The Rebellious Curator
The Artist in his Studio (sketch) for an oil on panel by Harmensz Van Rijn Rembrandt 1627-1628
The sketch/painting depict the artist wearing a housecoat to keep warm as he paints in his sparse 17c studio.
Painting by Pierre Bonnard
5 Facts about one of my favourite artists of the Impressionist period:
1) Bonnard was known for using intense colours in his paintings.
2) Bonnard was a member of Les Nabis, a group of artists who saw themselves as prophets of Modern Art.
3) Bonnard painted domestic scenes in which his wife was his main subject.
4) Bonnard loosely sketched his subjects from life, then painted the rest from memory.
5) Bonnard tacked multiple canvases to the walls of his studio and worked on many paintings at one time.
6) Matisse was an admirer of Bonnard's work, Picasso was not.
Person Throwing a Stone at a Bird by Joan Miro, 1926
Joan Miro was a Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist, usually classified as a Surrealist. After establishing himself in Paris, he worked on a series of paintings that were political in nature. One such painting was purchased by Ernest Hemingway, who was living and working in Paris around the same time.
More recently, one of Miro's important works had been on display at the World Trade Center in N.Y. and was lost during the 911 attacks.
"As I work on a canvas, I fall in love with it. Love that is born out of slow understanding. Slow understanding of nuances..Joy at learning to understand a blade of grass in a landscape..A blade of grass is as enchanting as a tree or a mountain." - Joan Miro
Lee Krasner (American 1908-1984)
Lee Krasner helped establish Abstract Expressionism along with her husband, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and others. Her work fluctuated between cubist-style shapes, collage and representation, but remained consistent as an introspective artist, dealing with the relationships between modern culture and the natural world.
I think all artists find themselves unhappy with a lot of their work, but I was surprised to learn that Emily Carr destroyed over 200 of her paintings. She is said to have crumpled them up, stuffed them into garbage cans, or burned them because they were crowding her home or she did not like them.
At age 56, The group of Seven took notice of her work and invited her to Toronto where the Group's encouragement inspired her to produce a new series of paintings. In 1941, nearing 70, she lived by herself in the forest and painted 15 large canvases a week. She lived in an old trailer with her pet monkey, several chipmunks, a white rat, a dog and a book of Walt Whitman's poems. Her last known painting was titled The Clearing.
She died March 2, 1945 at James Bay Inn, Victoria which to this day, claims to be haunted by her ghost. Guests at James Bay Inn report that hauntings occur to people who criticize her work.
Abstraction - White Rose by Georgia O'Keeffe 1927
American artist Georgia O'Keeffe became famous for her paintings of large close-up flowers. She painted them so large, they look more like abstract shapes.
"Nobody sees a flower really, it is so small. We haven't time - and to see takes time..So I said to myself: I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me..and I'll make even busy New Yorkers take time to see how I see a flower."
- Georgia O'Keeffe
The Sleeping Muse by Constantin Brancusi 1910
This bronze is one of several in existence, and considered the 7th most expensive sculptures in the world at 57.3 Mil USD each. Brancusi was a key figure in art history and is considered one of the pioneers of modern sculpture. Brancusi lived from 1876-1957.
Tiger in a Tropical Storm or Surprised! by Henri Rousseau 1910
The painting depicts a tiger illuminated by a flash of lightning in the middle of a storm. Rousseau loved to paint jungle scenes but had never been to one. Instead of visiting a jungle, Rousseau painted from sketches he made in parks and zoos. Many of the plants in his paintings are actually houseplants or plants he made up. Many art critics maligned his technical abilities and claimed his work was childish. Despite the constant criticism, he won a loyal following among his peers, including Picasso, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec and others.
From: The Public Domain Review
Dream/Vision - A Nightmare 1525 by Albrecht Durer
The watercolour and accompanying text describe an apocalyptic dream Durer had on the night of June 7-8, 1525. The text reads: "In 1525, during the night between Wednesday and Thursday after whitsuntide, I had this vision in my sleep, and saw how many great waters fell from heaven. The first struck the ground about 4 miles from me...it hit the ground so suddenly, and at such a velocity..that when I woke up, my whole body trembled and I could not recover for a long time. When I arose in the morning, I painted the above as I had seen it. May the Lord turn all things to the best." - Albrecht Durer
Ophelia by John Millais 1851
This painting was inspired by Shakespeare's play Hamlet, in which Hamlet kills Ophelia's father. Despondent with grief, Ophelia goes to pick flowers in the forest, falls into a stream, and drowns. Millais wanted the scene to be as realistic as possible and spent months painting by the Hogsmill River in Southern England. Back at his studio in London, Millais hired a model dressed in an embroidered gown to lie in a bathtub full of water for hours on end. The water got so cold that his model became ill with a severe cold. Millais wanted to include certain flowers that bloom at different times of the year because they are mentioned in the play and have symbolic meanings. For instance, roses symbolize love, and violets, faithfulness. The tree in the background is a Weeping Willow, which describes Ophelia's bitter sorrow.
Millais was born in England in 1829 and studied art at London's Royal Academy at age 11. Later, he helped form a movement called The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The Pre-Raphaelites wanted to make art that was true to nature and spiritual, so they always worked from life and chose subjects from classic literature or the Bible.