For Love of Art

[drinkanddestroy]

So several months ago, I started delving a little into the paintings that influenced Leone's work, which we've discussed here http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=8921.0

I never gave a damn about art until that time, but once I started looking into those who influenced Leone, I've been blown away, and been doing quite a bit of research over the past few months (Kind of like how listening to Metallica's concert they did with the San Francisco Symphony in 1999 got me interested in classical music. And how Metallica's entering every concert to "Ecstasy of Gold" introduced me to Leone and Morricone. But I digress...)
Anyway, cj and I decided that that thread should stick to the paintings that relate to Leone, and start a new thread for discussion of art in general, so here we are  

I'll start with 2 fascinating works I saw on my recent visit to the Museum of Modern Art (first ever to an art museum); both by the "Precisionist" Charles Sheeler:
American Landscape (1930) http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79032
and Bucks County Barn (1932) http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78981

As you can see from these two paintings, Sheeler's stunning works seem to be trying to detail his subjects as precisely as he possibly could, and could almost be confused with photographs, and the subject of his works was often machinery and American industry. And while doing a bit of research on him, I actually learned that besides being a painter, his other job was indeed as a photographer, including doing commercial/publicity photos for Ford Motor Co.

So..... what interests you? Or disinterests you?  

p.s. MoMA had 10-15 Picassos. None of which interested me

[titoli]

[drinkanddestroy]

nice! whose is that?

[titoli]

Albrecht Dürer

[noodles_leone]

I'm a big fan of impressionism, like most people who grew up not to far from the Musée D'Orsay and many other museums of Paris that have gorgeous collections of impressionist paintings. This particular picture gave its name to the movement (as often in art, it was first meant to be a satiric name given by people who hated them), and behond the clichés, it really is one of its finest examples.
Not only it is beautiful and is quite characteristic of the topics/methods of the impressionists, but it is also a great place to start when you try to understand the influence of the movement on everything that happened in art during the XXth century. Many historians consider impressionism as the first kind of modern art, and when you just have a look at the character in this painting, it's kind of obvious.

I'm trying to update here some of the works of art that inspire me a lot:
http://pinterest.com/toskian/art/

So far it's mainly Monet/Caravagio/VanDongen, but others are coming.

[drinkanddestroy]

I also saw Andrew Wyeth's mesmerizing Christina's World (1948) at MoMA http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A6464&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1

If you are a fan of this painting, or Wyeth's work in general , you will enjoy this article http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/12/travel/the-farmhouse-of-wyeths-christinas-world.html?_r=0

[moviesceleton]

I was just about to mention Andrew Wyeth! He has amazing eye for natural light.

But for me, the greatest of them all has to be Vermeer.


PS. I've had this painting by Caspar David Friedrich as wallpaper on my computer for a couple of years now: http://www.wallchan.com/images/sandbox/5252-1305920755021.jpg

[Leonardo]

I was just about to mention Andrew Wyeth! He has amazing eye for natural light.

But for me, the greatest of them all has to be Vermeer.


PS. I've had this painting by Caspar David Friedrich as wallpaper on my computer for a couple of years now: http://www.wallchan.com/images/sandbox/5252-1305920755021.jpg

What about Pizarro and Sisley?

[dave jenkins]

Just as Dürer drew the hare
I was drawn to you
Though I saw that you stood where
Briar & Bramble grew. A pilgrim needs a journey
A devil needs a dare
And yes I was drawn to you
As Dürer drew the hare.

Jason Steel (2011)

[drinkanddestroy]

I was just about to mention Andrew Wyeth! He has amazing eye for natural light.

If you are interested in Wyeth, you can listen to the audio recording on the MoMA page of "Christina's World" that I linked to in the previous post; half of it is this speaker talking about why lots of people love Wyeth, despite critics and curators not taking him seriously

[drinkanddestroy]

I just got this book on Giorgio de Chirico http://www.amazon.com/Chirico-Pere-Gimferrer/dp/0847810429/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361175329&sr=1-3&keywords=de+chirico (It was a pretty good price, I think I paid like $16 or so for a used one in very good condition).

 The images look pretty good. There are 135 color reprints of his paintings. There are anywhere from 1-3 paintings per page; Amazon lists the page size as 11.8 X 8.4 inches. it's a nice size.

The book begins with 14 pages of text, followed by the  135 illustrations on 98 pages. The text has some biographical information, and goes into the controversies surrounding de Chirico. The book analyzes and discusses the issues and controversies; it doesn't hit you over the head pushing for one view or the other, but the author does seem to sympathize with de Chrico. Either way, it's written fairly.

The author is a Spaniard named Pere Gimferrer; the text is translated from Spanish.
As a beginner who is no art nerd and certainly not familiar with all the technical terms, I found much of the text difficult to understand; it's very technical, and seems to be written more for those who very familiar with technical art jargon

But it's only a few pages of text, it's not a biography; the point of the book is for the illustrations; and that's why i got it.  If you are just looking for a book of nice illustrations (and perhaps a few pages discussing his life and analyzing his works and controversies, etc.) this is a good buy
Out of the 135 illustrations, 31 are from his Metaphysical Period. (So this book is a selection of his works from various periods). So for what I am looking for -- a book of paintings, I am happy with this  

Does anyone know if there is any book out there that has all of de Chirico's Metaphysical paintings? (I have seen one on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/DE-CHIRICO-The-Metaphysical-Period/dp/0821224999/ref=pd_sim_b_12 cost like $300, I'm looking for something a tad cheaper  )

[Leonardo]

"Christina's world" is marvellous and it reminds me of an old movie,i.e. "The summer of '42" (remember the beautiful Jennifer O'Neill?).
Anyway, I am personally very fond of impressionists, in particular Pizarro and Sisley.
But when it comes to strange paintings, there is one that is very intriguing. It gives me the shivers every time I look at it; perhaps it has to do with the fact that it was Hitler's favorite painting. It's a painting by the swiss painter Arnold Boeklin (1827-1901) called "The Island of the Dead" and he painted several versions of it. The one which I find the most remarkable one is this one:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Arnold_Boecklin_-_Island_of_the_Dead%2C_Third_Version.JPG
but the other ones can be seen here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Isola_dei_Morti_IV_(Bocklin).jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_009.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_-_Die_Toteninsel_-_Version_4_sw.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_006.jpg
Is it just me or this painting has really some intriguing aspects??? What do you guys think?

[drinkanddestroy]

i saw Christina's World at MoMA http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A6464&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1

it's a fan favorite there. i had zero knowledge/education/experience in art, never heard of that painting before,  but when i saw that painting st MoMA, I stopped and said WOAH! THIS IS A fucking  MASTERPIECE

[drinkanddestroy]

Hopper exhibit goin' on now at Whitney, through October 6 http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/HopperDrawing


The exhibit shows how Hopper prepared paintings -- so next to each painting, they have his preparatory sketches, and/or photos of the street he painted, etc. I don't care about the preparatory stuff; all I care about is seeing the great paintings, and this exhibit will feature some of his most famous oils, including Nighthawks, New York Movie, Early Sunday Morning, and Office at Night.

So I'll definitely be checking it out sometime 

[cigar joe]

Hopper exhibit goin' on now at Whitney, through October 6 http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/HopperDrawing


The exhibit shows how Hopper prepared paintings -- so next to each painting, they have his preparatory sketches, and/or photos of the street he painted, etc. I don't care about the preparatory stuff; all I care about is seeing the great paintings, and this exhibit will feature some of his most famous oils, including Nighthawks, New York Movie, Early Sunday Morning, and Office at Night.

So I'll definitely be checking it out sometime 

Its on my to do list.