The Rebellious Curator

Mother and Two Children on the Road, Tulelake, Ca. 1939

Dorothea Lange (American Photographer/Photojournalist 1895-1965)

Best known for her Depression-era photographs for the Farm Security Administration, Dorothea Lange would go on to be a professional photographic artist, and in later years, a successful portrait photographer in San Francisco. 

In 1941, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, but gave up the award to record evacuations of Japanese Americans in internment camps in Wyoming. The compelling photos were confiscated by the Army and not released for 20 years. 

In the 1950's, she worked for LIfe Magazine and many of her photos appeared on the covers. She was one of eight women photographers in New York City's MOMA exhibit which was presented and organized by another famous photographer, Edward Steichen. In 1964, she was asked to have a one woman show at the MOMA. At the time, she was one of only six photographers ever to have a one person exhibit at the MOMA. 

She died in 1963 after a battle with cancer. After her death, a photographic study of her children was released in a book titled To a Cabin published in 1973.  

Thus ends Art History Geek Weeks for the month of April.

Cutout (collage) by Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954)

Matisse was the leader of the Post-Impressionists - the painters working after the Impressionists. Also classified as an Early Expressionist, Matisse and his contemporaries, Gauguin and Van Gogh, painted their emotional reactions to the communities around them. This was a radical style which involved the use of very bright colours that had not been seen before. In 1905, a group of painters had a showing of their paintings at the Salon D' Automne in Paris. An art critic who saw the paintings thought they were the works of wild beasts. Hence, Matisse and the other artists who were exhibiting there, became known as the Fauvists, which in French, translates as "Wild Beasts". 

When Matisse was old, he fell ill and was confined to bed. He began to to create his paper cutout collages because it was difficult for him to paint at an easel. While in bed, he cut out interesting shapes from colourful paper then directed his studio assistant where to place them on the substrate. He called the shapes "positives" and the left-over paper cut-aways "negatives". He used both in his collages by organizing the shapes to create harmony with lines, shapes and patterns, a process never tried before.    

Painting by Wayne Thiebaud

Thiebaud was associated with the Pop Art Movement of the 50's and 60's because of his interest in objects of mass culture. He used heavily saturated pigments and well-defined shadows which predate the classic Pop Artists, suggesting he may have influenced the movement. Interestingly, he was not a fan of Andy Warhol, and characterized Warhol's work as flat and "mechanical". 

As a young man, Thiebaud worked in cinema in Los Angeles, then enrolled at San Jose State University where he earned a Bachelor's degree and a Master's. He taught at UC Davis, where he was known to focus on traditional disciplines, as opposed to conceptual art. During a stay in New York, he became friends with Abstract Expressionist artists de kooning, Kline and Rauschenberg, and began a series of paintings based on common food items. 

Thiebaud's son Paul became a well-respected curator and art dealer with galleries in Manhattan and San Francisco.   

Landscape by Gustav Klimt

 Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist Painter and prominent member of the Art Nouveau Movement of the 19c. He was best known for his decorative female subjects, but my favourites are his landscapes depicting the pastoral countrysides of Germany and Austria. These were completed shortly before his death in 1918.

Lady Agnew by John Singer-Sargent, 1893

Best known for his lavish portraits, John Singer-Sargent was disciplined and hard-working. His studio methods and protocol for portrait-painting were well-established and followed to the letter. After securing a commission, he visited the client's home, to see where the painting would hang. He would then review the client's wardrobe, and select suitable attire for the sitting. Most portraits were painted at his studio, which was well-stocked with furniture and backdrops for proper lighting and effect. He required 8-10 sittings, during which he kept pleasant conversation, or played the piano for his sitter during breaks. He had no assistants, and prepared canvases, handled all documentation, and shipped the artwork himself.

He charged $5,000.00 ($120,000.00 current US dollars) per portrait.

He is said to have completed over 900 portrait paintings and more than 2,000 watercolours.  

Fountain in a Medici Villa by John Singer-Sargent, 1907

Watercolour with graphite underdrawing, Brooklyn Museum

Perfection.

Watercolour painting by Winslow Homer

Born in 1836, Winslow Homer had a happy childhood growing up in the charming neighborhoods of Old Boston. His mother, who was an artist, encouraged his creativity by introducing him to drawing. As a young man, he worked for Harper's Weekly, and shortly after, had an exhibition of his paintings at The National Academy of Design in New York.

During the Civil War, Homer became a Pictorial Reporter for Harper's, showing every day camp scenes rather than battle scenes. When Homer was 47 years old, his primary medium became watercolour, and his paintings began to show a narrative theme of drama and suspense.

He loved nature, and spent many hours by himself capturing the effects of light. Prior to the 19c, watercolour was only used for preliminary sketches, and not taken seriously as finished works of art. Homer, JMW Turner and Sargent were important artists of the time who used watercolour for finished works.    

Jack Bush (Canadian 1909-1977)

Contemporary Abstract Painter Jack Bush was a master of colour and considered one of the greatest since Matisse. His work, with its geometric shapes and bright colours, greatly influenced pop culture of the 60's and 70's in advertising, home decor, paper goods and fashion.  

Robert Rauschenberg (American 1925-2008)

Known formally for his "Combines," Rauschenberg often used random materials to make a work of art. He worked under Josef Albers(of The Bauhaus), who required a strict adherence to the fundamentals of art and did not allow for experimentation. Rauschenberg describes Albers as "influencing him to do exactly the reverse of what he was being taught."  

Mary Cassatt (American 1844-1926)

Mary Cassatt was born in the US, and was known for her sensitive portraits of women and children. Classified as an Impressionist, she worked in the latter third of the period, which was characterized by the use of stronger colours and less detail. Most of her adult life was spent in Europe, where she met artists Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas who were her mentors and trusted advisors. Because she was independently wealthy, she was able to pursue her desire to be a painter during a time when women were not commonly choosing art as a full time career. Her involvement with the Impressionists was important, because she introduced their paintings to the U.S. through her social contacts with wealthy private collectors. She became a respected art consultant, and was instrumental in forming the important Havemeyer Collection of paintings. She died in Paris in 1926.

Rose Window Nortre Dame, Paris

The cathedral at Notre Dame in Paris was home to many important artifacts and artworks including the Rose Window. The Rose Windows, which date back to 13c, are 3 round stained glass windows located over the cathedral's 3 main portals. A devastating fire tore through the cathedral on Monday, but it is believed that the Rose Window survived.