February 3, 2010   10 notes
This painting of the day will simply be made up of an essay I had to do on a work of Edgar Degas entitled “Dancers in the Green Room”. Degas- Dancers in the Green Room “Modernism includes more than just art and literature. By now it includes almost the whole of what is truly alive in our culture. It happens, also,  to be very much of the of a historical novelty. Western civilization is not the first to turn around and question its own foundtaions, but it is the civilization that has gone the furthest in doing so.”(Greenberg “Modernist Painting”) This is Clement Greenbergs’ approach on modernism. The first man to really pick apart the essence of what makes up “modernist” artwork and renowned author on modernity and its growth. As we take a look at one of the greats Degas we see in his piece “Dancers in the Green Room” we can see both modern styling in it as well as look into the elements that make up this piece. The evaluation of his pieces will show the develop the modernist style and how we are still seeing other influences from older art culture still showing through into pieces of modern time. The content in this particular work is very typical for Degas. Once again he has chosen the subject of ballerinas practicing and in the act of doing their ballet routines. In this scene it is particularly structured for us to be paying the most attention to the three young girls in the front preparing for their class. Two of these ballerinas are shown getting situated for class while the other seems to be stretching out in preparation for class to begin. In the background of the piece more girls are shown but in very little detail almost making them seem as if they are attached to the walls in the back similar to a wallpaper. In my observation I feel as if the three in the foreground are completely disconnected from the rest of the room which we have seen as a familiar characteristic of Degas in other works such as “Absinthe Drinker”. Perhaps we see this to be a symbol from the artist to show his disconnection from the canvas and to also his own disconnection from his surroundings at the ballet facility where he spent a great deal of time at working on these pieces. One crucial element that Greenberg sees to be essential to a modernist style was a very two dimensional look and structure to the painting. According to Greenberg modernist works should appear as flat as possible. As we look more in depth at the Degas piece we see that there is really is a virtual flatness to it. The girls in the foreground and the background really lack and absolute distance of depth between the two. This is one element that I feel Degas shows his movement towards a more modernist state of artistry. Degas uses his use of the mastery of perspective to portray everyone in the room to be all on one picture plane and distorts the view so that is all gets put into a sequence avoiding visual chaos of the figures. Upon my observations in the Detroit Institute of Arts I found the piece to be rather well placed with other pieces in the room. The work shares the room with paintings by fellow artists that are similarly connected with impressionistic works such as van Gogh, Cezanne and Renoir as well as sculptural work of the great Rodin and also one done by Degas himself. The room itself was a bit cramped as there were pieces not only on the walls but an array of sculpture on the wall and in the center of the room, the pieces were exhibited rather closely to each other on the wall that was completely his works. All of the paintings in this room are done by artists who at some point in their career were brought into discussion as a part of the modernist movement as well as into the talks of the impressionist group of himself, Monet, Manet. Etc. Degas turned his painting of ballerinas into more of an industry than an actual art constantly receiving commissions to produce more similar pieces of the same topic. This really took the aspect of him painting out of it. He became almost in a sense the equivalent to a modern day sports photographer. Someone merely hired to catch a moment in time for us to hang onto and look back at down the road to see our changes and memories. Pieces like this were more of a higher profile portraiture of a person portrayed doing something they really enjoy. In the writings by Greenberg he feels it necessary that the artist really take the whole aspect of them actually out of the whole situation. He felt modern painting needed for the artist to make the piece as if they weren’t even really going about the act of painting at all. An area that Degas really shows to be against that of the views of Greenberg on modernity is the clear use of other forms of fine art. He is known to be a painter where his drawing and draftsman style comes in. If we look closely at the girls we can see in the structures of their bodies that they still contain some pencil drawing mostly to be found on his actual subjects and not so much in the background composition. Based on my observations of other pieces be him in the same room a piece directly to the left of this “Woman with a Bandage” you can see in all of the drapery and working into her hands the heavy influence of his training as a draftsman. However this really looks as if he was challenging his painting and his ability. This is another point of modernism made by Greenberg, he states in his essay that he believes Kant to be the first real modernist due to the fact that “he was the first to criticize the means itself of criticism.”(Greenberg “Modernist Painting”). This shows Degas in his early development stages to becoming more of a modernist in the eyes of Greenberg. In this work we also don’t see many influences from the great old masters of painting. Perhaps the main reason we see so much use of his draftsmanship put into his oil painting work is that his comfort zone with the pencil is where he feels the two mediums need to meet I feel that as an artist Degas has shown himself as a modernist in aspects as well as him being a very impressionistic artist. In many ways his stylistic mannerisms show his move towards being a modernist paintings but his strong ties to the impressionist and night life painting holds him from being a true modernist painting.  We see in his work the disconnection of the canvas, the turning of art into a business and his use of two dimensional shape. He also began to show signs of self criticism that turned out to be a very large portion of what Greenberg though made up a modernist. Yet on the other side he exhibits some forms of himself that pulls him from being a modernist such as his use of other art forms bringing him back to the fact that he is still working on a piece of art.

This painting of the day will simply be made up of an essay I had to do on a work of Edgar Degas entitled “Dancers in the Green Room”.

Degas- Dancers in the Green Room

“Modernism includes more than just art and literature. By now it includes almost the whole of what is truly alive in our culture. It happens, also,  to be very much of the of a historical novelty. Western civilization is not the first to turn around and question its own foundtaions, but it is the civilization that has gone the furthest in doing so.”(Greenberg “Modernist Painting”) This is Clement Greenbergs’ approach on modernism. The first man to really pick apart the essence of what makes up “modernist” artwork and renowned author on modernity and its growth. As we take a look at one of the greats Degas we see in his piece “Dancers in the Green Room” we can see both modern styling in it as well as look into the elements that make up this piece. The evaluation of his pieces will show the develop the modernist style and how we are still seeing other influences from older art culture still showing through into pieces of modern time.

The content in this particular work is very typical for Degas. Once again he has chosen the subject of ballerinas practicing and in the act of doing their ballet routines. In this scene it is particularly structured for us to be paying the most attention to the three young girls in the front preparing for their class. Two of these ballerinas are shown getting situated for class while the other seems to be stretching out in preparation for class to begin. In the background of the piece more girls are shown but in very little detail almost making them seem as if they are attached to the walls in the back similar to a wallpaper. In my observation I feel as if the three in the foreground are completely disconnected from the rest of the room which we have seen as a familiar characteristic of Degas in other works such as “Absinthe Drinker”. Perhaps we see this to be a symbol from the artist to show his disconnection from the canvas and to also his own disconnection from his surroundings at the ballet facility where he spent a great deal of time at working on these pieces.

One crucial element that Greenberg sees to be essential to a modernist style was a very two dimensional look and structure to the painting. According to Greenberg modernist works should appear as flat as possible. As we look more in depth at the Degas piece we see that there is really is a virtual flatness to it. The girls in the foreground and the background really lack and absolute distance of depth between the two. This is one element that I feel Degas shows his movement towards a more modernist state of artistry. Degas uses his use of the mastery of perspective to portray everyone in the room to be all on one picture plane and distorts the view so that is all gets put into a sequence avoiding visual chaos of the figures.

Upon my observations in the Detroit Institute of Arts I found the piece to be rather well placed with other pieces in the room. The work shares the room with paintings by fellow artists that are similarly connected with impressionistic works such as van Gogh, Cezanne and Renoir as well as sculptural work of the great Rodin and also one done by Degas himself. The room itself was a bit cramped as there were pieces not only on the walls but an array of sculpture on the wall and in the center of the room, the pieces were exhibited rather closely to each other on the wall that was completely his works. All of the paintings in this room are done by artists who at some point in their career were brought into discussion as a part of the modernist movement as well as into the talks of the impressionist group of himself, Monet, Manet. Etc.

Degas turned his painting of ballerinas into more of an industry than an actual art constantly receiving commissions to produce more similar pieces of the same topic. This really took the aspect of him painting out of it. He became almost in a sense the equivalent to a modern day sports photographer. Someone merely hired to catch a moment in time for us to hang onto and look back at down the road to see our changes and memories. Pieces like this were more of a higher profile portraiture of a person portrayed doing something they really enjoy. In the writings by Greenberg he feels it necessary that the artist really take the whole aspect of them actually out of the whole situation. He felt modern painting needed for the artist to make the piece as if they weren’t even really going about the act of painting at all.

An area that Degas really shows to be against that of the views of Greenberg on modernity is the clear use of other forms of fine art. He is known to be a painter where his drawing and draftsman style comes in. If we look closely at the girls we can see in the structures of their bodies that they still contain some pencil drawing mostly to be found on his actual subjects and not so much in the background composition. Based on my observations of other pieces be him in the same room a piece directly to the left of this “Woman with a Bandage” you can see in all of the drapery and working into her hands the heavy influence of his training as a draftsman.

However this really looks as if he was challenging his painting and his ability. This is another point of modernism made by Greenberg, he states in his essay that he believes Kant to be the first real modernist due to the fact that “he was the first to criticize the means itself of criticism.”(Greenberg “Modernist Painting”). This shows Degas in his early development stages to becoming more of a modernist in the eyes of Greenberg. In this work we also don’t see many influences from the great old masters of painting. Perhaps the main reason we see so much use of his draftsmanship put into his oil painting work is that his comfort zone with the pencil is where he feels the two mediums need to meet

I feel that as an artist Degas has shown himself as a modernist in aspects as well as him being a very impressionistic artist. In many ways his stylistic mannerisms show his move towards being a modernist paintings but his strong ties to the impressionist and night life painting holds him from being a true modernist painting.  We see in his work the disconnection of the canvas, the turning of art into a business and his use of two dimensional shape. He also began to show signs of self criticism that turned out to be a very large portion of what Greenberg though made up a modernist. Yet on the other side he exhibits some forms of himself that pulls him from being a modernist such as his use of other art forms bringing him back to the fact that he is still working on a piece of art.

February 2, 2010   8 notes
Artist: Edgar Degas Title: Absinthe Drinker Date: 1876 Medium: Oil on Canvas Location: Musee d’Orsay, Paris Description: Degas like most of the artists of the Impressionist period painted a piece that struck some serious controversy. This piece depicts a female of whom we are not sure and a gentleman indulging in absinthe. The two seem to be completely disconnected and not aware of each other. They seem to be totally separated from the world. The female is portrayed very unlike a run of the mill female in this time period as well. He was very unkept and disorderly for a typical male in the same time period. Links http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/degas/absinthe/ http://jssgallery.org/other_artists/Degas/Absinthe_Drinker.htm http://www.sparklenet.com/1_Main_Street/Art_Smarts/Master-a-Month/Degas.htm Enjoy!

Artist: Edgar Degas

Title: Absinthe Drinker

Date: 1876

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Location: Musee d’Orsay, Paris

Description:

Degas like most of the artists of the Impressionist period painted a piece that struck some serious controversy. This piece depicts a female of whom we are not sure and a gentleman indulging in absinthe. The two seem to be completely disconnected and not aware of each other. They seem to be totally separated from the world. The female is portrayed very unlike a run of the mill female in this time period as well. He was very unkept and disorderly for a typical male in the same time period.

Links

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/degas/absinthe/

http://jssgallery.org/other_artists/Degas/Absinthe_Drinker.htm

http://www.sparklenet.com/1_Main_Street/Art_Smarts/Master-a-Month/Degas.htm

Enjoy!

February 1, 2010
Artist: Vincent van Gogh Title: Bedroom at Arles Date: 1888 Medium: Oil on Canvas Location: The Art Institute. Chicago,Illinois Description: I had the chance to see this piece this summer, it was one piece I was pretty anxious to actually get to see up close and take a good look at the brush strokes and textures that really emphasized. This is one of van Goghs’ favorite pieces that he had produced. With so many pieces done in just a short period of time his pieces really didn’t have much time to change in style. This is clearly a scene of a bedroom at his home in Arles. Before his dear friend Paul Gauguin came to live with him in anticipation he painted some pieces for wall decoration this being one of them. Links http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0482.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedroom_in_Arles http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/musees/chambre-vincent/gb/ Enjoy!

Artist: Vincent van Gogh

Title: Bedroom at Arles

Date: 1888

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Location: The Art Institute. Chicago,Illinois

Description:

I had the chance to see this piece this summer, it was one piece I was pretty anxious to actually get to see up close and take a good look at the brush strokes and textures that really emphasized. This is one of van Goghs’ favorite pieces that he had produced. With so many pieces done in just a short period of time his pieces really didn’t have much time to change in style. This is clearly a scene of a bedroom at his home in Arles. Before his dear friend Paul Gauguin came to live with him in anticipation he painted some pieces for wall decoration this being one of them.

Links

http://www.vggallery.com/painting/p_0482.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedroom_in_Arles

http://www.avignon-et-provence.com/musees/chambre-vincent/gb/

Enjoy!

January 31, 2010   1 note
Artist: Raphael Title: School of Athens Date: 1509 Medium: Fresco Location: Apostolic Palace. Vatican City (Rome), Italy Description: This is one of the more well known frescoes around painted by the great Raphael. In this piece we see a numerous array of people from Greek Mythology as well as figure well as figures in art. The lists are included in the links at the bottom. This piece is a very large scale fresco as the center piece of a large room in the Apostolic Palace. Links http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/SchoolAthens.htm http://www.artcyclopedia.com/feature-2002-09.html http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/555679 Enjoy!

Artist: Raphael

Title: School of Athens

Date: 1509

Medium: Fresco

Location: Apostolic Palace. Vatican City (Rome), Italy

Description:

This is one of the more well known frescoes around painted by the great Raphael. In this piece we see a numerous array of people from Greek Mythology as well as figure well as figures in art. The lists are included in the links at the bottom. This piece is a very large scale fresco as the center piece of a large room in the Apostolic Palace.

Links

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/SchoolAthens.htm

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/feature-2002-09.html

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/555679

Enjoy!

January 30, 2010
Artist: Pablo Picasso Title: Girl Before a Mirror Date: 1932 Medium: Oil on canvas Location: Museum of Modern Art. New York, New York Description: This piece is single handedly my favorite painting of modern day and one of my most influential artists. This is a cookie cutter Picasso piece as he picks apart the body of his current fling as he finds things about them he no longer can deal with. Specifically in this work he chose the subject Marie Therese Walter. The vivid colors show the more serious issues that he held with the person. Links http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=78311 http://www.abcgallery.com/P/picasso/picasso258.html http://www.papermasters.com/girl-before-a-mirror.html Enjoy!

Artist: Pablo Picasso

Title: Girl Before a Mirror

Date: 1932

Medium: Oil on canvas

Location: Museum of Modern Art. New York, New York

Description:

This piece is single handedly my favorite painting of modern day and one of my most influential artists. This is a cookie cutter Picasso piece as he picks apart the body of his current fling as he finds things about them he no longer can deal with. Specifically in this work he chose the subject Marie Therese Walter. The vivid colors show the more serious issues that he held with the person.

Links

Enjoy!

January 29, 2010
Artist: Artemisia Gentileschi Title: Judith Slaying Holofernes Date: 1612-1621 Medium: Oil on canvas Location: Galleria degli Uffizi. Florence, Italy Description: Though this piece has two versions that are very similar personally I find this one to be the more interesting and more detailed of the two. She chose to this piece in her traditional very Caravaggist style. Artemisia was the daughter of a fairly well known painter of the same time period Orazio Gentileschi. This piece has been suggested to be a copy one her fathers pieces but nothing was ever proven. The second piece of this series can be found at my hometown museum The Detroit Institute of Arts, it is quite a monumental and moving piece when you get in front of it. Links http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/gentiles/artemisi/judit.html http://www.artemisia-gentileschi.com/index.shtml http://renaissance-art.suite101.com/article.cfm/judith_slaying_holofernes Enjoy!

Artist: Artemisia Gentileschi

Title: Judith Slaying Holofernes

Date: 1612-1621

Medium: Oil on canvas

Location: Galleria degli Uffizi. Florence, Italy

Description:

Though this piece has two versions that are very similar personally I find this one to be the more interesting and more detailed of the two. She chose to this piece in her traditional very Caravaggist style. Artemisia was the daughter of a fairly well known painter of the same time period Orazio Gentileschi. This piece has been suggested to be a copy one her fathers pieces but nothing was ever proven. The second piece of this series can be found at my hometown museum The Detroit Institute of Arts, it is quite a monumental and moving piece when you get in front of it.

Links

Enjoy!

January 28, 2010
Artist: Diego Velazquez Title: Las Meninas Date: 1656 Medium: Oil on canvas Location: Museo del Prado. Madrid, Spain Description: Translated to The Maids Honor. Shows a room in the home of King Philip IV where we see a group of younger girls getting ready. Velazquez who was the royal painter paints this piece rather peculiarly as we are shown the artist himself in the view in plain view to the left as he is actually painting. As you look to the back of the piece you see a few figures one being the King himself. This piece is typical Velazquez where you are almost always left wondering about particular pieces of it. The links I posted today are more geared towards really looking at the individual pieces and their symbolism. Links http://www.spanisharts.com/prado/velazquez.htm http://www.artchive.com/meninas.htm http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/ARTH/ARTH200/artist/las_meninas.html Enjoy!

Artist: Diego Velazquez

Title: Las Meninas

Date: 1656

Medium: Oil on canvas

Location: Museo del Prado. Madrid, Spain

Description:

Translated to The Maids Honor. Shows a room in the home of King Philip IV where we see a group of younger girls getting ready. Velazquez who was the royal painter paints this piece rather peculiarly as we are shown the artist himself in the view in plain view to the left as he is actually painting. As you look to the back of the piece you see a few figures one being the King himself. This piece is typical Velazquez where you are almost always left wondering about particular pieces of it. The links I posted today are more geared towards really looking at the individual pieces and their symbolism.

Links

Enjoy!

January 27, 2010
Artist: Salvador Dali Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony Date: 1946 Medium: Oil on canvas Location: Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts. Brussels, Belgium Description: This piece of Dalis’ is shown like most very influenced from those such as Ingres and Bosch where a scene of utter chaos is shown. We see depicted the elephants we commonly see in his works carrying the Bernini inspired obelisk which he describes as a symbol of absolute creativity. Saint Anthony is shown in the front depicted as a horse showing absolute strength. The piece is very typical Dali in the landscape background and the very crowded focal point. This piece was one of many in the series. Links http://dali.urvas.lt/page20.html http://www.abcgallery.com/D/dali/dali57.html Enjoy!

Artist: Salvador Dali

Title: The Temptation of St. Anthony

Date: 1946

Medium: Oil on canvas

Location: Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts. Brussels, Belgium

Description:

This piece of Dalis’ is shown like most very influenced from those such as Ingres and Bosch where a scene of utter chaos is shown. We see depicted the elephants we commonly see in his works carrying the Bernini inspired obelisk which he describes as a symbol of absolute creativity. Saint Anthony is shown in the front depicted as a horse showing absolute strength. The piece is very typical Dali in the landscape background and the very crowded focal point. This piece was one of many in the series.

Links

Enjoy!

January 26, 2010
Artist:Édouard Manet Title:Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the grass) Date: 1862-1863 Medium: Oil on canvas Location: Musée d’Orsay Paris,France Description: This was arguably Manets’ most controversial piece. He submitted this piece to the jury of the Salon in 1863 where it was denied. This was the same year that the jury rejected so many pieces the Parisian government put on the Salon des refuses. The piece houses nudity that in this time period was to be found extremely offensive especially in a public part setting we are shown by Manet. Manet is said by Greenberg to really be the first Modernist painter. I usually am hesitant on reading found on Wikipedia but for this piece I found a rather good, resourceful piece. Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_déjeuner_sur_l’herbe#Controversy http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/manet/dejeuner/ http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire_id/le-dejeuner-sur-lherbe-7123.html?no_cache=1 Enjoy!

Artist:Édouard Manet

Title:Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (Luncheon on the grass)

Date: 1862-1863

Medium: Oil on canvas

Location: Musée d’Orsay Paris,France

Description:

This was arguably Manets’ most controversial piece. He submitted this piece to the jury of the Salon in 1863 where it was denied. This was the same year that the jury rejected so many pieces the Parisian government put on the Salon des refuses. The piece houses nudity that in this time period was to be found extremely offensive especially in a public part setting we are shown by Manet. Manet is said by Greenberg to really be the first Modernist painter. I usually am hesitant on reading found on Wikipedia but for this piece I found a rather good, resourceful piece.

Links:

Enjoy!

January 26, 2010

Painting A Day

This blog will provide you with a painting a day to look at, comment, share opinions, experiences or whatever you please about it as well as give you a link or two on where you can find information about it if you take a particular liking to it. I will chose the painting based essentially off what I’ve seen or thought about on that particular today, possibly what I talked about in class, something I have recently read about. Basically any piece that strikes me for that day. Please feel free to leave all kinds of comments positive and negative as well as suggestions. These entries will also be forwarded to my twitter (marcxlanglois)