the powers of African Art

 

Untitled, 1996

           For my second Non-Western post I have chosen African art. I am absolutely in love with this type of art. It seems the majority of African art that I have seen threw out my life has always made some kind of impression on me. A very talented  African artist named Gedewon Makonnen has currently caught my attention with his awe-inspiring paintings. Gedewon as he is best known, trained as cleric in the Ethiopian Orthodox church. During his training he learned to draw talismans, which are amulets or different objects which are made to protect a person from trouble, and or riding the body  of demonic spirits. These drawings soon became sought after by many western collectors. Gaedewon’s purpose of his art was to “heal the body and soul through ancient patterns, imagery, and invocation. Gedewon’s works where mainly all produced in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. His talismans were, and still are perceived by many as “healing art.” In talisman drawings evil spirits are suppose to enter and exit through the openings in the maze-like drawings. The evil eventually gets trapped and destroyed by the patterns and the words.  Ethiopians and others who look upon these types of art still today, recognize them as beautiful art and as a powerful medicine. Gedewon’s talisman drawings have this white glow to them that makes me feel at ease. In the drawing above I feel like I am looking into a magical stream and or looking at something in space that no one has ever seen before.

Frida

Frida

 

 The mexican artist, Frida Kahlo (above) is one of my favorite female painters. Her wonderful use of vibrant and bold colors and her realistic touch, Frida embodies surrealism. In 1925 , Frida who was 18 at the time, was riding a bus that collided into a trolley. Frida suffered serious injuries to her entire body that left her in a full body cast for 3 months. It was during this time that Frida began to paint. Frida’s works are very different from those who were painting at the time. Even though she eventually recovered and started walking again, the horrible bus/trolley accident left Frida in pain for the rest of her life. Self portraits were the first paintings she had produced. Her self portraits became a major part of her life because of when she was immobile for three months after her accident, Frida once said, “I paint myself because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best.”

Self Portrait in a Velvet Dress, 1926

 

The picture above is one of Frida Kahlo’s first paintings entitled “Self Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress” that was done in Mexico City in 1926. Frida Kahlo’s was an amazing artist who I personally admire, she is without a doubt one of the most “hypnotically entrancing surrealist painters of our time.”

buck naked

When a person observes a painting, are they suppose to feel something,  react to something, or are they suppose to even care? It seems that in the art world people either “get it”, or they dont, which in turn causes a somewhat negative reaction for that viewer. I absolutely love when viewing a piece or pieces of art that have a lot of “in your face” feelings. This “in your face” feeling is connected with the theme of my exhibit which is “the naked body”. I feel like people seem to get either very uncomfortable/offended when they see a painting of a naked body or they are very intrigued by the piece . The artists that I have chosen for my exhibit are masters of painting the naked body, and I would see no reason at all why a person would become uncomfortable/offended by any of their works, it is not your body, so why should you care.

The first artist name is Jenny Saville.  Saville is a british painter who is best known for her wonderful use bold color use and her “monumental” images of women.  Her paintings are usually very big and are “strongly pigmented to give a highly sensual impression of the surface of the skin as well as the mass of the body.”  I have seen one of her works up close and it was amazing. In her painting she used globs and globs of color and was definitely not afraid to go big, or  even say huge with the size of her piece. I probably stood at her painting for twenty minutes  in “aw”  over her work.  I think it is impossible to not get some kind of emotion out of her paintings.

Plan, 9x7 oil on canvas, created in 1993 in Lodon

Shift, oil on canvas 130"x130", created in 1996 in London England

Another thing about Jenny Saville,  like many artists she is very controversial. Painting people who are obese, have abnormal growths, and transvestite’s, like the painting below entitled “Passage”.

Passage, oil on canvas, 2004 London

 

The next artist in the exhibit is an artist/photographer named Lala Meredith- Vula.  Lala is a british feminist female who captures women(usually naked) all around the world in their element. Her most famous works are of women in water and or dealing with water. The next three photographs are from her exhibit entitled “Women and Water.” Vula’s description of why she decided to photograph naked women in the water was “Women and Water”  is about the beauty and imperfection of the free body underwater. Many women feel themselves deformed by social influences particularly in the West. In the water they are free to dissolve and re-appear as a part of nature both classical and expressive.”  The next three pieces are title-less and were taken in South of France and Sweden in 1996.

Water and Women, 1996

Water and Women, 1996

Water and Women, 1996

So the next time you are viewing a nude piece of art, no matter what it is of, have an opened mind about the piece. Think not just about the naked body but possibly look at how the body is positioned or the different use of color either on the person or in the background, the naked body is a beautiful thing.

Early Modern

During this era there were so many great talents. Among those talents a man named Pablo Picasso emerged to become one of the worlds most recognized painters.  One of the reasons why I love Picasso’s work is because he had so many different styles and symbols that he used in his paintings.  He was a rebellious painter who seemed to reject traditional art forms and indulge in new art styles that are known around the world.  With his many styles of painting, he seemed to always paint something appropriate for that time. In WWII he seemed to paint a lot of somber, deathlike objects. This was his way of telling the public that he did not agree with what was going on. This was also a way to try and bring the peace and stop the war. One of his most famous paints titled “Guernica” pictured below, was one of the biggest “anti-war” paintings to come out of that era.  Tha painting depicts  “the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicted upon the people, especially the “civilians” who had no say it any of it but like most wars, were defiantly apart of it. This painting has so much emotion (like many of his do) in it. If you look closely you can start to depict many different images, like the huge bull that is standing motionless while observing everyone else in the top left corner.  Apparently Picasso was very secretive about the symbolic meanings in his paintings. This painting is one that has an obvious overall statement, but looking in-depth at the painting there are some characters I just do not get.

Pablo Picasso's "Guernica"

This painting was created in 1937 in Paris. It is now in the “Museo Reina Sofia” in Madrid, displayed for all to see.   The second painting below is entitled  “The Artist and His Model” created by Picasso in 1964 in Paris.  The reason that I included this in my post is because I actually got to see this painting up close and personal at an art show entitled “Paint Made Flesh” in Nashville, TN.  It was quite something to be actually standing in front of one of his paintings, I almost felt like the painting had a ora radiating off of it.

"The Artist and His Model"

Impressionism

Impressionism is an abstract style of French art that began in the 19th century. To me impressionist’s during that time really captured the image of a person or an object and made it come to life in the painting.  With wonderful bold and bright use of color,many of the  impressionist artists of that time like Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Edouard Manet all seem to put a lot of emotion into their works.  One of my favorite French artists of this time was a man named Edouard Manet . Even though Claude Monet created the style “Impressionism”, it was Manet that really helped this once “realism” style transition into a “Impressionistic” one. One of his most famous painting titled “Luncheon on the Grass“, or  “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe” really caught my eye.  This piece was created in 1862 in Paris and was first shown in the “Salon des Refuses” in 1863.  This is a wonderful example of Manet’s  rebellious/controversial style, publicly showing a woman naked lying in the grass and a woman coming up from the water drying herself off, all the while there are two fully clothed men in-between them.

Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe

Post-Impressionism continued on the “Impressionism” style of art  but furthered the artists concern for “expression, structure, and from” in works. Artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso used “palette colors that were purified and intensified.” Overall I would have to say the Romantic era’s “Impressionism” style has been my favorite type of style out of all the eras. There is just something about this era’s style that I absolutely cant get enough of!

Paul Gauguin's "The Yellow Christ" painted in 1889 in Pont-Aven

Voltaire and Classical Theater

            The eighteenth century “classical era” was that of a somewhat different appeal to me. I found it very interesting that one of the biggest changes in this era was the “nature of its audience.” Theater in this time period was not for the “silly” peasant but for the new, middle class aristocrats. There seemed to be a huge concern with the lifestyles of the “rich and famous.” The majority of this “new” influence had taken many countries in Europe by storm.

         During this period a man by the name of “Voltaire”, aka “Francois-Marie Arouet”, had a huge impact on the “French literary landscape” from 1674 until 1778. Voltaire was a very outspoken man who spoke out about social reform and critcized the king and the church. He was also one of the biggest writers of his time, with poems, books, and plays that were philosophical and witty, he truly captured the audience’s attention.  Voltaire’s first most recognized and influencial pieces of theatrical work entitled, “Oedipe” , which was his first dramatic tradgedy.  This is a musical play based on the myth “Oedipus”, that strangely covers the entire story of Oedipus from birth to death. “Oedipe” was first showed at the “Theatre Francais”, in Paris France in 1718.  This work shows that even though his work was very controversial he still captured the lower and middle class’s attention in an “this is how is is” attitude. I personally admire voltaire for his outspoken ways. I think it is neat that even though he was jailed a few times and his books were banned, he seemed to understand “the people.” Below is a clip from one of the most recent renditions of “Oedipe.”  The other is a portrait of Voltaire at the age of 70.

Voltaire at the age of 70

A skit from the play "Oedipe" by Voltaire

The Baroque era

Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most influential painters of the Baroque era. This seventeenth century painter perfected the use of color and movement in his paintings. During this time the expansion of artistic subject matter and technology, like theater, science, and different genera’s of music, had an immense impact culturally around the world. Although there was a “Thirty Year  War”  going on, this did not hurt the impact of art. More European nations were starting to control their own populations, which in turn gave people more rights and options to choose from. 

Peter Rubens mainly lived and worked in Germany throughout his career. During that time there were many significant advances in a number of things including, medicine, government, and a totally different way of life. It seems that more and more people had somewhat of a voice. Although yes, there was a tremendous “religious element” that played into many affairs in the seventeenth century, there seemed to be an even bigger want for the “arts” and technology. As I said before the “Baroque” era was perfect of aspiring artists.  

I really admire Peter Rubens. Not only was he a scholar and a diplomat, but he was knighted by two kings in his lifetime (Philip IV king of Spain, and Charles I king of England). Rubens had his own unique form of painting. Producing wonderful pieces of art done of altarpieces to landscapes, portraits to mythology paintings. He was an inspiration to many for his nobleness, and for his breathtaking works of art.

This is a painting by Peter Rubens, entitled “The Three Graces”. I enjoyed many of his “nude” paintings because of his wonderful use of color and placement. This was painted in Spain in 1639.

"The Three Graces"

Art in the Northern Renaissance

"Madonna and Chancellor Rolin"

Jan Van Eyck’s work’s among many others played a key role in the “Reinvention of  Art” in the Renaissance. Even though Eyck a Netherlandish painter was part of in the Northern Renaissance  time period, his paintings inspired many in both the Northern and Italian Renaissance’s. One of the best painters of the early 15th century, Van Eyck painted many great pieces of art. Eyck was credited with the invention of an oil glazing technique called  “oil on canvas” which helped paved the way for the many amazing artists to come. The oil on canvas painting entitled “Madonna and Chancellor Rolin” pictured here, is one my  favorite “Gothic” paintings of the European Renaissance. The use of color and the wonderful detail that is put into his paintings is astonishing. I think it is fascinating to watch how the Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the North which in turn created the Northern Renaissance. 

this and that

i love the smell of coffee in ze morning

Hellllllo hello

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this is my first blog.
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