Robert Henri and the eight apostles of ugliness – Part 1
December 18, 2009 by Portrait Painter
Filed under News from the Artworld
Although viewed by hundreds of thousands of Americans, the Armory Show of 1913 created a backlash against the modernist movements in art and stirred a jingoistic response for a return to realism, theretofore the dominant form, in the US. Edward Hopper is one of the better-known artists who emerged from the Ashcan School, “a realist artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States during the early twentieth century, best known for works portraying scenes of daily life in poor urban neighborhoods” (1). In fact, he studied under Robert Henri, an original member of “The Eight” founders of the Ashcan School (1). Hopper practiced American Scene painting, focusing largely on the loneliness of city life as his subject matter. He has often been compared to his contemporary in realism, Norman Rockwell, but while Rockwell’s work seem more of an homage to the values that Americans hold dear, such as family and patriotism, Hopper’s works possess a darker bent, centralizing on what the artist himself referred to as the “hideous beauty” of America (2). Since most of his work is from the post-depression era, it is easy to draw conclusions about the harshness of lessons learned as an influence in his choice of subject matter.
Between 1913 and 1923, Hopper was a commercial illustrator, and indeed his paintings often bear an illustrative quality, apparent in his use of bright colors in the foreground juxtaposed with darker ones in the background, as is often seen in comic books. Despite his several trips to Europe, he brought home little of the teachings of modernism, exhibiting only minor nods to Impressionism, sometimes evident when “the outlines of the buildings and their windows are too anomalous and wavering to qualify as true realism,” and to Expressionism in “details like the heavy gesture and painterly coloration ofwalls” (3). These are the sort of differences that set him apart from artists such as Rockwell; Hopper painted in a realistic style, but he acknowledged other movements without truly practicing them.
“The unique brilliance of Hopper’s paintingslies in the hyper-accessible ambiguity of his narratives. Each work implies a narrative history” (3); in plainer English, Hopper’s paintings are open to interpretation while remaining free of visual clutter. Everything before you on the canvas is simple and recognizable, but there can be a number of different scenarios applied to whatever mini-drama is being enacted, and even those scenarios
Claude Monet Appreciation
December 3, 2009 by Portrait Painter
Filed under Impressionist
Claude Monet French Impressionist Painter
In my student days in New York, I frequented the Museum of Modern Art on the 58th St. Every time I visited the Museum I had an impulsive urge to spend at least 2-3 minutes watching the water lilies of Monet. It was a fabulous painting and no matter how many times I looked at it, it never got me bored.
Monet was one of the first to paint landscapes by looking at them with the newly marketed oil paints in tubes which made painting outdoors feasible. As he painted he became fascinated by the seasonal changes on the same landscape. The changing nature of trees, vegetation, sky and clouds caught his perceptive mind. He painted the same scene again and again in different seasons and at different times of the day. In doing that he perfected how to render the season’s impression on the canvas. His ability was recognized by the art critics of his time and they labeled his art as Impressionism. With his prolific paintings, Impression became the style of the day.
Why does his impressionist style attract you even today? I think because our landscape memory is the recollection of its impression stored in our mind. Monet painted not the landscape but its impression on his mind as he kept seeing it. He simplified the vision making it easy for us to recollect it. And that is why his paintings are classics. There is something which we learn about art when we see his work.
Monet painted a model named Camille. They had a child Jean in 1867. Three years later in 1870 they got married. Camille fell sick in 1875, produced another baby boy in 1878 and died of Tuberculosis in 1879 when she was only 32. They were then sharing a house with Alice and Ernst Hoschede in Vetheuil. Claude continued to stay in the same house even after Ernst Hoschede became bankrupt and left for Belgium. Alice helped Claude by taking the two Monet boys to Paris where she had her own six children. A year later in 1880 she came back to Vetheuil to live with Claude. After her estranged husband Ernst died, Alice married Claude in 1992. Alice died in 1911. Jean Monet, Claude’s first son who married Alice’s daughter died in 1914. Claude began to be troubled by cataract which affected his paintings. He had 2 eye operations. He died in 1926. But though his family life was a turbulent stream, Claude Monet maintained his peace with nature and brought out the beauty of his soul in his landscapes.
Monet was a great artist of all times. His wonderful scapes can radiate a creative ambiance in any place whether it be a home or an office. And this is reflected in the prices his paintings fetch in art auctions. Recently his work “The Railroad Bridge at Argenteuil,” painted in 1873 fetched a record price of $41.4 million!
I have had the opportunity to select a few of his painting photographs and compile them in a calendar. This is an easy way to put up Monet and his sense of beauty on the wall and make him a part of your everyday life. You can watch a slide show from here: http://www.youtube.com/v/N8nEc2yAu7o
The calendar is available at http://www.lulu.com/content/2548691
Dilip Dahanukar, 30th May 2008
Important artists in European history – Part 2
August 29, 2009 by Portrait Painter
Filed under Abstract & Cubism
The Twentieth Century not only marked a new beginning in the social, political and economic world, it was a time of change in the art world as well. With the turn of the century, came new ideas and concepts of how to represent the world around us, moving away from the traditional values and skills taken from the Renaissance. Two revolutionary artists from this time period were Monet and Cezanne. They both found new ways of representing nature, but differ in their style and approach to their subjects.
As one of the great leaders of the Impressionism movement in France, Monet studied the ways in which outdoor light plays upon nature, creating a very animated effect on his canvas. His technique is not very precise, yet it is clear what the object is. In most of his paintings, his images are more effective if seen at a distance.
Cezanne, on the other hand, a contemporary of Monet, shows clear evidence in his paintings of the beginning of the Cubism movement; which developed out of and in reaction to Impressionism. Cezanne is like Monet in that he does not present a clear, concise picture of the image; but is totally different from Monet in his approach to his subject.
Monet’s oil painting entitled “Banks of the Seine, Vetheuil” of 1880 is one of many examples of his perfected landscape style, at which he was most talented. It represents the moment of expression of light, which evokes feelings and emotions about the power of Nature. Because his composition is purely landscape, it draws the audience into his created environment. The division of subjects leads the eye from one plane to another. He begins with a detailed concentration on the flowers in the meadow, leading into the water of the pond, to the trees and shrubs in the background which are reflected in the water, which then creep into the sky above.
Cezanne’s painting completed in 1904 entitled “Le Chateau Noir” in contrast, is a landscape but differs from Monet’s in that Le Chateau is portrayed in an unnatural manner, and is not a balanced composition. While Monet uses soft, somewhat pastel-like colors, Cezanne uses bold, dark, contrasting and striking colors to describe his image.
In examining the artist’s techniques, we see a definite chance in method and style, which produces different ways of representing their subjects. Monet’s painting is of a highly Impressionistic style. The image is carried in his mind before actually painting it. Thus, his images are merely suggested