Topic: Paintings You Like

[Macphisto80]

The Flaming June is a good example of glaze work to achieve a hue and a level of transparency that would be impossible to achieve from paint straight out of the tube otherwise. It's one of the most visually dramatic and accomplished uses of the technique. It looks absolutely gorgeous.

It wasn't uncommon for old masters to use damar crystals in their mediums either. William Bouguereau used it for his paintings. It gives a nice luster when the paint drys, although too much over thin layers would cause extreme cracking. It depends on the balance of oil.

[Mal]

It's almost a must watch. Watched the 2nd part at 5 this morning over my three cups of tea. Lovely way to start the weekend. That Rembrandt portrait housed in that wonderful house... how can you wake up every morning and NOT go and look at that? Graham-Dixon has always been worth watching, but this has been quite special.

Really looking forward to part 3, and in particular Mondrian.

On the subject of which...

I'm a prints man, I like prints of nice artwork; this is mainly because I can't afford the originals. As far as Mondrian goes I can't even afford the prints...

Anyway, here's one I like. Mainly for the formality. It's called Composition in Red Blue and Yellow.

The fact it's very red is, obviously, a good thing.



This is what the man himself had to say about his work...

"I construct lines and color combinations on a flat surface, in order to express general beauty with the utmost awareness. Nature (or, that which I see) inspires me, puts me, as with any painter, in an emotional state so that an urge comes about to make something, but I want to come as close as possible to the truth and abstract everything from that, until I reach the foundation (still just an external foundation!) of things… I believe it is possible that, through horizontal and vertical lines constructed with awareness, but not with calculation, led by high intuition, and brought to harmony and rhythm, these basic forms of beauty, supplemented if necessary by other direct lines or curves, can become a work of art, as strong as it is true."

[Filler.]

Of historical interest, but probably gaining about 4/100 for artistic interest.

I need to come back on this. I don't mean it's totally lacking in artistic interest - it has alot of artistic interest, it just doesn't really have a role to play in where art was going. Or rather where the big ideas were going.

I'd love to see one up close and personal -that would undoubtedly shift an opinion, but it wouldn't shift the opinion that maybe the subject matter was a bit trite and contrived. Compare and contrast with the example from Macphisto above... same period, same concerns, but the Pre Raphaelites had a bonding concern to readdress a certain complacency (albeit hinged on classicism) and therefore offered up a better conversation. In short, they were a bit naughtier.

[The Gulleysucker]

I need to come back on this. I don't mean it's totally lacking in artistic interest - it has alot of artistic interest, it just doesn't really have a role to play in where art was going. Or rather where the big ideas were going.

Yes, kind of agree with you there.
As I said, I do think that much of his work seems twee these days, possibly even was back then, though there's the odd one that still looks ok to me, like the lanterns one I posted, though I've not seen any of his work close up and in the flesh yet so reserve judgement
I suppose he could possibly be considered very much an illustrator that used an interesting technique rather than perhaps someone that pushed the boundaries out.


Edit.. Forgot to put this up....

The Curtis Center at 6th and Walnut Streets once housed Cyrus Curtis’s publishing company where The Ladies Home Journal, The Saturday Evening Post and Jack and Jill got their starts. Today, the main attraction is the free-to-see and oh-so-spectacular Dream Garden. Famed artist Maxfield Parish and Louis Comfort Tiffany created the 15-by-49-foot mosaic, comprised of 100,000 pieces of favrile glass in some 260 colors. sauce.

Looks interesting.

[Filler.]

Looks interesting.

Certainly does. Even a jpeg image of a certain size shows those lantern paintings as being a wonderful looking painting - one to definitely see in the flesh. Hopefully I'll get the chance one day.

It looks absolutely gorgeous.

I'm a big fan of the pre-Raphaelites. Seen many a painting over the years... The Scapegoat being my favourite. Have you seen the Flaming June in the flesh? The actual painting is square,- she looks a bit squished in that jpeg, but there's about a foot of wall above her head. I don't think I've seen it.

I was reading something about another American artist of the late 19th century some weeks ago, I forget his name (argh). Big name in America. Weekes or Fawkes? Something like that, and his paintings too are suffering very badly.. cracking, paint falling away etc. I don't think any Pre-Raphaelite paintings are suffering in this manner, but on both sides of the pond, there was a desire to ape, or return to old master painting techniques. Maybe not even a return, but just a desire - a shared interest. But maybe the info wasn't so accessible in America at that time, so that artists were trying to achieve that level of luminosity etc but doing it on a more 'starting from scratch' level. I don't know the facts, so I'm guessing.

A lot of it has been lost completely. The knowledge I mean, but also... the pigments have changed totally. For instance, Verona Green Earth, a green which was often used for the underpainting of portraits, used to be mined from one lake near Verona but has been mined to extinction, so we're left with (sometimes) very good approximations. This is almost across the board with colour now. You can't buy paint with arsenic in it anymore

I had the pleasure of visiting some Byzantine frescoes in Italy some years back, during a stage of major renovation, so there was scaffolding up - and for one year only, you could climb the scaffolding and be up close and personal to paintings 4 or 5 metres up. But the blue was extraordinary... it was almost as if it had a light behind it. Those pigments simply do not exist anymore.

[The Gulleysucker]

.....I had the pleasure of visiting some Byzantine frescoes in Italy some years back, during a stage of major renovation, so there was scaffolding up - and for one year only, you could climb the scaffolding and be up close and personal to paintings 4 or 5 metres up. But the blue was extraordinary... it was almost as if it had a light behind it. Those pigments simply do not exist anymore.

Made me think of this beautiful scene.....
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/uAVJthzhAxY&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/uAVJthzhAxY&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1</a>

[Filler.]

Finally found it... Giotto's fresco at the Scrovegni Chapel, in Padova, Italy. 1305



big pic here: http://padovacultura.padovanet.it/homepage-6.0/interno%20cappella.jpg


You could almost touch that ceiling.

[The Gulleysucker]

Wow. That looks stunning.

[Zlen]

Finally found it... Giotto's fresco at the Scrovegni Chapel, in Padova, Italy. 1305



big pic here: http://padovacultura.padovanet.it/homepage-6.0/interno%20cappella.jpg

Hah..been there and loved it.
Greatest part about it is that the interior is just a box, he painted everything, including faux marble reliefs and everything else. Simply amazing, has to be said.

[The Gulleysucker]

I'm off with wifey to Garda for a week at the end of May and I might see if we can try and get over to see that.

[Filler.]

I'd love to see it in it's full glory. I saw it surrounded by scaffolding and wooden planks, ladders and lights etc. But I was up in that roof. Very memorable. The wife's mother is from Padova, so hopefully will get the chance to see it properly one day. If you're in the area... I would. Surrounded by a small but very nice park or garden.

[Red Raw]

For those of us who can't make it to Padova this weekend I dug this clip out of the chapel on The History of Art in Three Colours - Blue (see 09:16).  The video helps give a bit of the sense of scale.  If you can be arsed its worth watching the preceding bit about how they turned the lapis into pigment - Giotto must have really wanted to paint that ceiling blue!

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/5OTngEHvq8Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/5OTngEHvq8Q</a>

They say its a sign of age when art historians start looking young


edit: update video link

[Hazell]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s50kn

Gutted I missed this tonight, was just looking at some of Turner's paintings today but had no idea this was on. It's on iPlayer so if anyone wants to watch it, it'll be up there for a week.

[Red Raw]

Bit of a departure from the renaissance after the carnage at St James Park this evening:



It could be mistaken as the aftermath of a cold, wet, Wednesday night at the Britannia, but no, its a study of amputated limbs by French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault (1791-1824).

It is part of a series of preparatory paintings for his monumental work the Raft of the Medusa http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/raft-medusa, a disaster movie of a painting, where desperate shipwreck survivors, (some say) driven to cannibalism, cling to hope at the sight of a vessel far on the horizon.

Without sounding like some sort of sicko, recent events in Boston reminded me of these paintings.  We hear about people being ‘seriously injured’ during these kind of  attacks, often without realising what it means in real terms – many of the victims will have lost one of more limbs and had the entire course of their lives redirected by the actions of the bombers.  In fact on the BBC website this week there was a video of a ballroom dancer who had lost a leg in the blast – courageous people.

Géricault was not a complete psychopath; limbs (as well as heads and other body parts) were routinely borrowed by artists from the Hospital Beaujon in Paris for anatomical study in much the same way as you might take out a Catherine Cookson novel from the local library.  Gericault may have been motivated originally by the authentic portrayal of putrefying flesh as a means to convey the tragedy of the Medusa, but the dislocated body parts have a far greater hold over him.  The way that they are arranged, as artfully as any still life painting that you are likely to see, indicates that these were far more than simple technical studies.  Bathed in warm light against contrasting shadows (chiaroscuro), the arm in this one appears to cradle the foot, as if they are caressing each other like a pair of sleepy lovers. It is only when the eye alights on the bloody stump in the foreground that you are reminded of the horror of what you are looking at.

It is an interesting position to be in as a viewer, torn between fascination and revulsion.  It is shocking in a way, but unlike most contemporary ‘shock art’, it is shocking because it is beautiful rather than repulsive.

[RojoLeón]

(the master at work)

[The Fletcher Memorial]

Always loved Vermeer and I've still got an unfinished "replica" of Girl with pearl earring that I began painting more than ten years ago. It's exactly the same size as the original and I always imagined that once I'd finished it, I'd go routing around for a suitably old guilt frame and hang it on me wall where it would look so out of place and convincingly authentic that people might wonder if it was the real one that I’d somehow pinched. Then again, I’ve always been susceptible to an overactive imagination.

Anyway, here’s another of Vermeer’s that I like. I remember learning about his techniques in college and loving the fact that he seemed to be obsessed with the fall of light as I was. I was also obsessive with the need to be faithful or true to any given scene or object in front of me, I’d almost aim for photographic detail at times, though I didn’t think of it in those terms and I never restricted myself to just drawing or painting that way, but when I came to know of, Vermeer I understood. To learn also that Vermeer probably used a camera obscurer of some form to achieve this level of faithfulness does not diminish his skill at all, in fact quite the opposite.

But I love the perspective and detail in this The art of painting. The light is enchanting (sorry for using that word, but it is); it brings the whole scene to life and for me I look at this and I feel as though I could walk into and around that room, feel the warmth of the day, smell a slight mustiness, feel the texture of that drapery, hear my footsteps on those tiles, walk over to that map and read it or look behind the point of view here to see the rest of the room. Shit, I even think it’s a lazy summer’s afternoon on a Wednesday and I can hear sky larks through the window. (did I mention my silly imagination?)

Anyway, The Art of Painting.

[Red Raw]

(the master at work)

Isn't he better known for his 'dog' series?

[Red Raw]

The finest example of arse painting in the whole of art history?



Well I can’t think of a better one anywhere, if you are in Londinium and have half an hour to spare get yourself down to the National Gallery and have a go on this.  It is after all free and belongs to all of us.

Painted by Spanish master Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), it is known as “Venus at her toilet” or more often,  the “Rokeby Venus” because it wound up in the UK at Rokeby Park in Yorkshire (described by the excited new owner as “a fine picture of Venus’s backside”).

The painting itself is extraordinary for a number of reasons, nudey paintings of ladies (though strangely not young boys) were rather frowned upon by the Spanish Inquisition so the few that were painted tended to get squirrelled away in the private rooms of wealthy nobles.  It was famously attacked by Mary “Slasher” Richardson, a suffragette protesting at the treatment of Emmeline Pankhurst.  The small butchers axe that she used cause considerable damage (see below) which has been remarkably restored.  I hate it when artworks are damaged or destroyed, and much as I might admire Mary, Emmeline, and others who make a stand about injustice, I can’t help feeling there must be better targets.



The irony with this attack is that as part of the restoration the cleaning of the painting revealed the true beauty of the arse itself.  Removing layers of tired old varnish bought the pearly texture of the skin to life and, unlike other masters the it has been said that the closer you get the less it looks like canvas and more it looks like skin.

As for the meaning, well,  things have written about the fact that cupid (Venus’s son) is without his bow and arrow and other classical symbols are missing, in other words by being stripped of symbolism we are left looking at the figure itself and the rather hazy (and impossible) reflection in the mirror.  An allegory of beauty and love has been suggested by this thread’s favourite critic (AGD) i.e. the physical beauty is immediately apparent but the real person remains somehow hidden.

From my own point of view when you have painted such a fantastic arse it kind of doesn’t matter, does it?  For me this is kind of the point of painting (and the other visual arts) it is your own emotional response that is paramount rather than worrying about whether you are thinking the right things.

[Cochise]

I like these. Painted by the man who played Furio Giunta in The Sopranos.

[telekon]

I like the Hudson River school quite a lot. It was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism. The paintings for which the movement is named depict the Hudson River Valley. This one is by Frederic Edwin Church and is on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid. It is probably my favorite art museum that I've been to. The collection is immense in scope, from varying periods in time and style, from medieval to pop art. It is displayed chronologically (if you start on the second floor) and gives the visitor a fantastic insight to art history only from the design of the museum. They have a virtual tour which is quite amazing - http://www.museothyssen.org/app/visita_virtual_Coleccion/visita_virtual_en_planta_0.html.

Church's family was quite wealthy which gave him the chance to pursue art at an early age. At 18 he became the pupil of Thomas Cole, another Hudson River man. The one I chose is call Autumn. I really admire the depth and the colors. They should show this painting to people who suffer from hypothermia and they'll be warm pretty fast.

[Corkboy]

This is a bit outré, given the largely classical nature of the thread to date but I just came across this guy, Filip Dujardin who is sort of a photographer but also creates digital portraits of imaginary buildings and other structures.

[The Gulleysucker]

It's been quiet in here for too long...

Tonight on BBC4 at 11.00pm, British War Art, first of three by Andrew Graham-Dixon (he who did the rather excellent Dutch paintings programme the other year).

It was first shown last Sunday. The first is on the works of Paul Nash, who had an instantly recognisable style...

The Menin Road



He was not just a war artist either... BBC slideshow of some of his work here

[Red Raw]

Rather than spend the remainder of the international break bitching about contracts or sulking over suspensions I thought I'd have a go at reviving this thread for a bit . . .


Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964)

   

   

Crockery painting might not be everybody’s cup of tea (so to speak) but I really like effect of these everyday objects.  The fact that Morandi painted hundreds of them (and did a load of etchings as well) means that small variations in his arrangements can take on significance beyond their apparent simplicity.  Interestingly Morandi rejected such interpretations, his fascination instead lies in the transformation of the mundane into something monumental or metaphysical even.

Morandi was referred to as the ‘monk’ not because of his religious conviction but because of his monastic lifestyle, he rarely left Bologna where his studio was described as ‘cell-like’.  Despite brief association with other movements like the futurists he preferred to work alone.

It is no accident that the Steiner, the intellectual character from Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita’ has a Morandi painting on his wall, featuring as the epitome of cultural sophistication and symbolic of the high ideals which Steiner embodies and to which Marcello aspires.  The austerity and timeless quality of the painting is at odds with the frivolity and fleetingness of its surroundings – something which is made all the more apparent when we discover the ultimate fate of Steiner himself.

                               

[Corkboy]

Not paintings but related. There's a sub on Reddit called Accidental Renaissance.

"A subreddit that takes photos and make them look like they're from the renaissance."

https://www.reddit.com/r/AccidentalRenaissance/top/

This is the pic that was posted somewhere else on Reddit and prompted the creation of the sub. It's a pic of a disturbance in the Ukrainian parliament.



Some others.

[Red Raw]

Its a fantastic image, though one which has been cropped to create the dynamic composition.

   

When you start cutting bits out it is quite easy to fit patterns to fit a narrative but this does not undermine the power of geometry to create a structure on which to base startling or monumental compositions.  Geometry was big in the Renaissance (mathematically and philosophically) and many painters used geometry in their compositions to demonstrate their grasp of these principles as a way of elevating their artform to the levels of music and architecture which were seem as the highest art forms (painting was seen as largely decorative).

Stylistically this extract probably has more in common with Caravaggio, who is a bit late (~ 1600) to be considered a Rennaissance artist and does not really adhere to the idealised forms of classical antiquity favoured by many Renaissance painters.  In particular it reminds me of his version of the Crucifixion of St. Peter (who was famously crucified upside down).



It is also interesting that most of the faces are hidden from view - your gaze is often directed round a path on a painting by following the faces, but when the face is hidden you hit a kind of visual 'dead end' and must start again from somewhere else. It can be a bit unnerving and lends itself to the panicked feel in both subjects.

[Filler.]

Stella Vine
Jose and Leya
2007
© Stella Vine
117 x 127cm, acrylic on canvas

[Stevie-A]

My wife's favourite piece. A print of this Basquiat hangs above our couch!

[Red Raw]

Absolutely cracking Waldemar Januszczak piece on BBC4 this evening:

Mary Magdalene: Art's Scarlet Woman



Fascinating story about how all the (dodgy) Marys in the bible became part of the myth of Mary Magdalene.

Mary retired to a cavern in Provence without food or water for her last 30 years to repent for her earlier sins.  What did she live on you might ask?  Ecstasy of course (seven times a day!):

Caravaggio, Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (1606)

[Buck Pete]

In an Alan Partridge voice.

Id have to say the Mona Lisa.

[meady1981]

It's not an obvious one. I love going to the Turner room at the Tate and despite all his incredible room-sized paintings there's a little one on a scrap of paper I always stare at for ages. Its just a few quick daubs of paint but it effortlessly captures the scene. Thumbs up for scale and it looks better in real life.

[Macphisto80]

Not paintings but related. There's a sub on Reddit called Accidental Renaissance.

First time I've seen those photographs. They're amazing. I actually thought the horse in the middle was painted.

[Stevie-A]

Don't forget this recent, amazing, application of the golden ratio 

[Mag Hull]

Stella Vine
Jose and Leya
2007
© Stella Vine
117 x 127cm, acrylic on canvas

That picture should be brought to the attention of the Curators at MOBA post haste

http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/

[Corkboy]

That picture should be brought to the attention of the Curators at MOBA post haste

http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/

Yup. Pretty horrific. But it's Paintings You Like, so.....

[Filler.]

That picture should be brought to the attention of the Curators at MOBA post haste

http://www.museumofbadart.org/collection/

How very dare you*, I've exhibited her work! Once. Stella is a glorious artist. Man United had just had a very amusing result when I posted that, as it suddenly came to mind at the final whistle (well... a few minutes before it). Some of her paintings are knockout - very envious.

Have always wanted to go to that Museum tho.



* post neo ironic.

[Mag Hull]

How very dare you*, I've exhibited her work! Once. Stella is a glorious artist. Man United had just had a very amusing result when I posted that, as it suddenly came to mind at the final whistle (well... a few minutes before it). Some of her paintings are knockout - very envious.

Have always wanted to go to that Museum tho.



* post neo ironic.

Me too - it's on my bucket list to see "Sunday on the Pot with George" in context   

[Filler.]

"Sunday on the Pot with George" in context   

I could have painted that.

[The Gulleysucker]

I could have painted that.

 Filler (°1908, Liverpool, United Kingdom) makes paintings and performances. By emphasising aesthetics, Filler makes works that can be seen as self-portraits. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky, at other times, they seem typical by-products of American superabundance and marketing.

His paintings are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, clichés and bad jokes. They question the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning and the superficial aesthetic appearance of an image. By parodying mass media by exaggerating certain formal aspects inherent to our contemporary society, he seduces the viewer into a world of ongoing equilibrium and the interval that articulates the stream of daily events. Moments are depicted that only exist to punctuate the human drama in order to clarify our existence and to find poetic meaning in everyday life.

His works are based on inspiring situations: visions that reflect a sensation of indisputability and serene contemplation, combined with subtle details of odd or eccentric, humoristic elements. By creating situations and breaking the passivity of the spectator, he wants the viewer to become part of the art as a kind of added component. Art is entertainment: to be able to touch the work, as well as to interact with the work is important.

His works sometimes radiate a cold and latent violence. At times, disconcerting beauty emerges. The inherent visual seductiveness, along with the conciseness of the exhibitions, further complicates the reception of their manifold layers of meaning. Filler currently lives and works in Numptytown.


 

http://www.500letters.org/form_15.php   

This is rather amusing too ... https://artybollocks.com/#abg_full

[Mag Hull]

 Filler (°1908, Liverpool, United Kingdom) makes paintings and performances. By emphasising aesthetics, Filler makes works that can be seen as self-portraits. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky, at other times, they seem typical by-products of American superabundance and marketing.

His paintings are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, clichés and bad jokes. They question the coerciveness that is derived from the more profound meaning and the superficial aesthetic appearance of an image. By parodying mass media by exaggerating certain formal aspects inherent to our contemporary society, he seduces the viewer into a world of ongoing equilibrium and the interval that articulates the stream of daily events. Moments are depicted that only exist to punctuate the human drama in order to clarify our existence and to find poetic meaning in everyday life.

His works are based on inspiring situations: visions that reflect a sensation of indisputability and serene contemplation, combined with subtle details of odd or eccentric, humoristic elements. By creating situations and breaking the passivity of the spectator, he wants the viewer to become part of the art as a kind of added component. Art is entertainment: to be able to touch the work, as well as to interact with the work is important.

His works sometimes radiate a cold and latent violence. At times, disconcerting beauty emerges. The inherent visual seductiveness, along with the conciseness of the exhibitions, further complicates the reception of their manifold layers of meaning. Filler currently lives and works in Numptytown.


 

http://www.500letters.org/form_15.php   

This is rather amusing too ... https://artybollocks.com/#abg_full

Yeah but Filler could you have done THIS?

RONAN THE PUG
Erin Rothgeb
18" x 24", acrylic on canvas board
Purchased by M. Frank at a Boston thrift store
MOBA #333

The artist's affection for her dog far outstrips her artistic skill. Paint is slapped on the canvas with random brushstrokes, creating matted, impossible fur. Done in such a hurry that the canine anatomy was not even considered, the artist still captures Ronan's playful sweetness. Or perhaps the pup has just lapped up all the spilled eggnog at a holiday party and is ready to attempt a clear tenor rendition of "Danny Boy."

From: Museum of Bad Art: Masterworks by Michael Frank and Louise Reilly Sacco, Ten Speed Press.

[Filler.]

Quite liked this line: 'His paintings are saturated with obviousness, mental inertia, clichés and bad jokes.' I could work on that - something in that. Cheers for those links tho. Very handy for when you get a bit stuck I imagine