Thursday, March 13, 2008

Fauvism

No post yesterday because I was sick… again. I’m still feeling run down but it’s nothing like how I felt last night.

Anyway, on to fauvism (sounds like: foe-viz-um).

Fauvists used exaggerated colors when painting subjects. In fact, color was the most important aspect of a fauvist painting, with the subject taking a backseat. For example, when painting a portrait of a woman with very dark hair, a fauvist might choose to use blue in the hair to show just how dark it was. He might use yellow for the skin instead of a carefully mixed bronze. Shadows might be drawn in greens and purples instead of grey.
Shown above is Andre Derain’s The Turning Road, L’Estaque. I love this painting for the way Derain has taken the colors of the changing fall leaves and used those colors throughout the painting, in the trees, the earth, and the people.

Fauvism began in 1905, though artists were moving toward this color-based style of painting before this time. Fauvism in some ways grew out of the impressionism movement that van Gogh was a part of. Vincent van Gogh had a great influence on the fauvists. His use of color affected Henri Matisse (whose Woman with a Hat is shown below) and it affected Maurice de Vlaminck.
Most people didn’t like this new movement. It was called fauvism by an art critic. Fauvism means “the wild beast” and it was not meant as a compliment. Some wealthy art buyers did purchase paintings, though, which allowed the artists to continue working.

By 1908 the movement had run its course and many of the artists involved moved on to other styles. Georges Braque, for instance, moved on to cubism. You can see this in the two paintings shown below, Spared from the Storm (1906) and Houses at L’Estaque (1908). Look at the change in style that happened in just two years!
Return to main page.
_____
Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 13.5/50hours

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Rembrandt

Something very exciting happened today. I got to teach my first art lesson today to a fifth grade class! The class and I talked about Rembrandt’s life and paintings and because of this, I realized that I hadn’t yet posted here about this great artist.

Rembrandt was born in Holland in 1606, the son of a miller and a baker’s daughter. Like many artists of the time, Rembrandt learned to paint through apprenticeships. He worked first with a history painter, Jacob van Swanenburgh, and then with a more famous artist, Pieter Lastman. When he was 18 or 19, Rembrandt opened a studio with another painter and student of Lastman, Jan Lievens. Rembrandt soon began accepting students of his own and by the end of his life he had taught most of the well-known artists of his day.

Rembrandt’s first subjects were bible stories but he quickly expanded to paint historical scenes. He used oil paints so his paintings were glossy and he loved bright colors, though not the way the Nabis would use color in the 1800s; he used bright colors to create natural-looking paintings. You can see this in the picture below, The Scholar.
In 1632, he began to paint portraits. It was these portraits that made him famous. He made great connections that allowed him to paint many important people, including the prince! Rembrandt also painted portraits of himself throughout his life (about 100 of them). These portraits let us know what he looked like as he grew up (from a teenager to an old man with wrinkles, both shown below).
He was married in 1632, then had four children. Three of his children died when they were young, and then his wife died in 1642. Rembrandt became depressed and his paintings became darker. He exchanged his bright yellows and reds for deep blues and greens and darker reds. These later paintings are considered by many to be even more beautiful than the cheerier paintings of his youth. This painting shown below, The Mill, is an example of Rembrandt's darker style, painted in 1650.
Rembrandt lived in a large house which he should have been able to pay off. He earned a lot of money painting because he was fantastically popular. The house eventually became the cause of money troubles, however, and in 1657 it was sold along with his possessions.

Rembrandt died in 1669, having created more than 600 paintings and 1700 other works of art.

Return to main page.
_________________________________________
Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 11.5/50hours

Monday, March 10, 2008

Aquatint Printing

I finally went to see the Philip’s Collection exhibit, From Degas to Diebenkorn, this weekend. It was kind of a mish-mash of art from the late 1800s to nearly the present, which was what I had expected. It was an exhibition of artwork that the museum has recently added to their collection. I did overhear some complaints from other museum goers. Some people felt that the name of the exhibit was misleading. They had come expecting more than just the one new Diebenkorn (in addition to those already in the collection) and more paintings by Degas. So take that as my warning to you. You will enjoy the exhibit if you know what to expect before you go.

So, I was at the museum, enjoying the artwork, and I kept seeing this word that I had never come across before: aquatint. I wrote it down so I would remember to look it up and share the information with you.

Aquatinting is a way to create prints. The artist first creates a design or image. Then he applies resin to a copper or zinc sheet. (Resin is that sticky stuff that gets on your hands when you touch certain types of trees, especially pine trees. It's made into many types of things including the stuff used by artists when creating aquatints.) Once the resin is applied, the artist dips the whole thing in acid. Dipping the plate in acid makes it so that it will print darker than white. After this first dip, the plate would print grey all over.

Next, the artist etches, or scratches, his picture onto the zinc or copper plate. These etched areas will print black. He also uses a special material that stops the acid from further darkening any parts that he wants to leave white (or at least light grey).

Finally, he dips the plate in the acid again, using the acid blocking material as areas reach the darkness he wants.

If you remember my post on John James Audubon, you remember a great example of aquatint printing. His book, Birds of America, used aquatint prints as illustrations. The water color was added after the aquatint printing which can only be done in black and white.

Francisco Goya was a master at aquatint. Pomona College Museum of Art in Cleremont, California as an excellent collection of Goya’s etchings. (I have never been to California. I am judging based on their website and other resources.) Go check out some of the images they have posted and read a little about the artist if you are interested. At some point I’ll post about him here.


Return to main page.
________________________________________
Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 9.5/50hours

Friday, March 7, 2008

Linnea in Monet's Garden

Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Cristina Bjork is a long (56 pages) picture book, meant for ages 9-12. Depending on the child, it is also an excellent read-aloud for younger children.

Bjork invites you to travel with Linnea and her elderly friend, Mr. Bloom, to Paris and Giverny where Monet lived and worked. Stroll through Monet’s garden with Linnea as she discovers the source of the great artist’s inspiration for his water lily paintings. View the river Seine in Paris as Monet saw it. And visit a museum with Linnea to more about Impressionism and Monet’s paintings.

Gorgeous water color illustrations of Linnea’s adventures compliment the text. The book also includes black and white photos of Monet and his garden, as well as pictures of his paintings.


The book was also made into an animated movie. I have not seen it but it looks good. If you’ve seen the movie, Linnea in Monet’s Garden, please post a comment and let me know what you thought!



Return to main page.
________________________________________
Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 7/50hours
You'll notice that I'm still a little behind...

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Claude Monet

It’s terrible that I wrote nearly 150 posts before I said anything much about Claude Monet. If he wasn’t the first impressionist, he at least gave us the word for the movement, and that's a big deal. He also created some of the greatest examples of impressionism as he experimented with light and color and learned to portray subjects with quick brush strokes.

Monet was born in Paris in 1840 but his family moved to Normandy when he was 5. He knew from a young age that he wanted to be an artist rather than go into the family grocery business, and so he went to school to learn technique. When he was 16, Monet met Eugene Boudin who taught him to paint outdoors, “en plein air.” When he went to Paris, many painters cooped themselves up in the Louvre and copied the works of the masters, as you’ve read about already on this blog, but Monet chose to develop the methods taught to him Boudin. He worked outdoors, painting scenes as he saw them rather than the way they were seen by artists who came before him.

Monet served briefly in the armed service until he became ill and had to return home. He met several budding artists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and they began experimenting with the new style that would become impressionism.

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Monet lived in England and studied works by great landscape artists such as John Constable.
In 1873 he painted Impression, Sunrise (shown above), the painting for which the entire Impressionism movement was named. The term “Impressionism” was originally meant as an insult by an art critic but the painters liked it and used the name to describe their style of painting.
After his wife died in 1879 (shown above on her death bed), Monet began in earnest to produce. He continued in the Impressionist style and tried to create a portrait of France with his paintings. In 1883 when he moved to Giverny and, over the next 10 years, planted his grand garden. He loved to paint the garden and the lily ponds. He painted his many series during this time, which showed the same subject at different times during the day. You’ve seen some of these series already, including Water Lilies, Rouen Cathedral, and Etretat.

Toward the end of his life, Monet developed cataracts in his eyes which affected the way he saw colors. He continued to paint anyway, but you can tell which paintings were created when his eyes were bad.

In 1926, at the age of 86, Monet died and was buried in Giverny.

Monet's Japanese Bridge at Giverny.

I'd like also to note that you can now visit Monet's garden. I have never seen it but I hope to someday!

________________________________________
Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 6.25/50hours
Yes, I'm a little behind. But I had to take a really long test.
That's my story.