Greeks and Romans, he created paintings, architecture, and sculptures for the Pope. This sculpture pulls the viewer and creates dramatic emotion of the event itself. The ornate and intricate folds help add depth to its perspective plane.

Other works to see: David, Apollo and Daphne, Fontana del Moro

via jesuisperdu Sculptures made of second-hand clothing, by...

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:52:08 -0400

via jesuisperdu

Sculptures made of second-hand clothing, by Derick Melander.

Calling of St. Matthew Caravaggio(1571–1610) is an Italian...

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:09:00 -0400

Calling of St. Matthew

Caravaggio(1571–1610) is an Italian painter of the Baroque art period. He combined the use of light(tenebrism), dramatic action, and the use of linear space. His work pulls the audience into the paintings he created, much of which was mainly religious. Most of his work was religious because he was patronized by the Catholic Church, who was facing problems in response to the Reformation of Protestantism. He mastered light in his time.

Japanese Bridge C l a u d e M o n e t (1840–1926)was born in...

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:56:00 -0400

Japanese Bridge

C l a u d e M o n e t (1840–1926)was born in Paris, France and died in Giverny, France. He is considered, to some, the father of the Impressionist, that paved way for the Post-Impressionists and the Expressionists.

Other works to see: Impression of a Sunrise, Waterlilies, Haystacks, Poplars.

What is this? We are a blog dedicated to Art History! …...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:31:44 -0500

What is this? We are a blog dedicated to Art History!

… Art History, what? Art History is the study of art through the ages. Simply stated it is the academic study of the history and development of the visual arts (Dictionary).

What do you post? We post the many wonderful pieces of art from all movements.

Who are you exactly? We are Art History students in the process of learning the subject, and art lovers alike.